Commercial, Downstream Guru, Lawal Sade Appointed MD NNPC Trading Company

Mr. Lawal Sade, a go-getter crude oil salesman known for turning around entities into profitable ventures, has been appointed as the mew Managing Director of NNPC Trading Company, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

As part of the shake-up to reposition the Corporation, Mr. Sade who is currently the Managing Director, NIDAS – a Subsidiary Shipping company of the NNPC, will move to the crude oil and petroleum products wholesale distribution company as the MD. Under the NNPC Trading Company are Duke Oil, Calson Services and   Hydrocarbon Services Nigeria Limited (HYSON).

Mr. Sade had been essentially a marketer in the last twenty – nine years at various capacities, and had proven himself an accomplished, thoroughbred and quintessential leader across the oil and gas value chain. He had demonstrated a history of successfully enhancing bottom-line performance of organizations he had headed.

He was appointed to NIDAS in November, 2016, and had successfully rejuvenated and repositioned NIDAS/NNPC back into the International shipping market after a 7 – year prolonged hiatus.

 In addition, he had championed successful re-engineering and turnaround processes that resulted to resolution of long outstanding legacy issues, increased & diversified revenue streams and return the company to profitability and sustainable growth path.

During his tenure, he also successfully secured the admittance of NNPC into the prestigious Oil Company International Marine Forum (OCIMF) membership, a globally recognized shipping community. His ability to deliver has gained NIDAS a lot of credibility whereby its employees, shareholders and counterparties now have faith in its capacity to grow.

Prior to this appointment into NIDAS, he held various Management positions in Crude Oil Marketing Division (COMD) and NNPC Retail Limited respectively after being head – hunted from Oando Plc to join NNPC in February 2010.  

In COMD, Mr. Sade was responsible for the preparation of monthly Official Selling Price (OSP) benchmarked to Dated Brent price for both Nigerian Crude Oil and Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) grades; Selection process of NNPC off-takers (DSDP, Crude oil and NGLs) and the overall contracts management & administration.

While in NNPC Retail Limited, he primarily manages the sales and marketing unit and also led the SWAT team that transited the company to cash and carry operating model, resulting to huge financial savings and entrenched internal control framework.

Before joining NNPC as an experienced hire in 2010, Mr. Sade had spent over 13 years in Oando Plc with his last appointment as the Chief Marketing Officer, Retail of the company mainly responsible for Sales and Marketing as well as steering and championing major transformation projects across the company.

Mr. Sade started his early career in 1992 on completion of the mandatory National Youth Service corps (NYSC) assignment as an Accounting Officer and rose to the position of Assistant Manager with the New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC), Kaduna. He subsequently joined Unipetrol (now Oando Plc) from April, 1997 till February 2010.

The new MD of Trading Company holds a Bachelor of Science degree, Accounting in 1991 and a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA) in 2001 both from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Furthermore, he has attended numerous executive training programs both locally and abroad, including the Executive Certificate in Management & Leadership and Entrepreneur Development Program both from the prestigious MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge Boston, MA USA.

 He participated in the downstream Management Program – IFP Training Republique Francaise, Paris France in October, 2017 and also the bilateral Indonesia’s Oil & Gas partnership program, Jakarta Indonesia in June 2011. Other trainings include the Company Direction Course I (The Effective Director) – Institute Of Directors Nigeria, Retail Marketing – maximizing outlets and networks, Oxford Princeton programme, Nicosia, Cyprus. September, 2006; The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Franklin Covey, Lagos March, 2006 and most recently the Anatomy of Shipping Program at the Cambridge Academy of Transport, The Moller Centre, Cambridge England March – April 2019.

Mr. Sade, who is married with children, is a fellow of various professional bodies including the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) and Certified Pension Institute of Nigeria (CPIN).

 He is also an associate member of Nigeria Institute of Management (NIM), Institute of Directors, Nigeria (IoD) and Financial Regulation council of Nigeria.