NNPC’s NAPIMS Becomes First Govt Institution In Africa To Get Business Continuity Certification

NNPC’s NAPIMS Becomes First Govt Institution In Africa To Get Business Continuity Certification
Ifeanyi Onuba

The National Petroleum Investment Management Services has received the ISO22301:2019 certification for Business Continuity Management System from RINA Italy, effectively making it the first government institution in Africa to receive the certification.

The presentation was done on Friday in Abuja at the headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd at an event attended by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva, the Chairman of the NNPC Board Mrs Margery Okadigbo; the Group Managing Director of the NNPC Mele Kyari, the Group General Manager NAPIMS Bala Wunti and other senior management staff of the NNPC.

The event also saw the unveiling of the Electronic Materials Management System of NAPIMS which is aimed at ensuring an efficient and effective tracking of inventory in the oil and gas sector.

The ISO 22301:2019 is the international standard for Business Continuity Management System, published by the International Organization for Standardization, designed to help organizations prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from unexpected and disruptive incidents.

To do so, the standard provides a practical framework for setting up and managing an effective business continuity management system.

The certification also aims to safeguard an organization from a wide range of potential threats and disruptions.

Speaking at the event, Wunti described the certification as a game changer in the industry as it would help to ensure that the company’s operations is in line with global best practices.

He said that upon assumption of office in March of 2020 as NAPIMS boss, his major mandate was to ensure that the crude oil business continue to remain profitable in a sustainable manner through reduction in the cost of oil production.

On the Electronic Materials Management System, he said the need to develop a strategy that would give visibility to its assets in a proactive manner that would minimize wastages informed the move.

The e-MMS is an end-to-end automated inventory management platform, developed to manage inventory, materials exchange, auctioning and asset disposal.

Wunti said the e-MMS will support NAPIM’s cost reduction initiative, ensure seamless cross-inventory exchange, and offer online direct payment gateway for items purchased from the auction platform.

He said, “We had to develop a strategy that gave us an end-to-end visibility on our assets. We believe that by fully standardizing our processes and procedures, we would have re-engineered our business and operating model.”

Also speaking, the Group Executive Director Upstream, Mr Adokiye Tombomieye, said that since the GMD took over the leadership position of the NNPC and entrenched the Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence Agenda, all the policy directions of the NNPC have been geared towards positioning the National Oil Company among its peers in the global oil and gas space.

He said these initiatives have been largely responsible for transforming the NNPC into a world-class energy company.

He said, “For us in the Upstream Directorate, we are focused on strategically positioning this sector to set quality standards in all our operations to enable us compete on a global level.

“We understand that standardization and digitalization are key elements for achieving our goals. As such, we are determined to emplace automation in line with industry best practice and eliminate all forms of discretion in our decision-making processes.

“One of the purposes of this gathering is NAPIMS’ attainment of International Organization for Standardization – ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 22301:2019 certification. ISO certifications instill credibility to the system and suggests compliance to global standards for businesses. It is also remarkable that this realization is coming in over 30 years of NNPC’s existence.”

The GED stated that the ISO Quality and Business Continuity Management System certification attests to the commitment of NNPC Limited to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of our Change Management, Risk Management and Stakeholders Management processes.

He commended Kyari, Wunti and other top management staff of the NNPC for their unwavering efforts in placing NAPIMS on the right path of becoming a world-class portfolio manager in the upstream oil and gas sector.

In her remarks at the event, Okadigbo said that the attainment of ISO Certification in Business Continuity Management Systems & Quality Management Systems further attests to the commitment of the NNPC Board towards the agenda of Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence.

Okadigbo told the gathering that standardization and digitization are key elements to achieving the NNPC’s goals, adding that the management of the National Oil company will ensure that NNPC’s operations are automated and standardized to meet industry’s best practices.

She said, “NNPC is focused on positioning itself strategically to compete at a global level and to set new standards in the energy industry.

“Standardization and digitization are key elements to achieving NNPC goals and as such, we are set to ensure that NNPC operations are automated and standardized to meet industry’s best practices.

“The automation of this management process will further reduce carrying costs of the assets, ensure seamless cross inventory exchange. It is designed with revenue generating options system with an online direct payment and a gateway for items purchase of these platforms.

“As we transit to a CAMA company come July 1, you and everyone will support and know that NNPC is out to serve you for profit.”

In his comments, the NNPC GMD commended the NNPC upstream directorate and NAPIMS for the great job.

Kyari said going forward, as the company transit fully into NNPC Ltd, all its business processes and procedures will be duly certified in line with industry best practices.