SPEECH DELIVERED BY GIRISH SANADHYA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, NIPCO PLC AT A WORKSHOP ON OPTIMIZING LEADERSHIP AND MANAGERIAL CORE SKILLS FOR TOP EXECUTIVE EFFECTIVENESS ON FRIDAY 16TH FEBRUARY,2007 AT NIPCO TRAINING HALL, APAPA, LAGOS, NIGERIA.

PROTOCOL

It is a thing of utmost joy to present an address on this occasion which marks the commencement of the company’s training programme for the year and also an avenue to meet a larger percentage of the workforce under one roof.

First and foremost, I want to commend the Human Resource Department for their resourcefulness and doggedness in planning and executing various training programmes for the generality of the staff in 2006. It is this spirit that they have carried into the new year which manifested in what all of us are witnessing today.

The resolve of my Management team to continue to support Human Resource Development is borne out of our belief that no organization can grow beyond the level of theoretical and practical training opportunities opened to staff especially, that facilitated by its present employers.

We have not only realized this for long but also gives practical demonstration to it through the avalanche of training opportunities offered to our workforce. Such programmes are crystallized at our training centre by inviting resource persons to come and educate our workers on several topics that are of direct consequence on their chosen profession or general matters of importance to the generality of the staff. In several other instances, the company has had to sponsor staff on external training at prominent human resource development centres to broaden their horizon and make them highly proficient on their jobs.

Human resource development in NIPCO Plc has always attracted special recognition in many regards. These include the level of funding, quality of training, tools for working, average expenditure on training per staff, proportion spent on different cadres of staff.

With regards to the foregoing, my team should be disposed to improving the level of funding to ensure that every worker get the best in a bid to improve their level of effectiveness on the job which will further translate into improved overall performance of the company in its daily operations.

Let me emphasise at this point that staff welfare as a whole of which Human resource development is an integral part will always remain a cardinal programme in this company as we are prepared to offer the best opportunity to all cadres of employees as a matter of priority by Management.

However, it should be noted that our resolve to continuously make work environment very conducive should be taken as our responsibility to the workforce and this has to be well replicated by the staff in their general thoughts and actions.
This is very imperative as incentives been offered by Management will amount to nullity if there is no corresponding attitudinal change by the workforce.

I have given directive to the Human Resource Department to ensure that workers show high level of responsibility in their different schedules as I would not hesitate to show any worker the way out if they are not ready to abide by the company’s rules and regulations.

Special directives have also been handed down to the department to fashion out an evaluation programme with a view to assessing the level of comprehension and practical demonstration of all the training facilitated by the company for the entire workforce mapped out by the department.

Event like this and subsequent ones in the pipeline should not be seen as a jamboree or talk shop but an investment on your growth in life which Management will be proud to be part of.

Henceforth, successful understanding and putting to practice what was learnt at training programmes will form one of the criteria to be used for appraising all level of staff in the employ of the company.

The uniqueness of the sector we operate has also made it imperative for adequate training and ours can not an exception. This is even more apt with the level of automation and state of the art facilities in our terminal.

It is against this background that the company will not spare any efforts to continuously train our staff and make them highly proficient and resourceful.

AN OVERVIEW OF NIPCO’S OPERATION

The company has indeed come a long way since it began commercial operation in July 2004 and has been waxing stronger among its peers.

Although in the course of its operations so far there have been some problems which are mainly sectorial matters not relating to the company alone, NIPCO has being putting smiles on its promoters through the provision of petroleum products for onward distribution to Independent Marketers outlets spread across the nooks and crannies of the country.

NIPCO Plc which is the aftermath of the partnership between indigenous fuel marketers under the aegis of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and Purebond U.K is fast becoming a household name mainly due to its growing influence in the sector and the fact that it services over 4,000 filling stations across the country, which is the highest by any downstream marketing company.

The strategic alliance with IPMAN has also been a major source of strength to the company as this has made the company’s image looms higher than its peers in ensuring product availability at affordable price across the country.

We have remained the most dependable ally of the association in terms of product supply to its members and the provision of other support services which had yielded several dividends to the two organizations

Through our partners stations nationwide Nipco was able to dispense over 600 million liters of petroleum products which is just about 40% capacity utilization of the company’s total installed capacity of 1.3 billion in one shift of 8 hours.

Even at the level we are, which was adjudged a bit comfortable in view of our level of operation in 2006 with special reference to set targets for the year under review, the company is not resting on its oars as several projects of economic value both to the company and the nation at large are in the pipeline. While some are on the drawing board others are at various level of construction.

Pertinent to mention here is our LPG project and the Mega stations both of which would go a long way in boosting the downstream sector of the oil & gas industry.

My plea to all staff is for your cooperation and understanding as the projects will not only provide opportunities for upward movement across the ladder for promising staff but new openings for high flyers in the country’s labour market.

The theme of today’s workshop is very relevant to the company’s corporate vision to be the first choice company in the oil and gas industry to all stakeholders which we hope to realize through harnessing of the managerial core skills in our workforce for top executive effectiveness.

This, we hope will form the bedrock of the top-bottom approach via good leadership for the effective growth of the company in particular and the downstream sector as a whole.

It is now my singular honour and privilege to declare the workshop open and wish everyone success in all their endeavours.

Thank you.