Sometimes it is easy for us to drive our cars into  fuel service stations and filled-up our cars’ tank, but not knowing  the process it take for a quantity of fuel to reach these stations that serve us-  it involves painstaking and Herculean tasks, where the NNPC and oil companies have to content with, this writer came into direct contact with the chain of activities   that do take place before petroleum products reach their last point for final use by consumers,  when serving in NNPC–PPMC Yola Depot as a SIWES student; from raising of a  bank draft, in the case of cash and carry customers, issuance of meter-ticket, to loading a truck , haulage gauging and product-standard-compliance-lab-test, meter-ticket dispatch and the final offloading of product at fuel service station. Nevertheless one will only see the big picture, and appreciate more, the ingenuity and professionalism of Nigerians and Nigerian companies, when one is enlighten on the intricate tasks performed by management and staff of oil company in the down stream sector of the oil industry, for a liter of fuel to reach fuel service stations, this writer had had a first-hand experience when serving as a Youth Corp. Member in African Petroleum Plc, Abuja District office.

 

African Petroleum Plc is a distinctive player amongst the major oil companies in the down stream sector of the oil industry in Nigeria, though; this may not be unconnected to the old historical background of the company and the skill and proficiency it inherited from its initial beginning as an international   oil company when it was first incorporated in 1964 as BP Nigeria limited. AP management do placed a great deal importance on performance support, employee continuous skill development, customer satisfaction, and cost per resolution. Most current organization’s structures are hierarchical in nature and this produces a perspective of the organization having a "top," but one aspect of the operations in African Petroleum Plc, is, top management always emphasize  on ‘flatten   pyramid’ – where there is flexibility in decision making and cordiality in interaction amongst all staff regardless of  position.

 

Fuel service stations, licensees and service station pump attendants are   the ‘faces’ of marketing companies in the down stream of the oil industry in Nigeria, because this set of individuals are always at a direct contact with customers, thus the company placed more emphasis on fuel service station standardization, licensee productivity and pump attendants’ candor and first-rate average time to resolution in serving consumers.

 

What riggers this piece, is the recent   confirmation of Mr. Zira Maigadi by AP’s management  board, as the new Managing Director of the company, his appointment  has marked a new beginning for African Petroleum PLC, because of precisely two important factors: foremost is the vast experience and knowledge  the man is coming into the job with, after navigating from a manager,  to executive director finance and supply, to acting Managing Director; but the most central factor is Mr. Zira’s believe in building a company base on Knowledge Management, Staff Performance Support, And the Future, the man once said: “To create a  future world class company; time and effort must be spent deciding and planning how the future is desired to be.”  Many decision makers shared this his judgment, because most organization that failed on their ways, they are simply victims of the future, instead of them focusing and planning for the future, they spent   100% of their time focusing on the day to day operations, and completely forgetting to utilized some fractions of the time on focusing on next week, next month, next year, and years beyond.      

zaymohd@yahoo.com