As I drove into the NNPC petrol station on Aminu Kano Crescent in Wuse II, Abuja last night, to purchase petrol, and it was done, with so much ease, I recall that there was still problem with getting petrol in Ilorin. I spent the weekend there and know the lingering problem with petrol supply in many parts of the country.
Of course, we need regular supply of petrol to power so much of our modern life and the irony of Nigerian existence, is that we are Africa’s largest oil producing country that depends on very expensive imported petroleum products.
The NNPC subsidiary, Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC)is saddled with ensuring that we get petrol and in August 2015, a new MD was appointed to head PPMC.
She is Mrs. Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, a lawyer, who had occupied many important positions within the NNPC, including her position as General Manager, Board Matters and Management Committee Department (BMMC) in the Corporate Secretariat and Legal Division (CSLD) of the NNPC, where she organised Board/Board Committee meetings amongst others.
Her appointment as the MD of PPMC is a major recognition of the work that she has done within the NNPC as well as the experience that she has acquired over the years. And one of the approaches being used to improve the supply of petroleum products in the country now, is the tracking of trucks to be able to know exactly where they are and to ensure that products are supplied on schedule.
Esther Nnmamdi-Ogbue has her work cut outinto the next couple of years, when it is expected that the various reforms being carried out in the NNPC and its subsidiaries, including the PPMC, would have been put in place.
Nigerians expect that the supply of petroleum products will become a very efficient process that will help us to eliminate the man hours often lost and the anarchy usually associated with the regular sessions of products shortages around Nigeria.
The fact that Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue was named the new MD of PPMC, shows the level of trust the leaders of the Nigerian petroleum industry have in her ability to push through the modernization of the PPMC.
It is not going to be easy, given the entrenched interests that profit massively from the chaos of the past couple of years in the system and the levels of harm that they have inflicted upon the economic wellbeing of Nigeria.
As I drove out of the NNPC station tonight, with full tank, my mind went to Mrs. Nnmadi-Ogbue and the responsibility she now carries as the Managing Director of the PPMC.
Things are getting better; they can be much better still and that is the task that Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue has set for herself atop the pile at the PPMC. We will continue to track her progress because her appointment is testament to women’s advancement in our corporate system. I wish her well into the future.
