The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Malam Mele Kyari, have won the 2023 Nigeria GovTech Awards for exceptional service delivery in the public sector.
While the National Oil Company won the Best Federal MDA in Digital Initiatives in Reengineering Government Processes Award, the GCEO carted home the Distinguished GovTech Trailblazer Award.
The awards were in recognition of the GCEO leadership’s proactive steps in activating the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) that is hinged on digital automation of the company’s processes.
The single, sure-footed act of automation, emplaced to, among others, mitigate the effects of COVID-19, has brought about efficiency, high performance, and sustenance of the NNPC Ltd’s operations post-pandemic, for which the GCEO is now referred to as “Mr. Automation” in the industry.
Significantly, the GCEO, through the NNPC IT Division, automated Key Performance Indicator Dashboard across the entire IT Enterprise and Architecture, thereby improving reporting efficiency real-time performance tracking.
Kyari, according to a statement from Olufemi Soneye, Chief Corporate Communications Officer also activated Microsoft Enterprise Additional Licenses for NNPC Digital Transformation initiatives, leading to an estimated cost-saving of over $1m to the Company.
Both the NNPC Ltd. and the GCEO shone like a thousand stars at the venue of the awards at the International Conference Centre. The event had as its theme “Advancing Public Service Reforms Through Digital Transformation.”
The Nigeria GovTech Awards were given by the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), an agency under the Presidency in aid of federal government’s initiative designed to bring governments at the federal, state, local levels, and actors in the technology industry together to discuss and identify new ways and emerging trends in which ICT could be used to transform public service and improve the general well-being of Nigerians.
In clinching the award, the NNPC Ltd, and its GCEO, Malam Kyari outclassed several other contestants in the public sector even as it was clear that the BPSR selection process was anchored on merit, thus strengthening the credibility of the selection process and the subsequent awards.
The DG of BPSR, Dasuki Arabi had commended Mele Kyari’s deployment of technology in driving business at the NNPC Ltd in addition to his exemplary leadership in advancing GovTech initiatives and digital governance within the nation’s oil conglomerate, in line with the Federal Government digital transformation in the public sector.
It would be recalled that prior to the presentation of the awards, Arabi had, in a letter dated 19th September 2023 to the NNPC Ltd’s GCEO, said that “Sequel to a nationwide nomination and online voting process initiated on Radio, Television and Newspaper publication, we are pleased to inform you that your organisation will be honoured with the prestigious Nigeria GovTech Award in the category of ‘Best Federal: MDA in digital initiatives in reengineering government processes’.”
Arabi had also said that the awards represented a veritable platform aimed at repositioning the Nigerian public service as an engine of reforms in the country.
The achievements of the NNPC Boss in the oil and gas sector have been recognized both locally and internationally.
For instance, before now, Kyari had won the Leadership Newspapers Group Chief Executive Officer of the year award for 2021; the African Energy Chief Executive Officer of the year award; the 2020 Zik prize for public service leadership; the Sun Man of the year award; and the BusinessDay energy executive of the year award among others.
Kyari’s achievement has been described as unrivalled in the history of the National Oil Company.
He was responsible for the Open Government Initiative that ushered in an era of transparency and accountability in the NNPC’s operations.
He has also kept his promise to the NNPC Limited and Nigeria by increasing the nation’s oil reserves to 40 billion barrels, from 37 billion barrels.
The NNPC Boss has also assisted in resolving disputes around deep offshore bloc to further boost the nation’s oil production and ensuring the successful flag-off of the construction of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline project.
The project was described by former President Muhammadu Buhari as a game changer for the oil and gas industry.
The NNPC Group, which became a CAMA Company in 2021 following the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act, grew its profit from N287bn in 2020 to N674bn in 2021 under Kyari’s leadership.
The N674bn profit posted by the NNPC Group in the 2021 financial period represents an increase of N387bn or 134.8 per cent when compared to the N287bn recorded in 2020.
The 2021 financial year made it the fourth consecutive years that the NNPC will be making its Audited Financial Statement public.
This was one of the innovations made by Kyari when he took over the helms of affairs of the National Oil Company.
Since he assumed office, Kyari has pursued his Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE) agenda, a five-step strategic roadmap for NNPC’s attainment of efficiency and global excellence.
Kyari, during the inauguration, had said pursuing TAPE was the only way to turn around the corporation and make it competitive.
Under the roadmap, the Transparency component of the agenda was aimed at maintaining positive image, share values of integrity and transparency to all stakeholders, while the Accountability segment of the campaign is to assure compliance with business ethics, policies, regulations and accountability to all stakeholders.
In terms of the two-prong item of Performance Excellence, Kyari had said the idea was to entrench a high level of efficiency anchored on efficient implementation of business processes which would also emplace an appropriate reward system for exceptional performance among the workforce.
