By Amin Kef Sesay
The National Petroleum Sierra Leone Limited (NP-SL Ltd) is a thriving company that has made sterling progress within the petroleum landscape of the country. In order to set the bar high, the company has been remarkably doing so to the utmost satisfaction of its numerous customers in different parts of the country as its well experienced managerial teams over the years have been assiduously working to ensure that customers get the best in return for their monies’ worth.
Well known as the poor man’s company that places premium on 1st for Customer Care, NP-SL Ltd has been optimally delivering services that are well designed towards availing utmost satisfaction and giving the attention their customers require always instilling the belief that customers’ interests are really taken into consideration and culminating in factoring genuine decisions out of such concerns into its marketing chain.
Against such a background, the safety of customers are highly considered as seen in consistently cautioning them not to spark any naked flame, advised to switch off their mobile phones at Filling Stations, switch off vehicle engines while procuring fuel. All these precautionary advices are done within the context of protecting the company’s customers from any injurious incident that could be disastrous for the customers and the company.
In another dimension, the shareholders and Management of the company thought it prudent to purchase and install calibrated pumping machines at its various Filling Stations. These modern pumping machines are highly capable of displaying the exact quantity of fuel that a particular customer requests for as well as the price. If customers have expressed satisfaction with the high precision output of its machines it is simply because they give them the impression that transactions are really or truly transparent.
The petroleum marketing company stands tall within the business landscape of this country for effective and efficient implementation of the country’s Local Content Policy. This is a policy that puts premium on making use of local human and material resources in the chain of production and service delivery. Unless where there is no local option it will become preferable to make use of foreign alternatives.
In the light of the company’s preferential decision to offer jobs primarily to Sierra Leoneans as long as they have the requisite qualifications such a strictly adhered-to policy has greatly helped in the reduction of unemployment and availing the beneficiaries the opportunity to live improved standards of living. Indeed, the company has been widely commended for doing so.
With the introduction of NP Smart Card, the process of purchasing fuel at NP Filling Stations has been made simple eliminating the use of physical cash. As long as the Smart Card has money in it, a particular customer can access a Filling Station, put in for the quantity of fuel required and when factored in the pumping machine the right quantity demanded for is then discharged with any balance remaining which could be used at a later date when another purchase is required to be made.
The greatest benefit is that it creates the possibility for a customer to properly budget for the amount of fuel that he or she intends to purchase over time, say for a week or a month. Besides, the use of NP Smart Card guarantees security for the holders as it has securitized features that cannot be easily falsified by any impostor or fraudster.
Many whom this medium interviewed recently in relation to the operations of NP-SL Ltd expressed the view that the company’s manufactured cooking gadget, known as NP Gas is a must to possess in terms of high speed performance. Besides, they opined that they find it safe to make use it as opposed to relying on wood or charcoal on the basis that NP Gas produces less hazardous gaseous emission that could be inimical to the health of individuals.
The product, it was reliably learnt, is easily refilled with gas that could be secured at any of the company’s Filling Stations and are manufactured in different cylinder sizes. Most of those talked with have recommended it as a very efficient and dependable product.
The company gained wide praises for steadily rolling out its Corporate Social Responsibility on different fronts. Many have doffed their hats for the company when they realized that at a time like this when nations are grappling with the contention of taking strides to combat the spread of the coronavirus in the country the indigenous company donated the sum of one billion Leones to the Emergency Response Centre and by extension to the Government and People of Sierra Leone.
It is believed that the donation has gone a long way to help offset some of the financial constraints that the response team has to deal with in the fight to contain the spread of the virus nationwide.
It is also on record that the company has been supporting other worthy causes in the country under the same portfolio.
Indisputably, NP-SL Ltd has gained international recognition for establishing its branches in neighbouring Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast and The Gambia. These branches are operating on the same footing as its parent body in prioritizing the local content policy. They are regularly paying taxes to the host Governments, the proceeds used to fund various development interventions.
The company is indeed held in high esteem for its tireless moves in ensuring that there is no scarcity of petroleum products in the country that could lead to serious economic dislocations.
This is no mean feat and it could be safely concluded that it is only a forward-looking and very pragmatic company like the NP-SL Ltd, which always raises the bar high that could stand tall like a Colossus, most times weathering the storm and always emerging unruffled. As far as it is known, the Shareholders and Management are all in top gear to continue to inject fine entrepreneurial initiatives with the avowed objective of catapulting the company to a higher pedestal. Indisputably, NP-SL Ltd is destined to go places as it continues to positively contribute to the socio-economic development of the nation.
