By Amin Kef Sesay
The National Petroleum Sierra Leone Limited (NP-SL Ltd) has been copiously hailed by many in and out of the country for its pro-active stance in importing and marketing various high grade and qualitative petroleum products. Since its establishment, the company has been at the forefront for timely and professionally making all necessary arrangements with its partners in and out of the country to ensure that these products that the company markets are always available and easily accessible at its different sales points or Filling Stations.
The company is notably specialized in marketing petrol, diesel, gas and lubricants, one of which is Castrol Oil, which is widely used for vehicles and other machineries.
Considering the importance of petroleum products to human existence, it is but very significant to have a dependable and reliable company that champions their importation and marketing. It is in doing so that the NP-SL exactly fits in, as it is on record, that the company is highly committed to live up to the expectations of its numerous esteemed customers.
In reality, one major attribute that NP-SL possesses and which it has meticulously nurtured over the years is its stance with regards maximizing customer care. As far as the Shareholders and Management of the company are concerned, the company exists because of its customers and so everything must be done to give them the best in return for their money’s worth. It is against such a backdrop that the company decided to procure state of the art calibrated pumping machines which are highly capable of churning out the specified amount of petroleum product, be it petrol or diesel and at the same time display the quantity as well as the price.
When this medium undertook a study to gauge the perceptions of various individuals with regards how they view the various aspects of the company’s operations, one thing that came out glaringly was that most praised the petroleum business entity for its transparent way of transacting businesses, with nearly all those that were engaged, agreeing that they always feel satisfied that they are deriving value for money.
“I had the wrong perception that the pump attendants at one particular Filling Station always cheat me. However, I later got a rethink when on a particular occasion I carefully studied and observed how the calibrated machine is working. What was discovered was really amazing as the machine worked precisely as to how it was instructed to do. Indeed, I was really impressed,” George Wilson, a successful entrepreneur gleefully intimated.
A Development Consultant, Abdul Rahman Deen, expressed the view that NP-SL is one of the few successful indigenous companies that pays premium on honoring the country’s Local Content Policy. This policy intends to give preference to indigenes when it comes to employment opportunities except in rare occasions when the expertise could not be available in-country. This stance, on the part of the company, has been extolled with many saying such is contributing somehow towards poverty reduction. Besides, what was understood was that the conditions of service are good for workers and some members of staff have benefitted from various forms of training that have contributed greatly to improve their competencies and outputs.
In terms of effective implementation of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), NP-SL is really on top of situation. The company has supported many worthy causes, in some cases complementing the efforts of Government, in fostering development programmes. Just recently, NP-SL made available to the Government and People of Sierra Leone, one billion Leones as its support to help prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus and to help contain it. This was indeed no mean gesture considering the seriousness of the health pandemic, especially as the country is said to have reported seven (7) cases and the negative economic dislocations it is creating around the world. Such a gesture has been described as very timely with calls for other corporate institutions to give, in their own little ways, their support to Government underscoring that no support should be considered too small.
Still within its CSR portfolio, the petroleum marketing company financed the construction of a water facility for the National Fire Force, Kissy Branch. The state of the art water facility, powered by a kva generator it also donated, is capable of pumping a considerable amount of water into fire engines ,a move that is currently assisting the Force greatly in its fire extinguishing operations and knowing how unfriendly fire disasters could be, the offer has been considered as a big boost to the NFF.
To again give its customers the best device for cooking purposes, the shareholders and Management thought it fit to introduce NP Gas which is manufactured in different cylinder sizes and powered by gas which is marketed by the company. According to a thorough investigation mounted by this medium it was uncovered that NP Gas is environmentally friendly, very portable and safe for domestic use. They could be secured at the company’s different Filling Stations right across the country.
Along the same line of giving their customers utmost satisfaction and make life somehow comfortable for them, the company also introduced NP Smart Card which is also a memory chip that could be used to purchase fuel. As long as the card is loaded with money, a customer could easily procure the amount of fuel required. It is indeed a latest way of transacting business, preventing a customer from the hassle of having to rush to the bank to withdraw funds especially on weekends just for the purpose of securing fuel to last over the weekend. This has been described as the most convenient way of purchasing fuel as it saves time and is very secure.
It can be stated with all amount of certainty that NP-SL is one of the few indigenous companies that have successfully opened branches in Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast and The Gambia and all of these branches are doing extremely well within the same ambit of its modus operandi. In all these countries the company is timely paying huge taxes to the Governments and such is putting those political entities at vantage positions to fund certain development projects.
NP-SL Ltd is indeed a result-oriented company that continues to satisfy the petroleum needs of many. Besides, it is immensely contributing to the socio-economic development of individuals and the country as a whole. It is a company that is synonymous with 1st For Customer Care. Indeed the petroleum marketing company continues to assuage the petroleum needs of its numerous and esteemed customers.
