By Amin Kef Sesay
The National Petroleum- Sierra Leone Limited (NP-SL Ltd) is a 100% indigenous company that has a very strong Vision which is anchored on building a well-run dominant petroleum company that is poised to compete within the West African sub-region. With a culture to develop a disciplined family with an institutional culture working towards building a great company, this petroleum entity has indeed made enormous progress in those directions over the years.
Indeed one cannot wrestle with the fact that NP-SL Ltd is a well dominant petroleum company as it stands tall as the leading oil marketing entity within the business landscape not only of this country but even beyond. Commendably, the company has branches in neighboring Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast and The Gambia that are vibrantly functioning in terms of meeting and satisfying the petroleum needs of individuals and institutions. With dedicated members of staff whom are very polite and friendly in attending to its numerous customers, the company has created a niche for its enhanced customer care posture.
It has been attested by many that one of the core reasons why they prefer doing business with NP is because of the dignified way in which the company’s attentive members of staff, especially the pump attendants , treat them furthering that they are very helpful and courteous. Besides, they intimated this medium that NP is a very reliable company justifying that assertion by pointing out that anytime there is any form of fuel scarcity in the country the company is the last, among other oil marketing companies, that would shutdown sales.
One thing that is very certain is that in all these countries where the company is operating huge taxes are paid to the Governments thereby contributing to the revenue baskets of those countries from which funds are used to finance certain development programmes or projects. At this crucial moment when countries are going through difficult economic times to have a company like NP, which falls with the largest tax payer bracket, helps greatly to mitigate the debilitating effects of economic recession.
The company had provided and is still providing employment opportunities for citizens in these countries and in doing so it lays emphasis on employing indigenes as it strongly believes in developing an indigenous working corp. This posture of the company is in sync with enhancing local content that places premium on making use of local human resources of countries where it is functioning instead of importing foreign expatriates. This helps greatly to enhance national developments and reduce poverty in those countries.
NP-SL has been greatly praised by many for its installation of state of the art calibrated pumping machines at its Filling Stations which are capable of giving customers value for money. This simply means that these machines are capable of pumping the exact quantity of fuel and at the same time simultaneously displaying the price. According to those that this medium caught up with, they always feel very much satisfied when transacting with the company saying the entity is transparently conducting business.
With the avowed objective of making their customers very comfortable, NP-SL introduced two new innovations that have now become useful to many. There is NP Gas and NP Smart Card. NP Gas is a form of cooker that uses gas to power it. Manufactured in different sizes they can be easily refilled and are being sold at reasonable prices. They have been proven to be environmentally friendly and easy to handle.
With regards the NP Smart Card it can be used to purchase fuel without using physical cash. Its biggest advantage is that it prevents individuals to rush to the bank in order to be financially solvent to purchase petroleum products. Sometimes the banks may have closed down to members of the public and if an individual wants to purchase fuel but has no money in his possession such will be a big embarrassment especially on a Friday. It is against such a backdrop that the NP Smart Card comes in very handy and besides it can help promote transparency because whenever fuel is purchased and pumped it is debited from the Smart Card and when the card is loaded it is credited.
Indeed, it has been established that the petroleum products imported by NP-SL are of high quality and very good for engines. The company timely imports high grade quality petroleum products like petrol, diesel and lubricants, one of which is the widely utilized Castrol oil. The products that the company imports are always well tested to ensure that they are very good for use and are environmentally friendly. Some have attested that simply because they are using the company’s products such has helped greatly towards enhancing the good performances of their cars, generators and other gadgets that are powered by either petrol or diesel.
Frankly enough, NP Sierra Leone Limited has truly proven that it is a dedicated and competent company that is effectively able to compete within the West African sub-region.
