In a strategic move to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in its organization and government offices, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says it has developed a novel contact-tracing software application deployable across the country.
The App can also be used by members of staff to document their private visitors at their various homes.
Disclosing this in Abuja on Wednesday, Group General Manager, Information Technology Division (ITD), Mr Danladi Inuwa, said the initiative was in line with the Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE) agenda of the corporation’s Group Managing Director, Malam Mele Kyari.
“The Contacts-Tracing Solution is ready to be deployed, all the technical testing have been done and the solution is ready to go live.
“Everywhere you go around NNPC locations will be covered by this novel application, which will reveal all information about persons visiting any official.
“Should there be any medical challenge, the NNPC Medical will be able to track from the information at the data base all the contacts and advise properly,” Inuwa said in a statement by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affair, Dr Kennie Obateru, and obtained by Persecondnews.
He said the corporation was committed to the deployment of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to boost operational efficiency and accountability.
Inuwa described the novel App as part of NNPC’s sectoral contribution to curb spread of the pandemic within its formations, ministries, departments and agencies of government.
According to him, the App will enable the corporation’s workforce to adjust adequately to the ‘new normal’ way of living to minimize spread of the disease.
Inuwa disclosed that the corporation had also deployed a Sales and Distribution App in the Oil and Gas Secondary Model Portal that would enable marketers buy petroleum products online.
“This will minimize human contacts in business transactions at the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a downstream subsidiary of NNPC, in the face of COVID-19 pandemic.
“The application, known as the Customer Express, will also enable marketers to register, validate and revalidate their Bulk Purchase Agreements online within a week.’’
Inuwa explained that the portal would provide a dashboard that would enable the corporation to track every molecule of products being imported, transported and sold at any given time.
He said: “The portal shows what product is in transit in terms of volume, what quantity is in the jetty, what volume has gone into the pipelines, what quantity has gone into NNPC depots, private depots and refinery depots.
“So, we have accurate accounting of every molecule of products that we have in our system.’’
Already, members of Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) are now purchasing products online seamlessly, he said.
“The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN) and other relevant downstream stakeholders are expected to start transacting business on the platform soon.
“An application that can show the volume of stocks in the tanks of all NNPC Retail stations across the country has equally been deployed and the ticketing digitized, affirming that more technological innovations would be deployed in the months ahead.”
Inuwa restated that despite the recent lockdown in the country, the NNPC business value-chains were not affected as the corporation was well-prepared.
“NNPC had over 4,000 virtual meetings, 9.3 million minutes of audio time, 6.7 million minutes of video time and 2.1 million minutes of screen shared times,” lnuwa said, adding “the robust IT business continuity plan has enhanced the corporation’s workforce efficiency.”
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