The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has said it had put together an array of security measures through a digitally controlled system to reverse the causes of the nation’s dwindling oil fortunes.
Nigeria has been recording huge losses in its daily oil production quota, which has resulted in heavy national revenue loss.
The development has compelled the Federal Government to resorting to borrowings to fund the economy.
The NNPCL said its records and those of its subsidiaries showed that between March 3, 2022 and September, the country steadily lost $700 million monthly to the inability to meet the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the national quotas.
Explaining the dire economic situation facing the country as a result of the losses, and how the NNPCL has set up a technologically-driven solutions to tame the menace, the Group General Manager (GGM) of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Mr. Bala Wunti, said the national oil company had to set up an urgent action to address the dire situation.
Wunti, who spoke at a demonstration briefing organised for some select journalists in Abuja, said though the digital solution has a semblance of the Saudi oil company’s (Aramco’s) security infrastructure, the Nigerian model is combining technology with the efforts of the national security outfits and those of oil producing communities.
“I was at the Saudi Arabian infrastructure. I was there twice and I know what they have. It’s a digital control system; it’s different from our own. Digital control system is like you have the control system of all your assets in one place.
“This is beyond digital control system; it’s also a security system… This was built by our in-house software engineers because of the security sensitivities to it; because they are customised…
“So, we use technology to integrate and synchronise and create what we are now confident and comfortable with. Among the things we’re very proud of are our very young engineers, young enough to be our children and grandchildren in some of these places. A lot of them are seated in this control room. That is why credit must be given to the leadership of the NNPC for being able to respond to this.
“We developed this in about 60 days and we started using it, and it is progressing. We’re not where we want to get. But I think we have achieved 60 to 65 per cent of the capability of these infrastructure.
“We are integrating with other tools. We are connected to every agency that has infrastructure: Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Navy and the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) and several other infrastructure in the country. We all have collaborative platform to be able to do what we need to do,” he said.
Source: The Nation
