Despite hurdles, SONARA fulfilled mission in 2015 -Talba Malla

The General Manager of the National Oil Refining Company Ltd (SONARA) Ibrahim Talba Malla, has said despite some hurdles such as unfavourable economic climate, the company was able to fulfill its mission in 2015.

Talba Malla was speaking at the SONARA Club House in Limbe on Friday 5 February 2015 as he received New Year wishes from the staff of the company.

This, the General Manager said, can be demonstrated through “smooth functioning of the manufacturing units, which helped to ensure the processing of crude oil to the tune of 1.820.000 MT, in line with our budget; marketing of 1,175,000 MT of all finished products in the national market and CEMAC zone; export of 550,000 MT of refined products, all destinations included, outside of the CEMAC zone, well beyond budgetary estimates; reduction of deadlines for billing and debts recovery, efficiency of preventive and curative maintenance of jetties and other installations of the port; renewal in the month of June of the ISO 9001 certification 2008 version; maintaining the ISRS to level 8 on a scale of 10 and that of the quality management system at 2.5 on a scale of 5 at the end of the joint internal audit carried out in December 2015; reduction to 47% of work-related accidents for SONARA workers; intensification of control of intrusion by redeploying the defense staff in order to secure the company’s property; maintenance of the computer infrastructure in order to meet security challenges and the tools-service adequacy of SONARA; promotion of the corporate image of SONARA through its active participation in national and international events; progressive implementation of the provisions of the new collective agreement for the welfare of the staff; implementation of a better medical evacuation policy for the staff; and remarkable improvement in terms of punctuality and assiduity at work”.

Talba Malla said the ceremony was an opportunity to take a retrospective look at the just-ended year and then look forward to the future. He told the staff that without collective synergy all the projects realised in 2015 would not have seen the light of day.

“It is good to know how precious you commitment was, and how closely you collaborated. You high sense of a job well done has never failed us,” Talba Malla said.

He, however, frowned at the fact that a few staff continue to indulge in “some undesirable acts, contrary to professional conduct, and go a long way to adversely affect company assets and that of the partner companies”.

“Fortunately enough, thanks to the adoption of our code of ethics and the operationalisation of the anti-corruption and ethics promotion unit, backed by the vigilance of the service for defense and control of intrusion, the situation is progressively reducing, when it sometimes does not turn to the detriment of those who engage in such dealings,” he added.

The General Manager continued that 2016 will witness the concretization of major changes regarding competitiveness, success of the restructuring plan, completion of phase I of the extension and modernisation project “in order to foster the development drive and growth of our country, so dear to His Excellency Paul Biya, President of the Republic, whose greatest concern is to improve the livelihood of the population.”

These, he stated, include “consolidating the safe supply of petroleum products in quantity and quality… dynamising the new commercial policy to boost and secure sales, within a decreasing economic trend, while remaining attentive to diversified and increasingly demanding customers, effectively implementing and completing a handbook for administrative, commercial, financial and accounting procedures, in order to comply with good practices and international standards, continuously follow-up measures intended to create an enabling working environment for the staff, so as to boost their productivity, speeding up the completion process of the extension and modernisation project of our installations, objective of phase I, in order to strengthen management flexibility and embark on phase II while increasing the profitability of our company, ensuring continuous effort to preserve quality, hygiene, and safety and the protection of environment”.

The General Manager thus urged the SONARA staff to play their roles without distractions while bearing in mind the interest of SONARA and the general interest.

Meanwhile, speaking earlier on behalf of the staff, the Director of Administration and Human Resource, Bouba Mohammadou, pointed out that SONARA lost eight workers in 2015, but added that these deaths came at a time when the General Manager has instituted a humanistic health policy for the company, something the workers had never dreamt of. He said health evacuations are no longer reserved for top brass, but for everybody.

Mohammadou also said with a mortality rate of 0.1 5 it can be deducted that SONARA’s personnel are getting old with an average age of 42 years.

He added that the staff did not just come for the New Year wishes to shake hands with the General Manager but to assure him of their constant support.

“You can always count on us,” Bouba Mohammadou said on behalf of the staff.

After the SONARA workers each shock hands with the General Manager, wishing him happy New Year, they then took photographs after which there was feasting.