GMD of NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu
Chineme Okafor in Abuja
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC) yesterday said it was inching closer to its dream of becoming a first class National Oil Company (NOC) with the launch of an ultra-modern Data Centre that is expected to help it trim down its operational costs.
According to a statement from the acting Group Manager, Public Affairs of the NNPC, Mr. Fidel Pepple, in Abuja, the Green data centre is designed for maximum energy efficiency and minimum environmental impact and built with leading industry standard technologies adjudged by experts to be second to none in the country.
Pepple noted that the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu had described the data centre in a short unveiling ceremony as a highly secure, fault-resistant facility that will be available for use by the private sector and other industry stakeholders on commercial basis in view of the Corporation’s commercial outlook.
Yakubu had also expressed hope that the new facility will help the corporation cut down its cost on acquiring related services from elsewhere.
Yakubu noted that the new facility will save the corporation billions of naira that would otherwise be expended in third-party hosting of critical applications central to NNPC’s operations.
Yakubu said: “As a Group, the data center will eliminate the prevalent duplication of efforts across the various Strategic Business Units (SBUs) and Corporate Service Units (CSUs) of our Corporation by providing an environment for the central storage of business tools which will be accessible corporate-wide.”
He thanked the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke for providing the extra impetus for the realisation of the project.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, as a philosopher once said, today is the beginning of that great tomorrow that we dreamt about yesterday. I thank God Almighty that this is happening under my watch as the Group Managing Director of the NNPC,” Yakubu added.
Accordingly, plans for the NNPC state-of-the art Corporate Data Centre teed-off in 2005 when the project was identified as one of the critical requirements for an effective transformation of the Corporation.
Contract for its construction was finally awarded to Inlaks Computer Limited in 2010 and the new facility has its own independent power system, efficient cooling system, intelligent physical security system, fire protection system and other components to ensure 99.98 percent consistent availability of critical business applications and information on the platform.
General Manager, Information Systems Department of the NNPC, Mr. Don Aholu expresses optimism that the department and the Corporation would maximise the new data centre for the benefit of the NNPC and the entire oil and gas industry.
“I wish to state without ambiguity that the current NNPC IT is ready and able to host and support the most critical mission of business systems and solutions. As we celebrate this major milestone in our onward march to a world class oil and gas company, we wish to assure you of our commitment and preparedness for the journey ahead,” Aholu said.