L-R: Chief Operating Officer, Seplat Energy Plc, Samson Ezugworie; Global Chief Executive Officer, Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), Ben Farrell and General Manager, Supply Chain Management (SCM), Seplat Energy, Valentine Agwu, at the presentation of the Procurement Excellence Standard Certificate to Seplat Energy Plc by the CIPS in Lagos
By Edu Abade
The Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) has presented the Procurement Excellence Standard Certificate to foremost Nigerian independent energy company, Seplat Energy Plc.
Global Chief Executive Officer of CIPS, Ben Farrell, who led a delegation of the institute, made the presentation to Seplat Energy at the company’s office in Lagos to the company’s team led by its Chief Operating Officer (COO), Samson Ezugworie and General Manager, Supply Chain Management (SCM), Valentine Agwu.
Seplat Energy’s application to be assessed against the CIPS standards commenced in February 2023, during which period the CIPS-approved assessors reviewed the company’s processes, policies and work ethics, among other criteria against 98 elements and across five categories used for assessing the operations of a supply chain management organisation.
The company’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) held the final assessment with a CIPS Advantage Procurement Excellence Programme Independent Verifier on Monday, January 21, 2025. Consequently, on Wednesday, January 22, 2025 CIPS announced that Seplat Energy Plc has been given the award.
Farrell, who noted that the award has only been issued to a few organisations that have demonstrated aspiration and continuous obsession with being better and raising the bar, said: “We don’t give these Certificates away, because they are serious, meaningful recognition of that ambition.
“So, it is designed for hard work and to be rigorous, because we want people to feel at the end of it that they are really proficient and they are capable of all the things it is designed to do. So, it is a real recognition of your commitment and the team’s commitment. Congratulations to you all.”
The COO of Seplat Energy COO, on behalf of the company and its management expressed deep appreciation to the CIPS team for the transformative journey the Seplat SCM had gone through and gave credit to them, particularly for the thoroughness and vigor in the review process.
Ezugworie said: “For us as Seplat Energy management, we made a deliberate decision to go this route, because Supply Chain is the bedrock of our business. It is the channel of our spend and it is very important to get the channel of your spend on a very right foundation, and perhaps with transparency that this whole process brings.”
He commended the SCM Team, led by Valentine Agwu, for making the company proud and further challenged them on a continuous implementation journey towards the Platinum Category of the certificate, such that sustainability becomes the next level of challenge.
Earlier, Agwu noted that in 2021, Seplat Energy set out on a transformation agenda which was built around process, people and systems only adding that however, the company eventually adopted a CIPS PEP Model upon which to build the transformation.
“It took us two years of rigorous assessment on 5 dimensions including Leadership and Organisation, Processes and System, Strategy and Policy, Performance Management and People. I am proud to announce that we passed in flying colours, which is why we are here today,” he said.
Seplat Energy Plc’s SCM function has undergone a rigorous assessment by the CIPS UK and adjudged to have successfully met the required standard as set out, for having robust and effective governance processes in place for supply assurance and compliance.
This outstanding feat is a result of the process, people and ways of working initiatives that were implemented over the years. It is worthy to note that, by reason of this award, Seplat Energy Plc has set another pace as the first to receive the CIPS Procurement Excellence Standard Award in Nigeria and the second oil and gas company in Africa to have received the award.
