By Louis Ibah

Nigeria is targeting an 80 per cent increase in investment inflow through the oil and gas free zones, says Managing Director of the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA), Mr. Umana Okon Umana.

Umana stated this at a 2-day intensive management retreat organised by the OGFZA and geared at fashioning out a roadmap to guide its operations for the next four years. The new roadmap, which was adopted at the end of the retreat, revolves around OGFZA’s becoming the premier agency of government attracting investments into Nigeria through the oil and gas free zones.

The retreat also resolved that all work processes in OGFZA would be automated to optimise performance, and equally agreed a standard operating procedure to enhance job performance efficiency.

Anchored on the theme, “Enhancing service delivery in the Oil and Gas Free Zones in Nigeria,” the retreat also agreed a six-point set of values that furnishes the right organisational culture for OGFZA.

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Umana described the retreat as “a very rewarding engagement” that had set the tone for OGFZA to move in the right direction, projecting that the impact would be seen and felt immediately in the country.

“The rebranding is well underway and with it a new way to doing business and dealing with clients,” he said, adding that he was ready to drive the change in the investment agency.The new culture orientation binds the management and staff of OGFZA to live by the creed of integrity, passion for their job, transparency and accountability, creativity, professionalism and respect.

In a speech to bring the retreat to a close, Umana said, “With a roadmap drawn up and core values agreed to provide the right culture orientation to drive operations at OGFZA, we can now engage investors and operators in the oil and gas free zones in a manner that facilitates the achievement of our mandate.”

Umana stressed that the new work ethics in the agency would emphasise performance, reward exceptional contribution and accept no excuses for failure.

Umana acknowledged the “excellent presentations by resource persons” at the retreat and said the era of excellence has dawned that would impact work processes, training, manpower development and service delivery in all ramifications at OGFZA.