Expert Advocate ‘Saftainability’ Across Nigeria’s Services Industry

Esther Oluku

Expert in quality assurance, sustainability and safety and Finance Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo), Mrs. Remilekun Soyannwo, has harped on the need to promote ‘saftainability’ across Nigeria’s services industry.

Soyannwo led the charge in her keynote address to graduands at the third convocation ceremony of the Quality, Health, Sustainability, Environment and Safety (QHSES) Leadership Academy which held in Lagos recently.

According to her, ‘Saftainability’, a merger of the words safety, health and sustainability, lies at the core of exceptional service delivery as an unsafe action taken within a service chain would have a negative effect on the overall output.

She said: “Safetainability is an area where we all need to be aware of and we need to be very conscious of. We need to be able to manage and demonstrate it, to make sure that in our own communities and in all aspects of our lives, it is upheld.

“If we don’t stay safe, nobody is safe. If the quality of the goods, the quality of the environment, and the quality of the resources that we’re using are substandard, then they could lead to serious devastations. If we don’t pay attention to our environment, it could lead to diseases and epidemics.”

As young leaders imbued with training on best safety practices in service delivery, she urged graduands to be models of the saftainability message as they go on to join the Nigerian work force.

On his part, Founder, QHSES Leadership Academy, Engr. Jamiu Badmus, explained that the Academy was born from a vision to add value to the Nigerian economy.

The Academy is a tuition-free institution accredited by the American Council of Training and Development (ACTD) and certified to ISO 9001:2015 standards with 50 courses which run for about seven months every year.

Last year, it graduated 272 persons and this year, the graduating class boasts of 248 persons. In his remark, Badmus said: “We see this Academy as a way to support this country, to support our people and to support Africa and the global space.

“We must adapt to change and must be able to add value. If all of us are doing different value-adding things, we won’t need government for us to survive. If we can all come together and start adding value to our communities, our families, outside our families, in our schools, in our localities, before you know it, the country will be better and what we will achieve for ourselves and the country will be great.”