Grand Petroleum moves to dominate Nigeria’s lubricants market

Grand Petroleum, a subsidiary of NOSAK Group, is deepening its investment in the country’s lubricants sub-sector of the economy.

Speaking during the annual management retreat held in Lagos recently, Dapo Keshinro, GM, Grand Petroleum, makers of Hi-Speed range of lubricants said that Hi-Speed in the last one year is one of the market drivers of lubricants in the country.

“For some reasons, Hi-Speed range of lubricants was off the shelf for few months, but now it’s back in the market. The drivers for us coming back on board are the demands from the market.

“The product is not new to the market, it went off the shelf, the market is already aware of the product and the demand is already there. The product is not penetrating the market, we are reactivating what we have and the quality and the reputation of the product still drive sales, he said.

On the challenge of sourcing forex for raw materials, Keshinro said: “Forex is a challenge for most manufactures in the country, for us, we try to use local materials and suppliers and these have helped to reduce the pressure on the naira for forex. But there are some materials that are we still need to import and we work with our assistant company, that have a better expertise in handling such transactions.

He stressed the need for checking and controlling adulterated lubricants in the market.

“Basically, we work with the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) and the DPR, and we are a member of NUPAN, we also serve in several committees of the SON and we discuss adulteration issues and what needs to be done.

“In past years, we have committees who go out to monitor and bring to book perpetrators of the product. That’s one of the things we do. Secondly, our distribution model ensures that our products retain its integrity till it gets to the end user. We engage our distributors and their staff to ensure our products remain intact. We also do package integrity, Keshinro added.

ANTHONY NLEBEM