Organisations in Nigeria’s oil, gas and energy sector must make resilience a strategic imperative rather than treat it as a purely operational concern, the Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited, Sunday Anyaogu, has said.
Anyaogu made the observation while speaking as a panellist at the 12th Annual Conference of the Institute of Internal Auditors Nigeria, during a session on ‘Oil, Gas & Energy – Assuring Resilience in the Energy Sector: Managing Geopolitical Uncertainty, Asset Integrity and ESG Risks.’
The conference, which focused broadly on ‘Future-Proofing Assurance: Confronting Cybersecurity Threats, AI Complexity, and Global Volatility,’ brought together professionals and industry stakeholders to examine emerging risks confronting organisations and the role of assurance in strengthening corporate resilience.
According to Anyaogu, the oil and gas industry is operating in an environment where resilience has become as important as profitability, given the increasing frequency and complexity of disruptions confronting businesses.
He identified geopolitical instability, supply-chain vulnerabilities, cyber threats and rising stakeholder expectations as some of the factors reshaping the risk environment for energy companies.
“Organisational resilience should be a strategic imperative, not purely an operational concern,” Anyaogu said, stressing that companies must embed resilience into their strategic decision-making and governance frameworks.
He noted that the growing complexity of the operating environment requires businesses to move beyond conventional approaches to risk management and develop systems capable of anticipating, absorbing and responding effectively to disruption.
The Pinnacle CFO also highlighted the importance of asset integrity, particularly in an industry where operational reliability, safety and environmental performance have significant financial and reputational implications.
He argued that asset integrity becomes commercially meaningful only when claims concerning safety, reliability, environmental performance and operational resilience are backed by verifiable evidence, properly governed by management and independently assured.
According to him, such evidence must also be traceable to measurable environmental, social and governance (ESG) outcomes.
Anyaogu’s comments come against the backdrop of growing pressure on energy companies to demonstrate stronger governance and accountability while navigating technological, regulatory and market disruptions.
