Killing The Bill That Pays Their Bills

PIB in Distress

PIGB

PIB

PIFB

PHCB

PIAB

Petroleum Industry Governance bill

Petroleum Host Community bill

Petroleum Industry Administration bill

Petroleum Industry Fiscal bill

PETR

OL

EUM INDUSTRY BILL

4 EDITORIAL

INDUSTRY5 LPG: Nigeria’s Leading Clean

Fuel Alternative

8 US, India, others shun Nigeria’s April crude despite high offers

10 Marine Cable Market: big opportunity for Local Content Development COLEMAN CAbLES IN FOCUS

13 Aiteo, NOSDRA bicker Over Nembe Oil Well Fire

15 Oil Companies Urged to Develop Indigenous Capacity

34 Over 2bn Litres of Petroleum Products Transported through Pipelines in 2 years – NPSC

38 March Short Takes

ENERGY36 Schneider Electric, Partners

Stage Sensitization Campaign On Public Safety

COLUMN44 Electric, Not Fuel Will Power

Future Car

GUEST COLUMN47 Implications of Good Customer

Service

SPORTS51 Dambe: How Ancient Form

of Nigerian boxing swept the Internet

CONTENTSMArCH 2019 VOL. 2 NO. 3

2723Engr. Simbi Kesiye WaboteExecutive Secretary, NCDMb

Star of the Industry

Still on Ogoniland Cleanup ProjectISSUES ARISING

17

Ethiopian Airlines Rejects Claims That

Crashed boeing 737 MAX Pilot

Was Not Properly Trained

40

3

Ogoniland cleanup, which President Muhammadu Buhari promised to deliver,

has generated so much hype re-cently among stakeholders. Few days before the recent approval of additional clean up projects by the Federal Executive Council, some civil society organizations questioned the sincerity of the Federal Government to execute the cleanup project.

Many still feel that the gov-ernment should handle this Ogoniland clean up with all se-riousness it deserves. This ad-ministration has enjoyed relative peace in the Niger Delta, which made oil production stable for some time now.

It appears that part of the rea-son why this relative peace was achieved in the region stems from the hope that heralded the launch of the Ogoniland clean up two years ago in a ceremony that the President himself wanted to attend in person, but was later represented by the Vice Presi-dent, and the then Minister of En-vironment, Amina Mohammed, who is now a deputy secretary general of the United Nations.

It is important to note that

info@thevaluechainng.com @thevaluechainng.com thevaluechainng.com

MB. UsmanNB. Feel free to send in your views and have your say @ 007mbu@gmail.com

With barely 70 days for the ten-ure of the present members of the red and green chambers of the national assembly to expire, some highly important bills, such as PIB and others are still hang-ing with the legislators. Our cover story for this month focused on the need for the outgoing legis-lators to make sure that PIB is passed before the end of their tenure.

This and many more reports are packaged for your reading re-laxation. Finally, I want to use this medium to thank you for your pa-tronage.

Have a nice time.

other oil communities viewed this cleanup project as a litmus test for the government, and are watching to see whether it is for sure or it’s another ‘politricks’ by the government as usual. In this edition, we brought you a story on matters arising from the Ogo-ni cleanup project.

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

Editor

Graphic Consultant

Circulation Manager

Online Editor

Business Dev. Executives

Contributors

Musa bashir Usman

Yange Ikyaa

Theresa Ogbonna

Danlami Nasir Isah

Saidu Abubakar

Adeniyi Onifade (South)Abdulkarim Sani (North)

Fred OjiegbeGideon Osaka

Ironhand S. ChukwuemekaAisha Sambobenjamin Ike

1-2 Abu-rayyan Street, New NDC Layout, Kaduna. Tel: 08077201571, Abuja: 07089626420, Lagos: 08036840121. email: 007mbu@gmail.com www.thevaluechainng.com

4

With African peers not resting on their oars to grow Lique-fied Petroleum Gas

(LPG) used as a clean domes-tic, transportation and industrial fuel, Nigeria is also doubling its efforts to save its natural envi-ronment and make its energy economy more sustainable.

A perfect African example is that LPG used in Tanzania is steadily growing in tandem with rising income levels of house-holds, where a total of 107,083 MTs of LPG was imported by marketing companies in FY16/17 as compared to 71,311

MTs of LPG imported the pre-vious year, and representing a 66% increase year-on-year.

In the last quarter of 2018, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) announced a national blueprint to aggres-sively grow local consumption of gas popularly known in the country as cooking gas. The African largest economy had, before that time, expressed its intention to target and control 10 percent share of the glob-al Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) market as well.

The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru,

who unveiled the plans, said his Corporation’s intention is to in-vest more in making LPG avail-able to Nigerians as a strategic way of discouraging the com-mon use of firewood and other unclean fuels for cooking.

Baru stressed further that it was time to bring LPG closer to the people and at affordable prices, following significant in-vestment which has been made by the Corporation to address the challenges of product defi-cit.

He listed some of the proj-ects aimed at deepening LPG consumption in the country to

Industry 03:19

LPG: Nigeria’s Leading Clean Fuel Alternative

–By Yange Ikyaa

5

Industry 03:19

include the expansion of NNPC LPG storage facility at Apapa from 4,000mt to 8,000mt in the first phase, and the construc-tion of pipelines to deliver LPG to plants in the hinterland, apart from the development of coast-al supply facilities.

“We have also purchased two LPG vessels for export opera-tions through the West African Gas Ltd (WAGL), a joint venture firm, and we have developed a growth strategy plan and are gradually providing LPG kits across NNPC retail outlets”, Baru affirmed.

Following this clearly laid

down policy framework, which is supported by investment into gas infrastructure, the Nigeri-an organized private sector is pushing ahead with different products that promote the use of LPG as a cleaner, cheaper and more efficient fuel while preserv-ing the natural environment.

The Nigerian federal govern-ment has said it plans to grow LPG demand from 600,000 tons to 2 million tons by 2025.

In January 2019, the govern-ment expressed readiness to implement an effective com-mercial framework that would halt the export of propane and butane to surrounding countries in a move to boost the supply of LPG to the local market. Butane and propane are the two gases compressed together to form LPG.

Propane, they said, is about 45 percent cheaper than butane, which has characteristic of low pressure and cost.

Considering the age of most cylinders in circulation within Nigeria, the possibility of explo-sion remains high if propane pressure is exerted on a cylinder.

The acceptable standard globally is that all cylinders must be built to propane pres-sure specification, but accord-ing to the Nigerian industrial standard, which was approved by Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Butane and Pro-pane should be mixed on equal measures of 50 percent each in

producing LPG.Most of the cylinders im-

ported into Nigeria are often sub-standard, and this has en-dangered the lives of many gas users.

This was corroborated by the findings of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), which attribut-ed the influx of sub-standard cylinders into the country to in-sufficient cylinder production in the country.

The agency has been prompt-ed by this unfortunate reality to initiate a plan to expand local manufacturing of LPG cylinders.

The Ministry of Petroleum re-sources has also come up with LPG national strategic policy as a back up to the efforts of SON in riding the country of sub-stan-dard LPG accessories.

NCDMB has gone into part-nership with the Bank of Indus-try (BOI) to produce cylinders capable of meeting the needs of consumers, which is put at three million yearly.

The Department of Petro-leum resources (DPr), has also unveiled plans to release new guidelines to regulate Nigeria’s LPG Industry.

DPr is now embarking on stakeholder engagement in the LPG Industry with a view to fashioning new guidelines on life-threatening issues being taken for granted by operators in the industry.

Zonal Controller, DPr, Lagos,

The LPG market in Nigeria has been priming itself for tremendous growth and the time is finally at hand, as the country currently consumes about 400,000 to 600,000 metric tonnes of LPG yearly, compared to about 70,000mt a decade ago, which has also encour-aged influx of cylinders and allied businesses.

Mordecai Ladan, Director DPr

6

Industry 03:19

Oluwole Akinyosoye, said the guidelines would spell out truck loading specifications to ensure that operators have the right shut out valves, and are correct-ly installed.

He warned fuel station oper-ators who are also selling lique-fied petroleum gas without gov-ernment authorization to desist from the act or face the wrath of the law.

According to him, “safety of lives and property is the central theme of oil and gas operations and it is remarkable that safe operations have been the hall-mark in the last one year. Talking about safety and operations, you will notice that since the scarcity of kerosene became a permanent feature a couple of years ago, the LPG business has risen to the challenge to provide cooking energy at our homes.”

DPr insists it is illegal to oper-ate an LPG skid even in DPr-ap-proved petrol stations.

“Holding a license to operate a petrol station does not enti-tle a dealer to set up a gas skid without obtaining the due ap-provals for the operation from the department, and the dealer must always take care to oper-ate in safe manners even under license.”

As Nigeria has been exporting most of its LPG, it has signifi-cantly hampered the domes-tic market growth, leading to importation of LPG for its own domestic use. By stopping its imports, the nation is setting it-self on track to bring LPG prices down and drive market penetra-tion.

The government has also de-cided to start issuing licenses to selected LPG operators this year to put them at the fore-front of the cylinder recircula-tion module, giving operators the power of cylinder ownership

which should quash illegal refill-ing activities significantly.

The LPG market in Nigeria has been priming itself for tremen-dous growth and the time is fi-nally at hand, as the country cur-rently consumes about 400,000 to 600,000 metric tonnes of LPG yearly, compared to about 70,000mt a decade ago, which has also encouraged influx of cylinders and allied businesses.

One challenge however is that, with the porous nature of the Nigerian borders, unscrupu-lous importers have continued to import expired and substan-dard gas cylinders.

Some of these imported cylin-ders are used cylinders that are corroded without any indication of expiry dates, yet other com-panies are pushing ahead with their business of LPG in Nige-ria with high levels of standard and efficiency, giving hope that the market could be largely san-itized and made safer and more commercially sustainable.

For instance, MOB Integrated Services Limited recently said it has boosted the supply of LPG in Nigeria by 11,000 metric tonnes.

On January 17, 2019, the company quoted Gbolahan Obanikoro, its Chief Executive Officer, as saying that they have supplied over 25,000 metric tonnes monthly across Sub-Sa-haran Africa.

Obanikoro said his company has positioned itself as a “front runner” in a bid to boost the sup-

ply and availability of cooking gas in the country in fulfilment of the Presidential Liquefied Pe-troleum Gas (LPG) expansion initiative.

“Nigeria is a sleeping giant with an annual consumption capacity of five million metric tonnes per annum,” Obanikoro said.

“We are currently consuming about 600,000 metric tonnes just a little above 10 per cent of our actual capacity.

Our goal is to continue to push for the adoption and pen-etration of LPG across the coun-try, ensuring that the product is available to consumers and of course position ourselves to harness the benefits when the market takes a corner and the country is poised to achieving its consumption potential.

In furtherance of the Presi-dential LPG Expansion Initiative aimed at deepening the usage and fully integrating the product into Nigeria’s energy mix, MT Sa-hara Gas, the newly built vessel by the company, acquired by the West Africa Gas Limited (WAGL), has delivered an unprecedented 11,000 metric tonnes of LPG to Nigeria in order to boost avail-ability and safe access to the commodity.

WAGL is a Joint Venture of NNPC and Sahara Group that is committed to stabilizing the market and ensuring sustain-ability of the commodity through strategic deliveries within the sub-region.

NCDMB has gone into part-nership with the Bank of Industry (BOI) to produce cylinders capable of meeting the needs of consumers, which is put at three million yearly.

7

Industry 03:19

Sources told Valuechain that Nigerian crude oil for the month of April loading

has been slow to sell, with offer levels providing little value com-pared with rival grades from the Mediterranean, North Sea and Latin America. “I have not heard anything trade. It looks very quiet,” one crude trader said, while another said: “Buyers have pulled back quite a bit and we may be in for a bit of a waiting game on the Nigerian front.”

“Northwest European buyers might consider West African grades to be on the expensive

side. The structure is not help-ing a lot,” a third crude trader said. “The North Sea has come off a bit, so competition for Ni-gerian grades is stronger. Just on an economic perspective, people will be swinging away from West African crude. Cur-rent linear programming runs would signal that as well.” US imports of Nigerian crude have been sharply lower year on year of late. US Energy Information Administration data showed imports averaged 29,000 b/d in the four weeks to February 22, versus 308,000 b/d in the 2018

period. “With the USAC Philadel-phia refiners now largely pulled out of WAF light sweet, the ma-jority of the remaining Nigerian will be dependent on clearing in the prompter European market,” a crude oil trader said.

Also, with India signing an agreement to import 0.6 million barrels of oil from the United States, Nigeria’s crude exports could further be threatened if new markets are not explored, a new report has revealed. The research noted that India was Nigeria’s top crude oil buyer in five of the last six years. Nigeri-

US, India, others shun Nigeria’s April Crude despite high offers

–By Gideon Osaka

There are concerns that Nigeria, whose mainstay of the economy is oil, may not achieve its expected revenue from the product in 2019, as the United States, India and other buyers appear to be shunning the country’s April crude supply, despite high offers.

8

Industry 03:19

an and Angola crude oil cargoes were said to be clearing slowly in lacklustre demand with pro-grammes due to emerge soon. About 30 Nigerian cargoes from April loading programme were still available, it was learnt. High freight costs into Europe was another factor pressuring Nige-rian crudes. Although Suezmax freight rates has fallen since peaking at multi-year highs late November, freight rates were still higher year on year. The West Africa to UK Continent trip was assessed at $10.11/mt, according to S&P Global Platts data, compared with $6.95/mt on March 5, 2018. “March [Nige-rian value] was over-hyped and there appear to be pressures on competing Mediterranean grades that will affect Nigerian [April crude]. Urals, CPC, Sahara, and Libya, especially as El Sha-rara is expected to be back,” a market source said.

In the Mediterranean, Kazakh-stan’s CPC Blend and Algeria’s Saharan Blend, both light, naph-tha-rich grades, have remained near three-month lows in recent

sessions amid weak gasoline and naphtha cracks and, more recently, the restart of output from Libya’s Sharara field af-ter force majeure, which had been in place for almost three months, was lifted. “CPC is the

most economic grade at the moment in the Med [in terms of cracking margins],” one crude trader said. CPC Blend was as-sessed at a discount of $1.95/b to the Mediterranean Dated Strip and Saharan Blend at a discount of Dated Brent minus 5 cents/b to the Mediterranean Dated Brent strip.

Analysts also believe that high production cost of shale oil coupled with the slump in glob-al oil prices caused capital ex-penditure into shale production to decline substantially, forc-ing the US to ramp up imports from countries like Nigeria. “Go-ing forward, with stability in oil price, we think US would be able to sustain and possibly ramp up shale oil production which could further impact crude import from Nigeria,” the analysts add-ed. Some traders, however, were not expecting North Sea crude to displace West African grades just yet, with one trader saying the distillate yield of West Af-rican crudes would keep them competitive.

Analysts also believe that high production cost of shale oil coupled with the slump in global oil prices caused capital expenditure into shale production to de-cline substantially, forcing the US to ramp up imports from countries like Nigeria. “Going forward, with sta-bility in oil price, we think US would be able to sustain and possibly ramp up shale oil production which could further impact crude import from Nigeria,” the ana-lysts added. Some traders, however, were not expecting North Sea crude to displace West African grades just yet, with one trader saying the distillate yield of West African crudes would keep them competitive.

Dr. Ibe Kachikwu

9

Industry 03:19

Marine Cable Market: Big Opportunity for Local Content

Development

–By Yange Ikyaa

Today, the value of Cole-man Cables, a Nigerian cable manufacturing com-

pany, is well in excess of N25 bil-lion and still growing, according to data sourced by Valuechain from the company.

In 2009, the company had 120 staff and today it is employing about 400 people and still grow-ing. It runs one shift of produc-tion a day with 90 per cent of its funds coming from commercial banks, especially working capi-tal. The company says it has the ability to employ over 8,500 peo-ple at full capacity production, if government is patronizing local businesses such as theirs.

“The real sector can develop Nigerian economy if the gov-ernment decides to focus on those companies that can cre-ate employment and generate more jobs. For the real sector to expand and create more jobs government needs to reduce cost of borrowing, commercial borrowing cannot sustain man-ufacturing companies because it is very expensive,” said George Onafowokan, the CEO of Cole-man Cables.

Today, Coleman is the pioneer for quite a lot of products not

only in Nigeria but also in West Africa. It is the first and only pro-ducer in West Africa of insulated high voltage cable up to 33KV, and is also the pioneer produc-er of CAT 5 and CAT 6 network cable that is used for local area network production and tele-communications in West Africa.

The company is the first pro-ducer of TV/video cable which is used for TV antennae connec-tions and cable satellite as well as other products. Those are the three major pioneer products it has in West Africa. In terms of DC flexible cable, Coleman is the biggest producer in West Africa

and it does the biggest sizes. Considering the high voltage

cable, the company is the sixth country in the continent to pro-duce this. In East Africa, Central Africa and West Africa, it is the pioneer of the large majority in this area. Prior to that, you could only get the Insulated High voltage cable in North Africa or South Africa.

In 2014, the Sagamu facto-ry became a pioneering factory for wire and cable not only for Nigeria but also for Africa and Coleman became part of the league of high distribution cable producers in the continent.

“I believe that as Nigerians and Africans, we can aspire to be better than what people think we are or what they expect of us. I am always proud of my country and that has always helped me to achieve the un-imaginable locally than continu-ing to be seen as a country that can achieve not more than what is expected,” said Onafowokan.

The requirements for ma-rine cables in shipbuilding are growing due to the increasing demand for low weight and high efficiency. Ship cables have to be installed in narrow spaces

COLEMAN CABLES IN FOCUS

George Onafowokan, CEO, Coleman Cables

10

Industry 03:19

demanding highest cable flex-ibility. Furthermore, marine ca-bles often have to be halogen free, flame retardant and self-ex-tinguishing.

Ship cables are not allowed to enhance flame propagation. Ad-ditionally maritime wires should have a low own weight and be-sides correspond to different international approvals. Those special requirements of ship building technique can´t be ful-fi lled by sub-standard products and thus require custom-made solutions for ship builder.

Marine cables unite the spe-cial requirements of shipbuild-ing technique and offer custom-ers highest utility. Due to the numerous approvals as for ex-ample Germanischer Lloyd (GL), American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), Lloyd´s register (Lr) and registro Italiano Navale (rINA) those cables are especially appropriate for use on ships, yachts and offshore equipment.

Ever since the fi rst underwa-ter cable was implemented in 1850 to deliver telegraphy traf-fi c, marine cables and connec-tors have been playing a vital role in the integration of vari-ous sub-systems and systems across a number of industry verticals.

In recent years, the vast rise in the demand for reliable high per-formance, connectivity, and effi -ciency has been enhancing the growth of the marine cables and connectors market. Fiber-optic cables are being widely adopted in the telecommunication indus-try due to their advantages such as effi cient data transfer and high-speed data transfer capa-bilities.

According to Transparency Market research, the global ma-rine cables and connectors mar-ket was estimated at US$ 8.86 billion in the year of 2016 and is

an-t i c -i p a t e d to expand at a CAGr of 5.3% throughout the fore-cast year from 2017 to 2025.

Transparency Market re-search (TMr) is a market intelli-gence company, providing glob-al business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecast-ing and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thou-sands of decision makers.

TMr’s experienced team of analysts, researchers, and con-sultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and an-alyze information. The com-pany’s offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a com-petitive edge.

The global marine cables and connectors market has been segmented on the basis of type, underwater depth, end-use industry, and geography. On the basis of type, the market is broadly analyzed for cables and connectors. In 2016, the seg-ment of cables accounted for the maximum market share in terms of revenue. The segment is also estimated to witness the most promising growth op-portunity over the report’s fore-cast period. The connector seg-ment is also expected to show substantial growth during the forecast period due to rise in applications with advancement in power transmission and tele-communication industry.

In terms of underwater depth,

the m a -rine cable and connec-tor market is s e g m e n t e d into beach joint 1, beach joint 2, burial, and free-lay. In 2016, the beach joint 2 seg-ment held the dom-inant share in the global market and is also expected to expand at a high CAGr during the forecast period. This is mainly due to the vast increase in installation of power and tele-communication network lines in this under-water depth.

Based on end-use industry verticals, the market is seg-mented into oil and gas, military and defense, telecommunica-tion, and power transmission. In 2016, telecommunication in-dustry accounted for the dom-inant market share, and is also predicted to expand at a healthy CAGr during the forecast peri-od.

Geographically, the global marine cables and connectors market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacifi c, Middle East & Africa and South America. Europe held the dominant share in the market, chiefly owing to the early adop-

demanding highest cable flex-ibility. Furthermore, marine ca-bles often have to be halogen free, flame retardant and self-ex-

Ship cables are not allowed to enhance flame propagation. Ad-ditionally maritime wires should have a low own weight and be-sides correspond to different international approvals. Those special requirements of ship building technique can´t be ful-fi lled by sub-standard products and thus require custom-made

Marine cables unite the spe-cial requirements of shipbuild-ing technique and offer custom-ers highest utility. Due to the numerous approvals as for ex-ample Germanischer Lloyd (GL), American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), Lloyd´s register (Lr) and registro Italiano Navale (rINA) those cables are especially appropriate for use on ships,

an-t i c -i p a t e d to expand at a CAGr of 5.3% throughout the fore-cast year from 2017 to 2025.

Transparency Market re-search (TMr) is a market intelli-gence company, providing glob-al business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecast-ing and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thou-sands of decision makers.

TMr’s experienced team of analysts, researchers, and con-sultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and an-

the m a -rine cable and connec-tor market is s e g m e n t e d into beach joint 1, beach joint 2, burial, and free-lay. In 2016, the beach joint 2 seg-

11

Industry 03:19

tion of marine cables and con-nectors, followed by Asia Pacif-ic, in 2016.

The market in Asia Pacific is likely to outpace other regional markets over the forecast pe-riod owing to extensive invest-ment in telecommunication ap-plication and a massive rise in infrastructure upgrade activities across data centres.

North America is projected to witness strong growth ow-ing to the presence of several technology giants in the U.S. The vast rise in infrastructure upgrade activities owing to the global expansion of companies such as Facebook, Google, and Microsoft will lead to promising growth opportunities.

The market in South America is expected to showcase slower growth in the marine cables and connectors market compared to other regions.

Some of the leading com-panies operating in the global marine cables and connectors market are Sea and Land Tech-nologies Pte. Ltd., TE Connec-tivity, Inc., Eaton Corporation Plc., Fujitsu Limited, SAMCO Inc., Molex, Scorpion Oceanics, Hengtong Optic-Electric Co., Ltd., Teledyne Marine, Huawei Marine, SEACON, HESFIBEL, Axon Cable, OCC Corporation, General Cable Company, ZTT Corporation, and Nexans.

With the leading ten com-panies collectively accounting only for about 50% of overall share, the vendor landscape of the global marine cables and connectors market hints at a high level of fragmentation and intense competition, observes Transparency Market research in a recent report. Owing to the large number of companies in the market, competition is likely to remain intense in the next few years as well.

Vendors operating in the global marine cables and con-nectors market can expect a massive rise in innovative products and technological ad-vancements as more and more companies look at revising their growth strategies to remain competitive in the market.

Attempts at consolidating their positions in the market through strategic mergers and acquisitions and expan-sion across emerging regional markets could also remain key growth strategies adopted by leading players.

Some of the most prominent vendors in the market are Fujit-su Limited, Eaton Corporation Plc., TE Connectivity, Inc., Tele-dyne Marine, Scorpion Ocean-ics, SAMCO Inc., Molex, Huawei Marine, and General Cable Com-pany.

It is estimated that the global marine cables and connectors market will register a healthy 5.3% CAGr over the period be-tween 2017 and 2025, rising from an opportunity of US$8.86 billion in 2015 to US$14.08 bil-lion by 2025.

Of the two key types of prod-ucts that the global marine ca-bles and connectors market vends - cables and connectors, the segment of cables held the dominant share in the overall market in 2016. The segment is likely to remain the leading rev-enue contributor to the overall market over the forecast period as well, exhibiting a 5.7% CAGr. The segment of connectors is likely to remain stagnant.

The market in Europe pres-ently dominates, accounting for over 30% of the overall revenue generated by the global market in 2016. This is chiefly attribut-able to the rising demand for reliable and energy efficient fi-ber-optic cables with good per-

formance as the telecom sector pushes boundaries and looks forward to provide high-speed connections to users. Over the report’s forecast period, the mar-ket in Asia Pacific could provide promising growth opportunities, with China remaining a key con-tributor to the overall growth of the market.

A number of factors are like-ly to aid the overall expansion of the global marine cables and connectors market, including the massive wave of invest-ments in the field of marine con-nectivity from telecom compa-nies and governments with the view of improving and expand-ing inter- and intra-country tele-com networks.

The rising global demand for higher and more reliable band-width for effective and faster transmission of data and vast investments from the defence and military sectors are also ex-pected to drive the market in the near future. The vast rise in data centres across the globe is also expected to favour the overall uptake of a variety of marine ca-bles and connectors.

Moreover, the rising penetra-tion of innovative technologies such as Internet of Things and cloud across a number of in-dustries and vast growth oppor-tunities owing to the increased focus on improving telecommu-nications infrastructure across several emerging economies could also prove to be benefi-cial for the global market. Nearly half the market is held by small- and medium-sized companies.

12

Industry 03:19

Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Compa-ny (AEEPCo) and the Na-

tional Oil Spill Detection and re-sponse Agency, (NOSDrA) are at each other’s throat over the recent Nembe creek oil well fi re outbreak.

While NOSDrA had accused Aiteo of frustrating efforts to investigate the fi re incident, Ait-eo stated that NOSDrA’s asser-tions seem inconsistent with

available evidence and suggests ‘either a communication gap within the organisation or an in-explainable fabrication.” Nembe is in Bayelsa State.

According to Francis Umeh, Head of NOSDRA’s Field Offi ce in Bayelsa “the stance of Ait-eo was hampering NOSDrA from promptly carrying out its statutory mandate”. Umeh also accused Aiteo of not reporting the oil well explosion within 24

hours of occurrence as stipu-lated by law. “The incident oc-curred on Friday and it took them some time to report it offi -cially to NOSDrA; we have plans to visit the site, but the operator is resisting and frustrating our efforts,” Umeh had said.

However, Aiteo, in its reaction, explained that it had notifi ed NOSDRA of the fi re incident with-in the time stipulated by law.” In a statement made available to

Aiteo, NOSDRA bicker Over Nembe Oil Well Fire

–By Gideon Osaka

13

Industry 03:19

pressmen, Aiteo said, “Contrary to some reports, AEEPCo noti-fied NOSDRA of the fire at its oil well in Nembe, Bayelsa State on March 1. recall that on March 2, 2019, it was erroneously an-nounced that scores of people were missing after an explo-sion occurred along the Nembe Creek Trunk Line, NCTL, the ma-jor crude oil pipeline traversing the Nembe area. Aiteo is the op-erator of the NCTL as well as the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29.

“Further details on the inci-dent from the affected area as well as statements from Aiteo and the Nigerian National Pe-troleum Corporation, NNPC, have cleared that it was not

a pipeline explosion but a fire at a nearby oil well. Also, there was no casualty from the inci-dent. This was corroborated by community people who later confirmed that there were no missing individuals.” Aiteo also explained that it had contacted the relevant agencies, including NOSDrA on the matter through a document referenced AEEP-Co/PrD/2019/05 and signed by its Chief Operating Officer, Emmanuel Ukegbu. The letter, Aiteo said, read thus, “At the ear-ly hour of today 01/03/19, we received a report from the Mile 1 Community of a suspected ex-plosion at Nembe Creek Well-7, following which, our Operation Er Team was triggered. Prelim-inary investigation suspects a possible explosion that resulted into fire at about 01.00 hours in the vicinity of Nembe Creek Well-7. By 01:30 hrs, the fire has tapered down. “It is important to note that prior to this fire in-cident, all facilities were shut-in due to NCTL outage about 17.00 hrs on 28/02/19. We are continuing with investigations and further information will be communicated.”

Following the reports by me-dia that scores of persons lost their lives while others were missing in Nembe communi-ty, after the gas explosion, the company has assured that no life was lost in the Friday explo-sion on the crude export pipeline which burned till Saturday.

According to Aiteo’s Public relations Manager, Ndiana-Aba-si Mathew, “There is no official statement at the moment but I can gladly inform you that the fire has been contained and no lives were lost,” he said

Also reacting to the report, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it has no record of pipeline explosion in the region.

The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the corporation, Ndu Ughama-du, in an interview with press-men in Abuja, on Saturday, dis-sociated the corporation from the incident.

”It is not our pipeline, it is Ait-eo that was mentioned, which ordinarily they are supposed to be on joint venture with NNPC.

“I have cross-checked with our downstream unit that man-ages our pipeline and they said that they didn’t have such re-cords,” he said.

The Nembe Creek Trunk Line explosion, with a capacity of conveying 150,000 barrels of crude daily to the Bonny oil ex-port terminal, will adversely af-fect crude export, having been put out of use.

It was learnt that the oil ex-port line was shut for emergen-cy repairs following a leak when the incident occurred and dis-charged residual crude and gas trapped in the pipeline.

Following the reports by media that scores of per-sons lost their lives while others were missing in Nembe community, after the gas explosion, the company has assured that no life was lost in the Friday explosion on the crude export pipeline which burned till Saturday.

Mr. Peter Idabor, NOSDrA DG

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Industry 03:19

Oil firms operating in rivers State have been called upon to invest massively in human ca-

pacity development, in order to produce the needed manpow-er to drive the economy of the country and complement gov-ernment’s efforts to improve the lives of the people.

The call was made by the Per-manent Secretary, rivers State Ministry of Education, Mr. Dago-go Adonye-Hart while speaking at the Shell Petroleum Devel-opment Company, SPDC, 2018 LiveWIrE presentation of busi-ness start-up awards in Port Harcourt, recently.

Hart said it was time for oil companies to emulate SPDC by putting the development of the state at fore, adding that when priority is given to human ca-pacity development, the region would witness peace, econom-ic revival, and transformation, thereby creating a conducive environment for investment.

He commended SPDC for al-ways getting involved with the progress of the youths while charging other multinationals operating in the state to emulate Shell in youth empowerment.

According to him, “When the people were better equipped to face the challenges of life, there would be peace and harmony, fewer incidents of kidnapping, violent crimes and criminalities,

pipeline vandalism, among oth-ers.

“If all the companies engage in one laudable project or the other, government’s commit-ment to creating employment opportunities for the youths and efforts to curb crime and crim-inality in the state and region would achieve meaningful re-sults.

“We have always been in partnership with Shell; Shell is always involved with the prog-ress of the youths, not only in education. Education is not only about going to school to read and write but having an educat-

ed mindset, knowing what to do and solving problems.

“If other companies will em-ulate Shell in youths empower-ment, youth restiveness in the Niger Delta will reduce.”

Also, the General Manager, External relations, SPDC, Mr. Igo Weli said a total of 7072 en-trepreneurs from the Niger Delta region have been produced from the Shell Petroleum Develop-ment Company Limited, SPDC’s Livewire program since it was inaugurated in 2003.

Weli explained that Shell Live-Wire program provides training and finance for young entrepre-

Oil Companies Urged to Develop Indigenous Capacity

–By Fred Ojiegbe

A cross-section of the graduating Regional LiveWIRE Nigeria beneficiaries

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Industry 03:19

If all the companies engage in one laudable proj-ect or the other, government’s commitment to creating employment opportunities for the youths and efforts to curb crime and criminality in the state and region would achieve meaningful results.If other companies will emulate Shell in youths em-powerment, youth restiveness in the Niger Delta will reduce.

neurs in the Niger Delta to set up and grow their businesses, as well as enables young people to start their own businesses and create employment for them-selves and others.

“The LiveWire Nigeria was launched in Nigeria in 2003 and has produced 7,072 Niger Delta entrepreneurs, most of whom are now employs of labour. Some of the beneficiaries have also been given the opportunity to play in SPDC’s supply chain as vendors and have been linked to growth capital from other agencies.

“Shell LiveWire provides bud-ding young entrepreneurs with access to the essential ideas into a viable and sustainable business. We hope that with legitimate alternative means of livelihoods, our young men and women will turn their backs on

vices.”Shell LiveWIrE is our glob-

al flagship social investment Enterprise Development pro-gramme, with the vision to strengthen local economies by promoting entrepreneurship, innovation and meaningful em-ployment.

Shell LiveWIrE brings positive social impacts to communities, contributing to local business development, job creation, and innovative social and economic solutions. Each year it supports thousands of entrepreneurs to turn their bright ideas into a sustainable business, in turn creating wider employment and income opportunities.

The programme started in Scotland in 1982 and now runs in 15 countries where we oper-ate.

The objectives for the Live-

WIrE Programme in Nigeria are to;

raise business awareness amongst final year university students to encourage them to see starting a business as a val-id career option

Assist youths to discover and develop business ‘ideas’ through Bright Ideas Workshops

Make available to youths that want to go on to start a business, business planning and management guidelines and skills through the Become A Successful Owner Manager Course (BSOM)

run awards for best business plans, the price of which gives access to micro-credit facilities, through third parties like banks, NGOs and allied financial insti-tutions

run an award for young peo-ple who have sustained a busi-ness for 2 to 3 years and contin-ue the award on an annual basis

Provide a volunteer mentor-ing programme for those who have completed the training course and decide to pursue starting their own business. Mentors can be drawn from oil & gas, banking, social voluntary sectors, etc.

Print and provide information on youth enterprise at LiveWIrE resource Centres

Target Beneficiaries are youths within the age bracket of 18 to 30 years.

Mr. Igo Weli, General Manager, External relations, SPDC,

16

Industry 03:19

Still on Ogoniland Cleanup Project

ISSUES ARISING–By Benjamin Ike & Gideon Osaka

With the recent ap-proval by the Feder-al Executive Council (FEC) of five more

contracts for the cleanup of Ogoniland in rivers State, the Buhari led government may have well signaled that its sec-ond term will focus serious at-tention on environmental con-servation and take sustainability in oil production activities more seriously.

The approval of the five con-tracts was first revealed to jour-nalists by the Minister of Envi-ronment, Suleiman Hassan, at the end of a seven-hour meeting of the council on Wednesday, March 20, which was chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Hassan said the new con-

tracts, valued at N3.039 billion, are different from the 16 earlier approved and which sites were handed over to the contractors in January.

“While the 16 contracts awarded earlier were within the

Ministerial Tenders Board, the five approved today is above the Tenders Board and that is why we presented them to the coun-cil,” he said.

The ongoing Ogoni clean-up exercise follows a United Na-tions Environment Programme (UNEP) report that condemned extensive ecosystem degrada-tion due to oil spillage.

There have been delays in speeding up the cleanup pro-cess and eight years after the release of the UNEP report on the need for Ogoniland cleanup, but with the five new contracts, the Federal Government may have finally indicated its willing-ness, or even readiness, to im-plement the recommendations of the UNEP white paper.

President Muhammadu Buhari

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Industry 03:19

The Ogoni cleanup project has become contentious since the various spillages that rav-aged the oil producing commu-nities in Ogoni and its environs. The ensuing UNEP report, which was released during the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration, in 2011, did not receive the needed attention from the government.

President Muhammadu Bu-hari shortly after his assump-tion of office in 2015 restarted

the cleanup project. Out of the $1 billion recom-

mended by UNEP for the clean-up exercise, only about $180 mil-lion or 20 percent of the amount has been released, thereby ham-pering the effectiveness of the exercise.

Although some of the emer-gency measures outlined by UNEP for the benefit of the vic-tims of oil spill in the area are yet be implemented, with the latest N3.039 billion now approved by

FEC, there may be a speedy ap-proach to the whole project.

Some of the emergency measures recommended by UNEP include to ensure that all drinking water wells where hy-drocarbons were detected are marked and that people are in-formed of the danger, provision of adequate sources of drink-ing water to those households whose drinking water supply is impacted, and that people in Nsisioken Ogale who have been

Some of the emergency measures recommended by UNEP include to ensure that all drinking water wells where hydrocarbons were detected are marked and that people are informed of the danger, provision of adequate sources of drinking water to those households whose drinking water supply is impacted, and that peo-ple in Nsisioken Ogale who have been consuming water with benzene over 900 times the WHO guideline are recorded on a medical registry and their health status assessed and followed up.

Chief Gani Topba, National Coordinator of Ken Saro Wiwa Associates, spokesman of the Ogoni people and convener of the Ogoni General Assembly, addressing the press recently in Bori, the traditional headquarters of Ogoniland

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Industry 03:19

consuming water with benzene over 900 times the WHO guide-line are recorded on a medical registry and their health status assessed and followed up.

Other recommendations by UNEP are to initiate a sur-vey of all drinking water wells around those wells where hy-drocarbons were observed and arrange measures (1-3) as ap-propriate based on the results, post signs around all the sites identified as having contami-nation exceeding intervention values warning the community not to walk through or engage in any other activity, post signs in areas where hydrocarbons were observed on surface water warning people not to fish, swim or bathe in these areas, inform all families whose rain water samples tested positive for hy-drocarbons and advise them not to consume the water, and mount a public awareness cam-paign to warn the individuals who are undertaking artisanal mining that such activities are damaging to their health.

So far, the government has in-augurated the Governing Coun-cil and Board of Trustees, as well as performed the ground-break-ing ceremony for the Integrated Contaminated Soil Manage-ment Centre.

Also, the incorporation of the Ogoni Trust Fund and Escrow Account has been opened with Standard Chartered Bank of London for the Board of Trust-ee of the Hydrocarbon Pollution remediation Project (HYPrEP) and credited with $177 million.

There has been procurement of contractors, as well as mo-bilization of contractors and hand-over of sites to contrac-tors handing over 16 polluted sites to companies that would clean them up. There has also been a re-engagement of UNEP to provide technical support in Communications and Project Management.

Yet, elders of Ogoni Ethnic Nationality have criticized what they described as “flawed imple-mentation of the United Nations Environmental Programme,

UNEP, for clean-up of oil pol-lution in Ogoniland” over per-ceived compromise of the pro-cess as gazetted by the Federal Government.

The leaders expressed the disapproval in Port Harcourt, rivers State, recently, even as the Federal Government has al-ready handed over polluted sites to companies for commence-ment of the clean-up work to various contracted companies.

Chairman of the Elders fo-rum, Senator Bennet Birabi, said “more than two years after its flag-off, the manner and pro-cess for implementation of rec-ommendations run completely contrary to assurances by Fed-eral Government, more impor-tantly in the report to detriment of the Ogoni people.

“rather than commence im-plementation with the proposed emergency measures, we have come to observe that after each tranche of funds released by the oil companies on the clean-up, the expenditure pattern has not only been opaque, but complete-

Late General Sani Abacha Late Ken Saro-Wiwa

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Industry 03:19

ly out of sync with the UNEP rec-ommendations.”

Also, Ledum Mitee, former leader of Movement for Surviv-al of Ogoni People, MOSOP, al-leged that even with the award of contracts so far, the imple-menting Hydrocarbon Pollution remediation Project, HYPrEP, has come to the alienation of the community stakeholders.

“You won’t imagine that one of those who got contract was asking what the direction to Ogoni is. He has not been here, he knows nothing about Ogoni. They said they spent N1 billion on communications, if this is true, then all stakeholders in-cluding the communities should be on same page, one accord, but that is not the case,” Mitee said.

Speaking on the issue, Ko-lawole Banwo, Programme Manager, Civil Society Legisla-tive Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, stated that some operational is-sues such as health audit, alter-native livelihoods, potable water are perceived to be delayed, in-adequate or poorly implement-ed.

“Consequently, there are con-

flicting claims, distrust, sus-picion. The risks remains and effects remain, re-pollution con-tinues through artisanal mining and oil spills, mortality rates high and life expectancy below national average”, he said.

According to him, there is ab-sence of the integrated contam-inated soil management centre: comprising an incinerator, ther-mal unit, soil washing unit and a contaminated water treatment unit (Exclusion of community from cleanup process; concern over disposal of contaminated soil and risk of secondary pollu-tion, apprehension.

He also identified some of the challenges bedeviling the cleanup exercise to include; lack of community engagement, the feeling of exclusion, community division, emergence of ‘clean-uptreneurs’ , influence peddlers, patronage, pro and anti estab-lishment community stakehold-ers, as the effects include, com-munity division, restiveness, flash of violence and dissenting opinions, the risk of poor quality work.

“There is politicization of the whole project; Federal Gov-

ernment-State dichotomy and antagonism, partisan inter-pretation to clean up process, personalization of issues: The effect is distractive propagan-da, low complementarities,” he added.

According to Valuechain find-ings, Ogoni people warn that any attempt to resume crude oil and gas production using take-over as a smokescreen without addressing the fundamental is-sues that led to the Ogoni strug-gle would be stoutly resisted, and the Federal Government is putting measures in place to ensure that restiveness never returns to hamper oil production and the revenues it gives to Ni-geria.

The Federal Government on March 13 mandated the Nigeri-an National Petroleum Corpora-tion (NNPC) to take over opera-torship of OML 11 from the end of April apparently to forestall disruption of oil production in the Niger Delta.

The directive was contained in a statement addressed to Dr. Maikanti Baru, the Corporation’s Group Managing Director (GMD) by Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff to

Goodluck JonathanFormer Nigerian President

Ledum Miteeformer leader of Movement for Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP

Kolawole BanwoProgramme Manager, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC

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Industry 03:19

President Muhammadu Buhari.Earlier operated by Shell Pe-

troleum Development Compa-ny (SPDC), the juicy facility lies in the southeastern axis of the region and boasts of 33 oil and gas fields, eight of which have been producing since 2017.

The Ogoni Youth Federation (OYF) had last year called on government not to renew the lease for the oil well which ex-pires in June.

The 28,000 barrels per day (bpd) capacity fields were shut following the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and others.

Fegalo Nsuke, President of MOSOP had maintained in a statement that the resumption of oil exploration in Ogoniland in the face of current pollution re-mained unacceptable.

As a matter of fact, MOSOP which was co-founded in the 1990s by Saro-Wisa, had argued that oil production had devas-tated the region’s environment, while bringing no benefit to its 500,000 people.

Saro-Wiwa, while he lived, was of the view that Shell had turned what was once an area of unspoilt natural beauty into a grubby black moonscape as oil from dilapidated pipelines and pumping stations seeped into the soil and destroyed it.

Consequently, the Ogoni took up the peaceful fight against Shell and the military regime

in Nigeria, culminating in Shell abandoning Ogoniland in 1993, which triumph turned Saro-Wi-wa, the writer and environmen-tal activist who spoke out force-fully against the Abacha junta as well as his acolytes into a real menace for the Abacha military government.

Saro-Wiwa, winner of the right Livelihood Award, and Goldman Environment Prize, was arrested in 1994 for al-legedly being responsible for the death of four Ogoni tribal leaders.

Saro-Wiwa who was born October 10, 1941 was conse-quently executed by hanging on October 11, 1995 after trial by a military tribunal and, by his death, became a symbol for en-vironmental protection and hu-man rights.

To avoid structural, policy and administrative flaws that could create crisis in the Nigerian pe-troleum industry, President Bu-hari’s government is taking time in getting every step right be-fore it gets into implementation stages.

This approach has recently been seen in the area of oil and gas legislation exercises, as President Buhari has declined assent to the National Oil Spill Detection and response Agen-cy (NOSDrA) Act (Amendment) Bill passed and transmitted to him by the National Assembly

last year. In a letter addressed to Bu-

kola Saraki, Senate President and read on the floor of the red Chamber (Senate) March 13, Buhari said his decision was pursuant to Section 58(4) of the Constitution of the Federal re-public of Nigeria (CFrN) 1999 (as amended).

Specifically the President said the piece of legislation under-mined the powers of the Minis-ter of Petroleum resources as well as functions of the Ministry. Buhari who doubles as the Min-ister of Petroleum resources stated inter-alia: “I am declining assent to the bill because in a number of important sections, the bill undermines the powers of the Ministry of Petroleum re-sources and the functions and responsibilities of the Ministry.

Listing the contentious areas in the proposed law to include Sections 3, 6(1)(a), 7(a) and (b), 8, 9, and 11, Buhari insisted that “Section 8 of the bill imposes a new charge of 0.5 per cent of operation funds on oil compa-nies for the enforcement of en-vironmental legislations in the Petroleum sector.”

The imposition, he main-tained, “is an additional burden on the industry, particularly giv-en that it is unclear what opera-tion funds mean for the purpose of applying the provisions of the law.”

“You won’t imagine that one of those who got con-tract was asking what the direction to Ogoni is. He has not been here, he knows nothing about Ogoni. They said they spent N1 billion on communications, if this is true, then all stakeholders including the communities should be on same page, one accord, but that is not the case,” Mitee said.

21

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Star of the Industry 03:19

Engr. Simbi Kesiye WaboteExecutive SecretaryNigerian Content Development and Monitoring (NCDMB)

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Star of the Industry 03:19

Engr. Simbi K. Wabote was appointed as the Execu-tive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and

Monitoring Board (NCDMB) by President Muhammadu Buhari

(GCFr) on the 29th of September 2016. Prior to his appointment, he was an Executive Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Nigeria Limited and the General Manager, Busi-

ness and Government relations for Shell Companies in Nigeria (SCiN).

Engr. Wabote joined Shell in September 1991 as an Oil and gas Engineer after a short stint

In the past two years and five months, Engr. Wabote spearheaded several innovations at the NCDMB, includ-ing the launch of the $200m Nigerian Content Interven-tion Fund (NCI Fund), streamlining of the oil industry contracting cycle time and development of a 10-year Ni-gerian Content Road Map.

–By Danlami Nasir Isah

Engr. Simbi Kesiye WaboteExecutive Secretary

Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring (NCDMB)

Front row: representative of the NCCF, Mr. Mina Oforiokuma, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum resources, Dr. Shu’ra Jamila, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, President Muhammed Buhari, Chief of Staff to the President Alhaji Abba Kyari, Minister of Petroleum resources, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu, Chairman of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) Mr. Bank-Anthony Okoroafor and other Members of NCDMB Governing Council at their inauguration

24

The Board under Wabote’s watch introduced innova-tive policies like the promotion of Modular Refineries and begun the construction of Oil and Gas Parks in Bayelsa and Cross River States.

Star of the Industry 03:19

with the Banking industry in Ni-geria.

Prior to taking up his role as an Executive Director of Shell, he had served Shell in various senior positions within and out-side the country in Engineering, Contracting & Procurement, Ex-ternal Affairs, and Community Affairs Directorates. As Head of Civil engineering in Shell Eastern Division, he was responsible for major key civil engineering proj-ects for the company, including the Shell Osubi airport in Warri

Delta State Nigeria. He served as the National Assembly relations Adviser to Shell and was the Gen-eral Manager, Local Content De-velopment, of Shell Exploration Production Company in Nigeria (SEPCiN). He was responsible for the development of royal Dutch Shell’s local content strategy and framework and supervised Shell Local Content implemen-tation across several countries including Nigeria, Gabon, Brunei, Oman, Kazakhstan, Australia, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan, USA, and new

frontier countries for Shell.Simbi holds an MSc from

Leeds Metropolitan University in United Kindom. He is a Graduate of Civil Engineering from rivers State University of Science and Technology Port Harcourt and a graduate of INSEAD group lead-ership programme. He is also a member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, a COrEN regis-tered engineer and a member In-stitute of Civil Engineers London.

His role as the Executive Secre-tary, NCDMB is to steer strategic

Global Award for Local Content Advocacy: Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote after receiving a Global Award of Excellence for his Outstanding Contributions to Local Content Development in Nigeria and across the Africa’s Oil and Gas Industry, on Tuesday at the ongoing African Oil Week (AOW) in Cape Town, South Africa. (right) Minister of State for Petroleum resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu; (Left) Managing Director, Seplat Petroleum Development Company, Mr. Austin Avuru and Chairman Seplat, Dr. ABC Orjiako

25

National programmes being im-plemented by the Board to build capacity and domicile industry activities within Nigeria. He is ex-pected to bring his global expe-rience to bear in re-engineering the Board’s business processes to achieve maximum impact on Nigerian Content development.

In the past two years and fi ve months, Engr. Wabote spear-headed several innovations at the NCDMB, including the launch of the $200m Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCI Fund), streamlining of the oil industry contracting cycle time and de-velopment of a 10-year Nigerian Content roadmap.

The Board under Wabote’s watch introduced innovative pol-icies like the promotion of Modu-lar Refi neries and begun the con-struction of Oil and Gas Parks in Bayelsa and Cross river States. He also led the Board to organise the fi rst Oil and Gas R&D Con-

ference and the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Opportunity Fair, to drive innovation and indigenous technological solutions in the In-dustry and aggregate investment opportunities and spur foreign

direct investment respectively.Simbi, born 2nd February 1966

is a Nigerian from Bayelsa State and is married to Sotonye with three lovely daughters.

Minister of State for Petroleum resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, Executive Secretary NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Wabote performing the groundbreaking of the Bayelsa Oil and Gas Park at Emeyal 1, Ogbia LGA, Bayelsa State.

Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Wabote; President of the Nigerian Gas Association, Mrs. Audrey Joe-Ezigbo; immediate past president of NGA Engr. Dada Thomas during a courtesy visit to the NCDMB Abuja liaison offi ce.

Star of the Industry 03:19

26

Killing The Bill That Pays Their Bills

PIB in Distress

PIGB

PIB

PIFB

PHCB

PIAB

Petroleum Industry Governance bill

Petroleum Host Community bill

Petroleum Industry Administration bill

Petroleum Industry Fiscal bill

PETR

OL

EUM INDUSTRY BILL

Cover Story 03:19

Time is running out on the 8th Assembly of the Nige-rian legislature to pass in

totality a draft bill that has been with them for almost nine years since 2008, and which was con-ceived and agreed to be drafted through a set committee al-most in the year 2000, almost two decades.

This draft bill is called the Pe-troleum Industry Bill (PIB), and has now been segmented into four different bills.

If this law is not fully passed by the legislature and assent-

ed to by the executive, it could send negative signals to the public that Nigerian offi cials may be doing great disservice to their people and especially to a sector that pays their bills. This could otherwise mean that the two arms of government are killing the bill that is designed to better develop a sector that ma-jorly pays their own bills, the pe-troleum sector.

So far, only the Petroleum In-dustry Governance Bill (PIGB) segment of the PIB has been passed by the National Assem-

bly, but the President has de-clined assenting to it.

Other components of the Pe-troleum Industry Bill (PIB) which have neither been passed nor assented to are the Petroleum Industry Fiscal Bill (PIFB); Pe-troleum Host Community Bill (PHCB); and Petroleum Industry Administration Bill (PIAB).

The Petroleum Industry Fis-cal Bill is to ensure progressive framework that encourages sustained investments, growth and revenue to government; serve the socioeconomic needs

–By Yange Ikyaa

27

Cover Story 03:19

of all stakeholders; and clarify legislative aspects of the fis-cal regime from the negotiable aspects of contractual obliga-tions.

On the other hand, Petroleum Host Community Bill is to ensure shared prosperity and sustain-able development of petroleum host communities; provide di-rect economic benefits to host communities; and assure in-clusiveness, enhance peaceful co-existence and harmonious relationship, while Petroleum Industry Administration Bill is to enhance efficient, effective and

sustainable development of the sector; encourage and facilitate local and foreign investment; promote transparency and ac-countability; promote liberaliza-tion of the downstream sector; and ensure best practices in pe-troleum operations.

In October 2016, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transpar-ency Initiative (NEITI) published a policy brief, entitled “The Ur-gency of a New Petroleum Sec-tor Law.”

The paper estimated the cost of business uncertainty, lack of clarity, and inadequate trans-

parency mechanisms in eight years at more than $200 billion.

The paper showed how Nige-ria is increasingly in competition for oil and gas investments with many other African countries, not to talk of other oil jurisdic-tions.

In addition, the paper also traced the beginning of the search for a composite and more appropriate law for the sector to the inauguration of the Oil and Gas reform Committee on 24th April 2000, about 19 years ago, and to the presen-tation of the first Petroleum In-

If this law is not fully passed by the legislature and as-sented to by the executive, it could send negative signals to the public that Nigerian officials may be doing great dis-service to their people and especially to a sector that pays their bills. This could otherwise mean that the two arms of government are killing the bill that is designed to better develop a sector that majorly pays their own bills, the pe-troleum sector.

President Muhammadu Buhari Senate President Bukola Saraki

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Cover Story 03:19

dustry Bill (PIB) to the National Assembly in September 2008, over ten years ago.

However, President Muham-madu Buhari withheld assent to the harmonized Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) for constitutional and legal rea-sons.

On June 8, 2018 the Senate sent to the president for final assent into law the harmonized draft Bill earlier approved by the House of representatives.

But, the president declined as-sent to the draft law initiated to update the outdated Petroleum Act and replace its provisions with a more comprehensive and current legal framework that aligned with global standards.

Confirming the president’s decision to decline assent, Sen-ator Ita Enang, the President’s Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters, who was also a former Senator, said the decision was conveyed in sep-arate presidential communica-tions delivered to the leadership of the two Chambers of the

National Assembly on July 29, 2018.

“By Presidential communica-tion of July 29, 2018 addressed to the Senate and House of rep-resentatives, Mr President did communicate decline of assent to the Petroleum Industry Gov-ernance Bill, 2018 for constitu-tional and legal reasons stated therein,” the statement read.

Although Senator Enang said “by convention, it is inappropri-ate to speak on the content of Executive communication ad-dressed to the Legislature until same has been read on the floor in plenary”, he urged the legisla-ture to understand the peculiar circumstance under which the clarification was issued.

He blamed it on the misrep-resentation of the communica-tion in the media to the public domain apparently with a de-liberate intent to blackmail the executive, and ”if not promptly handled, may set the two arms of government against the pub-lic and the international invest-ment community”.

It has been alleged that the President withheld assent to the proposed law because he felt there were some sections that sought to whittle down the power of the Minister of Petro-leum resources and vest same in some technocrats.

It is also speculated that the President equally felt uncom-fortable that there were no pro-visions that covered the Fiscal content of the draft law, and that some key Ministers the President consulted over the issue, including the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Mala-mi, refused to support his (Bu-hari) assent.

Another reason given for presidential decline of assent to the bill was that the provision of the Bill permitting the Petro-leum regulatory Commission to retain as much as 10 per cent of the revenue generated undu-ly increases the funds accruing to the Commission to the det-riment of the revenue available to the Federal, States and Lo-

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo Speaker Yakubu Dogara

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Cover Story 03:19

cal governments as well as the Federal Capital Territory.

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) had described as ‘disappointing’ the refusal by President Muham-madu Buhari to assent to the Petroleum Industry and Gover-nance Bill (PIGB) sent to him by the National Assembly, urging him to re-think his decision in the national interest.

It said the refusal to assent to the Bill is a big failure on the part of Buhari’s government and a lost opportunity to reform and transform the sector to meet up with global standards.

It also said that it was worri-

some that in spite of the estab-lished losses the nation incurs due to the absence of this law, which NEITI puts at $200 billion yearly and another $15 billion yearly in fresh investments, Bu-hari did not consider it a matter of national importance to as-sent to the Bill.

Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Ibrahim rafsanjani, in a statement, said it was unfor-tunate that the President has refused to assent to the Bill in spite of his promise to reform the oil and gas sector in the country during his campaigns, and repeatedly after his elec-tion.

“CISLAC finds it worrisome that in spite of the established losses the nation incurs due to the absence of this law, which among other sources, the NE-ITI put at $200 billion yearly and another $15 billion yearly in fresh investments, the Presi-dent did not consider it a matter of national importance to as-sent to the Bill.

“We find it frustrating and disappointing that this govern-ment has spent its tenure with-out properly addressing this key sector of our economy where corruption, inefficiency, com-munity conflict and sabotage have been institutionalized.

“CISLAC finds it worrisome that in spite of the estab-lished losses the nation incurs due to the absence of this law, which among other sources, the NEITI put at $200 billion yearly and another $15 billion yearly in fresh in-vestments, the President did not consider it a matter of national importance to assent to the Bill.

Senator Ita Enang Abubakar Malami, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation

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Cover Story 03:19

“CISLAC considers this refus-al to assent as a big failure on the part of this government and a lost opportunity to reform the sector and transform to meet up with global standards.

“The President, who doubles as the Minister of Petroleum Resources has only superficial reform to show under his lead-ership, as he was in the position to muster the political will to drive deeper reforms.

“We find it even more worri-some that the passage of the Bill had been due since 2016 according to the timeline con-tained in the 7 Big Wins released by the Federal Ministry of Petro-leum resources.

However, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo recently supported President Buhari, while reveal-ing that the pressure mounted by state governments on Pres-ident Muhammadu Buhari over fear of revenue decline forced him to decline assent to the Pe-troleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB).

Speaking at the royal Society

Investment Forum in London hosted by Jeune Afrique Media Group, with the theme: `Invest-ing in Africa’, Osinbajo said that the faulty fiscal framework as well as issues relating to host communities were also reasons for the President’s refusal to as-sent to the much sought after bills.

responding to a question from a member of the audience at the event, the VP said that “states were concerned” that if the bill was signed into law, the revenue accruing to the states would decline.

He, however, raised the hope of Nigerians that the bill would be signed into law before the end of the 8th Assembly, after all the necessary amendments have been made.

“We hope that the bill will be-come law before the end of the 8th Assembly,” Osinbajo said.

The vice president pointed out that since coming to pow-er in 2015, the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led govern-ment had invested over N2.7

trillion on infrastructural devel-opment, even as he appealed to Nigerians to support forth-rightness which President Mu-hammadu Buhari’s government represents.

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petro-leum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, has also made a case for the domestication of oil and gas technologies within the African continent, using the instrumentality of the PIGB.

He said such will develop the capacity of the people, improve the economies and emplace na-tional oil and gas companies on the path of sustainable growth and development.

Baru said African countries must react positively to the new reality by deploying new policies and stabilizing their business environment to attract mean-ingful investments.

He stated that critical to achieving that for Nigeria was the passage of the four compo-nents of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which is expected to

Mr. Maikanti Baru, GMD, NNPC Auwa Ibrahim rafsanjani, Executive Director, CISLAC

31

Cover Story 03:19

usher in a new legislation that would not only enhance the in-vestment climate in the country, but also change the fortunes of the country’s oil and gas busi-ness for the better.

Speaking on ‘Foundations for New Investment,’ at the 19th CErA Week conference which took place in Houston, United States (US), the NNPC Chief Executive added that over 319 trillion cubic feet of gas was yet to be discovered in the re-

gion, informing delegates that the corporation was opening up its business environment to ensure transparency and ac-countability in its dealings with all stakeholders.

He also lauded the federal government for its peace initia-tives in the Niger Delta commu-nities, which he said had seen the country hitting very high oil and gas production figures in recent years.

Baru explained that over 41

billion barrels of crude oil is stranded in Sub-Saharan Africa, noting that the currently drill-ing activities in Kolmani river-II Well in the Benue Trough, one of Nigeria’s several frontier inland basins, would provide additional 400 Bcf of gas.

For Africa, particularly Nige-ria, to harness these resources, he insisted that a new legisla-tion, especially the Petroleum Industry Bill, must be passed to enhance investment, adding

32

that from available information, the African global crude oil and gas outlook remained positive and on the upward trajectory.

According to him, West Africa as a sub-region holds the ace, in terms of offshore deep-water exploration hotspots, stating that a prolific 1.0 billion barrels of crude oil find was recently made at the Owowo Field, off-shore Nigeria.

He urged foreign investors to explore the Nigerian ultra-deep terrain, which he described as

largely untested.However, if the PIB is not

passed before May 29, 2019, the country would have missed a huge opportunity to set the necessary regulatory stage with its long serving and expe-rienced legislators for foreign investors to come into the Nige-rian petroleum industry, as they await patiently the new laws in the making before making fur-ther investment commitments that are traditionally long term and not easily reversible.

If the older legislators fail to deliver on this mandate, the new ones may come and start learning how to conduct the business of legislation and it may take time before they could understand the nature of any inconclusive bills previously de-bated by the 8th assembly. But if the job is done now, the Pres-ident remains the same man who refused to give executive assent to the bill and will know what improvements he needs to see on the draft bill before he finally signs it into law.

There is a claim by the current legislators that they have been able to pass more bills than it has been done by tenure of the National Assembly since the country returned to democracy in 1999, but the most important one, the PIB has enjoyed only a partial passage of 25 percent, as only one out of its four seg-ments has been passed, yet de-nied assent by the President.

The opportunity to proceed with speed on the PIB debate was missed during the early days of the 8th Assembly, when the federal lawmakers were trying to elect their principal officers and rather got distract-ed from their main function of lawmaking due to unnecessary legislature/executive tussles for political supremacy.

This unfortunate scenario eventually dominated most of the rest of the four years that are now coming to an end by the first week of June, when the Nigerian Senate is normally dis-solved after a routine, four-year tenure for new or returning law-makers to commence legisla-tive business.

With less than 70 days to the expiration of the tenure of the 8th National Assembly, it is highly anticipated that they pass the Petroleum Industry Bill which has been on their table for far too long.

This will help boost the Ni-gerian economy, which majorly depends on foreign oil revenues for sustenance, and save the nation the estimated cost of business uncertainty, lack of clarity, and inadequate trans-parency mechanisms that, ac-cording to NEITI, reached more than $200 billion within a period of eight years.

Cover Story 03:19

With less than 70 days to the expi-ration of the tenure of the 8th Nation-al Assembly, it is highly anticipated that they pass the Petroleum Industry Bill which has been on their table for far too long.

33

Cover Story 03:19

The Managing Director of Nigerian Pipelines Storage Company (NPSC), Mr Luke

Anele, has said that over two bil-lion litres of petroleum products have been transported through the pipelines since 2016..

Mr. Anele who made the dis-closure in a chat with news-men in Abuja, March 20th, also indicated that the country had enough stockpiles of products

being distributed through the pipelines.

“By estimate, we have trans-ported millions of products, in fact over two billion litres of products have been moved through the pipelines since in-ception.

“Our major stockpile now is the Mosimi Depot and at any point in time, we have a little above 100 million litres.

“And we have the other depots — we have in Satellite, we have in Ibadan; if you add up Ibadan, add up Satellite, and our depot at Atlas Cove, add Aba depot, we will have about 200 million litres at this point, excluding the ones at our day tanks in Warri Refin-ery and Port Harcourt Refinery, ” he said.

Commenting on the effect of vandalism to transportation of

Over 2bn Litres of Petroleum Products Transported through Pipelines in 2 years – NPSC

–By Fred Ojiegbe

34

Cover Story 03:19

products, the MD said that the bulk of the vandalised point was from Aba and Enugu.

He said that in the process of reactivating the pipelines some of them were ruptured and were difficult to weld.

“We will continue to prepare them anytime because we can-not afford to shut down for a very long time, so, we will con-tinue to make repairs any time we find a window that is down,” he said.

He noted that the country lost reasonable volumes of products resulting from vandalism and ageing of the lines.

Anele noted that in 2018, the company engaged National En-gineering Technology Company

(NETCO) to carry out a study and check the state of the facil-ities.

He said the step was for it to serve as an in-house estimate for proposals to get in third par-ties to put the pipelines under Public-Private Partnership to change them.

According to him, most of the ruptured pipes are old and located in areas that are prone to attack.

“So what NETCO did was to develop an in-house estimate which will serve as our in-house estimate to benchmark what-ever a third party brings forth when we open up the issues of pipelines and other critical infra-structure.

“They have finished the work and have given us preliminary report and then what we will take up from them is the final re-port, full and final presentation for us to study,” he added

He said that with viable pipe-lines, the country would realise huge revenue through transpor-tation of products.

“If we have new pipelines, well protected, we will have what is

called open access, so many companies will like to move their products through our pipelines.

“And with our depots re-vamped, you might decide to have your product berth at Port Harcourt and we pump into the line to Makurdi or any place of destination and you pay us for the service.

“If you want your product in, Minna, Suleja etc, we can pump through Warri with those facili-ties, ” he said.

He noted that a major chal-lenge was the issue of trust and reliability.

“By the time this is done, we have now regenerated confi-dence in investors and users, also, the issue of clustering around Lagos will reduce,” Anele said

He added that breaking even in pipeline operations involved having constant product move-ment, “not epileptic movement of running today and day after tomorrow you shut down be-cause of stealing’’

Existing petroleum pipelines network in Nigeria

35

36

Energy 03:19

Schneider Electric and its partners in have staged a sensitization campaign on public safety in rela-

tion to the use of electrical appli-ances.

While touring Lagos Island and Oshodi electrical markets on a two-day road show, they said the campaign was launched with the aim of educating the public on electrical safety and the impor-tance of getting genuine equip-ment and installations.

The tour which lasted hours on each of these days was packed with electricians, distributors, re-tailers, and partners of Schneider Electric. representatives of the company highlighted the benefi ts

of patronizing genuine products. Members of the Schneider

Electricians Club received incen-tives which included free techni-cal training, access to discounts, and earned loyalty points which can be redeemed as gift items. This reward system is the compa-ny’s strategy to promote original products and boost electricians’ loyalty, consumer confi dence and customer satisfaction.

Speaking at the function, the Managing Director for Schneider Electric Anglophone West Africa, Mr Christophe Begat, said, “for Schneider Electric, safety is para-mount, and that’s why we partner with companies that guarantee the authenticity of the products

that are sold. We are happy to col-laborate with them in sensitizing the public about the importance of safe practices and patronizing original appliances.”

recent statistics from the Ni-gerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) show that 190 people were victims of 146 electrical accidents in 2017. Of these, 113 died in 95 accidents while 77 others sustained injuries in another 51 accidents.

Schneider Electric, Nigerchin, and its other partners posit that the use of genuine electrical ap-pliances would reduce the ca-sualty level from electrical acci-dents nationwide.

Schneider Electric, Partners Stage Sensitization Campaign On Public Safety

–By Fred Ojiegbe

Mr Christophe Begat, MD Schneider Electric Anglophone West Africa spotted with Ms Viviane Mike-Eze, Marketing Communications Manager at the road Show.

1-2 Abu-rayyan Street, New NDC Layout, Kaduna. Tel: 08077201571. Abuja: 07089626420, Lagos: 08036840121.

email: 007mbu@gmail.com

Marketi ng Communicati ons Public Relati ons Event Management Publicati ons

Industry 03:19

VAT Data Shows Nigeria’s Off-shore Operations Becoming Stagnant

Full-year 2018 Value Added Tax (VAT) data published by the Na-tional Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show Nigeria’s offshore opera-tions have been stagnating in the last five years.

Billions Lost As Nigerian Refineries Remain Inactive

Data from the Nigerian Nation-al Petroleum Commission, NNPC, suggest that Nigeria is losing bil-lions of Naira on a monthly basis, due to the inability of the country’s refineries to function optimally.

NNPC To Build Fertilizer Plant In Brass, Power Plants In Abuja, Kaduna, Kano

The Nigerian National Petro-leum Corporation (NNPC) says it is prepared to build additional In-dependent Power Plants (IPP) in Abuja, Kaduna and Kano which are expected to add 4,000 mega-watts of power to stabilize the na-tional grid.

Oil Marketers Cheat Nigerians By N198,500 Per Truck Of Product Sold

The Director, Weights and Measures Department, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Mohammed Sidi says that oil dealers have been cheating Nigerians of N198,500 per truck sold.

Panel Awards NPDC $1.69bn Over Brass, Forcados Assets

A tribunal sitting at the Lagos Court of Arbitration has awarded over $1.69bn in favour of the Ni-gerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) Limited in the

arbitration between Atlantic Ener-gy Drilling Concepts Nig Ltd and Atlantic Energy Brass Develop-ment Ltd and the NPDC.

Seplat Records $746m FY2018 Revenue, Offers $0.05 Dividend

Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, a leading Nigerian indigenous oil and gas company, listed on both the Nigerian Stock Exchange and London Stock Ex-change, has announced its full

year 2018 financial results and provides an operational update.

NCDMB: Nigeria’s Oil Sector To Record $25bn Investment In 2 Years

Next two years promises to be bright for operators in the Ni-gerian oil and gas industry with investment opportunities of $25 billion underway, the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content De-velopment and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. Simbi Wabote, has said.

Nigeria Cuts 1.484 Barrels Off Oil Production

Nigeria, Africa’s biggest crude exporter, slashed a total of 1.484 million barrels of crude in the 28 days of February, a Federal Gov-ernment statement says as they maintained that this production slash was achieved through 53,000 barrels cut daily in com-pliance with quota slammed on the country by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

MARCH SHORT TAKES–Compiled By Saidu Abubakar

President Muhammadu Buhari

38

Industry 03:19

Buhari Orders Full Takeover Of OML 11 From Shell

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the re-entry of oil pro-duction in Ogoniland as well as full takeover of operatorship of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 11 from Shell Petroleum Development Compa-ny (SPDC). OML 11, which lies in the south-eastern Niger Delta and contains 33 oil and gas fields, is one of the most important blocs in Nigeria in terms of production.

NNPC Advises Consumers Against Panic Buying

The Nigerian National Petro-leum Corporation (NNPC) has assured petroleum products con-sumers across the country not to engage in panic buying as it holds 2.6billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit otherwise called petrol and 90,000 metric tonnes of Dual Pur-pose Kerosene (Kerosene), saying the holding is expected to last 52 days, assuming no single drop of product is imported from now.

First phase of NNPC’s refiner-ies rehabilitation programme begins

The Nigerian National Petro-leum Corporation (NNPC) refin-eries rehabilitation programme is to commence with the 210,000 barrels per day capacity Port Har-court Refinery complex.

In 2017, the NNPC inaugurated eight committees mandated to return the four refineries to their nameplate capacities by 2019.

NNPC’s spokesperson, Ndu Ughamadu said the action was sequel to a presidential directive to develop ways to increase local fuel production and cut down on imports.

Lagos: Scores killed in yet an-other gas explosion

Four people have reportedly been killed while several sus-tained injuries in another gas ex-plosion in Lagos.

A leaking gas cylinder at an artisan’s shop in Ajara, Badagry,

was responsible for the incident which happened an hour after an explosion occurred at Second Coming gas station in the Mago-do area of the state. Two people died and eight sustained various degrees of injury in that incident.

Gowon, NNPC boss to receive OGTAN awards

Former head of state and elder statesman, Gen. Yakubu Gowon and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) would be honoured at the second annual in-ternational conference and exhi-bition of the Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN), in collaboration with Nigerian Content Development and Moni-toring Board (NCDMB).

Passage Of PIB Critical To Investment Inflow In Nigeria, Baru Insists

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petro-leum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, recently, made a case for the domestication of oil and gas technologies within the African continent, saying such de-velop the capacity of the people, improve the economies and em-place national oil and gas com-panies on the path of sustainable growth and development.

Kolmani River-II: Drilling At Benue Trough Progressing Satisfactorily –NNPC

The Kolmani river-II Well which spud-in was flagged off last month by President Muhammadu Buhari is progressing satisfactori-ly, with drilling so far at 6,700 feet, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, has said.

Dangote Refinery Flags Off Skills Acquisition Scheme For Youths

Dangote Petroleum Refinery

& Petrochemicals Company on March 21, flagged off a vocation-al training scheme that will incul-cate necessary skills in young men and women from the Ibe-ju-Lekki area of its operation to make them marketable.

NNPC releases guidelines for 2019 crude oil swap contract

The Nigerian National Petro-leum Corporation (NNPC) March 20, unveiled the guidelines for its crude oil-for-product swap programme, known as the Direct Sale and Direct Purchase (DSDP) scheme.

Nestoil says it will complete its section of the OB3 pipeline by end of March

Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi, Chairman and Chief Executive of the Obijackson Group, par-ent of Nestoil Ltd, says that me-chanical completion of the Oben Obiafu-Obrikom pipeline, a part of which the company is con-structing, will be done by the end of March 2019 “and pre-commis-sioning and final commissioning much later in the year”.

General Yakubu Gowon

39

Ethiopian Airlines has said the pilot flying the Boeing 737 MAX 8 that crashed March 2019

was properly trained, as it hit back at reports that he had not practised on a flight simulator designed for the new plane.

Two reports — one from re-uters, and another from the New York Times — cited anon-ymous sources who said that Yared Getachew, the pilot who died along with all 157 people aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, had not practiced on a Boeing 737 MAX flight simula-tor to prepare for differences between the new plane and ear-lier 737 models.

Ethiopian Airlines reportedly had the simulator since Jan-uary. It is unclear whether the co-pilot had trained using the simulator, according to the re-ports.

But Ethiopian Airlines, which is regarded as one of Africa’s safest airlines, disputed those claims in a statement, March

21, saying its pilots had com-pleted appropriate training as recommended by the U.S. Fed-eral Aviation Administration (FAA) and Boeing.

Additionally, the airline said that the 737 MAX flight simula-tor was not designed to include problems with the new plane’s automated systems, which are suspected of contributing to the crash.

“We urge all concerned to refrain from making such un-informed, incorrect, irresponsi-ble and misleading statements during the period of the acci-dent investigation, as interna-tional regulations require all stakeholders to wait patiently for the result of the investi-gation,” the airline said in the statement.

Ethiopian Airlines pilots com-pleted the Boeing recommend-ed and FAA approved differ-ences training from the B-737 NG aircraft to the B-737 MAX aircraft before the phase in the B-737-8 MAX fleet to the Ethio-

pian operation and before they start flying the B-737-8 MAX.

The airline also expressed “disappointment” over what it called the New York Times’ “wrong reporting.”

“Ethiopian Airlines express-es its disappointment on the following wrong reporting of the @nytimes titled: Ethiopian

Ethiopian Airlines Rejects Claims That Crashed Boeing 737 MAX Pilot Was Not Properly Trained

By Adeniyi Onifade

Aviation 03:19

…urges all concerned to refrain from making such uninformed, incorrect, irresponsible and misleading statements.

40

Airlines Had a Max 8 Simula-tor, but Pilot on Doomed Flight Didn’t receive Training.”

The Ethiopian Airlines crash has drawn international scru-tiny because it is the second deadly crash of a Boeing 737 MAX 8, Boeing’s best-selling commercial airliner.

The first crash involved a Lion Air flight in Indonesia in October. Some are questioning whether the plane’s automated Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which is meant to prevent stalls, caused both crashes.

Investigators said prelimi-nary findings pointed to the au-tomated system contributing to the Lion Air crash. Its role in the Ethiopian Airlines accident is still under investigation.

Ethiopian maintained in its statement that its pilots were familiar with warnings issued by the FAA following the Lion Air crash. It also said that the MAX 8 simulator is not designed to model the type of MCAS is-sues implicated in the crashes, seemingly suggesting that ad-ditional training would not have prevented the accident.

Boeing has, however, said that its MAX 8 planes are safe, and has said that pilots with ex-perience on older 737 models — like Getachew, who reported-ly had 8,000 hours flying 737s — should not need much train-ing to fly the MAX models.

Nonetheless, concerns over similarities between the two crashes, which both occurred shortly after takeoff, eventually

led the FAA to ground all MAX 8 planes in the U.S., following similar moves by Canada and about 40 other countries. The FAA at first maintained that MAX 8 aircrafts were safe to fly.

The agency released a memo saying that Boeing was working to update its 737 MAX software and training, and that “ongoing review of this software installa-tion and training is an agency priority, as will be the roll-out of any software, training, or other measures to operators of the 737 MAX.”

“We urge all concerned to refrain from making such uninformed, incorrect, irresponsible and misleading state-ments during the period of the accident investigation, as international regulations require all stakeholders to wait patiently for the result of the investigation,” the airline said in the statement.

Aviation 03:19

41

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Column 03:19

The automobile industry is charging ahead with electrification, shifting away from fossil fuel

which has become a massive trend across the industry with the majority of the carmakers showing cars at the 89th Gene-va Motor sports show having at

least some kind of electric-pow-ered car on offer.

The first edition of the Inter-national Motor Sports Show took place in 1905 and since then, the show had a reputation for gathering hundreds of exhib-itors, becoming one of the most well-known and most popular

motor shows in Europe. One of the 5 “majors” recognised by the International Organisation of Au-tomobile Constructors (OICA). This year all roads lead to Ge-neva again with over 220 exhibi-tors including major carmakers, designers, equipment suppliers, as well as important industrial

ELECTRIC, NOT FUELWill Power Future Car

Hanging Out With

The Volkswagen ID Buggy

44

Column 03:19

suppliers, presenting around 900 cars over the 110,000 m2 of the 7 halls of Palexpo in Geneva. The atmosphere was nothing short of breathtaking and excit-ing, this important major inter-national auto show had 660,000 visitors with nearly half being in-ternational. The most refreshing thing was eying both the high end and middle-class brands battle with the latest technolo-gies for electric cars and these are my top 3 electric cars at this year’s show:

1. The Volkswagen ID Buggy, a green fun car that exudes cool. The frog-like colour match-es the interior with no screen. This two-seater car had an eye-catching chunky 18-inch wheels that runs 150 miles per a charge. The most interesting thing about this car is VW plans to lease out the design to small-er brands to build their own.

2. Secondly, the Seat hatchback called the el-born. The brands

first electric car with a 260 miles range on a single charge. The charge can get you up to 80% in 45 minutes and has a five-seat-er with 20inch tires. The price is yet to be confirmed but rumour has it you’ll be looking at spend-ing around $30,000.

3. My final pick is FIAT’s con-cept for the Centoventi aka The Panda. FIAT celebrates 120 years of the company with this simple city car. The panda is a forward-thinking car simple and super customisable. The interior is fantastic and you can remove the back bench and customise the front seat to a baby seat. The batteries were the highlight for me though, you can change one battery pack which has a range of 62 miles and you can add two more battery packs in the car making it a 250 miles range.

In the midst of all these beau-tiful well thought of and pro-duced cars, I can’t help but won-der how far left behind Africa

will be with the third industrial revolution. My top picks for elec-tric cars all come from brands that make affordable cars, how-ever, the prices for these cars many middle-class families in third worlds may not be able to afford it, not to mention the practicality of it, most develop-ing countries still struggle with stable electricity. This reason wouldn’t even stop high-end brands like Aston Martin, Audi, and Mercedes from showing off concept electric SUVs. The scrambling to catch up with Californian electric carmaker Tesla was real, however I predict that third world countries may be able to catch up in the next half-century or less hopefully. For example, Nigeria’s crude oil is still a major source of govern-ment revenue, we may not be able to adopt hybrid and electric cars because the more of those cars we have the lesser the de-mand for petroleum, for this reason I doubt we can achieve the SDG on climate change by

The Seat hatchback called the el-born.

45

Column 03:19

2030. Notable car makers ab-sent this year include Ford, Vol-vo, Hyundai and Opel. Despite the absence of these large car makers, innovative new electric cars abound, particularly highly expensive electric super cars made by small firms.

It would be a crime not to mention my top favourite lux-ury and super car at the show. The Bugatti Divo, Audi e-tron GT, Lamborghini Aventador road-ster SVJ, Bentley Bentayga. The latter, Bentley Bentayga was particularly interesting talking about its speed. The car has been categorised as the fastest SUV in the world today, capable of reaching 306 kilometers per hour (190 mph). Other than the great line ups of impressive elec-tric cars, the Bentley Continental GT number 9 edition by Mulliner stole my heart. This beauty, cel-ebrating Bentley at 100 years, was inspired by the legendary Bentley Blower, a supercharged race car driven by Sir Henry ralph Stanley “Tim” Birkin at the

1930 Le Mans 24 Hours. Serv-ing as a nod to the company’s motorsport heritage and such a sentimental piece, Bentley went the extra mile by cutting up pieces of wood from the orig-inal inspired car, so you will ac-tually find a piece of wood in the 100 cars that will be available for purchase at $332,000 with taxes. This handmade electric vehicle by Hispano Suiza also caught my eye with a whooping price tag of $1 million. What was intriguing was how they reviving

old models, but with all-electric engines. Hispano Suiza roots date back to 1898 when a Span-ish artillery captain, Emilio de la Cuadra, started building electric vehicles in Barcelona.

Note to self Africa, big chang-es are occurring and the world is not going to wait for us, we need to catch up. If you enjoyed this review please share and keep me in your prayers I get to drive and own my retirement cars a P1 Mclaran, Bentley Continental or a rolls royce.

Hispano Suiza

Nigeria’s crude oil is still a ma-jor source of government revenue, we may not be able to adopt hybrid and electric cars because the more of those cars we have the lesser the de-mand for petroleum, for this reason I doubt we can achieve the SDG on climate change by 2030.

46

Guest Column 03:19

Every manager or busi-ness owner or chief exec-utive officer knows that providing excellent cus-

tomer support is important to a business, but did you know that the quality of your customer support affects your company’s reputation and overall bottom line? Whether it’s in our person-al or professional lives, when we walk into any organization, private or public sector, we ex-pect a certain level of customer service. This can be the point of differentiation between what some of us would consider to be a good or bad organization or company. A company’s reputa-tion is everything, a good repu-tation could be the determinant whether a business would be average or successful.

Unfortunately, when it comes to support services, bad news travels fast and far; bad news here is a tale of how a customer

was not valued and badly treat-ed by the first contact person in the organization. In fact, twice as many people hear about a bad customer service experi-ence than a good one, first im-pressions matter. I remember the thread that went viral on twitter some weeks back by someone who came into the country via the international air-port in Abuja, he shared a pleas-ant experience of not being ex-ploited by airport and security personnel and how the new look of the airport made home-coming refreshing; after reading that thread, I felt proud to be a Nigerian. This goes to show that it will enhance a company’s rep-utation if every walk-in custom-er or visitor feels special and is treated like royalty with utmost respect and regard, it shows that the management has gone the extra mile to ensure that any enquiry, request or purchase is

properly addressed. Front desk employees, recep-

tionists, secretaries, personal assistants, ticketing officers, sales representatives and even security personnel are the most important staff any establish-ment employs. They are the face of the company and as such their performance is cen-tral to forming an impression of the establishment. A customer’s first impression will influence their satisfaction and contin-uous patronage. Back to the person I spoke about in the pre-vious paragraph, he was travel-ling with a friend a first timer in Nigeria, imagine the impression the friend would have about Ni-geria’s airports as against what he had probably been hearing about; the tales about clearance and baggage claims, stolen properties and dirty and smelly airports. It was good to hear something different about the

–From Monye Anthonia

IMPLICATIONS OF GOOD CUSTOMER-SERVICE

47

airport. Now, imagine what sto-ries he would go back to tell his family and friends back home, unknowingly, the Nigerian gov-ernment has recruited a crusad-er.

Public opinion plays a key role in informing perspective about an organization’s reputation. For instance, there is a popular opinion about civil servants in government offices and their attitude to work. Punctuality, orderliness, diligence and com-portment are lacking in most government offices and this doesn’t tell well of such orga-nizations. You walk into gov-ernment offices and you have secretaries and personal assis-tants treating visitors shabbily like they have no business ask-ing about their principal officers. Secretaries’ chewing gum or having their meals in the middle of the day at their desk, assis-

tants not properly dressed walk-ing about aimlessly in and out of offices discussing and making a lot of noise, the list goes on and on. The public sector has been tarnished by a perception of poor standards of service such that people are reluctant to deal with public or civil servants as it is.

You go to an airport or train station and the ticketing officer is overtly rude and disrespect-ful, you have people talking over your head at their booths not minding the discomfort they are causing the traveller. Some-times you are at the airport wait-ing for your flight which gets de-layed and you are left to wait for hours, sometimes missing your appointment, with no apologies from the operators. Or you walk into a mall or big supermarket and there is no one around the shelf to help identify where a

product is or you go to the bank and can’t find a spot to park your car or have difficulty filling out a form and the security person-nel or bank officer is dismissing you as you should know better than to ask for directions or as-sistance. These little acts of ser-vice are what make a customer feel appreciated and go a long way in increasing patronage and loyalty. On a daily basis, custom-ers are increasingly demanding better customer service, it is the responsibility of the business owner to ensure that it is con-stantly improving and surpass-ing expectations.

I cannot overemphasize the implication of what disservice this crazy attitude does to any organization or business. Most companies are aware that by in-creasing the quality of your cus-tomer services, you can actual-ly increase your profit. And, by offering poor customer service, you risk negatively impacting your reputation thereby reduc-ing your revenue. But how do we impact this knowledge and awareness in our service deliv-ery, do we strive to make chang-es or do remain nonchalant to the bad customer service?

Monye is a Public Relations Practitioner based in Abuja

There is a popular opinion about civil servants in gov-ernment offices and their attitude to work. You walk into government offices and you have secretaries and person-al assistants treating visitors shabbily like they have no business asking about their principal officers. Secretaries’ chewing gum or having their meals in the middle of the day at their desk, assistants not properly dressed walking about aimlessly in and out of offices discussing and mak-ing a lot of noise, the list goes on and on.

Guest Column 03:19

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Sports 03:19

In the early summer of 2002, Abubakar Usman made his debut as a Dambe fighter in

Kebbi, a state in northwest of Nigeria.

Usman, who was 15 at the time, had been surreptitiously learning the sport’s rules and techniques by watching other fighters from the sidelines of the ring.

On the day of his first match, under the scorching sun, he took on a challenge to spar with an opponent everyone was afraid

to face.He lost, but has since become

one of the famous sportsmen of the martial art, with many ac-colades and prizes - including cash, a car and a motorcycle - to his credit.

“I’ve only lost a few match-es as a fighter,” Usman boasts, flashing a grin wide enough to show his missing teeth; two in-cisors lost to heavy blows.

“I still beat the guy that day,” he says of the opponent who knocked out his teeth.

Rooted in CultureDambe is a style of boxing as-

sociated with the Hausa people of West Africa, including south-ern Niger and southwest Chad.

Starting out as more of a wrestling sport, known as “koku-wa” in the Hausa language, Dambe today is a “striking sport” where one fist is used as a spear to strike an opponent and the other as a shield.

Unlike the five-round max-imum of the United Fighting

DambeHow Ancient Form of Nigerian boxing

Swept the Internet

–Compiled by Saidu Abubakar

Dambe has evolved from a sport belonging to a West African caste to a sensation enjoyed by millions online

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Sports 03:19

Championship (UFC) in the US, Dambe is fought in three rounds or fewer if a knockout punch is delivered.

Winners receive prizes in the form of money, cattle, presents from fans, or motorcycles and cars. On rare occasions, young women are married off to fight-ers as rewards.

Muktar Muhammed is a 31-year-old whose scarred face tells the tales of the injuries he’s sustained over a decade-long career. He told Al Jazeera that his cousin, who also competes, was gifted a young woman after he won a local tournament in Kebbi.

Many fighters are butchers by trade and were taught the sport from a young age.

Abudullahi rabiu is from the

Kudu fighting community and dropped out of high school against his parents’ wishes to focus on Dambe. “I am just interested in the fight, not be-cause of money but because of the cultural nature of the Dambe game,” said the 24-year-old, who has won national tournaments.

From Ancient Sport to Internet Spectacle

Dambe began when clans of travelling butchers from the Hausa tribe started fighting tour-naments with the local commu-nities; they were soon compet-ing for fame and glory as locals huddled around the ring to cheer their favourite fighter on.

Today, the game has become an Internet sensation. Fans across the world have viewed

videos posted to YouTube mil-lions of times. Anthony Okeleke and Chidi Anyina stumbled upon Dambe online and instantly saw potential for the Nigerian mar-ket, which is crowded with clips of football, Afropop music and Nollywood.

In January 2017, with a de-sire to showcase the game to the world, they launched Dambe Warriors on YouTube.

“The first thing we did was to reach out to the communi-ty and the fighters. We knew we had to gain the trust of the community first and the associ-ation of Dambe fighters before doing anything,” Anyina told Al Jazeera.

“We are looking at the UFC model. However, we want to make it indigenous and unique,”

Although Dambe is very popular in Northern Nige-ria, attracting a good number of fighters and spectators, it can’t be regarded as a standard sport yet. Unlike other combat sports like mixed martial arts, it doesn’t have for-mal weight classes, there are no uniforms and there are hardly any rules.

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Sports 03:19

said Okeleke. “Our mission was to push it to the mainstream.”

At the time of publication, Dambe Warriors had 46,000 subscribers and their videos had been viewed 11.7 million times. Their content is enjoyed by en-thusiasts in countries from the Philippines, Thailand and Brazil, to Indonesia and the US.

“We have a culture that has been basically traditional and re-stricted to people in the commu-nity, but now you have an inter-national audience taking a look at it and enjoying it,” said Lolade Adewuyi, former editor of Goal.com, Nigeria.

“I am very happy to see the videos because people all over the world are watching me fight. It’s better than when I started 15 years ago” -ABUBAKAr USMAN, A DAMBE FIGHTEr

But, for all their fame, Dambe fighters are not paid fairly. The chiefs control the irregular pay-ments, and there are no welfare or health packages for partici-pants.

Adewuyi hopes that the sportsmen will become interna-tional stars one day and be paid better than UFC fighters.

“There’s limitless potential in

the game,” he said.For Usman, the fighter from

Kebbi State, nothing beats the feeling of people watching him throw and parry punches in on-line videos. “I am very happy to see the videos because people all over the world are watching me fight. It’s better than when I started 15 years ago,” Usman said, beaming with pride.

…On Its Way To Becoming Standard Sport

Known for its brutality, Dam-be is a form of traditional boxing that is said to be as old as the Hausa people. It was originally a way of practicing military skills, but with its comeback, it has fast become a form of entertain-ment in Nigeria.

Although Dambe is very pop-ular in Northern Nigeria, attract-ing a good number of fighters and spectators, it can’t be re-garded as a standard sport yet. Unlike other combat sports like mixed martial arts, it doesn’t have formal weight classes, there are no uniforms and there are hardly any rules.

However, two groups have set out to change this with the hope

of exporting it to other countries. The New York Times reports

that one is a promotional outfit called Dambe Warriors and the other is the Nigeria Traditional Boxing League Association, a league of clubs.

Founded by Chidi Anyina and Anthony Okeleke, Dambe Warriors use the media to re-cast the boxing for a modern audience. The outfit promotes fights through YouTube and live events, giving people across the world a chance to experience the rawness and reality of the ancient sport.

In addition to setting up a reg-ular season and drafting a com-plete set of rules, the league has designed uniforms for fighters, limited rounds to three minutes, created a system for scoring fights and included a code of conduct that will ensure specta-tors behave. They’ve also hired a doctor to monitor fights. With 10 clubs currently registered, soon we may have a full-fledged league that cuts beyond Nigeria.

SOUrCE: AL JAZEErA NEWS/ADDITIONAL AGENCY rEPOrT

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