Having been in the Industry for Eighteen years what can you say about Human Capacity Development?

From my experience in the last Eighteen years in the Industry I see human capacity development as a measure weapon to play in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry, if you have human capacity, you control and if you don’t have then you line up behind those in control. For years I saw how the expatriates were controlling because they had people that were qualified to be project managers for example, but within the first three years in the Industry I saw opportunities, one for myself and also for a group of Nigerians to develop capacity and that has changed the game plan, that has helped put Nigerians like myself to take over within a year of joining a major company.

What is your experience in Human Capacity Development

I had an opportunity of being developed right from when I joined one of the major expatriate company “ABB Sohemi” I have the opportunity of exposure, I was trained and when I joined the biggest Nigerian company “ Adamac  group” at that time, I had much more opportunity of development both within and outside Nigeria, and as the group tender manager, I had about thirty people working with me; about 20 of them were Nigerians while 10 were  expatriates and I also had a mandate, apart from my own passion to train Nigerians,  so I had opportunities to assign Nigerians and experienced expatriates especially in the area of preparing proposals. I also had the opportunity of sending some Nigerians abroad to participate in the joint bid preparation with International companies in France, Italy, UK and the good thing we had then was that as a group we had a fabrication company in UK, so a lot of Nigerians went there to participate in Jacket design, jacket fabrication that were later brought to Nigeria. Today those Nigerians, having been trained, are in positions where they manage activities from project management, Engineering to commissioning and these projects in different places around the world are dominated by Nigerian especially now with Local content, most of these jobs are done in Nigeria.

At what point did you join the industry as a player?

I joined the Industry specifically in June 1997 in ABB Sohemi as a proposal engineer and that really exposed me.

What boosted your interest?

Ok, I would say it was really divine arrangement because when I joined, I was assigned to the commercial department but I resisted it because I wanted to go to the field, but of course they said that was your opportunity, so I stayed; and at a process I saw it was like a school, we saw everything about the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry, different tenders were read and we were taught how to prepare tenders so from that position I saw the whole of the value chain;  then I started liking it, reading, knowing a little about virtually everything  and that boosted my interest, capacity, from day one it was training, training and when I came to Adamac, I had the opportunity of not just traveling abroad but also of going there and interacting at very high levels.

How can you assess government efforts of boosting Human Capacity Development in the industry?

Yes, in fairness to the government, I will say they are doing it especially with Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, that organization has become a game changer and the government also did the right thing by appointing somebody that is so passionate “Engr. Ernest Nwapa as first Executive Secretary he has done so well, you know it is unbelievable looking at the level of achievement within these four to five years of implementation of the Act backing the organization.

Do you think government has made some level of impact in Human Capacity Development?

Yes, it’s getting better and better; the first NCDMB supervising training that I was involved in just lasted about three to four months, but the government through NCDMB is trying to make it a minimum of one year or during the project, whichever one is longer. So if the project is two years, these guys will be trained till the end of the project. I think its a new thing which the government has introduced and its very good. Another thing I believe they are planning to do is, upon completion of training they will absorb you to the project so that once you are selected to participate for training you will just go all the way from the training-  I mean at the training they will put you on the project somewhere and somebody that has been trained you should not allow the fire to go down.

As a product what are your efforts in Human Capacity Development

Ok, we are not doing this because of profit but because of passion and we believe this is  the only way Nigerians can take charge of the Industry. We do trainings now as a core area of service, we provide NCDMB sponsored and supervised trainings by the Grace of God. We have done NCDMB organized training, we have also done trainings in the area of Induction, we have equally done short trainings in our areas for this year, and we actually have lined up training programmes in November.

What was your involvement in the Nigerian Content Act before it was implemented?

Ok, well I had the opportunity of being at the beginning way back 2004,2005,2006 mid of 2000 we were invited by NETCO an NNPC subsidiary to start the local content efforts, I went there as a representative of my company ‘Adamac group” I was in the Engineering sub-sector so we were there and attending monthly meetings. Shortly after that, NNPC upgraded Nigerian content to a division and appointed the first General Manager and we were also there up till 2009 before the Act was implemented. We were part of the yearly Nigerian content Consultative Forum, NCCF.

How would you compare local content between the period of 2000 and 2015?

I would say that we have geometric improvement, I mean if you scale it; it used to be five percent then, but is like seventy percent now. It s unbelievable and the success we have recorded is huge.

Can you please explain how the Nigerian Content Act has been of benefit to Nigerians?

In fact like I said it’s a revolution because there were initial resistances but thank God it has succeeded, it has helped a lot of companies to start springing up initially some people did not believe it but when they saw some Nigerians getting opportunities they quickly jumped in. For example, in the marine sub-sector there is this vessel classification thing and as we speak if a Nigerian vessel brings in a vessel made in Nigeria he will have the first opportunity of consideration, he is guaranteed that his vessel will have work, secondly, if you look at Engineering before now, you could do your Engineering design abroad but right now you must do it hundred percent in Nigeria. So a lot of Nigerian Engineering companies are busy working in Nigeria with Nigerians some of course you have to do it  outside Nigeria but some go to the extent of everybody working on it are Nigerians not you have to bring an expatriate.

When did Embee Jay Global Services commence business operation?

Ok, we started actively in 2013 with a contract to train people on NCDMB sponsored training on projects.

What motivated you to establish your company?

I saw opportunity for Nigerian companies.

What is your company’s major focus?

My company’s major focus today is training and also we provide Nigerian content and related support services to our clients.

Who are your clients?

For now our clients are major EPC contractors who have projects and we handle the training aspect, Deck Oil and Gas Company limited, Morpol Engineering limited, IGPES who provide contracts procurement, Asbury International Company limited, Elshcon and so many others.

What other kind of business does your company do?

We are essentially into Oil and Gas and in the Oil and Gas industry  right now our major focus t are raining, support services in the area of Nigerian content contract procurement and in the area of contract administration, we are also looking at providing specialist services bordering maintenance because we are passionate about maintenance, we are developing capability in rope access technology;  these are the areas of maintenance, and in the area of painting as well as all areas of inspection and certification. We believe they are core area of maintenance. In maintenance standard, we want to be part of those Nigerians who want to ensure that our standards are not lowered, simply because we are Nigerians.

Do you have plans for business expansion?

Yes, we want to have monthly general training and with time we could extend it to other Oil and Gas cities like Abuja, Lagos, Warri. We would be doing monthly training especially in contract procurement, Nigerian content contract administration, quality and safety management to run from February to November this year.

What is your training aimed at?

One thing that we are aiming at is to have opportunity to impact on Nigerians, am happy because the last training we did for twelve Engineers at related disciplines am happy today seeing this twelve Engineers participating in the industry at various levels.

What is your membership strength and who are your partners.

The company is a member of OGTAN, we plan to become a member of PETAN in future because we believe that they are doing the right thing and we have other local and International partners, we have partners in Engineering design, International partners in the areas of Marine, we equally partner with BV for International certification in the area of quality management, PM for success and their UK partners in the area of International training and certification. We are planning to partner with EMN, Nigerian Institute of Welding and we are currently in the process of developing more partners.

You earlier mentioned commencing your corporate monthly training, when will this commence?

Yes, our training is commencing in this month of March and we are looking at Nigerian Content because we want people to understand what Nigerian content is all about so that they can avoid fatal flaws and take a complete advantage of the opportunity, secondly,  we are looking at contract procurement, contract administration/project management, quality management safety, Entrepreneurship development.

MALABO, Equatorial Guinea, April 2, 2015/ — The Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy of Equatorial Guinea (http://www.equatorialoil.com) is pleased to announce the Ratification of Production Sharing Contract for Block EG-06 by the government of Equatorial Guinea. The contract was signed on January 16, 2015 between ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Equatorial Guinea (Offshore) Limited, GEPetrol and the Government of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, represented by the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy.

Wife of the awardee and General Manager, Zenith Bank, Mrs. Adobi Nwapa, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Engr. Ernest Chu Nwapa (FNSE) in a handshake with the Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Technology Owerri, Prof Chigozie Asiabaka after receiving an Honorary Doctorate Degree of Management Technology at the 2014 Convocation Ceremony, held on December 12, 2014.

Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Engr. Ernest Chu Nwapa (FNSE) with a former Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Engr. Funsho Kupolokun after receiving an Honorary Doctorate Degree of Management Technology from the Federal University of Technology Owerri at the 2014 Convocation Ceremony, held on December 12, 2014.

…promises to strengthen oil industry-universities linkage

The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Ernest Nwapa has been conferred with an Honorary Doctorate Degree of Management Technology (D.MT) by the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO).

Nwapa was awarded the degree at FUTO’s 2014 convocation ceremonyheld on Friday in recognition of his outstanding contributions and dedication to the development of Nigerian Content which supports the developmental aspirations of Nigeria.

Speaking after receiving the award from the university’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Chigozie Asiabaka, the Executive Secretary explained that the implementation of the Nigerian Content Act has generated immense benefits for the Nigerian economy and the educational system byencouraging in-country incubation of technology and establishment of facilities where lecturers of oil and gas related disciplines can demonstrate what they teach and students can practice their newly acquired knowledge.

Nwapa stressed that theoretical knowledge needed to be translated into activity and tied to real-life projects, adding that the absence of such linkages created problems for the nation’s development in the past.

According to him, “Technology is key for a country like Nigeria with our population. With our hunger for development and growth, we must continue to underpin our developmental effort with education in technology. Today, there are a lot of shop floors either in place or being built because of the Nigerian Content policy.

“A lot of Nigerians are investing in shop floors, creating places where Nigerians can work and where lecturers can see the reality of the industry they teach. The students can also have the hope and inspiration of working productively in these places after their studies. This is what the policy of Mr. President has accomplished.

The Executive Secretary commended former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Engr. Funso Kupolokun for setting up the Nigerian Content Division in the corporation in 2005, which culminated in the passage of the Nigerian Content Act and establishment of NCDMB.

He however,credited the success achieved in the implementation of the Act to the Minister of Petroleum Resources, adding that “from the day Mr. President appointed Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, the Act began to take life. Mr. President signed the Local Content law for the oil and gas industry knowing that there would be a revolution in other sectors. This is creating opportunities for the universities to tap into the industry. The oil and gas sector requires a highly skilled workforce. We look up to the universities to provide this quality of people.”

The award recipient who restated his belief in the Nigerian educational system and the fact that Nigerian graduates can compete satisfactorily with their peers around the worldalso acknowledged the need for improvement in the system.

He further remarked that he would rally his friends to support FUTO in addressing an infrastructural gap which will stimulate linkage between the university and the oil and gas industry.

He assured that the donation which will be christened Project FUTO Plus would be sustainable because the sponsors will play a role in the governance of the institute.

The event coincided with Engr. Nwapa’s 54^th birthday and drew a large attendance which included chief executive officers of international and indigenous operating companies, their counterparts from service companies, representatives of government agencies, colleagues and members of his family.

Powering Africa: Summit To Be Held in Washington DC, January 28-30th 2015, With Commitments From 12 African Countries To Further Advance Private Sector Participation In Africa’s Power Sector

WASHINGTON, December 9, 2014/ — Over the last 20 years EnergyNet has co-ordinated investor meetings with some of the most reliable and successful power developers operating on the continent of Africa. Symbion Power, GE, Siemens, Copperbelt, Goldwind, Azura Power, Aldwych, Karpowership, Globeleq, Schneider Electric, ESBi, Transcorp, Chint, China State Grid, Hanergy and others have all been companies that have made long term commitments to the sector and invested in sustainable solutions. These are powerful companies with strong balance sheets backed by some of the biggest banks.

Despite all this interest, knowledge and experience, billions of dollars has been spent on development over the last 20 years and many projects have not reached financial closure. Therefore, one key question is how sustainable is the current way of doing things?

How can investors take greater responsibility for the success and speed of the development of long standing projects? Ultimately, African governments and the public sector are the ‘power in Africa’ and it is their responsibility to build power stations and distribute power for the people. Electrification could lead to increased wealth for all, but equally importantly it could lead to increased stability in order to promote further private sector investment, creating more jobs and even more wealth.

It all sounds so simple…. Of course it does, but when a potential investor works across the continent with ministries that lack IT infrastructure and any real depth of international experience across all departments, one starts to understand the challenge that governments and developers face when trying to reach agreements.

Over the last year we’ve seen a change in conversation and indeed a change in the right direction focused on capacity building and infrastructure support for public sector entities.

Symbion Power, Schneider, GE, Aggreko, and Norton Rose Fulbright among others have been investing in long term capacity building including providing grass roots level training. These companies, along with PwC and Deloitte are working with public sector corporations on additional development projects to support capacity development. One of the game change actions has of course been the launch of President Obama’s “Power Africa” initiative designed to increase access to electricity in all of sub-Saharan Africa. Power Africa seeks to strengthen the institutional and human capacity needed to attract investment on a long-term, sustainable basis, and to effectively manage a growing power sector.

Since its launch in late June 2013, Power Africa has helped facilitate the financial close of private sector transactions which expect to produce over 3,100 Megawatts (MW) of new generation capacity. In addition, Power Africa has already mobilized more than $20 billion in commitments from more than 80 private sector partners. Power Africa has also forged strategic partnerships with the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the Government of Sweden, which together have committed an additional $9 billion.

At the ‘Powering Africa: Summit’ (http://www.poweringafrica-summit.com) in Washington next month many of the challenges and opportunities will be discussed, with many of the investors in the initiative present including those from the AfDB, World Bank, the United States Government and private sector partners.

With such powerful cooperation among international investors in play, we’re sure that it’s not so much an ‘if’ this will create opportunities, as ‘when’ those opportunities will impact the lives of those on the ground.

Having focused solely on Africa’s power sector and frontier market power generation for 20 years, EnergyNet has had the privilege to witness the passion and long term commitment it takes to ‘turn the lights on in Africa.’ Today there is more enthusiasm and more ‘expectation’ about the potential of Africa’s electricity market, and we’re delighted to play [even] such a small role within such an important and exciting sector.

From 28-30th January 2015, EnergyNet will welcome a high powered delegation of Ministers and officials from utilities and regulatory bodies from Africa to meet with US private and public sector stakeholders at the Powering Africa: Summit where they will continue the crucial conversation on how to maintain the momentum behind building up Africa’s power sector.

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of EnergyNet Ltd.

In its effort to generate investment in large-scale sustainable energy projects, the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a US$20 million International Development Association (IDA) grant.

The grant is to finance the preparation of regional energy projects under the 12-country Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) and help leverage the investment needed to support transformational projects that generate large amounts of electricity and transmit it across Southern Africa.

In Southern Africa – excluding South Africa – it is estimated that only 17 percent of the population has access to electricity. For countries in the sub region, expanding electricity access is a critical part of poverty reduction efforts.

Expanding access requires a major increase in power supply to the region. Southern African countries have significant resources for generating power but to develop these sources of energy requires specialized technical expertise to prepare projects so that they are able to raise the significant investments required from the private sector.

According to Colin Bruce, the World Bank’s Regional Integration Director for Africa, the grant is necessary to help solve the energy challenge in the region. “Across Southern Africa, insufficient and unreliable electricity is a huge barrier to attracting investments, expanding exports, and creating jobs. Today’s support will help strengthen the capacity of Southern African countries to prepare and mobilize funding for priority regional projects,” he said.

The program will fund feasibility studies and assessments with an aim to attracting investors, who often require high quality information and legal agreements. It will also provide support for brokering and finalizing cross-border political, technical and commercial agreements in order to attract sufficient private sector financing.

In addition, analytical support to improve regional decision making and planning capacity will be included. As part of the program a Projects Acceleration Team will be established in the SAPP program. This team will include highly skilled professionals who will support the preparation of key projects. “Most existing project preparation facilities are relatively small in size and highly fragmented,” said Mustafa Zakir Hussain, the World Bank’s Task Team Leader for the project. “This project will create a regional platform under SADC and SAPP to mobilize regional expertise and the significant additional financial support required for advancing large transformational energy projects.”

IDA
The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing zero-interest loans and grants for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives.

IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 82 poorest countries, 40 of which are in Africa. Resources from IDA bring positive change for 2.5 billion people living on less than $2 a day. Since 1960, IDA has supported development work in 108 countries. Annual commitments have increased steadily and averaged about $16 billion over the last three years, with about 50 percent of commitments going to Africa.

Chief Isaac Jolapamo, the Immediate Past President of the Nigerian Ship owners Association (NISA) said that the association would ensure the growth of the shipping industry to create job opportunities. He said this at the inauguration of new executives of NISA held in Apapa, Lagos. According to him, gone were the days when the forces of domination undermined the cabotage and local content regimes that were meant to improve the lives of industry operators. “We have come out of the trenches with better determination to secure our maritime industry that is capable of reducing our dependency on oil and create jobs,” he said.

He recalled that the Nigerian flag was flown with pride all over the world by Nigerian-owned vessels that carried Nigerian cargoes and crewed by Nigerian seafarers.

He said the Nigerian maritime industry was the envy of nations, adding that there was assurance for transportation of cargoes by local ships with shipyards designed for ship repair and ship building.

According to Jolapamo, the situation changed negatively when foreign companies dominated the nation’s maritime industry.

He said that the foreign companies were against the idea of indigenous ownership and management of ships in order to ensure continued foreign dominance of Nigeria’s maritime trade, ‘’ he said.

In his speech, Mr Hassan Bello, the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) said the revival of the national carrier was very key to the growth of the economy.

Bello called on the new president of NISA, Capt. Niyi Labijo, to ensure that the issue of revival of national career was re-visited.

In his acceptance speech, Labinjo, promised that the new executives “would work to ensure that Nigerians got back the shipping jobs that should rightfully come to them.

“The consolidation that the new executives of the association will bring about will be such that our jobs, taken by foreign ship owners, are brought back.

“Nigerian ship owners, henceforth, will provide the shipping services, ancillary and associated maritime services to the Nigerian oil and gas communities,’’ the NISA president said.

Labinjo called for a collective effort in the task of building a veritable national maritime industry in Nigeria.

Okwok deal: The Jascon 30 may be one unit Sea Trucks uses on Nigeria field development

Dutch contractor Sea Trucks Group has landed another deal for work at a Nigerian offshore block from Afren and others. Sea Trucks, a company providing offshore installation services, has, following a contract in Nigeria signed recently, informed of an award of a second installation contract for a development in Nigeria to West African Ventures, Sea Trucks’ principle Nigerian business.  

The contract has been awarded by Oriental Energy Resources Limited, Afren Exploration and Production Nigeria  Limited and Addax Petroleum (Nigeria Offshore) Limited.

Sea Trucks will be responsible for installation of 13 km pipeline, fabrication and installation of tie-in spools as well as transportation and installation of topside modules, ranging between 475 t and 600 t in the Okwok Field:

The company will use two of its DP3 pipelay construction vessels to undertake the work. A number of  the Group’s marine support vessels and barges will also be deployed in the project.   Offshore activities are scheduled to begin in February 2015.

US service firm National Oilwell Varco (NOV) has awarded a contract to Nigerian engineering and fabrication firm Aveon Offshore Ltd. for the fabrication of an offloading buoy. The offloading buoy is part of the package for Total’s Egina development.

The contract for the offloading buoy includes the fabrication of the 700-ton buoy hull, installation, and integration of a 200-ton turret and the launching, and pre-commissioning of the completed buoy.

“This contract enables Aveon to expand the breadth of its offering to the Nigerian oil and gas industry. It also demonstrates the confidence of our clients in our capacity and capability to deliver on schedule the components of this major project. We plan to exceed their expectations,” says Tein George, Chairman, Aveon Offshore Ltd.

The project will be executed at the Aveon Offshore’s 240,000 sq meter fabrication yard in Rumuolumeni near Port Harcourt and is expected to generate up to 250,000 man hours. The Sail Away of the buoy is scheduled for the second quarter of 2017.

By Sola Akingboye

Nigeria has been cautioned of the danger inherent in its urge for Renewable Energy as alternative source of power generation in the country. This call came through the annual Fellowship Program of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission in Abuja, a program designed for an inclusive fact finding studies that will enhance improved electricity regulation for the Power sector.

The annual fellowship programme, organized by the Commission to herald the 2013/2014 event as handed down by the Fellowship Task Team of NERC, was anchored by notable academicians; Prof. J.O Ojo, from Centre for Energy System Research, Tennessee Technical University USA; Dr. Abdullateef Usman, of the Department of Economics, University of Ilorin and Dr. Labaran Mohammed Lawal of the Aberdeen Business School, UK.

The enquiry is targeted at identifying vitiating elements frustrating stable and sustainable electricity in the country, as well as proffering elixir to crisis in the private-driven power sector.

Prof. Ojo on the study titled: “PV and Wind Turbine System Interfaced with the Nigerian Distribution Networks” was quick to caution Nigerians and the government on the much touted Renewable Energy as the alternative source of electricity generation in the country.

The American sojourn who described renewable energy as a highly sophisticated technology, hinged his argument on cost implications and the lack of expertise to handle maintenance of such equipments in Nigeria.

“I read Nigerian Newspapers every day. What I see is that there is a misconception in the country that Renewable Energy system will solve our problems, it may not be as we think. I think we need to understand that there are business men in the country who want to make business out of it, some are canvassing for Solar power and so on simply because we have suffered a lot. We need to groom new expertise in this area that could stand the technical challenges the Renewable technologies might portend.”

“Even our universities don’t have expertise, our government need to brace up our higher institutions to focus on issue of Renewable energy system and energy conservation. If there is a way the Commission can help in that direction, it would be the best thing to do. Above all, emphasis should be placed on building the base-line, even though we have to balance the mix in the long run” He posited.

On his part, Dr. Abdullateef Usman, whose research work anchor on “Baseline Survey of Electricity Consumers Satisfaction in Nigeria” which was carried out along with Government and Consumers Affairs Department of NERC, reminisced on certain barriers that separated electricity provider of old, the PHCN and the consumers. He admonished NERC on the intricacies of developing a comprehensive information management policy that will help bridge communication gap between service providers and the customers.

The academician though cited the current infrastructure as having a big challenge to NERC, but lauded the exchange of Power sector from PHCN to private owners as a panacea that allows for a competitive analysis of operations among the distribution companies. In his words:

“You will recall that this study came at the time that both the government and end users yearns for an improved cadre in the provision of electricity in Nigeria, with a view to determine levels of customers satisfaction index for all categories of users and their safety.”

“Good enough, the unbundling of the PHCN into distribution companies now provides avenues for competitive analysis whereby we can now understand which DISCO is doing what and not. Though the manner of electricity infrastructure in Nigeria does not give room for the kind of competition we expect in the industry, this is because the DISCOs are regionalized and where no two DISCOs can be found in a particular region, it becomes difficult for consumers to switch from one DISCO to another in search of better service delivery, and this is a challenge to the regulation. On that note as the regulatory industry, we must be ahead of the service providers anytime, anywhere”. He said.

Highlighting the recommendation of the research he claimed was duly conducted with the use of modern techniques, Prof. Abdullateef emphasized public outcry on Meter related issues; he disclosed that the perception of electricity consumers as gathered across the country were that consumers are interested in Pre-paid Meters. He therefore suggested that the Meters should be provided by service providers free of charge in order to guide against any maintenance related cost by end users.

He also called on NERC to be more stringent in its Consumer satisfaction sanctions against service providers, especially in areas such as frustrating services, equipment handling as well as intimating electricity users before Power outages.

In achieving this, Usman among other recommendations noted that adequate usage of the media, including modern technology such as Social Media which are inevitable tools sacrosanct to both the regulator and distribution companies in carrying the general public along.

Describing these findings as an eye opener, the NERC Chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi assured that no part of the recommendations, especially the benchmarking of consumers as proposed by Prof. Abdullateef would be ignored. Amadi admitted that the welfare of electricity users has been the focal point of the Commission, he pledged to take into cognizance the implementation of Abdullateef’s recommendations as he corroborated Prof. Ojo’s view, that the nation indeed need to thread with caution on the kinds of technologies to be allowed into the country, while in search of alternative source of energy.

Meanwhile, it was pomp and pageantry at the twilight of the 2013/2014 event, as the Commission honoured the two academicians with the ‘Fellow’ of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s certificate and award.

The Commission thereafter vowed to embrace more professionals in view of an inclusive and better electricity regulation for the country.

Dr. Amadi Presenting the certificate of membership ‘Fellow- NERC’ to Prof. Abdullateef Usman

THE recent move by some Nigerian industrialists and electricity generating companies to import coal from South Africa, as a proactive measure against the lingering power supply crisis in the country, has reopened debate on the ‘abandoned’ coal deposits in some parts of the country.

This move, according to the firms, is to enable them switch over to coal-powered turbines, due to frustrations being experienced by operators in getting gas to fuel their respective power plants.

The report of planned coal import for power generation, despite an inferred reserve of 2.75 billion tonnes of coal deposit in Nigeria, has drawn the ire of stakeholders.

A Nigerian Daily had, in an editorial, described the plan as unfortunate, noting that “Importing coal from South Africa or elsewhere, for that matter, underscores the unfortunate contradictions of Nigeria. Just as the country is a major crude oil producer but relies heavily on imported oil products, joining the league of coal importing countries is most unfortunate when the nation’s coal resources remain largely unexploited. Such mismanagement and poor attention to issues of national development planning is lamentable.”

Nigeria is assessed to have about the largest gas reserves in the world, but the parlous supply infrastructure has compromised distribution to various plants requiring the commodity. Yet, the nation’s coal reserves remain largely unexploited, even after the Federal Government has sold out the blocs to prospective miners.

Besides, some power generating companies (Gencos) are in the process of converting their plants to coal-fired turbines, in view of unabated crisis in securing gas to power their respective facilities.

Mostly affected by the gas paucity crisis are the Gencos that are located inland, which have not got the close proximity advantage to the gas supplying facilities, which are located in the Niger Delta region. One of the operators, who spoke with The Guardian on condition of anonymity, pointed out that lack of distribution facility had been the bane of several power generating plants that are not located close to the source of the commodity.

Only recently, the Minister of State for Power, Mohammed Wakil, disclosed that the government was disposed to developing alternative sources of energy, which abound in the country, and would include the exploitation of large deposits of coal for power in Gombe, Enugu and Kogi/Benue axis.

Leading the coal-import initiative from South Africa is Dangote Cement Plc, which has already placed an initial order of 30,000 tonnes of the commodity from the continent’s second largest economy to power its 60-megawatts plants, with another 30 megawatts generating facility on standby. The company has allegedly slated $250 million for power generating conversion, which would involve establishment of three plants at Dangote Cement’s facilities at Obajana in Kogi State; Gboko in Benue State; and Ibeshe in Ogun State.

Explaining the rationale behind the move, Group Managing Director of Dangote Cement, Devakupar Edwin, explained that the company had to be proactive in resolving the lingering power supply crisis in the country, as “we cannot afford to compromise the objectives of promoting value addition and job creation in Nigeria.”

Edwin stressed that ‘‘no business can survive in an atmosphere of energy crisis. If we don’t have power and fuel, our operations would become endangered.”

According to him, ‘‘Dangote Cement would be investing $250 million in coal-based power plants, due to increasing difficulties in getting gas supply to power our electricity generating plants. All our kilns will be powered by coal, with the new plants located in Obajana, Ibeshe and Gboko,” he said

Edwin, however, explained that the coal importation agenda was only scripted as a temporary measure, to forestall system collapse in their operations.

“We are aware of large coal deposits in Nigeria and the allocation of blocs to prospective miners. But we have to take urgent steps to safeguard our investments in the country, more so as exploitation of the commodity has not commenced on a scale that can sustain our operations. Currently, we don’t have either gas or black oil (low pour fuel oil) to run our machines fully. We even had to resort to importation of black oil to do our business,” he said.

He explained that the company have a plan to look inwards in respect of coal sourcing, as it expect the companies that have secured coal blocs to commence their respective mining operations in the country. “We had hoped that the gas infrastructure challenges would be resolved, so that normal supplies can be resumed. But the reality on the ground now is that the crisis has persisted.

Government officials were not forthcoming on the rationale behind approving importation of coal for power, but Minister of Power, Prof Chinedu Nebo, said recently that the quantity of coal deposit in Nigeria could provide electricity for the nation for the next 20 to 30 years.

Nebo stressed that when fully explored; the coal-to-power initiative could increase the country’s power generation capacity, and assist in overcoming the current epileptic supply.

“Nigeria cannot depend solely on the thermal and hydro sources of power,” he said.

It is no secret that Nigeria’s coal deposit stretches across states and in reasonable quantity. These include Enugu, Gombe and Kogi/Benue axis. Cooking coal is also found in the Lafia-Obi bituminous complex. The proven coal reserve in the country is put at 639 million tonnes with another 2.75 billion tonnes inferred reserve.

Executive Director of the Citizens Center for Integrated Development and Social Rights, Emeka Ononamadu, is at a loss on the planned importation of coal for energy.

He said: “I prophesied it before, during and after the takeover of the power sector by private operators that those who sold and those who bought were apparently not prepared for what they have undertaken to accomplish.

The scramble was just to continue the whole mismanagement and over reliance on foreign imports, which has been one of the major factors responsible for our energy woes. That is why during the start of the dying days of PHCN, Nigeria became a dumping ground for all sorts of poor and substandard products at staggering costs that that were explainable and damaging to our economy. Even components, implements and parts that could be fabricated in Nigeria were quickly outsourced because of the juicy benefits derivable from those who are behind it.

“Today, Nigerians can see that nothing much has changed. Government keeps investing heavily in the sector that has already new owners or operators. This economics still remain explainable and worrisome. How can a country Like Nigeria, who has been blessed with most natural resources suitable for cheap energy production, to want to always experience scarcity more than countries that do not have a single resource to produce energy. First, we have petroleum and refineries and we are importing petrol, gas, diesel and kerosene. Up till now, Nigeria cannot sufficiently supply gas to numerous power plants built across the country in the last three years. Now, the new plan is to purchase coal.”

He went on: “Coal that Nigeria is one of the top countries with huge deposits of coal. The largest deposit of coal in Nigeria is in Enugu. It was mentioned by Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Agency as one of the options for new energy plans. Since all these years that Nigeria has been planning and investing in the energy sector, no one was doing anything to develop the large coal reserve in the southeast state of Enugu? Yet they want us to believe that the power reform plan is still on course. But when they commenced the building of gas turbines for power, they commenced plans to produce and supply gas.

“That did not materialise as many locations were judged as inaccessible for gas supply. We were told that the coal deposit in Enugu could serve Nigeria in the next twenty years. So what is the obstacle that stands between exploiting it and using it to improve our energy or electricity challenges?

“The subtle step to arm twist Nigerians will not be cheering. It is an arm twist because Nigeria has coal. It does not take much to excavate it and supply it to power plants across Nigeria. Nigeria and the independent power operators are indeed taking Nigerians for a ride. They have failed to be more on the part of the people than the independent power producers. ”

“I strongly oppose the importation of coal in Nigeria until it is certified that our coal is not in commercial quantity or good enough for that purpose. I strongly request government and the independent operators to provide to Nigerians the reasons why they opted for importation instead of developing our natural resources,” he stressed.

In an interview with The Nigerian Daily, former Head of Exploration Research, Research and Development Division at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Prof Charles Ofoegbu, lamented the abandonment of coal electricity generation from Oji in Enugu State, a project, he recalled, supplied electricity to the majority of the South Eastern population.

“I also suggest that we look at coal-powered plants because we have a lot of coal in Nigeria that are not been used. The coal plan at Oji in Enugu is there and nobody has said anything about it. Some of us grew up knowing that plant to have supplied plant to almost all of eastern Nigeria, why did we allow it die as a consequence of the civil war, why is it not back on stream and the capacity enhanced? China takes up most of its power from coal,” he observed.

Former federal commissioner of the National Human Rights commission of Nigeria (NHRC), Emmanuel Onwubiko, described the move as a “charade and another misadventure.”

He told the Nigerian Daily: “This is also a policy faux pas for a country that has passed the Local Contents Act into operation by the national parliament of the Federation. What has happened to the extensive coal deposits in Enugu and Benue States and other parts of Nigeria, which are unexploited? Government through the electricity power sector regulatory agencies must protect our local industry by ensuring local contents in the direction of massive deployment of coal to power electricity plants in Nigeria. If I may ask, have the rich coal deposits dried up? Or are these clever- by- half portfolio carrying foreign ‘investors’ in the electricity power sector in the private sector embarking on these wild goose chase to enrich their home jurisdictions?

“In as much as I am sincerely not advocating trade embargoes for foreign coal, government must protect the integrity and interest of Nigeria, more so when Nigeria is endowed richly with coal mineral deposits that remain unexploited. The National Assembly must legislate to protect our local coal industry so these ‘economic mercenary’ and merchants parading around as foreign investors in the Nigerian private electricity sector don’t hide under the neo-colonial sobriquet of trade liberalisation to dump cheap and poor quality coal on us from their home countries when Nigeria is a respected global leader in coal deposits in huge commercial quantities.

“To allow the importation of coal to power electricity sector is like allowing the evil practices whereby foreign owners of hotel franchises like KFC and other Chinese restaurants import their tools such as toothpicks from their home countries to be replicated in the electricity power sector that is already besieged by monumental crises of supervision and/or regulations between NERC and certain powerful cabals embedded in the Power federal ministry.”

He went on: “The National Assembly must immediately organize public hearing for Nigerians vastly knowledgeable in this issue to ventilate their views since the voice of the people is the voice of God. The local contents Agency must speak out in line with its statutory mandate to protect and guard jealousy our indigenous coal industry that has come under considerable attacks by foreign agents masquerading as investors.

“On the part of organised civil society sector, concerted and constructive effort must be made to challenge this sinister plot to destroy Nigeria coal industry and by so doing these elements will only be creating employment opportunities for other nations using Nigerian electricity power sector as a guinea pig or dumping ground. We say no to trade enslavement in this 21st century.”

*Guardian

The Federal Government has said that it plans to add about 2,483 megawatts (MW) of electricity from renewable sources to Nigeria’s electricity grid by 2015. It explained that such growth plan was contained in the draft renewable energy and efficiency policy which the ministry of power currently promotes.

The Director of the Electrical Inspectorate Services (EIS) of the ministry, Abayomi Adebisi disclosed in Abuja when he made a presentation on the draft policy that the 2,483MW target for 2015 was a short term mark while 8,188MW and 23,134MW were medium and long term targets for 2020 and 2030 respectively in the policy.

The draft document was presented to relevant stakeholders in the sector for proper appraisal before it is presented to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for further actions. In his breakdown of the renewable electricity generation projections in the document, Adebisi said that renewable energy is expected to contribute about 1.3 per cent of Nigeria’s energy mix by 2015, while generation growths of 8 per cent and 16 per cent were expected between 2020 and 2030 respectively.

He explained that large and small hydro power plants would contribute as much as 2,121MW and 140MW by 2015, in addition to the 117MW that is expected from solar power projects.

Sea spray icing is one of the major challenges when operating in Arctic conditions. DNV GL is now launching an industry collaboration which will develop a simulation model that bridges functional winterisation requirements and real physical conditions for drilling rigs, production platforms and vessels. Experts from both the maritime and oil and gas industries are invited to join the new Joint Industry Project (JIP) ‘RigSpray’.

“We aim to ensure that the design of icing-mitigation measures delivers both safety and cost benefits,” says Per Olav Moslet, Arctic Technology Programme Director at DNV GL.

Today, the operational capabilities of conventional vessels and offshore structures do not meet the requirements for operating in harsh Arctic conditions. The trend towards increased activity in the Arctic and especially the ice-free areas means that the issue of sea spray icing needs to be addressed.

“Sea spray icing poses a threat on multiple levels, from blocking the operation of essential components to jeopardising stability and integrity and thus leading to an increased risk of capsizing,” explains Moslet.

A number of recognised standards, for example DNV GL’s offshore standard ‘Winterization for Cold Climate Operations (DNV-OS-A201)’, provide guidance on mitigating ice accumulation using specified anti- and de-icing procedures. The standards available today today give requirements to safety functions and to some extent describe mitigation solutions, but do not give a specific answer to how and where they should be implemented. An optimal answer to those two questions can be given by even better understanding the physical phenomenon of sea spray icing via simulation and measurements. Overall, the benefit would be an  improved safety and working environment in Arctic conditions.

To deal with this, DNV GL is therefore establishing the new RigSpray JIP and invites maritime and oil and gas experts to participate.

“We have already made progress in addressing the challenge through the MarIce JIP, where DNV GL worked together with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Statoil to create the world’s most advanced marine-icing model. However, this needs to be developed further. The present model still lacks an accurate representation of sea spray, which is a very important parameter for ice formation. Present knowledge of sea spray generation is limited to very local metocean conditions and sporadic vessel designs. We certainly need to fill this gap with more experimental and modelling studies,” says Olga Shipilova, DNV GL’s Project Manager for the RigSpray JIP.

The first step is to develop a software tool to further understand sea spray icing using  mathematical modelling and measurements. This will provide a solid basis for extending local ice estimations to a wider spectrum of metocean and structural conditions, which in turn will lead to safer and more cost-effective winterisation solutions for drilling rigs, production platforms and vessels operating in cold climate areas.

The maintenance of blowout preventers (BOPs) has significant financial, logistical and safety implications for drilling operators and rig owners.  DNV GL has now established a Joint Industry Project (JIP) to develop a risk-based maintenance methodology with the aim to deliver more effective and cost-efficient BOP maintenance. Several BOP manufacturers, operators, rig owners and shelf state regulators have already joined the JIP, and others may still come on board.

BOPs have traditionally been subject to time-based maintenance, which can create critical challenges, such as unstructured maintenance management, reduced reliability and equipment overhauls, which consequently may lead to increased operational downtime.

“A risk-based maintenance approach aims to mitigate these issues,” says Rui Quadrado, project manager at DNV GL Oil & Gas. “Benefits include increased safety and operability by improving BOP performance, the introduction of lifecycle design input and increased maintainability. Ultimately, this should deliver optimal maintenance planning, thereby reducing costs.”

Current regulation proposes the use of alternatives to time-based maintenance.  The Petroleum Safety Authority of Norway, in particular, has focused on the drilling operators’ maintenance functions, and this has increased industry understanding of risk-based maintenance.

“This JIP is looking to put this knowledge into action and provide a Recommended Practice or International Standard in which effective maintenance tasks will be identified and a cost-benefit analysis of these tasks will be evaluated,” adds Quadrado. “Our experience and collaborative approach to technical challenges have already demonstrated that risk-based maintenance (through FMECA and RCM analysis) can be successfully implemented on subsea BOPs.”

The work will be conducted by DNV GL and supervised by a steering committee.  A kick-off meeting will take place on 25 September 2014 in Norway and industry partners are welcome to attend this.