NLNG - The Magazine H1 2012 Edition by Nigeria LNG Limited

From the Editor-in-Chief

. . . Outstep! Three years plus?

Almost hard to believe that it has been that long!

When Chima Ibeneche took the reins in 2008, the expectations were quite high, not just because he was the first Nigerian CEO of the company ‘in operation’, but also because the company had come to represent success in the Nigerian business sphere! As he explained in his maiden interview as the CEO of NLNG, Chima’s goal was to ensure that NLNG continues to be the success that it had become. Chima had hardly settled in when the global recession hit. It was an economic tsunami that would see a lot of companies winding up. But under his watch, the company was able to review its business strategy and even go on to turn around what at first seemed like obstacles into massive opportunities that the situation threw up.

In managing the company, one would expect that as an engineer, Chima’s focus would be just on increasing production or optimisation of the plant. He did that and more!

With Chima as CEO, the company recorded an increased awareness and compliance to corporate governance not just by employees but also by third party contractors. The company’s budgetary control process also became more effective. But by far, one of the important milestones that were recorded with him as CEO of NLNG, was the Ship Management Knowledge Transfer Agreement (SMKTA) with STASCo, which led to the birth of the newest subsidiary of the company, Nigeria LNG Ship Management Services (NLNGSS), the first LNG Ship Management company in Nigeria! His achievements as CEO have been catalogued in this issue of our flagship publication which also presents his media interactions as CEO of Nigeria LNG Limited, all for your reading pleasure! Siene ALLWELL-BROWN

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CONTEN NLNG - The Magazine is the corporate magazine of Nigeria LNG Limited. The views and opinions within the magazine however do not neessarily reflect those of the Nigeria LNG Limited or its management. Editor-in-Chief: Siene Allwell-Brown Managing Editor: Ifeanyi Mbanefo Deputy Managing Editor: Mohammed Al-Sharji Editor: Yemi Adeyemi Deputy Editor: Elkanah Chawai Writers: Eva Ben-Wari, Ophilia-Tammy Aduura, Anne-Marie Palmer-Ikuku, Dan Daniel

All Correspondence to: Yemi Adeyemi, Editor, NLNG The Magazine, Nigeria LNG Limited, Kilometre 16, Intels Camp, Aba Expressway, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Phones: +234 803 905 5000, 802 473, 5000, 807 018 5000 e-mail: yemi.adeyemi@nlng.com, www.nigerialng.com Editorial consultancy, design and production: Magenta Consulting Limited, 1 Joel Ogunnaike Str., GRA, Ikeja, Lagos. Tel: 234 1 7360830, 234 1 07023236001. e-mail: info@magentaconsult.com, web http: //www.magentaconsult.com

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Chima: Friendly, firm & focused ...................................................................... 4

What is a successful company? ....................................................................... 10 Repositioning the fourth estate ...................................................................... 14 Chimaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s diary in photos ...................................................................................... 16 Time to say yes to Nigeria .................................................................................. 22 A transformation in cooking gas indstry ..................................................... 27 NLNG - The Magazine

NLNG - The Magazine

Repositioning th “Our business is facts. We have learned to search for facts, to dig for the meaning of facts, to relate facts to each other, to analyse them and put them in perspective. We’ve learned too that a social movement, a change in lifestyle, a trend in music or art or an emotion spreading among the people can be as real a fact as a speech or a parade”---A. M. Rosenthal, former Executive Editor of New York Times. I must confess that I hold written words in awe, for though their writers may die and pass away, their words have a high chance of passing on to generations unborn. The written word provides us the context to understand the present and the future. And for those who write history as it is being made, I have a special respect. How I have longed to know what the world of my ancestor’s really was before the big bang encounter with the Europeans. Imagine if they had journalists; imagine if they had you. So I have tried my hand at writing, publishing my first newspaper article in 1973 in the Daily Times. But fate has steered my course to a different path, however I have tried to keep pace with what is being written and hope that I can be regarded as, as an active observer or what lawyers would call amicus curiae (friend of the court). This is the basis of my address to you this morning. I speak today as a friend of journalism. From my distance, I have admired journalism because it is the only profession that has a constitutional backing for its role. Not even the lawyers, practically the owners of the Nigerian Constitution were so honoured, unless you narrowly or erroneously read the “right to fair hearing” to mean support for practice of law. It is not. In the same manner as the bill on Freedom of Information Act is not meant for

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journalists. Promoting that bill as tool for journalism, rather than as a major plank for openness, transparency, good governance and the guarantee for democracy has been its greatest Achilles heels. 1 Amongst the many gifts journalism and journalists have given to this great country are Independence - the leading lights of that campaign were journalists – fight against military rule and corruption, and improved literacy. Nigeria arguably has the freest press in Africa, and some of the best writers and journalists in the world, as evidenced by the huge haul of awards, prizes and recognitions they bring home yearly from around the globe. During the military rule, an era characterised by all sorts of aberrations, the press, it was, that became the catalyst for change. President Ibrahim Babangida, a veteran of several coups in Nigeria, was once famously quoted as saying that the press prepare the grounds for military coups. In other words, the press was political party, voters and arbiter rolled into one. A role it played so diligently that no government was able to get an unconstitutional third term. These are facts of the Nigerian situation. At the level of theory, the press is a watchdog, a guardian of public morals, a defender of the masses, and tormentor of the oppressors. In the immortal words of Mr. Lade Bonuola, former MD of The

Guardian and Publisher of the defunct Comet Newspapers: “A quality newspaper...must be seen to be living above the society, not at par with it or below it. If below it, it will drag the society down, drawing up low values for it and stimulating thoughts to accept those values as the standard value. If it is at par with society, it cannot uplift that society. It will not place before it intrinsic values and challenges. It will not set goals for the society. A quality newspaper must dream dreams and set high standards for the society.” Let me also add that the media in a modern society not only has to live above society, it must recognise that it sets the agenda on public discourse. What the world discusses in the next week will be largely driven by what CNN, The Economist, the newswires and of course Nigerian press and media chose to write or talk about. For me the power to set agenda demands ideology (point of view) and commitment to greater good – hence the need to live above society. These are high-minded rules to live by and be guided by. But the question is: are we? How come we have great journalists, but not world-class media? Why are our performances so uneven? We have the biggest population in Africa and one of the lowest newspaper circulation figures. We have a long history of brave and noble journalism and a long history of premature

he fourth estate deaths of journals; we honour journalism and despise journalists. What really is going on? Why so many ironies? Today, I ask the questions, usually, you ask and I answer. Are we setting the right agenda for Nigeria? Oh! Thank God that yesterday in one of the papers, I read an analysis on how expensive Nigerian democracy has become, consuming some 80% of our resources. Are we writing enough about education and healthcare? Are we placing the searchlight on the right role models? Or are we guilty of reporting only the big men of our times? Are we able to make complex subjects accessible to the ordinary person – how can democracy survive if we don’t? One undeniable fact is that newspapers in Nigeria need a new business model, not just because newspapers everywhere in the world are losing sales and advertisement revenue to the Internet, but mostly because the current business model serves nobody’s interest. The current business model does not serve the interest of the publishers, the journalists, and certainly not those of millions of people, including belowthe-line workers and all those who are not in journalism, but whose livelihood are dependent on a thriving journalism industry. It is sad that in a country where the Sunday Times sold 500, 000 copies daily in the 1980s that no ‘national’ newspaper sells more than 100, 000 copies daily, something The Sowetan, a city newspaper in South Africa does with ease in Soweto and suburbs. This is not withstanding that Nigeria’s population has tripled since that glorious era to the current 140 million people and Lagos alone has some 8 - 10 million inhabitants. This is a huge market by every stretch. And a buoyant one! For anybody who can find a way to collect his money, this is the market to be. Ask the mobile telephone operators who found the magic wand through PAY AS YOU GO.

Purchasing power is up, literacy is up, and democracy has got us talking again, so what’s the problem? Without prejudice to what we shall be told here by our Pulitzer laureate and other journalism bigwigs, I shall like to make an informed guess; that the problem is with the lack resonance between the stories and the real challenges facing Nigerians; the suspicion that the press and the “big men” of our time have found a comfortable compromise. The time to reinvent Nigerian newspapers is now. The industry needs a similar revolution as the banking sector to make journalism as equally attractive. I dare say that the time for this restructuring is now, when journalists and journals around the globe are discussing change; when good and notable publications are experimenting with change. Time and Newsweek magazines are currently undergoing massive changes. Are Tell, Newswatch, The News, and other magazine market leaders doing same? Time and Newsweek embarked on changes to make their bottom lines more respectable. Time’s advertising revenue dropped by 27 per cent; and Newsweek’s by 25 per cent last year. There is an intense struggle to stay afloat. The easy lesson is that quality wins. The Economist’’s advertising revenue grew by a remarkable 25 percent last year, a jump pundits attributed to superior quality. The Economist, a free-market, right of centre publication is the only medium that can, perhaps, match the often irreverent and sanctimonious opinions of the Nigerian newspaper columnists. The difference however is mostly in quality. While the opinions in The Economist are researched and carefully distilled, those of our writers are sometimes shoddy with thin research supporting smug hypothesis. How much value are Nigerian newspapers adding to our lives? Can we say for certain that we have reporters who deliver stories

that put people ahead of bureaucracy; reporters who write stories that look deep into the heart of the community and answer plaguing questions about crime, poverty, business and government accountability; reporters who know their subjects so well that they can shame the practitioners in a contest? Competent newspapers help you to understand your environment, council, state, region, the people, their values, their dreams, hopes and aspirations. Are today’s newspapers doing these? Newspapers elsewhere produce league tables of schools, hospitals, hotels, services. These forms basis for their ratings and rankings and gives everyone a basis for comparison. Finally, we have been asked by many people, mostly journalists why Nigeria LNG Limited is interested in promoting writers and journalists. My first thought, usually, is why not? I have many answers, but the simplest and most honest—that we are desirous of helping to create a better Nigeria — by far remains my best. We do not think that we really need a special reason to train journalists. Every company operates within a legalsocio-political framework or environment. Nigeria LNG Limited is a proud Nigerian company and would do everything it can to make Nigeria a better place. It is therefore my pleasure to welcome you to this ceremony. Thank you for your time and patience. Managing Director’s welcome Speech at the International Training for Journalists. Chima Ibeneche MD/CEO Nigeria LNG Limited July 2009

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CHIMA’S DIARY IN PHOTOS

At a dinner hosted by Chairman, NLNG Board of Directors, Chief O.R. LongJohn

Visit to Nipco’s facility as part of expanding NLNG’s domestic gas supply

During a facility visit At 2008 Grand Award Night. With Nigeria Prize winners, Dr. Ebenezer Meshida and Kaine Agary

At an event

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At the 2009 Grand Award Night. With keynote speaker, the late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu With Eze Ekpeye Logbo II of Ekpeye Land, HRM, Robinson O. Robinson

During his keynote speech at the 2010 Grand Award Night

At the Festival of Nine Lessons in 2010

At the NLNG sponsored Training for Journalists in 2009 At the 2010 Grand Award Night

At 2009 Grand Award Night

Handing the 2008 Nigeria Prize for Literature to Kaine Agary

With Deputy Managing Director of NLNG, Mr. Basheer Koko

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C H I M Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S D I A R Y I N P H O T O S

At the 2009 Grand Award Night with his wife, Ugo, Ojukwu and Bianca

With Chief Olusegun Osunkeye at a Grand Award Night event Presenting the 2009 Nigeria Prize for Science, Prof. Andrew Nok, to the public

Exchanging pleasantries with former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, and a BGT Board director, Alh. Umaru Dahiru

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At a MUSON progr

With 2010 Nigeria Prize for Science winner, Prof Ibhadode, and shortlisted nominees for the literature prize

C H I M Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S D I A R Y I N P H O T O S At a MUSON programme

The maiden edition of the Rivers State Choral Competition in 2011

Speaking at 2010 Grand Award Night

ramme

Giving the 2010 Nigeria Prize for Literature award

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NEWSPAPER REPORTS

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VOL 9 NO 3 2010

T H E

Z I N E M A G A

Stars, Leading, Lights Grand Night K e Y N o T e Onukaba Nominee Prize for Literature

a D D r e S S

Irobi

Prize for Literature Nominee

Yerima

Prize for Literature Nominee

Ibhadode Winner Prize for Science

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O F

I A N I G E R

L N G

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Time to Say Yes to Nigeria

verybody, i gather, dreams dreams, but some people routinely forget. i guess that must have happened to me, for i do not remember having dreamt that i would one day give the keynote speech at The grand award Night. i am neither a former head of state nor a politician â&#x20AC;&#x201C; common characteristics of some of the previous keynote speakers, so my first impulse, when the offer was made, was to say No, mainly because i am involved. i am after all the host of this event. however, realising that Nigeria will be 50 years old at this time and that the subject of the lecture could be on or associated with Nigeria, made it easier for me to accept. i love Nigeria like most of you here tonight. i also have strong views about this country and where it ought to be in the league of Nations.

i would like to talk to you tonight about Nigeria. and i believe it is Time To Say Yes To Nigeria. Yes, it is time to say yes to Nigeria because our nay saying is at the root of our non-performance and the stunted growth of our nation after 50 years of independence. an anniversary is a good time to take stock. i must say that despite our penchant for complaints, there are a few things we can be grateful for. So, if you permit me, i wish to remind you of some of them. To start with, we have plenty going for us â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a great country, a great climate, and abundant resources. We are so blessed that some have blamed our backwardness and poverty on our clement weather and abundant natural resources. and, of course, we have many great, eminent citizens who have conquered the world.

Some of them will be honoured tonight. Prizes will be awarded to an exemplary scientist and to an exemplary writer. others will be inducted into The Nigerian hall of fame for Science and The Nigerian hall of fame for letters. induction into a hall of fame by an academy is the highest honour any scholar can receive. The selection process was long, tedious and rigorous. i congratulate all those who made the final list. i am however aware that a medal, such as the one we are handing out tonight would be an inadequate compensation for your labour and for the frustrations of your loved ones who bore the heroic burden of your struggle to better the lives of our compatriots. The sacrifice you made was not easy; what you achieved was not small. for that, every Nigerian owes you some heartfelt thanks.

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This honour has no monetary value. The reason is to instil in us all, especially in younger Nigerians an appreciation of excellence as its own reward and the pursuit of excellence as an end in itself. These are values that have defined scholarship and excellence for countless centuries. These are values that will save Nigeria from self destruction. Having said our thanks to these great patriots, let’s continue with the good news about Nigeria We may not have arrived at our desired destination, but we have consistently demonstrated that we would like to arrive together We have survived a civil war and the existential threats of the Niger Delta militancy as one indivisible nation Nigeria has held together despite the arrogant disrespect of some of our fellow citizens who play politics on the basis of tribe, ethnicity or religion We have not only survived, we have begun to make tentative steps in economic development and infrastructure building Think of the strides we have made in several sectors of our national life Take aviation The era of an ailing Nigeria Airways, of battling touts for boarding pass and of running 400 meters dash to catch an aircraft parked on the tarmac seems to be eons away Today, unless you meet with an inclement weather, you have 80 - 90% chances of making your trip Those of us who flew into Lagos for this event will testify that the old hassles are gone Air travel in this country is no longer the lottery it used to be And you no longer need to travel just to find out how your folks in the village are doing! You call them on mobile phones They can also reach you through midnight calls when they are cash-strapped Telecommunications is another area where we have made tremendous progress From just a little over 450, 000 lines in 2001 representing a teledensity of 0 4 percent or less than one telephone line per 100 people, we have leapt over the 80 million subscriber mark Nigeria now boasts a respectable teledensity of over 50 percent Nigeria’s telecoms revenue is projected to hit USD 12 billion in 2013 We are ahead of India with 0 6 percent teledensity; Mexico, Vietnam and South Africa are all trailing behind Nigeria The single magic wand for this miracle was President Olusegun Obasanjo’s courage in reforming and liberalising the telecommunications industry which had a meagre 400,000 lines, half of which were useless, when he returned to power in 1999 The banking sector also grew spectacularly, thanks to the consolidation exercise We now have big banks with heftier purses and more muscles to undertake bigger projects The current efforts to bring discipline and corporate governance will make them even worthier institutions We also had the good sense of repaying the back-breaking debts we owed the Paris Club Had the windfall of the high oil price regime of the early years of this century not been used to buy our freedom, we would have squandered it and still been bonded to our creditors We have also witnessed the halting return of the middle class and the non-dramatic but steady growth of non-oil and gas sectors of the economy We should also not forget the deft steps taken by the Yar’Adua administration under the label of amnesty to address the Niger Delta crisis This programme, similar to General Gowon’s No Victor, No Vanquished declaration after the war, has provided the hope that we may be able to overcome this challenge without unnecessary loss of lives and without long term damage to mutual trust among fellow citizens I sense that a miracle similar to that in telecommunications industry is afoot in the power sector where President Goodluck Jonathan has announced a road map that will eliminate state monopoly by privatising power generation and distribution This has the potential to revolutionise the sector as the 1999 privatisation revolutionised the telecommunications sector Similarly the increase of domestic gas price from US$0 5/MMBTU to US$2/MMBTU, as part of the implementation of the Gas Master Plan, and the musing about the deregulation of petroleum products in Nigeria indicate

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that the Jonathan Administration is keen to leave a legacy of sustainable economic growth and improved wellbeing for Nigerians These policy directions are right, but may be difficult to implement I pray for courage and support for those who will be charged with the eventual implementation It has not all been good news I know because whenever I meet any Nigerian at an airport or at a party, it takes only five minutes before our conversation turns to complaints about the state of our country Yes, it has been 50 tough years Sometime you wonder how we could have squandered such beautiful opportunities so easily Yes, it has been frustrating living here And yes, it is depressing being singled out for a special treatment at international airports just because one is holding the green passport It has been a double whammy You couldn’t live here; you couldn’t live outside here One way or the other we were condemned to an uncertain fate in my view, the most spectacular event of Nigeria’s 50 years of independence is one that did not occur. We have lived for half a century as the hope of the black man, the giant of africa, the most populous black nation on earth without demonstrating – for even a day – that the black man is capable of holding his own; of caring for himself. our history, our geography, our population, our natural resources, our ebullient nature made us the custodians of the black hope. What a marvellous destiny being called to hold aloft the Blackman’s banner! We betrayed that destiny, that expectation, that hope. What a stunning failure; what stunning ill fortune. it is even worse that our failure and betrayal are both public and publicised. But for the redemptive rise of President Barack obama, the Blackman’s banner was permanently stained with our blemish. Take security. We have been racing from bad to worse. in the 1980s because of rapid economic growth characterised by stark inequality, deprivation, and a perverse law enforcement capabilities, serious crime grew to epidemic proportions in lagos and other urban areas. Crime statistics remained scary despite the fact that crimes were grossly understated because of public distrust of the police which contributed to underreporting of crimes. But more important than statistics, our citizens felt and continue to feel the sharp end of these crimes in their daily lives. The crime wave was exacerbated by worsening economic conditions and by the ineffectiveness, inefficiency, and corruption of police, and the entire system of administration of justice. and believe it or not, those were the good old days! Today belongs to area boys, pirates, oil thieves, armed robbers and robber politicians. The rise of militia-like vigilantes such as the Bakassi Boys, meND and oPC may have various justifications, but their existence pose a serious threat to the sovereignty of this nation. These vigilantes tend to take over the fundamental function of the state, including the use of coercion, but unfortunately without the due process and the checks of a functioning formal legal system. The mushrooming of these groups has led to broader, ethnic-based confrontations and the spread of lethal violence across the land. The situation has even further deteriorated. There are daily reports of widespread armed muggings, kidnappings, assaults, burglary, bank robberies and extortion, often involving violence and in broad daylight. The question is where is the government in all these? Why does the government permit this encroachment of its monopoly of power and the use of instruments of coercion? obviously nature abhors a vacuum. Section 14B of the Constitution is clear on the fact that: “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government” On security, our governments have failed Nigerians Whoever wishes to rule Nigeria must make provision of security the number one priority of his/ her government That is not all. We are a desperately poor country. Nigeria may be a resource rich country, but her people are desperately poor.

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Time to Say Yes to Nigeria CoNTINuED FroM PAGE 8

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) human Development index 2007 ranked Nigeria 158 out of 182 countries in the world with human Poverty index of 36.2, adult illiteracy level of 28 percent and 37.4 percent probability of not living beyond 40 years. Business Day report of august 30, 2010 quotes the World Bank estimates that about 6 million jobseekers enter the unemployment market in Nigeria each year. anyone who has tried to hire employees recently will know that for each position advertised, there would be over 100,000 applicants. This corroborates the World Bank estimate. What is at the root of such a stark failure in the face of such huge potentials? Chinua achebe gave the answer – leadership or the absence of it. The question then is how has the leadership failed? To be fair to our leaders past and present, they have tried to solve the problems and challenges of nation building. Unfortunately, some of the solutions have inherent weaknesses and have led to unintended consequences. others were ill intentioned and therefore there is no surprise that they have hurt the nation than help it. The focus placed on indigeneship and place of origin in the 1976 and subsequently in the 1999 constitution is an example of well intentioned solution with unintended adverse consequence. The emphasis on indigeneship erodes the right of citizenship and pulls Nigerians towards parochialism and tribalism. The consequence is that every man and woman, every zone and ethnic group is busy plotting how to get ahead, that in the end, we all fall behind. The lesson many of us have taken from the present situation is that we must push harder and fight harder to win the right to power or to get government’s attention to ensure that our group gets preferential advantage. i disagree. i side instead with the philosopher richard rorty’s axiom that the “talent for speaking differently, rather than for arguing well, is the chief instrument of cultural change.” modern Nigeria has offered us a set of hierarchies: North and South, politicians and electorate (the masses), grasstops and grassroots, military and civilians, men and women, able and disable, godfathers and thugs, leaders and followers. in seeking to distinguish the interest categories, each group looks askance at the other, as though any association – any interconnectedness – with other would diminish their privileged positions. We seem to think only in terms of zero sum games. We must make efforts to take the next step and move beyond these binaries, and this mode of reasoning, altogether. We must free ourselves from this way of thinking by creating a new language, a new set of strategic initiatives, a new set of institutions, and a new metric for evaluating our success; we must cease to be bystanders in matters affecting our common destiny. Without a vision and a set of values to unite us, we show our special interest colours to our peril We have carved up our country into tribes and demographic groups – Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Ibibio, Efik, Ijaw, Nupe, majorities and minorities, etc often without knowing the boundaries. – and in doing so have lost

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S P e e C h

the ability to tell a common story about our past or create a common vision of our future. The fact of our being Nigerians requires that we break out of our narrowness and inspire the country and call every citizen to recognise our collective interdependence. That would be in consonance with the dreams of our founding fathers. WRONG HISTORY most of our history books report that Nigeria is a creation of the British; that even its name and original major thesi national anthem were the creations of British women. The s is that Nigeria would never have happened without the intervention of the colonial powers, which dragged different peoples, kicking and screaming into this contraption and by so doing have sown seeds of disunity by putting together disparate people who have nothing in common but mutual antagonism and animosity. That is a wrong reading of history. every nation in the world came together through force, including ethnically homogenous countries such as Japan, South Korea, North Korea, lesotho, Poland, algeria, morocco, Somalia and Tunisia. it is how nations are built. The world has over 820 ethnic groups residing in 160 countries. Besides the majority han Chinese, 55 other ethnic nationalities; the United States of america, Britain, germany, france, etc are all heterogeneous nations. Back home, our history is replete with conquests and rise and fall of ancient empires, which were vessels of annexation and dominance. in West african region alone, we can count more than nine of such kingdoms: The Kingdom of Nri (1043 - 1911), The oyo empire (1400 aD - 1895 aD), The Benin empire (1440 aD 1897 aD), The Kaabu empire (1537 aD - 1867 aD), aro Confederacy (1690 aD - 1902 aD), The asante Union (1701 aD - 1894 aD), The Kong empire (1710 aD - 1894 aD), The Bamana empire (1712 aD - 1896 aD), The Songhai empire, The Kaanem-Bornu empire, The Sokoto Caliphate, etc. The North became ‘one’ courtesy of othman Danfodio’s jihad. Kalabari nation was forged from conquests with immediate neighbours. i think the point is made. Compatriots, i urge you to avert your eyes from the current pettiness and see what Nigeria can be. With strong institutions we can mitigate inadequacies arising from our heterogeneous existence, with fairness we shall have little need for cults and private armies, by insisting on rule of law and greater corporate governance, we can bring about respect for life and dignity of the human person. By renewing our infrastructure, we shall release the energy of our youths and promote greater productivity. By saying Yes to the rights of the individual citizen irrespective of origin, we can turn our diversity to a source of strength. make no mistake about it, Nigeria is a big country; a huge market. Nigeria has 2.3 percent of the world’s population. the 37th largest country (by land mass), 44th by gDP. These are good enough reasons why we should abandon our dreams of ethnic eldorado and embrace Nigeria and make it work. She has all the potentials to be a great country. The possibility of what we could be if we work together as Nigerians is enough reason to Say Yes to Nigeria. CITIZENSHIP in saying YeS, we must resolve the question of citizenship and the associated rights and privileges. So far we have not been able to answer basic questions about

citizenship. “What, for example, makes a hausa from neighbouring Niger republic still carrying a Nigerien passport, who illegally settled in Katsina five years ago to be considered as an indigene, while a Nigerian citizen of igbo origin (born, bred, working and paying tax in Katsina) is treated as a non-indigene. in another instance, take a Yoruba from neighbouring Benin republic accepted as an indigene of ota and not so a Nigerian who is Kanuri that was born, educated and pays tax in ota which is the only home for him /her in the country.” These interesting questions posed by abimbola adesoji and akin alao, both of history Department of obafemi awolowo University, bring home Nigeria’s dilemma over citizenship. on paper, the definition of citizenship and of rights and responsibilities of citizens are faultless and has been so in all our constitutions. The devil however is in the detail. What the 1999 constitution gave with the right hand, it took away with the left with such extraneous clutters as federal character and indigeneship clauses. The application of the federal Character and indigeneship principles creates multiple citizenship and multiple allegiances to the Nigeria state, geopolitical zone and ethnic group, especially as they tend to place group rights over individual rights. The 1979 Constitution from which the 1999 Constitution was modified laid the basis for the indigeneship problems. This is because it expressly provides that in order to enjoy access to positions and opportunities on the basis of “federal character” one needs to be an “indigene” of the state or local government concerned. Being an indigene involves showing evidence of belonging, through one’s parents or grandparents to a community indigenous to a State or local government. Thus, the inability to prove such membership of a group of people will result in being defined as a “stranger” who cannot enjoy all the rights and privileges of indigenes and/or natives. Similarly, section 147 of the 1999 Constitution states that the president shall appoint at least one minister from each state, who shall be an indigene of such state. To add insult to the injury, indigeneship is not clearly defined. like the state of origin we find everywhere, no one knows how many generations is needed in a place for one to acquire the origin. and this is the point of the questions by adesoji and alao. on the 50th independence anniversary of Nigeria, i believe it is time to say Yes to citizenship and to the right of every individual Nigerian irrespective of ethnic origin and indigeneship. We have inadvertently sown the seed of discord in our nation by focusing on the rights of indigenes at the expense of the rights of citizens. We are better off to guarantee the rights of citizens on the basis of their residency and we will have been both fair and forward looking. every Nigerian should enjoy the full rights of a citizen based on the laws and opportunities that apply to the state and local government area that he or she resides in; based on the place where she or he pays her taxes. (b) secure full residence rights for every citizen in all parts of the federation. (4) The State shall foster a feeling of belonging and of involvement among the various people of the federation, to the end that loyalty to the nation shall override

K e Y N o T e

sectional loyalties. This suggests that anyone who has lived in a place for over an agreed number of years, worked and paid his taxes there cannot be discriminated against under any circumstances. i believe that if one has lived and paid tax for 4 years in a place, that person should enjoy the rights of a citizen like any other. We must also ensure that we make the rights of citizenship, indigeneship and residency actionable and also ensure that no one is discriminated against under any circumstance. i cannot claim that this step, if taken, will erase all the difficulties that arise from our diverse, heterogeneous composition. Yet i know in my heart that if we are willing to drop old arguments, especially those that have become threadbare, we can recreate the Nigeria of our dream. i know that if the law and administrative procedures lead in the creation of nation unity, then social behaviours will definitely follow, and very shortly too. in support of Nigerian citizenship and the rights of the individual citizen, we need a strong legislature that would make laws to protect this citizenship; that would debate issues dispassionately and teach Nigerians the value of reason and logic over brute force; a legislature that is not a rubber stamp of the executive; a judiciary that could be depended upon to dispense justice; a police that would fight and investigate crime no matter whose ox is gored. every time we discussed failed governments, we cast, albeit furtive glances at aso rock. The seat of power, as it is called in general parlance has not always been such an inspiring example. But for all its failings and short comings, aso rock is only but a fraction of the problem and in recent past has shown a desire to lead this country aright. The bigger problem is the National assembly that has completely failed in its primary duties namely: 1. legislators, once elected, are expected to represent all of their constituents. With little debate about the poor state of education or health care, or unemployment, we often wonder who our legislators represent. 2. legitimisation is the ‘core defining function’ of the legislature which permits the elected assembly, acting on the people’s behalf, to grant (or withhold) its approval for most actions of the government, including legislation and the grant of money. 3. The legislature plays an important role in scrutinising the policies and actions of the government, in debates, parliamentary questions and within the influential cross-party select committees. in sum, the legislature is meant to exercise, on our behalf, the power to check executive excesses and order the government through scrutiny and release of funds. The Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria states: 80. (1) All revenues or other moneys raised or received by the Federation (not being revenues or other moneys payable under this Constitution or any Act of the National Assembly into any other public fund of the Federation established for a specific purpose) shall be paid into and form one Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation. (2) No moneys shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation except to meet expenditure that is charged upon the fund by this Constitution or where the issue of those moneys has been

S P e e C h

authorised by an Appropriation Act, Supplementary Appropriation Act or an Act passed in pursuance of section 81 of this Constitution. (3) No moneys shall be withdrawn from any public fund of the Federation, other than the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, unless the issue of those moneys has been authorised by an Act of the National Assembly. (4) No moneys shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public fund of the Federation, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly

Nigerians feel that the national and state assemblies have betrayed Nigerians by acquiescing to the executive’s every whim and caprice for a mess of porridge. They have failed by not forcing onto the agenda the issues that are important to Nigerians. They have seemed more concerned for their remuneration that for the welfare of their constituents. But its worst crime, some say economic sabotage, is allowing the executive freedom to spend monies outside the budget; outside its purview. Since 1999 when we resumed democracy, the petroleum subsidy and other funds have been spent outside the budget. These are huge sums of between 20 – 30 percent of the nation’s budget. Such extra-budgetary expenditures make the very idea of budget and control a mockery. in the past five years, only once was petroleum subsidy reflected in the budget. and even that was understated: 1. N256 billion in 2006 (N150 billion provided for the 2006 budget) 2. N290 billion in 2007 3. N658 billion in 2008 4. N680 billion in 2009 5. N250 billion already spent between January and July 2010. imagine what would have happened if these sums were spent on infrastructure in the Niger Delta. it was albert einstein who said that. if you wanted to break new ground, the trick was to raise new possibilities, and regard old problems from new angles. The more we do of that, the better things can be for us. The question is: are we ready to break the old barriers? are we ready to shake off old habits? are we up to shaking off old perceptions and myths about what can and can’t be done? are we ready to put our name to an idea and stand behind it? are we ready to place citizenship above any other basis of becoming a Nigerian? are we ready to protect the rights of every individual citizen and the rights of minorities? Will our courts be there to interpret our constitution and laws for the interest of the citizens? it is time to say Yes to these questions. Nigeria will be a different country, a far better place if we said Yes to these. We unchain ourselves if we do and the energy of Nigerians will build us a great country once unchained. i conclude by congratulating our compatriots on Nigeria’s 50th anniversary. i pray earnestly for a future we can all be excited about. Thank you for your time and patience KEyNoTE ADDrESS By ChIMA IBENEChE, MANAGING DIrECTor, NIGErIA LNG LIMITED AT ThE oCCASIoN oF ThE SEVENTh GrAND AwArD NIGhT oN 9Th oCToBEr 2010 AT EKo hoTEL, LAGoS

Where are the Seafarers? CoNTINuED FroM PAGE 27

itself. What we are going to do is continue to develop people and make them available to NlNg business and over time proceed beyond that to servicing similar businesses which you know are springing up in the Nigerian economy. We have quite a number of organisations setting up our type of business. They may decide to partner with us. We see a future of a rapidly growing organisation. But it is too early to say how much money we will make. Do we see the possibility of NSML servicing other upcoming LNG companies in the country? You cannot rule that out but that is not our immediate brief. Is this company a Nigerian company? To the extent that it is registered in Nigeria and focused on people development in Nigeria; to the extent that it is primarily set up to take an aspect of NlNg business forward; to that extent we can say it is a Nigerian company with international flair. it is a subsidiary of NlNg but it is owned by five key players--NlNg, Shell, Total, NNPC and eNi. and you can be sure that if these players have some interest in it, it cannot be a second rate organisation. The company was supposed to have taken off in 2008? What caused the delay? a formal approval by NlNg Board to set up this organisation took place in July 2008. The intention was to do all other preparatory work and start in 2009. That did not happen because the structure of the organisation was of interest to the shareholders of Nigeria lNg. They also wanted shares of ownership. if you have the approval to set up a wholly-owned NlNg subsidiary, you were running a brief that apparently didn’t quite align with their aspiration. a lot of work had to be done through the various shareholders advisory committees of NlNg and this took a while. What gives you sleepless nights about managing this new organisation? it is early days to talk about sleepless nights but it is a fact of life that the change process which we are undertaking has quite a lot of different groups of people and departments of NlNg having to co-operate. So, we will need a lot of co-ordination, co-operation and understanding. But there is no reason to have sleepless hours. Do you have any issues with NLNG seafarers and ship board personnel that will be transferred to NSML? a lot of information sharing has been done since 2008 to date. There are indications that like every change, there are people who are not interested and had indicated a desire to leave but over this period, lots and lots of feelings that this is not the best for them are beginning to fade. Now that we are sharing information on the new conditions of service, it has become much clearer that it is not what people perceived earlier. We can see a lot more understanding but the test of it all is when you make your offers and you begin to see responses. Then you can say we got it right. Do you see the company as a fully independent company in the future? The memorandum and articles setting up this company already sees the organisation as an independent one. The fact that it has a parent organisation doesn’t mean it does not have its freedom. it has a separate board. it has a memorandum and articles of association, it has defined activities and responsibilities, it has a business to do, it has a mission and vision statement and it has values which are not the same with NlNg.

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I N T E R V I E W W I T H IBENECHE

A transformation in

cooking gas industry Just two years after he took over the helm of affairs in Nigeria LNG Limited, Chima Ibeneche has become a household name in Oil and Gas industry in Nigeria. And for good reason. Chima is one of those experts you can easily describe as analytical and insightful, competent and incisively focused. He has excelled in ground-breaking ventures in different upstream projects which include a successful leadership at Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo), the company that pioneered offshore deepwater exploration in Nigeria. It is also to his credit that the $13 billion Nigeria LNG Limited, the single largest private sector investment in sub-Saharan Africa, remained profitable during the economic recession. In this interview with Yemi Adeyemi and Dan Daniel, he bares his mind on the NLNG game plan in the LPG industry. Excerpts: What exactly was the objective of NLNG’s intervention from the beginning? Nigeria LNG went into the supply of cooking gas (LPG) to the domestic market primarily to help remove an absurdity that actually exists in Nigeria. In 2007, it was clear that Nigeria’s consumption of cooking gas had been declining over the years even though there were two strong producers of LPG in the country. Nigeria LNG and Mobil were exporting the product. Chevron, also in Escravos, produces a mixture of butane and propane from which the type of cooking gas we use can be extracted. Whilst these companies were exporting the product, there was persistent scarcity of the commodity in the Nigerian market because local consumption was premised on the effectiveness of the refineries. The LPG

production of the refineries was actually at a level that could satisfy local consumption, even though we all know that the refineries have not been operating efficiently and that is why we still import refined products. Given the situation, Nigeria LNG stepped in to guarantee availability of supply to the local market, irrespective of the state of the refineries. The aim is to try to salvage this trend whereby we produce and export LPG in huge volumes, yet supply to the local market is inadequate. I think it was the right decision to get involved in supplying the product to the local market. We all know the impact of deforestation that occurs when people cook with firewood. We usually see very long queues for kerosene at the fuel stations. Considering the number of generators in operation nationwide, importers of refined products probably find

it more attractive to import diesel than to import kerosene. Scarcity of kerosene is also heightened because the consumers compete with the airlines for the product. Overall, it makes sense to provide cooking gas in a country that produces oil and gas. How would you rate NLNG’s intervention? I think it is very successful. People now believe it is the responsibility of Nigeria LNG to supply LPG to the domestic market. Today, the availability of cooking gas in Nigeria is associated with the work of Nigeria LNG, but that doesn’t mean we are home and dry. Nigeria LNG has done what it set out to do; to guarantee availability at international competitive prices. What has been lacking in the value chain is the infrastructure that would actually make delivery of LPG

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to end-users efficient and cost effective. For instance, all the LPG we supply to the domestic market come in through Lagos. At the Apapa Jetty where this is done, there are limited opportunities and storage facilities to receive LPG. So right from the jetty, the product begins to add cost due to demurrage, and beyond that, after the off-take from the storage near the shore, the product has to be transported over land. We don’t have the good fortune of rail transport which would have made land transportation cheaper. We don’t have the good fortune to transport over good roads either. Imagine transporting from here to Port Harcourt. You have to pass through Ore and everybody knows the difficulty of getting through that stretch of road. All these add to the cost of delivery to the end-user. In this case, the end-user cannot expect a drastic reduction in prices because there are so many choke points that add to the cost of logistics of delivery of the product. However, what makes Nigeria LNG’s effort very successful is the guarantee of product availability. This has encouraged investors to begin to invest in infrastructure. For instance, NIPCO along with their partners, have built additional storage in Apapa, Lagos area. It is now possible to have a lot more cooking gas available in storage in Lagos area. In recent times, investors from Port Harcourt area are understudying how they can invest in storage and jetty facilities in that part of the

country to achieve the same result. Oando and other companies are also building storage facilities. With LPG dispensing facilities mounted on skids, which can be affixed within the four walls at the fuel stations, people can actually take their gas bottles there and observe as they are filled in their presence. So, NLNG has created a mini revolution in this sector of the business. In the past when there was no guarantee on the viability of the business, nobody could make a five-year plan, but now we have given assurance that, if investors make a plan, even if it’s for five or 10 years, they are certain to have a supply of LPG that would meet Nigeria’s demand. Many of these developments you have mentioned are in Lagos. What are the plans to improve the supply chain and prevent cost going up in other locations, especially further up north? Since our production is in Bonny, one would require, as a front line infrastructure, a jetty to transport the commodity to different parts. That is why Lagos features primarily at that level, while Port Harcourt and Calabar feature at a secondary level. Following the jetties would be the storage facilities, and most big storages will be near the shore. Going beyond that, what we require, really, would be things such as tanker trucks to transfer the product from one point to the other. Many companies have started

buying these tanker trucks. There are some inland storage facilities but there are not too many new developments and I think it is being hampered by the choke points at the jetties. When the jetty choke points are unblocked, people can move further inland to begin to develop storage tanks inland. For me, the biggest improvement that would help better distribution inland would be the construction of railways. If we could just put a tanker wagon behind a train, it can take the product to Sokoto or to Kano without substantially increasing the price of the product. Unfortunately, that is not available now, so I don’t envisage major developments in inland storage. NNPC had built certain infrastructure through their butanization programme but then again they were never put to good use because of lack of supplies. So, I think you will see a gradual improvement of the development of facilities and infrastructure from the coast towards the inland which will of course depend on the commercial viability of all the factors. Last year, there were talks about encouraging the development of private jetties. Has there been any progress in this regard? All the new developments I know about are happening around Lagos. Again, it is consistent with the fact that Lagos is the commercial capital of Nigeria, so people can leverage networks with other activities going on around them. There are one or two people developing jetties that are independent of the NNPC jetty and as I mentioned, NIPCO has developed quite a significant storage capacity, but not much is happening in other parts of the country. In these cases, government should actually step in either with incentives or policies to make people invest in the areas that are strategic to it. It is often claimed that Nigeria LNG supplies about 70 percent to 80 percent of the LPG consumed domestically. Does it mean other players such as Mobil and Chevron are not playing on this scene? You need to realize that like Nigeria LNG before December 2007, many of the facilities were built purposely for export. I mentioned initially that domestic supplies were premised on supplies from the refineries. These producers are still exporting and I don’t know whether they have taken a similar measure like Nigeria LNG to ensure that a certain percentage

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of their production is dedicated to the domestic market. But to start with, the demand of our product has not gone beyond 60 percent of the quantity we have guaranteed each year so why would Mobil or Chevron provide additional availability when the one that Nigeria LNG has provided has not been used up? The problem is not with Mobil or Chevron providing additional availability, rather, it is the lack of infrastructure to facilitate distribution of the product in-country. As a company, we have borne some costs in making this available. Until the end of 2010, we had what we call a mother vessel which is actually a floating storage that acts as a terminal for lighter vessels to come and off-take products and bring them to the jetty. We bore the cost of that. There is a sacrifice in doing that and unless there is actually full utility of the available quantities, it doesn’t make sense for another company to bear the sacrifices for no value at all.

There are some inland storage facilities but there are not too many new developments and I think it is being hampered by the choke points at the jetties. Where is NLNG going with this? What’s the company’s exit strategy? Businesses are into making profit, but to make profit you have to be a corporate citizen of a place and if you are a citizen, you have responsibilities. It is something like cleaning your environment; you can leave your house in the morning without cutting the grass on your lawn but if you are a responsible citizen, you will keep your environment clean. People term what some of these businesses do as corporate social responsibility, but some of these are just the right thing to do as a citizen of a place. Businesses are citizens; they are legal citizens of the country and besides, the Nigerian Government owns 49 percent

of NLNG. I think it is in the interest of all the shareholders and the company to try, once in a while, to solve a problem in their neighborhood. That is why we get involved in such ventures. We would continuously monitor the LPG chain and when it becomes clear that we really have no special value to add, we will return to our core business which is actually to export. We have changed the mode of supply and removed the mother vessel. So that reduces the cost of our being able to meet our commitment. The mother vessel was replaced with a lighter boat that can do a quick run between Apapa Jetty and Calabar. By the model we operate now, if anybody has a jetty that meets the technical and safety requirements that the ship can call to, the person can buy LPG from Nigeria LNG and we would deliver at that jetty. The more people join this mode of operation, the less the cost for everybody and I think, ultimately, the plan would be that people can actually buy from us on Free on Board (F.O.B) at our terminal as we do for export. The reason it doesn’t make sense to them now is that if you are buying small quantities and we have several ships coming, it increases the risks at the jetty. But eventually I think the market will mature enough such that a few big distributors will be able to hire their own ships and then order quantities, take it off from our jetty and then store it in their tank farm for other

smaller distributors to buy from them. At that time, it would become a self- sustaining business like any other one. Do you have other ideas or projections on how long it might take to get there? It is difficult to predict because it all depends on the pace at which the infrastructure develops. It depends also on how the market consolidates into capable big players. One can already think of the possibility of businesses like Oando, NIPCO or African Petroleum concluding that there is viable profit to be made from this business so they can actually grow into that space where they use their own ships to buy the product. The danger in going too fast is that if it ends up too early being one entity, then you can also create a monopoly that will erode the possibility of transferring the price to the consumer at an acceptable level. It will be beautiful if two or three of those businesses grow into that space. We will just have to wait and see to conclude that the domestic LPG business has matured. Until that happens, depending on Nigeria LNG Board’s view, my recommendation as CEO will be that we just continue what we are doing to allow the market to mature because even though we make sacrifices, I think it is something worth doing for the benefit of the Nigerian economy.

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CHIMA IBENECHE’S MAJOR MILESTONES 2008

15-May Reorganisation and Launch of a New Shipping Division 26-Jun Delivery of LNG Imo 12-Aug Creation of Nigeria LNG Ship Manning Limited (NSML)

2009 19-Feb 23-May 25-Jun 10-Aug 9-Oct 2-Dec

Instituting ‘The Whistle’ to enhance corporate governance. Establishment of the Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC) Department NLNG signs Ship Management Knowledge Transfer Agreement (SMKTA) with STASCo Ensuring The Effectiveness of The Budgetary Controls Process with respect to Staff travel management End of Tax Holidays Launch of the NLNG Anti-Bribery and Corruption (ABC) programme

2010 19-Jan 26-Mar 11-Aug 7-Sep

Raising of NLNG-sponsored Haiti relief fund for the Clinton Global Initiative Integration of NPP (Nigeria LNG Plus Project) Organisation into Production Division NLNG Efficiency and Work Study Review NLNG Cancer Awareness and reach-out effort to support people suffering from cancer in Nigeria

2011 2-Feb 22-Jul 25-Nov 30-Dec

Successful Recertification of PD Environmental Management System (EMS) to ISO 140012004 Launch of Nigeria LNG Ship Management Services (NLNGSS) Operations Relocation of NLNG Head Office From Lagos to Port Harcourt Delivered 330 LNG cargoes, an all time high in NLNG’s history

Ibeneche’s years witnessed continued profitability, greater focus on lower cost and efficiency, and improvement in safety records and corporate governance.