16
BUSINESS DAY
C002D5556
Friday 17 August 2018
COMPANIES & MARKETS NNPC plans new 100,000bpd Brownfield Refinery for Port Harcourt, Warri Olusola Bello
A
bout 100,000 barrels per day brown refineries are being planned by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as part of its refinery collocation initiative designed to boost local refining capacity that will end the era of petroleum products importation. The refineries are to be collocated in Port Harcourt and Warri Refineries. This was disclosed in the current NNPC News, the Corporation’s inhouse newsletter Speaking on efforts being made to achieve self-sufficiency in local refining besides the rehabilitation of the refineries, Maikanti Baru explained that a group of investors had commenced the process of relocating a refinery that used to be owned by BP from Turkey to Nigeria to be installed near the Port Harcourt Refinery under the NNPC refinery collocation initiative. “Our collocation initiative aimed at getting private sector
investors to bring in Brownfield refineries so that they can share facilities is also yielding results. “For example, there is one that is going to be brought in from Turkey to be located near the Port-Harcourt Refinery. It’s not a modular refinery; it’s a normal refinery with about 100,00bpd capacity. It was owned by BP, but it has been sold off now to the companies that want to bring it over from Turkey to install it here”, he stated. He further explained that a similar plan to establish a brownfield refinery near the Warri Refinery was also in the offing. “There is another one of about the same size being looked at to be sited near the Warri Refinery. But the one for Port-Harcourt is at a more advanced stage. Our drive at the NNPC, as a leader in the industry, is to expand our local refining capacity and make Nigeria a global refining hub”, he said. Nigeria has become a net importer of petroleum products despite the fact that she export an average of 2.1 million
barrels of crude oil per day. The 450,000 barrels refineries located in Kaduna a Port Harcourt and Warri have remained comatose for several years thereby causing the country to depend almost 90 per cent on imported products The NNPC has consistently said it would not relent in its quest to get the nation’s four refineries back to their optimal, nameplate capacities. The NNPC boss stated that as part of the ongoing reforms in the organisation, the corporation had been holding far-reaching discussions with some consortia to get the best funding options towards the refineries’ overhaul. He added that the corporation, under his watch, had recorded remarkable progress in resuscitating some of the nation’s critical downstream infrastructure, a development which had ensured the seamless supply of products Nationwide, until the recent past hiccups which are now under control. “Since coming on board, we have made the revamp of our
L-R: Chineze Amanfo, brand and marketing communications manager, Inlaks; Ikechukwu Nnamani, MD/CEO, Medallion Communications Ltd; Oladimeji Koyejo, director, Value Added Services, Inlaks, and Olusegun Ajakaiye, executive assistant, Inlaks, when Inlaks was presented with ICT Conglomerate of the Year award at the Nigerian ICT Impact CEO Forum and Africa Digital Award in Lagos recently.
abandoned assets and critical downstream infrastructure a key component of our corporate vision of 12 Business Focus Areas (BUFA),” he stated. He said over the last few
Eagle toastmaster club help Nigerians improve leadership and communication skills Endurance Okafor
E
agle Toastmasters Club, Nigeria’s premier Toastmasters International, has helped many Nigerians in developing themselves through self-pace training in communication and leadership skills. Founded by Vincent Okobi in 2005, the club has paved way for the creation of about 46 other clubs spread across Nigeria and through the medium its guest and members have been taught the art of professional speaking and effective leadership. This was disclosed to Busi-
nessDay in the swearing in ceremony of the new executives of Eagle Toastmasters Club at Eko Hotel on Saturday, 11th August, 2018. “Nigerians are among the about 4 million people world wide that Toastmasters has helped to conquer their fears of standing before an audience to speak which is called glossophobia. This is through the 46 clubs out of the total 16,900 that are spread across Africa’s most populous nation, Oladele Olunike, the division director, told BusinessDay. “In the past 12 years of its existence in Nigeria, it has brought about self-improvement in the area of communication and leadership,” Unekwu
Nwaezeapu, the immediate past president of the Eagle Toastmasters Club said. Meanwhile, according to Forbes, only about 10 percent of the world population actually loves public speaking or standing in a group situation without feeling nausea, panic attacks and extreme anxiety. The good news however is, even though that fear may be biologically ingrained in human, it is one that can be overcome flawlessly. “In 21st century global business world of today that we live and work in, it has been found that regardless of one’s profession, vocation or occupation, two skills have been the most
sorted after skills in the world and they are the communication and leadership skills, which toast master has been offering in the last 94 years,” Oladele explained. Meanwhile a survey by a U.S school of technology has however disclosed that communication and leadership skills are the most critical skills that account for a whopping 85 percent of a person’s personal, professional and public life success. Oladele concluded by saying no matter how smart one is, until a person is able to develop the communication and leadership skills, one’s level of success would not be taken to the next level.
Youths in Ogun chart new course for ICT-dependent businesses IFEDAYO OGUNYEMI
I
n a bid to drive innovation and wealth creation in Ogun state, a group of youths are charting a new course for ICT-dependent businesses with the creation of the first co-working space and ideation lab in Abeokuta, the state capital. The co-working and ideation lab provides a community for social innovators, freelancers, creators, start-ups, entrepreneurs and techpreneurs.
This, they made known at the soft launch of RockStation Nigeria, a co-working space and ideation lab in Abeokuta, the state capital. Communications Manager of RockStation Nigeria, Ibukun Olusola said that the coworking space would help foster a creative community and provide entrepreneurs in the state with an access to a shared workspace, internet, utilities and business services. He said the idea was is in line with the Sustainable Development Goal 9, which focuses on building resilient
infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation. Olusola who berated the present ICT culture in the state said the coworking space and ideation lab will help improve the state’s technological ecosystem. “The ICT culture of Ogun state cannot be said to have been developed just yet because despite the richness of talents and developers who thrive to create Solutions and/or products (with the very limited resources: power,
Internet and mentorship) in their closets. “There hasn’t been any mapping, convergence or collaboration of these small groups around the state. “We tend to foster and promote more of these communities, by availing them an innovative space for a convergence, take up the responsibility of mapping these groups and provide them adequate resources to develop, not just themselves but also put the tech community of Ogun State on the map of tech communities in Nigeria,” Olusola said.
months, several crude oils, petroleum products and natural gas pipelines were resuscitated while more than half of the nation’s 21 strategic depots were also upgraded.
He decried acts of pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft and sabotage which he noted had resulted in huge loss of revenue, lives and property as well as damage to the environment.,
Coca Cola Nigeria, LSETF sign deal to empower 1,000 women Daniel Obi
T
he Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), Coca-Cola Nigeria Ltd and its bottling partner, Nigeria Bottling Company have signed a partnership agreement to empower 1,000 women in Lagos State. Through this partnership framework, the selected women will receive training in financial literacy and business skills as well as start-up capital to integrate them into the Coca-Cola value chain as retailers of the Company’s beverage products. This partnership is anchored on Coca-Cola’s 5by20 Programme, which is the company’s global commitment to enable the economic empowerment of 5 million women entrepreneurs across the its value chain by 2020. Representing the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund at the MoU signing ceremony, Akintunde Oyebode, executive secretary LSETF stated that the LSETF’s mandate is aimed at creating an enabling environment for Lagos residents to realize their business aspirations by providing access to finance for them to thrive, while ensuring employment and innovative opportunities for all residents of the state. “A partnership with an organisation such as CocaCola assures us that we are
working in the right direction and strengthens our commitment to building entrepreneurs within the state. We understand that to empower a woman, is to empower a whole generation. We will continue to provide accessible and affordable credit to support women as they seek to start or expand their businesses; because when we do, we create wealth and employment that alleviates poverty.” In her comment, Nwamaka Onyemelukwe, public relations director of Coca Cola Nigeria reiterated the company’s commitment saying, the multinational company is certain of its commitment to the well-being of communities, a critical part of which are women. “As pillars of their communities, women invest a sizable portion of the income they earn on the health and education of their children and in their local economies, creating a tremendous economic impact. Lagos State Employment Trust Fund is our partner of choice for this initiative considering our shared vision on women empowerment and its vast network across the State.” She further stated that realizing the vision of enabling the economic empowerment of 5 million women by 2020 depends on building scalable models and powerful partnerships, across business, civil society and government, which is vital to maximizing the impact of their programs and making them more sustainable.