All Posts in "Month: October 2024"
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‘Nigeria Needs Functional Public,Private Refineries’
Mohammed Shosanya
A legal practitioner with specialisation in oil and gas,Paul Obi,SAN has advocated the need for functional private and private refineries in order to alleviate the current suffering Nigerians are experiencing on account of fuel squeeze.
Obi,who is the Company Secretary of NIPCO Plc,commended the birth of Dangote Refinery,adding that conscious efforts should be made to resuscitate the Port Harcourt with a view to making impact in the nation’s petroleum value chain.
The coming of the Dangote refinery,he noted,is a big boost to the nation’s economy.
He said:“It is good that government is trying to do the right thing, they have embraced Dangote refinery, supplying crude to them in naira that frees the pressure in the foreign exchange in the country.If one or two of the refineries work, Dangote refinery works,then the pressure we are having in that sector will certainly reduce if not wiped off”.
He supported the current selection process in the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) rank by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee.
Obi,who is also the Managing Partner P.C Obi & Co,said that although the SAN rank entails a rigorous process to acquire, there is no need to reform the same for now.
He told lawyers who intend to apply for the SAN position to ensure they meet the requirements before making their application to avoid rejection and multiple applications.
“I applied for the rank the first time and got it because I wanted to dot all the i’s, and cross all the Ts.I had read the guidelines and followed the rules, followed the procedure, followed the processes,I studied them well made sure all my cases are in order because I didn’t want to go this route severally.
“The procedure is rigorous.I had to go to Kano, Kaduna, Akwa Ibom State, Cross River State, Port-Harcourt, I did cases in all jurisdiction just to make sure that the 20 number of cases that were required at the high court,five at the Court of Appeal, four at the Supreme Court,were all done personally by me.
“It is not only me who applied for the first time and got it, there are other people who applied once and got it so.If you are technically qualified,the process is rigorous but it has a high degree of integrity. It could be fine tuned here and there but all in all, it is a very transparently credible process,”Obi said.
He commended the introduction of the new Supreme Court Rules’,noting that combined with the full complement of 21 justices of the apex court bench, justice delivery will no longer take as much time as it used to be.
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NCDMB Phases Out Middlemen From Oil,Gas Industry
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB),says it has eliminated middlemen from the oil and gas industry value chain and contributed to shortening the oil industry contracting cycle to six months,on account of the three Presidential Directives on Local Content operations issued by President Bola Tinubu in March 2024.
Its Executive Secretary,Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe disclosed this in Lagos on Monday while speaking at a breakfast meeting with some media executives.
According to him,NCDMB had complied fully with the Presidential Directive on Local Content Compliance Requirements, 2024 (EO 41), which sought to ensure that only local service companies that have domiciled proven capacities and capabilities can participate in oil and gas tenders.
He disclosed that NCDMB has reduced its touch points and fast-tracked projects approval processes, in compliance with the Presidential Directive on Reduction of Petroleum Sector Contracting Costs and Timelines, 2024 (EO 42).
He hinted on plans to launch a major initiative tagged “Back to the creeks.” This policy will take the impact and contribution of local content implementation to oil producing communities and other hinterlands across the country.
He dismissed insinuations that local content implementation increases the cost of producing crude oil in Nigeria.
He clarified that the major drivers of increased cost of crude oil production are downtime and disruptions in operations caused by community issues or technical problems.
Other challenges responsible for extraneous costs include the cost of providing security and the activities of briefcase contractors, he said.
He spoke on the Board’s strategies for enabling growth of the industry,stating that NCDMB was working intently to create an enabling environment for international oil companies to take final investment decisions for new projects and was evolving policies to support indigenous oil and gas service companies.
The NCDMB boss promised to revive the insurance services guidelines the Board signed in June 2022 with the National Insurance Commission (NIACOM), which would oblige the Nigerian oil and gas industry to patronize the local insurance sector.
He acknowledged that the success of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act and the Nigerian Content 10-year strategic roadmap depends largely on public communication, awareness and support from key oil and gas stakeholders.
He also appreciated the media for projecting the activities and programmes of the Board and assured that cooperation with the media would be deepened under his leadership as the Executive Secretary.
The General Manager, Corporate Communications and Zonal Coordination, Mr. Esueme Dan Kikile, indicated that the breakfast meeting was organised to introduce the Executive Secretary formally to leading media stakeholders.
Other senior management of NCDMB that attended the breakfast meeting included the Director Corporate Services and Capacity Building, Dr. Ama Ikuru; Director Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr. Abdulmalik Halilu; Director Projects Certification and Authorization, Engr. Abayomi Bamidele and Director, Legal Services, Mr. Naboth Onyesoh, Esq.
Director Corporate Services and Capacity Building, charged media stakeholders to report Nigeria in a positive light, to attract investments in the oil and gas sector.
The Director of Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr. Abdulmalik Halilu gave an update on the performance of the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCI Fund).
He rated the Fund’s performance as over 90%,judging by the percentage of access by qualified companies and repayment by the borrowers.
He hinted that the Executive Secretary had constituted a team to review the Community Contractors Fund, which is a poor performing product under the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCI Fund).
He expressed hope that an announcement would soon be made on the remodeling of that particular product, new partners and product papers.
The Director Projects Certification and Authorization, Engr. Abayomi Bamidele highlighted the increased number of projects approved by the Board since it started implementing the Presidential Directive on Local Content.
He added that the Board was also supporting companies seeking to fastrack gas investments to take advantage of the Presidential Directive on Tax Incentives,Exemptions and Remissions for the Oil and Gas Companies.
Also speaking, Director, Legal Services, Mr. Naboth Onyesoh commended the media for their support to the Board over the years, which increased the visibility and public awareness of the Board’s functions and achievements.