The Nation Newspaper

Category: Business

  • ‘Why buildings collapse’

    ‘Why buildings collapse’

    Faulty design, lack of comprehensive sub-soil investigation, quackery, use of substandard materials, poor workmanship, non-adherence to professional advice and  greed, have been identified as some of the reasons buildings collapse.

    Chairman, Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), Mr Kunle Awobodu, stated this at the 25th Annual Conference and General Meeting of the Nigerian Institution of Structural Engineers (NIStructE), in Abuja at the weekend.

    Speaking on Built environment professionals and incessant building collapse, he listed other common denominators in diagnosing building collapse to include copied design, non-adherence to approved design, quackery, use of substandard materials, poor workmanship, professional incompetence, cognitive dissonance, ignorance and pilfering.

    Others, according to him, are construction in crisis situation, unrealistic timelines, nocturnal concrete work/concreting in the rain, improper budget and financial control, change in use, poor drainage system, fire incident, lack of maintenance and force majeure.

    He called on professionals in the sector to join the association to save the sector from total collapse.

    Awobodu said the guild is promoting unity among built environment professionals, pointing out that a house divided against itself cannot sustain its relevance.

    According to him, the onus is on the professionals to turn the tide of  decay in the sector and save the lives of the people.

    Members of the guild at the event included first female town planner in Nigeria, Mrs. Catherine Kehinde George; a quantity surveyor, Mr Edwin Umolu, President of NIStructE, Mr Busola Awojobi; and immediate past president, Mr Victor Oyenuga.

    Awobodu said  BCPG, in the last four years, has been championing campaigns against building collapse menace, mobilising all stakeholders, especially built environment professionals and artisans including concrete workers, iron benders, block makers, and carpenters on the need to eradicate cases of collapsed building in the sector.

    He said the weakness of professionals in the built environment had been identified as their inability to create time for activities that will collectively benefit them.

    “We need to overcome the beggarly attitude and endeavour to develop a strong voice and necessary control in the construction industry that remains the nation’s economic barometer. We should not leave our fate completely in the hands of politicians, who are not committed to promoting standard construction but more interested in the juicy end of building contracts,”Awobodu stressed.

  • ‘Banigo’s kingship’ll enhance Brass LNG project’

    ‘Banigo’s kingship’ll enhance Brass LNG project’

    The inauguration of renowned banker, Ebitimi E. Banigo, as paramount ruler of the Okpoama Kingdom in Bayelsa State, will not only remain topicical for a long time but also quicken the completion of the multi-billion dollar Brass Liquefied Natural Gas (Brass LNG) project.

    Installed as Okpo XXl and the Amanyanabo of Okpoama Kingdom, one of the host communities of Brass LNG project, Banigo, according to industry operators, came at an auspicious time in the life of the project.

    As a boardroom guru and entrepreneur, the operators said he would not only boost the project but will usher in a new lease of life for the people of the Kingdom.

    With him at the inauguration was another key personality that will assist in successful execution of the project, a former Governor of old Rivers State and frontline leader and the paramount ruler of another host community of the project, Twon Brass, Amanyanabo Alfred Diete-Spiff.

    At the event was the Chairman of the Brass LNG Limited, Dr. Jackson Gaius-Obaseki. He expressed joy with the installation of Banigo as king, saying as a boardroom player, the monarch would, no doubt, strive to ensure a peaceful environment for business operation, which would be a catalyst to a successful execution of the project.

    Gaius-Obaseki, who is a a former group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), said the visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to the island to witness the installation of King Banigo was a testimony of the commitment of his administration to a successful execution of the project.

    He said Brass Island could be the commercial gateway to Bayelsa State and expressed confidence that when completed, the project would offer job opportunities to hundreds of indigenes of the community and the state.

    The Final Investment Decision (FID) on the two-train, 10 million metric tonnes per year project has been scheduled for the first quarter of next year, which Gaius-Obaseki confirmed at the company’s Eighth Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Abuja.

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) holds 49 per cent equity in the company, and plans to divest about 30 per cent from it out of which five per cent will go to the Bayelsa State Government, while LNG Japan would take four per cent, Itochu Corporation, three per cent, and a joint venture between Nigerian indigenous company Sahara and France-based Sempra Energy would hold two.

    American oil group, Conoco Phillips, which is divesting its interest from Nigeria, French giant – Total and Italian company, Eni, hold 17 per cent stake apiece in the project.

    Under the Shareholders’ Agreement, the NNPC cannot divest its equity in the project until an FID has been taken; and towards the realisation of this (FID), a crucial meeting of the Board was held earlier last week. At the moment, efforts are in top gear to make sure that the FID was realised.

    Earlier, the Chairman of Okpoama Kingdom Council of Chiefs, Chief Wapaobinyo Amade-Obasi, noted that the coronation signals a transformation of the kingdom with its proud heritage into a world class global economy.

    In his address, Banigo pledged to work for the common good of the people. He noted that the kingdom is poised to provide the enabling environment for well-meaning investors to harness its abundant resources with a view to becoming an industrial hub especially in the gas and oil sector.

    King Banigo, who praised the efforts of President Jonathan and governors of flood affected states for alleviating the sufferings of internally displaced persons, also thanked those who contributed to the success of the event.

  • How to make the new housing policy work

    How to make the new housing policy work

    The goal of the new housing policy is to ensure that Nigerians own or have access to decent, safe and sanitary housing in a healthy environment with services at affordable cost and secured tenure. However, surveyors say except something is done urgently, the new policy may go the way of past ones, OKWY IROEGBU-CHIKEZIE reports

    The new housing policy is about the third robust attempt at having a policy that will address the poor housing provision in the country.

    The previous ones were dogged by poor decisions, such as the frequent changes in the status, tenure, nomenclature and mandate of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

    In a paper, entitled: The New National Housing Policy, an effective framework for its implementation by the pioneer Managing Director of Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and Shelter-Afrique, Nairobi, Kenya, Mr  S. P. O. Fortune-Ebie, said the old housing policy didn’t attempt to resolve the lingering gap that stood at about 17 million units in deficit.

    Speaking at a housing summit organised by the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors & Valuers (NIESV), he said the old housing policy didn’t address land access and financing, which are keys to housing acquisition, including the lack of appropriate identification and recommendation of construction methodology that is appropriate for the country to increase her housing stock.

    He argued that no nation has ever solved its housing problems by a few privileged individuals building their mansions, but rather, it is achieved by the central government directly encouraging the production of houses by pushing out favourable policies that will encourage not only private sector participation but creating a functional and virile mortgage sector that will enable people with verifiable means of income own houses and pay in the long term.

    Fortune-Ebie, a surveyor,  recalled that as the pioneer  managing director of FESTAC Town, Lagos, the agency targeted the poor, middle class and the rich  and regretted that succeeding governments couldn’t continue with the idea of the town.

    He predicted that if the feat had been replicated in other states, the bourgeoning 17 million housing gap would have been bridged as the houses that sold for N9,000 30 years ago, are now bought at N60 million.

    He said: “As an integrated process, the housing delivery demands a coordinated  and integrated actors in public and private sector of the economy. Lack of effective coordination and integration of efforts between the housing sector and other relevant ministries, departments and agencies have been the bane of housing development in the country.”

    He called for the review of the policy at the end of four years aside the impact assessment, which he canvassed should be carried out bi-annually.

    Minister of Land Housing and Urban Development, Ms Ama Pepple, said the concern of government in this new policy is in funding availability, mortgage risk environment, access to financing, improved land titling processes and housing supply. She said her ministry is working with foreign and local partners and the financial services sector to develop a mortgage liquidity facility to make long term funds available to Primary Mortgage Banks.

    He said the combined forces of the government and the private sector would add about one million housing units to the national housing stock within the next three years.

    The minister, who was represented by  a staff member of the ministry Mrs Margret Okolo called on the National Council of State to make regulations under section 46 of the Land Use act to help the implementation of the Act besides addressing the challenge of capacity building for artisans in the construction industry.

    She stressed the need to put in place vocational training pro-grammes to address their deficiency.

    Earlier, Chairman, NIESV, Faculty of Housing, Chief Kola Akomolede, regretted that housing issues are not taken seriously by the government. He noted the miserly budgetary housing provisions of less than one per cent by the Federal Government while many state government’s fail to have a housing ministry.

    He criticised the argument that the private sector should build houses for the people and wondered how a developer who is in business to make profit will build subsidised houses for the poor, which should be the purview of the government.

    Akomolede called on the government to confront the three major impediments that stand in the way of access to decent housing for the people, which he noted, as lack of access to land at affordable prices, lack of mortgage for would-be house owners either to build or buy and the high cost of building materials.

    A lawyer, Akintoye Adeoye, who spoke on “Private sector role in provision of housing for the masses under the new housing policy”, said  two major essentials  of land and finance are required for the success of private sector effective participation in housing.

    He, however, noted that the impediments to its achievement include corruption, bureaucracy in land administration, challenges of getting relevant bills passed by the National Assembly, lack of funded and viable secondary mortgage market, insufficient data on housing, lack of sufficient incentives for private sector participation and insufficient data on housing.

  • US to overtake Saudi as top oil producer, says IEA

    The United States will overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world’s top oil producer by 2017, the West’s energy agency said yesterday, predicting Washington will come very close to achieving a previously unthinkable energy self-sufficiency.

    The International Energy Agency (IEA), according to Reuters, said it saw a continued fall in US oil imports with North America becoming a net oil exporter by around 2030, and the United States becoming almost self-sufficient in energy by 2035.

    “US, which currently imports around 20 percent of its total energy needs, becomes all but self-sufficient in net terms – a dramatic reversal of the trend seen in most other energy importing countries,” it said.

    The forecasts by the IEA, which advises large industrialized nations on energy policy, were in sharp contrast to its previous reports, which saw Saudi Arabia remaining the top producer until 2035.

    “Energy developments in the United States are profound and their effect will be felt well beyond North America – and the energy sector,” the IEA said in the annual long-term report, giving one of the most optimistic forecasts for U.S. energy production growth to date.

    “The recent rebound in U.S. oil and gas production, driven by upstream technologies that are unlocking light tight oil and shale gas resources, is spurring economic activity – with less expensive gas and electricity prices giving industry a competitive edge,” it added.

    IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol told a news conference in London he believed the United States would overtake Russia as the biggest gas producer by a significant margin by 2015. By 2017, it would become the world’s largest oil producer, he said.

  • Expert tasks govt on oil spill laws

    Expert tasks govt on oil spill laws

    The Chairman, Port Technology Consultancy Services, ChinedumOnyemechi, has called for replacement of Nigeria’s oil spill laws.

    Onyemechi, who is also a lecturer in the Department of Maritime Management Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, said the new legal framework must meet international standard and include the polluter pays all principle.

    He made this call while delivering a lecture titled: “Oil Spill contingency planning and control techniques” during the Logistics West Africa Strategic Conference and Exhibition in Lagos.

    Acknowledging that it is impossible to determine exactly when an oil spill would take place, he however, said that if preventive measures were put in place, the amount of damage that is likely to be encountered would certainly be reduced.

    In addition, he said there should be a requirement that corporations handling oil design must incorporate an oil contingency and response plan into their daily operation, which he said should be signed by the National Oil Spill and Detection Agency(NOSDRA) and re-evaluated on an annual basis.

    He stressed the need for the government to ensure a sustainable oil spill plan that would foresee training as well as the incorporation of oil spill emergency plan in the daily operational duties of the oil companies and ships operating in the Nigerian waters.

    He said the government control system would only be effective when the oil spill consciousness is properly internalized by corporations working in the oil industry and exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

    The expert added that the atmosphere, marine environment, and the seashore were at risk of pollution in the event of an oil spill. He said all coastal states ought to ensure that a workable emergency/contingency plan is put in place to ensure the containment of an oil spill incidence.

    More so, he noted that a supervising national body whose role it shall be to ensure that all major petroleum-carrying facilities including the oil companies, refineries, and ships develop a facility oil pollution emergency plan that would be acceptable to the body.

    Contingency plan he explained, is a set of instructions that outlined the steps that would be taken before, during and after an emergency.

    In formulating a contingency plan he said there is need to consider all the possibilities of what could go wrong and ways through, which a response or remedial action could be taken to contain the situation.

    He maintained that in carrying out a vulnerability analysis, the contingency (emergency) planner should be able to provide information about resources and communities that would be at harm in the event of an oil spill.

    Through this analysis he said personnel involved in an oil spill cleanup would make reasonable and well informed choices about protecting public health and the environment,t adding that proper monitoring of the industry from the design stage to the operational stage is the only sustainable cure to oil spill prevention.

  • NPDC’s oil production hits 130,000 bpd

    NPDC’s oil production hits 130,000 bpd

    Crude oil production by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the exploration and production subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has hit 130,000 barrels per day (bpd).

    The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr Andy Yakubu, disclosed this through the Managing Director of the National Engineering and Technical Company Limited (NETCO), a subsidiary of NNPC, Mr.IshakuAbdullahi, at the just-concluded Lagos International Trade Fair.

    He identified sustained amnesty programme of the Federal Government and the re-entry into the abandoned fields and facilities by the company as a major factor responsible for the improvement in the production.

    He said: “With the return of peace in the oil-producing Niger Delta due to the amnesty programme, the NPDC re-entered abandoned oil fields and resumed production. This has positively impacted on the NPDC’s growth aspiration with current crude oil production now averaging about 130,000barrels per day.”

    Yakubu said abandoned assets of the NNPC/Shell Joint Venture had also been reactivated and production ramped up on the divested Shell’s assets. He noted that the NNPC was also implementing a robust programme aimed at drastically reducing the development costs of both joint venture and Production Sharing Contract (PSC) projects in order to increase government’s take from oil revenues.

    He said the corporation had acquired three-Dimensional Seismic data gathering equipment as part of efforts of the Federal Government to increase the country’s crude oil reserves through increased exploration in the Inland Basins, especially in the Chad Basin.

    The NPDC has its head office in Benin in Edo State and base offices in Port Harcourt and Warri. It was established in 1988 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the NNPC. Its operations are concentrated mainly in the Niger Delta and span five States – Imo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers.

  • Stakeholders seek coordinated regulation

    Stakeholders have called for coordination in the regulation of practices in the oil and gas industry so as to engender the needed growth.

    They made the call at the PSRG-Richardson Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) forum held in Lagos.

    The forum noted that the establishment of various regulatory agencies who are working at cross-purposes was not in the best interest of the industry.

    It therefore suggested that the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) be adequately equipped and empowered to effectively perform its regulatory functions in the oil and gas sector.

    The forum also recommended that a division of the Nigeria Police Force, which is to be dedicated completely to the oil and gas industry should be created and well equipped to enhance security of operations, installations and assets.

    In his presentation entitled: “HSSE: Confronting the Challenges in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Environment,” Emiy Ikuru, Managing Director of Foisi Global Investment Ltd urged the development of a measurable and sustainable HSSE management system in the oil and gas industry. He called for the implementation of a security policy that meets the challenges of increasing crime and effective response strategies to emergencies that threaten the safety of staff, assets and the general public.

    Also speaking on the “Challenges of protecting oil and gas industry assets: An operator’s perspective,” Capt. Albert Oti (rtd) said an effective approach to pipeline protection would involve local communities in guarding the pipelines. It will also require the deployment of technology such as sensors, which are globally used to monitor pipelines.

    On the types of security breaches and threats prevalent in the Nigerian oil and gas industry, he listed them to include facility vandalisation, armed attacks on personnel and installations, kidnapping and hostage taking and the disruption of operations. Others are community protest action, crude oil theft and illegal bunkering, cyber crime and electronic infractions.

    To address these challenges, Oti urged operators to develop an effective oil and gas infrastructure protection strategy and acquire risk assessment and warning capabilities. He said there is the need for an integration of information sharing and control in the security of oil and gas infrastructure between operators and relevant security agencie.

    Head of HSE at the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Dorothy Bassey,who was represented by Ijeoma Onyeri, spoke on approaches to sustainability in her paper entitled: “Developing a winning formula for sustainability in the oil and gas industry.

    She listed innovation, transparency, taking responsibility and maintaining standards as some of the key elements required to develop a winning and sustainable business in the oil and gas industry.

  • Lagos explains slow pace of work on Badagry expressway

    Lagos State Government has explained the reason for the purported slow pace of work on the Lagos Badagry Expressway by CCECC, the firm handling the project.

    A statement from the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure said the government was not unmindful of the challenges to many users of the road.

    It said the plan was to reconstruct the stretch from Eric Moore through to Seme Border but it has been phased due to the huge financial implications.

    The statement said the Lot 1, which is the first phase of the project, demonstrates the vision of the Fashola administration on the road.

    The second phase, being handled by CCECC, has further been broken into three because of the financial position of the state.

    This phase will be from Mazamaza to Okokomaiko.

    It emphasised that the Lot 2A (from MazaMaza to Okokomaiko) was awarded late last year and the contractor mobilised early this year, noting that the stretch in this phase is highly built up requiring extensive removal of obstruction and relocation of services.

    “This is what is going on and is being construed as slow pace of work,” the statement said.

    Furthermore it said aside from the removal of the obstructing structures on the Right of Way of the road, the state government has since started the relocation of essential services on this axis, which include water mains, PHCN facilities, PTOs facilities and the like.  These facilities the ministry said are not easily replaced due to their importance and the nature of the new designs adopted to make them viable and relevant in future development.

    The statement stated that beyond this, however, the responsibility for maintaining the road belongs to the Federal Government.

    The state government appealed to commuters to be patient with it. It pledged its commitment to build a first class road.

  • ‘Integrated aviation policy will develop industry’

    ‘Integrated aviation policy will develop industry’

    President, Aviation Round Table, Captain Dele Ore, has urged the Federal Government to formulate an integrated policy that will accelerate the growth and development of the aviation sector.

    Ore spoke at a workshop with the theme: Capacity building in the aviation sector, organised by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (Aviation Chapter) in Lagos.

    Such policy, he said, would enable the sector to achieve economic growth in the country.

    “We should know how to manage transport industry, particularly the aviation sector.

    “Increase taxation, rising fuel prices and political instability has continued to challenge the economy system of the aviation industry in Nigeria,’’ he said.

    Ore noted that domestic airlines should adapt positively to a changing environment, otherwise the aviation industry would collapse.

    “The charges in Nigeria are very high, when these are put together, airlines cannot survive.

    “Intending airline investors should know the implication of what they are trying to get into. Successful airlines try to streamline their operations; they make money through hotel operation.

    “Government should invest more in aviation training schools and they should specialise in a particular area of study,’’ he said.

    Managing Director, Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited, Mr Olu Owolabi, said the sector was the most international and borderless unit of the global market.

    He said aviation has proved to be a catalyst in promoting understanding and cooperation among its people.

    He noted that the demand for transport and logistics service is strong when economic activity is buoyant.

    Owolabi noted that Nigeria’s strong economic diversity in the area of climate and population density made the country interesting for exporters and foreign investors to come in.

    The Chief Executive Officer of Widescope International Logistics Limited, Mr Segun Musa, explained that if the Federal Government must carry out reforms in the aviation sector, such efforts must not strangulate the operating environment by pushing operators out of business. he said such policies must address operational challenges.

    According to the freight forwarders’Chairman of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, until the Federal Government establishes a cargo village at the Lagos Airport, efforts to sanitise the cargo section of the industry will not yield the desired results.

    He explained that as is the practice in other parts of the world, the establishment of a cargo village at the airport will boost trade facilitation, as such a facility will not only earn revenue for government, but will help to organise the business of freight by the air for goods coming in and out of the country.

    Musa explained that the major challenge operators in the cargo and freight arm of the aviation sub sector face range from exclusion by government officials while putting policies in place that will shape operations at the airport.

  • ‘Reps won’t pass PIB quickly’

    ‘Reps won’t pass PIB quickly’

    The House of Representatives will not rush the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, it emerged yesterday.

    Being one of the most important bills that would have passed through the National Asembly, the lawmakers said they have resolved to shelve political party affiliations or ethnicity to give the bill, the scrutiny it deserves.

    To make good their decision, the opposition lawmakers commissioned a consultant to intimate them on the technicalities inherent in the bill.

    The opposition parties include the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP), All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Democratic People’s Party (DPP), Labour Party (LP) and Accord Party (AP)

    Leader of the opposition, Femi Gbajabiamila (ACN, Lagos), explained that the briefing by the consultant is to ensure that a thorough understanding of the letters of the executive bill are fully grasped by the lawmakers.

    Besides, he said the stepping down of the consideration of the bill on two occasions, was meant to avail the lawmakers enough opportunity scrutinise the document.

    The bill was stepped downon on the eve of the two-month vacation at its first presentation when The House Leader, Mulikat Akande-Adeola could not offer proper explanation on its provision.

    He said: “‘We stepped the Bill down twice for good reasons because we cannot doubt the fact that it is one of he most important bills that would come out of this National Assembly.

    “For that, we have resolved not to adopt any fire brigade approach. we don’t want any quick passage. We want a proper passage, a thorough meticulous passage when all the facts are under- stood. Don’t forget that the petroleum industry is a technical industry.

    “The fact that you are a legislator does not automatically mean you should know about petroleum. So you have consultants. When you pass something quickly, you take a position that is uninformed, that is why later you start having amendments.

    Gbajabiamila said its passage is conditional upon full understanding of the details, “we are talking about 300 pages of documents, or more,” he stated.

    He however pleaded that Nigerians should not see the decision to do a thorough job of the bill as undue delay, saying, “you don’t just bring a bill without briefing The Leader who is supposed to move it on your behalf. So what you call delay, I don’t see it as such.

    “ This is a very important bill and it requires the attention it deserves. That is why I have called a meeting of all opposition members across all parties for a briefing by a consultant on the PIB, so that we can be fully equipped when we go into debates,” he added.