There is reverberation over United States’ drone strike which killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani and an Iraqi militia leader. But despite the hue and cry, President Donald Trump is not about to back down.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to hit 52 Iranian sites “very hard” if Iran attacks Americans or U.S. assets after a drone strike that killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani and an Iraqi militia leader, as tens of thousands of people marched in Iraq to mourn their deaths.

Showing no signs of seeking to ease tensions raised by the strike he ordered that killed Soleimani and Iranian-backed Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at Baghdad Airport on Friday, Trump issued a threat to Iran on Twitter. The strike has raised the specter of wider conflict in the Middle East.

“Iran,” Trump wrote, “is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets” in revenge for Soleimani’s death. Trump said the United States has “targeted 52 Iranian sites” and that some were “at a very high level and important to Iran and the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD.

“The USA wants no more threats!” Trump said, adding that the 52 targets represented the 52 Americans who were held hostage in Iran for 444 days after being seized at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in November, 1979-an enduring sore spot in U.S.-Iranian relations.

Trump did not identify the sites. The Pentagon referred questions about the matter to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Among the mourners in Iraq included many militiamen in uniform for whom Muhandis and Soleimani were heroes. They carried portraits of both men and plastered them on walls and armoured personnel carriers in the procession. Chants of “Death to America” and “No No Israel” rang out.

On Saturday evening, a rocket fell inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone near the U.S. Embassy, another hit the nearby Jadriya neighbourhood and two more were fired at the Balad Air base north of the city, but no one was killed, Iraq’s military said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Trump referenced an unusually specific number of potential Iranian targets after a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander had also mentioned a specific number of American targets-35 of them – for possible retaliatory attacks in response to Soleimani’s killing.

General Gholamali Abuhamzeh was quoted by Tasnim News Agency as saying late on Friday that Iran will punish Americans wherever they are within reach of the Islamic Republic, and raised the prospect of attacks on ships in the Gulf.

“The Strait of Hormuz is a vital point for the West and a large number of American destroyers and warships cross there. … Vital American targets in the region have been identified by Iran since long time ago. … Some 35 U.S. targets in the region as well as Tel Aviv are within our reach,” he was quoted as saying.

Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah Militia warned Iraqi security forces to stay away from U.S. bases in Iraq, “by a distance not less than a thousand meters (six-tenths of a mile) starting Sunday evening,” reported Lebanese al-Mayadeen TV, which is close to Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Trump said on Friday that Soleimani had been plotting “imminent and sinister” attacks on American diplomats and military personnel. Democratic critics said the Republican president’s action was reckless and risked more bloodshed in a dangerous region.

Trump’s provocative Twitter posts came only hours after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote on Twitter that he had told Iraq’s President that “the U.S. remains committed to de-escalation.” Pompeo also wrote on Twitter that he had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Iran and “underscored the importance of countering Iran’s malign influence and threats to the region.”

The White House on Saturday sent to the U.S. Congress formal notification of the drone strike-as required by law-amid complaints from Democrats that Trump did not notify lawmakers or seek advance approval for the attack.

White House National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien defended the operation’s legality and said Justice Department lawyers had signed off on the plan.

Democrats sounded unswayed. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the notification document raised “serious and urgent questions about the timing, manner and justification” of the strike.

Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a strident Trump critic, wrote on Twitter that his threat to hit Iranian sites “is a war crime.”

“Threatening to target and kill innocent families, women and children – which is what you’re doing by targeting cultural sites – does not make you a ‘tough guy.’ It does not make you ‘strategic.’ It makes you a monster,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.

With security worries rising after Friday’s strike, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) alliance and a separate U.S.-led mission suspended their programmes to train Iraqi security and armed forces, officials said.

Soleimani, 62, was Iran’s pre-eminent military leader – head of the Revolutionary Guards’ overseas Quds Force and the architect of Iran’s spreading influence in the Middle East. Muhandis was de facto leader of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) umbrella body of paramilitary groups.

The attack took Washington and its allies, mainly Saudi Arabia and Israel, into uncharted territory in their confrontation with Iran and its proxy militias across the region.

The United States has been an ally of the Iraqi government since the 2003 U.S. invasion to oust dictator Saddam Hussein, but Iraq has become more closely allied with Iran.

The Iraqi parliament is convening an extraordinary session during which a vote to expel U.S. troops could be taken as soon as Sunday. Many Iraqis, including opponents of Soleimani, have expressed anger at Washington for killing the two men on Iraqi soil and possibly dragging their country into another conflict.

A PMF-organised procession carried the bodies of Soleimani and Muhandis, and those of others killed in the U.S. strike, through Baghdad’s Green Zone.

The top candidate to succeed Muhandis, Hadi al-Amiri, spoke over the dead militia commander’s coffin: “The price for your noble blood is American forces leaving Iraq forever and achieving total national sovereignty.”

Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi also attended. Mahdi’s office later said he received a phone call from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and they “discussed the difficult conditions facing Iraq and the region.”

Mourners brought the bodies of the two slain men by car to the Shi’ite Holy City of Kerbala, South of Baghdad, then to Najaf, another sacred Shi’ite city, where they were met by the son of Iraq’s top Shi’ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and where Muhandis and the other Iraqis killed will be laid to rest.

Soleimani’s body will be transferred to the Southwestern Iranian province of Khuzestan that borders Iraq.

On Sunday, it will be taken to the Shi’ite Holy City of Mashhad in Iran’s Northeast and from there to Tehran and his hometown Kerman in the Southeast for burial on Tuesday, state media said.

The U.S. strike followed a sharp increase in U.S.-Iranian hostilities in Iraq since last week when pro-Iranian militias attacked the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad after a deadly U.S. air raid on Kataib Hezbollah, founded by Muhandis.

Washington accused the group of an attack on an Iraqi military base that killed an American contractor.

• Reuters/NAN

What actually happened to the $1.2billion allegedly paid by Shell and Agip into Federal Government’s Escrow Account with JP Morgan Chase bank sometime in 2011 in relation to the execution of a supposed settlement agreement in respect of the controversial OPL 245 held by Malabu Oil and Gas? Was it a bribe or compensation? The truth could only be known at the conclusion of the charges now pending against former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed Adoke and others. ERIC IKHILAE reports.

 

Had President Muhammadu Buhari accepted the suggestion by his Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, on how he thought was the best way to permanently rest the seeming undying scandal that the Malabu Oil and Gas Limited’s Oil Mining Lease (OML) 254 has become, his (Malami’s) immediate predecessor’s return on December 19, 2019 would have been less dramatic and controversial.

Malami had, in a legal opinion dated September 27, 2017 told the President, among others, that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was on a wild goose chase in proposing to prosecute his immediate predecessor, Mohamed Adoke for the last administration’s dealing in relation to what has grown to become the Malabu oil deal scandal.

The AGF’s letter, it was learnt, was in response to a request to that effect from the President, following the renewed interest shown on the case by the EFCC toward the end of 2016.

The Goodluck Jonathan administration, in which Adoke served as the AGF, thought it could foreclose the “restless Malabu Oil spirit, “by executing what Adoke said was “a settlement agreement,”  which saw the Federal Government (in 2011) “warehousing” about $1.1billion “on behalf of some interests, who claimed to have stakes in Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd.”

But, rather than bury the controversy that the Malabu Oil brand has become, the transaction allegedly consummated by Adoke, but purportedly sanctioned by his principal (then President Jonathan) has persisted.

Shortly after the Buhari administration took office in 2015, Adoke sneaked out of the country. But, in early 2017, The EFCC, again, summoned the “Malabu Oil spirit” when it filed two charges, first before the Federal High Court, Abuja  (marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/268/17 )and later, at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) – marked: FCT/HC/CR/124/2017, listing some major players in the 2011 settlement agreement transaction as defendants.

Since charges were filed, no progress was made. Both courts gave orders, but later reversed them on the grounds that the major parties in the charges were not available.

On January 26, 2017, Justice John Tsoho, before whom the charge at the Federal High Court is pending, gave an ex-parte order, directing the Nigerian National petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to take over the management of OPL 245 pending the conclusion of trial in the charge. Few weeks later, the judge revered the decision and returned to the status quo.

On April 17, 2019, Justice Danlami Senchi of the High Court of the FCT, after listening to EFCC’s lawyer, Aliyu Yusuf, granted the commission’s request for the issuance of an arrest warrant against the defendants for failing to attend court for the purpose of their arraignment. Justice Senchi set aside the arrest warrant in a ruling on October 26, 2019.

Many had thought that the cases would go the usual way of high-profile criminal cases in the country until news filtered in the next month that Adoke had been held in Dubia, The United Arab Emirate (UAE) by the International Police Organisation (INTERPOL).

 

The brickbats before Adoke’s  reemergence

On learning about the charges, Adoke, sometime in March 2017, petitioned Malami, alleging witch-hunt and demanded that he (his successor) prevail on the EFCC (an agency under the Federal Ministry of Justice) to backtrack.

Adoke said, in the petition: “I believe it is your responsibility to explain to the public who are being sold a fiction that the transaction started from President Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR under whose administration the Terms of Settlement were brokered with Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN, as the then Attorney General who executed the Terms of Settlement before the tenure of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR who approved the final implementation of the Terms of Settlement and my humble self who executed the resolution agreements,” Mr. Adoke said in the petition dated March 6.

“This is more so as the settlement and its implementation were situated in the Federal Ministry of Justice. It will be recalled that the Terms of Settlement, encapsulating details of the settlement between the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and Malabu Oil & Gas Limited (Malabu), was executed on 30th November 2006.

“The Terms of Settlement, which was later reduced into a consent judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, was brokered by our predecessor in office, Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN and signed on behalf of the Federal  Government of Nigeria by the then Honourable Minister of State, for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR,” Adoke said.

The ex-minister denied any wrongdoing, insisting that  he saved Nigeria more than $2 billion in damages that would have  stemmed from arbitration claims instituted against the Nigerian government at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes over the OPL 245 block, which is believed to hold more than nine billion barrels of crude oil and even more volumes of natural gas.

In response, the EFCC stuck to its position that it has a case against Adoke and others listed as defendants in both charges and encouraged them to attend court to clear their names should they feel otherwise.

On September 27, 2017, Malami authored his legal opinion, in which he, among others, advised Buhari to prevail on the EFCC not to pursue the charges already filed against Adoke and others.

Malami said he was able to determine that the EFCC has significant evidence to prove its allegations of sharp practices against prominent players like Bello Adoke, Diezani Alison-Madueke and others.

The letter by Malami, marked: DPPA/FMPR/198/17, had as its heading “Re: Forwarding of case file in respect of charge No. FHC/ABJ/CR/268/17 And FCT/HC/CR/124/2017 Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd.”

Earlier this year, Adoke came up with a book, “Burden of Service: Reminiscences of Nigeria’s Former Attorney-General,” which hit book stalls in Nigeria on September 16, 2019 and in which he continued to tell his side of the story.

The story of the Malabu Oil deal, as told by a reviewer of the book – Dele Agekameh – states  that it began with late Sani Abacha’s “Indigenous Exploration Programme”, which sought the allocation of oil blocks to indigenous companies, which  included the potentially very lucrative OPL 245, which was allocated to Malabu Oil and Gas Limited in 1998 for a concessionary fee of $20 million.

According to Agekameh, the Obasanjo government later issued Malabu Oil and its technical partner, Shell, an Oil Prospecting Licence, OPL, for the oil block, based on a Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) between the two.

He added that Obasanjo, who was Minister for Petroleum in his government, later revoked the licence five weeks after despite assurances given to Malabu Oil and its partner.

“In 2002, Obasanjo’s administration awarded a Production Sharing Contract to Shell for the same oil block for a signature bonus of $210 million. Malabu Oil kicked, dragged the House of Representatives into the matter and went to the courts.

“Obasanjo’s administration was forced to settle and recognise its claim by re-allocating the oil block back to Malabu Oil, despite having signed a new agreement and received $1 million from Shell.

‘That settlement was reduced to a consent judgment of the Federal High Court in 2006. It was then Shell’s turn to raise hell, and it opened investor-state arbitral proceedings against Nigeria in 2009.

“While shopping for technical partners, Malabu Oil approached ENI. ENI was interested in partnering with Shell on the project. Malabu’s refusal to work with Shell, and Shell’s proceedings against the government over its own claim to the oil block created complications that necessitated the government stepping in, according to Adoke, to facilitate some kind of arrangement.

“In the end, Malabu agreed to be paid off with about $1.1 billion for the oil block and the Federal Government agreed to receive the funds on behalf of Malabu Oil in an escrow account controlled by the government.

“The government also received the full signature bonus of $210 million. According to Adoke, the Federal Government and his involvement was limited to facilitating this deal in 2011.

“The deal apparently saved the country from a possible multi-billion-dollar award in Shell’s investor-state arbitration, as well as solved the complication that had been inherited from the previous administrations,” Agekameh wrote.

 

The EFCC’s case against Adoke, others

The EFCC’s case against the ex-AGF relates to its suspicion that Adoke knew how the $1.1b paid by the two multi-national oil giants, which the Federal Government was made to guarantee, was “distributed among some vested interests.”

In one of the charges, the EFCC’s claim is that Adoke exchanged more than $2.2 million in a bureau de change in Abuja as part of his share of the said $1.1 billion Malabu Oil deal fund. It added that one Abubakar‎ Aliyu, said to be owner of A.A. Oil Ltd, (who is also named in the charge) acted as a middleman for some individuals.

The EFCC said in a court document that Adoke took delivery of exactly $2,267,400 on September 16, 2013, and immediately enlisted the service of money changers to have it converted to the local currency.

It stated: “Sometime on 2nd July 2001, the Federal Government withdrew the title and allocation of OPL 245 to Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd on the directive of Mr. Funso Kupolokun, the then Presidential Adviser on Petroleum to President Olusegun Obansajo after which same was reallocated to Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep Ltd.

Read Also: $1.06b Malabu Oil deal: Adoke to spend Christmas, New Year in custody

 

“Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd sued the Federal Government over the revocation, but the suit was later withdrawn and settled out of court by the parties and the said oil well was reallocated to Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd.

“Shell and Agip again went into a fraudulent agreement with Malabu Oil and Gas, in which the companies will pay signature bonus of $210m to the Federal Government of Nigeria, while $1.2b would be paid to the owners of Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd.

“Shell Petroleum was later to explain that the payment was for compensation, but investigation conducted revealed that the money was bribe to Dan Etete and his cronies.

“Shell was aware at the time of consummating this transaction that Dan Etete, the owner of Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd, was already a convict and hence, was not willing to pay the said sum of $1.2b directly to Dan Etete and or Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd directly.

“One Mohammed Adoke was the Federal Government’s counsel in series of arbitration instituted by Shell in London on the said oil well and, who later became the Attorney General of the Federation, conspired with Shell/Agip to route the payment of the said sum of $1.2b bribe money through Federal Government Escrow Account with JP Morgan Chase bank.

“The said Mohammed Adoke had written a letter ref. No: HAGF/FMPR/2011/Vol. 1/12 dated 9th February 2011 seeking the advice of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) on whether to consummate the transaction involving Shell Ultra Deep Sea, Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd, NNPC, Nigeria Agip Exploration and production Company (SNEPCO).

“The DPR replied in a letter reference No: PILD/880T dated 1st of April 2011 and advised against the transaction on the ground that it was highly prejudicial to the interest of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“Despite the advice, the then AGF, Mohammed Adoke, approved the payment of the $1.2b bribe money through Federal Government Escrow Account with JP Morgan Chase Bank in London. Sometime in May 2011 Nigeria Agip Exploration and SNEPCO instructed Chase Bank to release $1,092,040,000 into Escrow Account of the Federal Government.

“The money, on the instruction of the then AGF, Mohammed Adoke, was transferred from the Escrow Account to two banks namely, First Bank and Keystone Bank operated by Dan Etete and Malabu Oil and Gas ltd.

“The said amount was later laundered with several accounts of individuals and different companies. Investigation further revealed that the Federal Government was defrauded by SPDC and Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd by under paying $210m as signature bonus on OPL 245.

“Investigation conducted revealed that Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd and SPDC secured OPL245 through fraudulent scheme involving high scale bribery and corruption by top management of the company.

“Information available to the applicant (EFCC) is to the effect that a London judge, sitting in the Southwark Crown Court refused to release to Dan Etete and Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd $85m which is connected to the said fraudulent transaction by Shell Nigeria, Nigeria Agip Exploration and Malabu Oil and Gas in respect of OPL245.

“The $85m formed part of the proceeds of the fraudulent transaction between Shell Nigeria, Nigeria Agip Exploration and Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd. The said sum was seized as a result of request by Italian prosecutors,” EFCC said.

 

Was the Abacha family outsmarted?

Unknown to many, the investigation by the EFCC was partly ignited by a petition from the family of the late General Sani Abacha, who it turned out, was part of the Malabu Oil episode from inception.

The late Abacha’s surviving eldest son, Mohammed Abacha, claimed in court documents obtained by The Nation, that he was a pioneer director in Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd, but was allegedly outsmarted by former Petroleum Minister, Dan Etete, who he claimed was engaged, from inception, as a consultant for the Malabu Oil and Gas project.

Mohammed said while he was imprisoned between 1999 and 2002, and could not actively participate in the affairs of Malabu Oil, “Chief Dan Etete (also known as Chief Dauzia Loya Etete, the consultant to the 1st plaintiff (Malabu Oil) whose function is in an advisory capacity, took over the 1st plaintiff’s books, documents and records in the absence of the 2nd plaintiff (Mohammed) without any mandate to do so.

He stated that sometime in 2010, they learnt of some fraudulent alterations of the shareholding structure of Malabu Oil in its files with the CAC, purporting to divest the three original shareholders of their investments in Malabu Oil and allegedly making Seidougha and Joseph the only shareholders and directors with 10million shares each.

“Sometime in April 2011, SNUD, SNEPCO and NAE entered into a negotiation and allegedly bought over the assets of the 1st plaintiff – OPL 245 through Seidoougha and Joseph, with Chief Dan Etete acting as the two directors and consultant of the 1st plaintiff, for a consideration of about $1.3b with the Federal Republic of Nigeria acting as an obligor.

“The said transaction was carried out through a series of agreements signed and dated between 29th and 30th April 2011 by Seidougha Munamuna purportedly acting as a director of the 1st plaintiff and Mr. Rasky Gbinijie purportedly acting as Company Secretary of 1st plaintiff, with the 5th, 6th and 7th defendants – Shell, Agip and FGN,” he said.

Mohammed added that the complaints by Malabu’s actual directors about “the illegality of the transaction leading to the sale of OPL 245, Shell and Agip “requested the involvement of the FGN as a form of guarantee and security for the investment they seek to engage in.

“Following the execution of the several agreements, $1,092,000,000.00 was paid into a Federal Republic of Nigeria Domiciliary Escrow Account No: 41454193 domiciled in JP Morgan Chase Co., London to be passed to the 1st plaintiff as consideration for the alleged surrender of its asset – OPL 245.

“On 16th August 2011, the FGN through the then Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Lawan Ngama, and the AGF, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) instructed the release of the money from the said Domiciliary Escrow Account of the FGN in the following manner: $401,540,000 paid into account No: 2018288005 purportedly belonging to the 1st plaintiff in Fisrt Bank of Nigeria Plc, and $400,000,000 paid into supposed 1st plaintiff’s account No: 3610042472 with Keystone bank Plc.

“Out of the $1,092,000,000.00, the sum of $801,540,000 was paid into the 1st plaintiff’s account with Fist Bank of Nigeria Plcand Keystone Bank Plc allegedly opened and run by the 1st plaintiff, yet Chief Dauzia Loya Etete (aka Chief Dan Etete) is the sole signatory to the two accounts,” Mohamed said.

The suit filed by Malabu Oil and Gas, Mohammed, Pecos Energy Limited (promoted by Otunba Oyewole Fasawe) in which they are challenging the alteration in Malabu Oil’s shareholding structure, is now pending before Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

The Federal Government, investors and other stakeholders are looking forward to producing petroleum products from Waltersmith Modular Refinery in May,  writes JOHN OFIKHENUA

Investors are now overcoming their early reluctance to activate their modular refinery licences. Their decision to construct and operate the entities is coming after years of fear of government’s refusal to fully deregulate the downstream petroleum sector.

In the lead for the venture into the race for modular refinery operation is Waltersmith Modular Refinery. The firm is looking forward to meeting consumers’ demand for petroleum products by May, 2020.

Also, Aziken Modular Refinery and five other refineries are working hard to satisfy the domestic market. This is also ahead of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director (GMD), Mele Kayri’s vow to ensure that the country exited the importation of petrol by 2023.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva recently inspected the Waltersmith Modular Refinery located in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area, Imo State during a visit. His mission was to inspect the ongoing works in the refinery construction which is at an advanced completion status of over 90 per cent.

Accompanied by the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB) Simbi K. Wabote, an Engineer, the minister expressed his excitement at the pace of work at the project, noting that “the incorporation of the Modular Refinery component in the existing business concerns of Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited, is exactly what was envisaged by the Federal Government with marginal fields allocation.”

He stated that “the overall expectation was to see Nigerian companies do well and the Waltersmith Modular Refinery is a major bright spot which has recently been incorporated into the nation’s projection for petroleum product sufficiency and availability.”

Sylva praised the Board and Management of Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited for their efforts, even as he implored that a huge focus should be placed on corporate social responsibility to ensure a sustained and successful relationship with the host community.

He praised Wabote for executing the project partnership for the 30,000 barrels per day modular refinery which is wholly owned by Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited with a key equity investment from the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB). He pledged the commitment of the Federal Government in ensuring that the expected completion date and refinery operations commencement date of May, 2020, is achieved.

NCDMB’s Executive Secretary  Simbi Wabote said the partnership forged with Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited, has clearly shown the power of public-private investments, while noting that all the necessary steps have been put in place to ensure the full realisation of the objectives of the project.

He further noted that the initial partnership with Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited was stemmed from the quest to achieve President Muhammadu Buhari’s aspiration to improve in-country refined products capacity. He expressed his optimism that the May, 2020 completion date of the phase 1 (5,000 barrels per day) will coincide with the groundbreaking for the phase 2 of the project targeted at delivering 25,000 barrels per day crude and condensate refinery; designed to produce gasoline, diesel, LPG, kerosene and aviation fuel.

The Chairman of Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited, Mr. AbdulRazaq Isa noted that the fundamental reasons for embarking on the Waltersmith Modular Refinery include but not limited to crude loss resulting from crude handling and the cost of crude transportation from the marginal fields owned by Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited.

He noted that the project owners, Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited (70 per cent) and NCDMB (30 per cent) have worked assiduously to ensure the phase 1 delivery timeline which has been pegged at 18 months. He stated that the phase 1 is expected to contribute about 271 million litres of refined products, including diesel, naphtha, HFO and kerosene annually to the domestic market and create both direct and indirect jobs particularly within the host communities.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited, Mr. Chikezie Nwosu explored the current status of the Modular Refinery project, noting that the 30,000+ barrels per day is a partnership between Waltersmith (70%) and NCDMB (30%) with NCDMB providing major guidance and contributions on Nigerian Content, Technical and Commercial issues and Corporate Governance. He recalled that the FID for the Refinery Project was taken in September 2018 with an 18-month delivery time from November, 2018 to May, 2020, for Phase 1.

The Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited purposely invited the minister to have firsthand information on the projects and also see things for himself. From the company’s presentation to Sylva, it was obvious that the Final Investment Decision for the 30,000 bpd modular refinery project was taken in September, 2018 with an 18-month delivery time from November, 2018 to May, 2020, for Phase 1.

The firm, which is completely indigenous, was established in 1996 for exploration and production. The company has been undertaking activities such as exploration, production and services and gas and power. Its Ibigwe’s hub is of 30 kilometers radius centered on the Ibigwe Field Flow Station. It produced its first oil in 2008, from when it has sustained a total of 12 million barrels of crude oil per day.

The company has embarked on the construction of a WS/NCMB 30,000 of both oil and condensate barrel per day refinery. While its inauguration is billed for May, 2020, the ground- breaking ceremony for phase two which is 25,000 barrel per day is also scheduled for the same month.

A sister company-Waltersmith Ughamma Power Company is also developing a 300mw power plant for which it has already delivered the feasibility study.

According to the firm, the Final Investment Decision of the project is slated for the fourth quarter of 2020. The 300Mw combined circle power plant is to be delivered in phases, with 50mw as the first phase mostly for own use at the park.

Part of the plan is also the 32 km transmission line to Owerri sub-station from which power will be sold through the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc to the Nigeria National Electricity Grid. This, according to the firm, is expected to create 6,650 jobs during construction and 950 during operations.

The project also has the plan for additional capacity to contribute towards bridging the supply gap in the country. It has said it will provide power for  118,000 households and 26,000 commercial /industrial users. The company, according to the presentation, has secured a power generation license for Waltersmith Ughamma Power Plant. It has also proposed Egbema as a main source of feedstock gas for power plant.

The company dropped the hint that the Environmental and Social Impact (ESIA) for the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has been completed. While it has also activated the discussions for Grid Connection, and Co-operation Services Agreements at the Transmission Company of Nigeria, it has also made some reasonable progress in terms of the Gas Sales and Purchase Agreements.

On the Walterssmith Energy Industrial Complex, the presentation said the company has acquired 65 hectares of land for construction of Energy Industrial Complex. While it has completely surveyed 500 hectares of land, it has also initiated the process for its acquisition.

The Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited is also involved in the provision of crude oil handling services to Seplat, the NNPC with its significant efforts at safeguarding production through the Ibigwe Flow Station. It has also commenced discussions to strategically support the security of production of hydrocarbons in Egbema, Assa and Assa North /Ohaji (ANOH) condensate through the 30,000 bpd refinery project.

It is also involved in Energy Industrial Park Project from which it delivers energy gas and petrochemicals, renewable energy and other commercial businesses, basically for the opening up of the Ibigwe hub. The hub, said the company, will deliver significant Light Tight Oil (LTO) for all operators and partners such as the NNPC, ENI, Seplat, Waltersmith and NCDMB in the area.

The firm invited the minister to the inauguration of its new Corporate Head Office in Lagos. It also pleaded with him to be present at the inauguration of Phase 1 of the modular refinery, and the groundbreaking ceremony of the phase two in May.

The company called on the ministry to support its ongoing commercial farm in discussions with the SPDC JVC and NNPC, for security of production and refinery feedstock.

Nigeria is inching closer to becoming Africa’s mining investment hub. By dangling the proverbial carrot in the form of regulatory incentives as well as tax and other fiscal reliefs to prospective local and foreign investors, the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, may have opened the floodgate of investments into the mining sector. The ministry has also addressed most of the operational and legal hurdles to boosting investors’ confidence. The various mouth-watering incentives to woo investors may have raised hopes of leveraging mining to dislodge oil as Nigeria’s major revenue earner. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports

Nigeria has never been this close to achieving her quest to become the investment destination of choice for mining in Africa. Already, various pragmatic and strategic initiatives put in place by the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, to woo prospective local and foreign investors into the mining sector may have started yielding fruits.

For instance, The Nation learnt that on the strength of various irresistible incentives dangled to investors, the ministry is currently being inundated with investment enquiries, indicating the growing confidence of investors in the sector. The development, which gladdened the hearts of industry regulators and stakeholders, may have reinforced hopes of turning Nigeria into a mining destination of choice.

The Director-General (DG), Mining Cadastre Office (MCO), Engr. Obadiah Simon Nkom, personified the renewed hope of leveraging on the initiatives so far put in place to de-risk the sector and make it investment-friendly to make Nigeria Africa’s mining and metal investment hub. “Nigeria is ready for foreign investors. We have good regulations in the sector that will protect their investments,” he declared.

An obviously excited Nkom added that with the necessary political will already in place, a transparent licensing regime, and a geological data, Nigeria’s mining sector has never been this attractive to investors. For instance, the operations of MCO, which he heads, has been automated and upgraded to enable interested mineral title applicants access their services online.

The Investment Promotion and Mineral Trade Department has also been strengthened to provide information on investment opportunities in the industry as well as areas of linkages in the downstream segment of the mining industry.

Also encouraged by a result-driven synergy amongst agencies in the ministry, the MCO, The Nation learnt, has also streamlined its licensing regime. This was to enable credible investors interested in mining to apply and obtain licenses and leases within and outside Nigeria.

The overall aim was to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the office, promote transparency in mineral title administration, and reduce the burden on the investors.

The current synergy amongst agencies in the ministry has also seen the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) undertaking the National Integrated Mineral Exploration Project in order to provide credible geosciences data for potential investors in the industry.

NGSA is the custodian of Nigeria’s geosciences information. A parastatal under the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, the NGSA, established by an Act of the National Assembly on May 22, 2006, has the statutory role of providing relevant and up-to-date geosciences information necessary for economic development of Nigeria.

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Olamilekan Adegbite, has since turned his attention to strengthening the NGSA to deliver on his promises of turning around the fortunes of the mining sector. He believes that effective mining is based largely on good quality geological and mineral information systems.

Consequently, Adegbite, as part of his carefully articulated strategies to woo investors and position mining as Nigeria’s next oil, has dangled the proverbial carrot to investors by way of building a strong geosciences base.

It was the minister’s idea of enhancing Nigeria’s competitiveness as a world class mineral exploration destination capable of attracting serious private sector investments.

This was why he said the Natural Resources Development Fund (NRDF) is being invested into the National Integrated Mineral Exploration Project (NIMEP) to provide credible geosciences data for potential investors in the industry.

Adegbite admitted that NIMEP was one of the ministry’s proud achievements. Giving more details, he explained: “The Federal Government awarded a contract sometime last year after the approval of the Federal Executive Council.

“The project involves about N14 billion ($45 million) and it is to be undertaken nationwide and will involve the exploration of base metals, rare earth metals and industrial metals like Lead, Zinc, Barite, and Iron Ore. And preliminary result indicates significant success in the project.

“The result is to provide a commercially viable data that can be accessed by foreign investors in order to contribute meaningfully to wealth creation, employment generation and contribute meaningfully to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).”

Adegbite, who has drawn sufficient strength from what the ministry, under his charge, has so far put in place to open a floodgate of investment into the mining sector, is already looking into the sector’s future with so much hope and optimism.

“In 2020, the result of NIMEP is going to be released and I look forward to that as the result would further unlock the investment potential of the sector.

“This would allow government to dissect the areas into blocks and undertake internationally competitive bidding process in order to commence serious mining activities in the country,” he told The Nation, last week.

He also said the ministry intends to help the artisanal and small-scale miners to access funds, strengthen the Investment Promotion and Mineral Trade Department to undertake its function and properly fund the Surveillance Task Force of Mines Inspectorate to curb illicit trading in mineral commodities.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Abdulkadir Muazu, is no less excited by the mining sector’s prospects of bouncing back on the back of initiatives put in place to make it investment friendly.

He said, for instance, that one of the major steps that have made the sector investor friendly was the enactment of mining laws with specific provision for fiscal incentives that are enshrined in the law such as tax incentives, waiver for import of machineries that are related to mining.

“The second key initiative of the agency was through the MCO, where the ministry reformed the licensing process to make sure it is transparent and fair. The MCO also introduced the principle of ‘first-come-first-served and security of tenure,” Muazu said, adding that the ministry has also enhanced its organisational and regulatory capacity.

Tax, other fiscal incentives to the rescue

To demonstrate its resolve to create an enabling environment for investors to come into the mining sector, the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, rolled out a number of fiscal and investment incentives to woo prospective local and foreign investors.

Some of the strategic incentives and reforms that may have started changing the foreign investors’ perception of the mining sector include tax exemptions, duty drawbacks, subsidies, export expansion grants, double taxation reliefs, investment promotion and protection agreements, tax holidays, tax credits, and capital allowances, among others.

For instance, one of the incentives provided under the various relevant laws and regulations, was the mouth-watering offer of a three-to-five-year “tax holiday.”

By the combined provisions of section 36 of the Companies Income Tax Act and section 28 of the Mining Act, a tax relief period of three years and a further extension of up to two years can be granted to companies engaged in mining operations

Also, by the provision of section 25 of the Mining Act, operators in the mining sector are granted exemption from payment of custom/import duties in respect of plants and machineries imported specifically and exclusively for mining operations.

The Mining Act also gives allowance to a mining company to set up a tax deductible reserve for environmental protection, mine rehabilitation, reclamation and mine closure costs.

Mining companies also enjoy an accelerated capital allowance of 95 per cent on qualifying capital expenditure incurred in the year in which the investment is made.

There is also incentive in the form of loss relief such that losses can be relieved for a maximum period of four years after which all un-relieved losses are allowed to lapse.

Similarly, where a holder of a mineral title earns foreign exchange from the sale of its solid minerals, it may be permitted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to retain a portion of same for use in acquiring spare parts and other inputs required for mining operations which otherwise would not be readily available without the utilisation of such earnings.

Also, mining companies may benefit from waiver of applicable royalties, even as there is the assurance that corporate income tax in the mining sector will range between 20 and 30 per cent, which, according to  industry experts, is quite competitive in the international market.

A number of legislations also provide for other forms of irresistible benefits, particularly to foreign investors, in that they protect their investments from expropriation.

For instance, foreign investors, most of who have been holding back for fear of having their lawful and legitimate enterprises nationalised, can now heave a sigh of relief. Their investments will no longer be taken away from them.

Why the incentives, reforms became imperative

The mining sector is widely acknowledged as potentially hugely rewarding. However, investing in mining is no tea party; it is not a business for faint-hearted investors, local or foreign. As Adegbite admitted, “Mining is not only capital intensive, but also has a long gestation period.

Partner/Mining Industry Leader, PwC Nigeria, Mr. Cyril Azobu, put the situation in perspective when he told The Nation that mining is not a sector that one expects that something will happen quickly. According to him, the typical life cycle in any mining is long; the gestation period is also long.

Listen to the mining expert: “Take, for example, the entire value chain – from exploration down to processing – the exploration, which is the riskiest part of it – takes quite a long time. It takes a long time to do exploration…One; you are not going to have people who will invest in exploration as a result of the level of uncertainties.

“Two, you don’t know how much you are going to get. So, to do that, you need time, sometimes between three and five years or even more, to do exploration. When you do exploration, you have to begin to develop that area, construct, build plants to carry out operations there, you move to some level of processing.

“Even when you are exporting, you need to have some degree of processing, and have your export channels. But even at that, because you are exporting, that is still subject to global commodity pricing, which is only just improving at the global level.”

As if the long gestation period before returns can be generated from mining operations is not enough to deter investors, inadequate funding added to prospective investors’ woes. This is so particularly for Nigeria, where most mines are typically green fields, making them unattractive for funding by traditional commercial banks.

Indeed, the development of the mining sector, over the decades, has been stunted by inadequate funding to cater to the different stages of the life cycle of a typical mining operation.

Before returns can be generated from mining, the relevant operations need to go through five stages namely, exploration, development, mining, processing and marketing. And the cycle takes averagely between two to 10 years or more.

These are some of the realities that are believed to have prompted the ministry, with Adegbite as the arrowhead, to roll out initiatives targeted at making mining attractive to would- be investors with the requisite financial and technical muscle to come into the sector.

The minister has also moved to ensure that intervention funds made available for the sector by the Federal Government, through the Bank of Industry (BoI), as well as the technical assistance funds provided by the World Bank are accessible to miners, at repayment terms that are reflective of the realities in the mining industry.

Giving more insight into the increased focus on making mining attractive to investors, Adegbite said the mining sector had actually been in a very bad shape all these decades, stemming from the neglect the sector went through as a result of oil boom.

He said because of this, the big expatriate mining companies left the country and the sector went into doldrums. However, with the advent of the Nigerian Mineral and Mining Act 2007 and the Nigerian Mineral and Mining Regulations 2011, the country launched itself once again as a mining destination.

As part of the re-launch of Nigeria as a mining destination, Adegbite said the ministry has not only formalised artisanal miners, but has gone a notch higher by committing to helping artisanal and small-scale miners to access funds.

Over 1,500 Mining Cooperatives have also been registered nationwide, just as about 250 Private Mineral Buying Centres have been registered to facilitate trading in mineral commodities.

Also, to ensure environmental mitigation in the mines field, the minister said Environmental Laws and Regulations are being enforced to the letter.

According to him, Nigeria, last year, organised the 2nd International Conference on Artisanal Gold Mining with Lead alongside with Medicines San Frontiers (MSF). The forum provided strategies to prevent lead poisoning associated with artisanal gold mining.

Targeting increased mining contribution to GDP

Globally, most countries of the world, irrespective of their stages of development, now dangle a variety of financial, fiscal, and regulatory incentives to prospective investors in order to achieve their economic development goals.

For Nigeria, this has become necessary particularly in the mining sector, where the need to significantly boost the sector’s contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has become compelling in view of the fall in oil prices at the international market.

At present, mining contributes only 0.3 per cent to GDP. Although, the sector’s contribution to GDP increased to about five per cent in 2015, the figure is considered meagre for a mineral endowed nation like Nigeria.

The Roadmap for the Growth & Development of the Nigerian Mining Industry of 2016, however, projected the potential for increase in the sector’s contribution to GDP to 10 per cent by 2020. The hope was that this will help position mining as Nigeria’s next oil.

Infrastructure still a sore point

Promising as some of these mouth-watering incentives to woo investors are, there are fears that poor infrastructure may throw spanner in the works, if the Federal Government fails to double efforts to close the nation’s infrastructure gap particularly in the areas of electricity and road/rail networks.

Although, the current administration has prioritised the improvement of the ease of doing business and the removal of barriers to investment, industry operators and experts say that government should address the issue of supportive infrastructure particularly steady electricity supply.

They also noted that a well-developed mining industry thrives on well-established transportation network (road/rail), which supports the movement of equipment to mining sites and the evacuation of minerals for sale and export.

More importantly perhaps, there is need for the Federal Government, through the ministry, to walk the talk in ensuring consistency and sanctity of laws and policies. The thinking, and rightly so, is that mining policies should guarantee predictability and consistency of application of rules.

Fire outbreaks at markets are on the rise, resulting in huge losses. Some victims have been left improvised. How can fire outbreaks be averted? JANE CHIJIOKE reports.

 

It was meant to be business as usual for Lawrence Eze, a trader at Balogun Market.

A few weeks ago, he had stocked up his shop with wares, most of which he got on credit from his suppliers, in preparation to cash in on the festive period.

He had left home that fateful morning to his shop to begin the day’s business, anticipating good fortune. But as the day wore on, he noticed a fire outbreak on the fourth floor of the five-storey building housing his shop.

Having recorded such fire outbreak on the building before and it was thereafter extinguished, Eze, like some other traders, felt nonchalant to salvage his goods.

He believed the fire would not spread out to his shop located on the first floor. Unknown to him that the fire, this time, took a deadly turn.

“When the fire broke out, we all saw it as a normal occurrence on this building. We have experienced it several times here so we didn’t do much to address the situation nor remove our goods. In fact, at a point we joked about it, believing that the fire is just a minor case that would be contained immediately mostly by those on the second floor.

“But alas, before we could do anything worthwhile, the fire had spread out and become more intense. Some traders had to risk their life, to salvage some of their goods. All my goods worth hundreds of millions were consumed. I could barely rescue a few.

“I couldn’t believe it that my investment for so many years just vanished within seconds. How do I pay back my debts, nor bills waiting for me at home? Where do I start from, I feel like the world has fallen on me, laments Eze.”

The alarming rate of fire outbreaks at market places across the country, calls for concern. In the last few months, there have been recurring incidences claiming goods, lives and properties. Some of the market fire outbreaks include Surulere Plaza; Okobaba Plank market, Ebutte Meta(November); Dosunmu and Balogun market(November); Ochanja market, Anambra(October); Yan’Katako Market, Kano; Santana Market, Benin(October); a building close to Tejuosho Market, Yaba, among others.

This perennial occurrence is not only inimical to lives and properties but also poses a threat to the national economy as it affects the livelihood of victims, create unemployment, the huge cost of property repairs amongst others.

According to the President of Fire Disaster Prevention and Safety Awareness Association of Nigeria (FDPSAAN), Badanga Ahmed Lamidi, the country has lost trillions of naira to market fires, adding that the scarce resources of the country are being depleted.

“It is like taking a step forward and 1,000steps backward. The Nation’s wealth is constantly depleting. It is a risk to the nation’s growth and its GDP. The grave psychological effect on the affected can only be imagined.”

Worried that the country has no accurate statistical data of fire incidences, he said efforts are ongoing to put in place an automated fire database.

Over the years, the cause of this fire has been attributed to various factors which include, improper handling and storage of combustible materials, power surge, illegal electrical connections, improper disposal of cigarette butts, cooking, and others.

Regrettably, most traders do not have any form of insurance coverage for their businesses.

This could be attributed to a lack of understanding of the importance of insurance for their business; traders’ biases on the integrity of the insurers to pay claims when risk arises.

This position was buttressed by Ejike, a victim of the Balogun Market fire outbreak, Collins Ejike who said “it is not that we do not know the benefits of insurance but the problem we are having is the sincerity of these insurance companies to pay when the need arises. Some of us have been victims of such, they are not reliable. That is why most traders do not regard these insurers.”

 

How traders are getting back to business

Notwithstanding the devastating effect, some traders brave the odds to start afresh. They depend on the benevolence of their fellow traders and friends and also anticipate compensation from the government.

For instance, a victim of the Balogun Market fire, Christian Mgbeji who has been able to construct a makeshift shop can only thank his friends for their assistance thus far. He gets wares from his friends to sell at his makeshift shop and then return the principal value of the goods after realising a marginal profit on the items.

For Collins Ejike, he has resorted to hawking his wares he managed to salvage from the inferno around the market, pending when he can financial secure a shop.

“That comfort you get having your shop is no longer felt. Now, I come to the market daily and start roaming about worth clothes in my hands looking for customers to sell to. It is like I am starting life afresh. Again, I have samples of some of my wares on my phone which I show to customers. When they make their choices, I rush to bring it from where I managed to pack them. However, only a few patients and understanding customers would want to go through such processes to buy from you.

 

NANTS react

Reacting to frequent occurrences in market areas, the President of the National Association of Nigerian Traders( NANTs), Ken Ukaoha said it has not only made its members jobless but has also affected apprentices seeking to be settled soon.

He said the incidences have become to many which perhaps would have been averted if adequate actions were taken to forestall like occurrences.

“We would never keep quiet until an urgent inquiry is conducted to underscore the immediate and remote causes of these unabated shameful incidents in our markets in the country. It is our candid opinion that these incidents are preventable to avoid any being rendered jobless and employment sources being cut short, even from many apprentices who are serving under their masters with the hope of being settled and become great employers of labour.

“We must learn to secure our economy and particularly understand that traders are the heartbeat and engine of the economic life of every society. Therefore, securing the local investment they make would galvanise and guarantee confidence from the foreign investors we seek” he added.

 

How to combat market fire

Tackling market fire can be traced down to the design stage of market construction. The need to consider man-made disasters should be factored in at the design stage such as ventilation, the spacing between buildings, designated area for storage of combustible and inflammable materials, firewalls and roofs, electrical wiring in conduits among others, explained Mr Kunle Awobodu, President, Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB).

He noted that many building primarily built for residential purposes are being converted to commercial activities without changing some service requirement of such buildings.

For FDPSAAN Boss, Lamidi, combating market fire has gone beyond sensitising traders on fire prevention but rather the enforcement of the preventive measures should be applied. According to him, a lot of enlightenment programmes are being done for traders but compliance has remained an issue which can be as a result of trader’s ignorance.

He noted that the deployment of a task force to monitor compliance should be adopted.

“The ignorance of traders is an issue. They defile orders and have even invented attachments within the markets, making it difficult for fire trucks to access fire outbreaks. We need to come up with the deployment of a task force to ensure that traders comply to fire prevention. There should be a sustainable structure to drive this. This would help curb this menace to a very large extent.”

The Director-General Lagos State Safety Commission, Dr Dickson Hakeem faulted the power generation companies for not diligently checkmating the level of voltage they give to consumers. He worried that power surge has been a recurrent issue of cases of fire outbreaks yet nothing has been done to mitigate it. “This is an omission that needs to be addressed,” he said.

Corroborating Lamidi, he reiterated that safety measures should be a consistent practise enforced on traders. As such, he advised that the weekly environmental sanitation observed on Thursdays in markets should have at least one-hour compulsory enlightenment session on fire safety tips for traders.

He believes that the facility management system should be incorporated in all market places to ensure that traders adhere to safety standards and punishment be given to anyone found guilty.

He added that mini fire stations and fire hydrants should be established at all market places.

With the worrisome consequences claiming billions worth of goods and properties, not less than 12 market fire outbreaks have been recorded in Lagos since the year began, according to the Acting Head, Lagos State Fire Service, Mrs Margaret Adeseye.

She explained this recurrent loss can be contained if there was proper market planning by regulators of the market. Seen as a densely populated area where commercial activities are carried out, she noted that an ideal market should have proper arrangement of wares whereby traders with same goods should be placed at a particular section of the market, also must have only a general power generating set that serves all traders.

Compliance to the 6 pm closure, adequate housekeeping and proper waste disposal, proper handling of combustible materials and proper storage of wares are critical in the market containing fire incidents, she said.

The spokesman for the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Nosa Okunbor attributed electric power surge as the dominant cause of market fire outbreaks. He said about 50 per cent of such cases break out from air-conditioner sockets.

He warned that traders need to be conscious at all times to know that power could be restored at any time. Therefore, preventive measures such as putting off all electrical appliances before closing for the day or the weekend are important. “If you have voltage regulators, do not rely on it. Always switch off appliances” he admonished.

He advised that fire extinguishers of various types, including fireball, fire blanket should be positioned at strategic positions in shops.

“Traders need to have sizeable fire extinguishers positioned very well at areas where fire can break out .”

He also highlighted the need for owners of corporate buildings and market management teams to train and educate traders within their jurisdictions on how to handle fire extinguishers to serve as a pre-intervention response before firefighters arrive at such scenes.

He lamented that most of the shops do not have fire extinguishers which makes it difficult for quick containment of the fire.

He advised that fire extinguishers of various types, including fireball, fire blanket should be positioned at strategic positions in shops.

 

Market leaders speak

The spokesman for Ikeja Computer village, Mr Olaifa, said they engage in training and also do not allow smaller generators in the market. However, he said they are faced with multiple connections of electrical wires that are hazardously positioned in the market.

Pensioners are supposed to rest and enjoy their lives after retirement but the case is different for most pensioners in Nigeria, writes FRANK IKPEFAN.

“Rest is sweet after labour” reads the motto of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), the umbrella body of pensioners in the country. But some senior citizens, especially former workers of governments at all level in Nigeria, hardly find rest even after long years of labour. Even in retirement, they continue to struggle for their benefits. Some die in the process.

Nigerian pensioners have passed through thick and thin in the process of accessing their retirement benefits. They have experienced untold hardship, pains and tears while waiting endlessly to collect their pension.

The non-payment of retirement benefits of senior citizens in Nigeria has become a common refrain. It is something most of them have come to accept as fate. After working so hard to contribute to the socio-economic and political development of the country, their annuity is either not paid regularly or not paid at all. They are often forgotten, left in isolation.

These set of citizens, which ordinarily should deserve special attention because of their status in the society, continue to look for rest and happiness years after labour. They have never been happy after retirement.

There are tales of retirees not paid their retirement benefits and gratuities. Governments at all levels are culpable in maltreating this category of people. In some cases, some of these pensioners pass away without collecting their entitlements despite going through the harrowing experience of verification.

There are several reasons why senior citizens in the country find it difficult to access their benefits after retirement. Ineptitude, bureaucracy and corruption on the part of government officials are some of the things that work against the retirees with the result that some state governments, including the federal government, owe the retirees pension and gratuities for upwards of several months or years.

Non-review of pension

One of the major pains of pensioners in the country at the 18th edition of Pensioners Day celebration in Abuja was the non-review of pension by all levels of government.

According to Sections 173 (3) and 210 (3) of the 1999 constitution (as amended), pension should be reviewed every five years or whenever there is a review in workers’ wages, whichever comes first.

NUP President Dr. Abel Afolayan, at the event, lamented that both the federal and state governments have failed to comply or adhere to these provisions of the constitution strictly.

Dr Afolayan noted that the last pension review was done on July 1st, 2010. In 2015, a review was not done. By 2020, pensioners would be due for another review, he said.

He said: “The pain for us as Nigerian Pensioners is non-compliance with the provisions of the constitutional provision which says that pension should be reviewed every five years or whenever workers’ wages are reviewed whichever comes earlier.

“This provision applies equally to federal and state governments. But none of these two tiers of governments has been adhering to the provision strictly.

“For instance, the last pension review was in 2010. This means that pensioners were due for another review in 2015. We shall also be due for another review in 2020 in line with the five years stipulated in the Nigerian constitution.”

Non-payment of arrears by govts

Apart from the non-review of pension, the NUP also accused some state governments, including the federal, of failing to fully pay their arrears as a result of the review undertaken in 2010.

Afolayan said pensioners under the contributory pension scheme had not been paid the arrears of their accrued right, totalling N62.82bn by the Federal Government.

He appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to release funds to the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to pay the outstanding arrears of the pensioners arising from the 15 per cent and 33 per cent pension increases.

Afolayan said: “The increases accruing from the 2010 review are yet to be paid by many states. The Federal Government has also not paid fully to us pension arrears arising from the review.

“We call on state governments that are still owing these arrears to pay immediately or face the wrath of the elderly people. Though the federal government has pledged payment of the arrears of the 33 per cent to verified federal pensioners but is yet to pay the entire federal pensioners who were recently verified.

“I feel deeply pained in my heart that many parastatals under Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) as we speak are still being owed the balance of 33 per cent pension increase since 2010. This backlog varies from sector to sector.

“For example, the Nigeria Railway Corporation is today still being owed 12 months arrear. The university sector is being owed 18 months while others are in the region of six months and above.

“We hereby call on the Federal Government through PTAD to intensify the payment of the balance of the arrears.

“The contributory pensioners have not enjoyed the pension increment of 15 per cent and 33 per cent approved in 2007 and 2010 respectively.

“The total outstanding arrears arising from non-payment stands at N20 billion while the outstanding shortfall of the 5 per cent of accrued rights stands at N62.82 billion.

“These two outstanding arrears are always budgeted for in our annual rituals of budgeting but yet they are removed completely without taking into consideration that pension payment is classified in budget series as a first-line charge.

“We want to appeal to Mr. President (Muhammadu Buhari) to come to the aid of PenCom and the contributory pensioners in releasing substantial amount of money to PenCom to pay the outstanding arrears of the pensioners arising from the 15 per cent and 33 per cent pension increases which they have been waiting for from November 2018 to date.”

Outstanding pension arrears for primary school teachers/retired

Dr. Afolayan also included the “incredibly large amount of entitlements being owed retired primary school members of the Union in many states as one of their pains.”

“This problem is at various degrees in the states. While some states are taking steps to ameliorate the pains of this group of pensioners, many remain adamant, recalcitrant and insensitive about the matter,” he added.

Demand payment of N62.82bn arrears from Fed Govt

The NUP has called on the Federal Government to pay the arrears of their accrued right, totalling N62.82 billion.

NUP Head of Information Bunmi Ogunkolade said the demand was necessary because civil servants due for retirement were at the risk of waiting for one year before getting their money.

Ogunkolade, in an interview, said: “The major issue right now is the backlog of accrued rights of pensioners. Contributory pension scheme started in 2007; but before then, people had been in service and deductions were made from their salaries.

“Government then came up with the idea of paying the accrued money before contributory pension began in 2007, but the amount is so huge and the administration of Goodluck Jonathan did not pay anything to pensioners from the amount.

“This present government began to pay the money and it has paid up to November 2018. The money is being paid monthly. This means that anyone that retires this year cannot get paid until it reaches the turn of the month he retires in 2020.

“The total amount for the one year is N62.82bn. This is the figure we got from the National Pension Commission when we held a meeting with its management. This is what is in the budget. We believe government can clear this backlog instead of monthly payment so that those who are retiring now can get their money immediately.

“Pensioners are demanding for payment of N62.4 billion accrued right from the Federal Government to cover payment of accrued right of Contributory Pensioners from January 2019 to December 2019. Equally, pensioners request a release of the outstanding arrears of 15% and 33% pension increase respectively, amount to over N20 billion. This will allow pensioners on this scheme to be able to get their pension on retirement.”

Pensioners hail Buhari

The pensioners commended President Muhammadu Buhari for directing PTAD to pay the outstanding balance of 33 per cent to all pensioners in the parastatals, leaving no balance arising from the arrears of 33 per cent.

Fed govt sets up committee to review pension

The Chief Press Secretary of the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, Emma Njoku, said he was on leave when our reporter contacted him. However, Ogunkolade confirmed to our reporter that the Federal Government had set up a Technical Committee to work out the modalities leading to the release of the enabling circular for pension review, in line with the last general wage review in the country.

According to him, the committee has six weeks to submit its report, adding that the assignment, when completed and signed into law, will take effect from 18th April 2019 when the national minimum wage Act was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

PenCom Head of Corporate Communications Peter Aghahowa said the Federal Government was working to close the deficit arising from the accrued rights of N62.82 billion.

He said: “That accrued right is an issue we have been working very seriously on. You know it has to do with funding and the Federal Government have been up and doing in that area to close the gap, the deficit as existed.

“I know that a lot is being done in that area of payment of accrued right. There is an amount that the Federal Government is releasing monthly and they have also committed to an arrangement over three years to close that deficit.”

For experts, the key to tackling hunger is enriching the soil and fertiliser can make a profound difference. To this end, the continent is going to take delivery of ammonia fertiliser plants. DANIEL ESSIET writes that the plants will deliver food sector and economic growth.

The demand for food is expected to soar with the population forecast to rise by 2030. Analysts said producing more food for a growing population, while at the same time combating poverty and hunger, is a huge challenge facing African agriculture.

Despite a promised agricultural revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the International Fertiliser Association (IFA), productivity unfortunately remains low in the region. Maize output, for example, is around a sixth of the United States (US) despite a similar amount of land being used.

As a result, yields are meagre. For instance, Nature, an international weekly  journal of science,  observed that by farming intensively without replenishing soil nutrients, farmers across sub-Saharan Africa, have lost an average of 22 kilogrammes of nitrogen, 2.5 kilograms of phosphorus, and 15 kilograms of potassium per hectare annually over the past 30 years — the yearly equivalent of $4 billions’ worth of fertiliser.

Similarly, in many parts of Nigeria and the rest of Africa, according to reports, degradation has made the soil deficient in key nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. As populations surge, there is increased need of solutions to feeding people.

Experts agreed that one clear way to improve farm yields is to increase fertiliser use, in combination with other essential inputs such as improved seeds.

With much of Nigeria’s soils gradually becoming nutrient deficient, from decades of farming, fertiliser cannot only boost productivity but also restore much needed soil fertility, helping to stop soil erosion.

The Fertiliser Suppliers and Producers Association of Nigeria (FESPAN) Executive Secretary, Mr Gideon Negedu,  said fertiliser is undoubtedly vital to countering soil degradation and improving the nation’s agricultural potential.

To this end, Nigeria and some countries in Africa are going to take delivery of ammonia fertiliser plants.

The Togolese government and Aliko Dangote Industries, announced a partnership to develop a phosphate fertiliser processing industry in Togo.

Mining development work is expected to begin soon.

The two parties are complementary. Togo is one of Africa’s leading phosphate producers: the country has more than two billion tons of phosphate in its subsoil.

The Dangote Group will be able to rely on its future ammonia and urea plant based in Ibeju-Lekki (Lagos), expected to be commissioned next year.

“Ammonia is an essential ingredient in the conversion of phosphate into phosphate fertilisers derived from phosphates,” Dangote said in a statement, adding that “Togo will provide access to phosphate resources and the Dangote Group will provide access to ammonia and the Nigerian market.”

The growing demand for food and therefore fertiliser means that ammonia production needs to increase by three per cent each year, according to Siemens International report.

Moroccan phosphate producer, OCP Group, expects its planned $1.3 billion ammonia plant in Nigeria to start producing in late 2023.

The plant will be built in the Southeast where gas suppliers have been identified, the Managing Director, OCP Nigeria, Mr. Mohammed Hettiti, said.

The factory is part of OCP’s push to step up investment in phosphates-based fertiliser in Africa. It has plans to set up other plants in Ethiopia and Ghana.

The factory, with annual production capacity of 750,000 tonnes of ammonia and 1 million tonnes of fertiliser, would export ammonia to Morocco’s plant in Jorf Lasfar, while Morocco would supply phosphoric acid to make fertiliser, he said.

OCP, which already supplies more than 90 per cent of the nation’s fertiliser demand, signed a protocol agreement in June last year to build the plant with Nigeria’s Sovereign Investment Authority.

Hettiti said OCP aimed to boost fertiliser supply to Nigeria to three million tonnes from one million tonnes in the next five years.

The Agricultural School, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University is training Nigerians and other partners in fertiliser best management practices and is setting up an experimental farm in Yamoussoukro in Côte d’Ivoire to create tailor-made solutions adapted to the diversity of African soils.

Ammonia market outlook

There is a substantial industrial market for ammonia. Ammonia Market is anticipated to reach $ 70.75 billion by the end of 2025, according to a  report published by Market Research Future.

The grossing factors that kept the global ammonia market to expand at a fast pace are accounted to be the increasing population, rising disposable income, mainly in developing regions that are triggering the demand for agricultural products. The majority of ammonia produced is used for the production of fertiliser.

According to experts, ammonia is the key intermediate for all nitrogen fertiliser products and large nitrogen-consuming countries are also large producers of ammonia.

Producers of the main phosphate fertiliser, import ammonia, as the regions with phosphate reserves such as Morocco and Togo often lack nitrogen capacity.

The large ammonia exporters in the world have access to competitively priced natural gas, the key raw material for its production. Because of this, Nigeria has potential to become a major ammonia exporter with its large natural gas reserves.

Trinidad is the largest exporter of ammonia. It has large natural gas reserves and also lies in close proximity to the world’s largest importer of ammonia, the US. Trinidad has large stand-alone ammonia plants and excellent maritime facilities that cater for export markets.

OCP is the world’s largest exporter of phosphate fertiliser. Ammonia is an important input to OCP’s finished fertiliser products, such as monoammonium phosphate (MAP) or diammonium phosphate (DAP), and a producer as large as OCP measures its ammonia consumption in millions of tonnes per year.

OCP Africa has signed a partnership to get ammonia from Nigeria.

Environmental Impact

While fertiliser is essential in boosting the plant growth and crop nutrition, there is also an environmental impact that needs to be addressed.

According to reports, agricultural air pollution comes mainly in the form of ammonia, which enters the air as gases from fertilisation products which are prone to volatilisation.

Siemens International report said Ammonia is made using the Haber-Bosch process, converting hydrogen and nitrogen using high temperature.

For this reason, ammonia production relies on fossil fuels such as natural gas. Together with the fossil hydrogen feedstock, current ammonia production accounts for almost 1.5 per cent of global CO2 emissions.  As such it is the largest industrial greenhouse gas emitter.

RAND Europe, an independent not-for-profit research institute, said ammonia could have significant effects on both human health and the natural environment as its emissions negatively affect biodiversity.

Green Ammonia Plants to the rescue

There is a global drive to demonstrate green ammonia plants and, thereby, to begin developing a market for green ammonia.

To contain emission, there are increasing studies to establish green ammonia plants across the world.

The studies aim to determine the technical and economic feasibility of producing renewable ammonia at a commercial scale, and down the track progress the commercialisation of renewable hydrogen production for both domestic and international use.

Ammonia production is the largest user of hydrogen, consuming half of total global hydrogen supplied production, and in the process accounting for 1 per cent of global emissions.

Experts said as ammonia already uses hydrogen, ammonia production at large scale is an ideal opportunity to begin exploring the pathway to lowering emissions through the use of renewable hydrogen as it already uses hydrogen in an industrial application, and has existing supply chains and end users.

Experts believe the shift to renewable energy brings all-round benefits to the economy. Siemens is one of several companies involved in a number of Green Ammonia demonstration projects. One is a £1.5 million pilot project at England, designed to produce 30 kg/day of ammonia. Siemens is collaborating on a demonstration plant off the island of Goeree-Overflakkee in the Netherlands.

In April last year, a green ammonia pilot plant began operations in Fukushima,Japan. This project is part of the Green Ammonia Consortium, which launched as a closed organization in July 2017 in preparation for its global launch in April this year.

Current members include industry heavyweights like Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, IHI Corporation, Ube Industries, Mitsui Chemicals, and Marubeni Corporation, among others. Green ammonia pilot plants have started operations in the UK and new demonstration plants have been announced in Australia, Denmark, Morocco, and the Netherlands.

OCP Group announced plans to develop green hydrogen and green ammonia as sustainable raw materials for use in fertiliser production. This includes building pilot plants in both Germany, already under construction, and Morocco, , as well as “the possible establishment of an African Institute for Solar Ammonia. “Responsibility for the environment has always been important to us, not just when working in our mines, but as a fundamental principle of our circular economy approach. The use of Green Ammonia fits in with this strategy. It can help conserve valuable resources and provide our customers with sustainable new products,” the Chairman, OCP,  Mostafa Terrab, was quoted on  OCP’s Green Ammonia pilot plant, and the African Institute for Solar Ammonia.  Now, through its new cooperation agreement with the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems, in Germany, and its ongoing partnership with the Moroccan Institute for Research in Solar Energy and New Energies (IRESEN), OCP is establishing itself as a leader in the development of green ammonia.

The Memorandum of Understanding provides for continued cooperation with the aim of boosting the use of renewable raw materials in the fertilizer industry. The focus is on two raw materials: Green Hydrogen, which is obtained by electrolysis using electricity from renewable energies, and which can be further processed into numerous products for the fertilizer industry; and Green Ammonia, consisting of Green Hydrogen and nitrogen, which can serve as a raw material for the production of fertilizers, amongst other uses.

According to experts, if OCP enacts these plans, this will be the first green ammonia pilot plant in Africa.

As the war against malnutrition rages MOSES EMORINKEN, from Abuja writes on the various initiatives to combat the scourge and guarantee children, especially aged under-five their right to life

Her name is Marvelous and she is three years old. Her father refused her admission into the hospital for lack of money. Also, state nutrition officers do not have enough supplements to sustain her. We have been managing her for about nine days with our personal money. She died this morning.”

The above was the heartbreaking email the Director of Nutrition of the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), Dr. Chris Isokpunwu, received in June 2018, from a state nutrition officer concerning the late Marvelous who suffered from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).

Marvelous is one of many children under age five that die as a result of acute malnutrition in Nigeria.

A recent report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reveals that 49 per cent of Nigerian children under five years of age are not growing well, stunted, wasted or overweight.

Globally, 149 million children are stunted, or too short for their age, while a staggering number of 13.1 million children in Nigeria are affected.

The report further revealed that although 50 million children are wasted or too thin for their height, the number of affected children in Nigeria stands at 2.9 million.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients. It is the gravest single threat to global public health. Globally, it contributes to 45 per cent of deaths of children aged under 5 years.

Under nutrition can lead to delayed growth or wasting, while a diet that provides too much food, but not necessarily balanced, leads to obesity.

The body of a malnourished child finds it difficult to grow and resist diseases the way it should. More problematic is the fact that their cognitive development is greatly impaired, hence, their low learning abilities.

Children suffering from severe acute malnutrition are nine times more likely to die from related complications than healthy children are.

Recent nutrition assessment by the WHO in the three most-affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states in the region indicate various degrees of malnutrition among children under-5 and pregnant or lactating mothers.

Also, generally, 2.7 million women and children in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states need nutrition support including 310,000 children in need of treatment for severe acute malnutrition and 250,000 who suffer from moderate acute malnutrition.

According to Dr. Isokpunwu, “A malnourished child who is not treated will grow up as an unproductive adult.

“In the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), 6.8 per cent of children under the age of five have Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). SAM has a high mortality rate. If a child is too thin for his or her height, the mortality rate is higher – it is almost about 20 per cent. This means that one in five children will die if we do nothing about it.

“According to available data, we have a burden of malnutrition of 2.5 million yearly. This means that about 500,000 children will die yearly if we don’t treat them.”

The Chairman, Coalition for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Accountability Mechanism (C4MAN), Dr. Ejike Orji, explained that the nutritional value going to most Nigeria children is very poor.

Economic implications of malnutrition

Recently, Nigeria overtook India to become the country with the poorest people in the world after crossing the 80 million mark. This means that a typical poor family does not earn up to $1.9 daily for their needs.

Therefore, it has become increasingly difficult for children of the poor to escape the devastating consequences of malnutrition because the emphasis is mostly on eating to survive and not eating for nutritional benefits.

Also, with an annual population growth rate of about 3.2 per cent, which is so below our annual economy growth rate which is about 2.1 per cent, Nigerians are becoming poorer, and malnutrition thrives.

The UNICEF report pointed that – stunting, caused by malnutrition in infancy, hinders cognitive as well as physical growth. Experts say the effects of this is to a large extent irreversible and stunted children generally complete fewer years of schooling and eventually earn less as adults.

It becomes an endless wheel of affliction because malnourished children also tend to become malnourished mothers, thereby perpetuating the cycle.

Dr. Orji added: “There is a direct correlation between poverty and malnutrition. If you look at poverty and intellectual comprehension, you will see that the intellectual capacity of poor people is far less than that of the children of the elite. This is not to say there hasn’t been any breakthrough within the poor, but when it happens it is about one out of ten.

“If you go back and check the one child that comes from a poor family, somehow, within the poverty setting of that family, there is a way the nutritional enhancement of that child might have happened without anyone knowing.”

“Malnutrition has huge economic implications at the individual level, household level, community level, and the country as a whole.

“On the household level, it means if children fall sick more often, the family will spend more on hospital bills and the parents will spend more time at home taking care of the child instead of putting the effort in working and making money.

“On the community level, the child and parents are not contributing to development. Nationally, it impacts on our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Research shows that malnutrition can reduce the GDP of the country by at least 10 per cent. It means if we want to grow our economy, we have to grow our children.

“Also, malnutrition cuts across different economic and social strata, although it is higher among the very poor; it is four times as high among the very poor as it is among the rich. However, it is equally high among the rich because the rate among the rich is almost about the national average. This goes to tell us that it is not just a matter of poverty, but about ignorance,” Dr. Isokpunwu told the Nation.

Treatment with ready-to-use therapeutic foods

In 2007, the World Health Organisation (WHO), in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSSC) released a joint statement on community-based management of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) which recommended that children with uncomplicated SAM be treated with ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF).

RUTF is a vitamin and mineral fortified peanut paste mixed with dry milk products. It has been described as a miracle cure for children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition by the Doctors Without Borders.

According to WHO, the therapeutic food has revolutionised the treatment of severe malnutrition – providing foods that are safe to use at home and ensure rapid weight gain in severely malnourished children.

The advantage of RUTF is that it is a ready-to-use paste which does not need to be mixed with water, thereby avoiding the risk of bacterial proliferation in case of accidental contamination.

Also, the product, which is based on peanut butter mixed with dried skimmed milk and vitamins and minerals, can be consumed directly by the child and provides sufficient nutrient intake for complete recovery.

According to Dr. Isokpunwu, “RUTF is a specially formulated food that has a high efficacy up to about 95 per cent cure rate. The global cure rate is about 75 per cent. If you use normal foods, you get about 60 per cent cure rate.

“Another advantage is that most of the children will recover within 8 weeks. For normal food, most have to been admitted into the hospital and kept for 12 weeks. For RUTF, you don’t need to admit them in the hospital because they can be treated from home. This has cut out the need for hospitalisation and hospital bills.”

Given the incredible cure rate of the ready-to-use therapeutic foods, and despite the availability of most of the ingredients required for its manufacture in the country, it is sad that we still import over 70 per cent of these foods into the country.

Dr. Isokpunwu added: “The problem is that most of the ingredients for the manufacture of RUTF cannot be sought locally. It is not that we cannot get them, but it is about the quality of the ingredients. The ingredients are groundnuts (peanut butter), sugar (icing sugar), vegetable oil, vitamins and minerals, and milk (powdered milk).

“The challenge for local producers of RUTF is that most of the ingredients are not sourced locally but imported. We do not produce powdered milk in the country. Vegetable oil is the only ingredient sourced in the country. Sugar is manufactured in Nigeria but not icing sugar. We have a higher amount of groundnut in the country but we do not produce peanut butter.

“The major problem with the Nigeria milk and groundnut is the high level of aflatoxin. Aflatoxin is produced by fungus and is very widespread in our soil, contaminating grains like groundnut, millet etc. Because our cows consume these plants, the fungus is also secreted in their milk.

“If we use groundnut that is high in aflatoxin for RUTF, we will further expose our children to infections that will further reduce their growth.

“This is why the Federal Government, with support from partners, have developed interventions to reduce the aflatoxin levels and it is being marketed to farmers. This way, we can start looking towards the manufacture of peanut butter.”

During a meeting with private sector investors and stakeholders, organised by the Aisha Buhari Foundation (ABF) and the Future Assured Programme, at the Villa in November, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, vehemently condemned Nigeria’s perpetual dependence on the importation of RUTF to treat cases of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), especially among children under the age of five. She encouraged local manufacturers to research and invest in the production of the RUTF.

Speaking at the roundtable were some local manufacturers, expressing their experiences, prospects and challenges with the manufacture of the therapeutic food.

According to the General Manager of Erisco Foods, Mr. Tokunbo Agbede, “We have now come up with RUTF products that have been produced. The raw materials are all sourced in Nigeria except for the machine that is needed. As we speak we have procured the machines.”

For the Chairman of Ariel foods, Nigeria, Mr. Dhiren Chandaria, “It is really important that we produce RUTF in Nigeria. We decided to set up the most advanced RUTF factory in the world in Nigeria which is based in Lekki. Our goal is to make it the lowest cost producer in the world coming out of Nigeria. Another goal is 100 per cent of local procurement.”

Advocacy for exclusive breastfeeding

The UNICEF attributed malnutrition to the fact that 34 per cent of children between six months and two years of age are fed food not rich and diversified enough to ensure optimal growth.

The report further revealed that undernutrition is a major concern as it is a hidden hunger caused by a lack of essential nutrients among children under the age of five.

Breastfeeding can save the lives of our children, however, in Nigeria, only 27 per cent of children under six months of age are exclusively breastfed and an increasing number of children are fed infant formula.

Almost 2 in 3 children between six months and two years of age are not fed food that supports their rapidly growing bodies and brains. This puts them at risk of poor brain development, weak learning, low immunity, increased infections and, in many cases, death.

According to Dr. Isokpunwu, “The Federal Ministry of Health in August this year, launched the national zero water campaign, which aims to address the lack of knowledge on how to properly feed children and to promote exclusive breastfeeding and adequate and safe complementary feeding.

“Data also reveals that malnutrition is higher among children between six months and 24 months, which is the period of weaning. This is also the period when children begin the weaning from breast milk to complementary foods.”

For Dr. Orji, “UNICEF introduced the baby-friendly initiative years ago which makes for absolute breastfeeding. It is a pity that it is still not catching on the way it should. Baby-friendly clinics mean that if your wife delivers in that hospital, they will not allow instant formula. This means when you are in that hospital you can only feed your child using breast milk.

“Breast milk is the complete food that the child needs before the age of six months. In some cases, the child doesn’t even need water because the breast milk contains water. The breast milk is not only rich in nutritional components; it is also very good in giving the child some antibodies to be able to fight off some diseases. Also, one of the biggest killers of children is diarrhoea. But if the child is taking breast milk, the chances of getting diarrhoea is reduced.

“One of the entry of diarrhoea to children is not the formula food itself, but the way the women keep the feeding bottles sterile. Breast milk is preventive of gastrointestinal diseases.”

Extreme hunger and malnutrition remain a huge barrier to development in many countries, and Nigeria is not insulated from it.

That Nigeria ranks second after the Democratic Republic of Congo in the West and Central Africa region on malnutrition among children, according to the report on children, food and nutrition by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), is indeed worrisome.

One of the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations aims to end all forms of hunger and malnutrition by the year 2030, making sure all people – especially children, have sufficient and nutritious food all year.

It is, therefore, time for all and sundry – government, health partners, civil society organisations, communities, and families to begin to contribute their quota to see that we totally obliterate the menace caused by malnutrition in our country.

The Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC,) Dr Joi Nunieh, was in her home town, Beeri, in Ogoni land for the celebration of this year’s Christmas with her community people and she made it a memorable one, writes Chijioke Amu-Nnadi.

 

Driving into Beeri, in Ogoniland, there is a rustic calmness to the air that touches you. It is part of the unhurried airs about the people as they go about their business. It is in the grasses framing the farmlands on both sides of the road, and the naivete of the landscape that remains largely unspoilt, far from the mad bustle of Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State.

But, as you drive in, this quiet town, flamboyantly announced as Beeri City, comes alive. Her favourite daughter is coming home.

It is Christmas day and we are going to the country home of Gbene Dr. Joi Nunieh, acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, for what one presumed was a reception in her honour. Driving into her compound, you hear the highlife music of …, urgent and raw as emotion, pulsing with the dialect of joy, in the language of a people famous for their capacity for industry, tolerance and hospitality.

And then you discover that, while the adults are yet to arrive (I am told that, being Christmas day, almost everyone is in church), her compound is filled with children, ranging from three to twelve years old. And as she alights from her vehicle, they begin to surge towards her, as though a mother had returned home from the market. She opens her arms to receive them, her face beaming with childlike pleasure, unmindful that most of the people who were coming to spend this Christmas day with her were not yet there.

And then she begins to dance, laughing with the children, whom she calls her own, surrounded by their chatter and wild excitement.

“Dance na!”, she smilingly urges one boy, no more than 10, her tone betraying the popular nuance of the Nigerian. She looks around, her face an advertisement for joy. Slowly the boy begins to dance. Then, he lets go, swallowed by the pulse of the music and that of excitement running through his young body, as utterly trusting of her words as he is comfortable in her presence.

This is not the big woman the whole of Niger Delta – and Nigeria – has come to know, speaking to him; the managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission. This is mother, friend, benefactor, with a familiarity that perhaps he was born into, in this unbelievably tender-footed town.

And one suddenly finds oneself musing: Why would the managing director of an organisation as the NDDC find comfort in the innocence of children, and liberation in their company? After all, NDDC’s mandate compels serious attention, in a region which has suffered untold neglect. And her assignment, clearly spelt out, asks of her to fight against the distractions of corruption and incompetence, which have ensured that, almost two decades after its establishment, NDDC has failed to effectively address the long-standing yearning of the people. How does one who has such a tough assignment easily given to a dance with children? Why do these children love her so much?

And then, in this afternoon of music, dance and celebration – it is Christmas day, after all  -,  you suddenly understand the enigma of this firm, but compassionate technocrat, otherwise known as the Esther of Ogoni. In the midst of children – and there are more children here than adults – her inner child, her most primal essence, often masked by the exigent tough mien of duty, the metaphor of circumstance in the corridors of power, danced to the fore.

For someone of whom a few speak with respect bordering on dread, around whom a few people tiptoed in the Commission, this was important insight, indeed. Suddenly, you understand why she is at once feared and loved. You realise that in order to bring the best out of Joi Nunieh, you must first be innocent as a child, pure of spirit and abhorrent of trickery, treachery and such other vices as corruption.

And then the deeper nature of her humanity and humility, of her childlike compassion and kindness, bound with firmness and a great sense of integrity, began to unfurl. Joi Nunieh is at once as quick to offer an easy smile to celebrate innocence as she is with a stern resolve to condemn the untoward and what cannot be justified in good conscience. But she is human, after all, in that simple elegance and boundless energy of her ‘children’.

And you begin to understand why President Muhammadu Buhari, himself a man famous for firmness, chose her to supervise the process of the rebuilding of the integrity of the Commission. She often says that her mission to the NDDC, with her Interim Management Committee, is to supervise a forensic audit of the Commission and root out every vice that had negated an effective implementation of its mandate.

The NDDC was established by an Act of the National Assembly in 2001 to facilitate the rapid, even and sustainable development of the Niger Delta, into a region that is socially stable, economically prosperous, politically peaceful and ecologically regenerative. In almost 20 years, while it has helped to restore peace and social stability in the region, the Commission has been linked to corruption, poorly executed projects and many more which are abandoned.

“We want to assure everyone in Nigeria and indeed the Niger Delta that their commonwealth will be accounted for,” she is quoted as saying. “We will make sure that the audit is carried out properly… The President is very particular about the Niger Delta, so it is important we have to drive the change effectively… He is spearheading the reform in the Commission with a firm order that the Commission must be strong again and fit for the purpose for which it was established.”

In her two months since resumption of duty, Joi Nunieh has already shaken the system. She has made many administrative changes and stopped the payment of N1 billion a month for a consultancy she says was indefensible. Such a courageous act. And she is determined to ensure that all avenues for resource leakages were plugged. And she goes about it with a zeal and firmness that has driven caution and fear in many service and project providers, as well as in staff of the Commission.

And yet, here she is, this Christmas afternoon, in this quiet town, in her simple country home, immersed in the excitement of children, as naïve as a child herself, her face as open as a book, her smile as undisguised as day. Joi Nunieh may be firm. But she is very compassionate and kind.

Soon, the grown-ups begin to join the reception. And as seamlessly she flows from child to adult, to an old women’s musical group who plays with such native, oral minstrelsy. She dances with them while they sing, laughing when they speak about men who sleep with their concubines, and who don’t know their way home. Is there something in this parable that speaks as metaphor of the Niger Delta experience?

There is so much to imagine, about this Christmas day unravelling of an enigma; of the compelling task of developing the Niger Delta region. And, as one seats here, watching the Akuni Cultural Group play the native drums with the gusto and enchantment that inspires a poet, it occurs to me that to work effectively with Joi Nunieh, you must approach your duties, whether as staff of the Commission, as contractor and consultant working for the Commission, as members of the communities, as partners (present and prospective), as youths, women and interest groups, you must first be honest about your intentions, dedicated to accomplishing your task of adding value to Niger Delta development, and unwilling to toy with the destiny of the region, to which she is, herself, dedicated.

And then, Joi Nunieh would “dance” with you. And, if necessary, ask you to dance with her, as she works to strengthen the Commission to meet its mandate.

 

We want to assure everyone in Nigeria and indeed the Niger Delta that their commonwealth will be accounted for. We will make sure that the audit is carried out properly

 

• Amu-Nnadi is NDDC Deputy Director, Corporate Affairs.

Nigeria has attained 75 per cent fortified food compliance, up from the 50 per cent in 2018. The government and its partners, including the Aliko Dangote Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have set a 90 per cent target for 2020. Will they succeed? ROBERT EGBE examines the action plan.

 

The stats do not look good

The 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) found that 37 per cent of children aged 6-59 months in the country are stunted.

Sixty-eight per cent of children aged 6-59 months and 58 per cent of women aged 15-49 were found to be anaemic, while 12 per cent of women aged 15-49 are thin (a body mass index below 18.5).

The World Bank also reports that high levels of vitamin and mineral deficiencies (MND) continue to depress the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by more than $1.5 billion via high mortality and morbidity rates along with decreased productivity.

The stats confirm multiple stakeholder findings that malnutrition is a grave problem in Nigeria and many other countries.

The World Health Organisation (WHO), for instance, cites malnutrition as the gravest single threat to the world’s public health.

Nutrition disorders depend on which nutrient is deficient or overabundant. In developing countries such as Nigeria, this imbalance is most frequently associated with undernutrition, which presents mainly as protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) and micronutrient deficiencies.

 

Food fortification

Food fortification, in which essential micronutrients are added during food processing, has been widely identified as a cost-effective strategy for addressing micronutrient malnutrition at scale.

Undernutrition can lead to lifelong consequences, increasing the risk of impaired physical and cognitive development, and diminished productive capacity.

 

Challenge of inadequate compliance

In sub-Saharan Africa, hidden hunger affects millions of people. In these nations, combating undernutrition through food fortification is critical for long-term development, and many countries across the region mandate fortification in food processing. However, the effectiveness of these mandates is frequently undermined by inadequate compliance, often due to technical challenges and ineffective regulatory monitoring that ensures a level playing field which then allows processors to absorb and transfer the marginal costs for fortification.

 

Strengthening African Processors of Fortified Foods (SAPFF) programme

The Strengthening African Processors of Fortified Foods (SAPFF) programme is a four-year, $10million initiative between international non-profit organisations TechnoServe and Partners in Food Solutions designed to solve the problem.

 

SAPFF is funded by the Bill

and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Utilising a market-based approach, SAPFF will help food companies in Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania increase the availability of nutritious foods by improving their capacity to produce and sell fortified foods for local markets.

 

Stakeholders unite for food fortification

On July 26, 2018, TechnoServe in collaboration with the Aliko Dangote Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Nigerian Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Council co-hosted the Nigeria Food Processing and Nutrition CEO Forum.

Participants included leading processors of flour, salt, oil and sugar in Nigeria, relevant government ministries and agencies, and development partners, among others.

The Forum resulted in commitments by industry stakeholders to achieve 100 per cent compliance with food fortification standards, as verified by independent, third-party monitoring.

The government and development partners also made commitments.

The Federal Government, for instance, agreed to boost enforcement of key regulations and incentivise adherence to and commitment by the food processing industry to fortification.

 

2nd Annual Nigeria Food Processing and Leadership Forum

Stakeholders gathered again on December 16 in Lagos to review the progress. Their verdict? Nigeria has attained 75 per cent fortified food compliance, up from the 50 per cent rate of 2018.

Significant progress has thus been made in fortifying Nigerian staple Foods with micronutrients, critical for improving the population’s health and nutrition.

The stakeholders relied on data presented at the 2nd Annual Nigeria Food Processing and Leadership Forum.

The meeting, chaired By Alhaji Aliko Dangote with Bill Gates participating by video conference, convened the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Nigeria’s leading food processing companies alongside government and international development leaders to Review 18 months of progress since the inaugural forum in July 2018.

 

Boost in staple foods fortification

According to TechnoServe’s data, several companies have significantly improved their compliance with food fortification standards since the commitments they made at last year’s forum. Among six of the leading producers of staple foods in Nigeria, the proportion of adequately fortified wheat flour increased from 58 per cent to 74 per cent; fortified edible oil increased from 63 per cent to 75 per cent; fortified sugar increased from 32 per cent to 84 per cent, and salt iodisation levels are maintained at nearly 100 per cent. Together, these producers account for 90 per cent or more of the production volume of these foods-except for edible oil, for which they represent closer to 40 per cent of the production volume.

These efforts are part of the SAPFF project focused on increasing consumer access to adequately fortified foods, implemented by TechnoServe with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

 

An eye on 90 per cent compliance

Dangote, Health Minister Dr Osagie Ehanire; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Niyi Adebayo and other stakeholders pledged to achieve 90 per cent compliance on food fortification by 2020.

They said this was part of efforts to address the high rate of malnutrition in the country.

Dangote added: “The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration of Nigeria (NAFDAC) should not only focus on the big players in the food business, but they should also go after small players as well. That way, we will meet the 90 per cent target.

“On our part as a company, we have ensured Dangote Rice is fortified. We know there’s presently a mandate on all locally made rice to be fortified. We trust NAFDAC and Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to ensure this is complied with.”

 

Commendable progress, but…

While the progress is commendable, there’s still significant work needed to achieve project goals and maximise public health impact.

While the food producers reviewed represent a majority of the market share for wheat flour, salt and sugar, all producers of these staple foods should be in full compliance with government-mandated fortification levels-which is key to ensuring that all Nigerians benefit from more micronutrients in their diet.

Local refining of edible oil in Nigeria is less consolidated compared to other staple food products and needs coordination amongst multiple stakeholders to ensure a higher proportion is fortified with vitamin A.

 

First-ever Micronutrient Fortification Index (MFI)

To strengthen industry-wide compliance, TechnoServe has been working with many private sector partners to pilot Nigeria’s first-ever Micronutrient Fortification Index (MFI). The MFI is a tool that effectively differentiates companies by the extent to which they meet industry benchmarks, including compliance with Nigerian Fortification Standards. Companies’ overall scores will be presented in a dashboard that will be updated annually to show progress and gaps-ultimately contributing to a robust industry-wide platform that emphasizes quality standards as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI).

“The next level of action for the Flour Milling Association of Nigeria is that we envisage industry-wide application of the MFI and we believe that this will happen. It will give us greater leverage and provide us with a platform to make a case for increased advocacy to the relevant authorities to ensure that all inputs that go into the practice of fortification meet the required standards,” said Alhaji Olalekan Saliu, Executive Secretary of the Flour Milling Association of Nigeria.

 

Role of the Joint Regulatory Framework (JRF)

The forum also reviewed progress on the Joint Regulatory Framework (JRF), which coordinates the Enforcement of industry activities by the NAFDAC, SON, and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).

Following an inter-ministerial meeting in November, policy Recommendations moving forward include advocating for increased national budgetary allocations towards nutrition and fortification, increased monitoring of imported fortificants and premixes, and establishing a collaborative border control mechanism that ensures edible oil imports are recorded and conform to Nigerian Standards.

 

Gates: I’m inspired by Nigeria’s progress

“Malnutrition doesn’t just kill more than two million kids each year, it also stunts the cognitive development of millions more,” said Bill Gates, co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

 

Why Nigeria must act fast

Worldwide, more than two billion people suffer from micronutrient malnutrition-deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals that are integral to healthy growth and development. Fortifying staple foods- such as oil, flour, salt and sugar-with vitamins and minerals has been proven to be one of the most cost-effective and scalable tools to combat malnutrition and save lives.

One of three Nigerian children under five are stunted-their bodies and brains deprived of the key nutrients they need to fully develop to reach their full potential. Over the long-term, stunting results in a 10 to 17 per cent loss of wages. When multiplied across the nation, it’s estimated that Nigeria loses

More than US$1.5 billion in GDP annually as a result of diminished productivity and increased healthcare costs.

“Nigeria will be the world’s third-largest country by 2050. If we don’t address it now, poor nutrition threatens to hinder our ability to prosper and play a leading role in the global economy,” said Larry Umunna, TechnoServe’s West Africa Regional Director.

Just this year, a systematic review and meta-analysis of 50 studies found that large-scale fortification programmes in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) have led to dramatic reductions in serious disease.

 

 

 

FACTS & figures

37

•The percentage of children aged 6-59 months in the country are stunted according to the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS)

60

•The percentage of children aged 6-59 months

12

•The percentage of women aged 15-49 who are thin (a body mass index below 18.5)

$1.5b

•What the country loses in term of GDP annually as a result of diminished productivity and increased healthcare costs.