The Nation Newspaper

Tag: capacity

  • Baywood invests over $70m in equipment, capacity

    •Unveils scorecard

    An indigenous integrated oil and gas technical service firm, Baywood Continental Limited (BCL), has invested over $70 million in equipment and operational capacity.

    Its President  and Chief Executive Officer, Emperor Chris Baywood Ibe, told reporters in Lagos that the 28-year-old company had been positioned  to offer seamless and world-class service to clients this year.

    He said: “BCL has made massive investments in all key sectors of our operations in order to sharpen our competitive edge and reinforce our leadership position in these areas. This is in line with our corporate mission to be the ‘Provider of Energy Services that meet and exceed client expectations always’.

    “This we have been able to achieve by constantly evaluating the business dynamics to position the company for optimal growth whilst maintaining profitability with a staff strength of over 1000 comprising some of the most experienced and competent personnel in the industry. We have made significant investments in our human capital and will continuously seek to leverage the skills and competences of BCL staff in our pursuit of excellence in performance standards.”

    Ibe continued: “Over the years, our company has achieved a widely acclaimed track record for excellence in our project deliveries with a number of industry firsts. BCL is the first to have engineered, designed and constructed the largest onshore gas pipeline in Nigeria for Total Exploration & Production. This project, being BCLs’ flagship under oil mining lease (OML) 58 Upgrade –  Obite-Ubeta-Rumuji (O.U.R), is a 42″ X 46km gas pipeline a major artery supplying gas to Alaoji power plant for electricity generation to the grid as well as gas supply to NLNG.

    “Additionally, BCL is first to carry out River Crossing through horizontal directional drilling (HDD) of the  largest bore pipe of 1km  crossing through Sambrero River. It is a record setting feat in the Nigerian oil industry by an indigenous company. BCL has also demonstrated an impressive capacity in our project delivery records. We have constantly supported our clients towards ensuring value-for-money audit in such areas as facility upgrade and construction, enabling them to produce, process and export through the export terminals where we have held our own.

    “These terminals include and not limited to Escravos terminal operated by Chevron, Forcados terminal operated by Shell, Bonny terminal operated by Shell, Akpo deepwater FPSO operated by Total, and Sea Eagle FPSO operated by Shell.”

    He added: “Each  of these terminals supports the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and her joint venture partners thereby ensuring that Nigeria’s production and export quotas are achieved in alignment with national economic objectives.”

    Ibe also stated that BCL  has to date achieved over 30 million man-hours with an industry unparalleled zero fatality record while providing cost-effective and fit for purpose solutions for our client’s projects in challenging onshore and offshore locations.

    He noted that BCL was looking to upscale its operations especially, marginal fields, acquisition of matured oil fields from oil majors and explore new frontiers in the energy sector such as cluster power generation, using abundant gas for upcoming new cities and towns.

    “Baywood Continental Limited is re-branding to achieve a brand equity balance between current and projected profile of the company. We have developed the broad and specific elements of the company strategy to actualise this vision,” he added.

    Baywood Continental Limited is ISO9001: 2008 certified. It was incorporated in 1989.

  • ‘Resource-based industrialisation raises capacity to 52%’

    The Federal Government’s adoption of resource-based industrialisation policy and the local sourcing of raw materials increased the manufacturing sector’s capacity from 48 per cent in 2013 to 52 per cent last year, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) President Dr. Franks Udemba Jacobs, has said.

    Delivering a paper entitled: Entrepreneurship as a catalyst for the growth of the manufacturing sector in Nigeria,at the convocation of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State, he said the policy has reduced the country’s over-dependence on imported inputs for the manufacturing sector.

    The policy, he said, offered a more sustainable and enduring form of industrialisation, compared to the import-dependent industrialisation.

    “MAN members have increasingly utilised higher percentage of local raw materials over the years such that local sourcing of same increased from 48 per cent in 2013 to 52 per cent in 2015, Jacobs said.

    The MAN president attributed the policy’s success to the Federal Government’s Backward Integration Policy (BIP). “We believe this policy would enhance productivity in the manufacturing sector and reduce the import bill of the country,” he stated.

    Jacobs canvassed the need for government to create attractive incentives for investors, including entrepreneurs that have shown interest to undertake the comprehensive development of the agricultural, solid minerals, petroleum and forestry sectors.

    He said it remained the only way to successfully achieve the objective of discouraging over dependence on imported raw materials, as it would provide the needed inter-industry linkages for the production of raw materials for the manufacturing sector.

    The MAN boss also called for enterprise revolution, which he said , would accelerate sustainable economic growth through the development of a group of entrepreneurs that would focus on the creation of locally relevant technological and technical expertise.

    He explained that this will bolster the emergence of more entrepreneurs to drive the economy.

    Jacobs, however, expressed regrets that several factors such as the industrial, banking and  licencing policy, foreign exchange regulations, technological development and social change, were hindering the emergence of more entrepreneurs.

    He listed other hindrances to include the absence of a national policy on entrepreneurship; poor response by financial institutions for start-up capital; poor infrastructure like electricity, roads, etc.

    “This is a major cause of the uncompetitiveness of Nigerian products. These are things that are taken for granted in economically advanced societies.” he added.

    Jacobs also blamed the inappropriateness of the country’s educational curricula as well as the absence of appropriate skills, which would facilitate the boosting of and acquisition of requisite skills for entrepreneurship development.

    This challenge, he said, is exacerbated by the near absence of adequate and well-funded research institutions and innovation systems.

    “Developing nations, including Nigeria, would have been better positioned in the scheme of global entrepreneurship development if, rather than exclusively focusing on catching up with modern technological frontiers, they looked inward to deploy existing local indigenous science and technology.

    “This is with a view to developing appropriate innovations in areas where the country has comparative advantage that would then be developed into competitive advantage. This strategy would have provided significant opportunities for local economic transformation, and by extension, build up the capacity for entrepreneurship development for budding entrepreneurs as well as manufacturers, especially the small scale ones,” he argued.

    Jacobs also pointed out that the absence of a national innovation system, which should serve as a link between research efforts, application/adaptation and their outcome, is a major concern.

    This is because given the low level of indigenous technology available, Nigeria has  to rely on the inflow of technology from outside through direct importation/adaptation, foreign direct investments or research and development.

  • Agencies lack capacity to deliver PPP projects, says Osinbajo

    Agencies lack capacity to deliver PPP projects, says Osinbajo

    The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo yesterday said Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) lacked the required capacity to deliver Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects.

    Represented by the Special Adviser on Economic Matters to the President, Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu, the Prof Osinbajo spoke at the Knowledge Sharing Forum on PPP jointly organised by the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group and the Ministry of Finance held at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    For the PPP programme to be effective, he said MDAs needed to have in-house workers with requisite skills in financial, legal, technical, procurement and project management areas to be able to deliver on projects.

    He said: “As things stand, there is very limited capacity within MDAs to deliver PPP projects. Yet at the minimum MDAs should have in-house staff with requisite skills in financial, legal, technical, procurement and project management areas to be able to deliver on such projects.

    “Capacity building efforts including training and availability of resource materials would be inevitable.

    “In the short run however, one tried and tested way is learning by doing which can be achieved by contracting consultants to assist but in a manner that ensures eventual transfer of knowledge to the public sector.  In particular, public servants have to be involved in actual transactions and negotiations.”

    Key factor for attracting private sector finance, he said, was a predictable and enabling policy, legal and institutional environment.

    He said the forum was another opportunity for a thorough analysis of policy, legal and institutional framework for PPPs, including assessing whether the current framework provides enough incentive for local and foreign investors alike.

    According to him, Nigeria clearly requires a PPP regime that matches its ambitions.

    “A closely related issue is whether we have the appropriate framework to enable the use of our very large and growing public pension assets estimated at about N5.3 trillion for the provision of infrastructure without putting these assets at risk,” he said.

    Noting that the number of PPP projects that have been concluded in the country so far was quite low, he said it was partly because of unwieldy project appraisal and approval processes.

    Prof Osinbajo said: “We have to find ways to help reduce the time frame for delivering projects while still ensuring that only those of very high quality are delivered. One obvious solution is improved coordination between the different parties and institutions involved in project delivery.”

  • Fed Govt unveils 10,000Mw transmission capacity plan

    The Federal Government has unveiled its five-year plan to boost power transmission capacity from 5,500Megawatts (Mw) to 10,000Mw in the next three years.

    The plan was meant to take off last year with specific milestones each year but the impact of the low oil price slowed down the action. However, a source told The Nation that the government said it was going ahead with implementation of the plan.

    The plan targets transmission capacity of 8,200Mw by 2018 and 10,000Mw by 2019. The transmission arm of the power supply value chain has been tagged the weakest link of the chain by operators. If the targets of the plan work were achieved, it would  boost stable electricity supply, the source said.

    “The government has undertaken to complete all suspended and abandoned transmission projects. Currently, 59 expansion projects are being worked on with the aim of wheeling 10,000Mw by 2019. Also all the transmission projects under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) are being completed. With the ongoing projects, the government certainly will be able to achieve the 1000Mw expected by 2019.

    “However, the government should ensure not just expansion but flexible transmission system. This can be achieved through breaking up the grid into regional networks. Interconnection between the regional networks will be done to guarantee the required flexibility. Also there is need for the dualisation of congested transmission networks to create relief.

    “The implementation of (Super Grid) concept (a 745kv) networks being considered by the government is imperative as it would improve the efficiency of the network,” the source added.

    Data from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) show that national peak demand forecast is 17,720Mw while operators of the electricity distribution companies said it is 20,000Mw, reflecting a deficit of more 14,000Mw.

    According to the data, the average daily power output this year was 3667.95Mw, which was achieved in January. This level dropped abysmally at the peak of the renewed attacks by the Niger Delta militants. Average daily generation averaged in May and June were 1791.49Mw and 1307.81Mw.

    The TCN’s data showed that the nation has installed transmission capacity of 11,165.40Mw, but available capacity is 7,139.60Mw, while  the network operational capability is 5,500Mw.

  • DisCos lose N1b monthly to limited transmission capacity

    • ‘TCN’s expansion plan’ll fail’

    Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) are losing N1billion monthly as a result of the limited   capacity of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to wheel power to them,  especially in the North.

    Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) Executive Director, Research & Advocacy, Sunday Olurotimi Oduntan, said in a statement that  the situation was worsened byTCN’s inability to meet its financial obligations, thereby compromising the DisCos’ ability to meet their obligations to the Market Operator.

    He said yesterday: “DisCos are currently experiencing a monthly loss in excess of N1 billion due to limited transmission capacities in various areas of the country, especially the northern part.”  He described the TCN as “the weakest link of the old National Electric Power Authority,”

    TCN had in a press briefing identified the DisCos as the weakest link in the power sector, stressing that the companies were rejecting load allocations.

    But ANED said unless the TCN is properly funded, its capacity will remain weak.

    ANED expressed doubts over the ability of TCN to accomplish its  22 expansion projects because it was uncertain if the Federal Government will fund the plan.

    Countering the TCN’s wheeling capacity claim, the statement noted that “to date, the maximum wheeling capacity reached by TCN has been 5,074.7 Mw (attained February 2nd, 2016) versus its claims of increased capacity from 5,500 Mw to 6,000 Mw, wholly untested and unproven.”

    “It is unfortunate that the new management of TCN, with the departure of Manitoba Hydro MHI, rather than reach out, in partnership, to work with the other stakeholders of the sector, is more interested in pointing fingers and playing the blame game.

    “No matter how TCN wants to play it, whether it is scheduling an ill-advised and non-informative press conference or seeking to colour the reality of transmission shortcomings, transmission remains the weakest link in the power value chain.

    “However, it is important that the public be truly knowledgeable about the limitations in the value chain that precludes their ability to receive the consistent power supply that they have a right to expect,” ANED said, adding that given that this is the fourth quarter of the year, it is not clear that TCN has received, nor will it receive, any funding that comes close to enabling it complete the indicated projects – a continued legacy of limited and poor funding of a vital aspect of power infrastructure.

  • Reps committee backs firm on local capacity

    The House of Representatives Committee on Local Content has called on International Oil Companies (IOCs) to patronise marine support base and shipyard of West African Ventures (WAV) in Warri in Delta State.

    The lawmakers made the call when they visited the firm as part of their oversight function to inspect and verify the company’s local content capacity. During the inspection, they saw new boats awaiting purchase by oil and gas firms.

    The House Committee on Local Content Chairman, Hon. Emmanuel Okon, lamented underutilisation of the company’s facilities by IOCs. He advocated patronage by oil firms to encourage sustainable investment needed to build capacity and enhance indigenous companies to compete internationally.

    He expressed satisfaction with the standard of passenger boats, tug boats and investment in the dry-dock, assuring that the House would ensure sustainable patronage of the multi-billion naira yard  of West African Ventures and facilities of other indigenous companies by the operator companies in the country.

    Okon said: “I am impressed by what I saw and I believe the community is impressed too with your local content deliverables. Even though the facilities are not utilised as they should be, we will try our very best to get people, marketers who can market this company and give the products the level of patronage that they deserve.”

    He said the lower chamber will  ensure that the crisis in the oil and gas sector doesn’t weigh down the business. He noted that the global crisis was affecting related markets and other local companies at this time. “As a responsive legislature, we will make sure that we continue to legislate and come out with laws and legislations that will force other companies and other users of light boat like this to consider getting it from companies like WAV, which have huge investment in the country to create jobs,” he added.

    The committee said the Local Content Law since its creation in 2010 has encouraged steady investment in various regions of Nigeria, adding that it law has promoted immeasurable investments and achievements in terms of job creation and skill acquisition in the oil and gas sector. He noted that local companies have done well as a result of the law, adding that more investments are expected when the economy takes a stable position.

    West African Ventures Limited Executive Director, Alhaji Ibrahim Sambo, agreed that there were crisis, which prompted developments, such as redundancies for survival in the system.

    He said the firm embarked on three redundancy exercises in the last quarter to manage cost in view of dwindling revenue.

  • We are building capacity for improvement, says Ibom Power MD

    We are building capacity for improvement, says Ibom Power MD

    The management of Ibom Power Company (IPC) is implementing a Capacity Building Programme (CBP). This programme was created as part of the company’s policy on business continuity and performance enhancement.

    Speaking on the development, the Managing Director of Ibom Power, Dr. Victor Udo said “the CBP is a learning platform to train and develop participants’ competency in electric power business operations. The programme is limited to a maximum of 40 participants at any given time”.

    “The training programme includes internship, apprenticeship, industrial training for Polytechnic and University students along with members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) posted to IPC” he said.

    The MD said that “since July 2014 when the programme commenced, the CBP initiative has been beneficial to candidates from across the three (3) Senatorial Districts in AkwaIbom State”.

    According to the power Boss, “thus far, at least 64 individuals have been involved in CBP. When there are openings for employment in the company, some CBP candidates are considered based on their performance”.

    Speaking further he added that “while IPC encourages staff that can be pulled by other plants to remain with the company, the capacity building programme serves as a ‘pipeline’ to train potential replacements for any employee who chooses to take an appointment somewhere else”.

    He concluded by saying “over the years, staff of Ibom power have been recruited by other power companies in Nigeria and the Middle East. With the CBP and our succession plan, we will always have people ready to step-in as the need arises”.

     

  • ‘Path to addressing African human, institutional capacity deficits’

    THE Third Pan-African Capacity Development Forum (CDF3) ended in Harare, Zimbabwe, over the weekend with a call for a greater commitment and closer collaboration among partners and member states of African Union (AU) to address human and institutional capacity challenges facing the continent.
    Delegates at the forum, among them African ministers, heads of continental bodies, African Capacity Building Foundation’s (ACBF) strategic partners and board members, private and public sector officials, recognised that despite the economic and social progress achieved across the continent, the results have been differentiated and many countries continue to face human and institutional capacity deficits.
    According to them, the deficits were preventing African countries from achieving their full growth potential as well as implementation of growth priorities, especially Agenda 2063, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), regional development strategies and country development strategies.
    The participants in a communiqué, which included far-reaching recommendations, noted that Africa still faces the task of addressing critical challenges associated with unsustainable and non-inclusive growth, youth unemployment, climate change, worsening security, gender inequality and excessive reliance on primary commodity exports.
    They declared that that capacity remains the missing link in dealing with the critical development challenges facing the continent

  • WAMCO to invest N4b yearly to enhance capacity

    •Three months nutrition intervention for Borno IDPs begins

    Friesland Campina WAMCO Nigeria Plc, manufacturer of Peak Milk brands, has earmarked  over N4 billion yearly to grow its operations, enhance capacity, create employments and a healthy populace in the country, its Managing Director, Mr. Rahul Colaco, has said.

    Colaco, who spoke in Lagos at the weekend during the launch of low priced brands of Peak milk called ‘Peak Wazobia’ and a range of other low unit portion packs of Peak and Three Crowns evaporated and powdered milk in N20 and N50 sachets, said developing human capacity is central to its operations.

    He also told The Nation that the diary company has commenced a three-month nutrition intervention for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno State to check incidence of malnutrition. He said three months ago, workers of the company visited the IDPs in Borno State where they contributed household goods, among other items to them.

    He explained that the company decided to provide children in the IDP camp with milk for three months to prevent them from malnutrition and other health-related issues. According to him, at the end of the intervention, the company would measure the impact and result before deciding on the next line of action, adding that the firm is committed to making quality nutrition available to Nigerians.

    Colaco said the aim of introducing Peak Wazobia into the market was to increase consumers’ options of quality dairy products. This, according to him, is because Peak Wazobia costs N50 per sachet, even as the company has assured consumers that the quality would never be compromised.

    On the new products, Colaco said: “We are key players in feeding Nigerians. For us this is a privilege and a responsibility that we are fully committed to. Of course, this initiative is fully linked with the pillar of our mission statement which addresses issues of nutrient security.

    “This pillar focuses on issues of malnutrition, which is also a growing national concern. We believe that with daily consumption of milk through increased accessibility of quality dairy nutrition, consumers have the opportunity of getting up to 50 per cent of the nutrients that they require daily, which the body cannot make on its own.”

    A Professor of Community Health Nutrition and Nutrition Consultant, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomosho, Prof. Ebenezer Ojefitimi, in his presentation titled: The role of dairy in promoting nutrition: A public health perspective, said the benefits of quality nutrition in preventing issues of malnutrition across all life stages and economic groups.

    “Dairy and its products should be endorsed as an integral component of healthy patterns. After all, they are nutritionally beneficial, environmentally sustainable, economically viable and culturally acceptable. Dairy and its products have the potential to assist us to achieve our number four and five millennium development goals (MDGs),” he said.

  • BoI invests in capacity building

    BoI invests in capacity building

    In line with its commitment to taming the growing army of unemployed youths, Bank of Industry (BoI) has kick-started a three-day capacity building entrepreneurship programme. The graduate entrepreneurship scheme, which is in partnership with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), will afford participants access to sizeable funding required for nurturing their business ideas to fruition.

    BoI Managing Director, Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa, who made this known in Lagos during the week, while flagging off the scheme, said the training will hold simultaneously in seven centres, including Katsina, Plateau, Taraba, Osun, Delta, Abia and Lagos states. He explained that the programme was conceived to encourage graduates to shift focus from job-seeking to job creation through generation of feasible business ideas capable of influencing the economy positively.

    “We are doing this because we thought we need to find a way to encourage the youth corpers to begin to think of an alternative, to actually create the jobs that they are looking for and become employers of labour. We are really impressed by the quality of business ideas that we got and these are ideas in the real sectors.

    “People want to do poultry; people want to set up a bakery, agro-processing, fabrication of poultry cages and others,” he said, adding that these are things that can really add value to the Nigerian economy. He said the bank was really pleased to have this crop of young Nigerians, who are determined to do things differently.

    The BoI boss said the eligible 1,000 participants were selected from about 3,100 applicants, who enrolled for the programme on the BoI portal. He added that on completion of the training, participants with ability to vet plausible business concept will have access to base capital loan to actualise their business plans.

    He said: “The key output for these three days training will be a business plan. After this training, each participant will have produced a plan. With that business plan, they can approach BoI to have access to the small business loans of up to N2 million. If this works we can actually recycle it and spread it to more and more people.”

    On the sustainability of the scheme, he said though BoI is sponsoring the programme from its shareholders fund, the development bank will explore various possibilities to generate funding to facilitate it.

    The NYSC Co-ordinator for Lagos State, Mr. Akhanemhe Cyril, while commending the efforts of BoI, urged corps members to avoid defaulting on the terms on which the loans will be granted, saying it is an avenue to achieve great goals.

    “They are a chosen generation right now, the first set to utilise these loans. Nigeria depends on them not to fail and must not default. I’m sure that with the effort of BoI in selecting these people, they cannot default, he said, pointing out that a country cannot develop without the talent and ingenuity of its youths.