The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Integration

  • Regional integration

    •“Yorubaland beyond 2019:  Let’s set forth at DAWN”, the theme of an Ibadan conference, put South West integration back on the front-burner

    The Development Agenda of Western Nigeria (DAWN), on March 19, held a stakeholders talk, on the future of the South West political bloc, with regional integration as a central plank.  At that forum, Seye Oyeleye, DAWN director-general, tasked the three newly elected governors in the region (Lagos, Ogun and Oyo) to make regional their policy hub, so that the Yoruba region of Nigeria could maximally benefit from a synergy of developmental policies.

    Though the pitch was basically to the newly elected governors, it is trite to state that it applies no less to the other three (Ondo, Ekiti and Osun), whose governors are not due for re-election till, at the earliest, 2021.  It is assumed – and strongly so – that these incumbents would continue to be receptive to the idea.

    “Some benefits of such integration include collective opportunities as a bloc, attaining self-sustenance and enhancing internally generated revenue,” Mr. Oyeleye said, “through the harmonization of taxes and levies within the region.”  Challenging the governors, he called on them all to key their respective policies towards these benefits.  Sound counsel!

    This DAWN reminder is timely and should be lauded by all.  The idea of South West integration is not new.  Indeed, DAWN, since its inception, has chalked up credit for initiating policies, programmes and protocols to make South West integration a reality.  That dream inspired DAWN’s formation.  It is heart-warming, therefore, that DAWN is delivering on the mandate for which it was set up.

    Yet, there are still many mountains to climb.  Aside from DAWN mastering the policy lane, The Nation as a newspaper, has also done some work in advocacy and active mobilization, organizing a chain of South West integration summits, hosted by Oyo, Osun and Ekiti states, in that order, since the first of such summits in Ibadan, in 2012.  For these successful summits, special kudos to host governors, Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo, 2012), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun, 2013) and Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti, 2014).

    Since then, however, the political landscape has changed – and still changing.  Governor Ajimobi is bowing out after two terms.  Governor Aregbesola left office in 2018 (also after two terms), while Governor Fayemi is back in office, after losing power in 2014, after only one term.  But even during this 2012-2014 period, zest for the project varied among the six governors, from the zestful to the tepid.  Yet, the regional integration is one project every governor and every state government must take very, very seriously.

    That is what makes this DAWN reminder all the more appropriate.  Even with the change of guards in South West state houses, there should not be any changes in core developmental interests.  There is more to gain from that common purpose.  On this score, the incumbent governors in Ondo, Ekiti and Osun should go the extra mile to draw the in-coming governors into the DAWN path.  Governor Fayemi has a special role to play, in showing leadership on this score.  He is the only survivor, aside from exiting Ajimobi, among the original set of governors that started implementing the DAWN protocol.

    No less crucial to this plan is in-coming Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde.  That he belongs to another party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should not make any difference.  DAWN and integration are about the core interest of Western Nigeria, which trumps whatever partisan colours that domicile in the different State Houses.  But Makinde’s fellow governors should make it easy for him.  DAWN itself must not rest in its advocacy, policy-brewing and implementation role.

    Regional integration is key to every of Nigeria’s six geo-political zones.  In the absence of a consensus over formal restructuring, regional integration offers a vibrant and health way in socio-economic self-help.  It could well be the prompter for a future re-federalized polity; after the component parts of Nigeria themselves had tasted of its good.

  • ‘Africa still has a long way to go in its integration bid’

    •Former Commonwealth Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku has assessed developments in Africa since the 1958 All African Peoples Conference (AAPC) initiated by former Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah, arguing that the continent still has much work to do on its planned cooperation. He spoke at a conference at the Senate House of the University of London.

    I would like to begin my remarks by first commending the trio of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICWS), the School of Advanced Study (University of London), and the Westminster United Nations Association for their decision to collaborate in organising this conference to mark the 60th anniversary of the 1958 All African People’s Conference (AAPC) that was held in Accra, Ghana.

    Kwame Nkrumah’s initiative for organising the Conference was inspired by a combination of two factors: his perception of the significance of Ghana’s independence in the previous year, and a throwback to the 5th Pan African Congress held in October 1945 in Manchester in which he had participated along with the Pan Africanist thinkers at the time. Among these were George Padmore and Marcus Garvey from the Caribbean and Jomo Kenyatta, Hastings Banda, Obafemi Awolowo and Jaja Wachuku from Africa.

    Nkrumah had said that “the independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with total liberation of the whole African continent”. I am glad among the participants in today’s conference is The Rt Hon Paul Boateng whose father, Kwaku Boateng, was a member of Nkrumah’s cabinet.

    According to the Ghanaian writer Frederick Boakye Danquah, Nkrumah’s call for African unity, in other words his Pan Africanism, “was deeply rooted in the racial discrimination he suffered in the USA and his association with the other Pan Africanists with whom he interacted at the Manchester Pan Africanist Congress”.

    Although he was conscious of the need for Africa’s and Ghana’s economic and social development, Nkrumah’s primary aim in organizing the 1958 AAPC was to mobilize support for the struggle to end colonialism and racism against Africans and peoples of African descent. He had in this regard in his famous address to Ghana Parliament declared “seek ye first the political kingdom and all other things shall be added unto you”.

    Among the positive achievements of the 1958 AAPC was the strengthening of the ideology of Pan Africanism which became the watch-word of several Pan African movements and organisations that helped continental Africans and black people all over the world in finding the voice to confront colonialism, racism, underdevelopment and imperialism.

    One of the most intellectually eloquent propagators of the ideology was the late Professor Ali Mazrui. He was one of those who advocated Pan Africanism as embracing all the black people wherever in the world they may be found. This was further premised on the belief that Africans and indeed black people all over the world share a common ancestry, history and destiny. It was in furtherance of this expanded definition of Pan Africanism that Professor Mazrui wrote about the African of the soil continental Africans and the African of the blood black people all over the world.

    In his advancement of the Pan-African consciousness in his 1979 BBC Reith Lectures, Professor Mazrui did a ‘political diagnosis’ of the ‘African condition’, highlighting in those five lectures, what he considered as “Africa’s six paradoxes – the paradox of a Garden of Eden in decay; the cross of humiliation; the clash of cultures; the burden of underdevelopment; the patterns of identity; and the paradox that is the search for Pax Africana”. In all these paradoxes and ironies, Professor Mazrui made some insightful observations about the African condition in the global community.

    In Africa being a Garden of Eden in decay, Professor Mazrui examined the paradox of the African continent being ‘the first habitat’ of mankind but unfortunately ‘the last to be made truly habitable’. In Africa’s cross of humiliation, Professor Mazrui argued that Africans may have not been brutalized in a manner comparable to the Jews, the native Americans and the native Australians, but that they were ‘humiliated in history in ways that range from the slave trade to being segregated and treated as third-class citizens in parts of their own continent’.

    Regarding the paradox of the clash of cultures, Professor Mazrui also argued that although ‘African societies are not the closest to the West culturally’, but that they have experienced ‘the most rapid pace of Westernisation’. In the burden of underdevelopment, he argued that ‘Africa is not the poorest of the regions of the world in resources, but it is the least developed of the habitable continents’.

    In the patterns of identity, his argument was that although ‘Africa is not the smallest of the continents, but it is probably the most fragmented … along ethnic, linguistic, religious, ideological and class lines’. Finally, in the search for Pax Africana, which is the challenge of Pan-Africanism, Professor Mazrui observed that ‘Africa is the most central of all continents in geographical location, but politically and to some extent militarily, it may be the most marginal”.

    The other achievements of the AAPC were quite remarkable. In fact, George M. Fredrickson, the American historian renowned for his books on racism in his book, Black Liberation: A Comparative History of Black Ideologies in the United States and South Africa, recalled how at that time, the emergence of Kwame Nkrumah, both as the newly independent Ghana’s President and as the convener of the AAPC, roused not only the Africans on the continent but also the entire black people in Diaspora – with the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa not only cabling a congratulatory message to the then newly emerged Ghanaian President, but also sending representatives to the 1958 AAPC.

    George Fredrickson also wrote that with the independence of Ghana and the convening of the AAPC by Nkrumah, ‘black Americans found a new sense of pride along with strong expectations that the regal image of Nkrumah would replace the negative stereotypes of blacks that were the stock-in-trade of white supremacists’.

    Being a radical formulation, the AAPC was co-sponsored by other radical and progressive African leaders like Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Ben Bella of Algeria, Seke Toure of Guinea, and Julius Nyerere of Tanzania. It was a different perspective to the conventional Pan Africanism that was represented by the March 1958 Conference of Heads of the then only 9 independent African States. Unlike the earlier March 1958 Conference, the AAPC which was held in December of the same year was not restricted to the then independent African States. Rather, it was conceived to include social groups or non-governmental organizations like anti-colonial political parties, organizations like the labour unions, and ethnic communities.

    The central argument of the conveners of the AAPC was that because there were only 9 independent African States that attended the earlier March 1958 conference of the then newly independent African States, the majority of African peoples and social groups had been excluded, including the continent’s Diaspora. The AAPC, therefore, rooted for a more representative Pan African movement – a Pan Africanism that would give voice to the majority of the voiceless Africans and peoples of African descent.

    Thus, the AAPC had representations from the African Diaspora in North America, South America and Europe. It was radical to the extent that its major demand was the repudiation of the post-Berlin conference African States – the demand that Africa should be returned to the peoples and groups that colonialism had balkanized and occupied. The AAPC maintained that the colonially created states were artificial and divisive of the African peoples.

    The AAPC also demanded the strengthening of the already independent African states. It equally outspokenly repudiated the incidence of neo-colonialism on the African continent. It was, in fact, clearly more outspoken than the earlier relatively conservative Conference of independent African States, which had been more constrained by caution and diplomatic etiquette.

    Although the more radical approach to Pan Africanism was hailed, as the organizers of this 60th anniversary have equally recognized, ‘as a watershed movement in the history of Africa’s liberation from colonial rule and white supremacy’, the impact of the 1958 AAPC on today’s Africa cannot be assessed in isolation of the larger and more conservative notion of Pan Africanism now shared by all the independent African States.

    The Organisation for African Unity (OAU) which was established in May 1963 in Addis Ababa was a product of the amalgamation of two blocs of independent African States—the more radical five-member Casablanca bloc of Ghana, Egypt, Guinea (Conakry), Algeria and Tanzania which had been inspired by the AAPC, and the larger more conservative Monrovia bloc of 22 States that included Nigeria, Ethiopia and Liberia.

    So, it was in the amalgamation of the radical and conservative Pan Africanism of the independent African States that the significance of the 1958 AAPC became evident, especially in quickening the arrival of independence for African States as well as the mobilization of Africa’s public opinion in repudiation of neo-colonialism, and the engineering of support for the struggle against the racist regimes in Southern Africa.

    One of the early decisions of the OAU was the establishment of the liberation committee that spearheaded the campaign against colonialism in Africa and apartheid in South Africa. Besides, the OAU through its many declarations encouraged and lent moral support to the civil rights movements, especially in the United States of America and in the parts of the world where black people were confronting white supremacists.

    The OAU which transmuted into African Union (AU) in 2002 has had to deal with several conflicts between and within States on the African continent. From the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Central Africa, to Angola, Sudan and Chad, amongst other countries, these conflicts have forced the AU to undertake deployment of troops to contain them and to keep the peace. In this, the AU’s efforts are being supported by the United Nations with the result that today there are no less than seven of the UN’s peace-keeping missions in Africa which is exactly half of the number of 14 peace-keeping missions currently deployed globally by the UN.

    In assessing the impact of the 1958 AAPC Conference on Africa, it must be admitted that a major objective of the conference which was the attainment of the unity and integration of African States is yet to be achieved. For despite the gallant efforts in the transformation of the AU, the establishment of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the active support for the sub-regional organisations like the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), the East African Economic Community (EAC), the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), the African continent still has a long way to go in its integration efforts.

    Africa’s potential for integration in ways comparable to Europe is still seriously hampered by some of those paradoxes enunciated by Professor Ali Mazrui which I have mentioned above. This is in addition to the low level of economic development that is in many ways exacerbated by the constraints on Africa by the negative forces of globalization and the fact that the economies of many African countries are still commodity centered.

    There is also the inhibitive influence of Africa’s colonial legacies as well as the continued manipulations by interests external to the continent. These factors and forces continue to aid Africa’s divisions and inability to integrate. But more perniciously, conflicts and political instability are still rife in many African countries, with the guns still booming in the Great Lakes Region, in Libya, in South Sudan, and in Somalia.

    There is in addition, a democracy deficit in many African countries, with a serious hiccup still being experienced in countries like The Gambia where the former President Yahaya Jammeh was practically forced out of power by the ECOWAS leaders when he refused to leave office after losing an election, and the DR Congo where the election that is scheduled to hold this month (December 2018) is still beclouded by endless controversies, and Cote d’Ivoire, the Central African Republic, Mali and Cameroon, where democratic practice is under very serious strains.

    I returned only a few days ago from Zimbabwe after serving on a seven-member Commission appointed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to enquire into the violence that followed the country’s recent national elections. My colleagues and I on the Commission were impressed by the current efforts of President Mnangagwa to reform the institutions and practices that had retarded democracy and economic development in Zimbabwe during the latter years of President Robert Mugabe’s 37 years in office.

    Let me now turn to the Commonwealth and Africa.

    There are 19 African countries that are members of the Commonwealth namely, Botswana, Cameroun, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, The Gambia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia.

    From the outset, the Commonwealth countries engagement with the non-Commonwealth countries in Africa was unfortunately hampered by the legacy of colonialism. The carving up of Africa into their different areas of influence and colonies by the European powers at the Berlin conference of 1884/85 without any regard for the peoples’ long existing ethnic groupings, left African countries with a legacy of different official languages, different administrative structures and different development institutions.

    For example, in the early years of the two countries’ independence, a telephone call from Lagos, Nigeria’s then capital to Cotonou the capital of The Benin Republic, a distance of 130 miles had to go through London and Paris a distance of over 7000 miles. This also applied to air travel across from the West Africa to the East Africa regions. The traveler would, perforce, have to go through Europe in order to get a connecting flight back to his or her African destination.

    I believe that the AU’s efforts at promoting integration and unity on the continent are being effectively assisted by the activities of Africa’s sub-regional organizations such as ECOWAS, SADC and others, and by collaboration between the Commonwealth with its 19 African Anglophone members and La Francophonie with its 29 African Francophone members.

    Hence, while in office as Commonwealth Secretary-General, I took the initiative of inviting the then Secretary-General of La Francophonie, Boutros-Boutros Ghali, to pay official visit to Marlborough House. And he in turn invited me to visit the Headquarters of La Francophonie in Paris. Our two organizations subsequently co-sponsored two seminars on the theme of managing democracy in pluralistic states respectively at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris in January 1999 and in Yaounde, Cameroun, in January 2000.

    On its own, the Commonwealth has been contributing to its African members’ quest for stable democracy, good governance and development. For example, as Commonwealth Secretary-Genral, I was involved in discussions with the Heads of State that led to the transition from one-party to multi-party government in Zambia, Malawi, Kenya and Seychelles; and from military to civilian government in Ghana and Nigeria.

    Since 1980, the Commonwealth has observed more than 130 elections in 36 of its member countries including in its African members as part of its efforts to strengthen democracy.

    Another example of the Commonwealth’s contribution to the pursuit of democracy in Africa was the very productive two-part special seminar that I organized in Botswana in 1998 to discuss the challenges facing the practice of democracy in Africa. The first part involved all ruling and opposition party leaders in these countries meeting with me and my colleagues from the Commonwealth Secretariat. The second part involved only the Heads of State and myself with the then speaker of the South African Parliament, Dr Frene Ginwala, as the rapporteur. The Heads of Government discussed with me and the rapporteur the essential ingredients of democracy and the obstacles they experienced in pursuing them in their countries. It was a very useful exercise and I recall the particular contributions of Presidents Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Ketumile Masire of Botswana.

    It is, I believe, important that the Commonwealth should continue to lend itself as a platform for the promotion of peace, human rights, socio-economic development and general wellbeing of the peoples of its African members. That is why I was interested to learn that in March 2015, the Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General, Deodat Maharaj, visited the then Chairperson of the African Union, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, to explore ways of deepening the partnership between the two organizations for the benefit of their member countries. I understood that they discussed partnership in many areas including the advancement of the AU’s Agenda 2063, trade relations, conflict resolution, gender issues, democratic consolidation, and human rights concerns amongst others.

    What Commonwealth Africa needs most today from the Commonwealth is assistance to steady its feet in the march toward unity, sustainable peace, socio-economic development, human rights and the attainment of stable democracy and the rule of law. After the decade of democratic renaissance in the 1990s in many Commonwealth African countries, some of them are now relapsing into conditions of   instability with authoritarian regimes that are seeking to amend their countries’ constitutions in order to allow for rule beyond the constitutionally permitted terms.

    For instance, a Commonwealth country has seen its President throwing the opposition leader in jail immediately after the country’s 2016 election for what The Economist  described in its September 15th – 21st edition as “the crime of not yielding to the presidential motorcade”. The same President has also reportedly “packed the constitutional court with his hand-picked judges and threatened chaos if they do not allow him to run for an unconstitutional third term in 2021”.

    I have commented on the impact of AAPC “then”; I would now want to comment on its impact “now”.

    But first, I must say with regard to the theme of this conference, “hands off Africa”, that of course we now live in a globalizing world in which countries have to deal with one another in order to promote their interests and national development. However, because African countries are still relatively vulnerable to unequal treatment and manipulation by external forces, African governments have good reason to be cautious and circumspect in their dealings with other countries and other continental institutions. For example, the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) which is currently being vigorously offered to African Governments by the European Union, has been judged by several African and non-African economic experts not to be in the long term interest of the industrial development of African countries and as such, should be rejected.

    As to the hopes inspired in 1958 by the AAPC, the score card in 2018 is, in my view, clearly mixed. Some of its aspirations have been achieved, but others remain  works in progress.

    Among the realized aspirations of the AAPC, is the decolonization of Africa including the elimination of the curse of racist minority regimes in the Southern part of the continent.

    So also is the fostering a spirit of solidarity among the peoples in Africa and of African descent outside the continent. An evidence of this was the enthusiastic participation of representatives from virtually all countries inhabited by  peoples of African descent in the Festivals of Black Art and Culture (FESTAC) organized in Dakar (Senegal) in 1966 and in Lagos (Nigeria) in 1977.

    Another achievement of the AAPC can be said to be the abrogation of institutionalized racism, aka apartheid, in South Africa and the passing of laws against racial discrimination in virtually all countries, including perhaps most famously, the civil rights Act passed in the United States of America in July 1964.

    However, it must be admitted that the phenomenon of racial discrimination against black people which, I believe to be among the abiding legacies of the trans-atlantic slave trade, is still consciously and unconsciously practiced in many essentially white societies. It is an unspoken truth that in virtually all intellect-demanding activities in racially mixed environment, except perhaps in the sports arena, the black person often enjoys no benefit of doubt and always has to prove that he/she can perform as well as his/her non-black colleagues.

    Thus, the particular aspiration of securing for black people everywhere the full respect and equality that was eloquently articulated at the 1958 conference by Nkrumah, Padmore, Nyerere and others is still, to an appreciable degree, a work in progress.

    Similarly, the realization of full unity and integration of African States which was the essence of Pan Africanism advocated at the AAPC, is also still  work in progress. And this is notwithstanding the efforts being made in this respect by the AU through its several initiatives such as NEPAD, AfCFTA (African Continental Free Trade Agreement) as well as the efforts of its 8 sub-regional organizations.

    In conclusion Ladies and Gentlemen, the 1958 AAPC was a landmark in the drive for arousing the consciousness of the African peoples and countries of the need to mobilize for their independence struggle, and for the acceptance by the rest of humankind of the equality and dignity of, in Ali Mazrui’s words, Africans of the soil and Africans of the blood.

    I thank you for your attention.

     

    London, December 6, 2018.

  • ‘We’re committed to Southwest integration’

    Ondo State government has expressed its commitment to implementation of the Southwest agenda on regional integration, Regional Integration and Special Duties Commissioner Prof. Bayonile Ademodi has said.

    He spoke yesterday in Akure while opening a workshop on implementation of the Southwest document on service delivery.

    Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Dele Ogunwolere, the commissioner said participants would discuss the Southwest plan for service delivery.

    He said the workshop was organised by the ministry in collaboration with the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria Commission, (DAWN) as part of Southwest’s agenda to enhance its development.

    Ademodi said the programme would sensitise the workforce on the need for reform in the public sector, to enhance service delivery.

    He said the ministry, a creation of this administration, keyed into the DAWN commission agenda for integration and development in the Southwest.

    The commissioner noted that the ministry sensitised top officials and office holders last year on regional integration.

    Ademodi urged participants to use the opportunity to be more informed on western regional integration, to facilitate the programme in the state.

    The Director, Regional Integration, Pastor Edmond Akintunde, noted that each region shares tradition, history, language, stressing the need to unite and speak with one voice to achieve development.

    He said the government would leverage on the Southwest programme document for it to be properly facilitated.

    Akintunde said the programme was organised as a guide to develop implementation plan in each state, to improve service delivery.

    He said the MDAs were to look at the document and develop sectorial plans on how it related to them.

    According to him, participants are to review the document for the state’s effective implementation.

    The director noted that the ministry’s mandate is to be the coordinating hub and oversee activities of regional groups and organisations, to improve public service delivery.

    The DAWN commission representatives, who are the facilitators, gave insight into the commission, to allow participants key into objectives of regional integration.

  • Oluwo: my multicultural conducts are for national integration, unity

    The Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba Abdul-Rasheed Adewale Akanbi, has explained reasons for his multi-cultural conducts.

    He advised people not to misunderstand his motive of adorning an Islamic regalia and answering the title of Emir of Yorubaland, saying it was meant to foster unity through cultural integration.

    In a statement by his media aide, Ibraheem Alli, the monarch enjoined other traditional rulers in Yorubaland to see beyond today and work for a united country through an aggressive cultural integration.

    He advised his colleagues to challenge the old order, which he said was “characterised by stigmatisation, threat of secession and inhumane killing on a racial claim.”

    Oba Akanbi said he would continue to use all means to challenge the old order of discrimination that has continued to polarise the nation along tribal sentiment, adding that love, cultural understanding, peaceful co-existence are necessary ingredients for nation building.

    He said: “I want those criticising me for wearing an Emir costume and answering to the title of an Emir to see beyond the surface and dig deep for an understanding of my motive. I have explained that the title is not peculiar to the Northern kings. It is an Arabic word and by virtue of the position of Iwo in bringing Islam to Yorubaland with the presence of the first mosque in the ancient town in 1655, it is in order.

    “A responsible monarch is a father to all in any part of the country. Let’s forget about the tribal affiliation. Through sentiment many valuable lives of Nigerians have been wasted. Many have been killed ignorantly under the guise of discrimination, forgetting that we are all Nigerians.

    “Every king is a father to all, irrespective of their location. If you want to be father to all you should accommodate everyone and treat them equally. This will not only promote true democracy, but will also encourage the much desired national unity.

    “Discrimination has dragged us so backward politically as well. Our conventional behaviour is retrogressive. Yoruba man resident for many years in the North or the East should be able to contest in Hausa and Igboland. Nigeria’s political structure should allow political representation by Nigerians from any location once they have been residents of many years in that place. We are still in the dark age. Until my teaching is heard, I shall push my belief to the doors of all authorities.

    “Regrettably, discrimination has posed a monumental challenged to our national growth. Many lives are lost on a daily basis on this. Must it continue like this? Hence, the urgent acute need for cultural integration by the traditional institution. Every king in Nigeria should be able to relate with Nigerians irrespective of religious and ethnic affiliation. We are one. I have Fulani, Hausa and Igbo in my domain. They are all my children. I’m an Emir to the Hausa in my domain, Igwe to the Igbo and so on.”

     

  • ‘We’re focusing on integration of Niger Delta’

    ‘We’re focusing on integration of Niger Delta’

    Nsima Ekere is the Managing Director and the Chief Executive Officer of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Ekere spoke to reporters in Lagos on his experiences in trying to turn around the commission, to focus on its core mandate of creating an enabling environment for the development of the Niger Delta region. Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI was there.

    HOW has your tenure been so far?

    I always tell people; we were a bit luckier than other boards or management that has come into NDDC. I say this because it took about five months after we were nominated by the President before we were inaugurated. So, that gave us some time to do a bit of stocktaking about the NDDC and come up with strategies to attack the issues. That’s how we came up with what we call the 4-R strategy to reposition and restructure the NDDC for maximum impact, maximum delivery. The first R has to do with restructuring the balance sheet. On assumption of office, we found out that the balance sheet was outdated. We had projects that were non-performing and some of them have been there for about 10 to 16 years. So, we decided to cancel them. We’ve done that twice; the first one involved about 624 projects worth over N200 billion and the second batch was about 400 projects worth a little over N100 billion. Effectively, we have being able to take out over N300 billion from the balance sheet. Going forward, we have also dedicated 70 per cent of the budget to ongoing projects. This will enable us to complete projects started by previous administrations. We have identified some of them that are priority projects and we intend to concentrate on completing them. The second R is to restructure the governance system of the commission. When we came in we decided to look at the systems and processes of NDDC in order to come up with a policy that allows NDDC to respect the extant laws and policies of government. So, we decided to streamline the governance system and introduce international best practices, by introducing technology in running the organisation. The third R is to restore the commission to its core mandate. What is it that government had in mind when it set up NDDC? Over the years, the NDDC started competing with local and state governments; struggling to buy chalk for classrooms, for primary schools and so on and so forth.

    We are looking at the bigger picture now. The emphasis now is to do big ticket projects that will aid regional economic integration of the Niger Delta. That is why you will see we are thinking of deepening the internet penetration in the Niger Delta. We are working with the Galaxy Backbone on that. Hopefully, with that, a lot of IT-based businesses will spring up or even be attracted to the region. We are also thinking of the Niger Delta Development Bank, to support the developmental efforts of the commission. Then the fourth R is to generally reaffirm our commitment to doing what is right and proper. We believe that if we can successfully implement these reform strategies, we would leave the NDDC better than we met it.

    What challenges have you encountered so far?

    We have encountered lots of challenges. First, there was institutional resistance to change, which is normal. A lot of people have become used to doing things in a certain way; they were not pleased that you are now demanding a new attitude. Secondly, you also have political interferences here and there. You want to go a certain way, but it may not be politically correct to do that. So, you always have to juggle and balance all of these issues. But, the major problem of the Niger Delta, which has affected the commission, if you ask me, is the attitude of some of our stakeholders and the youths particularly. They have this sense of entitlement that everything belongs to them.

    Previous boards and managements were bogged down by in-fighting. Did you experience such tendency?

    Well, I guess it is generally a management strategy. If you come in and you are not able to carry members of your management and board along in the way you run the commission, definitely you will have problems. It is a matter of engagement; you just engage people, try and get their buy-in to things you think you want to do. We’ve set up a Strategy Committee at management level and the three executive directors — that is, the two EDs and myself — always interface with the strategy team. So, there is this buy-in by all members of the executive management to the programmes and reforms agenda that we are driving. Then, with the board also, we have a representative from the Chairman in that strategic team. So, there is no disconnect between the management and the board.

    So, how are you dealing with the sense of entitlement of the youths?

    I have always said to the youths and to stakeholders anytime I am opportune to address them, that it is better to think of a sustainable economic model that we can use to empower our people. I don’t believe that you should just keep dashing them money. There was a time at the NDDC when there were like two to three protests every week, because they expect to be given some money when you are dispersing them. So, anytime somebody is broke in his house, he will come and protest, so that something can come. I stopped that. I made protests unattractive. So, when they come, you will allow them stay there the whole day, without giving them money when they are going. So, gradually the number of protests began to reduce. So, the protests you see now are those sponsored by some politicians for selfish reasons.

    One of the sustainable economic models we are coming up with to engage our youths is what we call The Niger Delta Enterprise Centres for startups, so that people with bright ideas can come into those centres. It is different from what we used to do before. Before now, we used to do a lot of trainings and empowerment programmes.  In other words, we called people, train them in various skills and at the end of the training, we give them starter packs to go and start their businesses. But, six months or one year down the line, you see the guy still unemployed; he would still be standing at the gate of the NDDC. What used to happen for most of them is that when they get those starter packs at the end of the training, they will sell it off and collect the money and after that they will come back and look for more. But, with the enterprise hub that we are thinking of doing now, we should be able to address that challenge.

    We are starting with one centre for now. We are partnering with SMEDAN. SMEDAN had what they call Industrial Development Centres (IDCs) all over the country before now. In the Niger Delta region, they have six IDCs. So, in partnership with SMEDAN, we will take their IDCs and develop them into enterprise hubs to engage our young people and help them to become entrepreneurs. Secondly, we are also in partnership with NEXIM Bank to set up a N5 billion export facility, targeted strictly at the agricultural value chain.

    We are also partnering with Innoson, a manufacturing outfit, to train a hundred youths. We are beginning to train a hundred people annually on automobile related skills. They will go to the facilities and learn how to assembly cars, fix and maintain cars and a couple of other things.

    Contractors always complain that NDDC does not readily pay for work done. The Senate has had to pass a resolution on the matter…

    We discovered that there was a lot of overtrading in the NDDC; they had much more projects than they can pay for with the available funds. That is why we have said that going forward 70 per cent of our budget would be dedicated to servicing ongoing projects, while only 30 per cent would be used for salaries, overhead and new projects. When you look at the NDDC Act, there is a financial provision which states how much and how the funding of would be structured. If the NDDC was able to get all the money that we are supposed to get under the Act, you will see that there would be enough to pay for those contracts. As we speak today, we have a shortfall of about N1.7 to N1.8 trillion from the Federal Government. In other words, the Federal Government owes us that much money.  If that money was paid, why wouldn’t contractors be paid? So, it is basically a funding problem. We receive about N5 billion in a month. By the time you pay salaries and overheads maybe you have N3 billion remaining. How can you use N3 billion and pay N1 trillion to contractors?

    Beneficiaries of NDDC post graduate scholarships have also been complaining of being abandoned….

    We have paid up all NDDC scholars. When we came in, we discovered that there was a lot of hanky-panky in the scholarship thing. For instance, a master’s programme is supposed to last one year or 18 months in the maximum. But you will see an NDDC scholar who won the scholarship in 2007 for a master’s programme in the US or the UK still claiming scholarship in 2017. We had several cases like this. Somebody will win the NDDC scholarship, but will be in Nigeria and not in any school abroad and he is claiming money. So, that is why it was necessary that we froze that process, because we needed to confirm what really the issues were; who the genuine students were. But, unfortunately, in that process some genuine students suffered. We regret very much that some genuine students had their money withheld for a while. But the verification has been done now and we have paid up to date.

    We understand that there are plans to rejig the scholarship programme…

    We are thinking that scholarships shouldn’t be only for foreign scholars.  If you want to help people, Nigerian universities are also good. So, it shouldn’t only people schooling abroad that benefit. Secondly, we have very bright Niger Delta students who come from indigent homes and they really can’t afford even the undergraduate education.

    Your contractors were recently chased away from sites by the Akwa Ibom State Government. How did you resolve that issue?

    Unfortunately most of what happened in Akwa Ibom was political. We have engaged the government through the Federal Government. We hear there is a change of heart from the state government. Overall, we are trying very hard now to engage with the nine governors in the region, because we are not in competition with any of them. We have visited virtually all of them, except Akwa Ibom.

    Why have you not visited Akwa Ibom?

    We have been engaging them, hoping for an opportunity to visit the state. But, the reception has not been favourable and that is unfortunate, because I am from Akwa Ibom and I have served that state as deputy governor. So, the best interest of the state is always paramount to me. Akwa Ibom is the largest oil producing state in Nigeria and by NDDC policy it should attract the highest number of projects.

    That is not what the present board met on ground.  We have been magnanimous enough to want to redress this. We need the partnership and support of the state government to make this happen. It is not about me or the board; and it is not about politics. We at the NDDC believe it is the right and proper thing to do. And that’s the focus of the Board.

     

  • Buhari warns ECOWAS countries against currency integration

    Buhari warns ECOWAS countries against currency integration

    President Muhammadu Buhari has cautioned member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) against implementing the planned currency integration in the sub-region by the year 2020.

    President Buhari, who was represented by the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, spoke yesterday during the fifth meeting of the Presidential Task Force on ECOWAS Currency Programme in Accra, Ghana.

    He noted that Heads of Government had not properly articulated and analysed a comprehensive picture of the state of preparedness of individual countries for monetary integration by 2020.

    He reiterated that the non-preparedness of some member countries had watered down criteria and the continuing disparities between macro-economic conditions in ECOWAS countries.

    President Buhari further observed that ECOWAS Heads of Government had not been adequately briefed on the full implications of forcing through the integration by 2020, particularly where some countries were not individually ready domestically.

    While pointing out that there were still outstanding issues in the roadmap to an integrated currency union, he noted that the macro-economic fundamentals of many countries in ECOWAS were diverse and uncertain. He also noted that the inflation targeting regime recommended as framework was not feasible as it was based on adoption of a flexible exchange rate regime. He equally noted that real convergence was nowhere near achievable despite efforts made so far.

    President Buhari therefore called for a push towards ratification and domestication of legal instruments and related protocols, and the harmonization of all fiscal, trade and monetary policies and statistical systems, with a view to limiting the extent of current policy divergences.

    He also advised that the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) countries to make a presentation on a clear roadmap towards delinking from the French Treasury.

  • ‘Ondo has role to play in Southwest integration’

    ‘Ondo has role to play in Southwest integration’

    At a conference commemorating the first anniversary of the electoral victory of Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, experts highlighted the role of the Sunshine State in the Southwest’s economic integration and how it can realise its potentials under the current leadership. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU reports.

    Ondo State occupies a key position in the Southwest geo-political zone. It has borders with Ekiti, Osun, Ogun, Edo and Kogi states. In the glorious days of the Western Region under the late Premier Obafemi Awolowo, agriculture was the mainstream of its economy. The state also has the advantage of vast human talents and mineral deposits. Until recently when oil was discovered in Lagos, Ondo was the lone Niger Delta State in the Southwest.

    Expectations were high when Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) was elected governor of the state last year, following a turbulent primary. To advocates of regional integration, his victory would herald a new era of economic recovery and reposition the state for role of an economic hub. The feeling is that the prosperity of Ondo State will rub off on the prosperity and progress of the region.

    At a recent conference in Akure, the state capital, to mark his ascension to power, experts dissected the regime and made some projections the state’s contribution to the cause of economic integration, based on its historical record as a core Yoruba state, its centrality, vast mineral deposits and current transformational leadership. The theme of the conference chaired by former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice Mrs. Jumoke Anifowose was: ‘Regionalisation as federating blocs for a more productive Nigeria.’ It was organised by Urban Media Resource Limited, led by Femi Odere. The venue was St. Thomas Church Events Centre, Akure.

    Two scholars-Prof. Ayo Olukotun and Prof. Bolaji Aluko-spoke on the sub-themes-‘Regionalisation: For Southwest Economic Integration’ and Regionalisation: For Southwest Development Funding from its Diaspora.’ Panel discussants included two members of The Nation Newspaper’s Editorial Board-Mr. Kunle Abimbola and Mr. Sanya Oni.

    Olukotun examined the imperative for intra-Southwest economic cooperation and integration, with a view that the region becomes a thriving economic hub, self-sufficient in its areas of comparative and tackling the challenges associated with its prospects. Also, Aluko examined hos funding from the Diaspora could foster development and create wealth in Ondo and the Southwest in the spirit of economic globaliasation.

    Anifowose congratulated Akeredolu for doing what has made the state to achieve progress. She reopened the debate on regionalism, saying that while the six Southwest states may not want to return to Ibadan, the capital of the defunct Western Region, they can explore the basis for cooperation. “If we want a productive Nigeria, we should come together as strong unions,” she said. The former commissioner decried the high cost of governance, saying that it is counter-productive.

    “A friend of mine said her governor wanted to appoint 1,000 aides. Where will their salaries come from? We should re-channel our resources to our priorities. We need a law to prescribe a minimum number of members of state executive councils and SSAs. Government should be trimmed. For a job meant for one person, government is appointing 20 people. That is why appointees get to office, eat and drink. They can’t use their discretion to do anything; their capacity is low,” she added.

    The former commissioner also observed that Nigeria lacked strong political parties with clear manifestos, rules and regulations. He also said a weak civil service is the bane of the polity. “The civil service must be very strong. If there is no good civil service, there will be no good governance. But, civil servants are not paid their salaries. How can they survive?” she queried.

    The representative of the Senior Special Assistant on the Diaspora to the president, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Mr. Akinwande Ojomo, observed that Ondo and indeed, Southwest tap from the Diaspora funding for development, if they have the right strategy. “Nigerians in the Diaspora breathe 25 million dollars to Nigeria’s economy, including transfers to families for social support. It is good that has a Special Adiser on the Diaspora. The Diaspora funding  can be used for human capacity development,” he said.

    Aluko said Diaspora funding, either obtained through self-induced Diaspora engagement or active courting of the Diaspora, can be channeled into the critical sectors. These sectors include energy, education, roads, housing, agriculture, health and security. Others are ease of doing business, economic diversification, employment and political restructuring. The former Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Otuoke, said the funding can come in the form of remittance, foreign direct investment, market development and outsourcing production, technology transfer, and philanthropy. He said they can also come through tourism, political contribution, and knowledge, new attitudes and cultural influence. He said for Southwest to attract Diaspora funding, it should develop a focus and know wht development is, adding that the region required a proper leadership, a true Awolowo spirit and a master plan for integrated development in Yorubaland.

    “We need information on ODI, on the efficient use of the funds, and we need to emulate China, India, Philippines, Mexico, Taiwan and Argentina, which have been able to accomplish much through Diaspora funding,” Aluko added.

    Olukotun, who was represented by Dr. Tunde Oseni of the Lead University, Ibadan, observed that regionalism may not be attainable now due to constitutional constraints, urging Ondo State and Southwest to strive to benefit from regionalisation. He said regionalisation will foster food security, regional security, internally generated revenue, economic integration and self-sufficiency.

    “There should be a combination of psychological and political will to achieve integration. We should return to Awo’s template, especially adequate planning. Ondo and Southwest should embrace diversification. Ondo State should explore the ocean economy, develop its bitumen, oil and gas and tourism potentials,” he added.

    However, Oni, a journalist, said Ondo and Southwest should always strive to develop their mental capacities, saying that they are their precious assets. He also called for the right attitudes to governance and commitment to excellence, either in the private or public sector. “That culture should emphasise competence,” he added.

    A politician from Ekiti State, Dele Morakinyo, also cited attitude as a problem, wondering why government officials still demand for bribes before allowing donors to fund projects in their states. He said: “The attitude of government is driving the donors away.”

    Professor Aboluwoye lamented that while the founding fathers of the region laid a solid foundation for regional integration, successive administrations have refused to build on it. He said Odua Group was dying, urging the Nehemiahs of the region to rise to the occasion rebuild the Premier Hotel and revive the Oluwa Glass Company.

    Abimbola urged the Southwest to look inward, sustain Yoruba culture, protect its language and resolve to survive. He said regional nationalism does not translate to tribalism. Also, Abimbola said Lagos State has a role to play in the regional integration, adding that its position as the lone prosperous state in the Southwest will be threatened because indigenes of the remaining five states will always migrate to Lagos in pursuit of means of livelihood.

    A participant, Ferdernez Ogunleye, highlighted why Odua Group may not survive. “Government can’t manage business. Government will appoint its lackeys as chairmen and managing directors of the company because they are politicians,” he said, adding that government should limit its role to providing an enabling environment for business to thrive.

    Aluko and Oseni disagreed with him, saying that, at this stage of economic development, government should be involved. Oseni said government can still involve in business in developing countries, instead of handing off completely. “As a social democrat, I won’t say government should hand off, but government can do more by providing an enabling environment,” he added.

    Aluko raised a puzzle: what is the proper role of government in development? He said is business is left to businessmen alone, the motive for profit making will leave the vulnerable people in the society behind. “Government must provide certain enabling environment. Government must justify why it is taking part in a particular business in the interest of the vulnerable,” he maintained.

    A participant, who also emphasised the importance of regional integration, said there is the need for the progressive leaders of the region to sustain the current efforts, unity and understanding, saying that they are critical to economic integration. He called for an interface between the governments of the region and its vast intellectuals and men of ideas in the industry, labour and civil society on the subject matter of integration.

    “The Yoruba states can collaborate on infrastructural development by trying to jointly construct inter-state roads in border towns within the region. There is need for annual or periodic assessment of how far the region has gone in realising the vision of integration. The zone should return to agriculture and its schools can re-introduce the culture of school garden to re-orientate the youths towards embracing agriculture. Also, Southwest should bear in mind that corruption is antithetical to development. Our governors should not participate in the festival of looting. If they steal the money, nothing will be left for development and integration,” he added.

  • Illegal refiners, others for training, integration

    Illegal refiners, others for training, integration

    • Govt targets 100% local content by 2027

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has directed some institutions to develop training plans that will give requisite skills to illegal refiners, pipeline vandals and others to make them productive.

    The institutions are the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) and the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI).

    He gave the directive at the just-concluded Nigerian Content Workshop, organised by New Planets Projects with the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources Upstream, in Owerri, Imo State.

    Kachikwu said NCDMB, PTDF and PTI should develop a plan for training youths, that are involved in pipeline vandalism, illegal refining and other illicit activities in the oil and gas industry.

    The training will focus on improving their skillsets and getting them to embrace productive activities to further boost oil and gas industry’s capacity building initiatives.

    He said: “We need to find a middle-level specialised system of training people in the oil industry, a system that is not necessarily tied to degrees. We need to capture a lot of those in the hinterlands who have finished WAEC or their first diploma and don’t know where to go to, but have some unique skillsets. We need to bring them to finishing schools.”

    Kachikwu also directed the institutions to use existing facilities in Port Harcourt and Kaduna to carry out the planned training and other capacity building programmes for industry stakeholders.

    “We have to provide local competency trainings, relying on support from oil companies in terms of investment and overseas faculty.”

    The Minister also directed the NCDMB to ensure that the oil and gas industry is able to produce its needs by year 2027. He said the Federal Government expected that over the next 10 years, the oil and gas industry, in collaboration with foreign investors, would have developed in-country capacities and capabilities to produce all its offshore platforms locally.

    “I would like to see the Japanese coming; I would like to see the Koreans come here; I would like to see collaborative efforts that will make our oil industry produce everything that we need,” he said.

    Kachikwu acknowledged the strides made by the Board in seven years, commending the excellent achievements of the Executive Secretary, Simbi Wabote, whom he credited for working with energy and passion and meeting several targets set for the Board in the past one year.

    Kachikwu noted that Nigerian Content achievement in engineering services had hit 80 per cent, but said performance in offshore aspects of the industry was still substantially low, and charged international and local oil companies to collaborate with the NCDMB to achieve the new target.

    “It doesn’t matter how much money we make, how much gas we produce or alternative fossils we produce; if we do not ensure that a lot of that is captured locally in terms of benefits, we have no stake,” the minister added.

  • Mbembe calls for African integration through open borders

    Mbembe calls for African integration through open borders

    Renowned African historian, Joseph Achille Mbembe, has made a solid case for Africa’s integration through open borders that allow free movement of people on the continent.

    “History tells us that the first thing you do to incapacitate people is to restrict their ability to move.  Mobility allowed the stretching of societies; was determinant to trade and to building African civilizations,” Mbembe said.

    The erudite scholar made these arguments at the 21st edition of the African Development Bank’s Eminent Speakers series cat the Bank’s headquarters in Abidjan on the theme, “The Cost of Borders.”

    The AfDB is investing heavily in transport infrastructure as part of its High five priority programme to fast-track Africa’s integration. Mbembe argues that a big bank like AfDB should do more by creating ideas to impact the world’s view on the positive aspects of mobility.

    He cited a study that found that the cost of transportation in Africa is 136% higher than in most other countries, largely due to inadequate infrastructure and restriction of movements.

    Mbembe also cited AfDB’s statistics which indicate that investing US$32 billion in transport infrastructure every year for 15 years in Africa would enhance trade by US $250 billion.

    He said restricted mobility and limited open borders is a serious cost prohibitive issue in a continent saddled with hundreds of internal borders and is highly cost prohibitive.

    The biggest challenge facing Africa in the 21st century is for the continent to become a vast area of freedom of movement. The future of Africa does not depend on restrictive immigration policies and the militarisation of borders, he says.

    He further explained how barriers and political issues constrain continental efforts to integrate Africa through investments, trade, finance and free movement of people and skills.

    According to Mbembe, borders have become a geopolitical question, with the proliferation of new forms of violence. Issues of safety and security have resulted in a global expansion of security infrastructure to monitor insecure places. Massive investments are made on new technologies such as drones, to the point that securing borders has become a big industry.

    At the same time, refugee issues and the migrant crisis in the Northern and Southern parts of Africa will spur a demographic revolution that in turn will reshape the face of the world. “For years now, many have died attempting to cross borders in search of better living conditions. “This, he said, is an issue Africa must address.

    Building on experiences in other regions, and specific African countries, the Speaker addressed the need to think deep about managing African borders and the possibility of privatizing boarder management.

    Concerning language barriers, Mbembe said English and French are now seen as African languages that are no longer a prerogative of French and English people.

    “Our relationship with these languages obliges us to consider them to be part of our heritage. We have to move our borders and adapt them to the environment in which we find ourselves,” he explained.

    “We must open the continent to itself and turn it into a power house. It must be turned into a vast space of circulation. This is the only way for it to become its own center in a multipolar world.”

    For mobility to become the cornerstone of a new pan-African agenda, we need to leave behind migratory models based on anti-humanist concepts such as “national interest” and embrace our own long tradition of flexible, networked sovereignty and collective security, he says.

    Introducing the speaker, the Bank’s Chief Economist and Vice-President, Celestin Monga, emphasized the relevance of the theme under discussion, saying that regional integration is one of the institution’s five operational pillars. He also highlighted Africa’s size and the diversity of its economic structure as issues to contend with in efforts to promote integration.

    Mbembe is an eminent professor at the Institute of Social and Economic Research of Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg, South Africa. He served as Executive Director of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) in Dakar, Senegal. He was a visiting professor at the universities of Harvard, Duke and California in Berkeley in the United States.

  • ‘Nigeria to undertake over 50% fabrication, integration in IOCs’ projects’

    About 50 per cent of the fabrication and integration of topsides of the floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels of Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited (NAE)’s and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO)’s Zabazaba deepwater project and the Bonga South West Aparo (BSWA) deepwater project will be done by Nigerians. The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), has confirmed.

    The Board noted that with the development, the oil and gas sector is set to make a huge impact on the economy as the two multinational companies involved will substantially use local personnel and materials.

    The projects are the Zabazaba deepwater project being executed by NAE, in partnership with SNEPCO, on Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 245, and the Bonga South West Aparo (BSWA) deepwater project being developed by SNEPCO.

    It noted that major contractors bidding for Zabazaba submitted competitive costs and concrete plans to fabricate and integrate over 50 per cent of the FPSO topsides in-country. The technical and commercial evaluations of bids for the Zabazaba main packages have been finalised by NCDMB and NAE and the submissions met the aspiration of maximizing local content at the most competitive cost. The packages included the FPSO units, subsea, installation and rigs.

    NCDMB Executive Secretary, Simbi Wabote, confirmed the positive development, expressing optimism that the execution of Zabazaba would grow Nigerian content and impact the economy, much more than previous deepwater projects. He said the Board carried out detailed scoping of the project to ensure that the targets exceed the accomplishments achieved on Total’s Egina project.

    “For Egina, six FPSO topside modules were fabricated in-country across some yards and will be integrated when the FPSO arrives at the SHI-MCI yard in Lagos later this year. This will be the first time in the history of Nigeria,”he said.

    Wabote also said the approvals and evaluations for Zabazaba were completed in 14 months, setting a cheering record in the industry as against the 24/36 months project cycle time that bedeviled the sector for many years and contributed to the high cost of projects.

    “It has taken just 14 months since NAE approached the Board with their Nigerian Content Plan. NAE and NCDMB worked closely and went through the standard contracting process, including invitation to tender, clarifications, technical and commercial bid evaluations and facility audits. We completed the process and issued our final report on August 30.

    “This is confirmation that NCDMB does not delay projects and we can achieve the six-month contract cycle target if operators comply with set directives,” he added.

    Similarly, (SNEPCO) is set to issue bid documents this September for the supply of the FPSO vessel for the Bonga South West Aparo (BSWA) deepwater project. The bid documents will set out the company’s plans for in-country fabrication of half of the topsides of the FPSO and their integration.

    These indications emerged in the September edition of Upstream, an international medium on the oil and gas industry. The report was titled: “Shell set to launch FPSO bid battle.”

    SPDC’s plan was informed by “the strict local content demands imposed by the Abuja-based government. All oversea bidders are expected to partner with Nigerian companies,” it added.

    Shell’s contracting strategy was described as complex and demanding, according to a source, saying that “they have some terms and conditions that are quite different from traditional T&Cs. These are thought to focus on local content and are all about asking the yards to take more risks”.

    Wabote said earlier in the year that more modules would be fabricated locally for future deepwater projects. He said the Board would not rest on its oars with regards to the implementation of the Nigerian Content Act and “new projects must look at doing FPSO integration and more.” Increased domiciliation of future FPSO projects is estimated to create jobs in the economy, estimated to reach 30,000.