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Wabote at GOCOP: Breaking down the gains and pains of Nigeria’s local oil and gas development
It was meant to be another interactive session, one in the series of what has underscored the robust partnership between the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).
Date was October 3, 2023, venue, the Ladi Kwali Conference Room of the Abuja Continental Hotel,Again. Again it was another opportunity for the top echelon of the NCDMB, a body, which since its establishment, in 2010, has become the engine room of boosting the involvement of indigenous operators in the oil and gas business and development in Nigeria and members of GOCOP, currently the highest authoritative voice of journalism practice in the country, to engage in not only promoting the ideal behind the Federal Government initiative, but emphasise the implication of the impact of its attaining its goal as a major catalyst for the Nigerian economy.
Listening to Simbi Wabote, Executive Secretary of NCDMB, who since his appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) on the 29th of September 2016, had pursued his brief with uncommon gusto rarely found among public officials, presented a fresh insightful and incisive foray into one of Nigeria’s most critical sectors that holds the key as a crucial hub and engine of growth in the nation’s economy.
With a 25 years in the business of oil development in Nigeria, Wabote, who was before his appointment, Executive Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Nigeria Limited and the General Manager Business and Government Relations for Shell Companies in Nigeria (SCiN), could be no less expressive.
Like a teacher holding a class, he practically broke down the entire spectrum of the development to its bits and pieces, odds and ends of the issues surrounding the ups and downs as well as the gains and pains of the critical sector.
At the event and as in the past, the NCDMB boss, never left his audience in doubt that he is on top of his game not only in the agency, but has both a hands-on knowledge of how its operations could lead to the waking up of the sleeping giant that is the Nigerian economy, but the passion to do so.
As usual his top-notch account of the development of the agency so far, was captivating as it was enthralling for revealing the great potentials the nation has at its disposal. Yet, some of his revelations, left a sour taste in the mouth by underscoring the negative flipside of the situation to emphasise the reason Nigeria is still struggling even with the huge potentials of being an A-list player in the global economy.
It was a bitter-sweet tale. Of course Wabote reported how he and his team, had by dint of hardwork, grown the agency to its present status, in collaboration with stakeholders in the oil and gas industry, including the media.
Imagine a situation where Nigerians now own a whopping 15 per cent of the oil operations in the country from a zero start just few years ago. Anyone with the littlest knowledge of what that entails in terms of money and infrastructure buildup would appreciate the reason Wabote and his men would beat their chests in celebration.
Of course, the ease of doing business in the sector, which NCDMB has promoted during the period, seems one of the major reasons for achieving the feat. It has even become better now and would become more so with the Service Level Agreement (SLA) the agency had recently signed with key entities in the Nigerian oil and gas industry, meant to up its game in terms of speed.
Wabote explains: “We initiated this concept in 2017 to shorten the contracting cycle in the Nigerian oil and gas industry from an uncertain two to three-year period to six months.
“Our goal was to spur the speedy development of new oil and gas projects, ensure compliance with the provisions of the Nigerian Content Act, and guarantee timely approvals of Nigerian Content documents.
“Our objectives were also to facilitate ease of doing business, set new standards of quality service delivery in the public and private sectors and provide evidence that the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) is not a mere regulator, but essentially a Business Enabler.”
Another raison d’être, is to pick up where the foreign majors are dropping off to ensure a seamless takeover that would make oil production continue without let or hindrance or make them less so. This is evident in the onshore and semi offshore operations, where the oil majors are currently divesting.
Wabote made glaring disclosure with the present situation of the low production in the country, which had put many stakeholders and concerned citizens in Nigeria in great anguish. Not a few of them had bemoaned the fact that Nigeria is probably the only oil-producing country in the world that is not smiling to the banks as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war that has seen a quantum leap in both the price and high level of production approved by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), due to the minimal role Moscow now plays in the industry.
He explained that the situation could even be more dire if Nigerians failed to fill the gap being created by oil majors, departing the scene and divesting their operations. According to him, the operators are finding it less attractive to invest in the offshore and shallow onshore regions for various reasons, thus making it imperative for Nigerian players to step in not as the only major way of provoking continued strong economic growth, but supporting President Bola Tinubu achieve the economic policies in his Renewed Hope Agenda.
Hear him: “Contrary to the popular view, the unfortunate stealing of our crude oil by vandals is not the only reason for Nigeria’s low production numbers and the decrease in our foreign exchange earnings.
“Our nation’s production deficit is partly caused by the lack of major investments in the past decade, declining oil production from aging oil fields, and the clamour for energy transition which caused international oil companies to cut back on new projects.
“There is also the emergence of attractive oil-producing nations in Africa and across the globe, leading to intense competition for investment capital. These challenges were exacerbated by our inexplicable delay in the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act and of course the long contracting cycle time.”
Indeed, NCDMB boss explained that virtually all African countries are now discovering oil on their soil, unlike the situation in the past and due to the competition on ground entailed by the development, offering mouth-watering options to international oil majors who are biting at the bait.
It was against this backdrop that the NCDMB worked tirelessly to ensure the coming of the SLA, Wabote, said, adding that it was a bold steps to cut down time in all our touchpoints during pre-qualification, bidding, and award stages of the oil and gas tenders, starting with Nigeria LNG Ltd in June 2017.
“That SLA with the Nigeria LNG was the first of its kind between a regulator and another entity in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. The implementation ensured that we broke a record for the shortest contract approval period.
“Before we instituted the SLA, we had already introduced the 15-DAY Rule to the industry in 2017, where we promised that we would respond within 15 working days to any formal request for approvals that relate to oil industry projects execution. The 15-Day Rule also permitted operators to go ahead with their projects if we fail to respond to their request after 15 days.
“As further proof of our commitment to a short contracting cycle, we achieved a 14-month contract approval record on the Zabazaba and Etan deepwater project which was promoted by the Nigerian Agip Exploration, in partnership with SNEPCo. We had accomplished this record before the project was suspended due to non-technical reasons.
“We are extremely delighted that our SLA template has been adopted across the entire oil and gas industry through the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Service Level Agreement (SLA) we signed last week with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPC Ltd) and five international oil-producing companies. Other participating companies in the SLA included Shell Petroleum Development Company, ExxonMobil, Chevron Nigeria, Nigerian Agip Exploration and Total Exploration and Production Nigeria,” he said.
The NCDMB boss also informed his audience that the agency created a separate SLA with the Indigenous Petroleum Producer Group (IPPG), which we signed in October 2018, adding: “Last week’s SLA signing is the climax of the adoption of the initiative and we commend the Management of the NNPC Ltd for their participation.
“With the position of the NNPCL as the senior partner in the joint ventures (JV) and concessionaire of the production sharing contracts (PSC) arrangements, the chances of achieving the six-month target period and other aspirations of the SLA look very bright.”
In fact, he said the theme of the interaction, Sustaining Nigerian Content Amidst Divestments to Indigenous Oil Companies: The Role Of The Media, was well chosen to give insight into the growing profile of Nigerian operating companies, especially the recent acquisitions or planned acquisitions of key assets divested by some international oil companies.
Here, he named Seplat Plc and Oando Plc that had now transformed from from midsized players into big-time operating companies, saying it underscored the new picture and the leaps the local content gospel was attaining.
“Seplat PLC is hoping to conclude the acquisition of the entire share capital of Mobil Producing Unlimited (MPNU) from ExxonMobil Corporation, a deal that would triple Seplat’s production and add 95,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
“Similarly, Eni signed an agreement last month to sell Nigerian Agip Oil Company Ltd to Oando Plc, a deal that will include NAOC’s four onshore blocks, the Okpai 1 and 2 power plants, and two onshore exploration leases. The transaction will double Oando’s reserves to 996 million barrels of oil equivalent.
“What is playing out is the implementation of the oil majors’ strategic move to sell down their onshore assets in Nigeria and concentrate on their offshore operations, where they retain a competitive advantage and contend with minimal human interferences.
“The implication is that we should expect other majors to soon offer their onshore assets for sale, while many other Nigerian independents will have a shoe-in.
“The ongoing and planned divestments are big accomplishments for Nigerian Content development. They are bold statements that Nigerian indigenous operating companies have come of age and have acquired the technical, managerial, and financial capabilities to play in the big league.
“We are proud that we have moved from near zero participation in the oil and gas sector to the point that our indigenous operators such as SEPLAT, AITEO, EROTON, and others are now responsible for 15 per cent of our oil production and 60 per cent of our domestic gas supply.
“With this planned acquisition, the share of local firms in crude oil production could reach 30 per cent or more in a short while. It is heart-warming to see our local operating companies deploy ingenious techniques to double and sometimes triple production volumes from their acquired assets and apply homegrown solutions in addressing host community concerns,” he said.
Wabote, however, explained further that part of the reasons for the divestment of the oil majors in the offshore and shallow onshore arena was not purely because of what many had misconstrued as harsh operating environment, but the discovery of new technologies that made it more rewarding to move deeper into offshore operations, with prospects for less human interference.
The bottomline for making this critical decision of either divestment or continued operation, he said, is rested on Portfolio Rationalisation, centred on the Internal Return on Investment (IRI), a threshold through which operators in the industry measure profitability and sustainability.
Hear him: “A lot of people get worried to say, why are the international oil companies divesting? Is it that they are running away from Nigeria? That’s not the case. In all the oil-producing companies, we have a threshold that determines return on investment – the IRI. Once the IRI falls below that threshold, given their size and their global reach, they would want to divest, because it is no longer profitable for them.
“But to a large extent it is not the same for the indigenous oil operators who still find it profitable because they are nimble in size and their operations are largely localised. This is not peculiar to Nigeria. The Gulf of Mexico and even in the North Sea, where all the majors used to operate, a lot of these assets have been divested to local players. A lot of them have pulled out from those assets because the local players have come of age, they are a lot nimbler and they can turn around those investments and make huge profits. That is the major reason those companies are divesting. But most often than not, we see it differently from other perspectives. Once we see those oil companies divesting, all we conclude is that oil major wants to leave the country. That is not the case.”
Apart from the PR and IRI, other factors such as the global campaign against fossil oil in favour of renewable energy, also plays a major role for the new trend in the operational decisions of the oil majors, he said.
Besides that, he explained that because the International Oil Companies (IOCs), have advantage of deep pocket and technology, they had to adopt the Blue Ocean Strategy, as against that to the Red Ocean, stressing that unlike the latter infested with a lot of shacks struggling for space, since many people now had some form of capacity to produce oil, the Blue Ocean, where it is just the blue sea, the IOCs see it as a more convenient operation arena.
“There is a red ocean and there is the blue ocean. In the red ocean there are a lot of shacks. It is called red because there is blood. Everybody now knows how to drill oil onshore. Everybody now knows how to deal with oil and gas in the shallow offshore. So, there is some kind of entanglement and fight. But when you move to the blue ocean, there is no blood. You just see the blue sea and you want to get there in order to get away from Red Ocean. So, it is not a question of leaving the country. It is a matter of Portfolio Rationalisation.
“You can imagine exploring oil and gas two kilometres deep in the ocean, where humans cannot get to – the maximum as a human diver you can get is six metres. Anything beyond that you cannot stand the pressure. You can imagine that and even 3.5kilometres of water and you are going to the dept to look for oil. That can only be done by people who have the deep pockets and technology to be able to go that far. That is why you see the oil majors by virtue of their deep pockets, their research breakthroughs and their technology that they have attained that are able to go that level of water to look for oil.
“Of course, there is no gainsaying that there a lot of problems offshore in terms of oil theft, massive environmental pollution, local refineries that steal crude to refine. All those are challenges that the IOCs are faced with. So, the best thing is to hand it over to the locals who can deal decisively with some of these challenges and move to the deep ocean where they feel a lot more comfortable.
The positive outcome, Wabote said, could be gleaned in how a production well Shell divested, which initially produced a total of 20,000 barrels of crude, had now upped its capacity to a princely 75,000 barrels, after its acquisition by Seplat. In a similar manner AITEO, which also acquired another platform from an IOC, was able to ramp up production from 30,000 barrels per day to 80,000, even with close to 80 per cent local personnel.
But in the bitter-sweet narrative, Wabote also spoke about how the ubiquitous phenomenon called The Nigerian Factor, had not only crept into the arrangement, but stultifying the progress.
Hear him: “Beyond the positives, it must also be observed that the divestment of producing assets to indigenous players poses significant challenges for the implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act.
“The worries are predicated on research findings and our experience in implementing the NOGICD Act in the past 13 years which indicates that indigenous firms, especially the indigenous operating companies are serial violators of the Nigerian Content Act.
“In many instances, international operators tend to comply with the Nigerian Content because it is in their DNA to obey laws or they have to show evidence of compliance to their home offices. On the contrary, some many indigenous companies feel entitled and assume they can get away with non-compliance. At other times they want to save costs to the detriment of the local economy.
“Some of indigenous have also argued that they should be excluded from the implementation of the NOGICD Act since their primary investors are Nigerians. Some of the common violations by indigenous firms range from executing projects without obtaining prior approvals, non-execution of mandatory Human Capacity Development Initiative (HCDI), Non-Utilization of vendors without approved Nigerian Content Equipment Certificate (NCEC) and Utilization of the services of contractors that are not registered on the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Joint Qualification System Portal (NOGIC JQS) and several other violations.
“Other times, the firms fail to remit their one per cent mandatory Nigerian Oil Content Development Fund and engage expatriates without requisite approvals from the Board or even award contracts to foreign firms, even when other Nigerian companies can execute.
“It is very surprising to see local companies undermine and flout the Nigerian Content Act despite being the immediate beneficiaries of the Nigerian Content policy, thereby causing capital flight, loss of jobs, and opportunity for technological development.”
Commending the indigenous companies gearing up to acquire the divested assets, he reminded all stakeholders of the industry that the provisions of the Nigerian Content cover all entities and all activities connected to the Nigerian oil and gas industry adding that the board would continue to study the changing ownership dynamics in the industry, and partner with the industry stakeholders to institute regulations that will ensure that the increasing footprints and stakes of indigenous production companies will not lead to a reduction in Nigerian content compliance and participation of Nigerians in the industry.
Soliciting more support from the media, especially GOCOP, to continue advocacy for Nigerian Content compliance by all stakeholders of the industry. Wabote, maintained that Nigerian Content implementation remained a marathon, and we will require all hands on deck to ensure that the benefits of the oil and gas industry is retained maximally in Nigeria.
The records show that the giant strides the organisation and its men are making are not in vain, given the recognitions they had received in recent times, including the award by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) as the most efficient agency among all the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of the Federal Government in 2022.
While the body was also rated PLATINUM by the Bureau for Public Service Reforms in recognition of the self-imposed reforms of our processes, Wabote himself was honoured in October 2022 by former President Muhammed Buhari with the “Distinguished Capacity Development Award” at the Nigeria Excellence Award in Public Service (NEAPS).
“These awards have challenged us to redouble our efforts to deepen Nigerian Content in the oil and gas industry and the linkage sectors and to continue to contribute to the growth of our national economy,” Wabote had told his audience.
In the end, it was a case of preaching to the converted. Maureen Chigbo, President of the organisation, assured Wabote and his men that the group would do anything and everything within its powers not only to project the ideals of NCDMB, but ensure that defaulters are held accountable.
By Sunny Igboanugo
That the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), has become the new face of journalism in Nigeria, is no longer an issue for debate. It has become a definite, constant and acceptable fact over the years, when it took the centrestage in providing a new impetus for the practice in the country by aligning itself to the emerging global best practices of the profession.
What is new is that the body is also proving itself as a formidable platform for shaping information, thoughts and ideas, critical not only to pulling Nigeria out of the muddy pit in which it appears to have sunk in recent times, but providing the planks, which nailed together would create the platform for its quantum leap into the future.
In other words, GOCOP, has become a bastion for the stimulus to the New Nigeria that has crept into and remained in the national consciousness quite recently. That much was confirmed last week when the body assembled in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital. It was the eighth edition of the Yearly GOCOP conference, which began few years after the founding of the body, by a group of practitioners in the online news platforms – who keyed-in to the emerging media practice that has since grown to dominate the world.
Initially, the idea for the formation of the group was to streamline the operation of practitioners to ensure that members – all well-established journalists – not only deviated from the suffusing bad-practices that non-professionals, rookies and outright fraudsters had introduced into the business, but took charge to ensure strict professional ethics as well as share intelligence, including business information on the realities of the new media platform.
That much has since been achieved by not only ensuring the strict and tall criteria set for admitting its membership – intending members must have spent at least 10 years in core journalism, have established office with a compliment of at least three staff, etc – but maintaining adequate monitoring mechanism to guarantee standard.
With that in the kitty and keeping to the ethics and maintaining standard no longer an issue, the group has since moved into the next stage of agenda setting – in itself, a critical component of the media functions. Over the years, the group has hosted many prominent Nigerians from all segments of the economy where information is not only shared internally but projected externally all geared towards national development and how to wake the sleeping giant many people have likened Nigeria as.
So, for four days – October 1 – the day of arrival to October 4 – departure – the 104-member body converged on beautiful city of Lokoja, capital of Kogi State for yet, another attempt at National Discourse to find the best answers to the National Question. Venue was the Reverton Hotels in the heart of the city, in a state that is said to be currently rediscovering itself as the base of Nigeria’s historic beginning.
Recall that Lokoja, once housed Fredrick Lugard, the British Lord and administrator, who provided the needle and thread with which Nigeria, hitherto, a conglomeration of divergent ethnic tongues, values and cultures, was knitted together, and therefore is ascribed a special place in the history of the country, with all the relics and structures, still evident till date.
Usman Ododo, Governor of Kogi State, made no pretenses over his recourse to this historic fact in his detailed account on how he is determined to make the state not only a cynosure of eyes but a demonstrable pivotal base to mimic in Nigeria’s road to self-discovery. In his time in office, he promised to restore the state as the home of tourism in Nigeria and an economic hub, using all the natural infrastructures – those either buried in the ground, provided by nature or built by human hands.
Praising President Bola Ahmed Tinubu profusely, Ododo told his audience: Kogi State is not joining protests to end bad governance in the country because we are seeing the impact of Mr President’s administration and his economic policies. Our administration has hit the ground running on road infrastructure development, investment in food production.
This is where we are doing our protests through mechanised farming with the view to bringing down the high costs of food in the state. Our administration in the state is all inclusive regardless of tribe and religion, among other fault lines. This government is the people’s government. We are silently turning things round in the state. We have signed up for the open government partnership. We are working to ensure that the resources of Kogi state work for the people of the state.”
Details of these, the governor provided in his several literatures, which were distributed to the GOCOP members and his speech to flag open the conference. Represented by Salifu Joel, his deputy, he was emphatic that Kogi was on the path to rediscovery in the Nigerian essence and true growth and prosperity.
This position was emphasised by Olorunfemi Kingsley Fanwo Commissioner for Information and Communication when he promised an encore next year to showcase how the state would have transformed in its journey to recreate itself as the bedrock of Nigerian rejuvenation. “You’re going to come back next year for us to show you what we mean when we say that Kogi would become the nation’s centre of attraction,” he told the visitors at a dinner organised for the GOCOP members to end the conference.
But that was at the subnational level. Beyond that was the issues that took the centre-stage, which were captured in the theme: Nigeria: Tackling Insecurity, Power Deficit, And Transitioning To Digital Economy, issues believed to be at the core of the current parlous state of affairs in the country. For more than 15 hours that were spent on the subject matters, in the two days the parley lasted, Tukur Buratai, former Chief of Army Staff, Liyel Ikoke, former Chairman of the Power Sector Technical Board of former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, and Aminu Maida, Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC-CEO), Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC), all provided key insider information on the need-to-do basis, for Nigeria to rise from the bottomless pit despair and engage the gear for a jet-like leap into the future.
With Yusuf Mammam, former Nigerian Ambassador to Spain as Chairman, Rotimi Ajayi, a Professor in the Department of Political Science, Federal University Lokoja and Debrah Ogazuma, Edutainment Communicator and Veteran Broadcaster, dissected the papers as lead discussants.
One key feature of this year’s edition, was the introduction of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), in which the GOCOP President led members on a visit to two orphanage homes – Margaret Garba Ohiani Orphanage/Less Privileged Home and Rehoboth Children’s Homes, in Lokoja, during which various food items were donated.
By the time the parley rose on the evening of Thursday, October 3, a new set of templates have been reached through the gleaning and extensive discussions on the papers presented from Buratai, who spoke on the crisis of insecurity that is threatening to overwhelm the country in the last decade and more, Imoke, who spoke on the decades-old intractable power supply malaise and Maina, who pointed to the limitless benefits of the digital economy, it was clear that like in the past, a surgical operation had been performed to discover the nation’s main afflictions.
Observations and projections from the event:
Security:
Since Nigeria returned to democracy 25 years ago, we have been experiencing security challenges ranging from Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, separatist agitations to Niger Delta militancy. These security challenges have no doubt impacted negatively on the Nigerian economy thus, causing economic hardships on the citizens. The Conference notes that poverty and high unemployment rate which is close to about 40% today are major factors contributing to insecurity across the country.
It notes weak governance, inconsistent government policies and widespread corruption in the security forces as factors leading to compromising efforts in tackling insecurity effectively. The Conference acknowledges the federal government’s efforts in significantly degrading the Boko Haram insurgency through the use of technology and intelligence, and notes however, that insurgent attacks have continued unabated, especially in the north-east region.
The Conference therefore, calls for decentralization of security by granting state governments greater control over local security forces so as to improve regional responses to insecurity. It further advocates the urgent need to strengthen our local security architecture through Community Policing, which will no doubt improve intelligence gathering, foster trust between security forces and communities, and ensure a more proactive response to local threats.
The Conference stresses the need for increased funding for Security Agencies, while emphasizing the need to reduce corruption in the procurement process so as to ensure judicious use of available resources. To address the root causes of banditry, kidnapping, and farmer-herder conflicts, the government should implement development initiatives targeting rural poverty and job creation.
The Conference opines that tackling insecurity effectively depends largely on political will and the right leaders that will see corruption as evil and confront it frontally. It therefore charges members of GOCOP to take interest in interrogating the governance process that will ensure that committed and sincere leaders emerge to pilot the affairs of the country.
The Conference realizes that there is a corollary relationship between poverty and insecurity. Hence, it calls for specific economic empowerment programs targeting the youths such as entrepreneurship training, and access to financing for small and medium enterprises, SMEs.
POWER DEFICIT:
In Nigeria, electricity supply remains one of the most significant constraints to economic growth despite several power reforms that have been introduced since 1999 by successive governments. The Conference laments that despite huge resources that have been expended on electricity generation and distribution, Nigeria can only manage to deliver 4,000 to 5,000 megawatts.
It notes that Nigeria’s per capita electricity consumption which is around 150 to 200 kWh per year, is too low compared to other African countries and only reflects challenges in electricity access, infrastructure, and supply. On the way forward in addressing Nigeria’s power deficit, the Conference enjoins conscious efforts aimed at diversifying generation capacity through investment that guarantees expansion of the gas pipeline network, to ensure more stable gas supply to power plants.
The Conference identifies the need to diversify Nigeria’s energy mix by increasing the share of renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and small hydropower projects that could provide electricity to areas that are not well-served by the grid. It observes that the current transmission system is not working hence, calls for the unbundling of the Transmission Company of Nigeria to allow greater private sector involvement in the transmission network.
The Conference advises the government to encourage more private sector investment in the power sector by creating a more stable and predictable regulatory environment to attract long-term investments. It notes that this is achievable if the government could stick to agreed contracts, reduce political interference, and ensure a transparent regulatory process.
Transition to Digital Economy:
The significant gains recorded through liberalisation of the telecommunications sector in 2001 notwithstanding, Nigeria still lags behind in digital infrastructure, digital literacy, and the adoption of digital technologies in government and business processes.
The Conference notes that transitioning to a Digital Economy remains a major challenge for the country due to inadequate broadband penetration and unreliable internet services. It observes further that despite the fact that Nigeria boasts a young and dynamic population, digital literacy remains low, limiting the ability of the workforce to participate in the global digital economy.
The Conference agrees that Nigeria’s transition to a digital economy holds immense potential for transforming its economic landscape, creating jobs, and driving inclusive growth. Therefore, to fast-track this transition, the Conference calls on the government to prioritize infrastructure development, digital literacy, favourable regulations, and indigenous innovation.
It also advises that the government should address challenges such as poor internet access, regulatory uncertainty, and cybersecurity risks, noting that opportunities in fintech, e-commerce, agritech, and digital services present significant growth potential for Nigeria. The Conference lauds GOCOP for promoting responsible online publishing devoid of fake news, and urges its members to continue to discharge their responsibilities with patriotism.
GOCOP also charges its members to key into the various digital platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to promote their products or services and engage more with their audiences. GOCOP thanks the Executive Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Usman Ododo, members of the State Executive Council and the good people of the state for providing the necessary facilities that made the hosting of the 8th annual conference of the Guild a huge success. GOCOP reiterates its commitment to continue to promote ethical and professional journalism, foster collaboration as well as advocate for the interests of online publishers in Nigeria.
Maureen Chigbo, incumbent President, who had acknowledged the great work and achievements of the body through its progressions under Mojeed Muskilu, the pioneer President, Dotun Oladipo, his successor, had ended her welcome address by noting that: “Like a river will wash away all the stress of the last year and energise us to forge ahead with our businesses successfully until we meet again in October 2025.”
She had also acknowledged the numerous individuals and entities that contributed in the successes of the event, such as the Olufemi Soneye of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Horatius Egua, Director, Special Duty at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the managements of Dangote Group, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Sovereign Trust Insurance PLC, among others.
As the members packed their bags to depart their rooms and head back to their individual bases across the country, one central thought was evident – GOCOP, which began as an idea of a few people, has like the tiny mustard seed grown to huge tree to provide homes for all manner of habitations that speaks on the nation’s diversity, the manure to nurture all the plants representing its myriad ideas and the vibrant voice in its ecosystem to project the idea of a New Nation.
Kogi, was good. Lokoja was the first to host the event outside Lagos and Abuja. By identifying and striking a symbiotic relationship with GOCOP, Ododo, has proved his vision, foresight as well as determination not only to lay bay his government to public glare, but to project his state into the future. From the confluence of ideas in the Confluence State, who knows who next?
For the first time since the video of Adams Oshiomhole taunting her for being “childless” Betsy Obaseki, wife of Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has come out with full reply to the former governor and her husband’s predecessor, over the comment, which has raised a lot of dust across the country with echoes as far as the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Against the backdrop of reports that Remi Tinubu, wife of President Bola Tinubu, who was said to have been rankled with the statement, actually summoned Oshiomhole, former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Edo First Lady, on Saturday, rejected the tag of being barren, stating that she indeed had multiple miscarriages and stillbirths.
She told a group of 200 Edo women living outside the country, in a live video during a zoom meeting that everyone was created by God for a purpose, advising childless women to see themselves not as barren but as fruitful, potential and proud mothers of children that would come in God’s time, citing herself as an example.
Speaking alongside Ifeyinwa Ighodalo, wife of Esua Ighodalo, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, she reminded women, Obaseki also shared a message of encouragement for women who, like herself, had faced the pain of miscarriages and stillbirths, urging them not to feel discouraged or defined by their losses.
Hear her: “I dare to call you fruitful. You and I are potential and proud mothers of children that will come in God’s time. Enjoy the life God has given you. My words of comfort to you, like myself, who have conceived and experienced miscarriages, painful stillbirths, and evacuations of babies who died in our wombs is that everyone was created by God for a purpose.
“And as a result, have no children to show for the pain we have endured; you are not barren. Take your mind off your challenge, and before you know it, children will start coming. My contributions to the society are far greater than just being a mother. Being fruitful is not limited to childbearing but about impacting lives and creating positive change in the society. There is no point in feeling bad. Women can fulfill God’s purpose in many ways beyond motherhood.”
By Sunny Igboanugo
On Thursday, June 20, 2024, President Bola Tinubu announced Hashimu Argungu as the new Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC). He is the sixth in the present dispensation, as the Chairman of the body, which history dates back to the 1957 Constitutional Conference, otherwise known as the Willinck Minorities Report, with the main objective of achieving ethnic balance in the structure and characterisation of the Nigerian Police.
Since returning to civilian rule in 1999, Nigeria has seen five other PSC Chairmen – Simon Okeke, appointed by Olusegun Obasanjo, in 2001, Parry Osayande, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), appointed in 2010 by Goodluck Jonathan, then President, Mike Okiro, Musilu Smith, and Solomon Arase, who all retired as Inspectors General of Police (IGPs). While Okiro was also appointed by Jonathan, Smith and Arase, were both appointed by Muhammadu Buhari in 2018 and 2023 respectively.
Argungu, is therefore the first PSC boss appointed by Tinubu. Whatever prompted the President to name the retired super cop as his choice to manage this strategic body, created for the recruitment of police personnel and more specifically, the reward and punishment of senior police officers in Nigeria from the ranks of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), and above, the result has shown that it is a good pick.
Indications have shown that the PSC boss is proving by the day that he did not only pass through the police institution in his 32-year service, but the institution also passed through him, as his words, actions and deeds showcase him as not only having a hands-on understanding of his environment, but possesses the magic lamp, from which he could spring the genie that solves very knotty problems, even those that have defied his predecessors.
Picture this! Since 2018, when Buhari, then President, gave his nod for the recruitment of 60,000 constables into the police force – 10,000 each year for six years, only 10,000 are said to have gone through the process successfully. The rest exercises have been mired in one controversy or the other, as a result of the infighting between the two super powers in the police structure in the country.
Take the latest effort as a test-case. For about six years now, the thorny issue of the recruitment of these junior police personnel, had seen Argungu’s predecessors and past IGPs, on a war-path over the modalities for conducting the exercise.
Recently, precisely on June 15, 2024, authorities of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), shot down another effort in this regard when it roundly rejected a recruitment exercise embarked upon by the PSC, after a Supreme Court judgement, which clearly stated that it was within the purview of the commission to recruit personnel for the force.
In a statement announcing the decision, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) and spokesman of the force, said: “This became necessary upon being inundated with a series of complaints and allegations of corruption raised by unsuspecting candidates and stakeholders on the irregularities that marred the exercise most especially the disappearance of the names of screened candidates who were successful to the last stage.
“Upon careful scrutiny of the list released on the Police Service Commission portal, it was discovered that several names of persons purported to be names of successful candidates are those who did not even apply and therefore did not take part in the recruitment exercise.
“The published list contains several names of candidates who failed either the Computer Based Test (CBT) or the physical screening exercise or both. There are those who made it to the last stage of the exercise but were disqualified, having been found medically unfit through the standardised medical test but who also made the list of successful candidates as published by the PSC. Most worrisome is the allegation of financial dealings and corrupt practices leading to the outcome where unqualified and untrainable individuals have been shortlisted.”
But in a prompt pushback, the PSC accused the police of flagrant abuse of ethics, the Constitution and valid judgment of the apex court of the land, demanding clear and verifiable evidence of the claim of fraud in the exercise, while indicating that there was no going back on its decision regarding the existing list.
Ikechukwu Ani, its spokesman, while conveying the commission’s position, regretted, in a statement on June 21, 2024 that since 2019, when a former Inspector General of Police hijacked the soft copy of an ongoing recruitment exercise and forcefully completed the exercise without the input of the Commission – the statutory body solely charged with such responsibility, the Commission has not been allowed to perform this constitutional duty.
“The Commission has at every turn suffered several indignities in its attempt to perform functions provided to it by the Constitution even after the Supreme Court decided the matter in its favour. This show of brute force and intimidation by the Police and most recently inducements of hired writers to run down the Commission in the Media is a serious affront on the mandate of the Commission,” the statement, said.
Dismissing the allegation and accusing the NPF of reluctance to abide by the decisions of the apex court, he added: “The Commission demands that the Police should provide verifiable evidence to prove the allegations peddled against it as it is obvious that it is a case of giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it. It is important to state that due process was meticulously followed throughout the exercise and the Commission wishes to assert its prerogative to exercise full control over recruitments into the Nigeria Police Force.”
According to him, even when the verdict of the court gave no role to the police over the matter, the PSC “in its wisdom, invited relevant stakeholders into a Board for the recruitment exercise to ensure inclusiveness and transparency. This magnanimity has since been misconstrued. It is relevant to state that the judgment and even the Constitution did not give the Police any role in the recruitment of any cadre of Officers into the Police Force.”
He added: “It is unfortunate that the Police has attributed its obvious failure to protect lives and properties, and safeguard our nation from banditry and terrorism to bad recruitment. This claim is self-indicting and provocative. Since 2019 when the Police forcefully snatched the exercise from the Commission, they have gone ahead against the provisions of the law to Superintendent over the 2020 and 2021 exercises. It is the fraudulent Recruits they brought into the system during these exercises that are currently haunting the Nigeria Police Force.”
However, like the gentle breeze after a tempest, tempers seem to have been cooled and the storm appears to be over, as the NPF has since decided to let go of the fight and both parties, have now decided to be on the same page, after a meeting of the IGP team and that of the PSC boss with Minister of Police Affairs, Ibrahim Gaidam.
On Tuesday, July 30, 2024, Adejobi was again on song, when he broke the good news that the police had accepted the list citing an agreement between the Kayode Egbetokun, who replaced Arase, who was removed few days after the imbroglio and Argungu. Adejobi’s statement on the truce between the IGP and the PSC boss, both of them lawyers, thus confirmed the statement of the PSC through Ani a day earlier that training for the new recruits would commence on August 10.
The police spokesman, said: “The Nigeria Police Force and the Police Service Commission have finally reached an agreement regarding the final merit list for the recruitment of police constables into the Nigeria Police Force. Following extensive deliberations and collaboration, both the NPF and the PSC have worked diligently to ensure that the recruitment process remains transparent, fair, and merit-based.
“The Inspector General of Police expressed satisfaction with the outcome, stating that the agreement on the final merit list is a testament to the commitment of both the Nigeria Police Force and the Police Service Commission to work together in the best interest of the country.”
What is the implication of this? The import could be gleaned from the words of Godswill Akpabio, Senate President, on Thursday, July 12, 2024, when he bemoaned the damage the feud had caused to the nation, during the appearance of Argungu at the Red Chambers for confirmation of his appointment.
Hear him: “In the last two years, we probably would have had an additional 20,000 Nigerians into the Nigerian Police Force, but unfortunately, as a result of personality clashes, the issues went as far as the Supreme Court. Whether withdrawn or not withdrawn, this Police Service Commission we have just cleared today, and the office of the Inspector-General of Police should be cautioned to take the interest of Nigerians into consideration and the security of this nation uppermost and not their interest and work harmoniously toward the realisation of Mr President’s vision that Nigerians should be allowed to sleep with their eyes closed.”
With the latest development, it appears that the words of the Senate President have struck the right chord. In that respect, much accolades must be given to Argungu. Armed with a masters degree in law and an alumnus of the prestigious Nigeria Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), the former DIG in charge of the Legal Department of the Nigerian Police Headquarters, Louis Edet House, Abuja, who is also equipped with a 32-year-core competency experience in policing, seems fully prepared. Is this therefore the beginning of a new thing in the PSC?
For as Akpabo, observed, much is dependent on the smooth relationship between the police and the commission in terms of giving Nigerians the environment they need to sleep with two eyes closed? Does Argungu succeeding where his predecessors failed indicate a step towards this path? The nation waits!
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