L-R; Bayo Ojulari, Senator Albert Bassey, Osagie Okunbor and Ed Ubong at the NIPS Awards Night
–By Olufunke Afolami
It was a long day and a very busy one at the Nigeria Independent Petroleum Summit (NIPS) which was held at Abuja. Oil industry operators converged for the NIPS dinner awards that was sponsored by oil giant, Shell.
Shortly after the brief remarks from Osagie Okunbor, Country Chair and Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) on the activities of the company that started oil exploration and production in Nigeria, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, asserted thus, “anybody that says that Nigeria has not come a long way in the oil industry doesn’t really know the story of the industry in Nigeria. For those of us who grew up in the Niger Delta, we grew up in the middle of activity in the industry.”
Sylva stated further, “And I remember as a very young lad that those days our relationship with the industry was when especially Shell in that area will come and shoot their seismic or drill their wells and sometimes a whole village will be empty to go and watch what was going on. Very able-bodied men and old men will drop whatever they are doing and just watch what was going on. It was like magic. They will say in my language ‘appo’ all these ‘oyibo’ people that was our only contact with the industry, we were not part of it at all. We were spectators.”
The minister said there were some down sides of oil exploration in the Niger Delta then. He gave a short memorable story of how people were so ignorant about the industry. “Till today, I still know of one man who became blind. He became blind because there was an oil spill and the story around the village was that crude oil was very medicinal and they didn’t know that oil spill was a bad thing. Everybody went with bottles and scooped the crude oil from the water and put it in their bottles and they did everything with it.”
He added, “this boy that became blind was ill and somebody, a wise archer went and told the mother that the way to cure it was to put drop of crude oil in his eyes and he became blind. Today he is an old man but he is still blind.”
Presently, according to Sylva, today in-country, Nigerians are part of the oil industry and has come a long way with indigenous participation while attaining certain aspect in terms of production.
The minister congratulated awardees and reiterated that those who were awarded for their contributions to the industry is equivalent to having a national honour adding that the oil industry is the main stay of the country’s economy. “If the oil industry recognizes you and awards you, then it is Nigeria that is recognizing you.”
Awards for excellence and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as an International Oil Company (IOC) went to Shell companies in Nigeria. In terms of CSR, Shell is a truly corporate citizen of the country with many sponsorships especially in education transcending every level.
The indigenous company for CSR went to Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc. Just like its IOC counterpart Shell, Seplat is an indigenous leading company in CSR with focus on education and other activities.
The awards for excellence in environmental sustainability, for the IOC went to Chevron Nigeria Limited while the indigenous aspect went to AMNI Petroleum Development Company Limited. Both companies are known for environmental sustainability.
Local company of the year 2020 was given to MG Vowgas Limited, the company has one of the biggest fabrication yards which is indigenously owned. It has been operating in the industry for a decade. The refinery project of the year award was given to Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited; the company is building a marginal refinery at the Ibigwe field in Imo state and will soon be commissioned. The oil and gas transaction of the year went to Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited. The Train 7 project has commenced since the FID is concluded.
The industry supplier of the year 2020 was awarded to Future Concerns Nigeria Limited while future industry leader was given to Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited. The E&P company of the year 2020 was won by Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), as subsidiary of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
On the best downstream and midstream company of the year 2019, the award went to OVH Energy while the engineering company of the year was given to SAIPEM Contracting, Nigeria Limited.
The initiative and vision of NIPS started from Dr. Yemi Esan who was the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources. At present, Dr. Esan is the Head of Service of the federation and she was awarded for her dedication to service and the role she played for the success of NIPS. Other awards were also won by various oil companies.
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