Business
Nigeria To Revive Six Fertilizer Plants
The Nigeria Government is to revive six fertilizer blending plants before the end of the year, through the Infrastructure Unit of its Sovereign Wealth Fund.
The Managing Director of Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Mr Uche Orji, disclosed this on Monday, in Abuja, when the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, paid him a working visit.
Orji said that the six plants set for revival across the country would bring the total number of operational fertilizer blending plants to 17.
He said the project was done through the Fertiliser Initiative Programme of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, which was conceived to make the commodity available to farmers at cheaper rate.
The NSIA boss disclosed that since the inception of the programme in December 2016, the authority had delivered more than six million bags of fertilizer below market price to farmers.
Specifically, he said a bag of fertilizer which hitherto sold between N11,500 and N13,000 had been brought down to N5,500 per bag since the beginning of the year.
He added that more than 50,000 jobs had been created by “rehabilitating 11 fertiliser blending plants which were either producing below capacity or moribund’’.
“The programme has saved the government more than N60 billion in subsidy in 2017, as government used to subsidise fertilizer up to the tune of N6,000 per bag.
“The programme has also saved the government foreign exchange through the introduction of local contents in fertilizer blending,’’ he said.
Orji said that the feat was achieved through the local sourcing of two of the four major raw materials for ferltiliser blending.
“You need four materials for fertilizer blending which were hitherto imported, Phosphate, Limestone, Urea and Potash.
“Urea and limestone which accounts for 65 per cent of the raw materials are in abundance in Nigeria while phosphate and potash are what we need to import.
“However, what had happened before now was that all the four raw materials were imported.
“NSIA was therefore invited to work with the Fertiliser Blenders Association of Nigeria in a committee chaired by Jigawa governor.
“So far, we have produced and sold six million bags across the country at the lower rate,’’ he said.
He said that the target of the NSCIA was to revive all the 28 fertiliser blending plants in the country.
According to Orji, the retail price is boldly written on the fertilizer bags with a telephone number for whistle blowing in case of sharp practices by racketeers.
Orji said that NSIA was set up in 2012, as an agency to build a saving base for the country, enhance development of the nation infrastructure as well as provide stabilisation support in times of economic stress.
“The NSIA has three Funds; Stabilisation Fund which holds 20 per cent of the Agency’s asset; Future Generation Fund which holds 40 per cent of the asset and Infrastructure Fund which also holds 40 per cent of the asset.
“The stabilisation fund and the future generation fund are mostly invested outside the country while the infrastructure fund is invested in Nigeria,’’ he said.
The minister commended the Authority for its intervention in the critical sector of the economy through the Infrastructure Fund.
He underscored the need for the NSIA to place priority attention on making public its activities to correct the erroneous impression that the Authority was only to access fund.
Mohammed also assured the management that the Federal Government was addressing the challenges of rail infrastructure which would help in the transportation of fertilizer and its raw materials across the country.
The Board stated this in a statement released by its Corporate Communications Directorate to newsmen, recently, during the inauguration of 140 trainees for the Train 7 Project.
The trainees had undergone the Nigerian Content Human Capacity Development (NC-HCD) programme it organised in partnership with the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
The Tide gathered that the training programme was an intensive three-month Advanced NC-HCD Programme for the US$5 billion NLNG Train 7 Project on Bonny Island, Rivers State.
The trainees, The Tide further learnt are graduates in different academic disciplines who have completed a 12-month Basic Training Programme in diverse oil-and-gas-industry-related skill sets and are now set for an on-the-job phase which includes active hands-on participation in operational areas such as Turn Around Maintenance (TAM), Commissioning, and Desktop Programmes.
The Corporate Communications Directorate of the NCDMB told The Tide that in November 2024, a set of 331 trainees under Batch A of the NLNG T7 HCD Training Programme began capacity development in facility management, engineering, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Health Safety and Environment (HSE), Quality Assurance and Quality Control, as well as welding and fabrication.
According to the Board, additional 77 trainees under Batch B of the same Training Programme began capacity development in data analytics and supply chain management among several other fields relevant to the operations of the oil and gas industry.
While addressing the trainees and trainers who were drawn from the Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN), Management Personnel of the NCDMB and NLNG, the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr Felix Omatsola Ogbe, said the Advanced NC-HCD training is more than a milestone.
“The NC-HCD training programme is an expression of the collective commitment of the Board and the NLNG to nurturing world-class Nigerian professionals who will shape the future of our oil and gas industry.
“The Board has remained steadfast in its conviction that Human Capital Development is a critical investment in the sustainability and competitiveness of Nigeria’s oil and gas value chain”, the NCDMB boss said.
He said the situation has resulted in widened knowledge gaps and operational challenges.
As a globally regulated sector, he said it was important that stakeholders put measures in place to attract the talents required to move the industry forward.
Keyamo, therefore, called on stakeholders in the industry to be deliberate in identifying, encouraging, nurturing and harvesting young talents to ensure a sustainable supply of manpower to the aviation sector.
Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection of the FAAN, Mrs Obiageli Orah, in a release made available to aviation correspondents, noted that the Minister deemed it necessary to attract the right quality of human resources required to move the sector forward.
“As a globally regulated sector, it is important that stakeholders put measures in place to continually attract the right quality and quantity of human resources required to move the industry forward.
“It is important to note that organising training programmes are avenues through which we can breed, nurture, and harvest such human resources.
“One of the critical challenges facing the industry is the ageing and retiring workforce, leading to widened knowledge gaps and operational issues.
“Training programmes, I believe, is among other things designed to make aviation appealing to the younger generation, while encouraging them to develop interest in taking up a career in the industry”, the statement stated.
Meanwhile, some aviation stakeholders have expressed concerns of countless young Nigerians who seek to make their mark in aviation, tourism, and the wider transport ecosystem but often face steep barriers to entry.
According to them, lack of access, limited mentorship, financial constraints, skill mismatches, and systemic gaps, among others, have posed some constraints to them.
The Tide gathered that by the appointment, Ogbe becomes Nigeria’s representative on the Board of the 18-member continental body, which has its headquarters at Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo.
Ogbe was picked for this role by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who doubles as the Chairman of the NCDMB Governing Council.
The notice of the Executive Secretary’s appointment was conveyed in a congratulatory letter signed by the Director of Support Services, APPO, Mrs. Philomena Ikoko, on behalf of the Secretary-General of the organisation, Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim.
She applauded the NCDMB boss on the confidence reposed in him by the Minister, expressing her belief that he would make immense contributions to the development of the African oil and gas industry.
Mrs Ikoko stated that Ogbe was joining the Executive Board of APPO at a challenging time for the oil and gas industry, especially in Africa.
“Your appointment is a major call to duty for Nigeria and the continent. The secretariat will give you the support you will need to make a success of your assignment”, she said.
According to a statement by the Directorate of Corporate Communications and Zonal Coordination, the NCDMB played key roles in catalysing the operations of APPO and the development of local content in Africa.
The statement added that the board was providing institutional support and mentorship to several oil producing countries in their formulation of local content policies.
“The NCDMB initiated the African Local Content Roundtable (ALCR) and hosted the inaugural edition in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state, in June 2021, and the event was attended by key officials of APPO and other oil industry players.
“The idea for the Africa Energy Bank (AEB) was mooted by NCDMB’s officials at the event, as one of the strategies that would accelerate the growth of the African oil and gas industry and deepen local content.
“The Board also collaborated with APPO to host subsequent editions of the African Local Content Roundtable (ALCR), including the 2023 edition held at Abuja.
“The Africa Energy Bank, which APPO is setting up at Abuja, is aimed at pooling financial resources needed to fund big-ticket oil and gas projects across the continent, and bridge funding challenges currently impeding the development of the sector”, the NCDMB’S said.
Meanwhile, the APPO Secretary-General has said the Africa Energy Bank seeks to fund oil and gas projects across economies in Africa and help to plug critical financing gaps that exist through the continent’s over reliance on financiers from the West.
He added that each APPO member country is expected to raise $83 million with an objective of raising $5 billion capital for the establishment of the Bank.
The Tide learnt that recently Nigeria, Angola and Ghana have contributed their share capital for the African Energy Bank, which represents 44 percent of the trio’s contributions to the minimum capital that is required from oil producing countries in the continent.
It would be recalled that at the Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF) held recently, the NCDMB’s Scribe confirmed that the agency was part of key institutions that pooled resources for the formation of the Africa Energy Bank.
Ogbe announced that the Bank will open for business before the end of the 2nd quarter of this year, 2025, expressing hope that it will create more funding availability for local oil and gas projects and companies.
Similarly, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, had stated at the Offshore Technology Conference that Afrexim Bank has already raised $19billion for the take-off of the Africa Energy Bank.
According to him, $14 billion out of the funds represents the bank’s financial exposure on African oil and gas projects, with the additional $5 billion as take-off capital.