Business
UK okays more foreign investments for Lagos
- Firm set to build waste-to-energy plant
By Dada Jackson
The British government has given a seal of approval for more foreign investments in Lagos State, as plans get underway for the take off of the first waste-to-energy plant in the state.
The Deputy British High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr Ben Jones, gave the official nod when he spoke at Igando refuse dumpsite after a guided tour of facilities of West African ENRG alongside state officials led by the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tunji Bello.
His words: “Though some people think about Nigeria and investments and look the other way, we say ‘look this way’. We will help you and it is a real opportunity here, as it is being demonstrated today, and even opportunities to grow beyond even what is being achieved now, which is so fantastic”.
“It is absolutely outstanding what is being achieved using British technology, finance and real great Nigerian drive and expertise to create something special that is really going to grow and grow.”
The diplomat reiterated that so many issues of climate change, challenge of pollution, challenge of drainage and of plastics getting into the drains propped up at the site but are being solved by the West African ENRG waste conversion facility.
Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources Tunji Bello while welcoming the team said the quest of West African ENRG to move from waste to wealth to establishing the first waste to energy facility spoke volume about the conducive business atmosphere in Lagos.
Bello who was with the Perm Sec, Environmental Services, Mrs Belinda Odeneye, and LAWMA MD, Ibrahim Odumboni, said West African ENRG came to Lagos in 2014, had its waste conversion plant unveiled by Babatunde Fashola as Lagos governor in 2015, saying the company now planned to set up a waste to energy plant.
“There were some intervals of difficulties that we have now successfully overcome. Now, we have been able to restore all that they started with. They have also improved on a lot of things. You must have observed during the inspection today a lot of conversion processes from waste to plastics, rubber, cans and bottles,” Bello stated.
The commissioner said from the brief and visual clips on the proposed waste to energy project presented by West African ENRG, it was clear that if the organisation had more enablement, it would make further progress in waste conversion.
“Lagos has always been a Mecca of investments. What we just need to do is to make sure that infrastructural developments are accelerated and substantial progress is being made in that regard. We have the roads, water and other infrastructural facilities ready,” he said.
While taking the guests round, the CEO West African ENRG, Paul O’Callaghan, said his organisation planned to invest about 125 to 150 million dollars to build a 25 megawatts waste to energy facility that would process 2.5 tonnes of waste daily.
“At the moment, it takes 3 to 4 hours in the dry season to tip waste at the open landfill site to the wet season that takes as much as 24 hours depending on the weather. We are committing to under 30mins and aiming for 15 minutes turnaround time,” Paul said.
He said the new project meant the PSP would move from houses to the waste to energy facility and within 15 minutes would be back on the streets collecting waste, thus creating better economy for the PSP and a quicker and cleaner Lagos.
Mr O’Callaghan who was with the COO, Lolade Oresanwo, expressed readiness to convert Olusosun dumpsite to a waste to energy facility that would be built to British standard in terms of emission control if closed down, adding that it would take approximately 20 months to complete after groundbreaking.
Managing Director of LAWMA, Ibrahim Odumboni, who was part of the team, expressed confidence with what he had seen there was the capacity to cope with the level of recyclables to be generated from the society while sorting from source.
“For me, this is an encouragement for us to give them an enabling environment to do something similar around here and other parts of Lagos so that we can bring development and prosperity to circular economy within the state,” he said.
Aviation
Disaster averted as bird strike hits Abuja-Lagos Air Peace flight
Disaster averted as bird strike hits Abuja-Lagos Air Peace flight
An Abuja-Lagos flight was on Thursday aborted following a bird strike on the airplane belonging to Air Peace, forcing the authorities to ground the aircraft.
The bird strike experienced in the early hours reportedly prompted a ramp return to ensure the safety of passengers onboard.
All the passengers quickly disembarked and were calmed down before they were moved into another plane for the one-hour journey.
A bird strike is a collision between a bird and an aircraft, or other airborne animal, while the aircraft is in flight, taking off, or landing. And it can be a significant threat to aircraft safety.
Air Peace in a statement by its Head of Corporate Communications, Ejike Ndiulo, said the bird strike occurred at 6:30am, and all passengers disembarked normally.
The statement read, “We wish to inform our esteemed passengers that our Abuja- Lagos 06:30 flight experienced a bird strike before take-off, prompting a ramp return as a safety measure. All passengers disembarked normally.
“We have deployed a replacement aircraft for the affected flight in order to minimize disruptions, thus ensuring that passengers continue their journeys promptly.
“We appeal for the understanding of our valued passengers impacted by this development, as well as those on other flights that may experience delays.
“At Air Peace, we are committed to providing safe, comfortable, and reliable air travel for all our passengers.”
Business
NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production
NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) and its partners have revved up crude oil and gas production to 1.8million barrels per day (mbpd) and 7.4standard cubic feet per day (scfd).
The company which announced this at a press briefing said the feat was achieved in compliance with the mandate of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Speaking on the development, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mele Kyari, congratulated the Production War Room Team that anchored the production recovery process.
“The team has done a great job in driving this project of not just production recovery but also escalating production to expected levels that are in the short and long terms acceptable to our shareholders based on the mandates that we
have from the President, the Honourable Minister, and the Board,” Kyari explained.
Giving details of the efforts of the Production War Room, the Chief War Room Coordinator and Senior Business Adviser to the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Lawal Musa, disclosed that the feat was achieved through the collaborative efforts of Joint Venture and Production Sharing Contract partners, the Office of the National Security Adviser, as well as government and private security agencies.
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He said the interventions that led to the recovery of production cut across every segment of the production chain with security agencies closely monitoring the pipelines.
He stressed that when the Production War Room team was inaugurated on 25th June 2024, production was at 1.430mbpd, but the team swung into action, culminating into sustaining the production recovery to 1.7mbpd in August and hitting the current 1.808mbpd in November.
“We are confident that with this same momentum and with the active collaboration of all stakeholders, especially on the security front, we can see the possibility of getting to 2mbpd by the end of the year,” he stated.
Also speaking on the development, Chairman of the NNPC Ltd Board of Directors, Chief Pius Akinyelure, who also congratulated the team, said he was happy to be part of the production recovery process, adding: “today, I will leave this place with my heart full of joy”.
He charged the Company’s Management to come up with a cashflow projection based on the new production figures to facilitate planning, stressing that he was looking forward to further production increase to 3mbpd.
On his part, the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, expressed satisfaction with the performance of the team and pledged the Federal Government’s support for the company to do more.
NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production
Business
FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects
FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects
The Federal Government has secured a loan facility of $134million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to help farmers boost seeds and grain production in the country.
This is contained in a statement issued by Anthonia Eremah, Chief Information Officer, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, on Thursday, in Abuja.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, made his know at the unveiling of the 2024/2025 National Dry Season Farming in Calabar, Cross River State capital.
Kyari explained that with the re-introduction of the national dry season farming to boost year-round agricultural production, the loan would be handy and guarantee national food security in the country.
The minister said the initiative is under the National Agricultural Growth Support Scheme-Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP) Project.
He said the federal government had declared an emergency on food production to enable all Nigerians to get easy access to quality and nutritional food at affordable rates.
Kyari also said government wants to use the agricultural sector for national economic revival through increase in production of some staple food crops such as wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, and cassava during both dry and wet season farming.
He added that 107,429 wheat farmers were supported under phase 1 of the 2023/2024 dry season, and 43,997 rice farmers under the second phase of the 2023/2024 dry season.
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The minister said recently, government supported 192,095 rice, maize, sorghum/millet, soyabean and cassava farmers under the 2024 wet season across the 37 States including the FCT.
He said Cross River was leading 16 other states in wheat production, adding that over 3000 wheat farmers have been listed to benefit from the support to grow the grain.
Kyari noted the Cross River government’s commitment to wheat production.
He said it informed why the federal government is partnering with the state to kick start the maiden wheat production and enlisting them among states commencing the current 2024/2025 dry season farming.
“The 2024/2025 dry season farming, the project is targeted to support 250,000 wheat farmers across the wheat-producing states with subsidised agricultural inputs.
“This is to cultivate about 250,000 hectares with an expected output of about 750,000 metric tonnes of wheat to be added to the food reserve to reduce dependence on importation of the product and also increase domestic consumption.
“Equally the programme will provide support to 150,000 rice farmers under the second phase to cover all the 37 states, including FCT, with an expected output of about 450,000 metric tonnes,” he said.
FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects
(NAN)
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