Month: April 2024

Mr Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), has expressed the Federal Government’s readiness to collaborate with the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) to increase the country’s oil production and revenue.

Lokpobiri said that the partnership became necessary to address the dwindling oil production and the need to drive investment in the nation’s oil and gas sector.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the minister gave the assurance during his visit to members of PETAN in Lagos on Wednesday.

Lokpobiri said that the federal government was putting up measures to restore oil production, adding that there is a need for the ministry and PETAN to work together to maximise all available opportunities that can help increase production in the country.

According to him, the quickest way for the country to overcome the current economic hardship is through the exploration and production of oil and gas.

He added, therefore, that the government is actively eng
aged in policy evolution, aimed at maximising the utilisation of all available oil and gas wells in the country.

Lokpobiri said: ‘No country leaves their well idle, in Nigeria, so many seismic activities have been done and we have a lot of oil wells that are yet to be utilised.

‘Imagine, one of the OML’s has about 150 idle wells. There is no way we can increase production if these wells continue to be idle.

‘The wells are already drilled and capped since 1970s. These are low-hanging fruits.

‘Part of our policy direction is to see how we can farm out some of these idle wells for proper utilisation.

‘Now that the world is transiting to cleaner energy, the country must use the available time to maximise the utilisation of the wells to increase production.

”Except we increase our production, our midstream and downstream will continue to suffer.

‘So, I believe that I and PETAN need to work together so that we can maximise the opportunities the industry can avail us, for the economic prosperity and developm
ent of the nation,” he added.

Lokpobiri said he had made a strong commitment to work with PETAN and other Nigerians in the oil and gas sector, who have shown proven capacity to ensure the growth of the sector.

He expressed conviction that the solution to Nigeria’s energy poverty lies with every stakeholder.

He noted that nobody or nation would come to salvage the nation’s oil and gas industry except Nigerians.

The minister said if Nigerians are allowed to play at the desirable level, there will be a lot of improvement in the petroleum sector.

He also pointed out that the essence of the Local Content Law was to enable Nigerians to build strong capacity to be able to play side-by-side with their international counterparts.

‘In line with NUPRC’s statutory declaration, Nigeria now boasts of 37.5 billion crude oil reserves, while its total gas resources as of the beginning of this year, now stands at 209.26 TCF.’

The minister said the President Bola Tinubu-led administration was doing all it could to take
the nation to a better economic standing in the comity of the nations.

He affirmed that one of the cardinal points of the president was to address the nation’s energy poverty, noting that as the world is transiting, the nation must address its challenges to enable it transit as well.

Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman of PETAN, Mr Wole Ogunsanya, reiterated the association’s commitment to supporting the minister and all the efforts of President Tinubu toward increasing oil production and development of the energy sector.

He also called on the government to see how it could grant incentives to stakeholders to ensure better output and economic benefit for the industry and the nation at large.

Ogunsanya said: ”Honourable Minister, we thank you and assure you that we will continue to align ourselves with the vision of the president.

‘And as we have continually said, the nation must show its indigenous capacity to explore and drill oil 100 per cent.’

He expressed PETAN members’ readiness to help in the de
velopment of the Nigerian oil and gas sector.

Also speaking, the Publicity Secretary of PETAN, Dr Innocent Akuvue, thanked the minister for making out time to visit the association.

He assured the minister of the association’s support to the ministry always.

”Minister, we thank you for this wonderful visit and we want to assure you that PETAN is solidly behind you and Mr President.

‘By God’s grace we will not fail to support the vision and aspirations of the president in boosting the economic situation of the country,’ he said.

PETAN is an association of Nigerian indigenous technical oilfield service companies in the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry.

NAN reports that the association was formed to bring together Nigerian oil and gas entrepreneurs to create a forum for the exchange of ideas with the major operators and policymakers.

One of the association’s core objectives is to plan on how to acquire, develop, advance and promote petroleum technology for the benefit of Nigeri
ans.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The National Commission for Refugees Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) says it will build skills acquisition centres in the six geopolitical zones of the country.

The Federal Commissioner in the organisation, Alhaji Tijani Ahmed, stated this on Wednesday in Abuja, at a two-week Training and Empowerment of IDPs Youths in professional Driving and Agriculture.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the training was organised by the commission in collaboration with a non-governmental organisation, St. Pukat Foundation.

He said the idea of the empowerment programme was to provide durable skills to the persons of concern with the aim of making them self-reliant.

‘The commission is saddled with the mandate to provide, protect and assist all persons of concern including refugees, Migrants, IDPs, asylum seekers, Stateless Persons and Returnees,’ he said.

He said to deliver effective and sustainable protection to persons of concern, government and civil society must be fully involved.

‘Th
is in-house training will not only make the beneficiaries self-reliant, but also uphold the durable solutions mandate of the commission,’ the commissioner said.

He further implored the beneficiaries to use the opportunity to increase their skills for their livelihood.

Ahmed also expressed appreciation to the foundation’s leadership for prioritising IDPs assistance, in their empowerment programme.

Earlier, the President of the foundation, Mr Samuel Pukat, said the beneficiaries would be trained in professional driving skills and agriculture production.

According to him, the agriculture production includes cassava, wheat and corn as well as rice cultivation.

He added that the training would help IDPs to be employable considering their level of education.

‘When you train them in professional driving they can be recruited in any public or private organisation,’ he said.

He also commended the commission’s leadership for supporting persons of concern nationwide.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

WINDHOEK: Nine people were injured when two cars collided on the Western Bypass in Windhoek early on Wednesday.

The Namibian Police Force in a crime report said two of the accident victims were seriously injured, while seven people sustained moderate injuries.

It is alleged that both vehicles, a white Urban Cruiser and a silver Toyota Wish with Swakopmund registration, were driving in a northern direction when the Toyota Wish allegedly made a right turn, causing the collision.

All accident victims were taken to hospital for medical treatment and police investigations continue.

Source: Namibia Press Agency

The Namibian Ports Authority (Namport) has secured a deal with several cruise liners to have passengers stay longer in the country once they have docked at the two ports of Walvis Bay and Lderitz.

Namport’s Executive for Commercial Services Elias Mwenyo during a tourism stakeholder engagement on safety and operation of the sector on Tuesday, said six passenger ships will be overnighting at the Port of Walvis Bay, come the new season commencing in October.

Previously, the vessels would only spend a day before leaving the port for the next destination.

According to Mwenyo, this will ensure that passengers spend more time in the towns as well as neighbouring towns, as a result injecting more into the country’s economy.

‘We are expecting 44 more cruise liners, which is an indication that we are not just a stopover but are moving in the direction of becoming a destination for these tourists. We have heard the cries of the tour operators and from the port’s side, we have directly been engaging with passenger v
essel owners and informed them that stopovers are not really what we want but would like for tourists to stay longer and maybe even travel to other towns for activities,’ Mwenyo expressed.

He urged the Namibians to also integrate the culture of cruise liner tourism, try to get onto the vessels and experience what happens on the cruises and not just be the receivers every time.

Namport together with the tourism agencies in the town, he said will create opportunities for Namibians to have access to the cruise ships so that they can experience them.

‘Through the engagements with cruise line owners, we have also discussed job creation opportunities and we are therefore working very hard to get our young people to acquire employment on these vessels, as it is very rare to find Namibians working on these kinds of liners.’

Erongo Regional Tourism Forum member Kenneth Kapitako added that the cruise industry is important in the quieter tourism sector and has the potential to benefit the informal sector in the Eron
go Region and the country at large.

Kapitako noted that the forum has engaged and is currently engaging the relevant stakeholders in ensuring that Erongo and the rest of the country become a destination of choice for travellers.

Source: Namibia Press Agency

The need for an urgent response to crime prevention, which has received considerable public attention, is for the community to band together and raise disciplined children from a young age to combat future crimes.

These sentiments were shared by Namibian Police Inspector General, Lieutenant General Joseph Shikongo at a stakeholders’ meeting organised by the police in Opuwo on Tuesday, where he urged community members and traditional authorities in the Kunene Region to instil good discipline in their children and to engage citizens in discouraging and preventing crime at the local level.

Shikongo noted that, while not all children suffer adversity, the nation’s well-being necessitates that each child in every community is given a chance to attain their full potential, which can also provide them with an opportunity to avert crimes.

‘We do not want to push everything into the police, things that you as traditional leaders can do, even the upbringing of your children, the discipline of your children you want
to report to the police,’ charged Shikongo.

‘Things have changed now, you can’t even discipline your neighbour’s kids, and then it becomes an issue. Growing up we were raised as equals without these things of saying, ‘no don’t touch my kids’ and so forth, and I must add that the lack of discipline in today’s children also contributes to high crime rates,’ added Shikongo.

Furthermore, Shikongo urged traditional leaders to use the power they hold via their traditional courts to resolve disputes internally rather than contacting the police.

Furthermore, Shikongo maintained that concerted efforts should be made with all stakeholders, including effective strategies that emphasise the importance of enhancing delinquency prevention efforts, and with the community to engage the police on what they believe should be done to better serve them.

‘As an organisation, it is not our responsibility to tell you how we want to accomplish our work; rather, we are the servants of the people. We want the community to inform u
s that they want police officers to serve them in this manner,’ Shikongo stated, pledging for a unified nation to take on all types of crime as a whole.

Source: Namibia Press Agency