The NAFDAC Head of Investigation and Enforcement, Federal Taskforce, Embugushiki-Musa Godiya, also said the agency would work to ensure that fake cosmetics and other counterfeit products were completely wiped out of the country.
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Dame Winifred Akpani: The Amazon of oil, gas, and banking industries
It is no news that the male dominated oil and gas sector is not for the lily-livered. It takes guts, skills and capacity to even attempt an entry.
However, Dame Winifred Akpani, has not just just made an attempt but cemented her place in the industry as a leader.
She leads Northwest Petroleum & Gas Company which operates majorly in the downstream sector and owns fueling stations nationwide.
Over the years Northwest Petroleum & Gas Company Limited has grown to be a solid brand with international repute, and it has taken almost three decades of hard work and resilience to bring the brand where it is.
After bagging a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the University of Benin, Benin City, Winifred Akpani went on to do a postgraduate diploma in Computer Science at the University of Lagos.
When she was to start her career, however, she decided she wanted to become an accountant.
She started as a Trainee Accountant in an audit firm – Oni Lasebikan and Co (now Ernst and Young) in 1987.
She moved on to Arthur Anderson & Co (now KPMG Professional Services), and this was where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1990. By the time she left the firm in 1992, she had already attained the position of Audit Senior.
She then joined Flame Petroleum & Gas Company Limited, a start-up oil marketing company, as a Financial Controller in 1992.
Within the next five years, she rose through the ranks to become an Executive Director in 1997 – a good position by any standards.
If she had decided to take that route to the end, there is little doubt that she would still have earned a reputation for herself in the corporate space.
However, in 1998, Winifred Akpani left to go explore the wild waters of entrepreneurship.
Founding Northwest Petroleum
In 1998, Akpani founded the Northwest Petroleum & Gas Company Limited. This new company would become a test of her enterprise, business acumen and other skills she had acquired over the years.
With a startup capital of only N200,000, Northwest Petroleum started a business. The company carried out diesel supplies in 200-litre drums to homes, guest houses, banks and corporate organisations.
Two and half decades later, the company now handles international oil trading and services deals worth millions of dollars and has multiple investments in midstream and upstream sectors of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
Northwest Petroleum & Gas Company Ltd. owns over a 100 million litre storage capacity in Nigeria.
Northwest Petroleum operates two ultra-modern mega Petroleum Products Storage Terminals with a combined capacity of 96.8 million litres certified and licensed by the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, and an Ultra-Modern Berthing Facility with International State-of-the-Art Fire Fighting and Safety Equipment, adjudged one of the best in Nigeria and sited in the Calabar Free Trade Zone, Cross River State.
Northwest Petroleum & Gas Company Limited also owns and operates several unique 24-and 26-nozzle Ultra-Modern Mega Filling stations across the country.
Now possessing vast experience in the importation, supply, distribution and storage of Petroleum Products, Northwest Petroleum is approved by the NNPC for the allocation and export of Nigerian Crude Oil and is actively involved in the official export.
Akpani is still directly involved and ensures quality assurance and control in all projects.
She is also responsible for formulating and developing organizational strategic business plans and policies, as well as guiding the Company’s affairs.
Akpani has other business interests across the energy, oil and gas sectors.
She is a Director of Millennium Oil and Gas Company Limited, the operator of Oza Marginal Field and Northwest Energy Nigeria Limited, a company in the exploration and production sector.
She equally has substantial interests in the banking industry and is also a Director of Fleet Travels and Tours Nigeria Limited, a first-class travel agency.
Mrs Winifred Akpani serves as a non-executive director at GDL, a company leading diversified financial institutions, creating wealth and transforming society, providing unique financial solutions to strengthen and expand the middle class in terms of savings, investment, financial access, infrastructure, housing, employment and others.
Winifred Akpani is a fellow of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA) and an Associate Member of the Institute of Directors (100).
She has taken several courses, locally and internationally across Finance, Oil & Gas, Corporate Governance and Banking.
In 2019, Winifred Akpani was elected as the Chairman, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), an organisation that unites members to advise, encourage and support the government to churn out policies that promote the economic well-being of the nation in general and the downstream petroleum sector in particular.
She is also very involved in humanitarian work and charity donations. And In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI awarded her The Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal or Cross of Honour, the highest award of the Catholic Church established by Pope Leo XIII in1888 for distinguished service to the church and humanity
For her strides in entrepreneurship in the oil and gas sector, Dame Winifred Akpani is NewsDirect’s Thriving Woman of the Week.
News
Invoke executive order for state, LG police, Afenifere tells Tinubu
The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and political organisation, Afenifere, on Saturday, urged President Bola Tinubu to invoke an Executive Order for the establishment of state and local government Police.
Afenifere, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi,in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, also called for the erection of close-circuit television sets and deployment of modern technology for security purposes in strategic locations to end insecurity.
Ajayi said, “There are indications that Tinubu is desirous of putting an end to this deleterious menace. Towards the end of January this year, he approved the procurement of digital tracking tools to enhance the apprehension of bandits, terrorists and armed robbers.
“On Monday, April 22, this year, he used the occasion of addressing participants at the African Counter-Terrorism Summit which opened on that day in Abuja to assure everyone of his government’s readiness to ensure greater security. Unfortunately, recent happenings have not shown that the President’s desire in this respect is being worked upon.
“President Tinubu should get state and local government police off the ground immediately through the invocation of an Executive Order while the process of amending the Constitution continues.
“Close circuit television sets, deployment of modern technology for security purposes including drones must be effected immediately.”
He explained that the statement was motivated by the recent reports of banditry and kidnapping in Ogun, Edo, Ekiti, Oyo, Kogi, Zamfara and Niger States, respectively which made a research organization declare Nigeria as one of the top nations where kidnap ranks highest globally.
Ajayi noted that Fulani herders and farmers’ clashes kept occurring in Osun, Ondo and Oyo State; Otu, Igbeti and Alaga in the Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State were the latest victims.
The Afenifere spokesperson also said, “In order to end insecurity, enhance people’s welfare and ensure the sustenance of Nigeria as one of the top investment destinations in Africa as desired by the government, there is the urgent need by the Federal Government and security agencies to be more innovative and decisive.”
He lamented that banditry, including armed robbery, kidnapping was still occurring on South-West roads such as Lagos-Ibadan, Ibadan-Ijebu-Ode; Akure-Ilesa-Ibadan; Ore-Ijebu Ode-Lagos, Ikirun-Osogbo-Ilesa; Lokoja-Abuja, Owo-Benin and Ibadan-Iseyin-Saki.
“Latest reports have it that on Monday, May 13 instant, eight cocoa farmers were kidnapped at Marindoti Cocoa Farmers’ settlement in Ovia South-West Local Government Area of Edo State. Three students of Millicent Secondary School in the same area on their way to write their Senior Secondary School Examination, were also kidnapped at the same time.
“A sum of N31 million was reportedly paid to ransom three people who were kidnapped at Longe village on Ibadan-Ijebu-Ode Road last week Sunday. On Thursday, May 16, one Seliat Adeniji (nee Raji) was kidnapped in her Ebedi home in Iseyin, Oyo State. Her guard was killed in the process.
“Hon Bello Hassan representing Zurmi/Shinkafi Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives last Tuesday claimed that terrorists have sacked about 50 communities and abducted over 500 people in his area of Zamfara State as bandits overran Zurmi, the second most populous town in the state killing palace officers as well as policemen.”
To put a serious check on all these, the Afenifere spokesman said that there was an urgent need to dig deep into the roots of the menace and to be decisive in applying the necessary measures.
News
NAFDAC shuts cosmetic shops in Lagos, seizes counterfeit products
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has shut three shops and raided others during a clampdown on the sale of unregistered “Dr. Teal’s” brand of cosmetics in Lagos State.
The agency disclosed this in a post on its X handle on Saturday, stating that the action came after a complaint from the trademark holder.
The statement read, “NAFDAC has shut down three cosmetics shops and raided others, targeting the sale of unregistered ‘Dr. Teal’s’ brand cosmetics. This action follows a complaint from the trademark holder regarding potential counterfeit products.
“Two suspected shops along Excellent Line at the Trade Fair Complex were targeted, resulting in sealed shops and invitation letters issued to attendants.”
It added that another development unfolded at Okas Global Link Limited where NAFDAC confiscated over 200 cartons of various Dr. Teal’s products and other unregistered cosmetics, suspecting them to be the source of distribution.
A shop identified as Cubana Stores at Phil Hallmark Plaza was also reported to have been sealed for stocking and selling the moisturising body and bath products of the alleged unregistered Dr. Teal’s brand.
NAFDAC added that according to its regulations, shop owners found guilty of selling unregistered products face penalties of up to ₦5m fine.
It said shop owners were also being questioned as part of ongoing investigations.
In the statement, the agency emphasised the health risks associated with fake cosmetics, stating the potential dangers of using products containing harmful substances.
News
Traders, soldiers clash at Banex Plaza in Abuja
The Federal Capital Territory Police Command has deployed intelligence officers to Banex – an electronics and telecommunications gadgets market, in Abuja following a conflict that ensued between soldiers and some traders on Saturday.
A viral video seen by our correspondent on X on Saturday showed a multitude of civilians overpowering some soldiers during a free-for-all fight at Banex.
The Defence Headquarters, and the spokesperson for the Nigerian Army, Onyema Nwachukwu could not be reached for comments as of press time.
Meanwhile, a trader who simply identified himself as Abdul, told our correspondent on Saturday that the conflict ensued over the sale of a mobile phone.
“There’s a problem at Banex now. Some soldiers came to complain about a phone, and during an argument with the traders, a fight ensued,” Abdul simply revealed.
When contacted over the development, the spokesperson for the FCT Police Command, SP Josephine Adeh said the Commissioner of Police, Benett Igweh has deployed officers of the FCT Intelligence Response Team to the scene of the incident.
“The CP has deployed the Intelligence Response Team to the scene,” Adeh confirmed.
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