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FG reiterates CNG will create jobs, wealth for Nigerians

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The Federal Government has  reiterated that diversifying  the country’s energy mix to  Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) will create more jobs and wealth for Nigerians.

The Director-General National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), My Joseph Osanipin, said this at the Critique/Validation Workshop for the recently developed National Occupational Standard (NOS) in Keffi on Monday.

The NOS is for the conversion, calibration and maintenance of CNG/autogas-powered vehicles and electric vehicles service/maintenance in Nigeria.

“The development of the NOS you are about to discuss is a testament to the efforts the council is making to ensure skills development and upgrade in the automotive sector.

“NADDC is promoting the development of CNG/Auto Gas-Powered and Electric vehicles in Nigeria and creating the enabling environment for them to thrive.

“This will reduce the dependency on petrol and diesel and mitigate environmental concerns (greenhouse gas emissions).”

It is also a means of diversification of the Nigerian economy and will lead to more job opportunities and wealth creation for Nigerians.

According to the NADDC boss, the essence of the workshop is to ensure that inputs of all relevant stakeholders are captured in the making of this national document.

He said, “It is expected that the document that will come out of these efforts will be of international standards and help to drive the auto sector to its well-deserved position globally.

“When fully operational, the framework will place out-of-school children, working adults, graduates and apprentices at both formal and non-formal settings with skill acquisition and competency.

“I therefore urge all of you to give this national assignment the best it deserves.”

According to Osanipin, the NOS has been developed through the collaborative efforts of all relevant stakeholders in the Automotive sector.

While restating the importance of CNG, the director-general emphasised the need for training, which he said would not be possible without a guideline/manual.

“The key areas of CNG training have to do with the conversion, storage, transportation, calibration, and maintenance among others.

“We need to conduct training and for you to conduct the training, there must be a manual for those training to be done,” he said.

On readiness, he said various stakeholders from different sectors were involved who would play different roles.

The stakeholders include academicians, technicians, people already working on CNG conversions, ITF, SON and more that have come together to develop this manual.

“And by the time we develop this manual, it will put the artisans through the necessary training.

“It is a competency based training that will ensure the real technical know-how is transfered to the artisan so that we will be able to develop technical aspects of the CNG.

“No country has everything going for them at once, we have to train people to acquire the knowledge and so, this is the process we have started now.

On the high cost of conversion of CNG vehicles, Osanipin said,”when you look at the cost of maintaining your vehicle in the long run, you will see the advantage therein in CNG.

“The cost is not that much when you look at the benefits, so we are focusing more on the benefits.

“Other than the financial benefits, we have the human environment benefits and so on.”

Reports that various stakeholders and partners present at the workshop reiterated their commitments to collaborate with the NADDC to drive the automobile sector of the country.

Energy

Alake unveils gender strategy for mining, steel sector

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The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, has unveiled a document for Women in Mining in Nigeria (WIMIN) strategy document.

Speaking at the event, he described the strategy as a significant mile stone in the sector.

He said that the move was a demonstration of the commitment of the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development (MSMD)‘ and Ministry of Steel Development in fostering diversity.

He said that the strategy is aimed at promoting gender equality and women‘s empowerment, adding that its focused on driving productivity for the nations‘ sustainable development.

“It also focuses on improving the opportunities for women to benefit from both sectors sustainably in policy, regulatory, operational, and commercial (large scale, medium scale, small scale, and artisanal levels), and value and supply chain roles.

“This strategy is not just a document but a call to action and a blueprint for all stakeholders to create a more inclusive and gender-balanced mining and steel sector.

“It provides a guideline and framework to guide both ministries, their agencies, and stakeholders to integrate gender equality and women’s empowerment priorities in their policies, programmes, and initiatives,” he said.

He acknowledged the indispensable contributions of women to the success and sustainability of the mining sector, saying that their talents, expertise, and perspectives are critical to the success and growth of the industry.

According to him, Nigeria is not immune from the biases perpetuated against women in these two sectors.

In addressing the situation, he said that the Federal Government has prioritised gender equity and female participation in its “Roadmap for the Growth and Development of the Nigerian Mining Industry.”

He said as part of the efforts of MSMD and Ministry of Steel Development to implement the roadmap, the Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification (MinDiver) engaged a consultancy to develop the gender strategy.

He said that to achieve the objectives of the strategy, its institutional capacity would be strengthened for effective gender mainstreaming.

He added that that women’s participation in leadership and governance roles within the mining sector and communities would be increased.

“Promoting women’s economic empowerment and rights and eliminating all barriers (structural and systemic) that hinder women’s meaningful participation, access and control over mining resources and benefits,” he said.

The Minister added that they were committed to building partnerships across a wide range of stakeholders in achieving the vision of the strategy.

He said that the WIMIN strategy was firmly rooted in the principles of equality, diversity, and empowerment, and  a call to action for stakeholders mobilisation toward a more inclusive and gender-balanced industry.

Earlier in her remarks, the National President of WIMIN, Dr Janet Adeyemi, described the launch of the strategy as an opportunity to galvanise support and implement actions to address the entrenched gender disparities within the mining and steel sectors.

Represented by the National Secretary, Mrs Emily Ofodile, she said that women within these industries continue to encounter multifaceted barriers that hinder their full participation and advancement.

On her part, the Permanent Secretary of MSMD, Dr Mary Ogbe, urged, women to be change agents at all levels, and urged all organisations to have gender focal persons to help in coordinating all related matters.

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Energy

Tree4Life Project: NEPL/Seplat JV, Edo sign reforestation agreement

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The NNPC Exploration and Production Ltd/Seplat Energy Joint Venture and the Edo State Government have signed an agreement that will see the state government allocate 6,000 hectares of land from its protected forest reserves to enable a large-scale tree planting initiative by Seplat Energy Plc.

This is in furtherance to the Seplat Tree4Life Initiative and the Edo State Government’s identification of the need to increase forest cover and carbon sequestration efforts within the region.

Seplat Energy has been selected as the partner to implement this reforestation project, which aims to plant millions of indigenous trees on the allocated land over the next five (5) years. This project represents a significant investment in environmental conservation and sustainable development for the state.

Speaking at the agreement signing ceremony, which happened in Edo State Government House, the Managing Director, Seplat West Limited, Seplat Energy, Ayodele Olatunde, said the partnership will contribute in the global efforts around mitigating the effects of climate change, whilst providing economic, social, health and other environmental benefits to the region.

“This will stir more advocacy as far as climate change is concerned and put the Edo State Government with the Seplat JV on the map as change agents. The partnership is well aligned with our Tree4Life Initiative and has the capacity to boost our economy and the environment; advance our soil health and drive carbon capture; preserve our ecosystem; enhance biodiversity; create jobs; conserve our forests; and promote physical and mental wellbeing of our people,” Olatunde said.

The Commissioner for Environment & Sustainability, Edo State, Joshua Omokhodion, said the synergy between Edo State and the Seplat JV is a huge attempt at mitigating the impacts of climate change in Nigeria.

“Beyond the economics of this move, the science of it is very important to us because it is an attempt to deliberately create an ambience that will be conducive for humans and other creatures here.”

The Director, External Affairs & Social Performance, Seplat Energy, Chioma Afe, in her address, thanked the Edo State Government for partnering with the NEPL/Seplat JV on this sustainable journey of reforestation.

She said, “This will drive forward our shared goals of environmental conservation and sustainable land use.”

“These 6,000 hectares of land being allocated today, we believe, will provide a major boost to efforts at increasing tree cover and also to sequester carbon in our region. We believe also that this will not only tackle climate change, but will promote the local economy as well as local wildlife. The agreement demonstrates the NEPL/Seplat JV strong commitment to supporting impactful environmental projects,” Afe explained.

The Managing Director, NEPL, Nicolas Foucart, represented by Mr. Uzoma Ezulu, DM Operations Management Seplat, NEPL, said the partnership between the state government and NEPL/Seplat JV is a laudable response to the global warming crisis.

“The world is turning around for the worst; human activities in the name of development have done more harm than good to the environment. The Tree4Life project, therefore, is a conservative effort for all of us,” he said. Teasoo Consulting Limited was also among the facilitators of the agreement signing ceremony,” Nicolas said.

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Energy

Fuel queues will end soon — Reps assure Nigerians

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The House of Representatives, has reassured that the long queues at filling stations in the country, will soon fizzle out soon.

Chairman, Petroleum Downstream, Rep. Ikenga Ugochinyere, said this at a joint news conference in Abuja on Wednesday.

“We hereby express our concerns over the temporary presence of fuel queues in petrol stations across the country.

“However, we are convinced that this is temporary based on our investigation, and in a couple of days, we shall get over it,” he said.

Flanked by Rep. Henry Okojie, the Chairman, Petroleum Midstream, Ugochinyere said that investigations had revealed that the scarcity was artificial.

“We have discovered that there is availability of petrol products. We have it on good authority that we have in our storage facilities at least, about 1.5 billion liters of petrol,” he said.

He said that 1.5 billion litres can last for 30 days.

“We have gotten assurances from the regulators in the distribution value chain that these bottlenecks have been cleared. In the course of this public holiday, more grounds will be covered.

“From our findings, the issues that necessitated the disruptions that led to the appearance of fuel queues in petrol stations have been cleared.

“They said that it would take a few more days for things to return to normalcy, while calling on Nigerians not to panic over this development.

“We have gotten assurances from the regulators and the unions that these challenges will be cleared in a few days,” he said.

Ugochinyere added, “It will require more time, like two to three days, for products to be distributed to all stations nationwide.

“As a committee that is charged with downstream and midstream oversight, we have been monitoring this development.”

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