Nigeria@63: 63 indigenous companies and agencies powering Nigeria’s economic growth (Pt.1)
As Nigeria marks her 63rd anniversary of gaining independence, Nigerian NewsDirect, Daily National Newspaper and “Local Content Newspaper of the Year (2020)” has choosen to mark the anniversary with a special report to spotlight on indigenous companies and agencies that have hugely contributed to the human capital and economic growth of the country even as the nation looks inward for solutions to experience progress.
Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) – Championing local content development and capacity building
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) was established in 2010 by the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act. NCDMB is vested with the mandate to make procedures that will guide, monitor, coordinate and implement the provisions of the NOGICD Act signed into law on April 22, 2010.
When the Local Content law came into being, the industry was just at about five per cent in terms of growing local content in the country and today, the NCDMB prides itself to have increased the figure of local content to about 47 per cent.
Under the leadedship of Engr Simbi Wabote, the NCDMB through its flagship programme, NOGOF raised the percentage of local content to 50 percent in the multi-billion dollar NLNG train 7 project thereby creating 12,000 jobs directly and indirectly and also engendering peace in the Niger Delta region.
Furthermore, the NCDMB in deepening local content invested and partnershed towards the completion of Waltermith’s 5,000 barrels per day (bpd) modular refinery in Imo State, Azikel Group12,000 bpd hydro-skimming modular refinery in Polaku, Bayelsa State; Atlantic International Refinery’s 2,000 barrels plant in Brass, Bayelsa State; and Duport Midstream’s 2,500bpd modular refinery in Edo State. These investments created over 3,000 jobs in the refining value chain and ensured value addition to Nigeria’s crude oil. It also grew Nigeria’s domestic refining capacity, created jobs in-country and curbed pipeline vandalism.
For its giant strides, NCDMB was adjudged the best among all Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the country in the Executive Order (EO1) performance ranking for Ease of Doing Business from January to June 2022 – a report compiled by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), under the office of the Vice President.
By boosting the manpower and technological capacity of Nigerians and Nigerian-owned businesses in the sector, NCDMB has aided in powering Nigeria’s economy growth and rewriting the fortunes of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector from well-known negatives to self-reliance and progress.
Century Energy Group —Promoting energy security and crude oil Commercialisation
Founded by Ken Etete, Century Energy Group is an investment de-risking firm focused on the delivery of bespoke operations and asset development solutions, adaptive technology in the energy mix and supply.
Since 2002, Century Enegy has indirectly participated in about 50 valuable and impactful energy projects worth over US$ 10 Billion, Oil installations, equipment, and other assets estimated at over $ 1 Billion and a cumulative contribution to a daily production of over 200,000 bpd.
The organisation has been able to achieve this daring feats being the first domestic energy infrastructure provider to fully own & manage two FPSOs (Tamara Tokoni and Tamara Nanaye). Presently, Century Energy has within its operational portfolio three Floating Production Storage Offloading Units (FPSOs), four flow-stations, one MOPU, and one FSO which it operates on behalf of various clients in Nigeria.
In April 2023, Century Energy Group partnered with Energy Link Infrastructure (Malta) Limited (ELI) for the completion, operations and maintenance of the ELI AKASO floating storage and offloading (FSO) terminal in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 18.
ELI’s ACOES infrastructure comprises a new 47km secure undersea pipeline from OML 18 and the FSO ELI AKASO terminal. This ACOES infrastructure will enhance crude oil commercialisation primarily through the reduction of downtime and crude losses associated with the existing export routes. The pipeline component is expected to have a throughput capability of 100,000 barrels per day (b/d) of oil, while the FSO ELI AKASO has a storage capacity of 2 million barrels of oil.
CG also acquired a floating production, storage, and offloading vessel from BW Offshore for $15m.
The vessel, named Sendje Berge, according to Upstream, was purchased as part of Century’s strategy to focus on long-lived, higher-return projects by offloading non-core vessels. Built in 1974, it has a carrying capacity of 274,333 DWT and a reported draught of 13.7 metres. The vessel has an overall length of 348.77 meters and a width of 51.87 meters.
Century Group continues to develop its capacity and skilled competencies to boost Nigeria’s crude oil commercialisation thereby generating foreign exchange for the nation.
Zenith Bank Plc – Deepening access to financial services with creative and cutting edge banking solutions
Zenith Bank Plc has in 33 years grown to become one of the strongest and most profitable banks in Nigeria as well as in the entire Africa.
The financial institution which was founded in May 1990 by Jim Ovia and commenced operations in July of same year with N20 million has continued to contribute significantly to Nigeria’s financial services sector. The Bank became one of the latest companies to join the exclusive group of stocks worth over one trillion, as its market capitalisation on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) crossed the N1 trillion mark in the third week of June 2023.
The Bank reputes itself as the leading lender in Nigeria having explored business opportunities in strategic sectors to bring the much needed development to boost Nigeria’s economy.
Zenith Bank has also remained a clear leader in the Nigerian financial services industry, distinguishing itself through unique customer experience and sound financial indices.
The bank is also the pioneer in the digital space with several firsts in deploying innovative products and solutions that ensure convenience, speed and safety of transactions.
When Zenith Bank first opened its doors in 1990, there were no automated teller machines (ATMs) in Nigeria, no debit or credit cards, and no digital networks. In 1995, the need to integrate digital technologies in the business led Mr. Jim Ovia to establish Cyberspace, a network and ICT-service company.
The Bank also pioneered the integration and launch of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) payments on Point of Sales (USSD on POS), enabling customers to pay for goods and services via POS terminals in merchant locations or on ecommerce websites without the use of cards.
In recognition of its track record of excellent performances under the current Managing Director, Ebenezer Onyeagwu, Zenith Bank had been recognised as the Number One Bank in Nigeria by Tier-1 Capital, for the 13th consecutive year, in the 2022 Top 1000 World Banks Ranking published by The Banker Magazine; Bank of the Year (Nigeria) in The Banker’s Bank of the Year Awards 2020 and 2022; Best Bank in Nigeria, for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022, in the Global Finance World’s Best Banks Awards; Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria 2021 and 2022 in the World Finance Banking Awards; Best Corporate Governance Bank, Nigeria in the World Finance Corporate Governance Awards 2022; Best in Corporate Governance’ Financial Services’ Africa, for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022, by the Ethical Boardroom; Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria and Best Innovation In Retail Banking, Nigeria in the International Banker 2022 Banking Awards.
Little wonder, Zenith Bank delivered its financial results for the first quarter (Q1) ending March 31, 2023—including a phenomenal 41-percent growth in gross earnings to ¦ 270 billion from Q1 2022.
With a team of dedicated professionals, the bank powers Nigeria’s economic growth through the deploymemt of robust Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure to deepen financial inclusion and promote sustainable banking through its network of branches and electronic/digital channels.
Galaxy Backbone Ltd — Leading digital transformation and cost savings in Nigeria’s public sector
Galaxy Backbone Limited is an Information and Communications Technology Services provider, wholly owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria. Galaxy Backbone continues to operate, improve and upgrade its common services platform to meet international standards. The agency offers cloud services, telepresence services, Internet connectivity services, data hosting in its Tier IV data center, amongst a host of others.
Nigeria has indeed begun to take digitalisation as a priority having made giant strides and bold steps to enhance digital transformation with Galaxy Backbone (GBB) Limited leading the forefront as the Backbone of Nigeria’s digital transformation.
One of such infrastructures deployed by GBB promoting digital transformation is the National Shared Service Centre (Now Muhammadu Buhari Galaxy Backbone Headquarters). The National Shared Service is housed in a seven-story twin building which sits beautifully at Central Business District area of the nation’s Federal Capital Territory. The National Shared Service Centre is helping to reduce the cost of governance by serving as a common platform for sharing data across ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). It is also driving the digital transformation of the public sector by deploying world class tech equipment across MDAs to facilitate effectiveness in the fulfillment of various government functions.
Prior to the creation of Galaxy Backbone (GBB), technology had little or no impact on the operations ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) but with the innovations and infrastructure of GBB, cost has been optimised and greater efficiency has been recorded. So far, 60 percent of MDAs have gotten on board the GBB infrastructure, over 40,000 email boxes and thousands of IP and video telephony devices distrubuted to MDAs across the country.
During the peak of the COVID pandemic in Nigeria, GBB installed over 150 Unified Communication devices, from Video Conferencing terminals to Video Phones in offices and residences of top government officials to ensure smooth government operations during the pandemic. Prof. Muhammad Abubakar noted that these services have enabled the executive officers of the Government to communicate amongst themselves without breaching COVID protocols. As of 2021, Professor Abubakar disclosed that the agency saved the Federal Government over N3bn from video conferencing.
