Environment

ASR Africa, BUA Foundation Approve N1.5 Billion Grant For Development Projects In 5 Communities In Ogun State

Published

2 months ago

January 14, 2023

ASR Africa, BUA Foundation Approve N1.5 Billion Grant For Development Projects In 5 Communities In Ogun State

ASR AFRICA, BUA FOUNDATION APPROVE N1.5BILLION GRANT FOR DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IN IBESE, IGBOBILA, ILARO, OTHERS IN YEWA LAND, OGUN STATE

Olushola Okunlade Writes

The Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa) – the brainchild of Industrialist, philanthropist, and founder of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, and the BUA Foundation have awarded development grants worth N1.5 billion to Yewa Land in Ogun State comprising Ilaro, Igbogila, Ibeshe, Egua, and Igan-Alade communities for key community, social, and infrastructural development projects.

This was announced at the grant presentation and mutual accountability framework signing ceremonies held today in Ilaro, Ibese, and Igbogila.

The grants will be channeled towards interventions in the areas of health, education, or social development initiatives that are identified for implementation.

Presenting the grants award letter to Oba Kehinde Olugbenle, the Olu of Ilaro and Paramount Ruler of Yewaland in Ogun State, Ubon Udoh, Managing Director, ASR Africa assured of more partnership with the people of Yewaland and reiterated that the vision of Abdul Samad Rabiu, Founder of ASR Africa and Chairman of BUA, is to provide concrete solutions for sustainable development in Nigeria, and Africa. According to Ubon, “What ASR Africa and BUA Foundation are doing here today, is planting a seed of sustainable problem-solving across Africa in line with the vision of Abdul Samad Rabiu, our founder – and Chairman of BUA.

“The first grant of N1 billion goes to all communities in Yewaland for developmental purposes to uplift the quality of life of the Yewa people, while ASR Africa and BUA Foundation are also giving additional specific grants of N250million each to Igbogila and Ibese Communities for already identified infrastructure projects to enhance community development through their traditional institutions. We have done our basic needs assessment in collaboration with the communities on their needs, and we are pleased to say we look forward to the commencement of the identified projects and a more robust partnership with Yewaland, as we have done in other parts of the country.

In his response, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle, the Olu of Ilaro and Paramount Ruler of Yewaland commended Abdul Samad Rabiu for his philanthropic gestures across the country and noted that indeed he is a true Nigerian. The monarch added that with the grants, Yewaland and Yewa people will witness rapid social and infrastructural development. “We are one of the largest sub-ethnic groups in Yoruba Land and these grants will go a long way in bringing sustainable development in line with the United Nations SDGs, to our people”, he added.

The Paramount Ruler of Ibese community, HRM Oba Rotimi Mulero, and The Oboro of Ibese, also thanked the donors for their timely intervention in developing Ibese community. “May the Almighty bless Abdul Samad Rabiu, ASR Africa, and BUA Foundation for partnering with us to fast-track development in our community because we are still largely behind on the development curve. This partnership with ASR Africa and BUA Foundation will go a long way in ensuring even greater development for our people.”

Know More About ASR Africa: The brainchild of African Industrialist, Philanthropist, and Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, the Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa) was established in 2021 to provide sustainable, impact-based homegrown solutions to developmental issues affecting health, Education and Social Development within Africa.

For more information visit www.asrafrica.org or email info@asrafrica.org

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Related Topics:#ASR #asrafrica #buafoundation #developmentproject

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NLNG Reaffirms Commitment To Finima Nature Park After International Award

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FBRA Partner Lagos Recyclers, Informal Sector, And LAWMA To Commemorate 3rd Year Anniversary Of Lagos Recycles Initiative

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Environment

NLNG Reaffirms Commitment To Finima Nature Park After International Award

Published

1 month ago

February 15, 2023

Business Echo Magazine

NLNG Refutes Online Publication By Nigerian Daily

Olushola Okunlade Writes

Nigeria LNG has reaffirmed its commitment to conserving nature and preserving wetlands at its Finima Nature Park on Bonny Island as part of plans to promote decarbonisation and green culture.

The Company stated this on the back of the Federal Ministry of Environment’s commendation to NLNG and Finima Nature Park during the celebration of World Wetlands Day.

The Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi, congratulated NLNG for managing and sustaining the country’s natural ecosystem and for its recognition as a Star Wetland Centre.

The minister also commended the Company and the centre for championing wetland preservation, enlightenment, and education in Nigeria and winning the first edition of the international Star Wetland Centres award in the last quarter of 2022 at the RAMSAR COP14 Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Star Wetland Centre award, organised by Wetlands Link International (WLI), recognises the commitment and dedication of organisations, their staff, and volunteers for their hard work to educate and inform people about the greatness of wetlands. The Finima Nature Park was one of the 23 centres recognised out of 304 centres under Wetlands Link International.

According to the WLI, the 2022 award is the first planned after 30 years of cooperation among centres to show the world what makes an excellent wetland education centre. The WLI also stated that the winners had shown excellence according to their means in wetland Communication, Education, Participation, and Awareness (CEPA).

NLNG’s General Manager of External Relations and Sustainable Development, Mr. Andy Odeh, said NLNG is dedicated to creating a sustainable environment for future generations. He added that the Company is implementing a decarbonisation to significantly reduce its carbon footprint and to produce cleaner energy.

Mr. Odeh also emphasised the Company’s commitment to the philosophy behind the Finima Nature Park, which acts as a carbon sink due to the vegetation’s CO2 sequestration abilities. The Company is also dedicated to protecting the park and promoting eco-tourism for a positive impact on the socio-economic life in Bonny.

The park, managed by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), was established in 1999 as part of NLNG’s response to global environmental concerns and the need for a more sustainable environment.

NLNG is owned by four Shareholders, namely, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (49%), Shell Gas B.V. (25.6%), TotalEnergies Gaz & Electricite Holdings (15%), and Eni International N.A. N. V. S.àr.l (10.4%).

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Environment

FBRA Partner Lagos Recyclers, Informal Sector, And LAWMA To Commemorate 3rd Year Anniversary Of Lagos Recycles Initiative

Published

6 months ago

September 20, 2022

Business Echo Magazine

FBRA Partner Lagos Recyclers, Informal Sector, And LAWMA To Commemorate 3rd Year Anniversary Of Lagos Recycles Initiative

Olushola Okunlade Writes

The Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA), recently partnered with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) and the Lagos State Recyclers Association (LAGRA) to celebrate the third anniversary of the Lagos Recycling Initiative.

The Alliance, with a current membership of 28 organizations, was established in 2018 as the industry-coalition Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) for enhancing the collection and recovery of post-consumer packaging material in the Food and Beverage sector.

Within the last four years, the Alliance in partnership with stakeholders in the waste value chain in Lagos state has impacted over fifty communities to educate and create awareness on recycling, facilitated the training of 3,000 waste pickers, and has supported the collection of over 25,000MT of recyclables for recovery to productive use through a partnership with over 12 packaging waste aggregators.

FBRA has also partnered with several NGOs to educate children in schools on the need for responsible disposal including recycling and has provided 75 recycling collection giant bins in schools, public spaces, and communities. The focus is for Alliance member companies to contribute funds to support the waste management operations of the waste ecosystem through the implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in the packaging sector.

Speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary of the Alliance, Onaghise Agharese emphasised the importance of source segregation at the point of generation within homes and organisations to enhance the quality of the recyclables harvested. She also emphasised the need for collaborative efforts of all relevant stakeholders to implement an effective waste management system whilst pledging the commitment of the Alliance member companies to support more projects.

The Managing Director of LAWMA, Ibrahim Odumboni made a call out to all Food and Beverage organisations to join the efforts of the Alliance and informed all that the Agency is set to implement the Adopt the Bin Initiative where all households are expected to use the blue recycling bins to sort their waste, call for pick-up through PAKAM app and a LAGRA
member in their vicinity will pick up their recyclables for an incentive. Dr. Femi IdowuAdegoke, the Chairman of the Lagos Recyclers Association (LAGRA) encouraged all to join the Zero Waste campaign through continuous public education, attitudinal and behavioural change towards minimizing (reducing), reusing, recovering, repurposing (upcycling and downcycling) and recycling for an efficient and sustainable circular economy in Lagos. He also provided a commitment that its members under Lagos Recyclers Association LAGRA are available to offtake recyclables for all households who have segregated their waste and books for collection through the PAKAM app. PAKAM App is a technology application that can be downloaded from the play store that connects households to collectors nearest to them to enable them to trade in their separated waste for incentive or cash.

FBRA hereby encourages residents of Lagos state to adopt waste separation from source and recycling thereby earning rewards and incentives from recycling through the PAKAM App for a cleaner Lagos and a better planet for us all.

In 2019, the Southern Swamp Associated Gas Solutions project was commissioned, and the SPDC JV is planning to reduce associated gas flaring further through its Forcados Yokri gas-gathering project, of which large parts are set to be completed in 2022. Despite such efforts to reduce continuous flaring, unfortunately flaring intensity (the amount of gas flared for every tonne of oil and gas produced) at both SPDC- and SNEPCo-operated facilities increased in 2021 owing to short-term operational issues. Flaring from SPDC-operated facilities increased by around 5% in 2021 compared with 2020. The increase was primarily because of the extended outage of the gas compression system in SPDC’s shallow-water operations. The system was restored and became operational from January 2022. Flaring at SNEPCo-operated facilities rose by around 160% in 2021 compared with 2020. This was mainly because of an increase in flaring on the Bonga floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. Repairs to a flex-joint on the Bonga FPSO’s gas export riser in the second quarter took longer than expected, in part because of weather conditions. While repairs were under way, the FPSO continued to produce oil and therefore flaring was necessary for safety reasons. The repairs were safely concluded in July 2021. Although flaring intensity levels rose in 2021, SPDC and SNEPCo over the last 10 years have almost halved the combined amount of hydrocarbons they flare from 1.5 million tonnes in 2012 to 0.8 million tonnes in 2021. This reduction is the result of a strict flaring reduction management process and both SPDC and SNEPCo will continue to work in close collaboration with joint-venture partners and the government to make progress towards ending routine flaring of associated gas. NIGERIA LNG EXPANSION UNDERWAY Global demand for LNG continues to grow as the world increasingly seeks reliable supplies of lowercarbon energy. Shell’s investment in Nigeria’s gas infrastructure for export is expected to help 6 This is according to a data provided by global research and consultancy business Wood Mackenzie. the country benefit further from revenues. Shell Gas B.V. and its partners took a final investment decision in 2020 on a new LNG processing unit – known as Train 7 -- at NLNG. The expansion is expected to create around 12,000 jobs for Nigerians during construction and stimulate growth of the local oil and gas service sector, with 55% of engineering and procurement of goods and services being sourced in-country. Train 7 is expected to ensure Nigeria’s continued place as a global player in a lower-carbon energy source. Once operational, Train 7 will add around 8 million tonnes per annum of capacity to the Bonny Island LNG facility, taking the total production to around 30 million tonnes per annum. In 2021, NLNG began awarding procurement and construction contracts. Early works started at the site. The first phase of the worker village is expected to be ready for occupancy in 2022 and the new material offloading facility ready for use by the end of 2022. NLNG’s Train 7 is expected to come onstream in the middle of the 2020s. KEY LICENCE RENEWED FOR DEEP-WATER SNEPCo has interests in four deep-water blocks in the Gulf of Guinea, two of which it operates. Today, nearly one-third of Nigeria’s deep-water oil and gas production comes from the Bonga and the nonoperated Erha fields.6 Since production began in 2005, Bonga alone has produced more than 950 million barrels of oil with the 2021 average oil production per day at 105,000 barrels. The Bonga FPSO vessel has a total production capacity of 225,000 barrels of oil per day and 150 standard cubic feet of gas export per day. In 2021, the availability of the FPSO vessel increased to 80% from 70% in 2020. In addition to Bonga, SNEPCo’s exploration activities have led to several significant discoveries of oil and gas over the last two decades, including the Bolia and Doro fields (Shell interest 55%). Nigeria Briefing Notes Helping to power Nigeria’s economy 13 In the right investment climate, SNEPCo believes that there are opportunities to expand. In 2021 the OML 118 (Bonga) production sharing contract was renewed and the lease extended for 20 years. Bonga North and Bonga South West Aparo (BSWA) oil fields are two such potential opportunities. Bonga North is a proposed tie-back project to the existing Bonga FPSO with Phase 1 comprising 14 wells. BSWA is a development of a new FPSO with Phase 1 comprising 23 wells. SUPPORTING RENEWABLE ENERGY STARTUPS Millions of Nigerians are excluded from the country’s power grid and Shell Companies in Nigeria have established and provided substantial funding for a not-for-profit, impact-investing company called All On. Operating as an independent company, All On works to bring reliable electricity – often from renewable energy sources -- to off-grid urban and rural customers. This support aims to build a solid pipeline of viable businesses that can create the scale required to address Nigeria’s access to energy gap. In December 2019, SPDC and SNEPCo made a significant additional 10-year financing commitment of $160 million in All On, bringing the total commitment to $200 million. By the end of 2021, All On had provided investment capital to over 40 renewable energy start-ups in its portfolio – an increase of more than 30% from 2020. One such company is Infibranches Technologies Limited, to which All On has committed $2 million, which is expected to enable the indigenous technology company to expand sales of solar home systems via its more than 13,000 agent banking partners across Nigeria. With the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, the All On Hub was established in 2020 to provide nonfinancial support and build the capabilities of off-grid energy entrepreneurs. In 2021, the hub supported 81 ventures – nearly double the 41 supported in 2020. Also in 2021, All On, Odyssey Energy Solutions and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet launched a $10 million equipment financing facility as part of the DART pilot programme in Nigeria. 7 Hydraulic flying leads support the delivery of hydraulic fluid and/or chemicals between subsea equipment. 8 Subsea trees are an assembly of valves and other components used to monitor and control the production of a subsea well. DART will combine demand pooling, aggregated purchasing of solar equipment, and access to affordable finance to unlock economies of scale for solar companies, achieve cost savings for end-users, and accelerate the growth of the renewable energy sector in Nigeria and beyond. DEVELOPING LOCAL CONTENT AND SKILLS Shell Companies in Nigeria contribute to the growth of Nigerian businesses that can provide technical and support services to the industry. This includes the manufacture of tools and technical kits, the operation of helicopter flights in the Niger Delta, and strategic partnerships between foreign and local companies to stimulate technology transfer and capacity development. While there are government-required programmes in some areas, such as the Nigerian and Community Content Strategy embedded in the Assa North/Ohaji South gas development project, Shell Companies in Nigeria deliberately seek to contract local businesses wherever possible. In 2021, Shell Companies in Nigeria awarded $800 million worth of contracts to Nigerian-registered companies. Of these, 92% were companies with at least 51% Nigerian ownership. SNEPCo has awarded major engineering and construction contracts to companies that are indigenous, have local staff, or possess domestic capabilities in the country. At present, the manufacture and rebuild of hydraulic flying leads7 (HFLs) is being carried out in-country by wholly indigenous companies. Pressure Controls Systems Nigeria Limited, another Nigerian company, continues to refurbish old subsea trees.8 Sometimes, a lack of access to capital hinders Nigerian companies from competing for and executing contracts effectively. Shell Companies in Nigeria have provided access to nearly $1.6 billion in loans to 901 Nigerian vendors under the Shell Contractor Support Fund since 2012. These loans help improve their tendering opportunities.

About FBRA: Registered in March 2018 as the Industry Coalition for the Food and Beverage Sector, the Packaging Producer Responsibility Organisation to implement Extended Producer Responsibility in Nigeria. The Alliance has membership is drawn from responsible and forward-thinking companies which include Nigerian Bottling Company Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Seven-Up Bottling Company Limited, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Intercontinental Distillers Limited, International Breweries Limited, Tulip Cocoa, Prima Caps and Preforms, DOW Chemicals, Tetra Pak West Africa, The LaCasera Company Plc, Engee PET Manufacturing Company Limited, Omnik Limited, UAC Foods Limited, Unilever Nigeria Plc, Perfetti Van Melle, CHI Limited, Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Limited, Promasidor Nigeria Limited, Beta Glass Plc/Frigoglass Industries Nigeria Limited, Kellogg Tolaram Plc, CWAY Limited, Dufil Plc, Friesland Campina WAMCO, PolySmart Group, Cadbury Nigeria Plc and
Zard Group.

For more information contact info@fbranigeria.ng. www.fbranigeria.ng.

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