The applause came as the company prepares for the rollout of its premium motor spirit, PMS, product, also known as petrol.

The League, comprising the National Society of Engineers (NSE), Nigerian Academy of Engineering (NAE), Association of Consulting Engineering in Nigeria (ACEN), and the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), toured the complex at the weekend, where they were received by the Vice President, Oil & Gas, Dangote Industries Limited, Mr. Devakumar Edwin.

The body of engineers also commended the President of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, for hiring and nurturing highly-skilled Nigerian engineers – who were guides during the visit – and declared that engineering is alive in Nigeria, from the workforce to the construction at the Dangote Refinery complex.

During an interactive session, the 34th and first female President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Margaret Oguntala, described the facility as “mind-blowing”.

She added that the refinery project from construction to employment, gave her hope and assurance that young Nigerian engineers were ready to take up the world.

READ ALSO: Flooding: FG to support affected states with N3bn

“I was awed to see the state-of-the-art facility at the Dangote Refinery; what I see here today will blow the mind of any engineer; it is just like the movies. I was an intern at the Port Harcourt Refinery and I also visited the Kaduna Refinery, it is nothing compared to what I see here. The young engineer that took us around showed capacity and we are happy that you are building the future of engineers. We at the NSE are behind you, we shall take this home and let the world know that engineering is alive at the Dangote Refinery,” she added.

Speaking on behalf of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering, Prof. Azikwe Peter Onwualu also noted that the visitors have seen “something good and Nigerians need to know about it.”

Prof. Onwualu added, “We are happy some of our fellows are part of your system. We would like to remind the President of the Dangote Group, Mr. Aliko Dangote, that if you are not doing something great you will not be criticised. Whatever you are doing, keep it up. If we have this kind of development across Nigeria, people won’t be talking about protests. Keep doing what you are doing and you will hear from us.”

Also, President of Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN, Prof. Sadiq Abubakar, enthused that Nigerian engineers are not inferior to their counterparts globally and the Dangote Refinery is visible proof of this.

“We have known this as a fact that Nigerians are no less in engineering globally. We know our capabilities and this attests to it. What we saw today is emotional and I wonder what the motivation for this colossal investment is. We would like to encourage him for keeping the spirit of a true Nigerian.”

Reacting to questions, the Group Vice President, Oil and Gas, Mr. Edwin, demystified talks around the monopoly tag, stating that someone has to start a project before others follow.

“Nigeria was one of the largest importers of cement, then we started manufacturing cement and then we became exporters, same thing applies to sugar, salt and now fertiliser. This breakthrough opened the doors for other investors in those industries and Nigeria is better for it.

“What motivates Mr. Dangote is his sheer interest in the Nigerian project. It is true, we are in business to make money but the question is where is the money going to? Every money Dangote is making goes back to the Nigerian economy, from cement to salt, sugar, fertiliser.”

“The business strategy of the Dangote Refinery is to minimise the energy cost and the overall cost of production; build the most environmentally friendly; maximise value addition; maximise gasoline which is in high demand with about 55 per cent of the production capacity compared to 22 per cent of the existing refineries in Nigeria; strategically located marine infrastructure for crude receipt and product evacuation; state-of-the-art technology; produce Euro V products; provide crude flexibility and create market of $21 billion per annum of Nigerian crude,” Mr. Edwin added.

While speaking to journalists, the Technical Consultant to Dangote Refinery, Engr. Babajide Soyode, said the visit of his professional colleagues, made him “very proud”.

He added that “I knew the project was a hard one, but Aliko Dangote is harder. He follows up on his passion. His corporate vision is to meet the need of the people. It is the greatest honour of my life to be part of this project.”

The Dangote Refinery is poised to begin production of petrol, according to Mr. Edwin; a process which is expected to complement the current products at the refinery, stimulate local supply of the vital product to Nigerians, and save huge foreign exchange revenue for the country.

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Mr Tasiu Gidari-Wudil, President of NSE, said this on Saturday at a news conference organised by the society  for the commemoration of the World Engineering Day, WED, in Abuja.

The theme of the 2023 World Engineering Day is “Engineering Innovations for a More Resilient World”.

In 2020, March 4, was officially designated as the World Engineering Day, WED, for sustainable development.

The date was approved by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, as a special international day to celebrate eand the works of engineering every year.

Gidari-Wudil speaking at the occasion said if the government would strive the person who should head  INEC as its chairman should be an engineer.

“70 per cent of the operations of INEC is logistics, that is industrial engineering, the operations; election now is ICT based, technology based; so if you are going to bring a professor of Political Science or History most of the questions in this field he cannot answer.

“But if you bring an engineer, he will use his experience; I am sure most of the commissioners are not engineers, so when you talking of logistics and tracing, I can tell you if you put an engineer he will be geo-tagging every ballot box.

“So, if really government is ready to solve problems let them put square pegs in square holes; there are more than 40 fields of engineering, so if you want things to work don’t be afraid to put the right professionals in the right places.

“What we are saying is that the in-coming government should be mindful of this if they want to develop this country. In every political party there are engineers. People with the right competences should put in places,” Gadari-Wudil said.

Recall that at the recently concluded 2023 Presidential and National Assembly Elections, many of the challenges that faced the commission was due to the late arrival of sensitive materials and INEC personnel coupled with failure of the BIVAS machine.

The NSE president also used the occasion to call for full implementation of the Presidential Executive Order 5, which according to him, certain critical sections of the Executive Order were not being fully implemented.

Speaking on the recent building collapse in Gwarimpa, FCT, he said there was an urgent need to establish responsible Building Engineering Practice and Governance.

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The NSE monthly domestic and foreign portfolio investment, FPI, flows obtained on Monday shows that total transactions stood at N232.46 billion (about 590.82 million dollars) in January.

This was in contrast with N269.24 billion (about $687.06 million) recorded in December.

The performance of January 2021 when compared to the performance in January 2020 (N235.46billion) revealed that total transactions decreased marginally by 1.27 per cent.

In January 2021, the total value of transactions executed by domestic investors outperformed transactions executed by foreign investors by circa 60 per cent.

A further analysis of the total transactions executed between January 2021 and the prior month (December 2020) revealed that total domestic transactions decreased by 7.21 per cent from N199.32 billion in December to N184.94 billion in January 2021.

Similarly, total foreign transactions decreased by 32.04 per cent from N69.92billion in December (about $178.44 million) to N47.52 billion (about $120.78million) in January 2021.

A comparison of domestic transactions revealed that retail transactions increased by 10.16 per cent from N61.22 billion in December 2020 to N67.44 billion in January 2021.

The institutional composition of the domestic market also decreased by 14.91 per cent from N138.09 billion in December 2020 to N117.50 billion in January 2021.

Over 14 year period, domestic transactions decreased by 59.54 per cent from N3.56 trillion in 2007 to N1.44 trillion in 2020, whilst foreign transactions increased by 18.45 per cent from N616 billion to N729 billion over the same period.

Total domestic transactions accounted for about 74 per cent of the total transactions carried out in 2020, whilst foreign transactions accounted for about 26 per cent of the total transactions in the same period.

The transaction data for January 2021 shows that total foreign transactions was circa N47.52 billion, whilst total domestic transactions was circa N184.94 billion.

Source: NAN

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Consequently, the market capitalisation which opened at N21.715 trillion shed N426 billion or 1.96 per cent to close at N21.289 trillion due to massive profit-taking.

Similarly, the All-Share Index dipped 814.15 points or 1.96 per cent to close at 40,696.01 from 41,510.16 recorded on Tuesday.

The market loss was driven by price depreciation in large and medium-capitalised stocks amongst which were; Fidson, Chemical & Allied Products, Regency Alliance Insurance, Sovereign Trust Insurance and Sunu Assurance.

Mr Ambrose Omorodion, Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd., attributed the persistent lull to profit-taking and sell pressure, ahead of earnings season.

He added that mixed unaudited full year results released so far by the NSE contributed to the development.

“For discerning investors, these pullbacks have created an opportunity to position ahead of earnings expectations,” Omorodion said.

Market breadth remained negative with 37 laggards and 13 gainers.

CAP, Sunu Assurance, eTranzact International, Fidson Healthcare, Regency Alliance Insurance, and Sovereign Trust Insurance drove the losers’ chart in percentage terms, dropping 10 per cent each to close at N18, 81k, N2.25, N5.40, 27 kobo and 27k per share, respectively.

Mutual Benefit Assurance followed with 9.76 per cent to close at 37k, while Linkage Assurance shed 9.09 per cent to close at 60k per share.

Conversely, Niger Insurance dominated the gainers’ table in percentage terms, gaining 10 per cent to close at 22k per share.

Champion Breweries trailed with 9.82 per cent to close at N3.02, while Wapic Insurance rose by 7.41 per cent to close at 58k per share.

Academy Press improved by 6.06 per cent to close at 35k, while Guinness Nigeria appreciated by 4.83 per cent to close at N20.60 per share.

However, the total volume of shares traded increased by 19.9 per cent with an exchange of 366.86 million shares valued at N5.48 billion in 5,718 deals.

This was in contrast with 305.93 million shares worth N3.95 billion traded in 4,961 deals on Tuesday.

Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 43.74 million shares valued at N1.103 billion.

FBN Holdings came second with 40.03 million shares worth N289.26 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank traded 35.98 million shares valued at N1.17 billion.

Courteville Business Solutions sold 35.12 million shares worth N7.024million, while Transcorp transacted 23.74 million shares valued at N23.23 million.

Source: NAN

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Specifically, the market capitalisation which opened at N18.940 trillion rose by N296 billion or 1.56 per cent to close at N19.236 trillion.

Also, the NSE All-Share Index inched higher by 565.13 points or 1.56 per cent to close at 36,804.75 from 36,239.62 achieved on Thursday.

Mr Ambrose Omordion, Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd., attributed the market rally to reopening of four land borders and low yield environment in the fixed income instruments.

Omordion said that many positive factors were in favour of the stock market when compared with the money market.

He said that the reopening of four land borders across the country after 15 months, oil price rally, COVID-19 vaccine and expected early passage of 2021 budget were responsible for the bullish market.

Dangote Cement led the gainers’ table with N9.50 kobo to close at N209.50 per share.

It was followed by MTN Nigeria with N5 to close at N160, while Ardova gained N1.05 to close at N14.30 per share.

Guinness added 40k to close at N19, while Oando gained 28k.

On the other hand, C & I Leasing topped the losers’ chart, shedding 47k to close at N4.31 per share.

United Capital trailed with 6k to close at N4.65, while May & Baker dipped by 4k to close at N3.85 per share.

Lasaco declined by 2k to close at 30k, while UAC Property was down by 1k to close at 79k per share.

Niger Insurance was the most active stock with an exchange of 130.24 million shares valued at N26.05 million.

Guaranty Trust Bank sold 23.43 million shares worth N790.82 million, while Mansard traded 21.75 million shares valued at N20.01 million.

FBN Holdings accounted for 21.33 million shares worth N150.48 million, while Zenith Bank sold 20.22 million shares valued at N501.09 million.

In all, investors traded 426.33 million shares valued at N4.36 billion exchanged in 4,298 deals.

This was against 343.64 million shares worth N4.35 billion achieved in 3,895 deals on Thursday.

Source: NAN

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The body of engineers made the call through the state chairman of NSE, Dr. Wasiu Ajagbe, when he paid a courtesy visit to the State Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism at Ibadan on Monday.

Ajagbe was accompanied on the courtesy call by some of the executive members of the society, among whom are Dr. Serah Akintola, Engr. Victor Ogunranti and the state’s NSE General Secretary, Engr. Ayokunnu Ojedele.

The NSE chairman said all available logistics must be made available to Oyo State in its present drive to turn the tide against the popular negative notion the world had about Ibadan as well as to fight the scourge of flooding.

He said flooding had cost government and the people of the state innumerable funding and most importantly, people’s lives and properties.

“Ibadan has been known in Nigeria for its noble contribution to Nigeria in commerce, politics, intellect and other human development attributes; the government in Oyo State has done so much to combat the appellation of Ibadan being the dirtiest in Africa through policy change, advocacy, direct funding and enforcement through the State Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, these are commendable.

“We call on the Nigerian president and the government to see the need to give support to Oyo State, funding and logistic backing should be made available to the state in its drive to achieve a change in the status and make Ibadan the neatest in Africa and investment destination.”

Dr. Ajagbe hinted that the society was ready to partner the state government to arrest the problem of solid waste which he said had been a perennial crisis for successive administrations.

He said the society’s initiative included establishment of Clean Ibadan Ambassadors, CIA, which would engage secondary school students to form CIA Clubs throughout the state while the Echo Marshals would be drawn from stakeholders in the environment sector like the market men and women, park managers, religion heads, traditional rulers, Igbo and Hausa community leaders as well as media practitioners.

In his response, Oyo State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr. Wasiu Olatubosun appreciated the visit and readiness of the society to partner the government to bring about a new Oyo State as far as management of solid waste was concerned.

He narrated the efforts of the incumbent administration under governor Seyi Makinde to effect and maintain a clean Ibadan and Oyo State in general, which necessitated the revamping of the state’s Solid Waste Management Authority and creation of the state’s Environmental Task Force, to complement the works of the state’s Ministry of Environment and Water Resources.

He promised the readiness of the state government to partner NSE and give its all to effect desirable changes in the state.

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Mr Oscar Onyema, Chief Executive Officer, NSE, during the ceremony on Friday in Lagos, described the novelist as a testament that Nigeria is blessed with talented people.

Onyema, while welcoming Adichie, said that as a mentor, she had continued to promote equality in terms of opportunities that inspired women across the globe.

“It is my pleasure to welcome one of Nigerian’s leading literary exports to the NSE for our digital Closing Gong Ceremony.

“Adichie is a testament that Nigeria is a reservoir of talent. She is a mentor who consistently promotes equal opportunity and inspires women to believe in their ability to achieve set goals.

“As an Exchange, our values align with the aspiration to create a world where gender is not a criterion for success, rather, the strength of a person’s character and their capacity to deliver in their engagements.

“We are, therefore, glad that our platforms offer opportunities to tell the Nigerian story of strength and brilliance as well as inspire the greatness in our unity and diversity,” Onyema said.

According to him, the Exchange has continued to demonstrate that gender equality is at the heart of its Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility, CSR, strategy, and it has continued to contribute to strengthening diversity within the market.

“In terms of increasing female participation across its operations, NSE has achieved a 1:1 women to men ratio across members of staff, and a female representation of 27 per cent on the National Council, the highest level of leadership of the NSE,” he said.

Adichie, on her part, said she was delighted to be at the event and hoped that her story would inspire someone to know that you can keep trying and keep doing.

“I often speak about how important it is for women to be included not because we are doing women a favour, but because it makes economic sense to tap into the wealth and knowledge that is often underutilised, under-recognised and under-celebrated.

“I must, therefore, commend the policies of the Exchange in this regard. Ultimately, 2020 has been a strange year and it is my hope that next year will bring more clarity, and I will be able to participate in this Closing Gong ceremony again, this time physically,” she said.

Recall that NSE collaborated with the International Finance Corporation, IFC, on the Nigeria2Equal programme to help its listed companies close gender gaps within their businesses and ensure women are more represented on the board of the companies.

Source: NAN

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The representative of the body, Engr. Stephen Bolawole, gave the warning on Wednesday during the lecture he delivered to the 2020 Batch ‘B’ (Stream 1A) at the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, Permanent Orientation Camp, Ikare-Akoko, Ondo State.

Speaking on the roles of Nigerian Society of Engineers in the society, he said that engineering was the application of scientific knowledge to solve societal problems.

Bolawole who described an engineer as a link between the science and the society described an engineer as a problem solver.

He said NSE was a professional body coordinating the activities of trained engineers as well as providing the mentorship required for younger members.

He listed the requirements for membership to include an accredited degree or diploma from a recognised university and polytechnic and registration with Council for the Regulations of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN.

The representative of the NSE charged the corps engineers and allied professionals to seek training in registered and certified engineering firms where they will be exposed to the rudiments of the profession.

During an interaction with the State Coordinator, Mrs. Grace Akpabio, the team which included Engineers F.O. Adeniyi; Stephen Bolawole; Eniola Folashade and Oluwatoyin Olowofela, appealed to the management to post corps engineers to engineering firms located within the state.

In her response, Mrs. Akpabio said that in line with the policy on postings, services of corps members would be made available to agencies and institutions who requested for such services.

According to the NYSC boss, the scheme could not be seen or viewed as forcing corps members on employers who did not apply in writing for their services.

She added that corps employers who fulfilled the requirements for the engagement of members of the service corps such as provision of decent and secured accommodation as well as payment of token as stipend for transportation would be given accelerated consideration.

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The Special Recognition Award was given to the Corporation for its robust contributions to the development of the engineering profession in Nigeria, a press release by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, stated.

The president of the NSE, Engr. Babagana Mohammed, who presented the award to the Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Mallam Mele Kyari, at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, said the NNPC was the backbone to the visible development of the country and the engineering profession.

He noted that NNPC had remained committed to offering free training to young engineers through the National Engineering and Technical Company Limited, NETCO, in a bid to assist in providing the manpower requirement in the oil and gas industry.

The NSE boss urged the awardees to keep flying the flag of the NSE in their various endeavours positively, stressing that they were duty bound to serve as role models to others in the society.

The NNPC GMD, who was represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Ventures and Business Development, Engr. Adeyemi Adetunji, said NNPC would continue to play a major role in growing the engineering profession, which he described as critical to the success of the Corporation.

He said NNPC would remain focused on key projects such as Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano pipeline and refineries rehabilitation, to ensure that they were delivered on time, within budget and to specifications.

“This award is in recognition of NNPC’s contribution to the nation’s development and its efforts and drive to improve engineering profession in Nigeria. NNPC as a responsible national oil company will continue to focus on key projects that will deliver optimal value to Nigerians,” the GMD stated.

He applauded the COO and the other staff who were awarded the NSE fellowship, for attaining the peak of the Engineering profession, noting that the Corporation would continue to be a pacesetter in the Engineering vocation as the foremost National Oil Company in Africa.

On his part, the COO, Upstream, Engr. Tombomieye, said the award would spur him to bring his professional expertise to bear on his job by adding value to the Upstream business of the Corporation for the good of the country.

Also speaking at the event, the Managing Director of NETCO, Engr. Usman Baba, said the recognition would spur the company to continue to build the capacity of young engineers in the country and prepare them for the oil and gas industry.

He noted that NETCO offerred the young graduates placement and pays them as a way of contributing towards tackling unemployment in the country.

“As the NSE President mentioned, NETCO trains young Nigerian Engineers, as the only indigenous engineering company in the face of this dangerous situation where other companies do not want to train and nobody wants to employ non-experienced staff. So, NETCO has taken the responsibility of training them with pay, so that they can be marketable in the industry. This is one of our major contributions to the industry. As at today, we have brought in about 35 new young graduates of the engineering profession to be trained for the market,” Engr. Baba stated.

Two other NNPC staff who were conferred with the award, Engr. Sagiru Adamu and Engr. Bassey Essiet, described the fellowship as a dream come true.

Earlier, the chairman of the Board of Fellows of the NSE, Engr. Felix Atume, congratulated Engr. Tombomieye and the other Engineers on the fellowship award and urged them to uphold the ethics of the engineering profession for upcoming engineers to emulate.

Highpoint of the occasion was the presentation of the awards by GMD of NNPC, Mallam Kyari, to the Minister of Power, Engr. Saleh Mamman, Director of Department of Petroleum Resources, Engr. Sarki Muktar, and to the COO, Upstream of NNPC, Engr. Tombomieye.

A total of 120 Engineers were conferred with the fellowship awards at the 16th edition of the NSE award and lecture series, with eight others being conferred with their awards virtually.

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The gains are in terms of boosting market capitalisation and yielding dividends to shareholders, the Executive Vice Chairman, EVC, of the commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, has said.

Market analysts report that MTN investors have raked in approximately N1 trillion in price appreciation and dividends since April 2020.

The listing of MTN was as a result of NCC’s effective regulatory action taken during the mobile network operator’s fine settlement agreement in 2016, which compelled the telco to, among other things, list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE.

The listing was one of the outcomes of the NCC’s stringent regulatory posture, which served as tonic for other telcos such as Airtel to follow the same direction.

As the country’s independent telecoms regulatory authority, the NCC, working with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, facilitated the landmark listing of the country’s largest telecommunications operator.

“This is in line with its mandate to promote investment, create a level-playing field for all licensees, ensure compliance to existing telecoms laws and facilitate delivery of top-notch quality of service (QoS) to consumers,” said the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Danbatta.

According to Danbatta, through that proactive regulation and timely intervention by the NCC, which led to the listing of MTN on the NSE, a new vista of opportunity had been created in the history of telecommunications industry in Nigeria.

“That important regulatory action enabled Nigerians, consistent with the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003, to partly, own, manage and control MTN. This bold and courageous regulatory action is now transforming lives and boosting the economy,” the EVC stated.

Danbatta also stated that the listing had helped to translate into action, an important objective of the commission, which is to promote local investment and ownership in the telecom sector.

“With MTN shares available in the capital market, it is expected that Nigerians will buy shares and by purchasing the shares of MTN, they will be financially empowered and be socially transformed,” he said.

Stating that telecoms was a capital-intensive industry that required continuous investment, Danbatta said the listing would enable the telecoms companies to raise capital for the expansion of their networks.

“Also, one of the benefits of listing on the NSE is that telcos have enormous opportunity for raising more capital for network expansion, which will, in turn, bring about improvement in the quality of service delivery and quality of experience for telecom consumers,” he said.

The EVC further stated that, “today, the capital market regulator and shareholder bodies have commended the effort of the NCC in making the capital market more resilient through the Commission’s regulatory action in facilitating telcos listing.”

He noted that the listing in the stock exchange would promote liquidity amongst operators, enhance their value as well as promote transparency.

“The Commission is committed, through its regulatory policies and actions, to creating the right environment to attract both Foreign Direct Investment (FDIs) and local investment into the telecom industry for increased economic prosperity for Nigerians,” the EVC said.

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