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Contractors kick against acquisition of Agip by Oando without settling debts

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Yenagoa, Oct. 9, 2023: Indigenous contractors to Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) have kicked against the ongoing acquisition of the company by Oando and threatened to occupy all facilities belonging to Agip in the Niger Delta over contract debts.

 The contractors said it would be inhuman and lack of global best practice to allow the deal to sail through  without settling all debts owed them by the company.

The contractors under the auspices of Coalition of Indigenous Contractors of Agip (CICA) wondered why Agip would embark on such a deal without first discussing the modalities to pay all their outstanding debts.

CICA in a statement on Sunday by its Chairman, Ifeanyichuku Olisa and Secretary, Chief Felix Alumona, lamented that Agip owed its members huge amount of money for jobs they did for the company.

The contractors called on President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to wade into the transaction and ensure that all outstanding debts were paid before the conclusion of the acquisition.

They also appealed to security agencies to prevail on Agip and NNPC to settle the outstanding debts to avoid compelling host communities and other affected stakeholders  resorting to self-help.

The contractors said: “We recently heard that NAOC has been acquired by Oando and the acquisition process is ongoing.

Whilst we hold no objection to the purported acquisition, we are concerned about what happens to the monies NAOC owes all its contractors?

“It also worrisome to hear from NAOC that the other joint venture partners, NNPC and OANDO have not consistently remitted their joint venture contributions, cash calls, which invariably has led to humongous sums of money being owed to local contractors, comprising landlords to NAOC facilities, service contractors and general contractors, who provide services to NAOC”.

 The contractors said some of the debts had been owed since 2020 adding that loans were obtained from the banks by contractors to execute the jobs.

CICA said: “What becomes of the monies being owed these contractors, many of who sought bank loans and invoice discount facilities, and now at serious risk of severe financial losses.

“We call on our ever listening President Bola Tinubu to prevail on NNPC and OANDO, to as a matter of save our soul (SOS) intervene and save NAOC contractors from financial losses.

“Government regulatory agencies as well as all security agencies should please

prevail seriously on NNPC/OANDO to please save the contractors from impending calamity and to forestall landlord and host community contractors from resorting to self-help which will include but not limited to ensuring the stoppage of all NAOC operations in our host communities”.

Although NAOC officials declined comments on the development, a Spokesperson at Eni, the Italian parent company to NAOC pledged to revert with a response but has yet to do so.

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Shareholders reinforce confidence in Oando management

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Shareholders of Oando Plc have reinforced confidence on the management of the company while urging the government to work with stakeholders to tackle the challenges facing the oil and gas industry.

A statement posted on Oando’s website said the shareholders made this known at the 43rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company held on Wednesday in Lagos.

The statement said the shareholders were represented by proxies of their various associations at the AGM in line with the COVID-19 safety protocols.

According to the statement, all resolutions proposed at the meeting were approved including the election of Mrs Nana Mede and Mrs Ronke Shokefun as Non-Executive Directors.

Also approved were the election of Adeola Ogunsemi as an Executive Director, the re-election of Ike Osakwe, Ademola Akinrele and Dr Ainojie Irune as Directors, the election of audit committee members and the approval of the remuneration of Non-Executive Directors.

The shareholders commended Oando’s management for appointing two women to the board of directors.

Mr Patrick Ajudua, an Oando shareholder said, “I want to commend the management for the appointment of Shokefun and Mede as directors, and we hope that they will bring value to us.”

Similarly, another shareholder, Dr Farouk Umar, said he was happy with the development and thanked the board for the appointment of the duo.

The shareholders also expressed concern over the issue of insecurity in the country such as vandalism, banditry, and terrorism amongst others.

They implored the government to partner with various stakeholders both in the public and private sectors to resolve this issue which they described as crippling the economy.

A shareholder, Mr Patrick Ajudua said: ” I’m worried about the issue of oil theft. This implies that the company is losing so much money to oil theft.

“This also makes it difficult for the country to meet the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries quota and negatively impacts our Gross Domestic Product.

“I applaud the approach by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency using their aircraft to track vandalism.

“I believe that when various stakeholders join forces, we’ll have a resolution to this issue.”

He reaffirmed his support to Oando management saying, “I want to assure you of our support to Oando and once we can solve these lingering issues of oil theft, we will be able to enjoy the fruit of our labour.”

Also, the leaders of the various shareholders and proxies encouraged Oando’s management to focus on corporate actions that would be beneficial to all.

In response to shareholders statements, the Group Chief Executive, Oando Plc, Mr Adewale Tinubu, reaffirmed the management’s commitment to continually do what’s in the best interest of shareholders.

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Oando Clean Energy to roll out 3000 electric buses in Lagos

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Oando Clean Energy says it will be partnering with the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation to roll out 3000 electric buses by 2030

The Executive Vice President Oando Clean Energy, Mr Ademola Ogunbanjo, disclosed this at the ongoing ninth edition of the Lagos Climate Change Summit on Wednesday in Lagos.

The two-day event is titled: “Integrating Climate Actions in Lagos State Development: Investment Opportunities and Trade-offs.

Odunbanjo spoke on the topic: De-carbonising Industries/Mobility via Innovative Clean Energy.

He said that Oando would be experimenting on different energy mix to come out with an affordable green energy for consumers, mobility and industry.

According to him, buses that are powered with hydrogen will not be profitable.

“Not as the fares that we pay today. They’re not cost effective.

“And we also can’t pass it on to the consumer.

“So we will roll out about five hydrogen powered buses when the plants is ready.

It will run at a loss we know but we’ll do it still anyways, because we must prove the concept and attract investment, particularly development funds.

Odubanjo said that statistics show that before 2020, industries contributed 40 per cent to Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, while transportation contributed about 17 per cent.

He said that industry activities and mobility are activities of humans which release carbon into the atmosphere, thereby causing climate change.

“All of these things speak to the activities of humanity.

“Industry speaks to the consumption of humanity

.”Because the climate change conversation is about human consumption. What do we consume, how do we consume and that’s the primary conversation.

He said that Nigeria is the fourth largest contributor of GHG emissions in Africa.

He said that though Nigeria is a fourth largest contributor. Lagos is the largest contributing city.

“This means that Lagos probably accounts for 50 or 40 per cent of GHG emissions for Nigeria.

“Unfortunately, data has shown us that Nigeria has gained the most, over 98 per cent between 1990 and 2020.

”So our trajectory for emissions is going up, it is not slowing down.”

Odunbanjo said that while  industries lead the global average of GHG emissions in developed economies of the world, transportation  takes the lead in Nigeria.

“It means that we go to a lot of places where we don’t produce a lot of things. Industry leads the global average.

“Transportation leads Nigeria’s average that’s not good news. If it was industry leading, we would at least say that we are a producing economy; all we just have to do is look at how we power industries.

“It also means that as a country, mass transit system is so powerful”

Odunbanjo said that for us to decarbonise mobility, there is the need to expand mass transit system where everybody does not feel the need to put their vehicles on the road.

“We can all get on buses, trains and trams. And we’re comfortable in there

“When we visit England, I’m sure we don’t drive in England.

“Not because it’s right hand drive only but because the public transport system works for you,” Odunbanjo said.

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Oando begins settlement with Mangal, tops trading on NGX

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Trading on the Nigerian bourse opened on Monday on a positive note with turnover appreciating by 1,103.94 per cent due to off-market trade in Oando Plc.

Specifically, a total of 2.40 billion units valued at N16.47 billion were exchanged by investors in 4,811 deals.

This was in contrast with 199.52 million shares worth N3.26 billion traded in 3,917 deals on Friday.

Transactions in the shares of Oando topped the activity chart with 1.97 billion shares valued at N11.83 billion in off-market trade at N6 per share in eight deals.

The transaction was negotiated as a cross deal by APT Securities and Funds Ltd. as both buyer and seller.

Speaking on the transaction, a broker at APT Securities and Funds Ltd., who pleaded anonymity, said the transaction was part of the agreement between Oando and Ocean and Oil Development Partners Ltd. to settle their dispute.

The stockbroker said Alhaji Dahir Mangal, representative of company, was realising all his holdings as part of settlement in line with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) mandate to the company to settle all the grievances causing issues with its majority shareholder.

The broker said Mangal would also withdraw his directors; both the executive director, Mukhtar Zubair and non-executive director, Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji, as part of the settlement agreement.

Mutual Benefits Assurance followed with 133.98 million shares worth N32.59 million, while FBNH traded 88.66 million shares valued at N1.08 billion.

Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) traded 43.15 million shares valued at N1.10 billion, while Sterling Bank transacted 25.49 million shares worth N37.75 million.

Also, the All-Share Index inched higher by 60.86 points or 0.14 per cent to close at 43,260.13 from 43,199.27 achieved on Friday.

Consequently, the month-to-date and year-to-date gains increased to 2.9 per cent and 7.4 per cent, respectively.

Also, the market capitalisation, which opened at N22.544 trillion rose by N31 billion or 0.14 per cent to close at N22.575 trillion.

The positive performance of the market was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Nestle, FBN Holdings (FBNH), Conoil, Honeywell Flour Mills and Zenith Bank.

This week, analysts at United Capital Plc said, “We expect a sideways market, with a bias towards the bias, as we expect continued investor profit-taking on gains from the nine months earnings season.

“Additionally, market participants will be watching the fixed income space.”

The market closed positive with 18 gainers in contrast with 16 losers.

Honeywell Flour Mills drove the gainers’ chart in percentage terms with 9.73 per cent to close at N3.72 per share.

NEM Insurance came second with 7.89 per cent to close at N2.05, while FBNH went up by 6.49 per cent to close at N12.30 per share.

Oando rose by 5.97 per cent to close at N5.15, while Champion Breweries gained 3.83 per cent to close at N2.71 per share.

On the other hand, The Initiates Plc led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 9.76 per cent to close at 37k per share.

UACN Property Development Company followed with 9.74 per cent to close at N1.39, while FTN Cocoa processors declined by 9.09 to close at 40k per share.

Japaul Gold and Ventures lost 4.88 per cent to close at 39k, while Universal Insurance shed 4.76 per cent to close at 20k per share.

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Oando Plc enters into settlement with SEC

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Oando Plc has entered into a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the overriding interest of the shareholders of the company and the capital market.
This is according to a circular released SEC by on Monday in Abuja and signed by the Management of the Commission.
According to it, the company has reached a settlement with the commission on certain terms amongst others.
They are immediate withdrawal of all legal actions filed by the company and all affected directors, payment of all monetary penalties stipulated in the commission’s letter of May 31, 2019 and an undertaking by the company to implement corporate governance improvements.
It added that part of the terms also requires the submission by the company of quarterly reports on its compliance with the terms of the Settlement Agreement, the Investments and Securities Act, 2007 and the SEC Rules and Regulations.
Others are the National Code of Corporate Governance and the SEC Guidelines to the Code of Corporate Governance.
“Pursuant to the powers conferred on SEC, (the commission) by the Investments and Securities Act 2007, and the Rules and Regulations made pursuant thereto, the Commission on July 15, entered into a Settlement with Oando Plc (the Company).
“The commission in its letter to the company dated May 31, 2019, gave certain directives and imposed sanctions on the company, following investigations conducted pursuant to two petitions filed with the commission in 2017.
“The company and some of its affected directors had challenged the said directives in a series of suits commenced at the Federal High Court.
“However, the company subsequently approached the commission for a settlement of the matter, and both parties have now agreed to settle.
“This is in consideration of the impact that a further prolonged period of litigation would have on the company’s shareholders and the value of their investments as well as remedial measures to be put in place by the company in enhancing its corporate governance practices and strengthening its internal control environment.”
SEC, however, reiterated its commitment to ensuring the fairness, transparency and integrity of the capital market, while upholding its mandate to protect investors.