By Eromosele Abiodun
The Customs Area Controller of Lagos Ports Complex (LPC), Comptroller Musa Jibrin, has commended the operations at the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics base (LADOL), saying the indigenous oil and gas services’ facility is in tune with global best practices in the specialised energy sector.
Jibrin made the commendation in Lagos during an official tour of the command’s management team to the LADOL facility situated within the LPC, just as the newly appointed Port Manager, Mrs. Aisha Ali Ibrahim, said she would work towards enhancing mutual collaboration between the two organisations.
The Comptroller, who was recently posted to the customs command at the Nigerian premier port, was accompanied by his top management team in the visit, which coincided with the tour by the LPC Manager.
The visiting teams were separately received by the Managing Director of LADOL, Dr. Amy Jadesimi, whose Free Zone is currently undertaking the fabrication of an $3.8 billion Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) oil platform. The facility has been described as the first of its kind to be incorporated anywhere in the Sub-Saharan Africa.
Jadesimi, who explained the specialised operations at the base to her guests, pointed out that the FPSO contract otherwise called Egina Project was awarded by a consortium of Oil companies led by Total to Korea-based Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) with LADOL acting as the local content partner.
She revealed that prior to the award of the contract; two similar projects which emanated from Nigeria were undertaken abroad at higher costs with the attendant revenue and sundry economic losses to the nation because there was no shipyard in Nigeria that could adequately handle such projects, before the advent of LADOL.
“With the commencement of this Egina project here at our shipyard which was constructed in one year, Nigeria is being saved of huge capital flight, aside from the attendant job losses to expatriates who would have otherwise impacted technology transfer to Nigerians. We have over the years maintained a healthy relationship with the Nigeria Customs service and it is our desire to keep it growing” she said.
Responding, Jibrin expressed delight at the standard of operations at the base, particularly the Egina project, which he described as one of the “pride of a nation in dire need of technological growth.
According to him, “Nigeria needs to industrialise and grow in tandem with global best practices. So this facility could not have come at a better time than this. Yours is a remarkable Free Trade Zone (FTC)…and FTZs are supposed to be a place where you encourage industrialisation, attract Foreign Direct Investments, as well as develop labor and create job opportunities.”
Specifically, he said the Customs Command had, “every good reason to collaborate with LADOL and other similar facilities within our command, and we will continue to do just that.”
“And going by what I have seen here, you measure up to every known international standards, as a true ambassador for Nigeria,” he added.
Speaking in a similar vein, port manager of the Lagos Ports Complex, Mrs. Ibrahim commended the operations at LADOL base which she described as a ‘worthy tenant of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA)”.
According to the port manager, her visit to the base was part of the roles of LPC in the monitoring and liaising with terminals inside Apapa Port the Port towards evolving an enhanced collaboration with operators who are within the complex.
While emphasising that regular operational reports should be made to her office, the port manager said that the team had been working with LADOL for the past 10 years hence the need for enhanced communication as well as her management’s regular exchange of information with LADOL and the Lagos Port Complex office.
She described LADOL’s activities in the Port as unique and strategic which focuses more on heavy industrial activities that needed full support of LPC as they are creating jobs for Nigerians.
