The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its partners yesterday took a Final Investment Decision (FID) on the $3.6bn Integrated Gas Processing and Methanol Plant in Odioma, Brass Island, Bayelsa State.

The project is being executed by the Brass Fertiliser and Petrochemical Company Limited (BFPCL), an incorporated entity owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), DSV Engineering, and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

At the event, that national oil company pledged that it would do everything within its powers to ensure the prompt completion of the project.

Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, who spoke during the FID signing ceremony of the project which held Friday at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, noted that the plant would be of immense economic benefits to the country when completed.

A press release by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, stated that the facility is projected to be the largest methanol plant in Africa and the first in Nigeria.

Kyari said the corporation would do everything possible to make the project come to fruition, noting that NNPC was pleased with the current efforts by the federal government to provide value for Nigeria’s gas resources.

Describing the FID as one of the most significant FIDs in recent times, Kyari said the project was in tandem with the earlier declaration of 2020 as the year of gas and 2021-2030 as the decade of gas by the minister of state for petroleum resources.

He remarked that the construction phase of the project would create about 30,000 jobs in addition to the 5,000 permanent jobs which would come in place when the plant becomes operational.

Earlier in his welcome address, the BFPCL Board Chairman, who is also the NNPC Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power, Mr. Usman Yusuf, disclosed that already a lump sum Turnkey Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract had been awarded to the China Tianchen Engineering Corporation (TCC) while TATA Consulting Engineers are providing project management consultancy for the delivery of the plant in 2024.

“In 2017, BFPCL secured an Initial Gas Sales and Purchase Agreement (GSPA) with SPDC JV for a 25-year supply of 270MMscf/d rich gas to the project.

“The integrated project is estimated to cost about $3.6 billion and is expected to deliver 10,000TPD Methanol products to the export and local markets,” he stated.

In his presentation, the Executive Vice-Chairman of BFPCL, Mr. Ben Okoye, said the signing of the FID was an affirmative vote and consent by the Board to construct the plant.

He explained that with a production capacity of 10,000 tons per day (tpd), the facility would be the largest methanol plant in Africa with a huge potential to provide gainful employment many youths both at the construction and operational stages.

Okoye informed that based on lessons learnt from the historic chequered relationships between host communities and oil and gas companies, the project would allow for host communities to have equity shareholding participation to give them a sense of belonging.

Speaking at the event, the Minister of State Petroleum Resources and Alternate Chairman of the NNPC Board, Chief Sylva, said the FID marked yet another milestone in the ongoing efforts to monetise and add value to the nation’s abundant natural gas endowments.

He noted that in July 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the development of the Brass Gas Hub with the sole aim of aggregating and monetising all stranded gas in the Brass area which amounts to over 14 trillion cubic feet.

“Today we are witnessing the signing of the Final Investment Decision of Phase 1 of the Brass Gas Hub by the promoters of this laudable project.

“The project is expected to have very significant economic impact on the country including but not limited to support for gas based industries, revenue generation, import substitution for the methanol needs of the country that is currently 100 per cent imported, among others’’ the minister said.

While assuring the BFPCL of government support, he called on the company to ensure timeous completion of the project.

The Black Lives Matter movement has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel peace prize for the way its call for systemic change has spread around the world.

In his nomination papers, the Norwegian MP Petter Eide said the movement had forced countries outside the US to grapple with racism within their own societies.

“I find that one of the key challenges we have seen in America, but also in Europe and Asia, is the kind of increasing conflict based on inequality,” Eide said. “Black Lives Matter has become a very important worldwide movement to fight racial injustice.

“They have had a tremendous achievement in raising global awareness and consciousness about racial injustice

Eide, who has previously nominated human rights activists from Russia and China for the prize, said one other thing that impressed him about the Black Lives Matter movement was the way “they have been able to mobilise people from all groups of society, not just African-Americans, not just oppressed people, it has been a broad movement, in a way which has been different from their predecessors.”
The Black Lives Matter movement was co-founded in 2013 by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi in response to the acquittal in the US of the man who shot Trayvon Martin. It gained wider recognition in 2014 following protests over the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, and was the wellspring of a series of global protests in 2020 following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

Nominations for the Nobel peace prize are accepted from any politician serving at a national level, and they are allowed just 2,000 words to state their case. The deadline for this year’s submission is 1 February, and by the end of March the committee prepares a shortlist. The winner is chosen in October and the award ceremony is scheduled for 10 December. There were more than 300 nominations for last year’s award, which was ultimately won by the World Food Programme.

The committee awarded the WFP because it wanted to “turn the eyes of the world to the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger”, but perhaps the most high profile nomination last year was for former US president Donald Trump.

Trump was nominated for a second time by another Norwegian MP, Christian Tybring-Gjedde. The far-right MP cited Trump’s role in normalising relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates under the Abraham Accords, although Eide said he had “a little difficulty defending that nomination” after the Capitol riot of 6 January when a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Congress buildings and five people died.

Eide, however, said he didn’t want his nomination for Black Lives Matter to be seen as a comment on domestic US politics. And he dismissed criticism from rightwing voices that the group had been behind violence in US cities. “Studies have shown that most of the demonstrations organised by Black Lives Matter have been peaceful,” he said. “Of course there have been incidents, but most of them have been caused by the activities of either the police or counter-protestors.”

Data assembled by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project in September 2020 showed that 93% of Black Lives Matter demonstrations involved no serious harm to people or property.

The 61-year-old politician, who has represented the Socialist Left party in parliament since 2017, cited precedents of the Oslo-based Nobel prize committee recognising the battle against racism. Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela received the prize in 1960 and 1993 respectively for advocating against racial discrimination in South Africa, and Martin Luther King was awarded the prize for non-violent resistance against racism in the US in 1964. Mandela shared his award with FW de Klerk, the man who ordered the ANC leader’s release from prison.

“There is actually a tradition for doing this,” Eide said. “It’s a strong linkage between antiracism movements and peace, and a recognition that without this kind of justice, there will be no peace and stability in the society.”

His written nomination concludes: “Awarding the peace prize to Black Lives Matter, as the strongest global force against racial injustice, will send a powerful message that peace is founded on equality, solidarity and human rights, and that all countries must respect those basic principles.”