Oando Plc Favour Ifeoluwa & Akinola Ajibade Oando Plc says it has completed and won the bid for the operatorship of oil block KON 13 in Angola. The firm which recently acquired Eni of Italy’s oil assets in Nigeria, said that the award of the oil block located in Angola’s onshore Kwanza Basin followed a competitive bidding process by the country’s oil and gas sector regulator. It further said hat the asset in which it owns 45 per cent participating interest, has estimated prospective resources of 770 to 1,100 million barrels of oil. Oando is handling its operations relating to the asset through its upstream subsidiary, Oando Energy Resources (OER). “Oando Plc, Africa’s leading indigenous energy solutions provider listed on both the Nigerian Exchange Limited and Johannesburg Stock Exchange is pleased to announce that its upstream subsidiary, Oando Energy Resources (OER), has been awarded operatorship of Block KON 13 in Angola’s Onshore Kwanza Basin, following a...
NCC/ NIMASA partnership coming
By Akinola Ajibade
A regulatory framework to stimulate effienciency in the use of submarine cables for operators in the nation's telecommunication sector is in the offing courtesy of the plans by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to work together on the issue.
The framework would assist in providing guidelines for Submarine Cable and Pipeline Operators in Nigeria.
A submarine Cables are often times, thousands of miles in length, are used in transmitting huge amounts of data rapidly from one point to another for effective operation of telecom companies.
According to NIMASA's Assistant Director, Public Operations, Mr Edward Osagie, the officials of the two organisations have reached an agreement on during a a pre-audit meeting on submarine cable Osagie in a statement made available to the media, quoted the Director-General of NIMASA, Dr Bashir Jamoh, as saying that the agency was committed to ease of doing business while implementing International Conventions which Nigeria had ratified and domesticated.
Jamoh noted that with Nigeria now a destination for global communication players, the time had come to prevent unregulated underwater cable laying, which may become hazardous to shipping.
“It is worthy to note that marine cable laying has been ongoing for over two decades in Nigerian waters.
“Our focus is to ensure safety of navigation of shipping in Nigerian waters with all these underwater cables being laid.
“NIMASA is actually developing the guidelines to regulate submarine cable operators in line with the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, (UNCLOS).
“We do not just implement laws; we consult. Where the responsibility of an agency stops, that is where the responsibilities of another Agency starts,” Jamoh said.
He noted that collaboration was a key component of ease of doing business in the best interest of the country.
Jamoh said that NIMASA would work closely with the NCC to achieve this.
The statement also quoted the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, as saying that the stakeholders’ dialogue strategy adopted by NIMASA in developing the guidelines would ensure a win-win situation.
He enjoined NIMASA to include the Ministry of Justice in the development of the guidelines, a request granted immediately by Jamoh.
Danbatta was represented by the Director, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement, Efosa Idehen.
The statement quoted the Director-General of Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Mr Dasuki Arabi, as commending NIMASA and NCC for adopting effective Inter-Agency collaboration to avert a potential challenge for the country in the future.
Recall that It NIMASA notified submarine and cable operators in Nigeria of plans to implement regulatory guideline for submarine cables and pipelines in Nigeria, in line with the provisions of UNCLOS.Officials of the Federal Ministry of Environment and representatives of submarine cable operators in Nigeria were also at the meeting nan
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