What National Honour Means To Me – CEO Eruani

What National Honour Means To Me - CEO Eruani

CEO Eruani has revealed what national honour means to him.

This interview was conducted by The Nation.

The Managing Director/CEO of Azikel Refinery, Dr. Azibapu Eruani, speaks with reporters in Abuja on the conferment of national honours on him and other eminent Nigerians. He also opens up new perspectives on why it is imperative for Nigeria to partner rightly with aviation giants around the world to get its national airways plans into the groove. Eruani also speaks on how Azikel Power plans to revamp Nigeria’s power sector.

How do you feel about the conferment with the national honours as the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic?

I am truly grateful to President Muhammadu Buhari. Most importantly, it should serve as an encouragement to the youths and the Nigerian populace that if they stand up for the right things, they can be recognised for the right things that they are doing.

Personally, I was overwhelmed, humbled and with mixed feelings and excitement. When I started the journey, it was with no anticipation of being recognised in Nigeria. It was undertaken with zeal and the quest for industrial liberation. For infrastructural development, ending insecurity and most importantly, for adding value to the Nigerian hydrocarbon and beginning to reverse the trend of us being a net importer of oil products to transform into being a net exporter of oil products. That was my core challenge, and I took it very personally that someone will lead this change.

We cannot continue to complain about it. Somebody must stand up to leading the new industrialisation of the Nigerian state, viz-a-viz, the max utilisation and adding value to the Nigerian Republic. This was my humble beginning, my humble aspiration. All that I am saying is a full encouragement to all of us as a Nigerian people, and the youths particularly because I stand for the youths and when I comment, this is just it, that the Nigerian state should watch out for those that are indeed very desirous of building the country and I am an example. I am an inspirational person to other people that if it could be done, let us continue to break more grounds and the Nigerian state will continue to make progress.

In what way has the granting of the licence to set up a modular refinery to the Azikel Refinery by the Federal Government helped to redefine the challenges surrounding refining crude oil in Nigeria?

The Nigerian private refinery venture, which I call the Buhari modular refinery regime, started in 2015. Prior to this time, Nigeria had four major refineries, and these were all refineries that are owned by the government. The one in Port Harcourt, in Warri and in Kaduna. For as it has been, these refineries have been grounded for ages and most times for maybe some technical challenges.

So, Buhari launched a new era, the era of allowing private individuals to take the challenge. So, in 2015, that was when that regime was launched, I am among those that were granted those licenses. As a matter of fact, the president granted six of us at the very initial stage.

To me, I see the licence as a challenge. I see the licence as a call to prosperity. I see it as a true self control of resources, and I was bent on that. I wasn’t going to sit with that, but I was going to do everything I can to ensure that the refinery is built.

But, I will tell you that building a refinery in Nigeria is no small feat. If you want to build a refinery in Nigeria, the only thing I can tell you that can lead to success is that you must have an ongoing business. Yes, it is not a first timers’ business because the gestation period is long and the capital investment is huge.

The challenges are enormous. That is the reason why of all the first six licensees, not more than two succeeded. Thereafter, two years later, the president granted another 46 and out of these, not one of two or three have begun to see the light of day.

So, this is a huge capital investment and today, we have Azikel Refinery which is the first private hydro-skimming refinery, meaning it is a refinery that produces petrol, diesel, kerosene and aviation fue.l And we also have Dangote refinery. These are the only two refineries that stand to service Nigeria today while the rest will now come along to participate in this private hydrocarbon refinery project in Nigeria.

What would you describe as the mystery behind oil theft in Nigeria?

Oil theft is a situation where it boils down to one incentive, where some people took advantage of the pipelines that travel from the creeks in the Niger Delta. I believe when people begin to patronise real products, the oil theft itself would be a thing of the past because what these people do is that they break these pipelines and begin to cook these products but because it is not sufficient, people patronise that.

So, with enough and available products, nobody will patronise cooked diesel because the scenario is this, if you have ever used a cooked diesel for any of your generators, it rather destroys the machines. So, people are looking for products to utilize but the products are unavailable, and that is why a lot of people are beginning to gravitate towards this cooked diesel.

The Azikel Refinery is not enough to meet the needs of Nigerians and that is why my intention in the next six years is to wrap up Azikel Refinery to another 100,000 barrels. That will then begin to address the needs of Nigerians. So, with efficiency, with availability of a defined programme, oil theft by cooked diesel is going to be a thing of the past.

However, the challenge still remains that this is a very expensive venture. The Nigerian state should rise to assist all the investors in the sector especially those who have shown the grit to make a succes of it because it took a lot of time to get to where we are today. It is capital driven. It takes long gestation. It takes a whole lot and most importantly, you must remain steadfast in this business.

As an expert in Aviation, what’s your stand on the soon-to-be launched Nigeria Air?

You know, I am a pilot for fun. I bought an aircraft some few years back to facilitate my business in the West Africa sub-region. When I fly, I used to get scared and the pilots were always trying to calm me down. One day, I made a decision. I like to confront my challenges. So I decided to confront them. I said to myself that I am a trained medical doctor, well trained and I could do anything. I decided to say I am going to take a pilot course and I want to do exactly what these people do and that I might do it better. So, that was how I went to the United States to go and study how to fly aircraft and I became a US licensed pilot. I enjoy flying.

But, you know, the aviation industry is a very sophisticated with several levels of endeavours in making it a success. Nigeria, indeed, needs a carrier. But, Nigeria can not operate a sustainable carrier without the right partnership. So, securing partnership is very important and securing the right partnership is the way to go, and securing it with people that have already made success.

You cannot be in isolation in operating or participating in the aviation industry, particularly in Africa. There is no part of the airplane that is produced in Africa. So, you need the right training, the right people, the right environment, the right organisations, so I believe very strongly that Nigeria can make a great success, particularly if we stand with others that have proven success. So, the right way to go is not for us to stand alone in the ocean, we are going to fail. Take for instance the Azikel Petroleum is multinational, two of my vice presidents are Americans. We have leveraged every part of the world in making this a success because technology is far advanced. We need those that have proven integrity and proven knowledge in operating refineries of this sort.

There are every citizen in the world in Azikel Petroleum, from the Americans to the British, to the Europeans, the Asians, the Chinese, the Indians. I have built a community of everybody in the world and this is how we have seen success.

By the way, the technology is not made by us. It is foreign. So, we cannot say we want to do this all alone. It’s not possible. You need those parties that can build this together. There is no African country that has built an airplane, and so you cannot say you want to operate an airplane without having those people that are part of them. If it is to paddle a canoe, we have people from Bayelsa but this is an airplane. So, for the aviation industry you need to have these practices with those that have proven success. With that, I can assure you that Nigeria will make good success.

Take for instance, British Airways, this has been a company over time that has engaged everybody in the world. There are other African countries that have made great success in their vision like the Ethiopian Airlines and if you look at the details of the Ethiopian Airlines, the operators are not necessarily Ethiopians. Same way Emirates, the operators and managers are not from The Emirates. We have to learn to open our door and bring in everybody that has the desired knowledge to contribute.

As an industrialist, and one who wants to touch the world from home, what’s your next line of action in Nigeria?

My focus has been changing the world from home. I have come to earth and I have lived here, what should I do to be remembered and that is changing the world. There are many great people that have come to earth and they have changed the world. But, I don’t want to change the world from just anywhere, I want to change it right from my village, from my home, from Nigeria and from my state.

Of course, you know I am a medical doctor. And from medicine, I have traversed all the aspects of medicine and I went into sand business, all in the sense that I wanted to make infrastructural development possible back in the Niger Delta and that is changing the world from home.

Those of you that go to the Niger Delta know that it is a swampy and a difficult environment to develop. Nobody could build in the Niger Delta with ease. Building in Niger Delta constitute about 75 per cent of sand. I made it possible that sand was never a challenge in building in the Niger Delta.

All the infrastructure that I have built in Bayelsa and the Niger Delta I have my signature on them because I provided sand for them. That was changing the world from home.

Then, I made divestment to Azikel Oil with the refinery. The next thing I want to do is to contribute my quota to power generation. I have been licensed with 500 megawatts power generation and I believe very strongly that unlocking the Nigerian wheels of industry in a very trusted manner is making power available and I want to demystify and ensure that we make this in a success story. We have taken all these big but challenging ventures I know that we can make this possible.

The next thing of course is making power available to all. The refinery already provides power to more than 25 communities free of charge. So, I have always got tempted to power generation because refinery has an excess of eight megawatts of power but restricted to communities around the Niger Delta. But with the ongoing power generation, generating 500 megawatts, that is fine. We will then begin to make the rules of the industry boom with ease.

I have all these aspirations and the greatest joy for me and changing the world from home is that a lot of people in Bayelsa and in the Niger Delta will begin to see that there is life outside of normal politics that people do. That an industrialist can also cause a dynamic change that will affect the lives of people and we begin to have value. And there are other things that we could do. I have created over 1000 employment and I have people working with Azikel Refinery in various parts of the group and it is a means of communicating with others that with good governance we can do better.

How would you rate President Muhammadu Buhari in the way he has handled the country’s economy so far?

Every government has its own challenges. You know, back here, we believe that it is God that make leaders. We need the best of people to advance our life because I said good governance is very, very critical. In anything that we do, we should continuously ensure that, as citizens, we support the government in ensuring that the right things are done.


Bayelsa State people have continued to call on you to become the state governor based on your achievements in industrialising the state, what is your take on this?

I really don’t have plans to participate as a political leader. I am an industrial leader and the wheels of industry are very critical. I cannot leave the industry as at today without driving it to a logical conclusion to jump into another sphere. We want to encourage those that have the political sagacity, political understanding, and they will also understand industrialism, because this is a two way approach. We need the industrialists and we need those of good governance to be able to create the right environment for our people.

There has been quite a number of call for me to participate in the Bayelsa politics and viz-a-viz in the Nigeria politics but I have made people to understand that it is not everyone that will do that. By the way, I have also participated in some kind of political activities in the course of my life.

I was the best commissioner for Health when I served as a commissioner in Bayelsa State. I built the best hospitals. But, I also have come to understand that we need to build the industries. With good governance and no industries, it all amounts to zero. We need those that will stand for the industry. And, by the way, it is more difficult to build an industry than going to participate in politics.

I’ll tell you for free that anybody including you can aspire to be a Nigerian president. But, the day that you aspire to build a refinery, a lot of people will ask if you are having fever because any human being can say he or she wants to go contest for governorship, or contest for Nigerian presidency. But not many people want to go build a refinery. You might be saying that as a joke, but then in reality, you know that you’re not serious.

Those of us that are here, we need to challenge the status quo. To see that that is the most difficult decision to make, which is building industries. It takes a lot of time to build build these things. It takes a lot of sagacity, tenacity, endurance and a lot of drive and focus to building industries.

For the fact that I am very committed here, I want to remain as a leader. I am already a leader and in the Nigerian industrial space and of course the Nigerian refinery space, the Azikel Refinery, is the first radical Hydroskinming refinery in Nigeria. Everyone is looking up to me. Everyone is looking to the next advancement that I would make.

So, we put ourselves there as the role model for others to follow.

Do you have a philosophy of life?

The philosophy of life that I have is, you have to be focused on what you do and do your best in whatever thing you do, particularly if that thing would add value to your life.

What is your advice to this generation, particularly those who are hasty to make quick money?

Look, I tell you there is no quick money that is sustainable. The award of the CFR to me should inspire every Nigerians positively. It should be clear to them that it is possible for them to be honoured in their country, by doing the right things. I tell you, there is no quick wealth. You cannot make quick wealth. There is no quickness in wealth. You must toil. And, that is the only way you can even manage it. And of course, when you see wealth that is spread and announced everywhere

I started private business in 2006 from sand buisness and I started in a very humble way. Of course I went to many countries to get training. I trained in Nigeria, in the United States and I have also gone to the best business schools in the world. I started at Lagos Business School; went to the London Business School and went to the University of Pennsylvania Business School. I was trying to prepare myself for the hurdles of what it will take to be able to participate in the global business environment, to understand the tenecities, the tactics and how global businesses work and that was why I went to those schools, because as a doctor, we are trained on systems. I knew that business also have systems and if you understand the systems the better and easier to get better business success.

All of these takes alot of time. It takes more than six years to become a doctor. I tell you most business will fall after five years. But, we have travailed all these till this time. The major and critical thing is staying focused and committed to what you’re doing.

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Eyo Nse is a creative writer, blogger and a software engineer.He is a simple individual who loves to see others succeed in life.Mr Wisdytech as he is popularly known - started blogging in the early 2000's.