Mr. Muhammad Nami, Executive Chairman, FIRS receives Nigeria Excellence Award In Public Service for Fiscal Reforms from President Muhammadu Buhari, at the State House Conference Centre, Presidential Villa, Abuja on Friday, October 21, 2022.
Mr. Muhammad Nami, Executive Chairman, FIRS receives Nigeria Excellence Award In Public Service for Fiscal Reforms from President Muhammadu Buhari, at the State House Conference Centre, Presidential Villa, Abuja on Friday, October 21, 2022.
For exemplary leadership in public service, President Muhammad Buhari on Friday conferred the Excellence in Public Service Award to the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Muhammad Nami, as well as 43 others, including former President Goodluck Jonathan, President of the Senate, Distinguished Senator Ahmed Lawan, Honorable Minister of Works and Housing, Babajide Raji Fashola, SAN, among other awardees.

Mr. Nami was given the Excellence Award in Public Service for “Fiscal Reforms” during the Maiden Nigeria Excellence Award in Public Service at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja.

The Award was presented to Mr. Nami by the President in recognition of his efforts at shoring up revenue for the country, by introducing unprecedented institutional, modernisation, and technological reforms that have seen the FIRS transform into the nation’s foremost cash cow.

Within his three years in office, Muhammad Nami is renowned to have transformed and repositioned the apex revenue body to ensure efficiency in revenue collection leading to the collection of an unprecedented sum of N6.4 Trillion by the FIRS in 2021; the highest ever collected by the Service.

In his remarks, President Buhari noted that these awards were a validation of the work done by the recipients and a motivation to continue to do more.

FIRS Chairman, Muhammed Nami Receives Nigeria Excellence Award In Public Service For Fiscal Reforms From President Muhammadu Buhari
Mr. Muhammad Nami, Executive Chairman, FIRS receives Nigeria Excellence Award In Public Service for Fiscal Reforms from President Muhammadu Buhari, at the State House Conference Centre, Presidential Villa, Abuja on Friday, October 21, 2022.

The President noted that the Nigeria Excellence in Public Service Award put together by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation in partnership with The Best Strategic Media is an award that recognises and rewards service delivery.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, noted that the awards were scorecards of different offices at various levels.

“This is an award that recognises and rewards excellence. It is for the development of public service and the nation at large. Recipients have been carefully selected from both the public and private sectors. Nigeria is our nation and we must stand up to protect and defend it”, Boss Mustapha said.

Speaking on behalf of the recipients, former President Goodluck Jonathan, who received an award for Peace Building said it was gratifying that people were recognised based on their service to the nation. He thanked the organisers of the award for their commitment to national growth and development.

“I thank President Muhammadu Buhari for coming to make the presentation of the award himself. It shows his commitment to excellence in public service. On behalf of the 44 of us, I assure you that we will continue to do our best for society”, former President Jonathan said.

In an appreciation message, Mr. Muhammad Nami thanked the President for the opportunity to serve, while dedicating the Award to the Board, Management, and Staff of the FIRS, taxpayers, his family, friends, and relatives, among others.

In 2019, the Southern Swamp Associated Gas Solutions project was commissioned, and the SPDC JV is planning to reduce associated gas flaring further through its Forcados Yokri gas-gathering project, of which large parts are set to be completed in 2022. Despite such efforts to reduce continuous flaring, unfortunately flaring intensity (the amount of gas flared for every tonne of oil and gas produced) at both SPDC- and SNEPCo-operated facilities increased in 2021 owing to short-term operational issues. Flaring from SPDC-operated facilities increased by around 5% in 2021 compared with 2020. The increase was primarily because of the extended outage of the gas compression system in SPDC’s shallow-water operations. The system was restored and became operational from January 2022. Flaring at SNEPCo-operated facilities rose by around 160% in 2021 compared with 2020. This was mainly because of an increase in flaring on the Bonga floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. Repairs to a flex-joint on the Bonga FPSO’s gas export riser in the second quarter took longer than expected, in part because of weather conditions. While repairs were under way, the FPSO continued to produce oil and therefore flaring was necessary for safety reasons. The repairs were safely concluded in July 2021. Although flaring intensity levels rose in 2021, SPDC and SNEPCo over the last 10 years have almost halved the combined amount of hydrocarbons they flare from 1.5 million tonnes in 2012 to 0.8 million tonnes in 2021. This reduction is the result of a strict flaring reduction management process and both SPDC and SNEPCo will continue to work in close collaboration with joint-venture partners and the government to make progress towards ending routine flaring of associated gas. NIGERIA LNG EXPANSION UNDERWAY Global demand for LNG continues to grow as the world increasingly seeks reliable supplies of lowercarbon energy. Shell’s investment in Nigeria’s gas infrastructure for export is expected to help 6 This is according to a data provided by global research and consultancy business Wood Mackenzie. the country benefit further from revenues. Shell Gas B.V. and its partners took a final investment decision in 2020 on a new LNG processing unit – known as Train 7 -- at NLNG. The expansion is expected to create around 12,000 jobs for Nigerians during construction and stimulate growth of the local oil and gas service sector, with 55% of engineering and procurement of goods and services being sourced in-country. Train 7 is expected to ensure Nigeria’s continued place as a global player in a lower-carbon energy source. Once operational, Train 7 will add around 8 million tonnes per annum of capacity to the Bonny Island LNG facility, taking the total production to around 30 million tonnes per annum. In 2021, NLNG began awarding procurement and construction contracts. Early works started at the site. The first phase of the worker village is expected to be ready for occupancy in 2022 and the new material offloading facility ready for use by the end of 2022. NLNG’s Train 7 is expected to come onstream in the middle of the 2020s. KEY LICENCE RENEWED FOR DEEP-WATER SNEPCo has interests in four deep-water blocks in the Gulf of Guinea, two of which it operates. Today, nearly one-third of Nigeria’s deep-water oil and gas production comes from the Bonga and the nonoperated Erha fields.6 Since production began in 2005, Bonga alone has produced more than 950 million barrels of oil with the 2021 average oil production per day at 105,000 barrels. The Bonga FPSO vessel has a total production capacity of 225,000 barrels of oil per day and 150 standard cubic feet of gas export per day. In 2021, the availability of the FPSO vessel increased to 80% from 70% in 2020. In addition to Bonga, SNEPCo’s exploration activities have led to several significant discoveries of oil and gas over the last two decades, including the Bolia and Doro fields (Shell interest 55%). Nigeria Briefing Notes Helping to power Nigeria’s economy 13 In the right investment climate, SNEPCo believes that there are opportunities to expand. In 2021 the OML 118 (Bonga) production sharing contract was renewed and the lease extended for 20 years. Bonga North and Bonga South West Aparo (BSWA) oil fields are two such potential opportunities. Bonga North is a proposed tie-back project to the existing Bonga FPSO with Phase 1 comprising 14 wells. BSWA is a development of a new FPSO with Phase 1 comprising 23 wells. SUPPORTING RENEWABLE ENERGY STARTUPS Millions of Nigerians are excluded from the country’s power grid and Shell Companies in Nigeria have established and provided substantial funding for a not-for-profit, impact-investing company called All On. Operating as an independent company, All On works to bring reliable electricity – often from renewable energy sources -- to off-grid urban and rural customers. This support aims to build a solid pipeline of viable businesses that can create the scale required to address Nigeria’s access to energy gap. In December 2019, SPDC and SNEPCo made a significant additional 10-year financing commitment of $160 million in All On, bringing the total commitment to $200 million. By the end of 2021, All On had provided investment capital to over 40 renewable energy start-ups in its portfolio – an increase of more than 30% from 2020. One such company is Infibranches Technologies Limited, to which All On has committed $2 million, which is expected to enable the indigenous technology company to expand sales of solar home systems via its more than 13,000 agent banking partners across Nigeria. With the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, the All On Hub was established in 2020 to provide nonfinancial support and build the capabilities of off-grid energy entrepreneurs. In 2021, the hub supported 81 ventures – nearly double the 41 supported in 2020. Also in 2021, All On, Odyssey Energy Solutions and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet launched a $10 million equipment financing facility as part of the DART pilot programme in Nigeria. 7 Hydraulic flying leads support the delivery of hydraulic fluid and/or chemicals between subsea equipment. 8 Subsea trees are an assembly of valves and other components used to monitor and control the production of a subsea well. DART will combine demand pooling, aggregated purchasing of solar equipment, and access to affordable finance to unlock economies of scale for solar companies, achieve cost savings for end-users, and accelerate the growth of the renewable energy sector in Nigeria and beyond. DEVELOPING LOCAL CONTENT AND SKILLS Shell Companies in Nigeria contribute to the growth of Nigerian businesses that can provide technical and support services to the industry. This includes the manufacture of tools and technical kits, the operation of helicopter flights in the Niger Delta, and strategic partnerships between foreign and local companies to stimulate technology transfer and capacity development. While there are government-required programmes in some areas, such as the Nigerian and Community Content Strategy embedded in the Assa North/Ohaji South gas development project, Shell Companies in Nigeria deliberately seek to contract local businesses wherever possible. In 2021, Shell Companies in Nigeria awarded $800 million worth of contracts to Nigerian-registered companies. Of these, 92% were companies with at least 51% Nigerian ownership. SNEPCo has awarded major engineering and construction contracts to companies that are indigenous, have local staff, or possess domestic capabilities in the country. At present, the manufacture and rebuild of hydraulic flying leads7 (HFLs) is being carried out in-country by wholly indigenous companies. Pressure Controls Systems Nigeria Limited, another Nigerian company, continues to refurbish old subsea trees.8 Sometimes, a lack of access to capital hinders Nigerian companies from competing for and executing contracts effectively. Shell Companies in Nigeria have provided access to nearly $1.6 billion in loans to 901 Nigerian vendors under the Shell Contractor Support Fund since 2012. These loans help improve their tendering opportunities.

He called on Nigerians to continue to trust the government to deliver good governance while asking that they honour their tax obligations to provide government the resources to build the nation of their dreams.

“I call on all Nigerians to continue to trust the government to deliver good governance to them; to continue to honor their obligations to our country by paying their taxes and building the nation of their dreams in so doing.

“I reiterate that all over the world, it is citizens that build their civilizations through the taxes they pay,” he noted.

The Nigeria Excellence Award in Public Service recognises public officers who have excelled in their duty, transformed their offices and institutions, developed other leaders, and shown good character, innovation, and excellence in the delivery of their service, among others.

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