Year: 2023

By Prince Iroka In other to reduce the turnaround time and bottlenecks often associated with oil firms wishing to enlist in the capital market, a business lawyer, Mr. Sam Aiboni, has called for the establishment of Special Purpose Acquisition Company to address this setback. Speaking at the Legal Business Conference and Awards in Lagos recently, organised by Legal Business Network International with the theme: ‘‘Powering Tomorrow’s Economy Today’’, Aiboni said a major challenge facing firms with marginal field license to set up business in the oil and gas sector of Nigeria, has been a demonstration of years of practical experience which comes from a number of years annual returns before such bidding goes to the stock market to raise money. “What this special purpose vehicle does is that, because it’s already listed and doesn’t have fresh listing requirements, all that is needed for oil and gas firms that needs to raise funds is for them to go for Initial Public Offer (IPO) and the money will be raised at the capital market based on their existing listing”According to him, such investor does not need to approach the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) when they have oil and project to execute “Before an entity could meet up with SEC requirement and subsequently listed on the capital market “The Nigerian Exchange Group”, it is always a tasking exercise and very bureaucratic in nature. So what this Special Purpose Vehicle does is to enable the firm raise capital in a faster way because the SPV is already listed. “This SPV can be established by the Federal Government, Ministry of Finance, shareholders of NNPCL , a group of oil and gas giants can even do it. What is important is for an entity to have gone through the SEC process and get it registered so it time would have already being saved as against going through fresh registration process. This kind of SPV is being used in most developed economies”Aiboni who is also the vice Chairman, Energy and Environment, Section of Business Law (SBL-NBA), said the quantum of money required to support the energy and power sector is enormous, hence the need for best brains in the country to synergise to extricate Nigeria from the shackles of epileptic power supply across the country. “NNPCL shareholders should take up the responsibility of stimulating the sector and invest in the market by targeting specific projects and develop them”He urged Nigerians particularly leaders to approach the country’s endemic challenges with the eye of opportunities, noting that although there are a lot to worry about today, however Nigeria can still come out of the woods. “It’s not really a good time for us as a country. It is high time leaders invest in knowledge acquisition. We’re not really doing enough in research and development that is why we keep depending on developed economies for importation of almost everything. “There are fewer foreign Direct investment, international divestment, dearth of funding among others. So it’s an opportunity for us to innovatively find ways to invest in human capital and transform our country”The oil and gas consultant maintained that Nigeria should apologize to the defunct NEPA, having failed to improve in power supply since the Authority was unbundled. “We must take tough decision if we must progress, the private sector partnering with the government is the only way. Though the challenges seem overwhelming, but then we still have hope, we are not running away from this country. All of we need to do is tell ourselves the truth and do the right thing at the right time for the right results” he maintained.