S-P-O-T-L-I-G-H-T : DREDGING AS A MATTER OF NECESSITY - The Remarkable Story Of B&Q Dredging Limited

Dr. Ernest Azudialu needs no introduction when it comes to the oil, gas and dredging business in Nigeria. His landmark achievements in oil servicing via his Nestoil Group of Companies are well documented. He is equally successful in the business of dredging; hence we had it as a key objective to do an expose on this aspect of his business conglomerate. After a lot of patience and persuasion, we were able to pin him down for an exclusive chat. We hereby present a super total packaging of a burgeoning dredging firm under the leadership of one of Africa's iconic business gurus.

Excerpts:.

What motivated you to delve into dredging business?
Nestoil Plc, which is a leading member of the group, won one of her then major projects some ten years ago with SPDC (Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited) Egbeleku Landfill Project which required amongst other things dredging activities. As at that time dredging companies were few and the cost of engaging an external dredging company to execute this part of the contract was huge. It was at this time that we decided to register a dredging company solely to execute the company's project and later go into commercial activities.
Immediately a Beaver 300 dredger was acquired and followed up by another beaver 1200 dredger which was used to complete the dredging activities. It is worthy to mention at this point that the type of dredging required for this project was a special one. We had to dredge/find sand in an area that had no preexisting water body. So before dredging, we had to first create an artificial lake.

That kind of job obviously required solid engineering experience, how did you cope sir?
Nestoil Group of companies of which B&Q Dredging is part of, is known in the industry for excellence. When we hire our engineers, we go for the best and the most technically qualified. When we procure equipment, we go for the best.
And when you have people who are not prepared under any circumstance to accept failure as an option and you combine them with the best type of equipment, what you get is excellent delivery of results. These engineers will follow the engineering process in the books but when an uncommon situation arises and which calls for intelligent improvising our personnel prove themselves to be equal to the task.

We noticed that the company is selective in the clients it works for. Why?
Yes, we decided ab initio that we will not dredge for all manner of companies. The reason is that once you dredge for certain companies, to get payment becomes a problem; And so we decided to concentrate on the core companies in the oil and gas services industry. These companies respects us because of the quality of work we do and how committed we are to the services. You must do the job and do it professionally. You have to be a serious company to play in this sector.

What point were you trying to prove when you commissioned your EPC yard in Abuloma with pomp and pageantry?
It was just a way of telling the oil and gas community that Nestoil Group a 100% completely indigenous group of companies had come to stay and that we have the right facility on ground. It is unusual for an indigenous company to own such a facility. That is why the Executive Vice President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan had to commission it. Because it is a major milestone for the local content policy of this country. This our Nestoil Industrial Area which was built by Julius Berger has one of the best built fabrication facilities in Nigeria. And in a few months time from now, we will also commission our Pressure Vessel Fabricating Section. We also used that opportunity to showcase our flagship, the biggest dredger that we acquired from IHC for deep water dredging. That's the MV Ernesto I, one of the most sophisticated dredgers of its kind in Africa. We used that opportunity to commission it as well. So we were basically making the statement that Nigeria has 100% indigenous companies that offer world class services and own world class facilities.

What do you think about the Government's Local Content Policy in the dredging sector?
There are quite a lot of issues that have cropped up with the local content policies that has not actually been followed up the way we all expected. Yes, government has made some very good efforts to make sure that local companies survive but the environment is not yet conducive for our people to do business in this country to the extent where they can compete effectively with the foreign companies. So, a gap exists when some of the foreign companies decide to leave. They leave but Nigerians are not able to take up the challenges and step into their shoes. This is because they are unable to own the right equipment, they don't have the correct know-how, they cannot afford the qualified personnel, they don't have the capacity required to take up some of these challenges and they don't have access to cheap finance that will aid them in building capacity. So that's why the gap is there. What B&Q Dredging Limited is Is doing, as a local company and as one of the companies that has been able to establish huge capacity to the extent that we can handle some of these difficult projects, is to try to be innovative under the circumstances we find ourselves. B&Q has invested so much money in acquiring both equipment and personnel to bridge this gap. But it's been a very tough journey.

Tell us about any of the Projects you are handling right now?
We just concluded River Crossing with our dredgers for Nestoil Plc on a Shell Petroleum Development Company project Kolo Creek Rumuekpe Trunkline Replacement Project. The project was just commissioned. We are now handling two other projects for same company, that is River-Crossing Projects for Nembe Creek Cawthorne Channel Trunkline (NCTL) Project for SPDC and Sand stockpiling for civil construction for Permanent Outstation Accommodation Project also for SPDC at Nembe. We also have some sand stock-piling projects for other corporate bodies. We equally have some canalization works and shoreline protection projects which we will commence soon in Lagos and in the Niger Delta Region including one for Agip.

What are the future Projections and prospects of B&Q?
Like I have earlier said, there is great need for sand. This can be seen in the many road projects and Civil construction projects. There are also Canalization projects, shoreline protection works, reclamation works, sweeping etc. which abound in Nigeria. All of these require dredging and B&Q Dredging Limited is positioned to take up the challenges. We will continue to acquire state of the art equipment with continued manpower development which clearly has distinguished us. Currently, we are the only indigenous company that owns the highest number of dredgers operating in this country.

How do you maintain these massive equipments you have acquired?
B&Q has a very experienced maintenance team. These are tested and highly qualified personnel who have all it takes to ensure our projects are downtime free. Some of our personnel in the maintenance team have over 30 years experience. We have a solid relationship with our equipment manufacturers for parts and stocks. This way we ensure that only the right parts are used. We also own a maintenance yard where we drydock our vessels for repairs.

How do you manage to operate in the Niger Delta considering all the violence and restiveness?
The point is that the people of Niger Delta are fellow Nigerians. And so as Nigerians we try to manage to exist with the situation because these people are all part of us and we are part of them. Somehow, we are able to do our projects. There are no laid down rules on how to manage the problems. But as a Nigerian company, and because we are Nigerians, we employ the Niger Delta indigenes and we work with them. However, some of the problems are serious national issues requiring ingenious national solutions.

....BY DAN NZELOGU

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