History
was made on Saturday 25th July 2009 when Masters Energy Oil &
Gas Ltd, an indigenous petroleum marketing company commissioned
its Energy City, an Integrated Oil & Gas Centre in Rumuolumeni,
Port Harcourt.
The Energy City sitting on a large expanse of land of about110
hectares was commissioned by the Honourable Minister for Energy
(Petroleum), Hon. Odein Ajumogobia (SAN) on behalf of the President
& Commander -in- Chief, Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency
Umar Musa Yar’adua (GCFR)
In his welcome address, the President of Masters Energy Group,
Mr. Uchechukwu Ogah traced the beginning of the vision for the
City. He said that he always felt bad seeing how difficult it
was for people to get petroleum products in the East. According
to him, “it was painful travelling to East for Christmas
or any other event and not getting anywhere to buy petrol. Even
the filling station with product not only sold at exorbitant price
but also subjected people to untold hardship before they could
get the product.”
Speaking further on the choice of Port Harcourt for the project,
he said, “People tried to discourage me in the choice of
Port Harcourt as location because of the volatility of the area
but I was convinced that I made a right choice. I want to say
without equivocation that the people of Rumuolumeni and all surrounding
communities like Bakana and Eagle Island have been marvellous
in their warm reception of the project and accepted us as part
of their community.” He went further to say that with the
establishment of the Energy City in Port Harcourt, availability
and affordability of petroleum products in the South-East, South-South
& North-East is guaranteed.
He informed that “when
Masters Energy City is fully operational, the entire economic
landscape of this area will be changed for the better because
it is projected that the Energy City will create employment for
not less than 12,000 citizens of the area.”
The Honourable Minister
for Energy (Petroleum), Hon. Odein Ajumogobia (SAN), in his speech
congratulated the President of Masters Energy Group for taking
such a bold and gigantic step in establishing the project. He
said that he was particularly happy that Mr. Ogah keyed into Federal
Government’s call for private sector initiative to open
up our economy.
According to him, “the government is ready to partner with
the private sector to ensure that we create viable and active
downstream sector that will propel economic activities in our
country”; and as such expressed gratitude at the gigantic
project Masters Energy embarked on.” |
He assured Masters Energy Oil & Gas of government’s
support in the achievement of this worthwhile project.
The Deputy President of the Senate, Dr.
Ike Ekweremadu, expressed delight at the commissioning of the
project which he described as imposing and huge. He said that
one would have thought that such magnitude of project is far beyond
the scope of any Nigerian but with the commissioning that day,
it has proved that Nigerians are great people with great enterprising
potentials. He expressed delight that a young Nigerian like Mr.
Uche Ogah could have the heart to take on project of such size.
The National Leader of Ijaw
Youth Congress, Mr. Udengs Eradiri praised Masters Energy for
choosing to Port Harcourt to site such massive project even when
others would not have given it a consideration. He said that he
was particularly happy that “such massive project is being
executed by Nigerian engineers. In his words, “it is unbelievable
that no expatriate has been sited either working as an engineer
or a supervisor since the inception of the project. This goes
to confirm that Nigerian engineers could compete favourably with
others in any part of the world if given the opportunity.”
He therefore called on all other well meaning Nigerians to come
to the region for investment stating that “the fact that
Masters Energy has enjoyed relative peace since they arrived Rumuolumeni
is a pointer to the fact that Niger Delta youths are reasonable
and respect genuine investors in their midst. The Niger Delta
people will protect the project with their last blood.”
The event which was well
attended was witnessed by the Secretary to Rivers State Government,
Mr. Magnus Abbe, who represented the Governor, His Excellency
Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amechi, Deputy Governor of Abia State,
Comrade Chris Akomas, represented the Executive Governor, His
Excellency Chief Theodore Orji, a representative of the Hon. Minister
of Transport, top government functionaries, members of National
Assembly & State Houses of Assembly, traditional rulers, National
NUPENG Officers, National PTD Officers, Officials of Government
Agencies e.t.c.
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