GE Commits to Investing $1Bn in Nigeria

General Electric Company, a global technology leader in energy, health and rail transportation once again reiterated its commitment to fulfilling its pledge to invest $1billion in Nigeria’s energy sector.

The company restated this commitment though Jay Ireland, its president and CEO,  when it hosted potential suppliers of services under the aegis of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), to an engineering conference at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, in recently.

The event is the second of such meant to kick-start preparations towards actualizing GE’s investment, whose first edition took place in Lagos.

According to him, General Electric also remains committed to meeting the requirements of Nigeria’s local content policy with a significant increase in the employment of more Nigerians in the global company, and plans to set up a training programme for the recruited staff in order to build capacity and capability.

“GE is making these investments using its own capital; we are not financing this through a venture capital company, and this shows how much we believe in the potential here in Nigeria,” Ireland said.

He said the Engineering Fair was aimed at bringing together companies with the potential to offer the technology services required to kick start the $1 Billion investment commitment made by GE to the Federal Government.

His words: “GE is working towards unleashing the full compliments of its capabilities in Nigeria in order to see the country become a base to serve the technological service needs of West Africa when it comes to manufacturing and servicing of parts.”

Mr. Emeka Ene, Ppresident of PETAN,  who was represented by Mr. Pedro Egbe, managing director of WELTEK noted that developing local content capabilities in technology and manufacturing rests on building sustainable partnerships with organizations like GE.

“This partnership between GE and PETAN is a strategic supply chain agreement for the growth of local content, products and services in the oil and gas industry. GE is coming with a new perspective of building a truly Nigerian operation and we at PETAN believe that this relationship will help provide the needed avenue to actualize development in the industry,” he said.

Speaking in the same vein, Engineer Ernest Nwapa, executive secretary/chief executive officer, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board,  described the partnership between GE and PETAN as a welcome development.

“The people of Nigeria need the impact of multinationals like GE to achieve development in the industry; the government cannot do it alone,” he argued, noting that GE is making significant efforts towards meeting up with the requirements of local content.

He however stressed that more needed to be done in that area and advised GE to take into consideration the peculiarities of the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry in dealing with its potential suppliers and in drafting the framework that will form the basis of the working relationship with the indigenous companies.

GE has shown considerable interest in sub-Saharan Africa in the last two years and has reached out to a number of countries in West Africa as part of efforts aimed at achieving its goal of providing 1.5 Giga Watts of electricity across the region with a recent visit by the GE Africa President and CEO to Ivory Coast and Ghana. GE has also increased investments in Angola and Kenya.

Global Supply Chain Leader- GE Africa, Mr Phil Griffith said: “We at GE are excited and look forward to working in Nigeria and fulfilling the commitments that have been made. Through this partnership with PETAN we hope that we can find indigenous companies that we can work with in the immediate future ahead of the full commencement of the project.”