By John Ighodaro
CALABAR—The Federal Government has said that its plan to Africanise the annual conference of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, SPE, Nigerian Council, remains despite the absence of six African Heads of State, who were invited to the conference holding in Tinapa, Calabar, Cross River State.

Special Adviser to the President on Petroleum Matters, Dr. Emmanuel Egbogah, disclosed this at the 34th Nigeria Annual International Conference and Exhibition, NAIC2010 of SPE at the Tinapa Leisure Resort, Calabar.

According to him, “although the presidents of six African countries, who were expected at the conference could not attend, there are plans by the Federal Government to Afrianise the conference.”

“We are trying to Africanise this conference by bringing all these countries. In future,  we will Africanise this conference,” he said.

President Jose dos Santos of Angola, Denis Nguesso of the Republic of Congo, and President Teodore Mbasongo of Equatorial Guinea were  expected at the conference.

Others expected to grace the occasion are Nigerian President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, President John Mills of Ghana and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.

Also speaking at the conference,  which had as theme, “Meeting World’s Energy Supply and Demand Mix: The Role of Africa,” Mr Beru Fatai, SPE International President, said,  “Nigeria, Algeria and Angola, ranked among the world’s largest producer of oil with Nigeria ranking the 10th in global oil reserves annually.”

Fatai, who was represented by Mr Alex Musa, Deputy Managing Director, Total Exploration and Production, Nigeria, said the SPE was committed to upgrading oil and gas resources.

Fatai described the conference as “the largest conference on oil and gas event in Africa”.
Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State, in his address,  called attention to the venue of the event, which is a Niger Delta State, saying it was evident that the region was now peaceful for investments to flourish.

According to him, “it is gladdening that this conference is holding in one of the most beautiful, peaceful and serene cities in Nigeria. It is the first time in 10 years that this conference is being hosted in the Niger Delta. It is evident that new things are happening here.”