By Samuel OYADONGHA

Azikel Group, a leading indigenous conglomerate with its operational base in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, is diversifying into the oil and gas industry, the aviation and agricultural sector. President of the Group, Dr. Eruani Azibapu Godbless in an interview with media men in Yenagoa, said his company is not only out to contribute its quota to the development of the state by providing employment for the teeming youths, but also exploring other frontiers such as going into large scale farming in line with the state government’s transformational agenda.

Excerpts:

Why are investors not keen to come and invest in the state, despite series of attempts to woo them to the state?

Nobody would come to invest (Investors) in Bayelsa, except Bayelsans that are in business decide to invest to improve the local economy. The only exception to this trend are the multi-national oil companies that are operating in the Niger Delta; and it was for this singular reason that we (Azikel Group) decided to take the lead in investing in the state and the Niger Delta region.

Your company is going into oil and gas, why the interest in the sector?

We have taken a critical look into the oil and gas sector and we have the capacity to become a major player in the field, based on a properly thought out and tested business model. Aside from that, as a leading firm in the Niger Delta, we want to also serve our people and the entire country.

We are interested in acquiring marginal fields, and I believe that we are strategically positioned to make a success of this venture following what I am confident would be a successful participation in the next round of bids.

The operators of the private sector are into business primarily to maximise profit, what is your position on this?

Sincerely, though, business is primarily about profit making, but for us in the Azikel Group, the key word is sustainability on a model geared towards providing customers with satisfaction. Once you achieve this, profit will naturally follow.

For a clearer picture, are you saying that you have oil blocs and if not what is the difference between marginal field and oil bloc?

To put it right, we are not saying we have an oil bloc, what we are interested in, is the marginal fields. A marginal field is smaller while oil bloc is bigger, therefore we are commencing bid for marginal fields and as it stands, there are 59 marginal fields and 10 of them are in Bayelsa. And I think it is only right that we Bayelsans are actively involved in the process.

As a key player in the private sector from Bayelsa State, don’t you think possession of oil bloc would be a better start. Are you partnering with the state government?

Well, like said earlier, for us, the best entrance into the oil and gas industry is the marginal field. The Bayelsa State government has also shown interest in the marginal field as well. We are, however, not in a cross paths, so, the state government should go ahead with its interest as well. At some point in the future there may be a need for us to broker an understanding for mutual benefit.

Indeed, we are making Bayelsans believe that we can succeed. At the moment it is a private initiative. Majority of the outfits that are benefitting in the oil and gas sector operate in the marginal field. The reason for this is that marginal fields are proven fields. However, it is only a few indigenous firms that are in oil and gas sector that possess marginal fields.

Are you not considering building a refinery to save cost in the long term?

The model as it stands is for us (Azikel Group) to produce and sell to the market. In the long term, we want to have a refinery, but first, we want to go into oil production. However, few firms that have refineries are doing that primarily to sustain their fuel requirements.

You said the Azikel Group is also delving into farm business..

(Cuts in) Precisely, we are also going to venture into large scale farming, and that would come under the Azikel Farms. We would engage in rice production and fish farming, because we have comparative advantage in terms of arable land, climate for increased yield, amongst other variables, that would give us an edge in the competitive market.

What benefit would the people of the state derive from your conglomerate?

Indeed, Bayelsans own the business and we are going to engage them via employment to drastically reduce the ratio of unemployment and that would support government plans to re-direct their energies into profitable venture. So we would be partnering with government in this direction.

The Azikel Group is into airline, christened Azikel Air, why airline, considering the high incidences of crashes and capital intensive nature of the business amongst other risks?

It was our strong conviction and belief that we could do things differently from the norm that spurred us to register an airline, and frankly speaking, we are a developing society (country), air transportation remains the safest means of travelling, and as such every business has its own hazard.