NJ Ayuk

CEO, Centurion Law Group and Founding Member, African Energy Chamber

The African Energy Chamber (AEC), which had been advocating for several months for upstream producers, service providers, downstream suppliers and governmental bodies throughout the continent, was formally established in July 2018.

Backed by executives from oil & gas, power, and renewables industries, the AEC looks to bring a voice to the continent’s on-going The African Energy Chamber (AEC), which had been advocating for several months for upstream producers, service providers, downstream suppliers and governmental bodies throughout the continent, was formally established in July 2018. Backed by executives from oil & gas, power, and renewables industries, the AEC looks to bring a voice to the continent’s on-going change and progression in the African energy industry.

As African nations revise their regulatory frameworks, such as the recent hydrocarbons regulations in Nigeria, Gabon and Congo, the AEC works to provide access to a pool of policy makers and experts to engage into a meaningful dialogue with industry stakeholders to shape policy.

The AEC also services international companies seeking to invest or expand in Africa by providing them with inside-track information and contacts to ensure successful partnerships and market penetration and expansion strategies.

Africa’s foremost energy lawyer NJ Ayuk is a founding member of African Energy Chamber and CEO of the Centurion Law Group. He views Africa as a fast growing energy powerhouse whose new oil frontiers are opening up in West Africa. With investment in gas infrastructure picking up and landmark reforms gearing up to transform the way natural resources are being exploited in markets such as Nigeria, Angola, Senegal, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Congo, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania , Ayuk now finds that there couldn’t have been a better time to do business in Africa.

Why is it important to have an African Energy chamber?

The Energy Chamber represents the majority of African job creators in the energy sector and is also a partner of government to advise them on the view of our members when some policies are getting in the way of the economic growth make African petroleum countries grow and create more jobs. We are in a unique position to be the biggest advocates for investing in Africa’s natural resources and also push for local content as well. And we have been lucky to get the support of many business leaders and entrepreneurs around Africa. The market is still bearish even though the fundamentals for a strong Africa recovery are strong. The Energy Chamber recognizes that government has to play its part by giving businesses an enabling environment.

From a policy standpoint, how does the AEC differ from other organizations of its kind?

The other organizations are doing an amazing work. Because of their work, the Energy Chamber can exist.  Africa’s energy sector and especially local companies is under attack by over-taxation, over-regulation, and lack of access to projects and credit.  The international oil companies are struggling to make sense of the lack of sanctity of contracts in some countries.  The vast majority of our members named tax and governance and regulatory issues as challenges when it comes to expanding and creating jobs in Africa.

The Energy Chamber believes business men and women could point out the policies that are obstacles and articulate policies that invite growth and investment, and most importantly-job creation for many young Africans who have been left out of the system.  In this regard, who better to defend free enterprise than entrepreneurs who have actually created Africa’s private-sector jobs? The Energy Chamber wants to see more private sector jobs, than government jobs, we are committed to working with governments to find solutions.

On a policy note, we will continue pushing for reforms on the tax burden , advocate for local content and  also advise government against passing oil and gas regulations that drive up the cost of doing business. We will Push for a reform on fiscal terms to increase exploration activities and drilling campaigns. Encourage education reform that emphasizes vocational training. Push for the role of women in oil and gas.  Create oil and gas empowerment zones to ensure more services are performed in Africa. Push a concept of regional local content. Forcefully advocate gas monetization and make gas the corner stone of Africa’s energy mix, push for more local participation in the downstream business. African businesses should be given serious consideration when investing in Africa.

Representing the conscience of the African oil and gas industry for the benefit of the continent is your major objective. How will you achieve this?

We have a clearly developed plan to forcefully defend the energy sector. It’s about outreach. It’s about building bridges, finding consensus and respect for those who disagree with  us. Our goal is to find solutions.  You are going to see more employees and small businesses speaking with policy makers and doing their best to continue attracting investors. We also have a responsibility as Africans, We have to run better businesses, you can’t spend more money than you take in. We have to make sacrifices and commitments and we need to stop seeing government as the solution for all our problems. We can’t just run to government every time the deal is not going our way. This approach creates an unbreakable and insidious lifestyle of dependency that actually traps us. We need to train and develop our people, this is not the job of some white man. The blame game on the white guys need to stop. We control our politics and we need to stop making excuses and get things done. Local companies must build partnerships and must meet standards of the industry. The Energy chamber will continue to facilitate and foster key introductions for our members, push for licenses, Identify potential business opportunities, provide data on the sector and open up the industry for more people to benefit.

Do you have any broader policy goals you hope to work on this year?

Continue advocating pushing for pro-growth reforms in oil states.

What are some of the AEC top priorities for 2019?

We are going to focus on attracting investors to Africa, creating a business-friendly environment, jobs, working on a lot of capacity building, intra Africa cross border trade, oil entrepreneurship training, local content and working on promoting the interest of our members.

NJ Ayuk will be speaking at the FT Africa Summit  2018 to be held in London on October 8