By Ebele Orakpo
Chief Nimisoere Bob-Manuel  is the Managing Director of Hi-Tech Electronic Engineering Limited based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He worked as an Instrument engineer and later as a Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) practitioner at Elf Petroleum Nigeria Limited now Total E&P Nigeria Limited (TEPNG).

Alabo, as he is fondly called, is a man of many parts, having his tentacles spread from the oil and gas sector, to the entertainment industry, to consultancy and now solar electricity. He spoke with Vanguard in Lagos recently. Excerpts

According to Chief Nimisoere Bob-Manuel, he spent all his career life in Elf Petroleum Nigeria Limited now Total E&P Nigeria Limited. He went through the different facets of operations in the oil industry and after his retirement in 2002,he went fully into private practice which he had set up prior to his retirement.

“ I went into the oil industry as an instrument engineer and left as an HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) practitioner. Even before leaving the company because I knew definitely that I was going to leave the company one day, I had set up a little outfit called Hi-Tech Electronic Engineering Limited. Today, Hi-Tech Electronic Engineering Limited does quite a lot of things. Apart from the instrument engineering part of the company which we still do, we do maintenance of equipment.”

Chief Nimisoere Bob

The Hi-Tech Electronic Engineering Limited boss seems to have disproved the popular saying that a jack of all trades is master of none as the company is not only limited to the oil industry but has diversified into other areas and excelling. “We have also diversified the company’s operations into other areas. For instance, some of the home videos you watch in Nigeria were taken care of by us.

We have a film section that takes care of entertainment from the basics to production. I have the equipment as well as personnel so we go on locations to shoot videos and then we produce. We also work for corporate bodies to produce corporate videos and so on. We go into villages to document and produce videos of chieftaincy installations, burials, birthday parties and so on.

“Now, apart from the video aspect, we also have the consultancy aspect where I run training programmes for corporate bodies and individuals concerning HSE commitments, example, fire-fighting, how to work in some corporate organisations etc. We have courses tailored to whatever industry or setup and we deliver,” he said.

Continuing he stated that  basically,  Hi-Tech Electronic Engineering Limited deals in HSE-related issues. Narrating how he ventured into the solar energy market, Chief Bob-Manuel said:  “Today, I am fully into solar electricity and I will say it was coincidental in the sense that I happened to have travelled from Lagos to London on the same flight with Dr. Patrick Owelle, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of PSC Industries which is involved in the manufacture, sales, service and installation of solar electricity.

The aircraft was not full so we had so many vacant seats and we happened to get together and by the time we were three or four hours into the journey, we had had enough discussion on what he does and what I do. We then exchanged complimentary cards and I later visited him in Milton Keynes, England. That was actually how I got  into the solar electricity thing.

“I was hesitant at the beginning but he kept on calling and encouraging me. I am a very busy person because apart from the engineering aspect, the training programme I run is solely handled by me, so I did not want to take on more responsibilities. But he persuaded me and at the end of the day, I started by trying to own a system.”  He confessed that like any new venture, it was not easy but he persevered and today, his perseverance is paying off.

“To cut the story short, it took us sometime. Even as an instrument engineer, from the beginning, it was difficult. Before I met Dr. Owelle, I had always known that there is one energy source that has to do with the sun. Today, I would say I don’t regret that chance meeting with Dr. Owelle.” Like in any venture on earth, there are rough times and good times and Alabo’s venture is not an exception, he has his own share of challenges while trying to convince Nigerians of the need to embrace solar electricity if the nation must move forward.

Said he: “I am representing PSC Industries in Rivers and Bayelsa states but I have a lot of challenges there because of what was on ground before this time. For example, there were so many street lights that were not functional, so when you go and start telling somebody to embrace solar electricity, he just laughs at you because he will say the ones they have are not functional so why waste their money on more?

So it was a big challenge but I think today, one or two people we have been able to install solar electricity for and some corporate organisations we are trying to set up some pilot projects for, have made it possible for us to also change the knowledge and appreciation of people that solar is indeed an alternative energy source that somebody can actually rely on.

For Rivers and Bayelsa states, the problem is the same because of what the previous governments did on site just as I have explained earlier. We have to do a lot of convincing talks and this, you can only do when people see in reality what you have on ground as compared to what they have been seeing. This is the battle we have in Rivers and Bayelsa states. But I think people are starting to see the real solar energy projects being implemented and positively executed and so although  it will take sometime but we are marching on and it will actually come to light.

Presently, we have some pilot projects for Total in one of their operating sites (community concerns). Total is a multinational company. It installed turbines that gave light to host communities but due to expansion of the communities, they discovered that the turbines could no longer carry the entire load so we were called upon to see what we could do. We are gradually phasing out the street lights that were being run by the turbines and replacing them with solar streetlights and of course, that gave the turbine some extra power to do some other things. So I believe by the time the pilot projects are 100% done, probably Total will know there is need for them to completely go the solar way than probably upgrading the turbines. We are on the second phase of the pilot project.

The first one has been executed very well and they were very happy so they gave us a second contract based on the success of the first phase,” he stated.