ABUAD’s OGEES Institute partners government agencies on sustainable development

The Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (OGEES Institute) at ABUAD has brought together leading stakeholders in the Nigerian oil and gas sector to adopt a comprehensive set of commitments and targets to enhance environmental risk management (ERM) in the oil and gas sector. This event took place on 23rd May, 2019 and still in place for 2023 and subsequent years. It should also be noted that OGEES Institute at ABUAD is listed among the member institutions in the Sustainable Development Solutions Network Nigeria [PDF].

The targets were adopted at a high-level policy dialogue organised in Lagos by the Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (OGEES) Institute, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD). The workshop brought together leading environmental law experts, national oil and gas regulators, government officials, captains of industry, the academia, civil society and media to discuss new insights on how to enhance environmental risk management (ERM) in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.

Director of OGEES Institute, Prof. Damilola Olawuyi, said at the workshop: “There is no regulatory perfection anywhere in the world. This is why oil and gas regulators worldwide continue to look for new ways to achieve efficient, safe, orderly and environmentally-responsible development of oil and gas resources over their entire life cycle.

“Today’s event allowed stakeholders to come together to develop formidable commitments and targets that can help advance the ERM principles and goals set out in EGASPIN 2018.

“All hands should now be on desk to ensure that we translate these important action plans to reality. There is a strong business case, in terms of cost, reputation and effectiveness for doing so. We all, as stakeholders in the oil and gas sector, will benefit from profitable exploration and commercialization of resources, that also minimize negative environmental footprint of oil production activities.

In 2023, ABUAD and Trinity Western University signed an MOU to partner on advocacy on Sustainability. The advocacy kick started with an International Conference on Sustainability and Governance for Job and Wealth Creation drawing 2045 participants from 23 countries of the World using the Hybrid (In person at ABUAD and Online for others approach). Policy issues that can help the propagation of Sustainability were discussed across multi-sectoral issues.

In same vein, ABUAD has continued to implement the MOU with International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and AfricaRice since 2017 and still in place in the year 2023 and beyond for identifying problems and challenges in relation to developing policies and providing training platforms to educate the populace. See the updated programmes done by IFAD, IITA, AfricaRice and ABUAD through this relationship via this link yeasa.org/index

ABUAD’s OGEES INSTITUTE RELEASES REPORT ON THE NEED FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL RISK MAANGEMENT IN THE NIGERIAN PETROLEUM INDUSTRY

The Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development, OGEES, of the Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, has released a comprehensive study on the need to improve environmental risk management in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. 

The Report is titled “Review of the Environmental Guidelines and Standards for the Petroleum Industry in Nigeria (EGASPIN).” EGASPIN 2018 is the chief document that outlines environmental and safety standards that must be complied with by oil operators in Nigeria, to prevent, minimize and control pollution from the various aspects of petroleum operations.

The report presents an extensive review and evaluation of EGASPIN 2018 to determine its alignment with international best practices on environmental protection, especially during approval, operations and decommissioning phases of the oil and gas sector value chain. It also provides recommendations on improvements that would increase its effectiveness.

Some key findings from the report include: 

• Regulatory oversight of the Nigerian oil industry remains extremely weak and does not currently align with international best practices on oil sector transparency and accountability. 
• Although the 2018 EGASPIN, in principle, seeks to adopt best practice, using methods and guidelines that are consistent with international standards, transparency and accountability in interpretation and implementation remain key concerns. 
• There is an urgent need to reform EGASPIN to make its prescribed environmental standards more rigorous and comprehensive, in line with international best practices. 
• A reform of supervision arrangements to place the environmental enforcement functions in an independent body that is at arm’s length from the DPR is also long overdue.

Environmental standards regulation in Nigeria’s oil industry still weak— Report

Vanguard Newspaper, 2018

ABUAD and DUT 2022 South-South Collaboration for the SDGs

When two leading universities in the African continent, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Nigeria, and the Durban University of Technology, (DUT) South Africa came together to discuss collaborative efforts and Memorandum of Understanding, the principal focus was to create a strategic South-South alliance needed to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through tailored capacity development that address  grand challenges in key economic sectors. This collaboration is in place in 2023

Under the MOU, thirty faculty and staff of ABUAD will benefit from an academic exchange leading to the award of graduate degrees in the Faculty of Management Sciences of DUT. The selected students will focus on key SDG-related courses such as climate change, sustainable tourism, health administration, technology management, business law and transnational trade amongst others.

Speaking at the flag off and orientation of the exchange program, the Vice Chancellor of ABUAD, Professor Smaranda Olarinde FCArb, stated:

“Many innovations that have changed the world have their roots in strategic partnerships and collaborations. You can be the best by working with the best. Here at ABUAD, we see international collaboration as the best way to increase the effectiveness, reach and impact of our research and teaching activities in all aspects of the SDGs.The MOU that we are formalizing today will open new windows of opportunities to the faculty, staff and students of both of our institutions to benefit from academic exchanges, joint grant applications, fellowships, externships and internship opportunities amongst others.”

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic Research Innovation and Strategic Partnership at ABUAD, Prof D S Olawuyi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria said it is a fulfilment of the vision of their university of their founder to take knowledge beyond products. He then played a video to introduce ABUAD and the areas that the university takes seriously.

“The video explains all about ABUAD and like the Vice-Chancellor mentioned we are looking forward to welcoming you, to visit and experience ABUAD. Let me also congratulate some of our staff and students that are part of the pioneering of the aspect of our MOU. There is always a special place attached to being pioneers, I congratulate them for the opportunity. I am looking forward to us staying together, making progress together in research and innovation. I am looking forward to us working together to achieve remarkable success and advancing the Sustainable Development Goals in our respective spheres,” said Prof Olawuyi.

On Wednesday, January 12, 2022, in accordance with the the MOU signed with Durban University of Technology (DUT), South Africa, Dr Emem Anwana was in ABUAD to deliver a lecture titled ” Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility, and the SDGs in Africa”.

Related Links

DUT DEEPENS ITS AFRICAN FOOTPRINT

Signing of an MOU and PG students orientation between DUT and the Afe Babalola University

ABUAD deepens triangular research collaboration through the Nigerian Innovative Research Management Structures (NiReMaS) program

In 2023, ABUAD continues to build on its existing partnership with the University of Cologne (UoC), Germany, ABUAD (See Line 42 of attached link University of Cologne) has been invited to participate in the Nigerian Innovative Research Management Structures (NiReMaS) rsearch program, a four-year project, funded by the Government of Germany. Three Universities in Nigeria, University of Lagos (UNILAG), University of Ibadan (UI) and Afe Babalola University (ABUAD) were selected by the Government of Germany to participate in the NIReMAS program.

The purpose of this program is to rapidly build up long term internationalization and research management structures in the selected universities. The program is designed to be a starting point for long-lasting future cooperation that will enable the spread and transfer the knowledge generated by the universities in local, regional and global networks. The program will deepen triangular (North-South-South) partnership that will contribute to global exchange. The project will entail the exchange of staff and scholars, research trips to Cologne, as well as online formats, such as online Workshops and a digital mentoring program, which can be easily expanded, depending on the development of the Covid-19 pandemic. The scheme was officially launched in an online ceremony held in March 2021 and still in place in 2023

Related Links

NiReMaS — Nigerian Innovative Research Management Structures