Tony Attah’s address at award presentation of the winners of the 2018 Nigeria prize for science and literature
THE TIME IS NOW
KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY MR. TONY ATTAH,
MANAGING DIRECTOR /CEO OF NIGERIA LNG LIMITED
AT THE AWARD PRESENTATION OF THE WINNERS OF THE 2018 NIGERIA PRIZE FOR SCIENCE AND LITERATURE ON OCTOBER 19, 2018
EKO HOTEL, LAGOS.
Protocols,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, let me welcome you all on behalf of our shareholders, board of directors and the entire staff of Nigeria LNG to the 15th annual science and literature prize awards. Nigeria LNG warmly appreciates your commitment to our journey towards contributing to national development through our consistent sponsorship of the Nigeria Prize for Science and the Nigeria Prize for Literature. The award of the Literature and Science prizes has become a key event in the country that brings together people from diverse background – from the literary and science communities, government officials, Royalties, journalist, diplomats, heads of State, elder statesmen and other professionals from all walks of life to celebrate excellence in literature and science.
Starting with the Science Prize, tonight, belongs to Dr. Peter Ngene our science prize winner and our literature laureate, whose name I will not volunteer at this time will soon to be crowned. Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, on this very important occasion, I have chosen to discuss an idea very close to my heart which is, the “fierce urgency of now and particularly how it relates to Literature, Science, NLNG as a company and most importantly to our country, Nigeria.
Let me borrow the words of a great leader; Martin Luther King Jr. in his quote where he said “We are Now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of Now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.’ End of quote.
I could fully agree with this great leader because there often comes a time in history when a lack of fierce urgency can be extremely costly and no matter the field of human endeavour, when the time to actualize, leverage or deliver great results is ripe, alternatives to vigorous, positive actions must never be accepted. That fierce urgency of Now is one of the reasons why NLNG is driven to continue rewarding excellence in literature and science to the tune of $100,000 each and every year for the past 15? Years without fail!
It is with this same zeal of urgency and now that we look to the future of Nigeria and indeed the world at large with respect to energy. Our world is changing!! Changing, faster than we can imagine with massive disruptions going on around us, quantum leaps in technological advancement and changing energy mix exacerbated by the energy transitions.
The EIA report forecasts that world population will grow from the current 7 billion to 9 billion people in just about 20 years by 2040. Just imagine adding one china and one India to the world or adding about 10 more Nigeria to the world. 2 billion is a lot of people indeed. With this population growth, the world will need much more energy to support global development and growth. However the world now only wants energy that is clean to help counter the effects of climate change, rising global temperature with a 20C limit and of course assurance of a cleaner environment for the next generation. That is why we at Nigeria LNG believe it’s time for gas! Gas is cleaner, Gas available in abundance and is much cheaper than other energy sources. More importantly Nigeria is blessed with so much gas we are now known as a gas province with little oil. Today we have over 190TCFof proven gas reserves with scope for an additional 600TCF which should propel us from the extant no10 in the world to fourth position once proven.
Gas can drive development as a catalyst through power generation, industrialisation, manufacturing, and agriculture. The hope of Nigeria’s development amongst the committee of nations lies underground in the abundance of gas reserves we have and also through innovations in renewables. Gas will boost industrialization of our pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, Agro-based businesses through fertilizer and even LPG for domestic use in homes for day to day cooking etc. The opportunity is immense as we have seen in other countries like Qatar where they have grown from GDP per capital of below USD$2,000 to more than USD$150,000, all on the wings of gas. Essentially, gas is our future, but that future is now, as tomorrow is now today. Gas is really a very big opportunity for Nigeria and Nigerians on the back of the multiple potential attraction of more investment value. I would like to call your attention to a you tube video a friend showed me recently titled – Its not about the nail! Some critics argued it’s not about the hammer either but I would like to align with Richard quest of CNN in his just a penny statement – Its not about how much resource you have; its about what you do with it!! That is why Nigeria LNG was incorporated in 1989 to harness Nigeria’s vast natural resources, eliminate gas flaring and to monetise Nigeria’s gas with a vision of being a global player…helping to build a better Nigeria. The company has since its first export in 1999 generated over $100 billion in revenues, paid over $15billion in dividends to government and well over $6 billion in taxes to date. With the demand for cleaner energy, the time is now for NLNG to increase its output. Our Train 7 project which is currently going through FEED is set to deliver final investment decision (FID) to increase capacity by 35% from the current 22mtpa to 30mtpa in the next four years. We have to utilise Nigeria’s resources to lift the economy going forward having ridden on the back of oil for the last 50 years, we are set to fly on the wings of gas into the future.
People often ask: “Why is Nigeria LNG so committed to honouring writers and scientists when its primary business is obviously gas?” It is because of our understanding of how indispensable literature and science are to societal development and how the time to promote them in a global economy that is fast leaning on innovation and creativity, is NOW. More so, a quick check of human history and evolution of societies shows that the development of science and literature is synonymous with societal growth and success. The more science and literature are advanced, the more society grows in innovation, creativity and enlightenment which are essential pillars of civilization and human development.
Indeed, Gas is our business but so also is Nigeria’s success. No business can exist in isolation and be sustainable. No organisation can deem itself successful if it operates in a failed society. Hence,by instituting a significant prize for science, NLNG clearly expects to bring science and scientists to public attention, save them from what is regarded as current low rating in national estimation and avail the nation of their immense benefits. Countries like Japan, India and Singapore rose on the crest of knowledge provided by science and technology to conquer poverty and join the first world.
It is in this context that the Nigeria Prize for Science was established and it is awarded yearly to any scientific work that provides solutions to a major national problem.
The Science Prize has metamorphosed into a real solution finder for the societal problems plaguing our nation. Last year, 24 researchers competed for the prize which was pitched on finding solutions to the malaria epidemic in Nigeria. The theme for that competition was “Innovations in Malaria Control”.
Through the prize, we made significant inroad into finding solutions to malaria pandemic in the country with the delivery of three distinguished research findings on malaria control. This was a landmark achievement for Nigeria and for Nigeria LNG.
For the Literature Prize, NLNG observed that, for decades, Nigerian writers had collectively bemoaned the fate of the literary industry. They were unhappy with the declining levels of education and literacy, unhappy with the loss of a reading culture, and for good reasons; sad that writing and publishing in a nation that gave the African continent its first crop of literary giants had all but become lost art.
Taking cognisance of these concerns, NLNG began to explore options of instituting a literary prize, because significant literary prizes are widely seen as a first step on the road to recovery for literature as they serve both as a celebration of literature and writers. This was a unique opportunity to effect beneficial change using the literature prize as a vehicle.
Overall this has been a very rewarding expedition for Nigeria LNG, and I dare say, a prestigious feat that has listed our country among nations with eminent Prizes in the world. The Prize has produced winners who have become national icons.
We can now proudly say that The Nigeria Prize for Literature and The Nigeria Prize for Science are now quite literally, ‘the gold standard’ in literature and science on the African continent today.
There has been a literary renaissance of some sort since the Nigeria Prize for Literature was initiated. New literary stars like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Teju Cole, Lola Shoneyin, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Tade Ipadeola, Chika Unigwe, Ikeogu Oke and many more have emerged; new literary awards have been instituted; trail blazing publishing firms like Cassava Republic, Farafina, Kraft Books, Parresia, Quramo, Narrative Landscape and others have rode on the crest of the new wave; book festivals and fairs like the Ake Book and Art Festival, the Port Harcourt Book Festival, the Kaduna Book and Art Festival, the Abuja Literary Festival and the Crater Literary Festival have been pioneered and thousands of book clubs are being set up in schools, homes and offices across Nigeria.
In my view, the Nigeria Prize for Literature has contributed to triggering the renaissance in the literary world today and we feel very proud of this achievement
Despite all that has been said, , we believe that more can still be done and should be done with a sense of ‘fierce urgency’ and Now. There are more opportunities in the book value chain which are still untapped. We have lots of talents and potentials yet to be tapped and I am using the opportunity of today where we will be crowning a new literature laureate to reaffirm our values and commitments to continue to work assiduously towards harnessing the value of the true potential of our people.
For Nigeria LNG, the entries that have won the science prize can be advanced by relevant development stakeholders who can apply them to activate development of our society. It behoves on relevant industry players and stakeholders in the field to explore the possibility of commercial production of the research finds and also create avenues that promote optimum utility, thereby realizing the main reason for setting up the prize. We have to do this as a matter of urgency.
I congratulate the science prize winner, Dr Peter Ngene and in a little while we should also have the honour of congratulating the literature prize winner who will soon be unveiled.
In closing, permit me to go back to my earlier quote on the Fierce urgency of Now and time for vigorous and positive action; that time is NOW! It is time gas; it is time for Nigeria LNG and it is indeed time for Nigeria! God bless Nigeria!!
Thank you for listening.
