The Sun Award’ll engender more hard work – Okwuosa, Investor of the Year winner

Speaking in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, when he received a letter notifying him of his award from the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, The Sun Publishing Limited, Mr. Eric Osagie, who led a team to his office, Okwuosa commended the processes that led to his emergence as the award winner, stressing that The Sun had created a niche for itself in the media industry.

He said: “I really appreciate your processes.  The Sun has always been recognised following the contributions you have made in the development of the press in Nigeria.

“We, myself and the entire Oilserve Group,  are quite appreciative for this award, because I never came to you to lobby for it. For you to go through a rigourous process to pick me and other award winners shows that The Sun is  a newspaper of excellence. 

“For this award to come shows that you are not just looking at people who are hyping themselves, but those who are quietly doing much for the socio-economic development of Nigeria. I am very glad and I want to say that this recognition will engender more hard work.  We are proud of The Sun.”

The Oilserve chairman noted that Nigeria has enormous potentials, warning that failure of successive governments to realise this and work collectively to tap the potential would cause the country to go down.

Earlier, The Sun MD, Osagie, said the Investor of the Year category of The Sun Awards “acknowledges profound and highly successful pan-Nigeria investors that have contributed to the growth of the country’s economy.”

He stated that the Board of Editors chose Okwuosa for the award because of his immense contributions in the country’s oil and gas sector.

Osagie noted: “You have been a key player in the oil and gas sector for more than 30 years. Before setting up Oilserve in 1992, which you nurtured to become a billion dollar company that employs about 500 engineering and technical professionals, you had worked in various capacities for global oil servicing giant, Schlumberger (Scotland), North Africa (Libya), West Africa (Mauritania, Senegal, Cote d‘Ivoire, Ghana), Gulf of Guinea/Central Africa (Nigeria, Republic of Benin, Cameroun, Gabon, Congo and Angola) and Indonesia in Asia.

“Today, Oilserve has become a household name, both in Nigeria and other African countries, including Kenya, Sierra Leone, Republic of Benin, Togo, Tanzania and Uganda.”

On the projects Oilserve Group had handled, Osagie said: “The company worked exclusively for Shell in its early years, handling a lot of major projects for the oil giant. By 2000, it had executed a 12-inch line for Shell, from Elelenwo West to Agbada 1, the first of its kind built by a Nigerian contractor.

“Your investment story is simply outstanding. Apart from Oilserve, you also founded and own FRAZIMEX Limited, an integrated oil & gas engineering, drilling, exploration and production as well as asset ownership company and subsidiaries, such as FRAZIMEX Energy Services Ltd, the first indigenous company to own and operate swamp drilling rigs in Nigeria. You also recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Anambra State government to establish a $150 million farm to cultivate and process cassava and tomatoes, which would employ some 2,000 persons directly and indirectly.”