On a visit to Nigeria eight years ago, Felix Ekundayo spotted what he thought was the perfect business opportunity. Ekundayo knew sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest oil fields lay in the vast southern swamps of the Niger Delta. As an engineer, he was also aware oil drills suck up natural gas with crude. But instead of capturing gas, Nigeria was flaring it, burning $2.5 billion a year. The pollution was turning a natural paradise for birds, insects and fish into a vast, lifeless black lake. Tap the gas and pipe it to gas-fired power stations, Ekundayo estimated, and Nigeria could generate enough power for the whole country, with exports to spare. An end to flaring – actually illegal since 1984 – would also reduce pollution, perhaps appeasing a rising tide of popular anger in the Delta.
So in 2005, Ekundayo quit a career in London and moved back to Lagos. Six years on, the 42-year-old employs 35 people in a business that turned over $8.5 million last year. Not bad, but a fraction of what it should be. Ekundayo blames corrupt officials, who he says block his expansion to preserve their own monopoly on Nigeria’s energy supply. “We’re basically still where we
Read More from the Article Source: Full Article
