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00:00:08of
00:00:20of
00:00:36Hello and welcome, it's another edition of
00:00:39of colydoscope of on
00:00:40of channels television, I'm Ann Wawadu. On colydoscope
00:00:43today we speak with the
00:00:45of chairman of
00:00:45of the board of Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited, Dr. Lai
00:00:49Fatono, as the company celebrates its first anniversary.
00:00:53Plus, our chats with the managing director and CEO of
00:00:56of Renaissance Africa Energy Company
00:00:58of Limited, Mr. Tony atta revealed. the organization's
00:01:01of activities.
00:01:06in Once again, welcome to the program. Renaissance africa energy
00:01:10company limited is one
00:01:11of the leading integrated energy companies, but let's tell you more about this
00:01:15organization. Renaissance africa energy company limited is a
00:01:19dynamic and rapidly growing Nigerian energy leader strategically
00:01:22positions to drive energy
00:01:24of security and industrialization across Nigeria and
00:01:27Africa. It has swiftly merged to a significant. player in the region's energy
00:01:31landscape following its acquisition
00:01:33of the shell petroleum development company of Nigeria Limited. This
00:01:37landmark acquisition finalized in March
00:01:39a 2025, saw Renaissance Africa energy holdings a consortium of
00:01:43strong
00:01:43of and experienced Nigerian independent
00:01:46in oil and gas companies take full ownership of SPDC's onshore
00:01:49assets, bringing together extensive operational experience within the Niger
00:01:53delta and a shared vision for Nigeria's energy
00:01:56sector. Let's now hear from the chairman
00:01:59of the board. Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited Dr. Lai
00:02:02Fatono.
00:02:08In 2025, you received confirmation that this
00:02:11landmark acquisition has been finalized and of course
00:02:15Renaissance Africa Energy Holdings now has
00:02:19full ownership of share petroleum development
00:02:22companies onshore assets, and this powerful
00:02:26coalision, I must call it, became the operator of Nigeria's
00:02:30largest oil and gas
00:02:31of exploration and production joint venture, what has it been
00:02:35like since you achieved this
00:02:39of feet? um, first and
00:02:41of foremost uh,
00:02:43of this um very unusual
00:02:47and extraordinary um decision by the
00:02:50president
00:02:54nubu to grant this
00:02:57consent um has the trappings of
00:03:01lot of uniqueness, first and foremost
00:03:06of this was um such a privilege granted to nigerian a fully owned nigerian company um and
00:03:10despite all the reservations
00:03:13expressed
00:03:17within the industry about who we are, what our competencies
00:03:21are, um, that trust that
00:03:25the Nigerian entity can can take on this very very
00:03:28unusual um high end burden of
00:03:31of stepping into the shoes of a real
00:03:34major uh international
00:03:37of company um was unprecedented and and
00:03:41I
00:03:41of think for that um not just to the entire
00:03:44workforce of today's renaissance the
00:03:48board the management um take it upon themselves
00:03:52that there's a lot of responsibilities that has been
00:03:54entrusted on on each and
00:03:57of everyone of
00:03:58of us individually and collectively. um on present
00:04:01as that that was the the
00:04:04indication and what have we achieved
00:04:08speaks for itself. um, i
00:04:12think the day we took over, but average
00:04:16daily production was about 14000 bars a
00:04:19day, today we are
00:04:21of neiring 270 thousand,
00:04:24um, we have - steadily the last couple
00:04:28of
00:04:29of months, uh we are producing more than two bcf of
00:04:32gas daily uh and
00:04:35indeed i was looking at the fact sheet
00:04:39of of the regulator where they profess to the fact that
00:04:43the two big gas plants in our possession
00:04:47are working
00:04:48of maximally to full capacity for the first
00:04:52time in five years so quite frankly
00:04:56i think think in in without
00:05:00in some very understated manner, um, I'm very, very
00:05:04satisfied with the pace of what we have
00:05:07been able to achieve this last one year,
00:05:10of being the chairman on this board, board, mean such a
00:05:14company where shareholders are also competitors, how do
00:05:18you balance collaboration and competition in your business?
00:05:22uh, thank you. um, when you look in the context of our
00:05:25constitution, all the companies that are inside
00:05:28renence, on the face value of
00:05:32it, we may look like competitors, but actually we are
00:05:35collaborators, um, we
00:05:38are in one form or the other, um,
00:05:42helping to strengthen the uh the the collaboration that
00:05:46exists in in togetherness
00:05:50that that put all
00:05:51of us together. um, but let's look at each and everyone of
00:05:54us in our respective niches, whether it is
00:05:57forstmp, whether it is Aradell, whether it's Walter Smith
00:06:01or Andy Western, the collective
00:06:05experiences that we bring if you look at around the
00:06:08entire footprint the nager delta,
00:06:12experiences of one complements the
00:06:16other, so literally that competition that you
00:06:19see bringing them together, it's is one of our
00:06:22strength, it's the it's part of what makes us different from
00:06:26any other, and and the competition in us is
00:06:30really not, it's very healthy, but what it
00:06:34does is that it brings collaboration because the diversity of
00:06:37experiences. Renaissance has described itself as
00:06:41made in Nigeria, but build for Africa, what does that mean
00:06:45in practical terms and how does that
00:06:49idea shape your long-term vision for Africa's energy
00:06:52transition and its growth? um, first off,
00:06:56let's take the the uh idiom that charity begins
00:06:59from home. um, Renaissance
00:07:03is a Nigerian company
00:07:06uh, and and really that's what it is.
00:07:10um,
00:07:12what is our focus
00:07:14ability to help Nigeria
00:07:18achieve energy security, energy
00:07:21independence and to use the
00:07:24resources of this country
00:07:27for industrialization, energy,
00:07:31there's nothing that we do in this country today that energy really doesn't come
00:07:35into the mix, but first and foremost using Nigerian
00:07:39expertise, using Nigerian resources, using
00:07:42Nigerian human capital and doing all the things that
00:07:46we have said we
00:07:48we we are doing and work and the more that we know we will
00:07:51achieve stepping out beyond
00:07:55Nigeria is a long term strategic objective
00:07:59and this is what makes us a Nigerian
00:08:03company that is made in Nigeria but um we are
00:08:07indeed Africans are
00:08:09ultimate um stepping out.
00:08:13environment and how do you see the Nigerian government's
00:08:16policies, decisions concerning energy transition and of course
00:08:20energy availability for Nigerians to see what's going on
00:08:24at this moment, we still rank high on the list of
00:08:27nations with energy poverty, what can be done to
00:08:31change this horrible, serious challenge? I
00:08:35think I think the government is is um, it's very,
00:08:38very resolutely committed.
00:08:43to um uh dealing with the energy
00:08:46transition, particularly
00:08:50the um, the more important area of gas
00:08:53utilization, um, here we are, with
00:08:57very vast population of Nigerians each and
00:09:00everyone of us, energy hungry, uh, we're
00:09:04always, I mean, we would always require
00:09:07energy, and when you think in terms the policies the government
00:09:11today, uh, "this is the first time that you can see
00:09:14very real strategic again
00:09:18plan, not just for dealing with today's
00:09:20problems, but moving forward into
00:09:23tomorrow and the day after, um, if you
00:09:27see all the presidential
00:09:30mandates, directives, the the
00:09:34collaboration that industries having with the regulators, the
00:09:38engagements that we are having, you can see that it's a very,
00:09:42very..." commitment and very, very um, what i call
00:09:45obvious seriousness into dealing with
00:09:49Nigeria's energy poverty.
00:09:52um, it's not going to be a problem that is going to be solved
00:09:56in one day, but I can assure you that the government policies
00:10:00currently are in the right
00:10:03direction, and and and given the the trust of companies
00:10:07like like ours and others, um, we can
00:10:10see better. tomorrow
00:10:14for for for energy availability,
00:10:18energy affordability for most nigerians
00:10:22and so talking about the future now, talking about tomorrow,
00:10:25when you look and maybe the next year, as you have celebrated one year
00:10:29now, what do you see for renaissance
00:10:32energy? uh, first and foremost, I believe that we have
00:10:36to sustain our our current
00:10:39strength, sustainability, making sure that not
00:10:43only can we keep the trend
00:10:47of progress that we have, we have seen in the next one
00:10:51year, and in the first year, um, that's going to be...
00:10:56lot of work for not just for ourselves, all
00:11:00all our stakeholders, but i can i
00:11:03can tell you that for what i look forward
00:11:07to see in the next one year and even beyond that
00:11:11sustaining the the the the
00:11:15the growth that we have brought in in the last one year will be one
00:11:19of our biggest challenge and it to be one
00:11:21the
00:11:24the thing that we have. to hold to doing everything that we are doing
00:11:27safely um
00:11:31uh a manner that allows us
00:11:34to look after each and every one of our stakeholders, the host
00:11:38communities, our staff and the entirety
00:11:42of of society. every responsible business, mean for
00:11:46everyone, it's expected that there is some form of corporate social
00:11:49responsibility initiatives or projects or an impact you're
00:11:52making into the society. so what have you done
00:11:56in that regard as an organization? um, first and
00:12:00foremost, the uh, the
00:12:03PIA has come into effect, and the
00:12:07very, very substantial part the PIA is the host
00:12:10community development
00:12:13initiative. um,
00:12:16williarly, each and everyone of us
00:12:19have very, very specific sense of responsibility to
00:12:23participate in in... corporate
00:12:25social um uh services
00:12:28and today the fact that the host
00:12:32community development trust for each and every
00:12:35community that we we uh we we we
00:12:39have activities had come to stay
00:12:42indeed that itself has brought some elements of
00:12:46stability because whether we like it or
00:12:49not our host communities are now an
00:12:52essential and very integral
00:12:55part thes that we we we have to
00:12:59deal with, and if you look at the
00:13:02records uh the past one year, you can
00:13:06actually see the beginning the impact, positive
00:13:09impact that this uh this new law had
00:13:13brought into the collaboration between operators on the one
00:13:17side like us and - major
00:13:20stakeholders which are the host communities um going
00:13:25but my expectation is that we would even
00:13:28have better relationship
00:13:32that ensures harmony, that
00:13:35ensures safe operations,
00:13:39that ensures protection of assets
00:13:42and better life for everybody. a
00:13:45company as big as this, there must be something driving
00:13:49it, so what is that force behind
00:13:53renaissance for you? for
00:13:55Renaissance, the human capital that
00:13:59is, that was inherited has been one the
00:14:02biggest strengths of of not just our
00:14:06ability to progress with with
00:14:10operations, but also for the future. um, I think in
00:14:14this context, I must, I must
00:14:16ackknowledge that we are blessed
00:14:20with very, very balanced and very, very
00:14:23diverse workforce. uh male and female
00:14:27all very experienced and I think
00:14:31without the the the human capital element that would never
00:14:35have been an opportunity like this, every opportunity that
00:14:39we have uh we need to express our very very
00:14:42deep and profound appreciation for each and every the
00:14:46staff, whether they are realful staff or contractor
00:14:50staff or as far as we are concerned,
00:14:53everybody... who works within the organization
00:14:57are very, very substantial contributor to
00:15:01our well being and therefore the well being of the
00:15:04sector.
00:15:09we're not done just yet, when colidoscope returns, we'll continue the
00:15:13conversation.
00:15:22welcome back, you're still watching colydoscope right here on channel. television, let's
00:15:25continue the conversation now with a managing director and CEO of
00:15:29Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited, Tony
00:15:32Atta.
00:15:37So it's... one year since you received the confirmation that
00:15:40Renaissance has completed the landmark achievement and now
00:15:44has full ownership of SPDC's onshore
00:15:47asset making renaissance of course pivotal to Nigeria's energy production
00:15:51looking at the last one year how would you describe what it's been like for
00:15:55you oh wow there's no
00:15:59better time to ask that
00:16:00question that today actually um the deal
00:16:04closed on the 13th of March last year.
00:16:07and just remembering what we went
00:16:11through brings back lot of memories for me
00:16:13personally. I can just imagine deal that took more than two and
00:16:17a half years to close, and then about
00:16:21midnight the 13th of March, you realized that
00:16:25finally, it's happening, it's happened, the deal
00:16:29happened, but then we needed to come back to Nigeria,
00:16:32this deal was closed in London, we needed to come back to Nigeria, but I
00:16:36could here. which is the headquarters the the
00:16:40company to just launch with the colleagues and then
00:16:44it did officially take over the company, but that
00:16:47included some transit time, which actually made it possible to be
00:16:51back here on the 17th, what a special timing, it's
00:16:55exactly about year today when we came in
00:16:58here, and what i remember most
00:17:02was very symbolic event that took place exactly year ago,
00:17:06about this time actually. so there's a shell flag that have
00:17:09been flying in this compound for more than 60
00:17:13years, on this day, exactly year ago, we
00:17:17saw that flag come down and the renaissance flag
00:17:20went up, so when you say how do i
00:17:23feel, there's no better way to describe the
00:17:27feeling, it's a great feeling, and for me
00:17:30personally the emergence of renaissance speaks
00:17:34to lot, and i start with the name itself, connots
00:17:38new beginning, well let's talk about the community now and the
00:17:42impact you're making in it, I mean the people are hopeful, as
00:17:46Renaissance started operations, they know that something has to
00:17:49be in it for them as well, talking about your corporate
00:17:53social responsibility, initiatives and the project you've been able to carry out in
00:17:57the past one year, talk to us about that, first of all I'm a
00:18:01community man myself, so the communities in the
00:18:05safest of hands, but I must give them credit quite frankly,
00:18:09because when we arrived, they really, really welcomed us. It's
00:18:13been a long time coming for me, particularly, because I've been involved in the
00:18:17social space the previous company which we now carried
00:18:21through, but in the one year, it's been more
00:18:24around, first of all complying with
00:18:27the PIA,
00:18:28the PIA has redefined the
00:18:31social structure and the social contract between operators like
00:18:35ourselves and the communities. through what is called the host community
00:18:39development trusts and in our own business there are
00:18:43about 33 them for which we have now set up
00:18:4631, the other
00:18:47two even though not fully set up are fully funded because the
00:18:51trusts also have a fund and we found that so
00:18:55essentially the new philosophy is actually handing the communities
00:18:59the will to determine their own lives so they take the
00:19:02decisions, they define what they want, they go and
00:19:06execute we them and support them with technical support.
00:19:10there are four key pillars around
00:19:13which we built our social investment program.
00:19:17we're very, very big on education, we're
00:19:20huge on health. of course, youth, youth
00:19:24development and youth empowerment is critical. if you are going to make
00:19:28any level of success in the delta, in fact in africa where the average
00:19:32age is about 19-20, so you have that theme in youth
00:19:36energy that you can tap from. but more importantly help to
00:19:39develop, make available, and the fourth one of course is
00:19:43around development, social development is crucial, but if I
00:19:47speak to the health peace, so
00:19:50sometime last year we actually donated what
00:19:54is about $300 thousand
00:19:57dollar as a company, a single company, but of course to the
00:20:00JV structure, including NMPC, total and Aenr
00:20:04our JB partners, so the national hospital in
00:20:08Abuja as part of enabling the oncology
00:20:12cancer uh treatment unit, but we also have
00:20:16community health insurance schemes, there are two very active ones, one in
00:20:19obio here and another one next door, today we have
00:20:23more than 150 thousand people,
00:20:27communities, people on the health insurance
00:20:31scheme benefiting uh 100% in terms of
00:20:35coverage, but then if you look at the education side, I think
00:20:39I feel very, very proud of what we are doing in that
00:20:42space. Today we have what is the credal to
00:20:45career program, is one the biggest programs that I'm so proud
00:20:49of. what it does is simply
00:20:53working in partnership with stem
00:20:56entities who just going to the deepest the creeks to
00:21:00find talented, indigent
00:21:03people, children, we bring those children
00:21:06together and enable them to get one the
00:21:10best quality educations that they perhaps would never have
00:21:14dreamed of. today that program has seen more than
00:21:18800. will pass through it and it's
00:21:22incredible to see the outcome, and I have on very positive
00:21:25record that lot them were in the top top
00:21:2910 the the classes, we are now a point where about
00:21:3360 them are ready to go into university level,
00:21:37but we also have postgraduate scholarships that we
00:21:40award and that is in partnership with about three
00:21:43universities in the United Kingdom, this is all about naja
00:21:47delts, this is about building that capacity. as an
00:21:50MD of Renaissance, how do you manage
00:21:52competition? it depends on what you call
00:21:56competition. well, the industry is very huge, you
00:21:59must have competitors. what stands you
00:22:03out? that competitive edge is something i probably
00:22:06keep secret, you want me to share? but i think they
00:22:10say your your your strategy is as big as
00:22:14you make it, yeah, but is even bigger where it
00:22:18cannot be easily to... applicable, the biggest
00:22:22opportunity we have as renaissance is our people, so we
00:22:25inherited very strong, technically
00:22:29sound population from from shell, and that
00:22:33group of people will represent our staff today, addition
00:22:36to our support staff
00:22:39are the competitive edge, we want to be the african leader in
00:22:43energy, within the first 100 days
00:22:46added 100 thous barrals of oil.
00:22:50in the first 100 days, mean that nobody could ever have
00:22:54dreamt of that, for the company we took over
00:22:57140,00 barrels of
00:22:59a day, so within 100 days go to
00:23:02240 plus was an
00:23:06unimaginable performance, talking about scaling up since we have
00:23:09building to that, but the year 2030 you have a target, which means
00:23:13scaling up production, what concrete action is renaissance going to take in
00:23:17the move towards that goal and what should? mens investors
00:23:20and communities expect as you do business in this
00:23:24continent, to have the ambition to be a one million
00:23:28barrels of oil equivalent a day company by
00:23:312030 is audacious and that is what we're driving
00:23:35to the extend that we sort of broken it down to say okay
00:23:39let's have people understand it this is speaking to about
00:23:4250000 barrels of oil every
00:23:45day 1 billion standard cubic feet of gas for the
00:23:49domestic. and about two billion cubic feet of gas for
00:23:53export, we supply NLNG, and I know one or two things
00:23:56about NLNG given my previous life, but if you look at
00:24:00that, the real value that we bring is really got to
00:24:04sit within the domestic gas supply space
00:24:08from an energy transition point of view, but even more around the
00:24:12industrialization of Nigeria, the element within our vision,
00:24:16so the only place where the average common man can feel the...
00:24:20impact of this industry is actually
00:24:23in the industrialization of Nigeria and I always believe that export gas
00:24:27would not industrialized Nigeria, it's helping elsewhere, but
00:24:30domestic gas is where the sweet spot sits, so the question
00:24:34is around how do we make cleaner cleaner energy available to
00:24:38Nigerians, how do we translate the 210
00:24:42children cubic feet of gas reserves to
00:24:45LPG, to pipe gas to homes,
00:24:49so you speak to... should government expect, government should expect
00:24:53very disciplined delivery, very focused
00:24:56review of possibilities, but we also have expectations of
00:25:00government, and to be fair to this government, I think this government has done a
00:25:03lot, if anything, the executive orders that were signed
00:25:07by Mr. President, has gone a long way to
00:25:11unleash this industry, something as basicats you can now
00:25:15spend up of 10 million without recourse to some
00:25:19the hordes that... had to deal with, but more importantly just
00:25:23been industry friendly is very, very strong
00:25:26start, and also we work in perfect harmony with the
00:25:30minister of of state for oil and gas,
00:25:34the SA energy and all the executive orders that are
00:25:38coming out there with the regulators, nuPRc,
00:25:41nmdpra, but more importantly with our senior
00:25:45partner NMPC and the other JB members, so all encapsulated
00:25:49this industry, is a better place than
00:25:52ever. when we describe Renaissance, you've described it
00:25:56as made in Nigeria but built for Africa. What does this mean
00:26:00in practical terms and when we look at? "how the idea will
00:26:04shape your long-term vision for Africa's energy transition
00:26:08and industrial growth, what will he be? actually we
00:26:12should even find tune that to say proudly made in
00:26:14Nigeria,
00:26:16you know, and built for Africa, but I tell you, and it speaks
00:26:19to very foundational beginning for
00:26:23us, to the extent that we are purely Nigerian
00:26:27company, and this is where it gets
00:26:30quite emotional for me, because..." in the course of this deal, we were asked many,
00:26:34many questions, if you just imagine
00:26:38that we took over from an IOC that has run this business for
00:26:42over 60 years, even on the negotiating table, questions were
00:26:46asked something as basic as can these Nigerians
00:26:49doing, do you feel
00:26:52confident to hand over to these Nigerians,
00:26:56so but we then had to go back inwards to say, who
00:27:00are we, and now this is a question. but ordinarily, if I
00:27:04say who are we, the response that comes very loud,
00:27:07reveberating, we are renaissance, so there's an element of
00:27:11pride there,
00:27:12you know, so knowing yourself was the starting point, and we said,
00:27:15yes, we are made in
00:27:18Nigeria, but to the extent that our vision is africa
00:27:22centric, energy poverty has a direct correlation economic
00:27:26poverty, so if you are looking for why Africa is economically
00:27:29poor, look to energy poverty. and energy
00:27:33security will be the answer, that's where we are, we
00:27:37want to help reset that narrative, we want to lit the way,
00:27:41i want to make difference. let's talk about the future,
00:27:45now as renaissance continues to grow, how are you balancing the need
00:27:49to ensure you scale up in oil and gas
00:27:52production, we're talking about gas power and of course lower carbon
00:27:56operation as you continue to do business, not forgetting also the impact
00:28:00you are to make as you run business. on communities
00:28:03around you in Nigeria and of course outside
00:28:06Nigeria. I always start from Nigeria,
00:28:10which is why we say we are made in Nigeria. Yeah,
00:28:14charity begins at home. Gas is now recognized as that
00:28:18ultimate solution. It's cleaner, it's more
00:28:21available. In fact, if you look at the resource base of
00:28:25Nigeria, the 210 TCF of gas and the 38 billion
00:28:28barrals of oil, we are actually a gas nation. So... when
00:28:32you look to the future, which mostly involves the energy transition, I would
00:28:36say we're ready, we have what it takes to transition into
00:28:40that that future of clean, sustainable
00:28:43energy, and that is where Nigeria is so blessed,
00:28:47but then the opportunity itself will not materialize unless you
00:28:51develop this gas, and there in lies the opportunity for
00:28:55us, you look to Qatar, Qatar builts its economy purely on
00:28:59gas, Saudi builts its economy purely on
00:29:02oil, the United Arab Emirates builts its economy on purely
00:29:06oil, but Nigeria is blessed with both oil and gas, so just
00:29:10begin to imagine the possibilities if these two come together in the
00:29:14way we are viewing it. We believe that that future is
00:29:18relaissance, but that future is not just renaissance in
00:29:22isolation, that future is renaissance in positive
00:29:25partnership with our communities, and
00:29:28they will come along with us and together we are.
00:29:32Renaissance
00:29:38and that's where we end colidos cup for today, thank you very much for watching, I
00:29:41am Ann Mawado, please watch Past editions the program, go to
00:29:45youtube.com/channelsweb, just type colydoscope in the search
00:29:49box and enjoy your time with it. I'll definitely see you again, I'm
00:29:53Ann Wawadu, please stay
00:29:54safe.