*We are Up And Running Says Executive Director
By Ovie Okpare
The management of Opeans Nigeria Limited operator of Opeans Safety Training Centre at Opete near Warri in Udu Local Government Area of Delta State has debunked the alleged sealing of its Warri training centre by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Executive Director of Opeans Nigeria Limited (ONL), Dr. Ben Nwoye made the declaration on Wednesday during a press conference at the company’s premises in Opete, saying that the training centre was up and running.
Nwoye said, though some staff of the company were arrested to EFCC Zonal Office in Benin over a petition alleging that the company was issuing International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) certificates without approval.
But the Executive Director described the allegation against the company as frivolous and lacks any iota of truth, explaining that the company’s staff arrested by operatives of the anti-graft agency have been released.
He also stated that the company was fully authorised and certified for operations by DPR and other safety regulating agencies. He added that the company had never been involved in any form of fraudulent practices since its existence.
Nwoye, who is the chairman of the Enugu State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), accused the Managing Director of Lym Consults Nigeria Limited of writing the petition against his company with intent to monopolise safety training in Warri.
NIGER DELTA TODAY ‘s correspondent who was among selected journalists for the briefing observed that training and classes were on at the time of the visit
While dismissing the petitioner’s allegation, he stated that he had been previously been cleared of the allegations by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), adding that the Opeans Safety Training Centre would continue to remain a place of excellence in safety training for the nation’s oil and gas industry.
According to him, “The report that Opean Traning Centre was sealed is falsehood. I wanted you to come down here to see for yourself. The offshore training centre is not sealed. One of your duties is for you as journalists to seek for the truth and inform the public with the truth.
“Even though I am the chairman of APC in Enugu State, I am also a Niger Deltan both reason of birth and by reason of blood. I was worried when I heard that my centre was raised by operatives of EFCC. I got to EFCC without invitation. I was relied when I saw the petition that pinned together by a young businessman, Mr Larry Otu.
“Larry Otu is the Chief Executive of Lym Consults, another offshore training firm in Warri. It didn’t come to me as a surprise as the same petition had already gone to DPR. I have been investigated by DPR on the same allegation and they found no reason to shut down the centre.
“The offshore centre is under the regulation of NNPC and under the direct supervision of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). They regulate training centres. For those of you who attended the inauguration of this centre see that the DPR Director was represented.
“Opeans started business February 23, 1988. Larry got his DPR approval in 2015. I knew Larry Otu in 2012 when he wanted to start his business through a mutual friend. He told me (on phone) that he wants to collaborate with me when I just arrived Nigeria from United States after many years in the US.”
Why MD of Lym Consults, Larry Otu Is After Opeans – Nwoye
Nwoye stated that his accuser, Mr Larry Otu, is angry after many multinationals and oil servicing companies pulled out of his training centre following the death of trainee at Lym Consults during training session earlier this year.
He accused Otu of allegedly plotting the kidnap of his brother who doubled as a traditional ruler and Chief Executive Officer of Opeans Training Centre, adding that the matter was presently before the Delta State Police Command.
“Larry thought I was an old man he could intimidate. When I saw Larry at the hotel when we met, Larry had young boys to pretend he was a militant. Larry told me that he heard I was about to build a training centre, and that he was already building a training centre in Warri. That since I already have a training centre in Port Harcourt, I should leave for Port Harcourt where I come from. He said he wants the safety market to himself in Warri.
“In Port Harcourt, there are three centres and we all have our share of the market…There’s opportunities for everyone if the regulators could allow everybody that go to offshore goes through the training, our centres will be filled and overflowing. I started counseling him. Larry is just a youngman that is misguided.
“As soon as Larry got his approval in 2015, he wrote a petition to DPR that I was operating a makeshift centre. DPR investigate it and flawed it. It didn’t shut the place down. The same Larry in a bid to actualize monopoly which is not good for Niger Delta and the Nigerian economy. Despite that, DPR gave us license to operate. It didn’t stop there; they increase our courses from four to twelve courses including BOSIET.
“Larry went to collaborate with a group called Opito and that once he get Opito he gets the entire Shell/Chevron business. He did the Opito and he didn’t get the contract he was promised. He petitioned Chevron and Shell that they were moving all the works from Warri to other places. He thought once he achieved Opito no work will go out of Warri and his centre.
“While he focused running people down, he lost interest in the safety nature of our work. Just earlier this year, somebody died in his training centre. A young Shell employee died there at his centre. I was not there and Opeans did not contribute. It was a failure in the training system. That caused many of the contractors to leave his centre. It’s colossus failure.
“Nobody should die in training. That’s why we have ambulance, medics and others observing. We are involved in food safety. That’s why in 31 years of operation, we have perfect operation. What was Larry’s next step? He wrote petition that I was issuing fake training certificate. Larry took the same petition to DPR but DPR investigated and found no truth in the allegation.
“You can call DPR to enquire if we have no license with them. There is no foreign or Nigerian national who we have trained that has alleged of fraudulent activities against us. We operate an international standard safety centre. When you filed a petition to EFCC, it is their constitutional responsibility to investigate. I have presented all the facts to them”, he added.
Opeans Not IADC’s Approved Centre – Lym Consults
Meanwhile, the Managing Director of Lym Consults Nigeria Limited, Mr Otu, has reacted to the allegation of plotting to kidnap the Chief Executive Officer of Opeans Nigeria Limited, saying that he had honoured police invitation and the matter has been abandoned by the petitioner for lack of proof.
According to him, “Lym Consults Nigeria Limited operates the only OPITO Approved/Certified Training Organization in Warri, Delta State cannot also joined issues with a company like Opeans Nigeria Limited, which the entire Nigeria Oil and Gas industry have come to realize that they issue fake, forged and fraudulent International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) certificates.
“However, the issues raised by Ben Nwoye should be addressed. That, on the 30th of January, 2018 when the Police from Force Headquarters in Asaba invited him (Mr. Larry Otu) due to a petition Ben Nwoye wrote alleging attempt to kidnap and threat to life that he honored the invitation.
“That, after the interview/meeting with the Police, which Ben Nwoye was part of, the Police asked Ben Nwoye to produce the text messages and his phone for forensic analysis if there was actually any attempt by him (Mr. Larry Otu) to kidnap him. That Ben Nwoye ran away.
“Till this day, Ben Nwoye has never returned to the Police to produce any evidence, or his phone for analysis by the Police. That, Ben Nwoye was only trying to use the Police to intimidate him because he was working so hard at that time to get his company Lym Consults Nigeria Limited OPITO approved.
“Ben Nwoye who had been in the training business since 1988 could not imagine that a young company like us was heading for global certification. That, he has asked his lawyers to petition the Nigeria Police Force to investigate false information provided to them (the Police) by Ben Nwoye. That, his legal team has commenced a 500 million Naira law suit against Ben Nwoye for defamation of character.”
On why he petitioned Opeans Nigeria Limited over alleged forgery of IADC certificates, Otu said his company wrote via email to IADC headquarters in Houston, Texas to verify if Opeans Nigeria Limited is truly IADC approved to deliver Basis Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training (BOSIET), Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET), Survival at Sea (SAS).
“On the email Ben Nwoye, Managing Directors of other training providers in Nigeria, and the DPR were on copy. That, we were all shocked when the IADC Vice President Accreditation Operations, Mark Denkowski replied that Opeans Nigeria Limited is not an IADC accredited training provider.
“That, the IADC does not even offer the BOSIET and HUET program. That, the use of the IADC logo on training certificate by Opeans Nigeria Limited is an abuse of the IADC and its logo. So, let the world ask Ben Nwoye and his Company Opeans Nigeria Limited from where they obtained the IADC accreditation that they have used to defraud millions of Naira from innocent Oil and Gas workers.”
