Economy
AGROCAM Acquires GE’s Gas Engine to Boost Poultry Breeding
By Dipo Olowookere
A leading poultry hatchery in the central African region, located in Douala, and a member company of the JS NOUTCHOGOUIN Group, AGROCAM, has purchased one of GE’s Jenbacher J316 gas engines from Clarke Energy, GE’s distributor of Jenbacher gas engines in Cameroon, to address the fundamental challenges related to long-term power outages, which have a great impact on poultry breeding in Cameroon.
A severe shortage of essential electrical infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa is making it difficult for efforts aimed at achieving more rapid social and economic development.
According to the International Energy Agency, natural gas will be the fastest-growing fuel in use for power generation in Africa.
Given the critical nature of poultry hatcheries, a half-hour power outage can completely cripple a business, leading to a complete overhaul of the hatchery installations—since all eggs in the incubator would perish as a result of improper storage temperature control and ventilation.
To help meet the demand for alternative energy supply to stabilize and rebuild, AGROCAM previously used a diesel generator for backup to the grid to ensure routine operation of its hatchery, which proved to be costly given the prolonged hours of grid power outages in addition to the environmental pollution associated with diesel generators.
“More than ever before, AGROCAM believes that a stable, reliable and cost-effective source of power is crucial to revive the poultry business in Cameroon, which suffered a big hit from the 2016 avian influenza (or bird flu) outbreak that paralyzed poultry farmers in Douala and the surrounding areas. Energy currently represents 50 percent of our operational costs,” said Noutchogouin Jean Samuel, board chairman, AGROCAM.
“GE’s natural gas-fired Jenbacher gas engine will produce a nominal electrical output to power the hatchery and egg tray production facility, providing a highly efficient, economical solution to meet our needs and realize substantial annual savings,” said Noutchogouin Philippe, managing director, AGROCAM.
GE’s Jenbacher J316 gas engine will produce 813 kilowatts of power. Heat will be recovered from the hot exhaust gases of the generator in the form of hot air and will be injected into the ovens of the egg tray production machines for drying. This will save the cost of fuel currently burned for drying and therefore, it will increase the efficiency and allow for the optimum use of the gas generator.
“The technical maturity and high degree of reliability of GE’s Jenbacher Type 3 gas engines make them a leader in their range. Long service intervals, a maintenance-friendly engine design and low fuel consumption ensure a high operating efficiency, while enhanced components prolong service life,” said Ali Hjaiej, business development director—Africa, Clarke Energy. “As AGROCAM battles local power outages from Cameroon’s unstable grid, GE’s proven, cost-effective, Jenbacher gas engine technology provides AGROCAM with a solution to help meet the growing energy needs of the region while increasing the efficiency and reliability of the customer’s grid.”
GE’s Jenbacher Type 3 gas engines offer proven savings on service and fuel consumption as well as excellent efficiency.
Two-stage mixture cooling enables high flexibility, while the turbocharger bypass evens out extreme operating conditions.
They are also suitable for a range of applicable gas types including natural gas, associated petroleum gas, propane, biogas, sewage gas, landfill gas, coal mine gas and other special gases such as coke, wood and pyrolysis gases.
In addition, the gas engines increase efficiency levels and reduce industrial emissions. The gas engines are designed for 80,000 full-load operation hours before a major overhaul.
“GE’s distributed power portfolio is perfectly suited to support the huge demand for reliable and uninterrupted power in sub-Sahara Africa. With an installed base spanning several countries in Africa, we are powering the continent with our scalable and modular solutions across various applications—particularly renewable and waste-to-energy, industrial power generation and cogeneration/CHP (combined heat and power) and oilfield power generation. In a CHP configuration, our Jenbacher gas engines can deliver electricity and heat at efficiencies of more than 90 percent,” said Oluwatoyin Abegunde, sales director for the sub-Saharan Africa region for GE’s Distributed Power. “By working with Clarke Energy on this important project, we are able to meet the needs of our customer and Cameroon for a more sustainable supply of electricity.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Senate has passed a bill to repeal and re-enact the law establishing the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), paving the way for the regulatory agency to be renamed the Insurance Regulatory Commission (IRC).
The legislation, titled the Insurance Regulatory Commission (Establishment) Bill, 2026, was passed after the Senate considered and adopted the report of its committee on banking, insurance and other financial institutions.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr Adetokunbo Abiru, the senator representing Lagos East, who presented the report, stated that the proposed legislation was necessary because the existing National Insurance Commission Act of 1997 had become outdated and no longer reflected the realities of Nigeria’s evolving insurance industry or global regulatory standards.
According to the Senate, the decision to change the Commission’s name was informed by the need to eliminate confusion associated with the existing designation and to better reflect the institution’s regulatory mandate within Nigeria’s insurance industry.
The bill also provides legal protection for the commission and its officers against adverse claims arising from the lawful execution of their statutory duties.
However, he noted that the commission’s enabling law had become obsolete, exposing significant regulatory gaps that required urgent legislative intervention.
‘The current National Insurance Commission Act 1997 is outdated and does not adequately address the emerging economic growth, needs and development of the insurance business,” the lawmaker said.
He explained that the new legislation seeks to strengthen the independence of the commission by empowering it to make regulatory decisions without undue influence in the country’s insurance sector.
According to him, the bill also enhances the commission’s authority to exchange information and collaborate with domestic and international regulatory bodies, issue regulations, guidelines, standards and directives on insurance-related matters, and intervene more effectively in financially distressed insurance companies to protect policyholders and preserve financial stability.
This marks yet another move to strengthen the country’s insurance sector following the enactment of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) of 2025 and the industry-wide recapitalisation exercise, which will wrap up by July 31.
By Adedapo Adesanya
About 143 companies that successfully passed the technical and prequalification stages of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s (NUPRC) 2025 Licensing Round will, today, compete for 50 oil and gas blocks at the commercial bid conference in Abuja, the final stage in the allocation process for the assets.
The commission said only the prequalified companies have been invited to attend the event, which will hold at the Conference Centre of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, stressing that participation is strictly by invitation.
The commercial bid conference will determine the successful bidders for oil and gas assets located across Nigeria’s producing and frontier basins.
The 50 blocks comprise 16 onshore blocks and 18 shallow water blocks in the Niger Delta, one deep offshore block, three onshore blocks in the Benin Basin, four in the Anambra Basin, four in the Chad Basin, and four in the Benue Trough.
According to the commission, the winning bids will be determined through a transparent evaluation process based on clearly defined commercial parameters. These include the signature bonus offered by bidders, the proposed work programme commitment and the level of performance security provided. The final selection will be based on a weighted technical and commercial score.
The licensing round is being conducted under the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, which requires a transparent and competitive process for the award of petroleum assets.
NUPRC had announced the commencement of the 2025 Licensing Round on November 11, 2025, before opening the online bid portal on December 1, 2025, to enable interested companies to register and participate in the exercise.
To ensure prospective investors fully understood the requirements, the commission organised a pre-bid conference on January 14, 2026, at Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos. The event provided detailed explanations on the licensing guidelines and bidding procedures to registered participants and other stakeholders.
Registration and submission of prequalification documents closed on February 27, 2026, while the prequalification evaluation was completed on March 16, 2026.
NUPRC disclosed that 286 companies initially submitted applications for prequalification.
Following the evaluation process, 196 companies were cleared to participate in the technical and commercial bid stages.
The prequalified 143 companies eventually submitted a total of 200 bids for the available oil and gas blocks. These companies are now set to compete at the commercial bid conference, where the financial offers will be opened and evaluated to determine the eventual winners.
The licensing round is expected to attract fresh investment into Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector, boost exploration activities across both producing and frontier basins, increase crude oil and gas reserves, and support the country’s drive to grow production and government revenue.
It also underscores the regulator’s commitment to implementing a transparent, competitive and investor-friendly licensing regime under the Petroleum Industry Act.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has retained all key monetary policy parameters following the conclusion of its two-day meeting on July 21, 2026, on Tuesday, maintaining its tight monetary policy stance to curb inflation and support macroeconomic stability.
According to the Governor of the apex bank, Mr Yemi Cardoso, who chaired the committee, the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), which serves as the benchmark interest rate, remains at 26.50 per cent. The MPC also retained the asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +50 basis points and -450 basis points.
In addition, the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for commercial banks was left unchanged at 45.00 per cent, while the CRR for merchant banks remains at 16.00 per cent. The committee also retained the CRR on non-Treasury Single Account (Non-TSA) public sector deposits at 75.00 per cent, with the liquidity ratio at 30.00 per cent.
The decision reflects the apex bank’s continued commitment to containing inflationary pressures through a restrictive monetary policy while safeguarding the resilience of Nigeria’s financial system amid ongoing macroeconomic adjustments.
By keeping all policy tools unchanged, the MPC signalled its intention to continue managing excess liquidity in the banking sector and maintain stability in financial markets.
The move is also expected to provide greater policy certainty for investors and businesses monitoring the country’s monetary policy direction.
The latest decision also means borrowing costs are likely to remain elevated in the near term as the central bank continues to prioritise price stability over monetary easing.
Analysts had expected the CBN committee to retain the rate after Nigeria’s headline inflation came in at 15.91 per cent as of June 2026, marking a slight decline from 15.93 per cent in May.
However, even as overall price growth has moderated significantly compared to previous periods, food inflation remains a persistent challenge, accelerating to 17.52 per cent in June.
