By Danlami Nasir Isah
Mr. Nicolas Odinuwe is the Group Managing Director and CEO of Zitadel Limited, one of the leading technical service companies operating in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry. He is also the Executive Chairman of Global Lifting & Engineering Services, as well as Chairman of Zitadel Medicals & Diagnostics Limited.
Odinuwe holds a Master’s Degree in Industrial/Environmental Microbiology from the University of Port Harcourt and is also an Alumnus of Georgetown University School of Business, Washington DC, as well as a Fellow of the Nigerian Environmental Society, with cumulative experience spanning over 30 years in the areas of Environmental/Waste Management, Engineering, Quality Health, Safety, Security and Environment (QHSSE), as well in the area of Investments in the Upstream and Midstream segments of the oil and gas industry.
His interests in Medical and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) businesses has guided recent expansions of the Zitadel Group Holdings into Mozambique, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.
Mr. Odinuwe has fellowship and membership accreditations of local and international bodies, such as SPE, IASP , IOD and NIM; and was given special recognition by the Guild of Medical Directors, Abuja (2015), the Medical Laboratory Science Council, Abuja (2018) and the United States Embassy, Lagos (2017).
He became the Chairman of PETAN in March 2020 after he had held the position of the Association’s Publicity Secretary from 2016 to 2020.
His Company, Zitadel Limited operates from offices in Port Harcourt, Lagos, Abuja and Houston. The Company provides E & P support and technical services, rig HSE and inspection, as well as manpower supply, which it excellently delivers through extensive collaboration with global and local partners.
Odinuwe and his Group of Companies have always been committed to sustainability, while thinking, planning and creating better-run communities where organizations balance short and long-term profitability and also holistically manage economic, environmental, and social risks together with opportunities.
With Zitadel Drilling Waste Water Management, Odinuwe ensures that Drilling Waste Water is filtered, stored, mixed and pumped into injection wells in compliance with NUPRC standard requirements. Then, with Zitadel Rig Tank Cleaning, he ensures the cleaning of offshore and land rig tanks, where generated waste is pumped to closed skips or storage tanks and transported to NUPRC-approved disposal facilities for final disposal.
His other aspects of service provision involve Manpower Development and Training, Completion and Testing, NDT, Pumping, Rig Inspection and Competent Manpower Supply, among others.
In recognition of his exceptional level of competence and his brilliant display of excellence in delivering on all contractual mandates in the oil and gas industry, he has been able to win the confidence of reputed international oil and gas companies, as well as that of indigenous petroleum development firms and government agencies, which retain and continue to demand his services.
Some of these companies include Total E & P Nigeria Limited, Total Upstream Nigeria Limited, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited and Nigeria Agip Oil Company. Others are Schlumberger Oilfield Services, Transocean Sedco Forex, ADDAX Petroleum Development Company Limited, Wasco Oil Tools Limited, Seric Impianti International, Noble Drilling Nigeria Limited, Baroid Nigeria Limited, DeutagDrilling Nigeria Limited and Saipem Contracting Nigeria Limited.
Also on his list of clients are Dresser Kellogg Energy Services Nigeria Limited, ABB Soimi Nigeria Limited, Amni Petroleum Limited, Eleme Petrochemical Limited, BJ Services Nigeria Limited, Global Offshore Drilling- Global Santa Fe, Bayelsa State Government, Rivers State Ministry of Environment, Baker Hughes Nigeria Limited- Baker OTS, Hyundai Heavy Industries and PonticelliNigeria Limited.
Against the backdrop of his outstanding industrial achievements and enormous contributions to the growth of the Nigerian oil and gas sector, in February 2023 during the Sub-Saharan Africa International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (SAIPEC), Odinuwe was honored by the Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN) with the “Award of Excellence in National and Regional Development in the Energy Industry.”
OGTAN said the National Award was in recognition of the impacts which he had objectively made in engendering the growth of human capacity development in the oil and gas industry, and which continue to aid the actualization of OGTAN’s goals of domestication and domiciliation of in-country skills in the Nigerian petroleum industry.
“Your leadership of PETAN has projected Nigerian companies and created jobs and opportunities for Nigerians in the industry within the country and continent, especially through your flagship programme, the Sub-Saharan Africa International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (SAIPEC),” said OGTAN about Odinuwe in a statement announcing the award.
OGTAN further stated that the leadership of Mr. Odinuwe has further opened up a new vista of collaboration with the Association in deepening local content and building local capacities, while harping on the importance of collaborations within Africa for the development of the continent’s natural and human resources.