Sir Emeka Offor is Founder and Executive vice chairman, Chrome Group, which operates across several economic sectors such as aviation, oil and gas, energy, financial services and telecommunications. The group is actively involved in a wide range of non-oil ventures which include insurance, destination inspection services, bio-fuels energy production, real estate, logistics and dredging services.
Offor began to make inroads into the oil and gas industry from downstream operations in 1994 when he established Chrome Oil Services. The company started with servicing of refineries, petrochemical plants and rehabilitation of jetties, tanks and installation of oil and gas facilities and has since launched into construction, engineering and technical services.
Offor has led the company to become one of Nigeria’s leading oil and gas services organisations with a record of being the first indigenous firm to execute turn around maintenance of local refineries. He has taken the company into upstream operations and expanded downstream activities as well. The company’s operations presently cover refineries, chemical and petrochemical plants, natural gas facilities, oil field (onshore and offshore) fertilizers, waste water treatment and environmental protection services.
Chrome Group’s operations also include drilling services from site preparation to well cleanout. It is also licensed to transact all classes of insurance business – life and general businesses. It operates in the ICT sector through Choffan Communications, which is licensed by Nigerian Communication Commission and National Broadcasting Communication. The group also offers destination inspection services.
Offor also has in place adequate capacity for other special services the group offers. These include plant and equipment maintenance, oil desalting/crude distillation, light end processing, vacuum distillation, visi-breaking and hydro-desulphurization, merox treatment and coking. Others are isomerization, normlparafins separation hydro cracking, sour gas treatment, tube oil treatment, propane de-asphalting, blending, bitumen, amine regeneration, fluid catalytic cracking, catalytic reforming/CCR, aromatics fractionation.
Offor is also chairman, Inland Container Terminal Nig. Ltd [ICNL], a maritime services organization he established in 1980. The company was his response to the necessity for local participation and rapid development of the Nigerian maritime business. He packaged the outfit as an intervention facilitator to assist the rapid industrialization and development of the hinterland. The company provides port services to the hinterland shipping communities in the country.
His venture into maritime services was a response to increasing demand for effective maritime services by multinational organizations, governments, people and businesses, which required development of infrastructures as well as efficient services to support their operations.
He has positioned ICNL as a major integrated shipping and logistics company in West Africa. The company is engaged in shipping, port/bonded terminal operations, international/local logistics and freight/forwarding services. It is the operator of Kaduna Inland dry port – the first of its kind in Nigeria.
The company provides shipping agency services, freight forwarding and logistics in all the sea ports in Nigeria and beyond. It is a registered shipping company/agency with the Nigerian Ports Authority and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency.
The company is licensed as customs agents and a member of Baltic International Maritime Council. Its other services include supply vessels, ship chandelling, armed guards supply, crew management, cash to master, TWP/TIP processing, chartering and brokerage. ICNL has built a lot of expertise and experience in providing logistics services within the oil and gas industry.
The company operates bonded terminals in Kano and Kaduna with a combined capacity of 8,000 Teu. The terminals, which have the framework of full port operations, serve as a viable channel of supplying industrial raw materials, spares and agricultural materials for the development of hinterland states.
Through the bonded terminal operations, ICNL offers effective transfer of containers from seaports to the depots in Kano and Kaduna, thus minimizing delays in Lagos. It has made clearing of cargo more convenient by reducing the documentation process and movement to final destination less cumbersome.
The company also has a clearing and forwarding agency, which is a licensed customs agent. The agency was established to complement its activities in port operations and meet the needs of clients engaged in import and export trade.
The company also has a transportation and logistics arm, which was created to complement its port operations and clearing and forwarding services. The transportation and logistics arm provides the third leg of its strategic tripod upon which its capacity for efficient and on time delivery of goods is built. It operates on roads and rails and uses a tracking system to monitor and safeguard goods in transit.
