Dr. Eruani Azibapu Godbless is a Nigerian businessman, medical doctor and founder of Azikel Group, the Bayelsa-based conglomerate behind Azikel Petroleum and the 12,000-barrel-per-day Azikel Refinery.
Born on December 25, 1973, in Epebu, in Ogbia Local Government Area of present-day Bayelsa State, Eruani comes from a family with a background in entrepreneurship. His father, Chief Allwell Eruani, was involved in timber and poultry businesses, while his mother was a trader. Eruani has said that his early exposure to his parents’ businesses shaped his interest in entrepreneurship.
From Medicine to Business
Eruani studied Medicine and Surgery at the University of Port Harcourt and subsequently pursued postgraduate medical training, including Family Medicine. He also spent time in the United States and became a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians.
After returning to Nigeria, he worked at a private hospital in Port Harcourt and later served as an industrial doctor with Nigerian Agip Oil Company. His experience in the oil industry would eventually prove useful when he moved into business.
After establishing himself in business, Eruani pursued executive business education. His profile lists programmes at Lagos Business School, London Business School and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
His career also took him into government. During the administration of former Bayelsa State governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, Eruani was appointed an adviser on HIV prevention and community health and subsequently became Commissioner for Health. Forbes reported that he was one of the youngest commissioners in the country at the time.
He eventually left public service to concentrate on business.
Beginnings of Azikel Group
According to accounts of his rise, he started on a relatively small scale by selling sand sourced through local divers. He later acquired dredging equipment and expanded the operation. The business eventually developed into Azikel Group.
Azikel Group was founded more than a decade ago and grew from Eruani’s experience in his father’s businesses, medicine, public service and the oil and gas industry. The group has since expanded into dredging, petroleum refining, power generation, aviation, construction and engineering.
A 2018 Forbes profile put the group’s annual revenues at more than $80 million and said it employed more than 700 people at the time.
The Refinery Dream
In 2015, Azikel Petroleum was among the private companies granted refinery licences as Nigeria sought to attract private investment into petroleum refining. The company subsequently contracted Ventech Engineering LLC of Texas to build a 12,000-barrel-per-streaming-day hydroskimming modular refinery.
The refinery is located at Obunagha-Gbarain in Bayelsa State, close to the Gbarain-Ubie gas gathering facility. Its planned product slate includes petrol, diesel, kerosene, aviation fuel, LPG and heavy fuel oil.
The project was initially expected to begin operations in 2018, but the timeline slipped. In 2018, the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission reported that construction was still progressing and that the project was targeting production by December 2018 or, in the worst case, the first quarter of 2019.
The refinery subsequently required additional financing and institutional participation. In 2019, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board acquired an equity stake in the project. At that point, completion was projected for 2021.
In 2021, the project also secured a five-year operations and maintenance support agreement with PIC Group, covering operational support, personnel training and transition from commissioning to full operation.
A significant financing development came in 2023, when Azikel Petroleum signed a debt-funding agreement worth about $259 million with Afreximbank for the refinery project. The facility remained designed around a 12,000-bpd capacity.
Predominantly Bayelsa Based Group
Rather than building his major industrial interests primarily in Lagos or Abuja, Eruani has anchored much of the Azikel Group’s activity in Bayelsa, one of Nigeria’s major oil-producing states.
Azikel’s stated ambition is broader than simply producing petroleum products. The company describes Eruani’s objective as contributing to the re-industrialisation of the Niger Delta through employment, wealth creation and industrial development.
The refinery therefore represents both a commercial investment and an attempt to establish a significant private industrial asset in a region whose economy has historically been dominated by crude-oil production.
