NOG Energy Week 2025: Data Democracy, Structured Data offers clear solutions for Nigeria’s challenges — Pana Holdings
By: Goodluck E. Adubazi, Abuja.
At the day three of the 24th edition of the NOG Energy Week held at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre, Abuja, Pana Holdings emphasized the urgent need for data democracy and well-structured data to solve Nigeria’s pressing problems, particularly in the oil and gas sector.
Speaking at a strategic panel session themed “Technology as a Business Strategy” on Wednesday, 2nd July, 2025, Dr. Daere Akobo, Group CEO of Pana Holdings, highlighted the critical role of data platforms in driving technological evolution and industry growth.
Dr. Akobo traced the history of industrial revolutions from the first, driven by manual labor in the 18th-century textile industry, through mass production in the second, automation in the third, to the current fourth industrial revolution — Industry 4.0 — which integrates automation with data intelligence. He stressed that Nigeria must build data platforms to harness the full potential of this revolution.
“A platform,” Dr. Akobo explained, “is the end-to-end framework that maps the entire value chain, helping us understand interrelationships between activities — a major challenge in Nigeria’s development.” He added that data without structure or “parentage” lacks cultural context and leads to inefficiencies.
“Using examples from agriculture, such as crop patterns in Maiduguri and Nasarawa, Dr. Akobo illustrated how integrated data can prevent resource wastage and promote community cooperation through data democracy. He noted, “If we understand data dependencies, we can leverage the strengths of different regions and communities.”
Focusing on the oil sector, Dr. Akobo introduced Pana Holdings’ creation of an industry architecture platform designed to facilitate data interdependencies across the sector. Drawing an analogy to building a house, he explained the need for “plumbing lines” — foundational infrastructure for data flow — to enable smooth operations and informed decision-making.
He lamented the current lack of comprehensive data, citing the absence of retiree databases in Nigerian oil companies, unlike in Belgium where retired workers remain engaged part-time.
“Without proper data, knowledge is lost, and data becomes an orphan,” he said.
Dr. Akobo urged compliance with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s (NUPRC) mandate to establish a secure national data bank, encouraging international oil companies to contribute their data for analysis and insight generation.
He also highlighted the role of advanced technology, likening the country’s need to a medical process that reveals what is invisible to the naked eye — emphasizing the importance of time-based data analysis and frequency detection.
According to Standard Times Nigeria, Pana Holdings’ strategic approach follows the entire oil value chain. This includes Synergy E&P, specializing in reservoir exploration using unconventional technologies; PE Energy, focusing on flow control and measurement; and a digital systems academy that functions as the “brain” of the operation.
Dr. Akobo concluded, “Our integrated platform and structured data approach provide Nigeria with the clear direction and solutions it needs to overcome current challenges and unlock its full potential.”
