Monrovia – Samuel P. Jackson, renowned Liberian economist and Christopher Z. Neyor, global energy expert have presented a 700 million United State Dollar loan proposal to the government of Liberia. According to the duo, the proposal is not just for the loan but a comprehensive effort to support infrastructure financing in Liberia through national development bank finance and bilateral economic cooperation agreements. The loan is being proposed through Morweh Energy Corporation, a duly organized Liberian corporation. Morweh is the brainchild of Mr. Neyor, who was Energy Advisor and President of NOCAL during the administration of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Morweh Energy Group, Inc., is a Liberian-owned and managed enterprise engaged in consulting and investment services across all facets of the energy sector and provides strategic guidance for infrastructure project finance. Morweh Energy has the capability to provide research, economic, geological and environmental studies and technical advice including risk analysis and mitigation strategy to firms and governments in order to enable them to make an investment decision for medium to large projects.
Morweh Energy range of services include work in South Sudan, Angola, Ghana, Nigeria and the African Development Bank.
Morweh Energy proposes to facilitate the loan agreement between the Liberian government and a major South American Development Bank. The loan can either be structured as a singular borrower or a syndicate with major Asian, Australian and African banks. Morweh is not only interested in serving as a loan facilitator but also as a partner with the Liberian government in infrastructure finance and development. The company will attract global finance and economic institutions to support Liberia’s efforts of integration into the world’s financial system. Morweh also proposes to create a sovereign credit profile and rating for the Government of Liberia and to conduct a risk analysis and create mitigation modules to facilitate the process. In the process, Morweh will motivate the selection of a major global institution as financial advisor to the government of Liberia in infrastructure financing.
Potential financial advisors include Standard Chartered Bank and Capitek of South Africa and JP Morgan Chase, the largest US banking and investment institution which shall guide Liberia in obtaining a sovereign credit rating and provide other financial services.
Morweh shall seek to demonstrate to the Liberian government options in development financing including:
Securitization of mineral assets in structured financing; Barter, Singular or multiple borrowers, Structured Financing and Supporting Liberia’s requirement to obtain a sovereign credit rating
The loan proposal is being structured as a 25 year term loan with a 5 year grace period, based on 3 percent above the London Interbank Offer Rate (LIBOR) or the US benchmark 30 year treasury. Both were trading at around 2.8 percent on Monday, July 23. The loan closing date will take place approximately 180 days from signing of loan agreement. Morweh also agrees to aid government efforts in the required loan documentation by hiring a team of global professionals to accomplish completion of the following: Feasibility Study including the following: Geodetic and other geotechnical studies, Economic Rate of return analysis, Social Impact assessment, Economic Rate of Return Analysis, Debt Sustainability Analysis, Analysis of Sources of repayment
Mr. Christopher Zeohn Neyor is the founder, president and CEO of Morweh Energy Group, an energy consulting and investment company based in Monrovia, Liberia with offices in Texas-USA and Ghana. He has done advisory work as an energy expert and consultant in several countries and was co-author of a popular graduate textbook on environmental cost-benefit analysis published in 2013 by New York University. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer (includes the functions and power of Minister of Petroleum) of the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) up to 2012. During his tenure as executive leader of the national oil company, he increased its visibility and pre-oil production revenue over 100%. One result was initiating discussions with ExxonMobil that brought the oil giant into Liberia oil exploration.
Prof. Neyor was previously Senior Advisor to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Energy, Environment and Climate. He spearheaded development and was principle author of Liberia National Energy Policy that outlined strategy for post conflict power sector rehabilitation, created the Rural and Renewable Energy Agency, reviewed Liberia’s petroleum law including the legislation that established NOCAL and development of human capacity across the energy sector. His work led to enactment of new law in 2015 allowing private sector participation in power generation and distribution and setting up of an independent regulatory agency. He led Liberia climate change negotiations for 4 years at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Chris Neyor was the youngest Managing Director of the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) before start of Liberia’s civil war from 1987 to 1990. During his tenure at LEC, he helped lay the foundation for the ECOWAS Energy Protocol that gave birth to the West Africa Power Pool and the West Africa Gas pipeline. He was a visiting scholar at the Center for Energy and the Environment of the University of Pennsylvania teaching in the early 90’s. His area of research and emphasis of his managerial and consulting expertise are 1) Creating enabling environment for public-private collaboration for power sector investment across Africa especially in renewable energy; 2) The productive use of energy access to help alleviate poverty and create wealth through agricultural and other entrepreneurship; and 3) Building a local value chain (local content) in oil and gas to ensure transparent citizens participation and indigenous wealth creation.
Mr. Neyor’s academic credentials include undergraduate study in Electrical Engineering (Magna Cum Laude) at the Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. He did his graduate studies in Energy Economics (MSc) at the University of Denver and Management (MBA with emphasis in Strategy) at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.
Mr. Neyor is member of First United Methodist Church (UMC) and serves as Chairman of the church’s Advance Committee that is spearheading construction of a modern public library in the City of Paynesville. He is also on the Advance Committee of the United Methodist Annual Conference. He is also on the governing board of the US-based Endowment Funds for Theological Education of the global UMC and a member of the Board of Trustees of AME University.
Samuel P. Jackson has over 40 years of professional experience as a global economic and finance professional. Sam was born in the humble but desperate Soniwehn Slum in Central Monrovia. He attended St. Patrick’s High School in Monrovia and travelled as an exchange student to the United States of America at the young age of 16 where he completed his secondary education from Greenville High School in Greenville, Michigan at the age of 17.
Mr. Jackson achieved several academic qualifications. He holds several undergraduate degrees: AAS/BBA in Banking and Economics from Pace University in New York; BSc in Management and Quantitative Methods from Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island and attended Providence College for an MBA in International Business. He holds a post graduate Diploma (DIP) from the American Institute of Banking in New York in International Banking and Economics
Mr. Jackson has over 40 years of experience in economic and financial analysis. He worked for major American institutions beginning as a teenager. He started his banking career at Bank of America International in New York as a clearing clerk (Clearing House Interbank Payment System, precursor to the Society for World Wide Inter Finance Transfer, now known globally as SWIFT.
He was employed at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York as a credit clerk in the Commodities Trade Financing Division (Letters of Credit for major grain companies such as Cornell Rice and Sugar and Continental Grain) He rose to 2VP at age 27 after his return from school in 1978. Prior to working for Chase, as a young man in New York, he consulted with other major American banks such as Security Pacific International Bank, Northern Trust International Banking Corporation and Wells Fargo International Bank as a trade finance specialist.
Sam was recruited by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, John Bestman and the late Charles Green from his position at Chase Manhattan Bank in late 1978 to serve as Deputy Comptroller for Cash and Banking relations at the Ministry of Finance under Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who was serving as Deputy Minister of Finance for Fiscal Affairs.
Mr. Jackson ascended to the position of Deputy Minister for Commerce, Industry and Transportation in 1980 after the coup and served briefly for 11 months. He was replaced in a shuffle in February of 1980.
Mr. Jackson continued to live in Liberia and run his wholesale beauty supply business up to late 1982 when he returned to Wall Street in New York. He worked as an investment analyst with Credit Suisse in New York; technical analyst with Drexel Burnham Lambert in the division run by Michael Miken the “junk bond king”.
Sam returned to Liberia in 1997 to help run the unsuccessful presidential campaign of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf against Charles Taylor. He returned to the USA and ran his cleaning company, Printemps Marketing Corporation, with 20 employees and a turnover of over 700,000 USD annually. Unsatisfied with living in America Sam returned to the African Continent in 1999, working as an investment analyst in associations with South African firms such as Investec and Capitek. He raised over 500 million dollars for probable investment in West African mineral development.
In 2002, Sam was recruited by Charles Taylor at the height of the crisis to serve as Minister of State for Economic and Financial Affairs (EFA). As head of EFA Sam was responsible for lessening the effects of punishing sanctions that had been Imposed by the United Nations Security Council. His two major accomplishments were making Liberia Kimberly Process compliant in 2002 and serving as a chief negotiator for the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2003.
In 2003 at the end of the war, Sam began to aggressively pursue business development interests in Liberia. He worked with Liberian premier geologist, Dr. Fodee Kromah on a study that proved the renewed viability of iron ore mining in Liberia which has attracted potential investments of over 16 billion dollars to the iron ore industry in Liberia.
During the ascendancy of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to power in 200, Sam supported the administration by working as a consultant. His major achievements were: Lead writer for the Liberia Chamber of Commerce recommendations to the government of Liberia during the Global Financial Crisis in 2009, Lead writer for the 2010 Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Report, Lead writer for the 2014 MDG writer, Senior economist to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in her role as Co-chair for the Post 2015 Global Development Agenda; Raised 650,0000 USD from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) to support the efforts of former President as co-chair on the Post 2015 Development Agenda;
Co-lead writer on the Post 2015 Development Agenda by the United Nations. Sam collaborated with world class experts such as Homi Kharas of the Brookings Institution, Dr. Abjhit Banerjee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dr. Sam Dawg of the office of former British Premier David Cameron;, Ngozi OkonjoI-Iweala former Minister of Finance of Nigeria; Garry Conille, former prime minister of Haiti and Jeffery Sachs of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and others.