iF : You are a bad example ?
Mbaga : Yes . What you do with your money . You do not allow someone to tell you what to do with your money . You have money . You go to buy a car , and some people in your country have $ 1.00 . So , someone criticizes . We have poor people . You have poor people . There are poor people in France . You do not look at what we have done .
iF : What have you done for the country with the money ?
Mbaga : We invested in infrastructure . For instance , 90 % of the country is electrified . We have invested in roads . You will not find one back-hoe in the entire country . We have highways . We have hospitals . We did the port and the airport .
iF : What you did was give the people the means to do business . That is major !
Mbaga : Did you see the pictures ? We have organized the city of Sipopo . Now Sipopo is the African Union City . So , when Africans want to meet , they have a place . Sipopo Conference Center is next to Malabo . It has everything , 64 villages , recreation , meeting space , everything . In Africa there are only 2 African Union Conference Cities that can get a major conference together in 24 hours , Isabella and Malabo . We built a new capital . Everyone says we are crazy . We should concentrate on Malabo . I say you do not put all your investment in one place . We built Oyala . Now the wealth can go through the entire country .
iF : My boss has said that Nigeria did that as well .
Mbaga : If all the African Countries were like us , you would be coming to Malabo . We would not be going to Houston . We have both Nigeria and Somalia asking how we did this . iF : They say they have a larger population .
Mbaga : It has nothing to do with the population . It is the will of the people that matters .
iF : : How large is your population ?
Mbaga : 1.2 million . So , in a way it is something special . Leadership is the key word , you must have a leader who is really with you , really understands the importance of the projects , and I believe the President we have now does . And I will tell you one more thing that happened recently . When an African country needed funding , or they had a problem , they came to our President . They did not go to the IMF or to Washington . We even funded one of the Sullivan events .
iF : Sullivan ? Oh , yes ! He did a lot of work .
Mbaga : One of the last events he did was in the country of Equatorial Guinea . It was unfortunate that he did not get to follow up on his vision .
iF : There is one more question about the oil industry .
Mbaga : First let me express my deepest gratitude to Texas and Houston . Houstonians were the first Americans to help develop my country because it was oil and gas . All the technology , all the materials , and all the knowledge came from Houston and Galveston . I must say that the Americans who really started going to Equatorial Guinea were from Houston and they portrayed a very positive image of the Americans . - very hard workers and very fair . They did not go there to for us to work for them , but for us to work together . They brought a different image of the Americans , not political , not economical , but typical for the oil and gas industry . iF : With their boots on . We call them our Rough Necks .
Mbaga : They finished their work . They went with the locals . They had their beer . Then they went back to work . They were the best image of Americans for your country .
iF : I have heard that about us Texans . ( Group laughs ) That ’ s beautiful ! What are your plans for global expansion of LNG and LPG ?
Mbaga : There is a rumor that the Americans will leave the shale oil in the States and come back to West Africa for conventional oil . I do believe the future is to look for partners who are willing to continue the investment the Americans have done , especially the Texans .
iF : In the way they have ?
Mbaga : We have always felt comfortable with the Americans . We know they will come back because conventional oil and gas is much different from the shale . We can do petro-chemicals . But 99 % of Equatorial Guinea ’ s economy is based on oil and gas . If I diversify , I will diversify oil and gas .
iF : Beautiful . It has been a pleasure meeting with you . You are a wonderful spokesman for your country .
Mbaga : That is what they pay me for .
iF : I would also like to say in closing that it is admirable what your country is doing by strategically investing in the country and promoting an international market for your people . Your ambitious plan to provide a place to preserve the Afro-Latino history is admirable , and I hope that we may be able to assist Equatorial Guinea in getting the word out and helping some of the organizations here and abro
50 54 iF Magazine | May 2018