It's time to put Nigeria first by Reuben Abati

Long queue in a Nigeria filling station

This commentary is inspired by Olusegun Adeniyi's "Of wailers, counterwailers and Buharideens" (ThisDay, March 31). In that piece, the ace journalist and public affairs commentator successfully defines the tri-polarities governing public responses to the Muhammadu Buhari administration.  The take-away is that the biggest challenge that Nigeria faces at the moment is political partisanship, which has divided the country into the camps of rights and wrongs and a fierce and bitter contestation over who is right or wrong.

       One year after the last Presidential election that led to the exit of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), after 16 years in office and power (sorry, the 60 years project failed) and the exit also, of the Goodluck Jonathan administration, there is now a bitter fight out there on the streets over whether or not Nigerians took the right decision by voting for change, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari. President Goodluck Jonathan's over 12.8 million supporters have proven to be loyal and indeed that they exist as a serious, organized political force.

Subsidy must go – Finance Commissioners, NECA

Removal ‘ll impoverish Nigerians; it’s corruption that should go— NLC

Commissioners for Finance from the 36 states of the federation rose from their monthly Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC, meeting in Abuja, yesterday, insisting that petroleum products subsidy must be removed.
While their position was consistent with that of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, it sharply contradicted the thinking of the Nigerian Senate, which held a few days ago that petroleum subsidy should remain.
The commissioners had, three months ago, decided that the current subsidy was not in the interest of the nation and wrote a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, demanding an end to it.
The Chairman, Forum of Commissioners of Finance, Mr. Timothy Odaah, told journalists shortly after the meeting that there was no going back on their position and that they had fully briefed their principals— state governors.

NNPC targets European gas market

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has said that it is looking for more markets for the nation’s gas on the European continent.

The move, it said, was meant to generate maximum economic benefits from Nigeria’s enormous gas resources.

In a statement from the corporation on Sunday, the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, disclosed this while playing host to a Belgian business delegation under the auspices of the Flanders Investment and Trade Mission in his office.

“Europe is a good market for gas. Incidentally, Belgium has important terminals such as the Port of Antwerp through which Nigeria hopes to get its gas to the rest of Europe. We’ll start marketing our abundant gas resources to Europe,” Yakubu said.

Refineries' Sale may wait till after 2015 Polls

• Declares protesting electricity workers as ghost employees
• N7b paid to labour as union dues from workers’ entitlements

Benjamin Dikki
DG, BPE

A COMBINATION of labour and political issues may make the nation’s refineries not to be privatised until  after the general elections of 2015, according to  an investigation by The Guardian.

   The Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) says labour has confirmed that it wants the refineries privatised, but with shares properly allocated to workers, a condition the government has accepted.

  The Director General of the BPE, Mr. Benjamin Dikki told The Guardian, however, that the same labour had failed to put its house in order, necessitating divergent positions from some of its members across the nation.

Arepo shootout: Police survivors say vandals better armed

Four of the policemen who went missing after the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation pipeline exploded in the Arepo area of Ogun State on May 25, 2014 say the vandals outnumbered them.

The survivors, corporals Abu Danmudi, Usman John, Rahimi Morufu and Abdullahi Sabo, added that the vandals were in military camouflage. The policemen, who are attached to the Inspector General of Police Special Task Force on Pipeline Vandalism, explained that the vandals, who were armed with superior firepower, stormed the area in about 14 speedboats to siphon fuel from the NNPC pipelines.

Diezani, NNPC’s antics won’t stop jet probe –Tambuwal

The Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, has  said that the House will not be distracted in its resolve to probe  the alleged N10bn chartered jets scandal levelled against the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

It also noted that the investigation into the chartered jets was not a “personal quarrel” between Diezani and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Group Managing Director, Mr. Andew Yakubu, as the alleged reaction of the corporation portrayed.

PRESIDENT JONATHAN APPROVES APPOINTMENT OF NEW NNPC COMPANY SECRETARY

PRESIDENT JONATHAN APPROVES APPOINTMENT OF NEW NNPC COMPANY SECRETARY
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has approved the appointment of Mr. Ikechukwu Oguine as the Coordinator, Legal Services and Company Secretary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Mr. Oguine who has over 29 years of legal experience, hails from Anambra State.

He was previously the General Counsel of Chevron Nigeria Limited  and has been a partner in Advisory Legal Consultants, a Law Firm specializing in oil, gas, power and mining.

Mr. Oguine replaces Mr. Anthony Chukwuma Madichie, also from Anambra State, who has served as the NNPC Legal Adviser and Secretary to the Corporation since February 2011.

Reuben Abati
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
April 7, 2014

Diezani jet scandal: Reps uncover second aircraft

Fresh revelations indicated on Tuesday that Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, maintained a second jet.

The jet, a  Global Express XRS plane, is  allegedly chartered specifically for her private and official trips overseas.

A return trip on  the  XRS plane is said to cost taxpayers €600,000.

The   jet  is different from the Challenger 850, which the House of Representatives said gulped N10bn  in the last two years to fly the minister.

Investigation by The PUNCH showed that the House Committee on Public Accounts stumbled on the second jet in the course of the ongoing probe into the N10bn expenditure on Challenger 850.

PRESIDENT JONATHAN NEVER CONFIRMED WITHHOLDING OF $10 BILLION FROM FEDERATION ACCOUNT

Reports in some domestic media today which quoted President Goodluck Jonathan as "confirming" in Amsterdam that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) wrongly withheld $10 Billion from the federation account  are completely false and a total distortion of the President's comments during his meeting with the Nigerian community in the Netherlands.

Crisis Looms As FG Plans To End Fuel Subsidy

Nigerians may witness another massive protest following plans by the government to remove subsidies on petrol and kerosene.
The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, gave a hint of government thinking on the removal of the subsidies Tuesday at the ongoing Nigerian Oil and Gas Conference in Abuja.
Arguing for the removal of the subsidies, Alison-Madueke said subsidies being paid to the marketers by the government on imported petrol and kerosene were no longer sustainable.
The oil minister explained that the reform being implemented in the power sector should be taken to the downstream oil sector, stressing that the negative impact of continued regulation of the sector outweighed the positive impact.

Why Jonathan suspended Sanusi – Abati

The presidency has reiterated that it suspended the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, because he was indicted in a probe carried out by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria since May last year.

Presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, told State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, while dismissing speculations that Sanusi was removed because of the alleged billions of dollars that had not been remitted to the Federation Account by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Shortage of Gas Threatens Transitional Electricity Market

•NERC anticipates year-end increment in power generation, supply to 7,000MW

The persistent inadequate gas supply to the various power generating plants nationwide is threatening the plan by the federal government to declare Transitional Electricity Market (TEM) on March 1, THISDAY has learnt.

When declared, TEM will make it mandatory for the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to be sanctioned in the event of failure to deliver on its gas supply commitments to the power producers, in line with the Gas Supply Agreement (GSA) signed in 2013.

Why FG shelved privatisation of refineries - Maku

The Federal Government suspended the proposed sale the nation’s four refineries in order to ensure the stability of the political environment, the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, has said.

Maku, who spoke in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday, said although the Federal Government believed in the benefits of privatising the refineries to the Nigerian economy, a decision on the sale would be taken when critical stakeholders come to an agreement on the need for the action.

Nigeria makes 3,000th gas export landmark

Africa’s largest oil producer Nigeria on Tuesday exported its milestone 3,000th liquefied natural gas cargo since it began operations in 1999, Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) said.
The cargo was exported from NLNG’s Bonny Island terminal in southern Rivers state to Marmara LNG Terminal in Turkey for Botas Petroleum Pipeline Corporation, a statement said.
The company said its shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has reduced gas flaring in the oil-rich region, a sore point in the operation of oil firms often criticised by residents and rights organisations.
NLNG hopes to increase its production capacity from 22 million metric tonnes to 30 million per annum, as Nigeria seeks to hit a target of providing the world with 10 percent of its LNG requirements.

NNPC Rejects CBN's $49.8bn Non-remittance Claim

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Tuesday said the  report credited to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, where he alleged that it withheld the sum of $49.8 billion representing about 76 per cent of the total crude oil revenues from January 2012 to July 2013 was false.

The corporation in a statement signed by its General Manager, Media Relations Department, Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim, in Abuja said the allegation by the CBN was borne out of its  misunderstanding of the workings of the oil and gas industry and the modality for remitting crude oil sales revenue into the federation account.

Arepo: Fuel scarcity hits Lagos, Oyo, Kwara

Several states in the South-West, including Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo and Kwara, will suffer petroleum products shortages, pending when the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, is able to repair the Arepo distribution pipeline, which erupted in flames following the vandalisation.

The pipeline repairs might take a little while, as NNPC told Vanguard that it cannot afford to send more men to the site of the damaged pipeline, since the first batch of engineers were abducted and killed, while trying to repair the pipelines last week.

Vandals burst NNPC pipeline at Arepo village

Lagos – Officials of the Fire Service and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) were on Thursday evening battling to put out a fire that broke out from a bust pipeline at Arepo village in Ogun.
The fire was allegedly caused by suspected vandals who burst the pipelines on Thursday to siphon petroleum products.
Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, the South West Zonal Public Relations Officer of NEMA, said that more resources and equipment were being mobilised by a combined team of the agency as well as Federal and Ogun State Fire Service.
He said that some dead bodies were sighted at the scene but the actual figure could not be confirmed.