There are indications that the Federal Government’s committee which was set up to ensure the implementation of crude oil sales to local refineries in naira will further discuss the pricing of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, to be released by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery next month.

Multiple officials, both among oil marketers and members of the Implementation Committee on crude oil sales in naira, under the leadership of the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, confirmed that the panel would be holding a series of meetings this week and in coming weeks on the development.

They also stated that the committee would be concluding a framework that would put a benchmark on the amount which the Dangote refinery would pay for crude in naira, adding that the Federal Government would have to decide whether to pay subsidies for petrol from the plant or to allow Nigerians buy the product at the market price.

However, oil marketers declared that the cost of Dangote petrol would be higher than the current pump prices of the commodity, stressing that it would be tough for dealers to buy the commodity from the plant if the Federal Government fails to intervene in the price.

Petrol sells at between N600 and N700/litre depending on the area of purchase across the country. The landing cost of the commodity, according to data released by the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria recently showed that the cost of PMS was N1,117/litre.

Marketers say this is the actual market price of the commodity and explain that the cost of the product from the Dangote refinery should be around this figure.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited is the sole importer of petrol into the country. Other marketers stopped importing the commodity due to their inability to access the United States dollar required for petrol imports.

But last week at the presentation of the audited report and accounts of NNPC for the 2023 business year in Abuja, the firm’s Chief Financial Officer, Umar Ajiya, admitted that the oil firm was shouldering a heavy subsidy burden on petrol imports.

He said NNPC had been making PMS available for retail distribution at about half of the landing cost under an agreement with the government.

He explained that the company had been offsetting the shortfall in landing price and sale price through a reconciliation arrangement between the government and the company. He said the company had not paid any money to any marketer in the name of petrol subsidy in the last eight to nine years.

While the official pump price of petrol is about N600/litre, the average landing cost is about N1,200/litre. Ajiya said the company covered about N7.8tn in “shortfall” in the first seven months of this year.

“I think there is one fact that I need to make very clear, in the last eight or nine years, this company, even as a corporation as it were, has not paid anybody a dime or one naira as subsidy.

“No one has been paid a kobo by the NNPC in the name of subsidy. No marketer has received money from us by way of subsidy,” Ajiya said.

He said the government directs NNPCL to sell the petrol it imports, at a price that is half of the landing price.  According to him, at times the Federal Government pays the money and it could as well net off for it.

“What has been happening is that we have been importing PMS, landing at a certain price, and the government is telling us to sell it at half price. So, that gap between that landed price and the half price is what we call shortfall or we call it a subsidy,” the CFO explained.

On August 20, 2024, The PUNCH reported that the Federal Government’s committee which was set up to ensure the implementation of crude oil sales to local refineries in naira has reached an agreement with the Dangote Petroleum Refinery for the rollout of petrol in September this year.

The Federal Government also disclosed that the sale of crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries will commence on October 1, 2024.

On Sunday, impeccable sources among oil marketers, the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, and the Presidency confirmed to our correspondent that the cost of petrol from the $20bn plant would be discussed by the government and the management of the plant in the coming weeks.

They said the options before the government are to either pay subsidies on petrol without piling the burden on NNPC or to allow Nigerians to buy the product at the market price to be released by the Dangote refinery, which, of course, will be high.

“The only way the government can intervene is to subsidise. There is nothing NNPC can do. I mean this. Do you want to kill the NNPC? Do you want the company to continue carrying the subsidy burden after the explanation it gave last week? It is not sustainable.

“Except you are saying NNPC will start doing whatever it can and nobody will expect profit from the company,” a source at the FMPR, who spoke in confidence due to lack of authorisation to speak on whether the NNPC would intervene in PMS price from Dangote, stated. 

Asked to state a possible solution to the matter, the official replied, “The solution is for Nigerians to pay the real cost of petrol. But then you know, other things will come into play, because, you know, our economy is not that good. Things are not good for everyone.

“However, it is for Nigerians to pay the real cost of petrol or for the government to bring back subsidies. I don’t know, but it’s just those two things. They may consider this at the meeting, but for now the major discussions centre on crude supply in naira, which should be finalised in a few weeks.”

The source said the sale of crude to Dangote in naira had been settled, stressing that “his (Dangote) own portion will be sent to him. But they are still working on the framework, I know, we’ve been having meetings. So we’re having meetings. So hopefully, I think by next week we should be able to get a clearer picture on the modalities. We meet almost every two or three times a week.”

The source noted that one major challenge is the lack of the United States dollar, but stressed that the committee “will benchmark the exchange rate for crude sale to Dangote.”

The official added, “All the framework will be sorted and you know AfreximBank is with us in this.”

Also commenting on the development when contacted and asked if marketers had reached a price for Dangote petrol ahead of its release next month, a senior official of the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria explained that though members of the association were willing to load from the plant, it would be tough due to the price.

“There are two things: the first one is logistics and cost-taking. We’ve been taking AGO (diesel), ATK (aviation fuel) by vessel and truck. By now, we all know ourselves and we understand how it works. So that one is not a problem. When PMS starts, it will not be changed from what we were doing before. The methodology of picking it from them (Dangote) has already been worked out and it is already in place and play. 

“Now, when it comes to price, that’s the second thing and the third one is, in what currency are we paying? That one is going to be between Dangote and the government because as the government has just confessed to you, there is a subsidy. So, Dangote cannot clear the subsidy by himself. In order to deal with it, I think the government is trying to intervene, though still in denial.

“However, I do not think the subsidy is a good policy. I do not think anything has changed concerning the subsidy. Subsidy shortchanges the country. The government still must recognise that things are very tough on Nigerians right now and must find a way. If it wants to remove the subsidy, what can it do to mitigate the challenges?”

The official, who also spoke in confidence, said the government had introduced the Compressed Natural Gas initiative to tackle the cost of subsidy on PMS.

“So, what he’s (President Bola Tinubu) trying to do is he’s trying to push CNG which is possible so that he can stop paying subsidies for PMS. The CNG uptake is going a lot slowly; but that is the solution, to move quickly with the alternative CNG, especially for commercial transportation and long-distance movement of foodstuffs from the bread baskets to the urban centres so that you can manage your inflation.

“But, can the government continue with a subsidy of N7.7tn? I don’t think so, and anybody who says that is not being fair to Nigerians. The government is just a temporary group of people in power; they will soon go when their time finishes but our country will still be here.

“It is government policy. Currently, the government policy is that there is no subsidy; there is no subsidy provided for in the budget. How much will Dangote sell for? Dangote is not prepared – I don’t think – to sell at below the cost of production. So, we will need to wait to see what the government will do,” the source stated.

Asked whether there would be an intervention from the government, the official replied, “There may be an intervention, yes. Refined crude will still be at the international market price, as it should be.”

Former National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party, nPDP, and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze has told the Chairman of the ousted Committee of the Rivers APC, Tony Okocha, that former Minister, Chibuike Amaechi will not have a hand in sacking President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027.

Recall that Okocha was recently quoted as saying that, “There is an intention to throw up Amaechi’s man and then he (Amaechi) becomes the APC leader and then uses the party to fight Mr President in 2027.”

Reacting through a statement made available to the media on Sunday, Eze cautioned Okocha to refrain from using Amaechi to cash out from his paymasters and their allies who feel threatened at the mere mention of the name and have been working surreptitiously to make him a subject of lampoon through smear campaigns and defamatory insinuations.

Eze reminded Okocha that “the cascade of administrative ineptitude, policy summersaults and multi-layer corruption that has fanned the embers of hyper-unemployment, insecurity, food price hike and more form a veritable mountain of weapons with which Nigerians are armed to fight and oust Tinubu from office in 2027.”

The APC Chief said “it is even foolish for a mere mortal like Okocha to be talking about 2027, three years away from today, when no one is sure of the next minute of his life; like the Bible said in James 4:14 ….”

Furthermore, Eze urged Okocha and his irks to consult Tinubu and those who formed APC to ascertain who truly is the Leader of APC in Rivers and South South, noting that at the formation of APC, Tinubu was made the National Leader of APC, while Amaechi emerged South South leader and despite the Buhari’s entrance as President, Tinubu clinked to his position as national leader.

He admonished Okocha and those allegedly sponsoring him to “be concerned about the fact that the country once known as Africa’s giant has collapsed in all facets under the nose of Tinubu, and channel energy towards fashioning out solutions, if they have any, to the gamut of problems they have created impeding Nigeria’s progress.”

Eze accused Okocha of mobilizing a paid-protest in support of Tinubu which gulped over fifty million Naira without any effect, after his ouster by the court in order to remain in the good book of his paymasters and continually curry their cheers.

Former Super Eagles of Nigeria tactician Samson Siasia has expressed his interest in returning to the national team days after regaining his right to work in the football sector.

Samson Siasia, who was banned from football for five years due to match-fixing, is now eligible to resume his coaching career and he has his eyes the vacant Super Eagles job.

Currently, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has not yet appointed a new head coach for the Super Eagles following the exit of coach Finidi George, who is now in charge of Rivers United.

In a recent interview on Kennis 104.1FM’s Sports Salsa, Samson Siasia hinted that he is open to managing the Nigerian national team again.

When asked about the possibility of returning to the Super Eagles, Siasia said: “I am not a messiah, however, we need to sit down and identify our priorities.

“We will see how things unfold.”

Recall that Siasia, 57, succeeded Swedish coach Lars Lagerback in November 2010 as Super Eagles coach but was relieved of his duties in October 2011 after failing to qualify the team for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. He later had a brief stint with the team in 2016 following the resignation of Sunday Oliseh.

Siasia’s potential return to the Super Eagles might see him serve as an assistant coach to Augustine Eguavoen who is likely to be an Interim coach of the team for their 2025 AFCON qualifiers against Benin Republic and Rwanda in September 2024.

Napoli have received a €65 million offer for Victor Osimhen from Al Ahli.

The Saudi Arabian club are the first to officially send in an offer for Osimhen.

The Super Eagles striker is expected to leave the Serie A club and was again dropped for Sunday’s league clash with Bologna at home.

Posting on X football transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, said: “Al Ahli have submitted an initial bid to Napoli for Victor Osimhen for package in excess of €65m.

“Napoli are prepared to let him go but no agreement between Nigerian striker and Al Ahli so far.

“Deal still far on player side; Osimhen will consider options + not open to loan.”

Harry Kane played a pivotal role in Bayern Munich’s 3-2 comeback victory over Wolfsburg on Sunday, marking a successful Bundesliga debut for new manager Vincent Kompany.

Bayern initially took the lead in the 19th minute with a goal from Jamal Musiala, but Wolfsburg quickly turned the tide with two goals from Lovro Majer early in the second half.


Despite Bayern’s shaky defense, Kane helped rally the team. In the 65th minute, Kane’s header forced Wolfsburg’s Jakub Kaminski into scoring an own goal, leveling the match.

The English striker then assisted Serge Gnabry’s decisive 82nd-minute goal, securing the win for Bayern.

Kane, starting his first match since the Euro 2024 final, played a key role in the opener by setting up Sacha Boey, whose pass found Musiala for an easy tap-in.

Musiala now boasts six goals in eight games against Wolfsburg, making them his favorite opponent.

Wolfsburg responded strongly after halftime. A foul by Boey on Tiago Tomas led to a penalty, which Majer converted to equalize.

Moments later, Majer scored again, giving Wolfsburg the lead after capitalizing on a defensive error by Kim Min-jae.

Kane’s influence was felt again as his header, deflected off Kaminski, tied the game at 2-2. He later assisted Gnabry for the winning goal, ensuring Bayern’s victory.

Wolfsburg, Bundesliga champions in 2009, have not beaten Bayern since 2015, extending their winless streak against the Munich giants to 21 matches.

Noni Madueke was the standout player as Chelsea secured a commanding 6-2 victory over Wolves, marking Enzo Maresca’s first Premier League win as Chelsea’s manager.

After suffering a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City in his Premier League debut last weekend, Maresca saw his team respond in spectacular fashion.

The former Leicester City manager, who took over from Mauricio Pochettino in the off-season, guided Chelsea to their first league victory following a UEFA Conference League play-off win against Servette on Thursday, setting the stage for a goal-filled performance at Molineux.

Chelsea wasted no time, taking the lead just 98 seconds into the match. A Cole Palmer inswinging corner was accidentally flicked on by Matheus Cunha, leaving Nicolas Jackson free to head in from close range at the back post.

Wolves equalized in the 27th minute when Matheus Cunha, who had tormented Chelsea last season with a hat-trick at Stamford Bridge, scored again.

The Brazilian took advantage of Moises Caicedo’s mistake, after Caicedo lost possession, allowing Rayan Ait-Nouri to break forward and set up Cunha for a powerful shot past Robert Sanchez.

Chelsea regained their advantage just before halftime when Cole Palmer took advantage of a flick-on from Nicolas Jackson, expertly lobbing Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa to make it 2-1.

However, Wolves leveled the score again just before the break. Chelsea failed to clear Ait-Nouri’s free-kick, allowing Toti to head the ball across goal to Jorgen Strand Larsen, who tapped it in from close range.

In the second half, Chelsea took control of the match. In the 49th minute, Palmer assisted Madueke, whose shot deflected off Ait-Nouri and found the net, putting Chelsea ahead 3-2.

Madueke scored his second goal just nine minutes later, calmly finishing through Sa’s legs after another run from Palmer.

Madueke completed his hat-trick with a similar finish, once again set up by Palmer, effectively silencing the Wolves fans.

Joao Felix, who made his debut after a permanent move from Atletico Madrid, came off the bench to round off the victory in the 80th minute. The Portuguese forward fired a shot into the top corner after being assisted by former Wolves player Pedro Neto.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has lambasted President Bola Tinubu’s administration for the rise in human rights abuses in the country.

Atiku stated this in a release signed by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, lamenting that citizens were being arrested in a Gestapo manner without the knowledge of their relatives.

He said Tinubu has turned against the people by allowing the Department of State Services, DSS, the Police and even the military to abuse the rights of citizens without any consequences.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate in the last general election said the most affected since Tinubu took office have been journalists whose only crime is reporting the news and exposing government indiscretion.

He argued that the Cyber Crime Prevention Act 2015 has a tool for abducting Nigerian citizens.

“The dangerous trend of enforced disappearances has become a national embarrassment for a country which claims to be practising democracy. On May 1, 2024, Daniel Ojukwu of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism went missing and was presumed abducted by kidnappers until he was later discovered to be in police custody on the orders of IGP Kayode Egbetokun.

“Ojukwu’s crime was that he exposed the corruption of a government official who currently serves in Tinubu’s administration. On July 23, the DSS arrested one Aliyu Sanusi in Sama Road of Sokoto, the state capital for printing and distributing materials ahead of the #EndBadGovernanceProtest. Even the arrest and release of the former BBC Pidgin Editor and current West Africa Regional Editor of the Conversation, Adejuwon Soyinka, clearly shows a pattern, whose objective is to intimidate journalists for speaking the truth to this government.

“Now, the police have arrested Bristol Tamunobiefiri, who owns the PIDOM Nigeria blog on X, formerly Twitter. After detaining him for over two weeks, he was granted an administrative bail, which would be impossible to meet. This is despite the fact that the Appeal Court, in the case of EFCC V. Emem Uboh (2022) LPEIR – 57968 (CA) held that administrative bail is illegal. Bristol should, therefore, be arraigned in court immediately or released.”

Atiku urged Tinubu to take cases of human rights abuses seriously or Nigeria would remain at risk of being slammed with sanctions by foreign nations.

Big Brother Naija ‘No Loose Guard’ pair, Zion and Chinwe, has been evicted from the reality show.

Team Zinwe are the latest pair to be evicted from the BBNaija season 9 house, on Sunday.

Recall last week marked a game-changer as housemates got to nominate each other for eviction for the first time this season. 

After nomination, five pairs: Zinwe, Chekas, Double Kay, Beta and WanniXHandi were up for possible eviction.

The ultimate eviction then rested on the viewers whose votes for the nominated pairs were going to determine who stayed and who went home.

Zinwe, however, didn’t make the cut on Sunday during the eviction show as they were shown the exit door after week four.

The grand prize for this season is a spectacular ₦100 million, which includes a cash prize and an SUV, with additional sponsored prizes to be announced.

The show which is now going into its fourth week will run for 10 weeks, concluding with the finale on Sunday, October 6, 2024

The bank accounts of thirty-two individuals and companies linked to the 10-day #EndBadGovernance Protest organised across the country, has been frozen by a Federal Court sitting in Abuja, pending investigation and prosecution of the case.

Justice Emeka Nwite, in a ruling on the ex-parte motion moved by counsel for the Inspector-General (I-G) of Police, Ibrahim Mohammed, also ordered the banks to apprehend the account holders or any person transacting business on the said accounts.

Justice Nwite, who granted the motion dated and filed on Aug. 20, directed the banks to contact the Nigeria Police Force as soon as any arrest is made.

“That the banks are hereby directed by this honourable court to issue details of the account package(s) and to place a Post-No-Debit (PND) on the accounts, disable the ATM while allowing inflow into the said accounts as from the date of this court order,” the judge declared.

Though the ruling was made on Thursday, the certified true copy of the order was sighted on Sunday in Abuja.

The account numbers affected include 4010073491 (Fidelity Bank), 1255130019 (Access Bank), 0006084167 (Abbey Mortgage Multipurpose Bank Plc), 0821931299 (FCMB), 1012007655 (FCMB), 0000575573 (A AG Mortgage Bank Plc), 1007871587 (UBA), 2037117333 (UBA), 5421031104 (ECOBANK ) and 0024541201 (Union Bank).

Others are 1022899050 (UBA), 8755008491 (Branch International Services Ltd), 5630208636 (Fidelity), 4936992542 (Fairmoney Microfinance Bank), 8755008499 (Branch International Financial Services Ltd), 2088228208 (UBA), 2115678044 (Zenith Bank), 3041823452 (First Bank), 1011828445 (New Edge Finance), 3024402748 (Fusrt Bank), 0161502459 (GTBank) and 0040580047 (Access Bank),

They also include 0250291788 (Wema Bank), 6112464260 (Branch International Financial Services Ltd), 1000774097 (Sparkle Microfinance Bank Ltd), 3434649965 (Fairmoney Microfinance Bank), 2013556714 (KUDA Microfinance Bank), 3104962864 (Polaris Bank), 6112464267 (Branch International Finance Services Lit), 8137051249 (OPAY) and 8137051249 (PALMPAY).

The IGP, in the application marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1219/2024, had listed PA.LIN.HO Global Service Ltd, Chinyere Nkiru, Obidient Movement Multipurpose Cooperative Society, Innocent Angel Lovet, Great Communicators Champion Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd as 1st to 5th respondents respectively.

Others include Great Communicators Champion Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd, Opaluwa Eleojo Bob-Simon, NUEE State Chapter, Adeyemi Abiodun Abayomi, Adaramoye Michael Tobiloba, and Popoola Festus as 6th to 11th respondents respectively.

Mohammed, in his four-ground argument, said the accounts as contained in the schedule in respect of which reliefs sought are subject of investigation and are reasonably suspected to be warehousing proceeds of unlawful activities or fraud.

“If there is any dealing with the account by way of withdrawal or transfer to another account by the persons under investigation/investigator and the persons that have absolute power to deal with the account will render nugatory any consequential order(s) which the court may make at the conclusion of this application,” he said.

According to him, the accounts are used to promote the offence of criminal conspiracy, terrorism financing, treasonable felony, cyberbullying and cyberstalking which was illegally transferred to the account of the accused persons now at large.

“That the accused persons were involved in hosting another country’s flag in order to undermine the sovereignty of the Nigerian state,” he added.

In the affidavit in support of the motion ex-parte, Gregory Woji, a detective attached to the Force Criminal Investigation Department, deposed that preliminary investigation revealed that some suspects arrested were being recruited by some financiers to cause mayhem and destroy life and property.

Woji said preliminary investigation further revealed that the financiers were sending money to recruit the indigents and other vulnerable individuals to carry banners and overthrow a democratically elected government.

According to him, the preliminary investigation further reveals that some foreign nationals were the arrowheads in the unscrupulous act of treasonable felony and promoting terrorism financing in Nigeria.

He said the act of the accused persons is akin to the offence of criminal conspiracy, terrorism financing, treasonable felony, cyberstalking and cyberbullying.

He said it is the function of the police to stop this act by apprehending the offenders as an offence to one is an offence to all.

According to Woji, intelligence reports gathered so far reveal that the suspects are making an effort to transfer or withdraw money from the accounts and unless this court grants this order, otherwise, the investigation would be jeopardised.

“That it will be in the interest of justice to grant this request by freezing the account of the said suspects and order their immediate arrest on sighting them pending the outcome of the investigation and possible prosecution,” he said.