Senate President Godswill Akpabio has hailed President Bola Tinubu for appointing Nyesom Wike as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

Akpabio spoke during the flag-off of the construction of the Kugbo Bus and Taxi Terminal in the Karu District of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

He said the decision to construct bus terminals has also shown the minister’s desire to not only construct roads but also provide services that will make life more comfortable for FCT residents.

He said the terminal will serve as a hub that will facilitate the efficient movement of people, ensure traffic decongestion and improve the overall quality of life for FCT residents.

“The development of this bus terminal is more than just a construction project. It is a testament to the good works and commitment of you (FCT Minister) and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Akpabio said.

The Senate President said Tinubu’s picking of Wike as the FCT Minister was the right choice.

He said: “This bus terminal you are talking about, I looked at the picture, and I saw where they are going to be seated, waiting for their bus to come and it is almost as if they are inside a major terminal at the airport.

“This is for me, another major wonder of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration. This is the way to cater for a city of this nature. This is a way to take care of the people of the Area Councils and also the FCT residents and visitors alike.

“So, I believe that your appointment is a square peg in a square hole and I must thank the President for having the eyes to pinpoint those who can perform and bring them in. He did this in Lagos and today Lagos is one of the best, one of the largest economies in the whole of Africa, when we are talking about cities.”

As concerns mount over the lack of domestic crude oil to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and other indigenous refiners, the Independent Petroleum Producers Group has called on President Bola Tinubu to consider declaring a state of emergency on crude oil production in Nigeria following the lingering crisis associated with this.

IPPG is an association of Nigerian indigenous upstream exploration production companies that engages the government and other industry stakeholders on issues affecting the sector. It has 28 members including Oando Plc, Aiteo, Seplat, Energia, Eroton, First E&P, Frontier Oil, Green Energy, among others.

The oil producers also expressed fears that the 2024 budget might be implemented partially due to the low production of crude in Nigeria lately.

This came as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited announced that it had declared war on the challenges confronting oil production across the country, adding that it was currently engaging its partners including International Oil Companies.

However, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, charged the oil producers to increase their investments in the upstream arm of the business, as this would also help to grow oil output.

They all spoke at the ongoing Nigeria Oil and Gas conference in Abuja on Tuesday.

Nigeria’s oil production has been dropping since this year, falling from over 1.4 million barrels per day (excluding condensates) in January to about 1.2mbpd in April. 

Oil producers believe that Nigeria should be producing about 2mbpd in order to meet the demand of local refineries as well as export.

Dangote refinery as well as operators of modular refineries have continued to raise concern over the poor crude oil supply from IOCs and NNPC. However, industry experts say most of the crude volumes by the IOCs and NNPC have been contracted out to dealers already, amid the low production in-country.

Presenting the industry keynote address at the conference, the Chairman, IPPG, Abdulrazaq Isa, pointed out that the industry was in dire need of extraordinary focus to mitigate the genuine concerns on its long-term sustainability.

He stressed that “as a matter of national importance, Nigeria must act fast and hasten the pace of recovery across the entire industry, even if it means Mr President declaring a state of emergency in the oil and gas sector! We must be seen to do everything possible to unleash the industry.

“Unlocking this incremental production is achievable only through collaboration and commitment between the industry regulators (NUPRC and NMDPRA) and industry operators (NNPC, OPTS and IPPG) and this must be done for the sake of our country.”

Isa said despite Nigeria’s world class hydrocarbon resource base, with over 37 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves and 207 tcf (trillion cubic feet) and 600 tcf of proven and contingent gas reserves respectively, the country finds itself in a situation where its daily production has significantly dropped and lies at about 1.3 million barrels of oil and 8.5 bcf (billion cubic feet) of gas today.

“This is way below our capacity as a nation and by all globally acceptable standards, this reserves to production ratio is extremely low and a clear indicator that the industry is in a dire situation. In addition, we now run the risk of partial implementation of our national budget considering an estimated deficit of 400,000bpd from the forecasted 1.78 million bpd. 

“This trend in production portends another frightening dimension when we consider that in the not-too-distant future our overall installed domestic refining capacity, currently closing in on about 1.2 million barrels per day, may soon outstrip our current crude oil production level with the risk of Nigeria finding itself in a position where it is unable to meet its domestic refinery crude demand or even become a net importer of crude oil, God forbid!,” he stated.

The oil producers chairman noted that it was against this scary backdrop that the IPPG was calling for urgent measures to be undertaken by all relevant stakeholders to immediately arrest this dwindling production level and under-investment by focusing on some priority areas.

Outlining the priority areas, he said, “The immediate conclusion of all pending IOC divestment transactions: IPPG strongly advocates that our member companies – Seplat, the Renaissance Consortium and Oando – have the proven track record to successfully take over and manage these onshore and shallow water assets to realise incremental production in the region of 100,000 – 200,000 barrels of oil and over 1.5bcf of gas per day within 24 months and well over 500,000 barrels of oil per day in the long term.

“IPPG believes the timely approval of these IOC divestment transactions will also be a clear signal capable of restoring global investor confidence in Nigeria in an era of competing global investment destinations in Africa and very limited access to capital.

“The urgent need to address deepwater developmental and production: Untangling issues around deepwater development, particularly in terms of competitive fiscal regime being negotiated with Shell, Total Energies, ExxonMobil and Chevron, has the potential to unlock incremental production of 700,000 barrels per day from this terrain in the short to medium term.”

Isa also stated that enabling deepwater development would attract significant economic benefits as Nigeria has one of the world’s largest untapped deepwater resource base.

“The adoption of a national value-retention strategy: Nigeria’s domestic crude oil refining and petrochemical capacity must be sustained primarily from our domestic crude oil and gas production in order to transform our country into a net exporter of refined petroleum and petrochemical products that will lay a strong foundation for the rapid industrialisation of the Nigerian economy. 

“It is therefore imperative to grow our daily production to 2.5 million barrels of oil and 10 bcf of gas in the near to long term to ensure we are able to meet our domestic refinery and petrochemical demands and export commitments to generate the much needed foreign exchange earnings for macro-economic stability.

“The development of Nigeria’s gas resources to catalyse economic growth and complement decarbonisation drive: Nigeria’s vast gas resources must be exploited with immediate focus placed on restoring production to existing installed LNG capacity and expanding production (FLNG),” he stated.

In addition, the IPPG chairman said “we must expand domestic gas utilisation (gas-to-power; gas-based industries) by investing heavily to address the gas infrastructure deficit facing us today. The International Oil Companies will lead the charge on export gas while IPPG members will drive the domestic gas agenda led by NNPC

“These priority areas provide the most realistic and sustainable pathway towards meeting our national long term production aspiration of four million barrels of oil per day and 13 billion cubic feet of gas per day.”

NNPC reacts

 Also speaking at the conference, the Group Chief Executive Officer NNPC, Mele Kyari, said in order ro increase Nigeria’s crude oil production and grow its reserves, NNPC has declared a state of emergency on production in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

 “We have decided to stop the debate. We have declared war on the challenges affecting our crude oil production. War means war. We have the right tools. We know what to fight. We know what we have to do at the level of assets. We have engaged our partners. And we will work together to improve the situation,” he declared. 

According to him, a detailed analysis of assets revealed that Nigeria can conveniently produce two million barrels of crude oil per day without deploying new rigs, but the major impediment to achieving that remains the inability of players to act in a timely manner.

He said the “war” would help NNPC and its partners to speedily clear all identified obstacles to effective and efficient production such as delays in procurement processes, which have become a challenge in the industry.

Oil sector principalities

Kyari described some players in the sector as principalities, but stated that the President had made orders to tackle such individuals.

 “There are delays in procurement and this is because all of us the producing companies have converted procurement to business. It is not just NNPC, everyone of us. And I’ve said this to all our partners that within your companies you have principalities who will not let you complete your procurement, who will add cost to your costs.

 “And now what Mr President has done is to take out all the principalities and if you do, it is your choice. But for us as a company we are moving to another level. We are going to cap the cost of production. You can call your wife to do the contract, no problem, provided you produce the oil at $20/barrel or so.

 “We’re getting there so that we can take out those procurement people who have stopped us from developing as an industry and a country. This is what Mr President’s executive order has done, to take out those principalities so that we can move.” 

 On medium to long-term measures aimed at boosting and sustaining production, Kyari said NNPC would replace all the old crude oil pipelines built over four decades ago and also introduce a rig sharing programme with its partners to ensure that production rigs stay in the country for between four and five years which is the standard practice in most climes.

 He called on all players in the industry to collaborate towards reducing the cost of production and boosting production to target levels.

 He expressed the company’s commitment to investing in critical midstream gas infrastructure such as the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben, known as OB3, and the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipelines to boost domestic gas production and supply for power generation, industrial development and economic prosperity of the country.

 On Compressed Natural Gas, Kyari observed that NNPC has since keyed into the Presidential CNG drive, adding that in conjunction with partners such as NIPCO Gas, NNPC has built a number of CNG stations, 12 of which will be inaugurated on Thursday in Lagos and Abuja.

 Meanwhile, the oil minister, Lokpobiri, charged the IPPG to increase its investments in the oil sector by ramping up its production of crude, stressing that if the 28 members of the association could produce at least 5,000 barrels daily, this would go a long way in raising Nigeria’s oil output.

Bose Ogulu, the mother and manager of Grammy-winning singer, Burna Boy, took to her Instastories to celebrate him as he turned 33.

She wrote, “Wishing the happiest of birthdays to this living legend. May your day be filled with love, laughter, and all the joy you bring to others every day.”

This milestone birthday comes on the heels of Burna Boy’s electrifying performance at a sold-out London stadium concert on Saturday, showcasing his remarkable talent and dedication to his craft.

See Post Below;

 

Abdulsamad Dasuki, a member of the House of Representatives, has called on President Bola Tinubu to sack all his appointees in the security sector, saying they have failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians.

The lawmaker made the call on Tuesday while speaking at a debate on a motion condemning the recent suicide bombing in Borno State.

New Telegraph had earlier reported that Ahmed Jaha sponsored the motion during Tuesday’s plenary.

In his remarks, Dasuki said the President appointed several northerners into the security sector so that they can take care of insecurity in the North, however, they have not been able to do that.

According to him, the country needs a scapegoat, adding that the House should urge the President to sack all his political appointees in the security sector.

“In the last year that we have been inaugurated, no one has been sacked. It is high time we hold people responsible. It is high time we find a scapegoat, which is justifiable.

“These guys have not lived up to expectations. The president has said that he gave these positions to northerners to defend their people. That is what he said practically.

“Every day, we have two or three security-related issues. We can call on the president to sack all security political appointees. All of them have been in the position for ten months. Political appointees-security wise can go,” he said.

Some of the northern political appointees include the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru, the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, the Minister of Police, Ibrahim Gaidam, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu and others.

Also speaking on the motion, the Chairman of the House Committee on Navy, Yusuf Gagdi, opposed the argument that the security sector was handed to northerners, stating that the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun and the Chief of Army Staff, Taoreed Lagbaja, were southerners.

Following the debate, the House resolved to condemn the bombing and asked the Committee on National Security and Intelligence to investigate the development

The European Union, EU has confirmed that the Nigerian Federal Government has cleared an outstanding debt amounting to $850 million owed European airlines.

The confirmation was given on Tuesday.

Samuela Isopi, the EU Ambassador to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, disclosed this at the 9th edition of the Nigeria-EU Business Forum in Abuja.

Isopi noted that a key condition for any foreign investor is the ability to repatriate profits.

“A year ago, these funds amounted to $850m, with a big chunk being owned to European airlines. Today more than 98 percent of arrears have been cleared. This is a major achievement,” Isopi said.

The ambassador also commended the decision of the Federal Government to remove foreign exchange restrictions for the import of 43 items.

According to him, “Investor confidence takes time to build up, but resolving these issues was a top priority.”

The ambassador described the business forum as a platform for dialogue and engagement between the public and the private sectors and highlighted the importance of the role of the government in supporting business, the private sector and private investments, as a driver for a truly inclusive and sustainable economic development.

Recall that the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria had, in January 2024, said the bank had concluded the payment of the foreign exchange backlog to foreign airlines.

The Imo State Police Command has arrested a couple, Chukwudinma Umunnakwe and Comfort Umunnakwe, for allegedly running a baby factory in the state.

The suspects, who own Comfort Orphanage Home in Owerri, were paraded at the police command’s headquarters on Sunday.

Henry Okoye, spokesman for the Imo state police command said on Tuesday, July 2, the arrest was made possible by an intelligence report received by the operatives.

“The suspects have confessed to being in the criminal activity for over 12 years and will be arraigned in court upon completion of the investigation.

“The suspects coerced their victims into signing a document to give away their children upon delivery for either N400,000 or N500,000 depending on the gender of the child,”  Okoye said.

One of the victims, Ijeoma, revealed that the suspects lured them to the orphanage with promises of care, but instead subjected them to inhuman treatment and threats.

 “I refused to sign the document and have been asking them to allow me to leave or contact my family, but they refused till now,” she said.

The police urged residents to report any criminal activity to the nearest police station or via the command’s emergency lines.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has warned against the continued rejection of old series and lower denominations of the United States of American dollars by its regulated entities in Nigeria.

The bank threatened to sanction lenders that rejected the currencies.

This was contained in a circular dated June 27, signed by the acting director of the currency operations department, Solaja Olayemi, which was recently released on the website of the apex bank.

The circular directed at Deposit Money Banks, Bureau De Change operators and the general public cautioned against the continued rejection of the old series and lower denomination of the American greenback. 

CBN said the fresh circular followed the outcome of its consumer market intelligence, which revealed the continued rejection of old/lower denominations of dollar bills by banks and other authorised forex dealers.

“Kindly be reminded that the Central Bank of Nigeria circular referenced COD/DIR/INT/CIR/001/002 and dated 9th April 2021, which explicitly frowned at this selective acceptance of deposit, is still in force and must be adhered to and complied with by all relevant parties.

“For the avoidance of doubt and further guidance on the circular, the content is hereby reissued as follows for strict compliance: All DMBs /authorized forex dealers should henceforth accept both old series and lower denominations of United States Dollars that are legal tender for deposit from their customers. The CBN will not hesitate to sanction any DMB or authorised forex dealers who refuse to accept old series/lower denominations of US Dollar bills from their customers,” the circular partly read. 

The circular also warned authorised forex dealers against defacing/stamping US Dollar banknotes as such notes always fail authentication tests during processing/sorting.

CBN first issued the warning in a circular signed by then director of the currency operations department, Ahmed Umar, on April 9, 2021.

New Zealand has implemented new regulations tightening visa rules for Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) holders, specifically targeting individuals in certain job classifications.

The changes, announced on the Immigration New Zealand website, restrict AEWV holders in jobs classified at levels 4 and 5 of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) from sponsoring visa applications for their partners and dependent children, unless they have a pathway to residency.

Already effective from June 26, these amendments are part of broader reforms reverting the AEWV scheme to settings akin to the previous Essential Skills Work Visa framework.

The government clarified that affected partners and dependent children can still apply for visas independently, such as the AEWV or international student visas, provided they meet requisite criteria.

However, the new rules exempt individuals already holding visas as partners or dependents of AEWV holders, as well as those in ANZSCO level 4 and 5 roles with residency pathways like the Green List or sector agreements.

Workers also earning at least 1.5 times the average salary threshold for the Skilled Migrant Category remain unaffected.

This move follows previous adjustments made to work visa policies earlier this year, including a language proficiency requirement for low-skilled job applicants under ANZSCO levels 4 and 5.

These changes aim to ensure that foreign workers understand their rights and can effectively address employment issues.

Despite these stricter measures, New Zealand continues its efforts to attract and retain highly skilled workers, particularly in sectors experiencing shortages such as secondary education.

The government’s recent immigration statistics highlight significant visitor entries and resident numbers, underscoring ongoing efforts to manage migration sustainably.

Immigration Minister Erica Stanford emphasized the reforms’ goals of enhancing economic adaptability, attracting top talent, supporting international education, and improving risk management within the immigration framework.

Former Senate President Adolphus Wabara has revealed that he rejected the sum of N250 million to support the third-term agenda during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.

In an excerpt from the YouTube interview series “Untold Stories with Adesuwa,” released on Monday, when asked about the truthfulness of this assertion, he said, “That’s very correct.”

The third-term agenda marked a pivotal moment in Nigeria’s 25-year uninterrupted democratic history, involving a constitutional amendment bill aimed at allowing then-President Olusegun Obasanjo to run for a third term in office.

Speaking further, Wabara revealed that while he didn’t believe the stories that some senators received N50 million at the time, he received N250 million bribe, which was brought to him in a G-Wagon at 1:20 a.m.

Wabara also stated that his educational background played a huge role in rejecting the third-term agenda.

“I turned down a N250 million bribe to support the third term agenda. The money came to me by 1:30 a.m., before my third-term speech. It came in a sparkling black G-Wagon. I can still remember that it was in a black G-Wagon and a rickety 504 station wagon. The money was discharged, and my wife was there.”

Highlighting the significance of the decision, Wabara stated that if the third-term agenda had stood, other presidents wouldn’t have emerged.

“Without people like us, there wouldn’t be democracy now. Yes, if we had supported the third term, you know, I mean we would have had dictatorship, tyranny, and people like Buhari wouldn’t have emerged. Even the present Tinubu would not have emerged because Obasanjo would have still been there,” he said.

Speaking on the current state of affairs in the country, Wabara lamented that those in power had unfortunately weaponized poverty.

His words: “Hunger misdirects, and my people say that when you are having leaves or whatever the goat eats, you are the person they will continue to follow. That is what is happening in our democracy today because of hunger. The elders and the politicians—those in government—are not creating the enabling environments to eschew hunger.

“It is a deliberate act to continue to make the electorate hungry so that they will continue to follow sheepishly. So, there will be stomach infrastructure before they start thinking whether we are being led aright.”

He also clarified that he was not removed from office by Obasanjo but resigned while reiterating that there was no pressure.