Dangote Refinery is set to buy at least 24 million barrels of US crude over the next year as it ramps up its processing capabilities.

A report by Bloomberg revealed that the $20 billion refinery has issued a term tender for the purchase of 2 million barrels a month of West Texas Intermediate Midland (WTI) crude for 12 months starting in July, which amounts to 24 million barrels of crude in one year.

The call for US oil reflects Nigeria’s struggle to lift its own crude production, which remains well below theoretical capacity, as well as Dangote’s willingness to tap cheaper supplies than it can find at home. It also highlights how influential the refinery will be in global crude and fuel trading. 

Elitsa Georgieva, Executive Director at Citac, an energy consultancy specializing in the African downstream sector, said: “Supply of Nigerian crude is insufficient or unavailable and sometimes unreliable. WTI on the other hand, is available, with reliable supply and competitively priced.

“Buying different feed stocks also provides flexibility and optionality for the refinery, so the tender makes economic sense for Dangote,”

Nigeria has not been able to meet its Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) + quota for at least a year. The nation pumped about 1.45 million barrels a day of crude and liquids in April, still far below its estimated production capacity of 2.6 million barrels a day.

Crude theft, aging oil pipelines, low investment, and divestments from oil majors operating in the country have all contributed to declining production.

To ensure enough local supply to the 650,000 barrel-a-day refinery, Nigeria’s upstream regulator, the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), released new draft rules last month that will compel its oil producers to sell crude to domestic refineries. NUPRC mandated all oil companies in Nigeria to supply crude to domestic refineries that are unable to procure it locally. 

Producers are allowed to export crude only after meeting these domestic supply obligations. 

Under the new rules, NUPRC will act as an intermediary between local refiners and producers when agreements on crude supply are not reached, facilitating a sales purchase agreement using a willing-buyer, willing-seller model.

This new policy could benefit Dangote refinery by enabling it to procure crude oil from local suppliers rather than depending on imports. The plant, currently running at about half capacity, is taking advantage of cheaper US oil imports for as much as a third of its feedstock. Since the start of this year, it has received at least one supertanker carrying about 2 million barrels of WTI Midland each month.

An official at Dangote declined to comment on the report, Bloomberg stated.

President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, has revealed details of the contract given to new Super Eagles coach Finidi George.

Recall that Finidi was appointed as coach of the Super Eagles on April 19, and was unveiled by the board of the NFF at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium on Monday in Abuja.

Gusau refuted claims making the rounds that the federation only committed the new Super Eagles head coach to a one-year deal.

“I don’t know where the one-year contract information emanated from, all I know is that, as far as our contract with Finidi is concerned, he is going to be in charge of the team till the end of 2026,” Gusau said on Soccer Africa, a popular TV show in South Africa.

“So I don’t think 2026 is going to be a one-year contract.

“The key thing is, in every contract, there must be some indices and some targets that you must put in place for somebody in other for him to get optimal performance.

“And the first target is to qualify the team for next year’s Nations Cup and to get to at least the semi finals of the Nations Cup, as well as qualify the team to the World Cup and to get us the target of playing in the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

“So these are the main targets we put in place for him in the contract, and by the grace of God, we are working hard to see how we can achieve that,” he added.

Speaking further, Gusau also stated that the federation didn’t force George to choose his assistants.

During the unveiling, the NFF also introduced the assistants who will support George: Daniel Amokachi, Benjamin James, Olatunji Baruwa, Chima Onyeike, and Mehmet Ozturk.

“I am very happy when we unveiled Finidi to Nigeria. The NFF Technical Director put all the names on the list, and they chose the best they felt would work. All the names you saw as assistants to Finidi were chosen by him,” Gusau said.

The Super Eagles will host South Africa in their upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixture at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo on Friday, June 7th.

The three-time African champions will travel to face Benin at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan three days later.

Omowunmi Aloba, the widow of late singer, Ilerioluwa Aloba, popularly known as Mohbad, has blamed her father in-law, Joseph Aloba, for being responsible for the failed autopsy test that could not ascertain the actual cause of the late singer’s death.

Recall that at the last Coroner sitting held in Lagos, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Wahab Shittu who is the legal counsel representing Mohbad’s family said that a pathologist, Prof. Sunday Osiyemi, said that the actual cause of the late singer’s death could not be ascertained, giving a number of reasons, including that the body had already decomposed as it took about 21 days before the autopsy was conducted. 

When contacted for her reaction to the revelation by the pathologist, Mohbad’s wife, Omowunmi in an interview with Sahara Reporters, lamented in tears that she had been sad and heartbroken since Wednesday after the pathologist’s testimony in court. She accused her father-in-law of being responsible for the inability of the autopsy test to ascertain the cause of her husband’s death, lamenting that the late singer’s father ignored everyone’s plea and hurriedly buried her husband.

‘’I have been sad. I have been heartbroken since yesterday when I got the news on what the pathologist said about the autopsy of my husband. When my father-in-law wanted to take him away, I begged him, I pleaded, I cried. Everybody around that place with me cried. My mother-in-law cried but he pushed her away.

Zlatan Ibile, who is one of my husband’s industry brothers, pleaded but he said no. My husband's lawyer pleaded but they said no. Bella Shmurda called on the phone and pleaded but my father-in-law said no. Everybody pleaded with my father-in-law but he refused.

He buried my husband hurriedly. He buried my husband that way. I didn’t even know when he was taking my husband to the morgue. I was inside. I didn’t know when he called the ambulance that took my husband to the morgue. I had to take an Uber to go after them to Ikotun General Hospital.

My husband did not even sleep in the morgue. He was kept outside till morning. I didn’t even know they wanted to bury my husband. I got to know through the media and I ran down there. They had already put him inside a coffin and his neck was even bent.”she said

She argued that if Mohbad had not been hurriedly buried, “the autopsy would have been done and I would have known everything that happened to my husband”.

“I know the autopsy would have revealed everything for the world to see. For somebody that a nurse gave an injection with almost seven people in the same room, the autopsy could not detect it because he was buried hurriedly. They even placed a heavy stone on my husband’s grave. What for? Nobody deserves to be treated that way after death.

For the pathologist to have said that in the years that he had been working, he had never seen somebody buried in such a manner, shows how wicked the people who killed my husband are.

It was my father-in-law and his cohorts that did that to my husband. My husband suffered while alive and suffered in death. His body has been kept inside that morgue for eight months, and now, they could not get the result of the cause of his death because he was buried hurriedly.

How could a celebrity be buried in such a hurry? And to think that his father was at the scene when he was buried and it was raining heavily but he still allowed them to put my husband inside the grave.”he said

 Recall that the 27-year-old singer died in controversial circumstances on September 12, 2023. He was buried the next day in Ikorodu. His body was however exhumed on September 21 for an autopsy to be carried out on it to determine the cause of his death

The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Abubakar Bagudu, has said President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms have started bearing fruits.
He told newsmen on Friday in Abuja that the measures had restored faith in the country’s economy.

A statement by Bola Adebiyi, his Special Assistant on Media, quoted the minister as saying that foreign investors had renewed interest in Nigeria.

“Although the removal of petrol subsidy caused some pain, the policy has increased the quantum of funds available to the three tiers of government to invest in critical infrastructure. 

“This critical infrastructure will regenerate the economy; before 29 May 2023, the finances of the government were fragile.

“The payment of subsidies affected the quantum of revenue available to all the layers of government so much that the economy was at a standstill.

“The reform measures were in tandem with the Renewed Hope Agenda and the eight priority areas of the Tinubu administration to regenerate confidence in the economy and provide resources to invest in the productive sector,” he said.

According to Bagudu, both objectives of the reforms have been achieved as the federal, state and local governments have acquired more capacity to support the economy.

According to him, the Federal Government has expanded social investment support to ensure that those at the lower end of the society affected by the reforms are helped to cope.

“All the sectors that will enable the gains to be achieved, including agriculture, infrastructure and security have seen more funding.

“Sectors that secure our future like education, health and social investment have received increased budgetary allocation.

“Programmes were also introduced to support the sectors so that manufacturing activities could resume and agricultural activity could be better supported on a more sustainable basis,” he said.

Bagudu said that part of the steps taken to boost employment included the provision of mortgage funds to regenerate the mortgage sector so that activities there could increase.

He commended the collaboration between the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Office of the National Security Adviser to rein in currency speculators and manipulators, and observed that it had shored up the value of the naira.

The minister pleaded with Nigerians to persevere, saying that the president had persistently empathised with them.

“We must take note that President Tinubu has empathised with the people and assured them that the reforms were not intended to inflict pain on them, but were necessary measures to reposition the economy,” he said.

Nigerian singer, Oritsefemi Majemite Ekele, popularly known as Oritsefemi, has claimed that his estranged wife, Nabila Fash, had 21 miscarriages during their marriage.

He stated that despite the number of miscarriages his ex-wife had, she claimed that he could not impregnate her.

The ‘Mercies Of The Lord’ crooner disclosed this in a recent interview with media personality, Chude Jideonwo.

“Nabila had about 21 miscarriages. And she still said that I couldn’t get her pregnant,” he lamented.

DAILY POST recalls that Nabila filed for a divorce from Oritsefemi in 2022 after he allegedly fathered a child with another woman.

In a chat with Daddy Freeze, Nabila revealed that the singer got intimate with another woman on their matrimonial bed while she was away at work.

She had cited infidelity and domestic violence as the reasons for her divorce suit.

The couple tied the nuptial knot in a lavish ceremony in November 2017.

The federal government has asked labour leaders and other stakeholders to return to the negotiating table and continue discussions on the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.

Naija News understands the Chairman of the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage, Bukar Goni, sent a letter of invitation to labour leaders dated May 16, 2024 for a meeting on Tuesday, 21st May.

This development comes barely 24 hours after the leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) stormed out of a meeting of the minimum wage negotiation committee on Wednesday over what they termed a ridiculous offer from the government.

It would be recalled that the government offered ₦48,000 as the new minimum wage while the Organized Private Sector (OPS), proposed N54,000 during the meeting while the labour maintained its stand on a ₦615,000 minimum wage for workers.

In a statement released after the meeting, the labour leaders expressed disappointment, saying the federal government has shown its unseriousness with the amount it proposed.

They described the ₦48,000 proposed new minimum wage by the federal government as an insult to the sensibility of Nigerian workers.

However, according to Punch, there are indications the government may review its proposal upward during the fresh meeting.

The tripartite committee chairman, in his letter, is understood to have indicated the willingness of the government to shift grounds on its ₦48,000 offer.

The letter was titled, ‘Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage: Negotiation.’

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved part payment of all power sector debts, estimated at N3.3 trillion.

Adebayo Adelabu, Nigeria’s Minister of Power, disclosed this at Thursday’s 8th Africa Energy Marketplace in Abuja.

He noted that the federal government’s N1.3 trillion debt to power-generating companies would be paid via cash injections and promissory notes, while about $1.3 billion (N1.994 trillion using the current official closing rate) owed to gas companies will be paid via cash and future royalties.

Adelabu stressed that the federal government had commenced payment of the cash part of the N1.3 trillion debt owed Gencos and concluded plans to settle the second part via promissory notes within two to five years.

“The debt for the power-generating companies is N1.3tn. I can also tell you that Mr. President has consented to pay on the condition of reconciling these debts between the government and the power-generating companies.

“It is true that I mentioned that Mr President has approved the submission of the Hon. Minister of State Petroleum (Gas) to defray the outstanding debts owed to the gas supplying companies to the power sector operators.

“The payments will be in parts. We have the legacy debt and the current debt. For the current debt, approval has been given for a cash payment of about N130bn from the Gas Stabilisation Fund, which the Federal Ministry of Finance will pay if it hasn’t already,” he said.

In March, the government paid $120 million out of the $1.3bn indebtedness to gas companies.

On different occasions, Adelabu has blamed indebtedness to gencos for the epileptic power supply in the country.

Recall that on April 3, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission approved a 230 per cent electricity tariff hike for band A customers, who receive a 20-24 power supply.

A month later, the government slashed the hike by N18.2 to N206.8 per kilowatt-hour from 225kwh.

However, the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, and other Nigerians have kicked against the hike, calling for its complete reversal.

The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Abdullahi Ganduje has said that the decisions, policies and programmes introduced by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will take the country out of the woods to progress and prosperity.

He gave the assurance on Thursday night when he hosted officials at the Forum of APC Local Government Chairmen of Nigeria at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.

While commending the leadership virtues of Tinubu, the APC Chairman noted that the President, unlike his predecessors, took bold decisions to give the country the push that will usher her into the next level of prosperity and development.

“I assure you that our President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is also a grassroots politician, tested and trusted. He is great, because he is bold enough to take some decisions which the previous administrations could not take and very soon, you will start seeing the positive effects of the reforms that he’s introducing.

“Our refineries will soon be producing abundant fuel. It is all over the world now that the narrative is changing about the use of petrol, CNG vehicles will soon be on ground where transportation will be cheaper.

“The reforms Asiwaju is introducing will take Nigeria to the next level,” Ganduje said.

The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has held that a Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, regulation, which requires financial institutions to demand and collect the social media handles of their customers, as part of the standard Know-Your-Customer procedure, is not a breach of the right to privacy.

Justice Nnamdi Dimgba dismissed a suit filed by a Lagos-based lawyer, Chris Eke, demanding a declaration that the regulation as contained in Section 6(a)(iv) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (Customer Due Diligence) Regulations, 2023, is undemocratic, unconstitutional, null and void, to the extent of its inconsistency with Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

The applicant had also prayed the court to grant an order of perpetual injunction, barring CBN from enforcing the regulation which requires financial institutions to request customers’ social media handles as part of normal bank customer due diligence requirements. 

The CBN, in its response to the suit, filed a notice of preliminary objection, challenging the competence of the suit. The apex bank also disagreed that the said regulation constitutes any interference with the private life of the applicant, as claimed.

In his judgment, Justice Dimgba held that the notice of preliminary objection had merit, and he subsequently struck out the suit.

The judge said in his view, the provision of a social media handle is the same as the provision of email address, phone numbers and other means by which a potential customer of a bank can be contacted and or due diligence, to determine if the person is a fit and proper person for the bank to do business with, and as such, the regulation does not amount to an infringement on the right to privacy.

Justice Dimgba held that the essence of having a social media account was for one to be publicly visible communication-wise, and it would be highly unreasonable to hold the CBN in breach of privacy for it.

According to the judge, “the Applicant claims that the requirements on the CBN Regulations for financial institutions to request and collect the social media handle of its customers as part of KYC infringes on his right to privacy.

“This claim is very ambitious and amounts to a very far throw. The said Regulations are directed to and apply to financial institutions. It does not apply to private individuals such as the Applicant.

“Even if, as appears to be argued, that the Regulations itself would inevitably affect the Applicant, this claim is speculative for the simple reason that in nowhere in the affidavit in support was it stated that the Applicant operates an account with a financial institution and that the said institution had demanded his social media handle. So the suggestion that he would be affected by this Regulation, albeit negatively, is very speculative and at large.

“There is also no deposition to the effect that any financial institution had begun to implement this Regulation and that its implementation had begun to create disruptions and inconvenience against the general population, in which case one could infer that the suit should be legitimated as a public interest litigation.

“Assuming even that the banks had begun to implement these regulations, the applicant assuming he maintained any bank accounts or sought to open one, but is being hindered or irritated by the requirement of the Regulation to avail his social media handle as part of KYC, the Applicant still had a choice, which is to refuse to do business with any bank insisting on the information as part of its social media handle, but to seek other alternatives.”

The Leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, on Friday urged President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the political crisis currently ravaging Rivers State to avoid possible bloodbath.

Primate Ayodele warned that the crisis may lead to political assassinations and bloodbath if it is not well handled.

In a statement by his media aide, Oluwatosin Osho, Ayodele urged the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, to sheath his sword as a matured politician because fighting his successor, Governor Sim Fubara, is totally wrong.

He said Fubara is God’s project and cannot be removed from his seat because God is fighting for him.

According to Ayodele: ‘’President Tinubu should intervene in the Rivers’ politics so that it won’t lead to political assassination and bloodbath. The president should do the right thing without being partial because any insurrection in the state will have a huge impact on Nigeria as a country.

‘’Wike is old enough to calm down, he is doing the wrong thing fighting Fubara because he can’t win. Fubara is God’s project and cannot be removed by anyone because his maker is fighting for him.’’

He described the crisis as an unnecessary comedy that will take a new turn soon if not managed.

The prophet called on both parties to sheath their swords to avoid a situation they will not be able to control.

Furthermore, he asked Fubara to stop replying to Wike but focus on governance and delivering the dividend of democracy to the people of Rivers State.

Primate Ayodele also warned the governor to be careful of people surrounding him currently because they will be used against him.

”Fubara shouldn’t reply to Wike, He has overcome him already. He should focus more on governance and watch his back because those that are aligning with him will still be used against him,’’ he added.