Latest News
FEATURES
Mikah Suleiman, the abducted parish priest of St. Raymond Catholic Church in Damba, Gusau, Zamfara state, has pleaded for help to regain freedom.
In a 51-second video clip trending on social media, Suleiman, dressed in a blue T-shirt with boxer shorts, is seen sitting on the ground while calling for help.
Suleiman was kidnapped by bandits in the early hours of June 22 at the rectory located within the church premises in Gusau, the state capital.
The priest said he was the only one being held captive by the bandits.
“I am pleading for help to be freed from this place. They (bandits) told me that they don’t keep people here for long. People don’t stay for up to a week,” he said.
“They told me that killing a person is not difficult for them. They said they are just helping me by keeping me; please, I am asking for help.
“Please save my life in the name of God. Look at my head; look at my legs. I was tied to a robe, and I am the only one in this place.
“Normally, if they kidnap somebody, they don’t waste time.
“If ransom is not paid immediately, they kill the person. Please, for God’s sake, help me.”
A few seconds to the end of the video, a stick from one of the bandits standing off the camera was seen touching his head.
Labaran Maku, a former minister of information, says President Bola Tinubu should make decisions that will give Nigerians respite from the economic hardship.
Maku spoke in Abuja on Thursday after he was conferred with an honorary fellow of the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).
The former minister said monetary policies are crucial to the development of the country’s economy.
“I will particularly call on him to do everything possible to review and bring to fruition economic policies that will bring some level of respite to the people of Nigeria,” he said.
“I believe that you have to manage the policies of a developing nation to bring about development, and managing the policies calls for special attention to monetary policies. It is very important for the country.
“If the value of the naira continues to go down, the consequences will be that nobody will produce in Nigeria.
“We are a capital goods importing country, and whatever you want to do for the country, you must have imported machinery. We don’t produce machinery.
“If the value of the naira is up, a lot of companies will be in Nigeria, and I believe a lot are doing so. The president needs to look critically at those policies.
“I believe he has the experience and strength to pull Nigerians together by managing politics and the economy.
“I believe that under the current dispensation, we are looking forward to the proper management of the economy of this country.
“We need this. I was the Minister of Information, and I knew how difficult things could be.”
Emmanuel Osodeke, president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), says governors are establishing state universities they cannot fund.
Speaking during ‘The Morning Brief’, a Channels Television programme on Thursday, Osodeke said most governors duplicate universities in their states to get a “piece of the pie” from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
“Any governor today establishing a university is eyeing TETFund as a source of funding,” the ASUU president said.
“TETFund was created as an intervention fund, not the major funding. The universities belong to the federal government, and the government is supposed to fund them, while states are supposed to fund their own.”
“It is an intervention fund, but there are people who want to have access to that money from the political circle, from the bureaucratic circle, at all costs. We are struggling with that.”
The ASUU president said a structure should be created to carry stakeholders along on how the fund is allocated and spent to enhance transparency.
“There should be a stakeholders’ meeting to assess what you want to do with the funds,” he added.
“You see today where somebody comes from the TETFund and says, ‘I have a project for you, and I am going to be the contractor. We want an open project.
“Every university council should be allowed to run their projects with the stakeholders involved.”
Time and again, he reached for his handkerchief, dabbing a face that glistened under the hot TV lights.
Richard Nixon would walk away from the first televised United States presidential debate in 1960 facing a barrage of criticisms: His performance was too shifty, too sweaty. After that race, he and other presidential candidates would refuse to take part in another debate for the next 16 years.
But in the 1980s, an organisation was created to push Republicans and Democrats to participate: the Commission on Presidential Debates. It would orchestrate the debates for the next three decades.
That streak ended this year, when the candidates took matters into their own hands. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump bypassed the commission for the first time in its history, negotiating instead with TV networks to host the debates.
On Thursday night, as the two candidates square off, viewers may not notice a major difference in format. But behind the scenes, experts say there has been a power shift — away from outside management and towards candidate control.
A history of shifting control
The televised debates, however, have changed hands several times over their decades-long history.
In 1960, when Nixon participated in the first televised debates with John F Kennedy — the eventual winner of that year’s race — the TV studios were in charge, and there was no audience.
“It started off with the television networks,” explained Alan Schroeder, professor emeritus of journalism at Northeastern University and the author of a book on the history of presidential debates. “They took turns airing the debates, and that’s the only time that ever was done that way.”
After 1960, though, public debates came to a stop. Only in 1976 did they start up again, largely under the auspices of the League of Women Voters, a nonprofit that emerged out of the women’s suffrage movement.
“But they had difficulty negotiating with the candidates,” Schroeder said. “The candidates made a lot of demands and made it very difficult for the sponsors to get their work done.”
That left an opening for a new entity to emerge. In 1987, the two major political parties in the US — the Democrats and Republicans — announced the joint creation of the Commission on Presidential Debates.
It was envisioned as a bipartisan body to host the debates. But even then, critics questioned whether the shift would place more power in the hands of major-party candidates.
“I think they’re trying to steal the debates from the American voters,” Nancy Neuman, then-president of the League of Women Voters, told the New York Times after the announcement.
The commission also marked a switch from nonpartisan to bipartisan leadership, spurring fears that third-party candidates would be excluded from the debates.
“It seized control of the presidential debates precisely because the League was independent, precisely because this women’s organisation had the guts to stand up to the candidates that the major parties had nominated,” George Farah, the author of No Debate: How the Republican and Democratic Parties Secretly Control the Presidential Debates, told The Guardian in 2012.
How Trump changed the game
But the commission has historically positioned itself as a proxy for the American people.
In an interview last month with The Daily Show, commission co-founder and co-chair Frank Fahrenkopf argued the group’s role was to be “down the middle for the public”.
That characterisation has likewise been challenged, particularly as an unconventional new candidate started to reshape the political sphere: Trump.
The power shift began in 2016, when then-candidates Trump and Hillary Clinton went head to head. Their first match-up was the most-watched debate in the event’s history, drawing 84 million viewers.
But Trump denounced the debates as “biased” and suggested he might skip them in the future.
He reiterated those criticisms again in 2020, when he faced re-election as the incumbent president. The first debate that year was chaotic. Trump repeatedly interrupted candidate Joe Biden, leading the Democrat to remark, “Will you shut up, man?”
“Four years ago, these debates were a disaster,” said Elaine Kamarck, senior fellow in the governance studies programme at the Brookings Institution. She described the 2020 debates as a turning point — and as an “embarrassment”.
“It was out of control. The format was out of control,” Kamarck said. “The commission really couldn’t keep control of this any more.”
This election cycle threatened to be a repeat: Trump and Biden are expected to be their party’s respective nominees once more, and last November, the commission released its usual schedule of debate dates.
But then the campaigns started to push for more control. Trump’s team, in particular, called the commission’s timeline “unacceptable”. It argued that the debates should happen before the early voting period begins in September.
“The Presidential Debate Commission’s schedule does not begin until after millions of Americans will have already cast their ballots,” Trump’s campaign said in a statement.
It also warned, “We are committed to making this happen with or without the Presidential Debate Commission.”
Debating ‘on their own terms’
Ultimately, in May, Biden announced he had accepted an invitation to debate from the news network CNN — and he challenged Trump to do the same. Trump agreed. The commission was cut out of the process entirely.
But Kamarck said the public back-and-forth was the result of behind-the-scenes negotiations by the rival campaigns. Biden’s team, for instance, requested that third-party candidates be excluded and that no audience be involved.
“The two political campaigns have negotiated among themselves and presented the debate format to the TV stations,” Kamarck said. “CNN didn’t start this — they just ended up with it.”
Kamarck emphasised that Trump’s opposition to the originally scheduled debates was likely a deciding factor.
“This was mostly Trump,” Kamarck explained. “At first, he wasn’t going to debate, and then, I think he realised that the election was a little too close not to debate. And because he is a narcissist, he decides, ‘Well, once they see me, they’re going to love me.’”
Still, participating in the debates comes with risks. Unlike rallies, ads or social media posts, debates are not something candidates can choreograph, Schroeder pointed out.
“It’s something totally out of their control. So I think campaigns and candidates have always thought that they would prefer either not to do debates, period, or to do them on their own terms,” he said.
Schroeder added that the candidates may perceive — rightly or wrongly — that there’s an advantage to dealing with TV networks, as opposed to the Commission on Presidential Debates.
“They wanted to be able to cut their own deals, make their own determination about things like format and who asks the questions,” he said. “My guess is, they’re probably making life difficult for CNN.”
What does the change mean for voters?
On Thursday night, CNN’s debate will not feature an in-studio audience, and the candidates’ microphones will be cut off when it is not their turn to speak — conditions both campaigns agreed upon in advance.
But Kamarck noted that the commission had also chosen to mute the candidates’ mics during the second debate of 2020. Not much, she said, will be noticeably different.
“Your average voter is not going to know the difference about something that was negotiated by the commission versus between the candidates,” she said.
But the changes could still have an effect on audience perception, as Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, explained. She participated in a “debate reform working group” that offered recommendations to both campaigns.
Her group suggested that a live studio audience should not be part of the debate structure: Audience reactions, after all, can prejudice the response of viewers at home.
Previously, the financial model for the Commission on Presidential Debates was one reason that a live audience was invited to the debates, according to Jamieson. Universities would bid to host the debates, and major financial sponsors and donors could gain access to seats in the audience.
“The process by which the commission organised the debates and financed them was setting in place a problem, because the audience could not be relied on to be silent throughout the debate,” Jamieson said.
“The additional problem is, you saw the candidates trying to game the system by putting people in the audience who might embarrass the opposing candidate.”
CNN’s financial model, by contrast, does not rely on donations. As a for-profit company, it instead relies on advertising and subscriptions.
“The debates have never been looked at as a way to make money, and unfortunately, this is a big money-making opportunity for CNN,” Schroeder said. “I’m sure they’ll be charging well beyond their normal rates for advertising, because the audience will be much, much larger. So I think that’s problematic.”
The same would be true for any broadcaster, he added. “These are businesses, these are organisations that make money. And I think that their goal is not necessarily enlightening voters — it’s to have a good TV show. That’s a big difference.”
Though the debates are returning to the hands of TV networks, Schroeder notes the media environment has completely changed since 1960. Social media has increased the pressure candidates face.
“Now, you’re getting real-time reactions, and people are reacting to the debate as it’s happening and posting their reactions,” he said.
“Now, you’ve got millions of eyes on them waiting for a misstep, mistake or error or insult, or some moment that can light up social media and that can drive the news coverage.”
But Jamieson is optimistic about the changes behind the scenes.
“They’re returning to the traditional and studio format that started [televised] presidential debates in 1960,” Jamieson said. “It worked well in 1960. It should work well again.”
Advertisement
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
A suspect, Raman Akande, arrested in connection with the death of a commercial sex worker in the Ifo area of Ogun State, has narrated how he and two others allegedly killed the victim for ritual purposes.
Akande, in a confession video made at the police station, and obtained by PUNCH Metro from a source who pleaded anonymity on Wednesday, disclosed that he participated in the killing of the commercial sex worker after one person identified as Ifa promised him a reward of N100,000.
He said following the agreement with Ifa, he went and engaged the services of the victim with an agreement to pay her N3,000 if she slept at his place overnight, which the victim obliged.
Akande narrated in Yoruba (now translated) that after she had gone with him to his home, he engaged the services of one of his friends identified as Ijebu in carrying out the killing.
He narrated further, “It was Ijebu who hit her with a wood on the head, and she collapsed. After she collapsed, I dragged her inside. I was the one who held her legs while Ijebu held her hands before Ifa slaughtered her.
“After Ifa had slaughtered her, he used a calabash to collect her blood. I agreed to participate in the process because Ifa promised to pay me N100,000.
“The lady is not my girlfriend but a commercial sex worker that I have always engaged her services in the past. I usually paid her N1,000 before, but I promised to pay her N3,000 when I went to pick her up.”
Efforts to get the reaction of the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Omolola Odutola, proved abortive as she had yet to respond to messages and calls made to her line as of the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile, a senior police officer privy to the incident but not authorised to speak with the media confirmed the arrest to our correspondent in a telephone conversation on Wednesday.
The senior officer also disclosed that the suspect had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department.
“He was arrested in Ifo, and he has been transferred to the state CID for further action,” the police officer said.
PUNCH Metro reported on Tuesday that a man, Lekan Akinyemi, was arrested by operatives of the Ogun State Police Command for allegedly exhuming and beheading a corpse for ritual purposes in the Itoko area of the state.
The state’s PPRO, Odutola, in a telephone conversation with our correspondent, had disclosed that the suspect was arrested on Monday after a resident had alerted the police to suspicious activities around his father’s grave.
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has approved the disbursement of student loans to successful applicants from selected tertiary institutions.
In a statement published on its official X handle (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, the directive was given following NELFUND inaugural board meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, chaired by its chairman, Jim Ovia.
The statement, signed by NELFUND Head of Media and Public Relations, Nasir Ayitogo, said the meeting marked a significant milestone in the organisation’s commitment to empowering tertiary students through financial support.
It said, “Under the leadership of the Board Chairman, Mr. Jim Ovia, top in agenda was the approval for disbursement of student loan to successful applicants.
“This decision underscores President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s dedication to providing timely and essential financial assistance to students in need, enabling them to pursue their educational goals without undue financial stress.
“By approving the immediate disbursement of the loans, NELFUND is taking a critical step in fulfilling its mission to support education and empower the next generation of leaders.”
The inaugural meeting also set the stage for future initiatives, aimed at enhancing educational opportunities, and providing comprehensive support to students across various disciplines.
Also present at the meeting were the management of the Fund led by its Managing Director/CEO, Akintunde Sawyerr, and representatives of member organisations.
LEADERSHIP reports that NELFUND announced a 14-day postponement of the application process for students of state-owned institutions due to low data submissions.
Ayitogo, on Tuesday, said the decision was necessitated by the failure of several state-owned institutions to upload the required student data and fee information to the NELFUND Student Verification System (SVS).
To date, it said only a limited number of state-owned institutions have completed the data submission process. These include 20 state-owned universities out of 48, 12 state-owned colleges of education out of 54, and two state-owned polytechnics out of 49.
He said, “While we acknowledge the efforts of these institutions, the failure to submit data from the remaining state institutions poses significant challenges to ensuring a seamless and accurate verification process for student loan applicants.”
The application window, initially set to open on June 25, 2024, will now commence on July 10, 2024, according to Ayitogo.
[Leadership]
Australia has unveiled plans to implement revisions to visa conditions for skilled workers visa holders, offering a six-month renewal window aimed at enhancing labour market mobility and addressing unfair labour practices.
These changes, effective from July 1, 2024, will impact visa conditions 8107, 8607, and 8608, according to the Australian Department of Home Affairs
The revised conditions apply to holders of the Temporary Work (Skilled) visa (subclass 457), Temporary Skill Shortage visa (subclass 482), and Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (provisional) visa (subclass 494).
The new regulations grant these visa holders up to 180 days at a time, with a cumulative maximum of 365 days during their visa period, to secure new sponsorship, apply for a new visa, or arrange to leave the country if they cease employment with their sponsoring employer.
During this grace period, skilled workers visa holders in Australia are permitted to work for other employers, even in occupations not listed in their most recent sponsorship nomination.
This provision allows them to sustain themselves while seeking new sponsorship or making other arrangements.
Australian authorities emphasized that the new regulations aim to support the integration and contribution of skilled migrants to the workforce, providing greater job security and flexibility.
“The changes apply to existing visa holders, as well as those granted a visa on or after 1 July 2024. Any periods a visa holder stopped working for their sponsor before 1 July 2024 will not count towards the new time periods outlined above,” the Australian authorities stated.
By implementing these measures, the government hopes to make Australia a more attractive destination for global talent, ensuring skilled migrants can continue to contribute to the economy while enjoying improved job security and flexibility.
The former Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Konga, one of Nigeria’s e-commerce giants, Mr Nick Imudia, has allegedly committed suicide in his home.
According to reports, Imudia, who was until his death, the CEO of D.light, a leading innovator in the distribution and financing of residential solar energy solutions and transformational household products, killed himself on the night of Tuesday, June 25, by jumping from the balcony of his Lekki, Lagos apartment.
The report said: “Before making the jump, he had called his US-based brother to give him instructions on how to distribute his wealth should anything happen to him.
“He also called his young daughter from a previous relationship and told her he would always be there for her and that all she needed to do was to look in the sky and he would see her.
“His friends, family and associates are in shock as to why he would commit suicide.
No one is sure why he took his own life.
“From the Ika South local government area of Delta State, Nick was previously married to the mother of his young daughter who was also from the same local government with him. The marriage ended due to irreconcilable differences.”
Before Konga, Nick had stints with TCL/Alcatel as a regional director and Microsoft Device and Services as the GM/MD for West and Central Africa.
Don Jazzy, the Mavin Records head honcho, has revealed the reason he is not married.
The music producer disclosed this in an interactive session with netizens on X.
Reacting to a question from a fan asking why he is not married, Don Jazzy said he is on a journey of self-development.
Don Jazzy said he is doing that to make sure his partner “enjoys” when he finally gets one.
“I dey work on myself so that when my head correct, my babe go enjoy me,” he wrote in pidgin English.
This roughly translates, “I’m working on myself. Once, I’m 100 percent, my partner will enjoy me.”
In 2021, Don Jazzy revealed that he once got married at age 20 but divorced after two years.
He said he ruined the union with his obsession for music.
The music executive was to marry Michelle Jackson, a UK-based writer and model.
“For so long everyone keeps asking me when am I getting married,” he said.
“Well, the truth is that almost 18 years ago, I was 20 and I got married to my best friend Michelle and it was beautiful.
“I loved love and I loved marriage. Michelle is so beautiful inside and outside with such a soft heart.
“But then me being so young and full of dreams I went and fucked it up cos I was giving all my time to my Music.
“Music became a priority instead of my family. We got divorced when I was 22 and it hurt.
“I am still very much in love with my music and I wouldn’t want to marry another and fuck it up again. So I’m taking my time.”
[TheCable]
It is with deep sorrow and profound respect that we at the IREPRESENT Documentary Film Festival acknowledge the passing of Tam Fiofori, a legendary Nigerian photographer, filmmaker, and author. Tam Fiofori, who departed this world on June 25, 2024, was a monumental figure in the documentary ecosystem of Nigeria. His enduring influence and unwavering support for the IREP docufilm festival have left an indelible mark on our community.
Born in 1942, Tam Fiofori's illustrious career spanned over several decades, during which he profoundly shaped the narrative of Nigerian and African stories through his lens and words. His contributions to documentary filmmaking and photography were not just artistic expressions but powerful commentaries on society, culture, and history.
Tam's dedication to the IREPRESENT Documentary Film Festival was nothing short of inspirational. His presence at nearly every single edition of our festival was a testament to his commitment and passion for the craft. Even in his later years, he continued to submit new work, demonstrating his relentless creativity and his desire to capture the ever-evolving stories of our times.
Tam Fiofori's legacy is one of brilliance, innovation, and an unyielding spirit. He not only chronicled history but also inspired a new generation of filmmakers and photographers to pursue truth and authenticity in their work. His absence will be deeply felt, but his influence will continue to guide and inspire us.
As we mourn his passing, we also celebrate his life and work. We are eternally grateful for the time, talent, and wisdom he shared with us. May his soul rest in perfect peace, and may his legacy continue to illuminate the path for future storytellers.
Rest in peace, ‘Uncle Tam.’ You will be dearly missed, but never forgotten.
Femi ODUGBEMI
On behalf of the Directorate and Board of the iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival Lagos.
More...
Popular Nollywood actress, Osas Ighodaro, has bemoaned the high rate of inflation in the country.
The thespian revealed that N1 million won’t last her more than a day because of the inflation.
She disclosed this in a recent interview with Pulse.
The host asked: “How long will it take you to spend N1 million in this economy?”
Ighodaro replied: “How many seconds? You said seconds? Things are expensive. Maybe a day depending on what I am getting.”
The actress also revealed that Wande Coal is the celebrity she would call when she is having a “bad day.”
She added that Toke Makinwa is the celebrity she would like to raid her wardrobe, stressing that her style is topnotch.
[DailyPost]
Federal High Court sitting in Lagos will, on October 21, resume proceedings in an alleged debt dispute between Anchorage Leisures Ltd & two others versus Ecobank Nigeria Ltd.
Justice Yellin Bogoro fixed the date to enable the first defendant/counter-claimant (Ecobank) respond to the Affidavit for the Record filed by the plaintiffs (Anchorage Leisures Ltd & two others).
The parties in suit FHC/L/CS/352/2023 are Anchorage Leisures Limited, Siloam Global Limited and Honeywell Flour Mills Plc as plaintiffs/respondents, while Ecobank is defendant/counterclaimant.
The suit arose following a January 27, 2023, Supreme Court judgment allegedly affirming indebtedness of Honeywell and its cronies to Ecobank to the tune of 13 billion naira as at 2023.
But the plaintiffs instituted the instant suit at Federal High Court contending, among others, that the Supreme Court did not pronounce a figure in its judgment.
At a prior hearing, the court following an application by Ecobank’s lawyer, Kumle Ogunba (SAN), granted the bank leave to join Dr. Oba Otudeko, Flour Mills and Honeywell Group as defendants to its counterclaim seeking to recover the alleged debt.
When the matter resumed yesterday before Justice Bogoro, ‘Bode Olanipekun (SAN) led a team on behalf of the first-third plaintiffs/defendants to counter-claim, Ogunba led a team on behalf of the first defendant/counter claimant, Ade Adedeji (SAN)led a team on behalf of the fourth defendant to the counter claim, Abimbola Akeredolu (SAN) led a team on behalf of the fifth defendant to the counter claim while Taiwo Osipitan (SAN) led a team on behalf of the sixth defendant to the counter claim.
Olanipekun informed the court the plaintiffs had transmitted the record of appeal and filed their brief of argument challenging the court’s decision. He applied that the matter should be adjourned sine die.
Opposing him, Ogunba drew the court’s attention to proceedings of April 17, saying the court held it would hear pending applications, including plaintiff’s application for stay of proceedings, noting the oral application by Olanipekun was contrary to pronouncement of the court on the last adjourned date.
[TheNation]
The domestic crude oil supply crisis that recently led to accusations and denials in the oil sector may warrant an investment plunge in the industry, operators declared on Wednesday.
According to operators at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the crisis may damage the confidence of International Oil Companies and investors in refineries.
This came as a section of the 650,000-capacity Dangote Petroleum Refinery caught fire on Wednesday, sparking reactions on social media as videos of the incident went viral.
The management of the facility, however, allayed fears about the incident, as it stated that the situation had been put under control, adding that no one was harmed by the fire outbreak.
Meanwhile, the LCCI charged the Federal Government to prevent any form of blackmail and victimisation of IOCs and local refiners by quickly resolving the issues around oil supply contracts, higher crude cost in Nigeria above international prices, and the cost of logistics.
The Director-General, LCCI, Chinyere Almona, disclosed this while responding to enquiries by our correspondent on the views of IOCs concerning the recent accusations against them by a senior official of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
IOCs operating in Nigeria such as Shell, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, and Nigeria Agip Oil Company, among others, are under the Oil Producers Trade Section of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
This came as modular refinery operators demanded the intervention of the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, in the lingering domestic crude oil supply crisis.
“Since the issue around crude supply to the Dangote refinery and the IOCs, the chamber has consulted with some relevant parties. While these consultations continue, we call on the government, as the regulator, to provide a detailed report on what the key issues are and what it intends to do to resolve these issues.
“This is critical as uncertainties like this can be a disincentive to potential investors in the oil and gas sector. The regulatory agency (NUPRC) must show the capacity to resolve issues about protecting investors’ interests. The investors here are the Dangote refinery and the IOCs,” Almona stated.
Modular refiners are, of course, investors in the midstream arm of the oil and gas sector, as the LCCI DG had earlier told our correspondent that the chamber had championed calls for the provision of crude to operators in this space.
Continuing in her response on Wednesday to the recent crude supply concerns between IOCs and the Dangote refinery, she added, “Crude oil is an international commodity traded on open trade terms in the global markets.
“Still, we can resolve these issues to prevent any form of blackmail and victimisation of any party. The issues around supply contracts, higher prices above international crude prices, and the cost of logistics should be quickly resolved before they damage the confidence of investors in the sector.”
Also, the National Vice President of the Nigerian Association of Small-Scale Industrialists, Segun Kuti-George, said the battling with crude oil locally to boost production by Dangote Refineries would dampen investors’ confidence if it lingered.
He said, “This development will affect negatively. Our crude oil is being used in other countries, I am concerned about the situation where we export crude oil to other countries, yet we import refined products.
“It doesn’t make sense. Why can’t our refineries process the crude oil we produce? Instead, we’re exporting it to other nations, only to import refined products from them.
“It’s suspicious and seems like a game is being played. I hope this isn’t another case of inefficiency or lack of capacity. We need to get our refineries working to process our crude oil and reduce our reliance on imported refined products. We must address this issue, if we continue in this course, we can dampen investors’ confidence.”
IOCs urged
It was reported on Monday that the Vice President of Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, had accused International Oil Companies in Nigeria of plans to frustrate the survival of the new Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
Edwin had said the IOCs were deliberately and willfully frustrating the refinery’s efforts to buy local crude by hiking the cost above the market price, thereby forcing the refinery to import crude from countries as far as the United States, with its attendant high costs.
“Recall that the NUPRC recently met with crude oil producers as well as refineries owners in Nigeria, in a bid to ensure full adherence to Domestic Crude Oil Supply Obligations as enunciated under section 109(2) of the Petroleum Industry Act.
“It seems that the IOCs’ objective is to ensure that our petroleum refinery fails. It is either they are deliberately asking for a ridiculous/humongous premium or they simply state that crude is not available. At some point, we paid $6 over and above the market price. This has forced us to reduce our output as well as import crude from countries as far as the US, increasing our cost of production. It appears that the objective of the IOCs is to ensure that Nigeria remains a country which exports crude oil and imports refined petroleum products. They (IOCs) are keen on exporting the raw materials to their home countries, creating employment and wealth for their countries, adding to their Gross Domestic Product, and dumping the expensive refined products into Nigeria – thus making us to be dependent on imported products. It is the same strategy the multinationals have been adopting in every commodity, making Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa to be facing unemployment and poverty, while they create wealth for themselves at our expense.
“This is exploitation – pure and simple. Unfortunately, the country is also playing into their hands by continuing to issue import licences at the expense of our economy and at the cost of the health of the Nigerians who are exposed to carcinogenic products,” the Dangote refinery official had stated.
Edwin had also accused the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority of granting licences indiscriminately to oil marketers to import dirty refined products into the country.
He had stated that even though Dangote was producing and bringing diesel into the market, complying with the regulations of the Economic Community of West African States, “licences are being issued, in large quantities, to traders who are buying the extremely high sulphur diesel from Russia and dumping it in the Nigerian market.”
But the Federal Government, on Tuesday, denied this claim, as it declared that there was no importation of dirty fuel into Nigeria, countering the position of the official Dangote refinery official.
The government declared this after meeting with oil marketers and local refiners of crude oil in Abuja, where parties at the meeting discussed issues pertaining refined products’ pricing, issues of competition and the importation of products that are produced in Nigeria.
The government spoke through the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, as it explained that refined petroleum products with high-sulphur contents were last imported in February, and that this had since been addressed by the regulator.
The Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, NMDPRA, Ogbugo Ukoha, disclosed this to journalists after the regulator concluded its meeting with the oil marketers and local crude oil refiners, which had officials from Dangote refinery and modular refineries.
“There is no dirty fuel that is being brought into Nigeria,” Ukoha had declared, when asked to react to the allegations leveled against the NMDPRA by a senior official of the Dangote refinery.
Negotiations necessary
To adequately tackle the crisis, the LCCI called for further negotiations among parties, noting that issues of crude oil pricing and supply contracts require thorough discussions by all players.
“We urge the government to remain close to the emerging issues around pricing and supply contracts among all parties to create an environment where the IOCs and all other parties can trade profitably together, create jobs, and generate revenue for the government,” the chamber’s DG stated.
Almona pointed out that “we can all learn from these teething issues to enrich our oil and gas sector regulation for better performance.”
She added, “We acknowledge the efforts made so far by the government in calling the IOCs to supply crude to the Dangote refinery, we add our voice to say both parties should consider coming to the table with their offers negotiated within international best practices and as moderated by the sector regulators.”
Modular refiners
On their part, operators of modular refineries stated that the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, should intervene in the matter if the Presidency would not find the chance to do so.
They spoke to our correspondent through their umbrella association, the Crude Oil Refinery Owners Association of Nigeria, while reacting to Dangote’s recent revelation on the crude oil supply matter.
CORAN is a registered association of modular and conventional refinery companies in Nigeria. Modular refineries are simplified refineries that require significantly less capital investment than traditional full-scale refineries.
The Publicity Secretary, CORAN, Eche Idoko, said, “The chairman of CORAN was at ChannelsTV yesterday (Tuesday) to discuss the statement by Dangote that the IOCs are frustrating his refinery and by extension other local refineries. While we acknowledge the efforts of NMDPRA and NUPRC, they can only push within the ambit of the law and their enabling status.
“The issue as it stands requires the Federal Government, at least through the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance if the Presidency is not available to react. This matter fundamentally bothers on the government’s fiscal policy directions.
We need to know clearly from the government where they lean on.
“Is it to achieve self-sufficiency concerning in-country refining or to continue the regime of fuel importation and holding onto the coat-tails of the foreign traders and their goons in Nigeria who have continued to stifle the growth in the mid and downstream segment of our petroleum industry?”
Idoko said the private sector saw the challenge in the oil sector and “took a bold step in the interest of the country to sink huge investments in the sector.
“The least we would want from this government and its economic team is to also take the same bold steps and stand unambiguously behind those who have taken the risk to invest here. This will be at least in keeping with one of their campaign promises.”
The association urged all the stakeholders in the oil sector to put the interest of Nigerians first and work towards alienating the sufferings of the citizenry.
“The government must not allow itself to be blackmailed, hoodwinked or bullied into pursuing an agenda that will benefit the foreign trading mafias and their agents in Nigeria at the expense of the suffering masses. Rather they should seize this opportunity to build synergy with emerging local investors within the refining space to build a vibrant and resilient refined petroleum products’ trading hub in Nigeria that will not only benefit the country but the entire subregion,” the CORAN official stated.
Refinery fire
Also on Wednesday, a section of the 650,000-capacity Dangote refinery caught fire, sparking reactions on social media as videos of the incident went viral.
The incident, which came at a time when the Dangote Group was accusing some oil mafias of sabotage, generated tension among Nigerians, who feared that the fire might further delay the operations of the refinery which promised to start the supply of Premium Motor Spirit in July.
While the company has yet to state the root cause of the fire incident, one of our correspondents gathered that it must have been triggered by an electricity surge.
While confirming the incident, the Group Chief Branding & Communications Officer, Dangote Industries Limited, Anthony Chiejina, described the incident as minor.
Chiejina noted that the company had contained a minor fire that affected only the effluent treatment plant.
“We have swiftly contained a minor fire incident at our effluent treatment plant today, Wednesday, June 26,” he noted.
Chiejina also stressed that the refinery was still operating, and no injury or bodily harm was recorded due to the incident.
“There is no cause for alarm as the refinery is operating and there is no recorded injury or body harm to all our staff on duty,” he concluded.
Speaking with our correspondent, the Secretary of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria, Olufemi Adewole, commended the Dangote Group for acting swiftly to stop the fire from spreading to other parts of the refinery.
Adewale said he might not be able to make comments on the incident, but empathised with the company.
“I will not be able to comment on the incident. I will just say we empathise with them, and it is a good thing they were able to put out the fire swiftly.
“It started as an accident from everything we read, probably some people started perceiving smells of burning cable. Anything could have happened at any point in time, but the good thing is that their safety crew were on top of it and were able to put it off. So, I think they did a very good job. We empathise with them, and they’ve done a good job,” Adewole said.
Giving a piece of advice, Adewole said industry players should continue to work towards safety to avoid accidents.
“Safety is not an accident. Safety is something that we all are working towards to ensure that we avoid accidents. The less of accidents we have in our various depots and refineries, the better for us,” he stated.
Our correspondent reminded Adewole that a fire incident happened at the Honeywell depot in Apapa in May, asking what was being done to stop the fire from becoming a trend and the need to put safety discussions on the front burner.
Adewole replied, “It is not a trend at all. When you see a trend, you will know.”
The DAPPMAN secretary added, “Safety is already on the front burner for everybody. I can assure you of that. Our depots do their monthly fire drills to keep themselves on top of every situation so that they can always counter any fire, any accident or any incident promptly.
“It is really good that the refinery was able to curtail the fire the way they did and that simply tells us that they know what they are doing. They are on top of their game.”
Lagos govt
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service said it was unaware of the incident.
The Director of Public Affairs of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Amodu Shakiru, disclosed this to our correspondent in a telephone conversation.
Shakiru said neither its area office in Lekki nor the headquarters got a distress call from the Dangote refinery.
In the past few days, the Dangote refinery has been in the news for accusing international oil companies of denying it access to crude oil.
[Punch]
A city council in South Korea said Wednesday, June 26, that their first administrative officer robot was defunct after throwing itself down some stairs, with local media mourning the country’s first robot suicide.
South Korea’s Gumi City Council announced the robot was found unresponsive after apparently falling down a two-meter staircase last week.
Witnesses saw the robot officer "circling in one spot as if something was there" before the accident occurred, but the exact cause of the fall is still being investigated, a city council official told AFP.
"Pieces have been collected and will be analysed by the company," the official said.
The official added that the robot had "helped with daily document deliveries, city promotion, and delivered information" to local residents.
"It was officially a part of the city hall, one of us," another official said. "It worked diligently."
The robot, made by Bear Robotics, a Californian robot-waiter startup, was appointed in August 2023.
It worked from 9 am to 6 pm and had its own civil service officer card.
Unlike other robots, which can typically only use one floor, the Gumi City Council robot could call an elevator and move floors on its own.
Headlines in local media questioned the apparent robot suicide, saying: "Why did the diligent civil officer do it?"
Others asked, "Was work too hard" for the robot?
South Korea is one of the most enthusiastic users of robots globally.
It has the highest robot density in the world, with one industrial robot for every 10 employees, according to the International Federation of Robotics.
Gumi City Council is currently not planning to adopt a second robot officer at this moment, it told AFP.