The Group Chief Commercial Officer at Dangote Industries Limited, Rabiu Umar has said the Nigerian government neglected Dangote Refinery to export crude oil to Indonesia and import finished products from the same country.

Umar disclosed this in an interview with Channels Television on Monday monitored by DAILY POST.

He stated this is coming despite the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote refinery’s inability to get adequate crude oil supply in Nigeria.

“Whilst we are going to import cargoes abroad. Most of the cargo from Nigeria is sold to Indonesia. So the question is, does it make sense to take cargo from Nigeria to sell to Indonesia and then you are also importing the same finished product to Nigeria? It does not make sense to me”, he said.

He added, “We expect to see an improved supply of crude oil to domestic refineries”.

He, however, reiterated that Dangote Refinery will commence the domestic supply of fuel in August 2024.

The development comes amid the recent impasse between the Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority over substandard products.

Recall that last week, Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA stated that Dangote products were inferior.

Meanwhile, Rabiu clarified that Dangote Refinery products are not substandard but rather among the best in the World.

Earlier, Aliko Dangote, the owner of Dangote Refinery had also dismissed Ahmed’s statement that its products were inferior.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on President Bola Tinubu to invite the leaders of a planned nationwide protest over hardship in the country, asking him to also address the challenges facing the citizens. 

“As the date for the widely reported national protest looms, the Nigeria Labour Congress urges President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to invite the leadership of the protest movement for discussions on their grievances,” the NLC said in a Monday statement by its president Joe Ajaero.

The NLC chief said with inflation hitting 34.19  per cent coupled with the hike in food and electricity tariffs among others, there is a need for President Tinubu to address these challenges.

“It is, therefore, condescending and dismissive to describe the daily brutish ordeal that Nigerians are going through as a sponsored political dissent. Even if it is so, it is still within the confines of citizens’ rights to protest on political grounds. Just that the current unease in the country does not need political motivation to spark and splurge,” Ajaero said.

“All that the hurting citizens demand from their government is a listening ear and an empathetic heart. Maybe, that is what the organisers of the protest are looking for given their continued notices on different social media platforms.”

‘Dire Times’

It faulted what it described as the “hostility” of the Nigerian government toward the planned protest, saying it does not “offer any tangible remedy either to the pain endured by the populace or the frustrations of having so little in a country where a few privileged persons are living in obscene luxury, especially at the expense of the majority. These are dire times. Nigerians are angry”.

“The times require the government to ‘jaw-jaw’ and not ‘war war’ with Nigerians. The truth is that you cannot smack a child and at the same time ask the child not to cry,” he said.

Nigerian workers under the aegis of All Workers Convergence (AWC) have declared that anyone who is kicking against the planned protest against hunger in the country is an enemy of the people.

AWC made this declaration via a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze and made available to DAILY POST on Monday.

DAILY POST reports that a planned protest across the country has been fixed to start on 1st August.

Some individuals and groups have been kicking against the planned protest.

The AWC, in its reaction, described protest against bad governance, hunger and insecurity as a legitimate right of the people.

The workers’ group maintained that anyone who is kicking against the planned protest is an enemy of the people.

According to the group, the protest became necessary in view of the challenges Nigerians are currently passing through at this period.

It noted that the protest is a revolt against hunger and a rebellion against hardship.

The statement read, “We have been calling for protest and we shall continue to call for protest until the system works for the public good. We are in full support of calls by Nigerians for massive protest inorder to end hunger, hardship and bad governance in Nigeria.

“In a situation like ours in Nigeria, protest becomes a collective duty. It is however, antisocial not to participate in protest.

“Our people have lost hope in the system. All our able-bodied citizens are either leaving or planning to leave the country. Our people are being daily strangled by bad governance. Our government keep telling us the same old story.

“While the mass majority of our people pass through hardship, our rulers and a very few are immersed in unimaginable wealth and wastage of national resources.

“We will not sit down and continue to see things get worse by the day. Our leaders have been making mockery of governance and certainly we cannot continue like this.

“Governance under Tinubu has brought untold hardship to our people. Everything is now upside down. It appears governance under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has collapsed.

“We the Nigerian workers support the call for national protest against hunger and bad governance. Protest everywhere is a fundamental human rights. Protest everywhere is lawful. Protest is not a crime. Protest is a duty of all citizens. We shall protest, no going back. We salute the courage of our people as we all continue to mobilise for actions towards the the day.

“This protest is a revolt against hunger and a rebellion against hardship. Our people are only trying to resist deprivation. This is a revolution towards the genuine transformation of Nigeria.

“Our people have suffered enough. Our people have made up their minds to arrest the situation. We are going ahead with the planned protest.

“Anybody against this call for protest is an enemy of the people. It is time to emancipate Nigeria from corruption, bad governance and exploitation. We call for synergy among all the organisers of this protest. We shall overcome. No retreat no surrender.”

[DAILYPOST]

Maverick singer, Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, has vowed to divorce his wife of 47 years if United States Vice President, Kamala Harris, doesn’t win the upcoming presidential election.
DAILY POST reports that President Joe Biden stepped down as the Democratic Party candidate on Sunday and endorsed his vice, Kamala Harris, as the party’s flagbearer.

Reacting via his X handle, Charly Boy said after the first Black male President in the person of Barack Obama, America deserves the first Black Female President.

He vowed to divorce his wife if Kamala Harris, who he described as his “crush” doesn’t win the election.

He wrote in Pidgin: “If dis my crush, Kamala Harris no win the USA presidential election, I swear, I go divorce my wife of 47yrs.

“After the first Black Male President, America deserves the first Black Female President.

“Sorry rednecks. Dats how we Roll.”

Kamala Harris is yet to be officially nominated as the Democratic Party’s candidate despite Biden’s endorsement.

According to The Hill, she has secured over a quarter of the delegates needed to win the Democratic Presidential nomination so far.

The house of representatives joint committee on petroleum resources (downstream and midstream) has launched a probe into claims that local refineries, including the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, produce inferior products.

The committee is also investigating the allegations that the international oil companies (IOCs) in Nigeria are frustrating the survival of the Dangote refinery.

At the inaugural sitting on Monday, Ikenga Ugochinyere, chair of petroleum resources downstream committee, said a “thorough and transparent” probe would be carried out on the claims, including detailed laboratory investigations at all local refineries, marketers and importers facilities, and regulatory agencies.

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and Dangote refinery have been embroiled in a dispute that began recently.

On July 18, Farouk Ahmed, the chief executive officer of NMDPRA had said local refineries, including the Dangote refinery, were producing inferior products compared to the ones imported into the country.

The oil regulator also accused the Dangote of monopoly.

Aliko Dangote, CEO of the Dangote Group, has denied both claims.

Ugochinyere said the committee would further investigate the “indiscriminate” issuance of licences and importation of refined petroleum products, return of PMS price intervention, allegation of product unavailability to marketers from NNPC retail, and endless shifting of timelines for refinery rehabilitation and the nefarious activities at petrol depots.

“The committee will also conduct a legislative forensic investigation into the presence of middlemen in crude trading, alleged unavailability of international standard laboratories to check adulterated products, influx of contaminated products into the country, the allegation of non-domestication of profits realized from crude marketing sales in local banks, abuse of the PFI regime, importation of products already being produced in Nigeria and use of international trading companies to resell fuel stock to local refineries at high mark up prices,” Ugochinyere said.

“The two committees were also mandated to carry out a legislative forensic investigation into the allegation of importation of substandard products and high-sulphur diesel into Nigeria, the alleged production of substandard diesel and other petroleum products by some domestic producers.”

He said the panels will also probe the alleged anomalies in the importation and distribution of PMS by the state oil company, the economic viability of the alleged sale of petroleum products below fair market value and its impact on downstream and local refineries and revenue generation as well as the source of funds for such price interventions, quantity imported, the amount spent and why the products are still high in the retailing market.

In addition, the lawmaker said the committee will investigate the alleged failure of some of the regulators to enforce compliance on standards, the lack of support to local crude refiners, and the issuance of import licences, despite local production.

“Following the investigative order given to the committee by the 10th people’s house, today we are going to officially commence the comprehensive forensic legislative investigation into several critical issues that threaten the stability and trust in our petroleum industry,” he said.

‘WE’LL CONDUCT THOROUGH PROBE’

The lawmaker said the probe will start with addressing allegations concerning the importation of substandard petroleum products and the non-availability of crude oil to domestic refineries, which has raised serious concerns about the quality and safety of fuel in our market.

He said the panel will take a closer look at the integrity of the testing processes for petroleum products in the country, particularly focusing on the capacity and credibility of all the testing labs of all stakeholders in the downstream and midstream value chain, local middlemen and the laboratories they employ.

Ugochinyere said to ensure a thorough and transparent investigation, the committee would undertake detailed laboratory investigations at all local refineries, marketers’ and importers’ facilities, regulatory agencies, state oil companies, and other players in the sector.

“We will visit various filling stations, depots, and tank farms to take samples in line with intl standards, verify the quality of imported products and asses the testing capacities of all refineries and all refined product handling outfits,” he said.

“The collection of samples will be done transparently and in line with global best practices and would be in 4 specimens for independent testing in a different standard, accredited Laboratory including that of all stakeholders involved in refining and importation of refined petroleum products.

“The committee will select different locations, including filling stations, depots and even currently discharging ships. Samples shall be taken in the presence of representatives of NMDPRA, refinery representatives, marketers/importers and the committee.

“After collection, the samples will be tested jointly and also independently by the committee and the stakeholders to ascertain the contents. Component to be tested for as listed as follows: sulfur content, density, distillation, flash point, octane number for gasoline and cetane number for diesel.”

‘STAKEHOLDERS WILL BE INVITED’

Ugochinyere said zonal interaction committees would be set up to ensure “swift movement” to different parts of the country to interact with stakeholders and take samples from stakeholders’ facilities for immediate laboratory analysis.

He said invitations would be dispatched on Monday (today) for submissions of relevant documents and appearances to key stakeholders, regulatory bodies, state oil companies, petroleum products refining companies, IPMAN, PETROAN, independent oil producers, IOCs, importers, marketers, depot owners and other stakeholders too numerous to mention.

“We are committed to transparency, thoroughness, and accountability throughout this process that will help us to identify and resolve the underlying issues plaguing Nigeria’s petroleum sector,” Ugochinyere said.

Therefore, he said the committee resolved that parties in the raging argument — Dangote refinery, other refining companies, NMDPRA, marketers and relevant stakeholders — “should henceforth cease further allegations and counter-allegations pending the conclusion and outcome of the investigation”.

A renowned political economist, Pat Utomi, on Monday, threatened to sue the special adviser on Information and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, Bayo Onanuga.

Recall that Onanuga, in a post on X Platform, formerly (Twitter), accused the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, his supporters and Obidients of planning to stage nationwide protests against hunger, naira devaluation and economic hardship in the country.

In his post he said, “Obi should be held responsible for anarchy. Don’t be fooled: the malcontents planning to stage nationwide protests are supporters of Peter Obi, the failed presidential candidate of the Labour Party. And he should be held responsible for whatever crisis emanates from the action.

“The protest planners are also the same people who were instigated by IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu to launch the destructive ENDSARS protest in Nigeria in October 2020.

“ENDSARS began as a genuine protest by youths against the Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad, notorious for its high-handedness.

“IPOB members planning to extricate the South East region from Nigeria infiltrated the protest and hijacked it for their own agenda.

“Lagos still bears the scar of the malicious destruction by IPOB elements until today. Two years after ENDSARS, the IPOB and the gullible innocents joined the Labour Party in 2022 to support Peter Obi, a sympathiser of their cause. They are the people spreading the hashtags ‘EndBadGovernance’, ‘Tinubu Must Go,’ and ‘Revolution2024’.

“They are not democrats but anarchists. They are attempting to call out our people via propaganda because their Messiah, Peter Obi, failed to win the Presidency in the 2023 election.

“As bad losers, they don’t have the patience to wait for another election in 2027; they would rather destabilise Nigeria by staging a civilian coup against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“If they understand the meaning of their hashtags, they will realise they are clarion calls for treason. Wanting to end an elected government is high treason.

“Wanting revolution is a call for a coup d’etat, which is also high treason. I have been on the trail of one of the protest planners, who is nameless but claims to have an internet radio station, PTM100.88 Abuja.”

Utomi, in his reaction to the allegation against Obi and his supporters, advised Onanuga to withdraw his statement or provide evidence of his claims.

He warned that he would sue Onanuga and claim ₦500bn if he fails to provide sophisticated evident.

The full statement reads, “My attention has been drawn to a statement by Mr. Bayo Onauga, a spokesman for the presidency alleging that I have been a key player in demonstrations viewed as insurrection.

“Let me state first and foremost that I have no problem with protests. They are legitimate sources of feedback in a democracy. I have participated in several during military rule alongside some of those now in government. My reaction to Onanuga’s statement has therefore nothing to do with the legitimacy of the demonstrations but with the deliberate and outright falsehood of the statement.

“First, I have been living in the United States for several months now and was actually unaware of threats of demonstrations so I could not have been part of something I did not know was in the works.

“As a student of the State in post-Colonial Africa. I am horrified that agents of the State can fabricate deliberate falsehood.

“As I know phones are bugged there should at least be evidence of some contact between me and these ostensible demonstration planners. They do not even need to produce the conversation to show evidence but just a thread of contacts.

“If no evidence of Mr. Onanuga’s false assertion is shown I will assume it reasonable that the object is to water the ground for false treasonable felony charges that can result in the claim of one’s life. I intend to therefore proceed to the international criminal and other human rights courts if a reasonable explanation is not forth coming.

“I will also have no choice but to institute a claim of ₦500 Billon for of fake news, hate speech and intent to procure State murder of an innocent citizen. If judicial capture makes justice problematic in Nigeria I expect that I can trust extra-national institutions and global human solidarity.

“As one who survived two assassination attempts under Abacha of which there is public court records when some of those now in power were my colleague freedom advocates I am clear they know the consequence of their plotting.

“I have in a reaction on X already indicated that I meant to ignore the false assertion but I have been advised of a more sinister motive of State terror that should not be allowed to go unchallenged. In the plan apparently being instigated by Mr. Onanuga.”

Former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, has raised concern over the lingering economic crisis in Nigeria, recalling that Nigeria had the biggest economy in Africa as of 2014.

Naija News recalls that Nigeria, as of 2014, was being led by former President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

A year later, in a surprising turn of events, Jonathan, an incumbent president, lost a re-election bid to the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari.

Recall that Obi was a former member of the PDP before defecting to the Labour Party in 2023 to pursue his presidential ambition.

Taking to his official account on X on Monday, Peter Obi, a candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election, said the country’s economy soon began to drop in 2015.

In his message, Obi drew attention to the stark difference between Nigeria’s economic achievements during its early post-democracy years and its current economic condition.

According to him, upon returning to democratic rule in 1999, Nigeria saw an average GDP growth rate of approximately 6.72% over 16 years, 1999-2014.

However, he highlighted a decline in this momentum, with GDP growth dropping to 2.79% in 2015, leading to an economic downturn in 2016.

Obi said: “In 2014, just before the inception of a new administration a year later, Nigeria had the biggest economy in Africa with a Gross Domestic Product of $568.5 billion and a GDP Per Capita of about $3,200.”

On the other hand, he observed that by 2023, Nigeria had dropped to the 4th position in terms of the largest economies in Africa, boasting a GDP of $375 billion and an average income per person of $1700.

He noted that subsequently, the economic situation deteriorated in 2024, with the GDP expected to fall even further to around $253 billion and the average income per person to decrease to $1087.

This information, according to him, is based on data collected from StatiSense, a company that uses artificial intelligence for analyzing financial reports, examining bank statements, and providing services through AI chatbots.

Subsequently, the former governor expressed alarm at the current state of affairs, saying, “Today, poverty is pervasive and on the increase. Unemployment is rising. Food inflation has skyrocketed to over 43%. Foreign and local investors are losing faith in the future growth of our economy and are leaving in large numbers. Businesses are shutting down.”

Obi urged for immediate measures to stop more economic downturns and shift it from spending to creating as he criticized the present leadership.

He said, “Urgent actions need to be taken to salvage the nation from further economic collapse and move it from consumption to production.

“However, instead of concerning ourselves with all these challenges threatening our collective existence and finding ways to recreate an inclusive and sustainable economy, pull millions of people out of poverty, and return our nearly 20 million out-of-school children to schools, our leaders are more concerned with funding their selfish luxuries and individual lavishness while throwing blames at others who are only committed to solving the nation’s problems.

“In the face of all these challenges, we the leaders, should commit to inclusive and sustainable growth to end the hardship which has continued to burden our fellow Nigerians. Only through that can we achieve a peaceful and secure society.”

Recently, Naija News reported that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate reached 34.19 per cent in June, even as the food inflation was over 40 per cent.

The 2023 Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has charged those attacking him to focus on alleviating the sufferings of Nigerians.

Obi’s comment is coming when President Bola Tinubu’s spokesman, Bayo Onanuga accused Obi of planning mayhem in Nigeria.

Onanuga also painted Obi as a failed presidential candidate, stressing that he should be held responsible for whatever crisis that would emanate from the action. 

However, Obi said his attackers should use the energy against him to focus on making Nigeria a great place.

Posting on X, the former Anambra State governor wrote: “I urge you to channel your energy and resources towards helping everyday Nigerians who are struggling to find their next meal, secure education for their children, gain employment, and access adequate healthcare.

“Rather than fabricating lies, you and your paymasters should listen to the cries of the poor, who cannot afford medicine and who are uncertain about their next meal. Pay attention to the voices of reason from individuals and institutions that emphasize the plight of our citizens. Let us unite in building a nation where everyone can thrive-PO”