BeeBeeOoh:


https://dailypost.ng/2024/09/25/govt-will-register-tax-foreigners-earning-income-in-nigeria-presidency/

dre11:


https://dailytrust.com/fresh-round-of-fuel-scarcity-amid-pms-production-at-dangote-refinery/

The monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised the monetary policy rate (MPR), which benchmarks interest rates, from 26.75 percent to 27.25 percent.

Olayemi Cardoso, CBN’s governor, announced the 50 basis points increase at a press conference on Tuesday after the committee’s 297th meeting in Abuja.

Cardoso said the increase was to further tame inflation.

On September 16, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Nigeria’s inflation rate declined to 32.15 percent in August — the second time in 2024.

Also, the CBN governor said the committee retained the asymmetric corridor at +500 and -100 basis points around the MPR.

He said the committee also increased the cash reserve ratio (CRR) from 45 percent to 50 percent, while retaining the liquidity rate at 30 percent.

Cardoso said the MPC agreed to increase monitoring of future releases with a view to addressing its effect on price developments.

He also said the committee noticed the relative stability and convergence in the exchange rate across the various market segments resulting from the bank’s tight monetary policy stance.

The CBN governor said it will help improve confidence, which will enable economic agents to plan in the medium to long term.

“The committee was, however, unanimous in recognising that a lot more is required to actualise the bank’s price stability mandate,” he said.

“The MPC noted that even though headline inflation trended downwards due to a moderation in food inflation, core inflation has remained elevated, driven primarily by rising energy prices.

“The uptrend poses severe concerns to members as it clearly indicates the persistence of inflationary pressures. Members thus reiterated the need to work in close collaboration with the fiscal authority to address the current upward pressure on energy prices.

“The MPC noted the continued growth in money supply, recognising the need to curtail excess liquidity in the system as well as address foreign exchange demand pressures.”

‘FG HAS PLEDGED NOT TO DEPEND ON WAYS AND MEANS FOR FINANCING’

Cardoso said the MPC was worried about the fiscal deficits.

However, he said the federal government has pledged not to resort to ways and means for monetary financing.

“Members were also concerned about the growing level of fiscal deficit but acknowledged the commitment of the fiscal authority not to resort to monetary financing through ways and means,” he said.

‘LIFTING PETROL FROM DANGOTE REFINERY WILL REDUCE TRANSPORT COSTS’

Also, Cardoso applauded the federal government for the effort put into stabilising food prices.

He said the committee expressed optimism that “the lifting of refined petroleum products from Dangote Petroleum Refinery will moderate transportation costs and significantly support the easing of food price pressures in the short to medium term”.

“This is also expected to moderate foreign exchange demand for importation of refined petroleum products, with a positive spillover on external reserve and improvement in the overall balance of payment position,” he said.

Cardoso also applauded the ongoing efforts of the federal government of Nigeria to bridge the supply deficit through a duty-free import window for food commodities.

In addition, the CBN governor said the MPC “noted that the real policy rate remains negative, even after the recent moderation in headline inflation”.

“To attract investments into the economy, efforts must be sustained to achieve a positive real interest rate.” he said.

Cardoso it would enhance the economy’s competitiveness for foreign capital, thereby improving the exchange rate.

Islie:

•Reveals he has two oil blocks, but won’t invest heavily in upstream segment

•NNPC has pledged to give us 390,000 bpd in October, says Africa’s richest man

•Insists selling crude in local currency will reduce pressure on Naira by 40%

•Maintains imported fuel 15 to 20% more expensive than his





https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2024/09/24/dangote-nnpc-made-huge-mistake-by-reducing-stake-in-our-refinery-from-20-to-7-2/

Nlfpmod

Lanrelagboi:

https://porscheclassy.com/breaking-popular-islamic-singer-rukayat-gawat-is-dead/

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man until August 2024, and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, Nigeria’s state oil company, have many things in common. Both are business partners; both are avid monopolists;both leverage on government patronage to muscle out competition and both are passionately Nigerian, among other shared characteristics.

Dangote is Nigeria’s top business icon. From an initial seed money of N500, 000 loan from his uncle, he started business with in 1977, Dangote bullied way to a $13.4 billion net worth in August 2024, down from $13.9bn in April.He dominates any field of business endeavour he is into or quits. Today, the Dangote Group has international operations in Benin, Ghana, Zambia, and Togo. He scaled up from a trading company to the largest industrial group in Nigeria spanning Dangote Sugar Refinery, Dangote Cement, Dangote Flour,salt factories, flour mills, a major importer of rice, fish, pasta, and fertilizer. The company also exports cotton, cashew nuts, cocoa, sesame seeds, and ginger and has major investments in real estate, banking, transport, textiles, oil, and gas.


Dangote Sugar controls 70 percent of the sugar market in Nigeria with an average production of 800, 000 metric tonnes per annum; whilehe controls 65 percent of the cement market with a production capacity of 52.0 million tonnes per year across ten countries. Put together, Dangote Group employs over11,000 workers in West Africa.So Dangote is a Nigerian success story.

Having made a success of most businesses he had gone into, Dangote decided to take advantage of the supply gaps in the lower stream of Nigerian oil sector by building an oil refinery. He is a big player; so he started building the Dangote Refinery said to be the largest single-train refinery in the world at the cost of $19 billion project in 2017. It took him seven years to complete it in 2024. However, then president,Muhamadu Buhari commissioned the refinery ahead of its completion on May 23, 2023. It was to take another one year plus for the company to refine its first litre of fuel.

Dangote is characteristically a very calculative and cautious investor. Located in the South-East of the Lekki Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, covering a land area of about 2,635 hectares, you would expect Lagos State to have an equity participation to give the host state a sense of belonging and a prime investment. However, Dangote managed to make an outright purchase of the land at the cost of $100m.

Dangote financed the refinery through funds from the Dangote Group, loans and investment by NNPCL. On August 4, 2021, Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council approved request by NNPCto acquire a 20 percent stake in the refinery for $2.76 billion. However, on July 15, 2024, Dangote announced that “NNPC no loner owns 20 percent stake in the Dangote Refinery. They were to pay their balance in June but yet to fulfill their obligations. Now they only own a 7.2 percent stake in the refinery.” It then means that Dangote owns 92.8 percent of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and NNPC a minor shareholder with 7.2 percent.

The first and most important mission statement of the company is “To deliver strong returns to our shareholders by selling high-quality products at affordable prices, backed by excellent customer service.” Others are: “ To help Nigeria and other African countries towards self-reliance and self-sufficiency in the production of the world’s most basic commodity, by establishing efficient production facilities in strategic locations close to key growth markets.To provide economic benefits to local communities, by establishing efficient production facilities in strategic locations close to key growth markets. To provide economic benefits to local communities by way of direct and indirect employment in all countries in which we operate.To lead the way in areas such as governance, sustainability and environmental conservation and to set a good example for other companies to follow.”

Among its stated three core values is “leadership: We thrive on being leaders in our business, markets and communities. To drive this, we focus on continuous improvement, partnership and professionalism.”The oil industry is a multi-stakeholder industry;so, achieving the leadership goal will not be without conflicts. This quest for ‘leadership’ in every business he does leads to obsession for power and control by Dangote. This is marked by carcasses of companies he trampled upon on the way to achieving his idea of ‘leadership.’

Followers of the Dangote business model had predicted that his entry into the down stream sector of the oil industry will not lead to lower prices but would rather lead to higher prices. This happened in the cement sector where Dangote’s 65 percent dominance has not led to lower cost. As soon as the company muscled out other competitors, prices escalated and continues to increase at will because the company is focused on profit for its shareholders, not public sentiments.

True to this, the pump price of petrol rose swiftly on Dangote’s entry into the market. By the business arrangement, Dangote Refinery can sell diesel and other products directly to marketers; while petrol will be sold only to NNPC for distribution to the marketers. According Olufemi Soneye, spokesperson of NNPC, Dangote sold the first delivery to NNPC at the cost of N898 per litre.

Anthony Chiejina, group chief branding and communication officer of Dangote Refinery denied this in an official statement thus: “Our attention has been drawn to a statement attributed to NNPCL spokesperson, Mr Olufemi Soneye, that we sell our PMS at N898 per litre to the NNPCL. This statement is both misleading and mischievous, deliberately aimed at undermining the milestone achievement recorded today, September 15, 2024, towards addressing energy insufficiency and insecurity, which has bedeviled the economy in the past 50 years.

“We urge Nigerians to disregard this malicious statement and await a formal announcement on the pricing, by the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries, appointed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, which will commence on October 1, 2024, bearing in mind that our current stock of crude was procured in dollars.

It should be noted that we sold the products to NNPC in dollars with lots of savings against what they are already importing.With this action, there will be petrol in every local government area of the country regardless of their remote nature.We assure Nigerians of availability of quality petroleum products and putting an end to the endemic fuel scarcity in the country.”

Chiejina was being economical with the truth. He denied selling at N898 but could not disclose how much the company sold that amounted to ‘lots of savings.’ However, Soneye reaffirmed N898 and Dangote kept quiet.

In addition to landing costs from refineries, NNPCL explains that suppliers pay statutory and regulatory charges for each litre of petrol as follows: NMDPRA fee N8.99; inspection fee N0.97; distribution cost (Lagos) N15.00; and profit margin N26.48. After adding freighting and other statutory costs, the product pump pricejumps to N950.22 per litre in Lagos, N980.22 in Rivers, N992.22 in Abuja andN1, 019 in MaiduguriN1,019.

Shortfall in Dangote supply

Apart from the price conflict, Dangote failed to deliver on its supply obligations. By the agreement between both parties, Dangote Refinery is supposed to deliver 25 million litres daily to NNPC for the month of September. From October, this would go up to 35 million litres daily. In the first three days, it recorded 65 million litres supply gap. It means that instead of supplying 75 million litres in three days, Dangote supplied only 10.3 million litres through its gantry loading system, giving a massive shortfall of nearly 65 million litres.

This is why there is fuel shortage in the country, despite the deregulated price, allowing black marketers to step into the supply gap and sell at as much as N1, 500 a litre in Abuja. In expectation of the Dangote deliveries, The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority,NMDPRA,did not clear NNPC Trading Limited to import petrol for October and onwards, revealed an official under anonymity. This has created serious supply gap from DangoteRefinery as insiders revealed there is not enough product to go round the country.

According to NMDPRAthe truckout of petrol from depots across the country averaged 51.10 million litres daily between 1 January 2024 and 18 September 2024. Dangote Refinery has an installed capacity of 650, 000 barrels daily; while NNPC’s four refineries have a joint capacity of 450, 000 b/d. Nigeria has 500, 000 b/d allocation for domestic use.

On 15 September, the first day of loading, the Dangote Refinery supplied NNPC Retail Ltd 2.48 millionlitres of petrol in 56 trucks.On 16 September, NNPC Retail and AYM Shafa74 truck loaded 3.3 million litres; while on 17 September 4.5 million, giving a total of 10.3 million litres in three days, instead of 75 million litres.

However, Chiejina, claimed in an interview with Vanguard Newspaper, without evidence, that Dangote Refinery had supplied 111 million litres within those three days.“We have already loaded 111 million litres of petrol, and the exercise is ongoing. We are refining and have no reason not to load. So, loading is ongoing and we will continue to provide the product to the market,” Vanguard quoted him as saying.

Here again, Chiejina appears to have been economical with the truth as official Dangote Refinery documents for the period showed that the facility only refined 24,700 metric tonnes of petrol, about 33 million litres at 1,322.76 litres per ton. This is 42 million litres short of the 75 million the refinery committed to supplying for three days, at 25 million per day. The refinery, according marketers must load at least 500 trucks daily, with each vehicle carrying at least 50,000 litres of petrol to meet this volume. This appears difficult but with the facility’s 177 loading points, they feel it can be done.

It was gathered that NNPC asked the refinery for vessel loading but were told that the operation facilities needed to be prepared. Consequently, the vessel MT Binta Saleh which was already on standby to proceed for loading,was withdrawn, one official said.

Dangote’s trail of monopoly

Dangote’s paved road of business success is littered with the skeletons of competitors he hounded out of business through government patronage. He is said not to be comfortable with a level playing field. In United States and other western democracies, hewould have been charged with the violation of antitrust laws on fair competition in business, which attract heavy sanctions and fines. In cement and sugar businesses, many competitors without his level of government leverage have been destroyed and their territories annexed. Ibeto Cement has a bitter story. Ibeto was an obstacle to Dangote in the Eastern market with his bulking plant in Port Harcourt and having acquired the legendary Nigercem Nkalagu for the backward integration project, his cement was preferred to Dangote in the East. When he collapsed under the weight of Dangote-FG conspiracy, Dangote trailers rolled triumphantly into the lucrative Southeast market.

An industry analyst says that Dangote doesn’t have the character of a good businessman. In the past 20 years of his business imperialism within which he became the richest man in Africa and the 158th in the world, Obasnjo, Jonathan and Buhari gave him leeway to do quite a whole lot of things to the disadvantage of competition.

In Kura, near Kaduna, a very large rice growing area, a very large portion of land was acquired by Dangote from the villagers on the pretence that he wanted to set up a tomato business. Today, no compensation has been paid to those people. “There’s no rice growing there and there’s no tomato farm or factory,” lamented a villager.

The same story obtains in the sugar industry. When he went into the sugar industry,virtually every other importer was priced out of the market and he bestrode the market like a colossus. So, he has always been a monopolistic businessman who fights dirty to destroy fair competition.

In cement, only BUA matched up and refused to be muscled out of business. The same pitched battle in Sugar. He embarked on the noodles manufacturing warfare butthe Indomie groupand Spagetti by Flour Millsgave him a good chase.

According to industry sources, anything Dangote does he wants to be on top of it; he wants to be a monopolistic trader that he always wants to be.

Coming into the downstream sector, Dangote has brought the same strategy of ‘leadership’, not minding there were other players before his arrival. And petrol is a commodity that effects every Nigerian,just like salt, sugar and rice. This mentality makes a conflict inevitable in the downstream oil sector because NNPC is no longer a lame government parastatal. It is now a limited liability company, primed for business success under standard corporate governance. Dangote has built a 650, 000 b/d refinery and NNPCL has 450, 000 b/d capacity refineries. Dangote tells the whole country the refinery can meet Nigeria’s daily consumption and export the balance.

So what becomes of NNPCL refineries, whose rehabilitations are nearing completion? Dangote appears not ready to share the domestic market with NNPCL and emerging players, including expected modular refineries in the Niger Delta.

He is now said to be a business monster created by federal government patronage. They gave him exchange rate at CBN rate,gave him leeway to import and even to invest NNPC money into his refinery business. Now the refinery is said to be ready and Dangote signed an agreement to be allocated crude oil for refining. However, instead of refining all that was given to him he allegedly exportedsome of the crude oil, obviously to make dollars. This suggests that he intends to become an exporter of crude oil as well by stealing the oil allocated to him for domestic use and exporting it for higher profit! In countries like China, Singapore and North Korea, this could earn one life imprisonment or death sentence. But Dangote gets away with it in Nigeria and does even more daily.

The question being asked is, “how come that with the first sale you couldn’t deliver the 25 metric tons you signed off on?” The agreement is simple and NNPC has been clear on what they want; they give you fuel, you refine and give back to them so they can subsidize and distribute. NNPC says they are not fixing price for Dangote. Dangote can fix his own price but NNPC has a share price they can always collect from Dangote. They are partners. They put up resources together to set up the refinery. The refinery has a percentage of NNPC interest said to be 20 percent by NNPC but 7.2 percent by Dangote.

“This is not the old NNPC; this is the new NNPC Limited.It’s a limited liability company; it’s not like the old NNPC where anybody could do anything and get away with it. This time they are under public scrutiny. And being under public scrutiny, it becomes absolutely necessary to comply with the laws of the land,” explains an insider not authorized to speak for the company.

According to him, “The new NNPC is the first one that has taken the step of upgrading the refineries. Port Harcourt is on stream; it’s almost ready.” This means in addition to being partners, Dangote and NNPCL will soon be bitter business rivals competing for clients in the downstream sector.

“This is theman, Dangote; he is obsessed with himself. He is obsessed with everything. Obsessed with wanting to be on top of everything. Obsessed with wanting to be in control; obsessed with making sure that every other competitor is trampled upon!” said a stakeholder.

The Political Disconnection

Dangote is a smart businessman. He knows he can leverage on politics to feather his business cap but he also knows that a turn in political fortune can spell doom for one’s business empire. Because of this wisdom he stays away from party politics. He is not member of any political party but is said to donate generously to campaign funds of leading presidential candidates and gubernatorial candidates of states where he has investments. This way, head or tail, he wins. It is said that what he does is to support the two frontrunners from leading parties so that anyone that eventually wins will favour him. It was strongly alleged that Obasnjo attempted to pressure him into politics and make him run for the top job but Dangote wisely declined so he could continue building his business empire.

However, in 2023, it is whispered that Dangote did not support Tinubu but rather supported Atiku Abubakar of PDP. Some people are wondering if the conflict isa fall out of political brinkmanship or an attempt to frustrate the regime of Bola Tinubu with petrol until it gets disfavoured in the eyes of the public?

Be that as it may, business is supposed to be business. As you signed an agreement, you should deliver.“Stop blackmailing the federal government. Stop ridiculing your business partner NNPC Limited,” advised an industry stakeholder who does not want to come on record.

In May 2024, Dangote reaffirmed his ambition regarding the re-appropriation of energy resources in Africa saying, “My dream is to use raw materials from Africa, refine them and sell them on our own market,” yet he sold the first crude oil given to him to refine. For this dream to work in Nigeria’s downstream oil sector, it must be a shared solution. It must go beyond Dangote’s obsession with domination and control to embrace all industry stakeholders, ensure a fair pricing for product usersand bring peace and stability to Nigeria.

ogododo:


https://dailypost.ng/2024/09/24/aliko-dangote-our-petrol-price-is-15-cheaper-than-nnpcls-imported-fuel/

Newlymarried:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgdDbV0rB2Y

Islie:


US court authorises businessman tortured by SSS to seize $21m from Nigeria’s JP Morgan account







https://dailytrust.com/us-court-authorises-businessman-tortured-by-sss-to-seize-21m-from-nigerias-jp-morgan-account/

Nlfpmod

THERE are indications that the electronics call-up truck management system introduced by the Lagos State Government to prevent a repeat of Apapa port gridlock in the Lekki Port corridor may have hit a the rocks as key stakeholders disagree on implementation several years after the programme was initiated.

The two key stakeholders are Lagos State Government which is the owner and driver of the initiative, and Dangote Group, the dominant operator on the corridor.

Financial Vanguard learnt that while the state government wants to on-board every stakeholder opearating in that axis on the call-up system, Dangote Group said it could not come onboard because governmnent did not provide adequate truck park capacity.

Already, following commencement of mainstream operations at the Dangote Refinery a week ago, trucking operations have increased exponentially without commencement of the system or alternative provision to address the traffic challenges on temporal basis.

Dangote Refinery indicated that it could have provided adequate truck park capacity before commencing operations, according to the initial plan it had, but lamented that the state governmnent disuaded it on grounds that the state was already set to provide the facility.

But Managing Director of Call-up Technologies, promoters of the e-call-up system, Mr. Timi Koledu , said that everything about the system is ready and the Information Technology equipment has been deployed appropriately.

Call-up system commences amidst disagreement

With the traffic crises now imminent, another stakeholders meeting was called by the state, last week, at the Lagos State Secretariat, Ikeja, where the Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Seun Osiyemi said that the E-call-up system for traffic management will commence today, Monday, September 23, 2024, adding that if there are issues to be corrected and resolved, they will be done as the system is operated.

Meanwhile, Mr. Yinka Akande, representing Dangote Group at the meeting stated that a truck park was part of the plan for the refinery, adding that the company was ready to build its own park until the state government dissuaded the company, claiming that government had decided to establish truck parks to service all operations in the Lekki Free Trade Zone.

Financial Vanguard also learnt that Akande insinuated that the invitation to Dangote Group for the meeting was an after-thought because it only got the notice less than 48 hours before the meeting adding, however, that because the group has respect for constituted authorities, it had to find its way round constraints by getting a high executive to discard all other pre-scheduled engagements to attend the meeting.

He stated further: “Dangote Group is desirous of the call-up system but we have a problem about the sequencing of activities and where the priority seems to be.

“A precursor activity happened before your regime, before you came into power,” apparently referring to present government under Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Financial Vanguard learnt that initial discussions between Lagos State and Dangote on construction of truck parks started during the regime of Akinwunmi Ambode as state governor.

Akande further stated: “We have already acquired a 33-hectare piece of land in the vicinity for the purpose of building a modern truck park but the governor dissuaded us from that, saying, “don’t worry, the state government is in participation with some private entity and we are going to put a very standard truck park in place; all you need to do is to be off-takers’.

‘‘So the governor said, ‘concentrate on your construction of the refinery; This is logistics and logistics is not your core function, leave that to us’.

“We agreed. But years after, nothing happened, it has not materialized and that put us in a twist. And we started running helter-skelter wanting to identify where trucks would park because we do not want a repetition of what happened in Apapa and because we are a responsible organization.

“We have had so many meetings with Call Technologies team, promoters of the E-call-up system, and we have been ready to key into the project but where are the parks?

“We went to investigate the parks and we found out that the scale and scope of the parks were nowhere near what we require. We are talking about an operations that when it comes to peak of production, we will need 2,700 to 2,800 trucks per day.

“There are ten parks and the park with the highest capacity is 300 trucks, so we are more desirous of putting more efforts on the development of these parks and once they are ready, we will be very ready to be onboard the e-call-up match up within our system. We are very desirous to be part of this after everything has been put in place, but we do not seem to have seen that everything has been put in place. We may be wrong but that is our perception and that is why we have come today.”

Responding to Akande, Special Assistant to the Governor on Transportation, Mr. Sola Giwa, assured stakeholders that the call-up system is the best way to control and manage the influx of trucks into that axis, adding that government wants to ensure that both human and vehicular traffic have unfettered access to the roads

He stated: “We understand where you are coming from and we appreciate what Dangote has done and obviously, what is going to happen in that area is nothing compared to what happened to Apapa and Ijegun combined if we do not start the e-call-up system now.

“We understand very well that all the bolts and nuts should be in place, but I am coming from the experience of how we started late in Apapa several years after the ports were concessioned. So we are actually playing catch-up. We do not want to play catch-up, let us start; we know there will be teething problems; we have met with everyone here more than ten times. That is a government that is serious; we are showing that we are proactive but we know that we cannot coarse you into this; you have to be our willing partner to make this work and that is the reason why we are here to start the process.

“It took the intervention of Mr. Governor to bring Dangote and Flour Mills to come up to this stage. So what I am saying is that you will be onboard the e-call up. We know that you want to do 2,700 trucks per day and I hope you can imagine, based on the vehicular density of Lagos and the explosion of that place, what is going to happen if we do not put in place a process by which you can sequence these trucks into your facility for them to load.

“We have about ten truck parks and in total, they have over 2,000 capacity and there is room for expansion’’.

In his additional comment, Osiyemi disclosed that Dangote is the only company that has not complied with the e-call-up because of the issue they raised.

He further disclosed that there was a stalemate between Dangote and the State Government on the e-call-up system earlier, a development which according to him made the project to be suspended.

He said that trucks will be as much as 15 kilometres away from the port corridor and can only come in when they are needed.

He further explained that the government is also in talks with a private company that will be taking containers via waterways.

He said: “We are not just looking at the land, we are looking at a multi-modal system. We are having a high level discussion with a private company that will take containers via water to reduce the stress on the road.”

Trucks already killing people

Also speaking at the meeting, Chairman of the Ibeju–Lekki Local Government Area, Mr. Sesan Olowa, lamented incessant accidents that has led to the death of people of the council area and supported the call for all stakeholders to be on the e-call-up platform with a view to controlling and managing vehicular movements in the Lekki port corridor.

Olowa stated: “A few months ago, a truck ran into a hospital destroying properties and killing people. We cannot continue to have these trucks move around the Council without proper monitoring.

“Honestly, the call-up system has to start almost immediately because we are not enjoying the current traffic situation in that axis. Everybody is focused on the money to be made and nobody care about the people in the locality.

“We have seen situation where truck ran into the General Hospital and killed people; we have had cases where tankers loaded with gas fell on the roads and these companies do not even care.

“As we plan ahead of the commencement of the call-up system, please I urge you all to consider safety and security of the people of Ibeju-Lekki.

“Most times, the speed of the trucks is not regulated and they drive anyhow and cause accidents; so for us this is a major concern.

“With proper enforcement, there will be sanctions and convictions because of the caliber of these drivers; most of them are young people that cannot be controlled; they misbehave. So there is a need for a proper enforcement to be put in place.

“The general perception of the people around that axis is that, there is so much happening around there and so little or nothing coming to them by way of opportunities and benefits.

‘‘I cannot put all on you, but what I am trying to say is that, we must come up with some form of framework to see how the people can also be integrated into that value chain.”

Speaking on the issue, Mr. Daniel Odibe, Deputy Managing Director of Lekki Deep Seaport, said that the Standard Operating Procedures, SOPs, must be defined and made available to all stakeholders operating in the Free Trade Zone.

We’re not yet on same page – Truck owners

The National President of the National Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO, Mr. Yusuf Lawal, said that one grey area that is yet to be cleared is the issue of the fee payable for the call-up service.

Lawal said that most members of NARTO have not been informed as to how much is to be paid adding that a lot more sensitization and awareness need to be created so that every stakeholder are on the same page.

ogododo:
Another electricity tariff hike may be introduced in October 2024 by the Nigerian Government as the country’s monthly power subsidy rose to N181,63 billion in September.


This comes as the electricity subsidy by the Federal Government rose to N181,63 billion in September from N102.30 billion in May.

In the last three months, the government paid N163.87 billion in July, N173.88bn in August, and N181.63bn in September 2024.


This comes after the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission announced the removal of subsidies in areas categorized as Band A feeders on April 3, 2024.

NERC had revealed that the monthly electricity subsidy at that time stood at N140.7 billion.

Consequently, NERC approved an electricity tariff hike for electricity consumers enjoying at least 20 hours of electricity daily, raising their tariff to N225 per kilowatt-hour.


However, the decision generated serious outcries among Nigerians, including labour unions, educational and health institutions, whose electricity bills tripled following the removal of the subsidy.

In May when the subsidy figure dropped to N102.30 billion, the government slashed the Band A tariff to N206.80/kWh.

NERC said the reason for the reduction was due to a fall in the exchange rate of the Dollar to the Naira.


However, the tariff was jerked to N209/kWh in early July as the subsidy rose again to N158 billion in June.

Accordingly, in the period under review, the NERC put the dollar exchange rate at N1,494.1 in July; 1,564.3 in August; and N1601.5 in September.

As of September, the NERC maintains the benchmark gas-to-power price of $2.42/Million British Thermal Units based on the established benchmark price of gas-to-power by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority in line with Section 167 of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.


This indicates the rising cost of power generation in Nigeria.

The development coupled with the country’s inflation rate which stood at 32.15 percent in August 2024 had fueled speculations that there may be another tariff increase in the October Multi-Year Tariff Order unless the cost of power generation drops.


https://dailypost.ng/2024/09/23/fresh-electricity-tariff-hike-looms-as-nigerias-monthly-power-subsidy-hits-n181-63bn/

The Independent National Electoral Commission has uploaded 90.33 percent of the results from the Edo governorship election to its Result Viewing Portal.

Results from 4,082 out of the 4,519 polling units where elections were held in the state have been successfully transmitted.

Earlier today, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Edo, Anugbum Onuoha, reassured the public during an interview on Arise Television that electronic transmission of results would proceed smoothly, barring any network disruptions.

“We have trained the operators for the BVAS. They are set. BVAS is to accredit the voters and to know the total number of voters that will vote at that level and that polling unit.

obaidan:

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fergie001:
Location: PU19, Ward 04, Oredo LGA

Results

PDP: 127

APC: 35

LP: 11

Racoon:

https://nairametrics.com/2024/06/11/nigerias-foreign-debt-service-costs-surge-by-96-to-2-19-billion-by-may-2024/

The Central Bank of Nigeria has released a total sum of $2.97bn to oil sector players for the importation of petroleum products and other related items into the country, The PUNCH reports.

The amount released between 2022 and the first quarter of 2024 is against the backdrop of the significant energy crisis in Nigeria, fuel shortage, and the insistence of marketers to continue fuel import despite the availability of petrol from Dangote Refinery.

Fuel imports, a significant consumer of foreign exchange, impact the country’s foreign reserves and the naira to dollar rate.

On Thursday, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, said the country now records about $2.35bn as net inflow into the Central Bank foreign reserves.


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Nigeria’s external reserves currently stand at $37.24bn as of September 17, 2024.

A breakdown using the quarterly statistical bulletin for the first quarter of 2024 showed that the apex bank released $1.41bn in 2022 for fuel imports. The figure dropped to $1.03bn in 2023, representing a decline of 26.9 per cent.

In the first quarter of 2024, the bank allocated a total sum of $522.9m, indicating 0.01per cent of $4bn spent on imports in the period under review, but 12.86 per cent increase when compared to the $463.3m recorded in the preceding period of 2023.


The CBN’s data on sectoral utilisation for transactions valid for forex revealed that $173.88m was utilised in January 2023 for fuel imports; $137.67m in February, and $151.75m in March.


Forex for fuel import transactions fell to $132.36m in April and $ 117.92m in May but rose to $89.85m in June.

The country utilised $45.82m in July and zero dollars in August for petroleum products importation.

The apex bank said $42.43m was used for fuel imports in September, $38.46m in October, $51.95m in November and $52.14m in December.

In the second quarter of 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics said the value of Nigeria’s import of PMS rose to N3.22tn – the highest on record in the nation’s history.

It added that the importation of petrol in the second quarter of 2024 constituted 25 per cent of total imports in the period.

Furthermore, the N3.2tn petrol import bill in Q1 2024 marks a 100 per cent increase in the value of petrol import compared to the same period of 2023 which stood at N1.6tn.


In the first quarter of 2024 so far, the value of petrol imports reached N2.6tn while cumulatively in the first six months of the year, the country’s petrol import bill stood at N5.8tn.

When compared to the same period of 2023, the country’s petrol import bill has increased from N3.1tn to N5.8tn. This denotes an increase of 87.09 per cent during the period.