Raymondenyi: Elrufai is 100% correct on this one; I am not a fan of his; buh he's very correct on this one...

[size=18pt]Kidnapping in Nigeria is out of hand[/size]

DRIVING home through the darkness on September 6th towards Nigeria’s main oil city, Port Harcourt, Archbishop Ignatius Kattey and his wife had no idea that an armed gang was about to nab them. Yet it was not an extraordinary event. The kidnap of Nigeria’s second-ranking Anglican cleric, whose wife has since been freed, was just another instance, albeit at a higher level than usual, of a crime that residents of the swampy Niger Delta have become grimly accustomed to.

Kidnapping in the oil region is invariably for ransom. Foreign oilmen used to be the usual targets, but rich Nigerian businessmen, prominent academics and even footballers have become increasingly vulnerable. The kidnap menace has also got a lot worse this year in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city and its economic hub.

There are so many abductions across the country nowadays that they rarely get into the news. During the first half of 2013, Nigeria had the most kidnap attempts in the world, accounting for 26% of all such recorded incidents. Mexico was second with 10%, and Pakistan third with 7%, reckons NYA International, a London-based firm that gathers intelligence on crime.

This year’s tally of kidnaps is expected to be higher in Nigeria than in 2012 and 2011, when 500 and 475 were recorded respectively, says a security expert. But the true figures may be still higher. “Half of all cases are not reported, with some people preferring to handle matters privately,” he explains. Because people have little faith in the police’s ability to arrest the perpetrators or negotiate with them, the victim’s family invariably resorts to settling quickly with the criminals.

In some of Nigeria’s 36 states there has been progress in tackling the kidnappers. But beefed-up security in some south-eastern states, such as Akwa Ibom and Abia, may have merely pushed the gangs westward to cities such as Lagos, where burgeoning middle-class districts are being increasingly targeted. A flashy car and swanky suit can be enough to catch a villain’s eye. In “express kidnappings”, as they are dubbed, victims are rarely kept for more than a fortnight; most of them are freed, after the cash has been handed over, in three or four days. “It’s a new way of making money in Lagos,” says the security expert. “But now it’s all too easy.”

When Lagos police arrested a gang of ten kidnappers in July, one of them explained that he held his Chinese boss for three days because he felt unfairly treated. He devised a plan with his driver to abduct the boss; they extorted $51,000 from the company. Another man said he kidnapped a friend out of jealousy, keeping him for two days before freeing him for $3,000.

It is against Nigerian law to pay ransoms, but most people and companies cough up, though many deny doing so. Captors usually start with huge demands before being haggled down. Settlements of $12,000-30,000 are standard, though there have been instances of people getting away with as little as $600. The kidnappers who snatched Mike Ozekhome, a human-rights lawyer, in August initially asked for the Nigerian equivalent of $915,000; as The Economist went to press, he and the archbishop were still being held. Until policing improves and people refuse to pay, the scourge of kidnapping will persist—and the best of lawyers and churchmen will be vulnerable.

Prof Corruption: Privatization is now being listed as an achievement!

Prof Corruption:

http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21586355-kidnapping-nigeria-out-hand-holy-mess

Prof Corruption: GEJ has failed woefully to secure Nigerians-rich and poor.

Prof Corruption: Privatization is now being listed as an achievement!

takeprofit:

yes it is an achievement so pple like u wont have any opportunity to express corruption tendencies

Sincere 9gerian:
The Lekki concession that your masters conjured in Lagos has already collapsed. After the people had paid immoral tolls for about ever 2 years, the state govt is planning to buy back the concession with N87billion.

taharqa: The Privatisation and Reform of d Power Sector, just concluding, is actuali one of d Greatest and most SIGNIFICANT Achievements in the history of this country. It is also about sm of d most Complex undertaking ever done by any Govt in Nigeria or Africa, even. It is a VERY BIG deal.

Prof Corruption:

Is this a joke?

taharqa: The Privatisation and Reform of d Power Sector, just concluding, is actuali one of d Greatest and most SIGNIFICANT Achievements in the history of this country. It is also about sm of d most Complex undertaking ever done by any Govt in Nigeria or Africa, even. It is a VERY BIG deal.

awodman:
When the multiplier effects of this action you seem to be castigating starts taking place...hope you will be around to join in the celebrations

awodman:
When the multiplier effects of this action you seem to be castigating starts taking place...hope you will be around to join in the celebrations

Prof Corruption:

If privatizing power sector is "d most Complex undertaking ever done by any Govt in Nigeria or Africa", how should we describe the undertaking of those who built what's being privatized now?

The most complex undertaking in human history? Jokers!!

[size=18pt]Theft and disruptions knock Nigeria oil output to four-year low[/size]
Nigeria is suffering the worst oil production disruptions in four years, with output falling to levels last seen before the government’s amnesty programme ended the militancy in the Niger delta. Industrial scale oil theft, sabotage and technical problems have caused crude output to drop to less than 1.9m barrels a day this summer, the lowest since mid-2009, when production briefly dipped to a 20-year low of 1.5m b/d. Any further fall would allow Angola to assume Nigeria’s position as the continent’s largest crude producer.

“Output has been less than 2m barrels a day for several months,” said Rolake Akinkugbe, head of energy research at Ecobank. “It’s a reflection of the headwinds facing oil companies in Nigeria.”The country’s production difficulties have helped push global crude prices to a five-month high of $111 a barrel. They have also damaged the financial outlook in Africa’s second-biggest economy, where oil and gas account for nearly 80 per cent of fiscal revenues.Nigeria budgeted for oil sales of 2.5m b/d in 2013, which combined with the high petroleum prices should have allowed for substantial savings in the Excess Crude Account, the government’s rainy-day fund. But instead of increasing, the fund has been run down from $9bn in December to $5.1bn in July.

Razia Khan, head of Africa research at Standard Chartered Bank, said falling oil revenues should be a worry for the Nigerian government, especially with a presidential election scheduled for early 2015. Previous polls have been preceded by a sharp increase in spending and leakages in revenue collection as politicians try to buy their way to power.“Nigeria still has a comfortable current account surplus, but it is declining, as is the Excess Crude Account,” said Mrs Khan. “Unless we see a turnaround in oil revenues, investors are going to start to get concerned.”Nigeria drastically reduced the number of oil worker kidnappings and pipeline bomb attacks in 2009 by persuading more than 26,000 militants to disarm in exchange for monthly cash payments, which are ongoing. While the violence has not returned, the theft of oil has grown into a vast and lucrative enterprise involving well-connected officials and security personnel.

Crude oil output
More than 150,000 barrels of oil are reportedly stolen every day, with some feeding illegal refineries in the Niger delta and the bulk shipped to destinations as far away as Asia. The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative said in July that the country had lost $10.9bn in potential oil revenues to theft and sabotage from 2009 to 2011 – before the problem reached its current scale. By last year, losses had increased to $1bn a month, according to the government.Oil majors have at times had to stop pumping from onshore oilfields because of thieves tapping into their pipelines, with Shell and Eni declaring force majeure this year. Inadequate maintenance procedures and ageing infrastructure, especially the 6,000km pipeline network, has added to the companies’ production woes.Unless we see a turnaround in oil revenues, investors are going to start to get concerned


The disruptions caused oil output to slip below 2m b/d in April, reaching a floor of 1.88m b/d in June, before increasing slightly to 1.92m b/d in July, according to the International Energy Agency. In 2011 and 2012, the country’s average production was 2.2m b/d and 2.1m b/d respectively. Angola, which briefly overtook Nigeria as the continent’s biggest producer in 2009, exports about 1.8m b/d, and hopes to hit 2m b/d by 2015.
Besides the domestic factors, shifting international dynamics are also working against Nigeria. The US has long been the biggest buyer of its crude, but the growth of the American shale industry is changing that. In February, US imports from Nigeria dropped to 194,000 b/d, an 18-year low, forcing Nigeria to find new buyers. Meanwhile, new oil and gas discoveries elsewhere in Africa – from Ghana to Mozambique – mean that petroleum companies have much greater choice than a few years ago over where to invest.

With 37.2bn barrels of provable oil reserves – more than three times that of Angola – Nigeria has much scope to increase oil production, and the government has talked for years about output of 4m b/d. But uncertainly over the petroleum industry bill, which is meant to transform the domestic industry – and increase the government’s fiscal take – has caused oil majors to delay approving new projects.

The mounting security problems and costs onshore have caused the likes of Shell and Chevron to sell off some assets to local players, and concentrate more on deepwater blocks.

Prof Corruption:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fdd74c5e-0f09-11e3-8e58-00144feabdc0.html

Prof Corruption:

If privatizing power sector is "d most Complex undertaking ever done by any Govt in Nigeria or Africa", how should we describe the undertaking of those who built what's being privatized now?

The most complex undertaking in human history? Jokers!!

Prof Corruption:

Is this a joke?