₦airaland Forum

The Federal Government has concluded plans to deliver 30 brand new aircraft to the aviation industry to save it from imminent collapse. Analysts told BusinessDay last night the move may finally bring relief to domestic airline operators and travellers alike.

BusinessDay gathered that the deployment of new aircraft, which is the intervention government is planning for the sector, will be made by the aircraft manufacturers directly from their plants, to avoid the controversy that earlier trailed the N300 billion Aviation Intervention Fund.

It was learnt that the National Executive Council (NEC) made up of state governors, minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and chaired by  vice president Namadi Sambo, particularly harped on the need for such intervention, at a meeting held in Abuja last week.

At the meeting, it was said that the governors unanimously agreed that the industry was in danger and posed grave consequences for the flying public, if urgent steps were not taken to rescue it.

Confirming the development to BuisnessDay on Monday, Joe Obi, special adviser on media to the Aviation Minister on media, said the only way to save the industry, was to act swiftly.

Obi said government was not happy with the way the last intervention fund was used, and wanted to ensure more prudence this time, and involve the manufacturers directly.

“The ministry is not happy with the way the first intervention fund was disbursed and used. This time, the intervention fund which we have proposed, and are now waiting for approval from the Presidency for,  is to the effect that when approved, the money will not be given to the airlines directly. They will not have access to it. Rather, the money will be given to aircraft manufacturers who will then deliver the brand new aircraft to Nigeria, where Nigerian airlines will have access to them.

“They will be given some criteria before they can access them, and we are working on those criteria. You know there has been a dearth of aircraft in the sector. This is the way we want to assist them this time around”, Obi said.

When asked to confirm a claim that government was planning to float four more airlines, apart from the planned national carrier, Obi said he could not give any information on another airline or operator, but said the plan to form a national carrier was progressing fast, adding that government was concerned about the sector.

“All I can tell you is that the plan to salvage the industry is on, the plan to bring 30 aircraft is on, the plan to establish a national carrier is on”, he added.

BusinessDay learnt that the plan would guarantee a fleet of three aircraft each, for about 10 airlines, as part of the intervention scheme for the aviation industry.

Beneficiaries, it was learnt, would include the up and running airlines, those that went out of business due to harsh economic pressures, as well as new operators that may be encouraged to come into the industry.

It was also gathered that there are plans to give the airlines some tax holidays, apart from renegotiating some bad debts owed banks, in order to revive the airlines.

Industry experts have hailed the move, saying it would go a long way in salvaging an industry that is in the ‘red’.

Steve Mahonwu, Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) chairman, told BusinessDay yesterday :” The Federal Government is forward looking in aviation matters. Look at how they handled Dana Air matter. It did not allow the airline to die, soon Dana Air will fly again. If the government can buy and distribute the aircraft, in another five years, the airlines won’t be spending huge monies on maintainance.

In the last few months, passengers have struggled to get seats after paying ticket fares through their noses, because available aircraft cannot cope with demand, as the country has witnessed a big crisis in the sector, with a plane crash that took the lives of over 153 people, the collapse of one of its main international airlines, Air Nigeria, and a Central Bank order banning lenders from giving its main carriers more cash, until they repay existing debts.



http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/news/76-hot-topic/47113-fg-plans-30-new-aircraft-lifeline-for-airlines

Maybe they can! This is a presidential order.

Na magic e wan do? Under four months?

President Goodluck Jonathan has set the next four months as deadline for all the nation’s refineries to operate at their optimum capacity.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, who disclosed this to state House correspondents on Thursday, announced that “the President has set March, 2013 deadline for the completion of the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) and complete rehabilitation of three refineries in Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri.”

Dr Abati made this known after a meeting in the president’s office which had in attendance, the Minister of Petroleum Resources with her team including the Group Managing Director of the NNPC and other directors in the oil and gas sector, who made series of presentations.

The crux of the meeting according to the president’s aide was the state of the nation’s refineries and what steps can be taken to improve the capacities of these refineries to make them perform at their optimum.

He also revealed that the President is set for the full implementation of the task force reports, beginning with the committee on the nation’s refineries in order to boost domestic refining of crude oil products to create jobs.

It would be recalled that the committee on the Refineries which was headed by Dr Kalu Idika Kalu blamed the epileptic performance of the country’s refineries on lack of proper maintenance and funding.

Stop importation of fuel

Speaking on the reports Dr Abati said “the president has not only commended the committee on refineries, but he also made it clear that as part of the determination of his administration to make sure that Nigeria stops the importation of fuel and he subsequently directed the Minister of Petroleum Resources to take that report and look into it and then come up with action plan as to what can be done going forward.”

Dr Abati also revealed that the President demanded for a technical report to be prepared on how to get the refineries working.

Giving a break down on the present capacities of the three refineries, the President’s spokesman stated that “what the Kaduna refinery is able to produce per day now is about 110,000 barrels per day, the Port Harcourt refineries 210,000 barrel per day and the Warri refineries 125,000 barrel per day.”

Outlining the three points the president wants tackled, the presidential spokesman said the president told the team that the interest of this government is to ensure that crude oil is refined domestically and the administration’s determination to put an end to the importation of finished petroleum products because “you can refine domestically and at the same time still import because if you don’t have enough you will bridge it.”

He also expressed the president’s desire to create jobs locally in the sector because “the president’s conviction is that if you keep importing refined products, you are creating jobs for other people in other economies.

The meeting agreed to take care of the turnaround maintenance of the refineries in the immediate term and the target is that this short term intervention will be completed by March, 2013 and if that is done, that will raise the capacities of these refineries taken together to sixty five per cent.”

“But the determination is even to go beyond that to also engage in the rehabilitation of the refineries. There is a turnaround maintenance and also plan for rehabilitation” he declared.

Implementing committees report

According to Dr Abati, contrary to believe by some people that government sets up committees then refuse to implement the recommendations of such committees, “President Jonathan has already commenced the implementation of the recommendations of the committees he set up” he stated.

“The whole point of this is to make it clear that action is already being taken on the reports of the committees. The first meeting that was held today is on this issue of refineries. What I have given you is the outline. Another meeting will be fixed where further presentations would be made on the technical details on how these objectives would be achieved.”

“I think this clarification is important because since the presentation of these reports to Mr President, there has been an excessive focus on the politicisation of the Petroleum revenue task force reports whereas on that day, there were discussions relating to the refineries, there were discussions relating to the issues of governance system in the petroleum sector.”

“It is important to clarify that actually action is already being taken and for the benefit of those who think when committees submit reports, government sleeps on those reports, you can see clearly that this is not the case”



http://www.channelstv.com/home/2012/11/08/jonathan-sets-march-2013-deadline-for-complete-rehabilitation-of-all-refineries-abati/

And this poo came to front page *logs out of nairaland heads to linda ikeji blog*
To look for who I go hate!

seunfly: The first picture shew that he closer to God than we thought, because he is praying. The second picture show that listen and analysies criticaly, because he was attentive.

1 million likes!

isuomo: The road was meant to be four lanes either side why did Babalakin reduce it again, originally it was 5 lanes then Yar'adua agreed to make it 4 lanes to sagamu and 3 lanes to Ibadan so why is he reducing it again? what purpose will 3 lanes serve when the intention was to have dedicated truck lanes? Babalakin is a fraud who has no money to do the road and i can assure you that in 2015 we will still be here.

That's also my exact thought! He is just added one lane to d existing two lane and has a projection of making 30 to 40 billion naira annually within a 25 year Concessionaire agreement on a road they claim they are going to build with 170 billion naira loan.

So in less than 6 yrs they would recoup d amount of loan they took and the rest of d yrs will be salad for them?

Thats a Rip off!

D kind billions delta state govt is calling baffels me! Can't they take just half of dis money and do massive road construction all over d state...they have two airports all ready for heavens sake! Why waste huge money on dis un necessary project!

If boko haram menance ends and constant electricty becomes a reality, nigeria is on d way to el dorado!

May God infinte wisdom rest on GEJ to make d best and effective decisions! Dats all I have to say

Contrary to the position of the Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Boko Haram’s proposed dialogue with the Federal government inSaudi Arabia, the Federal government has accepted to dialogue with the group in Saudi Arabia as the group rightly proposed.


It was gathered that after due consultations in thepast 48 hours with different stakeholders in government, the Federal Government has accepted to go with the condition of the sect members to dialogue with the government in the Holy land.
In a related development, sources have affirmed that the Federal government would be making new commitment regarding the proposed negotiation by the Boko Haram militants as soon as the leaders they have listed to negotiate on their behalf accept the mediating role.


However, with the killing of Major General Muhammed Shuwa by suspected Boko Haram militants few days after they had proposed for a dialogue, it is not likely that the Federal Government’s Joint Task Force will be withdrawn from Maiduguri and other Boko Haram heated states . This is also part of the conditions given by the group for a peaceful talk to be possible.
DailyPost had gathered that President Goodluck Jonathan and other government personalities have gone into serious consultations on the matter since the group made the announcement, putting all the conditions given by the sect members into serious assessment and examination.


It was also gathered that the Government is now ready to dialogue with the group, but the only source of concern is those selected to mediate for the group. Government doubts if the selected mediators would be willing to stand in for the group. Government has equally said that the acceptance of the Boko Haram mediators would be a major breakthrough towards ending the BokoHaram menace. Aside this, the government will begiving the group the opportunity to constitute a more reliable committee that can stand for them,since Nigerians have lost fate in some of the names selected to negotiate on behalf of them.


A top government source said: “In principle, we agreed that there is nothing wrong with dialogue. After all, even in war you still find time to come back to the table to negotiate peace.
“What has been a major challenge borders on the criticisms and protestations that greeted some of those nominated by the sect to lead the peace talks. Some people (mostly outside the government) are uncomfortable with Buhari because he had been threatening violence.
“A few others faulted Bukar Abba Ibrahim for having not done much to address unemployment (as a three-term governor) which is one of the factors behind the violence in the North-East.


Although Amb. Galtimari once headed a panel onthe crisis some stakeholders in the North-East still begrudge him in one way or the other. I think so far, no one has raised any eyebrow against Zanna Wakil who appears to be the most acceptable. His wife was once targeted by the sect.
“The attitude of President Jonathan is that those selected are first and foremost Nigerians who should be supported to facilitate the proposed dialogue with Boko Haram. He has adopted a largeheart attitude to this offer. During consultations, he believes members of the sect are Nigerians who should be encouraged to make the dialogue work.


So, the Federal Government is looking beyond sentiments or personal scores in holding talks withBoko Haram.
“The government believes that Boko Haram has itsreasons for choosing these eminent Nigerians.”
On the possible approach towards a fruitful and impactful dialogue, the source affirmed: “We haveaccepted the choice of Saudi Arabia as convenientfor the sect. In dialogue, you choose the most secured and safe place. We have good ties with Saudi Arabia too.


But the government is looking forward to Boko Haram to inaugurate its committee, led by ex-Head of State, Gen. Buhari, as a sign of its readiness for the dialogue. Once these eminent Nigerians accept this onerous role, the Federal Government will also define a course for the dialogue.
“We are really watching whether these facilitators would be ready to serve or not. Their acceptance will be a major breakthrough and a defining moment


http://dailypost.com.ng/2012/11/04/we-ready-dialogue-boko-haram-saudi-arabia-fg/

okpara ugo: See ur cheap email address. Obinoclinton. EFCC is after you. Yes, you.

Am not the lender but a facilitator! And what is wrong in my email name! Until I use a bogus email address is when u will stop being *silly.

For those that has sent me an email expect replies to your email box.

Do you need funding for your very big projects? Foriegn lenders/investors are ready to offer loans at the rate of 5-7 percent annual rate and they do a minimum of 30 million dollars per project.

So if you need funding for very big projects send us an email with your loan demand and let's take it from there.

Email: Obainoclinton@yahoo.com

Blackberry should use this opportunity swallow their pride move over to nigeria, setup their head quaters here....believe me nigeria can help them to stand on their feet again....they can sell millions of phones every year in nigeria if they can take nigeria serious and concentrate here.

blaksril: Your train of thought depicts the IQ training u r on.

Professor I can see ur 1Q!
If we do a critical look at ur life am sure mogadishu airport will be in better shape that ur life.

To take a budget and spread it out to rehabilitate 22 aiports all over nigeria to a fairly standard terminals and to take the whole budget to construct a eight wonder terminal at only lagos which one is better all these arm chair critics??

Pls these remodelling projects is a start to better things...one step at a time!!
If you people are not atleast happi for little little progress being made, I have plenty of ropes in my garage! just ask for one, I will be kind enough to hand over.

blaksril: An opinion which can only be the effect of living life in a den of mediocrity. The govt should stop disgracing us with these "remodeling" rubbish.

If they are disgracing you make I give you rope?

All these oliver twist that are always finding a way to criticize! First of all GAT is a local terminal for local flights and was rehabilated with a budget of only 650 million naira! You don't expect a heaven paved with gold with dat kind of peanut money....

And those asking for schipol or jfk standard, pls go and check the budget for those international terminals,new terminal at heathrow and atlanta airport has a budget of 1 billion dollars plus...if FG spends a whooping 180 billion plus to build a terminal you guys will be d first to start shouting why waste some much money while ore benin or enugu-osha expressway is bad or people dnt have three square meals and they are wasting money building a billion dollar terminal...

FG is building new internatinal terminals at five airport with bigger budget tru good negotiated loans from china at five airports...expect better designs and finishing in those terminals....dnt come and expect schipol standard with low budget of 650 million naira...

They shouldn't waste large sums of money on Local airport terminals to build world class terminals...let them just be presentable neat and regularly maintained.

This is one premier no one is eager to attend. The repackaging of UTC’s Starloaf cassava bread will be
officially launched on Thursday, November 26, 2012- this time with even more cassava.
Foluso Olaniyan, Managing Director of UTC, said the company will officially launch the rebranded, improved
and export-quality cassava bread, with higher level of cassava inclusion.
She explained the UTC cassava bread had not been on the shelf in the market in the past two months
because the company took a little break. “The launching of Starloaf cassava bread in the first quarter of the
year put a strain on our equipment output, hence the need to fast-track routine maintenance by two
months, on the advice of our engineers. During the period of maintenance, we did not produce Starloaf.

But now, the Starloaf is back, this time with additional quality and with a higher inclusion level of high quality
cassava flour (HQCF),” she said.
According to her, a new 200 grammes kiddies loaf is added to the 400grammes sliced loaf which was
already in the market. The additional product came after a routine maintenance.
The new, improved loaves apparently, are made to international standards; kiddies’ loaf with tamper proof
packaging; batch numbers for traceability; ‘best before’ dates to protect consumers and in still consumers’
confidence; barcode for scanning purposes in retail outlets and increased cassava flour inclusion, to
reduce the intake of gluten by gluten-intolerant consumers and to discuss concerns expressed in glycaemic
index of wheat flour by health-conscious consumers.


Olaniyan added that the company decided to step back and improve on the quality and delivery standard of
the cassava bread because they realised the products were tasted and commended by presidents and
heads of governments of some countries who visited the president.
“We are also looking at exporting them to neighbouring African countries to support government’s advocacy
of cassava usage as raw materials for bread and other food products.”
Akinwumi Adesina, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development expressed optimism that Nigeria, the
world’s largest cassava producer, could also become a leading processor of the produce.



www.ynaija.com/the-return-of-cassava-bread-utc-launches-new-bread-with-even-more-cassava/?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter

gulfer: Hmnmm, this is coming many years behind. A lot of peeps are already leaving blackberry for iOS and Android. Hope they won't lose so much for their investment?

They won't! Blackberry are just too lucky in nigeria! They control 50% of smart phones market in nigeria
I don't think d craze will fade away in long time to come

Cool 100 million naira to govt coffers! With no work done!

Unbelieveable! If this firm is for real then this is the one thousandth reason why subsidy should go...who says we can't buy fuel at N65 naira without subsidy!

But am still not fully convinced of this firm's claim! They could just have sinster motives.

As the fuel crisis continues, Epic Refinery andPetrochemicals Company Limited, has said it intends to import refined fuel and sell at N75 per litre.
Managing Director of the company, Mathew Wenke, told THISDAY that his company did not intend to seek subsidy to import petroleum products.


He said that the company had done a feasibility study during a recent tour to the South Korea on the viability of the project, adding that Epic had already applied for approval to the Ministry of Petroleum and other relevant agencies of government to import fuel.
Wenke said that such importation was part of the company’s contribution to the Federal Government’s transformation agendaunder President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
According to him, the current scarcity of fuel and the attendant high cost was causedby saboteurs who want to discredit the present administration for political reasons.


Wenke said the petroleum products when imported would be made available to Nigerians through the use of the distribution network of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to squarely address the issue of scarcity.
He however said the company which had applied to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to build a $30bn refinery in Bayelsa State would acquire series of tankers to distribute the product to all zonesin the country.
“The current fuel scarcity is caused by some saboteurs and we intend to fill this gap. It is for the sake of national interest. We shall go into mass importation of fuel while preparing to establish refinery in the next two years. We shall import fuel without asking for subsidy. We have sought to use the NNPC distribution network to address the issue of scarcity. We shall do this to show our support to the President.”, he said


He explained that the idea to sell at N75 perlitre at a time when fuel was selling between N110 and N130 in some parts of the country was mainly to demonstrate genuineness to contribute to the nation’s development and not to create more hard times for Nigerians.
“We believe that after selling at N75 per litre we shall still have enough to sustain our business”, he said.
Wenke promised that when his company was granted licence to build a refinery, the company would ensure that the price per litre would further go down.
He disclosed that the company planned to import fuel, diesel and kerosene, adding that if industry marketers went on strike for whatever reason, the company should bringin its own trucks for products distribution.


“We have written to the Minister and other agencies that we want to import. We are now waiting for their approval”, he said.
When asked on how his company intended to handle the issue of the oil industry cabal trying to frustrate such offers, he maintained that the company could not be intimidated in whatever way.
“No cabal can stop us from importing fuel atreduced price. To us, we are trying to contribute our quota to the economic development of this country. We want to think and behave like a new Nigerian. As Ijaw man, we are all mafians, we believe that nobody can stop us”, he said.


http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/firm-seeks-approval-to-import-fuel-at-n75-litre/128450/

mike404: THEODORE ORJI.........ABIA .....WORST
MARTINS ELECHI......EBONYI....STRUGGLING
PETER OBI.........ANAMBRA......GOOD
SULIVAN CHIME......ENUGU.....BETTER
ROCHAS OKOROCHA........IMO....BEST

Good analysis but you missed it btw okorocha and chime! In terms of completed projects, chime should come b4 okorocha.

@poster I don't knw wat you are talking about! I have never had it so good in power supply as am having these days! 18-20hrs of light everyday and u want me to protest?

Am sure am not alone in this improved power supply experience!

^^
This should be trans ekulu?

GEJ is now firing on all cylinders!!

And like they say corruption will always fight back! Expect all kind of actions to pull GEJ administraion down dis coming weeks.

Strong indication emerged at the weekend that the Presidency has directed anti-graft agencies to go after all those involved in the fuel subsidy scam, with a warning that nobody should be spared.
The directive, it was gathered was a result of the arrest of the Managing Director of Capital Oil and Gas Limited, Mr Ifeanyi Uba.
Uba who is known to be a very close ally of powerful figures in government, was recently arrested and detained by the Special Fraud Unit ofthe Nigeria Police over his involvement in the fuel subsidy scam.
The exclusion of some big names in the initial arraignment of some marketers over the subsidy scam had led to allegations that the Federal Government was shielding some big names involved in the scam and targeting only the small fries.
THISDAY checks revealed that the arrest of Uba who is seen as an untouchable is to send signals to all that the government has no sacred cows and that all those involved in the scam will face the wrath of the law.
A Presidency source who spoke to THISDAY yesterday said: “The arrest of Uba is to send a signal to all those who think that they can always manipulate the system.
“Those who think we are going after low elements can now see how serious we are. The arrest of Ubais a game changer and I can tell you that this administration will do more in term of fishing out those fraudulent elements,” the source said.
The source further said: “Those who think they areuntouchables, those who think they can sabotage government after getting involved in the scam can learn from Uba. We are not going to spare anyone found wanting.”
It was also gathered that the administration is pushing to ensure that all those arrested are not left off the hook as feared by many Nigerians with the official assuring that “the law will take its course and we will ensure diligent prosecutions.
“For the cynics, this is the time for them to be convinced about the seriousness with which we take this anti-corruption war. We are taken the war to a new level and the citizens should be rest assured that the level of seriousness is now at an all time high levels.
“More arrests are coming. Investigations are goingon all fronts and in due course, more actions will be taken by the government. Nigerians should no longer think that the anti-corruption war is a joke. We are dead serious,” the source declared.
Meanwhile the arrest of Uba has reportedly created panic among many marketers especially those that are indicted but are yet to be arrested



http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/fuel-subsidy-scam-fg-gives-anti-graft-agencies-order-to-arrest-suspects/127723/