iwaeda:


Subsidy is Gone! Yet the landing cost of PMS According to official NBS is N1117, but we are still buying less than N1000, who is defraying the balance. Some as lickers will still tell us we can't comprehend what is written, Nlfpmod.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, has said Nigeria’s fuel subsidy expenditure might cross N700 billion monthly.

The Secretary of IPMAN, Abuja-Suleja, Mohammed Shuaibu disclosed in a statement on Monday.

He was reacting to data released last Wednesday by the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria, noting that the landing cost of petrol as of the preceding day was N1,117/liter.

Speaking to the MEMAN’s data, Shuaibu contended that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and the Nigerian government may not be telling the truth about the country’s fuel subsidy expenditure.

He warned Nigerians to be prepared for fuel pump price hikes.

“Petrol price is determined by the forces of demand and supply in the international market. When there is a global price increase, we should experience it in Nigeria.

“Therefore the N1,117/litre is not just based on our foreign exchange rate, but also the global PMS cost. The sole importer of this product is NNPC and the company is not telling us the truth.

“But data sourced by our counterparts, the major marketers, showed clearly that the landing cost of petrol is above N1,100/liter. This means that the monthly subsidy has crossed N700bn.

“That also means we should be prepared so that any time the price of petrol jumps, we should not be surprised because they have already told us,” Shuaibu stated.

However, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri on several occasions had insisted that fuel subsidies remain removed in Nigeria.

Further analysis showed that although petrol goes for between N617 per liter and N750 per liter depending on the location, dealers said the ex-depot price of the commodity by NNPC is N585/liter.

This brings the difference between the landing cost of N1,117 and an ex-depot price of N585 to N532.

According to the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, petroleum consumption figures of 44.3 million liters in October 2023, multiplied by the estimated N532 subsidy paid on each liter of petrol, give N23.57 billion as the daily subsidy spending.

The figure of the estimated fuel subsidy thereby amounts to over N700 billion in 30 days.

This comes amid the impasse between Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority over substandard petroleum products.

Meanwhile, the Lokpobiri on Monday, presided over a meeting with the heads of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission and Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

Recall that the former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, had claimed that the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal government is paying more on fuel subsidies than before.

Similarly, the President of the Trade Union Congress, Festus Osifo had also hinted at the government is applying a quasi-fuel subsidy on petrol.

iwaeda:


The noise will be so loud. From Zamfara, Lagos, Cross River, Adamawa same noise of hunger and hardship. Tinubu need to be weary of Onanuga and Co deceiving him.

adenigga:



Source: https://punchng.com/Fuel-import-FG-working-against-local-refineries-operators-cry-out

The President of the Dangote Group has called on the House of Representatives to investigate the quality of diesel and petrol at filling stations.

Dangote made the call on Saturday when he received the leadership of the House led by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and his deputy Benjamin Kalu.

To carry out the investigation, he urged the House to set up a committee to test products at various filling stations across the country.

Decrying the damage being done to vehicles and engines by substandard products, also called on the House to investigate the quality of laboratories being used to test imported products and compare that with the one at the Dangote Refinery.


He informed the lawmakers, who had earlier toured the refinery, that he was also open to independent testing of his refinery’s products as that would only attest to their quality while exposing the problem with some of the products being sold by other players in the sector.

The management of Dangote Refinery has complained in recent months about what they say is an attempt by international oil companies (IOCs) to sabotage the refinery. It has also decried what it says is the importation of substandard products.

In turn, the refinery has been accused of essentially pushing for a monopoly.

Dangote, however, dismissed the monopoly claims insisting that the Dangote Group did not receive any special incentive when the refinery was being built.


He also said there was no effort to prevent other players from operating..

Islie:
Governors call for dialogue, say grievances receiving attention

Demonstration is a constitutional right

CSOs Northern students, others pull out

Security agencies place personnel on alert
Nawaoo




https://leadership.ng/states-on-edge-over-planned-hardship-protest/

Speaks on the construction of a refinery Nigeria banks on for economic revival, his frustrations, achievements, expectations

•It’s like swimming in the middle of the sea, getting tired but making efforts to swim out lest you drown

By Onochie Anibeze

Three places have been etched as outstanding experiences for me over my years as a journalist.

One was in St. Peter’s Basilica and some ancient churches I visited in Rome while touring Europe with the Eagles in preparation for the USA ’94 World Cup finals.

The Basilica is 452 feet high. Its dome is the highest in the world. As tall as it is, the church sits on the tomb of St. Peter, one of the apostles of Jesus Christ. But the wonder to me is the use and the design of marble and tiles up to the last foot. There were no cranes when that church was built. How workers were able to brave the physical challenges to construct such an architectural masterpiece is a striking question.

The second place of wonder to me is in Egypt, the Pyramids. Everybody knows about the Pyramids but note this. The height of each pyramid (there are about seven of them) is about 139 metres and the average weight of a stone used in building them is 2.5 tons. The largest granite stones weigh 25 to 80 tons each. Now the wonder. These pyramids are in the desert. They were built between 2700 B.C. And 1500 B.C.

How did they move those large stones to the desert? How did they mount them one after the other to that height at the time when there were no cranes? You need to visit the Pyramids to appreciate why it is one of the wonders of the world.

Interestingly, a third wonder that I have just seen is not far from where I work in Lagos, Nigeria. It is the Dangote Petroleum Refinery at Ibeju Lekki in Lagos.

President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote led a large team of media and businessmen on a tour of the refinery last Sunday. A lot has been written and said about the engineering marvel. President of the Guild of Editors, Eze Anaba simply described it as ‘monstrous’.

I don’t know how to start capturing our tour last Sunday. But you may understand better when told that a tour we started at about 7.30 am ended at about 7 pm. It was a visit to the wonderland they say is seven times the size of Victoria Island. It covers an area of approximately 2,635 hectares.

It has a total storage capacity of 4.5 billion litres which can cover 20 days of crude requirement. The refinery has a 435 MW power plant that can meet the total power requirement of Oyo, Ogun Osun, Kwara, and Ekiti States. It is huge. It is massive. It is monstrous, as Eze put it. And in the words of Arise News Ojy Okpe, the elegant one Dr. Ruben Abati introduces as Ojynika Orjyyyy Okpeeeee, “It’s Dangote Planet”.

From one section to another, we rode on buses. At a time, I had the chance to ride in the same bus with Dangote himself and Devakumar Edwin, the Group Executive Director, Strategy, Portfolio Development and Capital Projects.

There were about seven other buses. It was amazing how Dangote mastered the refinery and explained the technicalities and functions of many sections. Did he witness every construction? From the hangars or quays where crude oil can be evacuated into pipelines leading to the refinery and where refined oil can be discharged into ships, we then drove to the main refinery.

We saw different plants, Petrochemical complexes, Nitrogen plants, Hydrogen generating plants, Raw Water Treatment Plant etc. We drove past more than 80 storage facilities some more than the size of football pitches. Some could store 60m gasoline products. Inside the Dangote Industries Free Zone, there are 10,000 housing units for staff. Workers are up to 30,000. We visited the fertilizer plant and its storage facility. There’s a lab for fertilizer and another huge one for petroleum products.

The refinery is built to refine any type of crude. There are control rooms. Everything about the Dangote Refinery is extraordinary. When I got close to him I asked “must a refinery be this big?”

He smiled and said “It’s the biggest in the world, it’s the first of its kind.” There were other posers from colleagues. Were there times he regretted going into this and even thought of throwing in the towel? What lessons came his way while constructing this? He was at home with every question on the bus ride and during the question and answer time after the tour.

“We possibly could have had a second thought if we knew the magnitude of what we were going into. Yes, maybe we wouldn’t have started if we knew” he said. Many saw him. Could he have stopped? Were there frustrations that made him think of quitting?

“Yes, there were frustrations but it’s like when you are swimming and you’re in the middle of the sea what do you do when you’re getting tired? You have no option but to continue and swim out.”

The first frustration was finding out that a great part of the land they bought had to be sand-filled as the place was marshy. They spent hundreds of billions doing that. The next was from the indigenes who challenged any action on the land because of their shrines in the place. More compensation would have to be paid to appease the gods. There were many more. Dangote had to build a port as moving crude from the Apapa port was going to be a herculean job. Was that part of the original plan? Many other things came up as construction went on. And for the lessons, experiences, and challenges he encountered, Dangote plans to write a book. “I plan to write a book on project implementation in Africa,” he said.

They started construction of about 31 units of the refinery simultaneously. That was hectic and perhaps one of the things he could have done differently.

In Africa especially in Nigeria, you construct the roads leading to your projects, you provide your own water, security and many other things that are responsibilities of the government. But he was determined to surge on. It is always in his character to top the chart of any business venture he goes into. “We have so many things that deserve places in the Gunness Book of Records here,” he said, adding “soon we will invite them for a tour of this place to see for themselves.”

The Dangote Refinery will go public in the first quarter of 2025, he hinted. Production of fertilizer and some other items are on. The refinery is expected to start producing petrol in August. The visit to the Dangote Refinery was revealing, and mind-blowing to many. To me, it is one of the wonders of our journey as a country. It is a project Nigeria should be proud of and one government should pull all strings to ensure it benefits the people.

For better understanding of magnitude of what we have at the refinery, read 25 FACTS ABOUT DANGOTE REFINERY below. But before then, some words from Aliko Dangote may interest you.

“Our new petroleum refinery is coming with many benefits”

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery Project is amongst our many initiatives towards supporting the transformation agenda of the federal Government. The Government is focused on turning Nigeria into a manufacturing hub, by adding value to our natural resources through processing and refining.

Our goal is to produce within Nigeria most of the goods that were usually imported despite having abundant resources for domestic manufacturing of the same goods. Our investment in cement manufacturing has made Nigeria self-sufficient, thereby transforming us from an import-dependent to cement exporting nation. We commissioned Dangote Fertilizer Plant in March 2022. With the nation now self-sufficient in the production of fertilizer, the surplus is going for the export market thereby generating crucial foreign exchange earnings for the country.

We conceived Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals as an answer to the perennial shortage of premium motor spirit (PMS) in the country. The completion of the project is another milestone for us at Dangote Industries Limited. It is the largest single-train refinery in the world with 650,000 barrels per day refining capacity. It marks the attainment of self-sufficiency in domestic refining of petroleum products and provides excess capacity in refined products, which will now go for the export market.

The refinery is designed to maximize gasoline production, which will account for 53 per cent of the production capacity, compared to most of the refineries in the world which produce between 20 to 25 per cent gasoline. The petroleum refinery can meet 100 per cent of the requirements of Nigeria, of all the liquid fuel products – Gasoline (PMS), Diesel (AGO), Kerosene ( DPK) and Aviation Jet Fuel (JET A-1)

Our new petroleum refinery is coming with many benefits. Refined petroleum is the main source of energy in the transport and powering of machines. The byproducts are also the basic materials of many diverse products as plastics, pharmaceuticals, solvents, fertilizers, pesticides, and clothing.
Our strategy of producing local goods that were hitherto imported creates jobs in the domestic economy instead of providing jobs in developed economies, the source of the imported goods. With the coming onstream of this refinery, thousands of direct and indirect jobs are already being generated from the activities and operations connected to the project. These jobs are helping to address the challenge of youth unemployment.

We envisage that 60 per cent of the production capacity of this petroleum refinery can meet the entire requirement of Nigeria while the remaining 40 per cent is earmarked for export. Exporting refined petroleum products will not only save the huge amounts of foreign exchange but will also trigger a massive inflow of the same into the domestic economy. The retained market foreign exchange can be invested in other projects that will stimulate more diversification of the Nigerian economy.

We surmounted numerous obstacles in our journey to build this refinery. To bring Dimensional Cargoes close to the site, we developed a port with four quays, which has a quay loading bearing capacity of 25 tonnes per square meters. This was done to bridge the distance between Apapa Port and our project site. The company also invested in 2,570 construction equipment including 2,238 civil construction equipment and 332 mechanical construction equipment.

The Petrochemical Plant is designed to produce 77 different high-performance grades of polypropylene. Petrochemical is the source of raw materials for many manufacturing and assembling plants. Products from the plant will serve as raw materials for the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is used extensively across a broad range of industrial, technical, and everyday applications including widespread use in building, transport, packaging, electrical/electronic and healthcare applications.

These new projects will no doubt, create linkages in the Nigerian economy leading to the evolution of ancillary industries that will use their byproducts as starting materials.

Tegabadguy:
every way is a way

Hassanmaye:

Criminals I hate that Jobs, They can do anything for Money that's why they die miserably

LAGOS — BISHOPS of the Methodist Church in Nigeria have charged the Federal Government to implement policies that will tame inflation in the country warning that if the economic challenges facing Nigerians are not tackled, it may lead to chaos and anarchy.

This came on a day a popular Islamic cleric, Imam Muideen Salman, urged politicians to stem the tide of greed to reduce the level of hardship in Nigeria.

The Bishops spoke at the end of the 41st annual council meeting of Bishops of the Methodist Church in Nigeria with the theme, ‘Arise and Build’, held at Hoares Memorial Methodist Cathedral, Archdiocese of Lagos Mainland in Sabo, Lagos.

They insisted that concerted efforts from the government were important to alleviate the financial strain on consumers and sustain economic stability amidst ongoing economic challenges.

The Bishops in a communique read by the Prelate, Dr Oliver Ali Aba, said: “The Council expresses alarm at the high rate of unemployment among young people, which is linked to various social vices.

We urge governments and parents to take responsibility for empowering their children. The Council is concerned about the rising cases of teenage pregnancy, cultism, fraud, exam malpractices, political thuggery, prostitution, drug abuse, and other criminal activities among youth. We warn that if left unaddressed, these issues may lead to chaos and anarchy in the country, emphasizing the need for immediate action.

“The Council is calling on the Federal Government to step up its efforts to address the worsening insecurity in the country, condemning the violent actions of criminals such as bandits, kidnappers, and armed robbers. The Council demands accountability for recent attacks on public institutions and urges security agencies to work together to find a comprehensive solution to the country’s security challenges.”

Meanwhile, an Islamic cleric, Imam Muideen Salman, who delivered a lecture at the Fidau prayer of Mama Hajarat Akinleye, mother of the Chief of Staff to Osun Governor, Kazeem Akinleye, at the Osun NYSC camp in Ede, charged the political class to live the life of service rather than being selfish.

The cleric, while directing his sermon to politicians at the gathering, said they would account for their actions before God after leaving office and on judgement day.

He said: “It is important as politicians to prioritise the welfare of the masses on whose shoulders you ride to power. These masses are suffering because of politicians’ greed. To avoid the wrath of God, you must reduce your greed, and selfishness to make life liveable for the poor.

“You must all recognise that political authority is temporary and you will account for everything action after office and on the day of judgement.”

ABUJA – Reverend Esther Ajayi, the founder of the Love of Christ Generation Church, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to flood the market with food to ease the country’s economic woes.

Her advice comes as Nigeria grapples with rising food prices, insecurity, and economic uncertainty.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, Rev. Ajayi, also known as Iya Adura, emphasized the need for the government to prioritize food production and availability to address the economic challenges facing Nigeria.

According to her, the current economic situation in Nigeria is not unique to the country, but a global phenomenon.

She cited her personal experience in the UK, where she spent £50 on electricity and gas twice in one month, highlighting the global economic strain.

Rev. Ajayi said, “In the past in England, if we bought electricity and gas for about £50, it would last us for six weeks. However, in May, I purchased £50 worth of electricity and gas twice within two weeks. This suggests that the economic issues are not limited to Nigeria but are affecting the whole world.

“Insecurity is not unique to our country. In this country, we are not asking for much. What we want is food on our table, good roads, electricity, and water.

“My advice to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is to flood the market with food. I know that there are some people who are always sabotaging the government’s good ideas. But I believe that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a bold and courageous leader. He is not someone who can be easily pushed around.”

The cleric commended President Tinubu’s efforts to address the country’s challenges, describing him as a bold and courageous leader.

She expressed optimism that the government’s efforts would yield positive results, urging Nigerians to be patient and supportive.

The Kogi State Police Command has confirmed the arrest and detention of a police inspector, Aminu Muhammed, for alleged robbery.

The cop was alleged to have robbed the residence of those around his duty station, the ‘C’ Division in Lokoja, the state capital.

Police spokesperson in the state, William Ayah, who confirmed the incident on Tuesday, said the police inspector has been arrested and is already in detention.

He added that the Commissioner of Police in the state, Bertrand Onuoha, has ordered a thorough investigation into the alleged misconduct.


Luck ran out on the inspector following the escapades of a notorious gang who specialised in robbing houses of household items and cars in the state.

A source told our reporter that a stolen car was found in the workshop of the policeman’s panel beater who was already working on changing the car’s colour at Ochadamu in the Ofu Local Government Area of the state.

Those who knew the vehicle and were aware of the robbery incident in the owner’s house on 14th June 2024, quickly raised the alarm upon sighting the car.

The car’s number plate had already been changed to an Abuja number just as a car dealer’s receipt, backdated to 2020, was presented by the officer as his evidence of purchasing it.

His panel beater had primed the car preparatory to changing its colour before the alarm was raised and policemen of the Quick Response Unit (QRU) attached to the Police Area Command, Idah, apprehended him.

Upon reaching the ‘A’ Division in Lokoja, where the QRU took the apprehended panel beater, it was found that the criminals who committed the robbery had already been arrested for committing another crime.

One of the members of the gang of armed robbers, who had also been on the police wanted list for other crimes, confessed to the commission of the robbery, and named the police officer as the mastermind.

He confessed that they were contracted to rob the house of the owner of the car for the sole aim of getting the car for the inspector.

The Naira yesterday depreciated to N1,555 per dollar in the parallel market from N1,545 per dollar last week Friday. Similarly, the Naira depreciated to N1,577.29 per dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market, NAFEM.

Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative exchange rate for NAFEM rose to N1,577.29 per dollar from N1,563.8 per dollar last week Friday, indicating N13.49 depreciation for the naira.

The volume of dollars (turnover) traded on the window increased by 21.3 percent to $153.53 million from $126.5 million traded on Friday.

Consequently, the margin between the parallel market and NAFEM rates narrowed to N18.8 per dollar from N18.8 per dollar last week Friday.