Please PHC is the worst place to be. The road networks are bad, poor drainage system, be sure to swim rivers everyday to go to work unless u leave in GRA.
Traffic is terrible once it rains cos you can remain on one spot for hrs.
I HATE THIS TOWN WITH PASSION!
The cost of living is high, cos every1 believes you have oil money. Housing is expensive too. And almost the same price with Abuja.
You can hardly save in this town, cos I live here with my hubby. Not a nice place to bring up children. The people are lazy and they specialize in beer parlours and peper soup joint. Thats their own form of recreation. N full of evil.

I have lived in Abuja, lagos (FTown ), n Owerri(NYSC). Been to Enugu, Asaba n Awka. I would recommend Enugu... But they dont have water, depend soley on water board.

Pls dont consider PH at all, it would reduce ur life span. Seriously!

The woman feels she is in control and the reps has no moral right to question her.
No wonder she is single. i know some men wont tolerate that attitude from her.
NONSENSE!

Why is this guy gittering pls dont allow the reps. To swindle you if you have evidence pls provide them.

@ Baawaa I wonder where u got ur info from. Dora collecting salary in foreign currency? I hope u r not confusing her with Okonjo.
Pls get ur facts right.

As for me both have contributed their best in one way or the other.
NOI has opened our eyes to see the way corruption has eaten deep in the oil and pension sector. Kudos to her.

Dora did her best in fighting fake drugs and as a minister of information she helped alot.

I would want to see Dora as a Minister of Petroluem lets see how she would perform. As for NOI she should remain as the Minister of Finance.

Happy Birthday Nairaland!

Seun kudos 2 u n ya team. Y'all have done a great job on this site.

I must confess, its so informative and has kept boredom away.

Thanx guyz!

Mhmmn there is more to it then, The whole truth would soon be told.

We need the true source of information here. We have been hearing different stories.

I still believe Boko Harams were not involved in this abduction.

I remember 'proudly9ja' had posted something about this abduction which he culled frm the sun.uk news onine.

He asked to confirm if Al-qaeda groups are nigeria as they claimed the abduction of the Briton and Italian man.

Please seun can u get the infor. It was in August 2011.

The Nigerian govt is trying to blame BH's without getting any real evidence it shows the rate of insecurity in Nigeria.

Sry, I meant 1stcitizen was ryt nt achi4u.

@ Werepeleri who told you achi4u is lieing.

Go to the nations news online the whole details about the rescue mission is there. Moreover Boko Haram may not be involved in this operation.

The BH's kill immediately and not abduct. We hardly hear they abduct or kidnap people.

Its obvious a different sect carried out the mission. My issue is why the Britains allowed Nigerian soldiers to be involved in handling this issue knowing fully well we are not competent.
Look at those who abducted Mikel Obi's father its wasforeign officers that rescued the man.
How was it done, Simple military intelligence. They put a small camera in the bag of money used to pay the kidnappers that was how they were caught in the hotel room while trying to share the money.

I simply blame the Britains for believing GEJ n his cohorts who always feel they are in charge.

This mission would have been successful if the Britains didnt involve Nigerian soldiers. Cos we act before thinking.

This FRAUD! It should be reported to EFCC. Its going to end up like the Imo State Saga.

Rogues, Why cant the training be free. The employed graduates pay after getting the job.

Nigerian Govt na wa , The money you stole is not enough. They want to exploit from graduates who are striving hard survive.
Oles, Barawo Bansa, Ndi Oshi!!!

@ Demain_man which one is Papa Ajasco again, Is dat a cartoon or comedy?

Oooh, I forgot you went to evening school.
Lmao!

Flinstones, Tom n Jerry, Cat-Dog n Spongebob Squarepants,

DisneyJnr for my lil gurl!
Waytogoguyz,

Where the heck is Asari Dokubo!
He is busy campaigning for GEJ to run for 8yrs. Yet his fellow NIGER Delta men are dying.

Bails could not be granted, these guyz were maltreated in prison.
You need to see the way they were shaking due to electric torture,

Boko Haram suspects were granted bail!

GEJ why are U treating your fellow Niger Deltan this way?

@citygist, This is serious matter o. During MPR. Hmmn.

What nonsense!

Gov. Peter Obi has shown clearly he does not know the qualities of leadership.

He who wants to work as a leader should lead by example.

Gov. Rochas Okorocha, less than a year in Imo State identified the loop holes of corruption and income leakages. He came up with strategies on how to tackle them.

Leaders should stop transfering blames on Nigeria, But rather see it as an opportunity to curb corruption in the country.

If its a first generation bank, Eg First bank only.No cause for alarm. Take the job.
If it is the likes of Union, WEMA or UBA, Then run away as these banks have no job security.

@ kutchs wat subsidy are we enjoying? The fuel is still expensive at N97 very difficult to get n scarce, Imagine buying 25ltrs of fuel at N6000 this week in Port harcourt.

What is the subsidy part from the cost of fuel. The panel which was an eye opener has still not performed and the FG is approving such a huge sum for subsidy, Nigeria is not heading forward.

Ur comment is unacceptable pls!
Dont give excuses to encourage corruption, But suggest ways of curbing it!

That Governor needs his illiterate head examined. Ewu awusa.

Tears , am short of words. We would miss u dear. Adieu bro. May his soul rest in peace.

Something is not right here. How is GEJ tackling corruption with figures of 2009 when we are in 2012: KPMG should give us their audit report for 2010/2011 which more current. That way we wld move forward rather than dealing with past figures.

I strongly believe that GEJ, NOI N DAM are hidding the truth from us with yr 2009 KPMG reports. Once efforts are wasted on this we wont be able probe the current year's Audit report.

Hmmmn something had better be done urgently before they try to exonorate themselves.

U knw wat, God has ways of rewardn them.

Hmmmn easier said than done, Lets watch n see.

we r still waiting for the broadcast!!!!!

please send the pix of your Honda CRV 05 & details to djnosky@yahoo.com. Hope its still available?

May be she cant bear d heat anylonger, the news of her hubby and DAM.

She had to go out of the ctry to ease her pains.

GEJ
DEIZANNI ALLISON MADUEKE
NGOZI OKONJO IWEALA
LABARAN MAKU
CABALS

We hope and pray for positive results. Atleast we are heading forward.

Nigeria: Irresponsible Oil Minister Vs Corrupt And Solvent NNPC
April 2011 Ifeanyi Izeze

If Nigeria were to be a normal country, the last person that would have described the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as “corrupt, lacking in transparency and inefficient in all its dealings” would have been the Minister for Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke because she knows and had been part of the problem of the nation’s apex oil concern.


Is it not funny that Austen Oniwon, group managing director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), finally admitted that the Corporation was broke, laying to rest the denials surrounding the dire situation of the state-owned oil firm’s financials which was first brought to the limelight in 2010 by ex-minister of state for finance, Remi Babalola.

Oniwon told a gathering of top oil and gas executives at the Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition in Abuja that the NNPC balance sheet was in the red. “The account of the organisation is in the negative; corporate failure is imminent unless urgent transformation is carried out” Oniwon told the stunned gathering.

It would be recalled that Babalola had, in July 2010, raised the alarm on NNPC’s bad financial shape when he told a Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) that the Corporation did not have enough money to fund its operations and was technically insolvent.

Levi Ajuonuma, NNPC spokesperson, had profusely defended the Corporation’s financial standing then.

According to him, “We (NNPC) cannot be classified as insolvent when we have a healthy cash flow and we can pay for our crude and product importation obligations.” Oniwon’s latest revelation rubbishes Ajuonuma’s position and confirms the true picture of NNPC’s financial health hitherto hidden from the public. Even the Finance Minister, Olusegun Aganga and the former Minister of Information, Prof Dora Akunyili accused Babalola, of not having the whole picture before making the statement that rattled the Presidency.

According to both Jonathan Ministers, “From the Auditor’s Account, NNPC is a going concern and does not have solvency issue as a corporation. Therefore categorically, NNPC is not insolvent.” Recent revelation has now shown that both Prof Akunyili and Aganga deliberately failed to acknowledge that on their part equally, they never had a comprehensive picture of the real problems of the NNPC.

First of all, the Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production, Mr Andrew Yakubu who represented the Minister should bury his head in shame for agreeing with Madueke to solicit the support of all stakeholders to assist in” entrenching transparency and discipline in their business dealings with NNPC officials.” Mr Yakubu has literally told Nigerians that he is very corrupt and inefficient and has no business holding the position of responsibility assigned to him. Yeye country!

NNPC is in serious trouble and the situation is not going to change at least not in the near future except something is radically done to free the corporation from the evil grip of politicians especially the Presidency. The highly trumpeted Petroleum Industry reform bill (PIB) will not in any way stop the plundering so long as the administration of the corporation is still tied to the Presidency. Does the NNPC have its own accounts or rather funds different from the Presidency in the strict sense of it? Diezani Madueke should tell Nigerians the true situation. The NNPC has no operational budget in the strict sense of it. The corporation gets whatever it needs for its operations directly from the Presidency. Is that how to run an oil company?

Truth be told, no amount of refutation or colouring will clear or repair the damage politicians especially the Presidency since the days of Obasanjo and Umaru Yar’adua and now Jonathan have done and still doing to the nation’s apex oil concern. Few privileged politicians have looted the NNPC to bankruptcy. The problem of the organization is in the deliberate and fraudulent structuring of its relationship with the Presidency where the corporation does not have a life of its own but depends on any sitting president for almost everything it needs to run its operations.

Past Nigerian leaders indiscriminately demanded money from the corporation without recourse to due process. Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha and Abdulsalami Abubakar were all culprits in this fraudulent hijacking of the NNPC funds. Olusegun Obasanjo came, saw and completely destroyed whatever was left as financial autonomy of the corporation. Yar’adua did his own and now Jonathan with the help of his minister of petroleum is on it. The current problem started with Gaius Obaseki as the group managing director of the NNPC and former President Olusegun Obasanjo who in a sinister attempt to check alleged widespread corruption in the organization usurped almost all the powers of the GMD in money matters.

The unholy act continued and was even taken to a criminal height during the tenure of Funso Kupolokun where the NNPC boss cannot even approve any spending higher than one million. Those close to the Presidential Villa at that time would confirm that Kupolokun used to come to the villa with Ghana-must-go bags of documents for Obasanjo to sign and approve.

The evil act also continued into the Yar’adua Presidency and was worsen by the late president’s incapacitation as a result of the ill health which made NNPC seek approvals from all kinds of aides even house wives. Nigerians were openly told during the PTDF controversy between Obasanjo and his deputy how NNPC funds were diverted by President Obasanjo through proxy accounts to fund both the activities and chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The current NNPC boss, Mr Oniwon, at a Senate Oil and Gas Committee hearing on the insolvency controversy sometime last year clearly showed some of the few cases of outright irresponsibility by the Presidency concerning the NNPC funds. According to him, “when the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, was to be established, the then President (unnamed) directed the NNPC to release N651 million for the take off but that it had never been refunded. “When a sugar company was to be established, the President (unnamed) also asked them to release another $18 million which also has never been refunded to date.”

These are just a few cases of how the Federal Government (Presidency) has been directing NNPC to release funds without recourse to due process. In the thinking of the Minister for Petroleum, the proposed reform in the oil and gas sector was to sanitise the NNPC as well as the entire nation’s oil industry. “It is our hope that all stakeholders and players in the industry will extend a hand of partnership in entrenching the transparent and efficient ways in which we now desire to do business by leveraging on the laws of the land. This will no doubt ensure accountability in the management of investments across the value chain.”

This is a pure lie. The reform will not stop corruption in the system as long the President remains the defacto administrator of the nation’s apex oil concern. The first stakeholder that should be warned is the Presidency where the minister of petroleum resources is domiciled right from her arrival as oil minister.

And most importantly, the National Assembly should put legislative instruments in place to severe the NNPC from the parasitic apron string of the Presidency and ruling party loyalists.


Ifeanyi Izeze is an Abuja-based consultant on Strategy and Communication
(iizeze@yahoo.com)

Loss of N3.7tr to illegal bunkering
31 May 2011
Country: Nigeria

ILLEGAL bunkering, the act or process of unlawfully supplying a ship with fuel, has become an endemic problem in Nigeria. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) usually issues bunkering licence to oil servicing companies to bunker vessels on Nigerian waters after fulfilling specific operating conditions and payment of requisite annual fees. The licensed operators receive payment for their services in foreign currency and pay requisite taxes, levies and dues to the Federal Government.
Illegal bunkering has assumed a very wide dimension in Nigeria . Any activity that involves sale of refined or crude oil to ships without NNPC licence, authourisation or without payment of taxes, levies, and dues to government can be classified as illegal bunkering. According to a report prepared by the Maritime Industry Advocacy Initiative, Nigeria currently loses 600,000 barrels of crude oil daily to illegal bunkering . At the current price of N112.52 per barrel, N3.7 trillion or $24.64 billion is lost annually in revenue to illegal bunkering.
We recall that in 2009, the NNPC disclosed that 1.7 million barrels of crude oil were lost between May and June. Official statistics showed that in 2001 alone, illegal bunkering accounted for a revenue loss of about $30 million and by 2003, the figure had soared to about $1billion.
The colossal loss of revenue accruable to government which has been on the upward trend over the years, is indeed, worrisome. While illegal bunkering brings huge profit to Nigerian syndicates and their unscrupulous foreign trading partners, a large number of Nigerians wallow in abject poverty and misery. Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua described illegal bunkering as “blood oil’ akin to the trade in “blood diamonds” that fueled the bloody civil war in Liberia and Sierra Leone. He called on the international community to help Nigeria to bring the illegal trade to an end.
The call on the international community for help is still valid today due to the complex “modus operandi” of the trade that turns illegally stolen crude oil from Nigeria with forged or no title documents to legal commodity in the international market. Stealing and illegal sale of Nigeria's crude oil are perpetrated by powerful Nigerians with the connivance of officials of international oil companies, government officials, security agencies , and ship captains while officially selling crude oil to legitimate buyers. That is why it is extremely difficult to track down perpetrators of the dastardly crime against the government and people of Nigeria.
The syndicate consists of powerful and well connected Nigerians many of whom are capable of destabilising the country if serious attempt is made to stop the trade. That is why it appears the federal government tends to be very careful in tackling the delicate matter in spite of billions of US Dollars that are lost annually by Nigeria.
However , many of the Niger Delta natives that engage in illegal bunkering do not see it as stealing . They claim that they are taking crude oil resources which according to them, are legitimately theirs but are inequitably distributed by some characters in the country while they suffer environmental degradation with no meaningful development in their areas.
It seems that illegal bunkering in Nigeria has become a problem that continues to defy lasting solution due to the fact that the international community seems to give a stamp of legitimacy to the sale and purchase of stolen crude oil once the commodity is traded on international waters, especially at the Togo Triangle. And because of the legitimate classification of the transaction, proceeds of illegal bunkering are freely transferred back to Nigeria by foreign banks without being classified as proceeds of illegal business.
The only way to tackle the problem of illegal bunkering is to address corruption in the oil sector through tough regulatory framework. Also, indigenes from the oil producing areas should be appeased by giving them greater stake in the ownership and control of the mineral resources in their respective areas through Constitutional means. This seems to be a more realistic way of ensuring equity in the distribution of national wealth in order to curb illegal oil bunkering and mining activities that go on indiscriminately across the country.
Finally, the Federal Government cannot allow illegal bunkering to continue without finding lasting solution to the problem which is affecting the economy of the nation. More decisive steps should henceforth be taken to combat the illicit business while those found guilty in this regard, no matter how highly placed, should be prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others.


Copyright: 2011 Author



http://www.legaloil.com/NewsItem.asp?DocumentIDX=1307016947&Category=news

Loss of N3.7tr to illegal bunkering
31 May 2011
Author: No Author
Country: Nigeria

ILLEGAL bunkering, the act or process of unlawfully supplying a ship with fuel, has become an endemic problem in Nigeria. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) usually issues bunkering licence to oil servicing companies to bunker vessels on Nigerian waters after fulfilling specific operating conditions and payment of requisite annual fees. The licensed operators receive payment for their services in foreign currency and pay requisite taxes, levies and dues to the Federal Government.
Illegal bunkering has assumed a very wide dimension in Nigeria . Any activity that involves sale of refined or crude oil to ships without NNPC licence, authourisation or without payment of taxes, levies, and dues to government can be classified as illegal bunkering. According to a report prepared by the Maritime Industry Advocacy Initiative, Nigeria currently loses 600,000 barrels of crude oil daily to illegal bunkering . At the current price of N112.52 per barrel, N3.7 trillion or $24.64 billion is lost annually in revenue to illegal bunkering.
We recall that in 2009, the NNPC disclosed that 1.7 million barrels of crude oil were lost between May and June. Official statistics showed that in 2001 alone, illegal bunkering accounted for a revenue loss of about $30 million and by 2003, the figure had soared to about $1billion.
The colossal loss of revenue accruable to government which has been on the upward trend over the years, is indeed, worrisome. While illegal bunkering brings huge profit to Nigerian syndicates and their unscrupulous foreign trading partners, a large number of Nigerians wallow in abject poverty and misery. Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua described illegal bunkering as “blood oil’ akin to the trade in “blood diamonds” that fueled the bloody civil war in Liberia and Sierra Leone. He called on the international community to help Nigeria to bring the illegal trade to an end.
The call on the international community for help is still valid today due to the complex “modus operandi” of the trade that turns illegally stolen crude oil from Nigeria with forged or no title documents to legal commodity in the international market. Stealing and illegal sale of Nigeria's crude oil are perpetrated by powerful Nigerians with the connivance of officials of international oil companies, government officials, security agencies , and ship captains while officially selling crude oil to legitimate buyers. That is why it is extremely difficult to track down perpetrators of the dastardly crime against the government and people of Nigeria.
The syndicate consists of powerful and well connected Nigerians many of whom are capable of destabilising the country if serious attempt is made to stop the trade. That is why it appears the federal government tends to be very careful in tackling the delicate matter in spite of billions of US Dollars that are lost annually by Nigeria.
However , many of the Niger Delta natives that engage in illegal bunkering do not see it as stealing . They claim that they are taking crude oil resources which according to them, are legitimately theirs but are inequitably distributed by some characters in the country while they suffer environmental degradation with no meaningful development in their areas.
It seems that illegal bunkering in Nigeria has become a problem that continues to defy lasting solution due to the fact that the international community seems to give a stamp of legitimacy to the sale and purchase of stolen crude oil once the commodity is traded on international waters, especially at the Togo Triangle. And because of the legitimate classification of the transaction, proceeds of illegal bunkering are freely transferred back to Nigeria by foreign banks without being classified as proceeds of illegal business.
The only way to tackle the problem of illegal bunkering is to address corruption in the oil sector through tough regulatory framework. Also, indigenes from the oil producing areas should be appeased by giving them greater stake in the ownership and control of the mineral resources in their respective areas through Constitutional means. This seems to be a more realistic way of ensuring equity in the distribution of national wealth in order to curb illegal oil bunkering and mining activities that go on indiscriminately across the country.
Finally, the Federal Government cannot allow illegal bunkering to continue without finding lasting solution to the problem which is affecting the economy of the nation. More decisive steps should henceforth be taken to combat the illicit business while those found guilty in this regard, no matter how highly placed, should be prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others.


Copyright: 2011 Author


http://www.legaloil.com/NewsItem.asp?DocumentIDX=1307016947&Category=news