NEWS MIRROR

By Akinola  Ajibade Lagos  state government has received a formal approval to b uild $2.5billion Badagry Deep Seaport, which was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) last August. This means that a new deep seaport is coming to compliment the almost completed deep seaport at the Lekki Free Trade Zone. Earlier in the week,  the government received approval to build an airport in the state.  When the two are deployed, it will reduce the pressure on the seaports at Apapa area of Lagos and free the roads that are always clogged with traffic. The final approval now authorises and provides legal basis for the concession of the Badagry Deep Seaport, following the issuance of the Full Business Case Certificate by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) last April. The project, which will be funded through Public Private Partnership (PPP), will be built on approximately 496 hectares.  Part of its facilities include 2,470m quay len...

By Akinola Ajibade The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has put in measures at various ports in order to  prevent contaminated cough syrups from entering the country, its  Director-General, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, has said.  She said this recently at a news conference in Abuja.  Recall that the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the agency has on Sunday, issued an alert with No. 040/2022 about some contaminated cough syrups circulating in the Gambia. NAN also reports that the syrups were identified as Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup. The syrups were said to have been manufactured by an Indian company, Maiden Pharmaceuticals, and had failed to provide guarantees about the safety of the cough syrups. Meanwhile, the NAFDAC boss said that the agency had put appropriate measures at the various ports of entry to curtail the entry of these syrups ...

Akinola Ajibade An end to pipeline vandalism and crude oil thefts is in sight, if the plans by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and the Petroleum Training Institute(PTI)  to install anti-theft integrated monitoring systems on pipelines to monitor the facilities against crude oil theft in the country is anything to go by. The Goup Chief Executive Officer, NNPC Limited, Mallam Mele Kyarid disclosed this yesterday, at the Petroleum Training Institute’s 50th Anniversary in Abuja. According to him, both organisations are already in talks to partner on a number of things including expansion of capabilities in the areas of modern technology, energy transition, pipeline protection among others. He said the oil company was pleased to hear what the institute had done in terms of pipeline monitoring,adding that the NNPC would work with the institute to deploy the technology to further boost the monitoring its pipelines to address crude oil theft in Nigeria. Kyari ad...

 By Favour Ajibade Lagos state governor, Mr Babajide Sanwoolu, yesterday, said that plans are underway to turn Lagos to Africa model mega city by 2052. He spoke in Victoria Island, during the 9th edition of Ehingbeti Lagos Economic Summit. According to him, the government is making concerted efforts towards conceptualising  and developing  a comprehensive 30-year plan. He said that  Lagos State Development Plan 2052 has the ambition of transforming Lagos into Africa’s Model Mega City. “The Lagos State Development Plan 2052 is built around four strategic pillars – Thriving Economy, Human-centric City, Modern Infrastructure and Effective Governance. This plan focuses on 20 strategic areas that will drive this ambition. “This long-term development plan has been meticulously devised to accommodate the best of all existing and prior high-level policy documents, transformation plans and development policies, including the THEMES Agenda. “In line with the ongoin...

NIPCO Outlet  By Favour Ajibade  Independent Petroleum Company ( NIPCO) Plc has announced the acquisition of a majority shares in Capital Hotels, which is the former owner of Abuja Sheraton Hotel.  22 Hospitality Limited,a, NIPCO Plc, has announced the deal in a statement. The company explained that the deal is part of the concerted efforts of the integrated downstream operator to diversify into the nation’s hospitality industry Alhaji Aminu Abdulkadir, a Group Executive Director of NIPCO Plc, said  that the new investors are now desirous to restore the hotel to its former glory and to reposition it as the first-choice luxury hotel in Abuja. The hotel is currently managed by Starwood / Marriott under various system license Agreements with CHP. Sheraton Hotel, Abuja Starwood had in the past acknowledged in various reports that the hotel was ‘in a very degraded state and will require hard renovations’ to make it brand compliant. However, despite...

CBN's Headquarters, Abuja By Akinola Ajibade  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has shut the door against some dealers, who want to access discount window for business.  The dealers, CBN said, are authorised ones, which are officially licensed to do so. The apex bank, in a circular to all dealers on the access to the discount window, which was dated October 7, 2022, and signed by the its  Director, Financial Markets Department, Dr. Angela Sere-Ejembi. The circular reminded participants with successful bids at the Open Market Operations (OMO) auctions to refrain from accessing the discount window on the auction date. The bank warned that henceforth, failure for non-compliance to the directive shall result in the reversal of the allotment. The bank emphasized that successful bids at the government securities auctions, including the Nigerian Treasury Bills (NTBs) FGN Bonds, and Sukuk, are not permitted to access the CBN discounted window on the settlement date. I...

By Akinola Ajibade Ajaokuta Steel Company  will generate N809.56 billion in 10 years, if it given N701billion as capital to reactivate it, a fellow of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE),Dr. Otis Anyaeji has said. Averagely N80 billion profit will be generated in a year, a development, which translates to N800 billion in 10 years. Onyeaji said this in a presentation during the October 28, lecture titled: ‘Advocacy and Activism in our Engineering DNA’ A combination of public and private sector funds should be considered for adoption, probably on a 30:70 ratio in order to raise the needed fund,he said. “This is very crucial, being another significant and consistent effort by the Nigerian Society of Engineers to further argue for ways of adding value to local resources and thereby create jobs at this difficult periodIn doing this, the investments on ground at Ajaokuta would be taken into due consideration on the public side. In other words, the real cash injection by the g...

President Muhammed Buhari yesterday said that the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) will fund the 2023  country's budget deficit with  N206.18billion, being the proceeds from the privatisation of the power sector in 2004. He said said this in Abuja, while presenting next year budget estimates totalling N20.51 trillion and tagged: Budget of Fiscal Consolidation and Transition to the joint session of the National Assembly. According to him,  other sources of funding the budget estimates of N20.51 trillion include new burrowings totaling N8.80 trillion and N1.77 trillion drawdowns on bilateral/ multilateral loans secured for specific development projects/ programmes. Recall that the N20.51 trillion budget proposed for 2023 expenditure comprises the followings:  Statutory Transfers of N744.11 billion;   Non-debt Recurrent Costs of N8.27 trillion;   Personnel Costs of N4.99 trillion;   Pensions, Gratuities and Retirees’ Benefits ...

Deborah poses after the  legal competition The University of Houston, United States is one with a difference in the area of bringing out the best in its products. Deborah Gills- Harry, a Law Student in the school bares her minds on how she won the Moot Court Competition.  The atmosphere was cool, a development, which informed the decision of Deborah, a first generation student in the school to speak with nostalgia how she emerged victorious in the recently organised competition for students, intending to ply their trade in the legal world. According to her, she was not longing to win the award, when she does. Her reason was borne out of  the facts it was rigourous and demanding to study law in the US, not to talk of winning awards. Hear her: " As a first generation law student, I never expected to win my very first University of Houston Law Center  Moot Court competition during my 1L first semester.  Beaming with smiles in a manner depicting somebody...

By Favour Ajibade Prices of crude oil rose for a fourth session yesterday(Thursday), following the decision by  OPEC to  further tighten global crude supply with a deal to slash production by about 2 million barrel per day, the largest reduction since 2020. Brent crude futures for December settlement rose 22 cents, or 0.2%, to $93.59 per barrel by 0234 GMT after settling 1.7% higher in the previous session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for November delivery gained 22 cents, or 0.3%, to $87.98 per barrel, building on a 1.4% rise on Tuesday. The agreement between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, comes ahead of a European Union embargo on Russian oil and would squeeze supplies in an already tight market, adding to inflation. Given that production at some of the OPEC+ countries are below target levels, the actual cut would be smaller than the 2 million bpd reduction agreed ...

By Akinola Ajibade The Chief Executive Officer,Royal Dutch Shell, Mr Ben Van Beurden, says taxes from energy companies are huge enough to deal with spiralling inflationary rates in the world. He  urged authorities to take from the rich to assist the poor, in order to stem the growing rates of inflation across the world. According to him, the need for the government's intervention one way or the other is necessary, as the cost of gas skyrotted in the United Kingdom and across Europe. Beurden, who spoke  at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London on October. 4, was quoted by  Bloomberg  as saying: “A government intervention that somehow results in protecting the poorest, that probably may then mean that governments need to tax people in this room to pay for it.” Executives from the energy sector’s largest companies, including from oil and gas majors Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil, and Chevron, among others, are in attendance at the  two-day conference , whic...

By Akinola Ajibade The Academic Staff Union of Universities ( ASUU) has defied the order to resume work today,  Friday, October 7.  The striking lecturers were ordered to go back to work today, with immediate effect  by the Appeal Court sitting in  Abuja days ago. The court gave the order in a ruling on an application by the ASUU seeking permission for it to appeal against the order of the National Industrial Court which asked the striking lecturers to resume duty. Recall that the national industrial court had on September 22, granted an interlocutory order following an application to that effect by the Federal Government, ordering university lecturers to return to work pending the resolution of their dispute with government. ASUU, through its counsel, Femi Falana SAN headed to the appellate court to seek redress. At the Appeal Court, ASUU filed an application dated September 28, seeking the leave of court to file an appeal against the industrial court or...

The Bi-annual Joint Generation, Operation, and Distribution Planning Meeting hosted by EKEDC at the Civic Center, Ozumba Mbadiwe, Victoria Island, Lagos. In attendance were stakeholders from NERC, TCN, ANED, GenCos

By Favour Ajibade The Federal Government has blamed the non-payment of N75,000 stipends approved for students of tietsry institutions on the strike by Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, has said. The government approved the money as bursary allowance for students sometimes ago. However, it is yet to pay to the beneficiaries, due to strike actions employed by ASUU, in order to press home its demands for improved condition of service. Represented by the 2022 World Teachers Day( WTD) press briefing in Abuja, by  the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, David Gende, Adamu said ASUU’s strike has delayed the commencement of the packages. He said, “Most importantly is the support of giving bursary awards to all students of education. As a matter of fact, for that one the ministry of education is going to try and commence it this year. It is because of the current strike that it has not been commenced...

Above: CBN's headquarters. Below: Mr Emefiele By Akinola Ajibade The decision by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to aggressively hike the rate of interest rate in order to cusion the effect of inflation on the masses would not achieve any meaningful results, experts have said.  They are Chief Executive officer, Highcap Securities Limited, Messers,  David Adonri, and Principal Partner with Afrique Capital and Equity Funds, Kazeem Bello. Already, inflation has gone mad, hitting a 17-year high at 20.52 per cent in August, throttling the exchange rate to N720/$1 at the parallel market,  heightening food shortage, and quickening the food basket index (food inflation) to 23.12 per cent, among other macroeconomic uncertainties.  CBN further raised the interest rates by 150 basis points to 15.5 per cent at its just-concluded two-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, on Tuesday. This represents the third consecutive time, since May, the apex b...

By Akinola Ajibade The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says it has restored the national grid, which collapsed in early hours of Monday ( Yesterday). TCN, in a statement signed by its General Manager, Public Affairs and made available to the media, said that  “the restoration of the affected part of the grid commenced immediately at 11.55 am with Osogbo/Ihovbor back to the grid followed by Jebba/Osogbo, Kainji/Jebba, Benin/Onisha, Shiroro/Kaduna, Shiroro/Katampe, and Alaoji/Ikot-Ekpene,” it said in a statement on Monday. “Others are, he said, include Lokoja/Gwagwalada, Odukpani/Ikot Ekpene, Benin/Omotosho, Oke-Aro/Ikeja west, Egbin/Oke-Aro and Kaduna/Kano.” Explaining the cause of the incident, the TCN said it was due to “a sudden drop in system frequency, which created system instability”. “The National Control Centre (NCC) said a full-scale investigation is being conducted to establish and ascertain the cause of the partial disturbance as this unwholesome event ...

Favour Ajibade A Nigerian, Abidemi Rufai, was yesterday, sentenced to five years imprisonment in United States.  Reason: He stole more than $500,000 meant for the treatment of people, that were affected by the recent global pandemic, otherwise known as COVID 19. Rufai was arrested at JFK International Airport in New York, while traveling to Nigeria in May 2021. Seeing with him at the point of arrest was a $10,000 wrist watch and $35,000 gold chain  Rufai pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington, in May to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges, and Judge Benjamin Settle issued the sentence Monday. The judge also ordered Rufai to pay more than $600,000 in restitution. Prosecutors said the 45-year-old had a history of defrauding the U.S. government, including using stolen identities to file for emergency relief after hurricanes in Texas and Florida. “When disaster struck, so did Mr. Rufai,” Seattle U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said in a news ...

By Akinola Ajibade Larger percentage of the 206 million population in Nigeria do not have access to pre-paid meters, the Managing Director, Mojec International Limited, Chantelle Abdul has said. She said 80 per cent are behind metering, just as Nigerians are complaining about the huge amounts of money, which they are spending on electricity. Adbul made the assertion recently, at the ongoing Nigeria Energy conference while on a Fireside Chat on ‘Smart Electricity Metering – The critical link in strengthening the country’s electricity grid’. Nigeria had in September 2013 unbundled the assets of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria( PHCN) a development, which resulted in 11 distribution and six generation companies. Despite the partially privatisation,as the Federal Government is still in control of the Transmission, the sector is yet to attract private investment, increase generation, and provide reliable and cost-efficient power supply. Abdul noted that at a time, th...

Favour Ajibade The Federal Government has taken the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) out of the list of investors for the nation’s national carrier,the Nigerian Air. The Ministry of Aviation, in a statement signed by its  James Odaudu, Special Assistant (Public Affairs), James Odaudu, admitted that it included the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) as one of the investors in the nation’s national carrier, in great error. He noted that the NSIA was not mentioned in Minister of Aviation Senator Hadi Sirika’s presentation, but only in the general brief given to the media, stressing that it was an error made during its preparation. According to him,the equity ownership structure of Nigeria Air stands as : Ethiopian Airlines 49%, Nigerian private investors (SAHCO, MRS and other institutional investors) 46% and the Federal Government 5%. The statement titled, ‘Error of Inclusion of NSIA as an Investor in Nigeria Air’ reads: Error of Inclusion of NSIA...

Osinbajo By Akinola Ajibade Nigeria requires $400 million annually to achieve net-zero emission in 2060 and transit into Green Energy fully, the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has said.  He spoke during the 60th anniversary of the  Oil Producing Trade Group OPTS of the Lagos  Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), held at Eko Hotel and Suits, Lagos. He urged members of the group to up their game in the journey to Green Energy, adding that they must involved more actively in the conversation.”   Osinbajo said: “When Nigeria gets this fund, in addition to capital flow from both government and private sector, local and international, it would then be able to address majority of the issues relating to Climatic Change in the country.  Nigeria has made a case that it should be on the G7 panel partnerships which will attract significant funding.” Explained further, he said the transition is anchored on key objectives, including lifting 100 ...