NEWS MIRROR

By Favour Ajibade Over 11,000 Nigerians have expressed disapproval over the ways and manners, in which compensation of victims of oil pollution in the Niger Delta region and other issues are been addressed.  According to them, the issues have been delayed for long,  a development, which informed their decision to file a compensation claim at the London High  Court and to further hold Shell  accountable for its actions of on overseas  subsidiaries. Before now, the  United Kingdom based  Supreme Court had  allowed a group of 42,500 Nigerian farmers and fishermen  to  sue Shell in the English courts after years of oil spills had contaminated land and groundwater. In the ruling then, it was established that  Shell, one of the world’s biggest energy companies, was responsible because it exercised significant control over its Nigeria subsidiary SPDC. Not done yet, a  UK law firm Leigh Day last Thursday,  filed claims...

 An outlet without queue in Abuja By Favour Ajibade Queues have disappeared at filling stations within and outside Abuja, as the Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory ( FCT) as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited( NNPCL) supplied 67 million litres of fuel to marketers in the area. States such as Niger, Kogi, Kebi, etc have heaved a sigh of relief as NNPC pumped fuel to marketers in those places. The affected marketers include Nipco, NNPC, Salbas ,and a few others on the busy Kubwa-Zuba Expressway, which are dispensing products to motorists seamlessly. However,  this was not the case on Tuesday and other days. Also, outlets in Nyanya, Nasarawa State, and Zuba, Niger State, sold products to motorists and had no queues on Wednesday, contrary to what obtained the preceding day, where there were very limited filling stations in operation. Virtually all the major filling stations that used to have heavy queues before were seen without queues on Wednesday, as mo...

By Akinola Ajibade  Sahara Group, is equipping young professionals with cutting edge skills, in order to transform them into  class experts in areas such as energy,  infrastructure and others.  The group provides services in 42 countries across Africa, Europe, Asia and Middle East, and is likely to extend its scope of operations beyond the above-mentioned continents in the nearest future, once opportunities beckon.  To achieve these goals, Sahara has started receiving applications into its prestigious Graduate Management Trainee (GMT) Programme,a widely acclaimed platform for young professionals desirous of ‘Making A Difference’ (MAD) in the world. Its Executive Director,  Moroti Adedoyin-Adeyinka,was quoted in a statement as saying that the programme offers fast-paced growth within the organization evidenced by Sahara’s proven record of transforming young professionals into world-class experts. She also said:“Today we have success stories of fo...

By Favour Ajibade Exxon Mobil Corporation posted $56 billion profit in 2002, a record described as historic high in the Western Oil Industry. The United States based oil and gas firm,  in a statement yesterday (Tuesday) noted that it took home about  $6.3 million per hour  in the previous year.  With head office based in Irving, Texas United States, the firm's results far exceeded the then-record $45.2 billion net profit it reported in 2008, when oil hit $142 per barrel, 30% above last year’s average price. Deep cost cuts during the pandemic helped supercharge last year’s earnings.  “Overall earnings and cashflow were up pretty significantly year on year,” Exxon Chief Financial Officer Kathryn Mikells told Reuters. “So that came really from a combination of strong markets, strong throughput, strong production, and really good cost control.” Exxon said it incurred a $1.3 billion hit to its fourth-quarter earnings from a European Union windfall tax tha...

The newly commissioned Port in Kano By Akinola Ajibade  The Federal Government says that it has concluded arrangements to move shipping and port services closer to importers and exporters in the hinterland  with a view to encourage economic growth.  The government plans to carry out this functions through its inland cry ports across the country.  The government said this through its Minister of Transportation Mu'azu Jaji Sambo, while commissioning  Dala  Inland Dry Port in Kano State recently. Sambo , in a statement issued by the Ministry Director of Press and Public Relations, Henshaw Ogbuike and made available to News Mirror, said that importers and exporters of goods would not  have problems accessing their products from foreign countries soon. According to him, the government has established many Inland Dry Ports across the country, adding that those ports would help in taking goods shopped from Europe or those exported to their owners ...

Drivers refuse to work By Akinola Ajibade Nigeria may experience a more daunting economy, if the threats by the  Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN),to down tools over the lingering fuel scarcity soon, is anything to go by. Penultimate week, PENGASSAN through its President and General Secretary,  Comrades Festus Osifo and Lumumba Okugbawa respectively threatened to embark on a national strike, in the event that the Federal Government and other relevant authorities in the nation's petroleum industry, refuse to stop the on-going r as racketeering in the fuel supply chain and further put an end to acute shortage of fuel, which has entered its third months in Nigeria. According to a statement, signed and issued to the News Mirror yesterday ( Monday), the body does not see any justification for increase in price of fuel and the attendant agony imposed on majority of Nigerians. The group further carpeted oil  marketers for selli...

Sawan  By Akinola Ajibade Newly appointed Chief Executive Officer, Shell, Mr Wael Sawan, yesterday, unfolded plans to effect major changes in the multinational oil company. He said the firm would combine its oil and gas production and liquefied natural gas (LNG) divisions, in line with plans to have broader institution under his control, adding that the development may lead to some job cuts  The new entity, which combines Shell’s most profitable operations, Sawan said,will be headed by current Upstream Director, Zoe Yujnovich, the company said in a statement made available to News Mirror.  Sawan took office on Jan. 1 after heading Shell’s integrated gas division, which included the group’s LNG and renewables businesses, with a vow to simplify and improve the company’s operations. Under the internal restructuring, renewables operations will be combined with Shell’s oil refining and marketing operations led by current downstream director Huibert Vigeveno, the co...

DSS's officials By Akinola Ajibade The Department of State Services(DSS) has  arrested some members of an organised syndicate selling the new naira notes in parts of the country,the agency has said in a statement. DSS, however, has refused to disclose their  names and locations.  Also, the agency said that some  officials of a commercial bank  were aiding and abetting the crime.  This comes on the heels of efforts of the anti-corruption agencies namely  Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC,  to invoke the acts establishing them on the banks.  In a statement issued yesterday and signed  by the agency's Public Relations Officer, Dr. Peter Afunanya,  DSS warned that it would go after those involved in the malfeasance. The statement read: “The Department of State Services, thereby informed the public that it has intercepted some members of organised syndicates...

Scene of the fatal accident By Favour Ajibade No fewer than nine passengers have been reportedly crushed to death as a 20feet laden container fell on a commercial bus in the Ojuelegba area of Lagos State. It was learnt that the commercial bus was picking up passengers at the bus stop along the Ojuelegba Bridge when the truck lost control and fell over the side of the bridge on yesterday. Director-General of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, confirmed the incident in a statement. He said a woman was rescued alive from the crushed bus. “Upon arrival at the scene, a truck conveying a 20ft container was found to have landed on top of a commercial bus. Further investigations revealed that the bus was picking up passengers when the truck lost control and fell over the side of the bridge. “After suspending the container load with the aid of the agency’s forklift and cutting off the top of the bus with light rescue equipment, a single ad...

By Akinola Ajibade A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, yesterday,  sentenced a businessman, Kenneth Ndubushi Amadi to 18months imprisonment over N2.4billion fraud. Presided over by Justice Lewis- Allagoa, the court found Amadi , a Chief Executive Officer, IDID Nigeria Limited, guilty of counts 4 and 5 of the criminal chsrge made against him by the Federal Government of Nigeria ( FGN) through the office of Attorney General of the Federation  (AGF) In his judgement, Allagoa sentenced  Amadi to eighteen months jail term without an option of fine and also equally ordered IDID Nigeria Limited be liquidated with immediate effect. Recall that the Amadi and the firm were dragged before the court by the FGN when he held sway as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Eunisell Limited, a company founded by Chief Chika Ikenga. Prior to Justice Allagoa’s judgment, counsels had adopted their final written addresses on Tuesday, October 25, 2022. Meanwhile, at the last proce...

New naira notes  By Favour Ajibade Nigerians, yesterday (Sunday) felt relieved when President Muhammadu Buhari extended deadline for the exchange of old currency  from January 31st, 2023.  Reason: They have been having  a harrowing experience changing their old naira notes to new ones, despite spending many valuable time and hours in the banking halls without success. Many, as a result of this, are complaining that it is extremely difficult to get hold of the new naira notes.  The issue worsened last Friday, as the currency faced rejection from members of the public, specially traders and even bus drivers.  The situation looked hopeless at weekend given the number of people that thronged all the banking halls across the country, either looking for new note or what to deposit old money..  First Bank for instance had sent notices to its customers that its branches would be opening to customers on Saturday and Sunday in order to beat the deadl...

By Akinola Ajibade No fewer than twenty seven herdsmen have been killed in an airstrike in Doma Local Area of Nasarawa State,  the State's Deputy Supretendent of Police ( DSP)Ramhan Nansel has confirmed. Nansel, who is also the Command’s spokesman, gave this figure in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN). While conducting the interview on Thursday in Lafia,  Nansel said that preliminary investigation revealed that the pastoralists had on Tuesday gone to Benue State to pay fines for the release of cattle impounded by the Benue State Livestock Guards implementing the State’s Anti-Open Grazing and Ranching  Law. According to him, something like a drone or an aircraft hovered in the air and shelled the herdsmen on Tuesday day, when they were loading some of the cows into vehicles in a vehicle in Kwatiri village, a border community between Benue and Nasarawa. Nansel further said that the Commissioner of Police, Maiyaki Mohammed-Baba, had visited the scen...

By Favour  Ajibade The saying that beggars have no choice no longer holds across the world. Reason being that they are choosey now, as they are carefully taking their time to select from the arrays of gifts, which they are being offered by people around them by people around them. Recently, there was a mild drama at the popular Kano-road, Kaduna, when some group of beggars rejected old 1,000 naira notes gifted them by a good Samaritan. Reason for rejecting the old naira notes, News Mirror gathered, was in connection with the January 31st deadline for the submission of old naira notes by Nigerians. Our correspondent who witnessed the drama narrated that a young was accosted by three beggars on wheelchairs as he alighted from a bus, realising they were asking for handouts, the man took an N1000 note from his wallet and stretched it towards the most senior beggar among the three. However, in a rather hilarious reaction, the beggars looked at themselves, swiveled their whee...

Late Ikonne  By Akinola Ajibade The Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) has lost one of its governorship candidates about  days to March 5th 2023. The Presidential poll is slated for February 25th, while the Governorship Election holds March 5th.  The deceased name is Prof Uche Ikonne.  News Mirror reports that Ikonne died fourty days to the election, starting with Presidential polls on February 25, and Governorship on March 5. His death was announced in a statement by his son, Dr Chikezie Uche-Ikonne recently.. The statement read, “I regret to announce the death of my dear father, Prof Eleazar Uchenna Ikonne, who died at the National Hospital Abuja today January 2023 25, by 4 am after a brief illness. “He was recovering after taking proper treatment in the United Kingdom but relapsed a few days ago leading to multiple cardiac arrests from which he didn’t recover from. “Further details and arrangements would be made known to the public after deliberations and...

CBB's Governor, Emiefele By Akinola Ajibade The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday (Tuesday) said that the January 31 deadline for the withdrawal of old Naira notes from circulation is sacrosanct, implies that it remains unchanged. This happens as the apex banking regulatory authority, raised  its benchmark lending rate by 100 per cent basis points to 17.5 per cent, with a view to rein inflation without choking off lending rates to the private sector.  Its Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who stated this at the end of bank's  Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, said that enough time has been given to Nigerians to swap old naira notes to new ones, adding that the authority would not extend the deadline further. Kidnapping,  ransom-taking and other untoward practices, the Governor said, have have reduced since the three banknotes were redesigned. The CBN governor said, “I must say here that unfortunately, I don’t have good news for t...

By Akinola Ajibade An unidentified nursing mother has  been arrested for allegedly killing her baby in order to club with friends in Cameroon.  News Mirror findings reveal that the woman alledgdly gave his son tramadol, with a view to enable him to sleep and further go clubbing. The incident, News Mirror, further said, reportedly happened last night in Likomba, Tiko, South-West region of Cameroon. According to reports, the young mother who wanted to go have some night’s fun with her friends decided to give her few months old baby tramadol. She locked him alone in the house and went out to the club with her friends but returned the next morning to find the lifeless body of her infant. She has been arrested by the police after residents mobbed her over the death of the baby. The caption which accompanied the suspect and her baby’s lifeless body reads: “This lady you see here committed an abomination last night in Likomba, Tiko. Despite having a newborn baby of a few ...

By Akinola Ajibade Parents and Guardians of students of Federal University, Lokoja, Kogi state capital are demanding for the sack of the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof Olayemi Akinwumi, in the event that he fails to reverse the 300 per cent hike in the tuition fees. The school's spokesman, Mr Moses Abraham, who addressed the parents and newsmen at the Nigerian Union of Journalists ( NUJ) Press Centre in Lokoja, said that the management of the institution did not take due cognizance of the current economic situation in the country to effect the hike. “The Vice Chancellor is a civil servant and we expected that he should be aware of the current economic doldrum the people of this country are passing through recently. The Parents decried the almost 300 per cent “arbitrary” increase in tuition fees newly introduced by the management of the institution. Abraham said the parents would soon take to the streets in protest and swore to continue until the management of ...

By Akinola Ajibade The National Association of Energy Editors (NAEC) has called on the Federal Government, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria ( MOMAN), Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria ( IPMAN) and other relevant stakeholders in the country's downstream sub-sector sector to proffer solutions to the lingering fuel crises in the country.  The group, also said in a statement jointly signed by its Chairman and Secretary, Messrs Olu Phillips and John Meze respectively, that it is a high time the National Oil Company, which is also known as  (NNPC) to put in a place a transparent subsidy system, with a view to end the persistent fuel scarcity in the country.  It further said that a clearly defined subsidy programmes would end in verifying claims made on payments of imported petroleum products and in the long run, assist in ending the problems. In the statement, which was made availabl...

By Akinola Ajibade Electricity distribution companies( DISCO) have taken to social media to appeal for understanding over the worsening power situation in the country.  They include Ibadan, Kano, Kaduna, Benin, Eko, Ikeja, Jos, Kaduna, Enugu, Abuja and two other renaming electricity firms. The firms, News Mirror, gathered, at the weekend,  took to the social media networks to plead for understanding over the incessant power failure in the country in recent times. The social media,used by the companies, include facebbook and Instagram, but are not limited to them. Being institutions, with understanding that customers are always the king, no matter what happens, the companies have no choice than to plead for understanding concerning the matter. Investigations show that electricity customers badly hit by this problem are those  that are placed on bands C, D and E which usually received the lowest supply even when things are normal. Those in these bands are c...

By Akinola Ajibade Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria,MOMAN has ruled out the possibility of increasing the price of Petroleum Motoring Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as fuel, despite the scarcity of the product in the country. Its members include Conoil, AP( Ardova Plc),  MRS, OVH Energy, Total Energies and 11 Plc. The group, in a statement, made available to the News Mirror at the weekend,  said that it would sympathize with Nigerians, expecially customers over the current challenges encountered in the course of obtaining fuel for their domestic and industrial usage by refusing to increase the price of the product, as against adding to their woes.  This came, as fuel scarcity bites harder nationwide, with resultant effects on homes, who rely on generators to survive the epileptic supply of electricity in the country. According to MOMAN, the problem itself is  huge, a development, which informed its decision to see that the product is sold at the p...