All Posts in "Day: March 17, 2022"

Why Nigeria Is Experiencing BlackOut – Minister 

The Minister of Power Engr. Abubakar D. Aliyu  has blamed the  current blackout being experienced in Nigeria on increasing vandalization of pipelines that also supply gas to the power plants.
Sanusi Isah, Special Assistant, (Media) to Minister of Power, gave the reasons in a statement.
He quoted his boss as  assuring that electricity would be restored  in collaboration with the relevant agencies in the country.
He added:”The current challenges in the electricity supply in Nigeria are being resolved with the ongoing restoration of normal operations. Early in the week, the national grid suffered a decrease in electricity due to so many factors.
“However, more of the power is being restored. The current energy crisis confronting some key sectors of the economy also contributed to the problems we are facing now in the power sector. We are where we are today also because of the increasing vandalization of pipelines that also supply gas to the power plants. This is being resolved in collaboration with the relevant agencies. Government is doing everything – working with the relevant security agencies – to stop vandalization of pipelines
“NNPC and other gas suppliers are working relentlessly to restore gas supply for optimum power supply. Routine maintenance of power generating plants had also contributed to the current situation of power outage we are experiencing.
“These challenges do not in any way indicate that the ongoing rehabilitation of the national grid by the government is not yielding result.
“Despite all the challenges, we are recording successes and the grid is being restored back to full operation. Government solicits the support of all Nigerians at this time, while efforts will continue to increase and stabilize electricity supply across Nigeria” reads the statement in parts.
Main Admin by — March 17, 2022 in Power 0
Buhari Regrets Petrol Scarcity, Power Outage

President Muhammadu Buhari,has expressed regrets over the prolonged  shortage of petrol and electricity  and the inconvenience caused to citizens of the country.
He also apologized to Nigerians over the development,saying that relevant agencies and stakeholders are working round the clock to fix the twin-issues
A statement by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, on Wednesday quoted the President as saying that  the administration knows the fuel shortage has placed a strain on Nigerian citizens and businesses.
“The government is working round the clock to attend to this issue. An action plan agreed upon earlier this month is being implemented to address the scarcity. Working together with the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), this plan is now bearing fruit. Sufficient fuel supply has returned to a handful of states, with the queues at stations falling. In the coming days, we expect this to be the case across the rest of the country.
“Looking to the longer term, funds are being targeted toward keeping fuel availability affordable for the country. The international energy markets have surged drastically in recent months, the government will, however, ensure that consumers are protected against these price spikes.”
Buhari,who has been hinted about the excesses of depots  and petrol stations owners,has directed the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the NNPC and the entire security apparatus of the nation to take strong action against those responsible.
On blackouts being experienced across the nation, President Buhari said that “the blackouts seen in the national grid are also being addressed. A dip in hydroelectric generation due to seasonal pressures has coincided with technical and supply problems at thermal stations. On this, the government is also working tirelessly to resolve the issues at the latter to guarantee sufficient power flows into the national grid.”
As part of emergency measures put in place following a meeting convened with key stakeholders to address the low power generation in the country, the main challenge was identified as being one of low gas power generation as a result of sabotage of gas pipelines leading to the shutdown of power plants coupled with ongoing routine maintenance on other gas power plants.
To recover over 1000MW, actions were agreed upon between the players in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) and also NNPC. The actions targeted the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) plants, (Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and power plants run under NNPC Joint Ventures, Agip and Shell (NAOC and SPDC) and progress on the key actions have already ensured the restoration to the grid of 375MW after the pipeline from “Okpai 1” was repaired.
To also ramp up the underutilised capacity of the NDPHC capacity, a USD 50 Million Gas Supply agreement is being finalized to secure the sustainability of up to 800MW of underutilized NIPP assets.
The President assures that the government’s attention to these problems will bear fruits very soon.
Main Admin by — March 17, 2022 in News 0
Some Indigenous Coys Lack Capacity To Develop IOCs Divested Assets-PENGASSAN   

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has lamented the failure of most indigenous companies to manage the divested assets they acquired from International Oil Companies in the country.
The union conveyed the development in a statement  signed by its President,Comrade Festus Osifo and General Secretary Comrade Lumumba .I. Okugbawa.
Bemoaning the spate of the divestment,the union  said that the trend which started in 2012 has spread quickly within the industry and has somewhat reduced the fortunes of developments within the oil and gas fields.
It said:“While we are not averse to indigenous participation in the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry, we will not fold our arms and allow mediocre to take hold of our national assets and ruin the fortunes of future generations for immediate gains.
It said: “It is on record that since IOCs started divestment in 2012, most of the companies that purchased such assets do not have and cannot attract the requisite finances for capital expenditures in such fields nor have made reasonable efforts to provide the required human and technical developments of Nigerians within their establishment.
“Most of these companies practically draw from the existing wells until it is dried up. They do not substantially if at all invest in work over operations or drilling of new wells. A country whose major source of foreign exchange earnings is Oil and Gas cannot afford to allow this depletion to continue and this charge PENGASSAN has decided to lead”.
It added  that most of these companies do not only refuse the unionization of workers but also subject their employees to sub-optimal conditions.
It said the development is reprehensible and against all known laws and conventions.
The union vowed  that it will henceforth not cooperate with any company whether indigenous or foreign that does not have the capacity to develop the oil and gas fields or have a track record of subjecting employees to modern-day slavery.
“The Minister of Petroleum must be worried of portfolio and briefcase investors in the Oil and Gas sector whose sole aim is to milk the field dry, as this will prevent a similar fate that befell the power sector. NNPC limited must be strengthened to become a major player in the upstream environment to spur and attract investment to Nigeria
“Concerted efforts should be made to persuade and further incentivize the IOCs to remain in the country in order to benefit from the newly passed PIA. However, should they decide to exit after all efforts fail, a good investor that has relevant technical experience, good financial standing, and reputation for managing employees must be sort after”, PENGSSAN added.
It said in such divestments, the jobs of Nigerians working in such locations, their exit/welfare package, and the ability of the investors to continuously develop such field which will, in turn, provide jobs for Nigerians working in the oil and gas service sector will be of utmost priority.
He advised the Federal Government to make concerted efforts and persuade and further incentivize the IOCs to remain in the country in order to benefit from the newly passed Petroleum Industry Act
Main Admin by — March 17, 2022 in Oil&Gas 0
Outage: NERC Mulls Compensation For Electricity Consumers

The  Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC),says it would compel electricity distribution companies to compensate consumers in view of the prevailing power outage in the country.
Chairman of NERC, Sanusi Garba,who disclosed this in Abuja,said his agency  has robust data gathering strategies to implement the compensation.
He noted that NERC had once compelled Jos DisCo to refund N200 million to consumers for poor service as well as Enugu DisCo.
He also said his agency will soon halt  payment for unused electricity in the country.
He noted that issues surrounding the N1.6 trillion debt which electricity Generating Companies(GenCos) are demanding its payment, were technical.
He added:  “It will be reckless to sign agreement for the generation plants for capacity that has not been delivered.Nigeria will be paying for the capacity that has not been useful to Nigerians” when “the infrastructure”  that ought to be provided by the firms “ is not there.”
According to him, some of the GenCos have no effective contract on payment of unused electricity.
He said:  “If a generation company has effective Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) that provides for payment of a certain level of capacity, then there is an obligation to pay.
“A number of generation companies however has no effective contract that guarantees the payment of the so-called unutilised capacity.
“The good thing is that we are gradually migrating to a point where the generation plants will have capacity payments being somewhere and somehow delivered along the value chain.”
He further  explained that the government has stopped the payment of electricity subsidy, saying the decision to discontinue it (subsidy) was entirely that of the Federal Government.
“You can’t run the electricity market on life support,” he said as he recalled that “in the past four or five years, the payment of subsidy has gradually been reduced to about N30 billion this year.I believe all of you can understand that you cannot run the electricity market on life support and say that the investors should not get their return on investment.
“That policy decision was announced by the Minister of Finance.  Subsidy at a point was as high as N600 billion a year and gradually has dropped to N30 billion this year. So that policy decision is from the government and we take directive from the government.”
Main Admin by — March 17, 2022 in Power 0
Centre Seeks Suspension Of Taxes On Petroleum Products Import

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise [CPPE] has advocated the need for the suspension of taxes and levies  on the importation of petroleum products .
Chief Executive Officer of CPPE,Dr.Muda Yussuf,said the development was necessary   to give a respite on the spiking energy cost in Nigeria.
He said there should also be deeper stakeholder engagements across sectors to develop an enduring strategy on the way forward.
He noted the marginal acceleration of headline inflation from 15.60% in January to 15.70% in February 2022, as contained  in the report released by the National Bureau of Statistics [NBS].
He said:”The technical computation of the inflation figures the NBS is not in dispute. However, the reality and severity of the impact of the intense inflationary pressures over the past one year is at variance with the official inflation data.
“For the basket of goods consumed by most households, prices have jumped by between 30-100% over the past one year.   The same is true of businesses.  The pressure of spiking inflation on household budgets has been excruciating and unbearable. Purchasing power has been massively eroded, real incomes have depressed, and the poverty situation has consequently worsened”
According to him,businesses have been similarly impacted as they have been experiencing a slump in sales, turnover and profits margins.
He said  the impact on small businesses is even more severe because of their limited capacity to absorb economic shocks.
He added:”The spiraling inflation dynamics should be elevated to the level of an economic emergency, deserving an urgent policy response at the highest level of government.  The impact on citizens welfare is inestimable. The effect on SMEs is troubling.  There is elevated social discontent, driven by increasing joblessness and hunger”
Main Admin by — March 17, 2022 in Oil&Gas 0
Murder: Family Rejects Autopsy On Bamise’s Corpse

The family of Bamise Ayanwola, a 22-Year old lady, who was found dead with body parts mutilated after boarding the state-owned Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) recently, has rejected the planned autopsy by the Lagos State Government.
Counsel to the Ayanwola family, Ayo Ademiluyi, said in a statement that the family has  rejected the autopsy speedily arranged by the Police for  today .
The statement quoted the family as saying that they cannot entrust the Bamise’s body to the Pathologist of the Lagos State Government.
Ademiluyi disclosed that the family will be submitting a letter to the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) tomorrow, adding that the family has identified three Professors of Pathology that would be assembled as the team of Pathologists to carry out an autopsy on behalf of the family.
The statement read in part, “We cannot entrust Bamise’s body to the Pathologist of Lagos State Government.
“We will be submitting a letter to the State CID tomorrow as we now have details of three Professors of Pathology who we are assembling as our team of Pathologists. We will also be demanding two weeks period for the purpose of autopsy.”
He  disclosed that a detailed press statement will be issued soon while a press conference will hold on Friday.
“Lagos State Government is a party that is meant to be investigated in this murder and cannot be a Judge in its own case by appointing a Pathologist for us,” he added.
Main Admin by — March 17, 2022 in News 0
Osun Pensioners To Receive N927million 

Governor of Osun, Adegboyega Oyetola, has approved immediate release of Nine hundred and twenty-seven million naira (N927,000,000) for the payment of pensions of retirees in the State.
He said,of the  N927m, the sum of N877m will be used for the settlement of bonds of retired primary school teachers, local government workers and retired civil servants who are under the Contributory Pension Scheme.
 The  balance of N50m was approved for payment of retirees under the old pension scheme,he saud
The Head of Service of the state, Dr. Festus Oyebade, who disclosed this in a statement,said the names of the retired workers  selected on merit has been posted on the Notice Boards of the Local Government Pensions Bureau, Civil Service Pensions Bureau, Ministry of Information and the Office of the Head of Service.
He reiterated the government’s commitment to the welfare and general well-being of citizens particularly workers in the state.
Main Admin by — March 17, 2022 in News 0
UBA Staff Docks For N452m Fraud

The Enugu Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC,has arraigned one Judith Nneka Nwagwu, a staff of the United Bank for Africa, before Justice D.A Onyefulu of the Anambra State High Court sitting in Onitsha.
She was arraigned on a  seven count charge bordering on forgery and obtaining by false pretence to the tune of N452,047,000.
She  was alleged to have fraudulently obtained N192,000,000 (One Hundred and Ninety Million Naira) from a complainant whom she was his account officer, on the pretext that the bank had $400,000 for sale at the rate of N480 per dollar.
Her employers also petitioned the commission alleging that the defendant forged two fixed deposit certificates and fraudulently obtained the total sum of N260,047.000 ( Two Hundred and Sixty Million, Forty-Seven Thousand naira)Million from a customer under the guise of fixing the money for him.
Main Admin by — March 17, 2022 in News 0
Agency To Stop Oil Theft With Modern Technology

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) says it is in the process of upgrading and deploying the National Production Monitoring System (NPMS) facility towards curbing crude oil theft in Nigeria.
Mr Gbenga Komolafe, Chief Executive, NUPRC, spoke recently in Abuja on efforts by the commission to address the menace of crude oil theft.
He said the deployment of  NPMS, which is an electronic system that is used to monitor oil and gas production in Nigeria was being carried out in collaboration with other relevant agencies.
According to him, this ensures accurate and reliable reporting of crude oil production.
He noted that the National Data Repository (NDR) within the NUPRC serves as the data warehouse for Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
Komolafe said: “The Value of Information (VOI) is for purpose of oil and gas investment decision.
“For example, NDR facilitates data for bid rounds in line with the statutory mandates of the NUPRC under the PIA to prospective investors, thus enabling informed investment decision and shortening upstream business lifecycles.”
He said the NUPRC had taken technological advancements into consideration in its work processes.
Komolafe said currently, the Technological Adaptation Unit within Engineering and Standards Department engages service providers on new technologies that can be implemented in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry.
“In addition, we have established more data related initiatives in the NDR such as National Improved Oil Recovery Centre (NIORC) focussed on utilising big data to drive reduction in cost per barrel.
” Also, the Integrated Data Mining and Analytics Centre (IDMAC) was setup to assess and analyse data for informed business decisions,” he said.
Main Admin by — March 17, 2022 in Oil&Gas 0
Group Mulls Vocational Training For Ogun Youths

A non-governmental organisation, The Good Samaritan Foundation, has unveiled its plan to train youths in Loburo, Ogun State in vocational skills.
The founder of TGSF, Funmi Ademilua, explained that the vocational centre would develop human capital and empower unemployed youths in Loburo village.
Ademilua, in a meeting with community leaders and Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Sarafa Isola, said the NGO was committed to supporting people living in poverty and focused on those affected by conflict-induced crisis.
She said, “The project, which will kick-start fully from March 2022 with its foremost site at Loburo village in Ogun State, will help youths to learn valuable life skills, training and gain employment now and in the future. The project will also serve as a general human capital development and empowerment area for teeming unemployed youths in Loburo village.
“The high rate of unemployment coupled with the pressing issues of drug and substance abuse in the country has led many youths to a life of crime which is currently degrading national values and wreaking havoc to society.”
“The project as proposed to the ambassador aims to promote and improve the personal, social, and psychological development of youth to enable them to realise their potential as they journey into adulthood.”
Isola promised to support the efforts of TGSF in developing the proposed vocational centre in the community.
“My office will lend its support on acquiring proper documentation for the property proposed for the development of the vocational centre which is delayed and still under processing with the Ogun State Ministry of Lands since 2018,” he said.
Main Admin by — March 17, 2022 in News 0