At least N11.55 trillion or $84.52 billion expected revenue into the coffers of the nation’s Excess Crude Account for the eight-year period from 2007 to 2014 are unaccounted for, according Continue Reading
Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, yesterday, lifted its more than two months force majeure on exports of Nigeria’s Forcados crude oil stream, following the repair of the Trans Forcados Pipeline. According to a statement by the company, the Joint Venture had earlier declared force majeure on the evening on May 5 following a series of leaks in the Trans Forcados pipeline that brings the oil to the export terminal. The Trans Forcados pipeline has a capacity of 150,000 barrels per day. Specifically, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, a subsidiary of the NNPC, uses the pipeline to transport around 11,000 barrel per day of crude and 6.5 million cubic feet of gas per day, while Seplat Petroleum uses the pipeline to transport its over 60,000 barrel per day of crude oil output. Despite the fact that the bigger, 28-inch and 48-inch sections of the pipeline are operated by Shell, […]
Photo Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah, shown reviewing troops last month, was dismissed as leader of the Nigerian Army on Monday. Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images NIAMEY, Niger — Nigeria ’s new president, Muhammadu Buhari , dismissed all of his country’s top military officials on Monday, his spokesman announced, after weeks of mounting violence in which Boko Haram fighters have killed hundreds of civilians. The Nigerian military’s handling of Boko Haram’s bloody six-year uprising has been widely seen as dismal. It has been faulted not only for failing to stem the extremist group’s murderous rampages, but also for making the situation worse through widespread human rights violations. The country’s news media has been urging Mr. Buhari for weeks to get rid of the architects of what is seen in Nigeria as a failed campaign to stop the Islamist militant group. On Monday, some analysts questioned why Mr. Buhari, who […]
Nigeria president Muhammadu Buhari. Photographer: Pius Utomi Ekopei/AFP/Getty Images It’s been five months since Johnson Umeadi and his wife, Adaku, received their salaries as government workers in southeastern Nigeria. With Nigeria’s finances shot by last year’s collapse in oil prices, they’re struggling with rent and can’t afford school fees for their three children. Shops and grocers are no longer willing to extend them the credit they need to buy basic items such as food and drinks. “It’s like we put all our eggs in one basket and then it went porous,” said Johnson, a 45-year-old employed by a department of Imo state responsible for infrastructure projects in Owerri. “If one of us was working in a private company, or even engaged in petty trading, we would’ve fared better,” he said, declining to disclose his salary. The plight of the Umeadis and others who haven’t received wages has hit everything […]
Blog Even as Nigeria struggles to fight against Boko Haram insurgents in its northeast, a dangerous but forgotten conflict on the other side of the country is resurfacing. Before the rise of Boko Haram, the conflict in the southern Niger Delta region had long been considered the most potent threat to Nigeria’s security. Over the years, it has displaced thousands and cost the government a hundred billion dollars in lost oil revenue. Violence in the south has been at a low ebb since 2009, when Nigeria’s former President Goodluck Jonathan bought off rebel leaders with a generous package of stipends. But those amnesty payments are set to expire in December, and new President Muhammadu Buhari will have a harder time dealing with the region than his predecessor: unlike Jonathan, Buhari does not come from the Delta, and global declines in oil prices mean that he has far less cash […]
Twelve people died and three were injured in an explosion during repair work at an Eni SpA crude oil pipeline in Nigeria. The victims worked on a maintenance team for a local service company, Rome-based Eni said in a statement Friday. The Tebidaba-Clough Creek pipeline in the Niger delta was previously “damaged by acts of sabotage.” The company said it is still investigating the cause of Thursday’s blast. Accidents are common in Nigeria, where pipelines are often breached in attempts to pilfer crude. The incidents interrupt oil and gas flows, affecting Nigeria’s energy exports and revenue for companies including Eni, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp. Thursday’s incident was the worst since January 2012, when an explosion at Chevron’s Funiwa gas field killed two workers, according to a spokesman for a local environmental group. “The dead were unidentifiable,” said Alagoa Morris of Environmental Rights Action, the Nigerian affiliate […]
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari denied that the oil savings account will be depleted to pay government debts, including civil servants’ salaries. The government will use a $2.1 billion dividend paid into the Treasury by Nigeria LNG Ltd., Africa’s biggest producer of liquefied natural gas, to pay wages, Buhari’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, said Tuesday in an e-mailed statement from the capital, Abuja. Nigeria’s 36 states and local arms of the government will also be able to draw “soft loans” from the central bank and have some debt restructured, he said. The comments seek to clarify statements made by Nigeria’s Accountant General Ahmed Idris on Monday that the Excess Crude Account, which holds the nation’s oil savings and has a balance of about $2 billion, will be drawn down by $1.7 billion. The funds will be shared by the federal, state and local governments to meet their financial obligations, Idris said. […]
One of the first major tasks the administration of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari will have to contend with will be how to finance the 2015 budget in the wake of low oil price and rising threats from declining revenue. This becomes very critical when viewed against the backdrop of the tough economic conditions witnessed over the last couple of months in the country, especially in the area of declining crude oil and gas receipts and Federal Government’s inability to meet some of its financial obligations. Budget highlights It was bad enough that the 2015 budget was being passed more than four months into the year, and was passed by the House of Representatives some days ago at a higher spend rate. The House increased the budget to N4.493 trillion from the N4.358 trillion proposed by the Executive, without taking into consideration the prevailing volatility in crude oil prices. The House […]
Nigeria’s government plans to run down its oil savings to offset revenue shortfalls and pay debt, such as salaries for state workers. The Excess Crude Account, which has a balance of about $2 billion, will be drawn down by $1.7 billion to allocate to the federal, state and local arms of the government, Accountant-General Ahmed Idris told reporters on Monday in the capital, Abuja. Nigeria accumulates revenue in the ECA when the oil price exceeds the benchmark estimated in the budget. Those savings have dwindled from $21 billion in 2008, according to estimates from the International Monetary Fund. A lack of savings and an almost 50 percent slump in oil prices in the past year is putting pressure on the government of Muhammadu Buhari to deliver on promises that helped to sweep him into office on May 29. Buhari, 72, said last month his government is facing severe financial […]
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) spent nearly half of the money it earned in three years and remitted the other half to the federation account, it was revealed yesterday. The corporation earned N8.1trn from crude oil sales from 2012 to 2015, withheld N3.8trn and paid only N4.3 trillion to the national treasury. Officials of the corporation revealed these facts themselves while briefing members of the National Economic Council yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. They also said that former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spent $2.1bn from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) without the approval of NEC. The governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, disclosed these while briefing State House journalists on the outcome of the four-hour meeting. President Muhammadu Buhari had inaugurated the National Economic Council chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Oshiomhole said the NNPC and the office of the Accountant-General […]
