Category: West Africa

The Federal Government may soon commence the forensic audit of the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, as President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the engagement of reputable international firms to handle the exercise. The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, who stated this in Abuja on Wednesday, said this was to reassure Nigerians that government was actually determined to unravel the truth and get to the root of the controversy. Mr. Abati said that contrary to claims by the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Lamido Sanusi that government was attempting to sweep the allegation of missing oil monies under the carpet, President Goodluck Jonathan was committed to ensuring that the relevant committees of the National Assembly investigated the issues to ensure that the culprits were brought to book. Mr. Abati was reacting to alleged claims by Mr. Sanusi […]

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The persistent fuel scarcity in the country is taking its toll on the residents of the Nigerian capital, Abuja, as transport fare has increased by between 50 and 100 per cent. A correspondent the News Agency of Nigeria who went round some parts of the territory in Abuja on Monday, reports that worst hit are civil servants and traders who waited endlessly at their various bus stops without much hope of getting vehicles. Motorists, who managed to get the product after several hours of queuing at fuel stations, transferred the burden on passengers by charging almost double the normal fare. Yusuf Yahaya, a civil servant, who lives in Lugbe on the Airport Road, said he suffered a lot of hardship at the bus stop while coming to work on Monday morning. Mr. Yahaya said that he spent several hours before getting a vehicle and the driver charged him N150 […]

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Even in a country where untold oil wealth disappears into the pockets of the elite, the oil corruption scheme he was investigating seemed outsize — and he threatened to lay it bare at a meeting with Nigeria ’s top bankers. The rabble-rouser was none other than the governor of the country’s central bank. Weeks later, however, he was out, fired by Nigeria’s president in an episode that has shaken the Nigerian economy, filled newspapers and airwaves here, and even inspired a rare street demonstration. The bankers were going to have to open their books, the governor, Lamido Sanusi, warned them at the recent meeting. He wanted to see where the money was going — $20 billion from oil sales that, mysteriously, was not making its way to the treasury, in a country that could soon be declared Africa’s biggest economy and already attracts the most direct […]

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Fuel scarcity has hit virtually all parts of the country, with scanty evidence that it will abate soon. Aside the irritating scarcity, the hike in the pump price of fuel in some parts of the North has added agony to both dealers and consumers of the commodity, often referred to as ‘black gold,’ reports Weekly Trust. It has been weeks of scarcity of fuel across Nigeria, as motorists spend long hours in queues at filling stations to buy what many now call ‘black gold.’ But what has remained a constant headache to consumers of the commodity is the price hike that has come with the scarcity, at the few filling stationswhich open occasionally. In Kaduna, the fuel shortage has led to long queues in petrol stations, with a concomitant increase in pump price. Investigations revealed that the price of fuel ranges between N100 and N130 per litre, depending on […]

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The current fuel scarcity in the country may worsen this week as more filling stations ran out of supply at the weekend. THISDAY gathered from the managers of some petrol stations in Lagos that the few filling stations that had fuel, exhausted their stock at the weekend and would likely not have the product this week. However, the marketers disagreed with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that they were hoarding the product and attributed the scarcity to the delay in the release of the first quarter import allocation. According to them, the tight supply would linger until the marketers begin to bring in the product, adding that the situation was worse in Lagos, because of its large population as the commercial nerve centre. Sources hinted that the situation was getting out of hand in some parts of the North, South-east and South-west, as the Department of Petroleum Resources […]

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Shell has shut a key oil pipeline in southern Nigeria to stop a leak caused by oil theft and sabotage, a spokesman said yesterday, without disclosing the volume of output loss. "We closed the Nembe Creek Trunkline on Sunday for the removal of crude theft points," spokesman Precious Okolobo told AFP. Shell has deployed engineers to repair the pipeline in the Niger Delta region, which feeds the Bonny exports terminal and would reopen "as soon as repair works are completed," he added. Oil majors do not usually give information on production losses. Local media in Nigeria estimated that about 95,000 barrels of crude per day might have been shut in as a result of the closure. Nigeria is Africa’s largest producer, accounting for more than two million barrels per day. Crude oil theft or "bunkering" is a major problem in Nigeria, with estimates that the country loses some $6 […]

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Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has pledged that his government will launch a full-scale investigation into the alleged $20 billion in oil export revenue that is missing. Speaking Monday night on a media chat that was broadcast live on state media, Jonathan debunked claims by opposition parties that the suspension of central bank governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi earlier this month was linked to the latter’s revelation that Nigeria National Petroleum Corp. had failed to remit the $20 billion in oil revenue into the Federation Account. "That [$20 billion] is a lot of money, and I can’t preside over this nation and watch even one kobo go missing from the government treasury," Jonathan said. "I don’t even know the figure to believe as the missing money, whether it is $49.8 billion, $10 or $20 billion. But whatever, even if it is one dollar, we will find […]

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President Jonathan’s suspension of the CBN governor raises concerns not just over the economy and elite vested interests, but also the rule of law. In what has been seen by most as a baldly political move, President Goodluck Jonathan shocked both markets and observers yesterday as he suspended Nigeria’s widely-celebrated Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. In a press release Jonathan’s spokesman claimed that "Lamido Sanusi’s tenure has been characterised by various acts of financial recklessness," but offered no details or specifics, and many commentators believe the real reason for Sanusi’s removal was his outspokenness on institutional corruption. "Sanusi’s persistent criticism of Nigeria’s opaque oil revenue management and allegations of unremitted NNPC [Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation – the state-owned oil company] oil proceeds made him a public enemy of the political elite," says Samir Gadio, Emerging Market Strategist at Standard Bank. "His suspension is a disruptive move which indicates […]

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President Jonathan’s suspension of the CBN governor raises concerns not just over the economy and elite vested interests, but also the rule of law. In what has been seen by most as a baldly political move, President Goodluck Jonathan shocked both markets and observers yesterday as he suspended Nigeria’s widely-celebrated Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. In a press release Jonathan’s spokesman claimed that "Lamido Sanusi’s tenure has been characterised by various acts of financial recklessness," but offered no details or specifics, and many commentators believe the real reason for Sanusi’s removal was his outspokenness on institutional corruption. "Sanusi’s persistent criticism of Nigeria’s opaque oil revenue management and allegations of unremitted NNPC [Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation – the state-owned oil company] oil proceeds made him a public enemy of the political elite," says Samir Gadio, Emerging Market Strategist at Standard Bank. "His suspension is a disruptive move which indicates […]

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The fishing town of Bama has been attacked four times in the past two years. Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of houses have been burned to the ground. As reports filtered in Wednesday that gunmen in Bama were once again shooting people and setting homes on fire, Boko Haram released a video statement saying it plans to widen its reach, to attack oil refineries in the south and continue its assault on Muslim clerics that don’t agree with its harsh interpretation of Islamic law. Analysts say Boko Haram’s continued threats and attacks are a sign that the Nigerian government has failed to stop the more than four-year-old insurgency, despite nine months of emergency rule in three northeastern states. Femi Odekunle, a professor of criminology at the University of Abuja, says, "The government must double its efforts with more men and more resources to contain […]

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