Monday, July 15, 2013

N65.1bn subsidy debt: Mobil, Total, others threaten

N65.1bn subsidy debt: Mobil, Total, others threaten to stop fuel import

LAGOS—Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, has threatened to stop the importation of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS or petrol, if the Federal Government did not pay its outstanding N65.1billion subsidy claims.
The outstanding sum is the combination of the following:
*import claims from 2011 – N49.5billion
*bank interest payments – N13.10billion
*foreign exchange claims – N2.5billion
The majors, comprising Mobil, Total, MRS, Forte Oil and Conoil, however said that only about N9.4billion of the total sum had been paid after much pressure on government, still leaving a huge outstanding of N55.7billion unpaid.
Fuel
The marketers noted that some of these claims have remained outstanding since 2011, with huge implications on their operations.
The Executive Secretary, MOMAN, Mr. Obafemi Olawore, told journalists in Lagos weekend that “The implication of the non-payment of our claims is that it is affecting our bottom line, and this will lead to a reduction in petrol importation, and eventually the downsizing of workers.”
He noted that one of the six-member group has not been paid since 2011, while the burden of the foreign exchange losses of N2.5billion are being borne by three of the marketers and still counting as long as the claims remain unpaid.
Olawore argued that the majors were not trying to blackmail the government as suspected, noting that the banks were no longer willing to extend credit facilities for members to continue to import fuel due to the high interest rate of over N13.10billion that have accrued since 2011.
“If the banks don’t give us the facility, and government is not paying us, what else can we do? Of course importation will stop because our ability to continue with the process has been weakened. Also, interest charges have eaten deep into our meager reserves, and there may be no other option than to start staff rationalisation,” he said.
Products
 importation
Petrol and kerosene are the two refined petroleum products approved for subsidy by the federal government, to enable marketers sell the products at regulated pump prices.
However, because of the politics involved in kerosene importation, all other marketers abandoned the process, leaving only the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC with the burden of importing, and selling at N50/litre prescribed by government.
Other marketers sell kerosene at between N100 and N170/litre depending on location and outlet.
Currently, the majors are the second largest importers of petrol second to the, NNPC, while the independent marketers merely complement imports with whatever quantity they could bring in.
However, in view of the clamp down by banks, many of the independents have been run-over, while some are placed under receivership.
The developments resulted in significant drop in the level of imports done by the independents, while the majors, using their international affiliations have been able to remain afloat.
How the claims accumulated
In the wake of nationwide crisis on account of the pump price increase of petrol and subsequent probing of the subsidy regime, government froze further payments of subsidy claims until the conclusion of the probes.
“At the peak of the crisis, government promised to pay us as soon as the probes were over. But it took a long time before they started to pay, and this led to the accumulation,” Olawore said.
Furthermore, to check galloping interest charges, government and the marketers agreed on a 45-day payment scahedule from when the claims were compiled to the point of payment.
Olawore disclosed: “But they (government) are not following the 45-day agreement. From January 2011, when the subsidy crisis started up till early June, nothing was paid to us, until we started making noise and they started paying from mid-June.”
In all of these, he noted that the banks are the happiest because of the interests accruable, such that one of the majors paid as much as N4.04billion as interest in 2012, and will pay another N605.8million in 2013.

Made-in-Nigeria car dream still alive – NAC boss

Made-in-Nigeria car dream still alive – NAC boss

The country’s dream of assembling and patronising its own cars is still alive, says National Automotive Council, NAC.

NAC Director-General, Mr. Aminu Jalal, said the country must not give up on the pursuit of its automotive agenda.
To ensure that the dream is kept alive, Jalal said the Council has set aside the sum of N3.5billion as seed money for a fund to be accessed at single digit interest rate to those who purchase locally assembled vehicles, all in the effort to encourage Nigerians to buy made-in-Nigeria vehicles.
He said the implication of killing the dream of Nigerian made car means that the country will continue to fund jobs projects abroad to the tune of over $3.5billion annually at the expense of its teeming masses of unemployed and the existing huge investment in manufacturing and assembly.
Made in Nigeria by Dr Ezekiel Izuogu
Made in Nigeria by Dr Ezekiel Izuogu
“The Nigerian market, estimated at N600 billion annually is sufficient to sustain a local automotive industry if the investment environment is right. The automotive technology is over a hundred years old and no one needs to reinvent the wheel”
He lamented that about 50,000 new and 150,000 used vehicles were imported into Nigeria yearly.
Nigerians spend an average of N400 billion on importing passengers’ cars and by the time you add trucks and other vehicles, the amount Nigerians spend on imported vehicles will be running to N600billion annually, adding that the money can be plowed into the country’s automotive industry.
“Apart from the existing Assembly plants with a combined capacity of nearly 100,000 vehicles per annum, there exist numerous automotive body building facilities with impressive capacities”.
NAC he said remains relevant because the industry is strategic and its activities must be integrated to be meaningful. It is essential that an agency is in place to plan, coordinate and provide common infrastructure just as he adviced government on appropriate policy intervention. This is the practice in all countries that similarly aspires.
“Nigerians have mastered the act of vehicle assembly and even the production of a long list of automotive components and parts including all automotive glass, brake pads, all light and reinforced plastic parts, Seats, exhausts systems, fuel, air and oil Filters, some pressed parts, wire harnesses, tyres, batteries, cables, trim etc”.
An entirely green plant, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Limited, IVM, supported by NAC in Nnewi, is recorded to have produced over 2,000 pickups vans buses in only three (3) years of its existence. The IVMs are what you would call a Nigerian brand as they are named after the Chairman and Chief executive –INNOSON. IVMs have very high local content and the company continues to pursue this program vigorously with the support of NAC. The Council has extended support to over 20 component manufacturers including Dunlop which received over N1.4 billion to establish its Radial Steel Truck tyres, although the lowering of import duty on truck tyres in 2005 crippled the tyre industry.
Several motorcycle plants and indeed the first Motorcycle Tyre manufacturing plant in Nigeria have received NAC support. The Nigerian Automotive Manufacturers Association, NAMA, the Automotive Local Content Manufacturers Association, ALCMAN, the auto sector of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, can all attest to this.

2015 polls may end up like Rivers/NGF crises –Tinubu

2015 polls may end up like Rivers/NGF crises –Tinubu

 

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu
The National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has said the Rivers State and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum crises are a presage of what will happen in the coming 2015 elections.
He, therefore, condemned the crises and the underlying forces behind them, saying such would only turn “an imperfect democracy into a perfect mess.”
The former Governor of Lagos State, in a statement on Sunday, accused President Goodluck Jonathan of masterminding the crisis in Rivers State.
Tinubu, who described the crisis as an “assault on the constitution,” explained that the crisis showed the failure of the Peoples Democratic Party to promote democracy in the country.
He said, “However, we all know the truth but most are afraid to speak.  There is no way the police and  small number of five lawmakers would act so brazenly, unless they receive instructions from their high places, attempted to impeach the Speaker.
Nigerians must ask: Is this way the President Jonathan intends to transform  Nigeria? By turning it from an imperfect democracy into a perfect mess?
“In some ways, this Rivers episode is not surprising. What happened in the Rivers House is one more reminder. PDP leaders hold democracy in contempt and will trample on it, if given the slightest opportunity. If they invert the relatively small numbers involved in the Nigerian Governors Forum and the Rivers State House, what they might do to general elections involving such a large population as ours is a hard piece of wood to chew.”
According to him, the crisis showed that security cannot be guaranteed in the coming elections.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Labour Congress has dissociated itself from the planned mass protest being organised by the Rivers State Government and some civil society organisations over the political crisis in the state.
The union said it would not participate in the protest, but did not give any reason for its decision.
Secretary-General of the congress, Chris Uyot, said the NLC had no plan to join the planned street protests, noting that the congress had not taken a definite position on the matter for now.
“From my findings at the Rivers State NLC council, there is no plan to join the street protest,” Uyot said on Sunday.
The Secretary-General, Trade Union Congress, Musa Lawal, also said the national leadership of the organisation had yet to take a position on the planned protest.
“The state council is free to participate in the protest; the national leadership is yet to take a position on it, but we are having a meeting tomorrow (Monday) and several issues will be discussed then,” he said over the telephone
Labour unions in the state were reported to have pledged to join the strike and possibly asked workers to go on indefinite strike.
The unions had insisted that apart from the Federal Government and the state government finding a solution to the impasse in the state House of Assembly, the police must also vacate the Obio/Akpor Local Government Secretariat.
In a statement  in Abuja on Sunday, the party said  the ACN call was an indication that the opposition party was indeed unserious, lacked direction and only sought to distabilise the polity.
Though Okeke said the PDP was not in support of the fracas witnessed in the Rivers State House of Assembly recently, but he added that brawls were “common features in parliaments across the world”, and wondered how the recent fray in the  Assembly could  translate into an impeachable offence on the part of the President.

2015: Jonathan seals deal with Muslim leaders

2015: Jonathan seals deal with Muslim leaders



President Goodluck Jonathan may dump Vice President Namadi Sambo for the former Zamfara State governor, Senator Sani Ahmed Yerima, as his running mate for the 2015 presidential election, it was learnt at the weekend.
The President, who met with some Muslim scholars and leaders  on his anticipated second term bid, was said to have been impressed by the senator’s role in facilitating the meeting between him and the Muslim leaders, who promised to mobilise support for him.
Interestingly, this is coming at a time when the Professor Ango Abdulahi’s Northern Elders Forum, NEF, has made it known that the North would not support President Jonathan’s second term bid.
Sources said that Yerima, an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, directed his associate and deputy governor of Zamfara State, Ibrahim Wakala, who served under him as the Commissioner for Religious Affairs for eight years, to mobilise Muslim scholars to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, for the meeting.
Jonathan
Although the scholars were earlier scheduled to hold another meeting in Ibadan, Oyo State, for the purpose of forging unity among Muslim leaders, they abandon the Ibadan parley for the Aso Rock meeting, where the President solicited their support for his political aspiration.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saa’d Abubakar, it was learnt, was not aware of the Abuja meeting.
Vice President Sambo and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), were said not  to be part of the meeting.
A source very close to the meeting revealed that  “in 2011, the President received bloc support of Christians because they were organised.  He is trying to see how he can get the same support from Muslims in 2015. This is where Alhaji Sani Yerima came in.
“He convinced the President about his popularity among Muslim leaders throughout Nigeria.
“The former governor directed Wakala to act as the link between the Muslim scholars and the President, and to mobilise them to the meeting in Aso Rock where the President, Yerima, the Chief of Staff and Protocol Officer were present.
“There, Jonathan sought for their cooperation, which they promised to give”.
The source disclosed that, at the meeting, Jonathan promised to address the grievances of Muslims before the 2015 general election which includes appointing a Muslim minister from the South into the Federal Executive Council.
The source added. “The former governor also used the meeting to strike a deal with the President. Now, the President, apart from promising to make Yerima the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) during the next cabinet reshuffle, is considering making him his running mate in 2015, owing to his perceived influence among Nigerian Muslims.  The President believes that he will be a better choice in this circumstance.
“In fact, at the end of the day, logistics support was reportedly provided for the leaders for taking time out to meet with Mr. President.
“Yerima”, Sunday Vanguard learnt, “then threw in another request, advising the President to sponsor them for the Umurah, the lesser hajj, so that they can pray for the actualisation of his ambition in the holy land”.
This request may not be strange as the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has been known to extend such favours to ‘Men of God’”
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/07/2015-jonathan-seals-deal-with-muslim-leaders/#sthash.YCGPQjOC.dpuf

NIGERIA IN CONTROVERSY OVER SUDAN’S AL-BASHIR PrintEmail

NIGERIA IN CONTROVERSY OVER SUDAN’S AL-BASHIR

Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir reviews the guard of honour as he arrives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport , Abuja, yesterday to take part in a African Union summit about HIV, TB and malaria.
Human Rights Watch and the Nigeria Coalition on the International Criminal Court have joined the uproar against visit to Nigeria to participate in the international HIV/AIDS conference starting today, saying Nigeria has an international obligation to arrest him in line with the ICC warrant.
Al-Bashir has been wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) since 2009 for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region. The following year, the court issued an arrest warrant for Al-Bashir.
“Nigeria has the shameful distinction of being the first West African country to welcome the ICC fugitive”, Elise Keppler, Associate Director, International Justice Program, Human Rights Watch said. She said in a statement that Bashir’s visit to Nigeria was in stark contrast to the leadership of South Africa, Malawi, and other African states who said the Sudanese leader would be arrested or avoided his visits.
The Nigeria Coalition on the International Criminal Court (NCICC) also said in a statement by Chinonye Obiagwu and Theodora Oby Nwankwo that as a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Nigeria has the obligation to support the court by arresting Al Bashir if he visits Nigeria or cancel the visit. “The members of Nigeria Coalition on the International Criminal Court urge Nigeria to stand with the victims of the Darfur conflict, and the rule of law and arrest ICC fugitive Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir. The victims of the conflict in Darfur have suffered without justice for more than a decade. Nigeria should not ignore their right to justice”, the statement said.
The coalition dismissed argument that Nigeria could welcome Al-Bashir because of an AU decision calling for non-cooperation on his arrest, saying AU decisions have no bearing on Nigeria’s obligations as an ICC member. It said ICC states parties should avoid any conflict in obligations by at a minimum barring entry to Bashir.
Very few ICC states have allowed Bashir on their territory. Chad and Djibouti are essentially the only ones. Kenya and Malawi each also allowed one visit but avoided subsequent visits after diplomatic and public outcries.
There have been repeated calls for African governments to show greater support for justice for victims.  The ICC investigation in Darfur began in June 2005 after being referred to the Court by the United Nations Security Council, which had determined the conflict there a threat to international peace and security. However, the Council has subsequently failed to ensure the cooperation necessary for ICC prosecutions to take place. Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Prof Viola Onwuliri had told the media that over 30 African heads of state would be participating in the international conference.

AS JTF RAIDS INSURGENCY ENCLAVES...95 BODIES DEPOSITED IN BORNO HOSPITAL

AS JTF RAIDS INSURGENCY ENCLAVES...95 BODIES DEPOSITED IN BORNO HOSPITAL

JTF spokesman Lt Col Sagir Musa in one of the bunkers dug by suspected Boko Haram members in Bulabulin area of Maiduguri, yesterday.
.N10m-bounty Boko Haram kingpin killed
Security forces yesterday said they have killed many insurgents, including a top Boko Haram commander who had a N10 million bounty on his head, during an operation in some strongholds of the sect in Maiduguri.
The Joint Task Force (JTF) said during the on-going campaign that started on July 3 its men discovered many mass graves, tunnels, bunkers and assorted arms and ammunitions buried in graveyards and deserted areas.
JTF did not give a specific number of insurgents killed, but residents said over 100 people lost their lives during the operation. A state specialists hospital official also told Daily Trust that more than 95 bodies were deposited in the past 10 days as the operation went on.
The revelation came shortly after some journalists were allowed access to select areas in Maiduguri where insurgents used to hold sway, which had been cordoned off by security operatives.
Our correspondent reported that it was a gory sight—with decomposing bodies strewn around destroyed homes and business premises.
In a statement in Maiduguri yesterday, JTF spokesman Lt-Col Sagir Musa said between July 3 and 8, troops “had dislodged Boko Haram terrorists from their main enclaves in Bulabulin Ngarnam, Aljajeri and Falluja areas of Maiduguri metropolis.”
He said troops had engaged some insurgents in serious fight which led to the killing of many of them, adding that the operation was ongoing.
“During the encounter, some terrorists were killed in the fire fight including the main Amir of Bulabulin Ngarnam, who was on the wanted list of the JTF with N10million bounty.
“He was responsible for the killing of a teacher and three students of Sanda Kyarami secondary school Ruwan Zafi in Maiduguri metropolis. Many abducted women, girls and children were rescued and handed over to their families by the task force.
“During the search of the areas, many arms and ammunition of various calibers buried inside houses and cemeteries were recovered,” the statement said.
Lt-Col Musa, who conducted journalists round the selected areas, added that in the course of the operation, decomposing corpses of some people killed after they were abducted by the insurgents had been found in sewages.
He said mass graves of insurgents killed during encounters but taken away by their surviving colleagues were also found in the areas.
“Troops also discovered vast network mouse-holes linking compounds and underground tunnels as well as bunkers under houses. Troops are still searching the area for more weapons, ammunition and mass graves. The JTF uses this opportunity to appeal to members of the public for support and more information on terrorists’ activities,” Lt-Col Musa said in the statement.
Our correspondent reports seeing decomposing bodies in the cordoned areas, with flies hovering around and putrid odour oozing out.
Daily Trust reports that for over 10 days, residents of Abbaganaram, Tashar Gwoza and other locations close to Bulabulin, Bayan Tasha have been in distress as a result of terrifying sound of gunshots, and movement of armoured personnel carriers and other military hardware.
Movement had been restricted and stops and search operations intensified.
A credible source at the State Specialists Hospital in Maiduguri confirmed that over 95 bodies had been deposited there in the past 10 days.
“Because of limited space in the mortuary, workers from the Borno State Environmental Protection Agency (BOSEPA) always come here and evacuate the corpses. This is necessary in order to avoid an epidemic,” he said.
Daily Trust reports that following the sacking of the insurgents’ territories in northern Borno as well as in Sambisa forest and Gwoza hills in central and northern parts of the state, some insurgents sneaked into Maiduguri and settled in Bulabulin, Ngarnam and Bayan Tasha, prompting JTF to cordon the places and conduct operations.
Borno is among the three states under a state of emergency—along with Yobe and Adamawa—which was proclaimed on May 17 in the wake of rising activities of insurgents.