SweetCrude Reports March 2013 by Sweetcrude reports

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

Finance

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

There’s need for review of transparency, accountability in oil sector—Sanusi

overnor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam S a n u s i Lamido Sanusi, says there is need for governance review of transparency and accountability in the Nigerian oil sector. Sanusi, who spoke at the Metropolitan Club Luncheon in Lagos, also advised the nation on the management of its external reserves. “No one can deny that between 2010 and 2011, when oil price was going up, we should have saved more than we actually did and we spent more than we ought to. As

We cannot deny that there is need for serious governance review of transparency and accountability in the oil sector

CBN Governor, I spent the whole of those two years talking about fiscal leakages. “We cannot deny that there is need for serious governance review of transparency and accountability in the oil sector,” he said. Reacting to the recent debate over the nation’s external reserves between the Federal Government

and former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, the CBN governor said the country never had up to $67 billion as external reserves. He said the highest level of reserves attained by the country was $62 billion. The former Minister had claimed the Federal Government, under former President, Yar’Adua and President Goodluck

Jonathan had wasted external reserves of $67 billion saved under the Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. But, Sanusi said: “First, let us talk about the numbers. Nigeria never had $67 billion of reserves in its history. The highest level of reserves was $62 billion under late President Yar’Adua. “There is also a certain truth to a basic proposition that if we saved money when oil price was high, it is expected that when oil price crashes, we would de-save. “Look at Germany, US, UK, after the crisis. They all had huge deficits. So our incurring of deficit was a reduction in reserves”.

Finance

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

NNPC building, Abuja

We never granted NNPC$1.56 billion loan facility —Consortium of Banks

Yemie ADEOYE

ontroversy surrounding the planned procurement of $1.56 billion forward sales agreement package by the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to offset debt obligation was laid to rest recentlyby representative of the consortium of Nigerian banks said to have facilitated the agreement. This was contained in a statement issued by the NNPC and signed by its acting spokesperson, Tumini Green In a presentation at the renewed hearing of the Joint Committee of the House of Representatives on the alleged transaction, Mr. Ade Adeola, Managing Director, Project and Export Finance of Standard Chartered Bank, who spoke on behalf of the

The key idea is to enable NNPC immediately raise the sum of US$1.5 billion to pay down outstanding debts. This is based on a forward sale arrangement which allows a sale of agreed quantities of 15,000 barrels per day of crude oil for a period of five years in consideration of an advanced amount of US$1.56billion paid to NNPC Consortium of banks restated the fact that the said $1.56 billion facility is not a loan but forward sale of crude oil with advance deposits to be made to the Corporation on standard NNPC sale terms at ruling market prices. Before now, the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani AlisonMadueke and the Group

Managing Director of the NNPC, Engr. Andrew Yakubu had in separate presentations to the House Committee explained that the $1.56billion instrument was not a loan but a proposed forward sales agreement to enable the NNPC settle outstanding debt obligations.

Lending credence to this position, Mr. Adeola explained that the sales agreement which is being brokered by four Nigerian banks namely First Bank, UBA, Eco Bank and Standard Chartered Bank is designed to enable NNPC reduce the debts accruing from petroleum products imports. “The key idea is to enable NNPC immediately raise the sum of US$1.5 billion to pay down outstanding debts. This is based on a forward sale arrangement which allows a sale of agreed quantities of 15,000 barrels per day of crude oil for a period of five years in consideration of an advanced amount of US$1.56billion paid to NNPC,” Adeola explained. He explained that the sale of the crude oil by NNPC will be a true sale for which the sale price is calculated on the basis of the open market

Nigerian crude oil selling price. “The structure is the same as implemented on both international and other recent NNPC Joint Venture transactions and is therefore well understood by the international and local financing market,” Adeola told the House Committees . In his contribution, Group Executive Director, Corporate Services of the NNPC, Dr. Peter Nmadu who stood in for the Group Managing Director in Thursday’s session stated that as a public entity, the NNPC is always willing to cooperate with the National Assembly in the execution of the constitutional prescribed over sight function. Hon. Muraina Ajibola, Chairman of Petroleum Resources Upstream, announced the indefinite adjournment of the Public Hearing.

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

Finance

IGERIA: Nigeria’s b u d g e t deficit in the 2013 budget passed last month is set to fall to 1.85 percent of gross domestic product, the director general of the budget office said on Thursday, from 2.97 percent in last year’s budget. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan approved a 4.99 trillion naira ($32 billion) budget last month, after it was passed by parliament, ending two months of disputes over the spending plans. EUROPE: The euro held onto gains early in Asia on Friday, having posted its second biggest one-day rally this year, after the European Central Bank wrong footed investors who had positioned for a more dovish signal from ECB President Mario Draghi. The euro was at $1.3107 not far from a high of $1.3119 set overnight, after Draghi played down the threat of contagion to other euro members stemming from a political stalemate in Italy. INDIA: The Indian government has sought parliament’s approval to spend an additional 247.74 billion rupees ($4.54 billion) on oil subsidies in the current fiscal year that ends in March. New Delhi expects the

FINANCIAL MARKET UPDATE

Local and international financial market update total spending on oil subsidies for the year to be 968.8 billion rupees. CHINA: China’s exports soared past forecast to jump by a fifth in February from a year ago, a sign the country’s modest economic revival is intact and suggesting global demand may also be on the mend. Exports rose 21.8 percent in February from a year earlier and were 20.6 percent higher on a calendar adjusted basis. Export growth to the United States was the strongest in a year and to the eurozone it was the highest in 18 months. Bonds - Bonds are still selling off in the markets. Yields up 24bps on the 16.39% JAN 22s and 34bps on the 15.10% APR 17s bps in the biggest moves of Thursday. As yields begin to look interesting again we are already seeing some offshore interest begin to come back into the markets. Bills - Rates are up 40bps across the maturities yesterday in reaction to the spike at

Wednesday’s primary auction. The CBN took the opportunity to sell an extra N50billion on the 364day bill which as suspected led to the spike in the rate at the auction. There was an OMO offering yesterday of N300billion but failed to make any sales due to technical issues. Money Market - OBB and unsecured O/N rates eased to 10.10% and 10.15% yesterday. Market is being kept liquid by OMO maturities.

Indicative Currency Exchange Rates Bid EURUSD GBPUSD USDJPY USDCHF GBPEUR USDZAR USDNGN JPYNGN CHFNGN EURNGN GBPNGN ZARNGN

Offer 1.3082 1.4993 95.34 0.9448 1.1460 9.1416 157.15 1.6483 166.33 205.58 235.61 17.19

Commodities

Brent futures fell below $111 a barrel on Friday as a restart of a crucial North Sea pipeline weighed on prices, with forecast-beating Chinese exports helping stem further losses.

Interest rates NIBOR (%)

LIBOR (%)

O/N 10.2500 USD 1 month 7 Day 10.6250 USD 2 month 30 Day 11.0417 USD 3 month 60 Day 11.4167 USD 4 month 90 Day 11.6667 USD 6 month USD 12 month 0.7365 Y/Y Consumer Inflation January 2013 : 9% FX Reserves: 4 March 2013 (USD bn) 47.563 MPR 12.00% FX Hi Low Close Prev.Close USD/NGN 156.25/35 157.54/64 157.65/75 158.00/10

ONGC plans oil exploration in Bengal

il and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) is set to start its maiden explorator y drilling on an onshore oil block in West Bengal. "We have decided to dig two exploratory wells in villages Ladhi and Dangi near Chakaliya in Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal for which we have just applied to the state gover nment for necessary approval," an official of the state-owned oil and gas explorer told DNA Money. The area in Uttar Dinajpur falls under Block PA-ONN2005/1 of the Purnea basin, which ONGC bagged under the seventh round of auction under the New Exploration Licensing Policy, or Nelp VII, in 2008. The production sharing contract was signed in December 2008, while the exploration licence was

Exploration tools granted a year later. The block covers an area of 1,069 square km. Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd's Pollution Control Research Institute at Haridwar has already completed the environment impact assessment on behalf of ONGC for this onshore block.

The environmental approval for exploration would be given following a public hearing of the project to be held in April. Explorator y drilling is undertaken to establish the presence of hydrocarbons

indicated by seismic survey and interpretation of data. "This activity would take around 3-4 months under normal conditions," the official said. The drilling site is surrounded by agricultural field and ONGC has assured

the state government that the well head facilities would be located in such a manner avoiding settlements. According to the petroleum ministr y, gas discover y in Salbanhat, Bangladesh, close to the Indo-Bangladesh border, up to which the Purnea block extends suggests that the equivalent sediments would be prospective in this part also. Focus on exploring the Pur nea onshore block covering West Bengal and Bihar comes at a time when ONGC has not been quite successful in striking any major oil and gas find in the country in recent times at a scale achieved by private sector rival Reliance and when some of its own onshore blocks in the north-east basin is set to peak in two years.

Labour

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

Govt pitching Nigerians against PHCN workers —Prof Momoh

Eluonye KOYEGWAEHI

E A N o f Faculty of S o c i a l Science, Lagos State University, LASU, Professor Abubakar Momoh, has accused the Federal Government of pitching Nigerians against workers of Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, in its desperate bid to conclude the illegal and unconstitutional sale of PHCN.Momoh who spoke while addressing leaders of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), at the union’s National Executive Council (NEC), meeting in Abuja, told the union leaders that there was no alternative to struggle to get their rights. According to him, “A lot of rumour has been going round about how many billions that you have paid or released for payment to you. I am aware that anywhere electricity workers go today, people will say, you have been settled. Money that you have not seen, even a penny. The government and its agents have been propagandizing about how much that have been paid, released and so on. All of us know it is not true. It is fictitious, it is rumour mongering, the money has not come. The question is why is government doing all these? The idea is to set the people of Nigeria against electricity workers, to make the environment hostile and to portray you as ungrateful and opportunistic and people who are not desirous of any other thing but contempt because you have not reciprocated the good gesture. But like Nelson Alter, a civil war writer, he wrote an article in the News Magazine in July 1980. he said the greatest problem with Nigeria is that people accept not what is true, but what is popularly in the public perception. That is a

Professor Abubakar Momoh

tragedy because people will not ask questions, people will not seek to know. That is not right.””What did the constitution of Nigeria say about electricity generation? What did constitution say about the control of the economy? It is there in the constitution. It is a constitutional matter. What President Goodluck Jonathan and all of them are doing, is in actual violation of the Nigerian constitution. This brings me to the next question about citizenship. All the issues about rights can only make sense when you are a citizen. You call right rights because they are constitutionalised. W h e n r i g h t s a r e constitutionalised, what you then fight for are your entitlements. When you say something is an entitlement, it means it must be given to you. It is a matter of must. So, why are they not given electricity workers their entitlements? If the law says your entitlement is

a right and as a citizen, your rights are contained in the constitution and t h e y a r e constitutionalised, why are your entitlements not be given to you? What you are asking for is not a privilege, it is not handout, not some crumbs, it is your entitlement. Why are

they not given it to you? The answer lies not in the constitution, but in politics.””There is no alternative to struggle. I will give you my own example. I am the most published lecturer in my university. This not arrogant and it is not boasting. Everybody in my university knows that

It was the visitation panel that said injustice was done to me and that my papers should be sent out immediately and back dated to 2006 and the arrears fully paid

but I was kept as a senior lecturer for 15 years because I was the youngest senior lecturer in my university. We have to wage a struggle through my union, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU that led to a visitation panel being constituted. It was the visitation panel that said injustice was done to me and that my papers should be sent out immediately and back dated to 2006 and the arrears fully paid. So, I collected arrears in millions. So, what I am saying to you is that I am a leaving example of struggle. People came to me to advice against struggle, we can do it this way, drop this struggle, we can talk to the Vice Chancellor and so on. That is why I so much cherish the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS slogan which say dare to struggle, dear to win.

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

Labour

ATIONAL Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), after its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja, handed down a March 15, deadline to the Government to address several grievances, chief among them is the controversial N384 billion Government claimed it had released for the payment of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN)’s staff terminal benefits ahead of the privatization of the company’s assets.In a chat with the union’s General Secretary, Comrade Joe Ajaero, he gave insight why the union and members cannot accept government figure.Excerpts: Has the payment of your members’ terminal benefit begun as promised by government officials when they announced the N384 billion? The issue is that the figure is not even correct in the first instance and there is no way payment can be made on that. So, payment has not been made, and nobody can pay that amount. If you pay that amount, it is not workers’ terminal benefits. Maybe there is another money they want to pay PHCN workers. Nobody pays you without giving you even a letter to say, your entitlement is N20 and this is how it was calculated. That is how it is done all over the world. Before anybody is disengaged, he must have gotten letter to that effect before that time to tell you that your benefit is based on A B C D. So, so, so amount of money is being credited into your account. As it is, if anybody pays any amount into any workers’ account, the person is given such a worker a bonus. What I am saying is that we have not even concluded the negotiations and there is a committee that should work on the figure. They have not worked. What we now saw was that somebody made an announcement that N384 billion was approved and that they were paying the following day. What do you pay? The issue is clear. What is your figure if you said N384billion is a wrong figure?

Comrade Joe Ajaero,

Why we can’t accept govt’s N384bn terminal benefits —PHCN Workers Figures are drawn on certain premise. That was the whole essence of having a technical committee in place. We do not want to start joggling figures as they claim billion, we claim trillion. What that will create is confusion and controversy. That was why they appointed Alexander Forbes to do the real valuation. We have our own committee that is working with them so that we will calculate and know the exact figure. Before the committee met, Alexander Forbes came with this N384 billion and when members of the committee from our union saw it, they faulted the figure. They told them that they cannot be talking about 35,000 and 36,000 workers that gave you N384 billion, when we have 50,000 workers. It means, you have not included almost 16,000 workers. You cannot

also be talking about this figure without the 4000 casual workers that have not been regularized for them to be captured by this figure. They also went further and did it in a way

that some people who are General Managers, they calculated their entitlements based on senior managers, thereby reducing their grades by two steps and ultimately reducing what

The issue is that the figure is not even correct in the first instance and there is no way payment can be made on that. So, payment has not been made, and nobody can pay that amount. If you pay that amount, it is not workers’ terminal benefits

they are supposed to get. These were some of the anomalies through which they arrived at N384 billion. They went further to calculate life expectancy for PHCN workers to be 117 years. You and I know that Nigeria’s life expectancy is not 117 years. Even that of United Kingdom and South Africa which is over 70, we could take. But somebody cannot calculate our entitlements based on 117 years in order to reduce the amount of money accruing to the workers. So, these are some of the basis upon which the N384 billion came about. When we engaged them with BPE, they acknowledged that it was false and they said they were going back, and that instead of relying on that data, they were going to administer a data form in all PHCN installations for workers to fill their names, positions, salaries, promotions, grades and so on. The data form is being collated. As we speak, they have not finished collation to go back to the committee. Then, they came out and still announced that false figure. That is the situation.After the December agreement, we were in the process of setting up the technical committee to work out the figure. it was expected that when the technical committee finished its work, we would have implementation committee, which would involve some level of leadership, there we could determine if somebody was wrongly paid, if there were issues not covered and things like for us to a have smooth implementation of the process. That did not happen till January, when they now agreed for the technical committee and they came to Lagos for meeting with their consultant; Alexander Forbes. We held the first meeting that I spoke about and after that, nothing. It was during the first meeting that we dictated those issues we raised. We are supposed to reconvene, till now we have not reconvened. There is the biometric exercise that started over one year on the issue of casuals, it has not been concluded. We still have about 4000 casual workers not regularized. Early this year, we wrote a letter to BPE and BPE acknowledged CONTINUES ON PAGE 30

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

Labour

Eluonye KOYEGWAEHI

ARITIME Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, h a s t a k e n s o m e multinational oil companies and shipping companies to court for alleged refusal to engage the services of registered Dockworkers in their midstream operations as stipulated by the law. President-General of the union, Comrade Anthony Nted who, who disclosed in said, however that some have indicated interest to settle out of court. According to him, “some of the issues with oil companies have been settled while some are in the courts. The tragedy of the Nigerian state is that when these oil companies commit atrocities, they will run to law courts. The sad thing about these cases is that some of the lawyers are just milking the oil companies even when they know the case cannot stand the test of legal scrutiny. In other cases, the lawyers do not know anything about maritime law. They will be talking about Economy Zone (EZ), the nautical miles where the vessel berthed and that dockworkers are not supposed to work there.

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

Maritime workers drag oil firms to court over mid-stream operations

Containers at the Port When you ask them how do they do the off-loading, who offloaded the vessel and how did those who did the off-loading how did they get there? They will have no answer. In most of the cases already judged, they lost almost all of them. One

wonders why these company whether Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, Elf Mobil and so on, do not ask question from their lawyers, whether the lawyers understand the

law and the issues involved.” “Some of them have perfected the act of delay tactics and other tricks to ensure that they continue to milk these companies in court. What they now do is that they will continue to

employ delay tactics for the case not to be heard. When the case is eventually heard and they lost, they would proceed to appeal among others. An example is SHELL. They raised so many irrelevant objections such as that the gazette was outdated, it is not correct, it was not properly signed, it was not signed by who was supposed to signed it, it did not go through some processes and so on. At the end of the day, we won the case at the high court. They went to the appeal court, when they lost, they went to the Supreme Court. The managements of these companies are not asking them questions in spite of the huge amount of money being spent on these cases.” “As we speak, we are in court with a lot of the multinational oil companies. Like SHELL, Pacific Drilling, TransOcean and so on. But Transocean has agreed to settle out of court and agreed to engage a register stevedore.

“Why we can’t accept govt’s N384bn terminal benefits” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 28 the letter. The DirectorGeneral signed the letter back to my office, to say that they are sorry and that they are going to reconstitute the committee to conclude their work. They reconstituted a committee, it met and adjourned. The day the committee meeting, to reconvene, they sent message across that the meeting would not hold, only for them to announce this figure. That means, they are not giving room for any engagement. What do you do in such a situation? We can say the government is not committed to resolving labour issues. If government officials were committed, they would not have played

politics with it. The announcement was to deceive investors to sign agreement with them the following morning. No reasonable investor will sign that agreement when he knows that labour issues have not been addressed. So, they hurriedly announced the figure that evening, saying they had released money and that they were commencing payment the following morning. You can move round to see if there is anybody that has been given a letter of his entitlement talk less of payment commencing. You do not operate that way in a sensitive sector like this. No investor can walk into any of these plants when these issues are not addressed. The whole essence is to pitch Nigerians against workers of PHCN to say

We can say the government is not committed to resolving labour issues. If government officials were committed, they would not have played politics with it even when we have given them this amount, they are not sincere, they are not satisfied and they are asking for more. Why are they protesting? No serious

government treats its people this way. You just came out that you have release money, you are paying tomorrow, how can you do that? Because you have given the so-called investors

some weeks to pay 25 percent, they hurriedly signed and believing that if they pay that 25 percent, you can get something with which to commence payment. How are we sure that your planned to begin strike on March 15, is not an empty threat? The whole essence of giving notice is for the matter to be addressed within the period of the notice. If you have told me that the notice expired and nothing happened, I would have asked for instances where such took place. But if you are now saying 15 days, 14 days, which is the provision by law statutorily, we did not take anybody by surprise.

Labour

Eluonye KOYEGWAEHI

HEAD of the March 15, deadline leaders of the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, issued the Federal Government to address a 10-point grievances, the union has begun massive mobilization of its members across the country for effective industrial action should government fail to meet its demands. This came the Federal Government pleaded with the union for understanding in the current face-off triggered of by government announcement of the release and commencement of payment of N384 billion for Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) workers, which the union said is fictitious. It would be recalled that leaders of NUEE at their National Executive Council, NEC, meeting in Abuja, issued a 14-day strike notice within which for government to address some identified grievances including the controversial N384 billion. Speaking on the preparation for a showdown with government over the issues, President of NUEE, Comrade Mansur Musa, said leaders of the union at all levels had been directed to go back and mobilize members for effective industrial action should government fail to address member’s concern. According to him, “They said they have released N384 billion for the payment of the terminal benefits for the “sacked PHCN workers”. It is a lie. They said they would start payment the next day, which is another lie. What they have succeeded in doing, is to ask kidnappers to go after our members. No matter the amount of blackmail, the government knows that our entitlements must be paid in full before any handover or take over. These companies are our own. We have directed our members to get prepare to do the right thing if they are not ready to do the right thing, we will show them how to do the right thing. We have given them a reasonable time within which to commence a n d c o n c l u d e implementation of all agreements. The time we

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

ULTIMATUM: PHCN workers step up preparation for strike *Govt pleads for understanding

PHCN workers preparing for a showdown with the government consider as reasonable, is over. They are politicians and we work in electricity industry. We are going to do give them electric shock to do the right thing.” Announcing the ultimatum to government after the NEC meeting, the union’s General

Secretary, Comrade Joseph Ajaero, said “the NEC -insession expressed worry and disappointment at the pace the Federal G o v e r n m e n t i s misinforming the general public over payment of staff emoluments in the Power

sector thereby exposing our members to serious security threats . NEC- session condemns in the delay in completing the biometric reconciliation committee’s assignment which should have been concluded within two weeks of its

inauguration. Consequently, the union demands that the committee winds up its activities for the regularisation of casuals by 15th of March , 2013.

NUPENG warns against playing politics with PIB Eluonye KOYEGWAEHI

ational Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, has implored the members of the National Assembly not to play politics with the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, saying such will be dangerous for the nation’s economy which depends on the Oil and Gas sector for survival. The union however lauded progressive minded members in the senate for their efforts at

ensuring that the protracted Bill sees the light of day in the interest of Nigeria as a nation. NUPENG in a statement by its Acting General Secretary, Comrade Isaac Aberare, said members were worried about the dilly-dallying of the PIB passage at the National Assembly, stating that “the delay and politicking over its passage does not augur well for the advancement of the oil and gas industry.” “The union calls on the National Assembly to expedite necessary legislative actions and pass the bill into law so

that the oil and gas industry can move forward. We are not happy at the delay in the passage of the PIB bill which is robbing the country of billions of dollars of new investments into the oil and gas industry that will bring about employment opportunities. The delay is also leading to divestment by some of the oil companies. We condemn in its entirety the negative reaction of some Northern Senator, that it will not give support to the passage because of some provisions, like the host community fund.” “The union states that they should allow reason to prevail, as their plan is

unpatriotic, selfish and unnecessary, knowing fully well the extent of environmental degradation caused by oil exploration activities in the oil producing communities. The union urges the Northern Senators who are working against the passage of the PIB to exercise restraint and canvass for the extension of such monies to host communities in the North, where hydro-electricity installations are situated along their rivers and where solid minerals are tapped. In that way a balance can be maintained.

Solid Mineral

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

Oscarline ONWUEMENYI B U J A – Canadian mining giants have indicated interest to invest in the development of Nigeria’s mining and steel industry, giving positive impetus to the various efforts of the Federal Government at attracting foreign direct investments, FDIs, into the nation’s mining industry. The investment intension was made known when the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Musa Mohammed Sada, received in his office the Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Chris Cooter and the Deputy High Commissioner, Jean J. Gautheir. The Minister, who described the meeting as timely, said the Federal Government was working proactively at diversifying the economy of the country to other sectors, particularly solid minerals and metal sector. He noted that the regulatory frameworks which are being operated in the nation’s mining industry are Canadian-based, adding that, draft copies of the mining regulations were circulated to prospective mining investors at the last Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, PDAC, Forum in Canada for additional inputs in order to have regulatory frameworks that conforms to international best practices for the nation’s mining industry. Arc. Sada informed the delegation that the Federal Government has already put in place a Committee on Bitumen for the country to develop its bitumen belt. He disclosed that he had directed the chairman of the committee to liaise with the Canadian Embassy on the way forward for the exploration of the bitumen resources. The Minister reiterated Federal Government’s readiness to collaborate with state governments and the private sector in the sustainable growth of the minerals and metal sector. He assured the delegation that the Nigerian government would do the necessary things to facilitate

Mining site

Canada eyes Nigeria’s mining resources the operations of investors in the minerals and metal sector for the benefit of investors and Nigerians. On the invitation for participation at international Convention, Trade Show and Investors Exchange under the auspices of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, PDAC, in Canada next year, the Minister assured that the ministry would attend. PDAC is a yearly event and since its inception, 39 years ago, to present the opportunity of sharing of ideas and networking on new development in the mining industry, it attracts over 100 countries. Speaking earlier, the High Commissioner of Canada said

Canada is the second largest mining country in the world with about 250 mining operators dotted around the globe in countries like Zambia, Tanzania, Liberia, Congo, among others the purpose of their visit was to indicate their interest as well as seek for area of collaboration in the development of the nation’s mining industry.

The High Commissioner commended the existing healthy economic relationship between Canada and Nigeria, expressing the preparedness

of his government to foster increased cooperation between the two countries. He said Canada is the second largest mining country in the world with about 250 mining operators dotted around the globe in countries like Zambia, Tanzania, Liberia, Congo, among others. He extended the invitation of the Canadian Government to the Minister for participation in the forthcoming, PDAC, forum in Canada, stressing that this would go a long way at boosting the economic relationship between the two countries.

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

Solid Mineral

FG wants local content for development of mining sector

Oscarline ONWUEMENYI BUJA - The F e d e r a l Government has disclosed its plan to drive local participation in the exploration, exploitation and processing of solid minerals resource in the country to develop the nation’s mines and steel sector which was been taken over by foreign operators. The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Musa Mohammed Sada, who disclosed this when he received in audience a delegation of officials of the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria, APBN, in Abuja, observed that the local content initiative in the petroleum industry has recorded modest successes, adding that it was time the mining and steel sectors got more local participation. The Minister noted that there efforts are on to develop the nation’s mines and steel sector by the foreigners, adding that, efforts to encourage local participation by creating home-made professionals in the sector gave birth to the establishment of the Nigerian Institute of Mining and Geosciences in Jos. He said: “The idea is to generate people that will come up and go into the site and do the actual operations themselves, what they do is practical to add value.” Arc. Sada expressed appreciation for the visit of the association, noting that his Ministry is highly professional with four (4) technical departments and six (6) agencies to transform the sector into one of the revenue earners for the country. He added that periodic training and capacity development were paramount to the development of the nation’s mines and steel sector, saying the sector has a control body, which is the Council of Nigerian Mining Engineers and Geoscientists,

Quilpie boulder opal COMEG, over the professional bodies such as Nigerian Mining and Geoscientists Society, Nigerian Metallurgical Society, among others. The Minister lamented that

none of the professional bodies in the sector was listed among members’ b o d i e s o f t h e association, assuring that he would encourage

them to partner with the association. Arc. Sada disclosed that President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the board members of the

Council of Nigerian Mining Engineers and Geoscientists, COMEG, which would be inaugurated by the Minister next week

Lead poisoning: Mortality rate drops from 40 to 3 per cent in Zamfara

usau - An international organisation, Medicines Sans Frontier, MSF, says infant mortality rate resulting from lead poisoning in Zamfara has dropped from 40 per cent in 2010 to

three. The MSF official, Dr George Mbatoto, announced this on at a one day sensitisation workshop in Gusau, organised for stakeholders on the control of lead poison in the state. It was organised by an

Abuja based nongovernmental organisation, Community Emergency Response Initiative. “The hitherto frightening scourge of mortality rate of children below five years which stood at 40 per cent when lead poisoning was

discovered in 2010 has been brought down to a manageable three per cent. “We will not relent our efforts in the seven affected villages in Bukkuyum and Anka local government areas until we make the environment safe enough for the children to survive,” Mbatoto said.

Freight

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

Barrels of oil

fforts are currently on, on the part of the Nigerian government to woo the country’s northern neighbours, the Republic of Niger, to import goods and ship out its newly discovered crude oil through Nigerian ports. The task is being undertaken by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, NSC, and the efforts are already yielding fruit.“Before now, Niger was importing goods through Nigerian ports. Before privatisation, all the inefficiencies in the ports made them to move to what they called ‘saner jurisdictions’ like Ghana and so on,” said Barrister Hassan Bello, the Acting Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the NSC, who headed a team of maritime operators that visited the French-speaking country recently.

Niger Republic to export oil through Nigeria The move is part of efforts by the new leaders of the NSC to woo back Nigeria’s landlocked neighbouring nations, which allegedly abandoned doing business at Nigerian ports in the last decade due to unfriendly nature of the ports. Barrister Bello said his team got assurances from the authorities in Niger Republic that the country would be returning to Nigerian ports for business. According to him, many of the landlocked countries around Nigeria, were about nine years ago, conducting their businesses

through Nigeria before the business environment in Nigeria depreciated, forcing those nations to explore other countries as options. He maintained that efficiency has now returned to the ports as a result of the reform efforts of the Federal Government and the NSC. “It does not make any economic sense for Niger leaving Nigeria that is closer and going to Ghana or Burkina Faso to bring in goods. What the Nigerian Shippers’

Council has said is efficiency is a function of competition; no matter how near you are, people like to take their goods in time. “Time is money in shipping. So because of the internal impediments like roadblocks, they abandoned Nigerian ports. There are more roadblocks from Nigeria to Niger than there are from Burkina Faso to Niger and so many things. “It is an economic decision; but when the Federal Government privatised the ports, efficiency is back only

one or two things are yet to be resolved. So, Niger is now about to transport its cargo through Nigeria. Nigerian Shippers’ Council rallied round terminal operators for this big one. “This is because if the country returns to Nigeria, it will increase the terminal operators’ capacity, it will make it more profitable if you have such tonnage,” Bello stated. Speaking further on the impending return of Niger Republic to the Nigerian ports, he said: “Niger is now an oil exporting country. It is unlike before when you talk about Niger as a dry region. They are generating so much economic activities.

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

Freight

NIMASA budgets N30bn to train 5,000 seafarers

Toju VINCENT

he N i g e ria n Maritime Administratio n and Safety A g e n c y , NIMASA, has said it is targeting to train over 5,000 seafarers in the next 10 years following the big emphasise on training under the National Seafarers Development Programme, NSDP. Disclosing this to SweetcrudeReports at the send forth party for 191 young Nigerian cadets being sent to the Arab Academy for Science Technology and Maritime Transport in Alexandria Egypt, NIMASA’s Director General, Mr. Patrick Akpobolokemi, stated that thousands of young Nigerians would have gone through the training in the next 10 years. This, according to him, would further boost the country’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP. Akpobolokemi said the agency would be dedicating a large chunk of its budget to the sea time training aspect of the programme, adding that the training would be a complete package that would see these category of Nigerians well-equipped for the future. The agency boss also explained that the government is developing maritime institutions along side the NSDP project “At the pace we are going, all things being equal, a few thousands of Nigerians would have been trained at the end of the decade,” he added. The coordinator of the National Seafarers Development Programme, Mrs Irene Macfoy, also told SweetcrudeReports that over a thousand cadets have been sent abroad for the training and that they went to the Philippines and other parts. Macfoy explained that the

*Sends 191 cadets to Egypt for training

Seafarers receiving instructions

At the pace we are going, all things being equal, a few thousands of Nigerians would have been trained at the end of the decade move to embark on the training project was to fill the expected 250,000 vacancies that will exist in the seafaring profession by the years 2025. This has been projected by the International Maritime Organisation, IMO. She stated that all things

being equal, about 5,000 Nigerians would have gone through the programme by the end of the decade. The NSDP coordinator further stated that the government, through the agency, introduced the

training project in 2009 with a view to bridging the projected employment gap in the seafaring profession. “You are aware of the liquidation of the Nigerian National Shipping Line and ever since then there has been a dearth in the human capacity in the maritime sector. “NIMASA being the apex maritime regulatory agency had to take the bull by the horn by finding a way of filling that vacuum and this was how the National Seafarers Developing Programme was conceived,” she said. The NSDP was initiated in 2009 by the then NIMASA Director General, Dr. Ade

Dosunmu. Nigerian cadets for Egypt maritime academy At the send-forth party for the 191 young Nigerian cadets to the Arab Academy for Science Technology and Maritime Transport in Alexandria, Egypt, Akpobolokemi, NIMASA DG, warned the cadets to be good ambassadors of the country, urging them not to waste government investment on them. He told them that the agency decided to take this initiative on them with a view to creating a brighter future for young Nigerians so as to contribute to the economic development of the country.

Fright

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

he United States of America has given Nigeria six 25-feet light patrol boats and spare parts valued at $1 million. They came through the United States Government’s Joint Maritime Security Training Centre, JMSTC, established to boost maritime security in Nigeria. The training centre was specifically initiated as a capacity building assistance from US government to train Nigerian security personnel, in conjunction with the Nigerian Armed Forces, in the area of maritime security, and littoral and riverine operations. At the graduation ceremony of 25 personnel of the Nigerian Navy at the JMSTC and the commissioning of two additional speed patrol boats at Navy Town, Ojo, Lagos, United States Consulate General, Jeffery Hawkins, said the assistance from his government was part of the US’s longstanding relationship with Nigeria and its contribution to collaboration in securing the nation’s maritime domain. The delivery of the six boats from the US was facilitated by its embassy through the Foreign Military Sales, FMS, programme. He added that the American training team had tutored 25 personnel of the Nigerian Navy (five officers and 20 ratings) in basic boat handling, basic outboard engine maintenance and trouble shooting of outboard engines, among others. Responding, the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Saad Ibrahim, said the purpose of the centre was to provide a focal point to the maritime security training activities across the Armed Forces as well as law enforcement agencies in Nigeria in order to assist in enhancing their effectiveness in conducting joint littoral, riverine and maritime operations. Ibrahim who was represented by Air Vice Marshal Moses Akinsanmi, the Commandant, Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre, NAFRC, in Oshodi, Lagos, announce that plans were on to make the centre a regional training centre of excellence for the West African Sub-region.

Boat on the sea

US donates $1m, six boats in aid of Nigerian maritime security “Taking delivery of the boats shows the commitment of the Nigerian Government in

curbing maritime crimes, growing threat of terrorism and enhancing maritime security within the country

and the Gulf of Guinea through training of its armed forces with state of the art equipment,” he said.

NPA organises course to protect port from terrorists

he Nigerian P o r t s Authority is set to play host to a two-day course with t h e t h e m e , “ P r o t e c t i n g Nigerian’s Seaports”. The course, billed to hold this March, is designed to provide

the Nigerian Maritime Community with the needed information to protect on-shore, and subsea facilities from potential terrorist and criminal threats. The inaugural course is targeted on Nigeria’s military, intelligence, law-enforcement agencies

and maritime administrators while the private sectors would take its turn at another forum in April. The courses are the initiative of the Trade Facilitation Centre, TFC, a creation of the office of the President of Nigeria in cooperation with the Ministry of Transport and

the Nigeria Ports Authority. The Trade Facilitation Centre is to manage information flow within Nigeria’s maritime domain in an effort to deliver efficiency, effectiveness, safety and security throughout the seaports and waterways.

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

Fright

Seafarer women ready for training

More females embrace NIMASA’s seafaring training programme

Toju VINCENT

ore young Nigerian females h a v e embraced the National Seafarers Development Programme, NSDP, of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, as over a hundred of them are currently undergoing training to become professional seafarers. S p e a k i n g t o SweetcrudeReports on the increased number of young Nigerian females, coordinator of the NSDP programme, Mrs Irene Macfoy, said she could not

say exactly how many female cadets had been admitted into the programme but that the number was quite high. Macfoy explained that the current trends in the world has thrown up opportunities for both men and women and that women in some cases were doing better than their male counterparts. “In the world today, you find that women are making more waves, we have women becoming Presidents of nations, we have women becoming Chief Executive Officers, there is no limit as to how far the woman of today can go,” she said. It was gathered that a woman got the best graduating student award from AMET University in India where some of the cadets underwent training. She disclosed that the current

In the world today, you find that women are making more waves, we have women becoming Presidents of nations, we have women becoming Chief Executive Officers, there is no limit as to how far the woman of today can go batch of participants have completed their sea time training and were heading back to the class room for their competence examination. Some of the female beneficiaries, who spoke to

SweetcrudeReports said that they decided to go into “this dominated profession” to make a difference. There were over twenty females in the batch of cadets going to the maritime institute in Alexandria in

Egypt. Miss Oyewole Oyebola said she was grateful to the government for this opportunity to study her dream course. Eighteen years old Oyebola, who plans to specialise in marine engineering, also said she was aware of the rigors the training entails but promised to face whatever challenges that were involved. Another female cadet, twenty years old Miss Labaran Fatima from Kogi State, disclosed that she was psychologically and mentally prepared for the programme.

Technology

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

olar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP). Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaics convert light into electric current using the photoelectric effect. Commercial concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the 1980s. The 354 MW SEGS CSP installation is the largest solar power plant in the world, located in the Mojave Desert of California. Other large CSP plants include the Solnova Solar Power Station (150 MW) and the Andasol solar power station (150 MW), both in Spain. The over 200 MW Agua Caliente Solar Project in the United States, and the 214 MW Charanka Solar Park in India, are the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest photovoltaic power stations. Applications Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity. Sunlight can be converted directly into electricity using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly with concentrated solar power (CSP), which normally focuses the sun's energy to boil water which is then used to provide power. Other technologies also exist, such as Stirling engine dishes which use a Stirling cycle engine to power a generator. Photovoltaics were initially used to power small and medium-sized applications, from the calculator powered by a single solar cell to off-grid homes powered by a photovoltaic array. Concentrating solar power Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. The concentrated heat is then used as a heat source for a conventional power plant. A wide range of concentrating technologies exists; the most developed are the parabolic trough, the concentrating linear fresnel reflector, the Stirling dish

Solar power tower

Solar power and the solar power tower. Various techniques are used to track the Sun and focus light. In all of these systems a working fluid is heated by the concentrated sunlight, and is then used for power generation or energy storage. Thermal storage efficiently allows up to 24 hour electricity generation. A parabolic trough consists of a linear parabolic reflector that concentrates light onto a receiver positioned along the reflector's focal line. The receiver is a tube positioned right above the middle of the parabolic mirror and is filled with a working fluid. The reflector is made to follow the Sun during the daylight hours by tracking along a single axis. Parabolic trough systems provide the best land-use factor of any solar technology. The SEGS plants in California and Acciona's Nevada Solar One near Boulder City, Nevada are representatives of this technology. Compact Linear Fresnel Reflectors are CSPplants which use many thin mirror strips instead of parabolic mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto two

A parabolic trough consists of a linear parabolic reflector that concentrates light onto a receiver positioned along the reflector's focal line

tubes with working fluid. This has the advantage that flat mirrors can be used which are much cheaper than parabolic mirrors, and that more reflectors can be placed in the same amount of space, allowing more of the available sunlight to be used. Concentrating linear fresnel reflectors can be used in either large or more compact plants. The Stirling solar dish combines a parabolic concentrating dish with a Stirling engine which

normally drives an electric generator. The advantages of Stirling solar over photovoltaic cells are higher efficiency of converting sunlight into electricity and longer lifetime. Parabolic dish systems give the highest efficiency among CSP technologies. The 50 kW Big Dish in Canberra, Australia is an example of this technology. A solar power tower uses an array of tracking reflectors (heliostats) to concentrate light on a central receiver atop a tower. Power towers

are more cost effective, offer higher efficiency and better energy storage capability among CSP technologies. The PS10 Solar Power Plant and PS20 solar power plant are examples of this technology. Photovoltaics A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell (PV), is a device that converts light into electric current using the photoelectric effect. The first solar cell was constructed by Charles Fritts in the 1880s. In 1931 a German engineer, Dr Bruno Lange, developed a photo cell using silver selenide in place of copper oxide. Although the prototype selenium cells converted less than 1% of incident light into electricity, both Ernst Werner von Siemens and James Clerk Maxwell recognized the importance of this discovery. Following the work of Russell Ohl in the 1940s, researchers Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin created the silicon solar cell in 1954. These early solar cells cost 286 CONTINUES ON PAGE 40

Technology

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

Solar power CONTINUED FROM PAGE 39 USD/watt and reached efficiencies of 4.5â&#x20AC;&#x201C;6%. Photovoltaic power systems Solar cells produce direct current (DC) power which fluctuates with the sunlight's intensity. For practical use this usually requires conversion to certain desired voltages or alternating current (AC), through the use of inverters. Multiple solar cells are connected inside modules. Modules are wired together to form arrays, then tied to an inverter, which produces power at the desired voltage, and for AC, the desired frequency/phase. Many residential systems are connected to the grid wherever available, especially in developed countries with large markets. In these grid-connected PV systems, use of energy storage is optional. In certain applications such as satellites, lighthouses, or in developing countries, batteries or additional power generators are often added as back-ups. Such stand-alone power systems permit operations at night and at other times of limited sunlight. Development and deployment The early development of solar technologies starting in the 1860s was driven by an expectation that coal would soon become scarce. However, development of solar technologies stagnated in the early 20th century in the face of the increasing availability, economy, and utility of coal and petroleum. In 1974 it was estimated that only six private homes in all of North America were entirely heated or cooled by functional solar power systems. The 1973 oil embargo and 1979 energy c r i s i s c a u s e d a reorganization of energy policies around the world and brought renewed attention to developing solar technologies. Deployment strategies focused on incentive programs such as the Federal Photovoltaic Utilization Program in the US and the Sunshine Program in Japan. Other efforts included the formation of research

Geesthacht energy park

facilities in the US (SERI, now NREL), Japan (NEDO), and Germany (Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE). Between 1970 and 1983 photovoltaic installations grew rapidly, but falling oil prices in the early 1980s moderated the growth of PV from 1984 to 1996. Since 1997, PV development has accelerated due to supply issues with oil and natural gas, global warming concerns, and the improving economic position of PV relative to other energy technologies.[22] Photovoltaic production growth has averaged 40% per year since 2000 and installed capacity reached 39.8 GW at the end of 2010, of them 17.4 GW in Germany. As of October 2011, the largest photovoltaic (PV) power plants in the world are the Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant (Canada, 97 MW), Montalto di Castro Photovoltaic Power Station (Italy, 84.2 MW) and Finsterwalde Solar Park (Germany, 80.7 MW). There are also many large plants under construction. The Desert Sunlight Solar Farm is a 550 MW solar power plant under construction in Riverside County, California, that will use thin-film solar photovoltaic modules made by First Solar. The Topaz Solar Farm is a 550 MW photovoltaic power plant, being built in San Luis Obispo County, California.[26] The Blythe Solar Power Project is a 500 MW photovoltaic station under construction in Riverside County, California. The Agua

Solar stiring engine Caliente Solar Project is a 2 9 0 m e g a w a t t photovoltaic solar generating facility being built in Yuma County, Arizona. The California Valley Solar Ranch (CVSR) is a 250 megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic power plant, which is being built by SunPower in the Carrizo Plain, northeast of California Valley. The 230 MW Antelope Valley Solar Ranch is a First Solar photovoltaic project which is under construction in the Antelope Valley area of the Western Mojave Desert, and due to be completed in 2013. Economics D e s p i t e t h e

overwhelming availability of solar power, little was installed, compared to other power generation, prior to 2012, due to the high installation cost. This cost has declined as more systems have been installed, and has followed a typical learning curve. Photovoltaic systems use no fuel and modules typically last 25 to 40 years. The cost of installation is almost the only cost, as there is very little maintenance required. Installation cost is measured in $/watt or â&#x201A;Ź/watt. The electricity generated is sold for Â˘/kWh. 1 watt of installed photovoltaics generates roughly 1 to 2 kWh/year, as a result of the local insolation. The product of the local cost of electricity and the

insolation determines the break even point for solar power. The International Conference on Solar Photovoltaic Investments, organized by EPIA, has estimated that PV systems will pay back their investors in 8 to 12 years. As a result, since 2006 it has been economical for investors to install photovoltaics for free in return for a long term power purchase agreement. Fifty percent of commercial systems were installed in this manner in 2007 and over 90% by 2009. As of 2011, the cost of PV has fallen well below that of nuclear power and is set to fall further. The average retail price of solar cells as monitored by the Solarbuzz group fell from $3.50/watt to $2.43/watt over the course of 2011, and a decline to prices below $2.00/watt seems inevitable. A U.S. study of the amount of economic installations agrees closely with the actual installations. For large-scale installations, prices below $1.00/watt are now common. In some locations, PV has reached grid parity, the cost at which it is competitive with coal or gas-fired generation. More generally, it is now evident that, given a carbon price of $50/ton, which would raise the price of coal-fired power by 5c/kWh, solar PV will be cost-competitive in most locations. The declining price of PV has been reflected in rapidly growing installations, totalling about 23 GW in 2011. Although some consolidation is likely in 2012, as firms try to restore profitability, strong growth seems likely to continue for the rest of the decade. Already, by one estimate, total investment in renewables for 2011 exceeded investment in carbon-based electricity generation. Additionally, governments have created various financial incentives to encourage the use of solar power, such as feed-in tariff programs. Also, Renewable portfolio standards impose a government mandate that utilities generate or acquire a certain percentage of renewable power regardless of increased energy procurement costs.

Community

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

Niger-Delta Coalition demands scrap of oil blocs

he Federal Government has been urged by the Niger Delta coalition to scrap ownership of all oil blocks in the country to ensure equity and fairness in the country. The group is part of the United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy, UNDEDSS. Secretary General of UNDEDSS, Mr Tony Uranta, told newsmen in Lagos: “Nigeria should scrap ownership of all oil blocs and begin at zero point to re-allocate them in the spirit of fairness and equity.” According to him, “oil blocs should now be allocated based on federal character principle since the nation is reluctant to give us either total control or make sure the Niger Delta gets what it deserves”. Uranta explained that the decision of UNDEDSS was coming on the heels of the division in the Nigerian Senate over the proposed Petroleum Industry , PIB, aimed at reforming the oil sector. The UNDEDSS scribe noted that the 83 per cent oil block ownership by Northerners was not news to the coalition but expressed shock over the Northern Senators’ strong opposition to a bill that would ensure justice and equity to the Niger Delta people “who have suffered and are still suffering so much degradation and other health related issues from exploration and exploitation of oil in the region for too long.” Uranta described the inability of the National Assembly to pass the PIB as unfair to the Niger Delta region, saying “whilst we talk of derivative principle of 13 per cent to the Niger Delta, we must remember that over 60 per cent of the federal allocation to

FPSO

councils in Nigeria go to the North.” He stated that “a lot of monies are being paid to the northern states

based on the local government councils, while Bayelsa for instance, gets an allocation indirectly derived from the oil it

produces for eight councils, Kano gets allocation for up to 44 councils.”

MOSOP gives condition for oil exploration in Ogoni

ovement for t h e Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP, has listed autonomy for the area among issues that must be addressed before oil exploration can resume in any part of Ogoniland. In a statement by

Chairman, MOSOP Kingdom Coordinators and chapter leaders, Mr. Frank Jonah, the movement said challenges of environmental protection and payment of compensation for long years of pollution should also be tackled. MOSOP said the implementation of the

recommended clean-up of Ogoni by the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, was not enough to allow resumption of oil exploration in the area. The group threatened to resist any move to resume oil exploration in the area, if the conditions it gave were not met, adding that any attempt to ignore the issues raised by

MOSOP could create another round of conflict and tension in the area. “We understand that the Nigerian government has little value for the lives of Ogoni people, and we have seen this during the years of General Ibrahim Babangida, General Sani Abacha and General Olusegun Obasanjo as Heads of State.

Community

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

SURE-P is about transformation, reduction of poverty, crimes â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Akinyemi

t. Hon. Femi Akinyemi is a f o r m e r Speaker of the Ekiti House of Assembly and Chairman, State Implementation Committee, SIC, of the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme, SURE-P, in Ekiti State. Akinyemi spoke recently to some journalists in Ado-Ekiti. . What is SURE-P about and how does it work in Ekiti State? SURE-P is part of the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan administration. It is a special intervention programme specifically designed by the Federal Government for the eradication of poverty, upliftment and development of the 36 States of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory. You remember the plan last year by the government on partial removal of fuel subsidy. Fund that ought to have been spent on the subsidy is now being shared among the three tiers of government; federal, state and local governments. The President decided to use the special fund from the subsidy withdrawal as intervention fund so that if, for instance, a community has urgent need for a health centre, by putting some funds from SURE-P, you can accelerate the provision of the health centre and save people from avoidable deaths. It is the federal government share of the fund that is being used for the SURE-P empowerment programmes like the Community Services, Youths and Women Employment Scheme, Graduate Internship Scheme among others. In all sates of the federation, t h e r e a r e S t a t e Implementation Committees, which have chairmen, vice chairmen and three senatorial coordinators. We have people manning all

Rt. Hon. Femi Akinyemi addressing beneficiaries of the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P) Community Services, Youths and Women Employment Scheme in Ekiti State.

Benefits of the schemes

Under the Community Services, Youths and Women Employment Scheme, each State of the federation is to employ a total of 15,000 youths. The youths are engaged in community services like

clearing of drainages, sewage disposal, filling of pot-holes on township roads, cleaning of markets, palaces, schools and other public places. Beneficiaries of the scheme are to be paid N10,000 per month. In Ekiti, we have recruited the first 3,000

beneficiaries under this scheme while another 2,000 will be recruited this month. Hopefully, before June this year, we would have recruited the 15,000 allocated to Ekiti State. The other one, which is the Graduate Internship Scheme, is a scheme for our young graduates. Graduates to be employed under this scheme will be deployed to companies that have registered with the SURE-P. They will be paid N18, 000 per month in addition to whatever the company is able to pay them. The companies will require CAC registration, Tax Clearance and VAT number to qualify for the programme.

How are these people being recruited?

Forms were distributed to interested candidates throughout the State. The distribution was done in the palaces of our traditional rulers with officials of the National Directorate of Employment serving as our field officers. But, there is allegation by the Action Congress of Nigeria that only supporters of Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Democratic Party are being considered for the scheme. What do you say to this? That is politics taken to the CONTINUES ON PAGE 43

Community

enagoa - An environmenta l i s t , M r N n i m m o Bassey, has said the recent landslide incident in Okolobo community in the Kolokuma/Opokumo Local Government Area of Bayelsa was the effect of climate change. The landslide destroyed more than eight houses along a river bank and rendered several families homeless. Bassey, who is the Executive Director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of Earth Nigeria, ERA/FoEN, made the observation in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa. According to him, ERA/FoEN field findings showed that recurring landslide incidents are induced by human activities. He said that the fragile Niger Delta ecosystem which had been exposed to serious pressure by the climate change phenomenon was further worsened by oil exploration activities. “Unprotected coastlines in

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

Expert attributes Bayelsa landslide to climate change, oil exploration

the Niger Delta are challenged by climate change, rising sea levels and movement of oil company vessels and equipment on the water ways. “Recurrent landslides and coastal erosion destroy houses and infrastructure and cost the nation huge sums of money while impoverishing the already deprived rural populations. “All tiers of government must share in the blame for this negligence. Local and state

Landslide area site Bayelsa State governments as well as the NDDC must secure and protect our shorelines,” Bassey said. The environmentalist urged the Federal

Government to mitigate the growing threat of climate change by ending gas flaring which, he said “releases tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere daily”.

He said that stopping gas flaring, reinforcing the shore lines and provision of rural infrastructure were the necessary steps to bring relief to coastal communities in the Niger Delta region.

SURE-P is about transformation CONTINUED FROM PAGE 42 bizarre and extreme retrogressive level. Here in Ekiti State, forms were distributed free to beneficiaries in palaces of traditional rulers. Would our Obas have allowed their palaces to be used if the programme was solely for PDP members and supporters? Are they also saying that our traditional rulers are partisan and fraudulent? That is an insult on the integrity of our traditional rulers, who out of their desire for development and eradication of poverty in Ekiti State have been very supportive in mobilising their people for the SURE-P in the State. It is in a very bad taste because what the SURE-P Committee did was that rather than beneficiaries collecting the money without rendering any service to the States, traditional rulers were asked to identify areas that these beneficiaries could be helpful to the

society. These areas were identified so that these youths can be useful to the society, rather than just collecting money monthly. Here in Ekiti, anybody who has been following the programme will agree that the processes have been transparent, and when we begin payment of the monthly stipend to the beneficiaries, payment will be made directly into their accounts. Also, the State Director, National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Dr Abimbola Oni, is the Vice Chairman of the Implementation Committee and that should be enough to show that the programme is not for members of any political party. Or are they also saying that the NDE is part of the PDP? Don’t you think that your being a PDP member justifies the ACN’s position that the programme is aimed at mobilising support for your party for the 2015 elections?

I think instead of making insinuations as to the m o t i v e a n d implementation of the SURE-P, the ACN people should rather focus on how the subsidy funds being received by the States and Local Councils under the control of the party are being utilised. For instance, Ekiti State has received over N1 billion and I think if the fund is well utilised, the federal government’s efforts through SURE-P will be adequately complemented. Even if the 3,000 beneficiaries that we have employed are PDP members, which is not true anyway, are they not indigenes of Ekiti State? Are they not going to render services in Ekiti towns and villages? Shouldn’t the federal g o v e r n m e n t b e commended for utilising its own share of the Subsidy Fund to empower Nigerians? How are the people

reacting to the scheme in the state? Response has been tremendous. When we distributed forms for t h e recruitment of the first 3 , 0 0 0 beneficiaries of the Community Services, Youths and W o m e n Employment Scheme, over 30,000 youths applied. What we Akinyemi saw at the Obas’ palaces and in For instance, if 15,000 the headquarters of all the 16 youths are paid N10,000 per Local Councils in the State month, which will amount to where the forms were N150 million coming into distributed was a further Ekiti State from the Subsidy reinforcement of the Fund per month, one can importance of the scheme and begin to imagine the impact we are sure that by the time on the economy of the State. 15,000 youths are employed, That is aside from the crime rate in Ekiti will be services that will be reduced and problems of rendered. unemployment solved considerably.

Community

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

Oil exploration

amaturu Elders in Yobe State h a v e appealed to the Federal Government to commence exploration of crude oil in the Chad basin. The elders made the appeal in Damaturu at a town hall meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan when he paid a one day working visit to the state. They said that the exploration would develop agriculture, create employment and improve the economy of the country. Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, a former Minister of Agriculture, said there were indications of rich oil deposits in the Chad basin area that needed to be explored to enhance revenue base of the country and the people.

Yobe elders want govt to commence oil exploration in Chad basin “When you find oil in Yobe and Borno, it belongs to the Nigerian nation and it will also promote national unity,” Ciroma said. Hon. Hassan El-Badawy, representing Bade/Jakusko Constituency, said: “The Chad basin oil exploration in Nigeria has taken over 20 years while Niger, Cameroon and Chad explored oil in just six years,” expressing optimism that “the Nigeria Government can explore the Chad basin in less than two years and develop the

Mambilla hydro-electric power project for improved energy”. Sen. Ahmad Lawan, Yobe North, appealed to the president to establish a ‘Presidential Recovery Programme’ to assist the State Government and individuals recover from the economic, social and infrastructural loss suffered from the insurgency attacks. The elders called on

government to provide employment opportunities to reduce poverty and manipulation of youths by criminal elements. Jonathan said N16 billion had been earmarked for the inland sedimentary basin exploration. He assured that the Minister of Petroleum Resources would update the people on the progress made when she visit the state in June.

The president said more jobs would be provided in the next five years while the Federal Government would partner with the State Government to rehabilitate victims of the conflicts. The president, during the visit to the state, inaugurated the ‘Goodluck Jonathan’ library complex of Yobe State University and donated N200 million to the university. Similarly, the president inaugurated the 18km dual carriageway ring road in Damaturu while on the oneday working visit to the state.

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

Oando AD

Community

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

Fixing broken pipe

NNPC reconfigures System 2B Artery with ICT to stem pipeline vandalism

Yemie ADEOYE

n a bid to arrest the i n c e s s a n t vandalism on its system 2B pipeline artery in Arepo, Ogun State, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has deployed state-of–the-art technology to maintain comprehensive surveillance of the pipeline. NNPC Group Managing Director, Engr. Andrew Yakubu, disclosed this recently while on a one-day working visit to ascertain the extent of work done by the Nigerian Army Engineering Corps, code named SAPA, on the clearance of the pipeline right of way at Arepo. Yakubu revealed that already an indigenous

engineering firm, ENIKKOM, has been mobilised to redirect the pipeline from the reach of vandals with modern technology to monitor the pipeline on a regular basis. “The engineering firm is bringing modern technology to bear on the system by burying the pipelines much deeper. New pipelines will be used to change the configuration in order to keep pipeline vandals away from the corporation’s critical infrastructure,” Engr. Yakubu informed. He said in matching words with action and to continue to improve the right of way of the pipelines, the NNPC has also

built a watch tower, police post, and would ensure that the hot spots would be completely secured, adding that this would also prevent the loss of lives. NNPC will also build a long wide platform that will ensure easy access at any time for the security forces over the swamps. The NNPC helmsman observed that the project has a very high cost benefit to the corporation and that the NNPC records a loss of six hundred million naira every week whenever the System 2B is down as a result of attack by vandals.

Yakubu said the project has the full support of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and the top echelon of the security agencies. He appealed to local and state governments, communities and other stakeholders to join hands with the NNPC to stamp out pipeline vandalism for the growth of the economy. The GMD confirmed that all the nation’s refineries were running at different levels of effectiveness, noting that Turn Around Maintenance, TAM, for Port Harcourt Refinery has been scheduled for April this year. In his remarks, the

Managing Director of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, Prince Haruna Momoh, said with the two hundred and fifty eight tanks in the twenty one depots and a holding capacity of 2.6 billion litres of petroleum products and with the over 5,000km network of pipelines across the country, the NNPC is ready to constantly wet the nation with petroleum products. He assured Nigerians that the NNPC would continue to do all within its ability to ensure that fuel queues remain a thing of the past. Speaking on behalf of the Chief of Army Staff, Brig. Gen. Emeka Okonkwo, said it is the duty of the army to support civil authority and that the army is in Arepo to re-establish the right of way of the NNPC pipeline from Mosimi to Ibadan within ninety days assuring that the military engineers would

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2013 March, SweetcrudeReports

NigerDelta Question JOHN IYENE OWUBOKIRI

ALISON-MADUEKE and the PETROLEUM MINISTRY:

From commonwealth to personal fief

Water treatment plant

Niger govt votes N98m for diesel to power water treatment plants

inna - The N i g e r S t a t e Governm ent has approved the release of N98 million for the purchase of diesel to power generating sets at the state’s water treatment plants in Minna. Hajia Hadiza Abdullahi, the Commissioner for Water Resources, told newsmen in Minna that the measure was to ensure the supply of potable water due to epileptic

power supply. She said the diesel would be used at Tagwai, Chanchaga and Bosso treatment plants in a bid to solving the problem of regular power outage or low current facing the plants. Abdullahi recalled that a similar step was taken in 2012 by the government which restored sanity to the water distribution mechanism in Minna and Suleja. She said the state would spend about N12 million worth of diesel each month and gave

an assurance that the state would not renege on its responsibility to the people. She also said that a similar intervention was taken for Suleja town. Abdullahi added that the government had approved the release of N153 million for the purchase of water treatment chemicals for use in all the water works in the state in 2013.

he appointment of Naomi Campbell, forgive me, Diezani Alison-Madueke, to the top job at the Petroleum Ministry was a controversial story and the first indication the Nigerian public had that this president is not a man that would worry about the sensitivities of his people. In the economic politics of Nigeria, at least four major groups present themselves as stakeholders of the oil and gas wells that dot the Niger Delta region: the Northern states that produce no oil but desire to mutate into several more states because of the incongruous arrangement in a federal state of sharing revenue accruing from one region on a monthly basis; the federal government that legislated the resources into its ownership and supervises the sharing; the industry that operates the resources and the states (and communities) that actually produce the resources. Although Ms. Campbell could trace her pedigree to at least two of these groups, her nomination by the president was rejected by all four groups and indeed anyone who had an interest in the continuity of the system. She was fortunate in many respects. Her critics were blackmailed into silence by feminist groups who successfully dragged the issue into the realm of sexual discrimination. She was given a free hand to operate as a substantive minister without a junior minister where her predecessor, Odein Ajumogobia, SAN was only a minister for state with full time supervision from the Rock. By the time she settled into office the production fields had been calmed into tranquillity for her by Umaru Yar ‘Adua’s amnesty programme. Also, the downstream sector had found some rhythm, stability and predictability. She entered upon her duties with unhelpful attitudes such as lateness to meetings, absenteeism, lack of a team spirit and acted as though she had been in the pith of production activities at Shell where she got her “experience” of the industry. Anyone who dared to remind her that public relations and production were two very different kettles of brew got into her bad books. The Petroleum Industry Bill, the promised piece of revolutionary legislation to reorder the ills of the Oil and Gas

Industry and assuage the suffering of oil and gas producing communities, was finally submitted by the Petroleum Ministry to the National Assembly. Before it was submitted however, the Petroleum Minister set up a task force that included men like Senator Tunde Ogbeha, Senator Udo Udoma, Prince Chibudom Nwuche and PENGASSAN’S Peter Esele among others to do a review of the Bill. The task force sat, poring over provisions and making recommendations. Little did they know that their efforts accounted for nothing. Some of them now swear that the document they reviewed is by far different from the copy that was submitted to the National Assembly. The Minister’s PIB, from promising to unite the d iv erg ent a sp ira t ions of stakeholders into an acceptable position for all, now portends to tear the country apart. The IOCs are drawing up new strategies for divesting of their stakes in Nigeria as they are worried that the fiscal provisions in the PIB would make Nigeria’s investment environment the most expensive in the world. The SPDC has decided to postpone a $30 Billion investment in Nigeria because of the Bill. Industry watchers agree that if the PIB passes legislation as it is, it would convert Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry, from the Commonwealth of Nigeria to the personal fief of the Petroleum Minister because of provisions that grant her office more powers than the presidency. The current Minister’s appreciation of history is so little that she has tailored the Bill to serve the ends of an office she thinks she will occupy forever. Last week, Shell complained that they are losing sixty (60) thousand barrels of crude daily to pipeline vandals and crude oil thieves. Their investigations, they claim, revealed that illegal crude refineries are building large tank farms to store stolen products. We see this as the d irect conseq uence of a mishandled amnesty programme and the failure of the Petroleum Ministry to invest in modern technologies that detect and prevent pipelines vandalism and other acts of sabotage and theft. As there is no reason to hope that the Presidency would wake up to its responsibilities by redeploying Ms. Campbell to the Culture Ministry or demanding her resignation, it is now left to Nigerians to march her under the forceful will of twenty (20) thousand or more feet in and around Nigeria’s own Tahir Square, out of the office of the Honourable Minister for Petroleum Resources.

2013 March, SweetcrudeReports