The Guardian reports that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, said at the weekend that the Nigerian Government has acquired “state of the art software and gadgets” to tackle the growing oil theft in the oil-bearing region
The minister spoke during the 2022 graduation of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, Delta State. He was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Gabriel Aduda.
A total of 1,166 graduates received the institute’s diploma.
Sylva said: “This administration is making concerted efforts to curtail crude oil theft, which has reduced government’s revenue and foreign exchange income. Oil theft has denied the country of estimated 700,000 barrels per day. The adverse effect of this is the drop in the production of crude oil.
“These criminal activities are not taking place in oblivion. Therefore, the involvement of locals in tackling the problem is very essential. Similarly, Federal Government has acquired state of the art software and gadgets to detect, monitor crude oil theft in real time”
According to minister, the Federal Government is facilitating the creation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Park at Odukpani, Cross River State.
He said the foundation of the park was laid in 2018 and was expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2022.
Sylva said the park would create an environment for low-cost manufacturing that would produce equipment components and spare parts that will be used in the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry.
He added that completion of the project would benefit the national economy because it would reduce demand for foreign exchange for importation of equipment and provide employment opportunities for graduates of PTI.
Earlier, the Principal and Chief Executive Officer of the PTI, Dr. Henry Adimula, said PTI, which is also celebrating 50 years of existence, had remained steadfast on its vision and mission, anchored on competence and capacity.
The newspaper says that within the last 21 years, telecommunications operators in Nigeria have connected 312.9 million telephone lines in the country.
Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), which revealed this, showed that 209.6 million of the lines are active on MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and 9mobile networks.
Invariably, from the updated August subscription statistics from NCC, released at the weekend, it can be deduced that some 103 million of the connected lines are inactive.
According to the NCC, a mobile line is considered to be inactive if it does not receive calls and/or access data services for 90 days, at the minimum. Such lines are separated from active lines, as they generate no revenue for telecoms operators within the stated period.
Further analysis of the August data showed that the country’s teledensity increased from 109.47 per cent to 109.99 per cent.
Teledensity is the telephone connections per 100 people in a specified geographic area. Teledensity is often used to compare the level of access to voice and data communications services between metropolitan and rural areas, or between one country and another.
Meanwhile, Nigeria is expected to have 40 per cent Fifth-Generation (5G) network connection by 2025, as more digital infrastructure are deployed and newer cites are activated.
This was disclosed by the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), MTN Group, Ralph Mupita, in Lagos during an interaction with journalists, who just concluded the MTN sponsored Media Innovation Programme (MIP), a six-month capacity building at the School of Media and Communication (SMC), Pan Atlantic University (PAU), Lekki.
The Nigerian Government’s plan to pioneer a voluntary Carbon Market on the continent and the deal sealed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Akwa Ibom State Government and Solutions Hub Limited to establish a fully integrated, deepwater logistics shore base in the Niger Delta state are some of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Monday.
The Punch reports that the Nigerian Government is set to pioneer a voluntary Carbon Market on the continent.
According to the government, the carbon market is a new and innovative climate change solution that will create, over the period of an energy transition, millions of new jobs in Nigeria. It stated that this is part of its effort to attain the global net-zero emissions target.
A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President, Laolu Akande, revealed that the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, is a member of the recently formed international Steering Committee for the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative which is aimed at facilitating the emergence and growth of the market in Africa.
It further stated that other members of the committee, which would be announced at the COP27 meeting in Egypt, are former President of Colombia, Ivan Duque Marquez; President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, among others, including officials of the United Nations, USAID, Gates Foundation, and other international private sector players.
The statement read in parts, “ACMI’s estimates suggest that Nigeria alone could produce up to 30 million carbon credits per year by 2030, which at $20/credit would be worth over half a billion dollars annually.
“According to the estimates by the ACMI, “at this level of production, the industry could potentially support over 3 million Nigerian jobs. And Nigeria has only a portion of Africa’s total potential—the impact for the continent as a whole could be far greater.”
“The jobs would span the period of the energy transition, starting from the time the market is able to kickoff, till 2060.”
The newspaper says that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Akwa Ibom State Government and Solutions Hub Limited have sealed a deal to establish a fully integrated, deepwater logistics shore base in the Niger Delta state.
In a series of tweets on Sunday, the NNPC said that Governor Udom Emmanuel, the leadership of the national oil firm and Solution Hub Ltd signed the deal to execute the shareholder’s agreement of Ibom Solution Hub Ltd.
It said the logistics base, proposed to be sited on a 40sq-km space in Ibaka, Mbo Local Government Area, within the already designated Free Trade Zone in Akwa Ibom, was modeled to be an alternative to existing logistics bases in Nigeria to offer offshore construction support to West and Central African regions.
Emmanuel thanked NNPC and Solution Hub for choosing to partner Akwa Ibom State thereby making the project a reality, according to NNPC’s tweets.
He reassured investors of the hospitality of state and solicited more projects that would provide employment and development opportunities for indigene of the state.
The Board Chairman, NNPC, Senator Margery Chuba-Okadigbo, said the company was working with all relevant government agencies to deliver on the class facility.
She invited more partners to collaborate with NNPC in order to secure their right to play in Africa’s largest market by partnering with its largest energy company.
GIK/APA