The report that Nigerians who are already impoverished by the high cost of living, are grappling with the harsh reality of petrol shortage, as the hope of adequate supply dims is one of the leading stories in Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday.
The Guardian reports that from far North to oil-rich Niger Delta, Nigerians who are already impoverished by the high cost of living, are grappling with the harsh reality of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) shortage, as the hope of adequate supply dims.
Yesterday, President Muhammadu Buhari, who doubles as the Minister of Petroleum, left the country to take part in a special session to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations Environmental Programme in Nairobi, Kenya.
He will proceed to London, the United Kingdom, for a routine medical check-up as part of the itinerary that is expected to last two weeks. The President, already, has been knocked for the trip described as extravagant and not demonstrating the real situation at home.
As he travels between East Africa and the UK, he leaves behind a country dotted with endless queues and unending blame game, over, who is responsible for the ending PMS scarcity.
His ministry supervises the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, which has become the sole importer of the product and other state parastatals at manning critical components of the system.
The newspaper says that amid lingering insecurity challenges, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, has stated that the present administration is determined to increase the quantum of both local and foreign direct investments into the country.
Stakeholders equally raised concerns about the unabating security challenges despite increased budgetary allocation in tackling the problem.
Mustapha added that the Buhari-led administration is also focused on improving the level of production and decreasing the cost of funds of doing business to improve the ease of doing business in the nation.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation represented by the permanent secretary, political and economic affairs, Andrew Adejoh, stated this at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (LCCI) 2022 security meets business dialogue series in Lagos.
He added: “Our focus as a government is to ensure a safer society for foreign and local investors. The Federal Government remains committed to ensuring that the environment is conducive for businesses to thrive as the present administration is not only ensuring a safe environment for businesses, but for the citizenry.
The Punch reports that BRENT, the crude against which Nigeria’s oil is priced, crossed the $105/barrel price on Tuesday, as it rose to the highest price ever recorded since about 14 years following the ongoing war in Ukraine after it was invaded by neighbouring Russia.
In order to gain from the rising price of crude, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited on Tuesday vowed to increase Nigeria’s oil production, as the country had not been meeting its OPEC crude oil production quota lately.
Early last month, OPEC increased Nigeria’s crude oil production target for the month of March despite the fact that the country had been missing its approved monthly output targets.
OPEC raised Nigeria’s oil production target for March 2022 to 1.718 million barrels per day, indicating a marginal increase from the 1.701 million barrels per day target that was approved for Nigeria in February.
The PUNCH had exclusively reported that Nigeria missed its crude oil output target for January 2022, pumping 1.46 million barrels per day against a target of 1.683 million bpd as approved by OPEC.
The Sun says that the Federal Government on Tuesday, said it had opened bids for the construction of nuclear power plants that would generate 4,000 megawatts of electricity for the country.
Dr Yau Idris, Director General, Nigerian Nuclear Energy Regulatory Authority (NNRA), made the disclosure while speaking at the ongoing Nigerian International Energy Summit (NIES) in Abuja.
Idris said: “It is wrong to think that Nigeria can’t manage a nuclear power plant because there are mechanisms in place that ensure any country can build a nuclear power plant.
“Nigeria is trying to deliver 4,000MW of electricity through nuclear power. We are trying to construct four units and we are at the bidding stage.”
He said Nigeria had been trying to diversify its energy sources since 1977, stressing that the additional 4,000MW would increase the country’s generation capacity to about 13,000MW.
Idris said the regulatory agency has signed agreements with Russia, Pakistan, France and South Korea to build the capacity of its staff in manning the nuclear plants.
Also speaking, Mr Ifeoluwa Oyedele, Executive Director, Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) Ltd, blamed lack of synergy across the power sector value chain for the dismal performance of the industry.
The newspaper reports that Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan African countries would require about $33 trillion to bridge the region’s infrastructure gap.
Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mr. Mele Kyari, stated this during CEOs session at the ongoing Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) in Abuja, yesterday.
Kyari said for Africa to be among the region to achieve the energy transition mandate, its huge infrastructure deficit must be bridged.
The NNPC CEO said energy poverty still remains a major obstacle in Africa and must be addressed before it can step towards energy transition.
He disclosed that the $33 trillion was required over the next 20 years to plug the region’s infrastructure gap.
Kyari worried that the $33 trillion funding need was huge resources, saying it may be nearly impossible to get such resources. He warned that if the funding need was not sourced in 20 years, the infrastructure gap cannot be closed.
In addressing the infrastructure gap, he said electricity remains a major factor, adding that the 5,000MW of electricity generated by Nigeria was grossly inadequate to enable it achieve the energy transition agenda.
The Nation says that the Federal Government, in collaboration with the European Union, has intensified campaign for product specification to increase exportation of unique products in the country.
The Minister, Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, applauded the European Union and European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) for funding the Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation in Africa (AfriPi project).
Adebayo noted that the AfriPI Project has gone a long way in supporting African companies, creators and inventors by generating value from their intellectual property. have worked hard to promote and draw attention to geographical indications and other forms of intellectual property protection.
Adebayo said: “The benefits obtainable from geographical indications in Nigeria are immense. Nigeria is one of the most culturally diverse societies in the world. We can boast of a wide variety of products that can be classified as GI.
These range from the popular Ijebu garri to Nsukka Yellow Pepper, the Sokoto Red Skin Goat and the famous Yauri Onions. Unfortunately, poor knowledge of geographical Indications and the absence of a specific legal framework has rendered our unique products more vulnerable to misappropriation”.
The newspaper reports that Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea yesterday signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to supply gas from Nigerian offshore fields to the neighbouring Equatorial Guinea Gas Processing Facility at Punta Europa.
The MoU kicks off a strategic economic collaboration across the Gulf of Guinea wherein Nigeria’s abundant natural gas reserves compliments Equatorial Guinea’s world class Gas Processing and Liquefaction infrastructure.
Recent passage of the Petroleum Industry Act coupled with “Nigeria’s Decade of Gas” initiative create an enabling environment which has triggered conception of this project, facilitating major investment inflow from Equatorial Guinea into Nigeria.
The project also signals the effort of the two countries in working towards a greener energy world. Signing the pact in Abuja, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, said that “the execution of this MoU meets one of the imperatives of the “Decade of Gas” in Nigeria. In a statement, yesterday, he said:
“While we are focused on the domestic gas agenda, we are keeping an eye on the global gas market as well. “Nigeria has huge gas resources, a significant amount of which is offshore and will require unprecedented investment in infrastructure to bring them to market.”
GIK/APA