The plan by Nigeria and Morocco to build the world’s longest offshore pipeline and second-longest pipeline in the world to carry gas from Nigeria to Morocco, running across 11 West African countries is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.
The Punch reports that the Nigerian government and Morocco are planning to build the world’s longest offshore pipeline and second-longest pipeline in the world to carry gas from Nigeria to Morocco, running across 11 West African countries.
A media aide to the President, Tolu Ogunlesi, disclosed this via his official Twitter handle on Sunday.
He said the partnership, which was between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and ONHYM of Morocco, was originally signed by the two countries in June 2018.
He said, “Nigeria (@NNPCgroup) and Morocco (#ONHYM) are teaming together to build the longest offshore pipeline in the world and second-longest pipeline in the world.
“It will carry gas from Nigeria to Morocco (and Europe), running across 11 West African countries. The agreement for the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline was originally signed by the two countries when President @MBuhari paid a state visit to Morocco in June 2018.
“When completed, the over 7,000km long gas pipeline will link Nigeria with Morocco, across 11 West African countries and extend to Europe. It will be the longest offshore pipeline in the world and the second-longest pipeline overall.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, has said that the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline may not be completed under the Buhari regime.
The newspaper says that Nigeria’s external reserves fell slightly by $196m in eight days to $39.62bn as of April 28, according to figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The CBN revealed that the reserves, which had earlier gained $243.83m in 19 days from $39.54bn as of April 1, 2022 and rose to $39.78bn as of April 19, 2022, returned to a downward path.
The external reserves fell by $313m in March, after starting the month at $39.86bn, before falling to $39.55bn on March 30.
The Bankers’ Committee has expressed the need for the country to boost revenue from non-oil sector to reduce impact of volatile oil price on the country’s reserves.
Earlier, the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, and the Bankers’ Committee had launched a programme tagged ‘RT200 FX Programme’ to boost forex supply in the country through the non-oil sector in the next three to five years.
Emefiele said, “After careful consideration of the available options and wide consultation with the banking community, the CBN is, effective immediately, announcing the Bankers’ Committee “RT200 FX Programme”, which stands for the “Race to $200bn in FX repatriation.
“The RT200 FX Programme is a set of policies, plans and programmes for non-oil exports that will enable us attain our lofty yet attainable goal of $200bn in FX repatriation, exclusively from non-oil exports, over the next three to five years.”
The Guardian reports that President Muhammadu Buhari has again charged heads of military and other security agencies in the country to rise up to their responsibilities and go after terrorists troubling the nation and eliminate them.
He gave the charge yesterday, after joining other Muslims to observe the Eid prayers at the Mambila Barracks Parade Ground, Abuja, in commemoration of Eid-el-Fitr.
President Buhari, while responding to questions after he returned to the Presidential Villa from the prayer ground, said his administration would continue to work to make the country safe for Nigerians, adding that it is the duty of security agencies to know terrorists’ hideouts.
President Buhari admitted having sleepless nights over the security situation in parts of the country. He, however, promised to spare no efforts in dealing decisively and mercilessly with the criminal gangs.
According to him, it is important to make the country safe, especially as the rains have started, noting that farmers must be assured of their safety as they return to the farms, thereby securing the country’s food production.
“Heads of the services: Army, navy, air force, the Inspector-General of Police and so on, are very much aware of the situation. It’s their duty to know where the terrorists are and eliminate them,” he said.
The newspaper says that the World football governing body, FIFA, yesterday, imposed an N64 million (150, 000 Swiss francs) fine on Nigeria for crowd disturbances that followed the Super Eagles’ inability to beat Ghana and qualify for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
The Super Eagles on March 29, 2022, managed to hold the Black Stars to a 1-1 draw at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja, thus losing the bid to make the Qatar 2022 list to the Ghanaians.
To vent their anger and frustration over their team’s poor show, football fans at the stadium went berserk, destroying everything in sight.
At the end of the rampage, one CAF official from Zambia, Dr. Joseph Kabungo, who served as a doping doctor, was confirmed dead from suspected cardiac arrest. The FIFA disciplinary panel also judged dozens of similar cases from World Cup qualifying games played since January and handed out several other fines and stadium closures.
FIFA fined Senegal N75 million (175 Swiss francs) for fan disorder, including shining laser pointers at Egypt star, Mohamed Salah, in the penalty shootout that decided their Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifier in Dakar.
Salah’s face was a blur of vivid green light when he prepared to take his penalty, which he blasted over the bar. Senegal went on to win the shootout in Dakar in March with Salah’s Liverpool teammate Sadio Mané scoring the decisive spot-kick.
The Nation reports that the Divisional Chief Executive Officer, ipNX Nigeria, Segun Okuneye, has said Nigeria requires additional 167,000 kilometres of fibre infrastructure to achieve its target of fifth generation (5G) network and ubiquitous broadband penetration.
To meet the broadband targets and those of the future with advanced connectivity such as the fifth-generation network, he said: “The nation needs between 120,000 to 167,000 kms of fibre infrastructure, in addition to the existing 55,000 km.”
Okuneye made this submission at a forum dedicated to the National Policy on the Fifith Generation Network for Nigeria’s Digital Economy, which ipNX co-sponsored.
He noted that the critical link between undersea cables that conveys huge connectivity capacity into the country and the end users is the fibre sub-sector, where ipNX Nigeria is a major player.
According to him, “Nigeria needs three times more fibre infrastructure than it currently has to attain about 90 per cent broadband penetration among others by 2025.”
He said backhauling is a major dependent requirement to express the inherent value from the 5th generation network.
This, according to him, is required for accessing traffic aggregation which involves capacity and scalability; as well as transportation in high-speed, low latency, high quality that guarantees reliability.
He said: “Increased speeds with lower attenuation, immunity to electromagnetic interference, small size, and virtually unlimited bandwidth potential are among the many reasons why fiber is the right choice when compared to other backhauling technologies.”
GIK/APA