Business
Buhari, five African presidents to commission Dangote Refinery today
Buhari, five African presidents to commission Dangote Refinery today
In an epoch-making event that will positively transform Nigeria’s oil and gas sectoral landscape, President Muhammadu Buhari will on Monday (today) commission Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals, the world’s largest single train refinery in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, alongside his counterparts from Ghana, Togo, Senegal, Niger and Chad.
Promoted by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, the refinery has a capacity to process 650,000 barrels per day.
It is sitting on 2,635 hectares of land located in Dangote Industries Free Zone in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, and will provide employment to over 100,000 persons.
The coming on stream of the gigantic project is expected to mark Nigeria’s exit from the league of oil rich nations but which are heavy importers of petroleum products.
Expected at the historic event apart from international dignitaries are Presidents of Togo, Gnassingbé Eyadéma; Ghana’s Nana Akufo-Addo; President of Senegal, Macky Sall; President of Niger Republic, Mohamed Bazoum; President of Chad, Mahamat Déby; and a host of ambassadors
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, who will not be physically present, will however present his goodwill message virtually.
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As at the time of filing this report, all the 36 state governors and most of the governors-elect, ministers, senators and captains of industries in Nigeria and others from outside the country, global oil traders, top international bankers, international multilateral agencies have indicated their readiness to grace the ceremony.
Nigeria’s President-Elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose administration as the governor of Lagos State in 2002 floated the Free Trade Zone in Ibeju-Lekki, where the refinery is located, is expected to be at the event.
The commissioning of Dangote Petroleum Refinery is significant given that it is the first time that a refinery of such magnitude built by an individual is being commissioned.
Dangote’s petroleum refinery is expected to meet the needs of Nigerian consumers and those in neighbouring countries, while allowing for exports beyond the African continent.
The refinery will drive the promotion of the African Continental Free Trade Area as over 50 countries in the trade bloc depend on imported refined petroleum products.
According to the Facts Sheet on Dangote Petroleum Refinery, the new Refinery can meet 100 per cent of the Nigerian requirement of all refined products (Gasoline, 53 million litres per day; Diesel, 34 million litres per day; Kerosene, 10 million litres per day, and Aviation Jet, 2 million litres per day) and also have surplus of each of these products for export.
The Facts Sheet said: “The refinery is designed for 100% Nigerian Crude with flexibility to process other crudes. It has self-sufficient marine facility with ability for freight optimisation, and the largest single order of 5 SPMs anywhere in the world. Diesel and Gasoline Products from the refinery will conform to Euro V specifications.
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“The refinery design complies with World Bank, US EPA, European emission norms and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) emission/effluent norms. State-of-the-art technology. Designed to process large variety of crudes including many of the African Crudes, some of the Middle Eastern Crudes and the US Light Tight Oil.
“65 Million Cubic Metres of sand dredged costing approximately Euros 300 million, using the world’s largest, the second largest and the tenth largest dredgers to elevate the height by 1.5 metres, to insure against any potential impact of increase in mean sea level due to global warming. Bought over 1,209 units of various equipment to enhance the local capacity for site works.
“332 cranes to build up equipment installation capacity. Built the world’s largest granite quarry to supply coarse aggregate, stone column material, stone base, stone dust & material for break water. (10 million tonnes per year production capacity).
“Developed a port and constructed two quays with a load bearing capacity of 25 tonnes/ sq metres to bring Over Dimensional Cargoes close to the site directly. The company also constructed two more quays in the port with a capacity to handle up to Panamax vessels to export the fertiliser and the petrochemicals and two quays to handle liquid cargoes. The port will thus have 6 quays, including a Roll-on/Roll-off quay.”
Buhari, five African presidents to commission Dangote Refinery today
Aviation
Safety: NCAA to audit all domestic airlines, says Aviation minister
Safety: NCAA to audit all domestic airlines, says Aviation minister
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has said the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) will carry out a comprehensive audit on all local airlines over safety concerns.
This is coming after a runway incursion incident in which Dana Air’s plane carrying 83 passengers with six crew members skidded the runway at the Lagos airport leading to diversion of flights
The operations of Dana Air were immediately suspended and NCAA directed to commence a comprehensive audit on the airline.
Keyamo spoke on the general audit of all domestic airlines on Thursday when he appeared on Channels TV Politics Today programme.
He said beyond the suspension of Dana Airlines and the ongoing audit of the airline, all other carriers in the country would be audited to guarantee the safety of passengers and the health of the civil aviation industry.
The directive to suspend the operations of the Dana Air was contained in a letter issued and endorsed by the NCAA Acting Director General, Chris Najomo, in Abuja.
It is the second time within two years that the NCAA would suspend the airline’s operational licence over safety violations.
It said the latest action was based on “elevated safety concerns” posed by the airline.
“As a precautionary step, and in accordance with Sec 31 (7) of the Civil Aviation Act 2022, the Authority has imposed a suspension on your Air Operator Certificate (AOC) with effect from 24″ April, 2024 at 23:59 to allow for a thorough safety and economic audit,” the letter partly read.
The NCAA also stated, “The safety audit will entail a re-inspection of your organisation, procedures, personnel, and aircraft as specified by Part 1.3.3.3 of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations, while the economic audit will critically examine the financial health of your airline to guarantee its capability to sustain safe flight operations.”
Business
Anxiety as dollar exchanges for N1,420/$ on parallel market
Anxiety as dollar exchanges for N1,420/$ on parallel market
There are fears prices of essential goods including food items in Nigeria may begin to rise again as naira witnessed a major slide against the United States dollar at the foreign exchange market on Thursday.
The naira fell to N1,309/$ on the official market and N1,420 on the parallel market, according to multiple sources.
This indicates a fall of N90 or 6.8 per cent from N1,330 recorded on Wednesday.
The latest downward trend in naira rate after recording appreciable gain for some weeks followed high demand for dollars.
A report by The Punch quoted currency traders at the popular Wuse Zone 4 market in Abuja as buying the greenback note at N1,340 and selling at N1,420, leaving a profit margin of N80.
In Lagos, a trader Ibrahim Garba told Newstrends that the naira-dollar rate changes almost hourly.
“It was selling at N1,380/$ at 11am today (on Thursday) and by 2pm, it had moved to N1,400/$,” he said.
The naira has this lost 26.2 per cent in two weeks when compared to N1,125/$ on April 12, 2023 on the parallel market.
The Central Bank of Nigeria on Monday approved the allocation of $15.83 million to 1,583 BDC operators.
This was aimed at enhancing liquidity in the unofficial market.
The CBN in a letter to BDCs announced the allocation of $10,000 to operators across the country.
The allocation came at N1,021)$, aimed at stabilsing the foreign exchange market and ensuring accessibility of foreign currency to eligible end users.
Last weekend, the CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso, said the Naira was declared the best-performing currency globally as of April 2024.
The naira was about the worst currency in March when it fell to as low as N1,600/$1 on the official market and N1800/$1 on the parallel market
Business
BDCs blame peer-to-peer Binance, others for naira fall
BDCs blame peer-to-peer Binance, others for naira fall
The president of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria, BDCs, Aminu Gwadabe, says BDC operators are committed to preventing speculators from attacking the naira.
Mr. Gwadabe said this in an interview on Wednesday in Abuja.
The Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria, as a self-regulatory body, has platforms to check the excesses of BDC operators, he noted.
“We have inaugurated state chapters whereby we can have a database of participants in the forex market. This is for the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to understand this market and to know the participants; give them a simple registration,” he said.
Mr. Gwadabe said that the foreign exchange market needed a kind of harmonisation, centralization, and KYC to identify all business participants.
“This will enable the CBN to track other players in the market other than the BDCs and their levels of involvement. The BDCs is collaborating with the regulatory authorities for physical verification of offices using technology.
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“We want to balance international obligations with our own objectives. International obligations are templates that have been built without our input. We are coming up with our own template to balance it. We have seen some illegal economic behaviour, and the CBN and the security agencies are aware, and I am sure they will nip it in the bud,’’ he added.
He said the recent wave of naira depreciation was of concern to the BDC operators.
Mr. Gwadabe explained, “I am happy that the authorities, and even the BDCs as operators, have identified the peer-to-peer (P2P) platform. P2P is a platform like Binance where speculators use the dollar to buy USDT, a stablecoin that is pegged at one to the dollar.
“As long as Binance and such other platforms continue to be profitable, the naira will continue to depreciate. There are many of them in the system. Binance has been nipped in the bud, but there are still many. They are online platforms with no registration or restrictions.”
Mr. Gwadabe said that the CBN and the security agencies were already aware of the antics of the platforms. According to him, they are more of an illegal form of economic behaviour, and the people behind them lack patriotism.
“People have turned the dollar into an asset—a commodity of trade—which is why those platforms continue to thrive. We have seen where people are buying dollars into their domiciliary accounts to finance these schemes. A lot of millions of dollars are going out of the system. It is one USD to one USDT. The market can be liquid.
“Binance alone has four billion dollars of liquidity and more than two million transactions. Most of them source money to finance their transactions on the open market, and that is one of the reasons why the naira is depreciating,’’ he said.
BDCs blame peer-to-peer Binance, others for naira fall
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