Business
Churches, mosques security agencies involved in oil theft — NNPC boss
The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited, Mele Kyari, has again raised the alarm over the involvement of communities and religious groups in theft of petroleum products in the country.
Kyari stated this at the weekly Ministerial Media Briefing organised by the Presidential Media Team on Tuesday in Abuja.
Femi Adesina, the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, is at the head of the PMT.
According to Kyari, churches, mosques, security agencies as well as communities where pipelines pass through were involved in pipeline vandalism and theft of petroleum products.
He said so far, the NNPC, in conjunction with security agencies, had destroyed 959 metal tanks for storage purposes, 737 ovens, 452 dug-out pits, 355 cooking pots, and 179 wooden boats between April and August this year.
He added that the security officials also recovered 207 pumping machines, 12 welding machines, two power generators, and two filling machines.
Kyari said 11 vessels, 30 speed boats, 37 trucks and cars were impounded, while 122 suspects were arrested in connection with various cases of theft of petroleum products.
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He said: “As you may also be aware, because of the very unfortunate acts of vandals along our major pipelines from Atlas Cove all the way to Ibadan, and all others connecting all the 37 depots that we have across the country, you know, none of them can take delivery of products today.
“And the reason is very simple: For some of the lines, for instance from Warri to Benin, we haven’t operated that line for 15 years.
“Every molecule of product that we put get lost.
”And of course you remember the tragic fire incident very close to Warri, close to Sapele that killed so many people.
“So, we had to shut it down and as we speak, the level of losses that we have on our product pipeline, and I’m sure you may have seen it and I’ll invite you at the right time so we can take a look at it jointly.”
Kyari also recalled the fire outbreak happened in the Lagos area, adding: “In one of our pipelines, we discovered that some of the pipelines were actually connected to individuals homes.
“And not only that, and with all sensitivity to our religious beliefs, you know, some of the pipelines and some of the products that we found, were actually in churches and in mosques.
“That means that everybody is involved.
“There is no way you will take products, bring in trucks in populated neighbourhoods, load it and leave without everybody else knowing about it.
“That everybody includes members of the community, members of the religious leadership and also and most likely government officials of all natures, including security agencies personnel.
“They are everywhere.
“And I’ve seen this even in the Niger Delta.
“There’s no way you would deliver a volume and lose up to 30 per cent and you will continue to put that products in this line.”
Kyari revealed that the NNPCL had recovered 35.8 million litres of the stolen crude oil, 22 million litres of diesel, 0.15 litres of petrol, and 0.76 million litres of kerosene.
Business
PH refinery: 200 trucks will load petroleum products daily, says Presidency
PH refinery: 200 trucks will load petroleum products daily, says Presidency
No fewer than 200 trucks are set to load petroleum products at the government-owned Port Harcourt Refinery, the presidency has said.
A presidential spokesperson, Sunday Dare, made this known in a statement through his official X handle on Tuesday.
Newstrends had reported that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company on Tuesday announced that Port Harcourt Refinery has resumed operations and crude oil processing after years of inactivity.
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Reacting, Dare said, “200 trucks are expected to load products daily from the refinery, Renewing the Hopes of Nigeria.”
He added that “the Port Harcourt refinery has two wings.
“The Old Refinery comes on stream today with an installed production capacity of 60, 000 barrels per day of crude oil.”
PH refinery: 200 trucks will load petroleum products daily, says Presidency
Business
Breaking: CBN increases interest rate to 27.50%
Breaking: CBN increases interest rate to 27.50%
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised the lending interest to 27.50 per cent from 27.25 per cent.
This latest increase in the Monetary Policy Rate came after a meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday and concluded Tuesday.
The Monetary Policy Rate measures the benchmark interest rate.
The CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso, announced this in Abuja on Tuesday after the MPC meeting, last for the year, held at the apex bank’s headquarters.
He said the MPC voted unanimously to raise the MPR by 25 basis points from 27.25% to 27.50%; and retain the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 50% for Deposit Money Banks and 16% for Merchant Banks.
The CBN governor also said the MPC retained the Liquidity Ratio (LR) at 30% and Asymmetric Corridor at +500/-100 basis points around the MPR.
Business
Nigeria’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.3% in Q2 – NBS
Nigeria’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.3% in Q2 – NBS
Nigeria’s unemployment rate stood at 4.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said in its latest report.
The report released on Monday said the unemployment rate decreased compared to the 5.3 per cent recorded in the Q1 of 2024.
The NBS defined the unemployment rate as the share of the labour force (the combination of unemployed and employed people) who are not employed but actively searching and are available for work.
“The unemployment rate for Q2 2024 was 4.3%, showing an increase of 0.1 percentage point compared to the same period last year,” the report stated.
“The unemployment rate among males was 3.4% and 5.1% among females.
“By place of residence, the unemployment rate was 5.2% in urban areas and 2.8% in rural areas. Youth unemployment rate was 6.5% in Q2 2024, showing a decrease from 8.4% in Q1 2024.”
Report also said the unemployment rate among persons with post-secondary education was 4.8 per cent; 8.5 per cent among those with upper secondary education, 5.8 per cent for those with lower secondary education, and 2.8 per cent among those with primary education in Q2 2024.
Employment rate – 76%
The report showed that the employment-to-population ratio, which measures the number of employed workers against the total working-age population, increased to 76.1 per cent in Q2 2024.
“In Q2 2024, 76.1% of Nigeria’s working-age population was employed, up from 73.1% in Q1 2024,” the report stated.
Self-employment – 85.6%
The report further showed that Nigeria’s labour market saw a notable shift as the proportion of self-employed individuals increased in Q2 2024.
It stated, “The proportion of persons in self-employment in Q2 2024 was 85.6%.”
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