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PIB should formally address IOCs, host communities issues – MOMAN

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PIB should formally address IOCs, host communities issues – MOMAN

…As NNRC commends NASS efforts in passage of PIB***

The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) says the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) should formally address issues between International Oil Companies and their host communities.

Mr Tunji Oyebanji, Chairman, MOMAN highlighted this on Friday in Lagos, stressing the gesture would help to curb oil theft, pipeline vandalism and reduce the cost of crude oil production.

Oyebanji noted that the recent Public Hearing on the PIB, conducted by the National Assembly, was a step in the right direction.

He expressed optimism that the bill would soon be passed into law.

He said: “The PIB is looking at what the share of the host communities will be and if you make a law stating what will be provided for host communities, incidents of pipeline vandalism and oil theft will reduce.

“The PIB should formalise the relationship between the IOCs and host communities.

“Presently, what we find is that the oil companies, especially IOCs, are taxed with the petroleum profit tax and other royalties which are very substantial.

Also read:  Nigeria to get more oil revenue with PIB – Lawan

“So, when the host communities go and meet them for assistance, they will decline because they feel they are paying so much in royalties and taxes to the government.

“They expect the government to provide infrastructure such as schools and hospitals to these host communities.

“But the host communities will be confronting the companies because they are the ones on ground, carrying out production activities.’’

According to him, by the time the burden of taxes, royalties and taking care of the host communities are put on the IOCs, it will drive up the cost of oil production in the country.

“These are some of the things driving up the cost of production which makes it unattractive at the end of the day.

“So, the people who have choices and alternatives on where to go and invest their money will simply go to other countries to invest,’’ Oyebanji said.

He also said that there was a need for further engagement of all stakeholders in the industry.

MOMAN chairman noted that this would ensure that the PIB, when passed into law, would achieve its goals for the sector.

In a related development, the Nigeria National Resource Charter (NNRC) has however commended recent efforts by the National Assembly, toward ensuring the passage into law of the protracted Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

The NNRC, a non-profit policy institute that promotes effective management of natural resources for public good, made the commendation in a statement issued by its Programme Coordinator, Ms Tengi George-Ikoli on Friday in Lagos.

George-Ikoli said both the Senate and the House of Representatives had demonstrated commitment toward the passage of the PIB with the recently concluded public hearings.

According to her, there is need to ride the momentum and get all stakeholders on board to achieve what undoubtedly will be the most profound piece of legislation for the transformation of the Nigerian economy.

She noted that the NNRC had consistently highlighted the weaknesses in two significant aspects of resource management in Nigeria.

George-Ikoli said they were the contentious issues surrounding the management of host communities impacted by extraction and the management of the Nigerian National Oil Corporation (NNPC).

“The NNRC urges the Federal Government to finally resolve the pervasive issues facing the petroleum sector.

”The  Federal Government is encouraged to do this to ensure that Nigeria will be able to meet global best practices and also to effectively ‘identify, explore, account for, mitigate or compensate for the negative effects of extraction at all stages of the project cycle,” she said.

George-Ikoli said this would enable the country to run a National Oil Company (NOC) that was effective, accountable, with well-defined mandates and an objective of commercial efficiency.

She also urged the government to prepare for the future by earnestly refocusing the country’s energy policies to accommodate present realities with emerging developments in global energy consumption.

The programme coordinator noted that the NNRC had made key submissions in its memoranda to the national assembly advocating that the PIB provided clarity on capitalisation of the NNPC.

She said this would enable the corporation to adapt a commercially focused framework that allowed it operate in a competitive space.

According to her, the NNPC should explore the possibility of an Initial Public Offering (IPO) with more private sector and possible citizen participation as practised in other countries.

George-Ikoli said this would also allow for meaningful participation of host communities in decision making in managing trust, at the Board of Trustees and Management Committee, to engender conducive operating environment.

She said: “The PIB should ensure mechanisms for dispute resolution are accommodated to address conflicts that may arise in the determination of host community entitlements.

“It should liberalise the midstream and incentivise gas investments by not legislating the base gas price, but instead,  allowing it be determined by the practical framework that considers cost of production and pipeline transportation.”

 

Economy

PETROL: ‘Be Wary Of Substandard Product Dumping’, Dangote Refinery Tells Nigerians

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PETROL: 'Be Wary Of Substandard Product Dumping', Dangote Refinery Tells Nigerians

…Says citizens’ health and vehicle longevity are seriously at risk!

The Dangote Refinery on Sunday warned that Nigerians may soon begin to buy substandard petrol, without much concern for either the citizen’s health or the longevity of their vehicles, except care is taken to prevent low products dumping by those open to connive with certain international traders.

The Group’s image maker and spokesman, Anthony Chiejina gave the warning, saying the group was constrained to raise the alarm, despite its desire to refrain from engaging in any media fights.

“We have lately refrained from engaging in media fights but we are constrained to respond to the recent misinformation being circulated by IPMAN, PETROAN, and other associations. 

“Both organisations claim that they can import PMS at lower prices than what is being sold by the Dangote Refinery. We benchmark our prices against international prices and we believe our prices are competitive relative to the price of imports”, Chiejina stated, stressing that the issue on ground was not about being able to land relatively cheaper petrol on ground, but the quality of such products.

“If anyone claims they can land PMS at a price cheaper than what we are selling, then they are importing substandard products and conniving with international traders to dump low-quality products into the country, without concern for the health of Nigerians or the longevity of their vehicles. Unfortunately, the regulator (NMDPRA) does not even have laboratory facilities which can be used to detect substandard products when imported into the country.

“Post deregulation, NNPC set the pace by selling PNS to domestic marketers at N971 per litre for sale into ships and at N990 for sale into trucks. This set the benchmark for our pricing and we have even gone lower to sell at N960 per litre for sale into ships while maintaining N990 per litre for sale into trucks.

“In good faith, and the interest of the country, we commenced sales at these prices without clarity on the exchange rate that we will use to pay for the crude purchased.

“At the same time, an international trading company has recently hired a depot facility next to the Dangote Refinery, intending to use it to blend substandard products that will be dumped into the market to compete with Dangote Refinery’s higher quality production.

“This is detrimental to the growth of domestic refining in Nigeria. We should point out that it is not unusual for countries to protect their domestic industries to provide jobs and grow the economy. For example, the US and Europe have had to impose high tariffs on EVs and microchips to protect their domestic industries.

“While we continue with our determination to provide affordable, good quality, domestically refined petroleum products in Nigeria, we call on the public to disregard the deliberate disinformation being circulated by agents of people who prefer for us to continue to export jobs and import poverty”, the Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer further said.

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Economy

YULETIDE Decorations: LASG To Divert Traffic At Ajose Adeogun

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YULETIDE Decorations,: LASG To Divert Traffic At Ajose Adeogun

The Lagos State Government will divert Traffic, away from a section of Ajose Adeogun Street in Victoria Island, for the mounting of end-of-the-year decoration, for a duration of three weekends starting from Saturday 19th October 2024.

The aforementioned exercise, according to Commissioner for Transportation, Oluwaseun Osiyemi,  will be carried out in three phases with each phase focusing on different sections of the street. 

To this end, the following alternative routes have been mapped out for motorists during the cause of the mounting; 

 During the First Phase which will cover Jubril Martins to Chicken Republic – (Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th October 2024)

Traffic inward Eko-Hotel Roundabout will be diverted to the other half (existing section) of Ajose Adeogun Street by VCP Hotel to form contra-flow traffic and exit at Eko-Hotel Roundabout to continue journeys.

Alternatively, Traffic inward to Eko-Hotel Roundabout from VCP Hotel will be diverted through Jubril Martins into Muri Okunola to link Patience Coker and access Ajose Adeogun Street to connect destinations.

During the Second Phase which will cover Molade Okoya Thomas to Mounis Bashorun section – (Saturday, 26th and Sunday, 27th October 2024). 

Traffic inward Ajose Adeogun Street from Eko-Hotel Roundabout will be diverted to a right turn into Molade Okoya Thomas to link Younis Bashorun to access Ajose Adeogun Street to continue journeys. 

During the Third phase of the project spanning 10 meters inward Ajose Adeogun (Saturday, 2nd November, 2024).

Motorists from Adetokunbo Ademola Street will maintain a lane movement for about 10 metres into Ajose Adeogun Street to connect their destinations, while Motorists inward Eko-Hotel Roundabout on Ajose Adeogun Street will maintain a lane movement for about 10 metres into Eko-Hotel Roundabout.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Mr Oluwaseun Osiyemi while imploring Motorists to note the ease of movement plan assured that the State’s Traffic Management Authority will be on ground to manage vehicular activities along the corridor to minimise inconveniences.

The Commissioner therefore advised Motorists to be patient, as the Partial closure is part of the traffic management plans for the commencement of End of Year Decoration of Ajose Adeogun Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, by Zenith Bank PLC.

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Economy

NLC Kicks, Says Petrol Hike Will Further Deepen Poverty, Job Loss

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NLC kicks, Says Petrol Hike Will Further Deepen Poverty, Jobs Lost

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has kicked against the current petrol price hike, stressing that the latest increase in the pump price of petrol will further deepen poverty as production capacities dip.

The Congress added that the increase would lead to more job loss with multidimensional negative effects, and therefore, demanded its immediate reversal.

NLC’s position is contained in a statement signed by its President, Mr Joe Ajaero on Wednesday in Abuja, titled, “What next after increase in pump price?”.

The labour leader said the previous increases had not produced any good results, rather, people only got poorer.

He said the Congress was dismayed by the latest increase in the pump price of petrol without commensurate capacity of Nigerians or mitigatory measures.

“Even following the logic of market forces, we find it an aberration that a private company (NNPCL) is the one fixing prices and projecting itself as a hegemonic monopoly.

“We challenge the government to go to the drawing board and present us with a blueprint for inclusive economic growth and national development instead of this spasmodic ad hocism and palliative policy.

“It needs no stating the fact that the latest wave of increase has grossly altered the calculations of Nigerians once again at a time they were reluctantly coming to terms with their new realities,” he said.

It would be recalled that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) had raised the pump price of petrol by 14.8 per cent to N1,030 per litre from N897 across its retail outlets in the FCT.

Earlier in September, the NNPCL had increased the price of the product from N615 to N897.

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