The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, has declared a state of emergency on crude oil production.

Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, made this known on Tuesday in a keynote address at the opening ceremony of the 23rd edition of the Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition (NOG Energy Week) in Abuja.

According to him: “We have decided to stop the debate. We have declared war on the challenges affecting our crude oil production. War means war. We have the right tools. We know what to fight. We know what we have to do at the level of assets. We have engaged our partners. And we will work together to improve the situation.”

Kyari further stated that a detailed asset analysis revealed Nigeria can produce two million barrels of crude oil per day without deploying new rigs, adding that the primary obstacle is the inability of industry players to act promptly.

The NNPCL boss said the war will make the company and its partners immediately remove all identified barriers to efficient production, including delays in procurement processes, which have become a challenge in the industry.

Speaking on the medium- to long-term measures to boost and sustain production, Kyari said NNPC will replace all the old crude oil pipelines built over four decades ago.

He said the company will also introduce a rig-sharing programme with its partners to ensure that production rigs stay in the country for between four and five years, which is the standard practice in most countries.

The NNPC boss urged all players in the industry to synergize towards reducing the cost of production and enhancing production to target levels.

He reiterated the company’s commitment to investing in critical midstream gas infrastructure such as the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) and the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipelines to boost domestic gas production and supply for power generation, industrial development and the economic prosperity of the country.

He said NNPCL has since keyed into the presidential compressed natural gas (CNG) drive, and, in collaboration with partners like NIPCO Gas, has constructed several CNG stations.

Former Super Eagles midfielder, Sunday Oliseh has revealed why he resigned as coach of the national team in 2016.

Oliseh made the revelation in an interview on Elegbete TV on YouTube, where he narrated the difficulties he faced during his tenure as the Super Eagles head coach

Sunday Oliseh was given the job to manage the Super Eagles in July 2015 and he left the position in February 2016.

The former Juventus midfielder said he resigned due to lack of support from his employers, the players and even the media.

“I coached the Super Eagles for fourteen games, won four, we lost only two games. One was a friendly against Congo in Belgium.

“After being unpaid for four months, and my assistants being unpaid for six months, and after me falling sick and not getting any support spending thousands of dollars to cure myself, and still being laughed at by some of your media friends for falling sick. I resigned because I didn’t get support.

“I left the job and Nigeria was still on track to qualify for the 2017 Nations Cup. Nigeria needed to beat Egypt and qualify,” Oliseh stated.

Civil society groups under the auspices, Empowerment for Unemployed Youth Initiative (EUYI) has alleged that the rot in the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) is affecting the efforts to revamp the tertiary education subsector.

Convener Danesi Momoh in a statement yesterday urged President Bola Tinubu not to allow the alleged rot in TETFUND dent his efforts to revamp the education sector.

The group said: “Without doubt, President Tinubu is paying far more than a passing attention on the education sector and educational matters.

“Though he inherited an education sector that is deficit in many aspects, his commitment to turning things around is visible.

“He has always maintained that without quality education, the vision of the Renewed Hope Agenda cannot be met. Consequently, he has been hammering on policies that will expand both access and facilities in the education sector.

The Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC), has shortlisted 98 senior lawyers and professors of law for elevation to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

Among the names shortlisted are former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), National Officers, Monday Onyekachi Ubani, Kunle Edun, Dr. Rapulu Nduka and Stanley Imo.

Also Shortlisted is the Chairman of NBA Bwari Branch, Paul Daudu and notable Abuja based Senior Lawyer, Okey Ajunwa. This was contained in a statement issued in Abuja by the Secretary of LPPC Harjo Sarki Bello.

The statement reads: “The Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC) by this Notice announces the shortlisting of applicants for the conferment of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria for the year 2024.

“The shortlisted applicants in the two categories of Advocacy and Academia. Among shorlisted are Lateef Olaseinde Karim, Godwin Tagbo Ike, Johnson Odionu, Nnodim Marcellinus Duru, Innocent Adams Ovbagbedia, Esq., Soronnadi Anthony Njoku, Adamu Abubakar, Esq and Charles Oyaole Musa.

Others are Udochi Nunny Iheanacho, Esq., David Dare Onietan, Elele Chinatu Casmir, Josiah Rapuluchuks Nduka, Esq., Godwin Ikechukwu Obeta, Habeeb Orisavia Ilavbare, Moses Kolade Obafemi, and Mathew Echezonam Esonanjor, Baba Fika Dalah. Among those in the academia are Prof. Osy Ezechukwunyere Nwebo, Prof. Nlerum Sunday Okogbule, Prof. Nnamdi Onyeka Obiaraeri, Prof. Nathaniel Ahagbue Inegbedion, Prof. Collins Chijioke Obioma and Prof. Violet Aigbokhaevbo.

Also in the list are Prof. Augustine Robert Agom, Prof. Ibrahim Abdulqadir Abikan, Prof. Chima Josephat Ubanyionwu and Prof. Ganiyu Adeyemi Oke.

The LPPC however called on the general public i to comment on the integrity, reputation, and competence of the applicants.

The statement reads: “Every complaint(s) must be accompanied by a verifying affidavit deposed to by the author before a Superior Court of Record in Nigeria or before a Notary Public and be in 20 copies.

The House of Representatives Special Ad Hoc Committee on Restructuring of Government Agencies and Commission has commenced the process of reviewing the recommendations of the Steve Oronsanye Report.

The report, aimed at reducing the cost of governance through merging, scrapping and relocation of some departments and agencies of government, was submitted to the Federal Government in 2012.

The report on public sector reforms revealed 541 statutory and non-statutory – Federal Government parastatals, commissions and agencies.

On February 26, 2024, the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu approved the implementation of the report to reduce the cost of governance, according to the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris. 

According to the recommendation, 29 government agencies would be merged even as eight parastatals would be subsumed into eight other agencies. More so, four agencies have been relocated to four various ministries, while one was earmarked for scrapping.

The FEC mandated a committee headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, to review the report and submit recommendations.

Addressing journalists on Tuesday at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, the committee chairman, Isiaka Ayokunle, justified the need to review the report.

He said, “We must revisit the recommendations of the Oronsaye Report and other pertinent white papers to ensure that we are aligning our government structures with current realities, best practices, and the changing needs of our society.”

He added, “The world is evolving rapidly, and our government agencies and commissions must be structured in a way that enables them to deliver on their mandates effectively and efficiently.”

Ayokunle who represents the Ifo/Ewekoro Federal Constituency of Ogun State, noted that through the review, the committee hoped to identify redundancies, duplications, inefficiencies, and areas of improvement within the Federal Government agencies and commissions.

“Our goal is to apply the legislative approach in streamlining operations, eliminate duplication of functions, enhance service delivery, and optimise resource allocation.

“This review will be comprehensive and thorough, taking into cognisance the diverse perspectives and expertise available to us,” he said.

Ayokunle said, “We acknowledge the importance of stakeholder engagement in this process, and we will require input from various stakeholders, including government officials, experts, civil society organisations, and the general public.”

The committee, according to him, would hold a one-day public hearing on the matter on July 10 in Abuja.

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, said on Tuesday, that whenever he checks case files and sees the amount stolen, he wonders how the country still exists.

In a statement by EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, the chairman stated this while receiving the management team of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, led by its chairman, Mohammed Shehu.

“When I look at some case files and see the humongous amount of money stolen, I wonder how we are still surviving. If you see some case files, you will weep. The way they move unspent budget allocation to private accounts in commercial banks before midnight at the end of a budget circle, you will wonder what kind of spirit drives us as Nigerians,” Olukoyede said.

He also said public corruption ranks as the biggest cause of corruption in Nigeria, adding that if public corruption was taken out of the polity, the country would fare better than many countries of the world.

“A situation where somebody would hold a public office or position of trust for years and you call him to account and he says, no, he would not account, is not acceptable,” he said.

He stressed that transparency and accountability should be embedded in both the public and private sectors for optimal development of the country.

According to him, corruption poses a huge challenge to the country, even as he expressed optimism that the prevention mechanisms of his leadership would ensure that the commission stays ahead of the devices of the corrupt to ensure that Nigerians have good governance experiences.

“The preventive framework for tackling corruption offers more prospects for results and impact. To this end, the EFCC now has a Department of Fraud Risk and Assessment and Control.

“Let’s look at our system of revenue generation. It is a system that allows leakages in mobilisation and appropriation of funds. If we don’t look at the system, we will continue to chase shadows. In this direction, we are not just going to investigate and recover; what we have decided to do in the EFCC is policy review. If we can block some of these leakages and have 50 per cent of capital project execution in Nigeria, the country would be fine,” he said.

The RMAFC chairman lauded the longstanding collaboration between his organisation and EFCC and stated that the visit was motivated by the need to explore more areas of collaboration between the two agencies of government, especially in the direction of recovering unremitted or lost government revenues.

“It is important to bring to the fore that the collaboration between RMAFC and EFCC is crucial in addressing the challenges of unremitted revenue to the Federation Account. On this note, we are calling on EFCC for more collaboration, not only in the area of enforcement but also intelligence gathering and data sharing as regards government revenue from any source,” he stated.

Shehu also called on EFCC to further assist RMAFC in the area of capacity building for its staff on revenue monitoring.

The Enugu State chapter of the Labour Party has denounced what it termed the politically-motivated detention of its candidate for Enugu South Urban State Constituency, Bright Ngene, saying he was tried on trumped-up charges.

Ngene was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Enugu South Magisterial District on June 28, 2024.

The party condemned the judgment in a statement issued and signed by the State Chairman, Casimir Agbo, and the Publicity Secretary, Onuora Odo, in Enugu, on Tuesday.

It asked the National Judicial Commission to intervene and prevent further disgrace to the legal profession by officials compromised by political pressures. 

It alleged that the magistrate, E. D. Onwu, acted under external influences to expedite the long-pending case.

The party also accused him of disregarding community protests and a pending petition to the NJC regarding his visible bias.

“We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the unjust and politically motivated detention of Hon. Bright Ngene, the Labour Party’s candidate for Enugu South Urban State Constituency, during the March 18, 2023 election, which he won and was sworn in as a member of Enugu House of Assembly.

“You would recall that Honourable Bright Ngene defeated his closest rival, Sam Ngene, during the elections. However, the PDP candidate went to the tribunal praying it to declare that the election was inconclusive.

“Consequently, the tribunal ordered a rerun in eight polling units. Unfortunately, the said rerun didn’t hold on two occasions as the PDP candidate was unprepared for the elections but was only plotting with the Independent National Electoral Commission to rig the election.

“The PDP-led government is in cahoots with the INEC to manipulate the election in favour of Sam Ngene,” the statement read.

The party said on two occasions that the rerun could not be held because the masses came out to reject any form of manipulation and imposition.

“It’s on the strength of the stiff resistance being mounted by the Labour Party candidate that the PDP-led government strategised and came up with arm-twisting tactics geared towards stopping Bright at all costs

“In total execution of their grand scheme, the PDP-led government went and resurrected a land-related matter involving Bright and two others, pending before the court since 2017.

“In a scenario that looked more dramatic than court proceedings, the presiding magistrate, Onwu, apparently acting under instructions, hurriedly and haphazardly heard the case on June 28, 2024, without adoption of addresses by parties, and sent Hon. Bright to prison for seven years without the option of fine on a trumped-up charge,” the party added.

The party condemned the detention of its candidate and described it as an attempt to silence and prevent him from participating in the upcoming rerun.

“We consider this detention a grave violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms, particularly given the pending petition before the National Judicial Council on the matter. The presiding magistrate’s decision was tainted by manifest bias, amounting to political intimidation.

“We urge the NJC, human rights organisations, and the international community to condemn this injustice and advocate for Hon Bright’s freedom,” the party said.

As concerns mount over the lack of domestic crude oil to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and other indigenous refiners, the Independent Petroleum Producers Group has called on President Bola Tinubu to consider declaring a state of emergency on crude oil production in Nigeria following the lingering crisis associated with this.

IPPG is an association of Nigerian indigenous upstream exploration production companies that engages the government and other industry stakeholders on issues affecting the sector. It has 28 members including Oando Plc, Aiteo, Seplat, Energia, Eroton, First E&P, Frontier Oil, Green Energy, among others.

The oil producers also expressed fears that the 2024 budget might be implemented partially due to the low production of crude in Nigeria lately.

This came as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited announced that it had declared war on the challenges confronting oil production across the country, adding that it was currently engaging its partners including International Oil Companies.

However, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, charged the oil producers to increase their investments in the upstream arm of the business, as this would also help to grow oil output.

They all spoke at the ongoing Nigeria Oil and Gas conference in Abuja on Tuesday.

Nigeria’s oil production has been dropping since this year, falling from over 1.4 million barrels per day (excluding condensates) in January to about 1.2mbpd in April. 

Oil producers believe that Nigeria should be producing about 2mbpd in order to meet the demand of local refineries as well as export.

Dangote refinery as well as operators of modular refineries have continued to raise concern over the poor crude oil supply from IOCs and NNPC. However, industry experts say most of the crude volumes by the IOCs and NNPC have been contracted out to dealers already, amid the low production in-country.

Presenting the industry keynote address at the conference, the Chairman, IPPG, Abdulrazaq Isa, pointed out that the industry was in dire need of extraordinary focus to mitigate the genuine concerns on its long-term sustainability.

He stressed that “as a matter of national importance, Nigeria must act fast and hasten the pace of recovery across the entire industry, even if it means Mr President declaring a state of emergency in the oil and gas sector! We must be seen to do everything possible to unleash the industry.

“Unlocking this incremental production is achievable only through collaboration and commitment between the industry regulators (NUPRC and NMDPRA) and industry operators (NNPC, OPTS and IPPG) and this must be done for the sake of our country.”

Isa said despite Nigeria’s world class hydrocarbon resource base, with over 37 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves and 207 tcf (trillion cubic feet) and 600 tcf of proven and contingent gas reserves respectively, the country finds itself in a situation where its daily production has significantly dropped and lies at about 1.3 million barrels of oil and 8.5 bcf (billion cubic feet) of gas today.

“This is way below our capacity as a nation and by all globally acceptable standards, this reserves to production ratio is extremely low and a clear indicator that the industry is in a dire situation. In addition, we now run the risk of partial implementation of our national budget considering an estimated deficit of 400,000bpd from the forecasted 1.78 million bpd. 

“This trend in production portends another frightening dimension when we consider that in the not-too-distant future our overall installed domestic refining capacity, currently closing in on about 1.2 million barrels per day, may soon outstrip our current crude oil production level with the risk of Nigeria finding itself in a position where it is unable to meet its domestic refinery crude demand or even become a net importer of crude oil, God forbid!,” he stated.

The oil producers chairman noted that it was against this scary backdrop that the IPPG was calling for urgent measures to be undertaken by all relevant stakeholders to immediately arrest this dwindling production level and under-investment by focusing on some priority areas.

Outlining the priority areas, he said, “The immediate conclusion of all pending IOC divestment transactions: IPPG strongly advocates that our member companies – Seplat, the Renaissance Consortium and Oando – have the proven track record to successfully take over and manage these onshore and shallow water assets to realise incremental production in the region of 100,000 – 200,000 barrels of oil and over 1.5bcf of gas per day within 24 months and well over 500,000 barrels of oil per day in the long term.

“IPPG believes the timely approval of these IOC divestment transactions will also be a clear signal capable of restoring global investor confidence in Nigeria in an era of competing global investment destinations in Africa and very limited access to capital.

“The urgent need to address deepwater developmental and production: Untangling issues around deepwater development, particularly in terms of competitive fiscal regime being negotiated with Shell, Total Energies, ExxonMobil and Chevron, has the potential to unlock incremental production of 700,000 barrels per day from this terrain in the short to medium term.”

Isa also stated that enabling deepwater development would attract significant economic benefits as Nigeria has one of the world’s largest untapped deepwater resource base.

“The adoption of a national value-retention strategy: Nigeria’s domestic crude oil refining and petrochemical capacity must be sustained primarily from our domestic crude oil and gas production in order to transform our country into a net exporter of refined petroleum and petrochemical products that will lay a strong foundation for the rapid industrialisation of the Nigerian economy. 

“It is therefore imperative to grow our daily production to 2.5 million barrels of oil and 10 bcf of gas in the near to long term to ensure we are able to meet our domestic refinery and petrochemical demands and export commitments to generate the much needed foreign exchange earnings for macro-economic stability.

“The development of Nigeria’s gas resources to catalyse economic growth and complement decarbonisation drive: Nigeria’s vast gas resources must be exploited with immediate focus placed on restoring production to existing installed LNG capacity and expanding production (FLNG),” he stated.

In addition, the IPPG chairman said “we must expand domestic gas utilisation (gas-to-power; gas-based industries) by investing heavily to address the gas infrastructure deficit facing us today. The International Oil Companies will lead the charge on export gas while IPPG members will drive the domestic gas agenda led by NNPC

“These priority areas provide the most realistic and sustainable pathway towards meeting our national long term production aspiration of four million barrels of oil per day and 13 billion cubic feet of gas per day.”

NNPC reacts

 Also speaking at the conference, the Group Chief Executive Officer NNPC, Mele Kyari, said in order ro increase Nigeria’s crude oil production and grow its reserves, NNPC has declared a state of emergency on production in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

 “We have decided to stop the debate. We have declared war on the challenges affecting our crude oil production. War means war. We have the right tools. We know what to fight. We know what we have to do at the level of assets. We have engaged our partners. And we will work together to improve the situation,” he declared. 

According to him, a detailed analysis of assets revealed that Nigeria can conveniently produce two million barrels of crude oil per day without deploying new rigs, but the major impediment to achieving that remains the inability of players to act in a timely manner.

He said the “war” would help NNPC and its partners to speedily clear all identified obstacles to effective and efficient production such as delays in procurement processes, which have become a challenge in the industry.

Oil sector principalities

Kyari described some players in the sector as principalities, but stated that the President had made orders to tackle such individuals.

 “There are delays in procurement and this is because all of us the producing companies have converted procurement to business. It is not just NNPC, everyone of us. And I’ve said this to all our partners that within your companies you have principalities who will not let you complete your procurement, who will add cost to your costs.

 “And now what Mr President has done is to take out all the principalities and if you do, it is your choice. But for us as a company we are moving to another level. We are going to cap the cost of production. You can call your wife to do the contract, no problem, provided you produce the oil at $20/barrel or so.

 “We’re getting there so that we can take out those procurement people who have stopped us from developing as an industry and a country. This is what Mr President’s executive order has done, to take out those principalities so that we can move.” 

 On medium to long-term measures aimed at boosting and sustaining production, Kyari said NNPC would replace all the old crude oil pipelines built over four decades ago and also introduce a rig sharing programme with its partners to ensure that production rigs stay in the country for between four and five years which is the standard practice in most climes.

 He called on all players in the industry to collaborate towards reducing the cost of production and boosting production to target levels.

 He expressed the company’s commitment to investing in critical midstream gas infrastructure such as the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben, known as OB3, and the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipelines to boost domestic gas production and supply for power generation, industrial development and economic prosperity of the country.

 On Compressed Natural Gas, Kyari observed that NNPC has since keyed into the Presidential CNG drive, adding that in conjunction with partners such as NIPCO Gas, NNPC has built a number of CNG stations, 12 of which will be inaugurated on Thursday in Lagos and Abuja.

 Meanwhile, the oil minister, Lokpobiri, charged the IPPG to increase its investments in the oil sector by ramping up its production of crude, stressing that if the 28 members of the association could produce at least 5,000 barrels daily, this would go a long way in raising Nigeria’s oil output.

Abdulsamad Dasuki, a member of the House of Representatives, has called on President Bola Tinubu to sack all his appointees in the security sector, saying they have failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians.

The lawmaker made the call on Tuesday while speaking at a debate on a motion condemning the recent suicide bombing in Borno State.

New Telegraph had earlier reported that Ahmed Jaha sponsored the motion during Tuesday’s plenary.

In his remarks, Dasuki said the President appointed several northerners into the security sector so that they can take care of insecurity in the North, however, they have not been able to do that.

According to him, the country needs a scapegoat, adding that the House should urge the President to sack all his political appointees in the security sector.

“In the last year that we have been inaugurated, no one has been sacked. It is high time we hold people responsible. It is high time we find a scapegoat, which is justifiable.

“These guys have not lived up to expectations. The president has said that he gave these positions to northerners to defend their people. That is what he said practically.

“Every day, we have two or three security-related issues. We can call on the president to sack all security political appointees. All of them have been in the position for ten months. Political appointees-security wise can go,” he said.

Some of the northern political appointees include the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru, the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, the Minister of Police, Ibrahim Gaidam, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu and others.

Also speaking on the motion, the Chairman of the House Committee on Navy, Yusuf Gagdi, opposed the argument that the security sector was handed to northerners, stating that the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun and the Chief of Army Staff, Taoreed Lagbaja, were southerners.

Following the debate, the House resolved to condemn the bombing and asked the Committee on National Security and Intelligence to investigate the development

The European Union, EU has confirmed that the Nigerian Federal Government has cleared an outstanding debt amounting to $850 million owed European airlines.

The confirmation was given on Tuesday.

Samuela Isopi, the EU Ambassador to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, disclosed this at the 9th edition of the Nigeria-EU Business Forum in Abuja.

Isopi noted that a key condition for any foreign investor is the ability to repatriate profits.

“A year ago, these funds amounted to $850m, with a big chunk being owned to European airlines. Today more than 98 percent of arrears have been cleared. This is a major achievement,” Isopi said.

The ambassador also commended the decision of the Federal Government to remove foreign exchange restrictions for the import of 43 items.

According to him, “Investor confidence takes time to build up, but resolving these issues was a top priority.”

The ambassador described the business forum as a platform for dialogue and engagement between the public and the private sectors and highlighted the importance of the role of the government in supporting business, the private sector and private investments, as a driver for a truly inclusive and sustainable economic development.

Recall that the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria had, in January 2024, said the bank had concluded the payment of the foreign exchange backlog to foreign airlines.