January 16, 2024
14 Nigerian state governments have failed to attract any form of foreign direct investments despite spending at least N21.04bn on foreign trips in since Covid-19.
The states in question include; Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Ebonyi, Edo, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara states. Between 2021 and the third quarter of 2023, these states failed to attract any of the $14.85bn that foreign investors channeled into Nigeria.
Between 2021 and 2023, Bauchi spent N3.81bn on foreign trips without having anything to show for it. Bayelsa spent N1.99bn, Benue spent N1.33bn, Borno spent N1.73bn, Cross River spent N663.16m, Ebonyi spent N1.01bn, Edo spent N1.77bn, Gombe spent N32.09m, Imo spent N541.23m, Jigawa spent N1.10bn, Nasarawa spent N541.26m, Taraba spent N2.52bn, Yobe spent N1.24bn, and Zamfara spent N2.77bn.
The figures for foreign trips were extracted from state budget performance reports sourced from Open Nigerian States. Many of the states didn’t have their full budget performance reports with some only having for two quarters in some cases.
Kebbi did not also receive any foreign direct investments in the period under review but there was no data on the amount the state spent on foreign related trips hence its exclusion from this report.
The lack of foreign investments in these states coincides with a general fall in investments into the country due to insecurity and other issues.
The World Bank opined, “Net FDI inflows are negative, reflecting net withdrawals of equity by foreign investors. FDI and FPI flows into Nigeria do not compare favourably with similar economies of the world, reflecting difficulties with FX availability, security concerns, and other structural challenges in recent years.”
Some of states in this report including Zamfara, Jigawa, and Nasarawa have been plagued by insecurity in recent years. In Zamfara for instance, banditry has become the order of the day with almost 14 local government areas of the state occupied by bandits.
January 15, 2024
The seven major oil marketers in Nigeria and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria; IPMAN have agreed terms with the Dangote Petroleum Refinery for the lifting and distribution of refined petroleum products produced by the $20bn plant.
Dealers under the aegis of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria confirmed yesterday that with the registration, they would commence the distribution of fuel produced from the facility once the commercial terms are sorted.
Similarly, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria stated that PETROAN had been engaging the management of the multi-billion dollar refinery for the supply of products from the facility.
As IPMAN and PETROAN engage the refinery, major marketers who are members of MOMAN have already registered with the plant and are set to start buying products.
The seven major marketers include 11 Plc, Conoil Plc, Ardova Plc, MRS Oil Nigeria Plc, OVH Energy Marketing Limited, Total Nigeria Plc and NNPC Retail.
On Friday, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery announced the commencement of production of Automotive Gas Oil, also known as diesel, and JetA1 or aviation fuel.
January 15, 2024
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari; Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; the Minister of Budget Planning, Atiku Bagudu, and other stakeholders in the agriculture sector have met to boost food production and reduce food inflation.
The meeting, which held at the weekend in Abuja, was in line with the directive of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s declaration of food security emergency, under the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP) Programme.
Speaking after the meeting, Kyari stated that the objective of the forum was to also review the implementation of the 2023/2024 dry season wheat production implemented in 15 wheat-producing states of the Federation.
The Minister said there were observed lapses in the implementation process, hence the need for collective and comprehensive evaluation of efforts to be put in place and proffer remedial measures to forestall their reoccurrence.
To tackle some of the challenges recorded during the first phase of the programme, he said officers would be deployed to manage and coordinate the supply chain activities.
In his remarks, Edun said there were substantial intervention funds for the agric sector to produce more rice, maize, wheat, and cassava.
January 15, 2024
Barely a week after Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa state complained about private organizations taking charge of the security of the Nation’s oil infrastructures, pipeline security firm, Tantita Security Services Limited, have arrested a vessel, MT Kali, in Bayelsa State with 119,000 tonnes of stolen crude oil, while trying to deceive the surveillance team that it was on test run.
Tantita, owned by Government Ekpemuopolo, a.k.a Tompolo, yesterday, led journalists to the impounded vessel at Oporoza, in Warri South West Local Council of Delta State.
According to Tantita’s Executive Director, Technical and Operations, Warredi Enisuoh, the ship and its crew were arrested due to coordination between Tantita and security agencies, particularly the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
According to Enisuoh, Tantita became interested in the ship’s activities when intelligence revealed that it had been coming into the Niger Delta region carrying illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil AGO (diesel), as well as ferrying crude to ships on high seas.
He said: “When we got the intelligence, we shared it with the security agencies to ensure the operation was successful. The ship left Lagos a few days ago and switched off its location when it entered the region, and came in to load illegal oil in Bayelsa.
“We notified our base at Sekibolor and deployed drones with infrared capabilities to track the ship. After drones picked up their illegal operation, our team moved in and arrested the ship and crew at Pennington in Bayelsa in the process of discharging the stolen crude through hoses running on the sea bed.”
Enisuoh said there was evidence of good insiders’ job to enable such activities.
He disclosed that when Tantita swooped on the ship, one of the crew members jumped into the sea and “probably drowned”.
Lambasting those campaigning against private pipeline security firms, he described them as the real “illegal bunkerers”.
Captain of the ship, David Adeboye, said the ship had been under repairs for over a year in Lagos and that they set out to the Niger Delta region on test run. He said after the test run they were told to deliver AGO.
