Daily Watch – 14 months later NNPC remits badly needed forex, Another pipeline shuts down

27th September 2016

  • The AfDB is set to lend Nigeria a total of $4.1 billion over 2016 and 2017, and $10 billion by 2019, its president said on Monday, to help the economy plug its budget gap and develop its infrastructure. Akinwumi Adesina said he would go to the pan-African lender’s board next month to seek approval for a first, $1 billion loan to cover this year’s deficit as Nigeria grapples with its first recession in more than 20 years. “The bank is going to provide in total between 2016/2017 $4.1 billion to Nigeria in various areas,” said Adesina. “I expect that our portfolio in Nigeria will not decrease — it will actually grow. We expect to invest in Nigeria, by 2019, a total of $10 billion.” Adesina said funds to lend over the next two years would be used to develop the nation’s power and agriculture sectors.
  • According to its Monthly Financial and Operations reports, NNPC paid $48.99 million to the Federation Account for June and July 2016. The report showed that the payments were made after the organisation made no dollar remittances to the FAAC for 14 months, from April 2015 to May 2016, blaming this on declining crude oil earnings, which led it to transfer all dollar proceeds from crude oil and gas export sales to payments for Joint Venture cash calls. The NNPC’s last foreign exchange remittance to the Federation Account was in March 2015, when it paid $184.978 million to the FAAC, the report adding that the NNPC remitted ₦98.844 billion in June and July to the Federation Account from the domestic oil and gas sales.
  • The Trans-Niger Pipeline, which carries Bonny Light crude, has been shut as a precautionary measure after a fire was seen, a Shell spokesman said on Monday. It was not yet clear whether export supplies will be subject to force majeure. A fire was spotted on the “right of way” on the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) at Gio in Ogoniland, one of two pipelines that export Bonny Light crude oil. The line is also the right of way for a Bonny-refinery pipeline belonging to the PPMC, a subsidiary of state-owned NNPC. “A joint investigation visit will determine the cause and impact of the fire,” the unnamed Shell spokesman said. Witnesses reported eruptions at two points along the pipeline and said a fierce fire forced locals to evacuate. Bonny Light crude is also exported via the Nembe Creek Trunk Line.
  • President Muhammadu Buhari appointed chief executives for 13 Federal Government agencies on Monday. According to a statement by Bolaji Adebiyi, a spokesman for the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the list includes the APC candidate for the Akwa Ibom governorship election, Umana Okon Umana as the Managing Director of the Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority. Others include Joseph Ari as Director-General, Industrial Training Fund; Isa Ibrahim as Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency; Bello Gusau, Executive Secretary, Petroleum Technology Development Fund and Yewande Sadiku as the Executive Secretary of the National Investment Promotion Commission.
  • The Pension Transitional Arrangement Department has closed about 800 pension accounts that were allegedly used to syphon funds, according to its Acting Director-General, Murtala Oluwatoyin. He said the accounts were spread across all DMBs nationally, adding that those cases had been transferred to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission for further investigation. Oluwatoyin added that the agency had also recovered about ₦2.4 billion belonging to the PTAD from 18 agencies and transferred same to the Treasury Single Account.
  • Primero Transport Services MD, Fola Tinubu, has said that the company, the largest private-public transport company in Lagos, plans to acquire 600 new BRT buses to increase its fleet to 1,000. He stated this on Thursday at the unveiling of the Transit Television Network by Value Media Ltd., licensed to provide TV services in Primero buses. According to Tinubu, the expansion plan, which will take place within a year, will see its BRT operations upgraded to developed world status. In Tinubu’s words, “With 1,000 buses, we will move a million people daily. That gives you an idea of how many people will watch our adverts. Also, we will soon have Wi-fi on all our buses. What we are trying to do is to change the paradigm of transport services in Lagos and Nigeria as a whole.”