Daily Watch – NLNG wins court tussle with NIMASA, MMA does some home cleaning

4th October 2017

  • Nigeria plans to release ₦100 billion for capital projects, taking its total spending in the 2017 budget for infrastructure to ₦440.9 billion ($1.44 billion) by next week, its finance minister said on Tuesday. Kemi Adeosun said the government had spent ₦1.5 trillion on recurrent expenditure so far. “We concluded our Sukuk last week, the money will be pushed out this week. As money comes in, we push it out,” Adeosun said. Last week Nigeria sold a debut ₦100 billion in sukuk in the local market to finance road projects. The federal government also said its Ministries, Departments and Agencies had been asked to roll over between 50 and 60 percent of their capital projects to the next fiscal year.
  • The Transmission Company of Nigeria has demanded a review of the current electricity tariff, ostensibly cost reflective, which will entail more payment by the end users of power. TCN’s demand was contained in an application filed with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission for an extraordinary tariff review, as a means of ensuring that Gencos are incentivised to provide sufficient spinning reserves and other ancillary services that are critical for managing the national grid. The TCN’s demand follows another total System Collapse on September 28, at 8.03 pm, a few days ahead of Nigeria’s 57th Independence anniversary.
  • NLNG said the Federal High Court in Lagos on 3 October delivered judgment in its favour in a case between it and NIMASA over the applicability of NIMASA levies. NIMASA had alleged that NLNG was liable to pay a three percent gross freight charge on its international inbound and outbound cargo, a Sea Protection Levy, a two percent cabotage surcharge on all activities carried out for and on its behalf, as well as other sundry claims, all of which NLNG disputed. In his judgment, Hon. Justice M.B. Idris held inter alia, that NLNG was not liable to make the said payments to NIMASA, and that all such payments already made by NLNG to NIMASA should be refunded to NLNG forthwith. NLNG spokesman, Kudo Eresia-Eke said in a statement that Hon. Justice Idris further held that NIMASA was wrong in blockading the Bonny Channel for the purpose of enforcing the payments against NLNG. The NLNG had in 2013, filed the case against NIMASA, seeking a judicial determination on, among other things, the legality or otherwise of the levies sought to be imposed on NLNG by NIMASA, and the consequent blockade of the Bonny Channel by NIMASA and its agents as a result of the dispute.
  • The management of Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, said it will inaugurate a taskforce to relocate BDCs and car hire operators and to check the activities of miscreants within the environment. This follows the recent certification of the airport, the Manager, Mrs Victoria Shin-Aba said yesterday. She said the committee would be set up to improve the status of the airport through regulating activities of various stakeholders and users at the airports. Hundreds of registered BDC operators currently operate at the international airport close to the Limousine car parks but the management is said to be looking for a tidier location for them.