Aso Villa Reads for 16/7/2019

Every day, we bring you the best stories that the media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria

Nigerian Pilot reports that President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to growing Nigeria’s hydrocarbon reserves through the exploration of the various inland basins spread across the country, Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru has said. A press release by the corporation’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu Baru, disclosed that Dr Baru made the assertion on Saturday during an inspection tour of the ongoing drilling operations at the Kolmani River-II Well drilling site in Bauchi and Gombe States along with his successor, Mallam MeleKyari. “Expanding frontier basins exploration is one of the most important projects for Mr. President. He is fully convinced that the inland basins exploration holds the key to the next step of growing Nigeria’s crude oil reserves,” Baru stated. The GMD further observed that for an economy which is heavily dependent on hydrocarbon production, there was the need to continuously look for additional reserves to avoid depletion. “Naturally, oil reserves deplete over time and if you don’t replenish them, you will one day wake up to realize that you have nothing left to explore from the ground,” Baru added. He said the visit was part of the smooth transition going on in the Corporation which is aimed at fully briefing MallamKyari on the work progress at the drilling site.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday issued award letters to oil firms for the highly sought-after contracts to exchange crude oil for imported fuel. Under the new contract that will take effect this month, a total of 15 groupings, with at least 34 companies in total, received award letters, four sources with knowledge of the deals said. The winning groups include: BP/Aym Shafa; Vitol/Varo; Trafigura/AA Rano; MRS; Oando/Cepsa; Bono/Akleen/Amazon/Eterna; Eyrie/Masters/Cassiva/Asean Group; Mercuria/Barbedos/Petrogas/Rainoil; UTM/Levene/Matrix/Petra Atlantic; TOTSA; Duke Oil; Sahara; Gunvor/Maikifi; Litasco /Brittania-U; and Mocoh/Mocoh Nigeria. According to This Day, NNPC’s crude swap deals, which were previously referred to as offshore crude oil processing agreements (OPAs) and crude-for-products exchange arrangements, are now known as Direct Sale-Direct Purchase Agreements (DSDP). Under the deals, the NNPC supplies crude oil to selected local and international oil traders and refineries in exchange for petrol and diesel. NNPC had in May 2017, signed the deals with local and international traders to exchange about 330,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil for imported petrol and diesel, as part of measures to sustain the supply of petroleum products across the country. However, the deals, which expired by the end of July 2018, were extended until the end of 2018. The state-run oil firm later extended the $6 billion oil swap deals by another six months to June 2019. Reuters reported that while the contracts have not yet been signed, that is largely a formality as the terms have been negotiated, the sources said, and the list of companies is unlikely to change.

According to This Day, the federal government has approved 205 applicants for allotment in its ambitious market-based gas flare out programme — the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP), to move to the next round of the programme. The Programme Manager of the NGFCP, Mr. Justice Derefaka, disclosed in a statement sent to THISDAY, that the Statements of Qualification (SOQs) evaluation report for the NGFCP was recently submitted by its inter-ministerial committee, and the Permanent Secretary in Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan conveyed the ministry’s approval of it. Derefaka, explained that Yemi-Esan, could disclose the approval in her supervisory capacity over the affairs of the ministry following the successful completion of the evaluation exercise which was done in June by the NGFCP Proposal Evaluation Committee (PEC). He noted that over 850 interested parties registered their interest in the NGFCP but 238 applicants submitted SOQs in response to the Request for Qualification (RfQ) published by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). According to him, a total of 238 SOQ documents were subsequently evaluated in accordance with the provisions of applicable regulations, guidelines, and standard DPR practices for bid evaluation, adding that they were then adjudged to have either ‘passed’ or ‘failed’. “Following a rigorous exercise conducted in line with established protocol and using the Electronic Evaluation Tool (EET), 205 applicants emerged successful — attaining a ‘pass status’ while the remaining 33 applicants did not meet the minimum requirements and thus attained ‘fail status’,” said Derefaka.

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved an innovative multinational financing program for Distributed Energy Service Companies (DESCOs), which would see 900,000 households in sub-Saharan Africa — about 4.5 million people — gain access to solar power by 2025. The AfDB said this in a statement, adding that the DESCOs’ Financing Programme promotes securitisation financing techniques to address barriers to accessing finance for DESCOs, while supporting their growth and expansion into existing and new markets. The programme will also facilitate local currency financing for DESCOs and provide local lenders with risk mitigation instruments to support them. Elaborating on the programme, Wale Shonibare, the Bank’s Acting Vice-President for Power, Energy, Climate Change, and Green Growth said the Bank would provide critical technical guidance and credit enhancement to DESCOs and local financial intermediaries. “Accelerating access to universal, affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for underserved populations requires innovative financing solutions. Innovations such as receivables-backed financing structures provided by the programme are vital in the Bank’s efforts to unlock private sector participation and local currency financing for the energy sector,” Shonibare said. The programme will contribute to installation of an estimated 45 MW of distributed solar PV which will provide clean energy access for 900,000 households by 2025 (4.5 million people). It will also create approximately 6,000 new direct jobs, mainly for the youth, and contribute to avoidance of nearly 37.08 kilotons of CO2eq emissions per year. This is according to This Day.

The Nigerian Communications Commission says it remitted N51.3bn to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government in the first quarter of 2019. The remittance, according to the Executive Vice-Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, is in compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007 (FRA 2007). The Act requires listed Ministries, Departments and Agencies to remit 80 per cent of their operating surpluses to the Consolidated Revenue Fund. In a statement made available to our correspondent in Abuja on Monday by the Director of Public Affairs at NCC, Dr Henry Nkemadu, the payment represented operating surplus of N44bn and spectrum assignment fee of N7.3bn collected. According to Nkemadu, both payments were due to the Federal Government as of April 30. The FRA 2007 requires such payments to be made every year after preparation of audited accounts of the concerned MDAs. Section 17, Sub-section three of the Nigerian Communication Act (NCA, 2003) also stipulates that spectrum assignment fees generated should be remitted 100 per cent to the Federal Government. Punch reports that Danbatta was quoted to have said that the regulatory commission had taken the initiative to be making payments into the CRF “as it generates revenue.” He noted that through effective regulatory oversight by the commission, telecommunications sector had witnessed phenomenal growth since 2001, making it an enabler of economic growth and development. The NCC boss was quoted to have said, “To date, telecoms industry has positively impacted all the sectors of the economy including banking, healthcare, commerce, transportation, agriculture, education and so on, with increased quarter-on-quarter contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

The National Bureau of Statistics on Monday released the consumer price index, which measures inflation with the index dropping year on year from 11.40 per cent in May to 11.22 per cent in June. The bureau in the report said the June inflation rate of 11.22 per cent represented a decrease of 0.18 percentage points over the rate recorded in May. On a month-on-month basis, it said the index increased by 1.07 per cent in June, noting that this was 0.04 per cent rate lower than the 1.11 per cent recorded in May. The report reads in part, “The Consumer Price Index which measures inflation increased by 11.22 percent year-on-year in June. “This is 0.18 per cent points lower than the 11.4 per cent rate recorded in May. The report stated that urban inflation rate increased by 11.61 per cent year-on-year in June from the 11.76 per cent recorded in May. On the other hand, the NBS report stated that rural inflation rate increased by 10.87 per cent in June from 11.08 per cent in May.” On a month-on-month basis, it said urban index rose by 1.10 per cent in June, up by 0.05 from 1.15 per cent recorded in May, while the rural index also dropped to 1.05 per cent in June from the 1.07 per cent recorded in May. In terms of food index, the composite food index stood at 13.56 per cent in June compared to 13.79 per cent in May. It said the rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, meat, oils and fats, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, vegetables and fruits. In terms of state profile, the report said that inflation rate was highest in Bauchi (15.40 per cent), Kebbi (14.73 per cent) and Kaduna (13.91 per cent), while Delta (9.46 per cent), Kwara (nine per cent) and Bayelsa (8.56 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in headline year on year inflation. Punch reports.