BUSINESS

Updated 30th August, 2007

NNPC TO BE REPLACED BY NATIONAL ENERGY COUNCIL

The Federal Governmentyesterday unbundled the NNPC and constituted a National Energy Council to reorganise the energy sector of the economy.

The Council, headed by President Umaru Yar’Adua, has six months to unbundled the NNPC into five functional companies. With this development, the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the NNPC will cease to exist.

The Minister of State for Energy (Petroleum), Mr Henry Ajumogobia, who briefed State House correspondents after yesterday’s Federal Executive Council meeting, named the envisaged companies as the National Petroleum Directorate, the National Oil Company and the Petroleum Inspectorate Commission. Others are the Petroleum Products Distribution Authority and the National Oil and Gas Assets Holding and Management Services.

Ajumogobia said the National Petroleum Directorate would replace the Ministry, while the National Oil Company would play the role currently played by the NNPC.

The Petroleum Inspectorate Commission would replace the current DPR, while the Petroleum Products Distribution Authority would replace the Petroleum Products Prices Regulatory Agency. The fifth company, he said, would manage the assets owned by both the Ministry and the NNPC.

The Minister said the reorganisation followed the reports of the Oil and Gas Reform Committee set up in 2000 and headed by Presidential Adviser Edmund Daukoru and the Review Committee of the National Council on Privatisation headed by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.

The Minister listed members of the committee as Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Minister of Finance, Minister of National Planning, Ministers of State for Petroleum, Gas and Power, as well as the National Security Adviser. He said the president also reserved the right to appoint four other members of the council, including its secretary.

Also speaking, the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Aderemi Babalola, said FEC had stopped ministries and agencies from expending capital votes contained in the 2006 budget. Babalola said the cancellation was in line with Government’s belief in the rule of law, explaining that the budget year 2006 had lapsed and expenditures arising from it could no longer be justified.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT URGED TO UPGRADE BOARD OF INLAND REVENUE TO MINISTRY

The federal government has been urged to upgrade the Board of Inland Revenue to a full-fledge Ministry of Revenue. Making the call in Ilorin today in a paper presented at the ongoing 2007 Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) national conference, the Managing Director of NICON Group, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim, said that revenue or tax collection was too big for the Ministry of Finance to regulate with other functions.

`Ibrahim noted in the paper titled ``Taxation Law and Practice in Nigeria: A Developmental Perspective’’. that it Nigerian government had not taken the issue of taxation and revenue generation as a priority one, pointing out that ordinarily  taxation should be among the three most important policies of the government. Ibrahim who is a legal practitioner, called on the Nigerian government to develop a tax code that would encompass all types of taxes.

He stressed the need for lawyers to take special interest in tax law and to discuss the possibility of having a world basic tax code that would be binding on all countries. He also recommended the formation of a National Association of Tax Lawyers by the NBA to take special interest in tax law and its practice. Ibrahim called on Nigerians lawyers to wake up and face the challenges of tax practice as a very important aspect in their profession.

NIGERIAN PORTS INDUSTRY: GOVERNMENT AGENCIES URGED TO FIGHT CORRUPTION

The Chairman of the Port Consultative Council (PCC), Dr. Waheed Kareem, has urged all government agencies operating at the nation's ports to team up with the Port Industry Anti-Corruption   Standing Committee (PIACSC) in tackling corruption at the ports.
 
Speaking in Lagos on Wednesday at launch of complaints and suggestion boxes provided by PIACSC for installation at strategic places in the ports, Kareem stressed that corruption had eaten deep into the fabric of the Nigerian society, thus requiring the intervention of all well meaning individuals and organizations to address.

He commended the initiative and suggested that to facilitate cargo clearance at the ports, the boxes should be checked twice daily so that complaints and suggestions were treated promptly.

The PCC Chairman noted that if the problem of corruption at the ports was tackled, prices of goods and services would become affordable, while exporters would be able to improve on their trade, thus raising the country's foreign exchange earnings. Kareem blamed the high cost of cargo clearance in the nation's port on what he called ``under-table payments'' and charged all the agencies to intensify their surveillance in tracking corrupt persons operating in the ports.

The Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee, Mr. Val Usifo, said that it was the desire of the committee to make the ports user-friendly, the hub ports and the engine of economic growth, but that to achieve this required ridding the place of corrupt practices.

He urged port operators to put their complaints into writing and drop them in the complaint boxes should they encounter any problem with either the terminal operators or any of the government agencies. Also speaking, the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Western Ports, Malam Abdulsalam Mohammmed commended the efforts of the the Anti-Corruption Committee so far in fighting corruption at the ports. He said that the NPA was committed to the realization of the national aspiration of making the ports the sub-regional hub through trans-shipment and transit trade potentials.

PRESIDENT UMARU YAR’ADUA INAUGURATES NATIONAL COUNCIL ON PRIVATIZATON

 Nigeria’s President, Umaru Yar’adua, has charged the National Council on Privatization to exhibit credibility and transparency in the sale of public enterprises.The president threw this challenge while inaugurating the National Council on privatization, NCP on Tuesday at the state house Abuja. The council is headed by Nigeria’s vice president Goodluck Jonathan.

BUREAU OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES TO OPEN BIDS FOR 3 COMPANIES

The National Council on Privatization (NCP) has directed the BPE to open financial bids of three prospective management contractors for the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). Mr. Chigbo Anichebe, BPE's Head, Public Communications, said in a statement made available to AIT on Tuesday in Abuja that the directive was issued after the inauguration of NCP's new board by President
Umaru Yar'Adua.

He said the board was being chaired by Vice-President Jonathan Goodluck. Anichebe named the three prospective management contractors as ESB International (ESBI) of Ireland, Power Grid Corporation
(PGCI) of India and Manitoba Hydro International of Canada. A key element of the power sector reform was the vertical and horizontal unbundling of PHCN, which resulted in the creation of six generation, one transmission and 11 distribution companies.

Anichebe said the generating and distribution companies would be privatized either through core investor or concession. TCN said the generating and distribution companies would be privatized either through core investor or concession. TCN, he added, would remain a federal government asset to be operated under a management contract.

Anichebe said management contract had been embraced as the preferred mode of privatization of TCN, ``which is consistent with global best practices''. He explained that ``this is because TCN is a natural monopoly that will wheel and facilitate access to generation and distribution companies

FEDERAL GOVERNMET SAYS, NO PLANS TO SACK CBN GOVERNOR

Nigeria’s President, Umaru Yar’adua says despite stopping the plans by the Central Bank to re-denominate the Naira , the bank’s Governor, Chukwuma Soludo still retains his confidence. The special adviser to the president on communications ,Segun Adeniyi told while addressing state house correspondents on Tuesday that the President still believes in the ability of Soludo to manage the Central Bank of Nigeria professionally.

The governor of the Central bank of Nigeria, Chukwuma Soludo who was at the state house Abuja on Tuesday also told newsmen that there is no rift between him and the Finance minister, Shamsudeen Usman.

There have been speculations in the media that the CBN Governor and the Finance Minister are engaged in a power tussle over the plan to re-dominate the Naira.Untill his appointment as Finance Minister Usman was a deputy to Soludo at the Central Bank of Nigeria.

CBN BOARD AGKNOWLEDES APPROVING AUTHORITY OF PRESIDENT YAR’ADUA

The board of the Central bank of Nigeria says it recognizes and affirms the Nigerian President’s approving authority as spelt out in section nineteen of the act 2007.In a statement made available to AIT, CBN Governor Chukwuma Soludo lists such authority as covering the denomination, forms and design of the National currency.

CURRENCY REDENOMINATION: CBN ACCEPTS PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVES

The Central Bank of Nigeria announced on monday that it has withdrawn the currency redinomination it proposed for 1st August 2008. In a statement signed by the CBN Governor Charles Soludo, the Apex Bank said 'having recognised and re-affirmed the president's approving authority, especially as its relate to approving redenomination in line with section 19 of the CBN act, the board of the CBN has suspended the Nigerian currency redenomination'.The Central Bank expressed commitment to the president and his goal of making Nigeria one of the twenty largest economies in the world by 2020.

EDO STATE GOVERNMENT URGED TO REVIVE AGRIC PROGRAMME

The Programme Manager, Edo Agricultural Development Programme (EADP),mr Alasa ikhelowa, has called for the ``urgent revival and adequate funding'' of the programme.Ikhelowa spoke on Tuesday in Benin when he received the Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. Ken Ihesekhien, who was on a familiarization tour of the EADP. Ikhelowa, who recalled the assistance the programme rendered to farmers in the past years, said that its services were even more relevant to aid the application of modern technology in agricultural activities.


According to him, the EADP has been operating on a monthly subvention of subvention of N2 million since 1999. He added that the state government was also ``behind'' in the payment of its counterpart funding for the execution EADP projects.

Ikhelowa, who said that the programme was managing more than 1,800,000 farm families, decried the lack of manpower, especially extension agents, to relate with, and maintain the farm families.

He, noted with satisfaction that the programme had been able to meet its requirement for participating in this year's FADAMA programme despite its ``enormous'' problems,  Ihesekhien, who spoke after the tour, advised farmers to patronize the programme to ensure maximum
yield from their farms.

KEBBI STATE TO SPEND N22.7M ON TEACHERS PENSION

The Kebbi State Government is to spend N22.7million on pension to retired primary school teachers this month, an official has said. Alhaji Salihu Aliero, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, told newsmen on Tuesday in Birnin Kebbi that the amount was deducted from the Local Governments' statutory allocation for August. According to him, the 21 Local Governments’s received a total of N2.01Billion for the month. Aliero said that government also released N50 million for the payment of allowances to ex-Councilors for July, while N50 million has been set aside to complete the exercise this month. He reaffirmed government's determination toward prudent management of resources to improve the people's living standard.

OSUN STATE GOVERNOR SEEKS PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR STATE DEVELOPMENT

Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun has appealed to wealthy indigenes and their associates to support government's efforts at improving economic fortunes of the state. He said that his Government was determined to solve the problem of under- development.

The governor said work would soon commence on the Living Spring Free Trade Zone, which he described as a key motivator for economic development in the area. He stressed the need for public-private partnership to facilitate the industrialization of the state. He added that the state can boast of some of the best brains and achievers in the country today. Oyinlola said the government was also working toward achieving self-reliance
and speedy development.

EXPERT URGES FEDERAL GOVERNMET TO ENFORCE 10% CASSAVA CONTENT IN FLOUR PRODUCTION

An agricultural expert has blamed the federal government for the glut in cassava production which he sad had become a ``major worry'' to farmers across the country. Mr. Sunny Iyalekhue, the Director of Extension, Edo Agricultural Development Programme (EADP), said in Benin on Tuesday that government had failed in its cassava export programme. He added that the federal government began a programme that encouraged farmers to produce cassava in large quantities without any plan to mop up possible excess.

Iyalekhue lamented that individual farmers and States who went into cassava farming were counting their loses as the government had failed in its efforts at exporting processed cassava products in large quantity. He said that government had also failed in its plan for 10 per cent cassava content in flour production. Iyalekhue alleged that flour processing outfits betrayed government by pretending to buy cassava flour that ended up in their warehouses after inspection by the relevant government agency. He called on states and other organizations to build more cassava processing plants to minimize the waste from the glut.

The expert regretted that the cassava processing plant established by former Edo Gov Lucky Igbinedion was yet to take off. He, however lauded government effort toward rehabilitating silos for the storage of garri, but expressed fear for the future there was ``no standardized method for grading the product''.  He advised the federal government to not only enforce the 10 per cent cassava content in flour production, but increase it to 50 per cent to mob up excess cassava in the system. The immediate past federal administration designed the cassava initiative programme to promote the export of cassava products.

MINISTER SOLICITS HELP FROM UNDP

The Minister of Youth Development, Mr. Akinlabi Olasunkanmi, has solicited support from UNDP to fund skills acquisition centers in Nigeria. He made the appeal on tuesday when a five-member delegation from UNDP, led by the Country Representative, Mr. Sadiki Coulibally, visited him. The Minister said the Ministry was soliciting for funds to equip the existing centre, while making plans to construct new ones. He said plans where on the way to build five centers in addition to the one in Owuda town in Ogun State. He said for each zone to have at least one centre, the UNDP would have to help make this possible.

He said the Ministry would also need the agency's assistance in the formation of National Youth Fund,  Youth Parliament and a good networking system for youths .He also said the agency would collaborate with the Ministry in the areas of HIV and AIDS, reproductive health, gender and youth advocacy. Coulibally said women and young persons were most vulnerable to the HIV and AIDS pandemic. He said there was a need or adequate enlightenment to reduce the rate of its spread.

NNPC DIRECTS INCREASE SUPPLY OF PRODUCTS TO WARRI, CALABAR DEPOT

The management of NNPC has directed Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) to increase the supply of petroleum products, especially kerosene and diesel to Warri and Calabar depots.

A statement issued on tuesday in Abuja by the Group General Manager, Public Affairs of the NNPC, Dr Levi Ajuonuma, said NNPC Group Managing Director, Mr. Lawal Yar'Adua, gave the directive when members of IPMAN called on him. The statement said Yar'Adua also directed the Nigerian Independent Petroleum Company (NIPCO) to ensure that the products were available and affordable nationwide.

NIPCO is the commercial arm of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), which has more than 70 per cent outlets. He said: ``the initiative will reduce the hardship Nigerians go through in buying kerosene and diesel which remains vital to domestic chores.''

Yar'Adua said NNPC would flood the nation with petroleum products shortly, hinting that work on the vandalized Chanomi creek pipeline had started and would soon be completed.He said, the Warri and Kaduna refineries will resume operations, as soon as it was completed. Earlier, IPMAN President Olatunde Runsewe said the association would cooperate with the new NNPC's administration to put an end to the perennial problems of petroleum products supply and distribution.

He said the collaboration was in line with President Umaru Yar'Adua's seven point agenda for the nation. Runsewe said IPMAN and NNPC were inseparable and that both would continue to work together to make petroleum products available to Nigerians at all times and at approved pump prices. He told the GMD to consider an extension of credit facility to IPMAN as was being enjoyed by major marketers. The IPMAN president thanked the GMD for promising more supply of products to NIPCO, which according to him, would go a long way in bringing down price of the products.

DPR SEALS OFF 9 FILLING STATIONS IN ENUGU

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Enugu Area Office, on Tuesday sealed off nine filling stations in Enugu. Some of the filling stations include, Mobil, Texaco, and Kaiz Ventures Nigeria Limited, all at Okpara Avenue and APO Petrol in Garki.

The Head of Retail Outlet and Marketing, Mr. Charm Musa, who led the operation, said the affected stations were guilty of acute under delivery. He also accused them of non-display of product prices, selling above official pump prices and the lack of fire extinguishers. Musa said the stations would remain shut till they corrected the anomalies.

Musa commended an independent petroleum marketing station on Agbani Road for ensuring accurate pump delivery at official prices and advised others to emulate it. Chief Eugene Okeke, the Managing Director of the station, said that he sold at official prices in compliance with government directives. He, however, urged the federal government to repair the vandalized pipeline from Port Harcourt to Enugu depot to enable it to resume normal operations. Addressing newsmen at the end of the exercise, Dr Chris Okoronkwo, the controller in-charge of the Area of Office, said that the price monitoring would be regular. 

SESAME SEED PRODUCTION HITS 120,000 TONNES- SAYS NEPC

Mr. Aliyu Lawal, the Acting Executive Director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), says sesame seed production between 2005 and 2007 hit 120,000 tones. Lawal said this today in Lafia at the flag off of a programme on boosting sesame seed production for export.

The programme was organized by the Nasarawa State Government, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) and Olam Nigeria Ltd. It is aimed at addressing production constraints faced by farmers. According to Lawal, the production of the commodity in Nasarawa State within the period rose from 30,000 tones to more than 45,000 tones.

The NEPC Chief executive attributed the increased productivity to the public-private partnership (PPP)  initiative of the federal government. He said that as a result of the programme on boosting sesame seed production last year, the yield of sesame seed production in the state has increased by 15 per cent.  Lawal said the collaborative efforts of the state government, NEPC, Olam Nigeria Ltd and other stakeholders had placed sesame seed as the nation's most important export crop after cocoa.  The NEPC boss urged farmers to rise to the challenges of making the crop the highest export crop in Nigeria by sustaining the benefits of the project.

 Gov. Aliyu Doma called for a presidential initiative on sesame seed production because of its importance as non-oil foreign exchange earner. He said such initiative would help to boost the living standard of the rural dwellers and the ongoing diversification of the economy. Doma pledged that his government would continue to provide inputs such as fertilizers and herbicides at subsidized rates. He charged the farmers to take the advantage of the modern techniques of cultivation, harvesting and storage to increase its production.

SOUTH AFRICA TO INVEST IN AGRICULTURE, MINING

South Africa's High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Banguzi Sifingo, has assured Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State of the desire of his compatriots to invest ``heavily'' in agriculture, mining and tourism.Sifingo, who stated this when he called on the governor in Bauchi on Monday, said since there was an existing relations between South Africa and Bauchi State, there should be an increased trade relations between them.

The envoy also told the governor that South Africa, being one of the tourist destinations in the world, would like to help Bauchi State to develop its tourism potential. He also invited the government and businessmen from the state to partner with South African government and business men in those areas.

Responding, Yuguda noted South Africa's outstanding achievements in tourism, pointing out that the state was keen to partner with the former in that sub-sector, as well as in mining.Yuguda said the state had a lot of potential in agriculture, mining and tourism.

Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State today launched the pilot phase of the youth and women skill acquisition programme, warning council chairmen to take it seriously. Under the pilot phase, about 1,000 unemployed youths and women would be trained in various trades, as part of efforts to make them self-reliant and less dependant on white-collar jobs. Inaugurating the scheme in Bauchi, which is being handled by the newly established Agency for Youth and Women Rehabilitation and Development, Yuguda expressed concern over the increasing involvement of youth in drug. He warned drug barons operating in the state to change their line of business or be brought to book, adding that he had mandated the agency to commence the detoxification of addicted youths.

Yuguda said his administration had identified 27 potential vocational skills in which participants would be trained, but said that for now only 13 key areas would be concentrated on. He announced plans by the federal government to establish a tractor workshop and a driving school in Bauchi as part of measures to create more opportunities for skill acquisition for the unemployed youth. Yuguda also said that an animal traction centre in Darazo would be established to empower the youth and make them self-reliant.

Earlier, the Director-General of the Agency, Alhaji Salmanu Mohammed, said the pilot scheme was part of the recommendations by a committee set up by the governor which considered how to immediately rehabilitate unemployed youth and women. Reports gathered reviewed that participants in the pilot scheme would spend between six weeks and one year at designated vocational training centers. Each of them would receive a monthly stipend of N3, 000.

YOBE STATE GOVERNMENT SPENDS N6M ON ISLAMIC PROPAGATION

The Yobe Ministry of Religious Affairs is to spend N5.9 million on Islamic propagation during the forth coming Ramadan fast. The Commissioner for Religious Affairs, Alhaji Habu Gulani, made the disclosure in Damaturu on Monday that the exercise was to morally and spiritually rejuvenate the people.

He said N3.9 million of the amount would used to purchase an 18-seater bus, fitted with a public address system, to monitor 120 Ramadan ``tafsir" (preaching) locations. Gulani said the balance of N2 million would be spent to cater for ``Da'awa,'' ``Hisbah'' and on the welfare committees at the locations. `We are considering providing food for breaking of fast to the needy this year," he added.

The commissioner said 120 motorcycles had been provided at each of the locations to assist those engaged in propagation activities. He reiterated government's commitment to the implementation of Sharia legal system devoid of bias to all residents of the state. Gulani gave assurance that non Muslims
would not be discriminated against over their religious conviction. "We have been having smooth and peaceful co-existence between followers of different religions. ``We will strive to improve on the situation,'' he added.

GENERAL MOTORS STUDIES NEW TRANSMISSION SYSTEM

 United State based car manufacturer, General Motors (GM), says it plans to study a new car transmission system for adapting into its new fleet of vehicles.’ The system blends fuel economy of diesel with relatively low emissions of gasoline engines,'' it said in a statement made available over the weekend. GM stated that its lead team working on the experiment said they could cut fuel consumption by up to 19 per cent. The system is known as ``Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI)''. ``With the potential to deliver better fuel efficiency than even some of its gas-electric hybrids, the HCCI is the most awaited advanced combustion technology of the past 30years,'' it said.

GM is expected to demonstrate the HCCI combustion process using two concept vehicles, a 2007 Saturn Aura and a 2007 Open Vectra. The statement also disclosed that both vehicles are powered by modified 2.2 liter Ecotec four-cylinder engines, while The engines can generate 180 horsepower. Reports gathered reviewed that Mercedes-Benz will soon unveil its own version of the technology, as part of efforts by the automotive industry to cut down on greenhouse emission.