speechless

DrummaBoy:

speechless

See below and be even more comatose. All that is being revealed show that no Nation deserves an urgent 'occupy' campaign more than Nigeria. subsidy ko sub-zero ni.

http://saharareporters.com/article/biggest-scandal-oil-%E2%80%9Csubsidy-removal%E2%80%9D-fraud-farooq-kperogi

Biggest Scandal In Oil “Subsidy Removal” Fraud By Farooq A. Kperogi
Posted: November 5, 2011 - 10:14

To begin with, the idea that the Nigerian government is subsidizing fuel for the masses is a willfully double-tongued twaddle. Only four kinds of people believe that: the hopelessly ignorant, the mentally subnormal, masochists with a perverse thirst for self-abasement, and beneficiaries of real government subsidies such as our indolent, unproductive, and ruthlessly acquisitive government officials and their equally debauched cronies in the private sector. Many informed commentators have conclusively proved that.

But there is an even more treacherous scandal in this “oil subsidy” scam that the Nigerian national media is either not aware of or has chosen to ignore.

Two weeks ago, when I compared fuel prices amongoil-producing nations of the world and showed that Nigerians pay the highest price for petrol even though they receive the lowest minimum wage among their peers, I actually did a gross disservice to my argument. The situation is a lot worse than that. I will come back to this point shortly.

I pointed out that the petrol I use for my car in America burns A LOT SLOWER than the one I use when I visit Nigeria, meaning that, at the current rate, Nigerians (with a miserable minimum wage of N7,000 per month or about $45 per month— against America’s over N180,000 minimum wage per month) actually pay more than or about equal to Americans for petrol. It takes a remarkably heartless person to ignore this heartrending fact. But that’s an issue for another day.

A Nigerian online citizen investigator who goes by the handle “Viscount” revealed on a Nigerian Internet discussion forum recently that Nigerians not only pay the highest price for fuel in OPEC; they also consume the worst imaginable grade of petrol among oil-producing countries. That means comparing fuel prices between Nigeria and other oil-producing countries—or even countries in Europe and North America— is actually like comparing apples and oranges.

These countries not only pay considerably lower prices than us for high-quality petrol, Nigerians have been paying unconscionably high prices for toxic fuel for the past 12 years, as you will see shortly. And they will pay even more for it next year. If this is not sufficient reason to give up everything and “occupy” Nigeria until the oppressors are brought to a standstill, I don’t know what is.

At the center of the tragic importation of toxic petroleum products into Nigeria—and other West African nations— is an Amsterdam-based multinational company called Trafigura. Keep that name in mind as you read this.

Many Nigerians know that the fuel they consume domestically isn’t derived from the crude oil their country exports. They also know that they have one of the world’s best and finest quality of crude oil. What many of them don’t know is that the cabal of rapacious oil importers that the Jonathan administration—and the administrations that preceded him—mollycoddle with “subsidies” actually import toxic, low-quality oil that is not fit for consumption in Europe or North America—or in any society that cares for the welfare of its citizens.

[b]In 2010, a group of journalists from the UK, Norway, and the Netherlands won a prestigious international journalism award for a series of investigative reports they did on Trafigura’s barbarous dumping of toxic petroleum waste on Cote d’Ivoire. The waste killed scores of people and sickened thousands more. In July 2010, an Amsterdam court found the company guilty and fined it 1 million euros. (The caustic petroleum residues were dumped on Cote d’Ivoire on July 2, 2006).

On June 24 this year, Afrol News, an Africa-centered news agency, reported that it had been “given documentation” that shows that the same Trafigura that was fined for dumping deleterious waste on Ivoirians had offloaded “dangerous and poor gasoline [i.e., petrol]” in the “Nigerian port of Lagos.” This toxic petrol, which Nigerians have been consuming for years and which our governments “subsidize,” according to the Afrol News report, “is highly unstable, not enduring sunlight exposure, and will cause damage to vehicles. It will also cause environmental damages due to high sulphur values, and can therefore cause human health damages. The product is strictly illegal in Europe and the US, but may in some cases be within legal quality and environment standards in some West African countries.”
[/b]
But this wasn't a one-off occurrence. It's been happening for over a decade. So, ordinary Nigerians are being forced to use their hard-earned money to buy inordinately overpriced and demonstrably harmful petroleum products. Yet the Nigerian government says this isn’t bad enough; it wants to increase fuel prices again next year. And the government has no plans to repair our refineries so that we can refine our own crude domestically and bring down the cost of petrol.

But the bigger scandal is that in January this year, the Jonathan administration signed a multi-billion-dollar annual contract with the same Trafigura of toxic fuel dumping infamy. And there was no due process in the award of the contract. According to Business Day of January 4, 2011, “Under the agreement with the Nigerian government, Trafigura is expected to pick up Nigerian crude oil and in return, supply her with refined products; but it is unclear why the firm, which has supplied refined products to Nigeria in the last 12 years, was favoured for the deal.

“Trafigura agreed to an annual contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on the basis of taking 60,000 barrels of crude oil per day in exchange for refined products such as gasoline and gas oil of equivalent value estimated at around $3 billion a year.”

An oil industry expert who spoke to Business Day said just “$1 billion of the amount would have put the four refineries in proper shape.” When I wrote two weeks ago that Nigerians were faced with a choice between death and life, I didn’t even know about all these.

I am going to leave the reader with “Viscount”’s parting thoughts:

“Nigeria will give Trafigura (confirmed supplier of bad petrol), 60, 000 barrels of oil per day in exchange for their mega tonnes of DEADLY-sulphurous petrol! Yep, Jonathan's government is paying a foreign company to systematically KILL Nigerians. And poor Nigerians are being asked to be happy jare!

“So, Nigerians, when your brand new Tokunbo engine knocks - just like that, thank Trafigura! When your I-better-pass-my-neighbour generator's fume smells funny and leaves a film like Casper the Ghost - just like that, thank Trafigura! When you are walking in Lagos, or any other Nigeria [city], and you are experiencing a choking sensation from the mundane act of breathing in - just like that, thank Trafigura! Nigeria!”

which way Nigeria? "I voted for the boy with no shoes and not the PDP".




http://saharareporters.com/article/biggest-scandal-oil-%E2%80%9Csubsidy-removal%E2%80%9D-fraud-farooq-kperogi

But the bigger scandal is that in January this year, the Jonathan administration signed a multi-billion-dollar annual contract with the same Trafigura of toxic fuel dumping infamy. And there was no due process in the award of the contract. According to Business Day of January 4, 2011, “Under the agreement with the Nigerian government, Trafigura is expected to pick up Nigerian crude oil and in return, supply her with refined products; but it is unclear why the firm, which has supplied refined products to Nigeria in the last 12 years, was favoured for the deal.

“Trafigura agreed to an annual contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on the basis of taking 60,000 barrels of crude oil per day in exchange for refined products such as gasoline and gas oil of equivalent value estimated at around $3 billion a year.”

An oil industry expert who spoke to Business Day said just “$1 billion of the amount would have put the four refineries in proper shape.” When I wrote two weeks ago that Nigerians were faced with a choice between death and life, I didn’t even know about all these.

I am going to leave the reader with “Viscount”’s parting thoughts:

“Nigeria will give Trafigura (confirmed supplier of bad petrol), 60, 000 barrels of oil per day in exchange for their mega tonnes of DEADLY-sulphurous petrol! Yep, Jonathan's government is paying a foreign company to systematically KILL Nigerians. And poor Nigerians are being asked to be happy jare!

“So, Nigerians, when your brand new Tokunbo engine knocks - just like that, thank Trafigura! When your I-better-pass-my-neighbour generator's fume smells funny and leaves a film like Casper the Ghost - just like that, thank Trafigura! When you are walking in Lagos, or any other Nigeria [city], and you are experiencing a choking sensation from the mundane act of breathing in - just like that, thank Trafigura! Nigeria!”

http://www.google.com/search?q=Trafigura
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafigura

the sort of company our fg does business with

oyb:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Trafigura
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafigura

the sort of company our fg does business with

Simply disgraceful !!!! Are we now not vindicated when we argued that GEJ is "more of the same"?

This certainly isn't fresh air

Has anyone noticed a defening silence from Beaf,PointB,Jmaine,werepeleri, and co!

This is no FRESH AIR!

What a defening silence from Beaf,PointB,Jmaine,werepeleri and co!!

Gbawe, you don win.

We will bring down this theiving govt.

Rumor!



PETROLEUM MINISTER DIEZANI ALLISON MADUEKE ACQUIRES $25M HOUSE IN VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Story by AKINNAGBE AKINTOMIDE/NIGERIAFILMS.COM


[img]http://www.nigeriafilms.com/image.aspx?img=Y29udGVudC9jb250ZW50L0RpZXphbmktQWxsaXNvbi1NYWR1ZWtlLUhPVS5qcGd8NjAw[/img]



According to news from grapevine, Federal Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison- Madueke just acquired a 'wondrous home abroad'.

The purchase tagged 'an architectural master piece' by those in the know is said to be located on all of 12 plots of lands.

The buy is said to be located in Vienna, Austria.

We gathered that she shelled out about $25M for the house.

Her husband is said to recently staged a get together for friends at the place.

http://www.nigeriafilms.com/news/14424/4/petroleum-minister-diezani-allison-madueke-acquire.html

http://news1.ghananation.com/nollywood/230813-petroleum-minister-diezani-allison-madueke-acquires-25-m-house-in-vienna-austria.html

http://www.ghanamma.com/2011/11/petroleum-minister-diezani-allison-madueke-acquires-25-m-house-in-viennaaustria/

DrummaBoy:

This certainly isn't fresh air

Has anyone noticed a defening silence from Beaf,PointB,Jmaine,werepeleri, and co!

My brother, how can they show their faces here? This is a technical knockout against their assertion that GEJ is 'fresh air' when the likes of myself, Oyb, Blacksta et al argued before the elections that he is nothing but rancid air committed totally to business as usual . Will 'fresh air' do what we see below knowing the odious practices of Trafigura? Abeg, GEJ is a willing participant in the deliberate and age-long effort , by a few, to continue bleeding Nigeria .

But the bigger scandal is that in January this year, the Jonathan administration signed a multi-billion-dollar annual contract with the same Trafigura of toxic fuel dumping infamy. And there was no due process in the award of the contract.

For those who do not know trafigura read below to note the morally and ethically bankrupt Company "fresh air" is happy to work with. So it is better to keep working with these rogues, handing them what amount to fortunes, while we fail to seriously address the issues of making our own refineries work with acts of sabotage such as directing the clearing house of corruption (NNPC) to turn around our refineries within 24 months? Yet they will tell long-suffering Nigerians to tighten their belt and bear the brunt of subsidy removal while they do not make even minimal sacrifice and are actually happy dealing with criminal-minded firms with all those involved (Nigerians and foreigners) in this 'juicy' marraige (literally) becoming billionaires. "Fresh air" indeed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10735255

Trafigura found guilty of exporting toxic waste


A Dutch court has found multinational Trafigura guilty of illegally exporting toxic waste from Amsterdam and concealing the nature of the cargo.

In 2006, Trafigura transported waste alleged to have been involved in the injury of thousands of people in Ivory Coast. Trafigura denied any wrongdoing.

It expressed disappointment in the ruling and is considering an appeal.

The firm was fined 1m euros (£836,894) for its ship, the Probo Koala, transiting Amsterdam with its cargo.

The ship then went on to unload its cargo in Ivory Coast.

Trafigura employee Naeem Ahmed, who was involved in the ship's operation in Amsterdam, was fined 25,000 euros and the captain of the Probo Koala, 46-year-old Sergiy Chertov, was sentenced to a five-year suspended jail term.

This is the first time Trafigura has faced criminal charges since the toxic waste scandal unfolded in Ivory Coast's commercial capital, Abidjan, in 2006.

Trafigura, an oil trading company, initially tried to clean up low-grade oil by tipping caustic soda into the hold of the Probo Koala. The company tried to unload the waste in Amsterdam for treatment, declaring it as "harmless slops".

When the treatment company came back with a higher price for cleaning the waste, the cargo was shipped to Africa where it ended up in Abidjan to be handled at a much lower rate.

Presiding Judge Frans Bauduin said: "Trafigura - which by that time knew of the exact composition [of the waste] - should never have agreed to its processing at such a price."

DrummaBoy:

Gbawe, you don win.

We will bring down this theiving govt.

As long as your actions are, as expected, restricted to NL, Gbawe is with you.

meonbooty:

As long as your actions are, as expected, restricted to NL, Gbawe is with you.

Cyberspace, so say what you want . Do you see the investigative Journalist of 234Next brandishing Kalashnikovs and leading an assault on the NASS or Aso Rock? Yet they are playing their part and winning awards for it. If folks discussing issues on NL piss you off then simply ignore us. Everyone's effort, tangible or otherwise, is relevant - even if you don't realise that.

Gbawe:

Cyberspace, so say what you want . Do you see the investigative Journalist of 234Next brandishing Kalashnikovs and leading an assault on the NASS or Aso Rock? Yet they are playing their part and winning awards for it. If folks discussing issues on NL piss you off then simply ignore us. Everyone's effort, tangible or otherwise, is relevant - even if you don't realise that.

You dont seem to get it, do you?

I was tempted to break down the article for you, but it is damn too long and I really am very lazy right now to go through it. The article isnt that great and definitively doesnt worth something you should be ululating about.That is to say, It was a hack job at best, sourced from someone close to Madueke with an axe to grind, any sensible person can see that; In other words, the very people whom the news should be scrutinizing are now the ones firmly in control of it and using the power to exploit our naivety. We know the owners of 234next.com and their antecedents!

There is nothing investigative about that news article, sorry to be so blunt. I saw you earlier on equating the article to whistle-blowing. You really dont seem to know what whistle-blowing really is, so I am tempted to group this as just another attempt of yours to castigate the PDP. This is all politics, nothing more, nothing less.

It is unfortunate that this is what our political space has turned out to be, cheap attacks, instead of sensible commentary. Instead of embracing the full spectrum of political progressiveness -- liberalism, economic reforms, ethics in journalism, social justice, environmentalism-- you stick to mediocrity and sycophancy. While, according to those who know you, you used to post in protest against authoritarianism, mediocrity, etc now you race to post shoddy articles to embarrass the government in power. And while you once sought full consciousness and understanding of all that oppresses us, now you’re content to achieve awareness and cyber-relevance which has come to mean one thing -- dutifully, on behalf of your ACN pay masters, bad-mouthing everything GEJ/PDP.

meonbooty:

You dont seem to get it, do you?

I was tempted to break down the article for you, but it is damn too long and I really am very lazy right now to go through it. The article isnt that great and definitively doesnt worth something you should be ululating about.That is to say, It was  a hack job at best, sourced from someone close to Madueke with an axe to grind, any sensible person can see that; In other words, the very people whom the news should be scrutinizing are now the ones firmly in control of it and using the power to exploit our naivety.  We know the owners of 234next.com and their antecedents!

There is nothing investigative about that news article, sorry to be so blunt. I saw you earlier on equating the article to whistle-blowing. You really dont seem to know what whistle-blowing really is, so I am tempted to group this as just another attempt of yours to castigate the PDP. This is all politics, nothing more, nothing less.

It is unfortunate that this is what our political space has turned out to be, cheap attacks, instead of sensible commentary.  Instead of embracing the full spectrum of political progressiveness -- liberalism, economic reforms, ethics in journalism, social justice, environmentalism-- you stick to mediocrity and sycophancy. While, according to those who know you, you used to post in protest against authoritarianism, mediocrity, etc  now you race to post shoddy articles to embarrass the government in power.  And while you once sought full consciousness and understanding of all that oppresses us, now you’re content to achieve awareness and cyber-relevance which has come to mean one thing -- dutifully, on behalf of your ACN pay masters, bad-mouthing everything GEJ/PDP.

Oga , since you know better than others, can you give us an example of Investigative Journalism that impresses you? Names were named, addresses provided, impropriety and abuse of due process , without a shadow of doubt, exposed yet this is not good investigative Journalism? I guess you know more than FAIR (Forum for African Investigative Reporters) that provided the 234Next journalists with their awards of excellence. With names revealed and precise misconduct identified, what on earth do you understand whistleblowing to be ?

Perhaps you are confused because of the inaction of our Government , which is an aberration to Governance, with how our leaders are always complicit partners in criminality and thus unable to move decisively over genuine whistleblowing revelations. Did we not see Halliburton and Siemen culprits punished severely in the country of origin of the Companies? yet what happened to their Nigerian collaborators in the Nation the crimes were committed in i.e Nigeria? Furthermore what concerns ACN or my previous writing with this topic ? If genuinely objective, you should deal with the content of this thread and stop vacillating over issues that, for a balanced person, should have nothing to do with this current discussion.


http://news2.onlinenigeria.com/news/top-stories/101858-oil-minister-her-jeweller-and-their-sweetheart-deal.html

At the time, the 47-year-old Mr Aire had nothing whatever to do with the oil business. His company, Solid 21 Incorporated, dealt strictly in jewellery and timepieces. Those close to him said Mr Aire was content with his jewellery business and had no plan to venture into Nigeria's murky oil waters. But all that changed after his meeting with Mrs Alison-Madueke that fateful April 7.

As the minister was flying home, Mr Aire also kick-started the process of registering brand new companies with which he planned to lift Nigerian crude. On July 9, 2010, the jeweller incorporated Siseno Oil Nigeria Limited, with him and one Patience Iluobe (believed to be his relative) as directors, to carry out the business of petroleum products sales and distribution.

Twelve days later (July 21, 2010), Mr Aire, through his agents, headed again to the Corporate Affairs Commission, where he incorporated another firm, Caligeria Oil Limited, also for the purpose of conducting petroleum products sales and distribution.

This time, one of his US-based companies, Osiri Holdings, Ms Iluobe, and one Otaigbe Onyekwere Agba, were named as directors. Mr Aire also proceeded to incorporate a US version of Caligeria with himself, his bodyguard, Joseph Agbi, and Jivani Davoodian, a Californian lawyer, as directors.

Favourite crude oil lifter

Mr Aire passed the papers of his newly minted companies, which have neither fixed addresses nor personnel, to the Crude Oil Marketing Division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. Shortly afterwards - a month after the companies were born - Mrs Alison-Madueke discretionally approved the award of crude oil lifting contracts to the two firms, in violation of NNPC guidelines for lifting of Nigerian crude.

She also disregarded the fac
t that the "briefcase company" had no track record and lacked the ability to perform.[b] According to a stringent guideline released by the NNPC in early 2010, companies which wish to lift Nigerian crude must prove that they are bona fide end users and that they are established and globally recognised large volume traders with evidence of their global network, their activities, and volumes of crude oil handled in the last three years.

Such companies must also provide evidence that they are registered Nigerian companies with operations in Nigeria's oil and gas industry, and must have a minimum annual turnover of at least $100 million and net worth of not less than $40 million.

Applicants are also required to show commitment to the development of the Nigerian economy by investing in any number of opportunities that abound either in the oil industry or gas sector. Besides, successful companies are expected to post a $1 million performance bond through a first class Nigerian bank in addition to the regular crude oil contract provisions.

In the same guideline, the corporation promises transparency, fairness and equity in the contract award processes. "The NNPC further wishes to emphasise that there is absolutely nothing like ‘Presidential', ‘Task Force', ‘Ministerial', ‘Diplomatic' or any other form of special or privileged allocation, which can be peddled by hawkers or anyone," the guideline states.

Mrs Alison-Maduekwe approved this guideline, which was posted on the NNPC's website on June 24, 2010, over a month after she became minister. But by allocating crude oil to Mr Aire's companies without regard for these rules, the then minister, insiders say, demonstrated a penchant for violating laws, including regulations she helped put in place.[/b]

Those who should know at the NNPC say Siseno and Caligeria did not meet any of these requirements. In fact, NEXT was able to determine that the companies do not have fixed addresses or personnel in Nigeria. Caligeria has Plot G19, House 34, Dan Alhaji Road, Barnawa, Kaduna, as its registered address. Siseno, on the other hand, listed Dollar Shop at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja as its operational address.

I blv ppl will, one day, realize the inestimable wrong they are doing the society by dishing out falsehood

Ppl who tirelessly work for our common good shd not be deterred 4rm their good works

We hv passed the roads of the haters several times & hence can decipher their antics

No amount of attacks on our respected compatriots can in-alienate us

nsiadi:

I blv ppl will, one day, realize the inestimable wrong they are doing the society by dishing out falsehood

Ppl who tirelessly work for our common good shd not be deterred 4rm their good works

We hv passed the roads of the haters several times & hence can decipher their antics

No amount of attacks on our respected compatriots can in-alienate us

What wrong? How is the article a falsehood? The article was simply the fact! Get that into your brain or drop dead.

[color=#990000][/color]. What we have today in Nigeria is a robbers government by pen and paper robbers. The masses of this country are under the control of criminals.

thousands of seanets cant cause any death
better 4 seanets 2 find better means of using their times
, instead of living in illusion

Better return d money u collected
Ur campaign of calumny isnt raising any reasonable returns

You guys are idiots. When Babangida, Obasanjo, Yar adua and the rest where pillaging Nigeria why did you not talk. It is common knowledge that IBB parked 12 BILLION DOLLARS of oil windfall into his personal account.

Obasanjo in his great visionary mind has liberated the true owners of the wealth of the country(the South-South) to enjoy their wealth. Do you guys prefer instead for them to secede and you go back to eating grass and cassava. Be Honest guys, in Texas if oil is found in your yard you own it and pay a fraction as royalties to the FED.

We have cheated these guys for too long so you guys have no audacity to abuse anyone. What do you produce in your state? This whole economy runs on crude oil FULL STOP. The same Nigeria had a derivation of 50% for the regions before crude oil came and we shifted the goal posts.

Please be quiet all you very lazy nigerians( as if you guys don't know that living on an extractive industry is a curse known as Dutch disease). Give them their oil let the rest of the country finally develop some sense.

citizenisb:

You guys are idiots. When Babangida, Obasanjo, Yar adua and the rest where pillaging Nigeria why did you not talk. It is common knowledge that IBB parked 12 BILLION DOLLARS of oil windfall into his personal account.

Obasanjo in his great visionary mind has liberated the true owners of the wealth of the country(the South-South) to enjoy their wealth. Do you guys prefer instead for them to secede and you go back to eating grass and cassava. Be Honest guys, in Texas if oil is found in your yard you own it and pay a fraction as royalties to the FED.

We have cheated these guys for too long so you guys have no audacity to abuse anyone. What do you produce in your state? This whole economy runs on crude oil FULL STOP. The same Nigeria had a derivation of 50% for the regions before crude oil came and we shifted the goal posts.

Please be quiet all you very lazy nigerians( as if you guys don't know that living on an extractive industry is a curse known as Dutch disease). Give them their oil let the rest of the country finally develop some sense.

Egbami !!! See logic !! So, because we have "cheated these guys for too long" you are perfectly happy for a "few of these guys", now that they find themselves in charge, to clean out the treasury as well? Are "these guys" spending what they are looting on Nigerians or even their "cheated" region and people? Are we seeing hospitals, roads , investments in education etc throughout the "cheated" States ? If not what is your argument? Anybody from an oil producing region, in your opinion, is more justified to loot?

Anyway, I can't blame you. If the average Nigerian was politically sophisticated he would see through the ruse and scams to note that poor leadership is what has let the nation down and not the lame copout that some are victims trampled on by other wicked ethnic groups. OBJ's actions are not the actions of Yoruba people and Abacha's conduct cannot be interpreted as that of the North.

Now, today, Jonathan is from the ND. Go and  see how the NDDC (Niger Delta development commission) is mired in corruption, sheer innefficiency and outright disregard for moving the ND region forward , despite having prominent ND  "sons" in charge, to understand the real problems of Nigeria. Is it not ND leaders sabotaging the ND? when will some of you understand that everything boils down to a struggle between good Nigerians and bad Nigerians? Instead you continue to see yourself as holier than others. Now an ND President is in charge and there is no excuse for the ND not to see equity and development. Yet what is the real state of affairs ? Tell me !!! That is why I am amused when Nigerians think , myopically and because of ethnic bigotry, that they will see Utopia once their 'son' is in charge without understanding that good leadership , wherever it is from, is what we need more than anything else. Yar Adua , IMO, was fairer and more sympathetic to the ND than "son of the soil" GEJ. Go figure. Some day, when we let go of base feudalism, some of us will see the big picture .

i don tire for this forrked up country.

citizenisb:

You guys are idiots. When Babangida, Obasanjo, Yar adua and the rest where pillaging Nigeria why did you not talk. It is common knowledge that IBB parked 12 BILLION DOLLARS of oil windfall into his personal account.

Obasanjo in his great visionary mind has liberated the true owners of the wealth of the country(the South-South) to enjoy their wealth. Do you guys prefer instead for them to secede and you go back to eating grass and cassava. Be Honest guys, in Texas if oil is found in your yard you own it and pay a fraction as royalties to the FED.

We have cheated these guys for too long so you guys have no audacity to abuse anyone. What do you produce in your state? This whole economy runs on crude oil FULL STOP. The same Nigeria had a derivation of 50% for the regions before crude oil came and we shifted the goal posts.

Please be quiet all you very lazy nigerians( as if you guys don't know that living on an extractive industry is a curse known as Dutch disease). Give them their oil let the rest of the country finally develop some sense.

, Was this post by a human being with brain matter?
again! I hope there aren't many with this kind of twisted and self-defeating logic in the country.
What a shame!

Reading this thread broke my already fragile heart.

Gbawe, thank you for you relentless effort to bring the truth into the light.

And to you, Seun, eat all you can now but remember that kamar would come to bite you in the behind.

DrummaBoy: This certainly isn't fresh air

Has anyone noticed a defening silence from Beaf,PointB,Jmaine,werepeleri, and co!

No one wants to spoil your vulture party, where you dance to news reports that were discredited a year ago, exchange rumours and pass around cups brimming with deafening idiocy.

All hail vultures!!!

I'm still waiting for the day when Gbawe takes the last leap and begins quoting from ovation to further strrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeettttch his tales and soothe the exertions of his hatred tutured mind.

read this recently ,



FUEL SUBSIDY: FG insincerity stalls new refinery projects .

Sunday, 06 November 2011 15:22 Admin Hits: 108 .


.




.
By OLUTAYO OLUBI

• As lack of fund frustrates private initiatives

THE raging issue of the removal of fuel subsidy has again quickened some Nigerians to ask what has become of some refinery projects the Federal Government (FG) had indicated interest in. Some commentators had queried the President Goodluck Jonathan administration's insistence on removing the subsidy on fuel, arguing that there would not have been any need to drag the issue of fuel subsidy had the country had refineries meeting the needs of the people. Presently, Nigeria has an installed crude refining capacity of 445,000 barrels per day but this figure is insignificant when compared to the national 32million litres per day consumption.

The Nigerian government had between year 2000 and 2007 encouraged the private sector to go into crude oil refining and had thus awarded 22 licences in principle to both local and foreign investors for the construction of new refineries.

However the situation took on a ridiculous garb when the whole nation was recently thrown into frenzy on the revelation that the Jonathan government was planning to invest $2.68 billion to fund the construction of three 300bpd refinery projects in Indonesia.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Group General Manager (Group Public Affairs Division) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Levi Ajuonuma, quickly came out to deny the report maintaining that government was focusing on constructing and completing the three Greenfield Refinery projects it had started.

“The Corporation is presently on the verge of building three Greenfield Refineries in Lagos, Bayelsa and Kogi States with the country's international partners and therefore it does not make any sense to embark on any such project,” he said.

“The Federal Government,” he said, “does not have any hand in this fictitious project…. The Federal Government is focused on its transformation agenda and committed to delivering on the three Greenfield Refineries on schedule.”

Greenfield Refineries

It is however sad that the Federal Government has been footdragging on the issue of the Greenfield Refineries.

Indication of this first manifested last July when China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) was forced to extend by one year a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it signed last year with the NNPC for the construction of three Greenfield Refineries and a Petrochemical plant in Nigeria.

The renewal of the MoU followed NNPC's inability to make the May 13, 2011 earlier set for the projects envisaged to boost Nigeria's refining capacity by additional 750,000 barrels per day.

Conveying the board's decision in a memo to the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the NNPC, Austin Oniwon, CSCEC's Vice President Overseas Operations, Yu Zhende, noted that the extension was granted based on NNPC's assurance that feasibility studies for the three refineries would be carried out in July.

The one paragraph memo, read: “Further to your request to extend the May 13, 2010 MoU between the NNPC and CSCEC for one year, we have held discussions with our board and advised (Detailed Feasibility Studies (DFS) will be ready in July. Although our board would have preferred a three-month extension (because of the need to commence loan negotiations, we accept your request to renew the MoU till May 13, 2012”.

The MoU signed by Nigeria and China in May last year was for the construction of three oil refineries in Lagos, Kogi and Bayelsa States under a $28 billion provisional deal. The start of the construction, according to the MoU, was dependent on the conclusion of negotiations, which had been slated for 5 July. Under the plan, each new refinery will be able to process around 250,000 barrels of oil a day, potentially meeting Nigeria's estimated need of 750,000 barrels per day over the next ten years.

Under the terms of the agreement, 80 percent of the projects cost were meant to be funded with a term loan provided by China Export Credit Insurance Corporation (SINOSURE) and a consortium of Chinese banks led by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world's largest bank.

The project was envisaged to add 750,000 barrels per day of extra refining capacity to Nigeria's current 445,000 barrel per day refining capacity as well as stem the flood of imported refined products into Nigeria.

The parties had agreed to build two Greenfield 300,000 barrels per day refineries one each in Lagos and Bayelsa and a 150,000 b/d refining plant in Kogi and a gas refining/petrochemical plant based on the gas pipeline network envisaged under the Gas Master Plan. The estimated cost of all four projects had been put at $28.5 billion in which NNPC was to foot only 20 percent of the cost as equity contribution.

Initial request for the extension of the MoU was turned down by the CSCEC on condition that any such decision must be approved by its board. The foreign firm had also categorically stated that securing the loans for all the projects would be difficult in view of numerous requests for project financing from the Chinese Government from other African countries.

The letter for extension of the MoU was signed by the Group General Manager, Greenfield Refineries Engineering and Technology Directorate, at the NNPC, Mr. Adebayo Ibirogba.

He gave the update of the feasibility studies for the three refineries as follows; that detailed feasibility study for Lagos refinery would take place in July, 2011, pre-feasibility study for Bayelsa refinery in July, 2011 and that of Kogi Refinery in July, 2011. He also stated that detailed feasibility studies for Bayelsa and Kogi refineries as well as executive summary report for all the 3 refineries would be ready in October this year. The corporation also stated that Wood Mackenzie and Foster Wheeler were working as joint Consultants on all three reports.

Private Refineries
National Daily investigation has equally uncovered the fact that the majority of the 22 private refineries licensed by the Federal Government are having an uphill task meeting the requirement for licence renewal. The challenges, it was gathered, range from funding to difficulty in reaching concrete agreements with potential partners/investors.

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) revealed that only nine of the proposed refineries still have valid licences after the government agency compulsorily and generally revoked them for “lack of performance” in March 2007.

The decision to revoke the licences, according to government, was taken after an appraisal, which showed that none of the operators had concrete arrangement for full takeoff. But the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) said any of the de-licensed operators could reapply.

Applicants were to meet new conditions, including paying of other fees, “since whatever payment that may have been made for the old licenses has expired with the revocation.”

Findings suggest that most of the operators, indeed, intensified efforts to reclaim their licences. So far, only moves by nine of them had been successful.

The owners have variously lamented lack of access to funds to execute the capital intensive projects.

Mr. Sunny Okoye, a director in Orient Refinery which name is not among the nine, said the company license was not revoked.

“Of course, we still have our licence intact,” he said. “I don't know about that (alleged revocation). What I know is that our own (license) is valid. Ours never entered that mode of cancellation.

In 2009, at the proposed Nsugbe site of the Orient Refinery, a layout was being set on the expanse land for what the stakeholders at the time said was the eventual arrival of the “prefabricated” structure.

But not much progress has been recorded since then. “The key point is completion of the funding process. This thing requires external funding, however you look at it, because it is capital intensive,” Okoye said.

The officer in charge of refineries at the DPR, Mr. A. O Adeleke, explained that Orient is not currently in the list of substantive licencees for private refineries.

Adeleke explained that only few of the refineries were “active and prospective and we are sure that something can come out of them.”
“The main issue,” he said, “is funding, not technology,” because “refinery business is capital intensive.”

“After that of 2007,” he explained, the DPR “has not done any kind of general revocation. They (the refineries) know when their licences expired, and, naturally, if anyone comes to us to validate, we guide him accordingly.”

Reacting to claims that some of the licences do not stand revoked, Adeleke retorted: “They can't even construct. They will come to us. We do have such requests. They come to validate, to check whether the licences can still be used; and we always guide them appropriately.”

An oil industry analyst informed that the Federal Government is merely paying lip service to and know exactly how to resolve the unbecoming issue of fuel importation and the deplorable state of the local refineries.

According to him, most of these refineries where our crude is taken for refining are owned by former and past Nigerian leaders and businessmen who have access to the corridors of power.

There is also the bunkering business where billions of dollars worth of crude oil are being illegally lifted by the day, this is the main reason behind prominent Nigerian's refusal to let the local refineries work to optimum capacity.

Currently, Nigeria's four refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna, with combined capacity to refine 445,000 barrels a day, are operating far below their capacity utilisation.



http://www.nationaldailyngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1839:fuel-subsidy-fg-insincerity-stalls-new-refinery-projects&catid=306:business-news&Itemid=561

Allison-Madueke is now a disgraced Nigerian as some of us predicted would be the case in the end. Of what good is material wealth when you destroy many, many other human beings acquiring such wealth? You steal enough to ensure you and your entire extended family can fly by private jet yet the trade-off of your callous thievery is that other Nigerians are deprived of the functional joy of even owning a bicycle. If a thesis has to be written about the wickedness of man towards his fellow man then Nigeria would be the perfect nation to supply research and human material.