Pipeline vandalism dropped by 28 per cent in August – NNPC

Posted on November 3, 2016 by Staff Reporter

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says pipeline vandalism across the country reduced by 28 per cent in August.

The corporation made this known in its 13th publication of Monthly Financial and Operations Report released on its website on Thursday.

According to the report, the spate of pipeline vandalism has reduced following the Federal Government and NNPC’s sustained engagements with Niger Delta militants.

“In August, 2016, there was 28.94 per cent drop in the number of pipelines vandalised points relative to July, 2016 which had up to 311 vandalised points,’’ the report stated.

On natural gas supply to power plants, the report stated that it edged up to 469 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) which equalled about 2,083 megawatts of electricity generation in August, 2016.

On refineries’ operations, it report said that the combined value of output by the three refineries “at import parity price’’ for August, 2016 was N50.19 billion.

“Associated crude plus freight cost was N39.77 billion, giving a surplus of N709.21 million after an overhead of N9.71 billion,’’ it said.

The report said that this was made possible in spite of the challenges of irregular crude supply and pipeline vandalism to the refineries.

On naira payments to the Federation Account, NNPC said it transferred N35.05 billion into the account in September from the net domestic crude oil receipt and another N1.80 billion from gas receipts.

It added that its instalment repayment of debt to the Federation Account was also done with N6.33 billion remitted as the 25th instance in the process.

“The domestic crude oil and gas receipt during the month amounted to N96.15 billion, consisting of N1.80 billion from domestic gas and the sum of N88.01 billion from domestic crude oil.

“Of the N88.01 billion receipt from crude oil, the sum of N52.96 billion (about 268.83 million dollars) was transferred to Joint Venture Cash Call (JVCC) being a first line charge.

“It also guarantees a continuous flow of revenue stream to Federation Account,” the report said.

Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Campaign Raises $143m In August

Posted on September 2, 2016 by Staff Reporter

Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign raised an eye-popping $143 million in August for her candidacy and the Democratic Party, the best showing of her campaign, her team said Thursday.

The haul allows team Clinton to begin September – and the election’s home stretch – with more than $68 million on hand.

Of the $143 million raised last month, $62 million was raised for Clinton’s campaign.

“Thanks to the 2.3 million people who have contributed to our campaign, we are heading into the final two months of the race with the resources we need to organize and mobilize millions of voters across the country,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement.

“These resources will help us to register and turnout millions of voters to elect progressive candidates across the country.”

By comparison, Barack Obama raised a total of $97 million in August 2012, including $84 million for his campaign, according to the New York Times.

Clinton throughout August participated in 37 private fundraising events in 11 states plus the capital city Washington, according to an AFP count. Most were on the West coast, home to Hollywood celebrities and Silicon Valley executives, or in the traditional Democratic donor bastions of Massachusetts and New York.

The minimum contribution required to attend the events varied from $500 to $250,000, with higher contributions equating to more exclusive access.

Again, Nigeria’s Manufacturing Index Declines In August

Posted on September 2, 2016 by Staff Reporter

The Manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) declined to 42.1 index points in August 2016, compared to 44.1 in the preceding month, indicating that the manufacturing sector declined at a faster rate during the review period.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed this in the PMI report for August that was released yesterday.

According to the report, of the 16 manufacturing sub-sectors, 15 recorded a decline in August in the following order: nonmetallic mineral products; transportation equipment; petroleum and coal products; fabricated metal products; furniture and related products; cement; appliances and components; printing and related support activities; paper products; computer and electronic products; food, beverages and tobacco products; primary metal; textile, apparel, leather and footwear; plastics and rubber products; and chemical & pharmaceutical products. The electrical equipment sub-sector remained unchanged in the review period.

Also, at 40.5 index points, the report showed that the productivity index for the manufacturing sector declined for the eighth consecutive month. It declined at a faster rate than what was recorded in July 2016.

All the 16 manufacturing sub-sectors recorded declines in productivity last month in the following order: appliances and components; plastics and rubber products; petroleum and coal products; transportation equipment; nonmetallic mineral products; computer and electronic products; primary metal; paper products; electrical equipment; cement; fabricated metal products; food, beverages and tobacco products; furniture and related products; printing and related support activities; textile, apparel, leather and footwear; and chemical and pharmaceutical products.

Meanwhile, Renaissance Capital (RenCap), a research and financial advisory firm, has revised down its 2016 growth projection for Nigeria to -1.4 per cent from -0.5 per cent.
Nigeria’s economy contracted by 2.06 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2016, compared with 2.4 per cent in the corresponding quarter of 2015.

Folorunsho Alakija Covers The August Edition Of Forbes Africa Magazine

Posted on August 2, 2016 by Staff Reporter

Mrs Folorunsho Alakija, executive vice chair of Famfa Oil one of the largest deep water oil discoveries in Nigeria with a joint partnership with international giants Chevron and Petrobras covers the August 2016 edition of Forbes Africa.

With an estimated net worth of $1.73 billion, Alakija’s rise to becoming the second richest woman of African decent behind Isabel dos Santos and the fourth richest person in Nigeria has come at an extraordinary fight against the Federal Government of Nigeria.

In her exclusive interview with Forbes Africa correspondent, Peace Hyde, Alakija tells her amazing
journey from a company secretary to building one of the most renowned fashion houses in Nigeria culminating in the experience that led her to ultimately take on the Nigerian government in an 11 year battle and win.

“There were a lot of sleepless nights and battles. Suddenly we became the plague, friends stopped picking up our calls and people were asking why we could not be content with 10 percent”, says Alakija in the exclusive interview.

Watch the exciting behind the scenes below with TY Bello below…

New PDP Leaders To Emerge August- Party

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has said that a new national chairman of the party, as well as a new BoT chair, will emerge three months after the resignation of former holders of the positions.

The secretary of the BoT, Walid Jibrin, made the disclosure on Wednesday at the National Secretariat of the PDP in Abuja after a meeting of the BoT.

The former Chairman of the Party, Ahmadu Mu’azu, resigned from office in May, citing health reasons, while the former BoT chair, Tony Anenih, followed suit shortly, to allow former President Goodluck Jonathan assume the position.

However, Mr. Jonathan declined the offer and instead the party’s NEC appointed a former national chairman, Bello Haliru, to serve as acting chairman of the BoT.

The party also approved that Mr. Mu’azu’s deputy, Uche Secondus, serve as the acting national chairman.

“Like you are aware, the appointment of the acting Chairman Is for three months and after three months we will sit again, because by our constitution the board of trustees regulates its own activities,” Mr. Jibrin said Wednesday.
He also said the BoT has the capacity to provide guidance to all the structures of the party to ensure it remains intact and “bounce back”.

He said the BoT was working closely with members of the National Working Committee and its members in the national assembly.

“We are doing our best to ensure that sanity is brought to our party, our party is going to kick again and we are going to bounce back,’’ he said.

The BoT secretary called on members of the party at the national assembly to cooperate with the BoT as it seeks to rebuild the party.

He also revealed that the party’s reconciliation committee headed by Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, is yet to submit its report to the leaders of the party because it asked for an extension of time.

He said the committee had asked for memorandum from PDP members across Nigeria and that it was planning a zonal tour across the nation to meet with select leaders and interest groups.

“We have sought for an extension for up to 10 weeks to complete our job as three weeks will not allow us to do a proper job.

“We have asked the NWC to look at it and have accepted and granted the permission to extend it to 10 weeks. I do not think we are going to exceed that 10 weeks,” he said.

Also speaking, the Acting Chairman of the BoT, Mr. Bello, stated that the party would ensure credible opposition and would produce capable leaders to fill the party’s slot at the national assembly.

“We will help the government where we think they are not doing the right thing and we will bring their attention to things that are not working,” he said.

Credit: premiumtimesng

Jailed South African Athlete, Pistorius, To Be Released August

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Staff Reporter

South African athlete, Oscar Pistorius, who was jailed for five years in 2014 for the culpable homicide of his girlfriend, will be released on probation by 21 August, South African authorities said.

Pistorius will be released after a recommendation from South Africa’s correctional services department, the BBC reported Monday. Pistorius was acquitted on murder charges. A state appeal against the ruling is due in November. South African law allows Pistorius to be released having served a sixth of his sentence.

South African Commissioner of Correctional Services Zach Modise told the BBC that the case management committee at the Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria, where Pistorius is being held, made the recommendation last week.