Tag Archives: IBE

Jordan Ibe Eyes Nigeria Call-Up After Being Snubbed By England

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England-born Nigerian winger Jordon Ibe is ready to pledge his international allegiance to Nigeria after being repeatedly overlooked by his preferred England, it has been claimed.

The former Liverpool player, 20, who now plays for Bournemouth, initially snubbed pleas to play for the Super Eagles but is now ready to make a U-turn as England are not interested in him anymore.

According to mirror.co.uk, a source close to the Nigerian Football Federation said: “Jordon is willing to listen to what we have to offer.

“We are hoping he finds the project enticing enough to dump England where he is a youth international and play for Nigeria at senior level.”

Ibe was openly courted by former Super Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh, who even travelled to Liverpool to meet with the player and his representatives.

But the youngster,  who was then rated as a huge prospect at Anfield, was bent on featuring for England.

Oliseh later confirmed that Ibe had opted for England, the ex-Nigeria coach tweeting at the time: “Jordon Ibe’s family informed me by telephone call that he was giving priority to an England call-up. We wish them well.”

Since that time, Ibe’s stock has fallen rapidly, losing his Liverpool place and having to make the switch to Bournemouth with an England spot no longer on the horizon.

Ibe has played for England at all levels from under-18s and has four under-21 caps.

He was reportedly the victim of a £25,000 robbery on November 6 this year as he was understood to have been hit by a vehicle containing four men, who threatened him with a knife before taking off with his watch .

Source: Mirror

We’d Review Our Current Template Before Any Fuel Price Increase – Kachikwu

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Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum resources, says the federal government would review its current pricing template before it can implement any increase in fuel price.

The minister explained that some of the elements of the pricing template still lies within the government’s control, and can be amended to keep retail prices within its current band.

Speaking in Abuja over the weekend, Kachikwu said he was not aware that Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) mega-stations had increased their pump price of petrol to N145 per litre, from N141.

“First, I am not aware that the NNPC has increased its price. I need to look into that, it’s a bit of surprise for me, because there are processes in doing this,” he said.

“If they have done that, it means they are doing it wrongly. Let me find out what the facts are. Having said that, the reality is that what we did at the point where we did some liberalisation was to enable the market float the price.

“Obviously, as you look at foreign exchange differentiations and all that, it would impact the landing cost of petrol.

“The worst thing you could do is to go back to the era where we basically were fixing prices. What we ought to be doing is watching prices, making sure that they are not taking advantage of the common man.”

Currently, NPA, NIMASA charge N1.06 on every litre of petrol coming into Nigeria, but Kachikwu suggested that the government would rather cut its own charges in the template first, before embarking on any increase.

“One of the things I think we had hoped to do, which we should still do before we embark on any price increase is to work on those templates. There are still areas that are within government control.

“These are payments to the Ministry of Transport and the rest, payments to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) that are foreign-currency denominated.

“We are working on the possibility of being able to shift that out so that you still can modulate the prices within where it is right now. But I would hold a conversation with the industry and see how it is going.”

“At the end of the day, I think PPPRA is the agency that has the authority to say it is time the templates does justify some level of movement, otherwise you have a crisis of individual decisions on pricing.”

Ibe Kachikwu Promises End To Petrol Scarcity In Two Days

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The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu , yesterday, assured Nigerians that the fuel crisis that appears to be crippling the nation’;s economy would end within the next two days, while he promised to work with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in addressing the foreign exchange challenges confronting major oil marketers.

Speaking during a tour of petrol stations in Abuja, Kachikwu apologised to Nigerians for the pains brought about by the scarcity, while he stated that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, deploys 300 truckloads of fuel to Abuja on a daily basis, while supply has also been increased across the country.

He said, “We have enough coming in. Obviously the two days of strike hit us very badly but we are flooding in, getting an average of 300 trucks a day into Abuja; it’s going to take a bit of while for the queues to finish but we are hoping that between the next one-two days we should have the queues all disappear because we are continuing to pump in, while a lot of the stations are open 24 hours a day.

“I apologise to Nigerians for all the pains; nobody wants to see people spend two hours on the fuel queue. The president is very bothered about the sight of people waiting for fuel. “ He said talks had begun with the CBN to help major oil marketers in Nigeria access foreign exchange to import petrol into the country.” He said,

“We are doing everything we can; NNPC is taking the whole nation on its shoulders while majors are really not bringing in product; but we are working long term solutions to majors to now begin to go back to importation lane and be able to service their own outlets rather than us servicing our outlets, independents, majors and servicing everybody; its a lot of wear and tear on our capabilities as a status.

“Long term obviously we have got to systemically look at how do you prepare this nation in circumstances where there are emergencies to be able to respond; we are obviously not getting that as well as we should.

Large Oil Bunkers Depot Discovered In Lagos

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An expanse of land hidden at Roberts Island, a village off Lagos waters near Atlas Cove, where oil bunkers perforate oil pipelines and steal oil products, was yesterday discovered and exposed by a team led by the Petroleum Minister, Ibe Kachiukwu.

A search around the place showed equipment used by the oil bunkers to perforate oil pipelines and then store the products in the kegs pictured above.

The kegs and the tools used for vandalization were all found buried in the ground. It appeared all
dwellers in the community had a role in the vandalism as not one of them reported the matter to the police.

Dr Kachikwu could not hide his disappointment as he spoke to newsmen after the discovery.

“I must say that I was very disillusion to find this discovery but much as I was happy that it was found, it just took a lot of wind off my sail in the sense of what next and who knows how many more have not been discovered.? At the end of the day, the responsibility for protecting the assets of Nigerians must lie in the hands of Nigerians. There is no magic that I have that I am going to be able to deliver zero incident environment, given the number of attacks we are getting everywhere but at the end of the day, communities like these ones must begin to rise up and say this is just not right.”?he said