Tag Archives: Looms

$2bn Arms Deal: Sack Looms Over Emefiele- Report

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Ongoing investigations into how $2.1bn meant for the procurement of arms was squandered may lead to the premature exit of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.

A source in the presidency said that circumstances that surrounded the appointment of Emefiele, including recent revelations about movement of the funds, and his involvement in the unexplained presence of two former heads of commercial banks, when President Buhari hosted members of the international business community in London, are being counted against the governor.

“Already,” the source said, “a small team of legal and financial experts has been directed to weigh the various implications the removal of the CBN chief could trigger, especially to prevent a similar backlash, as when the past government engineered the untimely retirement of former CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.”

The source explained that the team was set up to examine all sides to the issue, adding that the presidency is worried that such enormous amounts of money were carted away from CBN as if “it was in Idi Amin’s era.”

“One thing you should known about Buhari is that before he takes a crucial decision that involves prominent appointees, he sets up a small committee to investigate the issues and report back to him”

The source said the embarrassing presence of the two top bankers at the London meeting infuriated the President to the extent he approached the duo, asking how they were invited, and informing them that he personally handled the selection of who attended.

“Checks revealed the possibility that since the well known bankers added their voices in recommending Emefiele for the CBN job, he (Emefiele) might have hinted the two, convinced their clout would open doors for them.

“There is also information that the current CBN governor is remotely related to the immediate past Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy (CME) in President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.”

Another source disclosed that should the plan to have the CBN governor resign sail through, a replacement might be sought from the South East or South South geopolitical zones to avoid outrage and cries of marginalisation by the present administration.

“We cannot speculate on the possible candidates but former President Olusegun Obasanjo is believed to have dropped some hints to President Buhari about the right calibre of persons, including Professor Chukwuma Soludo and Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili.”

Credit: Guardian

Fuel Scarcity Looms Over Non-Payment Of Subsidy

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The return of long queues at filling stations across Lagos metropolis and some other cities like Abeokuta, Ogun State and Ilorin, Kwara State may have been triggered by the Federal Government’s alleged delay in meeting subsidy payment obligations to oil marketers.

It was gathered yesterday that the fuel marketers were yet to receive subsidy payments which amount to over N300 billion.

Meanwhile, a fresh wind of change has begun blowing in the process of crude oil transactions as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday announced the cancellation of the Offshore Processing Arrangement (OPA) opting for a more efficient Direct Sale-Direct Purchase (DSDP) alternative.

The new DSDP policy, which allows for the direct sale of crude oil by NNPC as well as direct purchase of petroleum products from credible international refineries, would automatically eliminate the activities of middlemen in the crude oil exchange for product matrix.

Credit: Guardian

Fresh Fuel Scarcity Looms As Marketers Demand N291bn Subsidy Payment

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All have not yet settled in the over three weeks acute shortage of petrol in the country.

This time the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) is claiming that government is yet to indicate when it will pay the outstanding subsidy of about N291billion

The DAPPMA in a statement by its executive secretary, Femi Adewole, in Lagos yesterday, recalled the aftermath of the Senate Committees’ meeting with major petroleum industry stakeholders which successfully persuaded the petroleum tanker drivers (PTD), NUPENG and NARTO to call off their strike on May 25, 2015, and resume loading of fuel from the various depots that had stock.

Depot owners and other fuel importers under the ‘petroleum subsidy scheme,’ he said, were still being owed billions of naira in unpaid subsidy reimbursement, interest on delayed payment and foreign exchange differentials. This much, Adewole said, was expressed to the DAPPMA and MOMAN by the former minister of finance and coordinating minister for the economy, Mrs Okonjo Iweala, in her letter to both associations, a copy of which she also released to the Senate Committees for reference.He stated, however, that the letter did not state the timeline for the re-verification exercise which the minister instituted on the amount she disputed and also did not state the expected date of payment which the petroleum subsidy fund (PSF) participants had been clamouring for in all the meetings held with her since February 2015.

According to him, “It should be noted that this is the first time since the establishment of the petroleum subsidy fund scheme that marketers will not have ready and easy access to fuel import loans and it is also the first time that commercial banks will notify importers that based on CBN regulations, importers have attained their credit ceilings with their various banks and would have to make some refunds on the existing loans to the sector prior to being funded for petrol imports. Unfortunately the expected refund to the banks is yet to be reimbursed by the federal government.Due to debts owed transporters by marketers, who have been experiencing serious financial stress due to outstanding debts owed them by the federal government as a result of petrol imports under the petroleum subsidy scheme, the PTD, NUPENG and NARTO had at various times protested non-payment of their freight charges by withdrawing their services,” he said.

He regretted that the action of the transporters had caused some persons to insinuate that marketers are blackmailers holding the nation to ransom via a strike about which they know nothing.

“The DAPPMA’s initial assertion on petrol importers and marketers who participate in the petrol subsidy scheme and are therefore entitled to subsidy reimbursement is based on the widely circulated payment list from the Federal Ministry of Finance which was published in several newspapers. The publication detailed payees and other PSF scheme participants even when there was no payment due to them and the name of Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited was conspicuously missing,” Adewole declared.

Credit: leadership