Month: August 2020

Why I picked Black woman as Running mate – US Presidential candidate Biden opens up

Tim Bauer

  The Democratic Candidate for the United States forthcoming Presidential election, Joe Biden has given reasons he picked Kamala Harris, a black woman, as his running mate. The choice made by Biden has made Harris, the California senator, the first Black and South Asian American woman to run on a major political party’s presidential ticket. “I’ve decided that Kamala Harris is the best person to help me take this fight to Donald Trump and Mike Pence and then to lead this nation starting in January 2021,” the presumptive Democratic presidential…

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UNILAG Governing Council, Senate issue conflicting orders on VC’s ‘sack’ as bickering degenerates

Damilola Olonade

  The Governing Council of one of top universities in Nigeria, the University of Lagos, UNILAG, on Wednesday announced the removal of Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe as the vice-chancellor of the institution. The Senate of the University, less than one hour after, declared that Ogundipe remained the VC of the University. Both the Governing Council and the  Senate made their positions known in two separate statements sent to newsmen. According to the statement from the Council, Professor Ogundipe was removed following the council’s meeting held at the headquarters of the National…

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It’s Official, Nigeria devalues Naira, currency now N380 to $1

Tim Bauer

Nigeria, Africa’s biggest crude oil exporter, has officially devalued its currency, Naira, against the dollars. The country’s apex bank, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which announced the devaluation of the official exchange rate for the second time this year, sank Naira value by N20. Information on the website of the central bank reveals the CBN adjusted the official exchange rate to N380/$1 from N360.1/$1. The adjustment occurred on Thursday August 6th 2020. This suggest the CBN may have unified the exchange rate in line with the promise made by Godwin Emefiele, the…

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Resignation spree rocks MRS Oil managment as MD, Director exit same day

Precious Ibekwe

  The Managing Director of MRS Oil Nigeria Plc, Mrs Priscilla Thorpe-Monclus, and Director, Mr Christopher Okorie have resigned appointment with Company, effective August 5, 2020. The Oil marketing giant, which confirmed the resignation of Thorpe-Monclus with effect from August 5, 2020, said that it had subsequently appointed Mr Marco Storari as the Managing Director in an acting capacity. The oil firm also announced the resignation of Mr Christopher Okorie, one of its directors, also with effect from August 5, 2020. The disclosure was made in a notification by the…

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What Laing, ExxonMobil Nigeria new CEO said about firm’s rumoured Exit plan one year ago

Efe Wellington

  The United States super Oil major, ExxonMobil, has announced the appointment of Richard Laing, as the new Chairman and Managing Director of its 3 affiliate firms in Nigeria with effect from August 1, 2020. Laing, before his new role announced in a statement by the Manager Media and Communications, ExxonMobil, Mr. Ogechukwu Udeagha, on Saturday, August 8, 2020, in Eket, Akwa Ibom State, has a view on the rumoured exit plan by the company from Nigeria. On April 2019, the new helmsman who was then the Executive Director and…

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Mourn or Mock: Obasanjo’s letter on late Political ally, Kashamu, sets tongues wagging

Damilola Olonade

A letter written by former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, on his former political ally who reportedly died of COVID-19, Buruji Kashamu, has set the social media on fire figuratively with a lot of people from other countries in Africa asking questions on whether the letter was to condemn the deceased or to condole with his family. The late Kashamu was Ogun State former Governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), same party through which Obasanjo ruled Nigeria for eight years. In a message entitled, ‘Letter of condolence,’ addressed…

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NNPC, CNOOC, SAPETRO End 14-year Spat in OML130 $2.3bn stake’s acquisition

Tim Bauer

  Resolution to Unlock about $510million of Gas Revenue – Kyari The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has reached an accord with its partners, China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) and South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO), to settle a tax dispute that arose from the $2.3bn acquisition of a 45 per cent stake in Oil Mining Lease 130 by CNNOC from SAPETRO in 2006. The Corporation declared in a statement to Platforms  Africa  that this move was in its bid to meet the target of revving up production to 3million barrels per…

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How UBA, Afrexim, Union Bank others’ll be repaid $1.5bn Oil Pre-Export loans by NNPC

ADEOLA YUSUF

Facts have emerged on how the United Bank for Africa (UBA)-led consortium of Nigerian commercial and international lenders involved in a $1.5 billion Pre-Export Finance Facility for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its upstream subsidiary, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) will be repaid. Other participants in the NNPC deal include Standard Chartered Bank, Afrexim Bank, Union Bank and two oil trading companies, Vitol and Matrix. “They would be repaid from an allocation of 30,000 barrels per day of NPDC’s crude oil,” a source close to the deal…

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Tanzania bans Kenya Airways from flying into country as bickering worsens

Aoko Benjamin

Tanzania has slammed a ban on Kenya Airways from flying into the country as bickering between the two East African countries worsened. The Exclusion comes after Nairobi announced passengers from Tanzania would not be allowed to enter Kenya. The Tanzanian Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA), which declared that Kenya Airways flights were being banned “on a reciprocal basis,” maintained that this came after the Kenyan government decided against including Tanzania in a list of countries whose passengers would be allowed to enter Kenya when commercial flights resumed on Saturday following the…

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A Searchlight on Shell and Social Investment in Nigeria

Precious Ibekwe

In 2019, Shell’s Nigerian businesses – SPDC, SNEPCo and SNG – said they made direct social investments of $40 million in Nigeria, making the country the largest concentration of social investment spending in the Shell Group. These investments were in Access to affordable healthcare; Supporting education; Enterprise support; Accelerating access to energy; and Assistance and safety. Aside from this, the company said in The Nigeria Briefing Notes, community-driven programmes since 2006 worth $252 million while the numbers of Mobile Health Ouitreach Beneficiaries since the start has hit 667,000. This is…

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