How Nigeria fares as Saudi Arabia, Qatar & Russia Agrees to Freeze Oil Output

Crude oil prices have been on the rise in the past 24 hours, settling at $34 on Tuesday but the rise in prices may not be good news for Nigeria, as the country may be forced to under-produce and renege on its 2016 targets.

Following an agreement between Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar and Venezuela to freeze output at January 2016 levels, and speak with Iran to cut expected increase in output to tackle global oversupply, crude oil prices have been on the rise in the past 24 hours, settling at $34 on Tuesday. 

 

It was reported that oil prices initially rose to $35.55 per barrel as the news of the 'secret meeting' hit the airwaves, but it finally settled at $34 as expectations for an immediate deal did not materialise. 

 

The rise in prices may not be good news for Nigeria, as the country may be forced to under-produce and renege on its 2016 targets. The 2016 Budget sets an optimistic oil production target of 2.2 million barrels per day, but its January production, according to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), was 1.9 million. 

 

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, in an interview on Sunday, said Nigeria was looking at raising its production levels to 2.5 million barrels per day – a feat that may be impossible following these new revelations. 

 

It was gathered that for Nigeria to meet its budget expectations, it must produce 2.2 million barrels per day, and sell at a $38 per barrel. 

 

Saudi Arabian oil minister, Ali Al-Naimi, who spoke at a news conference in Doha, Qatar, said freezing oil producers’ output will be adequate to improve the oil market. 

 

"Freezing now at the January level is adequate for the market, we believe. We recognise today the supply is going down because of current prices. We also recognise that demand is on the rise.

"The reason we agree to a potential freeze of production is simply, it is the beginning of a process which we will assess in the next few months and decide if we need other steps to stabilise and improve the market. 

"This is very important, we don’t want significant gyrations in prices, we want to meet demand. We want a stable oil price."

 

Meanwhile, Venezuela’s oil minister, Eulogio Del Pino, said more talks would take place with Iran and Iraq on Wednesday, to get other producers on board.

 

 

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Buhari Admits the Flaws of His Administration

President Muhammadu Buhari has finally admitted that Nigeria is in a state of disorganization and pressure as a result of falsely relying on mono-economic product.

President Muhammadu Buhari has finally admitted that Nigeria is in a state of disorganization because of the rapid drop in oil price after his government had relied on mono-economic product. He made the disclosure on Tuesday.

 

According to a statement credited to his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President spoke while receiving a team of British members of Parliament led by Nigerian-born Hon. Chi Onwurah at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

 

Buhari lamented the countries misfortune as the price of oil continues to drop and the sudden drop in the value of naira. He begged that all Nigerians home and abroad to join hands in rebuilding Nigeria.

 

“We are disorganised because we relied on mono-economic product for too long, and now that oil price is down, we have to go back to agriculture and solid minerals. Tin, columbite, cocoa, groundnut, and others, used to be the basis of our economy, but then, oil came, and everybody began to look for cheap money. Now, we need to start all over again,” the President reportedly told his guests.

 

Onwurah, who is the MP for Newcastle, said the team was in the country “to promote positive engagement between Nigeria and the UK, since we are stronger when we build on ties of the past.”

 

She gave the president the assurance that her team are in Nigerian to help support in anyway possible. She placed emphasis on promotion of trade and diversification of the economy. Onwurah came in the company of the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Paul Arkwright.

 

 

Tori News

The 7 Controversial Items of the 2016 #Budget of Corruption!

President Muhammadu Buhari presented the proposed 2016 budget on December 22, 2016, naming it 'the budget of change', but Nigerians have now re-christened the document 'budget of corruption.' 

While some of the public concerns about suspicious and fraudulent allocations are valid, the presidency has said that the president is open to correction, admitting that the budget is not perfect. With N6.08 trillion proposed for the 2016 budgetary year, the budget is seen as an expansionary one aimed at revamping the economy. 

 

From close observations, here are seven reasons why the budget does not deserve to be passed by the legislature.

 

1. NATIONAL ASSEMBLY’s 'UNCHANGED' ALLOCATION

Nothing betrays the budget of change as much as the N115 billion for the national assembly, with little or no explanation on how the money would be spent. 

 

The national assembly under former president Goodluck Jonathan had a one-line item for the national assembly, which was never explained to the public in budgetary terms. That tradition has crept into the 'change' government and should not be allowed to thrive. 

 

The lawmakers Nigerians trusted with votes to ensure oversight in public financing should not be above the same oversight. The national assembly should show the constituents of its one-line N115 billion. 

 

2. STATE HOUSE CLINIC VS FEDERAL HOSPITALS 

University College Hospital (UCH), Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital and Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital will be spending N1.27 billion on capital projects. 

 

The state house clinic, which services the president, the vice president, lawmakers and a few other Nigerians, would spend N3.2 billion on capital projects – more than double of that of the allocations to the five leading federal hospitals put together. Buhari promised to cater to the wellbeing of the poor, but this budget is destined to achieve the exact opposite. 

 

3. WEBSITE AND SOFTWARE BILLIONS 

According to the proposed budget, the federal ministry of solid minerals would spend N795 million on website update. The federal ministry of education would also be expending N258 million on the maintenance of its website and provision of antivirus and portal design and development for Nigeria education management information system (NEMIS). 

 

In just five items, the federal government is proposing to spend N1.16 billion on websites. The state house says it would spend N268 million on computer software acquisition and N55 million for its installation. The state house medical centre would also be spending fresh N29 million on software acquisition. 

 

The National Intelligence Agency and federal ministry of foreign and intergovernmental affairs are also planning to spend N4.10 billion and N1 billion on computer software. Are websites and software really that expensive? 

 

4. UNREALISTIC $38 OIL BENCHMARK 

The international oil market has been doing well lately, with the basket price of crude oil from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) currently at $29 against $25 in January 2016. 

 

As at Tuesday, a barrel of Nigeria’s Bonny Light, according to CBN figures, traded at $32.83per barrel, about $5 less than the proposed benchmark. With Iran complaining that its oil storage reserves are getting full, its supply to the global market may increase and further reduce oil prices, which inevitably increase our record deficit of N2.2 trillion. It is better to put our own fate in our hands, rather than in the uncertain crude oil market. 

 

5. VANDALISM AND OIL PRODUCTION LEVELS 

According to OPEC, Nigeria’s oil production stood slightly above 1.8 million barrel per day in 2015. The budget, in this case, also has an overly optimistic stance of producing 2.2 million barrels per day in 2016. 

 

Recent vandalism in the Niger Delta is sending ripples that the 2015 1.8 million barrels’ mark may not even be achieved. Besides vandalism, falling oil prices are pushing the compulsory shutdown of some deep on-shore oil fields, with high cost of production, limiting production to cheap off shore fields. 

 

This would in turn reduce production. With lower prices, lower production levels, the N820 billion in oil revenues, expected to fund part of the budget may just be a mirage. 

 

6. THE RATS FEASTING ON THE BUDGET 

On Monday, new revelations hit the Nigerian media space, with Isaac Adewole, minister of health, disowning the budget proposal for his ministry, saying it was 10 percent less than what his team proposed. 

 

Adewole’s presentation of a new budget for the health ministry shows that the initial budget being worked upon by the national assembly had been altered by “rats”. The budget is a 1,800-page document. God knows how much work the rats have done on other ministries. 

7. VILLA RENT AND EXCESSIVE SPENDING ON CARS 

Until now, Nigerians thought the presidential villa in Abuja and the state house in Marina Lagos was owned by the government, but the budget seems to say otherwise with N30.8 million billed for residential rent at the villa. 

 

Is the Buhari administration really planning to pay residential rent? To who? For what? Those questions need answers before the budget can be ratified consistently with the change mantra. 

 

At the presidential media chat in December, the president had said he did not need new cars, adding that the ones at his disposal were good for the “next 10 years”. Despite this, N699 million was slated for the purchase of new vehicles for the state house, which got N421 million for the same, just last year. 

 

Call it the change budget, Mafia-inflated budget, rats-infested budget, or budget of corruption – no name justifies the startling allocations in the Pandora box called Budget 2016.

Boko Haram Attacks again, Killed More Than 50 in Borno State

Also read: Boko Haram 'Technically' Defeated?


Latest reports reveal that Boko Haram members have unleashed mayhem on civilians in the north-eastern part of Nigeria.

SaharaReporters has learned that two separate attacks by terrorist group Boko Haram have killed more than fifty people since Monday, according to preliminary estimates.

Sources speaking with the online news platform confirmed that the two assaults by Boko Haram took place on Monday February 8th and yesterday on February 9th.

According to sources speaking with a correspondent, female suicide bombers murdered forty-five people and injured dozens yesterday in a Borno Independent Displaced People's camp. The correspondent could not obtain official numbers of dead or injured at the time of publication.

Boko Haram terrorists also raided communities in the Damboa Local Government Area (LGA) on Monday, killing at least seven people. News of this attack is just surfacing because of poor phone network in that area.

 

 

Tori News

Nigeria has got a Touring President: Buhari to embark on 3-Nation Tour of Egypt, Saudi Arabia & Qatar

President Muhammadu Buhari is on his way back to Nigeria from the United Kingdom following an abrupt five-day vacation he began in London last week.

Following a five-day vacation he began in London last week,  President Muhammadu Buhari is on his way back to Nigeria from the United Kingdom as sources revealed his Presidential jet departed London for Abuja at exactly 13:45hrs GMT.

 

It can be recalled that after participating in a Syria donor conference in London early last week, the president abruptly embarked on the five-day vacation.

 

According to SaharaReporters, his handlers merely inserted him into the Syria conference as a cover for a medical visit to his doctors, as it is still unclear why his healthcare is shrouded in secrecy.

 

It was gathered that the President stayed at an apartment in the Knightsbridge area of London, but sent the bulk of his aides back to Nigeria. Close sources disclosed to SR that following meetings with his doctors over two days, he rested in the apartment until today.  

 

Though it was speculated in the media as rumours that the president was sighted in Saudi Arabia, SR confirmed that the president did not leave London until today.

 

The commander-in-chief is expected to be in Nigeria for the next two weeks, but will resume his foreign tour on February 24, if everything goes as planned, with a three-nation state visit to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

 

While in Saudi Arabia, President Buhari is expected to perform the Umrah, as well as visit Makka and Madina.

 

 

Tori News

Former CBN Governor Criticises Buhari's Financial Policy

The Emir of Kano has accused Buhari's financial policies of encouraging corruption in the country. 

Muhammad Sanusi II, the emir of Kano and the immediate past governor of the Central Bank (CBN), says President Muhammadu Buhari’s endorsement of the CBN foreign exchange policy encourages corruption.

 

Also Read: How Buhari's Govt will Affect CBN: Opinion

 Lauding Buhari’s removal of “wasteful and corrupt fuel subsidies”, Sanusi said the current forex policy endorsed by the president encourages similar rent seeking and corruption which trailed the subsidy regime.

“He (Buhari) has put an end to the [crude] swap regime which is also one side of rent-seeking and corruption . . . he has made the NNPC start producing accounts, so there is greater transparency,” Sanusi told Financial Times.

“These measures are good for the economy and display strong political will to change the system. But getting monetary and fiscal policies right will be crucial for broader progress in structural reform.”

Financial Times quoted the emir as saying the president’s anti-corruption stance was “totally inconsistent” with the foreign exchange regime he supported, adding that it “encourages corruption and rent-seeking similar to the fuel subsidy regime”.

A must read:Buhari and Jonathan, Who wastes more?

The emir, who was CBN governor from 2009 to 2014, expressed his displeasure with the monetary policy regime which he said has “very obvious drawbacks that far outweigh its dubious benefits”.

“Unfortunately, because the exchange rate is right out there in front now, monetary policy is being seen as the barometer for broader economic thinking,” he said.

“It is sad that on this one policy you get it so wrong that you risk taking away attention from everything else you are doing.”

Sanusi who resisted devaluation during his own tenure as CBN governor said he did so because he “had reserves of over $40bn and an oil price at over $110,” admitting that there are no easy ways out of the current situation and “devaluation is a bitter pill”.

The country’s economic woes were now being exacerbated, with the currency peg and restrictions in the foreign exchange market creating “a lot of speculative and precautionary demand,” Sanusi argued.

 

 

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Udom, Ikpeazu wins as Supreme Court upholds their election

– The Supreme Court has passed a verdict on the last gubernatorial election which held in Akwa Ibom

– The Apex court has validated the election of Governor Udom Emmanuel
Governor Emmanuel Udom will stay on as governor of Akwa Ibom state, emerging reports suggests.

The Supreme Court sitting in Abuja On Wednesday, February 3, ruled in favor of Governor Udom Emmanuel.

The ruling follows a long legal battle between Governor Emmanuel’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and his opponent in the All Progressives Congress (APC) Umana Okon Umana stretching back to the dramatic April 11th, 2015 gubernatorial elections.

According to Sahara Reporters, the ruling by the apex court follows the December 18th Appeal Court ruling nullifying the election won by Governor Udom.

Both the PDP and APC Parties in Akwa Ibom state submitted appeals for either a partial or total re-run election exercise with both citing violence and pervasive polling irregularities.

In the same vein, the Supreme Court has upheld Okezie Ikpeazu’s election as the governor of Abia state.

The court gave the ruling validating the April 11 governorship election on Wednesday night but did not provide reasons for its judgment.

The court reversed the decision of the Court of Appeal, which nullified Mr. Ikpeazu’s election on December 31, 2015.

The Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Ikpeazu of the PDP won the lawfully cast votes in the April 11, 2015 election.

Premium Times reports that the court said full details of the ruling would be provided on Friday, February 26.

It will be recalled that the Court of Appeal, sitting in Owerri, had on December 31 removed Mr Ikpeazu as governor of the South-east state, the court also declared Alex Otti of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)  the winner of the April 11 and April 25 supplementary elections in the state.
Meanwhile, supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom state had earlier taken over the Ibom Plaza in Uyo, while awaiting the Supreme Court judgment on the governorship election in the state.

The supporters were chanting in support of their party and “celebrating” the expected end of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

They were hopeful that the Supreme Court would uphold the decision of the Court of Appeal to nullify the governorship election and remove Governor Udom, who was declared winner of the April 11 poll.

The Punch however, reports, that the Supreme Court verdict buried their hope, as witnesses say the supporters go home with heads hung low.



naij.com

Burundi Violence Continues as One is Killed

Burundi sank into a crisis last year after President Pierre Nkurunziza ran for a third term of office, which he secured in a disputed vote.

At least one person was killed in a grenade attack on a bar in Burundi on Monday night, witnesses said, in more violence since the African Union backed away from sending in peacekeepers without the government's consent.

 

The grenades went off in the Butere neighbourhood of the capital Bujumbura on Monday night.

"One (person) was killed instantly," said Jean de Dieu, who was near the scene of attack.

Police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye confirmed two grenades were detonated and eight people were wounded.

 

Burundi sank into a crisis last year after President Pierre Nkurunziza ran for a third term of office, which he secured in a disputed vote.

 

African leaders, who met in Addis Ababa at the weekend, agreed to send a team to try to persuade Nkurunziza to accept a 5,000-strong force after he rejected the plan and said any such force would be treated as an invasion.

 

The Butere neighbourhood was one of the flashpoints during the height of the violent protest against Nkurunziza's decision, along with the neighbouring Mutakura and Cibitoke areas.

 

When the peacekeeping plan was announced in December by the African Union's peace and security council, officials had said they could invoke an article of the AU's charter that allows it to act even without a government's agreement.

 

But African leaders showed wariness of such a move at the summit and instead decided to seek approval first.

 

One Western diplomat said he understood that the leaders had agreed to request that the U.N. Security Council pass a resolution that could threaten sanctions if Burundi refused.

 

 

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Multiple Explosions Rock Benin City! Is Boko Haram still Technically Defeated?

– Multiple explosions recorded in Benin City, the Edo state capital
– Four residential buildings were affected
– Tension on the rise in Oshiomhole’s state

Four residential buildings were on Tuesday destroyed in a multiple explosions that occurred in parts of Benin City, capital of Edo state.

The first explosion was said to have occurred at about 2pm around Oka primary school area, close to the junction popularly known as ‘three house’, off Upper Sakponba road in Ikpoba-Okha local government area of the state.
‎
It was gathered that the first explosion occurred when a patent medicine dealer, Elue Chinedu, who operated from one of the buildings, was burning the refuse he swept from the building at a refuse dump.

‎Operatives of Edo state anti-bomb squad and anti riot policemen, led by Musa Uba, a deputy commissioner of police, were said to have been promptly drafted to the place to secure and cordon off the area.

Another deafening explosion however went off at about 6.16pm, when the anti-bomb squad was trying to detonate other explosives discovered.

Louvre blades, PVC ceilings, doors, aluminum roofing sheets, bore hole rubber tanks and part of the front perimeter fence of the buildings were shattered.

This development heightened tension and anxiety in the entire area as people scampered in different directions for safety as the people apparently suspected that men of the dreaded Boko Haram were responsible for the blasts.

One of the occupants of one of the affected buildings and a woman who was passing by were said to have sustained serious injuries from the explosion, but no live was lost.

It was gathered that suspected kidnappers had lived in one of the buildings in the past, but left the house two years ago when security operatives raided the area.

A 70-year-old woman, Hannah Francis, who lives directly oppose the scene of the explosion, said she heard a deafening sound and had come out to find out what happened, only to see a thick, dark smoke from the building.

Narrating his ordeal, the patient medicine dealer, Elue Chinedu, said he rented the entire building about nine months ago.

He disclosed that after an electrician carried out some minor repairs in his living room, he decided to sweep and burn the refuse at a nearby refuse dump.

“An electrician came to work in the house and I said let me use the opportunity to clean the compound. I gathered the waste papers together and wanted to burn it. As I was burning the papers, I said let me go and buy ice cream. That was when the thing exploded and I sustained some injuries,” he said.

Chinedu was later whisked away by the police.

Efforts to get the comment of the state commissioner of police, Chris Ezike were not successful.‎‎
This latest development is sure to send shivers down the spines of Edo indigenes as reports of bombing are seldom heard in the state, especially in the capital and historic city of Benin.


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Iowa Caucus Report: Trump dealt blow by Cruz

 

Texas Senator Ted Cruz has won the Iowa Republican caucuses, the first vote to choose US presidential candidates.

 

"Tonight is a victory for courageous conservatives," he declared, to great applause, as he railed against Washington, lobbyists and the media.

He took 28% of the Republican vote, beating his rival, the frontrunner Donald Trump, and Marco Rubio.

Votes in the Democratic race are still being counted, with Hillary Clinton's camp saying they have narrowly won.

• Live updates: Iowa votes

The aim of the primary and caucus races in the coming months is to determine which candidates will stand for the two main parties in the November presidential election.

Iowa caucus results

Republican vote, 99% reported:

• Ted Cruz: 28%, eight delegates
• Donald Trump: 24%, seven delegates
• Marco Rubio: 23%, seven delegates
• Ben Carson: 9%, three delegates
• Rand Paul, Jeb Bush: one delegate each. Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, Jim Gilmore, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich and Rick Santorum: no delegates

Democratic vote, 99% reported:

• Hillary Clinton: 50%, 22 delegates
• Bernie Sanders 50%, 21 delegates
• Martin O'Malley, 1%, no delegates

 

There was no such ambiguity from Republican victor Mr Cruz, the 45-year-old conservative, who is disliked by the Republican Party leadership.

"Iowa has sent notice that the Republican nominee and the next president of the United States will not be chosen by the media, will not be chosen by the Washington establishment," he said.

With this result Mr Cruz now has the momentum to survive what looks to be an uphill battle among the more moderate voters in New Hampshire, and then win over the deeply conservative, evangelical voters of Southern states that dominate the primary calendar in the following weeks.

It appears increasingly likely that a showdown for Mr Cruz looms on the horizon with the surprise third-place finisher in Iowa, Senator Marco Rubio. And Mr Trump - even if his supporters did not turn out in the numbers expected - will surely remain a factor.


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