Business Eye

Thursday, 07 June 2012 | Administrator

Bakrie Group to invest up to $1b in Nigeria

One of Indonesia's leading conglomerates, the Bakrie Group, is planning to invest up to US$1 billion in Nigeria within the next five years through a joint venture company formed with British-Nigerian entrepreneur Ladi Delano.

The joint venture company, Bakrie Delano Africa Ltd, is planning to work in three sectors in Nigeria: oil and gas, palm oil and mining.

Delano, who is cited as the company's CEO, said that Nigeria could be a gateway for the Bakrie-Delano partne...

All subsidy payments will be thoroughly verified – Iweala

Thursday, 07 June 2012 | Administrator

Speculation that prudence in subsidy payments will cause fuel scarcity wrong

The Federal Ministry of Finance 29th May explained that subsidy payment will only be made to marketers whose claims of fuel importation have been verified as genuine. This followed wide speculations that prudence in subsidy payments will cause fuel scarcity.

According to the minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the huge amount paid as subsidy arrears since the beginning of the year had mandated the Ministry ...

Power generation: The lingering issues

Thursday, 07 June 2012 | Onayemi Bamidele

The dream is to transform the power sector and attain 40,000 mw by 2020 to enable Nigeria become one of the 20 largest economies in the world. To generate this quantum of electricity will require investments of $100 billion during this period, with 35% going to generation alone. Though this capital is not available to the Nigerian government, the idea is to bring in foreign direct investment of which Manitoba Hydro International of Canada has won the bid for the management of the Transmission C...

Diezani leads discussions at oil, gas summit

Sunday, 06 May 2012 | Administrator

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, will lead a panel of energy, finance and legal professionals in examining regulatory and business issues in Oil and Gas in Nigeria at the ESQ Oil and Gas Summit 2012.

The summit is expected to present a dynamic forum to promote strategies for open business model, business mentorship, collaborations, ideas and knowledge sharing among industry players and networking among companies. The theme of the summit is ‘Positioning...

Fitch: Subsidy report increases chances of reform

Sunday, 06 May 2012 | Administrator

The fact that corruption in Nigeria's oil subsidy programme has been officially uncovered is encouraging, both politically and economically, Fitch Ratings recently announced.

According to the report, politically, the report, shows that government can clean up the system if there is political will. However, a key test will be the penalties suffered by perpetrators and what is done to make the system more transparent. However, it does make it more likely that further steps will be t...

Stakeholders call for full implementation of subsidy report

Sunday, 06 May 2012 | Administrator

Reactions have continued to trail the report of Mr. Farouk Lawan led House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on fuel subsidy regime management, as some stakeholders in the industry are calling for the full implementation of the subsidy report. Head of the civil society, Save Nigeria Group, Pastor Tunde Bakare, believes the report is a key test for President Goodluck Jonathan’s government.

The House is expected to vote on an amended version of the report and pass it on to the exe...

Oil windfall for Nigeria as sanction hits Iran

Monday, 05 March 2012 | Administrator

Imports of crude oil from Nigeria and other West African countries are at record high as sanctions on Iran cut supplies from the Islamic Republic, a Reuters survey of West African oil flows suggest.

North American, Asia and European refiners are competing to buy West Africa’s high quality, low sulphur crude oil. Increasingly, it is also a favourite source of fuel for Chinese, Indian and other Asian refiners.

West Africa is a natural alternative source of oil for Asi...

The Fuel Subsidy probe

Monday, 05 March 2012 | Onayemi Bamidele

Thursday, February 9th 2012, saw the final closure of the three-week long public hearing conducted by the House of Representatives Ad hoc committee on management of petroleum subsidy fund with revelations of vast amount of fraud, secrecy and corruption in the country’s oil and gas industry.

The committee, headed by Honourable Farouk Lawan, from its onset, made public shocking revelations by actors in the downstream sector of the economy. First amongst which was the Coordinating Mi...

US firms to invest $1.5bn in Nigeria’s power sector

Monday, 20 February 2012 | Administrator

If all goes well, the United States would be investing as much as N1.5 billion in Nigeria’s power generation, transmission and distribution, according to Wanda Felton, vice-chairperson of the United States Export Import Bank (USEXIMB).

Felton, who is part of the current US Energy Trade Mission to Nigeria, told journalists in Lagos that the investment would come through US private sector firms willing to exploit the opportunities in the Nigerian power sector.

“We are committed to staking as much as...

Subsidy: EFCC beams searchlight on 140 firms

Wednesday, 22 February 2012 | Administrator

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has beamed its searchlight on companies that benefitted from the fuel subsidy regime, particularly the portfolio investors, among the 140 corporate bodies that were invited by the Farouk Lawan-led House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on fuel subsidy.

Investigations revealed that most of the companies invited could not provide documented evidence of how they got allocation to import fuel but handsomely benefitted from the fuel subsidy fund.

A...

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