NAIJAFEED

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Goodluck Jonathan worried about prevalence of HIV

Acting President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has expressed deep worry over the current prevalence of the dreaded HIV/AIDS pandemic in the country. He reiterated that the Federal Government will not relent in partnering and co-operating with relevant agencies to stem the health problem.

Meanwhile, over four hundred thousand children in Africa are born with HIV virus yearly, the Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) Michel Sidibe has said.

Receiving in audience UNAID Executive Director, Mr. Michel Sidibe, and the US Global AIDS Coordinator, Amb. Eric Goosby, at the State House, Abuja yesterday, Jonathan said the government is concerned about the HIV/AIDS scourge, particularly, the prevalence of mother to child transmission of the virus.

He emphasized the need to get the correct statistics on the disease and to harness resources from federal, states and donor agencies in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Jonathan appreciated the contributions of both the UN and US government in the fight against HIV/AIDS, particularly in Africa and implored them not to rest on their oars.

Earlier, Sidibe canvassed increased funding by African countries of HIV/AIDS programmes noting that 94 per cent of funds for such programmes still come from outside the continent.

He also requested that Nigeria should use its position to influence African Union's Declaration on Prevention of Mother to Child transmission of HIV/AIDS. In addition, he said Nigeria and South Africa should collaborate to put up a preventive message on HIV/AIDS during the 2010 World Cup.

Amb. Goosby on his part said the US remains committed to Nigeria as a partner in the fight against HIV/AIDS. He said his country holds Nigeria in high regard and will sustain its campaign programmes on the scourge.

Meanwhile, Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibe also disclosed that 15 percent of HIV positive children born on the continent die before their first birthday due to poverty, ignorance and limited access to treatment. He described the situation as unacceptable especially when developed countries "record zero percent of children born with HIV".

Sidibe disclosed this yesterday in Abuja, at a high-powered meeting with the Minister of Health, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin , Minister of State for Health, Dr Aliyu Idi-Hung, Ambassador Eric Goosby, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief( PEPFAR), Professor John Idoko, Director General of the of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), and the US ambassador to Nigeria, Robin Sanders.

According to the UNAIDS Executive Director,15 percent of HIV positive children born on the continent die before their first birthday due to poverty, ignorance and limited access to treatment. He described the situation as unacceptable especially when developed countries "record zero percent of children born with HIV".

While calling on Nigeria and other African countries to adopt the Universal Access approach in implementing strategies to manage HIV/AIDS, the UNAIDS boss explained that the meeting conveyed at the Federal Ministry of Health, on Monday, had become necessary if Africa is to stem the ugly trend where its future leaders are stricken by an incurable disease at birth.

He said that Africa has what it takes to produce its first HIV-free generation by 2015, citing examples of earlier health sector reforms adopted in Abuja, he declared that the Nigerian government played an integral role is the successes recorded in health care delivery and the response to HIV/ADS in some African countries which implemented the reforms locally.

He words: "I am convinced that if we don't engage Nigeria in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa we have failed. This because Nigeria spearheaded a number of health sector reforms in Africa and the world. The process for establishing the Global Fund started here in Nigeria. I am just coming from South Africa where Swaziland, Botswana, have implemented the Abuja Accord, setting aside not less that 15 percent of their annual budget for health care delivery".

Sidibe also warned that African countries must "take ownership of its national response". He said African governments have no option as 94 percent of its citizens receiving Anti Retroviral drugs are being financed by donor countries.

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Shell laments unfriendly business environment

Incessant disruption of the operations of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Nigeria's Niger-Delta has become a major source of concern for the management of the oil giant as well as its joint venture partners, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

THISDAY gathered that the SPDC is hard hit by dwindling financial fortunes attributed to generally unfriendly business environment, particularly in the oil-rich region, the highpoint of which is the astronomical cost of repairing vandalised pipelines and other oil and gas installations.

The persistent disruption of the operations of the oil company also affects the activities of the NNPC, in terms of the depletion of the country's crude oil export quota as well as shortage of gas supply to its subsidiary, Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), which has monopoly of industrial and gas supply in Nigeria.

The Federal Government recently expressed concern over the renewed threat to the nation's power generation capacity due to the shortfall in gas available to Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) owing to the problem that has lingered in the Niger-Delta despite the relative success of the amnesty programme.

According to the out-going Executive Vice-President of Shell Africa, Miss Ann Pickard, SPDC has managed to stay afloat in the country by the grace of the generous financial lifeline recently offered by international Shell Group.

Pickard, who is proceeding on transfer to Australia, spoke at the weekend while leading her successor, Mr. Ian Craig, on familiarisation visits to some states in the Niger-Delta region, where the company's investments are located .

She noted that Shell Group had to dish out a whopping $2 billion to SPDC Joint Ventures to enable it stay afloat.

At the palace of the Orodje of Okpe, His Royal Majesty, Orhue I, she commended the people of the region for providing Shell with support over the last several years, noting that over 60 per cent of its scholarship awards were given to applicants from the region.

Pickard however lamented that the business environment had not been quite enabling, particularly in the last four years, saying this had impacted adversely on its operations, adding that paucity of funds had prevented expansion and more jobs creation.

She expressed the hope that the steps taken by the Federal Government through the amnesty and security initiatives would create the right environment for oil and gas business to thrive again in the Niger-Delta.

Also speaking, Craig expressed delight to be in Nigeria and called for a cordial relationship between the host communities and the oil giants.

While welcoming the delegation, the royal father urged the company to employ more personnel from the region , saying its operation is important to economy of the country.

He implored the company to build a flow station in Okpe Kingdom and pledged to always ensure the protection of Shell's facilities in his domain.

Besides, the royal father urged the management of Shell to be proactive, especially regarding environmental issues in its area of operations.

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Monday, February 22, 2010

We must achieve 6,000 megawatts - Goodluck Jonathan

Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan said yesterday that government's dream to actualise 6,000 megawatts of electricity had not gone down the drain. He challenged relevant institutions to wake up and ensure the dream was met.

To this end, Dr. Jonathan said government had set a daily target of one billion cubic feet of gas supply for the ministry of petroleum resources, so that complaints of gas shortage should not keep cropping up.

A reliable top presidency source, who confided in reporters said, the acting president had tasked the ministry to ensure that the management of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), Shell, Chevron and other major gas producers in the country are compelled to provide the required quantity of dry gas.

This, the source said, is to meet the target of 6,000 megawatts of electricity for the country.

According to the source, "The Acting President is very unhappy with the ministry for its failure to generate gas to power the government's 6,000 megawatts of electricity. He has directed that all the gas producers in the country must provide the one billion daily gas target to the power plants," the source said.

Jonathan was visibly angry during last week's meeting of the Presidential Steering Council on National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), when he directed the minister of petroleum resources, Dr. Rilwan Lukman, to summon all the gas producers in the country to a meeting to iron out the grey areas in the one billion gas daily supply arrangement.

His approval of the appointment of an executive director to co-ordinate the operations of the Nigeria Independent Power Project, NIPP, is also, according to the source, another indication that he was dissatisfied with the progress so far made in the power sector.

"I think the time has come for the government to do what is right. Any gas producer who tells Nigerians that it is shutting its plant because it wants to evacuate condensates or maintain pipelines without recourse to due process, should be sanctioned. There should be penalties for this kind of sabotage. We must stop this nonsense perpetrated by these companies. It is either they do business here or they don't," the source added.

Our correspondent gathered that due to the nonchalant attitude of the ministry and other stakeholders, the country only gets about 250 million gas supply, leaving a shortfall of 750 million.

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NNPC wants military to protect pipelines

Rattled by the shortage of gas and the possibility of further shortfall of power generation by 1,000 megawatts from the current 2,7000mw, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corpor-ation (NNPC) has officially requested that the nation's defence forces assist in protecting oil and gas pipelines from vandalism.

Also, the corporation has taken steps to evacuate wet condensate from Shell-operated facilities to the Warri Refinery to prevent the shutdown of gas plants.

THISDAY had last week reported exclusively that Shell warned that if wet condensate estimated at 472, 000 barrels was not evacuated this week, it might be forced to shut down four gas plants in Utorogu, Ughelli, Oben and Sapele.

Damaged pipelines have resulted in the inability of Shell to transmit condensate produced together with gas from these plants to Forcados export terminal.

If the condensate is not evacuated, thermal plants especially Egbin, Omotosho, Geregu, Olorunsogo, Sapele and Delta would be starved of gas supply, worsening the epileptic power supply in the country.

But Group Managing Director of NNPC, Moha-mmed Barkindo, has in a letter to the Minister of Defence, General Godwin Abbey (rtd) explained the urgency in securing pipelines in the Niger Delta in order to save Nigeria from complete blackout.

In the letter dated February 12, 2010, Barkindo said frequent damages to the Trans-Forcados pipeline (TFP) had serious implications on both electricity supply and petroleum products export.

His letter was served to several government officials including Minister of Petroleum Resources Rilwanu Lukman, Minister of State for Petroleum Odein Ajumogobia, Minister of Power Lanre Babalola, Acting President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor of Delta State Emmanuel Uduaghan.

"This is to inform the Hon. Minister of damage to the TFP operated by SPDC. The pipeline which transports crude oil and condensate from various locations in the Niger Delta to the Forcados terminal was attacked and damaged on 7, Feb 2010.

"The Honourable Minister is therefore requested to please note the frequent damages to the Trans-Forcados Pipeline (TFP) and the serious implications it has on the reliable supply of both power and petroleum products to the nation.

"It is therefore requested that appropriate steps be taken to ensure the urgent recovery and security of the pipeline, especially in view of the prospects for disruption to gas supply to Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) by 21st February 2010," the letter stated.

Barkindo described the TFP as a strategic pipeline for export of crude oil with a capacity of over 400,000 barrels per day to the Forcados export terminal. He added that a shutdown of the pipeline would have a negative impact on the revenue that accrues to the federation.

He noted that in the past, it had been necessary to transfer condensate to the Warri Refinery and Petrolchemical Company (WRPC) tanks for export in order to ensure continuity of gas supply to PHCN. However, the corrosive nature of condensate and the acidic water that comes with it have caused substantial damage to WRPC tanks, he explained.

He said that following the repair of the Escravos to Warri crude oil pipeline, crude had been delivered to WRPC, which had now commenced operations.

"At the same time, crude is being further, transmitted to KRPC for commencement of operations. As a result, WRPC is not able to handle further volumes of condensate from SPDC, as this would otherwise jeopardize the operations of both the Warri refinery and the Kaduna Refinery and threaten the sustainable supply of petroleum products to the nation," he said.

While highlighting the challenges posed by vandals and the inability of the existing security apparatus to protect the facilities, the NNPC GMD regretted that the same pipeline was several times attacked in February 2006, including the crude loading platform.

He said the pipeline remained shut down until January 2008 when SPDC completed repairs and inaugurated the line.

Barkindo further disclosed that the pipeline was again attacked in July 2009 and it took up to 16th November 2009 for SPDC to finish repairs. As the company was about to inaugurated the pipeline, it was again blow-up by dynamite and that particular damage was not repaired until February 4, 2010, he said.

He continued: " Just three days after shell had commissioned the line and successfully pumped water, condensate and crude oil, they discovered on the 7th of February 2010, damage to the pipeline caused by dynamite attack."

Meanwhile, Spokesman of NNPC Levi Ajuonuma said in a statement yesterday that the organisation took practical steps at the weekend to avert imminent blackout with the evacuation of condensate from some Shell-operated facilities to the Warri Refinery to facilitate the production and supply of gas to the thermal power stations.

The evacuation commenced last Friday, he disclosed. He stated that NNPC Group Executive Director, Refining and Petro-chemicals, Mr. Austen Oniwon, had confirmed that two vessels were dedicated throughout the weekend for that purpose.

According to him, this would give SPDC a breather of about three weeks within which additional measures could be taken to improve the situation in the medium term.

"Our next proposal to effectively manage the condensate in the medium term is for WRPC to take on cargo of Forcados blend which we learnt has an API of about 28. We can blend 100 per cent of SPDC's condensate and still make it conform to the process in our plants. With these, we can manage the condensate more efficiently and SPDC can operate its facilities on a more continuous basis," Oniwon explained.

Ajuonuma also disclosed that the NNPC management would on Wednesday meet with top management and technical team of SPDC led by its Managing Director and Country Chairman in Nigeria, Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu at the NNPC Towers, Abuja.

He said: "They would "undertake a review of facilities around the western axis to improve the flexibilities of operations and also create alternatives that will extensively address the vulnerability of the Trans Forcados Pipelines".

"The meeting will also seek solution to the issue of persistent sour water management at Shell's Ughelli facility (an effluent from the production process) which the WRPC has been grappling with after being laden with a 'tankful' from SPDC six months ago," he added.

On the problem of condensate, Ajuonuma explained that the problem "has remained intractable due to the damage of the vital SPDC operated Trans Forcados Pipeline system by incessant militant attacks. The alternative option of transferring condensate through the Ughelli Pump Station, UPS to WRPC is not only unsustainable but is fraught with operational, technical and safety concerns".

Meanwhile, Chevron Nigeria limited has indicated readiness to commence supply of 185 million standard cubic feet/day of gas to power plants before the end of next week.

A source told THISDAY that Chevron gas was initially billed to be delivered in the first week of this month but has been shifted to next week.

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Lagos ranked 5th worst city in the world

The Democratic Peoples' Party (DPA) has urged Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State to tackle Lagos 's placement as the world's fifth worst city by implementing people-centred projects.

"The government must begin to deal with those issues that have made this city to lose its soul. And it will begin by placing individuals at the centre-piece of its policies," DPA said.

DPA said government should tackle several of the city's negative indicators, including double taxation, mediocre education, inadequate housing, bad roads, high tenement and duplicated land use charges, soaring transportation costs, unregulated ground and accommodation rents, untamed high cost of doing business, crime, unbridled corruption and cut-throat transportation.

An international survey of 140 cities by the foreign Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) last weekend ranked Lagos 136th and one of the worst cities where "most aspects of living are severely restricted." The study had considered each municipality's performance based on the indices of stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

The party, in a statement by its Director of Publicity, Felix Oboagwina, recalled that in 2008 Lagos had similarly been rated as the "costliest city in Africa " by the Mercer 2008 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey, and said the studies provided unassailable proof that the government had failed to tackle issues that mattered, especially those capable of improving living conditions.

The party feared that such unsavoury international rankings would discourage investment, provoke capital flight, hurt businesses and advance crime and corruption.

"The government always rushed to the media to trumpet its few accomplishments, but the average Lagosian knows the truth, that this government has done very little to improve life, environment and welfare, despite the colossal sums budgeted yearly. We have always known and we have always pointed out that all the government's claims to achievements are mostly media hype and razzmatazz. Now an independent assessor has come out with new facts that justify our crusade that Lagos has been shortchanged particularly in the last three years," DPA said.

DPA accused the Fashola administration of failing to place Lagosians at the heart of its programmes.

"It is a pity that the government prefers to accommodate flowers, trees and shrubs than cater for the welfare and wellbeing of human beings. In Mosafejo Oshodi, for example, the government demolished stores that for decades provided livelihood for hundreds of businessmen and women and replaced them with paving stones and flowers, without any compensation plan or rehabilitation," DPA lamented.

It described it as shame that Lagos fell behind such African cities as Dakar in Senegal (130th position with 48.3 per cent) and Douala in Cameroon (134 with 43.3 percent). Johannesburg in South Africa is the leading African city, polling 92nd position with a score of 69.1 per cent.

According to the EIU, Lagos, which scored 39 percent, shares the bottom five slots with cities like Port Moresby (38.9 percent), Algiers capital of Algeria (38.7 percent), Dhaka Bangladesh, (38.7 percent) and Harare, Zimbabwe (37.5 per cent).

Pointing out that the average Lagos-based business or individual had to unilaterally source his own security, motorable roads, electricity, good education for children, healthcare, water and other necessary infrastructure, DPA said: "We only hope that the survey will gear up government functionaries who have so lost touch with reality that they say that anyone who cannot stomach the official hardheartedness of Lagos should migrate out of the state."

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