Nigeria's NNPC said on Tuesday it had cancelled bidding for new crude oil swap agreements and will instead directly sell crude oil to refiners, and purchase refined oil products from them.
State oil company NNPC said in a statement that the move was "designed to enshrine transparency and eliminate the activities of middlemen" in the swap scheme.
NNPC had shortlisted 44 companies for the swap agreements for 2016, also called "offshore processing arrangements" (OPAs), but said most of them did not directly operate refineries.
Getting oil products from such companies, NNPC said, would "constitute a significant value loss" for the country.
"Only bona fide owners of refineries identified in the ongoing OPA tender evaluation process will be further engaged," NNPC said in the statement.
Oil-rich Nigeria is reliant on imported gasoline, kerosene and other petroleum products. In addition to the swap arrangement, it also relies on an import subsidy scheme that is itself fraud-ridden and expensive.
Efforts to revamp its own long-neglected refineries this year have met with limited success.
NNPC is currently relying on interim swap agreements made in September after it cancelled the original 2015 deals because they were "skewed in favour of the companies."
The current swap agreement partners are NNPC trading subsidiary Duke Oil, an NNPC joint-venture called Calson, which is with Swiss trader Vitol, and another called Napoil, which is with commodities trader Trafigura.
Sources told Reuters that a non-incorporated joint venture between oil major BP and Nigermed Ltd was involved in such a deal and that Duke Oil's agreement would be done through Sahara Group.
Of these, Vitol, through Varo Energy, and BP directly operate refineries.
Other companies that put in bids for OPA agreements and have direct links to refineries include Litasco, Eni, Cepsa, Totsa, Essar, Saras and Eneos.
Reuters
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Video - Farmers in Nigeria seek more incentives
Nigeria's President, Muhammadu Buhari says he plans to boost agriculture to create jobs and reduce the country's reliance on costly food imports.
Boko Haram post pictures of their rocket making factory
The group has used rocket-propelled grenades in the past and many Nigerians have been asking where the weapons have been coming from.
The photos seem to indicate that members of the group have the technical know-how to manufacture weapons.
The pictures are believed to have been taken in a college in Borno state.
They were sent as a Whatsapp messages to the BBC Hausa service using a telephone number from Cameroon, and have also been published on sites linked to so-called Islamic State, which Boko Haram has joined.
Analysts say it looks as though the machinery is from Bama, a town in north-eastern Nigeria recently recaptured from Boko Haram.
An inscription on one of the machines shows the abbreviation of Government Technical College Bama (GTCB).
The equipment appears to have been donated to the college by the Educational Trust Fund (ETF) in 2005.
It is not clear when the pictures were taken, or whether the equipment has been moved from Bama.
The army has recaptured most of the towns previously under Boko Haram control but the group still carries out frequent attacks, especially in Borno State, where Bama is located.
BBC
Nigerian fraudsters posing as anti-fraud bankers
Nigeria's central bank has warned that fraudsters are taking advantage of a major crackdown on fake bank accounts.
Customers had until the end of October to register their fingerprints and photographs at their local bank.
The bank says messages claiming to help reactivate registration are fraudulent and actually trying to get people's personal information.
Huge sums are allegedly stolen from Nigerian banks as a result of forgery and illegal withdrawals.
Customers who registered were given a Bank Verification Number (BVN) to use at cash machines, and for online and mobile transactions.
Banks are using the verification number along with customers' biometric information to check they are genuine.
Potentially millions of people could now be blocked from these services as less than half of Nigeria's 52 million bank account holders had registered on Friday, according to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spokesman Ibrahim Mu'azu.
On Monday, he released a statement saying that "unscrupulous individuals" are trying to get people to reveal their personal details to use to defraud them.
He wrote that an example message says: "Dear customer, due to the new BVN policy by the CBN your account has been deactivated and to reactivate, call……".
He reminded customers that "neither the Central Bank of Nigeria and deposit money banks nor their employees or agents would ever call bank customers or send e-mail/text messages requesting for passwords, card details or personal identification number (PIN)".
BBC
Customers had until the end of October to register their fingerprints and photographs at their local bank.
The bank says messages claiming to help reactivate registration are fraudulent and actually trying to get people's personal information.
Huge sums are allegedly stolen from Nigerian banks as a result of forgery and illegal withdrawals.
Customers who registered were given a Bank Verification Number (BVN) to use at cash machines, and for online and mobile transactions.
Banks are using the verification number along with customers' biometric information to check they are genuine.
Potentially millions of people could now be blocked from these services as less than half of Nigeria's 52 million bank account holders had registered on Friday, according to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spokesman Ibrahim Mu'azu.
On Monday, he released a statement saying that "unscrupulous individuals" are trying to get people to reveal their personal details to use to defraud them.
He wrote that an example message says: "Dear customer, due to the new BVN policy by the CBN your account has been deactivated and to reactivate, call……".
He reminded customers that "neither the Central Bank of Nigeria and deposit money banks nor their employees or agents would ever call bank customers or send e-mail/text messages requesting for passwords, card details or personal identification number (PIN)".
BBC
Half of the banks accounts in Nigeria risking closure for failing verification process
Nearly 20 months ago, Nigeria’s Central Bank called for the country’s 52 million bank account holders to undergo a registration process to obtain a unique Bank Verification Number (BVN ) which would serve as the first national numeric identifier.
The Central Bank hopes giving everyone a unique number, similar to the U.S.’ social security number, could help reduce banking fraud such as identify theft and help improve security in the country’s financial systems overall.
But despite calls to action and an extensive media campaign to get Nigerians to register, the Central Bank says it has failed to achieve a registration target of 50% and as such, more than 26 million account holders may be losing access to their accounts.
The problem seems to be that the process of registering for the Bank Verification Number was not as smooth as advertised. The Central Bank sold it as a simple process which could be completed within 24 hours but several days after registering, many were still waiting to have their own unique number generated.
The registration process involves the collection of biometric data and a photograph after which account holders are issued unique Bank Verification Numbers which, in addition to biometric data, will be used to authenticate and confirm transactions.
Launched in February last year, the Central Bank announced that the registration process would end by June 30, 2015. However, with Nigerians largely unresponsive, the Central Bank was forced to move the deadline for registration to October 31 after which it has insisted no further extension will be granted. The penalty for failing to register for the Bank Verification Number is a loss of access to the bank account.
Long queues and confusion were a recurring theme throughout the account verification process as banks often seemed unprepared for the mass exercise. Taking the Nigerian diaspora into consideration, the Central Bank ensured that the verification process could be undertaken in Nigerian embassies but the process seemed to lack organization and in London, the embassy was forced to call in the police to quell the disorder after huge crowds showed up.
The Central Bank has now extended the deadline for those in the diaspora to January 31, 2016.
Quartz
The Central Bank hopes giving everyone a unique number, similar to the U.S.’ social security number, could help reduce banking fraud such as identify theft and help improve security in the country’s financial systems overall.
But despite calls to action and an extensive media campaign to get Nigerians to register, the Central Bank says it has failed to achieve a registration target of 50% and as such, more than 26 million account holders may be losing access to their accounts.
The problem seems to be that the process of registering for the Bank Verification Number was not as smooth as advertised. The Central Bank sold it as a simple process which could be completed within 24 hours but several days after registering, many were still waiting to have their own unique number generated.
The registration process involves the collection of biometric data and a photograph after which account holders are issued unique Bank Verification Numbers which, in addition to biometric data, will be used to authenticate and confirm transactions.
Launched in February last year, the Central Bank announced that the registration process would end by June 30, 2015. However, with Nigerians largely unresponsive, the Central Bank was forced to move the deadline for registration to October 31 after which it has insisted no further extension will be granted. The penalty for failing to register for the Bank Verification Number is a loss of access to the bank account.
Long queues and confusion were a recurring theme throughout the account verification process as banks often seemed unprepared for the mass exercise. Taking the Nigerian diaspora into consideration, the Central Bank ensured that the verification process could be undertaken in Nigerian embassies but the process seemed to lack organization and in London, the embassy was forced to call in the police to quell the disorder after huge crowds showed up.
The Central Bank has now extended the deadline for those in the diaspora to January 31, 2016.
Quartz
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