At least 1.5 million people displaced by the Islamist insurgency in north-east Nigeria may not be able to vote in elections if the law is not changed, an electoral official has told the BBC.
Discrepancies in the law needed to be resolved in "very good time" or people could be disenfranchised, he added.
Ex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari will challenge President Goodluck Jonathan in the February election.
Boko Haram's insurgency has mainly affected opposition strongholds.
Last year, Mr Jonathan imposed a state of emergency in the north-eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe in a bid to curb the insurgency.
However, Boko Haram has stepped up attacks since then and has declared an Islamic state in areas it controls.'Staggered voting'
BBC Nigeria reporter Will Ross says it is not clear whether the elections will take place at all in states under emergency rule.
But the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) said it was determined to ensure that the elections took place in all parts of the country.
The vote could be held on a staggered basis and areas could be secured with "proper deployment" of the security forces, Inec spokesman Nick Dazzang told BBC Focus on Africa.
Inec was distributing voter cards to displaced people, many of whom were living in camps, but discrepancies in Nigeria's Electoral Act needed to be "reconciled", he added.
It stated that people could "transfer" their registration to where they were living but it also stated that they needed to vote where they were registered, Mr Dazzang said.
"We are concerned that the way the law is structured now, unless it is amended in very good time, some of them will be disenfranchised," he told BBC Focus on Africa.
Our reporter says the election is expected to be one of the most keenly fought since the end of military rule in 1999 - and that has prompted some warnings of potential violence.
BBC
Related story: Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Aliko Dangote to invest $2 billion in oil refinery
Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest businessman, is increasing the size of his investment in an oil refinery, petrochemical and fertilizer plant by more than a fifth to $11 billion despite a looming slowdown in Africa’s biggest economy, reported the London-based Financial Times.
The project could eventually revolutionise Nigeria’s energy sector by slashing fuel imports, eliminating costly rackets associated with subsidies and crude oil swaps, and add billions of dollars in value to petroleum exports.
Mismanaged for years, Nigeria’s state-owned refineries work at a fraction of installed capacity. Therefore the country, Africa’s leading oil producer, imports most of its petrol and diesel requirements.
Dangote has deep pockets and a long record as an industrialist, having converted his trading empire into a vast conglomerate, which produces cement, sugar, flour and other basic commodities and is estimated to be worth more than $22 billion.
Speaking to the Financial Times at his headquarters in Lagos, he said the refinery and petrochemicals project should be completed by the end of 2017 and thereafter have a lifespan of decades.
He is planning an additional $2 billion of investment, he said, on top of the $9bn he announced just over a year ago, to double production of polypropylene and to add production of polyethylene, two raw materials used to make plastics.
Nigeria’s economy has diversified over the past 15 years thanks to the rapid growth of services. But it still depends on oil for more than 90 per cent of export earnings, and 70 per cent of state revenues.
The country has been hit hard by the drop in oil prices, with the central bank haemorrhaging foreign reserves before devaluing the official exchange rate for the naira by eight per cent last month.
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the finance and economy minister, has forecast a percentage point slowdown in growth to below six per cent.
But the economic turmoil in Nigeria has in no way undermined the case for the investment, said Dangote. “Nigeria needs it and Africa needs it.”
He said his company, the Dangote Group, had already begun laying foundations outside Lagos, the commercial capital, and had raised nearly two-thirds of the initial foreign currency requirement needed before the naira began to slide on weaker world oil prices.
“The devaluation will increase our dollar costs. But most people in the oil business have slowed down or suspended projects. So I think we will get very good deals in terms of building. That will compensate,” he said.
He acknowledged that the broader economic impact of the falling oil price was a concern. “But it may also be a blessing in disguise because Nigeria will have to work harder to diversify the economy, especially when it comes to foreign exchange earnings,” he said.
“We as a group had seen this coming,” he said, adding that by the time the plant, which is partly being financed with a loan from the central bank, is up and running, “we won’t require a single dollar from the Central Bank of Nigeria. . . . With our export-orientated goods including cement, fertiliser and petrochemicals, we will be earning as much as $9 billion annually.”
Dangote drew inspiration for the project from India’s Ambani family, whose Reliance Industries faced down sceptics to build the largest refinery in the world at Jamnagar in the late 1990s, giving it a dominant position in the Indian market.
“We won’t make our money back for five to six years. If I deploy that capital in buying blocks to sell oil even with the falling oil price, we could recover the money in three to four years. So the real beneficiary is the government,” Dangote said.
This Day
Related story: Video - Aljazeera speaks with Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote
The project could eventually revolutionise Nigeria’s energy sector by slashing fuel imports, eliminating costly rackets associated with subsidies and crude oil swaps, and add billions of dollars in value to petroleum exports.
Mismanaged for years, Nigeria’s state-owned refineries work at a fraction of installed capacity. Therefore the country, Africa’s leading oil producer, imports most of its petrol and diesel requirements.
Dangote has deep pockets and a long record as an industrialist, having converted his trading empire into a vast conglomerate, which produces cement, sugar, flour and other basic commodities and is estimated to be worth more than $22 billion.
Speaking to the Financial Times at his headquarters in Lagos, he said the refinery and petrochemicals project should be completed by the end of 2017 and thereafter have a lifespan of decades.
He is planning an additional $2 billion of investment, he said, on top of the $9bn he announced just over a year ago, to double production of polypropylene and to add production of polyethylene, two raw materials used to make plastics.
Nigeria’s economy has diversified over the past 15 years thanks to the rapid growth of services. But it still depends on oil for more than 90 per cent of export earnings, and 70 per cent of state revenues.
The country has been hit hard by the drop in oil prices, with the central bank haemorrhaging foreign reserves before devaluing the official exchange rate for the naira by eight per cent last month.
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the finance and economy minister, has forecast a percentage point slowdown in growth to below six per cent.
But the economic turmoil in Nigeria has in no way undermined the case for the investment, said Dangote. “Nigeria needs it and Africa needs it.”
He said his company, the Dangote Group, had already begun laying foundations outside Lagos, the commercial capital, and had raised nearly two-thirds of the initial foreign currency requirement needed before the naira began to slide on weaker world oil prices.
“The devaluation will increase our dollar costs. But most people in the oil business have slowed down or suspended projects. So I think we will get very good deals in terms of building. That will compensate,” he said.
He acknowledged that the broader economic impact of the falling oil price was a concern. “But it may also be a blessing in disguise because Nigeria will have to work harder to diversify the economy, especially when it comes to foreign exchange earnings,” he said.
“We as a group had seen this coming,” he said, adding that by the time the plant, which is partly being financed with a loan from the central bank, is up and running, “we won’t require a single dollar from the Central Bank of Nigeria. . . . With our export-orientated goods including cement, fertiliser and petrochemicals, we will be earning as much as $9 billion annually.”
Dangote drew inspiration for the project from India’s Ambani family, whose Reliance Industries faced down sceptics to build the largest refinery in the world at Jamnagar in the late 1990s, giving it a dominant position in the Indian market.
“We won’t make our money back for five to six years. If I deploy that capital in buying blocks to sell oil even with the falling oil price, we could recover the money in three to four years. So the real beneficiary is the government,” Dangote said.
This Day
Related story: Video - Aljazeera speaks with Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote
Monday, December 15, 2014
Former Minister of Education Dr. Oby Ezekwesili suggests Nigerian government no longer commited in rescuing kidnapped schoolgirls
The #BringBackOurGirls group yesterday, lamented the neglect of the Chibok girls by the federal government, even as the whole attention has been moved to the issue of 2015 elections.
Speaking at the daily sit-out of the group yesterday, one of its leaders and the former minister of education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili said it has become clearer to the people that the government has no plan to bring back the girls after eight months of their abduction.
Ezekwesili further wondered why up until now, nobody has any concrete information as to where the girls are or what is being done to rescue them and other people that have been abducted or stop insurgency.
The BBOG also queried what the Ministry of Youth Development, headed by Boni Haruna is doing to educate the youths of the North against joining insurgency even as they are being neglected, terrorised and even killed by the insurgents.
"For the youths of the Northeast, particularly the Chibok girls, their various rights have been despicably and traumatically violated without adequate relief in sight. The Ministry of Youths has not firmly intervened to ensure that schools there are adquately secured.
"The BBOG is alarmed at the extent to which the state has failed these youths. It is also disheartening to note that the ministry has essentially not been seen to be proactive in the going situation. It has not also offered any worthwhile support for the growing number of displaced youths grappling for survival in displaced persons camps.
"We are extremely concerned too that the ministry whose mandate includes inculcating in the youth human rights values, social justice, equity, fairness and gender equality; has shown no discernable concern about the fate of the abducted 219 Chibok girls, even as the universally recognised season of goodwill approaches," the group explained.
The group also warned that Nigeria is becoming divided into two nations. The people in the Northeast, who are really suffering the insurgency and the other group of Nigerians, who are living their lives and not bothered about what is happening in the Northeast; and that this trend is not good for the country.
Leadership
Related stories: 11 parents of some of the kidnapped schoolgirls now dead
Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan finally meets with parents of kidnapped schoolgirls
Speaking at the daily sit-out of the group yesterday, one of its leaders and the former minister of education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili said it has become clearer to the people that the government has no plan to bring back the girls after eight months of their abduction.
Ezekwesili further wondered why up until now, nobody has any concrete information as to where the girls are or what is being done to rescue them and other people that have been abducted or stop insurgency.
The BBOG also queried what the Ministry of Youth Development, headed by Boni Haruna is doing to educate the youths of the North against joining insurgency even as they are being neglected, terrorised and even killed by the insurgents.
"For the youths of the Northeast, particularly the Chibok girls, their various rights have been despicably and traumatically violated without adequate relief in sight. The Ministry of Youths has not firmly intervened to ensure that schools there are adquately secured.
"The BBOG is alarmed at the extent to which the state has failed these youths. It is also disheartening to note that the ministry has essentially not been seen to be proactive in the going situation. It has not also offered any worthwhile support for the growing number of displaced youths grappling for survival in displaced persons camps.
"We are extremely concerned too that the ministry whose mandate includes inculcating in the youth human rights values, social justice, equity, fairness and gender equality; has shown no discernable concern about the fate of the abducted 219 Chibok girls, even as the universally recognised season of goodwill approaches," the group explained.
The group also warned that Nigeria is becoming divided into two nations. The people in the Northeast, who are really suffering the insurgency and the other group of Nigerians, who are living their lives and not bothered about what is happening in the Northeast; and that this trend is not good for the country.
Leadership
Related stories: 11 parents of some of the kidnapped schoolgirls now dead
Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan finally meets with parents of kidnapped schoolgirls
Oil Workers go on Strike in Nigeria
Nigeria's two main oil workers' unions have begun a nationwide strike, threatening to hurt the output of Africa's largest oil producer.
BBC reporters say long queues have formed at many petrol stations.
The unions, Pengassan and Nupeng, said the strike would continue until the government addressed its concerns.
These include the adoption of the delayed Petroleum Industry Bill, aimed at overhauling the sector and maintenance work on oil refineries.
The unions frequently go on strike or threaten to strike.
This time, the two unions were initially demanding the reinstatement of representatives who had been dismissed by oil companies, but now their list of complaints has grown.
They are now protesting that the government has allowed Nigeria's oil refineries to fall into disrepair and that the poor state of the country's roads is hindering the transport of oil.
They are also asking for the price of petrol to be reduced and oil theft to be stopped.
"We've commenced the strike. It will affect oil production, since all operations are on strike," Pengassan chief Babatunde Oke told Reuters.
However, an oil executive said the strike was not expected to affect output, because it would require the co-operation of large numbers of workers at production sites who would be unwilling to go that far.
"It's very difficult to shut them down, and once they do, it would take them a week to get them back up. They never do it. That's the last thing anyone wants," an oil executive told Reuters.
The BBC's Will Ross in Lagos said most of the unions' demands seemed "unrealistic, especially with an election looming".
"The refineries are not suddenly going to be fixed because of this strike. Some oil industry watchers suggest the unions are simply trying to force the government to pay them off and get a hefty Christmas present," he added.
A strike in September had little impact on oil production.
Many Nigerians, whether Christian or Muslim, travel home over the Christmas and New Year holidays and so they are stocking up on fuel now, in case of shortages in the next couple of weeks, analysts say.
BBC
BBC reporters say long queues have formed at many petrol stations.
The unions, Pengassan and Nupeng, said the strike would continue until the government addressed its concerns.
These include the adoption of the delayed Petroleum Industry Bill, aimed at overhauling the sector and maintenance work on oil refineries.
The unions frequently go on strike or threaten to strike.
This time, the two unions were initially demanding the reinstatement of representatives who had been dismissed by oil companies, but now their list of complaints has grown.
They are now protesting that the government has allowed Nigeria's oil refineries to fall into disrepair and that the poor state of the country's roads is hindering the transport of oil.
They are also asking for the price of petrol to be reduced and oil theft to be stopped.
"We've commenced the strike. It will affect oil production, since all operations are on strike," Pengassan chief Babatunde Oke told Reuters.
However, an oil executive said the strike was not expected to affect output, because it would require the co-operation of large numbers of workers at production sites who would be unwilling to go that far.
"It's very difficult to shut them down, and once they do, it would take them a week to get them back up. They never do it. That's the last thing anyone wants," an oil executive told Reuters.
The BBC's Will Ross in Lagos said most of the unions' demands seemed "unrealistic, especially with an election looming".
"The refineries are not suddenly going to be fixed because of this strike. Some oil industry watchers suggest the unions are simply trying to force the government to pay them off and get a hefty Christmas present," he added.
A strike in September had little impact on oil production.
Many Nigerians, whether Christian or Muslim, travel home over the Christmas and New Year holidays and so they are stocking up on fuel now, in case of shortages in the next couple of weeks, analysts say.
BBC
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Bomb blast in Jos, Nigeria leaves dozens dead
A twin bomb attack has taken place in a busy area of the Nigerian city of Jos, killing at least 30 people, witnesses say.
The two bombs exploded in quick succession, close to the scene of a major bombing in May.
The city of Jos has a mixed population of Muslims and Christians, and in recent years suspected Boko Haram militants have attacked churches there.
The Islamist militant group frequently carries out suicide attacks in Nigeria.
There has been no claim of responsibility for Thursday's explosions in Jos.
The blasts targeted the city's commercial district, near the Terminus bus station.
Witnesses told the Associated Press news agency that the first explosion took place at an outdoor food stand. The second blast hit a marketplace.
Separately, police in Nigeria's second-largest city, Kano, say they have arrested a 13-year-old girl wearing a suicide belt.
On Wednesday, at least four people were reported killed and seven hurt in attacks by two female suicide bombers in Kano.
And last month, more than 100 people died in a gun and bomb attack during prayers at one of the biggest mosques in the city.
Boko Haram militants are suspected of being behind the attacks.
Some 2,000 people have died in violence blamed on the Islamist militants this year.
The group has taken over several towns and villages in the north-east of the country, declaring the area under its control to be a caliphate.
Thousands of people have died and more than a million have been forced from their homes in the group's five-year insurgency.
The two bombs exploded in quick succession, close to the scene of a major bombing in May.
The city of Jos has a mixed population of Muslims and Christians, and in recent years suspected Boko Haram militants have attacked churches there.
The Islamist militant group frequently carries out suicide attacks in Nigeria.
There has been no claim of responsibility for Thursday's explosions in Jos.
The blasts targeted the city's commercial district, near the Terminus bus station.
Witnesses told the Associated Press news agency that the first explosion took place at an outdoor food stand. The second blast hit a marketplace.
Separately, police in Nigeria's second-largest city, Kano, say they have arrested a 13-year-old girl wearing a suicide belt.
On Wednesday, at least four people were reported killed and seven hurt in attacks by two female suicide bombers in Kano.
And last month, more than 100 people died in a gun and bomb attack during prayers at one of the biggest mosques in the city.
Boko Haram militants are suspected of being behind the attacks.
Some 2,000 people have died in violence blamed on the Islamist militants this year.
The group has taken over several towns and villages in the north-east of the country, declaring the area under its control to be a caliphate.
Thousands of people have died and more than a million have been forced from their homes in the group's five-year insurgency.
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