Nigeria begins oil production in Lagos

A Nigerian firm has said it has started oil production from an offshore field in the commercial city of Lagos, the first output outside the country’s oil hub in the Niger delta. 

“Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Co. Ltd (YFP) is pleased to announce that it has commenced production of crude oil from its Aje field located in block OML 113 offshore Lagos,” it said late Tuesday. 

YFP did not disclose the volume of current output from the field but said the company has capacity to produce 40,000 barrels per day. 

“Oil produced from the Aje field will be stored on the Front Puffin which has production capacity of 40,000 barrels of oil per day and storage capacity of 750,000 barrels,” it added in a statement. 

Production began after more than 25 years of exploratory, appraisal and developmental activities in the field, making Lagos — Nigeria’s commercial capital — an oil-producing state. 

Nigeria’s oil and gas industry is concentrated in the southern delta states but the region has been dogged by unrest and disruption from militants demanding a fairer share of revenue. Pipeline attacks and illegal refining or “bunkering” as it is called locally have hit output, which is currently estimated at about 1.8 million barrels a day, according to OPEC. 

Nigeria is reliant on oil revenue for its economy but crude earnings have been depleted drastically since the slump in global prices that started in mid-2014.

Vanguard

Video - Workers in Nigeria demand increase in minimum wage

As the International Labour Day was being marked around the world, in Nigeria, workers rallied around a demand to raise the country's minimum wage by nearly 300%. In Abuja, the seat of the country's central government, thousands of workers and government officials added their voices to the call for a drastic shift in Nigeria's minimum wage policy.

Nigeria loses $15bn in arms procurement fraud

Nigeria's Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has accused the previous administration of stealing some $15 billion (13 billion euros) of public money through fraudulent arms deals.

Osinbajo said the huge sum was “lost... to fraudulent and corrupt practices in... security equipment spending during the last administration”, according to a statement released by his office on Tuesday.

The figure is more than half of Nigeria's current foreign exchange reserves of $27 billion, he said on Monday in a speech in the southwestern city of Ibadan.

President Muhammadu Buhari took office in May last year vowing to crack down on endemic corruption and impunity in government and has set about bringing offenders to book.

The most high-profile figure arrested and charged so far is Sambo Dasuki, who was national security advisor under Buhari's predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan.

Dasuki is accused of diverting money earmarked for military procurement to fund Jonathan's presidential election campaign, in bogus arms deals totalling billions of dollars.

Former chief of defence staff Alex Badeh is also on trial, accused of fraudulently diverting $19.8 million from salaries meant for service personnel for his own use.

Buhari has previously complained that Jonathan's administration left government coffers “virtually empty”, worsening economic difficulties caused by a slump in global oil prices.

Information Minister Lai Mohammed said in January that just 55 people stole some $6.7 billion in public funds between 2006 and 2013.

Buhari, a former army general and military ruler, has vowed to recover “mind-boggling” sums of cash stolen by the corrupt elite over decades.

Osinbajo said there would be consequences for the corrupt and that “no public officer can steal the resources of this country and expect to escape”.

Instead of shamelessly stealing public funds with impunity, Nigeria's elite needed to set an example.

“Society fails when the elite abdicates its role,” the vice-president added.

AFP

Video - Real Estate booming in North East Nigeria after Boko Haram retreat

Property prices are booming in northeast Nigeria where Boko Haram fighters have been forced to retreat.

There's a scramble for land and homes in the city of Maiduguri, where homeowners who've already bought at cheap rates are enjoying the rewards.

Video - Nigerian army targets Boko Haram stronghold in Sambisa forest

The Nigerian Army has set out to destroy all camps and hideouts of members of Boko Haram in Sambisa forest, the sect's stronghold. The country's Minister of Defense, Mansur Dan'ali said the troops are now at the verge of entering the forest to flush out the insurgents terrorizing some states in the northeast. He said tremendous success had been recorded in the fight against Boko Haram since the beginning of the present administration. The Nigerian government said in December 2015 that Boko Haram had been technically defeated and was no longer capable of conventional warfare, instead resorting to guerrilla attacks on soft targets.