Dangote oil refinery to help solve fuel shortage in Nigeria

An oil refinery being put up by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote may be the perfect rescue for Africa’s largest petroleum producer that has struggled to provide ready products to motorists.

In spite of having the largest oil reserves in Africa, Nigeria’s inability to refine the products locally has seen the country’s motorists line up of hours at petrol stations jostling for scarce resources.

Now, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery being put up at a cost of $19 billion and expected to be completed later this year, could partially solve the problem by refining the oil locally. The plant was initially meant to cost $9 billion when its construction began in 2015.

Situated in Lekki Free Zone near Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria, the refinery is expected to be Africa’s biggest oil and the world’s biggest single-train facility upon completion.

Officials say they had to hire 17,000 more workers to speed up completion this year, raising the workforce to 57,000 labourers.

Its prospectus says the petroleum refinery complex will have a 650,000-barrel capacity and will process a variety of light and medium grades of crude, as well as the Euro-V quality clean fuels, including gasoline and diesel, and jet fuel and polypropylene.

It is projected to produce 50 million litres of petrol daily; and yearly production of 10.4 million tonnes of gasoline, 4.6 million tonnes of diesel, and 4 million tonnes of jet fuel a year.

It will also produce 0.69 million tonnes of polypropylene, 0.24 million tonnes of propane, 32,000 tonnes of Sulphur, and 0.5 million tonnes of carbon black feed.

“It makes me feel terrible to see a country as big and resourceful as Nigeria with a high population, importing all its petroleum products, so, we decided it is time to tackle this challenge,” Mr Dangote, the President of Dangote Group, said at the 2022 Nigerian Content Midstream and Downstream Oil and Gas Summit in Lagos.

“It is not government’s responsibility alone to address the challenge of petroleum products’ importation in Nigeria. No, we have to collaborate with the government to tackle the issue of petroleum importation.”

“We should not as a country be comfortable with generating revenue from crude oil export alone, because tomorrow people may not need crude oil.

“If we do not move from crude oil to something else, we will have issues as a country. This is one of the things that I took upon myself to help address,” he said.

Since April this year, Nigeria has faced a stark shortage of refined fuel. And motorists who patronise black marketers pay at least 150 percent more than the pump price of N165 ($0.35 cent) per litre, yet unsure of the quality of the fuel.

Some motorists have reported their vehicles developing faults after using the adulterated petrol bought from black market operators.

The scarcity of the products has continued even after the new National Nigeria Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) insisted that there is availability of fuel.

Although the retailers have adjusted their pump price from N165 ($0.35) per litre to N175 ($0.39) per litre, the product remains elusive despite Nigeria’s claims of massive importation.

Nigeria, which started exploring and exploiting crude oil in 1956, remains largely an importer of petroleum products even as it exports an average of two million barrels of crude oil daily.

Its four petroleum refineries in Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna have been moribund for decades, making the Africa’s most populous country dependent on import which consumes the larger chunk of the foreign exchange earnings from crude export.

Mr Devakumar Edwin, the Group Executive Director of Dangote Industries, confirmed the $19 billion cost of the firm when completed and that the petrochemical project houses the world’s biggest ammonia plant, which had started producing fertiliser.

He said the state-owned Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC), a facilitator of exploration and exploitation of oil and gas, has acquired 20 percent stake in the refinery that is worth $2.7 billion.

The Managing Director of NNPC, Mr Mele Kyari, in July 2022 confirmed that the corporation had paid an initial amount of $1 billion for the ordinary shares it acquired in the refinery

Kyari said the investment in the refinery will guarantee energy security for Nigeria.

With Dangote Refinery in place, coupled with the planned completion of the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries by the end of 2023, Nigeria could become a hub of petroleum products in Africa.

He explained that the rehabilitation of the three state-owned refineries was ongoing, saying: “We have been trying to fix our refineries. We have awarded the contracts.”

“We, as a national oil company, have the responsibility to ensure energy security for this country and the meaning of this is that you must secure the supply sources,” Mr Kyari said.

“That means with the NNPC’s refineries in place and Dangote Refineries operating along with other initiatives that we are making, we are going to have a massive hub of petroleum production in West Africa.

“This will change the flow of product supply in the whole globe and scarcity will be history in Nigeria.”

By Mohammed Momoh

The East African 

Related story: Video - Aljazeera speaks with Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote

 

Cameroon, Nigeria Reopening Border Markets and Schools with Boko Haram Threat Diminished

Governors from Cameroon and Nigeria plan to re-open markets and rebuild schools along their shared border after declaring the area free of Boko Haram militants.

Babagana Umara Zulum, governor of Nigeria’s Borno state, said President Muhammadu Buhari instructed governors of border states affected by Boko Haram to work with neighboring countries to improve living conditions.

He said governors from Cameroon and Nigeria will reopen border markets and rebuild schools in towns and villages where Boko Haram has been defeated.

"We are doing everything possible to ensure that the Banki market is reestablished," Babagana said. "The bringing of cattle from the Republic of Chad to Cameroon, to Nigeria had stopped. My humble self and the governor will go and reopen the cattle route from Gamboru-Ngala. It will improve the economy of Nigeria and improve the economy of Cameroon. By September, we shall be going to Chad and Niger to see how we can improve on our bilateral relationships."

Babagana spoke by a messaging app from Maiduguri, capital of Nigeria's Borno state on Thursday after meeting a delegation led by Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of Cameroon's Far North Region.

He said the Gamboru-Ngala cattle market, which is the largest in northeast Nigeria, was shut down in May 2014 after Boko Haram fighters massacred 300 civilians and abducted 200 people. The market is near Nigeria's border with Cameroon.

Bakari, who is also chairman of the Lake Chad Basin Governors Forum, says he was asked by Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, to visit border localities where Boko Haram has been eliminated.

Bakari said President Biya dispatched his minister of public works to make sure that border roads in areas where Boko Haram has been defeated are repaired to boost cross border trade. He said the Banki market is among several dozen near the Cameroon-Nigeria border that want to collectively reopen.

Bakari said the border markets and schools that were destroyed by Boko Haram will be reopened before December.

He said he had fruitful meetings this week in Nigeria with the governor of Yobe and Borno states. Both states say Boko Haram attacks have been greatly reduced and people can resume their activities.

Cameroon says peace has also returned to a majority of its northern border with Nigeria.

In June the Multinational Joint Task Force of the Lake Chad Basin Commission said its troops from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad killed more than 800 jihadis in about two months of fighting on the Cameroon-Nigeria border.
The task force was constituted in 2015 to fight Boko Haram and its rival, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP).

Cameroon and Nigeria say there is an increase in the number of Boko Haram militants surrendering at disarmament centers since May of 2021 when Abubakar Shekau, leader of the Islamist group, was declared killed.

Last week, President Buhari visited Borno state, the former epicenter of Nigeria's Islamist insurgency, and formally opened 500 units of newly built resettlement houses for people internally displaced by the 13-year Boko Haram conflict.
The United Nations says more than 37,000 people have been killed and about 2.8 million people displaced by the Boko Haram uprising that began in 2009.

By Moki Edwin Kindzeka

VOA

Germany signs deal to give ownership of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria

Germany signed an agreement on Thursday to transfer ownership to Nigeria of the Benin Bronzes, among Africa's most culturally significant artefacts which were looted in the 19th century.

British soldiers took hundreds of bronzes - intricate sculptures and plaques dating back to the 13th century onwards - when they invaded the Kingdom of Benin, located in what is now southwestern Nigeria, in 1897.

The artefacts ended up in museums around Europe and the United States. African countries have for years fought to recover them.

Germany returned the first of the sculptures to Nigeria in July.

On Thursday, the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage (SPK) and Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) signed a deal transferring their ownership from the Ethnological Museum collection in Berlin to Nigeria.

The agreement, which the SPK described as the most extensive transfer of museum artefacts from a colonial context to date, covers 512 objects which ended up in Berlin in the aftermath of the 1897 looting.

The first objects will be physically returned to Nigeria this year. About a third of the treasures will remain on loan in Berlin for at least 10 years and exhibited at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin. The loan might be extended.

"This represents the future concerning the artefacts issue; a future of collaboration among museums, a future of according respect and dignity to the legitimate requests of other nations and traditional institutions," said NCMM's Abba Isa Tijani.

He urged museums outside Germany to emulate the agreement.

French art historians have estimated that some 90% of Africa's cultural heritage is believed to be in Europe. African countries have long sought to get back works pillaged by explorers and colonisers as Western institutions grapple with the cultural legacies of colonialism.

Earlier this month, London's Horniman Museum said it would return 72 artefacts, including 12 brass plaques, to the Nigerian government, following a similar move by a Cambridge University college and a Paris museum last year.

German Culture Commissioner Claudia Roth said it was an example for museums in Germany with colonial-era collections and that further agreements would follow in coming months.

By Madeline Chambers

Reuters 

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Gratitude, relief as four kidnapped nuns are freed

“We are so grateful to God for the release of our sisters without harm.”

These words convey the relief and happiness of the Congregation of the Sisters of Jesus the Savior, as they reflect on the happenings of the past days, in the wake of the abduction and subsequent release of some of their members.

Sisters Johannes Nwodo, Christabel Echemazu, Liberata Mbamalu and Benita Agu were seized by kidnappers around the Okigwe-Umulolo area in Abia State, Nigeria on Sunday morning, as they were on their way to Mass.

Two days later, a statement signed by the Secretary-General of the Congregation announced the joyful news of the unconditional and safe release of the four nuns.

This latest kidnapping incident brings to the fore once again, the security challenges of Africa’s most populous nation, as the Nigerian government and security agencies battle to ensure the protection of the lives and properties of its citizens.
Kidnapped on their way to Mass

Sr. Ascensio Madukaji, SJS, the Director of Missions for the Congregation in Rome, spoke to Vatican News in an interview, reflecting on the circumstance of the abduction and release of the religious nuns.

“It was a terrible situation,” said the religious sister, recalling the general emotion when they received the news of the kidnap of the four nuns.

She explained that the sisters had been on their way to join another colleague’s Thanksgiving Mass for the profession of her final vows which had taken place the day before. Shortly after they set out, they were accosted and abducted by men she called “Fulani herdsmen.”

“They were taken into the bush,” Sr. Madukaji recounts. “They spent two complete days… without food, without drink, without anything.”
Release of the nuns, prayers

Kidnappings for ransom are not uncommon in Nigeria, as bandits, armed individuals and, more recently, nomadic herdsmen have been linked to the crime of taking persons against their will.

In this case, the sister says that the abductors, with pecuniary motives behind their actions, got in contact with some sisters and family members of the kidnapped sisters in hopes of getting a ransom.

In a bid to discourage the worrying uptick of kidnappings in the country, Nigerian bishops have discouraged the payment of any amount of money in ransom for kidnapped priests and religious, expressing concern that it may encourage criminality.

Sr. Madukaji stressed the important role of prayer in the ordeal of the sisters, noting that the Congregation immediately turned to God in prayer, imploring Our Lord, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for the quick and safe return of their sisters.

“We prayed. In fact, we prayed chain Rosaries, 24 hours - night and day. Adoration. Rosary. And then people all over the world were praying for us. We know that,” she said.

Fortunately, two days later, the four sisters were released from the hands of their captors.
Gratitude

In light of the worrying trend of insecurity , Sr. Madukaji called on government and security to agencies to “sit up” in their task of assuring the protection of Nigerians, and urged authorities to continue in their fight against insecurity in the West African Nation.

The religious sister then offered her profound gratitude to all who reached out to the congregation to express their closeness as the news of the sisters’ abduction spread. She also seized the opportunity to acknowledge the founder of the congregation, Very Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Matthew Paul Edeh, C.S. Sp.

“We thank them for being with us all throughout this period, because it was a terrific moment,” she said.

Sr. Madukaji also noted that in the thick of the difficult time, all hands were on deck as the Congregational Superior and even members of other congregations joined them in solidarity and prayers.
Insecurity

In recent times, Nigeria has seen several instances of violent killings and forceful abductions of citizens, some of them targeting priests, religious and leaders of other religious denominations.

In 2022 alone, several priests have been kidnapped and some killed. The horrific attack on worshippers at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, on Pentecost Sunday which left over 40 dead, shocked both religious and civil parties within the country.

In May, the prelate of the Methodist Church in Nigeria was kidnapped and subsequently freed a day later, after paying a ransom of one hundred million Naira.

On 25 June, Fr. Vitus Borogo of the Kaduna archdiocese was killed by armed individuals at Prison Farm, Kujama, along Kaduna-Kachia road, Chikun Local Government Area.

The following month, on 15 July, Fr. John Mark Cheitnum, a priest of the Kafanchan diocese, was brutally killed by his kidnappers, while another priest who was abducted with him at the same time luckily escaped with his life.

The Nigerian government has repeatedly vowed to put an end to the security problem.

By Benedict Mayaki, SJ 

Vatican News

Related stories: Gunmen in Nigeria kidnap four Catholic nuns on highway

Video - Is Nigeria's security crisis out of control?

Nigeria Seeks $10 Billion to Fund its Energy Transition Plans

Nigeria aims to raise an initial $10 billion in funding to implement its energy transition plan ahead of COP27 climate talks later this year, the country’s vice president said.

Africa’s most populous country needs at least an additional $10 billion a year and a total $410 billion to deliver on its net-zero targets by 2060, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said during a virtual launch of the country’s energy transition road map. Nigeria has already secured a $1.5 billion pledge from the World Bank and is in talks with the US Export-Import Bank for an additional $1.5 billion, according to a government statement.

Osinbajo said that every African country has signed the Paris Agreement and some, including Nigeria, have announced net-zero pledges. But a lack of electricity “hurts livelihoods and destroys the dreams of hundreds of millions of young people.”


“For Africa, the problem of energy poverty is as important as our climate ambitions,” Osinbajo said in a video address. “Energy use is crucial for almost every conceivable aspect of development -- wealth, health, nutrition, water, infrastructure, education and life expectancy.”

Nigeria’s energy transition plan is designed to lift 100 million people out of poverty in a decade, drive economic growth, bring modern energy services to the people and manage the expected long-term job losses in the oil sector due to global decarbonization, according to the statement. 

By Anthony Osae-Brown

Bloomberg