Business
Nigeria’s Exemption From More Crude Cuts, Inevitable – Kachikwu
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr IbeKachikwu, has said Nigeria would get more crude-cut exemption from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Nigeria has been exempted twice, the first time for six months and the second time for nine months, from the OPEC decision to cut crude production to shore up prices of the product.
Kachikwu, who made this known at a media interaction in Abuja, said that at the expiration of Nigeria’s crude-cut exemption in March, 2018, further exemption was inevitable.
He said that it was magnanimous of his OPEC colleagues to have understood that the government came in with difficulties and voluntarily gave the exemption but that market stability was an issue.
“So, the question is when do we join but I will recognise stability if I can consistently say that for at least six months, I’ve seen average daily productions that are within the umbrella of 1.8 million barrels.
“The market is still topsy-turvy; today I think we are around 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd).
“A lot of days we are slightly above 1.8 million barrels because of the understanding with our Niger Delta brothers.
“OPEC has no intention of giving an extension taking it back, but it shouldn’t take the butchering of my pipelines to get an exemption.
“I have obviously a mark of March, next year; if I need to draw it up to that point, I will.
“If my numbers are not showing stability (but if we are fine before then) and stability arises (but this is already September so March is really six months).
“It’s very unlikely that I can see stability that convinces me with certainty and predictability that I should exit the exemption between now and March,” he said.
The minister said that he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise OPEC’s rules.
“We are going to be very transparent on this; I was the ex-OPEC President, we have the OPEC Secretary-General from Nigeria.
“So, my intent definitely cannot be to play games with this but at the same time we have to be very realistic.
“We are committed to the OPEC position; we are committed to the cut principles. We’ll do our best to align as soon as our colleagues begin to feel that we are stable enough.
“I, however, found working with Russia, working with Saudi Arabia and all the other OPEC members that they usually will be very honest in terms of looking at the data.
“They have their own secondary sources to determine what it is that we produce and they are able to see what the numbers are,” he said.
He said the nation was undergoing massive problems in terms of liquidity, income, predictability and financing of projects.
“This period enables us to get our act together and make sure all the things we need to do in the Niger Delta are done.
“People have a much firmer promise to remain stable, not attack our pipelines and we can predict our volumes day-to-day much more determinedly.
“We are seeing incidences of that begin to return but we still have these flip-flops,” Kachikwu said.
He reiterated that Nigeria was given the 1.8 million bpd maximum production, adding that technically, it would not change.
“We won’t be cutting from the 1.8 million but bear in mind that our production is 2.2 million barrels even though we’ve now moved condensates out of it.
“So, the exemption was that we’ll not exceed 1.8 million so anything above 1.8 million we’ll cut, not including condensates.
“When we finish repairing our infrastructure, our capacity is going to be huge.
“I think this country has potential capability to raise production to 2.5 million barrels so there will be quite some sacrifices that we will have to make to align ourselves with everybody.
“But capacity is one thing and ability to build on this capacity is another thing, so it’s still work in progress.”
On pipelines that were damaged, Kachikwu said it would take a while to restore them.
“Some damaged facilities have been repaired, some gone through an aging process and therefore going through natural altrusions as a result of so much impact of the militancy attacks.
“So, it’s not so much now day-to-day attack but the solvability of the infrastructure that was damaged during those periods.
“It requires money, we don’t have straight money to put that in place so you see all those effects that go into determining stability in the oil industry,” he said.
Business
NASS Engages Agric Minister On Food Crisis
The National Assembly through its joint committee on Agriculture Production Services and Rural Development has engaged the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari on an urgent solution to food inflation bedeviling the country.
The committee chaired by Senator Saliu Mustapha (APC Kwara Central), at an interface with the Minister, interrogated him on plans being put in place to arrest high cost of food prices in the country and make it affordable and available to the poor masses.
In his response, the Minister said the Federal Government has commenced distribution of 42,000 metric tonnes of grains to some focal points of state capitals nationwide.
“We have received directive and approval from Mr. President to distribute for immediate impact 42,000 metric tons of assorted grains free of charge to the Nigerian population.
“This was received in mid-February, as we are speaking, we have a record of the distribution being carried out, but I will want to plead with the honorable house and distinguished senators that some of the movements can’t be made public but a lot of states have started receiving their grains.
“We are distributing to state capitals in the first instance as you all are aware of the risk involved in the vandalism of foodstuff so we are working with the office of the national security adviser and other national security agencies.
“Furthermore, 58,500 metric tonnes of milled rice from mega rice millers will also be released into the market for stabilisation”, he said.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the interactive session, Senator Mustapha expressed satisfaction with the steps being taken by the federal government.
He said: “From our interactive session, we are on the other side of the parliament; we are fully in the picture of what is happening, we are convinced that the steps being taken by the federal government are in the right direction.
“All we did again is to further emphasise on the need for certain things to be done on time, I think from this collaborative approach by the grace of God, Nigerians will have a better feel of the government policy on food security”.
Business
Obj Harps On Cheap Credit, Policy Consistency For Food Production
Nigeria’s former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has called on the government to provide cheap credit and ensure policy consistency to enable farmers increase food production in the country.
The former President made the call as food inflation and nutrition security concerns grow in Africa’s most populous country.
Obasanjo’s made the call at the 9th Agrofood & Plastprintpack conference in Lagos recently, where he said farmers in the country were yearning for consistency in policy and single-digit interest loans to drive growth in the sector and attain food security.
“Policy sustainability and predictability is what farmers want. It helps them to plan. Availability of finance is also what farmers want. They cannot survive on the double digital interest rate”, Obasanjo, who is also a farmer, said at the conference.
According to him, food and nutrition security start with availability, then affordability by ensuring that everyone who needs food can get it.
He noted that food was one of the major imperatives in life, adding that “there cannot be food without agriculture and agribusiness”.
Obasanjo further stressed the importance of agriculture in changing the fortunes of the economy, with attendant exponential gains by way of earnings, employment, food security and other spin-offs.
He noted that agriculture must be made attractive to the country’s teeming youth population, saying this would address the rising unemployment, worsening insecurity and youth migration through the Mediterranean.
“We have to make agriculture attractive to the youths. We have to think within and outside the box to make it attractive to the youths so they are willing to get their hands dirty and feet wet”, he advised.
He continued that “Part of the security issue is owing to our inability to get them engaged. The need for agro-food and agribusiness is for food security, employment, wealth creation and income generation, particularly foreign exchange”.
Speaking also, Wouter Plom, the ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, said his country had faced challenges similar to those Nigeria confronts – feeding a growing population with limited resources.
He said as partners with a joint vision, the Netherlands and Nigeria recognise that the agricultural sector was one of the prominent drivers for economic growth.
He noted that the Netherlands has further strengthened its partnership with Nigeria to boost the agriculture sector in three main areas- economic growth, improved diets and youth employment.
The ambassador noted that all the challenges in driving growth through the sector, improving diets and tackling unemployment can be addressed when food production is efficient.
Paul Maerz, Managing Director of Fairtrade Messe, said with more investment in agro-food & plastprintpack solutions, products and technologies, brighter days were ahead for Nigeria’s agriculture.
Business
Abuja Farmers, Others Lose N12bn To Ginger Disease
The Federal Government, has confirmed the outbreak of ginger blight epidemic in four States in Nigeria, saying ginger farmers have lost over N12 billion due to the disease.
The government disclosed this at the inauguration of the National Ginger Blight Epidemic Control Taskforce in Abuja, revealing that the fungal disease had inflicted significant damage on ginger farms in Kaduna, Nassarawa Plateau and the Federal Capital Territory.
The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Abdullahi, said the blight had caused billions of naira in losses, impacting not only the livelihoods of farmers, but also Nigeria’s position as the world’s second-largest ginger producer.
“Our preliminary estimates suggested that affected farmers in southern Kaduna lost over N12bn.
“Furthermore, considering that over 85 per cent of Nigeria’s ginger cultivation occurs in this region, we can safely assume a substantial loss of cultivated land, potentially exceeding 70 per cent of total land”, he stated.
Abdullahi, however, stated that the Federal Government through the National Agricultural Development Fund would launch a N1.6bn recovery package for affected farmers in ginger-producing areas.
He said the ginger blight epidemic served as a stark reminder of the importance of preparedness in safeguarding agricultural resources, adding that by investing in research, extension services and farmer support systems, “we can build a more sustainable future for our agricultural sector”.
On his part, the Chairman of the task force committee, Abubakar Abdullahi, said there was no doubt that the blight on ginger had negatively affected the Gross Domestic Product earnings from this subsector.
“It is of necessity and great urgency that various subcommittees are put in place to forestall these negative effects”, he stated.
Abdullahi assured the minister of the commitment of the team to salvage the situation, as he pleaded with the minister to give the committee the power to co-opt members that would add value to the task force to discharge their duties efficiently and effectively.
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