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Chevron Renews GMoU With Idama Community
Chevron Nigeria Limited, the operators of the NNPC/Chevron Joint Venture has renewed its Global Memorandum of Understand with the Rivers State government and the Idama Regional Development Council (IRDC), representing the people of Idama Ekuloma, one of the communities bordering one of their facilities in Rivers State.
Speaking during the ceremony to mark the signing of the GMoU last week, Mr. Joe Jakpa, Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs, PGPA, Eastern Area Operations of Chevron, who stood in for Engr. Femi Odumabo, General Manager, PGPA, said Chevron was taking another step towards solidifying its participatory partnership agreement for sustainable socio-economic development with communities around its operations in the Niger Delta region.
The event, according to him, marked another turning point in their commitment to strengthen the GMoU community engagement model as a vehicle for sustainable socio-economic development in communities.
“Few community development strategies in the global energy industry offer as much potential for participatory, community-driven socio-economic benefits as the GMOU”, eh said.
Jakpa expressed appreciation over what he called “tremendous support” of the Idama people for the continued progress of the GMoU process and noted that the IRDC has become an example of a worthy ambassador of GMoU that adheres to the fundamental principles of transparency, accountability and sustainability upon which the GMoU stands.
He stated Chevron’s expectation that the GMoU would be a long-term community development catalyst stimulating a sustainable expansion of the economics of the local communities in the Niger Delta and providing significant benefits for the people.
He reiterated the fact that the GMoU could provide a platform for enhancing peace in the region through constructive dialogue and respect for the rule of law.
He also expressed appreciation to Rivers State governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi for providing the enabling environment for the GMoU to flourish in the state.
The chairman of IRDC, Mr. Nengiam Dokubo in his speech, had good words for the GMoU and stated his expectations for better things to come for his people.
Dignitaries present at the signing ceremony include the permanent secretary in Rivers State Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs, Representative of NNPC, Davie Ogbebo, a representative of Akuku-Toru LGA, NDDC representative, Bolaji Ogunseye of Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency, RSSDA, and the Amadabo of Idama, His Royal Highness, Kingdom Dateme, Okio II.
They all had commendable words for the GMoU and were unanimous in the peaceful disposition of Idama people.
Nigerians may experience an increase in the prices of premium energy products diesel and petrol as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery temporarily halts the sale of petroleum products in Naira.
“This decision is necessary to avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in US dollars,” the company said in a statement yesterday.
The $20billion refinery based in Lagos said the sales of its products in Naira have exceeded the value of Naira-denominated crude it has received from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
“As a result, we must temporarily adjust our sales currency to align with our crude procurement currency,” the company explained.
The refinery said it remained committed to serving the Nigerian market and would resume the sale of its product to the local market in Naira as soon as it received crude cargoes from the NNPCL in Naira.
“As soon as we receive an allocation of Naira-denominated crude cargoes from NNPC, we will promptly resume petroleum product sales in Naira,” it said.
The announcement by the refinery comes amid its price war with the NNPCL.
As part of moves to reduce the strain on the US dollars, and guarantee price stability of petroleum products, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in July 2024, directed the NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira and not in United States’ greenback.
In the beginning of March 2025, the NNPCL said its Naira-denominated crude sales agreement with the Dangote Refinery was structured for six months with March 2025 as the expiration date.
The state company, however, said that talks were on to replace the contract, and that over 48 million barrels of crude oil have been made available to Dangote Refinery since October 2024 under the Naira-denominated arrangement.
The NNPCL also said it had made over 84 million barrels of crude oil available to the private refinery since it commenced operations in 2023.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, faces energy challenges, with all its state-owned refineries non-operational for decades until 2024. The country was heavily reliant on imported refined petroleum products, with the state-run NNPCL being the major importer of the essential commodities.
Fuel queues are commonplace in the country. Prices of petrol more than quadrupled since the removal of subsidy in May 2023 by President Bola Tinubu, from around ¦ 200/litre to about ¦ 1,000/litre, compounding the woes of the citizens who power their vehicles, and generating sets with petrol, no thanks to decades-long epileptic electricity supply.
Last December, the billionaire industrialist commenced operations at the facility situated in Lagos with 350,000 barrels a day. The refinery, which was initially bogged by regulatory battles, hopes to achieve its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year. The refinery has begun the supply of diesel and aviation fuel to marketers in the country and now petrol.
Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has overtaken Egypt’s Omar Assar to become Africa’s highest-ranked player in the world, now sitting at 18th in the week 12 ranking released on Tuesday.
Aruna moved up from 19th place in week 11 to 18th in the latest ranking, while Assar dropped from 17th to 19th.
Denmark’s Jonathan Groth took over Assar’s 17th place, moving up from 18th.
Despite finishing as runner-up at the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup, Aruna’s impressive performances at the WTT tournaments this year have boosted his ranking.
Aruna remains the only African male player to have reached the semi-finals of the WTT Contender Doha, repeating his 2023 feat earlier this year in January.
This achievement has propelled him ahead of Assar, who beat him to become the champion of the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup.
Aruna’s next tournament is the WTT Contender Chennai which serves off in India from March 23 to 20.
In the women’s singles, Egypt’s Hana Goda maintained her top spot in Africa, moving up one place to 26th in the week 12 ITTF ranking. Her compatriot, Dina Meshref, remained static at 33rd, holding her position as the second-best-ranked female player in Africa.
China’s Wang Chuqin retained his position as the second-best player globally, behind his compatriot Lin Shidong, who continues to hold the top spot. Japanese superstar Tomokazu Harimoto dethroned China’s Liang Jingkun as the third-best player in the world after his semifinal finish in Chongqing.
In the women’s ranking, the top five remained unchanged, with China’s Sun Yingsha holding onto her top spot after retaining her WTT Champions Chongqing title.