Business

DANGOTE REFINERY, A BUSINESS INSPIRATION TO PRIVATE SECTOR OPERATORS – TINUBU

Published

3 years ago

August 3, 2021 5:08 pm

BodexNG

As efforts are being intensified for the imminent completion of the multi-billion dollars 650,000bpd Dangote Refinery in Lagos, the project has been described as an inspiration to private sector operators in the country.

Excited at the share humongous size of the refinery, Mr. Wale Tinubu, Chief Executive Officer of Oando Plc, leading oil and gas downstream sector operators who was on a guided tour of the project alongside members of the company’s senior management said “with what I have seen, this Dangote Refinery is for Nigeria and Africa.”

He stated that the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote deserved all the commendations in the world for the courage to build the world’s largest single train refinery in one of the most challenging business environment in the world even as the risk premium being at the highest.

Mr. Tinubu noted that he harboured no doubt within him that the refinery, upon completion, will meet the yearnings of Nigerian for product availability and ultimately de-risk the petroleum sector.

The Oando Plc CEO, said he felt a sense of pride for being able to witness this feat in the history of Nigeria, noting “It is more than just a refinery, it is a revolution, it is about what is possible in Africa by an African, we are talking about a world class project being done a scale that the world is not used to.

“This is happening in an extremely challenging environment in which all of the infrastructure had to be built from the scratch with the attendant huge additional cost, the cost of capital being high, and the risk premium being highest and done with such spectacular precision. I think the world is not going to see many of these sort of projects. I call it the eighth wonder of my own time.

“It is inspirational and Alhaji Dangote deserves all the accolades. This project is of strategic importance to the nation and the continent. Nigeria has no functional refinery, and it has 200million people that consume 40million litres a day.

“There is nowhere in the world where you have a raw material for something and you do not beneficiate the product to a point where you can consume it in your country. We have been a complete and utter failure when it comes to that and it is taking a private individual to reverse that trend.

“It is an epoch for the country. I think what we should do is to encourage him to complete it. Success for him is a success for the country.”
In his remark, Aliko Dangote stated that the refinery is not only a project for Dangote, but also a project for Nigeria.

He said: “Nigeria should be a leader in building facilities like these, as a business initiative. This project will definitely put Nigeria on the map, and surely change the fortunes of Africa.”

He further disclosed that Dangote apart from building world class projects is also dedicated to building capacity by resuscitating failing industries such as it did in the cement industry, adding that this has set the precedence in Nigeria.

The Dangote Refinery upon completion, will refine 650,000 barrels of crude per day, making it the single largest train in the world. This in turn will enable the nation to generate and save foreign exchange, which has been blamed for the country’s current economic woes. The project will also provide 90 megawatts of electricity through its multi-million-dollar sub-sea pipeline project.

It will be recalled that Dangote Oil refinery recently emerged as most impactful local content company of the year for its strict adherence to the local content policy of the federal government.

The award was presented to the company virtually at the 2021 edition of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF) with the theme: “Leveraging Opportunities & Synergies for Post Pandemic Recovery of The Nigerian Oil & Gas Industry,” held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State recently.
The NOGOF award is a confirmation of the efforts of Dangote Oil Refinery in local capacity development in the oil and gas industry.

According to the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Wabote, the 2021 NOGOF award is Local Content driven looking at how projects to date by related organizations, using the criteria per each award category to gauge contributions to the success of Local Content Development within the oil and gas sector being monitored by NCDMB as mandated by the Local Content Act of Nigeria, 2010.

Business

Court stops NERC from implementing tariff hike for Band A customers

Published

32 mins ago

May 3, 2024 2:48 pm

BodexNG

A federal high court in Kano has issued an order restraining the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) from implementing the new electricity tariff for Band A consumers.

Ruling on an ex parte motion on Thursday, Abdullahi Liman, presiding judge, made an interim order restraining NERC and KEDCO from going ahead with the impending tariff pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed before it.

The order also restrained the defendant from intimidating and threatening to disconnect the applicants’ electricity supply for non-acceptance of the new increased tariff.

The suit marked FHC/KN/CS/144/2024 was filed by Super Sack Company Limited and BBY Sacks Limited.

Others are Mama Sannu Industries Limited, Dala Foods Nigeria Limited, Tofa Textile Limited and Manufacturers Association Of Nigeria Limited (MAN).

The motion ex-parte was moved by Abubakar Mahmoud, counsel to the plaintiffs.

On April 3, NERC approved an increase in electricity tariff for customers under the Band A classification.

The commission said customers under the category, who receive 20 hours of electricity supply daily, would begin to pay N225 per kilowatt (kW), starting from April 3 — up from N66.

The sudden hike has since been criticised by the house of representatives and other stakeholders who have asked NERC to suspend the implementation of the new tariff.

Business

Naira slightly depreciates against dollar at official market

Published

7 hours ago

May 3, 2024 8:39 am

BodexNG

The naira on Thursday slightly depreciated at the official market, trading at ₦1,402.67 to the dollar.

Data from the official trading platform of the FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), showed that the naira lost ₦11.71

This represents a 0.84% loss when compared to the previous trading date on Tuesday, April 30, when it exchanged at 1,390.96 to a dollar.

However, the total daily turnover increased to 232.84 million dollars on Thursday, up from 225.36 million dollars recorded on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, at the Investor’s and Exporter’s (I&E) window, the naira traded between ₦1,445.00 and ₦1,299.42 against the dollar.

Business

NIN-SIM linkage: MTN bars 8.6 million lines as NCC extends deadline

Published

1 day ago

May 2, 2024 2:54 pm

BodexNG

MTN Nigeria says it has fully barred a total of 8.6 million lines from the network in line with the directive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on SIMs not linked to the National Identification Number (NIN) of the users.

The company disclosed this in its first quarter (Q1) 2024 financial report, noting that this impacted its business in the quarter.

However, to provide more time for the subscribers with less than five lines linked to an unverified NIN to complete the necessary verification exercise, MTN disclosed that the NCC has extended the 15 April deadline to 31 July 2024.

According to MTN, the lines that have been fully barred are those of subscribers who did not submit their NIN and those with more than five lines linked to an unverified NIN.

Highlighting the impact of the NIN-SIM linkage exercise and the regulatory directive, MTN Nigeria’s CEO, Karl Toriola, said:

“During the quarter, we also continued to manage the effects on our business of the industry-wide directive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for a full barring of subscriber lines not linked to their National Identity Number (NIN) – the NIN-SIM directive.

“This impacted the development of our user base across all of our key business units (voice, data, and fintech) in Q1 2024.

“Although we had to fully bar 8.6 million subscribers in line with the directive, we minimised the net effect of the barred subscribers, and our total number of subscribers only decreased by 2 million in Q1, closing with a total of 77.7 million subscribers.”

Toriola said this demonstrated the effectiveness of the company’s customer value management (CVM) initiatives, which helped it to retain affected customers and reduce churn, as well as to drive gross connections.

Meanwhile, the company also reported a decline in its data subscribers in the quarter under review. According to the MTN’s CEO, active data subscribers declined marginally by approximately 78,000 to 44.5 million.

“Notwithstanding these headwinds, we recorded increased activity within the base, with voice traffic rising by 5.1% and data traffic by 40.6%.

“This is a result of the consistent growth in demand for data and voice, supported by our attractive offers to customers and continuous investment in network quality and coverage,” Toriola stated.

Data from the NCC show that total active mobile subscriptions in Nigeria across the networks of MTN, Airtel, Globacom and 9mobile, which stood at 224.4 million in December 2023 had declined to 219 million as of March 2024 as all the telecom operators implemented the policy on the mandatory NIN-SIM linkage.

Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.

She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others