Ahead of the 2023 general election, President Muhammadu Buhari has warned diplomats serving in the country to keep their focus on diplomatic assignments and steer clear of Nigeria’s local politics.

The President spoke yesterday while presenting Letters of Credence to four foreign diplomats at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The President had, last October, issued the same warning during a similar ceremony for 11 diplomats.

President Buhari, who welcomed the Ambassadors of Czech Republic, Zdenek Krejci; Italy’s Stephano De Leo; Spain’s Juan Ignacio Sell Sanz and Israel’s Michael Shual Freeman to Nigeria, said: “You are assuming your diplomatic responsibilities in Nigeria at very interesting political period as Nigeria’s national elections are due in early 2023.

“As you settle down in the face of these developments, it is my hope that you will also be guided by diplomatic practice, to ensure that your activities remain within the limits of your profession as you monitor the build-up to and the conduct of the general elections next year.”

The President sought the support of the envoys in tackling rising global insecurity, and the strengthening of communality.

“We are living in unprecedented times and with so many uncertainties, especially with the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the rise in global insecurity and the devastation of our environments caused by Climate Change, among other existential threats to our collective peace, progress and shared values.

“Different factors that accounted for these challenges go beyond the abilities of any single country to effectively contain alone. Matters of security have become the business of all the nations of the world to work closely together to build consensus in order to overcome these challenges,” he said.

“For us in Nigeria,” President Buhari told the diplomats, “we continue to make steady progress, despite the daunting challenges, especially in the areas of insecurity, the fight against corruption, diversification of the economy, and our efforts in promoting good governance, amongst other aspirations.”

The President noted that Nigeria’s differences and divergence in culture and religion have contributed immensely in cementing national unity as well as spurring religious tolerance and respect for one another.

He urged the ambassadors to build lasting friendships while performing their duties to go beyond diplomatic assignments in Nigeria.

Also, President Buhari yesterday hosted the Ambassador of Senegal in a farewell audience at State House in Abuja.

The President asked him to convey the congratulations of Nigeria to President Macky Sall on the victory of the Teranga Lions at the just-concluded Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

“I’m sending the congratulations reluctantly, because our own country got beaten in the tournament,” the President jocularly told Babacar Matar Ndiaye.

President Buhari hailed the envoy for a successful tour of duty in Nigeria, which lasted nearly four years, saying: “Our relationship is very strong. I congratulate your President for keeping the country together. Please, extend my best wishes to him.”

By Muyiwa Lucas; John Ofikhenua, Gbade Ogunwale, Tony Akowe, Abuja and Robert Egbe

• Consortium faults oil giant’s indictment

• President gives directive on compensation for victims

A major row broke out yesterday over the importation of adulterated petrol.

Some of the firms accused by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited of importing the toxic petrol denied culpability.

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that those involved in the importation of “substandard products” be held accountable. He also directed that consumers be protected.

NNPC Group Managing Director Mele Kyari on Wednesday night said the company’s investigation showed the presence of methanol in four petrol cargoes imported by its agents.

NNPC handles imports through a crude-for-fuel contract method known as Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) with consortia of local and foreign oil firms.

Kyari said: “Precisely on the 20th of January, NNPC received a report from our quality inspector on the presence of emulsion particles in the PMS cargoes shipped to Nigeria from Artway Belgium.

“NNPC investigation revealed the presence of methanol in four of the PMS cargoes imported by our DSDP suppliers, including MRS, Emadeb, IH Energy, Britannia-U Consortium, Oando and also our own company, Duke Oil.

“Cargo quality certificate issued at load port by Amspec Belgium indicates that the gasoline complied with Nigeria’s specifications.”

Kyari said to prevent the distribution of the toxic petrol, “we have ordered the quarantine of all un-evacuated volumes”.

He added: “As a standard practice of all PMS import to Nigeria, the cargoes were also certified by inspection agent appointed by the Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

Read Also: Toxic petrol: Buhari orders probe, sanction of culprits

“It is worthy to note that the usual quality inspection in load protocol employed in both load port in Belgium and our ports in Nigeria do not include the test for percentage of methanol content.

“Therefore, this tip was not detected by our quality detectors.”

Kyari’s claim was at variance with an earlier statement by MRS.

MRS said: “Due to the current subsidy regime, NNPC is the sole supplier of all PMS in Nigeria.

“Consequently, the NNPC through their trading arm, Duke Oil, supplied a cargo of PMS purchased from international trader Litasco and delivered it with Motor Tanker (MT) Nord Gainer.

“This vessel discharged in Apapa between January 24 and 30, 2022 and the following major marketers with receiving quantities were the recipients of the product: OVH 10,000 mt; MRS 5,000 mt; NIPCO 5,958 mt; ARDOVA 6,000 mt; TOTAL 10,000 mt.

“As one of the beneficiaries, MRS received the product in its depot and distributed the product to only eight of its stations in Lagos.”

A member of the consortium, Emadeb Energy Services Limited, in a statement on behalf of Emadeb/Hyde/Ay Maikifi yesterday, accused Brittania-U of importing the toxic petrol.

The statement states: “We refer to the press release of February 9, 2022 by the NNPC Limited on the issue of contaminated PMS with higher concentrates of methanol allegedly imported by Emadeb/Hyde/Ay Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium.

“We hereby state that the said importation of the contaminated PMS was executed by a member of the consortium, to wit: Brittania-U.

“Brittania-U Nigeria Limited (Brittania-U) was the sole supplier of the 90,000MT of PMS delivered via MT Torm Hilde with laycan January 2 to 4, 2022.”

According to the companies, NNPC’s claims were misleading.

“The blanket claims made against the consortium by the NNPC are misleading and contradict the actual events that happened; they do not fully reflect and/or represent what transpired,” the companies said.

According to them, when they discovered the adulterated fuel, they notified NNPC.

They stated: “In view of the notice of the contaminated product, Emadeb/Hyde/Ay Maikifi immediately notified Brittania-U via a letter dated February 3, 2022 and also expressly informed NNPC of the sole liability of Brittania U.

“Based on the substantial evidence provided to NNPC and several declarations by Brittania-U to NNPC, Brittania-U is therefore solely liable for the supply of the PMS via MT Torm Hilde.

“This is also demonstrated by their unwillingness to be part of the consortium; however, all the other parties were duly indemnified by Brittania-U.”

The firms said they would give their “full and maximum cooperation to any government investigation panel and or any agency with all the relevant documentation and or information that may be required”.

A source in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, who preferred not to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said the petrol scarcity was due to the effort to prevent the adulterated product from being further distributed.

“In the efforts to ensure that more of the adulterated product doesn’t find its way into the market, we have had to quarantine the cargoes that are still at bay.

“This is why you are seeing the shock at the filling stations, but that will not last long because fresh products are coming in,” the source said.

Chairman of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and Chief Executive Officer of Ardova Plc, Mr. Olumide Adeosun, said efforts were ongoing to further isolate the toxic product.

“Our members have been making sure that the products are segregated and don’t make their way to the pool, and that the goods in transit do not get into tanks at the stations.

“We are working assiduously to make sure that the clean products that we are receiving into our systems are pushed straight to consumers immediately, obviously subject to one or two testings,” he said.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) directed its members to take inventory of vehicles damaged by the toxic petrol.

Its National President, Chinedu Okoronkwo, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN): “In our Central Working Committee meeting yesterday (Wednesday), we agreed that members should take inventories of customers’ vehicles affected by the adulterated fuel.

“The list will be sent to the government because there is a need to compensate those vehicle owners affected by the situation.

“We will be scrutinising all claims to ensure that some unscrupulous persons don’t take advantage of the situation.

“The marketers have their sales records and all claims will be thoroughly investigated just like we have in insurance,” he said.

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has waded into the matter.

Its Executive Vice Chairman Babatunde Irukera, said in a statement that from its initial investigative assessment, “consumers who purchased fuel that constitutes part of this consignment have experienced technical difficulties and damage to their vehicles or other relevant equipment/machinery.”

It said it had begun “engaging multiple regulators and entities relevant and involved in the PMS distribution value chain.”

The House of Representatives condemned the importation of adulterated petrol and called for a thorough investigation to identify and sanction those involved.

Adopting a motion by Chief Whip, Mohammed Mongunu, the lawmakers said the act must not go unpunished.

The lawmakers mandated the committee on petroleum downstream “to ascertain whether the Nigerian specification concerning importation, distribution and dispensing of the alleged toxic petrol in Nigeria from January till date complies with international standards”.

The House asked the NNPC to suspend the companies involved in the importation of the methanol-blended petrol.

They also asked the committee to “investigate the roles played by the NNPC, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian navy, any other government regulatory agencies, limited liabilities companies and individuals in the unfortunate episode”.

The motion was unanimously adopted when it was put to a voice vote.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) called for an independent probe.

In a statement by spokesman, Debo Ologunagba, the party said all those responsible for the importation of the contaminated product must be held accountable.

The statement reads in part: “Where was the toxic fuel imported from? Which company is the pre-inspection agent?

“How much was paid for the very cheap contaminated fuel and through which banks were payment effected?

“All documents relating to the transaction must be made public.

“Our party insists that President Buhari, as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, cannot acquit himself with his reported comedy of anger, buck-passing, querying of subordinates and attempt by the government to use some companies as scapegoats instead of accepting responsibility by exposing and naming individuals involved in the crime.

“President Buhari and the APC must explain how the reported 317 million litres of toxic fuel came into our country, got cleared and distributed across the nation to worsen the life-discounting experiences of millions of Nigerians under the APC administration.”

The main opposition party cautioned the government against shielding the perpetrators from justice.

Neither the executive nor the legislature has the right to initiate amendments to Electoral Act, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Prof Yakubu Mamood said yesterday.

He said the slow pace of work on the reworked Electoral Act Amendment Bill is beginning to take a toll on the commission’s preparation for the general election in February next year.

Yakubu spoke yesterday in Abuja at a one-day Policy Dialogue organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in collaboration with Westminister Foundation for Democracy (WFD).

He was represented by his Chief Technical Adviser, Prof Bolade Eyinla.

The INEC boss said with the new Electoral law still being awaited, the commission has not been able to come up with clear-cut guidelines for the conduct of the 2023 polls.

On who should initiate amendments to Electoral Act, he said the INEC, and neither the executive, nor the National Assembly, should initiate proposed amendments to the Electoral Act as it is being practiced in neighbouring Ghana.

“The situation at hand now is that roughly a year to general election, the anticipated laws are not yet approved, meaning that the extant one will be used aside the fact that the process has not enable INEC to come up with clear cut guidelines for the conduct of the elections,” Prof Eyinla said.

Yakubu’s predecessor Prof Attahiru Jega also expressed reservations on the delay in assenting to the reworked bill by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He flayed what he described as a growing lack of sense of urgency on the executive and the legislature to complete work on the Electoral Bill.

Warning against foot-dragging on the all-important bill, Jega said the country cannot afford to go into fresh elections next year with the same old laws.

But a Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate) Babajide Omoworare told participants that President Muhammadu Buhari is desirous of signing the bill transmitted to him 11 days ago by the National Assembly.

According to Senator Omoworare, the President was in crucial consultations with the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and other stakeholders for a guide on the document.

He spoke on a day the House of Representatives said it was not the business of the National Assembly to the lobby the presidency over bills.

Omoworare said: “A very crucial consultation is going on between Mr. President, the Attorney-General of the Federation and other critical stakeholders on the content of the bill for the required assent.

“If not for this programme, I am supposed to be at that the very important meeting,” Omoworare said.

The Presidential aide noted that Buhari is inclined to sign the reworked document this time around, especially as all the grey areas raised by him in the rejected Electoral Act Amendment Bill (2021) have been attended to by the National Assembly.

“Personally, I think in few days’ time, Mr. President will do the needful since the contentious aspect of the bill, had been addressed in the reworked version transmitted to him on Monday, January 31, 2022.

“Time as it is, is of essence. But I believe that Mr. President will do the needful,” Omoworare said.

Organisers of the event corroborated Omoworare’s claim that Buhari has started consultation with relevant stakeholders. They said the AGF had excused himself from the public conversation because he was in talks with the President on the matter.

The Executive Director, YIAGA Africa and the proponent of Not-Too-Young-To-Run, Samson Itodo, who joined in the conversation virtually believed that the current document before President Buhari is good and has all the essential ingredients to enhance the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral system.

He agreed with Omoworare that President Buhari will look favourably at the Electoral bill this time around and deliver it as a legacy to the Nigerian people.

In their opening remarks, NILDS Director-General Abubakar Sulaiman and Country Representatives, Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), Adebowale Olorunmola, expressed confidence that the bill when signed into law, will help curb the observed anomalies in the nation’s electoral system.

Local contractors yesterday served a notice to protest the non-payment of the N2 trillion being owed them by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), if they are not paid by next Tuesday.

The debts were accumulated over a period of eight years.

The notice came days after the contractors shut the Port Harcourt headquarters of the NDDC. During the protest, they urged President Muhammadu Buhari to prevail on NDDC management to pay for services they already rendered.

According to them, they took bank loans to implement the projects.

Spokesman of the Niger Delta Indigenous Contractors Association and Stakeholders Dressman Darlinton-Gbolobofa told reporters in Abuja that the contractors were going through pains.

According to him, the association has sought the intervention of President Buhari, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Chief of Staff to the President, security agencies and other critical stakeholders on the matter.

He warned that the contractors would return to the streets in the oil-bearing states if nothing is done before February 15.

Announcing the temporary suspension of the protest at the NDDC gate, the contractors warned: “That the Association will protest simultaneously across the nine States of the Niger Delta region and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) should the Interim Administrator of the NDDC, Mr. Akwa Effiong  and the Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio fail to meet our demand to pay Contractors by Tuesday, 15th of February, 2022.

“The Niger Delta Indigenous Contractors will continue to request the NDDC to pay for services rendered creditably as competent and performing Contractors of the NDDC, while frowning at situation where Contractors will not be mobilized by the NDDC to execute projects, a situation where the Contractors will borrow money from banks at high interest rates to execute projects yet will be owed for five years and more without payment.”

By Nduka Chiejina, Abuja and Collins Nweze, Lagos

• RT 200 policy takes effect 2023

• Diaspora remittances hit $100m per week

Banks will no longer have access to Foreign Exchange (Forex) from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) after this year.

CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele told Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of banks at the Bankers’ Committee meeting in Abuja yesterday.

The CBN governor unveiled the RT200 new forex programme with the goal of $200 billion in FX repatriation, exclusively from non-oil exports, over the next 3-5 years.

Banks will be required to source forex for their customers.

Emefiele added that the CBN will support the banks by granting rebates and other incentives until they (banks) find their feet.

He also announced that the CBN through its policies and measures had significantly grown diaspora remittances from an average of $6 million per week in December 2020 to an average of over $100 million per week by last month.

Emefiele said: “The banks don’t have a choice. The era is coming to an end when, because your customer makes $100 million demand for FX, or $200 million and you want to pack all the dollars and pass it to the CBN to give you dollar.

”It is coming to an end because before, or about latest end of this year, we will tell you don’t come to CBN for FX again go and fund, generate your export proceeds.

He added, “bank should fund people who want to generate export proceeds, when those export proceeds come, we will fund them at five percent for you.

“When those export proceeds come, they will earn rebate. That’s how we can help you. When those proceeds come sell them to your customers, but to say that you will continue to come to CBN to give you dollar we will stop it so they don’t have a choice.

“Because it’s their bread and butter (FX import/export) we are saying we will give it back to them and they just have to accept it, if they are lucky, we will say, you only come to CBN when we see the record of export proceeds you have generated and we will say okay, we will give you 10 or five per cent of it.”

Emefiele told the bank chiefs: “You must go and join the race; build your foreign exchange from your export customers to fund your import customer. That’s the best I can do to help. Run your race for your profitability so that you can make your shareholders happy.”

Emefiele said the apex bank will be reviewing these intervention programmes going forward to ensure that they continue to achieve the desired results.

He said: “That the rates will remain at five per cent for another year in view of the promising trajectory we have established in economic growth and job creation. In effect, the concessionary interest rate of five percent on our intervention facilities would now be extended until March 1, 2023.

“After careful consideration of the available options and wide consultation with the Banking Community, the CBN is, effective immediately, announcing the Bankers’ Committee ‘RT200 FX Programme’, which stands for the ‘Race to $200 billion in FX repatriation.

“The RT200 FX Programme is a set of policies, plans and programmes for non-oil exports that will enable us attain our lofty, yet attainable.”

He said the RT200 programme will have the following five-key anchors: value-adding exports facility; non-oil commodities expansion facility; non-oil fx rebate scheme; dedicated non-oil export terminal and biannual non-oil export summit.

On the $200 billion target in non-oil exports, Emefiele challenged state governments to partner with the Bankers Committee in developing existing ports and establishing new ones.

He noted that dedicated export terminal but an ecosystem with world-class infrastructure are needed for non-oil exports.

Emefiele said: “Over the next three months, the Bankers Committee will be collecting and analyzing detailed proposals from interested state governments in order to decide which one the CBN can partner with, saying the Bankers Committee will be arranging a significant part of the financing that will be needed for this selected ports, while the respective state government will have responsibilities that will be spelt out in due course.

“This dedicated port will be capable of creating over 100,000 direct and indirect jobs and would provide a huge boost to our quest for significant improvement in non-oil export earnings in Nigeria.

“Under this arrangement, loans to companies wishing to expand or build new plants that will generate verifiable export proceeds for the economy shall remain at five per cent per annum for 10 years loans, inclusive of two years moratorium.”

The CBN boss cautioned that the RT200 Programme “is not intended to be a silver bullet to all our problems in the export segment of the economy.

“Rather, it is a first step meant to ensure that the CBN is better able to carry out its mandate in an effective and efficient manner, which guarantees preservation of our scarce commonwealth, and the stability of our national currency, the naira.”

MTN Nigeria has paid the remaining $253.86 million to complete the $273.6 million fifth generation (5G) licence fee to the Federal Government before the February 24 deadline, an industry source said on Thursday.

MTN and Mafab Communications were allocated slots for the 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum dedicated to the deployment of the technology after emerging winners conducted by Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in Abuja last year after 11 rounds of bidding that lasted eight hours.

According to the Information Memorandum (IM) for the spectrum auction, the Commission had set $197.4million as reserve price for each slot of the spectrum. Bidders were required to pay 10 per cent of the bid price of $19.74million.

But the bid surpassed NCC’s reserve price and went as high as $273.6million.

Accordingly, the winners are expected to pay the Winning Bid price, less the Intention-to-Bid Deposit of $19.7million.

Details Shortly…

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday evening ordered relevant regulatory agencies of government to ensure that producers and providers of substandard products answer for their actions.

The President was reacting to the recent crisis that trailed the importation and circulation of adulterated petrol, also known as the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), which has reportedly damaged many vehicles.

In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the President also directed regulatory agencies to see to it that consumers are protected against abuses and social injustice.

“President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that producers and providers of consumable products be held accountable for substandard services and or products sold by them.

“The President has also given directives to the relevant government agencies to take every step in line with the laws of the country to ensure the respect and protection of consumers against market abuses and social injustices.

“In a reaction to the issue of petroleum product shortages linked to the inadvertent supply of products of foreign origin into the Nigerian market, President Buhari said the protection of consumer interests is a priority of the present administration and is ready to take all necessary measures to protect consumers from hazardous products, loss or injuries from the consumption of substandard goods.

“The President directed that in line with the law, service providers must make full disclosure of relevant information with respect to the consumption of their products and that dissatisfied consumers are entitled to a proper redress of their complaints,” the statement reads.