• Their demands being met

• Union gives condition to avert strike

Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige has accused varsity teachers of whipping up sentiments against the Federal Government to attract sympathy to its planned strike.

Dr. Ngige said the government had been implementing the Memorandum of Action signed in 2020 with the leadership of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The minister was reacting to the lecturers’ threat to throw public varsities into another round of strike to protest the yet-to-be met demands.

The lecturers said the full implementation of the 2009 agreement is what can avert the strike.

Ngige said the government released N70 billion in 2021 for both Revitalisation of Public Universities (N30 billion) and Earned Academic Allowances (N40 billion) to   demonstrate commitment to the MoA implementation.

The minister said: “It is not true. They have taken their Earned Academic Allowances for 2021. It was mainstreamed in the budget of 2021 and they got it.

“We paid N22.72 billion which was mainstreamed in the 2021 budget. And they have collected the one of 2020 where they got N40 billion and shared it between them and other unions. They got it in January 2021.

Read Also; One ASUU strike too many but…

“When they called off their strike in December 2020, the release of funds was one of the agreements. They were paid N40 billion and another N30 billion for Revitalisation of Public Universities during the first quarter of 2021, bringing the total to N70 billion.

“If they say the EAA is not in the 2022 Budget, why don’t they allow the government to do a Supplementary Budget? There is a parameter that we use to calculate it. That parameter changes every year and it is the budget office that is calculating it.

“Maybe by March the Budget Office would have known what the parameter will be and put it in the 2022 supplementary budget. The EAA they got in 2021 was in the supplementary budget.

“We are implementing the MoA, we have been implementing it religiously. When they (ASUU) are talking like that, I don’t like it because they are talking just to whip up sentiments.”

The minister also directed the ASUU leadership to its primary employers – Federal Ministry of Education (FMoE) to find out the progress of the re-negotiation of the 2009 FG-ASUU agreement.

He said the report of the Prof Munzali Jibril-led Committee was not forwarded to him or the Presidential Committee on Salaries for input.

Ngige said: “They are supposed to write to their minister, who is their employer and tell him these things you are saying. When there is a breakdown in discussion that is when it comes to the federal ministry of Labour.

“They (FMoE) have not sent us any report either at the Presidential Committee on Salaries (PCS) or have they sent anything to me as minister of Labour.”

Asked if there is any meeting planned with ASUU leadership, Ngige said: “It is up to the Federal Ministry of Education to call me.  Then I will call a meeting.

“I have forwarded their complaints to the Education for them to engage them. I have forwarded a letter to the ministry of education today (yesterday).”

Ngige also said he has forwarded the reply of ASUU on the assessment done by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) on the University Transparency Accountability Solutions (UTAS) to the FMoE, National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

“They have written their own reply to the defects that NITDA pointed out in the UTAS.  NITDA said utas is not ready for usage and pointed out the things they want them to rectify.

“When NITDA did that I was the one who communicated to ASUU. I didn’t start waiting for their employers to do so just to fast track the negotiation.

“I forwarded to ASUU, Finance and NUC. The Ministry of Education is supposed to have gotten its own copy, Ngige added.

By Muyiwa Lucas; Bolaji Ogundele, John Ofikhenua, Abuja; Segun Showunmi, Ibadan and Toba Adedeji, Osogbo

• Fear grips Petroleum Ministry department

• Scarcity spreads to Osun

How did the adulterated petrol get into the country? Whose negligence or compromise led to it?

These and other issues around the toxic petrol are to be unravelled after a probe by the Federal Government, Minister of State Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva said yesterday.

Sylva said: “There’ll be a major investigation to unravel everything and then let’s really get to the bottom of it before we can come back and tell you what is going to happen to the culprits.

“We know that some people’s vehicles must have also been damaged. That is also going to be taken into consideration in dealing with the situation.”

Sylva’s statement unsettled officials of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

The NMDPRA is a department in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, not a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited as earlier reported.

It is responsible for the inspection of the imported petroleum products.

“Those in the unit are jittery”, a source told The Nation last night.

NMDPRA on Tuesday said methanol above Nigeria’s specification was discovered in a limited quantity of petrol in the supply chain.

It said the impacted product had been isolated and withdrawn from the market, including the loaded trucks in transit.

The development resulted in product scarcity in Abuja, Lagos and other cities.

Sylva, speaking with State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, said he met with President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday over the matter.

“I’m not in a position to disclose the identities of the companies, but there are some issues and we are actively tackling it.

“Nobody has, before now, checked for methanol in our fuel. It’s not very usual and this is the first time this is happening and NNPC is very much up to the task.

“I will also convey your question to NNPC and maybe NMDPRA, but we’re actively handling it and I want to assure you that the problem will be a thing of the past very soon,” he said.

An industry player wondered how the contaminated product could have found its way into the country as refineries produce only requested specifications.

The source explained that once an importer sends its country specification to a refinery, the product must meet that standard.

“Normally, if a country is importing from a refinery, it will give its specification of the product. And when the product arrives, it is taken to the DPR laboratory in Lagos for a test.

“It usually arrives in Lagos by the mother basin in the high sea, from where smaller vessels collect.

“Once it comes to the depot, the DPR tests the product. DPR has to do a water test and a purity test as to whether the chemical is okay for Nigeria’s standard.

“People realised that this particular one was adulterated when motorists started using it.”

The scarcity caused by the toxic petrol withdrawal extended to Oyo and Osun states yesterday.

There were queues in many petrol stations in Ibadan, the Oyo capital, and Osogbo, the Osun capital, and environs.

But the NMDPRA said Nigeria currently has 20 days of petrol sufficiency and that there was no need for panic buying.

The department said it was also working round the clock with other stakeholders to address the issue of substandard PMS.

NMDPRA Chief Executive Mr Farouk Ahmed, in a meeting with downstream industry stakeholders in Lagos, said: “I am happy to say that loading has been going on in most of the depots because we have been able to identify, isolate and quarantine the limited amount of gasoline that was affected by the methanol volume that was discovered.

“We have vessels that have arrived in the country recently. At least six arrived in the last few days ordered by the NNPC carrying a total volume of close to 300 million litres just to close the gap created by those vessels we have withdrawn from the system.

“All in all, as of today (yesterday), we have about 20 days sufficiency of PMS in the country.

“Our ideal days of sufficiency are 30 but the withdrawal of the vessel created the gap in our 30 days sufficiency.

“Again, with aggressive importation by the NNPC, this will be closed in a few days from the data we got from the NNPC’s import programme.

“Loading is also ongoing in most of the depots that have confirmed spec products so there is no need for panic. Hopefully, by tomorrow (today) or early Friday, Lagos will be cleared.”

According to him, a 9,000MT vessel was about to discharge at the Apapa Port, which would be providing PMS to major marketers including OVH Energy, TotalEnergies, 11 Plc, ConOil and Ardova Plc.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) confirmed the sale of adulterated petrol in some service outlets in the Southeast.

The Chairman of IPMAN, Enugu Depot Community, Mr Chinedu Anyaso, whose zone covers Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu states, said the development had been communicated to the headquarters of the association.

Many vehicle ranges are believed to have been damaged by the toxic fuel.

“We have received complaints about the sale of bad petrol within Enugu Zone for about two weeks now.

“We have escalated the information to our zonal and national secretariats, which are already talking with the NNPC.

“On our part, we have tried to protect customers by directing our members to stop selling such product until it is tested and approved by the regulatory agencies,” Anyaso said.

IPMAN has also directed its members to suspend the distribution of the toxic petrol.

Its National Vice President, Alhaji Abubakar Maigandi, told The Nation: “We have told our marketers to stop buying from the depots until they get the one that doesn’t have methanol.”

More petrol stations in Abuja sold the petrol yesterday compared to the previous day, but black marketers were seen selling on roadsides.

The retail outlets that sold had very long queues that obstructed traffic flow on major roads.

The contaminated fuel was brought in by Duke Oil, a trading arm of the NNPC Limited.

Duke Oil had supplied a cargo of petrol purchased from an international trader, Litasco, which was delivered in Motor Tanker (MT) Nord Gainer.

The vessel, carrying about 50, 000 metric tons of petrol or 100 million litres discharged in the Lagos port between January 24 and 30.

It was learnt that from this vessel, some major oil marketers such as OHV, MRS, NIPCO, Ardova and Total got a combined 36.958 metric tonnes of the contaminated fuel.

MRS, in a statement, said upon receiving the product in its depot and distribution to eight of its stations in Lagos, it was observed that the product appeared hazy and dark.

An analysis revealed that the product had 20 per cent methanol, an illegal substance.

“As a Company, we are aware that alcohol/ethanol is not permitted to be mixed in PMS specification. We immediately informed NNPC, NMDPRA and MOMAN and it was confirmed that other members had similar experiences,” the statement read.

MRS said the adulterated product had been isolated and would not be sold to the public.

In Ebonyi State, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) arrested six persons conveying 90,000 litres of adulterated petroleum products.

The State Commandant, Terrumun Gbue, told reporters in Abakiliki that the suspects were arrested on the Abakaliki-Enugu federal highway on Monday night.

NNPC generates N2.613tr in one year

Also yesterday, the NNPC said it generated N2.613 trillion from the sale of petrol from August 2020 to August 2021.

This was contained in the August 2021 Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR), according to the NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Malam Garba Deen Muhammad yesterday.

He said: “Total revenues generated from the sales of white products for the period of August 2020 to August 2021 stood at N2.619trillion with petrol contributing about 99.76 per cent of the total sales with a value of ?2.613trillion.”

The total sale of white products for August 2020 to August 2021 stood at 20.032billion, with petrol accounting for 99.81 per cent.

In terms of value, said the NNPC spokesman, a total sum of N203.43billion was made on the sale of white products by PPMC in August 2021.

The NNPC said in the downstream sector, a total of 1.532billion litres of white products were sold and distributed by the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a downstream subsidiary of the NNPC, in August 2021.

The NNPC also announced a total of $224.29 million receipts from crude oil and gas export in August 2021. This is against $191.26million in July 2021.

A breakdown of the figures captured in the August 2021 NNPC MFOR showed that export of crude oil amounted to $7.77million while gas and miscellaneous receipts stood at $65.26 million and $151.26million.

Total crude oil and gas export receipt for the period of August 2020 to August 2021 stood at $1.84billion.

In the gas sector, a total of 233.57 billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas was produced in August 2021, translating to an average daily production of 7,534.67million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd).

From August 2020 to August 2021, a total of 2,890.67bcf of gas was produced representing an average daily production of 7,303.61mmscfd during the period.

Petroleum tanker drivers threatened to proceed on strike over the condition of critical roads.

It alleged that some people were already pilfering the N621billion Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme meant for the rehabilitation of 21 critical roads across the country.

Its National Chairman, Comrade Salmon Akanni, told reporters in Abuja that members of his association would proceed on strike at very short notice if the government does not put the roads in order very soon.

On the N621billion, he said: “To the delight of all of us, the issue was tabled before the Federal Executive Council and was expressly approved within two weeks as agreed.

“Unfortunately, and to our greatest shocks, we heard it from very reliable sources that some vultures in the garbs of being state governments, officials of Ministry of Works and Housing and politicians are already depleting these funds and misappropriating them on roads and projects not intended in the agreement as approved by the Federal Executive Council.”

A $165 billion drop in Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) pushed 26 million people into poverty in 2020, African Development Bank (AfDP) President Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina has said.

The AfDB chief said the dwindling economic fortunes on the continent pushed 30 million people into unemployment within the period.

Dr. Adesina spoke at the 35th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.

Applauded by African leaders for effectively steering the continent safely from the harsh impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Adesina cautioned against outsourcing security of the continent to foreigners.

He stressed the need for leaders to protect lives by building healthcare infrastructure and vaccine producing factories.

Adesina said: “It has been a global economic cyclone. Africa witnessed a decline in GDP growth of 2.1 per cent in 2020, its lowest in 20 years. Africa’s GDP fell by $165 billion. Over 30 million jobs were lost and over 26 million people fell into extreme poverty.

“I wish to commend the leadership efforts of the African Union, and our Heads of State and Government, for the critical roles you have played in dealing with the pandemic and the socio-economic challenges in its wake. Today, thanks to these efforts 11 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated, and another 16 per cent has been partially vaccinated.

“However, while developed countries have moved to booster shots, Africa is still struggling with basic shots.

“Your excellences, we must learn from this experience. Africa can no longer outsource the security of the lives of its 1.4 billion people to the benevolence of others. We must secure African lives!

“It is time for your excellences to build Africa’s healthcare defence system. This must be based on three strategic priorities. First, building Africa’s quality healthcare infrastructure. Second, building Africa’s pharmaceutical industry and third, building Africa’s vaccine manufacturing capacity.

“Africa needs $600 million to $1.3 billion to meet its goal of attaining 60 per cent vaccine production by 2040. Investing in health is investing in national security. The AfDB plans to invest $3 billion to support pharmaceutical and vaccines manufacturing capacity for Africa.

“To address the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic and support economic recovery, Africa will need some $484 billion over the next three years. To eliminate extreme poverty by 2030, the continent will need $414 – $784 billion per year.

“Africa will need $7-$15 billion a year to deal with climate change. The continent will also need between $68 and $108 billion per year to fix the infrastructure financing gap.”

Adesina noted that Africa must drastically mobilise a lot more resources, saying with the help of the leaders, the AfDB’s general capital of the bank was increased in 2019 by 125 per cent, rising from $93 billion to $208 billion, the highest since its establishment in 1964.

According to him, these resources have allowed the bank to scale up support to African economies to tackle the pandemic.

He added: “The Board of Directors of the bank approved a Crisis Response Facility of up to $10 billion. The bank also launched a $3 billion Fight COVID-19 Social Bond on the international capital markets, which was the largest ever United States-dollar denominated social bond in world history. The Bank provided $27 million as grants to the African Centres for Disease Control.

“Your Excellences, over the past six years, the African Development Bank has provided about $39 billion in financing to the continent in support of its High5 priorities to: light up and power Africa; feed Africa; integrate Africa; industrialise Africa; and improve the quality of life of the people of Africa. These High5s are the accelerators for achieving Agenda 2063.”

Adesina promised that with its $25 billion in equity, the AfDB can leverage up to $33 billion of additional financing for low-income countries.

He said the bank required their support to change the article in the AfDB Charter that does not allow it to go to market to leverage resources, noting “this is top priority”.

The AfDB chief said the bank is also leveraging private investments into Africa, in innovative ways, saying “the Africa Investment Forum, established by AfDB and its partners, has helped to secure investment interests worth more than $78 billion.

“This spectacular level of interest includes a $24 billion transaction for the liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique. We are proud that this project will make Mozambique the third-largest producer of liquified natural gas in the world.”

He urged the heads of state to link security, investment, growth, and development together to enhance security, informing them that the bank was developing Security Indexed Investment Bonds.

Adesina said: “The proceeds from these bonds, when developed, will support countries and regional economic communities to do four things.”

“First, to upgrade security architecture; second, to repair damaged infrastructure in conflict-affected zones; third, to rebuild social infrastructure; and fourth, to protect zones with strategic investments.”

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Wednesday said it is well prepared to declare a total, comprehensive and indefinite strike soonest.

Rising from its congress meeting in Abuja, the Zonal Coordinator of Abuja ASUU Zone, Dr. Salahu Lawal, said it is not going into the signing of new agreement or Memorandum of Understanding or Action with the Federal Government.

The Union blamed the government for the blatant refusal to implement the famous 7th February 2019 MoA, which contained important highlights of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement and aggregated the cardinal arguments of the 2012 and 2013 MoUs and the 2017 MoA.

It also blamed the government for failing to implement the December 2020 MoA which signing ended the longest strike in the history of our nation.

Laval said only the complete implementation of the December, 2020 Memorandum of Action and the signing into law of the Re-negotiated 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement as submitted by the Munzali Jibril Committee in May 2021 will prevent the union from going on strike.

He said: “Only an insensitive government would refuse to implement the noble proposals contained in that historic document. Here we are in 2022, more than one year since the suspension of the nine-month strike, still waiting on the FGN to do the needful.

“It is needless to say that our members are sick and tired of this manner and level of irresponsibility, insensitiveness and paying lip service to the education sector.

“Consequent upon the foregoing, our great Union has in the past one month undertaken a comprehensive review of the FGN’s handling of our welfare (where a Professor takes a gross salary of 416,000 naira only); level of implementation of our agreements and timelines, and lackadaisical attitude to tertiary education in Nigeria.

“As a follow up, ASUU has commenced a one week campus-by-campus mobilisation, sensitisation and conscientization of its members nationwide on the State of the Union viz a viz our cardinal demands and next line of action.

“Barring any last-ditch positive response from the FGN, therefore, we are well prepared to declare a total, comprehensive and indefinite strike soonest.”