The Rivers Government and Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the distribution of gas to industries in the Greater Port Harcourt area and its environs.

The signing of the MoU was announced in a statement on Tuesday in Port Harcourt by Mr Bamidele Odugbesan, Shell Nigeria Media Relations Manager.

Mr Richard Hart, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, signed for the state government while SNG Managing Director, Mr Ed Ubong signed for the company.

Following complaints, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is to extend the grace period of unused data roll over to 14 days.

But the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) has said the 14 days was not enough.

Instead the association has called for an extension of unused data roll over to 30 days.

The President of NATCOMS, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Lagos.

A Joint Task Force comprising officials of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and relevant security agencies on Sunday uncovered illegal fuel dump in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru lamented that the discovery was made less than 500 meters away from filling stations where motorists were queuing overnight to get the product.

The Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, has shut down operations at some filling stations in Port Harcourt, Onitsha and Abuja for various offences including hoarding, diversion of product and selling above government recommended pump price.
Similarly, the agency said marketers diverted 129,000 liters of petrol from Abuja on Friday.

Head Public Affairs Unit of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR),Mr Mohammed Saidu, who revealed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) after monitoring the stations, added that some of the erring filling stations had been given a total fine of more than N30.5 million.

According to him, more intelligence units are liaising with the public to get information for on-the-spot checks since the scarcity began.

The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on Christmas day debunked reports that the Federal Government was contemplating increment in pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). The Vice President who cleared the air while addressing newsmen in Lagos after inspecting fuel situations attributed the long queue at petrol stations to panic buying and hoarding of petroleum products by marketers. He assured that the Government was working round the clock to address the situation.

The Federal Government has announced plans to launch a gold purchase scheme by early 2018. Kayode Fayemi, minister of mines and steel development, made the disclosure at a ministerial briefing yesterday in Abuja. He said the scheme aims to increase revenue accruable from the country’s abundant gold deposit. He said it would equip artisanal miners and provide extension services and off-take of all gold produced by participants in the scheme.

The CBN Standing Lending Facility window data revealed that the amount of money that commercial banks borrowed from the Central Bank of Nigeria increased by 52 per cent in the first three weeks of December due to liquidity challenges in the economic sector. According to the report, Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in the country borrowed N2.305tn from the regulator to cover their cash shortfall positions between December 1 and 22, 2017.

Photo: SeliconSemiconductors

 Nigeria’s unemployment rate dipped from 16.2 percent in the second quarter of 2017 to 18.8 percent in the third quarter of the year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. The NBS said the number of people within the labour force who were unemployed increased from 13.6 million in the second quarter of the year to 15.9 million in the third quarter of same year, with more than two million people unemployed within the period.

The South-West Chairman of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) Mr Tayo Aboyeji, on Monday confirmed that massive loading of petrol was ongoing at different depots in Lagos. Aboyeji made the confirmation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, assuring Nigerians that the current scarcity of fuel would end in the next two days.

The Chief Executive Officer of Innoson Group of Companies, Chief Innocent Chukwuma has debunked allegation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, that he forged tax waiver documents. Innoson who also denied reports that he refused to honour invitation extended to him by the EFCC said he was arrested like a common criminal and was taken to Lagos from Enugu in shorts and singlet.