OPEC Oil Production Rises as Angola and Nigeria Pump More Crude

Crude Oil Barrels

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries boosted crude production last month asAngola, Nigeria and Libya pumped more, the group said.
Output from OPEC, which supplies 40 percent of the world’s oil, climbed to 31.41 million barrels a day in August versus 31.16 million the previous month, OPEC’s Vienna-based secretariat said in its Monthly Oil Market Report today. The production level remains above a 30 million barrel target that the group set at a meeting in December.
Increased production coincided with a 9.2 percent advance in Brent crude on the ICE Futures Europe exchange during August. The benchmark oil grade rose 0.2 percent to $115.06 a barrel in London trading today.
Angola’s output rose about 12 percent last month to 1.85 million barrels a day, while Nigeriaclimbed to 2.18 million, according to the OPEC survey, which cites secondary sources for its information. Angola’s loading program for July was partly reduced by an incident at the Girassol field that caused Total SA to delay some shipments.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, pumped 9.86 million barrels in August versus 9.85 million in July, OPEC said, citing secondary sources. The kingdom also provided data to OPEC, which showed production at 9.75 million.
Iraq retained its position as the group’s second-largest producer, supplying 3.11 million barrels a day, outpacing Iran for a third month.

Iran Output Falls

Iran’s crude output dropped 13,000 barrels a day to 2.77 million barrels a day last month, according to OPEC’s survey of secondary sources. Iran said in its direct communication with OPEC that it produced 3.75 million in August, which was little changed from the previous month. Iran had by far the largest divergence between direct communication and secondary source production estimates among OPEC members, showing analysts lack confidence in the country’s official data.
A European Union ban on imports of Iranian oil came into full effect in July.
OPEC’s 12 members are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar,Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
 BusinessNews.

Creation of new states: South East to get one as Jonathan pushes for two

Indications emerged last night that the Federal Government may create two new states, and one of the beneficiaries of the additional state will be the Southeast region.
It was gathered authoritatively that the Southeast is to be considered an additional new state, because the geopolitical zone has only five states, and is greatly at a disadvantage if compared with the other geopolitical zones in the country.
According to a source from the Presidency, “President Jonathan believes in equity and fairness. I think his administration is favorably disposed to the creation of one or two states to address obvious imbalance.

“One of the states might be from the Southeast, which is the only geopolitical zone with five states. The other five zones have six states, with the exception of the Northwest with seven states.”
Besides, the source added that President Goodluck Jonathan is seeking for the amendment of 1999 constitution, particularly the area of local government having joint accounts with state governments.
“We want to ensure autonomy for local governments, especially on the need for the abolition of Joint Accounts. Most of the 774 local government areas in the country have become appendages of the state governors.
“The administration of President Jonathan is disturbed that there is no democracy at the local government level, let alone good governance. This is a vital tier of government.
“Also, Nigerians should expect fundamental reforms in the justice sector, especially access to justice, quick dispensation of justice  and criminal justice reforms.” the source said.
DailyPost.

Driver in Benin sacks boss after winning N1 million in Game Show

Luck shone on Emeka John at the oddest of places – a beer parlour. Emeka is a trailer driver who was spotted drinking bottles of Star lager beer just at the right time and the right place. Unknown to him, Star was giving away instant gift prizes for Star drinkers through a raffle draw. Emeka was given some prizes including a raffle ticket to participate in Star TV Game Show in Lagos.
Emeka was flown to Lagos, all expenses paid, from his base in Benin, just to participate in the Game Show. Since Star Game Show is team-based, he was by sheer luck, grouped alongside David Smith and Ugwu Chukwuemeka. At the end of the games, the trio emerged the winning team. Each team member pocketed N1 million for their victory.
When he was asked about how he felt winning N1 million, Emeka did not waste time in announcing his resignation. He declared: “My days of working for other people are over. I will use this N1 million to buy my own truck.”

 LindaIkejiBlog

Beautify your premises or go to jail – Lagos

by Sesan Olufowobi.

The Lagos State Government on Tuesday said it was now mandatory for occupiers of houses in the state to beautify the perimeter areas of their buildings.

The government said a violation of this would attract N250, 000 or the amount the state would incur if it decides to carry out the beautification, or six months imprisonment or other non-custodian sentences.

It added that anyone caught felling trees in the state or trimming them without permission would be fined a minimum of N50, 000 or sent to one year imprisonment.

Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, stated this at the inauguration of the Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency at Alausa, Ikeja.

He said, “It is also an offence to walk on lawns and gardens. Urinating, defecating in any  of the parks, gardens and open spaces; loitering or soliciting for illegal purposes, smoking and dumping refuse among others in the parks are also offences.”

The commissioner said the government had demonstrated commitment to environmental transformation by its massive greening programmes and would not relent in making the environment more beautiful.

He said the establishment of LASPARK was to create a structure for the beautification and landscaping of open spaces in the state as government had done with other agencies like LAWMA and LASAA.

He added that the state’s Parks and Garden Law of 2011 would enable the agency to function and build on the solid foundation laid by the Conservative and Ecology Department of the ministry.

He said, “As a matter of fact, we are structuring the state in such a way that ministries would formulate policies while agencies would implement and sustain them. We have about 89 agencies in the state and they are all performing well. Other states in the country are understudying them.

“LASPARK will maintain and manage all designated parks and gardens; carry out the general directives and policies of government in respect of parks and recreation centres among other duties.

“We are going to make the law available so that everybody will know what is expected of them. But we will not enforce the law now. We will do so after the traffic law is up and running.”

The General Manager of LASPARK, Olukunle Sotade, said the agency intended to collaborate with all sectors of the economy to build on the good foundation of the CE department.

He urged Lagosians to support the agency to succeed by obeying the parks and garden law.

How Nigerian banks are helping fraudsters – EFCC

The EFCC says its cells are filled to the brim. The anti-corruption boss told some bankers how their colleagues aide corruption.
In a bid to shield persons suspected of financial crimes from investigation, Nigerian banks deliberately provide inadequate information and in some cases completely hide information from anti-corruption officials, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, said.
The EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, said this during a courtesy visit by some bankers on Monday. The bankers, members of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN, led by its president and chairman of council, Segun Aina, visited Mr. Lamorde in his Abuja office.
“If you send letter to the bank to avail you the details of such account, the reply you will get is that such account does not exist,” Mr. Lamorde said. “If you insist, then you will be told that such records are not on the front desk; that it is only the managing director or the deputy managing director that manages the account, this is not a healthy banking development.”
Other ways by which banks aid corruption, according to the anti-corruption chief, include non-compliance with Know-Your-Customer, KYC, principle; doctoring or non disclosure of true position of statement of accounts of suspicious account holders; and allowing the secrecy surrounding private banking.
Mr. Lamorde, who did not mention the banks involved in the act, accused the culpable banks of engaging in unethical practices that undermine both the economy and the Commission’s investigation activities. He described as unfortunate, a situation where banks fail to disclose the identities of some people under investigation by the Commission.
The EFCC boss told the visiting bankers that his commission appreciates the need for the banks to protect their customers, but warned that such should not be at the detriment of the society.
“We want our society to be better. Nobody would want to be treated in an unfair manner outside the shores of this country just because he/she is carrying a green passport,” he said.
The anti-graft boss however commended the leadership of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria for their role in helping to sanitize the banking sector, culminating in appreciable increase in professionalism among its members. He however urged them not to rest on their oars.
Speaking earlier, Mr. Aina commended the EFCC chairman for the professional manner the commission, under his leadership, handles cases. He said the institute believes that the commission can do better.
The banking chief said the visit was aimed at discussing areas of collaboration with the EFCC, adding that the commission’s training Institute, the EFCC Academy, will provide a veritable platform for the exchange of knowledge between the CIBN and the EFCC.
“We can train staff of the EFCC to be acquainted with new trends of banking and to better understand the workings of the banks which will help in the course of investigation of bank fraud”.
The CIBN president also urged the EFCC to take a strong look at the enforcement of the Dishonour Cheque Offences Act. He said in spite of the existence of a law against the issuance of dud cheques, people still indulge in the unhealthy practice and nothing is done about it.
On the issue of the secrecy associated with private banking, Mr. Aina said private banking is an arrangement where the banks give special services to some customers who are not expected to join the queue in the banking hall. He however stated that such account should not be shrouded in secrecy.

 Premium Times

Nigeria borrows $600 mln from China's Exim for projects

ABUJA, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Nigeria has signed a deal to borrow $600 million from China's Export-Import Bank, most of which will be used to build a railway servicing the capital Abuja and surrounding areas, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.
The loan was agreed at 2.5 percent over a period of 20 years, with a grace period of seven years, the ministry said.
China has made a string of cheap loans in the past few years with countries in Africa, a continent which supplies oil and raw materials like copper and uranium to the world's most populous country and second-largest economy.
Lending at below market rates to fund infrastructure projects using Chinese firms has been a common Chinese tactic for cementing its relationship with resource-rich Africa, whilst also subsidising its construction industry.
The Abuja railway, which is being built by the state-owned China Civil Engineering Construction Corp, will cost $500 million and is due to be completed by 2015, although like many projects in Nigeria it is running behind schedule.
A further $100 million of debt will be used for Nigeria's Galaxy Backbone project, which is aimed at improving security and giving young people better access to technology.
One strand of the new railway will link Abuja city centre with the international airport and the other plans to connect surrounding commuter regions with the capital. Roads around the capital are poorly maintained, congested and dangerous.
"The light rail in Abuja will improve transportation for all residents, especially the working class," Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said at the signing agreement with China Exim bank in Beijing.
Nigeria expects in the next few weeks to sign off on another deal with China to borrow a further $500 million to build four airport terminals in Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu, the finance ministry said. (Reporting by Joe Brock; Editing by Tim Cocks, Ron Askew)

Fear of Religion-Related Violence: Police on Red Alert Nationwide

Police IG, MD Abubakar

By SaharaReporters, New York

The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar, has placed all Police Formations in Nigeria on red alert, and ordered water-tight security around embassies and foreign missions.
This confirms an earlier SaharaReporters story that security in Northern Nigeria has been beefed up.
A press statement by Frank E. Mba, the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, said the move is to ensure that no violence takes place anywhere in the county similar to what has been experience in some parts of the world on account of a recent US film believed to have offended some religious faithful.

“In this regard, the IGP has directed all Zonal AIGs and Command Commissioners of Police to ensure a 24-hour water-tight security in and around all Embassies and Foreign Missions in Nigeria as well as other vulnerable targets,” the statement said. “In addition, the AIG in charge of Intelligence and Commissioners of Police in charge of the various Police Special Squads such as the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU), Police Mobile Force (PMF) and Special Protection Unit (SPU) have been directed to ensure that their personnel are strategically deployed  to prevent and nib all potential crisis in the bud.”

The IGP also warned potential trouble makers to stay off the streets as security agencies will bring to bear the full weight of the law on all laws breakers, and advised parents and guardians to monitor their wards closely.