Former Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, has called on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to come clean on its operations amidst the lingering fuel scarcity crisis.

Obi, in a statement, lamented the lack of transparency in NNPCL’s dealings, particularly regarding subsidy payments and fuel imports.
He questioned how a company that declared a N3 trillion profit in 2023 could fail to alleviate the fuel scarcity, citing incompetence and mismanagement.

The Labour Party chieftain urged the federal government to take decisive action, ensuring NNPCL’s operations are transparent and accountable to Nigerians.
He emphasized that the current fuel scarcity has inflicted hardship on citizens, and it’s time for those responsible to be held accountable.

Obi’s call for transparency and accountability is a clarion call for good governance and effective management of the nation’s resources.

By Ahmed Rufa’i, Dutse

The Dangote Group of Companies has promised to boost the power generation at the national grid through increased energy production in the country.

This was contained in a press statement issued by the communication officer in charge of north, Dangote Group of Companies, Malam Jibril Abubakar, said the group general manager of Dangote Sugar Refinery (DSR) Numan in Adamawa state, Mr Bello Abdullahi Dan-Musa.

According to the statement, “The company operates an independent power system, and that excess energy will be redirected to the national grid.”

The statement stated further that “the power, from the Dangote Sugar Refinery, Numan, when redirected to the National Grid has the potential to contribute immensely to the rapid development of the economy of the entire Northeast”.
He added that the energy will bring about accelerated development and industrialization in the region.

“President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, had said that upon completion of the BIP projects, his sugar company will be able to create about three hundred thousand direct and indirect jobs, with positive multiplier effects on the national economy”.

The Group General manager added that “The Sugar Refinery (DSR) employs no fewer than 7,000 workers yearly in its Backward Integration Project (BIP) in Numan, Adamawa State

“The Dangote Group is Nigeria’s biggest employer of labour after the government.”

Mr. Dan-Musa said most of the employees are often engaged on a temporary basis during the cane production season.

Recently, he said the company paid over N500 million to the out-growers for the sugarcane they produced under the DSR Numan out-growers scheme.

The current capacity of the DSR Numan refinery of 4,800 Tons of Cane Per Day (TCD), he said, is being upgraded to 6,000 TCD by end of 2023, 9,800TCD by 2024 and subsequently to 15,000TCD.

According to Mr. Dan-Musa, Dangote Sugar Refinery Numan has contributed immensely in the realization of the Backward Integration program of the Federal Government.

He added that the company has acquired state of the art machines to support its production process, adding that its facilities are environmentally friendly.

The Group General Manager stated further that “its Backward Integration goal is to become a global force in sugar production, by producing 1.5M MT/PA of refined sugar from locally grown sugar cane for the domestic and export markets”.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has layed-off some top management staff who have less than 15 months to retire.

This is coming few days after the oil company announced the removal and replacement of three of the its Executive Vice Presidents (EVPs).

Those affected by the previous shakeup included Abdulkabir Ahmed, who was hitherto in charge of gas, power and new energies; Adokiye Tombomieye, who headed the upstream segment as well as Adeyemi Adetunji, who was in charge of the downstream.

They were replaced by Olalekan Ogunleye as EVP gas, power and new energies; Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan for the company’s upstream operations, while Adedapo Segun took charge of the downstream.

The NNPC, in a terse statement, indicated that the new change in the line up was in line with its aspiration to rejuvenate its workforce.

“In our bid to pursue effective organisational renewal to support the delivery of our strategic business objectives, it has become imperative to rejuvenate our workforce.

“Consequently, in addition to the recent exit of three executive vice presidents, other members of management staff with less than 15 months to statutory retirement will be exiting the company effective 19th September 2023,” the statement said.