Monday 29 February 2016

Pirates Kidnap Two American Sailors Off Nigeria

Pirates have stormed an oil supply vessel off the coast of
southern Nigeria and kidnapped the ship's captain and
chief engineer, both US citizens, a private security firm and
US officials said Thursday.

A US-flagged C-Retriever owned by American oil servicing
company Edison Chouest Offshore was attacked on
Wednesday by armed men who stormed the boat off the
city of Brass, said AKE, a London headquartered private
security firm.

"Both the chief engineer and the captain were kidnapped,"
Richard Fylon of AKE said. "They are both American."
US officials said it was not a terrorist act, but were
concerned about the rise in piracy off West Africa. In
kidnaps in the region, crew members are normally freed
unharmed after any oil on board the ships is stolen.

Gunmen attacked the C Retriever, an oil supply vessel, near
the coastal town of Brass in Nigeria's oil rich Bayelsa
State. The chief engineer and the captain, both American
citizens, were kidnapped. The vessel and 11 other
members of the crew were reportedly released. US State
Department Deputy Spokeswoman Marie Harf  said Wednesday's
incident was being treated as "an act of piracy" rather than
terrorism.

US defence officials in Washington, who requested
anonymity, confirmed the details. An official at AKE's
Lagos office told AFP this was the first reported
kidnapping of US nationals around the oil-producing Niger
Delta region in at least two years.

The official, who requested anonymity, said the same area
was attacked by pirates earlier this week, but that there
appeared to have been no increase in naval patrols
operating in the area. Security forces in the Niger Delta
and the Nigerian navy did not answer calls seeking
comment.

Lucrative crime'
White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters: "We
are concerned by the disturbing increase in the incidence
of maritime crime, including incidents of piracy off the
coast of West Africa, specifically in the Gulf of Guinea."

Oil servicing ships have been struck repeatedly in recent
months around the Gulf of Guinea, which includes the
waters off Nigeria, Togo, Benin and parts of Ghana. The
International Maritime Bureau has recorded more than 40
attacks in the area this year with 132 crew taken hostage.
The gangs usually target the oil vessels to steal the cargo.

"Pirate networks in the Gulf of Guinea are focusing on
product theft from tankers and this relatively new type of
crime has evolved into a unique and highly lucrative form
of maritime crime," said the Risk Intelligence security firm,
in its October report .

It is estimated that oil product worth approximately
$100m (approximately £62m) has been stolen since 2010.

In recent months there have been numerous kidnappings of
foreign oil workers and wealthy Nigerians, especially in the
oil-producing Niger Delta region. They have often been held
until a ransom payment is made.
Sailors of varying nationalities have been taken hostage,
but typically released days or weeks later. Most analysts
say that ransoms are paid in such cases, but the
companies involved and Nigerian officials rarely comment
on payments to kidnappers.
Text culled from Africanoutlookonline

Governor Dickson' Sister Freed by Abductors

The younger sister of Bayelsa State governor, Mr. Henry
Seriake Dickson, has been rescued after spending over
two months in the hands of kidnappers.

A statement issued on Monday by the Chief Press
Secretary to the governor, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said
26 year old Nancy Dickson, was rescued on Sunday
evening from her abductors without any payment of
ransom.

According to him, “some of the kidnappers took to their
heels while others were apprehended following a tip off on
their hideouts.”

While calling on the people of the state not to succumb to
the demands of ransom made by kidnappers, Governor
Dickson assured that plans were underway to amend the
Bayelsa State Secret Cult, Kidnapping and other Related
Offences Prohibition Bill 2012 to proscribe payment of
ransom in the state.

He stressed that the Bill when passed into law, would go
a long way in putting a stop to the incidence of
kidnapping in the state.

Dickson urged Bayelsans to take a cue from his personal
experience with kidnappers when his aged mother was
abducted in 2009 and efforts were made to secure her
release without payment of ransom.

As part of efforts to stem criminal activities in the state,
Governor Dickson said “a comprehensive security
strategy would be launched soon to boost government,s
policy of zero tolerance on crime and criminality.”

He therefore advised anyone or group of persons who
indulge in the unwholesome practice to turn a new leaf as
the full weight of the law would be brought to bear on any
culprit.

Emir Sanusi suspends village head for raping, infecting 14yr old girl with HIV

Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi ll has suspended
village head of Goron-Maje in Dambatta local
government area of the state, Usman Musa Muhammad
for alleged rape of a 14-year old girl (name withheld).

Announcing the suspension, the Galadiman Kano Alhaji
Abbas Sanusi said the village head was suspended to
enable proper investigation into the matter.

Galadima added that the emirate council has set up an
committee to investigate the matter and report back to
the palace.
He said the committee comprised representatives of the
palace and officials of the Kano State Hisbah Board.

Galadima therefore warned other traditional title holders
in the state to desist from anything capable of
tarnishing their integrity and the image of the emirate.
He said: “Kano emirate council will not condone any act
of immorality by its representatives, hence, will not
spare any traditional ruler found wanting in such acts.”
It was gathered that the suspended village head was
said to have infected the girl with HIV virus.

The girl exposed the embattled village head after she
was tested HIV positive when her suitor took her for HIV
test.

“The village head had slept with me on several
occasions. He had threatened to kill me if I tell anyone
about my relationship with him and that is why I kept
quiet,” the girl told Hisbah officials.
The Commander General of Kano State Hibah Board,
Sheikh Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa, said the board will invite
the village head for questioning.

Culled from whistleng

#FreeEseOruruNow

She is but a child, She is just 14!
Abducted by a pedophile while she was just 13
Her Name is Ese Oruru and not Aisha!
She needs to be with her family not under Sharia
They say she eloped and converted to Islam!
But she was abducted by Yinusa and forcefully converted to Islam.
Let's all ensure that Ese Oruru is returned safe and sound!

Wednesday 24 February 2016

Maintenance work on LNG train to last till April

The Nigeria LNG Limited says it is carrying out scheduled
maintenance work on one of its six Liquefied Natural Gas
trains.

The maintenance of the train would last till the first week
of April, the company said on Monday.
“It started on January 25 and will run for 70 days and
there are no production challenges,” the NLNG
spokesperson, Anne-Marie Palmer-Ikuku, was quoted by
Reuters as saying.

The Manager, Communications and Public Affairs, NLNG,
Mr. Tony Okonedo, told our correspondent that the
maintenance was being conducted on Train 1, which
came on stream on February 27, 2000.
“The scheduled maintenance is not a big deal. It is like
you have gone to service your car,” he said.
Asked what would be the implications of the ongoing
maintenance, Okonedo said, “There is no implication.”

The NLNG’s six trains have the capacity to produce 22
million tonnes per annum of LNG, five MTPA of natural
gas liquids (liquefied petroleum gas and condensate) from
3.5 billion (standard) cubic feet per day of natural gas
intake.

The company has long-term supply contracts with
Spain’s Repsol, Italy’s Enel, Britain’s BG Group, France’s
Engie SA and Portugal’s Galp. It also sells on the spot
market.

The NLNG’s near term expansion plans include the
construction of a seventh train to complement the
existing six-train structure.
According to the company, plans for building the Train 7
that will lift the total production capacity to 30 MTPA of
LNG are currently progressing with some preliminary
early site preparation work initiated. Further work awaits
final investment decision by the shareholders.
The company is owned by four shareholders, namely, the
Federal Government of Nigeria, represented by the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (49 per cent);
Shell (25.6 per cent); Total LNG Nigeria Limited (15 per
cent) and Eni (10.4 per cent).

Workers’ strike disrupts children health programmes in Bayelsa


THE strike embarked upon by local government areas in
Bayelsa State over the non-payment of salary arrears has
hampered the medical outreach programme of the United
Nations Children’s Fund in the state.
The UNICEF team was in the state last for the
rescheduled second round of the Maternal Newborn and
Child Health Week.
The second round of MNCHW was held nationwide from
December 4 to December 10, 2015, but did not hold in
Bayelsa State due to the governorship election that took
place in the state on December 5, last year.
The exercise monitored by Southern City News in some
remote villages indicated that many government-owned
health facilities were under lock and key, while a few
others that were opened lacked adequate health workers
to complement UNICEF team to administer services to
the people.
In declaring the week-long event open, the Permanent
Secretary, Bayelsa State Ministry of Health, Dr. Kojo
Omietimi, had said the bi-annual exercise was designed
to deliver an integrated package of cost-effective high
impact preventive and curative health interventions.
The permanent secretary also said that the event was to
feature Vitamins A supplementation for children; tests for
pregnant women and women of child-bearing age, iron-
foliate supplement for pregnant women, de-worming of
children, screening for malnutrition, birth registration and
HIV counseling and testing.
At Basic Health Centre, Tumgbo community in Sagbama
Local Government Area of the state, few health officers,
who were on ground, lamented the lack of logistics to
mobilise staff for the exercise.
The head of the centre, Mrs. Ebi Pateme, said, “Are you
not aware that local government workers have not been
paid for the past six months? We are coming to work
because of the nature of our job?
“LG workers in other departments are on strike.
Government did not give us any logistics for the MNCHW
exercise. All we need now is our salaries so that we can
discharge our duties effectively.”
An immunization officer in Sagbama LGA, Mr. Barazi
David, said the distribution of materials for the exercise
started late due to logistics problems.
He, however, noted that with logistics support and UNICEF
materials were able to get to all 27 health facilities in the
area, adding that attendance was encouraging.
“Our major challenge is the problem of logistics, but we
really commend UNICEF for providing us with some
incentives that contributed to the success of this
programme,” David noted.
In his remarks, the Head of Department, Health, Sagbama
LGA, Mr. Taribidei Tonkiri, attributed the low turn-out
recorded during the event to the low morale of workers
due to the non-payment of salaries for months.
The HOD, who spoke from the headquarters of the council,
which was locked by the striking workers, said the
exercise did not meet its expectation as a result of
logistics bottlenecks.
He advised the federal, state and local governments to
ensure that all arrears owed LG workers were cleared to
boost the morale of workers.
  Culled from the punch

PPPRA Pays Marketers N3.4bln Unsubstantiated Subsidy Claims

The workers under the aegis of Petroleum and Natural
Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) PPPRA have accused the new leadership of the agency of paying fuel marketers undue subsidy claims of N3.4bln.
The Chairman of PENGASSAN, PPPRA Branch, Mr.
Victor Ononokpono made this known as members of the Union embarked on a protest over the leadership crisis in the Agency.
Ononokpono accused the Executive security of Agency, Sotonye  Iyoyo of paying the unsubstantiated subsidy claims shortly after she assumed duty on Monday.

50,000 Abuja Workers Sacked in Two Months - ACCI

The scarcity of foreign exchange for importation of raw
materials by local industries is adversely affecting the
sector as over 50,000 workers have lost their jobs in
Abuja in the last two months.
The President, Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry,
Mr. Tony Ejinkeonye, confirmed the job losses in an
exclusive interview with our correspondent in Abuja.
Similarly, the President, Manufacturers Association of
Nigeria, Mr. Frank Jacobs, said that about 10 companies
had formally notified the association about their intention
to shut down operations before the end of this month.
Ejinkeonye said that except something urgent was done
by the Federal Government to address the forex exchange
problem, more people could lose their jobs.
“Currently, in Abuja, we have about 50,000 workers that
have lost their jobs in the last two months. I must
confess this is not a good time for the manufacturing
sector,” he said.
He said majority of manufacturers operating in Abuja
could no longer access foreign exchange to import raw
materials, adding that those who managed to get forex
from the black market could not sell their products as
consumers could not pay the high prices.
He said, “As manufacturers and industrialists, the scarcity
of foreign exchange has affected us in the area of raw
materials that need to be imported. We cannot access
foreign exchange anymore to import raw materials.
“Also, maintenance of some of these facilities has
become a problem because the spare parts have to be
imported and the inability to get foreign exchange to
import them has impacted negatively on our operations.
“Some of our members who are manufacturers have even
gone to the extreme of withdrawing their goods from the
market and need to increase their prices to reflect the
high foreign exchange rate. Many of us are having the
problem of retaining our workers because the production
is being hampered by lack of raw materials.”
The ACCI president said the situation had become so bad
that even big manufacturing companies such as Unilever
Nigeria Plc, Dangote Cement, Air France and Emirate
Airlines were having problem getting foreign exchange.
He stressed the need for the Federal Government to come
up with a comprehensive approach that would address the
problem.
He said, “There is a need for government to do something
urgently and stop living in denial. The Central Bank of
Nigeria and the Ministry of Finance should come out and
say something that would move us out of this forex
crisis.
“Things are really bad. As I’m talking to you now,
Unilever, Dangote Cement and our other members are
crying. A lot of companies have also threatened to lay off
workers. If something urgent is not done within the next
30 days by the government to address this, you will see
companies like Dangote and Unilever Nigeria sacking
some of their workers.”
Ejinkeonye added, “Airlines like Air France and Emirates
are really having very serious problems now in taking
back their foreign earnings.”
The MAN president said about 10 companies had
indicated its plan to close shop before the end of the
month.
He said with each of these companies employing an
average of 200 people, a total of 2,000 workers would be
affected if they decided to shut down their operations.
He said, “A number of our companies have formally
written to us that they are going to close shop. Currently,
we have about 10 companies that have written us
informing us that they are running out of raw materials
and that by the end of this month, they may close down.
“We do know that it is going to be more towards the end
of the first quarter because many of them that have raw
materials that can’t replenish them are likely to shut
down.”
Jacobs called on the government to revisit the ban on 41
items from accessing the forex from the official window,
especially items considered essential raw materials for
manufacturing.
He said, “Many companies that have applied for foreign
exchange for even those items that are not on the 41 ban
list are finding it difficult to access foreign exchange from
the central bank. So, we are calling on the CBN to make
foreign exchange available for essential raw materials.
     Culled from the punch

Tuesday 23 February 2016

Oil Swap Scam: Reps summons Deizani

Ailing former Minister Of Petroleum Resources Mrs Deizani Allison-Madueke has been ordered to appear before the house of reps on the 2nd of March.
The summon is coming on the heels of allegation that Mrs. Alison-Madueke,  extended contracts for crude oil
worth $24bn without valid agreements.
The Chairman of the House Ad hoc Committee on Crude
Oil Swap, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, confirmed on Monday
that a letter had been dispatched to Alison-Madueke to
appear before the committee on March 2.
“Yes, she has been asked to come on March 2.
“The letter left the secretariat today,” Mohammed stated.
The letter was routed through the office of the Group
Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.
Two firms, Duke Oil and Tranfigura, were given the
contracts in 2011 under the controversial crude-for-
refined products (swap) deals the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation executed between 2010 and 2014.
The NNPC was allocated 445,000 barrels of crude daily to
refine for domestic consumption.
However, owing to the failure of the country’s three
refineries, the corporation resorted to exchanging part of
the crude for refined products by engaging Duke Oil and
Tranfigura.
Incidentally, Duke Oil is a subsidiary of the NNPC, while
Tranfigura is an offshore firm trading in Nigeria’s crude
but does not pay tax to the Federal Government.
The Mohammed-led committee, which is investigating
the deals, had heard last week that Duke Oil and
Tranfigura got original contracts in 2010 to last one year.
However, after the contracts expired in 2011, the former
minister reportedly ordered an “extension” of the
contracts till 2014, but did not sign any valid agreements
with the firms.

Wecome To Creek Info

Starting something new may be tasking, seeing that new venture of yours transcend from a start-up, to an established entity may even be daunting.
So I welcome you to this journey. A beginner's journey into blogging and journalism. Welcome as I take you into the creeks of Bayelsa.
Tasking it may seem, but we've started already, daunting it might seem, We will get there.
Once again, I welcome you to www.creekinfong.com.
Thank you and God bless you.