Business News
Official: Debt service was 44% of FG revenue for May 2017
In the recently published May 2017 Central Bank Monthly report, Nigeria earned a total revenue of about N185.6 billion the lowest monthly collection since May 2016 when it collected N138.6 billion. The amount was a whopping 58.7% below budgeted estimated revenue of N449.6 billion.
It was also lower than the preceding month’s receipt of N221.48 by 16.25. Of the total receipt, Federation Account accounted for 67.0%, while FGN Independent Revenue, Others/Exchange Gain/NNPC Fund, VAT and Excess Crude recorded 11.7, 9.6, 6.6 and 5.1%, respectively.
On the expenditure front, the Federal Government spent an estimated at N583.32 billion, about 9.7% short of the provisional monthly budget estimate. Recurrent and capital expenditure accounted for 61.0 per cent and 34.3%, respectively, while transfers accounted for the balance of 4.7% of the total expenditure.
A breakdown of the recurrent expenditure showed that non-debt obligation was 76.8% of the total, while debt service payments accounted for the balance of 23.2% or N81.7 billion. This means for the month of May, debt servicing was about 44% of revenue.
The acting Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo recently signed into law the N7.4 trillion 2017 Federal Budget out of which N1.8 trillion was earmarked for debt servicing. The Government also provided for local and capital debt borrowing of about N1 billion and N1.2 billion respectively.
Energy
Agip shut oil facility in Bayelsa due to oil spillage, environmental pollution reported
Agip on Wednesday confirmed an oil leak, resulting in a shutdown.
The Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) has confirmed the shutdown of its Idu oilfields at Egbebiri settlement within Biseni in Yenagoa Local Government Area in Bayelsa, due to an oil spillage.
A Joint Investigative Visit (JIV) report on the incident said that the leakage at the facility could be traced to equipment failure due to a rupture at the wellhead.
According to a report from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Eni, the parent company of NAOC, in a response statement, said the facility was shut down to prevent further damage to the environment.
READ: Shell wants oil spillage case tried in Nigeria, but victims say no
What Eni is saying
An Eni spokesperson on behalf of the Italian Energy firm, in a statement, said, “As soon as the incident was reported, we activated our oil spill response, shut in the well, and notified government regulatory agencies.
“The Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) was carried out on 09/05/2021, with the participation of community representatives and the government regulatory agencies.
“The event occurred within the Company’s wellhead location which is paved and walled round. There is no significant third-party impact,” Eni stated.
READ: UK court ruling affects acquisition of Shell’s oil block by Governor Wike
Environmental Rights Group reports environmental degradation
An environmental rights group, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), however, said that the incident which discharged crude and associated gas had severely polluted the environment.
The Non-Governmental Organisation said that a visit to the spill site showed pictorial evidence of the crude spreading beyond NAOC’s right of way as nearby vegetation were affected as a result of the crude impact.
The Head of Field Operations at ERA/FoEN, Mr Alagoa Morris, in a field report on the spill said the Idu fields was notorious for frequent spills caused by equipment failure.
He said, “The people of Egbebiri in Biseni kingdom have experienced several oil spills over the years. And all the oil spill incidents documented by the Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) in this community environment have occurred as a result of equipment failure and on Wellheads.
“ERA/FoEN has had cause to visit the environment of Idu Well 5 and 11 located within the same place in the past and it has always been Idu Well 11 spewing crude oil into the environment.
“Available records from ERA/FoEN indicate that there have been previous oil spills from this particular Idu Well 11 operated by Agip. Before concluding this Field Report, ERA/FoEN confirmed that Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) was carried out on Sunday, 9th May 2021.
“This is why the official Spill Reference No 2021/LAR/028/058 is indicated in this report; sourced from the JIV report. Cause of spill was attributed to equipment failure,” ERA/FoEN stated.
The report quoted a resident of the community simply identified as Georgie as saying that the spill incident of May 7 spilled oil from around 10 p.m till about 8 a.m the next day before the leak was stopped adding that the level of damage was enormous.
What you should know
It can be recalled that in a similar circumstance, Shell Petroleum Development Company reported an oil pipeline spillage at its Okordia-Rumekpe 14-inch crude truck line, discharging about 213 barrels of crude oil into the Ikarama community in Bayelsa State and polluting about 1.34 hectares of land.
This new leakage is the latest in a series of oil spillages by the multinational oil exploration and production companies, which has put them in conflict with the host communities.
Energy
Nigeria records system collapse during holidays
Nigeria’s national electricity grid collapsed on Wednesday morning.
