Business News
Budget 2020: Oil workers to earn N75 billion
The salaries and allowances workers of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and four other parastatals will earn in 2020 is N74.65 billion.
The salaries and allowances of workers in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and four other parastatals have been set at N74.65 billion in 2020. This is according to budget estimates presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari.
What you should know: The amount proposed as salaries and other emoluments for workers in the petroleum ministry is higher than the N43.957 billion budgeted as salaries and wages for workers in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
It is also higher than the N32.18 billion, N4.661 billion, N4.248 billion and N12.09 billion budgeted for workers in the Presidency, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Works and Housing respectively.
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Beneficiaries: The beneficiaries of this largesse include workers from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources while the four parastatals represented are the Department of Petroleum Resources, (DPR); Petroleum Training Institute, (PTI); Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, (PPPRA) and the Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Authority, (NNRA).
The Breakdown: The highest salary beneficiaries are the workers of DPR. N37.52 billion was budgeted for the agency as personnel cost, representing 50.26% of the total personnel cost of the entire industry.
Workers of the PTI will get N14.86 billion, representing 19.91% of the total allocation. The staff of the PPPRA, NNRA, and Ministry of Petroleum Resources (Headquarters) are to collect N11.21 billion, N10.37 billion and N690.16 million as salaries, accounting for 15.02%, 13.89% and 0.92% of total personnel cost of the ministry.
Meanwhile, the staff of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and its subsidiaries, alongside the Petroleum Equalisation Fund, (PEF) were not included in the budget.
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Recall that last week, the President Muhammadu Buhari, presented the 2020 appropriation bill before a joint session of the National Assembly. According to the President, the revenue generation estimated to fund the 2020 national budget is N8.155 trillion.
However, the 2020 budget was set at N9.79 trillion, indicating a deficit of about N1.5 trillion. What this means is that the Federal Government will borrow in order to balance up the budget.
Business News
Ecobank Transnational to hold AGM by proxies on June 30th
Due to the ravaging Coronavirus pandemic, ETI said the AGM will be held by proxies.
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) has announced the date and venue of its 32nd Annual General Meeting (AGM). According to a disclosure that was sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the company’s AGM and an Extraordinary Meeting are scheduled to hold on June 30th, 2020, at Eko Hotels and Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos.
Due to the ravaging Coronavirus pandemic, ETI said the AGM will be held by proxies. The proxy AGM is expected to enable the Pan-African financial institution to abide by the directives issued by governments and agencies regarding COVID-19 and how to contain its spread.
“As a responsible corporate citizen, ETI intends to strictly comply with this restriction in addition to other applicable health and safety measures. Accordingly, attendance at this year’s General Meetings shall be mainly by proxies in accordance with the Articles of Association of the Company and applicable law,” a statement by the company said.
To this end, shareholders have been advised to select any of the company’s top executives (including the Chairman, Emmanuel Ikazoboh, and the MD of Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan) to represent and vote on their behalf during the AGM. Proxy forms may be downloaded from the company’s website, filled, and submitted in advance.
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Meanwhile, the issues that are up for discussion during the AGM and the Extra Ordinary meeting are enumerated below.
Annual General Meeting
1. Approval of the accounts
2. Appropriation of the Profits
3. Election of Directors
4. Ratification of the co-option of directors
5. Renewal of the appointment of the joint auditors
6. Approval of the Final Board Fees for Retiring Directors
Extraordinary General Meeting
1. Withdrawal of resolution on consolidation of shares
2. Amendment of the Articles
Note that in Q1 2020, ETI reported profited after-tax from continuing operation of N66.4 billion, marking a 19% decline when compared to N81.9 billion during the comparable period in 2019.
ETI’s share price on the Nigerian Stock Exchange closed Friday’s trading session at N5.55. The company has a market capitalisation of about N137.3 billion according to information obtained from Bloomberg.
Business News
NNPC explains measures to cut cost of crude oil production
Ewubare stated that NNPC was looking very closely at such variables as logistics, security, and transportation with a view to reducing the cost of production to $10 per barrel or below.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said that it is taking some measures to bring down the cost of crude oil production to $10 per barrel or below.
According to a press statement that was signed by NNPC’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, this was disclosed by the Corporation’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Ventures and Business Development, Mr. Roland Ewubare, on a Channels TV breakfast programme on Friday, June 5, 2020.
Ewubare pointed out that the peculiarity of the terrain was an important factor in determining cost, with such issues as pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft, and some others being critical factors that are peculiar to the Nigerian terrain and would definitely drive up crude oil production cost in the country.
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He, however, stated that NNPC was looking very closely at such variables as logistics, security, and transportation with a view to reducing cost of production to $10 per barrel or below.
He disclosed that much had been done over the years in the area of reducing contracting cycle which used to be a major factor responsible for high cost of production, stressing that the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) achieved a six-month contracting cycle under him as Group General Manager.
Mr. Ewubare denied reports that Nigeria is part of OPEC+ member countries that did not comply with the output cut that was agreed by the alliance
Mr. Ewubare explained that though Nigeria’s total production capacity was 2.3million barrels per day, it was currently producing only about 1.4million barrels per day in compliance with the OPEC+ production quota, stressing that what makes up the little extra over the 1.4mbpd figure being bandied around for Nigeria was condensate which is usually not computed as part of production in OPEC quota.
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While making some clarification, Ewubare said, “There’s some confusion in the market around the parameters for the production cuts. Nigeria has a full production capacity of about 2.3mbpd. We are currently producing between 1.6 and 1.7mbpd. Our OPEC quota as a result of the cuts is about 1.4mbpd. You and I know that condensate is not included in the computation of the cut numbers. So what we have is 1.4mbpd of crude oil. The little you see above 1.4mbpd is made up of condensate which does not count as part of the basis for assessing our OPEC quota”.
NNPC Group Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari, in a recent interview, advanced a similar position where he stressed that NNPC was working assiduously to bring down the cost of crude oil production to not more than $10 per barrel by 2021.
Business News
NNPC raises alarm over low grade, contaminated diesel in the market
This warning was contained in a report by the Managing Director, NNPC Retail Limited Managing Director, Dr. Billy Okoye, who also admonished motorists to be careful of the off-spec products.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has raised alarm over the circulation of low grade and contaminated AGO, popularly known as diesel, which is offered at discounted prices in some parts of the country.
This was disclosed in a press release by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr Kennie Obateru, on Friday June 5, 2020.
This warning was contained in a report by the Managing Director, NNPC Retail Limited Managing Director, Dr. Billy Okoye, who also admonished motorists to be careful of the off-spec products.
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The state oil giant, in the press statement, said, “The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has raised an alarm over prevalent low grade and contaminated AGO, otherwise called diesel, offered at discounted prices in parts of the country.”
Dr. Okoye, stated that the warning became necessary because the low grade contaminated diesel is harmful to machines and the environment. He explained that NNPC Retail Ltd is a market leader and therefore considered it incumbent upon it to alert the general public on the circulation of these low grade products.
While urging consumers of the product to patronize the oil firm’s service stations where the quality of their products was assured, Dr. Okoye gave assurances that NNPC Retail Limited dealt only in premium high-quality products in the interest of Nigerian motorists and users.
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Unlike the premium motor spirit otherwise known as petrol, which was operating a fixed price regime and had NNPC as the sole importer, the diesel products were deregulated and had other independent marketers apart from NNPC importing the products as well.
The intense competition and unhealthy drive for profit, in addition to poor regulation, could have given rise to this.
