Monday, 20 February 2017
NNPC records $2.45bn crude oil export sale in one year
By Prince Okafor
THE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said that $2.4 billion export sale was recorded in 12 months of 2016.
The corporation’s monthly Financial and Operations Report for the month of December 2016 just released indicated a 13.4 per cent rise in oil and gas sales for December 2016 as against the previous month.
The report also indicated a total export sale of $195.4 million for crude oil and gas in the month of December 2016 as against the sum of $166.18 million recorded in the previous month.
“This is $20.22 million higher than the preceding month’s performance. Crude oil export sales contributed $100.37 million (or 51.36 percent) of the dollar transactions compared with $96.31million contribution in the previous month”, the report stated.
According to the report, only 18 cases of vandalized points on downstream pipelines were recorded in December 2016 as against 43 in the previous month.
The drop in the cases of pipeline sabotage, according to the report, was due to sustained engagement with stakeholders by the Federal Government and the Corporation.
Total export proceeds
The report also indicated that the total export proceeds of $175.04 million in December 2016 was remitted to fund the JV cash call for the month to guarantee current and future production.
In the downstream, a total of 1,392,154,486 litres of white products were distributed and sold by the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) in December 2016 compared to 1,248,831,982 litres in November 2016.
According to the report, of the total volume of 12.67 billion litres of white products distributed, petrol accounted for 88.07 percent. The report also showed that about 9,493,640 barrels of crude oil were processed under the Direct-Sales-Direct-Purchase (DSDP) scheme in December, 2016.
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Monday, 6 February 2017
Tech sector leads resistance to Trump travel ban…Read full details
NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 06: Activists participate in a protest against President Donald Trump's immigration policies in front of the Department of Homeland Security New York headquarters on February 6, 2017 in New York City. The event was sponsored by Amnesty International and called for a repeal of Trump's controversial Immigration order. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP
A coalition led by some of the world’s biggest tech firms is taking on President Donald Trump’s travel ban, signaling the contentious relationship between the sector and the White House could be about to get worse.
Scores of technology giants — including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter — filed a joint legal brief arguing against the temporary ban on refugees and travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Tesla and SpaceX were among another 30 companies that added their names to the filing late Monday, pushing the total to more than 120.
Elon Musk, chief of Tesla and SpaceX, is on a Trump advisory group and it remained to be seen what siding against the president’s order in court might mean to his role on that panel.
Uber founder Travis Kalanick quit Trump’s business advisory board last week, saying he did not want to be seen as endorsing the president’s policies.
The legal challenge suggests the important tech sector — which overwhelmingly opposed Trump in the November election — is likely to be headed for more battles with the new administration.
“The tech sector will stand up to the president when they see him threatening industry interests, and on the immigration issue all these companies depend heavily on foreign scientists and engineers,” said Darrell West, director of the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation.
“I think there is likely to be an adversarial relationship because many tech companies are staffed by millennials, and dominated by young and progressive people who are opposed to what Trump is doing now.”
While the sector enjoyed cooperation and access to the White House during the presidency of Barack Obama, West said that “the technology sector doesn’t need much from government.”
“Almost all the tech innovation is funded by the private sector,” he added. “All they really want is a light regulatory touch.”
– Fear of next move –
The brief filed in a federal appeals court — in support of a suspension of the travel ban — said the order has already created disruption in the sector, which depends heavily on foreign-born talent.
“This instability and uncertainty will make it far more difficult and expensive for US companies to hire some of the world’s best talent — and impede them from competing in the global marketplace,” said the brief endorsed mostly by companies in the technology industry with some non-tech firms such as Levi Strauss and yogurt maker Chobani.
It argued that highly skilled people “will not wish to immigrate to the country if they may be cut off without warning from their spouses, grandparents, relatives, and friends.”
Companies backing the brief include Airbnb, Dropbox, eBay, Intel, Kickstarter, LinkedIn, Lyft, Mozilla, Netflix, PayPal, Uber, Yelp, Pandora, and HP Inc.
Executives from several top Silicon Valley companies previously spoken out against the ban, which temporarily closed US borders to all refugees and travelers from seven mainly-Muslim nations — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
Technology analyst Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies Associates said the sector is fearful of Trump’s intentions.
The travel ban has raised concerns, but “it’s what that order heralds in terms of what’s likely to come next,” Kay said.
“The belief is that Trump hasn’t even started warming up yet. He hasn’t even gotten close to what he would like to do to the society. He’s just firing a few warning shots.”
Vivek Wadhwa, a tech entrepreneur who is a fellow at Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering at Silicon Valley, echoed those sentiments, saying Trump “showed that he could at his whim target any group he wanted.”
“The fact that green card holders could be denied admission back into the country, that was the scariest thing possible,” Wadhwa added, referring to the contradictory messages issued in the wake of the decree over the status of green card holders on foreign travel.
– Creating distance –
Bob O’Donnell, a Silicon Valley analyst and consultant with Technalysis Research, foresees more clashes ahead including on Trump’s plan to tighten rules for the H1-B visa program for skilled workers and his vow bring manufacturing back to the United States.
Both of these issues are “huge potential concerns” for the tech industry, he said.
O’Donnell said most tech firms are loathe to cooperate with Trump, fearing it could hurt their image among his opponents — and hit their bottom line.
“Companies are concerned about impacting their perception among their employees as well as their customers,” O’Donnell said.
“They’re trying to figure out how to distance themselves” from the White House.
But in some areas, he says, the two sides may be forced to work together, such as complex matters related to law enforcement access to encrypted devices.
“You can’t put an executive order on encryption, there’s way too much involved,” he said.
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Sunday, 5 February 2017
Onunkwo bags ‘Youth Dev. Excellence Award’
By Chris Onuoha
Anambra state born oil magnet and philanthropist, High Chief Johnbosco Onunkwo has been honoured with a prestigious award of excellence in youth development by South South Progressive Award committee.
In a colourful event to heralds a maiden edition of an annual South South Progressive Award that took place in Port Harcourt, River State recently, High Chief Johnbosco Onukwo who had shining leadership qualities in youth development and entrepreneurial initiatives for youths was well chosen having beamed a searchlight on his track record in human and capacity development in the country.
The South South Progressive Award which was held at the Presidential Hotel, Port Harcourt was under the chairmanship of Amb. Kingsley Amafibe, another youth pillar who has over the years empowered youths across the Federation.
Speaking at the event, Amb. Kingsley Amafibe who extols the sterling quality of Onukwo said” High Chief Engr. Johnbosco Obinna Onunkwo does not only merit this award but it was an honour to have him in person pick the award himself. We congratulate him and other awardees and encourage them to keep up with the good works”.
Johnbosco Onukwo who recently bagged a Doctorate Honours at the ISCG University Port Novo D Republic of Benin is also aspiration for governorship ticket in his state, Anambra State.
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Pastor’s wife wins beauty contest
By Chris Onuoha
The Maiden Edition of ‘Mrs Accolade Nigeria’ beauty pageant awards staged at the Abuja Sheraton Hotels and Tower recently with high profile celebrities in attendance witnessed the crowning of Mrs Onyinye Obiora-Okoye as the first Mrs Accolade winner 2016 -2017’.
The newly crowned queen, a mother of three, married to Pastor David Obiora Okoye is highly educated with academic certificates that includes Bachelor of Arts degree in History, Advanced Diploma in Personnel Management, Master’s degree in History and currently a PhD student in Benue state University.
She was indeed the cynosure of all eyes as she dazzled on stage impressively to the excitement of both the judges and the overwhelming audience. Judges rated her performance as eye-catching and commendably arresting.
Mrs Onyinye Obiora-Okoye who carted away a brand new car and cash prize is not new in beauty pageant shows as she had won several other awards that include Miss LAWSAN 2004, Benue State University, 1st Runner- up – Miss Benue 2006, Queen Nassarawa 2008, 1st Runner up Queen Nigeria 2008 and1st Runner up Nwa Ada Igbo 2012.
The soft spoken ex- beauty queen was also crowned the highly prestigious Oriflame Face of Nigeria in 2015, Iconic Queen Mother 2014, Woman on Fire 2015 before finally emerging the star winner of Mrs Accolade Nigeria 2016.
With her community service project to Inspire and support the less privileged people all over the country and in her community tagged; “R.E.A.C.H, acronym for ‘Remember that Every Action Can Help” she believes that there’s need for every woman to be more productively involved in contributing to sustainable development in the country.
Other attraction at the event was the Accolade excellence award with several selected distinguished personalities given an award and honoured for an outstanding performance in their individual fields of endearour. They include Dr. Mike Omotosho, Comr. Isaac Balama, Dr. Raymond Asemakaha, Amb. Sheni Nampon, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, Sen. Osita Izunaso, Mr Linus Okorie, Mrs Sally William Chinebu, Dr. Princess Rabi Ibrahim, Amb. Utchay Odims, Engr. Markus Gundiri, Mrs Binta Pearl Ojoma, Rex Idaminabo, Ukeje Okechukwu ( Mr. Raw), Oku Udoka Chigozie (Selebobo), Fred Onwe, Doofan Abulamali, Hon. Jonathan Daniel, Hillary Emoh, twins Chidinma & Chidiebere Aneke, Alex Nwankwo and others.
The Chief Executive Officer and Project director of Mrs Accolade beauty pageant award, Mrs Ginika Tor congratulated the winners for their feat and promised to support them in whatever capacity to ensure they reign supreme.
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