Headlines
Oando, Duke Oil Insist FG Approved Imported Dirty Fuel
The House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), on Wednesday, continued with its investigation of the importation of adulterated petrol into Nigeria.
The committee grilled the remaining two of the four contractors engaged by the NNPC to supply the fuel.
Two of the suppliers, Oando and Duke Oil, while appearing before the committee at its investigative hearing in Abuja, denied culpability in the matter.
Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium and MRS Holdings had earlier appeared before the panel on Tuesday to also deny responsibility for the importation of the contaminated fuel.
The committee had last week grilled the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Melee Kyari; and the Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, over the matter.
On Wednesday, the leader of the Oando team, Afanga Afanga, said the cargo supplied by the oil firm was tested and certified okay by the NNPC.
Afanga said, “It is important to note that this PMS cargo that was supplied met and was in line with all the Nigerian and the DSDP contractual specifications. This was confirmed by the mandatory tests that were conducted at the loading port in Europe and before discharge in Nigeria by an independent NNPC quality inspector and finally by agents of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority.
The Chairman of the committee, Abdullahi Gaya, while reacting, said, “We have not digested the documents but based on the summary you have given, I will allow members to ask questions. Then, in due course, we are going to invite you again to come and explain if there is a need for that, based on the documents that you brought.”
Also, the Managing Director, Duke Oil, Lawal Sade, said based on its subsisting contract with the NNPC, the engaged one of its registered counterpart and supplier, Sahara Energy Resources, and it was assigned a back-to-back contract for the supply of the Nigerian spec of PMS cargoes in an effort to fulfil the NNPC request.
Sade partly said, “Yes, there was a delivery of cargo by Duke Oil like you have seen in the report (submitted to the committee) and that cargo met up with the Nigerian spec, as it is both at the loading and discharge ports.
“There was a confirmation by the regulator, which is the new Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority, to discharge that cargo within the stipulated date. The cargo was discharged and the vessel sailed.
In his submission, Gaya said, “We will go through the documents and if there is a need to call you, we will do that.”
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
