Economy
Minister Tasks Port Officers on Professional Discharge of Duties
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, has charged Port State Control Officers (PSCOs) to display a high level of professionalism in carrying out their duties of inspecting foreign ships at national ports.
Mr Amaechi said this in a statement signed by the Director of Press and Public Relations of the Ministry, Mr Eric Ojiekwe.
He spoke at the 11th Port State Control Committee (PSC) Meeting of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on PSC for West and Central Africa Region, also known as (Abuja MoU) in Lagos.
According to the minister, the essence of PSC is the inspection of ships, to verify their condition, equipment, and whether it is manned and operated in compliance with the requirements of international conventions and regulations.
He said that it was also aimed at ensuring maritime safety and security of lives, assets and the prevention of pollution.
Mr Amaechi, while referring to the port officers as ambassadors of the MoU, said continuous training was required to maintain set standards at Ports.
He, however, called on member states to work together in achieving set goals.
“Bearing in mind that Port State Control Officers are ambassadors of the MoU, it is therefore important that they constantly undergo continuous trainings.
”This will impact on their knowledge and skills as well as on their overall standard of inspections at the Ports. However, this cannot be achieved without the commitment, financial and otherwise of every member state.
“We must all join forces and strive to ensure that we constantly uphold the ideals and objectives upon which the MoU was established.
”For this reason, I urge all member states to play their parts in contributing towards the growth of the Abuja MoU, so that we can constantly meet with expectations and safeguard our marine domains,” he said.
The Minister thanked member states for ensuring that the Abuja MoU performed well in the face of COVID-19 and urged them not to relent in their commitments to inspections, trainings and overall contributions.
“I must thank most of our member states for their performance and swift responses in declaring seafarers as key workers and in lending their support to ensure that the impact of COVID- 19 did not disrupt global shipping.
”While it is to be noted that the resulting effect of the pandemic slowed down inspection of vessels, nonetheless, based on our 2020 Report, the Abuja MoU performed relatively well in the inspection of vessels that called at our Ports,” he said.
On his part, Ghana’s Minister of Transportation and Chairman of Abuja MoU, Mr Kwaku Asiamah, said Port State Control acted as an important safety-net to eliminate the operation of sub-standard ships to ensure the needed safety.
Mr Asiamah said that in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, ”our performance as flagship states have been very encouraging.”
He called on member states to prioritise the vaccination of seafarers, their off and on signings, especially in the repatriation process and ensure strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols.
He said this would ensure the protection of PSCOs and the Crew of vessels visiting their ports.
Mr Asiamah also charged member states to be guided by the IMO’s Code of Good Practice for PSCOs and other relevant circulars and statutory documents in conducting inspections within the framework of the regional MoU and agreement on PSC.
He urged them to ensure their PSCOs were empowered to safely conduct inspections and to always aim at exceeding the agreed 15 per cent minimum number of foreign vessels that call at the country’s ports.
”States should also accept and endorse the IMO’s guidelines on Cyber Security as part of the Safety Management Codes,” he said.
The Ghanaian minister also called on women to explore careers in PSC and other related fields, saying “women are great agents of change.”
He, therefore, tasked member states to create avenues for the participation of women as Port State Control Officers.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
More petroleum marketers are looking to take advantage being offered by the Dangote Refinery in Lagos through its bulk-purchase incentives, allowing petrol stations to sell premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, cheaper to motorists.
Recall that recently, Dangote Refinery entered into a deal with MRS Oil Nigeria, Ardova Plc, Heyden for the purchase of petrol at least two million litres at N909 per litre.
With this agreement, MRS Oil has been able to dispense to customers at a pump price of N935 per litre across its stations in Nigeria.
For those not under this arrangement, they have been battling with price instability, especially after depot owners recently increased their price to N950 per litre from N909 per litre because of the rise in crude oil prices in the international market.
Worried by this and attracted by the bulk-purchase agreement incentives of Dangote Petroleum Refinery, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association (IPMAN) is already having talks to buy directly from the Lagos-based oil facility.
The national president of the group, Mr Abubakar Maigandi Garima, said members are eager to sign on with Dangote Refinery for the bulk-purchase agreement.
He argued that members could not continue to depend on depot owners for products when they can buy directly from the refinery bearing in mind that the minimum quantity to buy from Dangote Refinery is two million litres at N909 per litre.
The desire to be part of the bulk-purchase agreement, it was also gathered, was also apparently being fuelled by the testimonies from motorists who have been praising the impressive burn rate of fuel sourced from Dangote Refinery and sold in MRS filing stations which they said lasts longer compared to other products imported into the country and sold by others.
The management of the Dangote Refinery, citing economic relief provided by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s crude-for-naira swap initiative, had announced a bulk-purchase offer incentives to the three leading downstream sector operators, so that Nigerians could heave a sigh of relief on the reduced pump price.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The World Bank has projected a 3.6 per cent economic growth for Nigerian in 2025 and 2026 on the back of ongoing reforms by the federal government.
The Bretton Wood institution in its report titled Global Economic Prospects, January 2025 published on Thursday, said recent reforms, including subsidy removal, Naira liberalisation and the introduction of tax reform bills would help to boost business confidence.
“In Nigeria, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth increased to an estimated 3.3 per cent in 2024, mainly driven by services sector activity, particularly in financial and telecommunication services.
“Macroeconomic and fiscal reforms helped improve business confidence. In response to rising inflation and a weak naira, the central bank tightened monetary policy.
“Meanwhile, the fiscal deficit narrowed due to a surge in revenues driven by the elimination of the implicit foreign exchange subsidy, following the unification of the exchange rate and improved revenue administration,” a part of the report stated.
The World Bank noted that the wider Sub-Saharan Africa, to which Nigeria belongs would see a 4.1 per cent growth in the current year, before seeing a 4.3 per cent rise in 2026.
“Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, SSA is expected to firm to 4.1 per cent in 2025 and 4.3 per cent in 2026, as financial conditions ease alongside further declines in inflation. Following weaker-than-expected regional growth last year, growth projections for 2025 have been revised upward by 0.2 percentage points, and for 2026 by 0.3 percentage points, with improvements seen across various subgroups. At the country level, projected growth has been upgraded for nearly half of SSA economies in both 2025 and 2026.
“Growth in Nigeria is forecast to strengthen to an average of 3.6 per cent a year in 2025-26. Following monetary policy tightening in 2024, inflation is projected to gradually decline, boosting consumption and supporting growth in the services sector, which continues to be the main driver of growth,” it added.
The global lender disclosed that oil production is expected to increase over the forecast period but remain below the 1.5 million barrels per day quota of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
By Adedapo Adesanya
Four price gainers helped the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange close higher by 0.35 per cent on Thursday, January 16.
The value of the trading platform jumped by N3.69 billion during the session to N1.072 trillion from the N1.068 trillion it closed in the preceding session, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) made an addition of 10.67 points to wrap the session at 3,103.83 points compared with 3,093.16 points recorded at the previous session.
Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc added 3 Kobo to its price yesterday to trade at 33 Kobo per unit compared with Wednesday’s closing price of 30 Kobo per unit, Newrest Asl Plc appreciated by N2.85 to N31.18 per share from N28.53 per share, 11 Plc gained N2.90 to close at N256.00 per unit versus the N253.10 per unit it finished a day earlier, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc grew by 21 Kobo to N39.16 per share, in contrast to midweek’s N38.95 per share.
On Thursday. there was an 85.3 per cent increase in the volume of securities traded by investors to 1.2 million units from the 666,494 units recorded in the preceding session, the value of shares traded surged by 8.9 per cent to N18.0 million from N16.5 million, and the number of deals leapt by 65 per cent to 33 deals from 20 deals.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 million units worth N134.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units sold for N43.0 million, and Afriland Properties Plc valued at 690,825 sold for N11.1 million.
IGI Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 23.5 million units sold for N5.3 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc followed with 3.4 million units worth N134.9 million.
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