General
Belgium Assures Nigeria, Others Quality Petrol, Diesel
By Adedapo Adesanya
One of Nigeria’s key sources of imports for petrol and diesel, Belgium, is tightening regulations to boost quality fuels to Nigeria and other West African countries.
Belgium, a major exporter of petrol and other fuels to Nigeria, is following the Netherlands in tightening environmental rules, officials told Reuters.
The Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) hub is the world’s leading petrol exporting region and hosts some of Europe’s largest oil refineries including plants operated by TotalEnergies and Exxon Mobil.
Despite being Africa’s largest crude oil producer, moribund infrastructure and underinvestment makes Nigeria dependent on importing its fuels.
In February 2022, a large consignment of imported petrol had to be withdrawn from the market in Nigeria, after it was found to have excessive levels of methanol, which was causing engine damage in vehicles.
The development raised serious concerns over the regulation of fuel standards in Nigeria. Specifically, the fuel was imported from Antwerp in Belgium, according to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
In 2021, Nigeria imported $11.3 billion in refined petroleum, becoming the 18th largest importer of refined petroleum in the world. In the same year, refined petroleum was the 1st most imported product in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s imports of refined petrol during the year were: Netherlands ($3.62 billion), Belgium ($1.78 billion), Norway ($1.2 billion), India ($992 million), and the United Kingdom ($760 million).
However, after the Netherlands introduced legislation in April to tighten the specification for its road fuel exports, Belgium’s environment and energy ministries are now planning to introduce their own draft rules to tighten the quality of exported fuels.
This would further reduce northern Europe’s role in supplying Africa with dirtier petrol and diesel, which have been proven to cause significant health problems.
However, this may also lead to rising costs for poorer nations.
The office of Minister of Climate, the Environment, Sustainable Development and Green Deal, Ms Zakia Khattabi is working with Energy Minister, Ms Tinne Van der Straeten to prepare a royal decree to introduce the law, a spokesperson for Mr Khattabi told Reuters.
“It is evident that we must join forces and combine our expertise to halt the export of toxic fuels to third-party nations,” Ms Van der Straeten said in a statement.
The draft is expected to be ready within two weeks and, barring major political hurdles could become law by February next year, the environment ministry said.
Nigeria has in recent years cut sulphur content allowances for imported fuels.
However, its current specification for petrol remains at 150 sulphur parts per million (ppm), three times above Belgium’s proposed limits. The maximum allowed sulphur content for gasoline sold in the European Union is 10 ppm.
“There can be no double standards when it comes to products that pose environmental and health risks,” Van der Straeten said.
The Belgian government began researching the legislation in part due to concerns that “part of the export of these fuels from the Netherlands would come to Belgium”, Ms Khattabi’s spokesperson, Mr Mathias Bienstman said.
The Netherlands’ share of Northwest Europe’s exports to West Africa fell from around 47 per cent in the first quarter to just 15 per cent in October, according to tracking data from analytics firm Vortexa, while Belgium’s share rose from 34 per cent in the first quarter to 65 per cent last month.
The earliest the decree could be passed in February, the ministries hope, but the timeline will depend on the extent to which collaboration with the wider Belgian federal government, advisory council, and European Union is required.
It was reported that while an implementation date has not yet been decided, it usually comes six months after the publication of a royal decree, Mr Bienstman said.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The United States government gave some terrorists in Nigeria a Christmas gift that sent many of them to the great beyond.
On Thursday, December 25, 2025, the United States President, Mr Donald Trump, directed his country’s military to launch air strikes on camps of members of the dreaded Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Sokoto State.
According to Mr Trump, the military action, which he threatened to carry out a few weeks ago if the Nigerian government does not stop the killing of Christians in the country, occurred on Thursday night.
“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!
“I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was.
“The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing.
“Under my leadership, our country will not allow radical islamic terrorism to prosper. May God bless our military, and Merry Christmas to all, including the dead terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
In a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Department of War of the United States posted the below video of the air strikes;
https://twitter.com/DeptofWar/status/2004351717131903272
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The presidency has reacted to speculations that Mr Femi Gbajabiamila has been removed as the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu.
It was alleged that Mr Gbajabiamila has been replaced with the President’s Principal Private Secretary, Mr Hakeem Muri-Okunola.
Mr Muri-Okunola went to Abuja to take up this role after leaving as the Head of Service of the Lagos State Civil Service.
Reacting to the reports on social media on the purported removal of Mr Gbajabiamila, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, the presidency said no such change has been made.
In a statement signed on Thursday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, members of the public were advised to disregard the report as “there is absolutely no truth to this story.”
“The Chief of Staff remains in his position. The Principal Private Secretary likewise remains in his role. Hakeem Muri-Okunola has not replaced Femi Gbajabiamila as Chief of Staff.
“The viral claim is a fabrication by mischievous purveyors of fake news whose sole aim is to create disharmony within the government.
“We reiterate that news media should always verify their information before publishing or sharing on social media,” the statement said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The new chief executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, has assumed office with a clear message to advance the country’s upstream oil and gas sector in line with the mandate of the commission as enshrined in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
According to a statement signed by Mr Eniola Akinkuotu, the Head of Media & Strategic Communications at the upstream regulator, the NUPRC boss made this assertation during her first town hall meeting with management and staff on Tuesday December 23, 2025.
She further disclosed plans to make the commission a business enabler and re-ignite investments in the upstream sector.
Recall that President Tinubu nominated Mrs Eyesan to take over the NUPRC after the abrupt resignation of her predecessor, Mr Gbenga Komolafe as well as his counterpart in the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Mr Farouk Ahmed.
In her new capacity, Mrs Eyesan also set a firm production ambition of growing Nigeria’s output and increasing gas production.
“The goal is that we must enable the industry, we are regulators. We must enable the industry from our interactions with the stakeholders, from our interactions with everybody.
“My main objective is to ensure that we make a difference. I believe the NUPRC is at the Center of the industry,” she said.
The commission boss who has served for over three decades in the oil and gas sector, promised to entrench digitisation, transparency and efficiency in operations.
The NUPRC head said with the support of staff and management, the NUPRC will become the gold-standard regulator in Africa. She also promised capacity development, stronger technical depth and sustained engagement with stakeholders, unions and professional teams.
On leadership style, Mrs Eyesan promised an open-door policy and frequent staff engagement, while also soliciting for support and cooperation as the industry embarks on the next phase of transformation.
“If we work together we can unleash opportunities, I don’t see impediments only opportunities,” she added.
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