General
FG to Commission Gas Facility Thursday in Delta After Strike Suspension
By Adedapo Adesanya
The commissioning of the 300MMscfd capacity Kwale gas gathering and injection facility in the Niger Delta will resume after it was put on hold following the nationwide industrial strike by the Labour Unions on Monday.
According to a statement by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), the technical commissioning will now be held on Thursday, June 6, 2024, after its successful completion as organised labour suspended the strike temporarily on Tuesday.
The injection facility located in the Umusam Community, near Kwale in Delta State, Niger Delta, is a joint venture between Nedogas Development Company Limited (NDCL), Xenergi Limited and NCDMB Capacity Development Intervention Company, in collaboration with the NNPC Gas Infrastructure Company (NGIC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
The formal commissioning ceremony will be performed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Mr Ekperikpe Ekpo, and will be supported by the Governor of Delta State, Mr Sheriff Francis Orohwedor Oborevwori, and the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr Felix Ogbe.
The KGG facility was designed to handle stranded gas resources in Nigeria’s OML 56 oil province, by providing the opportunity for independent operators in the area, to monetise natural gas from their fields through the gas gathering, compression, injection and metering infrastructure of the KGG for quick market access.
The KGG hub, which has been tied into the NGIC-owned and operated 48-inch OB-3 gas trunk line, is now fully commissioned with gas injection capacity totalling approximately 50 MMscfd comprising 20MMscfd from the Nedogas Plant, located 3km away in Energia’s Ebendo field, and another 30 MMscfd coming from the Matsogo field operated by Chorus Energy Limited. Injected gas volumes are gradually and steadily being ramped up.
“This project represents a significant milestone in Nigeria’s decade of gas initiative, as well as a major achievement in the quest to provide gas into the OB3 trunk line and monetise natural gas resources from the OML 56 producer cluster,” according to the statement.
With the successful injection of gas from the Energia/Oando JV and the Chorus-operated Ebendo and Matsogo fields respectively into the OB3, NCDMB said the KGG Facility is now poised to receive additional gas from nearby fields, including those operated by First Hydrocarbon Nigeria (FHN), Pillar Oil, and Midwestern Oil & Gas, all aimed at positioning KGG as a fully-fledged gas-gathering facility and hub, with single point injection of up to 300 MMscfd of gas into the OB3 via the KGG tie-in.
The plan is to expand the capacity of the KGG facility to 600 MMscfd in the second phase.
In addition to the gas delivery obligations of the facility, the KGG will also be supplying the Delta State Economic Zone (DSEZ) from an integrated supply node within the manifold at the hub.
NCDMB’s equity investment in NDCL is one of the strategic projects geared towards actualising FG’s aspirations in key areas of the oil and gas industry. Most of NCDMB’s third-party investments are targeted at actualising the Federal Government Decade of Gas programme.
“The investments are in line with the Board’s mandate to build capacity and catalyze local projects in the Nigerian oil and gas industry as enshrined under the Nigeran Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act,” the statement added.
With an estimated 180 billion cubic feet of proven Natural gas reserves, Nigeria has the ninth largest concentration in the world, however, sadly enough, the country continues to flare significant quantities of associated gas which have relegated the health and environmental well-being of Nigerians to the background for over 60 years.
The government has continuously said that natural gas remains a relatively clean fossil fuel, and represents a viable transition to renewable energy which plays a pivotal role in powering the growth of developing economies like Nigeria.
“The KGG facility is set to create hundreds of direct and indirect jobs for indigenes of the host and nearby communities,” the statement added.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has explained why it initiated a move to freeze the bank account of the Osun State government.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Governor of Osun State, Mr Ademola Adeleke, claimed that the anti-money laundering agency asked one of its bankers, First Bank, not to release funds to the state government.
According to the Governor, this was part of the strategies to frustrate his administration ahead of the August 15, 2026, governorship election in the state.
Reacting to the issue on Wednesday night, the EFCC, in a statement, said it has been investigating the state government since March 2026 over an alleged “fraudulent handling of Ecology Funds, Intervention Funds and Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) account to the tune of N11.0 billion.
The organisation noted that some officials of the state government, especially the Accountant General of the State, have had interview sessions with investigators of the EFCC.
“These ongoing investigations of the state government would not have warranted any placement of Post No Debit order on its account but for the precipitate and unwarranted movement of funds from the accounts to different suspicious accounts since August 2, 2026.
“The commission noticed huge transfers of funds into different corporate entities and had to swiftly halt the trend by freezing the accounts from which such heavy funds are being moved,” parts of the statement said.
In the disclosure, the agency noted that its preventive mandate is a public-inclined framework of safeguarding public funds, assets and resources, stressing that it cannot “watch idly while a state government’s account is being pillaged.”
“While the commission is fully aware of the impending governorship election in Osun State, it has a responsibility to act in defence of the sanctity of the funds of the state. It will be uncharitable for the commission to allow an excuse of an upcoming election to fold its arms to perform its legally-assigned functions,” it pointed out.
The EFCC disclosed that it is “keeping watch over the finances of other states like Osun State. Many of these states are on the investigative radar of the commission to ensure accountability and probity. The commission has always pointed out that it is non-partisan and non-sectarian but always working in the overall interests of Nigerians. The Osun State government account was frozen to save public funds from being looted.”
The organisation urged the public “to ignore false narratives and deliberate demonisation of the works of the EFCC. The interests of all Nigerians are greater and will always be protected by the commission.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has launched a mobile application designed to monitor fuel consumption patterns in real time across retail outlets nationwide.
The NMDPRA, established under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, is responsible for the technical and commercial regulation of Nigeria’s midstream and downstream petroleum operations. The deployment of the mobile application aligns with the authority’s broader efforts to leverage technology to improve regulatory compliance and strengthen accountability.
The pilot phase of the project began on August 1 in Abuja and its six Area Councils, the authority said in a statement published on X.
As part of the rollout, the Executive Director for Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure (DSSRI), Mr Ogbugo Ukoha, led a team alongside officials from the Abuja Regional Office to assess the readiness and operational performance of the digital platform at participating retail outlets.
According to the NMDPRA, the application captures inventory and compliance data in real time, enabling regulators to monitor fuel distribution more effectively while improving operational efficiency across the sector.
The authority said the platform would generate reliable, data-driven insights to support evidence-based decision-making, strengthen national energy security planning and enhance transparency in the downstream petroleum industry.
It added that the initiative is expected to provide significant value to government, investors, operators and other stakeholders by improving access to accurate fuel consumption and compliance data.
Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector has undergone significant changes since the deregulation of the petrol market and the removal of fuel subsidies, with regulators placing greater emphasis on data-driven supervision to ensure product availability, prevent supply disruptions and discourage sharp regional disparities in distribution.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
No doubt, moving money among African markets remains a slow, fragmented process that relies on multiple intermediaries and prolonged settlement cycles.
To solve this issue and drive the development of stablecoin-enabled payment services for businesses across the continent, Onafriq has joined forces with a leading stablecoin infrastructure provider, Privy.
The collaboration will enable Onafriq to create and manage embedded digital asset solutions for its partners and, in time, institutional clients where regulation allows. The initial phase focuses on cross-chain stablecoin transfers and treasury and settlement workflows, creating the foundation for future cross-border payment and liquidity solutions.
Integrating Privy’s secure infrastructure enables Onafriq to build the capabilities required to support a new generation of efficient digital payment services for banks, fintechs, and mobile money operators.
This partnership is a key component of Onafriq’s broader strategy to modernise pan-African payment infrastructure, enabling secure multi-modal wallets and more efficient movement of value across the continent.
The outcome will support a range of future institutional use cases, including stablecoin-enabled settlement, treasury management and liquidity services, as it reflects Onafriq’s commitment to driving Africa’s digital transformation agenda by investing in technologies that make financial services more efficient, connected and accessible.
It was gathered that Onafriq selected Privy for its enterprise-grade infrastructure to enable the seamless integration of digital asset wallet capabilities into its products, subject to regulatory approval, and deliver a simple user experience while abstracting the complexity of blockchain technology.
“At Onafriq, we keep investing in technology that makes payments faster and more accessible. Privy gives us a building block for faster settlement and better liquidity management. As demand for digital asset services grows, our goal is to ensure Africa’s payment ecosystem benefits securely and in line with regulatory frameworks,” the Group Chief Product and Innovation Officer at Onafriq,” Mr Luke Kyohere, said.
The chief executive of Privy, Mr Henri Stern, said, “Stablecoins will play an increasingly important role in the future of global payments, but real-world adoption depends on infrastructure that is secure, scalable and simple to implement. Working with Onafriq allows us to help build that foundation across Africa and beyond.”
