By Adedapo Adesanya

The House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on the Rehabilitation and Operationalisation of Baro Inland Port has decried the poor quality of work done at the facility.

Mr Idris Wase, a Plateau State lawmaker, expressed the displeasure of the lawmakers at a courtesy visit to Governor Umaru Bago of Niger after an overnight visit to Baro Inland Port in the state.

The lawmaker said that the port project was only “commissioned on paper” by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 despite the huge investments that have gone into the project.

“What we saw is a project that was merely commissioned on paper. It is unfortunate what has happened in the past, but as leaders we must take responsibility to change the narrative,” he said.

The lawmaker described port as a “gateway to Nigeria’s economy, saying that the neglect of the facility represented a wider national problem of infrastructure deficit.

He assured that the committee is determined to revive the port and to ensure its completion for equitable distribution of infrastructure across the country.

The lawmaker said the committee will work with the Nigerian Railway Corporation, and other relevant stakeholders to address outstanding challenges, including dredging and navigation corridors needed to make the port operational.

The Chairman of the committee, Mr Saidu Abdullahi, expressed deep concern over the deplorable state of roads leading to the multi-billion-naira project, describing it as a major impediment to the port’s functionality.

The lawmaker said that in spite of the enormous potential of port to boost trade, create jobs, and open up the economy, the absence of motorable access roads has left the facility largely idle years after its commissioning.

He said that a trip that should ordinarily take half an hour now stretches into four gruelling hours because of the failed portions of the road.

“We are committed to ensuring that this port does not remain a white elephant project. Our work here is to make sure that all the issues are laid bare.

“Government agencies responsible for roads, inland waterways, and transport rise to the challenge. We cannot afford to abandon such a strategic project,” he said.

Mr Bolawale Adetola, the General Manager of Business Development at the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA, ) expressed optimism that the port will soon become operational, provided critical challenges such as access roads and dredging are addressed.

He said the involvement of the National Assembly would help mobilise the needed funds, either through direct appropriation or private partnerships, to make the port fully functional.

“Everything that a port needs to work is on ground. The key challenges are the access road and the silted channel, which requires dredging. That is our own part in NIWA.

“Other stakeholders, including the Federal Ministry of Works and the Nigerian Railway Corporation, are also critical to the process. Once all these are in place, Baro Port will be of immense benefit to Nigerians,” he said.

Responding, the governor called for the urgent revival of the port, describing it as a national project that held the key to easing the heavy burden on Nigeria’s road infrastructure.

Mr Bago said that the inland port, conceived by Nigeria’s founding fathers was once central to the Northern Africa Trade Corridor.

According to him, it was strategically linked to the Lagos–Kano–Jibia rail line, which was originally designed to service Baro.

“Since I became governor, we have been working towards the realisation of the Baro Port project. This is not a Niger  project, and not even a northern project. It is a Nigerian project,” he said.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Sahara Group, and WAGL Energy Limited (formerly West African Gas) have announced an expansion of their joint venture fleet capacity, now surpassing 160,000 cubic meters.

In a post released on its official X (formerly Twitter) handle on Monday, NNPC said the fleet expansion strengthens WAGL Energy’s position as one of the leading suppliers of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) on the continent.

According to NNPC, the move is consistent with its vision of ensuring sustainable and affordable energy solutions for homes, businesses, and industries.

“WAGL Energy Limited, a joint venture between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and the Sahara Group, now boasts a robust fleet exceeding 160,000 cubic meters. WAGL Energy Limited is driving Africa’s access to reliable and clean energy through sustainable LPG supply, extending its impact across the continent and beyond,” the statement on X said.

WAGL Energy Limited, the JV company between NNPC and Oceanbed (a Sahara Group Company), is driving NNPC’s five-year $1 billion investment plan to accelerate the decade of gas and energy transition agenda over the period.

West African Gas was incorporated in March 2013 as a joint venture company. It was formed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation LNG Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and Ocean Bed Trading Ltd, an established oil and gas trading company.

The primary purpose of the company is to serve as a vehicle for the offtake, marketing, and trading of NLNG NGLs under the equity lifting scheme.

This focus allows the company to efficiently manage and market natural gas liquids.

In July 2024, NNPC Limited secured a maintenance agreement with WAGL Energy for a major Nigerian crude oil terminal located in Delta State.

According to the national oil company, Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company Limited (NPSC), one of its downstream subsidiaries, signed an agreement with WAGL for the provision of Operation and Maintenance (O and M) Services to the Escravos Crude Oil Terminal Facility.

In May 2022, NNPCL and Sahara Group took delivery of two 23,000 cubic meters (CBM) Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) vessels at the Hyundai MIPO Shipyard, a manufacturer of mid-sized carriers, in Ulsan, South Korea.

According to Sahara Group Limited, the new vessels, MT BARUMK and MT SAPET, increased NNPC and Sahara Group’s joint venture (JV) investment to over $300million, as part of moves to attain their $1 billion gas infrastructure commitment by 2026.

The initiatives, the LPG Penetration Framework and LPG Expansion Plan, are geared toward encouraging the use of gas in households, power generation, auto-gas, and industrial applications to attain 5 million metric tonnes of LPG consumption by 2025.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has commenced the process for review of a new Revenue Allocation Formula (RAF) among the federal, states, and local governments.

The Chairman of the RMAFC, Mr Mohammed Shehu, announced this at a news conference in Abuja on Monday, noting that the review became necessary following current economic realities since the last review in 1992.

According to Mr Shehu, the review aimed to produce a fair, just, and equitable revenue-sharing formula that reflected the current responsibilities, needs, and capacities of the three tiers of governments in line with the constitutional roles.

Under the current revenue allocation formula, the federal government gets a share of 52.6 per cent, 26.7 per cent for the state governments, and 20.6 per cent is allocated to the local governments.

The committee also allotted one per cent each to the Federal Capital Territory, ecological fund, natural resources, and the stabilisation fund under the vertical revenue allocation.

According to him, Paragraph 32 (b), Part I of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) mandates the RMAFC to “review, from time to time, the revenue allocation formulae and principles in operation to ensure conformity with changing realities”.

“In line with this constitutional responsibility and in response to the evolving socio-economic, political, and fiscal realities of our nation, the commission has resolved to initiate the process of reviewing the revenue allocation formula to reflect emerging socio-economic realities.

“As you may be aware, since that time, Nigeria has undergone profound transformations demographically, economically, and constitutionally,” he said.

According to him, the recent constitutional amendments by the Ninth National Assembly, which devolved certain responsibilities from the Exclusive List to the Concurrent Legislative List, such as generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity; railways and prisons (correctional centres), have placed financial and administrative burdens on sub-national governments.

The situation, he explained, made it essential to reevaluate the structure of fiscal federalism to foster economic growth in individual states, enabling them to become independent from the central government and ensuring equity, responsiveness, and sustainability.

He promised that the commission would carefully assess the needs, service delivery obligations, fiscal performance, and developmental disparities, adding that the review would be inclusive, data-driven, and transparent.

“It will involve broad-based consultations with critical stakeholders, including the presidency, national assembly, state governors, ALGON, the judiciary, MDAS, civil society organisations, traditional rulers, the organised private sector, and development partners.

“The commission is also committed to integrating cutting-edge research, empirical data, and international best practices in its analysis,” he added.