19032019 - Sack Buhari, declare me winner, Atiku tells tribunal

26— Vanguard, TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2019
Nigeria, India: Consumers dump kerosene, gas as high prices
persist –--- Study • Deforestation, erosion, other problems to worsen
Stories by Udeme Akpan
THE relatively high prices
of kerosene and cooking gas
have compelled many
households to take to increased
utilisation of firewood in Nigeria.
Investigation by Vanguard
showed that while the price of
kerosene currently stands at
between N200 and N300 per
litre, depending on location, the
price of cooking gas stands at
N4,000 (N12.5 kg), which many
households said they cannot
afford.
A visit to some markets in Lagos
and its environs showed that
trading in firewood, charcoal and
cow dung has become a very brisk
business.
Many previously fertile lands
were also observed to be bare in
the outskirts, including Ikorodu
and Ijebu Ode, thus exposing the
environment to deforestation,
erosion and other environmental
challenges.
Study
In their recent study obtained
by Vanguard, the Global
Subsidies Initiative of IISD, with
ENERGIA and partners, Spaces
for Change, IRADe and
Bangladesh Institute for
Development Studies stated:
“With a 40-50 per cent price
increase in India and Nigeria, the
majority said they would reduce
subsidised fuel consumption and/
or revert to biomass.
“Switching back to biomass has
time and health implications for
women, given they were found
to be the primary cooks in all three
countries surveyed. Women more
frequently collect the wood or
dung and are exposed to the
smoke. Some households also
reported secondary impacts such
as a reduced ability of members
to undertake activities that require
lighting, such as studying and
leisure time (e.g. in Bangladesh
linked to kerosene).”
The study, involving surveys
with 2,400 households as well as
focus group discussions in
Bangladesh, India and Nigeria
and an initial scoping phase
included a review of 28 episodes
of fossil-fuel subsidy reform, and
research of secondary data in
Indonesia stated: “Millions of
dollars worth of fossil fuel
subsidies could be better targeted
by governments to benefit poor
women.”
It stated: “Currently,
governments globally spend the
equivalent of USD400 billion on
subsidies. That’s around 10 times
more than is needed to plug the
universal education gap (USD 39
billion), around seven times more
than the global energy access gap
(USD 56 billion) and more than
enough to finance SDG health
targets (USD 134-371 billion).”
Subsidy
The study stated: “Overall, the
research found fuel subsidies do
not work well for poor women. A
large share of subsidies accrues
to wealthier segments of the
population because those people
have higher consumption levels
and better access to energy. This
effect is particularly strong for
liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, as
the researchers found in India,
and also for a ‘poor people’s fuel’
like kerosene, as observed in
Bangladesh and Nigeria.
“Subsidies do not guarantee
lower fuel prices—and may even
create price premiums by
increasing fuel scarcity. Even in
countries with fixed fuel prices,
households were found to pay
significantly more. In Nigeria,
low-income women reported
paying between two to six times
more than the official price for
kerosene, and in Bangladesh,
14per cent more for kerosene.
“As a result, households in these
countries were often not aware
of the existence of a subsidy.
These findings imply that any
benefits from subsidies are even
lower than previously estimated.”
It stated: “The burden of
queuing for scarce cooking or
lighting fuels frequently falls on
women. In Nigeria, women
reported queuing for hours and
sometimes all day to get
kerosene. In Lagos, Nigeria, 57
per cent of survey respondents
preferred informal dealers for
THE average price
of Organisation of
Petroleum Exporting
countries, OPEC’s basket
of fourteen crudes in the
past one week averaged
$66.62 compared with
$65.05 recorded the
previous week.
According to OPEC’s
calculation, the highest
price of crude was
recorded on March 14,
2019, which averaged
$67.29 per barrel, while
the lowest price for the
period under review
averaged $66.01.
Source: NNPC
convenience and availability,
despite higher prices and safety
risks of adulterated fuel.”
Recommendation
The study which found other
factors that could be significant
for fuel switching and better
access to cleaner fuels for women
stated: “Better-educated women
are more likely to choose LPG (as
in Nigeria). Existing patterns of
decision- making and purchasing
power over energy choices within
the household also need to be
considered (educating men as
well as women around energy
choices).
“Other likely important factors
include improving the
distribution or electricity system,
especially to rural areas and to
the poor, in order to provide
alternatives to switch to. In India,
large drives to expand LPG
distribution have played an
important role in enabling greater
access. Culture (tastes and
preferences) may still matter
more (e.g. in Nigeria).”
It added: “Finally, investing in
subsidy alternatives could
empower women more directly.
In Nigeria, surveyed households
did not prioritise energy subsidies
over other kinds of support when
asked what kind of government
support households preferred -
jobs, health, financial support and
education to access to modern
energy. While households might
undervalue the benefits of modern
energy, this nevertheless raises
the question of whether the
billions spent on an inefficient
subsidy system might not be
better spent on social protection
programmes.”
Oil exploration, production, others gasp for $11trn
investments–--- OPEC
THE Organisation of Petroleum
Exporting Countries, OPEC,
has disclosed that $11 trillion would
be required to invest in oil and gas
exploration, production, refining
and distribution of petroleum
products between now and 2040.
In his presentation at the CSIS
Luncheon, Washington DC, USA
obtained by Vanguard, the
Secretary-General of OPEC, HE
Mohammad Barkindo stated:
“This is all brought home by the
scale of the investment
requirements. Oil-related
investments across the upstream,
midstream and downstream are
estimated at around $11 trillion in
the period to 2040.
“We also need to recall that
exploration and production
spending fell by an enormous 27
per cent in both 2015 and 2016,
and only increased by 8 per cent
in both 2017 and 2018. This only
adds to the worry that if our
industry is concerned about
policies that detrimentally impact
oil and investments, with talk of
stranded assets and declining
values of oil; then we have a
potentially dangerous scenario,
one that could increase volatility
significantly and lead to a future
energy shortfall.
“Additionally, as often noted by
Bob Dudley, BP’s CEO, we need
to emphasize this is not a race to
renewables alone; it is a race to
lower greenhouse gas emissions.
We believe that we need to
constantly improve the
environmental footprint of all the
energies we use.
“For oil and gas, the
environmental challenge is not oil
and gases themselves, it is the
emissions that come from burning
them. In OPEC, we are firm
believers that solutions can be
found in technologies that reduce
and ultimately eliminate these
emissions.”
OGTAN holds second annual international conference,
exhibition in Lagos Nigerian Content Development
THE Oil and Gas Trainers
Association of Nigeria
(OGTAN), in collaboration with
and Monitoring Board
(NCDMB) has concluded
arrangements to host its second
annual international
conference and exhibition
tagged, “Human Capital
Development: as a Driver for
National Transformation”,
billed to take place next month
at Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos
from 13 to 16 of April, 2019.
OGTAN recognizes the link
between the quality of a
nation’s workforce and its
economic growth, noting that
an onslaught of complex and
broad ranging socio-economic
challenges including poor
governance, corruption,
inadequate infrastructure,
outdated educational
curriculum, poor funding of
research centres, social unrest
and increasing poverty, just to
mention a few, have affected
the Nigerian human capital
over the years.
The training association, in
identifying this gap shall
assemble resource persons to
deliberate on the solutions as
it relates to generating
sustainable employment with a
direct impact on the country’s
GDP.
While it admits the urgent
need to address the widening
debt profile of states and
unemployment among
Nigeria’s young population,
OGTAN is also using this
conference to address the rapid
advancement of digitalization,
automation, artificial
intelligence, and how it
compounds the increasing
concern about the future of job
security, wealth redistribution,
and comparatively rising cost
of implementing local content
where these advancements are
lacking.
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