15072019

16—Vanguard, MONDAY, JULY 15, 2019
CAPITAL MARKETS DAY: From left— Roger Brown, Chief Financial Officer, SEPLAT; Oscar Onyema,
CEO, Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE; Austin Avuru, CEO, SEPLAT; Effiong Okon, Operations Director,
SEPLAT; Chioma Nwachuku, General Manager, External Affairs & Communications, SEPLAT; Yetunde
Taiwo, MD, ANOH Gas Processing Company, AGPC, at SEPLAT’s Capital Markets Day event at the
Nigerian Stock Exchange in Lagos.
Ihedioha under pressure to sack monarch
By Chinoso Alozie
O WERRI—PRESSURE
is said to be
mounting on the governor
of Imo state, Emeka
Ihedioha, to sack the
chairman of Imo state
traditional rulers, Eze Imo,
Samuel Ohiri.
Vanguard was reliably
informed yesterday in
Owerri, that the governor,
was considering options on
the table, one of which is
engaging with the royal
fathers at different levels
before taking his decision.
However, Ohiri’s
challenge started the day
Ihedioha, met with the over
600 hundred traditional
rulers at the palace of Eze
Imo, along Mbari street in
the state capital.
At that event, there was
an attempt to interrupt
Ohiri, while he was making
his remarks, just as the
drama was noticed by the
governor as well as the
former governor of the state,
Ikedi Ohakim, who
accompanied Ihedioha to
that event.
Days after the drama, a
cross section of traditional
rulers paid a visit to
Ihedioha, at government
House, where the royal
fathers outrightly
demanded for the
replacement of Ohiri.
They also demanded for
the recall of some traditional
rulers who were suspended
by the immediate past
administration of Rochas
Okorocha, for receiving
President Goodluck
Takeme lauds Okowa on road projects
in riverine communities
By Festua Ahon
A SABA—THE
immediate past
Commissioner, Delta State
Ministry of Urban Renewal,
Chief Julius Takeme,
yesterday said the
commissioned Obotobo 1-
Obotobo 11- Sokebolou-
Youkiri road project in
Ogulagha Kingdom,
Burutu Local Government
Area has opened up the
area for greater
development.
Speaking with newsmen
after the commissioning of
the road project executed by
Jonathan, in 2015.
The group requested that
the Imo state House of
Assembly should repeal
the Imo state of Nigeria
Traditional Rulers,
Autonomous Communities
and Other Matters, Law
No.15 of 2016 and replace
Edo group slams Obaseki over rally
BENIN CITY—THE
Edo Peoples
Movement, EPM, a
pressure group in the All
Progressives Congress,
APC, in Edo State, has
described the last
Thursday's rally organized
by the Edo State
government in Benin City
as another desperate act of
Governor Godwin Obaseki,
who “claimed we are
against his second term bid
because he refused to share
money for politicians.”
While reacting to the
Editorial in Vanguard
newspapers last Thursday
in relation to the crisis in
Edo and Bauchi states
LASEMA sets up marine rescue unit,
others
By Olasunkanmi
Akoni
LAGOS—LAGOS State
E m e r g e n c y
Management Agency,
LASEMA, has concluded
plans to flag off a response
team, known as Marine
Rescue Unit, inorder to en-
the Delta State
Government by Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo,
Takeme commended the
initiative and speedy
completion of the road
projects.
He noted that the
Obotobo 1, 11, Sokebulou
and Youkiri Road project
measuring 20.29km would
enhance social-economic
lives of the people and
those from other
neighboring riverine
communities in the locality.
Describing the road
infrastructure as a wel-
it with that of the 2006. The
reason given was that 2016
law gave an undue advantage
to the few.
The group was led by the
former chairman of Imo state
traditional rulers council,
Eze Cletus Illomuanya.
Other demands as listed
House of Assemblies, the
group clarified that 14 out
of the 24 members of the
Edo state House of
Assembly were against the
illegal inauguration of the
state House of Assembly
while 10 and not 12 are loyal
to governor Godwin
Obaseki.
In a statement signed by
former Minority whip of the
House of Representatives
and leader of the EPM in
Edo State, Mr Samson
Osagie, it said, “we watch
governor Obaseki’s
hypocrisy once more when
he spent millions of Edo
state funds organizing a
solidarity visit in Benin City
sure prompt response to
emergencies, surveillance,
as well as provide adequate
safety of the commuting
populace on Lagos waterways.
The Director General/
Chief Executive Officer,
CEO,LASEMA, Dr.
Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu
come development in
Ogulagha, he said the
kingdom have never had it
so good despite its huge
contribution to the nation’s
economy.
He maintained that the
completion and
commissioning of the road
projects was reassuring to
the riverine communities
that all hope was not lost.
Assuring that more
projects would be executed
and commissioned in
Burutu Local Government
Area under the present
administration in the state,
Takeme paid glowing
tributes to Dr Ifeanyi Okowa
for being a man of his words.
by the Secretary of the
group, Eze Ama
Durueburoe, insisted “On
the recall of Eze
Ilomuanya as Obi of
Obinugwu and Chairman
of Imo State Council of Ndi
Eze.
as part of his desperation
ahead the 2020
governorship election in
the state.
“We found it most
embarrassing because this
is the same governor who
claimed he wants to end
thuggery,; that politicians
are fighting him because
he refused to share money.
But we have observed how
political thugs took over
Benin City under the guise
that they are protecting the
illegal Speaker of the
House and eight others who
did inauguration at midnight.
Several millions of tax payers’
money was expended by the
wake and see poverty governor.
who disclosed this, weekend,
during the interactive
session with members of
LASEMA staff at the Safety
Arena, Bolade Oshodi, Lagos,
said the operation
would be done in collaboration
with marine police.
Oke-Osanyintolu
stressed that the move was
to revamp its operations on
Lagos State waterways,
saying that the agency
would henceforth, actively
compliment the efforts of
the state waterways
agencies such as the marine
police, Navy and other
relevant stakeholders.
He stated that the
position of the agency was
in sync with the efforts of
the administration of Mr.
Babajide Sanwo-olu to
provide adequate safety of
lives and properties
through workable and
achievable programmes
and strategies, aimed at
improving efficiency in the
delivery of disaster
management in the State.
Oil flat as tropical storm limits
output, glut forecasts weigh
OIL prices were little changed on Friday as U.S.
Gulf of Mexico crude output dropped by more
than half from disruptions caused by a tropical storm,
but concerns over a global crude surplus in the months
ahead limited gains.
Brent crude LCOc1 futures settled at $66.72 a barrel,
climbing 20 cents. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
crude CLc1 futures settled at $60.21 a barrel, up 1 cent.
Brent has gained 4 percent this week while WTI posted
a 4.7 percent rise. Both benchmarks fell last week.
Tropical Storm Barry, which is expected to become a
hurricane just before making landfall this weekend,
boosted crude futures as oil companies in the Gulf of
Mexico sliced production. Nearly 59 percent, or 1.1
million barrels per day, of crude oil production in the
U.S.-regulated areas of the Gulf of Mexico has been
cut because of the storm, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and
Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said. “The crude
oil market is being supported by the Gulf of Mexico
production shut-in.
Volkswagen zooms ahead in
extension of alliance with Ford to
electric, automated cars
FORD Motor Co (F.N) and Volkswagen AG
(VOWG_p.DE) said they will spend billions of
dollars to jointly develop electric and self-driving vehicles,
deepening a global alliance to slash development
and manufacturing costs while positioning VW as the
initial winner. How soon those investments will pay for
themselves is an open question across the global auto
industry.
Ford and VW executives said the latest collaborations
could save hundreds of millions of dollars for each company.
But the projects would take time to develop, and
the size and timing of the payoffs were unclear. The
latest iteration of the Ford-VW alliance suggests the
German automaker may hold the more lucrative cards
- for now. VW has agreed to plow $3.1 billion into Ford’s
Argo AI self-driving unit, but estimates it could realize
up to $20 billion in revenue by sharing its MEB electric
vehicle architecture with Ford in Europe.
China’s June crude oil imports climb
as new refineries spur demand
CHINA’s crude oil imports on a daily basis in June
rose 15.2 percent from a year earlier, customs data
showed on Friday, as the start up of new large-scale
refiners spurred demand for feedstocks. A new plant
owned by Hengli Petrochemical (600346.SS), capable
of processing 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude,
reached full operations in late May, while a similar
sized plant owned by Zhejiang Petrochemical has started
trial runs.
June imports by the world’s largest crude oil importer
came in at 39.58 million tonnes, according to data
from the General Administration of Customs. That works
out to 9.63 million bpd, up 1.7 percent from 9.47 million
bpd level in May and up from 8.36 million bpd a
year ago. For the first six months of 2019, crude imports
grew 8.8 percent from a year earlier to 244.6 million
tonnes, or about 9.87 million bpd. June imports
rose despite poor margins limiting runs at some plants
and amid shut downs for maintenance. Last month,
Sinopec’s 200,000-bpd Luoyang refinery, PetroChina’s
140,000-bpd Jinzhou refinery and a 200,000-bpd Liaoyang
Petrochemical plant were shut for planned repairs.
Expectations are low for bank
earnings but investors say ‘buy’
LOW interest rates and weak trading volume have
pushed down Wall Street’s second-quarter estimates
for the biggest U.S. banks, yet investors still say
they want
Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase and Co, Goldman
Sachs Group Inc and Wells Fargo and Co kick off the
second-quarter company earnings season with reports
out Monday and Tuesday. On Thursday Morgan Stanley
reports. Analysts expect second-quarter earnings
per share (EPS) growth for the S&P 500 bank index
.SPXBK of 11 percent, down from 14.4 percent on Jan.
1. Revenue growth expectations have dropped to 1.6
percent from 3.4 percent, according to the average of
estimates gathered by Refinitiv. This is partly thanks to
a flatter yield curve - the narrowing spread between
short-term interest rates and long-term rates. On top of
this, trading volumes fell in the quarter as many investors
stayed on the sidelines due to volatility related to
the U.S.-China trade war.
Some stories credited to Reuters