On Monday when President Bola Tinubu swears in the new ministers, he may keep the Petroleum Resources portfolio, as substantive Oil Minister like his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.
On Wednesday,Tinubu named a former minister Heineken Lokpobiri from Bayelsa State as Minister of State for Petroleum Resources as he released the portfolios for the 45 confirmed ministerial nominees with former Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike in charge of the Ministry of Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Tinubu also named the former Commissioner of Finance in Lagos State, Wale Edun, as the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy. and Festus Keyamo manning the Ministry of Aviation.
Other ministers are Adegboyega Oyetola (Transportation), David Umahi (Works), Festus Keyamo (Aviation and Aerospace Development), and Betta Edu (Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation).
(2)The absence of a co-defendant stalled the scheduled arraignment of Godwin Emefiele, the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on charges of procurement fraud at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja on Thursday. The court adjourned the suit until 23 August for arraignment.
(3) Oil prices were choppy on Thursday after falling over the past three sessions, with the undertone grim on worries that slowing growth in China and possible further U.S. interest rate hikes will weaken fuel demand in the world’s two biggest economies. Brent crude futures were flat at $83.45 a barrel by 0645 GMT
*The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC) announced on Wednesday it secured a $3 billion crude repayment loan to support the naira and stabilise the foreign exchange market.
(4) President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday assured investors that his ongoing repositioning of the economy will receive a boost as he conducts an intensified removal of all bottlenecks in the way of efficient business startup and administration in Nigeria, with a particular emphasis on efficiency in service, tax reviews, and improved security. (5) The Vice President, Kashim Shettima has lauded the N1.2 billion grant provided by the technology giant in support of the President Tinubu administration’s one million jobs initiative. (6) Men of the Nigerian Navy NNS Pathfinder, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, have arrested a Marine Vessel, MV Cecilia, laden with about 350,000 liters of petroleum products suspected to be diesel.(7) The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) has predicted that Nigeria will experience stronger economic growth as business activities increase in the remaining part of the year. (8) Nigeria’s Eurobonds went on the back foot on Wednesday in an extension of the previous session’s slide as the news of the government’s decision to embargo upward adjustment of petrol pump prices continued to rattle the market. (9)
As the federal government intensified borrowing from local investors to bridge the 2023 budget deficit, the government through the Debt Management Office (DMO) raised a total of N4.46 trillion from the bond market in eight months of 2023 as the interest rate on 30-year FGN bond increased to 15.85 per cent in August 2023 from 14.3 per cent in July 2023.
(10) Security Stories: No fewer than five persons have been reportedly kidnapped by yet-to-be-identified gunmen, in Ebonyi State.
* The military high command has said no fewer than three officers and 22 soldiers were killed during the ambush on troops in Niger state. Addressing journalists in Abuja on Thursday, the Director, Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba added that seven soldiers were wounded during the ambush
(11) Russia-Ukraine War: Ukraine’s military said it has taken back the village of Urozhaine in the eastern Donetsk region. An overnight drone attack in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region marked the seventh time Russia has targeted Ukrainian ports since Moscow pulled out of the Black Sea Grain initiative, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. Meanwhile, a Russian drone attack on Reni damaged warehouses and granaries, said Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa regional military administration.
* At least two civilians were killed in Russian shelling of the Dnipropetrovsk region in central Ukraine and in the southern Kherson region, Ukrainian officials said.
* The Russian private mercenary group (PMC) Wagner has been registered in Belarus as an educational organization, according to the information published on the Belarusian Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs.
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