Bavijas Review

Happy Eid al-Kabiru and welcome to the midweek edition of the Bavijas newsletter. Intro: President Tinubu returns from a two-day official visit to France where he attended the New Global Financing Pact Summit hosted by President Macron in Paris. At the event, HE Tinubu explored financing networks from which to tap FDI.  With me is Daniel Bassey, a talented co-editor, to take you on this informative bliss ride. So enjoy! OUR TOP PICKS TODAY: 👷‍♂️ Works on Lagos-Ibadan expressway. Federal Ministry of Works and Housing announced the one-week suspension starting today to ease the corridor amidst heavy traffic resulting from Muslim faithfuls travelling for the Sallah celebration. 🌎 Companies will face more pressure. Oil companies will now be required to disclose how climate change affects their business under a new set of G20-backed global policies aimed at helping regulators crack down on greenwashing. 🇷🇺 Putin vows to crush the Wagner group. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mastermind of the Mo

An aerial view of Lagos blue rail line, Source: Vanguard

Tar sandstone, from California, USA. Source: WikiCommons

  As I had indicated in the opening of my last newsletter edition, pouring different colours of paint into a bowl only produces a grey colour; not a bright one.  President Tinubu must not attempt to fix Nigeria in one day. Recall, Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither would Nigeria. He must be alert to the sensitivity of the particular socioeconomic condition of the average Nigerian. Mind you, an average Nigerian is ‘poor’. HE Tinubu shouldn't “suffocate the poor”. It is important for him not to do so. TAKE A LOOK AT THIS: ➡️ President Tinubu appoints Ms Olu Verheijen as Special Energy Adviser. She holds a B.Sc in Economics and Political Science as well as an M.Sc in Public Policy and was formerly the Deal Lead at Shell where she helped broker strategic oil and gas deals.  ➡️ CNG: Nigerians continue to press for CNG as an alternative to petrol. Independent petroleum marketers say that remains the only viable option on the table. ➡️ Electricity tariff to increase in Nigeria beginn

In the early hours of today, June 21, 2023 I culled an old text from my bookshelf and ran into a page that narrated how Socrates, the famous Greek philosopher of antiquity died. Read on! Socrates, a father of three sons taught independent thinking to students from whom he never charge a dime.  Being the son of a stone cutter, Socrates may have lived a poor life, way below even that of his students who hailed from wealthy families.  Shockingly, his students liked his teachings but their parents didn't. He never even wrote a book but those he taught or mentored have since written many essays about him. Plato is the most famous of his students. Another is Xenophon. The writings of these great men revealed to the whole world who their master Socrates truly was. Can you recall Plato’s Apology ? That book speaks volumes about the life and times of Socrates. You should read it. In fact, Socrates’ post-death influence is greater than the influence he had while on Earth. Socrates would alwa

Canadian firm Gibson Energy has agreed on a deal with Buckeye Partner to buy the South Texas Gateway oil terminal for some $1.1 billion in cash. The deal will give Gibson access to “one of the most competitive liquids terminal and export facilities globally with direct pipeline connections to low-cost, long reserve-life resource supply, and very large crude carrier (“VLCC”) capabilities, the company said in a  press release . The South Texas Gateway terminal is the second-largest oil export facility in the United States with a storage capacity of 8.6 million barrels. There is also the option of boosting this to 10 million barrels. The South Texas Gateway terminal was  completed  in 2020 to take advantage of the world’s growing thirst for U.S. crude. First exports left the port in July of that year. The facility has two deepwater docks capable of handling some 800,000 barrels of crude daily. “To add 1 mmbbl/d of export capacity and nearly 9 million barrels of terminals storage in a high

French TotalEnergies,  one of the top  international oil and gas  companies  operating in Nigeria, on Tuesday ,  June 13, 2023 ,  revealed it has made a major oil find offshore Nigeria under the Oil Mining Lease (OML 102). The oil discovery, dubbed “Ntokon-1AX discovery” has the prospect of sustaining commercial  production  that would culminate in increasing Nigeria’s oil reserves which  have  been hovering around 37 billion barrels for many years now. NTOKON translates to Pepper in the language of the nearby locality of Akwa Ibom State. In a statement obtained by Vanguard, Total Energies is quoted to have said that NTOKON is located in shallow waters, 60 km off the southeast coast of Nigeria and is about 20 km from the  neighbouring  Ofon field facilities, still on OML102. Though  the  total volumes of oil found  aren't  clear yet, Ntokon-1G1 tested successfully up to a maximum rate of about 5,000 barrels per day of 40° API oil. Planned to be developed through a tie-back to these

Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency, REA, has penned a Memorandum of Understanding with Oando Clean Energy Limited (OCEL) to deploy sustainable renewable energy systems across Nigeria. The Managing Director of the agency, Mr. Ahmad Salihijo-Ahmad revealed this in Abuja, the nation’s capital, and said the signing of the MOU would boost collaboration between the private sector and the government. Mr Salihijo-Ahmad explained that one of the best ways to mitigate the effects of subsidy removal in Nigeria is through the exploitation of opportunities to optimise the critical role of renewable energy. He expressed his delight over the REA – Oando partnership, saying that  “it will bring about mutually beneficial collaboration, knowledge exchange and experiences all targeted at achieving the common goal of optimising renewable energy in the country.” On his part, the Executive Director, Technical Services at the REA, Mr Barka Sajou while explaining the Agency’s shift in paradigm on the deli

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) is pressing for improved electricity supply to the manufacturing sector to reduce its burden in sourcing alternative power to remain in business. The association reported that expenditure on alternative energy source increased to N76.7 billion in the second half of 2022 from N45.04 billion recorded in the corresponding half of 2021; thus, indicating N31.66 billion or 70 per cent increase over the period. The inadequate electricity supply remains a huge challenge to manufacturers, accounting for their huge investment in self-energy generation, which stood at N76.7 billion in the second half of last year. Manufacturers’ cost of self-energy generation increased from N45.04 billion in the corresponding half of 2021, indicating N31.66 billion or 70 per cent increase over the period. According to MAN ‘Bi-annual Economic Review’ for the second half of 2022, it also increased by N8.9 billion or 13 per cent when compared with N67.8 billion recorded

Turkmenistan and Pakistan continue their talks on the revival of the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India (TAPI) pipeline, and a bilateral meeting on the issue in Islamabad will be announced soon—possibly in late June 2023. For its part, Ashgabat is keen on moving ahead with the project, while energy-deficient Pakistan is willing to go ahead with or without India. And Kabul has said it is ready to raise a special force to provide security for the project ( Business Recorder , May 13). Some sources have stated that the potential transit revenues could make up as much as 80 or 85 percent of Afghanistan’s central budget, providing added incentives for securing the area around the prospective pipeline. Overall, the TAPI pipeline is planned to stretch for over 1,100 miles with the capacity to transport 33 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas each year from the Galkynysh Gas Field in Turkmenistan to the Indian city of Fazilka via Afghanistan and Pakistan ( Business Turkmenistan , Aug

Europe's climate and energy policies are very prescriptive and geared toward picking energy transition winners and losers instead of letting the market decide which solutions reduce emissions at the lowest cost for society, ExoxnMobil's chief executive Darren Woods says.  The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the United States, on the other hand, sets emissions standards and lets the market work to deliver on the objective of reducing emissions and lowering emissions intensity, Woods said this week on the  podcast  of Nicolai Tangen, the chief executive of Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest.  Europe's 'Stick' Approach  While the IRA doesn't pick winners and losers, Europe is "very prescriptive in trying to micromanage the solutions," Exxon's Woods said. "I think it's a huge mistake to be picking winners and losers and focusing on specific technologies," he added.  "Instead we should be looking more broadly

  Many depot owners may soon shut down their facilities due to the inability to meet the new financial requirement of about N10bn by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited as the cost of lifting fuel from its ships,  The PUNCH  has learnt. The PUNCH  on Wednesday noticed that many filling stations in Lagos State were not selling products to the public. Sources at the depots told  The PUNCH  that depot owners were struggling to raise between N5b-N10bn to make new orders from the NNPCL. “NNPCL has enough stock in-country and we still buy from them pending when arrangements would be made for us to start ordering our products ourselves. Now, we have to raise about N10bn, some N5bn depending on the volume of the order to be able to access new products,” the sources said. He added that the amount was in addition to the payment already made before the increase in the price of petrol. The National Controller, Operations of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mi

This year 2023 is the midpoint between 2016 and 2030, within which the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are supposed to be accomplished.  The 17 SDG commitments are accompanied by a huge number of targets—169, to be exact—and from the look of things, we must admit the world is falling short on nearly all of them.  Here’s the problem:  Many countries and heads of government are unable to meet their promises because of a lack of funds.  Every government of the world makes roughly $10–$15 trillion each year from tax collection, and this is a far cry from the $19 trillion or so needed to meet annual targets, per the FFGI report.  Here's the solution: To stand a fair chance of achieving the SDGs by 2030, governments must do all they can possibly do right now, while donors must double their financial commitments. We are in this together. Let's gear up for more action. Happy Wednesday Victor Bassey 07.06.2023

In your understanding, what is true greatness?  Mind you, true greatness is not as the world sees it or defines it but as Jesus; the greatest Teacher who has ever lived sees it. We should always see things from the angle of Master Jesus. Jesus revealed that worldly standards are often upside down. The world thinks that a great person is someone who has power and authority over others or someone rich and famous One day, a dispute arose among Jesus’ disciples as to which one of them was the greatest. Jesus said to them, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave” (Matthew 20:25-27). Jesus points to us that true greatness doesn't consist of power, military might, or autocratic authority, but of humble service.  To illustrate this truth, Jesus washed his apostles’ feet.  He said,

A short sleeveless gown. Zeesbudget_store I grew up with an elder sister who was incredibly passionate about fashion. She had a remarkable talent for transforming discarded fabrics into stylish pieces that could be worth a fortune. That girl is good!   By the time she turned 17, my mom had somehow given up on buying her new clothes because she would either complain about the fit or find them unstylish. Being her younger sibling, I naturally followed in her footsteps. By the time I was old enough to begin going out, we both would often visit a popular secondhand market called Udua Fiong Etok in Eket to find unique pieces that suited our style, making many of our peers in the neighbourhood admire our outfits and ask where we got them from. But due to the common belief that thrift clothing was unsanitary, my sister and I would often lie about the origin of our clothes and move on.   Initially, I didn’t embrace the idea of thrift shopping. Not because I thought it unsanitary, but because I