Solidarity with Dr Singace on The International Day in Support of Torture Victims

Dr Abdul Jalil Al Singace, 53, has been on hunger strike for almost 100 days protesting the ill-treatment and torture of prisoners. He has lost more than 25 kg and developed serious ailments to his limbs, respiratory and blood circulation systems. He has testified several times about the torture inflicted on him since his arrest on 17th March 2011. He was subjected to many crimes of torture including:

-  Being forced to stand on one foot for long periods. Since he had polio from birth his body weight was concentrated on the right foot. His knee is now damaged.

Denial of sleep by banging on the doors of the cell and the corridor floors during the night.

-  Being forced to wake up at night, remain sitting on the sponge bed, and subjected to cold water poured on his body and bed. Then he was forced to sleep on the soaked bed in winter nights.

-  He was repeatedly attacked sexually, either forcibly stripped naked, having sharp items inserted in his private parts or being fingered.

-  Being woken up in early hours of the morning, forced to take shower with icy water and returned to the room with cooling system on maximum.

 In his earlier detention in 2010 he had also been tortured. In his testimony Dr Singace said:

"...I was handcuffed and blindfolded the entire time, they beat me on my fingers with a rigid instrument; they slapped me on my ears and I was pulled by my nipples and ears by tongs, and I was hit with a rigid object on my back and that was to force me to sign papers I had no knowledge what was written on them…"

On the International Day in Support of Torture Victims (26th June 2015), show your support to Bahraini victims of torture by:

-        Calling for an immediate end to torture by Alkhlaifa tribal regime

-        Calling on UK Government to stop supporting Alkhalifa torture regime

-        Lobbying for a visit by the Special Rapporteur of Torture, Juan Mendez, who has been repeatedly banned from visiting Bahrain

-        Urging UK Goverment, which is the main supporter of Bahraini torturers to order them to bring torturers to justice

-        Adopting a Bahraini torture victim and highlighting his/her case

We must settle on a name for our enemies that doesn't smear all Muslims but does reflect reality

 We must settle on a name for our enemies that doesn't smear all Muslims but does reflect reality

If we are going to defeat our enemies we have to know who they are. We have to know what to call them. We must at least settle on a name – a terminology – with which we can all agree. And the trouble with the fight against Islamic terror is that we are increasingly grappling with language, and with what it is permissible or sensible to say.

When a man sprays bullets at innocent tourists on a beach, or when a man decapitates his boss and sticks his head on the railings, or when a man blows himself up in a mosque in Kuwait – and when all three atrocities are instantly "claimed" by the same disgusting organisation – it is surely obvious that we are dealing with the same specific form of evil. This is terrorism.

But what are the objectives of this terrorism? Is it religious? Is it political? Is it a toxic mixture of the two? And what exactly is its relationship with Islam? Many thoughtful Muslims are now attempting – understandably – to decouple their religion from any association with violence of this kind.

The excellent Rehman Chishti, MP for Gillingham, has launched a campaign to change the way we all talk about "Isil". He points out that the very use of the term "Islamic State" is in itself a capitulation to these sadistic and loathsome murderers. They are not running a state, and their gangster organisation is not Islamic – it is a narcissistic death cult.

Rehman's point is that if you call it Islamic State you are playing their game; you are dignifying their criminal and barbaric behaviour; you are giving them a propaganda boost that they don't deserve, especially in the eyes of some impressionable young Muslims. He wants us all to drop the terms, in favour of more derogatory names such as "Daesh" or "Faesh", and his point deserves a wider hearing.

But then there are others who would go much further, and strip out any reference to the words "Muslim" or "Islam" in the discussion of this kind of terrorism – and here I am afraid I disagree. I can well understand why so many Muslims feel this way. Whatever we may think of the "truth" of any religion, there are billions of people for whom faith is a wonderful thing: a consolation, an inspiration – part of their identity.

There are hundreds of millions of Muslims for whom the word "Islamic" is a term of the highest praise. They resent the constant association of "Islam" with "terrorism", as though the one was always fated to give birth to the other. They dislike even the concept of "Islamic extremism", since it seems to imply a seamless continuum of Muslim belief and behaviour: from liberal to tolerant to conservative to reactionary to terrorist.

Their point is that terrorist violence is alien from Islam, and that is why they argue so strenuously that we should drop all references to "Muslim terrorists" or "Islamic terrorists". They say that any use of the word Islam or Muslim in such a context is actually offensive and derogatory, and helps to alienate the very people we need to win over.

As one Muslim friend put it to me, "you wouldn't talk about Christian terrorists would you?" And there is some truth in that. We don't talk about "Christian terrorism" even in the context of the sectarian violence between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. Why do we seem to taint a whole religion by association with a violent minority?

Well, I am afraid there are two broad reasons why some such association is inevitable. The first is a simple point of language, and the need to use terms that everyone can readily grasp. It is very difficult to bleach out all reference to Islam or Muslim from discussion of this kind of terror, because we have to pinpoint what we are actually talking about. It turns out that there is virtually no word to describe an Islamically-inspired terrorist that is not in some way prejudicial, at least to Muslim ears.

You can't say "salafist", because there are many law-abiding and peaceful salafists. You can't say jihadi, because jihad – the idea of struggle – is a central concept of Islam, and doesn't necessarily involve violence; indeed, you can be engaged in a jihad against your own moral weakness. The only word that seems to carry general support among Muslim leaders is Kharijite – which means a heretic – and which is not, to put it mildly, a word in general use among the British public.

We can't just call it "terrorism", as some have suggested, because we need to distinguish it from any other type of terrorism – whether animal rights terrorists or Sendero Luminoso Marxists. We need to speak plainly, to call a spade a spade. We can't censor the use of "Muslim" or "Islamic".

That just lets too many people off the hook. If we deny any connection between terrorism and religion, then we are saying there is no problem in any of the mosques; that there is nothing in the religious texts that is capable of being twisted or misunderstood; that there are no religious leaders whipping up hatred of the west, no perverting of religious belief for political ends.

If we purge our vocabulary of any reference to the specifically religious associations of the problem, then we are not only ignoring the claims of the terrorists themselves (which might be reasonable), but the giant fact that there is a struggle going on now for the future of Islam, and how it can adapt to the 21st century. The terrorism we are seeing across the Muslim world is partly a function of that struggle, and of the chronic failure of much Islamic thinking to distinguish between politics and religion.

The struggle is really about power, of course, rather than spirituality – but that does not mean we can ignore the potency of the religious dimension. It doesn't much matter which word we agree on, with Muslim communities, to describe this ideology of terror – Islamism? Islamo-fascism? – but we need to settle on it fast, and then join together to stamp out the phenomenon. If we are going to beat them, we must all at least know their name.

Assassination of the Saudi Arabia's Air Force Commander Lieutenant General Muhammad bin Ahmed al-Shaalan

Euro news reporter Faiza Garah stated in her personal page that according todocuments, Saudi Air Force Commander was assassinated because of his unwillingness to continue the blind bombardment of residential areas in Yemen without strategic targeting and in his protest against the quality of operations. She said that someone, at the request of Prince Mohammad Salman, had poisoned his Arabic coffee which killed him less than 4 hours. Muhammad bin Ahmed al-Shaalan clearly expressed his dissatisfaction with the continued bombardment of residential areas in Yemen without strategic targeting in several meetings with Prince Mohammad Salman. So Shaalan's dismissal was expected by others but Mohammad bin Salman's decision to murder Shaalan shocked commanders' friends and Royal Saudi Air Force as well.

Economic Apartheid in America

 Despite social advances, racial segregation exists on a much larger geographic scale than ever before.

Almost lost by the wave of responses to the Supreme Court's decisions last week upholding the Affordable Care Act and allowing gays and lesbians to marry was the significance of the Court's third decision – on housing discrimination.

In a 5-4 ruling, the Court found that the Fair Housing Act of 1968 requires plaintiffs to show only that the effect of a policy is discriminatory, not that defendants intended to discriminate.

The decision is important in the fight against economic apartheid in America – racial segregation on a much larger geographic scale than ever before.

The decision is likely to affect everything from bank lending practices whose effect is to harm low-income non-white borrowers, to zoning laws that favor higher-income white homebuyers.

First, some background. Americans are segregating ever more by income in terms of where we live.

Thirty years ago most cities contained a broad spectrum of residents from wealthy to poor. Today, entire cities are mostly rich (San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle) or mostly impoverished (Detroit, Baltimore, Philadelphia).

Because a disproportionate number of the nation's poor are black or Latino, we're experiencing far more segregation geographically.

Which is why, for example, black students are more isolated today than they were 40 years ago. More than 2 million black students now attend schools where 90 percent of the student body is minority.

According to a new study by Stanford researchers, even many middle-income black families remain in poor neighborhoods with low-quality schools, fewer parks and playgrounds, more crime, and inadequate public transportation. Blacks and Hispanics typically need higher incomes than whites in order to live in affluent neighborhoods.

To some extent, this is a matter of choice. Many people prefer to live among others who resemble them racially and ethnically.

But some of this is due to housing discrimination. For example, a 2013 study by the Department of Housing and Urban Development found that realtors often show black families fewer properties than white families possessing about the same income and wealth.

The income gap between poor minority and middle-class white communities continues to widen. While the recovery has boosted housing prices overall, it hasn't boosted them in poor communities.

That's partly because bank loan officers are now more reluctant to issue mortgages on homes in poor neighborhoods – not because lenders intend to discriminate but because they see greater risks of falling housing values and foreclosures.

But this reluctance is a self-fulfilling prophecy. It has reduced demand for homes in such areas – resulting in more foreclosures and higher rates of vacant and deteriorating homes. The result: further declines in home prices.

As prices drop, even homeowners who have kept current on their mortgage payments can't refinance to take advantage of lower interest rates.

Others who owe more on their homes than their homes are worth have simply stopped maintaining them. In many poor communities, this has caused the housing stock to decline further, and home prices to follow.

Adding to the downward spiral is the fiscal reality that lower housing values mean less revenue from local property taxes. This, in turn, contributes to worsening schools, fewer police officers, and junkier infrastructure –accelerating the downward slide.

All of which explains why housing prices in poor neighborhoods remain about 13 percent below where they were before the recession, even though prices in many upscale neighborhoods have fully rebounded.

And why about 15 percent of the nation's homes worth less than $200,000 are still underwater while just 6 percent of homes worth more than $200,000 are.

Worse yet for poor communities, most of America's new jobs are being created in areas where housing already is pricy, while fewer jobs are emerging in places where housing is cheapest.

The toxic mixture of housing discrimination, racial segregation over wide swathes of metropolitan areas, and low wages and few jobs in such places, has had long-term effects.

A Harvard study released in May suggests just how long. The study tracked several million children since 1980s.

It found that young children whose families had been given housing vouchers allowing them to move to better neighborhoods were more likely to do better in later life – attend college and get better jobs – than those whose families hadn't received the vouchers.

The study points to one solution: housing vouchers that help lower-income families move into better neighborhoods.

It also suggests that federal tax credits to encourage developers to build housing for the poor should be used in racially-integrated communities, rather than mostly in poor ones.

Not incidentally, this is the very issue that sparked last week's Supreme Court's decision on fair housing.

If we want to reverse the vicious cycle of economic apartheid in America, that decision offers an important starting place.

Source: robertreich.org

Overweight woman flaunts her muscular new physique

An overweight 27 year old Canadian woman shed a third of her body weight, she went from being overweight in high school to placing in national bodybuilding tournaments. Trista Elaschuk who used to weigh 195lbs now weighs only 130lbs and is now participating in various bodybuilding competitions.

Trista said she decided to lose weight after high school so she joined weight watchers and lost 50lbs but like so many other people she gained weight again. However, when she met her current bf Kale, he inspired her to lose the wiehgt and maintain it.

About a year after they met, in November 2010, they went on a double date to their first bodybuilding convention. There, she felt in awe of the professional bodybuilders, and realized that she, too, could compete.

'I was so inspired and motivated by these women on stage and knew I had to be one of them,' she explained.

So Trista hired a coach, who worked with her for 23 weeks to get ready for her first competition. 

'I traded in partying and binge eating on the weekends for heavy lifting and meal prep,' she wrote on her Facebook page. All that hard work paid off - her debut was at the Southern Alberta Bodybuilding Championship, where she placed three out of 15. 

'I struggled with weight my entire life and went on my first diet at the age of 16,' she said in a recent interview. 'I knew I had to made a change.'

Study at the University of Kent: UK's European University

Staff from Kent's International Office and Architecture Department will be in Lagos and Abuja this July. The University of Kent is one of the UK's leading universities. Ranked 16th in the Guardian University Guide, and with the third highest score for overall satisfaction in the National Student Survey, Kent offers a unique experience.



 

The University of Kent offers a wide range of foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate degrees (taught and research), exciting study abroad and year in industry opportunities, summer schools, and a generous scholarship fund including awards for academic, creative and sporting excellence.

The UK's European university, Kent has beautiful campuses in south-east England close to London and Europe, and specialist postgraduate centres in Paris, Brussels, Athens and Rome. Each offers a safe, attractive and vibrant environment for your studies.

Kent School of Architecture

Kent School of Architecture is ranked 3^rd in the UK*and has a reputation for tackling global issues at a local scale, with many projects set in the south-east region. Through this work, and our open lecture programmes and events, the School continues to build links with the profession and the wider community. The School is also committed to the development of sustainable design and this is taught at all stages of the curriculum.

Meet us in Nigeria:

Lagos

Where: UKEAS Nigeria (Ikeja Office)

3rd Floor, 76 Opebi Road

Ikeja, Lagos

When: Thursday 2^nd July 2015

Time: 12:00 – 15:00

Abuja

Where: UKEAS Nigeria (Abuja Office)

Suite 3, 2nd Floor, Hatlab Place,

Plot 1952 Sokode Crescent, Wuse Zone 5,

Abuja FCT.Nigeria

When: Thursday 2^nd July 2015

Time: 12:00 – 15:00

If you can't make it to either of these find out where else to meet them here

Contact In Country Officer - Ife Peters on 08112671660 or kent@ukeas.com.ng

*in the Guardian University Guide 2016

Photos: Gov. Ambode at the Inauguration of National Economic Council in Abuja

 Pictures from the National Economic Council inauguration...more photos after the cut...

Caitlyn Jenner makes a glamorous debut as she parties in New York

Monday night, 65 year old Caitlyn Jenner made her debut on the New York City night scene in a skintight LBD as she stepped out for dinner at the Tribeca Italian restaurant, making sure all eyes were on her as she walked on black high heels. More photos after the cut..

Photo Credit: Splash news

Mum who killed her own 2 kids says she feels no remorse for killing them

Remember the story about the mother who killed two of her children and left their bodies in her kitchen freezer? Well, she  has pleaded guilty to their murders saying but says she feels no remorse for killing them. She said: "I don't feel no remorse for the death of them demons."

Mitchelle Blair 36, of Detroit, Michigan, without remorse admitted abusing her 13-year-old daughter Stoni Blair and nine-year-old son Stephen Berry, before their deaths. The bodies of the children were discovered in a deep freezer at her apartment on May 24 when bailiffs arrived to evict her. The mother has two surviving children aged eight and 17-years-old.

As she appeared in court, Blair said she killed her children after claiming they repeatedly "gang-raped" her youngest child.

Blair however, did not report the alleged sexual abuse and never witnessed it first hand.

"She raped my son," Blair said about Stoni. "I intentionally killed her."
"It wasn't an accident?" Judge Dana Hathaway asked.
"No, not at all and if I had the chance to do it again, I would," Blair said.

"I don't feel no remorse for the death of them demons."

Blair said she concealed the bodies so she could take care of her surviving children "as long as possible".nStephen died in August 2012, his sister May 2013.

The mother admitted strangling Stoni and Stephen before suffocating them by putting bags over their heads until they lost consciousness.

The autopsies revealed both children were malnourished, although Blair admitted only to starving Stoni, whom she fed one bowl of porridge a day.

Blair will receive a mandatory life sentence for the murders of her children after she voluntarily pleaded guilty.

Mail Online

Checkout this Throwback photo of El-Rufai and his wife

That's the Governor of  Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai and his wife many years ago.

Kylie Jenner moves into her $2.7mil Calabasas home

17 year old Kylie and Khloe shared a snap from inside the teen's new $2.7 million home in Calabasas, California on Monday. After months of preparation, Kylie Jenner is finally moving into her fancy home.

The 17-year-old star - who had been waiting patiently for renovations to be completed - shared a photo on her Instagram showing the very stylish interior of one of the rooms in the 4,900 square foot home.

Getting a helping hand from half-sister Khloe, Kylie can be seen posing with her sibling and captioned the snap: 'don't you wish your move in crew looked like mine'

Kylie will now be just a block away from sisters Khloe, 31 and Kourtney, 36.

The house is situated in The Oaks, an exclusive gated community in the upscale neighbourhood of Calabasas.

Kylie's mother Kris Jenner opened up about how hard it's going to be with an empty nest in an interview in December.

'Kylie and I are going to be the last ones here. She keeps reminding me daily that she's 17 and there's only a few months left until she's 18.

'I ignore her because that's going to be weird and hard.' she told Oprah.

Nicole Scherzinger flashes her underwear while twerking in the street

Nicole Scherzinger enjoyed a wild night out with friends, including Prince Andrew's pal Caroline Stanbury and footballer Patjim Kasami in Mykonos, Greece on Sunday night to celebrate her birthday.

Nicole and her close pals appeared to be reenacting one of her music videos as they strutted their stuff in the street. Nicole started spinning and dancing around with no shoes on after her birthday celebrations. The singer pulled up her minidress to reveal a flash of her bright pink underwear as things got raucous.

Nicole's bright pink underwear was firmly on show as she twerked her stuff.
The girls held hands after dancing around and playing in the middle of the street in Mykonos.

Local Content Law Implementation: A Call for Retaining Oil Swap and Subsidy Removal

Both legal and oil experts have advised that the Nigerian independent oil operators should be considered first in the award of Oil and Gas contracts. Nigerian service companies should also be considered for contracts and services in line with the local content law just as they called for subsidy removal.

 

A legal expert Bar. Ayo Samuel noted that the "Local content Law specifies that Nigerian independent operators be given "first consideration" in the award of Oil and Gas focused contracts and Nigerian service companies be given "exclusive consideration" for contracts and services. This is the dilemma that the government is facing. Experts say that an agreeable compromise will be a scenario where Nigerian Companies are allowed to participate, along International Oil Majors". 

President Muhammadu Buhari's cash strapped government may have to do away with fuel subsidies in order to channel scarce resources to capital project development in Nigeria. This is in line with the views of Industry experts and Global Investment banks who agreed that a solid structured and transparent swap arrangement will ensure product availability even as NNPC refineries are operating below their plate capacity.

"Subsidies are expensive, accounting for an average of 2.5 percent of the gross domestic product from 2006-2012, according to the IMF. The government set aside N914 billion ($4.6 billion) for it in 2014. Nigeria's national oil company the NNPC currently receives about 450,000 barrels per day for its refineries to process for domestic crude consumption.

However Nigeria is almost wholly reliant on imports for the 40 million litres per day of gasoline it consumes, as most of the NNPCs four refineries produce at less than 20-60 percent of their name plate capacity. The NNPC has often had to engage in crude for oil (swap) and offshore processing contracts and direct importation of products to bridge about 50 percent of the supply gap.

The Managing Director and Head – Africa Macro Global Research at Standard Chartered, Razia Khan said: "Having contracts directly with the oil majors for refined product would be a big win, said Razia Khan, adding, "Ultimately, the healthiest development would be to sell the refined product to end-users at cost-reflective prices.

"Any savings from a fuel subsidy could increase the amount that Nigeria spends on social safety nets – so that the poorest, most vulnerable Nigerians benefit directly," Khan said.

This view was corroborated by members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN); they stated in recent news report that the Oil Swaps is a better option for Government to end scarcity and keep off subsidy payment. The association further made a case to government for IPMAN members to partake in the Crude Oil Swap Arrangement.

While many Nigerians may believe that the Crude Swap/ OPAs was a recent arrangement under the immediate past administration, our source within the NNPC stated that Crude Swap/ Offshore Processing Arrangements have been a Federal Government initiative since 1977 in partnership with International Oil companies (IOCs).

The anonymous source reiterated that "Nigerians must know that the supposed interim policy of the NNPC to bridge the gap between petroleum products demand and supply was initiated over three decades ago between 1977 and 1986 when Nigeria needed heavy crude from Venezuela to feed the Kaduna refinery. We as a nation swapped Venezuela heavy crude for Nigeria's light crude".

He further stated that: "the scope of crude swap was later broadened specifically because our refineries began to produce below their stipulated name plate capacity. In addition, NNPC/PPMC from late 1990s-2010, imported Petroleum Products on an Open Account backed by a PPMC Payment undertaking stating that payment will be made 45 days after imported vessels arrive, this payment timeline was never met with payment delays running to 400 days late in backlogs.

Our research findings indicated that NNPC has an outstanding debt to Importers and Bankers of close to USD 2 Billion currently standing at 7 Years late payment. Consequently, for any NNPC/PPMC import project to receive a nod, the financing bank will need to see and verify a "Solid Bankable Security or Guarantee" in order to finance such project.

NNPC/PPMC usually rely on refineries un-utilised Crude oil barrels to fund these open account Payment Batches. However, the foregoing challenge posed a problem to 50% of fuel supply into Nigeria around 2009 and 2010. In order to close the supply gap and avert scarcity crisis, NNPC/PPMC advertised in 2009 inviting for proposals for Offshore Processing Arrangement and other proposals to guarantee fuel supply to Nigeria.

Thus crude Swap/ OPAs concept widened to include crude for refined products, which had been in practice with Oil Majors more than two decades; at the time, British Petroleum and SIR refinery of Ivory Coast were engaged to swap crude for refined products under very shadowy terms. Yet no one complained, this begs the question: why the outrage when Nigerian companies were engaged to deliver same service to the NNPC/PPMC?

Perhaps it is easier to become outraged when the government of Nigeria, partners with indigenous oil and gas companies towards promoting local content laws than be dismayed by the many years of International Oil Companies (IOCs) under cutting Nigerians in disguise of service to a people.

Nonetheless, the industry is witnessing increased participation of Nigerian oil and gas companies and expressed concerns on the direction the new administration may take while being optimistic that our government will deepen the gains in the oil and gas sector as a result of promoting local content development.

According to verifiable data, Nigerian companies now control over 35% of upstream business activities in Nigeria. This significant bump from less than 10% in 2010 is as a result of passing the local content act into law; driven by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

Sadly, these local companies are faced with herculean task of dealing with various challenges associated with doing business in Nigeria. This has been recently demonstrated when perceived ANTI-LOCAL CONTENT AGENTS conspiring with International News and Reporting Policy analyst, unleashed a media onslaught against indigenous companies participating in the Crude for Products Exchange Agreement, that is aimed to provide petroleum products to the everyday Nigerian.

It is very curious to see all of these negative reports and also the exclusion of the names of Foreign and International Companies that have for many years taking part in these SWAP and Offshore Processing Contracts absent from all of these negative reportage. These Foreign companies create wealth and employment for their Countries, why can't Nigeria do the same with its own people and companies?

Our findings indicates that the Crude Swap/OPAs arrangement entails the allocation of crude oil by NNPC for processing in a refinery, depending on the crude type and yield pattern resultant refined petroleum products mainly Gasoline and Kerosene are delivered by the contract operators into the country. The by-products not required are paid in cash to NNPC. A refining fee is paid for this refining.

The Contract Operator places a "Bank Stand by Letter of Credit" before it is allowed to lift the crude, as a form of security. The SWAP is a very straight forward arrangement, which simply means you load the Crude Oil and you deliver refined petroleum products on a value to value based contract.

Approximately, for a standard Nigerian cargo of 950,000+/- 5% Barrels (950kb) of Crude Oil loaded, the resultant volume for refined products (PMS and DPK which formed the subject matter of this Agreement) is 3 cargoes of 30,000mts +/- 10%.

The SWAP Agreement stipulates that a revolving Standby Letter of Credit (SBLC) is established in favour of PPMC, before the Supplier's vessel is cleared to load any volume of the crude oil nominated and programmed for this purpose. This in effect guarantees that there is no exposure to PPMC for the Crude Oil lifted at any point in time during the Agreement, as this SBLC can be encashed, in the event of default.

Curiously, verifiable facts indicated that the terms on which the Federal government engaged local players where far more strenuous than the terms of engagement with the International Companies that partnered with the Federal Government. This in itself was a paradox…

It is on record tha when foreigners were handling crude swap and delivering Petroleum Products on Open Account for Nigeria, our government was buying refined products at PLATTS plus $136-180/metric from these multinationals. Government was equally required to pay interest to the multinationals on delayed receivables. Government incurred the cost of logistics and handling.

Unlike the arrangement where we have local players participating, only the principle of exchanging crude for refined product remained the same. Local companies sell at PLATTS plus $82/metric Ton. Government does not pay interest on delayed receivables. Yet, the local players remained steadfast towards supporting the Federal Government of Nigeria on making sure that finished products are available and accessible by Nigerians without hassle.

Unfortunately, instead of applauding the doggedness of local entrepreneurs, some unscrupulous elements in Nigeria are making frantic efforts to hound and frustrate growth driven by local companies in the sector. This is our quagmire as a people. Accordingly, the implementation of the Local Content Law is one that must be encouraged. Certainly without doubt, the above well documented procedure ensures compliance and discredits the unguided and unfounded opinion of those calling a dog a bad name in order to kill it.

BVN palaver (photos)

The queue at First Bank aroun Ijegun road this morning. Hope CBN will extend the deadline? More pics after the cut...