From Ene Asuquo, Calabar

 Operation Whirlwind Zone C, Nigeria Customs Service NCS, has said that they have impounded 466,000 litres of petroleum product valued at N380m in the  last seven months.in cross river state

The leadership of the Operation through the National Coordinator, Compt.

“Statistically, since its inception till date, a total number of 466,000 liters of PMS values at approximately ₦380 Million has been seized,” he disclosed.

He said “This has maintained local fuel supplies while also addressing Economic Sabotage linked to fuel smuggling.

The NCS stressed that the effort has contributed immensely to stabilized fuel prices across the nation, ensuring that allocated Petroleum products reach their designated destinations.

Recalled that Operation Whirlwind is initiative of the Comptroller General of Customs (CGC) BA Adeniyi Mfr Psc(+) in collaboration with the office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and Nigeria Midstream Downstream, Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA) inaugurated in May 2024 to  combate  fuel smuggling.

Giving an insight of Operation Whirlwind, Ejibuno stated that Operation Whirlwind Zone C has in the last one month made a seizure of 6,200 liters of PMS.

He said that the operation spanned through the entire South- South region stressing that despite the bad terrain and flooding  which posed enormous challenges to the region, the unit  was still performing its  mandate effectively.

The NCS emphasized that this effort has contributed immensely to stabilized fuel prices across the country and ensuring that allocated Petroleum products reach their designated destinations.

“In line with the three Mandate of the CGC, which is Consolidation, Collaboration and Innovation, We want to thank other agencies and Critical stakeholders that have assisted the unit to perform their duty optimally since a tree can’t form a forest,” he maintained.

From Attah Ede, Makurdi

The National Grid has again collapsed on Wednesday, bringing it to eleven times it would collapse this year 2024.

It would be recalled that, within one week in October, the  national grid went  down three times with its attendant blackouts, sparking reactions from Nigerians.

A tweet via the official handle of Nigeria’s National Grid confirmed that the grid collapsed at about 2:09 pm on Wednesday.

“The major grid setback has occurred and the restoration is to commence,” the handler wrote.

This collapse makes it 12 times this year that the grid has collapsed.

 The development was also confirmed in a statement by Jos Disco to its customers.

The utility company, however, said the grid collapsed around 1: 33 PM today, leading to the loss of power supply to its feeders.

“We hope to restore normal power supply to our esteemed customers as soon as the grid supply is restored back to normalcy,” Head Corporate Communications, Jos Disco,  Dr Friday Elijah told its customers.

Part of the statement reads: “The current outage being experienced within our franchise States is a result of loss of power supply from the national grid. The loss of power supply from the national grid occurred this afternoon at about 13.33 hours of today, Wednesday, 11th December 2024, hence the loss of power supply on all our feeders.

“We hope to restore normal power supply to our esteemed customers as soon as the grid supply is restored back to normalcy.”

Meanwhile, the Abuja Disco in a statement disclosed, “Dear Valued Customers. We wish to inform you that a system disturbance occurred on the national grid at 1:32 pm today causing a power outage across our franchise areas.

“While gradual restoration of power supply has commenced, be assured that we are coordinating closely with relevant stakeholders to restore power fully as soon as the grid is stabilised”, Dr. Adakole stated.

From Jude Dangwam, Jos

The Executive Governor of Plateau State, Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang, has assured the business community in the state of a more favourable business environment across the state in the coming year 2025.

He said his administration has embarked on a holistic approach to further consolidate on the successes recorded in the last one year through legal reforms and infrastructural development across both urban and rural areas to boost businesses and improve the investment opportunities and the lives of citizens of the state.

Mutfwang gave this assurance at a dinner hosting the Plateau Business Community on Tuesday at the New Government House Banquet Hall, Little Rayfield, in Jos the State capital.

“Plateau State has the economic potential of becoming a nerve centre in northern Nigeria. Your confidence in Plateau State will not be taken likely.

“We have embarked on reforms in the energy sector and we are going to have various power plants that will serve as a catalyst for economic growth especially in the agric sector,” he stated.

Mutfwang further assured the business community of government’S resolve to sit with the private sector on the new tax bills by the federal government and come up with a position based on the peculiarity of the state.

The Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of the State, Philemon Dafi, disclosed that law reform establishment is one important step taken by the Mutfwang administration towards reforming all laws in the state meeting global standards and enhancing businesses on the Plateau.

“The laws of the state are generally obsolete, so the institution that will drive civilization, development and business structured in a civilized manner is going to be through the law reform commission.

“There is a law reform commission in place in addition to the law reform committee working in synergy to reform all the laws of the state to bring it to civilization.

“The second law is the electricity management law in place and the energy operation law in place which establishes the regulatory body of the electricity market.

“Another milestone in record time is that Plateau State Citizen Mediation Centre law where issues affecting businesses is negotiated and agreed upon in a meeting rather in Court where you spent a lot on litigation and ends as enemies,” he explained

The Attorney General further explained that there are four other laws in the offing, calling for the establishment of Office of the Public Defendant.

“There is this law that we need to urgently have it which is the establishment of the Office of the Public Defendant which, if passed into law, will defend businesses and other small and medium scale business (SMEs) because they have so much issues but they don’t have people that will defend them and these are people that aggregate catalyst and drives our economy.”

Some Chief Executives of various private establishments in the state, such as the former governorship aspirant, Chief Kefas Ropshak of Kefiano Autos, urged the state to address the issue of capital flight and should harnessed the maize potentials among other farm produce to further create jobs opportunities and boost the economy.

The Chief Executive Officer Dilkon Group of Companies (DG), Leo Dilkon, also urged the state government to also look inward and identified local investors that can drive the economy by pulling billions of naira in to the state economy while tracking other revenues especially in the mineral sector for the common good of Plateau people.

The business community commended the governor for the various reforms recorded under his administration in the last one year which has propelled businesses to grow and stressed that they look forward to having more of such reforms in the coming year.