Economy
Weights & Measures Lauds Petroleum Act, Apprehensive over Certain Clauses – Director
The Weights and Measures Department, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment has hailed the signing of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) but observed that certain clauses in the Act are in conflict with its mandates.
Mr Hassan Ejibunu, Director of the department, made this known on Wednesday in Abuja at a meeting with top management staff members, Zonal and State Coordinators of the department.
The meeting was organised to discuss pertinent issues towards the performance of the department’s mandate as outlined in all legal instruments guiding legal Metrology in Nigeria.
The Petroleum Industry Act was signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on Aug. 16, 2021 and provides legal, governance, regulatory and fiscal framework for the Nigerian petroleum industry, the development of host communities and related matters.
However, the director noted that certain clauses in the act were considered not to be in consonance with the department’s mandate, especially the pre-shipment inspection activities at the crude oil terminals.
“Most of us are apprehensive over certain clauses in the Act that are considered to be in conflict with the mandate of Weight and Measures Department, especially the pre-shipment inspection activities at the crude oil terminals.
“The ministry, under the current leadership is working assiduously to bring those issues up that would give room to the amendment of the PIA.
“This is to ensure that the mandates of the department as given in item 65 of the Nigerian constitution and other legal instruments are not tampered with.
“We are confident that Mr President will endorse the amendments to the PIA as being proposed by the ministry,” he said.
Ejibunu, while commending the pragmatic step taken to ensuring that the Act finally came to light said it would change the face of oil and gas business positively in Nigeria.
He further noted that the ministry had made some giant strides to ensuring that its field offices had the wherewithal to do their work.
He said it included approval for the purchace of 14 operational vehicles which would be allocated to state offices to enhance their performance.
This, he said, would ameliorate the problems being encountered while going on field assignments.
In addition, he said states and zonal offices would benefit from funds out of the retention fees of the revenue generated by the department to aid in the running of their offices.
Similarly, he said some office equipment were procured and should be distributed to the needy offices.
With all these steps taken by the leadership of the ministry, he urged the field offices to redouble their efforts to surpass in three folds their capacities in revenue generation as marching order was given to them to boost revenue.
Mr Labaran Rabiu, Chairman, Zonal Coordinators Forum, Weights and Measures Department, said logistics, welfare and litigational challenges in terms of prosecution of defaulters, that were not tackled before, had been resolved due to the intervention of the minister.
“We enforce law, we make sure that both consumers and sellers comply with certain laws of the nation, so that customers and sellers are not surcharged.
“This is while making sure that instruments used for weighing and measurements comply with tolerance level allowing by law.
“In case of default, then, we have a court case against you, for contravening the weights and measures law,” he said
He called for synergy with government and private bodies to enhance the mandates and activities of the department. (NAN)
The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) continued its bullish trend on Wednesday, gaining N183 billion.
Accordingly, the market capitalisation, which opened at N59.532 trillion, gained N184 billion or 0.31 per cent to close at N59.715 trillion.
The All-Share Index also added 0.31 per cent or 303 points, to settle at 98,509.
68, against 98,206. 97 recorded on Tuesday.Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return increased to 31.
74 per cent.Gains in Aradel Holdings, Zenith Bank, United Bank For Africa(UBA), Oando Plc, Nigerian Breweries among other advanced equities drove the market performance up.
Market breadth closed positive with 34 gainers and 17 losers.
On the gainers’ chart, Africa Prudential, Conoil and RT Briscoe led by 10 per cent each to close at N14.30, N352 and N2.42 per share, respectively.
Golden Guinea Breweries followed by 9.95 per cent to close at N7.18, while NEM Insurance rose by 9.74 per cent to close at N10.70 per share.
On the other hand, Julius Berger led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N155.25, Secure Electronic Technology Plc trailed by 9.52 per cent to close at 57k per share.
Multiverse lost 7.63 per cent to close at N5.45, Haldane McCall dropped 6.07 per cent to close at N4.95 and Honeywell Flour shed 5.62 per cent to close at N4.70 per share.
Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 49.44 per cent.
A total of 320.10 million shares valued at N6.48 billion were exchanged in 7,943 deals, compared with 939.41 million shares valued at N12.81billion traded in 9,098 deals posted in the previous session.
Meanwhile, ETranzact led the activity chart in volume with 70.27 million shares, while Aradel led in value of deals worth N1.22 billion.(NAN)
The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the Yuan, weakened 22 pips to 7.1870 against the dollar on Monday.This is according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.In China’s spot foreign exchange market, the Yuan is allowed to rise or fall by two per cent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the Yuan against the dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. (Xinhua/NAN)
Arewa Youths Initiative for Energy Reforms (AYIFER), has urged Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) to do everything possible to bring Kaduna Refinery back into operation.
National Coordinator of the group, Mr Bashir Al’Amin, stated this in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja.
Al’Amin specifically called on the Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mallam Mele Kyari, to do all within his powers to rejuvenate the refinery and bring it up to global standard.
He said that having delivered the Port Harcourt refinery, coupled with the establishment of Dangote Refinery in Lagos, attention should be shifted to Kaduna refinery for easy spread of petroleum products.
“We are calling on Malam Mele Kyari to expedite action on Kaduna refinery so we can be at par with other regions in the country.
“We equally beg the NNPCL to do professional work in rehabilitating the old refinery and deliver a standard and functional petrochemical refinery and not a blending plant.
“Kyari should resist any temptation that could make him do something that can jeopardise his good image,” he said.
Al’Amin said that since the extinction of groundnut pyramid and textiles in Kano State as well as PAN in Kaduna State and with the Kaduna refinery getting moribund, a lot of youths had lost their jobs.
According to him, all their hopes in the north are tied to the legacy refinery, expressing the hope that God would use Kyari to deliver it well and on time.
He said that the group was solidly behind NNPCL in prayer and would be ready to celebrate the company if its expectations were met. (NAN)
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