It’s difficult for investors to come to Nigeria – Kachikwu

There is some level of latent difficulty for investors to come and invest in Nigeria due to security concerns, among other issues, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, has said.

This is coming as the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, announced that the country’s current crude oil production had risen to 2.2 million barrels per day.


Kachikwu, who spoke at the 6th Sustainability in the Extractive Industries Conference organised by CSR-in-Action on Wednesday in Abuja, noted that although most countries of the world were faced with security issues, it was important for Nigeria to invest more in securing its citizens and investors.

The minister stated this while suggesting measures through which the economy and the oil sector could be revamped for the greater benefit of Nigerians.

He said, “Now, the second aspect of this discussion is that how do you open your economy in terms of foreign participation? There is almost some level of latent difficulty for investors to come into this country. First of all, they deal with the issue of security.

“Now, when we say security, every country has its own difficulties. You may find that if you take a crime-to-crime analysis, I’m sure that we are not necessarily worse than most countries. But it is just the publicity that we give to certain things that happen here.

Nigeria’s debt rose by N4.76tn in 2016 – DMO

Nigeria total debt rose by N4.76tn in 2016, the Debt Management Office has disclosed.

The DMO disclosed this in its 2016 Annual Report and Statement of Accounts obtained by our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday.

According to the office, Nigeria’s debt as of December 2016 stood at N17.36tn, up from N12.6tn a year earlier. This reflects an increase of N4.76tn or 37.74 per cent within a period of one year.

The significant increase, according to the DMO, is mainly in the domestic debt component and is attributable to additional issuance of debt securities to fund the 2016 budget deficit and the refinancing and redemption of matured securities.

The DMO explained that the increase in borrowing could be looked at from the deficits contained in both the 2015 and 2016 budgets in relation to the Gross Domestic Product.

Thus, the deficit contained in the 2016 budget reflected 2.14 per cent of the GDP, while that of 2015 reflected 1.09 per cent of the GDP.

Court orders seizure of Diezani’s $37.5m Lagos house, funds

The Federal High Court in Lagos, on Wednesday, ordered the temporary forfeiture of a property at Banana Island, Lagos, bought for $37.5m in 2013 by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

The property, designated as Building 3, Block B, Bella Vista Plot 1, Zone N, Federal Government Layout, Banana Island Foreshore Estate, has 24 apartments, 18 flats and six penthouses, according to court papers presented on Tuesday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

According to Bawa, when Nwokedi was questioned by the EFCC, the lawyer explained that he had approached Diezani for opportunities in the oil and gas industry but the ex-minister told him that being a lawyer, she did not have any such opportunity for him and asked him whether he could, in the alternative, manage landed properties, an offer which Nwokedi accepted.

Bawa said Nwokedi later registered Rusimpex Limited at the Corporate Affairs Commission, and named a lawyer in his law firm, Adetula Ayokunle, and a Russian, Vladmir Jourauleu, as the directors.

He added that the address of Nwokedi’s law firm in Ikoyi, Lagos, was registered as the business address of Rusimpex Limited.