Nigerian petroleum industry holds night of tributes for Barkindo
Tears flowed as the Nigerian petroleum industry on Wednesday in Abuja held a night of tributes for the late Mohammed Barkindo, secretary-general of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Barkindo passed on in Abuja on Tuesday at the age of 63. He was buried according to Islamic rites in his hometown of Yola, Adamawa State.
According to NAN, Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd., who was represented by Adetunji Adeyemi, the group executive director, downstream, NNPC, prayed God to grant the family the strength to bear the loss.
While Mike Sanger, the managing director, TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Ltd., who was represented by Charles Ebereonwu, the country communications manager, TotalEnergies Nigeria, described Barkindo as a humble and hardworking man who made enormous contributions to the oil and gas industry.
Others who paid tribute to the late secretary-general of OPEC were Rick Kennedy, the chairman, Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS), Osagie Okunbor, the country chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria and Simbi Wabote, executive secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board.
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Kuje prison attack: ISWAP claims responsibility
The Islamic State for West Africa Province (ISWAP) has claimed responsibility for the commando-style attack at Kuje prison which resulted in the release of 443 inmates, among whom were 64 notorious Boko Haram terrorists.
A video surfaced on the internet showing fighters of the group shouting “Allahu Akbar,” meaning God is great. Gunshots could be heard in the video as the characters spoke in Hausa.
Earlier in the day, President Muhammadu Buhari expressed shock and total disappointment over the attack at the state capital prison facility. On his official Twitter handle, @MBuhari, the president tweeted, “Saddened by the attack on the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kuje. I am disappointed with the intelligence system. How can terrorists organize, have weapons, attack a security installation and get away with it? I am expecting a comprehensive report on this shocking incident. ”
Our focus on skill acquisition has been key to fighting unemployment – Gov. Gboyega Oyetola
Gboyega Oyetola, the incumbent governor of Osun State and the candidate of the All Progressive Party (APC) in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Osun State scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 16, 2022, said that his administration’s focus on skill acquisition has helped address the problem of unemployment in the state.
He made this revelation during a televised broadcast of the governorship debate organized by AriseTV and co-anchored by celebrated media personality, Dr. Reuben Abati.
The governor was responding to Abati’s question on how he intends to deal with the problem of unemployment in the state, taking into consideration that the state unemployment rate has almost doubled from the time he took over the mantle of leadership in the state in 2018.
“You recall that we did Osun investment summit sometime in 2019 and 2020, and the reason for that is for us to be able to attract sufficient investment into our state,” he stated.
“I’m saying this categorically that we don’t have less than 10 industries now in Osun. If you go to the Dabolu hurb, you will see a number of companies coming together. So in the area of employment generation, we are really on course, but aside from that, what is important is to talk about skill acquisition. ” He continued, believing that his government has set the pace in trying to attract the much-needed investment into the state despite the current economic situation in the country.
“The white-collar is not there any longer. I can’t absorb the number of students that are coming out from all these universities now. We can’t afford to have them in, so what we have done is to really do a lot of renovation of our technical colleges. We have nine of them. As I speak we have gone to rehabilitating about five. And so we allow people to actually acquire skills and we are ready to give them startup capital to start their business,” he presented facts about how skill acquisition has driven the needed motivation to absorb a lot of unemployed youths in the state.
“In the area of small scale industries, we supported a number of them to create their own jobs, to be their own employers of labour. That is part of what we are trying to do to ensure that we are able to create sufficient number of jobs.”
“What is important is to encourage people to acquire skill and then encourage them to start their own business and create jobs through that. Apart from taking care of themselves they will be able to create additional jobs, give them startup capital which we are doing and encourage them to develop, expand and create additional jobs.”
He also informed the viewing audience that aside from his skill acquisition programme he has engaged and will continue to engage the services of people into the civil service, siting his recent employment of teachers and others.
“Equally, I recruited 1000 teachers just some few months ago and I am going to recruit more. We are even recruiting 20,000 OYES as part of deliberate effort at reducing unemployment rating in our state, with all these put together I believe we are doing well in the area of job creation.” He concluded.
Johnson sacks Gove after cabinet ministers pile pressure on PM
The British government has been rocked with so much drama within the last 24 hours as calls and counter calls for Boris Johnson, the prime minister, to resign from office took centre stage.
In the last 24 hours, 45 members of Johnson’s cabinet have resigned, one — Michael Gove — was sacked , 6 members have yet to make up their minds whether to stay or exit, and 19 have decided to stay with the embattled Prime Minister. This is according to the BBC.
A bit by bit detail from the BBC, gives a vivid picture of the happenings in London. “Michael Gove, the former levelling up minister, was sacked by Boris Johnson. No 10 sources called Gove a “snake”, adding it’s not possible to have someone in a cabinet “who gleefully tells the press the leader has to go”.
Simon Hart, the secretary of state for Wales, after visiting the Prime Minister at his official residence alongside Priti Patel, asked the Prime Minster to resign from office.
Among those strongly behind the embattled prime minister are Nadhim Zahawi, a newly appointed chancellor, and the new health secretary, Steve Barclay.
Stocks in the doldrums as euro founders on recession fears
According to Reuters, the euro fell to a two-decade low this morning as fears of recession controlled the affections of investors who were also worried about rising oil prices.
Equities, on the other hand, were caught between growth concerns and relief that a slowdown would reduce central bankers’ demand for interest rate hikes.
Accordingly, the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan drifted upwards away from a two-month low and rose 0.3 percent in early trade, while Japan’s Nikkei advanced 0.7 percent.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars, on the other hand, scraped themselves from two-year lows.
Major US indexes such as the S & P 500 futures were flat. Overnight, the index rose 0.4 percent following positive economic data as traders adjusted themselves for a likely hawkish statement for this month’s Federal Reserve meeting.
