LAGOS (Reuters) &#8211; Police enforced a round-the-clock curfew in Nigeria’s biggest city on Wednesday a day after soldiers reportedly opened fire on civilians protesting against alleged police brutality.https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.417.2_en.html#goog_113758745&nbsp;



Fires burned across Lagos and residents of Ebute Mette, Lagos Island and Okota districts reported hearing gunfire on Wednesday as President Muhammadu Buhari appealed for “understanding and calm”.



Police &#8211; some armed, some wearing body armour and many in plain clothes &#8211; set up roadblocks in Lagos, witnesses said.



Tuesday night’s incident at a toll gate in Lekki district was the most serious yet in nearly two weeks of nationwide protests fueled by anger at alleged systematic abuses by police, although details of what happened and the number of casualties remained unclear.



The Lagos state governor said 30 people were hurt in the shooting at the gate, a focal point of the protests. One man had died in hospital from a blow to the head, he said, but it was not known if he was a protester.







The United Nations secretary-general said there had been “multiple deaths” and he urged authorities to de-escalate the situation. Amnesty International said it was investigating “credible but disturbing evidence” of excessive use of force in which protesters had been killed.



Four witnesses said soldiers had fired bullets and at least two people had been shot. Three witnesses said the gate’s lights were turned off before the shooting began. One said he saw soldiers remove bodies.



The Nigerian Army said no soldiers were at the scene.

President Buhari to AfDB President Adesina: “I’ll stand by you”

Lagos locked down, army under scrutiny after civilians fired on

By Wole Soyinka To the affected governors all over the nation, there is one immediate step to take: demand the withdrawal of those soldiers. Convoke Town Hall meetings as a matter of urgency. 24-hr Curfews are not the solution. Take over the security of your people with whatever resources you can rummage. Substitute community self-policing based on Local Councils, to curb hooligan infiltration and extortionist and destructive opportunism.



 I arrived home from external commitments just over a week ago to an extraordinary homecoming gift. It took the form of a movement &#8212; sometimes angry, sometimes entrancing, poignant, sometimes strident, certainly robust in expectations but always moving, visionary and organized. That movement demanded an end to brutality from state security agencies, focusing on a notorious unit known as SARS. But, of course, SARS merely stood for the parasitic character of governance itself in all ramifications. That dimension – albeit not in those very terms of course – was acknowledge by the first formal response of government, delivered through the Vice-President. The movement involved members of the Nigerian Bar Association, Feminist Groups, Professionals, Technocrats, Students, Prelates, Industrial institutions, and Artistes – writers, cineastes, actors, musicians. It was markedly a youthful movement, its energy, creativity and resolve diffused throughout the nation through impressive strategies.



 It was,above all, orderly. In places, one felt vibrations that seemed to echo concert grounds like Woodstock, other times, the massed processions of France’s Yellow vests or waves of Lech Walesa’s Solidarity movement. Even closer, more recently and pertinent, the patient, stoical gatherings in Mali that lasted weeks and, in whose resolution, our own nation played a critical role. As I stated in my Message to Youth at the Freedom Park 10th anniversary events on Saturday, 17th, these youths brought fresh blood into tired veins. It was bliss indeed to be alive, to watch youths finally begin to take the future into their own hands.



 But – and haven’t we been here before? &#8212; suddenly, virtually overnight, it all changed. State security services – which specific branch, we have yet to identify – transported thugs to break up the protests. The videos exist, they have been widely disseminated – sleek motorcades with number plates covered – moved to recruit and disgorge thugs and breeds of hoodlums to break up the peaceful protests. Those mercenaries set fire to the protesters’ vehicles where parked, set upon the gathered youths with cudgels and machetes. 



They broke open at least one prison to let out the inmates. It has since been established that some of those vandals were actually recruited prisoners who, we can only presume, have been paid not only in cash but in kind. Casualties began in single, sporadic numbers, climaxing in the shooting dead last night of a yet undetermined number of protesters in a Lagos sector called Lekki.



 The mood, and climate of protest changed abruptly, and devastatingly with that diabolical intrusion. For the first time, anger and nihilism entered the lists, moving to dominate emotions. Organized militancy has been replaced by vengeful, omni-directional hatred. The capital, Abuja, has been torched in places, including the famous Apo market – that name itself evoking memories of an ancient massacre of youth – known as the APO Six &#8212; by SARS. Yesterday, October 20, I set out to drive to my hometown, Abeokuta, to be on my own turf as the violence was spiraling mindlessly in multiple directions. After negotiating my way through some eight or nine protesters’ road-blocks, I was compelled to turn back. It was all déjà vu – the uprisings in the former Western Region of Nigeria, the anti-Abacha movement etc. etc. etc. The attempt however enabled me to assess the



mood and transformation of the movement. I was better prepared. I rescheduled my trip for the following day ,– that is, this morning. In the meantime, however, that is, within the next eight to ten hours, the tension has become unimaginable! At that earlier mention Lagos sector, Lekki, where most of the affirmative action gatherings had taken place, soldiers opened fire on unarmed demonstrators, killing and wounding a yet undetermined number. One such extra-judicial killing has drenched the Nigerian flag in the blood of innocents – and not symbolically. The video has, in accustomed parlance, ‘gone viral’. I have spoken by phone to eye-witnesses. One, a noted public figure has shared his first-hand testimony on television. The government should cease to insult this nation with petulant denials.



 I resumed my trip to Abeokuta at 6 am, this morning as scheduled, again negotiating road-blocks -– this time somewhere between twelve and fifteen, all distinguished by an implacable state of rage. It was in stark contrast to the inclusivity of the protesting ‘family of common cause’ of earlier days. All inherent beauty of instant bonding and solidarity evaporated. At the block just before the Lagos Secretariat, the protesters proved the most recalcitrant. In the end, they exacted from me just the one offering to the rites of passage – I could sense it coming &#8212; I had to come down from the car and addressed them. I did. Little did they know what was churning in my mind: This is not real. This is Back to Abacha – in grotesque replay!



 It is absolutely essential to let this government know that the Army has now replaced SARS in the demonic album of the protesters. My enquiry so far indicates that the Lagos governor did not invite in the Army, did not complain of a ‘breakdown in law and order’. Nevertheless, the Centre has chosen to act in an authoritarian manner and has inflicted a near incurable wound 6 on the community psyche. Need I add that, on arrival in Abeokuta, my home town, I again had to negotiate a road block? That went smoothly enough. I expected it, and have no doubt that more are being erected as this is being written. It is pathetic and unimaginative to claim, as some have done, that the continued protest is hurting the nation’s economy etc. etc. COVID-19 has battered the Nigerian economy – such as it is for over eight months. Of course it is not easy to bring down COVID under a hail of bullets – human lives are easier target, and there are even trophies to flaunt as evidence of victory – such as the blood-soaked Nigerian flag that one of the victims was waving at the time of his murder. To the affected governors all over the nation, there is one immediate step to take: demand the withdrawal of those soldiers. Convoke Town Hall meetings as a matter of urgency. 24-hr Curfews are not the solution. Take over the security of your people with whatever resources you can rummage. Substitute community self-policing based on Local Councils, to curb hooligan infiltration and extortionist and destructive opportunism. We commiserate with the bereaved and urge state governments to compensate material losses, wherever. To commence any process of healing at all – dare one assume that this is the ultimate destination of desire? &#8212; the Army must apologize, not merely to the nation but to the global community – the facts are indisputable – you, the military, opened fire on unarmed civilians. There has to be structured restitution and assurance that such aberrations will not again be recorded. Then both governance and its security arms can commence a meaningful, lamentably overdue dialogue with society. Do not attempt to dictate &#8212; Dialogue!

wole soyinka

DÉJÀ VU – In tragic vein: Wole Soyinka on Nigeria’s unrest

LAGOS (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria’s long-awaited oil reform bill would privatise the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), amend changes to deepwater royalties made late last year and scrap key regulatory agencies in favour of new bodies, a copy of the bill seen by Reuters showed.



President Muhammadu Buhari has sent the bill to the Senate, two sources told Reuters. It, along with the House of Representatives must sign off on it before it can become law. Nigeria is Africa’s largest crude exporter. [L5N2GJ6E7]



The legislation has been in the works for the past 20 years and looks to revise laws governing Nigeria’s oil and gas exploration not fully updated since the 1960s because of the contentious nature of any change to oil taxes, terms and revenue-sharing.







The bill proposes turning the NNPC into a limited liability corporation into which the ministers of finance and petroleum would transfer NNPC assets.



The government would then pay cash for shares of the company and it would operate as a commercial entity without access to state funds.



The changes would in theory make it easier for the struggling company to raise funds.



The legislation would also amend controversial changes to deep offshore royalties made late last year by cutting the royalty for offshore fields producing less than 15,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 7.5% from 10%.



It would also change a price-based royalty so that it kicked in when oil prices climbed above $50 per barrel, rather than $35.

rig-drilling-drilling-rig-oil

Nigeria would privatise NNPC, amend royalties under draft oil reform bill

LAGOS (Reuters) &#8211; Nigerian labour unions agreed with the government on Monday to suspend a planned strike over fuel and power price rises hours before businesses were due to grind to a halt, the labour minister and trade unions said.



The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), which represents millions of workers across most sectors of Africa’s biggest economy, including parts of the oil industry, last week announced its plans to embark on a general strike.



Nigeria cut costly subsidies in September to allow the petrol price to be determined by the market and increased the power tariff. President Muhammadu Buhari had said Nigeria could no longer afford the subsidies but the unions said a reversal of price hikes was needed to avert the strike.







The strike was due to begin on Monday but Labour and Employment Minister Festus Keyamo said in a statement, posted on Twitter, that an agreement was reached between the government and unions at 2:53 a.m. (0153 GMT). “Strike suspended,” he wrote.



He said the deregulation of petrol pump prices would remain in place and the government would roll out a financial support package for workers, and a joint committee comprising of government officials and labour union members would over a two-week period examine the justification for the electricity tariff policy.



A communique issued by the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) stated that the strike had been suspended and outlined the details outlined by Keyamo.







Africa’s top oil exporter has been under pressure from international lenders such as the World Bank to carry out reforms to qualify for budget support loans after the coronavirus pandemic triggered an oil price crash that slashed the government’s income.



Cheap fuel prices have long been seen by many in Nigeria as a benefit of living in an oil-producing country. Previous attempts to eliminate subsidies were scuppered due to social unrest.

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Nigeria’s main unions suspend planned strike after government talks

ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria aims to have 50 mines in operation by 2023 and can make up for time lost because of the impact of COVID-19 on development of the nascent sector, the country’s mining minister said in an interview.



Africa’s largest oil producer is banking on mining to diversify its income and revive its finances following a collapse in crude prices, which earlier this year hit two-decade lows.



“The pandemic has slowed things down, but we can still catch up,” Minister of Mines Olamilekan Adegbite said.



Nigeria hopes mining will grow tenfold in five years to account for 3% of the economy and that Nigeria can process as well as mine, which generates increased profits compared with shipping raw minerals.



In particular, he said Nigeria aimed to process barite, used in drilling for oil and gas, and sell it to countries such as Ghana and South Africa, which need the mineral to exploit new oil discoveries.



In common with other African countries, Nigeria is also seeking to formalise artisanal mining, which could generate tax and royalties from gold.



Adegbite said Nigeria was encouraging small-scale miners to form cooperatives and sell at government-buying centres, where prices are closer to global values than those illegal buyers offer.



While oil prices have been weak because of the impact of the pandemic on movement and industry, which has curbed fuel demand, gold in August hit record highs.



A problem for Nigeria is that its gold lies mostly in the northwest, where, humanitarian organisations say it has helped to fuel violence attributed to armed groups.



Adegbite said security had improved and buying centres would stop artisanal miners dealing with criminals: “By weaning them off the illegal people and (making) sure they sell to government-approved centres, you take off that linkage.”



He also expects more commercial gold miners to be attracted once Thor Explorations’s gold mine in Nigeria’s southwest starts producing. Its first gold is expected in the second quarter of 2021.



Malte Liewerscheidt, vice president of London-based risk consultancy Teneo Intelligence, said the plans were likely to be undermined by “structural challenges pertaining to insecurity and infrastructure deficiencies”.

Central Bank of Nigeria cuts benchmark lending rate to 12.5%

Nigeria says can tap mineral wealth despite COVID, unrest

LAGOS (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria’s oil ministry will present a long-awaited oil and gas reform bill to the president in the coming days aimed at boosting output and attracting foreign investment, three sources close to the negotiations told Reuters.



The reforms, 20 years in the making, are particularly urgent this year as low oil prices and a shift towards renewable energy have made competition tougher to attract investment from oil majors.



Fiscal uncertainty has delayed a decision&nbsp;<a href="https://reut.rs/3g28DoM">reut.rs/3g28DoM</a>&nbsp;on a multi-billion dollar expansion by Royal Dutch Shell (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/RDSa.L">RDSa.L</a>) and its partners, while Chevron (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/CVX.N">CVX.N</a>), Total (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/TOTF.PA">TOTF.PA</a>) and ExxonMobil&nbsp;<a href="https://reut.rs/348WfAX">reut.rs/348WfAX</a>&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/XOM.N">XOM.N</a>) are selling various Nigerian assets.



A spokesman for the Petroleum Ministry, which led the bill’s drafting, did not reply to a request for comment and the president’s office declined to comment.



Royal Dutch Shell, the largest international operator in Nigeria, said a botched reform effort would be “putting at risk and making unviable most of the planned projects.”



“We hope that the final bill would be one that would unlock potential investments that Nigeria’s rich resource base truly deserves,” a spokesman for Shell companies in Nigeria said.



A draft summary seen by Reuters included provisions that would streamline and reduce some oil and gas royalties. One of the sources described even the government’s reduced take of oil revenues, through taxes, royalties and other fees, as “aggressive” compared with other nations. Some African countries are trying to cut red tape and taxes in order to make developing their oil and gas reserves attractive to companies.



It proposes to boost the amount of money companies pay to local communities and for environmental cleanups.



It would also alter the dispute resolution process between companies and the government, though specifics of the changes were not included in the summary. The bill also included measures aimed at pushing companies to develop gas discoveries and a framework for gas tariffs and delivery.



Commercializing gas, particularly for use in local power generation, is a core government priority.



The bill will be presented in one piece with four chapters, the sources said. An effort to pass reforms by breaking them into several bills in 2018 fell flat; just one portion made it to President Buhari&#8217;s desk, and he never signed it&nbsp;<a href="https://reut.rs/346RIPH.">reut.rs/346RIPH.</a>



Once Buhari signs off on the draft, it will go to the National Assembly, which is controlled by his All Progressives Congress party. The alignment of the presidency and the assembly give the measure the best chance of passage it has had in years.



The law underpinning oil, the financial lifeline for Africa’s biggest exporter, has not been updated since the 1960s.



Pumping its oil has historically been hugely profitable, but changes late last year that hiked Nigeria’s take of oil earnings, and a VAT increase, frustrated companies.

Exclusive: Nigeria’s long-awaited oil reform bill to go to president – sources

(Reuters) &#8211; India has sent technical equipment and a team of specialists to Mauritius to help local authorities deal with an environmental crisis after an oil spill from a Japanese ship, a government official said on Sunday.



A Japanese bulk carrier struck a coral reef off the Indian Ocean island nation on July 25, spilling about 1,000 tonnes of fuel oil and triggering a state of “environmental emergency”.



The carrier split on Saturday, and the oil spill spread over a vast area of endangered corals, fish and other marine life in what some scientists called the country’s worst ecological disaster.



On Sunday, Mauritian authorities said the stern section of the vessel had been completely detached, with the remainder of the ship slowly being towed by two tugs towards high seas.



The country’s National Crisis Committee said that rough weather conditions had made the removal of the remaining oil on the ship risky.



“There is still approximately 30 cubic meter of mixed type of oil in the engine room,” it said in the statement. “In view of the rough sea condition, the salvage company&#8230;has informed that it cannot carry on with the pumping of the remaining oil.”



Authorities said that they have cordoned-off Blue Bay Marine Park, with three layers of booms.



“Deflection booms have been placed to further protect Ile aux Aigrettes from any oil spill. Furthermore, 2 kms of booms have been placed along the shoreline of Pointe d’Esny. Additional booms are being placed this afternoon,” the Crisis Committee said.



Scientists say the full impact of the spill is still unfolding, but the damage could affect Mauritius and its tourism-dependent economy for decades. Removing the ship is likely to take months.



Following a government request for assistance, India dispatched over 30 tonnes of technical equipment and material by aircraft to supplement the country’s salvage operations, the foreign affairs ministry said in a statement said.



Mauritius said that some of these materials are being deployed at Riviere La Chaux, Riviere des Creoles, Riviere Ferney and Grand River South East.



A 10-member team of Indian coast guard personnel trained in oil spill containment measures has also been deployed to Mauritius to provide technical and operational assistance, it said.

Op-Ed: Tourism sector in Mauritius devastated by COVID-19

India sends team to Mauritius to tackle oil spill

ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria will reopen for international air travel in a matter of weeks, the aviation minister said on Thursday, without giving a specific date for the resumption after months of closure due to the global coronavirus pandemic.



“It will be in weeks rather than in months,” Minister of Aviation Hadi Sirika told a regular briefing in the capital Abuja on coronavirus.



Nigeria began to close its airports in March, a month after Africa’s most populous country confirmed its first coronavirus case. Domestic air travel restarted last month.



The country has 44,890 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 900 deaths, figures from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control show.



Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by Paul Carsten; editing by Barbara Lewis

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Nigeria to reopen for international air travel in weeks

LAGOS (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos will allow churches and mosques to resume in-person services from August 7, the state’s governor said in a press briefing on Saturday.



Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu also said restaurants, social clubs and recreational centres will be allowed to reopen with limited capacity from August 14 as the state, the epicentre of Nigeria’s coronavirus outbreak, eases restrictions despite a continued rise in infections.



Lagos state, home to the megacity of the same name with 20 million people, has more than 15,000 confirmed cases and 192 deaths, by far the largest share of Nigeria’s 43,151 cases.



It ordered widespread closures and a lockdown in March to halt the spread of the highly infectious virus.



The lockdown was eased in early May, but Sanwo-Olu scuppered plans to reopen churches and mosques in June, citing a continued rise in cases.



Christianity and Islam are widely practised in Lagos and the rest of Nigeria, and houses of worship in normal times often host services with thousands of people.



Houses of worship will only be allowed to open for services once a week at no more than 50% capacity. Sanwu-Olu also increased the limit on public gatherings from 20 to 50 people.



Nightclubs, cinemas and some arcades will remain closed.

Nigeria’s Lagos to allow places of worship to reopen: governor

LAGOS/ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; As women in hairnets and anti-coronavirus masks sort through folded nappies coming off a conveyor belt, the head of the Nigerian firm they work for wonders how much longer he can afford to keep them in employment.



Around 80% of the materials that go into Lagos-based diaper and sanitary towel manufacturer Wemy’s products are imported. To buy them, Paul Odunaiya needs dollars, which he can no longer find.



“We’re pleading with our suppliers to wait a bit longer so that we can source dollars and pay them,” Odunaiya told Reuters.



With the price of oil, Nigeria’s main export, depressed and foreign exchange reserves dwindling, its central bank is hanging on to its dollars to support the local naira &#8211; leaving a dwindling supply of hard currency to buy the imports that are the bedrock of Africa’s largest economy.



Muda Yusuf, director general of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce, said that, like Odunaiya, the dollar shortage is hitting most of its 2,000 members hard.



“If the situation persists it will lead to lay-offs,” he said. “If you are not producing, there will be a shortage of goods in the market, prices will go up.”



Inflation has risen for 10 straight months, hitting a two-year high of 12.56% in June, piling on greater economic hardship for a population of whom 40% already live below the official poverty line of 137,430 naira ($382) per year.



Added to that, there have been two devaluations of the naira’s official rate this year.



With the oil market depressed by a producer price war and the pandemic-induced global recession, central bank reserves have fallen 20% in the past year to $36.1 billion, around five months of import cover.



The bank initially sought to stem the decline by suspending dollar auctions in March and continues to severely ration their supply.



“It’s been excruciating,” said Fred Ameobi, executive director of Coscharis Group, a conglomerate whose businesses include automobile assembly.



The government says the economy could shrink by up to 8.9% in 2020, while many of the local banks that Nigerian companies rely on have seen their dollar credit lines halted by international lenders who fear they won’t be paid back.



Many firms have resorted to the black market, where the naira trades at around 20% below the official rate, making dollar purchases even more expensive.



For now Odunaiya, whose firm had year to March turnover of 2.5 billion naira, sees only hard times ahead. “It’s going to be a tough year &#8230; Some businesses will die.”

Why Printing Trillions of Dollars May Not Cause Inflation

Starved of dollars, Nigerian businesses struggle for survival

ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; Nigerian banks plan to reduce the amount customers can spend abroad using debit cards on Monday, two lenders said, as banks try to limit foreign currency settlement risk.



The country is facing dollar shortages because of the sharp fall in the price of oil, Nigeria’s main export, and domestic banks are trying to avoid transactions with hard currency.



Stanbic IBTC Bank (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/IBTC.LG">IBTC.LG</a>), the local unit of South Africa’s Standard Bank (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/SBKJ.J">SBKJ.J</a>), said it will halve the spending limit for offshore card transactions to $500 per month from Monday and will limit cash withdrawals to $100.



Another top tier lender Zenith Bank (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/ZENITHB.LG">ZENITHB.LG</a>) said it will temporarily suspend the use of debit cards abroad for cash withdrawals and cut the monthly spending limit abroad by more than half to $200.



“This review is in response to today’s economic realities,” Zenith said in a notice, advising clients to request prepaid dollar cards.



Other lenders — Ecobank (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/ETI.LG">ETI.LG</a>) and Fidelity Bank (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/FIDELIT.LG">FIDELIT.LG</a>) — have also lowered withdrawal limits for individuals while abroad.



Such moves have previously been at the behest of the central bank, but it was not clear if the regulator was behind the latest action. The central bank did not respond to a request for comment.



The bank is battling to conserve dollar reserves that are down 19% from a year ago. Last week it depreciated the currency on the official market&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/finance/currencies/quote?srcCurr=NGN&amp;destCurr=USD">NGN=</a>&nbsp;prompting the naira to weaken on the black and over-the-counter spot markets.



Bankers told Reuters that it now takes more than six months to settle foreign lines of credit.



Nigeria is yet to resume forex sales to retail currency traders after it banned international travel as part of a lockdown measure to slow the spread of the coronavirus that has killed 778 people and infected more than 36,000.

Nigerian banks to limit debit card spending abroad to ease FX risk

ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said on Sunday he had tested positive for COVID-19, and became the first member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet to contract the new coronavirus.



Onyeama, 64, said on Twitter he had taken a COVID-19 test because of a throat irritation.



“Did my fourth Covid-19 test yesterday at the first sign of a throat irritation and unfortunately this time it came back positive,” he tweeted. “Heading for isolation in a health facility and praying for the best.”



Buhari’s cabinet has been conducting executive council meetings virtually as part of measures to keep the government working while abiding by social distancing rules.



The government started a phased easing of lockdowns in May after implementing measures to slow the spread of the virus, which has killed 778 people in Nigeria and infected more than 36,000.



Onyeama has played a role in repatriating Nigerians stranded because of travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.



Buhari’s former chief of staff, Abba Kyari, died in April from the novel coronavirus, making him the most high profile person in the country to die from the viru

Nigerian Foreign Minister Onyeama tests positive for coronavirus

ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria’s gross revenues rose to 653.35 billion naira ($1.7 billion) in June from 517.8 billion naira in May due to higher crude and tax receipts, accountant general Ahmed Idris said, as oil prices recovered from April’s crash.



The coronavirus outbreak early this year prompted a sharp fall in oil prices, Nigeria’s main export, slashing government revenues, weakening its currency and creating a large financing gap for the country.



The global benchmark Brent LCOc1 has since recovered to about $43 a barrel from a 21-year low below $16 in April.



OPEC member Nigeria relies on crude oil sales for two-thirds of government revenue.



The government generated 42.83 billion naira from exchange rate gains, it said in a statement. Income from crude sales and value added tax (VAT) made up the bulk of gross revenues.



Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed has pushed for the central bank to unify its multiple exchange rates so that the government can generate more naira from its crude receipts.



In February, Nigeria increased VAT to 7.5% from 5% to boost revenues, seen among the lowest in the world. Lower government revenue could worsen Nigeria’s debt to revenue ratio this year from a year earlier.

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Nigeria’s revenues rise in June on higher oil, tax receipts

ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria hopes changes it has made to gold mining regulation will earn the government $500 million a year in royalties and taxes and create 250,000 jobs, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Thursday.



The reforms have made artisanal mining legal and will create gold buying centres and tax trade of the precious metal, Buhari said in a statement.



“These operations will help in diversifying our revenue base,” said Buhari.



Nigerian authorities have said illegal mining, prominent in the northwest, has fuelled widespread violence they attribute to “bandits”. Thousands of people have been killed in the region in recent years and swathes of the region are inaccessible. The military is deployed to tackle the insecurity but the conflict shows little sign of ending.



The extra revenues from gold could be a lifeline as the coronavirus pandemic and resulting global oil price crash cut off much of the state’s income.



Buhari said the country has lost a total of $3 billion from 2012 to 2018 because of illegal gold mining.



In February, Nigeria licensed two gold refineries mainly to produce gold for the central bank to hold in its reserves but also for export. The bank received its first locally-produced gold bar on Thursday.



Nigeria has largely untapped deposits of 44 minerals including gold, iron ore, coal, tin and zinc, in more than 500 locations, but mining makes up just 0.3% of the economy

Investors rushing for gold amid COVID-19 fears

Nigeria hopes gold mining reforms can bring in $500 million a year

Africa needs to spend 28.6 billion-a-year until 2030 to have any hope of to closing Africa’s yawning energy gap, but it is unclear where the money will come from.



Most Africans live without electricity as most nations struggle to generate the electricity the continent’s emerging economies need. South Africa’s national power generator Eskom – with a struggling national grid putting out 40,000 MW &#8211; generates half of the continent’s electricity. Even South Africa struggles to keep the lights on and countries with tiny electricity, like Malawi, struggle even more and find it an obstacle to growth. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Nigerian Damilola Ogunbiyi, the special representative for sustainable energy foraAll and Co-Chair of United Nations-Energy, confirmed that the energy gap in Africa was huge and would need at least $28.6 billion-a-year, until 2030, to close it. She told CNBC Africa that the question was how to gather the money.



“We need everything on the table. We need public sector support and also private money to come in. There can’t be one source of money. We need to convince private investors that putting power into Africa it is an investment,” says Ogunbiyi. &nbsp;



“I think what this pandemic has taught us is that if we don’t work together, then everyone is going to suffer. &nbsp;



Ogunbiyi was encouraged greatly by the electrification programme in the country of her birth. She said five million Nigerians, in rural areas, had been connected to solar power.



“In a large scale oil energy producing nation, that is not bad,” she says

Damilola Ogunbiyi_Headshot

How we can  close the 28 billion dollar-a-year energy gap in Africa

LAGOS/ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; Early one evening, Folasade Fadare and her team of four disease hunters piled into a van and headed for Okegun, a rural community down a narrow potholed road in eastern Lagos state.



A coronavirus patient had visited the area, and it was their task to find anyone exposed, isolate them and trace their contacts. The team quickly realised the job was too big: more than 100 people needed to be interviewed and tested.



Ultimately, only the two sickest people, feverish and gasping for air, were sent to hospital to be isolated and tested. The rest were told what symptoms to watch for and urged to stay home for two weeks.



“We are not enough,” said Fadare, an epidemiologist who has battled Ebola and Lassa fever for more than 20 years.



Contact tracers like Fadare are among the few safeguards standing between Africa’s fragile public health systems and a pandemic that could quickly overwhelm them. Infections are rising, but many governments have been easing lockdowns to save their economies.



In Nigeria, medics who do tracing say they are near breaking point.



Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have increased tenfold to over 32,000 since the government began easing restrictions in May, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says. At least 740 have died.



Lagos, Nigeria’s largest state and epicentre of its outbreak, has 200 tracers for a population of 25 million. That is fewer than one per 100,000 people, compared to around 14 per 100,000 in Turkey.



The state’s health commissioner, Akin Abayomi, dismissed concerns about the scale of its tracing efforts.



“We recruit contact tracers as necessary. We have a large pool of primary health care staff and volunteers to select from,” he said in a text message, adding there were 1,000 people in the pool.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">POLIO NETWORK</h3>



Nigeria’s experience with infectious diseases meant it could quickly mobilize veteran epidemiologists like Fadare along with hundreds of medics and community volunteers already embedded in remote communities to fight polio.



But nothing prepared them for this epidemic, Fadare said. More than 12,400 cases have been confirmed in Lagos state alone &#8211; any one potentially infecting scores of others, she said. Members of her team say they are overwhelmed, receiving updates about infected people as late as midnight.



Unlike South Korea and Singapore, which used contact tracing apps, Nigeria has had to resort to more labour-intensive methods. Only a quarter of the population uses smartphones.



A team of medics is tasked to visit each contact to verify symptoms, identify contacts and ask them to stay at home for 14 days. The team then checks in with the person each day by phone, to monitor compliance. If the person reports symptoms, they will be referred to another team for testing.



However, the stigma associated with COVID-19 means many are keen to avoid tracers, Fadare said. People commonly turn off their phones, deny their identity and lie about when they last saw coronavirus patients.Slideshow&nbsp;(4 Images)



Such fears can be justified. In Abuja, one man’s neighbours moved out after he was tested. Others suspected of being infected have been told to leave, said Ramatu Abdu-Aguye, head of tracing in the capital.



So the teams keep a low profile, using unmarked vans to visit homes.



Nigeria’s low testing rates are making the tracers’ job harder, they say. Just over 183,000 tests have been conducted in a country of 200 million, according to the NCDC. A government target announced in April was for 2 million tests by the end of July.



Olujimi Oyetomi, a Nigerian health ministry spokesman, said more testing machines and materials were being deployed.



Adding to the challenges, 10 tracers working for Fadare contracted COVID-19 and had to take up to three weeks off.



As lockdowns ease, many Nigerians are moving around and ignoring safety measures.



Traffic jams have returned to Lagos, increasing the time it takes tracers to reach contacts, many of whom are already hard to find because their homes have no formal address.



Outside the Lagos clinic where Fadare’s teams meet, life goes on as normal. Men sit around on plastic chairs, women sell instant noodles, and yellow minibuses weave through the streets. Nobody keeps their distance, and those who wear masks pull them down to speak.



Fadare fears they don’t realise the danger: “The truth is that we are all at risk now.”

Nigerian virus hunters in race against COVID-19 in Africa’s giant

OSLO (Reuters) &#8211; Pirates attacked an oil production vessel off Nigeria in the early hours of Thursday and kidnapped nine Nigerian nationals, the ship’s owner BW Offshore said.



The Sendje Berge ship was undergoing maintenance when the attack happened, BW Offshore’s Chief Financial Officer Staale Andreassen told Reuters.



The Oslo-listed company said none of the people remaining on the vessel were injured.



“We are working now with the Nigerian authorities to get those nine people safely back,” Andreassen added.



The vessel, a floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) that can produce about 50,000 barrels per day, was working at the Okwori oilfield operated by Addax Petroleum, a part of China’s Sinopec Group.



A maritime security firm Dryad Global, citing unidentified reports, said the attack involved three boats and explosives, making it unusual.



Andreassen said he could not confirmed that a number of boats had been involved, but denied that explosives were used during the attack.

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