Nigeria: Jonathan Exonerates MEND Again

http://allafrica.com/stories/201010200197.html

Idris Ahmed

Abuja — The massive oil bunkering currently going on in the Niger Delta region is perpetrated not by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta [MEND] or other militant groups but by "criminals" who are not in any way related to the militants' struggle in the region, President Goodluck Jonathan said in Abuja yesterday.

It was the second time this month that he was exonerating the militants in his native Niger Delta region of blame for major crimes.

Speaking at the opening of the 16th edition of the Nigeria Economic Summit, Jonathan said the current wave of kidnappings and car bombings in the country is not linked to the Niger-Delta agitation but is an organised crime perpetrated by dissidents. The summit is jointly organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and the National Planning Commission (NPC) and was broadcast live by CNBC Africa television network.

The president said, "Government is strengthening the security agencies to meet up with the security challenges and I can assure you that in the next 12 months, we will be in a position to curtail the excesses." He also said the militants are defending the interest of the region because they felt that they are not having enough share of the resources taken from their communities, while the bunkerers are criminals who are after money.

"What is happening now is excessive bunkering and has nothing to do with the Niger Delta. They are criminals and they are not protecting any community", Jonathan said.

He said selfish individuals hijacked the struggle of the militants for criminal activities. "What is happening now is commercial and because it involves money those involved in it would not stop," he said.

According to the President, the recent car bombing in Abuja that killed over 10 persons had nothing to do with the Niger Delta. He said that while the amnesty programme initiated last year by the late President Umaru Musa Yar'adua for the militants to curb their excesses is on still on course, it faces some challenges that the government is trying to tackle. "We have some challenges on amnesty, we are working on that. The amnesty is not perfect but we would reach where we want to go."

The umbrella body of the militants' group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has said it was behind the Abuja car bombings that happened during Nigeria's 50th independence anniversary celebration on October 1. President Jonathan said MEND did not do it, but that some terrorists outside the country did it.

Leader of MEND Henry Okah has been linked to the bombing and he is currently in a South African jail. His young brother has also been arrested.
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President Jonathan said that overall, security is a challenge and that government is setting up a special fund to fund the police to fight crime. "In the next 12 months we will be in a position to curtail that," he said. He also said Nigeria needs a revolutionary leader to move the nation forward, where everyone would do what is right.

He said while it is the responsibility of the President to select competent individuals to head various institutions in the country, their jobs are not directly executed by the President. "Mr. President is not the police officer but Mr. President should be able to monitor the police and if he is not doing well, he should ask him to go," he said. He said the notion of Nigeria being the most corrupt country in the world would wither away in the next five years.

Nigeria Oil Minister:Won't Disrupt Stability Of Market

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2010/10/14/nigeria-oil-ministerwont-disrupt-stability-market/

VIENNA -(Dow Jones)- Nigeria "will not do anything to disrupt the stability of world markets," the country's oil minister said Thursday at the conference of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Diezani Alison-Madueke's comments suggest Nigeria won't seek a higher quota despite previous statements that the country wanted a bigger share of OPEC production.

She also said that both the coming marginal oil licensing rounds and a new energy bill would happen before the end of the year.

"The marginal oil licensing rounds will happen, yes, before the end of the year," she said. "The petroleum industry bill, which has the gas masterplan entrenched within it...will happen well before the end of the year."

The bill is expected to bring major changes to Nigeria's energy sector, including a shift towards natural gas from oil production.

Her comments on market stability came in response to expectations that Nigeria might request OPEC raise the level of its output quota, which now stands at 1.9 million barrels a day.

"Nigeria will work within the holistic parameters of the OPEC considerations," she said. "The market is very stable at the moment, it has been for some time, and we will do nothing to disrupt that stability."

She also said she was "very hopeful" that market stability would continue long into 2011.

She said Nigeria and other OPEC members were very comfortable with current market conditions, adding weight to the view that OPEC would roll over its current output target.

Alison-Madueke said in September that she would seek a higher production level for her country, where a phase of recent attacks on crude oil facilities has abated, allowing more output.

Nigeria's Dokpesi sues secret police over bomb arrest

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11530654

Nigerian media mogul Raymond Dokpesi has lodged a lawsuit against the secret police over his arrest in connection with the Independence Day Abuja bombings.

Mr Dokpesi, election campaign chief to a rival of the president in elections due next year, wants 100m naira ($660,000; £410,000) in damages.

He was one of nine people arrested in Nigeria over the twin car-bombings which killed at least 12 people.

He says the arrest was "malicious".

Mr Dokpesi was freed at least nine hours after being detained on 4 October - three days after the bombing.

He owns the Africa Independent Television network, one of Nigeria's biggest, and is running the campaign of former military ruler Gen Ibrahim Babangida.

Gen Babangida is challenging President Goodluck Jonathan for the right to become Nigeria's governing party's presidential candidate.

On Monday, another candidate for the People's Democratic Party nomination - the former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar - called for an international inquiry into the 1 October bombings to ensure the investigations were not manipulated for political reasons.

* Formed out of previous militant groups in 2006
* Send regular e-mails to media
* Split into several factions
* Most leaders accepted amnesty
* 1 October attack first in Abuja
* Based in creeks of Niger Delta
* Want oil wealth to remain in Delta

When Mr Dokpesi was arrested, officials said he had exchanged text messages with the alleged mastermind of the bombing, Henry Okah, who has been charged with terrorism offences in South Africa, where he is based.

Mr Okah is a former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), which is fighting for more control of Nigeria's oil wealth for residents of the oil-producing Delta region.

He has denied any links to the blasts, but an e-mail purportedly sent by Mend said it had carried out the attacks.

If confirmed, this would be the first time Nigeria's oil militants have struck in the capital.

Mr Okah is believed to lead a militant Mend faction opposed to a government amnesty.

Most Mend commanders have joined the amnesty, set up to end years of unrest in the region which cut Nigeria's oil output by up to 20%.

While Mend says it is a political group, many criminal gangs also operate in the region, stealing oil and kidnapping people for ransom.

Nigeria: Oshiomhole Asks Accountants to Probe Petroleum Corporation

http://allafrica.com/stories/201010130203.html

Idris Ahmed

The Edo State governor has challenged Chartered Accountants in the country to investigate the activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to find out the country's benchmark of fuel production and the level of supposed subsidy claimed to have been provided.

Comrade Adams Oshiomhole made the remarks yesterday in Abuja at the opening ceremony of the 40th Annual Accountants' Conference with the theme: "Nigeria at 50: Economic Development and socio-political stability." The governor said that the accountants must ask the question for the sake of the poor, adding that people must resist practices that make other people poorer in the name of subsidy. He said: "As professional accountants, you cannot afford to sit on the fence without asking probing questions on ways and manner nation's resources are being managed by people entrusted with them." He blamed the management of NNPC for shrouding its affairs in secrecy.

"Nigerians do not know how much crude oil the country produces because we don't have the mechanism to monitor what we produce. NNPC is extremely economical with the truth. If you have no control of transparency in a sector that produces 80 per cent of your revenue, then corruption cannot be ruled out," he said. He said NNPC has become so powerful that it deducted any amount realised from crude oil sales and handed what it felt like handing to the Federation Account without anyone raising question.

OPEC ponders oil output amid uncertain price outlook

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i_gUB4OS3mb2U86-a4EZ6ILtgHIg?docId=CNG.c668be9320e3376a10d767deb0b0649f.ae1 http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i_gUB4OS3mb2U86-a4EZ6ILtgHIg?docId=CNG.c668be9320e3376a10d767deb0b0649f.ae1 

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i_gUB4OS3mb2U86-a4EZ6ILtgHIg?docId=CNG.c668be9320e3376a10d767deb0b0649f.ae1

VIENNA — OPEC looked set Wednesday to keep oil production levels steady while the outlook for prices appeared uncertain against a backdrop of a fragile economic recovery and falling dollar.

"Yes, there is a consensus between members," Ecuadorian minister Wilson Pastor-Morris -- who is president this year of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries -- told reporters on the eve of a ministerial meeting at the body's Vienna headquarters.

"We are happy with current prices ... (we are) not worried about oil rising above 80 dollars a barrel," Pastor-Morris said.

Other OPEC ministers arriving in Austrian capital also suggested the cartel would hold its official output quota at 24.84 million barrels a day, with the focus of the meeting shifting to an improvement in compliance instead.

With prices almost trebling from lows of around 30 dollars a barrel at the height of the financial crisis in late 2008, members have been producing above their set quotas to boost revenues.

Ahead of Thursday's meeting and mindful that a spike in prices could harm global economic recovery, OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia said it was happy for crude to stay at 70-80 dollars, where it has traded for much of the past year.

However, Algeria and Libya have said in recent days that they would like to see crude at 90-100 dollars as OPEC -- which pumps 40 percent of the world's oil -- seeks to ramp up investment in energy infrastructure.

Oil prices rallied on Wednesday, trading above 84 dollars in London on the back of a weak dollar, strong Chinese crude imports data and ahead of OPEC's first meeting in seven months, traders said.

"The quotas will be maintained (on Thursday). No changes are foreseen," Ecuador's Pastor-Morris said, predicting that prices would "hold steady" going forward.

Analysts said prices have found support in recent months from a struggling dollar, which can make dollar-denominated crude oil cheaper for buyers holding other currencies such as the euro.

OPEC members claim that current prices reflect market fundamentals of supply and demand.

"Whilst OPEC may be broadly happy with the oil price now, so as not to damage the fragile recovery, this is unlikely to hold once oil demand starts to pick up," said Rebecca Seabury, an analyst at UK energy consultancy Inenco.

"As demand increases they will use restricted investment in new production fields (resulting from) ... the low price as a reason to justify rapid price increases."

Although global demand for oil is already rising surprisingly fast, the price is set for a 75-80 dollar range despite talk of 100 dollars a barrel, the IEA said on Wednesday.

The International Energy Agency, representing leading oil consumer nations, revised up its demand forecast for oil, by more than OPEC had done on Tuesday, mainly because of an economic upturn in industrialised countries.

But it hedged its forecast with "great uncertainties," and noted signals from OPEC that its meeting on Thursday would freeze production quotas and focus instead on overproduction.

Crude oil prices tumbled from historic highs of more than 147 dollars in July 2008 to about 32 dollars in December of that year in response to the global recession but have since clawed back on economic recovery hopes.

OPEC remains a key influence on oil markets 50 years after its birth, with non-OPEC output set to fall and consumers continuing to burn massive amounts of fossil fuels despite higher demand for renewable energy.

It comprises 12 members -- Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

Iraq is the only member without a production quota owing to the country's unrest.

Iraq raises estimate of its oil reserves

http://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/iraq-raises-estimate-of-its-oil-reserves

The oil ministry of Iraq has boosted its estimate of the country's oil reserves by almost a quarter, reinforcing the battered nation's enormous potential to help meet expanding global energy needs.

Hussain al Shahristani, the oil minister, said Iraq had 143.1 billion barrels of proved reserves, up from the previous estimate of 115 billion barrels.

He said the new figure reflected reserves that could be exploited with technology currently available in the country.

"Iraq will officially inform OPEC … in order for these new reserves to be recognised internationally," Dr al Shahristani said yesterday in Baghdad.

Further Iraqi reserves additions were likely as the ministry was pressing ahead with exploration initiatives launched two years ago, he added.

By comparison the UAE has 97.8 billion barrels of proved reserves. The re-assessment of Iraq's most important natural resource is psychologically important for the country, which faces vast logistic, security and financial challenges as it seeks to rebuild after years of conflict.

The government hopes to raise oil production capacity almost fivefold within six years.

If accepted by supranational agencies such as OPEC, the new data would re-establish Iraq as having the world's third-largest oil reserves. It lost that status last year after OPEC officially recognised more than 100 billion barrels of Venezuelan ultra-heavy crude as "proved reserves".

It could also establish Iraq as richer in oil than Iran, which is OPEC's second-biggest oil exporter.

That is vital for Iraq as a founding member of OPEC and a country likely to depend on oil exports for almost all government revenue for years to come.

Currently, Iraq is the only OPEC member without a production quota. But already it is looking towards the day when it will again be bound by an OPEC quota, the size of which would reflect the country's crude reserves and production capacity.

Iraq pumps about 2.4 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude but is seeking to raise that to as much as 12 million bpd.

tcarlisle@thenational.ae

Nigeria: Ex-militant leader arrested over bombings

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/af_nigeria_explosion

By JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press Writer Jon Gambrell, Associated Press Writer – Sat Oct 2, 4:08 pm ET

LAGOS, Nigeria – South African authorities have arrested an ex-leader of a militant group that claimed responsibility for a dual car bombing that killed 12 people in Nigeria, a Nigerian secret police spokeswoman said Saturday.

The arrest of Henry Okah, a former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, came as Nigeria's secretive State Security Service acknowledged it received a warning about the impending attack long before the bombs exploded Friday.

Nonetheless, the militant group was still able to detonate the explosives only a 10-minute walk away from a ceremony in Nigeria's capital Abuja attended by the president and other dignitaries in the oil-rich nation.

"Unfortunately, there's no way security can be 100 percent foolproof," State Security Service spokeswoman Marilyn Ogar told The Associated Press. "We are happy all the same that the event went on smoothly and it wasn't interrupted."

Ogar said a "foreign partner" provided her agency with information of an impending attack on the 50th anniversary celebrations. That information apparently involved Okah, a former militant leader who left Nigeria for Johannesburg after being released from prison in July 2009 while facing treason and gun running charges.

A day before the bombings, security agencies in South Africa raided Okah's home and seized a laptop, though they did not arrest him, the militant group previously said.

It was unclear Saturday night if Okah faced any charges in South Africa. South Africa police spokeswoman Tumi Shai said police would have no comment on the matter for now, and referred queries to the Nigerian government. Saul Molobi, a spokesman for the foreign affairs ministry, also refused comment.

Ogar declined to elaborate on what evidence her agency had, saying officers continued to investigate the bombings.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, also known by the acronym MEND, issued a warning to journalists about an hour before the attacks Friday, telling people to stay away from festivities at Eagle Square in Abuja. It blamed Nigeria's government for doing nothing to end the unceasing poverty in the delta as the nation receives billions of dollars from oil revenue.

One car bomb exploded, drawing police, firefighters and the curious to the street near a federal courthouse. Five minutes later, a second car bomb exploded, apparently intended to target those drawn to the scene.

A third, smaller explosion struck inside Eagle Square during the ceremony, apparently injuring one security officer. However, MEND has denied placing any explosives inside the venue.

In a statement Saturday night to the AP, MEND said it "deeply regrets the avoidable loss of lives." It also said Nigerian authorities "were given five days prior notice" to the attack. The group did not explain how officials received that notice.

"Okah has never been involved in any MEND operations but has always been blamed for every attack which is strange to us," the MEND statement read.

Saturday, Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan visited a hospital where doctors cared for some of those injured in the blasts. Jonathan, who himself is from the oil-rich and restive southern delta, told gathered reporters that he went to school only a few kilometers (miles) away from where Royal Dutch Shell PLC drilled the nation's first oil well. He criticized the bombers for using the struggles of his homeland to "camouflage criminality."

"This is the first time somebody from the Niger Delta has the opportunity to be president of this country. ... You have your own here, you should have hope," Jonathan said. "Good things don't happen overnight."

Jonathan also acknowledged that there were "security lapses" that allowed the bombing, but declined to offer any specific plan to overhaul security agencies in the nation of 150 million people.

MEND has destroyed oil pipelines, kidnapped petroleum company workers and fought government troops since 2006. Violence in the delta drastically subsided after a government-sponsored amnesty deal last year provided cash for fighters and the promise of job training. However, many ex-fighters now complain that the government has failed to fulfill its promises.

The militant group appeared to splinter over the amnesty program, though it proved its operational abilities in March when it detonated two car bombs near a government building in the Niger Delta where officials were discussing the deal. The blasts wounded two people in an attack heard live on television. The group also used car bombs in several attacks in 2006 that killed at least two people.

Nigeria, which is vying with Angola to be Africa's top supplier of crude oil, is a major supplier to the U.S. Violence in the delta can increase global oil prices drastically.

___

Associated Press writers Bashir Adigun in Abuja, Nigeria and Donna Bryson in Johannesburg contributed to this report.