NNPC Shops for New Investors for Brass, OKLNG Projects Chineme Okafor in Abuja In reaction to THISDAY’s exclusive story yesterday on the fate of the Brass and Olokola Liquefied Natural Gas projects, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said it would invite new investors to partner with it in both gas projects. The corporation also
expressed its commitment to carry on with the two gas projects, insisting that they were high priority gas ventures that could earn revenue for the federal government. THISDAY had reported yesterday that the shareholders of Brass LNG were slated
to meet early next month in London on the project, whose Final Investment decision (FID) has been delayed for almost a decade. An official of one of the shareholders, who spoke to THISDAY on the condition of anonymity, maintained that the
Brass LNG project remained on course and blamed the delay in signing the FID to the absence of political will on the part of the Goodluck Jonathan administration and what he called the protracted withdrawal of ConocoPhillips from the project.
According to him, the shareholders – NNPC, ENI, Total and ConocoPhillips – were at the point of signing the FID before the American oil major pulled out of Nigeria. THISDAY also reported that there was uncertainty over the future of the OKLNG
Wike Accuses APC of Plotting to Bomb His Plane... Page 8
project situated on the border town between Ogun and Ondo States, following the withdrawal of the project’s shareholders and the recent decision by NNPC to relocate its staff seconded to the project to Abuja. However, a statement yesterday from the Group Continued on page 8
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Buhari Becomes Victim of Obsolete Landing Aids, Poor Visibility Stops Bauchi Visit Aviation minister promises to upgrade landing systems at airports Tobi Soniyi in Abuja and Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi One day after airline operators threatened to suspend fights over the obsolete landing aids at Nigerian airports that had
forced them to cancel several flights in the last three days due to the harmattan haze, President Muhammadu Buhari became a victim of the same poor infrastructure yesterday when he was forced to cancel a
visit to Bauchi State due to the prevailing weather conditions in the country. A statement by the president’s media aide, Mr. Garba Shehu blamed the cancellation of the visit on
bad weather, which prevented the president’s aircraft from flying. The statement said: “Uncooperative weather which has been the bane of air travel in the current
harmattan season, leading to the delay and cancellation of flights, reared its head in Abuja Airport this morning, preventing the take off of the president’s plane for the trip to Bauchi.
“Technical information received from the weather station showed that visibility as of this morning was 600 meters, 200 metres short of the Continued on page 8
African-led Startup, She Leads Africa, Rings Closing Bell on New York Stock Exchange Digital media company, She Leads Africa (SLA), recently became the first African startup to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). As part of the NYSE’s outreach programme, the American stock exchange invited the firm co-founded by Ms. Yasmin Belo-Osagie, daughter of Nigerian business mogul, Mr. Hakeem BeloOsagie, to highlight SLA’s success in 2016 in delivering business and career advice to 200,000 millennial, urban and engaged African women through in person workshops and digital training. The NYSE is the world’s largest stock exchange by market capitalisation at
US$19.3 trillion as of June 2016. According to a statement from the digital firm, the closing bell ceremony was featured on the NYSE website and on television networks such as CNBC, Bloomberg TV and Fox Business News, reaching 150 million of viewers worldwide. SLA co-founders joined other notable leaders such as former South African President Nelson Mandela, former United Nations SecretaryGeneral Kofi Annan, and African Union Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma who have had the honor of ringing the closing bell on the NYSE. In 2016, SLA recorded Continued on page 8
Yasmin Belo-Osagie (third left) and other Co-Founders of She Leads Africa (SLA), a digital African startup, after ringing the closing bell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), in New York... recently