Crude Oil Price Rises as Producers Discuss Supply Cut Price fluctuations not good for world economy, US insists Ejiofor Alike in Lagos and Chineme Okafor in Abuja with agency reports Barely 24 hours after crude oil prices slumped to one-year
low, the prices rose yesterday, recouping some of the previous session’s slide, on the growing prospect of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allied producers
cutting output at next month’s meeting to prop up the market. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has however, stated that given Nigeria’s challenges with crude
Nigeria comfortable with $70 per barrel, says NNPC
oil production from fields in the Niger Delta, the country would be most comfortable with oil price at $70 per barrel. This is coming as the United States’ Energy Secretary, Rick
Perry, has stated that his country’s message to other oil producing countries is that the world economy needs stable supplies of energy. Prices rallied towards $67
earlier in the session after it was reported that OPEC and its partners are discussing a proposal to cut output by up to 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd), Continued on page 6
Manufacturers Smile as Stable FX Brings Down Financing Cost … Page 8 Thursday 15 November, 2018 Vol 23. No 8611. Price: N250
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Atiku Gets Igbo Leaders’Endorsement, Starts Campaign on Monday To collapse organisation into party structure, integrate former aspirants
Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja and Christopher Isiguzo in Enugu The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and his running mate, Mr. Peter Obi, got a hefty endorsement yesterday as South-east leaders and stakeholders gathered in Enugu and chose them as their
preferred candidates in the forthcoming general elections. Yesterday’s endorsement would be Atiku’s second substantial approval, coming after his former boss, erstwhile
president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, forgave him his past and declared him “the man who would be president.” Basking in the euphoria of the promise of a possible
block vote from the South-east of the country, Atiku said he would start his campaign on Monday with the launch of his policy document, which would elaborate on his vision
and how he intends to govern the country if he wins the election next year. The Independent National Continued on page 8
Govs Adamant, Say N30,000 Minimum Wage Will Make States Go Bankrupt Give options, retrenchment, revenue allocation formula review Workers threaten showdown Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja State governors yesterday rose from their meeting in Abuja and restated their inability to pay the N30,000 new minimum wage recommended by the National Minimum Wage Committee set up by President Muhammadu Buhari to review the N18,000 figure, which organised labour said had become inadequate and legally outdated. They said the states would go bankrupt if forced to pay the new wage, warning that
it might lead to retrenchment of workers. In the alternative, they proposed that the federal government shed some of its revenue in favour of the states so they could be able to absorb the financial implication of the impending increased wage bill. But labour would have none of it as it said last night that any governor, who could not afford the new figure, should resign or risk an industrial action. Continued on page 6
You Are Morally Challenged, Saraki Tells Oshiomhole ... Page 6
SO EMOTIONAL… Renowned Constitutional Law expert, Prof. Ben Nwabueze, SAN; and the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, during the endorsement of Atiku by South-east leaders and stakeholders in Enugu… yesterday