Headline

What To Know About New NNPC Ltd

Published

3 years ago

July 20, 2022

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday unveiled the new Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited in Abuja.

The new NNPC has been described as a child of the Petroleum Industry Act, passed into law in 2021. In September 2021, the Corporate Affairs Commission completed the incorporation of the new company.

Here are 10 interesting facts you need to know about the new NNPC Ltd:

1- Section 53(1) of the PIA 2021 requires the Minister of Petroleum Resources to cause the incorporation of the NNPC Limited within six months of the enactment of the Act in consultation with the Minister of Finance on the nominal shares of the company.

2- What this means is that with the transition, the government will no longer have control over the staffing of the NNPC.

3- Section 53 (5) of the Act stipulates that shares of the company held by the government are not transferable or mortgaged unless approved by the government and the National Economic Council.

4- With the NNPC Limited coming on board, the new company will not concern itself with issues of petrol price determination, and subsidy.

5- The new NNPC will no longer remit into the Federal Account Allocation Committee. This invariably means no more money to be shared by state governors.

6- Sector 54(9) provides that the initial capitalisation of the NNPC Limited will not be less than its financial requirements to effectively discharge its commercial duties and deal with its obligations and liabilities transferred to it.

7- Following the transition of the NNPC Ltd to a commercial entity, it is believed the Federal Government will put an end to funding the oil firm’s projects as was obtainable since it was established in 1977.

8- The PIA also mandates the NNPC Ltd to conduct its affairs on a commercial basis in line with the Companies and Allied Matters Act. According to the law, the company will run on a commercial basis in a profitable and efficient manner without recourse to government funds. It shall declare dividends to shareholders and retain 20 percent of profits as retained earnings to grow its business.

9- Apart from profit-seeking, NNPC Limited is expected to operate above board by mandatorily making disclosures for every financial year.

10- It is expected that NNPC Limited may decide to go public later in future.

Headline

Welcome Home, Israel Confirms Return Of 20 Hostages From Gaza

Published

14 hours ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Israel said that the last 20 living hostages released by Hamas on Monday had arrived in the country.

“Welcome home,” the foreign ministry wrote in a series of posts on X, hailing the return of Matan Angrest, Gali Berman, Ziv Berman, Elkana Bohbot, Rom Braslavski, Nimrod Cohen, David Cunio, Ariel Cunio, Evyatar David, Guy Gilboa Dalal, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Horn, Segev Kalfon, Bar Kuperstein, Omri Miran, Eitan Mor, Yosef Haim Ohana, Alon Ohel, Avinatan Or and Matan Zangauker.

AFP

Headline

20 Members Of Gang Blacklisted By US Escape Guatemala Prison

Published

16 hours ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Twenty members of a gang designated a “foreign terrorist organisation” by the United States have escaped from detention in Guatemala, a prison chief said Sunday.

The members of the Barrio 18 gang “evaded security controls” at the Fraijanes II facility, prison director Ludin Godinez said at a news conference.

He received “an intelligence report” on Friday warning about the “possible escape” from the prison, which is southeast of the capital, Guatemala City.

Godinez said they were investigating possible acts of corruption.

Washington last month blacklisted Barrio 18, an El Salvador-based gang which has a reputation for violence and extortion, as part of its crackdown on drug trafficking.

The US embassy in Guatemala condemned the prison escape as “utterly unacceptable.”

“The United States designated members of this heinous group as the terrorists they are and will hold accountable anyone who has provided, provides, or decides to provide material support to these fugitives or other gang members,” the embassy said on X.

It called on the Guatemalan government to “act immediately and vigorously to recapture these terrorists.”

According to Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez, there are about 12,000 gang members and collaborators in Guatemala, while another 3,000 are in prison.

The country’s homicide rate has increased from 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024 to 17.65 this year, more than double the world average, according to the Centre for National Economic Research.

According to the Salvadoran government, the gangs Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, are responsible for the deaths of about 200,000 people over three decades.

The two gangs once controlled an estimated 80 percent of El Salvador, which had one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

Headline

South Africa Bus Crash Kills 40 Including Malawi, Zimbabwe Nationals

Published

16 hours ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

At least 40 people, including nationals of Malawi and Zimbabwe, were killed when a passenger bus rolled down an embankment in South Africa, a provincial transport minister said Monday.

The bus travelling to Zimbabwe crashed around 90 kilometres (55 miles) from the border on Sunday after the driver apparently lost control, Limpopo province transport minister Violet Mathye said.

“They are still working on the scene, but 40 bodies have already been confirmed to date,” Mathye told the Newzroom Afrika channel. The dead included a 10-month-old girl, she said.

Thirty-eight people were in hospital and rescuers were searching for other victims, she told eNCA media.

The bus was travelling from the southern city of Gqeberha, around 1,500 kilometres away, and its passengers included Malawians and Zimbabweans who were working in South Africa. The crash may have been caused by driver fatigue or a mechanical fault, the minister said.

South Africa has a sophisticated and busy road network with a high rate of road deaths, blamed mostly on speeding, reckless driving and unroadworthy vehicles.

AFP