Mr. Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), emphasized the pivotal role of oil and gas investment in driving Nigeria’s economic recovery. Speaking to journalists during the 2024 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas, on Monday, Lokpobiri underscored the necessity of exploiting Nigeria’s abundant oil and gas reserves to stimulate economic growth.

“The vast oil and gas deposits of our nation hold immense potential for economic revitalization,” Lokpobiri stated. “However, their full potential can only be realized through proactive exploration and investment.”

Assuring investors of the longevity of oil’s relevance, Lokpobiri highlighted the government’s commitment to fostering an enabling environment conducive to attracting optimal investment. He credited President Bola Tinubu’s administration for implementing strategic initiatives that have positively impacted the sector’s trajectory, refuting claims of oil’s impending irrelevance.

Encouraging investors to capitalize on the ongoing oil bid round, Lokpobiri emphasized the enduring significance of fossil fuels in the global energy landscape. “History has shown that no energy source becomes obsolete overnight. Fossil fuels will continue to play a significant role,” he affirmed.

Lokpobiri affirmed the government’s dedication to streamlining regulatory frameworks, promoting competitiveness, and eliminating investment barriers to instill confidence among investors. “Nigeria stands ready to engage with the global community, showcasing our commitment to fostering a conducive investment climate,” he asserted.

In a significant policy announcement, Lokpobiri disclosed the abolition of signature bonus payments for new investors in the oil and gas sector. Signature bonuses, traditionally paid by license holders to the government upon obtaining petroleum exploration licenses, have often posed challenges for investors due to their substantial financial burden.

To facilitate smoother entry into exploration and production activities, Lokpobiri revealed that future signature bonus payments would be contingent upon immediate operational engagement by new entrants. “We are prioritizing active utilization of awarded fields to stimulate job creation and drive upstream oil sector growth,” he explained.

Notable attendees at the conference included Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC); Dr. Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah, former Minister of State for Solid Minerals; and Dr. Gabriel Ogbechie, Group Managing Director of Rainoil Ltd.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has released an additional 531 results from the recently conducted Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME), bringing the total number of released results to 1,842,897.

This announcement was made by Dr. Fabian Benjamin, the Public Communication Advisor of the Board, in a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja.

Benjamin explained that the Board had proceeded with the screening of over 64,000 withheld results due to cases of examination misconduct. “During the screening process, we identified further cases of examination misconduct, totaling 92 cases from the initial 81 discovered,” he stated.

He also addressed concerns regarding unverified candidates, mentioning that the Board is actively addressing these cases and will provide updates soon.

Benjamin emphasized the Board’s commitment to maintaining the integrity of the examination process and dispelled rumors regarding the scoring of an unknown candidate who allegedly did not sit for the 2024 UTME. He urged the public to disregard such false claims, describing them as malicious attempts to undermine the Board’s credibility.

He further explained that the Board has observed an increase in misleading publications, particularly during this period, and cautioned candidates against sharing their confidential details with third parties.

Addressing allegations of result tampering, Benjamin clarified that some individuals have been altering results obtained by other candidates and passing them off as authentic. He challenged anyone making such claims to provide concrete evidence, including details of the alleged results and the corresponding phone numbers used for communication.

To enhance result security, Benjamin announced plans to introduce additional features such as registration numbers to the UTME result checking process. He advised candidates to safeguard their information and warned of consequences for those found engaging with individuals attempting to manipulate results.

Regarding result inquiries, Benjamin reiterated that the approved method for checking 2024 UTME results is by sending “UTMERESULT” to either 55019 or 66019, cautioning against alternative methods. He clarified that the results are not currently available on the Board’s website.

In conclusion, Benjamin reassured the public that the integrity of JAMB’s systems remains intact and pledged to continue safeguarding against malicious actors seeking to disrupt the examination process.

The Presidential media team has responded to Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s comments on the Lagos-Calabar coastal road project.

Replying the Vice President, Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga said, “Alhaji Atiku has been waging an unrelenting war against this all-important and transformative project for no justifiable reasons other than bad politics. Atiku knows that its grand success and other projects to be unfurled, such as the Badagry-Sokoto superhighway, will be a major boost for President Tinubu and finally upend his perennial presidential ambition.”

The Presidential aide also accused the former Vice President of breaching Public service regulations when he was in power.

Describing the allegations levelled against the President of favouritism in contract allocations, Onanuga noted that Seyi Tinubu has nothing to do with HiTech.

He explained that, “Seyi Tinubu is a 38-year-old adult who has a right to do business and pursue his business interests in Nigeria and anywhere in the world within the limits of the law. The fact that his father is now the President of Nigeria does not disqualify Seyi from pursuing legitimate business interests.”

The full statement by Onanuga reads thus: “Former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Candidate in the 2023 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is fast developing a reputation for distorting and manipulating facts for his self-serving objective of discrediting the current administration.

“In his latest press statement, the defeated PDP presidential candidate made wild claims on a number of issues that need to be corrected so that the public will not be misled into accepting fallacies as the truth.

“The President Bola Tinubu-led administration believes that every true and patriotic Nigerian, regardless of political differences, should work to promote the unity and economic well-being of the country and not delegitimise genuine efforts of the Federal Government to encourage local and foreign investments into the economy.

“Contrary to Atiku’s claim, the Tinubu administration, within its first year, has attracted over $20 billion into the economy. While President Tinubu was in New Delhi, India for G20 Summit last year August, Indian business leaders committed over $14 billion in new investments.  A substantial part of this sum is already in the country.

“In an unmistakable vote of confidence in the economic reforms being executed by the Tinubu administration, foreign investment in Nigeria’s stock market has  ballooned, from N18.12 billion in Q1 2023  to N93.37 billion in Q1 2024, an increase of 415%. The last time Nigeria saw such level of investment was in the first quarter of 2019, when N97.6 billion was invested. The market, since Tinubu came to power, has broken records and created more wealth for the investors.

“During President Tinubu’s  recent trip to The Netherlands, the Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, announced a fresh $ 250 million investment by Dutch businesses in Nigeria.

“Different sectors of the economy, especially telecoms, manufacturing, solid minerals, oil and gas, e-commerce, and fintech, are attracting new Foreign Direct Investments from discerning investors who know Nigeria is a good market for bountiful returns.

“We found it strange that Alhaji Atiku could accuse President Tinubu of conflict of interest in the award of Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway to Hitech Construction Company which he claimed is owned by Chagoury family because the President’s son, Seyi Tinubu, sits on the board of CDK, a tiles manufacturing company, based in Sagamu, Ogun State.

“Nigerians should, by now, be well accustomed to Atiku’s hypocrisy on many national issues. Is it not amusing that the former Vice President, a man who openly said he formed Intels Nigeria with an Italian businessman when he was serving in the Nigeria Customs Service, a clear breach of extant public service regulations, is now the one accusing someone else of conflict of interest?

“When he was Vice President of Nigeria between 1999-2007, he maintained his business links with Intels that won major port concession deals.

“Was this not an abuse of office, a flagrant violation of his oath, that a company where he was a co-owner won major government contracts and concessions when he was vice president?

“As Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation, he approved sales of over 145 State-owned enterprises to his known friends and associates and openly said during his failed campaign for the presidency last year that he would do the same, if elected.

“It is important to state clearly that Seyi Tinubu is a 38 year-old adult who has a right to do business and pursue his business interests in Nigeria and anywhere in the world within the limits of the law. The fact that his father is now the President of Nigeria does not disqualify Seyi from pursuing legitimate business interests.

“For the record, Seyi joined the Board of Directors of CDK in 2018, more than six years ago. He is representing the interest of an investor company, in which he has interest. He is not a board member because his father is a friend of the Chagourys.  Information about owners and shareholders of CDK is a matter of public record that can be openly accessed from the website of the Corporate Affairs Commission and CDK’s.

“Atiku and his proxy did not need a little-known journal to recycle open-source information to make a fallacious argument. The Chairman of CDK and the highest shareholder of the company is respected General TY Danjuma (rtd). The Chagourys are minority shareholders in the company, and only one member of the clan is on its five-man board.

“We wonder how Seyi’s membership of the board of  CDK conflicts with Hitech Construction Company’s work on Lagos-Calabar Coastal superhighway.

“If not blinded by political ill-will, Alhaji Atiku knows that the right thing for him to do is to applaud President Tinubu for the ambitious and audacious Lagos-Calabar Highway, which was authorised by the Federal Executive Council.

“It is important to remind Alhaji Atiku that infrastructural projects such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway are used to galvanise the economy. In the US, President Joe Biden has used his $2 trillion bi-partisan infrastructure deal to revamp decaying American infrastructure and inject life into the US economy.

“How can an elder-statesman be waging a campaign of calumny against the economic fortunes and prosperity of a country he wishes to govern or trying to scuttle a project that will bring prosperity to nine coastal states and the nation in general?

“That Nigeria’s economy is being reclassified by the IMF as the fourth largest in Africa is stale news. This happened because of the devaluation of the Naira and President Tinubu’s determined effort to set the economy on the path of sustainable growth. Under  the progressive, bold, inventive, and innovative leadership of President Tinubu, Nigeria will bounce back to where it rightfully belongs as Africa’s largest market and biggest economy.

“The Tinubu administration targets a $1 trillion economy in the next few years, with audacious economic programmes and critical infrastructure projects in key sectors. With revenue rising in trillions and the creation of the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund, which is poised to raise over N20 trillion this year alone, we have no doubt that the $ 1 trillion economy is realisable.”

Recall that the Former VP strongly condemned the demolition of properties in the Oniru corridor, including parts of Lagos State’s landmark, tourist, and recreational attractions, to make way for the Coastal Highway project.

Atiku criticised the lack of proper notification and the Tinubu-led government’s handling of the project, which he believes is a major hindrance to Nigeria’s ability to attract foreign direct investment.

In a statement issued on Sunday by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, Atiku alleged that President Bola Tinubu and Gilbert Chagoury, the owner of Hitech, the contractor handling the highway project, are the sole driving forces behind the rapid progress of the Coastal Highway project.

He claimed that the contract was awarded in violation of procurement regulations, raising concerns about transparency and accountability.

Furthermore, Atiku highlighted a clear conflict of interest, pointing out that President Tinubu’s son and associates hold positions on the boards of companies owned by Gilbert Chagoury.

The former Vice President noted that “Tinubu’s son, Seyi, is a director on the board of CDK Integrated Industries, a subsidiary of the Chagoury Group, which manufactures ceramic tiles and sanitary towels.”