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Experts laud FEC approval of NNPC’s acquisition of 20% stake in Dangote Refinery
Experts laud FEC approval of NNPC’s acquisition of 20% stake in Dangote Refinery
Dangote-Some economists and oil and gas expert have backed the Federal Executive Council’s (FEC) approval of the acquisition of 20 percent minority stakes by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in the Dangote Petroleum and Petrochemical Refinery.
They made their views known in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.
NAN reports that Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, had announced the approval after the virtual FEC meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Sylva had said the acquisition was in the sum of $2.76 billion.
Reacting to the development, Prof. Chris Onalo, Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Credit Administration, said oil and gas remain the major source of revenue for the government which requires massive investment in the sector.
Onalo said the Dangote Group had taken the bull by the horns to make a huge investment that was needed to jumpstart the industry and therefore needed the support of all and sundry including the government.
He said the investment from the NNPC was to support the billions already committed by Dangote Group in the world’s largest single-train refinery.
“The refinery is an expression of massive confidence in the oil and gas economy of this country.
“It shows that the sector can take Nigeria out of economic woes. I think it is a welcome development and those of us who are in the public domain can’t wait too long to see that happening.
“So, I will say kudos to the Dangote Group for its investment drive across the economy of this country,”Onalo said.
He added that the NNPC’S support to the refinery and others coming on stream soon would increase investors’ confidence in the sector thereby attracting the more investments.
Also, Mr Muda Yusuf, an economist and immediate-past Director General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said the Dangote Refinery was of strategic national importance.
“My views have always been that even though this is a private sector project, it makes both commercial and nationalistic sense for NNPC to express a interest in it.
“This project has a good prospect to put an end to fuel importation and the associated leakages of public funds while also preserving our foreign exchange reserves,” Yusuf said.
He said the refinery would also stimulate the economy in areas such as job creation, agriculture and exportation of petrochemicals to other countries.
Yusuf said: “The proposal by NNPC to take 20 per cent equity stake in the Dangote Refinery is a move in the right direction. The reality is that the Dangote refinery is a project of significant and strategic national importance, even though it is promoted by the private sector.
“Taking a stake in the project also makes a great deal of business sense, especially given how far the project execution has gone and our heavy dependence on importation of petroleum products.
“It also makes both commercial and nationalistic sense for NNPC to express an interest in a project that has a good prospect to put an end to fuel importation and the associated leakages of public funds.
“It would also ensure the preservation of our foreign reserves as we currently spend billions of dollars annually on importation of petroleum products.”
He said in addition to the several multiplier effects of the refinery arising from related spin off industries like petrochemicals, fertilizer plants resonates well with the country’s aspiration for self reliance and backward integration.
He added that the export prospects of the Dangote Refinery were also quite bright.
Yusuf stated that another exciting thing about the investment proposition by the NNPC was that the national oil company would be a minority shareholder and would therefore not take responsibility for the management of the refinery.
He noted that the undoing of Nigeria’s public enterprises had been the quality of management, saying as a country, Nigeria had paid a huge price for this in the form of inefficiency, corruption, wastages and many more.
The LCCI DG further said that the model being proposed with the Dangote refinery was similar in a way to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited’s model, which according to him, remains the best example of how government funds should be invested.
“It is a model that shields the investment from interference by politicians and bureaucrats.
“This proposition is much better than the decision to commit scarce public funds to the rehabilitation of decrepit government-owned refineries,” he added.
Similarly, Mr. Wilson Opuwei, Chief Executive Officer, Dateline Energy Services Limited, said the approval was a step in the right direction for the country.
“It makes sense for the NNPC to invest in ventures that will bring returns to the company. Every business needs good investments and this is what the NNPC is doing with the Dangote Refinery.
He said that the refinery will ensure energy security as the Refinery is capable of meeting Nigeria’s gasoline requirements while generating revenue in hard currency from export of diesel, jet fuel, polypropylene among many others.
Chief Operations Officer, Dangote Oil Refining Company, Mr Giuseppe Surace told the marketers that the refinery has been designed to process a variety of light and medium grades of crude, including petrol and diesel as well as jet fuel and polypropylene.
He said the refinery was billed to produce up to 50 million litres of petrol and 15 million litres of diesel a day, roughly 10.4 million tonnes of the product, 4.6 million tonnes of diesel, and 4 million tonnes of jet fuel yearly.
According to him, this is in addition to having a fertiliser plant, which would utilise the refinery by-products as raw materials.
He disclosed that the refinery which has recorded 90 per cent completion, was expected to address the challenge of petroleum product importation in Nigeria and other African countries.
He said, “If you look at the overall percentage completion, we have achieved good, considerable progress. But that overall includes engineering and design, which is 100 per cent over.
Precision and Heritage: How Fifi Stitches Is Rewriting African Fashion Narratives
A Nigerian-born designer is gradually carving out a cross-continental footprint in contemporary fashion, blending African textile heritage with British technical discipline.
Esther Fiyinfoluwa Adeosun, Founder and Creative Director of Fifi Stitches, is gaining recognition for structured womenswear and bridal couture that reinterprets traditional fabrics through architectural tailoring and precision construction.
Born in Ibadan, Oyo State, Adeosun’s fashion journey began at home, seated beside her mother’s sewing machine. What started as childhood curiosity, sometimes jamming the machine just to understand its mechanics—evolved into a disciplined design practice now operating between Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
During an interview with journalists the fifi Stitches once mentioned “I was fascinated by how flat fabric could transform into something structured and meaningful”.
In her Story , early designs made for her family, though imperfectly finished, were worn with pride—an encouragement that laid the foundation for her professional confidence.
Today, Fifi Stitches is recognised for sculpted bodices, controlled tailoring, corsetry construction, and the contemporary reinterpretation of Ankara, Aso Oke, and Adire textiles.
The brand challenges the long-held perception that African fabrics belong solely in ceremonial contexts, instead positioning them within global luxury and modern design spaces.
Adeosun’s training reflects this dual perspective. She studied Fashion Design and Entrepreneurship at the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Development Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, and earned a Diploma in Fashion Design through Alison Online.
In the UK, she undertook industry-focused technical training with Fashion-Enter Ltd and gained fashion business exposure through Fashion Capital UK.
Her technical expertise spans pattern drafting, draping, garment technology, structured tailoring, corsetry, and bespoke fittings—skills she describes as central to credibility in fashion. “Precision builds trust,” she says. “A designer must understand construction as deeply as creativity.”
Fifi Stitches has showcased collections at the Suffolk Fashion Show, Liverpool Fashion Show – FB Fashion Ball, Red Carpet Fashion Event in London, and through editorial features in London Runway Magazine.
The brand has also received coverage in The Guardian Nigeria and Vanguard Allure, expanding its visibility across markets.
Beyond couture, Adeosun integrates community impact into her practice.
She has facilitated garment construction workshops, draping sessions, and introductory training programmes for women and emerging creatives, promoting fashion as both artistic expression and vocational empowerment.
Fifi Stcithes Boss operates between Nigeria and the UK, in order to continue to shape her brand identity.
According to her “Nigeria provides cultural richness and expressive textile traditions, while the UK offers structured production systems, sustainability conversations, and institutional frameworks”.
Looking ahead, Adeosun said she plan to establish a fully structured fashion house spanning Africa and the UK, develop scalable production partnerships, launch capsule collections, and expand independent editorial visibility.
Her broader ambition is clear: to position African textile craftsmanship within global contemporary design conversations—through structure, discipline, and technical excellence.
GTCO Launches “Take on Squad” Hackathon 3.0, Opens Call for Applications
Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (“GTCO” or the “Group”) has announced the launch of “Take on Squad” Hackathon 3.0, reaffirming its commitment to fostering innovation, empowering talent, and supporting the development of technology-driven solutions that address real-world challenges across Africa.
Now in its third edition, the Hackathon brings together developers, designers and entrepreneurs across Nigeria in a collaborative environment to build practical solutions across key sectors including financial services, healthcare, commerce and digital inclusion. Under the theme “Smart Systems: The Intelligent Economy,” participants are challenged to design and build intelligent, data-driven solutions that transform how communities engage with money.
Applications are now open, and interested teams can find full guidelines and registration details on the official portal at https://squadco.com/hackathon.
Speaking on the initiative, Eduophon Japhet, Managing Director of HabariPay, stated: “Today’s dynamic, digitally driven world demands continuous innovation, which is shaping how economies grow, how businesses scale, and how societies evolve. Through “Take on Squad” Hackathon, we are deliberately investing in the ideas and talent that will define the future. Our objective is not simply to encourage innovation, but to enable its translation into scalable solutions that deliver real and measurable impact. This reflects GTCO’s role as a financial services platform that connects capital, capability, and creativity to drive sustainable progress.”
The social coding event remains a cornerstone of HabariPay’s mission to foster creativity and problem-solving among emerging tech talents. Competing teams will leverage Squad’s advanced APIs to create scalable digital tools that address everyday challenges faced by businesses and individuals.
Through initiatives such as this, GTCO continues to position itself at the intersection of finance, technology and enterprise, actively shaping the future of digital transformation in Africa.
About HabariPay
HabariPay Ltd is the fintech subsidiary of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO), one of the largest financial services institutions in Africa with direct and indirect investments in a network of operating entities located in 10 countries across Africa and the United Kingdom.
Licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), our goal is to support SMEs, micro merchants, large corporations and other fintechs (Tech Stars) with the tools they need to thrive in an evolving digital economy and expand beyond their current market reach. HabariPay’s solutions include Squad, a full-scale digital payments toolkit to make in-person and online payments simpler, HabariPay Storefront, an e-commerce website to facilitate online purchases, Value-Added Services to help merchants access cost-effective and flexible airtime and data bundles to run their businesses, as well as a switching infrastructure that enables tech-focused businesses to optimise cost and make transactions more efficient.
HabariPay’s contributions to Accelerating Digital Acceptance in Africa have not gone unnoticed–it received Mastercard’s Innovative Mobile Payment Solution Award at TIA 2022 for its innovative payment solution, SquadPOS.
About Squad
Squad is a complete digital payments solution that is reliable, secure, and affordable, making receiving in-person and online payments simpler and convenient.
Thousands of merchants currently leverage Squad’s payment solutions for their daily business operations. Squad’s current products and service offerings include SquadPOS, Squad Payment Links, Squad Virtual Accounts, USSD, and E-Commerce Storefront.
Find out more at www.squadco.com.
Electric 8-Seater Tula Moto Keke Enters Nigerian Market, Targets Higher Operator Earnings
LAGOS — A new electric-powered tricycle with an expanded passenger capacity has been introduced into Nigeria’s urban transport sector, offering operators a potentially more profitable and eco-friendly alternative to conventional petrol-driven “keke.”
The newly launched 8-seater electric tricycle, now available in Lagos with plans for nationwide distribution, features a dual-row seating arrangement capable of accommodating up to eight passengers per trip—significantly higher than the standard three-passenger configuration common across the country.
Promoters of the innovation say the increased capacity is designed to boost daily earnings for operators, particularly amid persistent fluctuations in fuel prices. By running entirely on electric power, the vehicle eliminates dependence on petrol, reducing operating costs and shielding drivers from fuel price volatility.
According to the distributors, the tricycle is equipped with a durable battery system capable of covering extended distances on a single charge, making it suitable for commercial operations across high-traffic routes, residential estates, campuses, and marketplaces.
“The concept is straightforward—enable drivers to earn more while spending less,” a company representative stated. “With higher passenger capacity and zero fuel requirements, operators can maximise each trip without the burden of daily fuel expenses.”
Beyond its cost-saving potential, the electric keke is also said to require less maintenance than traditional models, offering additional long-term savings. Its quieter and smoother operation is expected to enhance passenger comfort and overall commuting experience.
Industry analysts note that the introduction of electric mobility solutions reflects a growing shift toward cleaner and more sustainable transportation alternatives in Nigeria, particularly in densely populated urban centres such as Lagos.
The distributors added that the product is currently available under a limited promotional offer, with delivery options across the country.
For inquiries and purchase: 📞 08153432071
📞 08035889103
Office Address:
📍 Plot 9, Block 113, Beulah Plaza,
Lekki–Epe Expressway,
Lekki Phase 1, Lagos
As transportation costs continue to rise and environmental concerns gain prominence, innovations like the electric 8-seater keke may signal an emerging transition toward more efficient and sustainable mobility solutions nationwide.
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