The debts owed to Nigerian banks by oil and gas operators as well as power companies in the country rose to N5.94tn at the end of 2020 from N5.25tn in December 2019. The N5.94tn represents 29.16 per cent of the N20.37tn loans advanced to the private sector by the banks as of December, according to the sectoral analysis of banks’ credit by the Central Bank of Nigeria. Oil and gas firms, which received the biggest share of the credit from the banks, increased their debt by N600bn to N5.18tn in December 2020 from N4.58tn in December 2019. The debt owed by power firms to the banks rose to N763.22bn in December 2020 from N671.45bn in December 2019, the CBN data showed. Oil firms operating in the downstream, natural gas and crude oil refining subsectors owed N393tn as of December, up from N3.42t...
Some gunmen in the early hours of Monday attacked the Iboko Divisional Police Station in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Nigeria’s South-east. A police station was similarly attacked by gunmen in Akwa Ibom State on Monday. It is unclear, for now, if the attacks on police facilities, which are on the increase lately in the South-east and South-south regions, are coordinated. Details of the Ebonyi attack were unavailable at the time of filing the report. The attackers were said to have set the building ablaze, using fire bombs. Police Commissioner in Ebonyi State, Aliyu Garba, confirmed the incident. “Yes they attacked the station around 1a.m. but there was no casualties. “They threw improvised fire bomb at the station and it ignited but it only affected a small part of the build...
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Wednesday held their National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, at the Nigerian Airforce Conference Centre, Abuja, where they lamented the precarious state of insecurity and economic woes in the country. According to President of the NLC Ayuba Wabba, hardly does any day passes by without one negative report of citizens either kidnapped or abducted for payment of ransome. Lamenting the situation, Wabba said our beloved country has never been emmeshed in the grips of insecurity turbulence and crisis as we witness today. He said in the past two years or so, we have witnessed an intense resurgence of terrorism, armed banditry, kidnap-for-ransom, militancy and resource conflicts all over the country. According to him, there is also the challenge of criminals ...