This pipeline contract is intriguing

It's hard to believe that this so called ex-warlords earn as much as this for doing what the police should be doing. It goes a long way to attest the fact that our government is wasteful in spending. Mr. Dokubo Asari, the former warlord that first shot to national limelight collects $9million every year to keep his estimated 4000 soldiers at bay. ‘General’ Ateke Toms and ‘General‘ Ebikabowei Boyloaf Victor Ben collect $3.5million apiece while General Government Tompolo Ekpumopolo is the most priced of all: he gets $22.5 million yearly. The newspaper said the figures were gotten from senior officials of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, which makes the payment direct to these warlords. While Dokubo shrugged off the huge payment he receives, about N1.44 billion, as nothing unusual, there is the belief that the selective payments have bred some jealousy among other militants, not so rewarded, who in reaction continue to pillage Nigeria’s crude oil pipelines. Nigeria loses no less than 10 per cent of its crude production to oil thieves on prowl in the Niger Delta, despite the programme of pacification called the Amnesty Programme. By Shell’s account, no less than 150,000 barrels of Nigeria’s production are stolen daily, a very low estimate in the eyes of many Niger Delta watchers. The Wall Street Journal said in its report that government plans to spend $450 million on the amnesty programme this year alone, despite the increasing theft of crude in the region. Said the respected journal: The gilded pacification campaign is offered up by the government as a success story. But others say the program, including a 2009 amnesty, has sent young men in Nigeria’s turbulent delta a different message: that militancy promises more rewards than risks.

Heavy oil, Nigeria's Alternative to the conventional crude oil

Most people don't actually know that crude oil actually exists in four basic forms. These are the light, medium, heavy and extra-heavy crude oils. The basic difference among these forms is their viscosity, i.e. The ease at which a sample would flow. Nigeria is uncommonly blessed with all these crude oil forms. The one form that is currently grabbing the attention of the government is the light/medium crude oil. This is not unconnected with the fact that this form of crude is less expensive to refine unlike the heavy ranges.

Nigeria has almost abandoned the heavy oil category which is the mainstay of economies like that of Canada and Venezuela to name a few. What does heavy oil offer? Heavy crude oils provide an interesting situation for the economics of petroleum development. The resources of heavy oil in the world are more than twice those of conventional light crude oil. Heavy oil provide us with high asphaltenes content. That means we would be able to produce sulfur, asphalt, waxes amongst others. If you don't know already, Nigeria imports asphalts for road pavements from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. This in return makes the cost of refining to be on the high side. The Kaduna refinery as the capacity to refine this heavy oil that we have. Disadvantages of Heavy oil The major demerit of this form of mineral is that it is found mixed with sand, mud, water and some other impurities. Also considering the fact that it hardly flows, work would have to be done to bring it to any surface facility. First and foremost, Engineers would have to device media of reducing the viscosity, this brings about the concept of 'Enhanced oil recovery'. In a nutshell the economics of this could be very poor if a proper plan is not put in place to explore the Enhanced oil recovery technique that is the most suitable for a particular oil formation. Conclusively, I would say that if the Nigerian government doesn't start planning for life after the conventional crude oil, owing to the fact that one day it would run dry, the country might struggle to keep up with the megabucks currently earned from oil in future. God heal Nigeria

NIGERIA should learn from DUBAI'S oil transformation

Dubai is a modern miracle. A fabulous place to visit and enjoy the luxury of world class hotels, superb service, wonderful conference facilities, a fast becoming busiest airport in the world, great food and unrivalled self indulgence. Any one that as visited the place before would tell you all these. 30 years ago all these state-of-the-art facilities weren't present, in those years more than 150 skyscrappers have risen. One shouldn't tag Dubai as an overnight success because all these transformation agendas are a sum total of quality and selfless leadership. There is a saying that 'it is better late than never', which truly applies to Nigeria. only if our leaders and in deed the citizenry can realize that our great country as the potentials of even dwarfing the realities of this modern day in Dubai, then would Nigeria step into the league of Nations presently taking charge and making impact. Here are a few pictures to wet your appetitites on the unprecedented scale of transitioning into the new brave world in Dubai.

God heal Nigeria!

Crude oil is not a curse

Sometimes one begins to wonder if this so called blackgold were a cause to the progress of Nigeria. When puts into account that the oil wealth hardly reaches the nooks and crannies of this Country, You might want to know the comprehensive history of the oil and gas Industry in Nigeria One could decide in a rash fashion that oil is synonymous to a curse. According to a post i n the daily independent titled ‘Petroleum sector, a blessing and a curse’ the writer strikes a balance between its gains and losses. Read more on this at I am of the opinion that everything the Almighty as created is good. We all know the story of Dubai, Malaysia, China, France and even America. I would love to use Dubai as a case study, everything changed for Dubai with the discovery of oil in the Gulf in the late 1960s, bringing a soaring economy and an army of traders who flocked to the emirate to settle there. As it began to export crude oil, the petro-dollars flooded in to Dubai and by 1973 the Dirham became the official unit of currency.However, by 1980 the annual oil income dropped to an all-time low, forcing the emirate to think of other ways to make money. By the mid-1980s it began its reinvention as a tourist destination and the Emirates airline was established. The emirate's continued status as a tax-free haven brought even more ex-pats to settle in Dubai and in 1999 one of the tallest hotels in the world opened, cementing the city's reputation as a tourist destination. Read more on The Dubai transformation on this link

In a nutshell Dubai is diversifying and still making money from Oil. Crude oil gave Dubai the plethora of joining the list of wealthy Emirates. As far as I am concerned we need new crop of leaders that would see that crude oil is the mainstay of our economy and not a resource for enriching the pockets of a minority of the Nation. God Heal Nigeria!