Business

NMDPRA Licenses Edo Modular Refinery for Operations

Published

2 years ago

August 20, 2024

408 Views

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), has issued operational licence to Edo Modular Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited, Ologbo in Ikpoba-Okha local government area of Edo State.

The NMDPRA is the Technical and Commercial Regulator of Midstream and Downstream Operations in the petroleum industry with its issuance of operational licence being the final stage of approval from the regulatory authority that would make the plant operate as a refinery.

The Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA, Ahmed Farouk in a ceremony, handed the certificate to AIPCC, the parent company of the Edo Refinery.

Farouk, who was accompanied by the Executive Director (ED), NMDPRA, Hydrocarbon Processing Plant Installation and Transport Infrastructure (HPPITI, Mr Francis Ogaree, handed over the operational license to the refinery Head, Technical Operations, Segun Okeni.

Farouk assured the management of the refinery that the regulatory authority is a business enabler and would be ready to give the refinery all the necessary support in all its projects.

A statement by Okeni made available to journalists in Benin City on Tuesday said the company is out to make her contributions to the petroleum refinery and gas processing subsector adding that the AIPCC is developing three other projects and one of such would be completed in the next one year.

On the alleged non-allocation of crude from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Okeni revealed that the refinery is finalising arrangements with an indigenous oil company to access crude oil for optimal production capacity.

“We are finalising a major crude supply agreement with an indigenous oil company.

Although the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and NMDPRA have been supportive but once we find a source of crude they will normally give us urgent approval.

However with this licensing, NUPRC ought to consider existing local refineries in the bidding round for marginal field”, he said.

Business

Cardoso Urges Banks To Lend Out Idle Funds With CBN * Retains MPR at 26.5%

Cardoso made the call on Tuesday after the 306th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held in Abuja from July 20 to July 21.

Published

5 hours ago

July 21, 2026

OCHEFA

18 Views

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Olayemi Cardoso , urged banks from keeping idle funds with the apex bank and encouraging increased lending into the economy.

Cardoso made the call on Tuesday after the 306th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held in Abuja from July 20 to July 21.

The apex bank retained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), also known as benchmark interest rate, at 26. 5 percent.

This decision marks the second consecutive retention of the MPR at 26.5 per cent, following a 50-basis-point reduction in February from 27 per cent.

“The committee’s decision to maintain the current policy stand follows a thorough assessment of the balance of risk,” said Cardoso.

He emphasised that although headline inflation moderated marginally in June 2026, global uncertainties have heightened due mainly to the renewed hostilities in the Middle East.

The MPC also adjusted the asymmetric facilities corridor around the MPR to +50/-450 basis points—a move aimed at discouraging banks from keeping idle fund with CBN.

Furthermore, the committee maintained the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for commercial banks at 45 per cent, retained the rate for merchant banks at 16 per cent, and kept the CRR on non-TSA public-sector deposits at 75 per cent for liquidity management considerations.

Cardoso said despite the global uncertainties, the Nigerian economy has “remained largely resilient to the external shocks”.

Business

CBN admits it opened domiciliary accounts for PFIPC agency

Represented by the Director of its Banking Services Department, Hamisu Ibrahim, the CBN said that the accounts are one in US dollars, the other in British pounds sterling, were opened following a mandate received from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

Published

14 hours ago

July 21, 2026

OCHEFA

20 Views

File photo : PFIPC agency DG, Adeniyi Adeyemi

The Central Bank of Nigeria had admitted that it opened two foreign-currency domiciliary accounts for the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).

The apex bank made the confirmation, yesterday, during the public hearing convened at the National Assembly Complex by the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the existence and operations of the PFIPC, chaired by Yusuf Gagdi and inaugurated by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.

He explained that on July 30, 2025, CBN received a mandate dated July 29, 2025 from the Office of the Accountant-General.

“We received the mandate to authorise two accounts, one a US dollar domiciliary account, the other a pound domiciliary account, for the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council,” Ibrahim told the committee.

He explained the CBN’s verification process, “The process of opening an account requires a mandate from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

“Once we receive that mandate, we perform all the necessary verifications to confirm that this mandate is actually coming from that office.

The department that handles the mandate is different from the department that actually does the account opening,” he said.

Nevertheless, he noted that no one came to activate the accounts after they were opened.“We did not receive any correspondence, mandate, signature or mandate cards. We were not introduced to the authorising or approving officers.“Based on that, those accounts remain inactive, with zero balance. There have been no foreign exchange allocations.