Paradise News

Category: Business

  • Business News: Russian Firm To Build Refinery In Calabar

    A Russian firm, Safinet Group has expressed its desire to establish a 7,000 barrels per day capacity refinery in Calabar with a provision to increase production to between 60,000 to 65, 000 barrels a day.

    Chairman of Safinet, Mr. Arsen Mudonov disclosed this during a meeting with the state governor, Professor Ben Ayade in Calabar recently.

    Mudonov disclosed that his group decided to come to Cross River to establish the refinery because of the  peace and tranquility that the state is known for in addition to the hospitable nature of the people.

    He said his company is into construction, oil and gas with advanced technology in the construction of oil and gas equipment and machineries.
    He said the company has been expanding its operations to different parts of the world including Africa in the last five years.

    The Safinet Group Chairman said his company wants to take advantage of the conducive and peaceful environment of Cross River and Calabar in particular to establish the refinery of 7,000 barrels production capacity a day which will be increased to 65,000 barrels a day in the near future.

    Responding, Governor of Cross River State, Prof Ben Ayade said his administration has turned the state into an investors’ haven by creating a conducive atmosphere for investment.

    Governor Ayade reiterated that the peaceful and hospitable nature of the state and its citizens were recently attested to by the outgoing United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr John Erntwhistle, who picked the state as his most favourite place in Nigeria.

    Ayade informed the delegation that Cross River state is always the first port of call and choice for investors and that the state is on the mouth of the Atlantic Ocean in the south, which makes it a good candidate for oil and gas business.

    “If you are putting a refinery and your sources of shipping in the crude is by barges then the refinery being located by the waterside becomes easy. Even if you want a solid land location, we also have sold earth where you can have access to bring in your crude by barges and then have pipelines to take the crude to your refinery.

    “Cross River is close to so many oil wells, so building your refinery here is like eating your cake and having it. We have good roads, we are building a super highway and a deep seaport at the mouth of the Atlantic Ocean. Again, Cross River is closer to Russian than any other place in Nigeria in terms of seaport”, Ayade maintained.

    In his earlier remarks, the leader of the delegation and Chief Executive officer (CEO), Hkzain Corporation Limited, Mallam Muhammad Attahiru, said that they were in the state to present technological innovation in the area of oil and gas that will provide job opportunities to the people in line with the vision and policy thrust of Governor Ben Ayade’s administration.

    He assured that Safinet has the experience, capability and the expertise in the areas of construction, oil and gas and that they have established in North Africa and South Sudan and that they want the government of Cross River to give them the opportunity to establish their presence in the state, and assured that they will not disappoint the state.

    From The Desk of Ita, The Chief Press Secretary:

  • Contact Eggs Foodiz (@eggsfoodiz) for your Cooking, Event and Catering Services in Calabar

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    Most times work or stress doesn’t give you the chance and time to cook that mouth watering delicacy or you just feel lazy to do it or maybe, you do not know how to cook that particular food; worry no more for Eggs Foodiz is here to salvage your situation.

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  • Cross River Inland Waterways Task-Force To Generate Hundreds Of Millions From Maritime Corridor Yearly

    A Consummate Investigation and Research By Eval Asikong 

    Cross River Inland Water-Ways Task Force was created on the 10th of July, 2015 by Governor Ben Ayade. The Task Force is headed by Mr Mike Adie, a retired State Commandant of NDLEA as Chairman with other members and representatives from the Army, Customs and Immigration.

    The Task Force was created based on the reality that any society that is situated along the maritime corridor has the high propensity for wealth generation and economic expansion, if well managed. So far so good, the task force has achieved great feat in its remarkable generation of revenue which is directly paid to the state’s consolidated account in just few months which is pursuant to its specified mandate by the Governor.

    The Task force commenced operations in November, 2015 by spotting over 170 revenue generation spots in areas of sand minning, gravel minning and allied activities spanning across the three Senatoral zones of the state, but those areas by law, have been given to the Cross River Water Front Management Agency to take care of now.

    Before the Wharf Landing committee was formed, the Taskforce was saddled with the responsibility of policing the waterways to ensure that contraband goods don’t enter the state without proper check from the state’s revenue authorities which In June, the Inland Waterways Taskforce impounded 700 contraband bags of rice boated to the shores of Bakassi, and the attention of revenue authority was called. This generated one million Naira to the state purse. It should be known that before now, such revenue leakages used to take place within the state’s maritime corridor before the Governor decided to create the Inland Waterways Taskforce in June, 2015, and the Wharf Landing Committee in 2015.

    It will be interesting to know that the decision by the Governor to appoint Mr Mike Adie as the Chairman of the Taskforce was informed by the fact that Mike, when he was an NDLEA State Commandant, was the officer in charge of the special task force on security set by Major General Musa Bamaiyi, who was then the NDLEA national head. So he understands the dynamics of taskforce operations.

    In the past, shipments of refined products do arrive the state on weekly basis and discharge oil from NPA to Portside through the internal state’s pipeline without paying facility charge. Facility charge per ship, by law, is N1.323 million. Now, it is very difficult to know when a ship will be arriving and how many will arrive in a month. What Mr Mike did was that he used his connection in NDLEA to have access to Alhaji Bamanga Tukurr who is the owner of Eco Marine Company that controls Calabar port.

    With that connection, he was able to reach an agreement with the Eco Marine company that before a ship could berth, that ship should get clearance from the task force chairman, and with the help and cooperation of the Portmaster, it become possible for Mike to know when and how many ships will be arriving Calabar in a month, which has never been. Ordinarily, shipment of refined products can arrived Calabar and discharge products without anyone knowing and without paying facility charges. But with the creation of the Inland Waterways Taskforce headed by Mr Mike, that is history.

    It was because of this strategy that Mike was able to make 3 ships that arrived in the Month of June this year to pay their facility charges with the N1million generated from impounded rice which amounted to N4.969 million and in July this year, N5,292 million has been generated so far from 4 ships, with one more on its way. The mode of payment is very transparent: the Chairman of the task force gave the State Consolidated account numbers to the tank farm management and only confirms the payments’ evidences like tellers. Once the evidence is gotten, he will now send a mail to Eco Marine to allow ship to berth.

    The tank farms operating at the Calabar Portside are: Mainland Oil and Gas; Mettle Energy;WABECO Oil and Gas and KTL Knights Oil and Gas. Out of these four, only Mainland Oil and Gas is functional. If the other four should start functioning, the state’s inland Waterways Task Force will generate four times  of what it is generating now.

    As one of the task force responsibilities, it is expected to clear cross river water channels of wreckages like sank ships and badges capable of hampering free movements at the maritime corridor, and invite the state Agency for Scrap Metals to sell them as “Scrap Metals” which will generate money for the state.

    The taskforce is also devoted to standardise boat operations and other maritime passenger services through ensuring the availability of life jackets and passenger manifest and also ensure that all boats register with appropriate authorities for security purpose.

    The body is also to ensure the aesthetics of the state maritime shoreline by ensuring that maritime operations and activities don’t destroy the shore line and to ensure that the public are not denied access to carry out activities within the shoreline which is nature’s gift to them. Also, most shorelines are transit outlets for narcotic drugs like Carnabis Staiva (Indian hemp) which also aid in fuelling criminal activities. The Task force is to check against this too.

    By Eval Asikong

  • Crude Oil Deposits Found In Ogoja – SA, Maurice Ekong

    It’s a big deal and good news to Cross River State as the Special Adviser on Petroleum Resources to Cross River Governor, Senator Professor Ben Ayade, Mr. Maurice Ekong, has announced the availability in commercial quantity, crude oil reserves in the northern part of the state.

    Ekong who told newsmen from CrossRiverWatch that the state Government is currently engaging thoroughly with relevant stakeholders in the oil and gas industry to maximize what the state has, and “indeed become an oil producing state.”

    “As I talk to you we have oil and gas deposits all the way to Ogoja. You know before now the assumption use to be that the southern senatorial district alone has the presence of hydrocarbon (but) we have this all the way to Ogoja.
    “We know exactly where the hydrocarbons are, and the international community is excited about it and it is part of the reason why some of them are coming to talk to Cross River State” Ekong said.

    On maximizing the oil and gas potentials of the state, Ekong said the state governments will in the next coming week kick start its tank farm for the disbursement of petroleum products following an agreement between the government and refineries abroad for the availability of refined products in the tank farm, particularly one refinery in the United Arab Emirates which he failed to mention.

    The tank farm, according to Ekong will have a holding capacity of 30 million liters of refined product at a time and is meant to serve the state and its environs, as well as send a clear message on the government’s policy statement on doing business with the state.

    Furthermore, he lamented the way Cross River State was being treated in the oil and gas industry despite been second to Lagos state in terms of the number of tank farms operators in it, but, assured Cross Riverians that things are turning for the better.

    Read more at: http://crossriverwatch.com/?p=25801

  • Cross Riverians frown at Government over Obudu Rice (Photos)

    Ever since the black gold also known as crude oil fell to the mud with rapid decrease in price within a year or so, Nigeria has turn her focus to agriculture to diversify their economy. With the diversification of the economy, the state government has a major role to play in which Cross River State is one of them. But how far is the state in turning her natural resources including agriculture into a revenue generating media?

    With all these packed together, Cross Riverians has started reacting to the Made in Obudu Rice by a nongovernmental person, an opposition in the state Democrat. Some of their reactions are as follows:

    One wrote: “While someone is busy using Cross River State government money trotting the world signing MoUs on rice with Thailand, Taiwan, and China, another person is actually into the production of rice in massive scale in Obudu.”

    The brand of rice is called “Obudu Rice”. It is produced and packaged in Obudu in Cross River State. Over 50 tones have been sold nation wide and distributors are rushing for it.

    The other comments also reads: “It is a sad story for Cross River State when what we seek in Thailand is actually in Obudu and Bassara Lands in abundant. This is what governance without priorities has reduced Cross River State into.” 

    Well, we agree, the State Government and the Federal Government at large has to look back on what they have instead of spending unnecessary revenues on what’ll in turn downgrade the nation’s wealth.

    Check out more photos from the Obudu Rice below…

  • Cross River To Host 1st International MSME Expedition In Calabar (Must Read)

    The Cross River State Government, through the Tourism and Event Management Department of the Governor’s Office is set to host The first International MSME Expedition In Calabar, tagged TINAPA MSME 2016.

    The international MSME Expedition is expected to avail Microfinance Institutions/Banks, Promoters and Managers of SMEs an affordable opportunity to attain international standard trainings, conferencing and tourism as well as award opportunities

    The IME program billed to take place in July with four days intensive training sessions on ten different areas including: Agricultural lending, Strategic Marketing, Digital Finance, Micro Housing, Non-oil Sector Strategies, Effective Communication, Greenhouse and renewable energy, and corporate governance.

    The fifth day will be the international conference entitled ‘facilitating domestic and international financing for MSMEs in Africa’ is meant to galvanize and refocus the attention of global players and African Leaders; the academia, regulators and philanthropists in particular to “walk the talk” with the regard to financing MSMEs on the continent.

    The concluding day of the event in the morning will be the marathon for microfinance in which the Executive Governor is expected to jog with microfinance promoters, practitioners and beneficiaries in company of notable athletes and government officials. The event will come to a close in the evening with dinner, an award and crowning of Miss Microfinance Global Ambassador. The night is meant to recognize African Entrepreneurs making impact in the production and promotion of locally consumed and exported products.

    In his reaction, the Governor, Senator (Pro.) Ben Ayade expressed the delight of the state to receive distinguished participants at the MSME 2016. He stated that Cross River State is the home for Africa’s hospitality and indeed the epicenter where the African warmth and embrace is most elaborate. He enjoin the prospective participants to savour the rich cuisine as well as explore the rich endowment of nature in the serene, green and natural environment of Cross River State.

    The scheme targets over 5000 (five thousand) participants across the world. According to the National Coordinator, International MSME Expedition (IME), Mr. Godfrey Ajayi Sunday, the program is designed to effectively promote international training on MSME, tourism and conferencing using the state of the arts facilities of the International Convention Center and Tinapa to actively impact the MSMEs in the African continent through the instrumentality of global organizing.

    “It is important to mention that the 6-day event, in addition to ensuring international networking and partnerships opportunities for the MSMEs, is designed to face the myriads of problems faced by MSMEs as a result of capacity deficiency, lack of access to finance and unfriendly business environment” Mr. Godfrey Ajayi stated.

    During the flag off of the planning ceremony, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Events, Hon. Ken Aklah noted that drawing from experience of 2015 carnival which normally take place in December, the Government of Senator (Prof.) Ben Ayade wants to use the mid-year to draw attention of the world to what is referred to as MSME festival. This years’ event which will be the first will be used to draw the world’s attention to the state of the arts facilities and the hospitality and warmness of the Crossriverians.

  • Exchange Rate: Naira slumps to Dollar again

    The Naira on Monday weakened slightly against the dollar at the parallel market, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports.

    The Nigerian currency shed 1 point to trade at N353 by midday, from N352 it traded on Friday.
    However, the Naira hedged against the Pound Sterling and the Euro as it traded for N460 and N383, from N465 and N385 it traded respectively on Friday.

    At the interbank window, however, the currency closed on a positive note as it exchanged at N282.6 to a dollar. Traders at the market said that activities at the market were slow because of the prolonged public holiday in the previous week.

    Meanwhile, some financial experts have called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to open a small window of transaction for Bureau de Change (BDC) operators in the new forex regime.

    Mr Femi Ekundayo, former President, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), urged the apex bank to collaborate with the BDCs in its effort to reposition the forex market.

    Mr Harrison Owoh, a BDC operator, who said that BDCs were critical in stabilising the foreign exchange market, called on the CBN to integrate BDCs in the new forex policy.

    NAN reports that the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) had been interacting with the apex bank on a new model of partnership in bringing sanity to the forex market. 

    [NAN]

  • Photo of the day: Guess where this building is located and what it’ll be use for

    Shocker, the above photo is a multimillion-naira building situated in a location that has got everyone in amusement.

    A Facebook user posted this building on his time line and wrote:

    “This edifice is not situated in Abuja, Victoria island, Lekki, Lagos island or even Portharcourt but in a rulal community in Anambra state called Umuchukwu in Orumba south local government area.

    “It is an orthopaedic hospital with state of the art facilities singlehandedly built by an American based medical doctor, Dr Godwin Mmaduka.

    Dr. Godwin Maduka, a billionaire, is the Founder and CEO of Las Vegas Pain Institute Nevada, United States of America.

    “This hospital when completed will be the best of its kind in Nigeria and West Africa in general, according to world health organisation.

    This same man singlehandedly built standard roads with street lights, churches, well equipped schools and homes to the less privileges. We can turn our respective local communities to mega cities, let us not wait on government. Nnewi is one of the major industrial hub centres in West Africa today because of individual efforts of its indigens.

    Photo Credit: Facebook

  • Cross River State Govt to create 3000 jobs through the establishment of Homeland Security

    The Cross River State government is to create 3000 jobs through the establishment of the state Homeland security service. The measure which is part of its proactive approach to sustain the peace and security the state is known for. To this end, the Cross River State Government is to set up a homeland security outfit to complement the effort of the existing security agencies in the state.

    Governor Ben Ayade disclosed this while receiving the French Consul-General, Laurent Polonceaux and his entourage on a courtesy visit in his private residence in Calabar.

    He explained that the essence of the Homeland Security Service which will be entirely non-arm bearing outfit, will be a complete departure from the traditional methods of policing.

    Read Also | Cross River Government to establish Homeland Security service in the State
    Governor Ayade said the envisaged Homeland Security which is expected to provide 3000 jobs for Cross Riverians will concentrate but not limited to providing intelligence, profiling of visitors coming into the state and out of the state, including carrying out services such as neighborhood watch and providing intelligent data and services to Police.

    The governor who disclosed that the state will rely on the support of the government of France for technical and other logistics support for the security organization, said:

    “With the visit of the Consul-General of France in Nigeria and with the useful deliberation we have had, with regards to the security challenges facing the Niger Delta at this period, and looking at how Lafarge can do business much better in a less security tense atmosphere, it becomes imperative for us to create a security architecture that can protect Lafarge and extend other services to other citizens and visitors to Cross River.”

    According to the governor, “Cross River has been the home of tourism, a signature and hallmark of hospitality and good lifestyle for all Africans, it is imperative we make it very safe.”

    Ayade noted that “it was against this background that Cross River State Government, with technical partnership from the French government would be looking at the possibility of setting up a Cross River State Homeland Security service.

    “The Homeland Security service is a complete departure from what is the tradition. It will, however, include but not limited to issues like providing intelligence, profiling of visitors coming in and out, providing intelligence services also, doing neigbourhood check, neigbourhood watch. It will also assist in furnishing the police and other security agencies with information on who comes in and out of the state by providing intelligence,  data to police. It will be a non-arm bearing outfit with assistance from the French government support necessary to succeed.”

    He also explained that the “homeland security service which will focus more on intelligence gathering in a digital nature, will require satellite technology which we expect to get some institutional approval from the federal government. It is our hope and strong conviction that this is the way to go in the face of the challenging tension we have in the Niger Delta.”

    Governor Ayade further disclosed that an executive bill would be sent to the state House of Assembly for passage into a law.
    Speaking earlier, the Consul-General of France in Nigeria, Laurent Polonceaux, who was accompanied on the visit by the Head of Lafarge Cement plant, Calabar, expressed gratitude to Governor Ben Ayade for the fruitful meeting and harped on the need for a more healthy and robust cooperation between his country and Cross River, especially on the area of doing business with Lafarge and  water provision which his country is currently providing for Obubra and Okpoma.

  • Video: See What Our Camera Caught Inside Spar Calabar Mall (@SparNigeria) Opening Day

    The unveiling of Spar Calabar Mall was supersonic as shopaholics couldn’t bear it but shop till the last drop of their cash. The inside was more busy than even Watt Market as different people convene inside the Mall to shop relentlessly without seizes, while most of them have to be chased away.

    The atmosphere was inviting with items too numerous to choose from. Making it worst was the slice in price that got everyone shocking as many shopped out their life.

    But, Calabar Reporters caught something you all have to see by yourselves. Well, the amazing items where there, the well organized environment was also there, although most people missed out but were redirected by the appropriate person.

    Calabar Reporters Camera caught a lot of stuffs funny and phishing, some guys just went inside to take selfies, others went inside to buy just coke, some sweets, and mini things like that. But, some were doing something funny behind the screen…

    Watch Video below to see by yourself…..