VenturesNow

Nigeria, Morocco team up to build world’s longest offshore gas pipeline

Published

1 year ago

May 4, 2022

Nigeria’s Presidency has revealed that the government is teaming up with the Kingdom of Morocco to build the world’s longest offshore pipeline.

The pipeline would also be the second-longest in the world and intended to carry gas from Nigeria to Morocco, running across 11 West African countries.

The Nigerian government made the disclosure on Sunday after President Muhammadu Buhari who is on a 2-day Official Visit to Morocco. was received by a large crowd from the airport in Morocco to the Rabat Royal Palace.

The 2 countries signed agreements on the gas pipeline, a basic chemicals platform, and agriculture cooperation

Buhari assured King Mohammed VI of Nigeria’s full commitment to the actualization of all the agreements signed.

Abuja believes that “the Nigeria Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) will further encourage utilization of gas in the sub-region for domestic needs (cooking, etc) and discourage desertification.”

NMGP is designed to be 5,660km long, will reduce gas flaring in Nigeria, and encourage diversification of energy resources in the country while cutting down poverty through the creation of more job opportunities.

Nigeria holds 187 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of proven gas reserves as of 2017, ranking 9th in the world and accounting for about 3% of the world’s total natural gas reserves of 6,923 Tcf. Nigeria has proven reserves equivalent to 306.3 times its annual consumption.

A separate 677-kilometer gas pipeline runs through West Africa operated by the West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited, which links natural gas from fields in Nigeria to markets in Benin, Togo, and Ghana.

Some observers have suggested that it could have been better if Nigeria chose to upgrade the existing gas pipeline rather than get into a new one with Morocco.

Click to comment

VenturesNow

Kenya: Parliament approves appointment of Kamau Thugge as central bank governor

Published

8 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

Months after throwing open the position for the country’s top banker, Kenya’s parliament has approved the appointment of Kamau Thugge as the country’s central bank governor.

The National Assembly on Wednesday approved the
appointment of economist and senior civil servant who was nominated by President William Ruto as the next apex bank chief.

Thugge, who served as principal secretary in the finance ministry until mid-2018, was nominated after serving as one of the president’s senior economic advisers since late last year.

He shook off competition from others shortlisted candidates like Adan Mohamed, who served in the cabinet from 2013-2022, with four others also interviewed for the role.

The new central bank governor will be faced with the immediate pressure of stabilizing the country’s monetary policy as the East African giant currently faces a shortage of funds amidst rising public debt.

Despite the odds, the World Bank in a report earlier today expects growth to edge up to 5.0% in 2023, underpinned by a recovery in agriculture.

VenturesNow

Ghana presents ‘working proposal’ for debt restructuring— IMF sources

Published

8 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

West African country, Ghana has made a major move at resolving its debt crisis as the country has presented debt restructuring proposal to its creditors.

According to sources quoted by Reuters, a “working proposal” has been submitted to help the country escape its worst economic crisis in a generation.

One of the sources revealed that the proposal was a first attempt to engage the official creditor committee after its formation in May. It should be recalled that the Paris Club last month announced that official sector of creditors of Ghana had formed a committee co-chaired by China and France for debt restructuring talks.

The plan is to end restructuring of domestic debt before turning to negotiations with its official bilateral creditors and international bondholders, a government official said.

Ghana is one of several cash-strapped countries facing unprecedented delays in getting bailouts as China, its biggest bilateral creditor with about $1.7 billion of debt and Western economies disagree over how debt relief should be structured.

The first formal review of the programme will hold in the coming months as an IMF team will visit Ghana between 8th and 15th of June.