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Nigeria-Morocco sign MoU as gas pipeline project takes off

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The gas pipeline project between Nigeria and Morocco has finally taken off. The two countries on Thursday, in Rabat, signed a memorandum of understanding to that effect.

According to an official source, the gas pipeline which would link Nigeria to Morocco will also supply West Africa and Europe.

A joint statement by the countries revealed the memorandum on the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project (NMGP) was initialed by the leaders of the National Nigerian Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), the Moroccan Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM), and a senior official of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in charge of energy.

The text signed “confirms the commitment of ECOWAS and all the countries involved to contribute to the feasibility of this important project”, the statement said.

The Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline mega-project had been first discussed during the official visit of King Mohammed VI of Morocco in December 2016 to President Buhari in Abuja.

Although no date has been given for the completion of the Trans-Saharan, the 6,000 km Nigeria-Morocco project will cross 13 African countries along the Atlantic coast and supply the landlocked states of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali.

Amidst the recent scramble for gas across the world, most countries, particularly in Europe, are seeking to reduce their dependence on Russian supplies.

In July, the Deputy-Director General of the European Commission’s energy department, Matthew Baldwin, revealed that the continental bloc is preparing for potential Russian supply cuts and increased 14% of its total LNG supplies from Nigeria and there is a potential for more than double this.

There have also been gas supply deals between countries European countries like Italy, Israel, and Germany and African gas sources like Algeria, Egypt, Senegal, and Angola.

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Binance vs Nigeria: Court adjourns hearing on right abuses 

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The office of Nigeria’s National Security Adviser and an anti-graft agency— the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC)— have been sued by two executives of Binance, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, for allegedly violating their fundamental rights following their recent arrest.

Following Nigeria’s decision to outlaw several cryptocurrency trading websites, United States citizen Tigran Gambaryan, who oversees financial crime compliance for Binance, and British-Kenyan Nadeem Anjarwalla, regional manager for Binance in Africa, took a plane to Nigeria on February 26 and were arrested upon arrival.

Anjarwalla may now be subject to an international arrest warrant after reportedly escaping Nigerian custody last week.

Last month, Nigeria’s central bank governor revealed that Binance is under investigation in Nigeria due to “suspicious flows” of cash through Binance Nigeria in 2023. Government organizations such as the Securities and Trade Commission of the nation are already wary of the cryptocurrency trade.

In a court appearance on Thursday, Gambaryan asked Judge Iyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in the country’s capital, Abuja to rule that the National Security Adviser and the Economic and EFCC detention and seizure of his passport “amounts to a violation of his fundamental right to personal liberty” as stipulated by the Nigerian constitution.

The Binance chiefs also demanded a public apology, a restraining order to prevent them from being detained any longer, and an order to be released and return their passports. They said they had not been told of any offences.

Due to the absence of attorneys from the EFCC and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), the judge adjourned the hearing till April 8 without rendering a decision. Nigeria is currently struggling with ongoing dollar shortages, a situation that has made several cryptocurrency websites become the go-to venues for trading Nigerian currency.

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Kenya, Uganda settle oil import dispute

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In an effort to patch things up between the two neighbours, Kenya will permit Uganda’s landlocked state oil company to import petroleum products through its port of Mombasa, the country’s energy ministry said on Thursday.

After decades of receiving their cargo through affiliated firms in Kenya, Uganda has been looking for alternative ways to import petroleum products, including through a port in Tanzania. According to Solomon Muyita, a spokesman for Uganda’s ministry of minerals and energy, the first shipment under the new arrangement is scheduled for May.

“Kenya has agreed to give us a licence, UNOC (Uganda National Oil Company) is now free to import through Mombasa,” he said.

According to reports, UNOC would use the Kenya Pipeline Company to transport the goods, so Kenya would still profit from the agreement, according to Kenyan Energy Minister Davis Chirchir.

In 2022, Uganda imported petroleum products valued at $1.6 billion, the majority of which came from the Gulf. Kenya serves as the import gateway for about 90% of the goods.

It declared in November that it would transfer all exclusive petroleum product supply rights to a division of the international energy trader Vitol, which would subsequently supply UNOC.

According to what the government said at the time, using Kenyan companies to import oil had “exposed Uganda to occasional supply vulnerabilities” whereby Ugandan retail companies were viewed as secondary whenever there were supply disruptions changing retail prices.

The two African nations that make up the Great Lakes are partners in a variety of fields, including trade, infrastructure, energy, education, agriculture, and military security.

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