Nigeria : Dangote refinery to buy crude in naira

Guardian Nigeria

Transcript

00:00Thanks very much for staying with us. Time now for Iron Africa with me, Georgia Calvin

00:05Smith. Tonight, rights campaigners warn that freedom of speech and critics on Burundi's

00:10government are increasingly under threat. There's had been hopes that President Ndeye

00:15Shimeye would usher in an opening up of civic space when he took over four years ago. Also,

00:23Nigeria's huge Dangote refinery could potentially overhaul the continent's top oil producers.

00:29People reliance on imported petrol, but only if it gets up to its daily potential for barrel

00:38production. And that will take more than a little bit of investment. And the poachers

00:46penance after being jailed for illegally tracking and killing endangered animals, Zimbabwe and

00:51former hunters now turned the page and hopes to encourage others to live more sustainably.

01:00The first rights group Amnesty International accuses Burundian leader Evariste Ndeye Shimeye

01:06of overseeing a wave of repression marked by continued intimidation and arbitrary detention

01:11of those who oppose or criticise the government. There had been hopes of the opposite happening

01:16when Ndeye Shimeye took over in 2020 following the sudden death of his predecessor, Pierre

01:23Karinziza, whose own rule was marked by unrest that cost hundreds of lives.

01:28Our regional correspondent brings us more. Amnesty International stated on Wednesday in

01:34a report that Burundi is witnessing a relentless repression of civil society members and human

01:40rights defenders. Researchers point fingers at Burundian authorities, accusing them of

01:45implementing acts of intimidation, harassment and arresting human rights activists, journalists

01:51and local opposition figures. Before a major political crisis in 2015 and the violent

01:58repression of protesters by former President Karinziza, which resulted in at least 1,200 deaths,

02:05civil society and the media in Burundi were very active. However, Amnesty explains that despite

02:11the democratic openness signals sent by the new President, Evariste Ndeye Shimeye, over the past

02:16four years, while the situation has not improved, in 2023, for example, journalist Florianne-Héron

02:24Gabillé was sentenced to 10 years in prison for undermining national territorial integrity,

02:30though she was pardoned by the President a week ago. After several arrests of human rights activists

02:37last year, the UN also condemned the growing repression of critical voices by the government

02:42ahead of the local and legislative elections scheduled for 2025. Clément Durum is there for us.

02:51Now, five Kenyan police officers appeared before court on Wednesday, accused of playing a part

02:56in the Nairobi jailbreak of 13 men on Tuesday, including a suspected serial killer. Collins

03:04had been arrested last month over the murder of at least six women, whose mutilated bodies were

03:09found in a dump in the Kenyan capital. Police say that Jumaisees admitted to killing 42 women,

03:17although his lawyer claims that he was tortured into the confession. Meanwhile, Kenyans living

03:22around Mukuru, where the victims' remains were found, say that they feel particularly on edge

03:28amidst the ongoing manhunt for the escapees.

03:34We never got to get justice, and now they're telling us that the main suspect escaped from

03:39police custody? We, as the residents of Mukuru, are not happy at all, and the government should

03:46by all means make sure that the suspect is arrested, so that we, the people of Mukuru,

03:51can at least feel that the government is surely doing something about it.

03:56We aren't sure whether the claims are true or false. We don't know whether he used to

04:03collaborate with others. We are more worried now that schools are on holiday and our young

04:10girls are at home. And you find that sometimes we send our children for errands at night, so

04:15we don't really know what will happen, because the dump itself has not been backfilled.

04:20We're not OK. We're really worried.

04:26Well, Nigeria's finance ministry says that from October 1st, it will start using local

04:32currency to sell crude oil to its homegrown Dangote refinery. Now, the move should make

04:38it easier for the facility to operate. Since it started production in January, it's been

04:42struggling to secure enough crude to meet its 650,000 barrel per day capacity. That's despite

04:50Nigeria being the continent's top oil producer and the Dangote site being one of Africa's largest.

04:57Samuel Okoye joins us now with more. Sam, so first of all, why has it taken so long for

05:03the Nigerian government to agree to start selling Nigerian crude to a Nigerian refinery

05:08in Nigerian currency? Is everyone not on the same page? Are the country's producers not keen on this?

05:16Well, for obvious reasons, they are not keen on this. It has to do with the quality of the

05:24Nigerian, I mean, the value of the Nigerian currency. It's not stable, and it keeps losing

05:31value. So for them, if you sell today in the local currency, then that currency will lose

05:39so much value within days. For example, in the last couple of weeks, we've lost quite

05:45a good chunk of the value of the Nigerian currency, and that's why

05:49the government, there's disagreements. Dangote wants to sell locally, to sell,

05:55to buy the Nigerian currency, which will pay for the local producers. They feel it's better,

06:02they either send it abroad or he pays in dollars. So that has been the problem.

06:07So you have the producers in Nigeria who don't want to sell in the local currency because that

06:12means they'll get less for their product. But then you have the refinery who wants to buy in

06:16the local currency because that makes it easier for them to access the crude oil that they're

06:22going to refine. The whole plan was to address some of the instability that Nigeria faces when

06:29it comes to sourcing its own gasoline, which is crazy considering that it is the continent's

06:35largest oil producer. The refinery has been going since January. Has it made any difference yet?

06:43The refinery has not made any difference, sadly. And it boils down to the fact of this

06:50disagreement, the inability of both sides, the producers and the local refineries to agree on

06:57what currencies to sell. So today, Nigeria relies very heavily on imported petrol,

07:05not just that. Since Dangute refinery started production, we've had very serious cases of

07:11petrol scarcity. It has gone on for a long time. Even as I speak, we have problems of

07:17petrol scarcity. I think it goes beyond just Dangute. Nigeria has four refineries, and

07:25Nigerians will ask that for a country that has four refineries, why is it still produced? Why

07:31is it still imported? So the issue is not so much of Dangute. The issue is this local problem of

07:41people not allowing the system to work. And Dangute actually insinuated is that

07:46the producers are sending Nigeria's crude oil abroad, especially as you mentioned Malta,

07:53sending it to Malta to refineries abroad only to be imported to Nigeria. So many people,

07:59Nigerians will definitely view this with a degree of cautious optimism whether this will work or

08:07not. Unfortunately, we're going to have to leave it there. Thank you so much, though,

08:11for giving us a bit of a breakdown of some of the dynamics behind the finance ministry's decision

08:18to allow the crude oil to be sold to the Dangute refinery in the local currency of the Naira.

08:26In other news, a former poachers spreading awareness about conservation amongst his

08:30community in Zimbabwe. Once jailed for poaching, he now describes it as selfish.

08:35It's working to change local attitudes towards wildlife. Take a look.

08:41Hunting is all what Tambanichaku Mastic knew in his community in Shirazi.

08:47I grew up as a hunter. Before, game rangers eventually caught up with me in the animal

08:54reserve, hunting was our way of life. He also grew maize, sorghum and cotton and raised livestock

09:02in later years, but turned to poaching when recurring droughts made farming less valuable.

09:08Then he was caught, spending nearly three months in jail, where a program aimed at turning

09:14poachers into conservationists changed his outlook.

09:22During my time in prison, I learned many crafts, such as weaving and sculpting.

09:28I was enlightened during my time of imprisonment and realized that I could make a living without

09:33hunting. These days, my main income comes from creating pieces of art which I sell to tourists.

09:41Since he was freed, Mastic has been urging his fellow villagers to rely on farming crops and

09:46raising livestock. Zimbabwe's authorities have also been working to tackle poaching in the country.

09:51But if you look at where we have the biggest concentration of our animals,

09:55the greater part of Wange National Park, we have not lost any single elephant over the last three,

10:00four years because we are now more visible in the area. We do more patrols, even in areas like

10:06the south-east of Gunaresho, we do a lot of awareness, we do a lot of patrols,

10:15we do a lot of law enforcement. What is more important is the resources to make sure that

10:19we are visible, we are around. We also do a lot of awareness with our community so that

10:23they appreciate the importance of wildlife. The results are promising, but Zimbabwe will

10:30still have to keep fighting to save its wildlife. Poaching has cost the country

10:35close to eight million dollars in recent years.

10:41And finally, Nairobi's latest robot cafe has brought in some metallic matrides to weight

10:46tables. The robotic staff has captured the imagination of some customers, others though,

10:52truth to be told, seem less than impressed. What do you think? Take a look.

11:00I came here to get the experience and I can see everything is okay.

11:13It's a kind of common business in the south and central Asia, Japan and Thailand and China.

11:33And so we try to become a part of that sophisticated technology in the world.

11:49I have to go pick the order because the robots can't. Secondly, the robots do not do the

11:55clearance. We personally do the clearance. Thirdly, the robots also do not cook. So it's

12:01the chefs and stuff. So yeah, there's a lot that the humans are doing that the robots can't.

12:13Those poor robots, they are working with a tough crowd. That though is all the time that we have

12:19for Eye on Africa for now. Thanks for joining us though. Do so again if you can. Until then,

12:23take care.

12:34Trust is our most precious asset. Every day around the world, France 24, RFI and Monte

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13:08cultivated. Thank you for your trust. Liberté, égalité, actualité.

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