Headline

Dangote Gets $650m AFREXIM Bank Loan For Lekki Refinery

Published

8 years ago

July 15, 2018

Editor

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has signed a $650 million loan facility with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) for his oil refinery project in Lekki, Nigeria. Alhaji Aliko Dangote The seven-year term loan would attract a moratorium of five years, according to facility terms read out during the signing. Cairo-based Africa’s trade bank also signed a $750 million facility with Nigeria’s development bank, the Bank of Industry. The loans were signed on Saturday in Abuja, where Afreximbank is holding its annual general meeting and 25th anniversary.

Dangote Group Executive Director Devakumar Edwin said that the oil refinery would cost around $10 billion and should be completed by December 2019. He said the company would borrow $3.3 billion for the project, arranged by Standard Chartered Bank. The remainder will be funded by equity and through export agencies.

Dangote built his fortune on cement and now has interests in flour milling, agriculture and real estate. He is building the world’s largest single oil refinery and also expanding into fertilizer, aiming to address long-standing problems in Nigeria’s energy markets. The refinery and petrochemical complex is located on 25,000 hectares of swampy land with a jetty to ferry products by sea within Nigeria and abroad including an undersea pipeline to transport gas. It would account for half of Dangote’s sprawling assets when it is finished next year. Dangote intends to process different grades of crude to meet local demand for refined petroleum products and also target export markets abroad. Afreximbank, celebrating its 25 years of operation this year, aims to foster intra-African trade through the creation of a payment platform to ease settlement and currency risks. Vanguard

Headline

UK Court Acquittal: Diezani Goes Spiritual, Says God Will Always Be God

Published

3 days ago

June 18, 2026

Eric

Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has reacted to her acquittal by a London court after bribery charges brought against her were dismissed.

The Southwark Crown Court in London, United Kingdom, on Wednesday acquitted the former minister of all charges, including five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery.

Reacting to the judgment, Alison-Madueke expressed relief and said she and her family had endured years of emotional distress over the case.

Speaking to News Central, she said she has remained in the United Kingdom since the legal proceedings began 11 years ago.

She said: “I’m just thankful to God, it’s been arduous, almost 11 years. It’s been traumatic not just for me but for my family, friends, my 93-year-old mother in Port Harcourt and for my son.

“It has been a hard journey, but I tell you this, God will always do as He will. God will be God and God is not a man that He should lie; when He promises you something, He will see it through.

“For almost 11 years I have been here. I did my job to the best of my ability.”

Headline

I Never Saw Report that Led to Natasha’s Suspension, Says Ireti Kingibe

Published

3 days ago

June 18, 2026

Eric

The lawmaker representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), at the Senate, Ireti Kingibe, says she did not see any report that led to the suspension of Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

Kingibe made this disclosure on Wednesday when she featured in an interview on Arise Television’s ‘Prime Time’.

She said she was at a retreat with Edo North Senator, Adams Oshiomhole, when she heard about the report.

“I never saw the report that led to Natasha’s suspension. I was at a retreat. I had earlier stated that I was there with three or four other senators who are members of the committee.

“We attended the Committee on Petitions and Public Complaints, signed the attendance register, and I later left for the tax reform retreat, which I considered more important at the time.

“It affects my constituents much more than disciplining a senator, and I figured that the other people who were not part of that committee would take care of it.

“I even complained to other Senators, specifically to Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe. I complained to him very bitterly that I had not seen that report. I didn’t see it then. I have not seen it till now,” she said.

Headline

UK Court Clears Ex-Petroleum Minister Alison-Madueke of All Corruption Charges

Published

4 days ago

June 17, 2026

Eric

Former Nigerian oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke was on Wednesday found not guilty by a London jury of six bribery charges, after ‌a rare corruption trial of a high-profile former energy official.

Alison-Madueke, minister for petroleum resources between 2010 and 2015 under then-president Goodluck Jonathan, stood trial charged with five counts of accepting bribes and a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery, which she denied.

Prosecutors ⁠alleged Alison-Madueke, 65, was given “a life of luxury” in London from oil and gas industry figures seeking lucrative contracts in Nigeria, which has long grappled with mismanagement and corruption.

But the former minister, who was also briefly president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, said she never took any bribes and had no real influence over the awarding of lucrative government contracts.

After a trial at London’s Southwark ‌Crown ⁠Court, Alison-Madueke was acquitted by a jury of all six charges she faced after more than 46 hours of deliberation.

The not guilty verdicts are a major blow to British authorities, which began their investigation into corruption allegations against Alison-Madueke ⁠more than a decade ago.

Alison-Madueke stood trial alongside oil industry executive Olatimbo Ayinde, 54, who was charged with one count of bribery relating to Alison-Madueke ⁠and a separate count of bribery of a foreign public official.

Alison-Madueke’s brother Doye Agama, 69, was charged with conspiracy to commit bribery ⁠with his sister relating to payments made to Agama’s church.

Both Ayinde and Agama denied the charges against them and were also acquitted by the jury.

Source: Reuters