Blackstone Africa unit makes big Nigeria hire

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Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Lamido Sanusi, former governor of Nigeria's central bank.

Blackstone Group has strengthened its ties to Nigeria, the West African country where it could put big money to work.

The private equity giant announced Thursday that its Black Rhino unit had appointed Lamido Sanusi as chairman of its board of directors. Sanusi is emir of Nigeria's northern Kano state, a traditional leader who still wields considerable influence, and the former governor of the country's central bank.

The appointment comes after $310 billion Blackstone announced in August 2014 that it had partnered with Dangote Industries—led by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote—to invest jointly up to $5 billion over the next five years in energy infrastructure projects across Sub-Saharan Africa, part of President Barack Obama's Power Africa initiative to match private capital with continental energy needs.

No projects for the joint venture have been announced, but Blackstoneis considering an investment alongside Dangote to construct pipelines to bring gas from the country's energy-rich southern delta region to its business center, Lagos, according to a person familiar with the situation and comments previously made by Dangote. Dangote said he plans to invest up to $2.5 billion in the pipes, which would potentially quadruple the supply of gas to the country.

A spokesman for Blackstone declined to comment on the pipelines.

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Some of the most powerful men in Nigeria now hail from the country's mostly Muslim northern states. Sanusi remains the traditional leader of Kano, also the birthplace of Dangote. (The wealthiest man in Africa, Dangote made a pilgrimage to pay his respects to Sanusi when he became emir in 2014.) New President Muhammadu Buhari hails from Katsina, a nearby northern city.

"Emir Sanusi has a comprehensive mastery of the interdependence of Africa with the global economy," Mimi Alemayehou, chair of Blackstone African Infrastructure and managing director at Black Rhino, said in a statement. "He has the courage and integrity necessary to give us the full, candid and impartial counsel that a long-term investor in Africa needs. We are gratified and, indeed, privileged to have a partner of such immense stature alongside us as we chart our course."

Black Rhino's only announced project so far is a $1.4 billion oil pipeline from sea ports in Djibouti to Ethiopia, a landlocked country that now relies on trucks to bring in fuel.

That was really someone's garage in Abuja? (another photo)

Just got another photo from impressive Abuja Garage I shared earlier (see here). Apparently there are more expensive cars and it's someone's garage for real. Na wa!

Check out Kim K's brand new Range Rover SUV (photos)

The reality star pictured driving her brand new Range Rover SUV, which cost about $110k, to her step dad Caitlyn Jenner's home in Malibu yesterday. Just two months ago, she bought a $400k Rolls Royce. More photos after the cut...

 

Port Harcourt Refinery Begins Production of 5m Litres of Petrol

As part of efforts aimed at bringing the persistent fuel scarcity in the country to an end, the NNPC has said that the Port Harcourt refinery is expected to begin production of five million litres of petrol for local consumption by July after rehabilitating its functionality to 80 percent capacity.

“The Port Harcourt refinery which has reached advanced stage will start receiving crude by the end of this month and start contributing to the availability of products in the country. 

“ At the end of 18 months, most of the refineries would have been rehabilitated to a certain level whereby they can actually process crude optimally and make contributions to products availability in the country.”

Group managing director of NNPC, Engr. Joseph Dawha, who said this in Abuja after a routine inspection of the NNPC’s mega filling stations in Abuja, added that the development follows the completion of the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the refinery which would help boost fuel availability.

He also disclosed that the phased TAM for other refineries would be completed within 18 months period, adding that presently, the NNPC has about 1.1 billion litres of fuel which is sufficient to cover for 27 days at a daily consumption level of 40 million litres.

Dawha added that, “In the last five days we have brought 428 trucks of petrol, averaging 85 per cent trucks daily to address the petrol requirement in Abuja and its immediate environs.

APC To Send Sakari, Atiku, Other Betrayers To The Cleaners

The heavy political power play between the APC and Atiku Abubakar, Bukolo Saraki and other disloyal New PDP members who decamped to APC last year is about to get even more interesting.

The party has said that whatever disciplinary action it will take against the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, the House of Reps Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, and its members for defying its directive on the election of the National Assembly leadership will follow due process.

It said this just as Punch learnt that the Presidency had intervened in the crisis the election of Saraki and Hon. Dogara on Tuesday had generated.

The party had conducted mock elections in which Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila emerged as its consensus candidates for the Senate Presidency and House speakership.

After the mock polls, the APC directed its other lawmakers not to contest the positions but ensure that Lawan and Gbajabiamila became the National Assembly leaders.

But this was not to be as Saraki and Dogara did not only contest but won with the support of opposition Peoples Democratic Party lawmakers.

In the Senate, an opposition member, Ike Ekweremadu, surprisingly emerged Deputy Senate President.

Ekweremadu defeated an APC Senator, Ali Ndume, who also defied the party’s directive by contesting.

The APC spokesman, Lai Mohammed, who spoke with journalists after an emergency NWC meeting of the APC in Abuja, said the party had not made a U-turn on its position to sanction errant lawmakers.

The APC had in a statement on Tuesday said the election of Saraki and Dogara was unacceptable.

The party said, "The APC leadership is meeting in a bid to reestablish discipline in the party and to mete out the necessary sanctions to all those involved in what is nothing but a monumental act of indiscipline and betrayal to subject the party to ridicule and create obstacles for the new administration."

Lionel Messi is the most valuable player in the world and it's not even close

 

By Cork Gaines

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(Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) Lionel Messi of Barcelona FC in Spain's La Liga is the most valuable soccer player in the world, according to the latest valuations released by Football-Observatory.com.

Messi was determined to have a transfer value of $287.6-315.5 million (€255.3-280.9 million). That's more than a $100 million greater than any other player in the world.

While fans will argue about whether Messi or Ronaldo is the best player in the world, the one huge advantage Messi has over Ronaldo in terms of value is age. Messi (27) is three years younger than his Real Madrid rival. Ronaldo is one of just seven of the top 100 players who has already celebrated his 30th birthday, and he fell to No. 3 on this year's list behind Chelsea's Eden Hazard.

In addition to age, the player values are determined based on a formula that considers a player's performance, position, contract status, and experience, as well as his current team's performance and competition level, while factoring recent trends in spending in the transfer market.

Here are the 20 most valuable:

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) — $287.8-316.6 million
2. Eden Hazard (Chelsea)  — $152.7-167.9 million
3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)  — $127.7-140.6 million
4. Neymar (Barcelona) — $101.0-111.0 million
5. Sergio Agüero (Manchester City) — $88.2-97.0 million
6. Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) — $83.1-91.3 million
7. Paul Pogba (Juventus) — $79.3-87.2 million
8. Diego Costa (Chelsea) — $78.8-86.7 million
9. Alexis Sánchez (Arsenal)  — $76.4-84.1 million
10. James Rodríguez (Real Madrid)  — $70.5-77.6 million
11. Luis Suárez (Barcelona)  — $67.6-74.4 million
12. Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid)  — $66.5-73.2 million
13. Cesc Fàbregas (Chelsea)  — $66.2-72.7 million
14. Isco Alarcón (Real Madrid)  — $64.5-70.9 million
15. Harry Kane (Tottenham)  — $60.3-66.4 million
16. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid)  — $57.8-63.6 million
17. Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool)  — $56.8-62.6 million
18. Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea)  — $56.7-62.4 million
19. Oscar dos Santos (Chelsea)  — $53.6-59.0 million
20. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)  — $50.3-55.4 million

Tinubu’s political career is coming to a sunset - Bode George

A former Deputy Chairman of PDP, Chief Bode George says the emergence of Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara as new Senate President and Speaker House of Representatives indicates that Bola Tinubu's career politically is coming to a sunset. 

"You know I predicted weeks ago that the APC is just a congregation of strange bedfellows. The most beautiful thing about what has happened is that Bola Tinubu’s political influence in Nigeria is coming to a sunset and it is about five minutes to midnight for him. If he cannot see this now, then it will be foolish of him. He brought in the APC national chairman and the vice-president and he thinks Nigeria belongs to him. 

So, he thought what he did in Lagos was what he could replicate at the national level and they have shown him that he cannot continue to be the lord of the manor. So, if he is wise, he will slow down. President Muhammadu Buhari, as an army general, has fought more battles than him and has an understanding of things.

The PDP was never dead. We were only given a bloodied nose, not a technical knockout. So, this is an opportunity to start regrouping and getting ready for 2019. I want to salute the dexterity and perfect political manoeuvres for which the PDP is well known. People like Tinubu and Chief Bisi Akande in Osun have always been local champions. Now, they have come to the national level of politics and they are now learning the tricks that all that glitters is not gold. I congratulate Saraki and Ekweremadu.

They understand what Nigeria is all about. The APC would discipline Saraki? Is Saraki a child? They probably think they are playing local politics like the one they play in Lagos State. I welcome them to the real world" he told Punch

Ghollywood Actress Jackie Appiah Visits Victims of Ghana Flood & Gas Explosion

Ghollywood actress Jackie Appiah took a moment yesterday to visit children and victims of the Ghana flood and gas explosion that threw the country into mourning a few days ago.

She shared photos from the visit on social media while urging the nation to help the victims.

She wrote:

So yesterday I decided to visit the Children & victims who were affected by the flood/gas explosion at the 37 Military hospital and donated cash and several items to the victims and after visited Nima a suburb of Accra were I interacted with the flood victims and also did the same donation. You should have seen their smiles on their faces it was priceless.

She added in another post:

We as a nation should in one way try in our own little way to help the victims. You can help by sending your donations to Nadmo head office and ask of Abigail or Mr. Lamptey

Photos: US provides $10.5m grant for internally displaced people in North east Nigeria

The US government has provided a $10.5 million grant for the rehabilitation of the internally displaced persons in Northeast Nigeria. The grant was announced in a statement released by the USAID today June 11th.

The statement in part reads;

"The grants will support the activities of the United Nation’s Population Fund (UNFPA), UNICEF, and the World Health Organization (WHO) to improve access to health care services for affected populations in Boko Haram affected states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states. With this new funding, total U.S. humanitarian assistance since the start of the crisis is nearly $44 million."

Security expert explains why Osinbajo can't attend national security meetings for now

A security expert has explained why Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has so far not been allowed to attend any of the national security meetings President Buhari has had with Service Chiefs since he assumed power. On June 2nd and yesterday June 10th, President Buhari met with the Service Chiefs without Osinbajo and this has led to some media houses reporting that the Vice President was "locked out" from the Defence House, venue of the meetings.

A security expert explains why the pastor and lawyer can't be allowed into such meetings for now. See that after the cut...

The security expert explaned that Vice President Osinbajo is not a trained military officer and so it will take the military some time before sensitive intelligence can be shared in his presence. He also made reference to the Vice President's affiliation to Tinubu. What he said below...

"I am sure he would have been invited if he had security background. Being a Professor of Law is fine, but in terms of intelligence and access to security information, you are nowhere near the rank of Colonel or equivalent in the Nigeria Military. Look, I have watched some footages that if the VP gets to see, he would lose appetite for days. Now, we have someone who has been in luxury virtually all his life, attaining the position of VP and some people are clamouring for his presence in highly sensitive talks. The truth is that the military hierarchy would not even feel comfortable saying some things in his presence. I can tell you that they respect Prof. Osinbajo as VP but they cannot trust him with information yet.

You cannot compare him to Buhari who served in many military roles, chased away a militia that was threatening Nigeria security, overthrew a military government, became Head of State, fought corruption and went ahead to instill discipline among a stubborn citizenry. The VP would have to go through what is called ‘Stimulation’. This is a process where he is lectured on terms, dealings, operations etc. of the military. His inner strength, strong heart and ability to keep things to himself will first be put to test before he gets access to some classified materials and information. We must understand the fact that Osinbajo was a candidate promoted by Bola Tinubu (ex-Lagos Governor), he was not handpicked by Buhari. If the President had picked a vice, it is likely that such individual may get the access Osinbajo isn’t getting now. Everyone knows the VP has been loyal to Tinubu for decades and he cannot swear that he would not divulge details of these security meetings to his political godfather. So he has to earn it. Tinubu may have used his influence to put him in this position but he must draw a line between blind loyalty and national duty.” he told Daily Independent