Nigerian Times

The World Bank has noted that Nigeria is at a crossroads in a special Growth Employment and Markets in States (GEMS) Project report. The country can choose to tackle the distortions that have reduced incentives for investment and productive activity and move towards sustainable and diversified growth. It can also build on islands of success and promising cluster initiatives and enclaves that can then pull along the rest of the economy (successfully achieved in China and India) or it can ignore the reform imperatives and pay the price of having a highly distorted, rentier economy, once oil prices fall. Click here for the full report Tweet

Oil Prices Dip Below $100... Briefly September 12, 2008 09/12/08 Continued worries over a weakening global economy leading to a decrease in demand finally sent oil prices just below the $100 per barrel mark this past trading session.

13 May 2008 17:45 Africa/Lagos Pelosi: President Should Push OPEC for Increased Production, Abandon His 'Drill and Veto' Policies WASHINGTON, May 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement prior to President Bush departing today on a five-day trip to the Middle East, including a stop in Saudi Arabia on Friday: "The White House has indicated that President Bush will push Saudi officials for OPEC to increase production in an effort to bring down prices for American consumers. As the largest oil producer and exporter, Saudi Arabia is uniquely positioned to influence the price at the pump and the President must use his close ties to help consumers who are in desperate need of relief. "While I hope the President will return with concrete assurances that OPEC will take swift action to bring down prices, in the past the Administration's calls have been ineffective, making it all the more necessary for Congress to step in to...

9 May 2008 21:57 Africa/Lagos Platts Survey: OPEC Pumps 31.87 Million Barrels per Day of Crude Oil in April, Down 350,000 b/d LONDON, May 9/PRNewswire/ -- The 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pumped an average 31.87 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil in April, a 350,000 b/d decrease from March, according to a Platts (http://www.platts.com/) survey of OPEC and oil industry officials released Friday. The sharp drop was largely the result of steep output losses in Nigeria. Excluding Iraq, the 12 members which participate in output agreements pumped an average 29.49 million b/d, 360,000 b/d down from an estimated 29.85 million b/d in March. "OPEC production has been relatively steady in recent months, but the sharp fall in Nigerian output shows how vulnerable overall supply from the group can be to developments in one country," said John Kingston, Platts global director of oil. "Given that spare capacity is also relatively...

30 Apr 2008 05:01 Africa/Lagos Energy : The Rising Toll on Perceptions of America's Foreign Policy NEW YORK, April 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Rising fears about the health of the U.S. economy are spilling over into the public's thinking about foreign policy issues, and their concerns about the nation's dependence on others to satisfy its energy needs are particularly pronounced. The Spring 2008 edition of the Confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy Index from Public Agenda and its partner Foreign Affairs reveals that six out of ten Americans (60 percent) say reducing energy dependence would strengthen our nation's security "a great deal," the highest percentage since the Index's inception and now the most highly rated of 12 basic strategies to improve national security explored in the survey. Analysis and data for questions asked in all six editions of the CFPI are available at: http://www.publicagenda.org/CFPI6 Whereas improving intelligence operation...