Tolu Ogunlesi, MON Profile picture
Jul 28, 2020 14 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Going live in a few minutes. @NigeriainfoFM 99.3FM #PAGMI Image
One hour flew past. A couple of my points:
Artisanal mining (non-mechanized mining) not the same as illegal mining. 2 different things. Artisanal mining recognized by law, as long as it’s legally licensed. Illegal mining is mining that happens without a license. Small scale or large scale.
We must stop drawing false equivalences between oil & gas on one hand & gold on the other. The concept of scale for both is very different. There’s no such thing as artisanal exploration of oil and gas. It’s a multimillion dollar venture, even at smallest scale (marginal fields).
For Artisanal Gold Miners to be recognized or supported by PAGMI, they have to come together as registered cooperatives and work with validly licensed mining companies. PAGMI doesn’t work with illegal ie unlicensed miners. It’s not a scheme for illegal miners.
Very clear to me that people don’t really understand the illegal basis of bush refining of crude. The crude being refined is stolen from other people (companies) that have been validly licensed to produce it. There’s sadly no way to confer legality on what’s fundamentally illegal
The only way to do legal mining - limestone, gold, oil, gas, coal, etc - in Nigeria is to apply for and receive a license to do it. Without a license you’re illegal.

Of course illegal mining/refining of all these resources still happens. But the position of the law is the same
The only way to legalize ILLEGAL mining or refining in Nigeria is to get a license. No way around that. Bush refiners steal crude already validly licensed to other people, and ultimately diminish the revenues that should go to the Federation on behalf of all Nigerians.
Let me repeat: there’s no such thing as artisanal (i.e. non-mechanized) mining of oil and gas. It’s a technical impossibility lol. You can do it for some solid minerals (not all, in fact) but certainly not for oil and gas. There’s nowhere in the world where it’s ever been done.
We continue to underestimate the role of States in mining in Nigeria. Nothing stops a State Govt from setting up a Company/SPV to apply for and hold a mining or refining license. Many of the solid minerals licenses in Nigeria are actually held by State Governments, using SPVs.
In same way, nothing stops a State Govt from setting up an SPV to apply for an oil production license (e.g marginal field) or modular refining license. If they can raise the funding (which doesn’t come cheap, because oil is very expensive Biz) & meet all other requirements.
Whole point of the Modular Refining initiative was to find a way to deal with the unavoidable illegality of bush refining. In my view, a State Govt that is serious should be thinking of applying for Mod-refining licenses & then incorporating its bush refiners into the workforce.
Bottom line: let’s not confuse ourselves. There’s such a thing as artisanal gold exploration but nothing like artisanal oil exploration. Also NO equivalence between Artisanal Gold Mining and Modular Crude Refining - one is exploration (upstream) the other is refining (downstream)
[By the way here’s information about applying for modular refining licenses in Nigeria: dpr.gov.ng/wp-content/upl…

At the end of the day, everything is about applying for a license, and meeting the requirements].

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More from @toluogunlesi

May 29
Been searching for National Anthem related stuff. And found this:
Competition Announcement for a National Anthem for Nigeria, published in FEDERAL NIGERIA Magazine, January 1959 edition
Closing: March 31, 1959. Prize: $280
Open to Nigerians & Non-Nigerians home & abroad.
🧵🧵
Image
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So, looks like there were 4 Competitions in all, in 1959, the year preceding Independence:

National Flag - Open to Nigerians only
National Anthem (lyrics) - Nigerians & Foreigners
National Anthem (music) - Nigerians & Foreigners
Independence Stamps

All with prizes attached. Image
Submissions came in for Nigeria's new (Independence) Anthem, from all over the world: USA, UK, Ghana, French Cameroons, Senegal, Algeria, Cyprus, South Africa, Belgium. Image
Read 8 tweets
Jan 12
A #thread of departing Ambassadors talking about Nigerian Food (and Pepper!!!).

Let’s start with France’s Emmanuelle Blatmann (2024):

“I will be very honest with you and blunt, I will not miss the pepper soup because it’s too peppery. You people tried to kill me several times. I will be eating all sorts of things with my eyes red and crying, I have smoke coming out of my ears. I am exaggerating but honestly, why do you put so much pepper? In the North, it’s better but in the South West, my God! But I like the jollof rice, I like the moimoi and the puff-puff.”

punchng.com/i-like-nigeria…
Pirjo Suomela-Chowdhury (Finland) (2018):

“Nigerian food in general is spicier than food in Finland, but I do really enjoy suya, jollof rice, and pepper soup. My family has even ventured into things like giant snails and goat’s head (laughs).”

punchng.com/i-really-enjoy…
Mary Beth Leonard, USA (2023)

“Great food. You know everybody loves their Suya and their jollof rice. And I am a big fan of pepper soup; I really like a lot of spice so I will bring that with me.”

“Nobody ever believes me when I say I like spicy food and a bit of pepper soup. But of course, you can’t be a Nigerian and not appreciate suya and jollof rice. I can say I had fun eating amala at Amala Skye in Ibadan with our visiting pianist who came last year. It was lovely.”



premiumtimesng.com/features-and-i…
thisdaylive.com/index.php/2023…
Read 8 tweets
Dec 4, 2023
Gather around, folks.

Would like to share excerpts from this recent speech ON INFRASTRUCTURE from Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, delivered at a Dinner in Lagos a few days ago.

He opened it guns blazing. Hit the ground firing.

This is a thread, so, stay with me. Image
But lest you think the speech was primarily about gbajue presidential candidates, it wasn’t.

It was instead about the power of infrastructure, why the @MBuhari Administration focused obsessively on it, and how heartwarming it is that @officialABAT is equally prioritizing it. Image
BRF outlines some of the prioritizing principles behind the Buhari Infrastructure Program:

—Roads leading to and out of Airports and Seaports

—Roads leading to international borders

—Bridges (the Buhari Admin delivered new bridges across Nigeria’s two main Rivers, Niger and Benue)

—Roads connecting critical agro-producing areas.

—Roads within tertiary educational institutions

Image
Image
Read 8 tweets
Sep 11, 2023
I want to tell the story of how this State House / Presidential Villa logo came to be. You may have seen it on some publicity materials (State House Press Briefing banner from prev admin, etc) from the State House.

It’s a thread. Image
Sometime in Feb 2016, shortly after I was appointed by PMB, I thought, everyone knows what the White House looks like, why isn’t there a similar visual equivalent - a symbol - for the Aso Rock Villa, seat of the Nigerian Presidency since 1991.
Good question, eh. Then a challenge came up. The White House is a single building, that houses both the residence and the office of the US President.
Aso Rock on the other hand is a sprawling assemblage of buildings. President’s residence and office are separate buildings.
Read 10 tweets
Aug 16, 2023
Some History:
In 1999 Obasanjo created a "Ministry for Cooperation and Integration in Africa."
Didn't last very long.
OBJ also created the Ministry of Environment, in 1999.
In 2011, GEJ created "Communication Technology" and "Trade and Investment" ("Industry" added in 2013)
PMB created the new Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development in 2019
—Added "Digital Economy" to "Communications" also in 2019
—Added "Innovation" to "Science and Technology" in 2021
—Added "Aerospace" to "Aviation" in 2023
PBAT has:
—Created a new "Ministry of Art, Culture and Creative Economy."
—Added "Ecological Management" to "Environment"
—Split "Finance" and "Budget/Planning", and renamed "Budget & National Planning" -- now "Budget & Economic Planning"
—Added "Sanitation" to "Water Resources"
Read 4 tweets
Jul 7, 2023
Taiwo Oyedele an excellent candidate to lead this Tax work. Was Vice Chair of the National Tax Policy Implementation Committee(NTPIC) set up to implement the 2017 National Tax Policy(NTP) for Nigeria. It was that work that led to introduction of the Finance Acts 2019—2022
#Thread
The then Minister of Finance, @HMKemiAdeosun set up, Aug 2016, a National Tax Policy Review Committee (NTPRC), chaired by Prof Abiola Sanni. NTPRC produced a revised National Tax Policy for Nigeria (FEC approval Feb 2017) updating the original Tax Policy first developed in 2012.

Following the FEC approval of the revised Tax Policy 2017, @HMKemiAdeosun set up a National Tax Policy Implementation Committee (NTPIC) in April 2017. That Committee submitted its report on February 2, 2018. Its work produced drafts of 2 Executive Orders and 5 Amendment Bills.





Read 5 tweets

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