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Tony Attah: New CEO of Renaissance, acquirer of Shell Nigeria’s $2.4bn onshore business

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Tony Attah has assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer at Renaissance, a Nigerian consortium that acquired in a deal valued at $2.4 billion.

Africa Oil & Gas Report, an energy intelligence publication said Attah is the new managing director of the consortium expected to manage what used to be Shell’s 30 percent stake in the SPDC-JV comprising 18 Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 35 36, 43, 45 and 46, all onshore, and OMLs 74, 77& 79, in shallow water, in the Niger Delta basin.

The consortium includes ND Western, Aradel Energy, First E&P, Waltersmith and Petrolin.

“Attah’s experience in gas monetization will come in handy in the new job. The bulk of the feedstock for the NLNG (in which Shell holds a 25.6% stake) had always been sourced from the SPDC assets that Shell has just divested. The largest among them include Gbaran Ubie, Soku, Bonny (onshore), and EA (shallow water). These fields will now be operated by Renaissance,” the energy publication said.

As Renaissance welcomes Tony Attah at the helm, the company is poised to navigate challenges and capitalize on growth opportunities in the dynamic landscape of Nigeria’s onshore business.

As managing director of NLNG Ltd between September 2016 and July 2021, Attah led the company to a Final Investment Decision (FID) on the $10 billion, Train 7 LNG plant, a project expected to increase NLNG’s current capacity by 35percent to 30MMTPA.

Tony Attah took the reins of NLNG Ltd, nine years after the last Liquefaction Plant (Train 6) came on stream. Before him, two Chief Executives had worked to get the Train 7 project off the ground, with some traction, but not visible success.

Prior to his previous role at Nigeria LNG Limited, he was the managing director and board chairman of Shell Nigeria E & P Company SNEPCo, Vice President HSE and Corporate Affairs, Vice President Human Resources (HR) as well as other technical & non-technical roles in Operations and major projects including being the head of Head of Joint Venture Economics in the commercial function.

Over a period of two decades, Tony Attah has also led multi-disciplinary teams across diverse cultures. He has been renowned for his strong strategic and commercial mind-set which is underpinned by a solid technical background and excellent leadership capabilities.

He holds a Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ibadan and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Benin. He is a member of Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) and Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), and a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE).

He has been renowned for his strong strategic and commercial mind-set which is underpinned by a solid technical background and excellent leadership capabilities. His goal in NLNG is to sustain the historical excellent performance, move the company to the next level and continue to make NLNG an inspiration to Nigeria.

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EFCC Arraigns Five Nigerians For Allegedly Tampering With, Forcibly Accessing Forfeited Property In Lagos

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned five individuals for allegedly tampering with a forfeited property.

Lagos Zonal Directorate arraigned the suspects before Justice A.O. Owoeye of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Tuesday.

The defendants, Benjamin Okoye, Moughalu David Arinze, Okey Okeke, Ekene Mgbeokwere, and Eboh Thaddeus, were charged alongside Ilongwo Angela, who is currently at large.

The charge pertains to their alleged unauthorized occupation and tampering with a property located at Plot 165C, Block 12, Amuwo Odofin, Ajayi Street, Diamond Estate, Lagos, which is under an interim forfeiture order to the Federal Government.

The count reads: “That you, Ilongwo Angela (now at large), Benjamin Okoye, Moughalu David Arinze, Okey Okeke, Ekene Mgbeokwere, Eboh Thaddeus, sometime in July 2024 in Lagos State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, without due authorization dealt, with the property of Obinna Ezenwaka situate and located at Plot 165C, Block 12, Amuwo Odofin, Ajayi Street, Diamond Estate, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos, subject of interim forfeiture to the Federal Government of Nigeria, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 32(1) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004.”

According to Dele Oyewale, EFCC Head of Media & Publicity, their actions contravened Section 32(1) of the EFCC Establishment Act, 2004. The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Prosecution counsel Hannatu U. KofarNaisa informed the court that the EFCC was ready to proceed with the trial and presented a witness to testify.

However, the defense counsel, M.C. Odo, representing the first to fourth defendants, requested bail for his clients, citing their prolonged detention. Counsel for the fifth defendant, N. Chukwuemeka, also referenced a prior bail granted to his client.

In response, KofarNaisa stated that she had not received the defense counsel’s bail applications. The court confirmed this and adjourned the case to January 24, 2025, to rule on the bail requests.

The prosecution called Abubakar Mohammed, an EFCC operative and custodian of forfeited assets, as its witness. Mohammed testified that on July 22, 2024, during an inspection of the property, he met the defendants and informed them of its interim forfeiture status.

“Despite being asked to vacate the property, the defendants later broke the padlock and returned,” Mohammed said.

He confirmed their arrest for tampering with the forfeited asset.

The court admitted the interim forfeiture order dated October 6, 2017, as evidence and marked it as Exhibit A. Mohammed further disclosed that the property was subject to a final forfeiture order from the Lagos State High Court.

Justice Owoeye adjourned the trial to February 14, 2025, for the continuation of proceedings, allowing the prosecution to submit additional documents.

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Suspect arraigned for allegedly stealing bank’s N1.1bn

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A 43-year-old man Sunday Ozimede, who allegedly hacked Moniepoint Microfinance Bank Vault and stole the sum of N1,190, 728, 076 bn, from the bank, was on Monday arraigned by the police before the Federal High Court in Lagos State.

The defendant is facing three counts bordering on conspiracy, hacking and obtaining by false pretence preferred against him by the Police Special Fraud Unit.

The PSFU’s Prosecution Counsel, Justine Enang, told the court that the defendant allegedly hacked the microfinance bank and obtained the sum of N945, 728,076m, by false pretence.

Enang told the court that the defendant caused financial loss to Moniepoint Microfinance Bank to the tune of N145m, by planting a bug in the bank’s data system.

He said Ozimede and others now at large conspired, amongst themselves, to commit the alleged offences sometime in May 2024.

The prosecutor told the court that Ozimede fraudulently diverted the above-mentioned money from various Moniepont Microfinance Bank’s customers’ deposited funds through numerous transactions to other banks.

According to the prosecutor, the offences committed contravened Sections 27 (i)(b),14 of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act, 2015 as Amended in 2024, and Section 14 (1) of the same Act, and 18(2) (b) & (d) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

However, the defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Following his not-guilty plea, the prosecutor urged the court to remand him to a correctional centre pending the conclusion of the trial and asked the court for a trial date.

The defendant’s lawyer, Abdulmalik Ibrahim, in a motion for bail, pleaded with the court to admit his client to bail in the most liberal terms.

But the prosecutor opposed the bail application and accused the defendant of being a ‘flight risk’, saying that he might not turn up for his trial if granted bail.

Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa, after listening to the parties’ submissions, admitted the defendant to bail in the sum of N50m, with one surety in like sum.

The judge also ordered that the surety must be a landed property owner within the jurisdiction of the court.

He added that the bail terms must be verified by the court’s registrar and the prosecutor.

The case was adjourned to March 13, 2025, for trial.

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Why we slammed ban on two Nigerian companies – World Bank

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The World Bank Group has explained why it announced a 30-month debarment of two Nigerian companies, including Viva Atlantic Limited and Technology House Limited.

The Washington-based bank disclosed this in a statement issued on Monday.

The ban also affected their Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Norman Didam.

The World Bank said the companies and their CEO were banned for fraudulent, collusive, and corrupt practices linked to the National Social Safety Nets Project in Nigeria.

Accordingly, the bank explained that the project aimed to provide targeted financial assistance to poor and vulnerable households, which was compromised due to several unethical practices during a 2018 procurement and subsequent contract process.

“The World Bank Group today announced the 30-month debarment of two Nigeria-based companies—Viva Atlantic Limited and Technology House Limited—and their Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Norman Bwuruk Didam.

“The debarment is in connection with fraudulent, collusive, and corrupt practices as part of the National Social Safety Nets Project in Nigeria.”

We earlier reported that the companies were indicted for fraudulent handling of the World Bank’s project in Nigeria.

Last year, the Nigerian government secured a $1.5 million loan from the World Bank for key economic reforms, which include fuel subsidies and the introduction of comprehensive tax policies.

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