The Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has confirmed that petrol from the PortHarcourt refinery will be sold at N1,030 per litre, as disclosed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

In a statement released on Thursday night, PETROAN’s spokesman, Joseph Obele, stated that the NNPCL officially communicated the pricing to the association.

However, in a statement on Thursday night, PETROAN mentioned that a portal for product booking has been opened and petrol is being sold at N1,030 per litre.

PETROAN spokesman, Joseph Obele said, “NNPC Retail Ltd has officially announced the PMS price at the Port Harcourt refinery as N1,030 per litre. It was also communicated to PETROAN that the product request portal was open for booking/request.”

Obele further clarified that despite earlier claims of the refinery being non-functional, the plant is currently running at 70% of its capacity.

The refinery’s full capacity, which is 60,000 barrels per day, is expected to increase to 90% soon.

This news comes as part of NNPC’s ongoing efforts to revive its refineries, with plans for the new refinery, which has a capacity of 200,000 barrels per day, to begin production shortly.

Obele emphasized that both refineries, located in the Eleme area of Rivers State, are crucial for the country’s oil production, with PETROAN expressing interest in collaborating with all active refineries in Nigeria.

Additionally, the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources recently visited the refinery, confirming its functionality and witnessing petroleum trucks being loaded.

World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was reappointed Friday for a second term, in the shadow of the coming return of Donald Trump and his disdain for international trade rules.

Okonjo-Iweala, the first woman and the first African to head the WTO, was the only candidate in the race, and had been all but assured a second term.

The organisation’s 166 members “today agreed to give incumbent Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala a second term as director-general,” the WTO said in a statement.

But with Okonjo-Iweala the only candidate, African countries called for the process to be speeded up, officially to facilitate preparations for the WTO’s next big ministerial conference, set to be held in Cameroon in 2026.

The unstated objective is to “accelerate the process, because they did not want Trump’s team to come in and veto her as they did four years ago”, said Keith Rockwell, a senior research fellow at the Hinrich Foundation.

The common practice of appointing directors-general by consensus made it possible in 2020 for Trump to block Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment for months, forcing her to wait to take the reins until after President Joe Biden entered the White House in early 2021.

Nigerian investigative journalist, Fisayo Soyombo, has been reportedly arrested and detained by the 6 Division of the Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The arrest, which took place three days ago, was confirmed by the Foundation For Investigative Journalism (FIJ) on its official page on Friday morning.

It was gathered that Soyombo’s detention may be linked to his work exposing corruption and smugglers aided by Nigerian Customs Services.

The FIJ has called for his immediate release and raised the alarm over the increasing threats to press freedom in the country.

Soyombo, known for his investigative reporting on high-profile issues such as corruption, abuse of power, and human rights violations, has previously faced various threats and harassment.

“The 6 Division of the Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt has been detaining our founder ‘Fisayo Soyombo 3 days running. Journalism is not a crime,” FIJ said.

Earlier in November, the media had reported that Soyombo released more videos to establish his smuggling allegations involving Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) officers.

Fisayo, in a statement issued on his verified social media handles, had alleged that Nigerian customs officers had conspired with Adeyemi Habeeb Abdulganiy, an alleged multi-billionaire-naira smuggler better known as Abuga, to illegally pass about 2000 cars and smuggle in bags of rice into the country.

He had said the illegal operation was slated to take place on Sunday, 10th of November, 2024.

The journalist wrote: “All is set. Your men, working with Adeyemi Habeeb Abdulganiy, the multi-billionaire-smuggler better known as Abuga, are primed to pass more than 2,000 cars containing at least 65 bags of rice each from Bebe in the Benin Republic into Sango, Nigeria.

“Some of these cars will enter Sango from the toll gate by driving against traffic, consequently endangering lives, while some will gain entry into Sango through Ifo; others will use the Oju-Ore-Ota route.

“Road users in Sango can expect traffic congestion early tomorrow morning unless this post prompts an about-face from the actors. I understand as well that soldiers from the 192 battalion at Owode will be patrolling during the journey to prevent any resistance.

“So, @CustomsNG, just so you know, the people are watching; they will be hysterically laughing at you when you announce “seizure of one million bags of rice and 25 cartons of guns” later this week.”

However, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) National Public Relations Officer, Abdullahi Aliyu Maiwada, said that Fisayo’s claims were fictitious.

He had said it was illogical for anyone to believe their personnel were involved in the illegal operation.

In his another post, Fisayo had released two more videos to substantiate his smuggling allegations against the customs officers.

He said: “Since Maiwada considers my revelations ‘tales by moonlight’, I am supplying two more video evidence of smuggling-ready rice cars merely awaiting final clearance from rogue Customs officers.”

“If, after this, Maiwada still considers my revelations fictitious, I’m happy to share more videos with you. I’m just trying to be useful to you, so you can in turn be useful to Nigerians rather than your pockets,” the journalist added.