Business

We overshot our budget due to protracted power outage – Organisers

Published

5 months ago

April 1, 2026

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The Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA) says it has overshot its budget for the 37th Enugu International Trade Fair due to the protracted power outage.

The Director-General of ECCIMA, Uche Mba, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu, on Wednesday.

Mr Mba blamed the development on the chamber’s dependence on its diesel-powered generators throughout the duration of the fair.

According to him, operating on diesel increased the fair’s daily costs, especially with the two-day extension.

“We have recorded a lot of unanticipated costs, particularly buying diesel at the present exorbitant price.

“The huge expenses incurred in running our generating sets also ate deep into our general budget for the fair,” Mr Mbah said.

He blamed the situation on MainPower Electricity Distribution Limited’s failure to meet its assurances to provide regular power.

“It is unfortunate. We even visited the company to seek its cooperation to ensure they provide stable electricity during the fair,” he said.

Speaking on the poor power supply, the spokesman for MainPower, Emeka Ezeh, said the company was experiencing challenges with energy allocation, which he said had dropped significantly.

Mr Eze also said that the situation had lingered since late last year, adding that “it is not peculiar to MainPower DisCo, but all other distribution companies in the country.

He said, “We did not and cannot deprive ECCIMA of power during its crucial fair.

“Rather, we serve them and all our other customers based on the energy allocation we received from the national grid.

READ ALSO: Enugu Tech Festival aligns with Tinubu’s policy on innovation – Igbo-Eze South chairman

“Unfortunately, with what is currently going on in the power sector, MainPower cannot deliver a constant supply because the energy allocation it receives from the national grid is not sufficient to do so.”

Mr Eze reiterated the company’s commitment to supporting ECCIMA and all its programmes and initiatives, including the ongoing trade fair.

“However, it would only be fair that ECCIMA appreciates the current power supply challenge, which is experienced across the country,” he said.

NAN reports that the theme of the 10-day fair is “Empowering Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises for Global Competitiveness”.

The event, which kicked off on 21 March 21, is expected to end on 1 April, after a two-day extension.

Business

AIICO Insurance Denies False Allegations, Sues Obinna Nwosu Over Defamation

Published

1 hour ago

August 22, 2026

Preport

BY NKECHI BAECHE-ESEZOBOR—In a decisive move to protect its corporate reputation, AIICO Insurance Plc has taken legal action against a dismissed agent, Mr. Obinna Adolphus Nwosu, suing him for defamation after he circulated unsubstantiated claims to regulators, the media, and the general public.

For the avoidance of doubt, Mr. Nwosu’s appointment as an agent of AIICO Insurance Plc was terminated. Following the termination of his appointment, the Company published a public notice in national newspapers on 26 June 2025, expressly warning customers and members of the public against continuing to transact or maintain any business relationship with him on behalf of, or in connection with, AIICO Insurance Plc.

A statement released by the company reads: “AIICO Insurance Plc has become aware of a sustained campaign of false and misleading allegations being circulated by Mr. Obinna Adolphus Nwosu, a former agent of the Company, to various stakeholders, including regulatory authorities, law enforcement agencies, media organisations, bloggers, employees and other members of the public.

“Notwithstanding this, Mr. Nwosu has continued to circulate false and misleading narratives about the Company through various channels, including digital platforms and direct communications with stakeholders.

“His persistent and increasingly aggressive efforts to disseminate these claims have the potential to cause unwarranted damage to the Company’s reputation and create unnecessary concern among its employees, customers and other stakeholders.

“AIICO Insurance Plc wishes to state unequivocally that these allegations are false and should be treated with the utmost caution. Rather than engage in a media exchange or submit to a trial in the court of public opinion, the Company has elected to pursue the matter through the appropriate legal channels and has consequently commenced a defamation action against Mr. Nwosu at the Lagos State High Court.”

The statement added that “AIICO Insurance Plc will not be drawn into a public exchange with a former agent who has chosen to continue making unsubstantiated allegations while the matter is being pursued through the courts. The Company remains confident that the facts will be properly examined and determined through the established judicial process.

It further urged the media, regulators, employees, customers and the public are therefore urged to exercise due caution and discountenance the false and misleading narratives being circulated by Mr. Nwosu.

The statement also called on Nwosu to make himself available to receive the relevant court processes and allow the matter to proceed in accordance with the law, rather than continuing to prosecute his claims through digital media and direct approaches to individuals within and outside the Company.

While noting that any genuine grievance or complaint should be presented through the appropriate regulatory, investigative or judicial channels, where it can be properly examined and determined based on verifiable facts and evidence.

The company reaffirmed assured “AIICO Insurance Plc remains committed to the highest standards of integrity, accountability and transparency.

The Company will continue to pursue all lawful avenues available to protect its reputation, its employees, customers and other stakeholders, and to ensure that the matter is resolved through due process and in accordance with the law.

The post AIICO Insurance Denies False Allegations, Sues Obinna Nwosu Over Defamation appeared first on Business Today NG.

Business

Dangote to sell 30% shareholding of new refinery to East African countries – Report

Published

9 hours ago

August 21, 2026

Preport

Dangote Group, the empire of Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, has offered a 30 per cent holding in its proposed 700,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery to nations in East Africa, the region where the mega crude-processing plant is to be located, Bloomberg reported Friday.

Kenya, where the new refinery will be sited at the southeastern coastal town of Lamu, will take a 10 per cent stake estimated at around half a trillion dollars, David Ndii, a top economic adviser of President Ruto, told Bloomberg.

“The total for the region is about $1.5 billion. I don’t actually see a challenge in doing that, and if some of them are not off-taking we will backstop,” Mr Ndii was quoted as saying at a capital market conference in Nairobi on Thursday.

Ethiopia and Rwanda are said to have indicated willingness to participate.

Mr Dangote is turning to business-friendly Kenya and other promising markets in East Africa to expand his multi-billion dollar empire after facing an avalanche of resistance from his home country Nigeria in bringing a refinery of similar capacity to completion.

The Nigerian refinery, situated in the outskirts of Lagos and initially projected to be completed in 2016, did not see the light of the day until eight years after, held back by logistic delay, infrastructure constraints and COVID-19 lockdowns.

The magnate, who has built his fortune around cement, sugar and a couple of fast-moving consumer products, accused international oil companies of sabotaging efforts at getting the refinery running seamlessly in its early days.

He claimed that the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, which serves as the top watchdog for the midstream and downstream segments of the oil industry, issued new licences to some players to import “dirty fuel” as part of a broader conspiracy to frustrate his push to wean Nigeria off its longstanding dependency on fuel imports.

In the heat of the crisis, Farouk Ahmed, the CEO of the regulator at the time, resigned his appointment, while Mele Kyari, the immediate past managing director of state oil company NNPC Limited, whom Mr Dangote accused of surreptitiously running a fuel blending plant off the coast of Malta, was shown the exit door.

“I knew there would be a fight. But I didn’t know that the mafia in oil, they are stronger than the mafia in drugs,” he told an investment conference in June 2024.

ALSO READ: Dangote Refinery raises $2.5 billion in Africa’s largest private equity placement

A private placement, which raised $2.5 billion ahead of the Nigerian refinery’s planned $5 billion initial public offer scheduled for October, valued the refinery at $40 billion.

The private equity capital raise was 3.7 times, drawing interest from African institutional investors and institutional investors from outside the continent.
The groundbreaking of the Kenyan refinery is expected to kick off next month.

That puts the company on course to achieve the ambition of doubling its refining capacity to 1.4 million bpd in the next three years, with processing capacity at the refinery in Lagos already upped to 700,000 bpd from its original 650,000 bpd.

The planned refinery in Kenya is expected to cost $15 billion to $17 billion.