Merry Xmas

Wenn heute abend nicht das dicke Weihnachtsessen bei uns im Clubhaus angesetzt wäre, hätte ich Weihnachten dieses Jahr wohl vergessen :-) Aber wen wundert das, bei 25 Grad im Schatten. Ich war heute Tennis spielen und danach bin ich n paar Stunden am Pool gelegen. Das wollte ich nur gesagt haben.



Ich wünsche euch allen ein schönes Weihnachtsfest 2008

Banking survey

EFInA has just published its banking survey of Nigeria. Here are some of the headline findings. Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access is an independent, non-profit, NGO funded by DFID and Ford Foundation.

Banking profile: 74% of the adult population has never banked, 85% of adult of females are unbanked. The main reason for not having a bank account is due to lack of money, while the most important reason for wanting a bank account is to save money. 61% of the unbanked would like a bank account. Only 3 % of the adult population use a microfinance bank.

Access: 53% of adult Nigerians are financially excluded (no formal or informal access to finance).

Savings: 38% of the adult population are currently saving, 26% of those come from the lowest income group.

Loans: Only 7% of the adult population currently has a loan, but 18% have a credit facility at a shop/kiosk. Loans are risky, 26% of those have missed a payment. Most important reason for a loan is to expand a business.

Insurance: Only 2% of Nigerian adults have access to insurance. 65% of Nigerian adults have either not heard of insurance or do not know what it means. Most insurance products are fake.

Technology: 53% of Nigerian adults have access to a mobile phone.

Thieves force LNG to declare force majeure

Thieves tapping into energy pipelines have forced Nigeria LNG Limited, supplier of 10% of the world's liquefied natural gas, to warn it may not be able to meet all of its export obligations.
NLNG said yesterday it had warned buyers of possible disruption after Royal Dutch Shell was forced to shut down its Soku gas plant, which contributes 40% of NLNG's feed stock, to repair pipeline damage caused by thieves. Shell declared force majeure on its gas supplies to the NLNG plant in Rivers state following a sharp rise in illegal connections on pipelines to Soku in recent months.
"The level of theft from this pipeline has meant we had to remove more than 50 illegal valves in August and September alone," Mutiu Sunmonu, managing director of Shell's SPDC subsidiary in Nigeria, said in a statement. "Over the last few weeks the situation has deteriorated rapidly and resulted in a situation where safety concerns dictated we had to shut in. We also approached a stage where we have questions regarding the integrity of the pipeline which we will check," Sunmonu said.
SPDC said the force majeure would last for the duration of the shut down. It said repair work had to be carried out on pipelines outside the perimeter of the Soku plant itself but that the facility had to be shut down for safety reasons. It did not specify how long it would take for repairs to be completed.

Hundreds die in Jos violence

An uneasy calm is returning to the northern city of Jos this morning after a weekend of violent clashes that have left confusing numbers of casualties and fatalities. As the violence, sparked by the Plateau local government election on Thursday, degenerated to ethno-religious crisis on Saturday, the local press reported Sunday that the death toll has risen to 153, over 300 injured and thousands displaced.
"Official figures released by the police so far indicate that about 200 people are dead," the minister, Nuhu Gagara, told reporters, without saying how many were injured. "This figure is just preliminary, as a search and rescue committee has been inaugurated by the governement to go around the city and recover dead bodies," he added.

Comment: Though there is no official casualty figure, some witnesses said the death toll could be far higher, as scores of bodies were reported to be seen either littering the hot spots or being taken away in military vehicles.
The police said over 1,500 people, most of them brought in from neighbouring states, have been arrested in connection with the violence, which has pitched Christians and Muslims and led to the burning of churches and mosques.

Background: The violence started on Friday, when supporters of the opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) launched a protest against alleged reports that their candidate in the chairmanship of the Jos North local council had lost to his opponent from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The violence worsened and degenerated to an ethno-religious crisis on Saturday, after the results of the elections into the 17 local councils were released and the PDP won all. While Muslims in Plateau tend to support the ANPP, the PDP seems to have more support among Christians. President Umaru Yar'Adua ordered the deployment of troops to help quell the riots while the state governor, Jonah Jang, has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the affected areas. Jang also directed security agents to shoot on sight any person or group they suspected to be fuelling the violence.