LAGOS, July 30 (Reuters) – Nigeria is close to agreeing a
framework to make private power generation for the national grid
commercially viable, potentially unlocking billions of dollars
of investment and helping end chronic power shortages.

Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga said a presidential task
force had met with independent power producers in the capital
Abuja on Friday and had agreed to establish a new power purchase
agreement within six weeks.

LAGOS, July 29 (Reuters) – Nigeria’s parliament will pass
wide-ranging legislation to reform its energy industry within
weeks, redefining the OPEC member’s relationship with its
foreign oil partners, the oil minister said on Thursday.

Deziani Allison-Madueke told CNN she was confident the
Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), repeatedly delayed by revisions
and disagreement, would be made law within the next four to
five weeks.

LAGOS (Reuters) – Uncertainty over whether Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan will stand in elections next year is largely due to a nebulous understanding that power rotates between the Muslim north and Christian south.

Although not formally set in writing, there is an agreement among the political elite in the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that the presidency should alternate between north and south after every two four-year terms.

ABUJA (Reuters) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that the United States must make its position on Israel’s nuclear strategy clear before talks on Tehran’s atomic programme could resume.

Sanctions imposed by “arrogant” Western powers would not slow Iran’s nuclear progress, he said.

ABUJA (Reuters) – Eight developing Islamic economies including Nigeria, Iran and Pakistan aim to reach a preferential trade agreement by next year to try to double trade and deepen economic cooperation, government officials said on Thursday.

Heads of state and ministers from the Developing Eight Countries (D8) — Iran, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey — are meeting in Nigeria to discuss developing business ties and reducing trade barriers.

LAGOS, July 1 (Reuters) – Nigeria is approaching what could
be its most fiercely contested elections since the end of
military rule, with the risk of a split in the ruling party and
the field of potential candidates wide open.

President Goodluck Jonathan has consolidated power since
taking office two months ago but critics say his lustre is
beginning to fade — plenty of committees have been set up but
tangible progress on key issues is slow.

LAGOS, June 17 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) has
some $40 billion worth of potential investment in deepwater oil
projects in Nigeria on hold amid uncertainty over planned
reforms to the energy sector, a senior executive told Reuters.

Mutiu Sunmonu, country chairman for Shell Nigeria, said it
was difficult to make commitments without clarity over the terms
of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), legislation which will
change the fiscal and regulatory framework in the OPEC member.

LAGOS, June 9 (Reuters) – The choice of a respected Nigerian
academic to head the electoral commission and organise polls due
by next April met with cautious optimism from political parties
on Wednesday, but many said deeper reforms were needed fast.

President Goodluck Jonathan’s choice of Attahiru Jega, the
vice chancellor of Bayero University in the northern city of
Kano, was approved by the Council of State on Tuesday and is
expected to be endorsed by parliament soon. [ID:nLDE6572FT]

LAGOS, June 4 (Reuters) – Nigeria’s new finance minister
said on Friday creating jobs and getting affordable credit to
smaller companies were among his top priorities in the short
time left of the current administration.

Olusegun Aganga, a former Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) executive who
took over as finance minister two months ago, said a $4 billion
bank bail-out by the central bank last year had been courageous
and necessary but noted it had had unintended consequences.

LAGOS, May 30 (Reuters) – Nigeria’s central bank said on
Sunday it was extending a 500 billion naira ($3.3 bln) fund
meant to stimulate credit to the power and manufacturing sectors
to the country’s troubled airline industry.

Domestic airlines in sub-Saharan Africa’s second biggest
economy have gone through rapid expansion in recent years and
are heavily indebted to the country’s banks, themselves just
recovering from the impact of a $4 billion bailout last year.