Nicole Saphier joins 'America's Newsroom' to discuss the surgeon general pushing for cancer warning labels on alcohol and the CDC warning of norovirus cases surging in parts of the U.S.

Following the surgeon general’s January advisory linking alcohol consumption to seven types of cancer, a new study from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has revealed another possible risk.

The research, recently published in the journal PLOS Medicine, classified alcohol as a carcinogen, highlighting a particular increased risk of pancreatic cancer.

The surgeon general’s previous advisory named cancers of the breast (in women), colorectum, esophagus, voice box, liver, mouth and throat.

The researchers associated the pancreatic cancer risk with beer and spirits/liquor, but not with the intake of wine.

"Alcohol consumption is a known carcinogen, but until now, the evidence linking it specifically to pancreatic cancer has been considered inconclusive," said senior study author Pietro Ferrari, head of the IARC Nutrition and Metabolism Branch, in a press release. 

"Our findings provide new evidence that pancreatic cancer may be another cancer type associated with alcohol consumption, a connection that has been underestimated until now."

For the study, researchers recruited 2.5 million participants with a median age of 57, following them for about 16 years. 

Out of the group, 10,067 cases of pancreatic cancer were recorded.

Each increase of 10 grams of ethanol per day in alcohol consumption was associated with a 3% increase in the risk of pancreatic cancer, the study found.

Women who consumed 15 to 30 grams of alcohol (about one to two standard drinks) per day had a 12% increase in pancreatic cancer risk. 

Men who consumed 30 to 60 grams (two to six standard drinks) per day had a 15% increased risk of pancreatic cancer, and intake of over 60 grams per day was associated with a 36% greater risk.

The research did have some limitations.

"This observational study examined alcohol intake evaluated at a single time point during mid-to-late adulthood and included a limited number of Asian cohorts," the researchers wrote.

"Further research is needed to better understand the role of lifetime alcohol consumption — for example, during early adulthood — and the influence of specific consumption patterns, such as binge-drinking."

Adam Scioli, an addiction psychiatrist at Caron Treatment Centers in Pennsylvania, previously commented to Fox News Digital that "alcohol is a toxin."

"There have been reports for years that it could be beneficial for one's health — but we know now that alcohol ingestion is one of the modifiable risk factors for cancer," Scioli, who is not affiliated with IARC, told Fox News Digital.

Marc Siegel, senior medical analyst for Fox News, was not involved in the study but spoke with Fox News Digital about the findings. 

"This is in keeping with alcohol as a toxin that directly inflames and damages pancreatic cells," he said. 

Around 75,000 Americans each year are diagnosed with a cancer that is in some way linked to alcohol use, according to Scioli. 

Neha Pathak, WebMD’s chief physician editor of health and lifestyle medicine, noted that the study highlights a new, independent risk factor for pancreatic cancer. 

"What’s important to know is that there really isn’t a safe level of drinking when it comes to cancer risk," Atlanta-based Pathak, who also did not participate in the research, told Fox News Digital. 

"This study reinforces that message — but it also shows how complex these links are, and how we need to keep digging deeper into the role of alcohol and different drinking habits in cancer development," she added.

Fox News

Tension is high as the Take It Back Movement leads nationwide protests today, June 12, in at least 20 cities, including Abuja, Lagos, and Benin. The protests are aimed at highlighting rising economic hardship, insecurity, and misgovernance under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Tinubu, who cancelled his planned national broadcast, will instead address a joint session of the National Assembly as part of Democracy Day celebrations. Protesters plan to march on the Assembly in Abuja, and other key locations across Nigeria.

Security agencies have deployed personnel nationwide to maintain order. In some states, police warned against disorder but affirmed the right to peaceful protest. In Lagos, the NBA urged police to protect demonstrators, citing constitutional rights.

The organisers insist the protests will go ahead despite reports of harassment of coordinators in states like Lagos, Gombe, and Edo. They urged citizens to speak out against worsening poverty, insecurity, and what they call two years of “misrule.”

While some states, including Kano and Kwara, opted for lectures and workshops instead of street protests, groups in others like Niger, Delta, and Edo are mobilising crowds. Authorities have promised to ensure peaceful commemorations, but warned they would respond to any threats to public peace.

Edo North Senator Adams Oshiomhole has strongly refuted Air Peace’s allegations that he disrupted airport operations, instead accusing the airline of systematic extortion and arbitrary policy enforcement that exploits Nigerian passengers.

The controversy erupted when Air Peace publicly accused the former Edo State governor of causing disruptions at Lagos’ Murtala Muhammed Airport after allegedly missing his scheduled flight. However, speaking to journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, Oshiomhole painted a dramatically different picture of events.

The Tuesday Evening Incident

According to Oshiomhole’s account, trouble began Tuesday evening when he arrived at the airport at 6:10 PM for a 6:50 PM departure to Abuja, well within Air Peace’s standard 30-minute check-in window. Despite having his luggage processed and holding a business class ticket, airline staff denied him boarding, claiming they had stopped issuing boarding passes.

“I saw others arriving after me who were allowed to board,” Oshiomhole explained, describing what he viewed as selective enforcement of policies. The denial forced him to secure hotel accommodation, where he spent ₦1.5 million to house himself and two stranded Ghanaian passengers.

Morning Flight Rejection Sparks Deeper Concerns

The situation escalated the following morning when Oshiomhole, having checked in online at 7:46 PM the previous night, arrived for the 6:30 AM flight at 6:05 AM. Despite meeting what he understood to be the airline’s requirements, he was again turned away due to what staff described as a sudden policy change requiring passengers to check in 45 minutes before departure instead of the usual 30 minutes.

“What is the purpose of online check-in, then?” Oshiomhole questioned, highlighting the apparent contradictions in the airline’s procedures.

Allegations of Systematic Exploitation

The senator’s most serious accusations centered on what he characterized as a deliberate scheme to exploit passengers. He described witnessing airline staff deny boarding to passengers with legitimate online bookings while simultaneously selling last-minute tickets at inflated prices.

Oshiomhole cited the case of a woman who purchased her ticket online for ₦146,000 but was denied boarding and told to buy a replacement ticket for ₦250,000. “That is not policy enforcement, it is extortion,” he declared.

The senator detailed how another passenger, a woman traveling with a baby, was eventually offered a seat on the next flight for an additional ₦109,000, bringing her total cost to approximately ₦256,000 for a one-hour domestic flight.

Rejecting VIP Treatment, Standing with Citizens

In a move that distinguishes his response from typical elite behavior, Oshiomhole revealed that he deliberately refused preferential treatment when Air Peace staff offered to “sort him out” after recognizing his status.

“I said, don’t help me, enforce my rights like every other Nigerian,” he recounted. The senator criticized what he termed “VIP impunity” in Nigeria’s aviation sector, where influential individuals receive special treatment while ordinary citizens suffer.

His decision to remain with stranded passengers rather than accept preferential access reflects a broader stance against systemic inequality. “Big men get sorted, and the rest of Nigerians are ignored,” he observed.

Regulatory Failure and Government Responsibility

Oshiomhole directed sharp criticism at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), accusing the regulatory body of failing in its oversight responsibilities. He characterized the situation as “ruthless, primitive capitalism” where Nigerians remain unprotected from corporate exploitation.

“How can you profit from your own inefficiency?” he asked, calling on the federal government to intervene in what he sees as systematic abuse of passengers’ rights.

The senator warned that continued exploitation could have broader social consequences, suggesting that when people lose hope in institutional protection, they may resort to more drastic measures.

Financial Support for Affected Passengers

Demonstrating his commitment to the affected passengers, Oshiomhole revealed that he provided ₦500,000 to assist the woman who was denied boarding, illustrating the personal cost of his principled stand.

The incident has highlighted broader questions about airline practices in Nigeria and the effectiveness of regulatory oversight in protecting consumer rights. Oshiomhole’s refusal to accept VIP treatment while advocating for ordinary passengers has added a unique dimension to what might otherwise have been dismissed as another celebrity tantrum.

As the dispute continues, it raises important questions about corporate accountability, regulatory effectiveness, and the protection of consumer rights in Nigeria’s aviation sector.

Oil prices edged higher on Thursday to their highest in more than two months, after U.S. President Donald Trump said U.S. personnel were being moved out of the Middle East, which raised fear that escalating tensions with Iran could disrupt supply.

Brent crude futures rose 15 cents, 0.2%, to $69.92 a barrel at 1230 am GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude 22 cents, 0.3%, to $68.37.

Both Brent and WTI surged more than 4% to their highest since early April on Wednesday.

Trump on Wednesday said U.S. personnel were being moved out of the Middle East because "it could be a dangerous place," adding that the United States would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

Reuters reported earlier on Wednesday that the U.S. is preparing a partial evacuation of its Iraqi embassy and will allow military dependents to leave locations around the Middle East due to heightened security risks in the region, according to U.S. and Iraqi sources.

Iraq is OPEC's No. 2 crude producer after Saudi Arabia.

A U.S. official said military dependents could also leave Bahrain.

Meanwhile, Iran's Minister of Defense Aziz Nasirzadeh said Tehran will strike U.S. bases in the region if nuclear talks fail and conflict arises with Washington. Trump has repeatedly threatened Iran with bombing if it does not reach a new nuclear deal.

Optimism around a trade deal between the U.S. and China, which could boost energy demand in the world's two biggest economies, also buoyed oil prices.

In the U.S., crude inventories fell by 3.6 million barrels to 432.4 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a draw of 2 million barrels.

Reuters

US slams UN conference on Israel-Palestinian issue, warns of consequences

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is discouraging governments around the world from attending a U.N. conference next week on a possible two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, according to a U.S. cable seen by Reuters.

The diplomatic demarche, sent on Tuesday, says countries that take "anti-Israel actions" following the conference will be viewed as acting in opposition to U.S. foreign policy interests and could face diplomatic consequences from Washington.

The demarche, which was not previously reported, runs squarely against the diplomacy of two close allies France and Saudi Arabia, who are co-hosting the gathering next week in New York that aims to lay out the parameters for a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel's security.

"We are urging governments not to participate in the conference, which we view as counterproductive to ongoing, life-saving efforts to end the war in Gaza and free hostages," read the cable.

President Emmanuel Macron has suggested France could recognise a Palestinian state in Israeli-occupied territories at the conference. French officials say they have been working to avoid a clash with the U.S., Israel's staunchest major ally.

"The United States opposes any steps that would unilaterally recognise a conjectural Palestinian state, which adds significant legal and political obstacles to the eventual resolution of the conflict and could coerce Israel during a war, thereby supporting its enemies," the cable read.

The United States for decades backed a two-state solution between the Israelis and the Palestinians that would create a state for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza alongside Israel.

Trump, in his first term, was relatively tepid in his approach to a two-state solution, a longtime pillar of U.S. Middle East policy. The Republican president has given little sign of where he stands on the issue in his second term.

But on Tuesday, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a long-time vocal supporter of Israel, said he did not think an independent Palestinian state remained a U.S. foreign policy goal.

GAZA WAR

"Unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state would effectively render Oct. 7 Palestinian Independence Day," the cable read, referring to when Palestinian Hamas militants carried out a cross-border attack from Gaza on Israel in 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.

Hamas' attack triggered Israel's air and ground war in Gaza in which almost 55,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of the 2.3 million population displaced and the enclave widely reduced to rubble.

If Macron went ahead, France, home to Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim communities, would become the first Western heavyweight to recognise a Palestinian state.

This could lend greater momentum to a movement hitherto dominated by smaller nations generally more critical of Israel.

Macron's stance has shifted amid Israel's intensified Gaza offensive and escalating violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, and there is a growing sense of urgency in Paris to act now before the idea of a two-state solution vanishes forever.

The U.S. cable said Washington had worked tirelessly with Egypt and Qatar to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, free the hostages and end the conflict.

"This conference undermines these delicate negotiations and emboldens Hamas at a time when the terrorist group has rejected proposals by the negotiators that Israel has accepted."

This week Britain and Canada, also G7 allies of the United States, were joined by other countries in placing sanctions on two Israeli far-right government ministers to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring the Gaza war to an end.

"The United States opposes the implied support of the conference for potential actions including boycotts and sanctions on Israel as well as other punitive measures," the cable read.

Israel has repeatedly criticised the conference, saying it rewards Hamas for the attack on Israel, and it has lobbied France against recognising a Palestinian state.

The U.S. State Department and the French Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Kiev’s unwillingness to compromise to lead to more territorial losses — Russian negotiator

Ukraine’s unwillingness to compromise in talks with Russia will only lead to more territorial losses for Kiev, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing Russian Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky, who heads Moscow’s delegation to negotiations with Ukraine.

"We want peace," he pointed. "But if Ukraine keeps being driven by the national interests of others, then we will be simply forced to respond," Medinsky added.

He also "warned that a lack of compromise from Kiev would only lead to more territorial losses," the newspaper notes.

"With Russia, it’s impossible to fight a long war," Medinsky noted, referring to a 21-year war with Sweden in the 18th century.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine's military says it struck Russia's Tambov gunpowder plant

The Ukrainian military said on Wednesday that it had struck a major Russian gunpowder plant in the western Tambov region overnight, causing a fire at the site.

The Ukrainian military characterised the plant as one of the main facilities in Russia's military industrial complex. "It produces gunpowder for various types of small arms, artillery and rocket systems," it said in a statement on Telegram.

Tambov regional Governor Yevgeny Pervyshov said early on Wednesday that Russian defences had repelled a "massive attack" by Ukrainian drones on the town of Kotovsk, which independent Russian media identified as the site of a gunpowder plant.

He said one downed drone had caused a fire but no casualties, and the situation was under control.

Pervyshov also told people not to film and publish images of air defence operations and attempted attacks, as this would provide "direct assistance to the enemy."

The Tambov gunpowder plant produces propellant powders used in charges for ammunition for 122 mm and 152 mm howitzers, according to a report from the Royal United Services Institute and the Open Source Centre.

The Ukrainian military also said that it recorded explosions at an ammunition depot in Russia's Kursk region and an airfield depot in Russia's Voronezh region.

Reuters was not able to independently confirm the incidents.

Sometime in March this year, I gave a young woman a ride in my car. The radio was beaming out King Sunny Ade’s track where he elegantly eulogised the late Moshood Abiola. The young woman’s eyes opened in recognition as she listened to the song. “MKO Abiola! I heard so much about the man that I went to read about him on Wikipedia. I read they killed him and all that.” I was taken aback. This young woman was probably in her late 20s or early 30s, but she had only learned about MKO through Wikipedia? That much time had passed that an entire generation of children born around June 12, 1993, has grown into adults who now read the history that some of us lived through. She glistened with the innocence of a generation untainted by the messiness of history. Reading about the events of history from behind the sanitised screen of electronic devices affords the luxury of detachment.

It is another June 12, and even those who witnessed those years have been remembering differently for reasons ranging from sheer nostalgia to disillusionment with the present. Some of the editorials marking the death of Sani Abacha, the brutal dictator whose death paved the way for the return of civil rule, try too hard to posture objectivity by speaking of his “good” sides. To supposedly balance their report, they first come up with a list of what he achieved before highlighting the abuses he inflicted on the country. They end up painting a picture of a benevolent dictator, a man who broke some eggs because he needed to make an omelette of national development. Painting such a sympathetic image tempts me to question if they, too, read up on the history informing their perspectives on Wikipedia. Whatever is wrong with the present cannot justify the past. This was a man who unleashed darkness upon the nation. Nothing redeems Abacha’s history.

It is fine to talk about the increased foreign exchange reserves under his watch and how he reduced the external debt, but how about sparing a thought for the Nigerians whose lives remained impoverished throughout the Abacha years? We tend to look wistfully at the past and convince ourselves that the world was better, but those were never part of “the good old days”. The post-June 12 years during which Abacha ruled the nation with an iron fist were really hard times, and it was not for nothing that we burst into the streets when nature took care of his nuisance. He was not a man who cared about the collective welfare that he governed to alleviate poverty and suffering. Whatever economic progress was recorded under his watch was, at best, merely incidental. Nigerians suffered, and we have probably never fully recovered from those years of economic crunch.

The economic deprivation was one, and the atmosphere of fear he created was another. Under Sani Abacha’s watch, the Nigerian press faced a severe crackdown. Some of the journalists who drew his ire are still alive to tell their stories. Those were also the days of political assassination. We still have no closure on the deaths of Kudirat Abiola, Suliat Adedeji, Alfred Rewane, Toyin Onagoruwa, Sola Omatsola, Tunde Oladepo, Admiral Olu Omotehinwa, Rear Admiral Babatunde Elegbede, and many others whose assassinations were attributed to the infamous “strike force” run by Major Hamza Al-Mustapha. Then, there was Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni Nine, who were brutally killed by the Abacha regime. These are outstanding moral debts. Knowing Nigeria for what it is, all these will likely fade away when the generation that witnessed this history dies out entirely.

Then, there are hundreds or possibly thousands of unnamed Nigerians killed by the trigger-happy soldiers. Yet, our media archivists go on and on about how Abacha established PTF as if that cancels out the evil he did. Watching a TVC journalist’s recent interview with Abacha’s widow, Maryam, I was put off by the overly deferential attitude he maintained towards her. This was a woman who could not have been entirely oblivious to the sins her husband committed; she must have averted her eyes while her husband trampled on the soul of the nation. Yet the journalist kept asking her solicitous questions. Why does this woman’s opinion on anything even matter?  Other than asking for forgiveness for the sins of her late husband, why does she deserve any attention?

But it is not only ordinary citizens who have been demonstrating poor memory where the history of June 12 is concerned. Even our leaders have twisted history, all in the bid to deodorise the maniac. In 2014, it was Goodluck Jonathan who first used one hand to swipe off history when he conferred Abacha with an award for “Outstanding Promoter of Unity, Patriotism and National Development”. Jonathan, ever-apologetic for even his own existence, must have thought he could appease the all-powerful North by erasing a fraction of Nigeria’s odious history. If Jonathan’s pandering could be understood as a shameless solicitation of Abacha’s followers because he was desperate to win an election, how does one explain the reverential attitude the present administration maintains towards the Abacha family?

A mere few months after they got into office, Oluremi Tinubu, the first lady, renamed the main auditorium of the Maryam Babangida National Centre for Women Development after Maryam Abacha. For her to have been in such a hurry to endow an Abacha with honour, there must have been a favour somewhere she could not wait to repay. Then, just last December, Mrs Tinubu also called for the renaming of the radiotherapy centre at the National Hospital, Abuja, in honour of Maryam Abacha. It makes you wonder what exactly Mrs Tinubu (and her husband) owes either this woman (or her late husband) that makes her eschew optics just to celebrate her? It gets even funnier when you recall that President Tinubu earned his activist clout for his supposed role in confronting the Abacha regime. As soon as they got into power, they could not wait to confer honorary awards on the same set of people whose high-handedness supposedly pursued them into exile. Looking back on June 12, some 32 years later, I wonder if the whole NADECO story deserves a re-examination to separate the genuine fighters from the double agents who merely played both sides of history.

But then, it is also unsurprising that Tinubu does not maintain a principled stand against Abacha. Doing that would require the husband and wife to stand on the sure ground of social righteousness, and we all know why that is impossible for them. Much of the abuse of power and corruption that we witnessed under Abacha’s draconian rule has become a staple of their own government. Tinubu’s administration feels a lot like the Abacha leadership, except that we now have social media. And of course, there are far fewer political assassinations. It is no longer necessary to assassinate dissidents these days. Just invite them to Aso Rock or Bourdillon Road for “quality time” with the President, stage a photo-op with them, and you will effectively turn them into lickspittles. Some days, I wonder what the MKO Abiola family thinks about all these.

Punch

Self-made millionaire, author and TV host Ramit Sethi knows a thing or two about money. He’s even published books on how to get rich and how couples can manage their finances together.

But his own financial journey hasn’t been perfect. He recently sat down with his wife, Cassandra, for a special episode of his Money for Couples podcastwhere they answered some of the same questions he asks couples every week in an interview with friend Julie Nguyen.

The Sethis have been married since 2018, and Ramit has often shared tidbits about their relationship on his podcast and in his books, highlighting some of the strategies they’ve used to navigate combining finances, earning different incomes, creating shared goals and more.

On the podcast, Ramit and Cassandra agreed on the most difficult money conversation they’ve ever had as a couple: negotiating their prenup before getting married.

“I’m sweating thinking about it right now,” Ramit said. ”[The] first time I brought it up, I remember I had talked to so many people, gotten advice, planned what I was gonna say and I was very nervous about it.”

Cassandra received the idea of a prenup well, he said, but things went south from there. 

‘Money is going to run through your relationship more than anything else’

Many money experts recommend getting a prenuptial agreement, even to those with modest finances. A prenup is a legal contract outlining how a couple wants their finances handled in the event of a divorce. Without one, couples could wind up leaving those decisions — like who gets certain assets or who pays spousal support — up to a judge.

Prenups are for everyone, money expert Suze Orman told CNBC Make It in 2020, and individuals should feel comfortable bringing it up with their partner.

“If you cannot talk money to the person that you are about to marry, you are doomed for failure because money is going to run through your relationship more than anything else,” she said.

When Ramit brought up the idea of a prenup up to Cassandra, he had already started his business and written his first book on money. Cassandra didn’t know much about them, but was willing to learn. And while they both agreed to get a prenup, their negotiations turned contentious due to differing expectations and understandings of money.

Ramit saw the negotiations as strictly financial and tried to let the numbers speak for themselves. Cassandra, on the other hand, was more tapped into the emotional considerations, which Ramit wasn’t really thinking about.

Ramit tried to make a “generous” offer in his prenup proposal, he said, but Cassandra was more concerned with their relationship and ensuring their feelings and emotions were aligned.

“We started going back and forth and I was very confused, very hurt because I’m like, ‘I’m not trying to trick anybody here,’” Ramit said.

Cassandra eventually suggested the couple sit down with a therapist and talk through their emotions to figure out where things weren’t aligning. The therapist asked how they each view money.

“That really opened up conversations that we hadn’t been able to have because my answer was like, ‘growth, of course, look at the compounding.’ And her answer was, ‘safety,’” Ramit said.

‘I should have been asking more questions’

Despite the turmoil, the process helped the couple deepen their relationship by revealing not just how they each think about money, but also how they should be communicating those feelings with each other, they said.

While Ramit was more focused on the actual numbers, Cassandra didn’t have the financial knowledge to get a sense of security from the amounts in their savings and investment accounts.

“I’ll never forget something Ramit said to me during that time. You were like, ‘I really need you to get better at money,’” she said. “I took that very seriously because deep down inside I was like, ‘I know I’m not that great at money. I could get better.’”

While she worked on learning about prenups and managing money in general, Ramit acknowledged he needed to improve at talking about emotions so he could more clearly communicate where he was coming from and better understand Cassandra’s perspective.

“In retrospect, you were not asking me to pull out a f------ spreadsheet. You were feeling this,” he said. “Looking back, I needed to listen to what you were saying. I should have been asking more questions.”

Now seven years into their marriage, they still consider what they learned from their prenup negotiations the most valuable lessons they’ve learned from each other, they said.

Cassandra said Ramit’s mindset around abundance and trusting your earning power “has been really eye-opening.” And Ramit is grateful to have learned from Cassandra the importance of checking in on your feelings and talking about them.

“It has really changed the way that I relate to people a lot,” he said.

CNBC

Nigeria and Saudi Arabian oil company Aramco are struggling to reach an agreement on a record $5 billion oil-backed loan after a recent decline in crude prices sparked concern among banks that were expected to back the deal, four sources told Reuters.

The facility would be Nigeria's largest oil-backed loan to date and Saudi Arabia's first participation of this scale in the country, although the decline in oil price could shrink the size of the deal, the sources said.

Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu, two of the sources said, first broached the loan in November when he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh at the Saudi-African Summit. Details and progress on the loan talks have not been previously reported.

The slow progress in discussions reflects the strain of the recent oil price drop, caused largely by a shift in OPEC+ policy to regain market share rather than curtail supply.

Brent has fallen about 20% to around $65 per barrel from above $82 in January. A lower oil price means Nigeria could need more barrels to back the loan, but years of under-investment are complicating its ability to meet production goals.

Tinubu sought approval for $21.5 billion in foreign borrowing last month to bolster the budget, and the $5 billion oil-backed facility under discussion with Aramco would be part of that, sources said.

The banks involved in the talks that are expected to co-fund part of the loan with creditor Aramco have expressed concerns about oil delivery, which has slowed discussions, sources said.

Gulf banks and at least one African lender are involved, they added. Reuters could not establish the banks' identities.

"It's hard to find anyone to underwrite it," one source said, citing concerns over the availability of the cargoes.

Saudi Aramco declined to comment. Nigeria's state-owned oil company NNPC did not comment, and neither did the finance or petroleum ministries.

SCARCE OIL

Nigeria has years of experience taking out - and repaying - oil-backed loans - which the government uses for budget support, shoring up foreign reserves or to revamp state-owned refineries.

At $5 billion, the Aramco loan would be backed by at least 100,000 barrels per day of oil, the sources said.

However, it would almost double the roughly $7 billion of oil-backed loans taken in the last five years.

Nigeria is using at least 300,000 bpd to repay NNPC's other oil-backed loans, though one facility is expected to be paid off this month.

The amount of oil going towards repaying existing oil-backed loans is fixed, but when the crude price falls, it takes longer to repay them.

Additionally, lower prices mean the NNPC has to funnel more crude oil to joint-venture partners, from international majors like Shell to local producers like Oando or Seplat, for its portion of operation costs.

"You have to either find more oil, or find a way to renegotiate those deals," another source said.

Nigerian trading firm Oando is expected to manage the offtake of the physical cargoes, the sources said.

Oanda did not comment.

NNPC is trying to boost output, while Tinubu issued an executive order aimed at cutting production costs, which would free more money from each barrel.

Africa's largest oil exporter assumed a price of $75 per barrel in its budget, with production of 2 million bpd. But in April, it pumped just under 1.5 million bpd, according to the May OPEC market report.

Reuters

A UK appeal court dismissed an application by a director of Process and Industrial Development (P&ID) seeking permission to appeal a high court decision that overturned an award of $6.6 billion in damages against Nigeria in 2017 in favour of the British Virgin Islands-based company

Seamus Andrew, counsel to P&ID during the arbitration, became a director of the company in October 2017 after obtaining a stake in the firm through his company, Lismore Capital Limited, according to a copy of the Tuesday judgement.

Andrew is an additional appellant in the suit, with the Federal Republic of Nigeria as the claimant/respondent and P&ID as the defendant.

Justice Robin Knowles of High Court of Justice Business and Property Courts of England and Wales Commercial Court had on 21 December 2023 handed down his ruling, setting aside the award and refusing P&ID leave to appeal.

His order, however, contained a general liberty to apply to the judge.

Jia Wei Lee, a counsel to Andrew, sent an email to the judge’s clerk a day after, stating that Mr Andrew would not be making an application for permission to appeal to the judge.

He noted that, rather, Andrew would file an appellant notice seeking permission to appeal directly from the Court of Appeal.

“No disrespect is intended by seeking permission directly from the Court of Appeal. The reason for this choice is that, given that Andrew’s application was not considered and determined at the consequential hearing, and no extension of time was granted, the lower court is now functus officio and no longer has jurisdiction to determine an application for permission to appeal,” the court document stated.

In their verdict on Tuesday, Sir Julian Flaux, Lord Justice Phillips and Lord Justice Jeremy Baker remarked that “this court then analysed the relevant provisions of CPR 52.3 and the Practice Direction, concluding that the proper practice was to apply for permission to appeal to the first instance judge at the hand down of the judgment.”

The court document noted that Andrew’s appellant’s notice in the court had been issued on 21 December 2023, more than five weeks after the date for filing any appellant’s notice with the Court of Appeal which, under relevant law, was 21 days after the hand-down of the judgement, that is 13 November 2023.

According to Justice Knowles’ decision of 23 October 2023, P&ID paid bribes to Grace Taiga, director of legal at Nigeria’s Ministry of Petroleum Resources, in connection with a gas contract signed in 2010 and failed to mention it when P&ID initiated the legal action over the botched deal. The judge also observed that P&ID had improperly retained and used internal documents of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that it had received during the arbitration.

Many of the documents were clearly subject to legal professional privilege and were confidential documents which P&ID was not eligible to see.

“The documents were transmitted to P&ID deliberately by the individuals in Nigeria who procured them. FRN did not authorise their release to and retention by P&ID. Among those acting for P&ID who received the FRN internal legal documents were Mr Cahill, Mr Andrew and Mr Trevor Burke,” the court paper said.

“P&ID has offered no sensible explanation for why these documents were leaked by [Nigeria’s] lawyers and has presented this Court with a conspiracy of silence. The obvious and correct inference is that they were obtained through corruption of [Nigeria’s] legal advisers carried out by P&ID and Mr Adebayo. … Mr Murray all but admitted in his oral evidence that [they] were procured by corruption, and no P&ID witness proffered an otherwise honest explanation”.

Background

In January 2010, Nigeria and P&ID entered into a gas supply and processing agreement, requiring the company to build and operate an accelerated gas development project at Adiabo in the Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State. The Nigerian Government was to source natural gas from oil mining leases (OMLs) 123 and 67 operated by Addax Petroleum and supply it to P&ID for processing into fuel suitable for power generation.

P&ID alleged that Nigeria breached the contract after negotiations were opened with the Cross River State government to allocate land for the project.

It claimed that efforts to settle the matter out of court with the Nigerian government failed, prompting the company to institute legal action.

An arbitral tribunal awarded $6.6 billion in damages against Nigeria and in favour of P&ID in January 2017. The sum later ballooned to more than $11 billion due to an accumulation of interest.

Nigeria challenged the award in December 2019, claiming that P&ID obtained the contract by bribing officials of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and corrupting the country’s lawyers to gain access to confidential documents while the arbitration was on.

In October 2023, Nigeria won the bid to set aside the arbitration award after its lawyers argued that the company intended to use litigation to make money out of the situation.

P&ID, founded by Irishmen Michael Quinn and Brendan Cahill, had been pursuing the claim since 2012.

In his ruling, Justice Knowles noted that P&ID and its lawyers were “driven by greed and prepared to use corruption; giving no thought to what their enrichment would mean in terms of harm for others.”

In July 2024, an English Court of Appeal rejected the bid by P&ID to set aside a previous judgement reversing the company’s $11 billion damages claim against Nigeria. The court noted that the decision of a London high court on 21 December 2023, throwing out the $11 billion award, stands.

PT