Location: Lagos, Nigeria.
Date: Circa January 1962.

Photographer/Source: Pix/Michael Ochs Archives.
Significance: The image captures the era of Kingsway Stores, which symbolized modern and cosmopolitan life in West Africa in the early 1960s.
About Kingsway Stores

Origins: The chain began as Lever’s Stores in 1922, evolving through Opobo Stores Ltd before becoming Kingsway Stores Ltd in 1947.

Expansion: The first store in Nigeria opened in Lagos in 1948, followed by others in cities like Freetown, Accra, Ibadan, and Port Harcourt.

Impact: Kingsway Stores represented a modern, western-style shopping experience, with departments for various goods, and were a popular shopping destination for Nigerians.

President Bola Tinubu is scheduled to commission the $400m Otakikpo Onshore Crude Oil Export Terminal in Rivers State on October 8, the first new crude export facility to be built in Nigeria in over 50 years.

The facility, developed by Green Energy International Limited, operators of the Otakikpo field in OML 11, Ikuru town, Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, is the first wholly indigenous onshore terminal built in Nigeria. The last such facility, the Forcados Terminal, was commissioned in 1971.

The inauguration is expected to attract top government officials, including the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and key stakeholders across the oil and gas sector.

The Otakikpo terminal is expected to serve as a lifeline to more than 40 stranded oil fields by providing a reliable evacuation outlet, potentially unlocking millions of barrels of crude previously trapped underground.

With an initial storage capacity of 750,000 barrels, expandable to three million barrels, and a loading capacity of 360,000 barrels per day, the facility is also projected to reduce production costs for indigenous producers significantly.

Chairman and Chief Executive of GEIL, Professor Anthony Adegbulugbe, described the terminal as a “game-changing national infrastructure.”

“What we have achieved here is not just a storage solution, but a pathway for about 40 stranded oil fields to finally contribute to the economy,” Adegbulugbe said.

The commissioning underscores the Federal Government’s renewed efforts to restore investor confidence in Nigeria’s oil sector, which has struggled with declining production, pipeline vandalism, oil theft, and rising operational costs in recent years.

Senator Ali Ndume has asked the National Assembly to review Nigeria’s labour laws after the recent strike by oil and gas workers in protest of Dangote Refinery’s actions.

Speaking to the BBC Hausa Service, Ndume said the three-day strike made life harder for ordinary Nigerians until the Federal Government stepped in to settle the dispute.

“The strike brought unnecessary suffering. The price of petrol rose from ₦890 to ₦900, and people were left struggling. We need to review the labour law and make changes,” he emphasized.

The strike started after PENGASSAN protested the sack of hundred of workers at the refinery which Dangote Refinery insists was part of restructuring to meet its work needs and not because of union activity.

The strike, which began on Monday, September 28, was called off on Wednesday, October 1, after the government intervened. However, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) said the action reduced crude oil production by 16 percent and caused a 30 percent drop in gas trading.

Ndume argued that while workers’ unions deserve protection, they must not use their power to make Nigerians suffer.“If PENGASSAN felt the refinery treated its members unfairly, it should have gone to court, not cut off fuel supply,” he said.

He also reminded Nigerians that the Dangote Refinery is a private business built with billions of dollars, warning that unions must act responsibly when dealing with it.