BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Glo, MTN bicker over interconnect charges; Nigeria ranks 6th with cheapest petrol price in Africa; Other stories

Hello, and welcome to Business Roundup this week. Here, we bring you highlights of events that happened during the week —from the capital market to the mainstream business activities, while not forgetting the tech/economy build up.

Here are the Headlines

• Glo denies owing MTN interconnect charges
• Nigeria ranked 6th cheapest African petrol country
• 650,000 bpd Dangote Refinery begins operation
• CBN appoints new CEOs, directors for Union, Keystone, Polaris banks

Summary

The Federal Government has initiated efforts to cutdown the rising price of sugar and improve the capacity of local sugar production in Nigeria.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Doris Uzoka, disclosed this on Wednesday after a tour of sugar companies in the country.

According to Uzoka, she had engaged major companies under the pioneer status of the National Sugar Master Plan on collaborative terms to curtail the rising price.

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery located in the Lekki area of Lagos has began operation.

A source told journalists that the refinery began production in the early hours of Friday.

This followed the delivery of six million barrels of crude supply to the facility earlier this week.

Nigeria has been ranked as the sixth country with the cheapest price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly known as petrol in Africa and the 22nd globally.

This is according to a new report released on January 1, 2024 has shown.

Nigeria’s average petrol price stands at $0.722 equivalent to N657 according to the report.

READ ALSO:BUSINESS ROUNDUP: CBN bans cash withdrawals from crypto accounts; Rupert displaces Dangote as Africa’s richest man; Other stories

The report by Global Petrol Prices titled Gasoline Prices; Octane-95 listed Libya as the country with the cheapest petrol price in Africa at $0.031 (N28.35).

Few hours after dissolving the Board of Directors and the Management of Union Bank, Keystone, and Polaris banks, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has appointed new chief executives to pilot the affairs of these financial institutions.

In a statement by Mrs Sidi Ali, Hakama, the acting director of Corporate Communication of CBN, on the apex bank’s verified X handle @cenbank on Thursday morning disclosed that the newly appointed executives are to assume their roles with immediate effect.

According to the statement, Yetunde Oni, who held sway as the first female CEO of the Standard Chartered bank in Sierra Leone, was appointed as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank, while Mannir Ubali Ringim was selected as the Executive Director of the bank.

Nigerian telecommunications company, Globacom Ltd, has denied owing its competitor, MTN, interconnect charges, contrary to reports making the rounds.

The denial came on the heels of an announcement on Monday by the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), that Glo users will be barred from making calls to MTN subscribers because of Interconnectivity charges.

The notice which was given by the Director of Public Affairs of the NCC, Reuben Muoka, had stated that Glo failed to settle its outstanding debts despite repeated attempts at resolution.

On NGX ROUND UP: NGX: Investors make N243.9bn as market index rises by 445 basis points

Investors in the Nigerian equities market went home with N243.9 billion at the close of trading on Friday.

This followed the increase in market capitalization to N45.442 trillion from N45.199 trillion posted by the bourse on Thursday.

Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 445.9 basis points to 83,042.96 from 82,597.04 recorded the previous day.

ON TECH SCENE: Google, Yellow Card, Coinbase, Bolt, Duolingo, FriendyM, Seedstars Africa Ventures, Lokalee, Baims, Cleva, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Twiga Foods, inDrive, some of the names that made the headlines this week.

Ride-hailing giant, Bolt, has implemented a novel feature in its application to dissuade users from partaking in offline journeys and making payments outside the platform.

Also, The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has launched an automated passport application process aimed at streamlining and expediting passport acquisition for Nigerian citizens.

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