Africa Business News

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery announced a reduction in its price of petrol, to ₦970 per litre for oil marketers. The company’s Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, says the decision is the refinery’s way of appreciating Nigerians for their unwavering support in making the refinery a dream come true. He says the move is a cut from the refinery’s ₦990 ex-depot price announced earlier this month. He says this is to thank the government for their support as this will complement the measures put in place to encourage domestic enterprise.

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The Federal Government of Nigeria and Fundação Getulio Vargas of Brazil have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to advance private sector development in fertiliser production, hybrid seed technology, and agricultural finance. The Director (Information & Public Relations), Abiodun Oladunjoye, noted that the agreement marks a new phase of strategic collaboration between Nigeria and FGV, the Green Imperative Project (GIP) lead implementer, one of the largest international agricultural technology transfer initiatives. Oladunjoye says that the GIP is a 1.2-billion-dollar cooperative effort between Brazil and Nigeria, designed to modernise Nigeria’s agricultural sector through Brazilian expertise in tropical agriculture.

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The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, says Nigeria remains the most viable aviation market in Africa. He says that with the potential to become an African aviation hub, it is high time the country opened its market to attract investors who will help improve its infrastructure. He says the only way forward is to attract private investors because budgetary allocations cannot carry the big infrastructure plan.

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US President Joe Biden has given the green light for Ukraine to use long-range missiles supplied by the US to strike Russia Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted to the news which came via briefings from US officials by saying, "Such things are not announced; missiles speak for themselves." Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously warned Western nations against such a move, saying it would represent the Nato military alliance's "direct participation" in the Ukraine war.

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Mozambique's government has banned protests following sustained post-election unrest that has left several people dead and dozens others injured. It follows last month's disputed presidential election, which Frelimo, the party that has governed Mozambique since 1975, won. The weeks-long protests have led to violent clashes with the police and at least 18 people have been killed, according to Human Rights Watch. Interior Minister Pascoal Ronda has urged Mozambicans to cooperate with the authorities to stop the protests, terming them "acts of terrorism". Demonstrations started at the end last month in the capital, Maputo, after Daniel Chapo, the Frelimo candidate, was officially declared the winner with more than 71% of the vote.

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The Nigerian Exchange Limited has proposed new rules on block divestment and large-volume trades. Market stakeholders were invited to share their feedback on the proposed rules in a notice to trading licence holders to amend Trading Licence Holders Rules (Part XIIIA) on Block Divestments and large-volume trades. The Chief Executive Officer of the NGX Regulation Limited, Olufemi Shobanjo, says the proposed change includes that trade shall be treated as a block divestment where it involves: a) a transfer of shares amounting to five per cent, which used to be 30 per cent.

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The Benue State Government says it is working on enacting an electricity law to regulate the state energy sector. The Commissioner for Transport, Renewable Energy, and Power, Mr Omale Omale, says that a draft of the bill was at the Ministry of Justice for vetting and onward presentation to the state executive council. The commissioner stated that the bill would be sent to the House of Assembly as an executive bill as soon as the executive council approved it. Omale says the new Electricity Act allows states to join the energy market, and generate, distribute, and regulate electricity within their states.

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Nigerian Budget Office says Rising taxes and oil revenues by the Federal Government have boosted its earnings by 76 per cent, from N7.1 trillion in 2022 to N12.5 trillion in 2023. The budget office, says while total revenue was up by 76 per cent, oil revenue rose by a whopping 200 per cent from N0.8 trillion in 2022 to N2.4 trillion in 2023, contributing 19.2% to total revenue. The remarkable increase in oil revenue is attributed largely to higher crude oil production, which increased from an average of 1.31mbpd in 2022 to 1.41mbpd in 2023. Non-oil revenue increased by 57.8% from N6.4 trillion in 2022 to N10.1 trillion in 2023, contributing 80.8% to the total revenue.

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Qatar has suspended its work as a mediator in ceasefire and hostage release talks between Israel and Hamas The country says it would resume its work when Hamas and Israel show their willingness to negotiate. It comes after senior US officials reportedly says Washington would no longer accept the presence of Hamas representatives in Qatar, accusing the Palestinian group of rejecting fresh proposals for an end to the war in Gaza. Qatar says initial reports from withdrawn from mediation talks are inaccurate. Qatar however says it will resume those efforts when the parties show their willingness and seriousness to end the brutal war.

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Botswana’s new president says that he wants undocumented Zimbabweans to be legalised by granting them temporary work and residence permits. Botswana hosts the world’s second-largest community of Zimbabweans fleeing their country’s economic woes - and they are often resented, with deportations taking place daily. President Boko says it was a challenge when thousands of Zimbabweans entered Botswana through the long and porous border between the two countries.

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