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Zuckerberg Pledges Support for Nigerian Tech Startups, SMEs

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Mark Zuckerberg - Investors King

Zuckerberg Pledges Support for Nigerian Tech Startups, SMEs

The founder and Chief Executive Officer of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, wednesday assured Nigerian technology startups and the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria of Facebook’s support that will enhance easy access and connectivity to the internet.

Zuckerberg, who made the pledge in Lagos while addressing technology startups on the second day of his visit to Nigeria, said Nigerian, which is the largest African market for Facebook, currently has 18 million people that are connected to Facebook, while the global figure of Facebook account is close to two billion people.

He said supporting SMEs in Nigeria and Africa is key to economic development because SMEs drive economies, and that Facebook has created 16 million free pages on the Facebook platform for SME business globally.

Excited at his visit to Nigeria, Zuckerberg said he specifically visited Nigeria to meet with technology startups and to share in the views about various software apps they have developed to address immediate and long term challenges in the country.

“Nigeria currently has 18 million people on Facebook, that interact and do different kinds of online businesses, among them are SMEs and Facebook is willing to support them to populate their numbers and provide easy access to connectivity and the internet,” Zuckerberg said during the question and answer session he had with startups and software developers in Lagos.

He however challenged the Nigerian government to reduce cost of internet access, and to create more access to internet for her citizens, as well as raise awareness campaign on the benefits of the internet, especially for rural dwellers.

He called for infrastructural development on the African continent and challenged software developers to focus more on local content in building apps that will address specific needs.

Facebook’s Director of Global Product Partnerships, Ime Archibong, who coordinated the developers, said: “When I came to Lagos back in May this year, I was really struck by the energy of the tech scene in Lagos, and by how many of the developers were building relevant apps. As someone with strong links to Nigeria, I have been trying to expose Mark to this ecosystem for a while, and I am very excited for him to be able to come to Nigeria to meet some of Nigeria’s top entrepreneurs and apps developers.”

While stressing the need to develop apps using local contents, Zuckerberg said building content should be a priority for Nigerian apps developers so that there could be variety of apps that could work with different technologies like 2G, 3G, and 4G.

Making some clarifications about Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, Zuckerberg said both are two different platforms, even though they are related in the area of text messages.

He promised to populate both platforms and make them learning and training platforms.
He said language remained key to communication and that Facebook would continue to extend the language of communication on the Facebook platform. According to him, Facebook is currently working hard to bring additional 10 languages on the Facebook platform.

Speaking on the success of Facebook and its future projection, Zuckerberg said predictions of the future is best articulated by creating and self determination.

Admitting that his visit to Nigeria was unannounced and without government preparation for any kind of reception, Zuckerberg said his visit was primarily based on meeting the technology startups in Nigeria, having heard so much about their zeal for fantastic apps development.

Is the CEO and Founder of Investors King Limited. He is a seasoned foreign exchange research analyst and a published author on Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, Nasdaq, Entrepreneur.com, Investorplace, and other prominent platforms. With over two decades of experience in global financial markets, Olukoya is well-recognized in the industry.

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Petrol

Three Oil Companies Ask Court To Stop NMDPRA From Seizing Their Petrol Import Licences, Accuse Dangote Refinery of Monopoly

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Aliko Dangote - Investors King

In response to Dangote Refinery N1 billion suit, three oil companies including Matrix Petroleum Services Limited, A.A. Rano Limited, and AYM Shafa Limited, have prayed the Federal High Court in Abuja to stop the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) from reviewing or withdrawing their import licenses.

The oil companies also urged the court not to block them from importing petrol in the interest of energy security and promotion of healthy competition in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.

Dangote Refinery had approached the court and filed and a N100 billion suit in damages against NMDPRA for allegedly continuing to issue import licenses to NNPCL, Matrix, and other companies for importing petroleum products such as Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and Jet Fuel (Aviation Turbine Fuel), despite that the refinery is producing the products in quantity that meets Nigerians’ needs.

The refinery also dragged NNPCL, AYM Shafa Limited, A.A. Rano Limited, T. Time Petroleum Limited, 2015 Petroleum Limited, and Matrix Petroleum Services Limited in the suit.

Counsel to Dangote Refinery, Ogwu James Onoja SAN, in the originating summons, dated September 6, 2024, claimed that NMDPRA contravened Sections 317(8) and (9) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) by issuing import licenses for petroleum products.

Onoja stated that such licenses should only be granted in cases of petroleum product shortages and not when Dangote Refinery is meeting the needs of the populace.

According to Onoja, NMDPRA has been discouraging local refiners such as Dangote Refinery by its actions.

Responding to the suit through their written address and counter-affidavit, dated November 5, 2024, and filed by Ahmed Raji SAN, the three oil companies said their businesses do not in any way hamper, disrupt, or harm Dangote Refinery’s operations.

The three defendants claimed the plaintiff allegedly sought to monopolise the petroleum industry in Nigeria, where it alone would control supply, distribution, and pricing.

In the defendants’ affidavit, deposed by Ali Ibrahim Abiodun, Acting Managing Director of AYM Shafa (with the consent and authority of Matrix, A.A. Rano, and AYM), it was stated that the defendants are qualified and capable of being licensed as importers of refined petroleum products under Section 317(9) of the PIA and that their licenses to import such products were lawfully issued by the appropriate authority, NMDPRA.

The deponent claimed that it typically takes an average of two months for Dangote Refinery to fulfill orders and that it rarely meets demand, with trucks waiting for months to be loaded at the refinery.

In contrast, he claimed it takes about three weeks to import petroleum products from offshore refineries.

The affidavit revealed that A.A. Rano’s oil depot in Lagos has a storage capacity of 55,000,000 liters and can load about 200 trucks per 24 hours.

The deponent stated that the company also owns 220 filling stations and another 85 affiliates and leased filling stations.

According to the deponent, AA Rano was one of the first to take delivery of AGO from Dangote Refinery, loading 20,000 MT of AGO on or about April 16, 2024, and has since purchased and loaded additional cargoes totaling approximately 190,000,000 liters.

Despite this patronage, the affidavit claimed that Dangote Refinery has continued to place obstacles that make it difficult for A.A. Rano to purchase products solely from the refinery.

The oil companies called on the court to dismiss the suit.

Meanwhile, the court adjourned the matter till January 20, 2025, for a status report.

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Energy

Malaysia’s CNG Ban Sparks Debate in Nigeria as Tinubu Pushes for CNG Adoption

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Nigerians on and off social media have expressed concern following a recent decision by the Malaysian government to phase out Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles by July 2025.

While the Nigerian government continues to urge citizens to use CNG as a cleaner, cheaper fuel alternative to petrol, Anthony Loke, Malaysian Transport Minister, questioned the safety of CNG.

Announcing the ban, the Malaysian Minister highlighted the risk associated with CNG vehicles, especially after tanks exceeded their 15-year safe usage limit.

Minister Loke announced the ban while speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, November 6.

The Malaysian Minister disclosed that the ban will affect over 44,000 vehicles in Malaysia, including private cars, taxis, buses, and industrial machinery.

According to Loke, “These NGV tanks have a safe usage lifespan of approximately 15 years, and if they are not replaced, they become unsafe to use and may fail at any time.”

Loke announced that the phase-out will be in stages with the first being the halting of CNG sales by the state oil and gas corporation, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) at its stations starting July 1, 2025.

The latest development has sparked numerous reactions as Nigerians criticized the Tinubu government for adopting CNG amid Malaysia’s phase-out.

Reacting to the development, @Gozie_mu wrote, “Nigeria to embrace it because we are the world’s dumping site.”

Another user, @iniekott, wrote: “Meanwhile, Nigerian rulers are putting CNG forward as a safe alternative to petrol.

“Note the clear-headed and tangible provisions made by the Malaysian government to help citizens with the transition.”

“Malaysia introduced CNG in the 1990s; now they are stopping it in 2024, while Bola and his supporters are asking Nigerians to change to CNG. APC is taking you 34 years backwards, but some of you’re defending it,” a user, PaschalNwosu5 wrote.

#SmartAtuadi criticized the government’s carelessness saying, “Nigeria seems determined to promote CNG without considering the safety implications that Malaysia has raised.”

Many others called on the government and government officials to lead by example by converting their vehicles to CNG before urging Nigerians to do so.

#Oserume1 commented, “If CNG was a good idea, Tinubu would have converted his official luxury Cadillac Escalade from petrol to CNG!”

@ekenezion said, “The president refused to convert his Escalade to CNG.”

@buzuzu7 opined, “I will only embrace this if all ministers and the presidency lead by example. I can’t be your guinea pig.”

The Nigerian government had since reacted to the CNG ban in Malaysia.

The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in his statement said the planned phase-out by the Malaysian government speaks more to the safety of LPG and not the safety of CNG.

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Energy

National Grid Collapses Twice in Two Days, Nigerians Express Frustration

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Electricity

The Nigerian National Grid has announced yet another collapse, marking the second occurrence in just two days. 

The collapse of the Grid was made known by the Nigeria National Grid via its official page on the X platform. 

Following the Grid collapse, the Jos Electricity Distribution PLC, released an apology statement through the Head of Corporate Communications, Friday Elijah, stating that the grid has collapsed and assuring Nigerians that the power will be restored to normal soon 

“The current outage being experienced within our franchise States is a result of loss of power supply from the national grid. The loss of power supply from the national grid occurred this morning at about 1128 hours of today, Thursday, 7th November 2024, hence the loss of power supply on all our feeders,” the statement read. 

In a similar vein, Ikeja Electric PLC apologised to its customers regarding the grid that collapsed. It said, “Please be informed that we experienced a system outage today 07 November, 2024 at 11:29Hrs affecting supply within our network.” Adding that “Restoration of supply is ongoing in collaboration with our critical stakeholders.” 

It should be noted that the grid collapsed on Tuesday and shortly after power was restored, the grid reportedly collapsed again on Thursday.

Moreover, the recent Grid collapse has garnered eyebrows from netizens showing discontent towards the constant collapse of the electricity grid. 

One netizen with the user name @Aumarsafana2917 tweeted “Enough of all these stories now, we’re tired. We’ve heard them enough.” 

Another X user, @ikbank tweeted “ This has become so absurd. Are we now living in a nation where things no longer work? For crying out loud, how many things are we going to continuously experience this collapse (outage). Why can’t things work effectively with minimal stress. So tiring!” 

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