FG slashes petroleum subsidy by N771bn as product landing costs slide

The Nigerian government has slashed the amount that it would pay for petroleum subsidies in 2015 by N771 billion to N200 billion, with the hope that landing costs of oil products would continue to drop as oil prices drop.

The N200 billion which is against N971 billion paid in the current 2014 fiscal year, is contained in the 2015 budget proposal awaiting appropriation before the National Assembly.

Government is also proposing to draw down about half a billion dollars (N80 billion) from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) and borrow N570 billion to finance the 2015 fiscal deficit put at 0.79 percent, which is however down from 1.24 percent this year.

This comes as

FG approves sale of NITEL/MTEL for $252m

The National Council on Privatisation (NCP) on Thursday approved the sale of the liquidated Nigeria Telecommunication Plc and its subsidiary, Mtel, to NATCOM Consortium for $252 million.

Atedo Peterside, the chairman of NCP’s Technical Committee, told State House correspondents in Abuja that the approval was one of the decisions taken at a meeting of the council presided over by Vice President Namadi Sambo.

He said that NATCOM beat one other bidder to clinch the deal.

“What happened today was that

UBA Extends Banking Services to Twitter

Customers of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc in the 18 African countries where the bank has operations can now receive transaction alerts on their twitter handle as direct messages.

It is an innovative first from the pan-African bank and currently the only bank in Africa to offer this service.

“What we have done is take social media banking to a new level. Twitter is increasingly becoming a popular means of communication especially among the young adults. As a highly innovative bank, we are giving the Millennials, who are increasingly banking with us an option to get

Apple 'failing to protect Chinese factory workers'

Poor treatment of workers in Chinese factories which make Apple products has been discovered by an undercover BBC Panorama investigation.

 It found standards on workers' hours, ID cards, dormitories, work meetings and juvenile workers were being breached at the Pegatron factories.

Apple said it strongly disagreed with the programme's conclusions.

Exhausted workers were filmed falling asleep on their 12-hour shifts at the Pegatron factories on the outskirts of Shanghai.

One undercover reporter, working in a factory making parts for Apple computers, had to

Oil price fall is temporary, says Saudi minister

Recent falls in the price of oil are likely to be temporary, says the oil minister for Saudi Arabia, Opec's biggest producing nation

Ali al-Naimi said commodity price fluctuations were to be expected and said he was hopeful for the future.

He added it was "difficult, or even impossible, for Saudi Arabia or Opec to undertake any measure that would lead to a reduction in [their] share of the market and an increase in of others".

The price of oil has halved since June.

On Thursday, the price of Brent crude was just below $63 a barrel, while US crude was near $58.

Oil prices, which were

Sub-Saharan Africa growth resilient to lower oil prices in 2015 – Fitch

In its latest sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) Credit Overview released December 16, 2014, Fitch Ratings says that it expects average GDP growth of 5 percent in 2015, for the 18 countries rated by the agency, up from 4.5 percent in 2014.

Growth will not be evenly spread across the region but should be resilient to lower oil prices.

Countries’ ability to grow will be impacted by their degree of commodity dependence, exposure to China, domestic challenges and capacity to invest.

Growth in Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest economy, has been revised down from

Sony cancels The Interview release amid threats

Sony Pictures has cancelled the planned US release on 25 December of the film The Interview, after major cinema chains decided not to screen it.

The film is about a fictional plot to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Hackers have already carried out a cyber attack on Sony and warned the public to stay away from cinemas screening the film.

The US government said it was considering a "range of options" on how to respond to the attack.

"We know that criminals and foreign countries regularly seek to