35 dead in gas tanker explosion in Nigeria

At least 35 people were killed on Monday and hundreds were injured when a gas tanker exploded in the northern Nigerian state of Nasarawa, an emergency services official said.

The accident happened as the truck was unloading at a gas station along the Lafia-Makurdi road linking the capital city, Abuja, with northern and southern Nigeria, said Usman Ahmed, acting director of the State Emergency Management Agency.

The agency was investigating the explosion, he said.

“We have confirmed 35 dead and over a hundred injured,” Mr. Ahmed said. “Most of those that died rushed to the accident spot to see what was happening.”

In June, at least nine people were killed in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, when a gasoline tanker caught fire and burned 53 other vehicles.

New York Times

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Nigeria slams MTN with $2bn tax bill

Nigeria has asked mobile phone operator MTN to pay a $2bn (£1.6bn) tax bill, the company says.

MTN challenged the figure, saying it related to activities over the past decade. It said it had settled the bill with a $700m payment.

The tax demand is the latest in a series of disputes between MTN and Nigeria, the company's largest market.

In 2016 it agreed to pay Nigeria $1.7bn over failing to disconnect unregistered Sim cards.

Last week, Nigeria's Central Bank ordered the company to repatriate $8bn it said had been taken out of the country illegally.

MTN, Africa's largest mobile phone company, said the tax bill had emerged from an investigation by Nigeria's attorney general and related to "the importation of foreign equipment and payments to foreign suppliers over the last 10 years".

But, it added, "MTN Nigeria believes it has fully settled all amounts owing under the taxes in question".

Shares in the company on the Johannesburg stock exchange fell sharply on Tuesday's news, reaching a low of almost 10 years.

BBC