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Video - Nigerian authorities working to secure release kidnapped students

The 20 students were kidnapped while heading to a convention in Benue State on Thursday evening.

MTN posts half-year loss as Nigeria currency devaluation weighs

MTN Group reported a half-year loss on Monday as Africa's biggest telecom operator grappled with the devaluation of the Nigerian naira and operational challenges in Sudan.

It said it was working on cutting costs and reiterated it was on track to reach a target to sell off non-core assets by next year.

The company reported a loss before tax of 9 billion rand ($507 million) in the six-month period ended June 30, compared with a restated profit of 8.3 billion rand a year earlier.

"The further devaluation in the naira against the U.S. dollar ... and the ongoing conflict in Sudan had the most significant impact on reported results," CEO Ralph Mupita said.

Nigeria has suffered chronic dollar shortages that have forced authorities to devalue the naira twice in less than a year, as part of the new government's measures to stabilise the currency and attract investment.
MTN Nigeria which was the group's largest business, is now its second biggest by revenue.

The unit has a number of initiatives aimed at restoring profit and addressing its negative equity position, including concluding renegotiations earlier this month on tower lease terms with tower operator IHS.

The improved commercial terms are expected to result in annualised cost savings of between 100 billion to 110 billion naira ($71 million), with annualised EBITDA margin benefit of 4 to 6 percentage points, Mupita told investors.

This is "not a silver bullet in addressing negative equity," Mupita said, but added discussions continued on proposed tariff increases with Nigerian authorities that could help.

MTN Group, which has 288 million customers across 18 markets in Africa, said its group service revenue decreased 20.8% to 85.3 billion rand. In constant currency, group service revenue rose 12.1%.

The company has raised 21.7 billion rand so far as part of its 25 billion rand non-core asset sales programme and should reach its target by next year, Mupita said on a post-earnings media call.

The telecom operator reduced its stakes in MTN Ghana and MTN Uganda during the reporting period for a combined 1.7 billion rand.

There will be further stake sales in Ghana of about 2.1%, and in Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Nigeria, according to Mupita.

By Nqobile Dludla, Reuters

Nigeria Owes State Oil Firm $4.9 Billion Fuel-Subsidy Debt

Nigeria owes its state-owned oil company almost half of what it plans to collect in revenues this year for a gasoline subsidy it reintroduced in August.

Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. is owed 7.8 trillion naira ($4.9 billion) by the government in subsidy debts for the seven-months to July, according to NNPC’s Chief Financial Officer Umar Ajiya. The government aims to collect 19.4 trillion naira in revenue this year.

The subsidy that was withdrawn in May last year by Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu to help repair the state’s finances after debt-service costs jumped to 96% of revenues was reinstated to allow measures to be introduced that could cushion Nigerians from spiraling inflation that’s at 33%.

The government will allow NNPC to offset about 2.2 trillion naira it owes the state against the subsidy debt, Ajiya said in an interview after the company announced its results in Abuja, the capital.

The government accumulated the debt to the NNPC because it is the sole importer of gasoline, which it resells to marketers at below market cost to keep prices low. A liter of fuel sells for about 617 naira at the pump at NNPC retail stations in Lagos, the commercial capital, compared with more than a 1,000 naira in neighboring countries, fueling cross-border smuggling of the product.

The state-oil company recorded an annual profit of 3.3 trillion naira in 2023, compared with 2.55 trillion naira a year earlier. It plans to invest $6.6 billion in its operations this year, which will be largely borrowed, Ajiya said.

It foresees crude and condensates production increasing to 2 million barrels a day by year end from an average of 1.75 million barrels per day in August, helped by improved security to combat oil theft, said Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, executive vice president of the company’s upstream division.

By Ruth Olurounbi, Bloomberg

Video - Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea sign gas pipeline agreement

Under the terms of the deal, the pipeline will transport gas from Nigeria to Equatorial Guinea, where it will be processed at the country's facilities before being sold to power companies and industrial users in the region. President Nguema Mbasogo said the gas pipeline deal is vital for Africa's development.

CGTN

Video - Nigeria confirms 39 mpox cases since start of 2024

Nigeria is on high alert as authorities confirmed 39 mpox cases across 33 states since January. The government said it had intensified surveillance and contact-tracing to contain the outbreak. Diagnostic protocols are also in place to identify new cases promptly, with vaccination plans under consideration for high-risk populations.