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Instablog9ja
28 m
9
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) is ending its exclusive purchase agreement with Dangote Refinery, opening up the market for other marketers to buy petrol directly from the refinery, PREMIUM TIMES is reporting.
This means NNPC will no longer be the sole off-taker, and marketers can now negotiate prices directly with Dangote Refinery. This development aligns with the current practices for fully deregulated products, where refineries can sell directly to marketers on a willing buyer, willing seller basis.
Earlier in September, Devakumar Edwin, vice president at Dangote Industries Limited, said the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery has begun the processing of petrol. Mr Edwin explained that NNPC Limited would buy its product exclusively.
But the NNPC, in reaction to a statement that the Dangote Refinery Limited is being undermined by actions of the company at the time, said it was not the sole offtaker of all products from the Dangote Refinery. It said the refinery was free to sell its petrol to any marketer.
The NNPC explained that the Dangote Refinery and any other domestic refinery were free to sell directly to any marketer on a willing buyer, willing seller basis, which is the current practice for all fully deregulated products such as diesel, aviation fuel and kerosene. But on 15 September, the NNPC began loading petrol from the Dangote Refinery. Although some major petroleum marketers were later reportedly approved to lift the product from the refinery under an agreement with NNPC Ltd, independent marketers remained excluded
On 26 September, the House of Representatives called on the federal government to mandate the NNPC Ltd and Dangote Refinery to allow independent marketers to lift petrol directly from the refinery.
The lower chamber also urged the management of Dangote Refinery to build, acquire, or partner to establish tank farms or depots across the geo-political zones of the country, to ease access to petroleum products for the public. This call followed a motion of urgent public importance moved on Thursday by Oboku Oforji (PDP, Bayelsa). Moving the motion, Mr Oforji explained that the exclusion of independent marketers threatened competition in the sector.
He noted that competition is essential for reducing costs, adding that some marketers may resort to importing products to survive in the market. “NNPCL and the major marketers being the exclusive off-takers spells monopoly, which is tantamount to greed. This is the same NNPC Ltd that has failed to manage our crude and refineries for decades,” the lawmaker said at the time.
Those familiar with the matter told PREMIUM TIMES that NPC is now set to withdraw as the sole off-taker to allow other marketers to directly purchase petrol from Dangote Refinery at the prevailing market price, promoting competition and potentially stabilising supply chains.
Instablog9ja
1 h
11
Big Brother Naija Season 9 runner-up, Wanni Danbaki, has boasted that she will make the N100 million grand prize of the show before the end of the year.
Wanni made the boast during her last diary session with Biggie shortly before the finale event.
The disk jockey, who won a brand new car earlier last week from the Innoson task, stated that regardless of the outcome of the final votes, she would make the grand prize before next year.
“Winning the money or not winning the money, I’m going to make that money before the end of the year,” she declared.
It would be recalled that Kellyrae won Big Brother Naija Season 9 with 35.95 per cent of the total votes, ahead of Wanni, who scored 32.48 per cent.
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Instablog9ja
2 hrs
15
The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has ordered the immediate withdrawal of police personnel previously deployed to seal off the 23 local government areas of Rivers State.
The secretariat were sealed in June following the disagreement between the Caretaker Committee Chairmen loyal to Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the immediate past local government chairmen, who were loyalists of Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
This directive was announced on Monday in a statement by Grace Iringe-Koko, the Public Relations Officer of the Rivers State Command. According to the statement, the order follows recent political developments in Rivers State. “The newly deployed State Commissioner of Police, Bala Mustapha, conveyed the directives of the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, for the immediate withdrawal of all police personnel previously deployed to seal and safeguard the Local Government Secretariats in the state.”
The statement emphasized that the decision “is in line with the commitment of the Nigeria Police Force to ensure neutrality and the smooth functioning of democratic institutions.”
It further clarified that personnel will only be redeployed to those areas if there was a crisis or breakdown of law and order, at which point emergency measures would be swiftly implemented to restore normalcy. The Rivers State Command assured the public of its continued commitment to maintaining peace and order across the state, while reiterating its professional conduct in carrying out its duties. Residents and stakeholders were urged to remain calm and law-abiding as the situation unfolds.
Instablog9ja
3 hrs
11
Former Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Dr. Joe Abah, has responded to a Twitter user who shaded him after he shared his restaurant experience.
Dr Abah has asked if it was normal for money to leave his savings account while using a POS machine on a saving account card with requesting for his pin at an eatery.
The X user said him asking such question shows he has not travel before as it is a common trend abroad. Dr Abah replied by telling the troll that he is a Chelsea Supporter and that it’s confirmed.
Investopedia
6 hrs
15
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Dine Brands Global (DIN) stock fell Friday as the owner of Applebee's and IHOP was downgraded by a Truist Securities analyst to "hold" from "buy" over concerns that Applebee's sales are slowing even as other chain restaurants have recovered in recent months.
Citing Truist's credit card-tracking data, analyst Jake Bartlett wrote Thursday that Applebee's same-store sales appeared to slow in August and September, despite sales-boosting efforts like a chicken wing-related promotion tied to the kickoff of the NFL season last month.
That concerning trend would come as "particularly disappointing," given that some other chain restaurants have recovered in recent months, Bartlett wrote.
In addition to the downgrade, Dine Brands' price target was cut by Truist to $37 from $66 previously, closer to the average price target of the six analysts tracked by Visible Alpha of $41.67.
Dine Brands shares dropped by as much as 6% before recovering to trade roughly 1% lower at $33.23 around 2 p.m. ET Friday, The stock has lost nearly 32% of its value since the start of the year.
While IHOP looks to have outperformed Applebee's over those months, Bartlett wrote that the data still points to Dine Brands potentially missing sales estimates when it reports earnings for the quarter.
He also wrote that the company could cut spending to mitigate the impact slower-than-expected sales would have on profit margins, and said that "pressured sales" could lead to "increased hesitancy to develop new stores and continued elevated store closures."
Dine Brands, and Applebee's specifically, has been among the restaurant brands to close more locations than it has opened in recent quarters as lower discretionary spending and Americans staying in to eat more frequently have hit the industry's sales.
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Investopedia
22 hrs
14
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The U.S. economy looks more likely to have a "soft landing" rather than an economic crash in the wake of Friday's jobs report showing employers hired far more workers than expected in September.The U.S. economy added 254,000 jobs last month, rebounding after several sluggish months in the summer, according to a report released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That burst of job creation dispelled some of the concerns that had been brewing among economists that the economy is grinding into a downturn under the weight of high borrowing costs, the result of the Federal Reserve's campaign of anti-inflation rate hikes.The report highlighted the resilience of an economy that has consistently defied a long-predicted recession. Ever since the Fed began ratcheting up its benchmark interest rate in early 2022 to combat inflation, a significant contingent of experts has predicted the economy would fall into a recession as a result: the hangover from the hot economy and high inflation that took hold as the country emerged from the grip of the pandemic.
Recession fears flared up this summer after an uptick in unemployment triggered the Sahm Rule, a historically reliable indicator of an imminent economic downturn.
But now, with inflation nearly back to the Fed's 2% goal, the central bank is cutting interest rates, and still there is no recession in sight, raising hopes for a soft landing, which would be a historical rarity after a period of high inflation. Friday's data reinforced those soft landing hopes."This report should end any fears that the economy was heading for a recession, as some analysts had feared based on the earlier increase in unemployment," Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic Policy Research think tank, wrote in a commentary.
The report did not completely erase concerns about slower growth ahead, as surveys of consumer confidence show that the public is still relatively glum about the job market, which poses a risk that people could curtail their spending. And the Sahm Rule, which is calculated based on how quickly the unemployment rate has risen over the past year, stayed in "recession alarm" territory although just barely."The labor market’s ongoing rebalancing toward a soft landing remains fragile," Nick Bunker, economic research director for North America for the hiring lab at job site Indeed, wrote in a commentary.
Overall, however, the report showed the economy gathering strength."The economy is doing well in late 2024, with solid growth of jobs and wages, low unemployment, slowing inflation, and falling interest rates," Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank, wrote in a commentary. "The setup for economic growth in 2025 looks favorable as well."
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