Electricity customers increase to 11.27m in Q1 2023- NBS
The number of Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) customers in Nigeria increased from 11.06 million in Q4 2022 to 11.27 million in Q1 2023, this is according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) latest Nigeria Electricity Report for Q1, 2023.
The report released in Abuja on Wednesday showed that the figure had increase by 1.89 percent.
The report focuses on energy billed, revenue generated, and customers by DISCOS under the reviewed period.
The report stated that on year-on-year basis customers numbers in Q1 2023 increased by 5.99 percent from 10.63 million reported in Q1 2022 to 11.27 million in Q1 2023.
It said in Q1 2023, the number of metered customers stood at 5.31 million from the 5.13 million recorded in Q4 2022, this indicated a 3.61 percent increase.
“ On a year-on-year basis, this grew by 5.71 percent from the figure reported in Q1 2022 at 4.79 million.”
Read also: 6 things to know about the new electricity law
NMDPRA urges stakeholders to accelerate implementation of PIA
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), has urged stakeholders in the oil and gas industry to accelerate the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Farouk Ahmed, the Authority’s Chief Executive, gave this appeal at a General Counsel and Legal Advisers (GCLA) Forum, in Abuja on Wednesday.
Ahmed who was represented by Ogbugo Ukoha, Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, said that it requires the complete commitment of all stakeholders to meet the objectives of the PIA.
Ahmed said that the forum was to enhance a collaborative relationship between the authority as the regulator and the legal practitioners in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry.
Jonathan arrives Freetown ahead of Saturday’s general election in Sierra Leone
The Head of the West African Elders Forum (WAEF) 2023 Election Mission to Sierra Leone, former President Goodluck Jonathan, on Wednesday arrived Freetown ahead of the Saturday’s general election in the country.
Wealth Ominabo, the Communications Officer, Goodluck Jonathan Foundation (GJF), stated this in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja.
Ominabo said that Jonathan, who is also the chairman of the forum is in Sierra Leone to encourage and support a peaceful democratic transition in the country.
Ominabo quoted Jonathan as urging citizens of the country to be patriotic in discharging their civil responsibility in the election.
“The mission urges citizens of Sierra Leone to approach the election with utmost patriotism by prioritizing the nation’s peace and stability and refrain from acts capable of undermining the nation’s democracy,” he quoted as Jonathan saying.
US approves chicken made from cultivated cells, nation’s first ‘Lab-Grown’ meat
A breakthrough in genetically modified food science was recorded after U.S. regulators on Wednesday approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells. This scientific breakthrough will see two California companies offer “lab-grown” meat to the nation’s restaurant tables and, eventually, supermarket shelves.
According to the Associated Press, the Agriculture Department gave the green light to Upside Foods and Good Meat, firms that had been racing to be the first in the U.S. to sell meat that doesn’t come from slaughtered animals—what’s now being referred to as “cell-cultivated” or “cultured” meat as it emerges from the laboratory and arrives on dinner plates.
This development is good news for promoters of anti-animal cruelty groups that have advocated against the practice of killing animals to feed humans.
It also launches a new era of meat production aimed at drastically reducing the environmental impacts of grazing, growing feed for animals, and animal waste.
Bank of England poised to raise rates after inflation shock
The Bank of England is set to raise interest rates for a 13th time in a row on Thursday, a day after inflation data came in higher than expected again, with investors split on just how big the new hike will be.
Economists polled by Reuters last week were unanimous that the BoE would raise rates to 4.75 percent, their highest since 2008, from 4.5 percent.
“I think it’s a very finely balanced decision,” said Tomasz Wieladek, chief European economist at U.S investment firm T. Rowe Price, who predicts at least three of the Monetary Policy Committee’s nine members will vote for a half-point hike.
According to Reuters, Britain’s economy, which has been hit by the shock of Brexit as well as the COVID-19 pandemic and the surge in gas prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has dodged a widely expected recession so far in 2023 though growth looks set to be a minimal 0.25 percent this year, according to the BoE’s forecasts.
