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IPMAN confirms purchase of PMS at N108 per litre ex-depot price

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The President,  Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Mr Chinedu Okoronkwo says its members have started buying Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol at N108 ex-depot price as announced by NNPC. Okoronkwo made this known in an Interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, on Sunday. NAN recalls that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had on May 6, announced a reduction in the ex-depot price of PMS from N113.28k per litre to N108.00K per litre across all its products loading facilities. Ex- depot price is the price at which the depot owners sell the commodity to retail outlets across the country.

Okoronkwo said that the development was welcomed and seen as a partial deregulation of the downstream oil sector. “We have started getting the product at the ex depot price of N108 as announced  by the NNPC. It is a welcome development but it is not that exciting because it looks more like you will buy products high and sell cheaper. The new price is only good for those buying in high volumes,’’ he said He noted though that the price of PMS had gone down, adding that if it goes up in the global market, it would also go up in the country.

According to him, the marketers are currently planning to start importation of petroleum products in the country and that if the sector is properly deregulated, it will help to drive price of the product.

“When the market opens, marketers will go and buy products and come home and sell,’’ he said

IPMAN president said that the current development had brought to fore the need to revamp the nation’s refineries to boost local refining capacity. He called for investments in construction of modular refineries, urging the Federal Government to ensure that the three major refineries in the country were rehabilitated. However, the National President, Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Dr Billy Gillis-Harry said that their members were still buying the product at the old price of N113.

“First, N108 per litre had been announced by the PPMC as ex-depot price; we have the communication both from the PPMC and the PPPRA. But the reality is that there is no implementation of that as it is today. Our members have been loading from the refineries at the last price which is about N113 per litre. The idea was that they are going to do a credit note back to marketers. Right now, that has not been implemented. The normal thing is to do credit note back to marketers,’’ he said. He said that the association was also advised by PPMC on May 7, to send back old forms for the purchase of products. You know marketers, what we do is that sometimes we buy up to 10, 20 trucks ahead. Now, those ones have been locked up there, we have not loaded. .

“Basically, when the forms are returned, they would be regularised to the current N108 or whatever it is. But right now, that has not been done,’’ he said. He  noted that after the new ex-depot price, the PPPRA had not issued a band at which marketers could sell the pump price.

“Normally, they give a lower band, say N123 per litre and a higher band, say N125. That has not been done. And in my capacity as the national president of PETROAN, I am reaching out to marketers, our members, to try to reach out to the authorities to be able to know exactly what the scenario is. That is the reality. We today will assume that there is some level of partial deregulation by this process,’’ he said. It will be recalled that the PPPRA said it would be releasing monthly petroleum products price modulation that would reflect the global market fundamentals.

Gillis-Harry also said that marketers in the nearest future might venture into importation. “We form highest base of clients for petroleum ex-depot purchases. This is because it is our members that form IPMAN, major marketers, NNPC Retails outlets. If we do not have products from NNPC, we would fall back to DAPPMA members.

`’If DAPPMA members are not readily available, our members would not starve the public of our essential services. So, the chances of us pulling our resources together to bring in cargo from time to time until a designated time frame for onward distribution to our members directly would not be ruled out. We are already getting to  that, we are already talking to consortium of banks, we are talking to foreign partners to be sure that we have the right marketing prices and to be sure that the Nigerian public is not starved at anytime of petroleum products,’’ he said. NAN reports that the NNPC had been the sole importer of petroleum products in country since 2016. (NAN)

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Cardano rises as midnight launch triggers rally

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Cardano (ADAUSD) climbed amidst tight trading activities in the crypto market, up by 1.05% in the past 24 hours, showing resilience near key support.

The price ticked up on Sunday amidst negative movements in the global crypto market. The gain has reduced its negative movement in the week to 1%. Cardano is showing strength with a $70 million ADA treasury push and a bullish December setup, but it faces key resistance amidst competing traders.  

The token is trading at $0.4165 at the time of filing the report on Sunday, gaining more than 1% on the day as volume traded reached $359.252 million. The token is in a notable correction from its November highs. Recent trading activity reflects pronounced investor caution. Over a 30-day period, ADA has declined approximately 15%, mirroring the broader pressure on risk assets from macroeconomic uncertainties.

Sentiment trades mixed, as retail and mid-sized investors are accumulating at lows, but large holders remain sceptical. Cardano’s privacy-centric Midnight Network went live after years of development, introducing NIGHT – the first native asset on Cardano.

According to crypto analysts, Short-term speculation around NIGHT airdrops and interoperability boosted ADA demand. ADA rebounded from $0.371–$0.416 after testing an ascending trend line connecting 2023–2025 lows. Traders interpreted the bounce as a bullish divergence, but ADA remains below critical resistance of $0.5113 and its 200-day EMA of $0.68.

ADA’s minor rally reflects optimism around Midnight’s launch and oversold technicals, but scepticism about its ecosystem impact and whale selling caps upside. While the price surges, analysts stated that Cardano balances technical hope against macroeconomic headwinds, with Midnight’s adoption trajectory and $0.51 resistance serving as critical watch points.

While governance upgrades signal maturing decentralisation, crypto analysts are still querying whether ADA can leverage these developments to reverse its 2025 underperformance.

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NDLEA intercepts 7.6m tramadol pills, 76,273kg Colorado

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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has recovered over 7.6 million pills of tramadol and a total of 76,273.4 kilograms of different strains of cannabis.

The agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja. Mr Babafemi said that the drugs, including Colorado, Loud and Skunks, had several members of drug trafficking organisations linked to the seizures arrested.

He said that out of the total opioids seized during the raids, not less than 3,874,000 pills of tramadol, 225mg and 100mg, and others, as well as 252.2litres of codeine syrup were recovered. He said that they were recovered from a warehouse at Oko market, Asaba, Delta, on Saturday. He also said that no fewer than 1.2 million tablets of tramadol 225mg were seized from a suspect on December 3.

This, he said, was when NDLEA operatives on patrol at Orogwe, along the Onitsha-Owerri road, Imo, intercepted his vehicle conveying the consignment, which was loaded at Aba, Abia, and heading to Onitsha, Anambra. Meanwhile, in Adamawa, NDLEA officers on December 1 intercepted a Toyota Hiace bus marked MGU 554 XB along Maraba-Mubi, coming from Jos, Plateau state, and heading to Mubi, with a total of 1,577,112 capsules of tramadol.

“Other drugs intercepted were Exol-5 tablets, all concealed inside jumbo bags mixed with new rubber sandals and slippers. Two suspects were arrested in connection with the seizure. Similarly, another 27-year-old suspect was nabbed along Zaria-Kano road, Kano state, with 197,000 pills of exol-5,” he said.

The NDLEA chairman, Buba Marwa, commended the officers and men of the SOU commands in Delta, Adamawa, Imo, Ondo, Lagos, and Kano for the arrests and seizures. Mr Marwa said that their operational successes, along with those of their compatriots across the country, especially their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction, were well appreciated. NAN

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Lagos, Kaduna, Oyo, FCT, Ogun top 2025 subnational ease of doing business report  

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The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has released the 2025 Subnational Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) Report, with Lagos emerging as the best-performing state, scoring  85.6 per cent.

The report released by the director-general of PEBEC, Zahrah Mustapha-Audu, has Kaduna in second position with  65.1 per cent. Oyo, FCT, and Ogun rounded up the top five with scores of 62.7 per cent, 61.0 per cent, and 59.9 per cent, respectively. Others include Enugu (56.2 per cent) in sixth position, with Plateau (56.2 per cent), Ekiti (55.8 per cent), Kano (54.8 per cent), and Nasarawa (53.4 per cent) rounding out the top 10 states.

The EoDB report is a comprehensive data-driven assessment of how Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT are shaping business competitiveness through regulation, infrastructure, and administrative efficiency.
The report assesses performance across 16 indicators and 36 sub-metrics covering electricity, infrastructure, digital connectivity, land administration, taxation, trade logistics, justice delivery, investor support and skilled labour readiness.

According to the DG, these states distinguished themselves through consistent reform momentum, improved digital processes, and more predictable regulatory environments. “The 2025 Report also highlights five priority interventions states can implement immediately. These include establishing investor aftercare systems, strengthening MSME credit enablement, harmonising interstate trade rules, upgrading commercial justice processes, and improving power reliability for industrial clusters,” she said.

According to her, PEBEC  will continue to support state-led reform adoption, particularly under the $750 million State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) programme. She added that “the 2025 Subnational EoDB Report provides a critical foundation for policy action, investment decisions, and long-term competitiveness across Nigeria.”
The DG said the  Subnational Ease of Doing Business Report is available for download at www.pebec.gov.ng/reports

PEBEC had earlier released its 2025 Business Facilitation Act (BFA) Performance Report, covering MDAs’ performance from January to October. This performance report is part of the council’s  effort to track and measure the compliance of federal government MDAs with the BFA’s requirements on promoting Transparency and Efficiency of government-delivered services to the  business community.

The report presents a data-driven assessment of 69 priority MDAs, drawing on monthly compliance submissions, independent mystery shopping, website audits, ReportGov analytics, and targeted process-verification exercises.

According to the report, the top five performing MDAs include the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), with an impressive 90.6 per cent score, followed by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at 89 per cent. The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), ranks third with 86.6percent, the  Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) secured the fourth and fifth positions, scoring 85.3 per cent and 84.2 per cent, respectively.

PEBEC, currently chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima, was established in July 2016 by the federal government to oversee Nigeria’s business environment intervention. It has a dual mandate of removing bureaucratic and legislative constraints to doing business and improving the perception of the ease of doing business in Nigeria. NAN

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