National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) telecoms report shows, the number of Internet subscribers in Nigeria grew astronomically by 14.03 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 154.3 million compared to 140.28 million recorded in the previous quarter.

The internet subscriber base increased by 10% quarter-on-quarter, with MTN Nigeria boasting the highest customer base with 58.8 million subscribers, followed by Globacom with 39.53 million.

Also, Airtel recorded a total internet subscriber base of 37.53 million as of the end of 2021, 9mobile with 5.75 million, SMILE (314,674), and NTEL with 27,799.

Meanwhile, the two most populated states in the country, Lagos and Kano alongside Ogun State made up the top list of states with the highest internet subscribers in Nigeria, with 37.61 million subscriptions as of December 2021.

A further look at the data shows that all the 36 states of the federation including the federal capital territory, Abuja recorded growth in the number of internet subscribers in Q4 2021 compared to the previous quarter.

Unsurprisingly, Lagos State maintained the top spot with 18.94 million internet subscribers as of the end of Q4 2021, gaining an additional 1.44 million subscribers compared to 17.71 million recorded in the preceding quarter. Lagos State accounted for 12.3% of the total internet customers in the country.

It is worth noting that most of the subscribers in Lagos State were serviced by MTN with 6.27 million users, followed by Airtel and Globacom with 4.98 million and 4.85 million subscribers respectively.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov holds talks Wednesday with Turkish officials on a plan that could allow Ukraine to export its grain through the Black Sea to global markets amid an escalating food crisis.

Ukraine is one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but the war and a Russian blockade of its ports have halted much of that flow, endangering food supplies to many developing countries. Many of those ports are now also heavily mined.

An estimated 22 million tons of grains are sitting in silos in Ukraine.

Turkey is involved in efforts for the establishment of a U.N.-led mechanism that would create a secure corridor for the shipment of the Ukrainian grain — and for Russia to export food and fertilizer. Turkey would facilitate and protect the transport of the grain in the Black Sea, Turkish officials have said.

A top Russian official said Tuesday that Ukraine needs to remove sea mines near its Black Sea port of Odesa to allow grain exports to resume.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian military would need to check commercial ships taking the grain to make sure they don’t carry weapons. He added that after they are loaded with grain, Russia would help escort the ships to international waters.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Tuesday that technical details were still being worked out.

“Our efforts are continuing concerning the technical planning on such issues as how it will be done, how the mines will be cleared, who will do it, how the corridor will be established and who will escort (ships),” Akar said.

Lavrov arrived in Turkey days after NATO members Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro reportedly refused to allow his plane to fly through their airspace to reach Serbia. Lavrov’s plane was able to fly directly to Turkey over the Black Sea.

The World Bank has sharply downgraded its outlook for the global economy, pointing to Russia- Ukraine war, the prospect of widespread food shortages and concerns about the potential return of “stagflation” — a toxic mix of high inflation and sluggish growth unseen for more than four decades.

The 189-country anti-poverty agency predicted Tuesday that the world economy will expand 2.9% this year. That would be down from 5.7% global growth in 2021 and from the 4.1% it had forecast for 2022 back in January.

“For many countries, recession will be hard to avoid,” said David Malpass, the World Bank’s president.

The agency doesn’t foresee a much brighter picture in 2023 and 2024: It predicts just 3% global growth for both years.

For the United States alone, the World Bank has slashed its growth forecast to 2.5% this year from 5.7% in 2021 and from the 3.7% it had forecast in January. For the 19 European countries that share the euro currency, it downgraded the growth outlook to 2.5% this year from 5.4% last year and from the 4.2% it had expected in January.

In China, the world’s second-biggest economy after the United States, the World Bank expects growth to slow to 4.3% from 8.1% last year. China’s zero-COVID policies, involving draconian lockdowns in Shanghai and other cities, brought economic life to a standstill. The Chinese government is providing aid to ease the economic pain.

Emerging market and developing economies are collectively forecast to grow 3.4% this year, decelerating from a 6.6% pace in 2021.

Russia’s attack of Ukraine has severely disrupted global trade in energy and wheat, battering a global economy that had been recovering robustly from the coronavirus pandemic. Already-high commodity prices have gone even higher as a result, threatening the availability of affordable food in poor countries.

India’s central bank on Wednesday raised its key interest rate to 4.9% from 4.4%, the second such hike in the last three weeks to contain inflation.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said the decision was aimed at curbing price increases and mitigating the impact of geopolitical tensions, like the war in Ukraine.

“Upside risks to inflation … materialized earlier than expected,” Das said.

Wednesday’s increase follows a 40 basis points rise in May.

The central bank raised its inflation projection for 2022-23 to 6.7% from 5.7% and kept its forecast for growth this year at 7.2%.

The war in Ukraine is giving rise to “newer challenges each passing day which is accentuating the existing supply chain disruptions. As a result, food, energy and commodity prices remain elevated,” Das said.

The price spikes have impacted consumer spending, which accelerated to an eight-year high of nearly 7.8% in April, according to official data.

India’s economy expanded at a 4.1% annual pace in the January-March quarter, following 5.4% growth in the previous quarter. Overall, the economy grew 8.7% in the 2021-22 financial year, slower than the 8.9% estimated by the government.