The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Strike Force Unit said it has recovered about N1.03billion from debit notes raised on imports that were falsely or underdeclared by their owners in the last three months.

Speaking in Lagos on Tuesday, Ahmadu Bello Shuaibu, the officer in charge of the unit, said the amount generated would have been lost to smugglers, fraudulent importers and clearing agents who under-declare their cargoes at ports.

He further said that the unit in the last three months intercepted foreign parboiled rice, printed label materials, used vehicles, textiles material, used tyres, and second-hand clothing. He however charged importers involved in false and under-declaration of goods to turn a new leave.

Corroborating this, Joseph Attah, national public relations officer of the Service, said the over N1 billion recovered by Strikeforce in the first quarter, has justified the creation of the Unit.

There are more mobile money accounts in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) than in any other region in the world in 2020. The region accounts for 558 million of the total 1.2 billion accounts recorded in 2020, representing 43 percent of all registered accounts.

According to the latest GSMA report, the 1.2 billion represents a 13 percent growth from the previous year and the fastest growth was in markets where governments provided significant pandemic relief to their citizens.

The total transaction value also grew by 22 percent globally in 2020 to reach $767 billion out of which $490 billion went to the sub-Saharan Africa region. The growth in value was the first time the mobile money industry was processing over $2 billion in a day and has seen over double value since 2017.

While West Africa has the most Live Services – active mobile money operators – in the world, East Africa still dominates the number of accounts, active accounts, the volume and value of mobile money transactions.

Indonesian firefighters were working Wednesday to put out a large blaze at one of the country’s biggest oil refineries that has been burning for more than two days after an explosion rocked the facility.

Crews blasted fire-suppressing foam on two still-burning storage tanks to quench the inferno that severely injured at least six people early Monday.

Thick plumes of black smoke shot into the sky at the Balongan refinery in West Java, owned by state oil company Pertamina.

By Wednesday, two of the tanker fires had been extinguished.

“Pertamina is focused on extinguishing fires at the two other tankers,” it said in a statement.

About a thousand locals have been evacuated from the area.

The cause of the fire was not clear, but the company said the blaze broke out during a lightning storm.

The local disaster agency said one person had died from a heart attack after the explosion.

The local disaster agency said one person had died from a heart attack after the explosion.
The cause of the fire was not clear, but the company said the blaze broke out during a lightning storm.
The local disaster agency said one person had died from a heart attack after the explosion.
Six severely wounded people have been hospitalised in the capital Jakarta, about 200km from the sprawling plant, which opened in the mid-90s and can refine some 125,000 barrels of oil a day.
At least 30 others suffered minor injuries.

Fibre operators, especially in the metro space, have called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to grant them pioneer status. This, they claimed, would boost their operations in the country.

The call was made by the Chief Marketing Officer, Broad-based Communications, Chidi Ibisi, at a virtually held telecoms forum organised by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON).

Ibisi said the granting of pioneer status, as it was granted to Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in the early period of telecommunications revolution in the country, should be extended to operators in the metro space, which, he said, could help ensure 90 per cent broadband coverage of the entire population.

Pioneer status incentive is a tax holiday which grants qualifying industries and products relief from the payment of corporate income tax for an initial period of three years, extendable for one or two additional years.