Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, has appealed to state governments to cooperate with service providers in ensuring the realisation of the Federal Government’s 70 per cent broadband penetration by 2025.

Speaking as principal keynote speaker, yesterday, at a virtual forum organised by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) with a focus on the implementation of the New National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025, Pantami said the government was committed to creating an enabling environment for the economy to grow.

Saying President Muhammadu Buhari had settled for wholesale implementation of the plan, the minister reminded the states that their support was crucial.

He said the broadband deployment was beyond a mere collection of taxes, stressing that states should see network providers as partners in progress.

Recall that telecoms operators are having issues in rolling out infrastructure in some states because of prohibitive Right of Way (RoW) levies. Against the N145/linear meter brokered by the ministry and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), some states still charge as much as between N5,000 and N10,000 per linear meter, a development that has hindered seamless rollout of the facility nationwide.

The average bonus paid to employees in New York City’s securities industry in 2020 rose by 10% to $184,000, a top New York state financial regulator said in a statement on Friday.

“Wall Street’s near-record year shattered all expectations,” New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said.

The early forecast of a disastrous year for financial markets was sharply reversed by a boom in underwriting activity, historically low interest rates, and surges in trading spurred by volatile markets,” he added.

The 2020 bonus pool increased by 6.8% to $31.7 billion, during the traditional December-March bonus season, from $29.7 billion in 2019, according to the report, which called the growth figure “unique after a recessionary event”.

Bonuses fell by 33% in 2001 after 9/11 attack and by 47% percent in 2008, the report said.

Nigerians may likely pay more for petrol in the next monh (April).

Group General Manager (GMD) of the National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari disclosed this while reacting to a question about the status of petrol’s pump price in the country.

Kyari spoke during the weekly presidential ministerial media briefing held at the presidential villa, Abuja.

He said the NNPC absorbs the cost differential which is recorded in its financial books

He also said the NNPC pays between N100-120 billion a month to keep the pump price at the current level, insisting that market forces must be allowed to determine the pump price of petrol in the country.

He explained that while the actual cost of importation and handling charges amounts to N234 per liter, the government is selling at N162 per liter.

Kyari, however, said the NNPC can no longer afford to bear the cost, adding that sooner or later Nigerians would have to pay the actual cost for the commodity.