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Abia Secures $125m Loan To Implement 2024 Budget

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Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, says the state government plans to secure loans to implement the 2024 Budget, adding that already, the Islamic Development Bank has approved $125 million for the state.

Otti disclosed this Monday during a chat with journalists in Umuahia, the state capital.

He added that the African Development Bank has also approved some funds for the state.

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The governor said, “Two days ago, the Islamic Development Bank approved the sum of $125m for us under AB Seed, as well as the African Development Bank, AfDB. All is yet to be drawn until after perfection.

READ ALSO: Otti Clears Air On N1.5billion For Two Hilux Vehicles In Abia Budget

“We have received offers of loan from commercial banks, but we have not drawn on any of them. We do not want to draw loans until we need them and will repay when we have liquidity, and we will pay later.”

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On wage awards or salary increase, the governor assured workers that his administration had not withdrawn its promise on that, stating that there is already a committee in place on the matter.

We had promised that by the end of this month, we will resolve the lingering pension issues. In our executive council meeting today, we had some resolutions, and soon, pensioners will be settled,” he said.

According to him, the local government accounts are not tampered with, stating, “Mayors are grading roads and building health centres. I don’t know where else they are getting the money from.”

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READ ALSO: Appeal Court Affirms Otti’s Election As Abia Governor; PDP Calls For Calm

On infrastructure, the governor said, “Abia will continue with our massive road rehabilitation, light up Abia, improvement in the health system and the resolve to retrieve education system that has been going down”, adding that 170 primary schools and 51 secondary schools have been earmarked to be rehabilitated so that at the end of the year, all schools will be fully rehabilitated.

He said the state government has designed the best models for Abia schools so that “the Abia standard schools will look a certain way.”

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He added that trained teachers will teach students what is relevant in the 21st century, including the internet, renewable energy, and digital technology, among others to make Abia students competitive in line with global practices.

However, the state government, he said, would ensure the quality and skills necessary to teach the students by ensuring the right training for the teachers, stating “We have received lots of support from multilateral agencies. We are not alone. ”

On health, he said, “We will continue to improve healthcare delivery in the state”, stating also that in terms of food security, the state has a lot of initiatives to deal with hunger and is working round the clock to ensure that all lands in Abia will be cultivated this planting season.

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French Media Giant Canal+ Takes Over S.Africa’s Multichoice

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French media giant Canal+ said Monday it had taken effective control of South African television and streaming company MultiChoice, creating a group present in nearly 70 countries in Africa, Europe and Asia.

The companies said in a joint statement that the combined group will have a workforce of 17,000 employees and serve more than 40 million subscribers.

The acquisition is “the largest transaction ever undertaken” by Canal+, the statement said.

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READ ALSOFrench Media Giant Acquires MultiChoice In $3bn Deal, Gains Full Control Of DStv, GOtv

Canal+, which is already the sector’s leader in French-speaking African countries, now controls what it described as the leader in the continent’s English- and Portuguese-speaking regions.

“This acquisition allows us to strengthen our position as a leader in Africa, one of the most dynamic pay-TV markets in the world,” Canal+ chief executive Maxime Saada said in the statement.

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The buyout was given a final green light by South Africa’s competition authority in late July, more than a year after Canal+ launched its bid.

READ ALSO:FG To Arraign MultiChoice Chairman, MD, Others For Allegedly Breaching FCCP Act

Canal+ offered 125 rand ($7.2) per share for MultiChoice when it launched its offer last year, valuing the South African firm at around $3.0 billion.

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Canal+ is present in 25 African countries through 16 subsidiaries and has eight million subscribers.

MultiChoice operates in 50 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and has 14.5 million subscribers.

It includes Africa’s premier sports broadcaster, SuperSport, and the DStv satellite television service.

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AFP

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BREAKING: Nigeria’s GDP Grows By 4.23% In Q2 2025 – NBS

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Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.23 per cent (year-on-year) in the second quarter of 2025, the National Bureau of Statistics revealed in its Q2 2025 GDP Report.

According to the report released on Monday on its website, the figure shows a significant improvement compared to 3.48 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2024 and the 3.13 per cent recorded in Q1 2025.

The figures signal a strengthening economy, driven by recent rebasing, rebound in oil production and a resilient non-oil sector.

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READ ALSO: UK GDP Records Fastest Growth In Q1 2025

The report said, “Following the rebasing of the Gross Domestic Product using 2019 as the base year, previous quarterly GDP estimates were benchmarked to the rebased annual estimates to align the old series with the new rebased estimates

“This procedure provided a new quarterly GDP series, which is compared to the 2025 second quarter estimates. Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.23% (year-on-year) in real terms in the second quarter of 2025.

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“This growth rate is higher than the 3.48 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2024. During the quarter under review, agriculture grew by 2.82%, an improvement from the 2.60% recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2024.

READ ALSO: BREAKING: Nigeria’s GDP Grew By 3.46% In Q4 2023 — NBS

According to NBS, “The growth of the industry sector stood at 7.45% from 3.72% recorded in the second quarter of 2024, while the Services sector recorded a growth of 3.94% from 3.83% in the same quarter of 2024.”

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The report said in terms of share of the GDP, “the Industry sector contributed more to the aggregate GDP in the second quarter of 2025 at 17.31% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2024 at 16.79%.”

It added, “In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP at basic price stood at N100,730,501.10 million in nominal terms. This performance is higher when compared to the second quarter of 2024, which recorded an aggregate GDP of N84,484,878.46 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 19.23%.”

Details later…

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Why Nigeria’s Crude Oil Production Dropped To 1.63mbpd In August – NUPRC

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The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has explained that unscheduled maintenance at a refinery facility made Nigeria’s crude oil production drop on a month-on-month basis in August.

This comes as Nigeria’s crude oil production dropped to 1.63 million barrels per day month-on-month in August, down from 1.71 million bopd in July.

NUPRC disclosed this in its Crude Oil and Condensate Production for August 2025, released on Saturday.

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This means a 4.7 per cent drop in combined crude oil and condensate production from 1.71 million bopd in July.

READ ALSO:Marketers Get Dangote’s Free Fuel Supply

In the same vein, crude oil production itself declined by 4.8 per cent, down from 1.5 million bopd in July 2025.

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The month-on-month drop was driven by a single-day unscheduled maintenance at an oil facility.

“In the month of August, the lowest and peak combined crude and condensate production were 1.59 million bopd and 1.85 million bopd, respectively,” NUPRC said.

The data showed that while there was a decline month-on-month, the country’s crude oil production rose on a year-on-year basis by 5.5 per cent to 1.63 mbpd in August this year from 1.58 million bopd in the same period last year.

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READ ALSO:‘We Like Greek Gifts,’ Nigerians Blast NUPENG Over Dangote’s Fuel Price Reduction

Further analysis indicates that daily condensate production in August stood at 197,229 bpd, reflecting a decline.

Also, Nigeria’s crude oil output in August achieved 96 per cent of its OPEC quota, which is set at 1.5 million bopd.

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Accordingly, in the period under review, Forcados Terminal topped the production charts, delivering a total of 8.99 million barrels, including 8.08 million barrels of crude oil and 915.2k barrels of condensates.

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