Olayemi Cardoso, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, recently revealed that without the bank’s swift and strategic interventions, Nigeria’s inflation, which stood at 34.80% in December 2024, could have skyrocketed to 42.81%.

Cardoso highlighted several notable achievements during his tenure, including the unification of Nigeria’s multiple exchange rates, clearing a foreign exchange backlog of $7 billion, and boosting the country’s diaspora remittances.

He expects that by the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, remittances will hit N31.79 trillion, a significant increase from the $4.18 billion recorded in the first three quarters of 2024.

The Central Bank Governor also pointed out the remarkable rise in foreign remittances, which grew from $2.33 billion in the same period in 2023 to $4.18 billion in 2024, reflecting the effectiveness of the bank’s policies.

In a notable legal development, Meta Platforms, the head company of Facebook and Instagram, has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that the social media giant allowed millions of users’ personal information to be accessed by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

This settlement comes during a series of actions by Meta that appear to align the company more closely with former President Trump and his administration.

Recently, Meta appointed Joel Kaplan, a former aide to President George W. Bush and a prominent Republican figure, as its new head of global policy, replacing Nick Clegg.

Additionally, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the end of Facebook’s third-party fact-checking program, acknowledging that the model had become a tool for censorship and had made “too many mistakes.”

The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has emphasized the importance of issuing gas distribution licenses to petroleum marketers as a key step in reshaping Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

In a statement released on Tuesday, PETROAN’s spokesperson, Joseph Obele, mentioned the significance of the move. The National Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) had granted these licenses to oil marketers on the same day.

PETROAN further explained that these licenses were crucial to ensuring the success of Nigeria’s gas expansion plans, which are part of the broader vision of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.

The statement outlined that licensees were expected to use their new authorization to contribute to the nationwide distribution of gas, with the goal of covering all 774 local government areas across the country.

In another important development, PETROAN also announced a strategic partnership with Dangote Refinery and MRS, aimed at enhancing the distribution of petroleum products across the nation.

This collaboration is set to provide Nigerians with more value for their money when purchasing Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), while also addressing price disparities by factoring in transportation costs.