In an unprecedented move, Dangote Petroleum Refinery has announced further reduction of the price of diesel to from 1200 to 1,000 naira per litre.

While rolling out the products, the refinery supplied at a substantially reduced price of N1,200 per litre three weeks ago, representing over 30 per cent reduction from the previous market price of about N1,600 per litre.

This significant reduction in the price of diesel, at Dangote Petroleum Refinery, is expected to positively affect all the spheres of the economy and ultimately reduce the high inflation rate in the country.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has banned three private jet operators’ permits to conduct commercial flights.

Chris Najomo, the NCAA’s interim director general, announced the suspension of the three private operators in a statement distributed to all airlines on Tuesday.

This comes a day after Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace, announced that the federal government would arrest and sanction unauthorised flights and non-certified people.

Najomo stated that the use of private jets for business purposes drew Keyamo’s attention in November 2023, prompting the minister to issue guidelines prohibiting such activity.

“Subsequently, in March 2024, the NCAA had issued a stern warning to holders of the permit for noncommercial flight (PNCF) against engaging the carriage of passengers, cargo or meal for hire reward,” Najomo said.

“The authority had also deployed its official to monitor activities of private jet terminals across airports in Nigeria. As a consequence of this heightened surveillance, no fewer than three private operators have been found to be in violation of the annexure provision of the PNCF and part 9114 of the NCAA regulations.

“In line with our zero tolerance for violation of regulations, the authority has suspended the PNCF of these operators.

“To further sanitise the general aviation sector, I have directed that a reevaluation of all orders of PNCF be carried out on or before the 19th of April 2024 to ascertain compliance with regulatory requirements.”

Najomo also said all PNCF holders will be required to submit relevant documents to the authority within the next 72 hours.

“This riot act is also directed at existing air operators certificate (AOC) holders who utilise aircraft listed on the PNCF for commercial chatter operations,” Najomo said.

“It must be emphasised that only aircraft listed in the operation specifications of the AOC are authorised to be used in the provision of such charter services.

“Any of those AOC holders who wish to use the aircraft for charter operations must apply to the NCAA to delist it from their PNCF and include it into the AOC operations specifications.”

The NCAA also urged travellers not to patronise any airline or charter operator who does not hold a valid AOC issued by the NCAA when they wish to procure chartered operation services.

Najomo also encouraged legitimate players in the aviation industry to report the activities of such “unscrupulous” elements to the authorities promptly for necessary action.

Elon Musk, the owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, has confirmed plans to charge new users for posting on the network.

On Monday, he responded to a post on the X policy on new accounts, stating that it is the only solution to the platform’s bot issue.

According to Musk, the explosion of bogus accounts consumes the available space for usernames, resulting in the lack of many excellent handles.

“Unfortunately, a small fee for new user write access is the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots,” Musk said.

“Current AI (and troll farms) can pass “are you a bot” with ease.

“The onslaught of fake accounts also uses up the available namespace, so many good handles are taken as a result.”

Replying to another X account on the new policy, Musk said new users will be able to post for free after three months.

On October 17, 2023, X started charging new users in New Zealand and the Philippines $1 per year to access key features, which include the ability to tweet, retweet, like posts and reply to posts.

The social media platform said the aim is to “reduce spam, manipulation of our platform and bot activity”.

On April 4, Elon Musk announced that a cleanup to purge the social media platform of bot accounts and trolls was underway and would lead to the suspension of legitimate accounts.

In addition, Musk said the company would also trace the people responsible and bring the full force of the law to bear upon them.