In a major pivot, Dangote Cement Plc announced it has invested over $280 million in compressed natural gas (CNG) infrastructure, vehicles, and technology, effectively shifting away from diesel, a product that its sister company, Dangote Oil Refinery, refines. The company said this transition is part of its long-term strategy to power its fleet with 100 percent CNG.

Arvind Pathak, Group Managing Director of Dangote Cement, explained that the investment aligns with Dangote’s clean energy goals and its commitment to reducing carbon emissions. Speaking at a recent event, Pathak stated, “By mid-2026, Dangote Cement aims to operate a fleet predominantly powered by CNG.” To achieve this goal, Dangote Cement has received its first 1,500 mono-fuel CNG trucks and expects another 1,600 by year-end, bringing the total to 3,100 vehicles. This transition will be supported by new CNG fueling infrastructure, including stations at Obajana and Ibese.

The move has caught attention as Dangote Industries, which owns Africa’s largest oil refinery, has opted for CNG over diesel for its cement transportation fleet. In doing so, it demonstrates a firm commitment to a low-carbon economy despite the country’s longstanding reliance on diesel fuel.

President Bola Tinubu emphasized the importance of natural gas in Nigeria’s energy future, calling CNG “an economic necessity” in the transportation sector. He pointed out that adopting CNG aligns with Nigeria’s vast natural gas resources and the country’s goal to meet net-zero emissions by 2060. Aliko Dangote, Chairman of Dangote Group, added that his company’s shift to CNG supports Nigeria’s climate commitments under the Paris Agreement and furthers the government’s energy independence goals.

Dangote’s early adoption of CNG infrastructure has made it Nigeria’s largest operator of CNG-powered trucks, marking a significant move away from diesel and positioning the company as a leader in cleaner energy practices across Africa.

Netanyahu says Israel hit Iran hard; Khamenei says damage should not be exaggerated

Israel's airstrikes "hit hard" Iran's defences and missile production, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, as Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the country was considering its response.

With warfare raging in Gaza and Lebanon, direct confrontation between Israel and Iran risks spiralling into a regional conflagration. But a day after the airstrikes, there was no sign they would spark another round of escalation.

However, heavy fighting in Lebanon between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which sharply intensified over recent weeks, continued on Sunday with an Israeli airstrike killing eight people in a residential block in Sidon, medics said.

"The air force attacked throughout Iran. We hit hard Iran's defence capabilities and its ability to produce missiles that are aimed at us," Netanyahu said in a speech, calling the attack "precise and powerful" and saying it met all its objectives.

Israel’s army chief, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, said the strike on Iran had showed what the Israeli response to its enemies would be. “We struck strategic systems in Iran, which carries great importance, and we will now see how things develop. We are prepared for all scenarios in every arena.”

The Islamic Republic has not signalled how it will respond to Saturday's long-anticipated strikes, which involved scores of fighter jets bombing targets near the capital Tehran and in the western provinces of Ilam and Khuzestan.

The U.N. Security Council will likely convene to discuss the attack on Monday, diplomats said.

The heavily armed arch-enemies have engaged in a cycle of retaliatory moves against each other for months, with Saturday's strike coming after an Iranian missile barrage on Oct. 1, much of which Israel said was downed by its air defences.

Khamenei said Israel's calculations "should be disrupted". The attack on Iran, which killed four soldiers and caused some damage, "should neither be downplayed nor exaggerated", he said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran was not looking for war but would give an "appropriate response".

U.S. President Joe Biden called for a halt to escalation, which has raised fears of a wider Middle East war arising from the year-old Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza and Israel's thrust into south Lebanon to stop Hezbollah rocketing northern Israel.

Separately, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Iran was no longer able to use its allies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon against Israel. The two groups "are no longer an effective tool" of Tehran, he said in a speech.

Gallant added that Hamas was no longer functioning as a military network in Gaza and that Hezbollah's senior command and most of its missile capabilities had been eliminated.

Hamas has repeatedly said it is still able to function militarily, and Israel has recently conducted major new operations in devastated north Gaza against what it calls regrouping Hamas militants.

Hezbollah has said its command structure remains intact and that it retains significant missile capabilities.

LEBANON FIGHTING

On Sunday, the Israeli military urged residents of 14 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate immediately and move north of the Awali river.

An Israeli strike on Sidon, a city in coastal south Lebanon, killed at nine people and wounded 25 on Sunday, the country's health ministry said.

Elsewhere in the south, a strike on Zawtar al-Sharkiya killed three people and a Saturday bombing of Marjayoun killed five, it said.

In all, Israeli strikes killed 19 people in Lebanon on Saturday, the health ministry said. At least 2,672 people have been killed and 12,468 injured in the year since Israel and Hezbollah began exchanging rocket fire, it said late on Sunday.

Israel said four of its soldiers were killed in south Lebanon fighting.

Hezbollah also said it had fired a large missile salvo at the Zevulon military industries facility north of Haifa in northern Israel. Hezbollah rockets hit a house and cars and rescue crews responded to put out the fire.

One woman was seriously injured, according to Israel's ambulance service.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Putin hopes NATO heard warning on long-range strikes

President Vladimir Putin has expressed hope that NATO has “heard” his warning about the consequences of allowing Ukraine to use Western-supplied long-range missiles to strike deep inside Russia.

Putin said last month that Moscow would treat any such attacks as a direct attack by the countries that supplied the weapons. Amid growing Western involvement in the Ukraine conflict, the Russian president has also proposed updating the national nuclear doctrine.

When asked whether Kiev’s backers had listened to his warning, Putin told Rossiya-1 correspondent Pavel Zarubin “They didn’t tell me anything about it, but I hope they heard it.”

In an interview published on Sunday, Putin stressed that the Ukrainian military cannot independently use high-precision weapons. “Only specialists from NATO states can do this, because this requires space intelligence, which Ukraine naturally does not have,” he explained.

According to Putin, “what is happening now is all being done by the hands of NATO officers.”

“The only question is whether they will allow themselves to strike deep into Russian territory or not,” he pointed out.

Russia would have to respond accordingly, the president warned.

“How to respond, when, and where specifically - it’s too early to talk about it now. But, obviously, our military department is thinking about this and will be offering various options,” Putin concluded.

Kiev has for months been pushing the US and its allies to lift a ban on strikes deep inside Russia’s territory with Western-supplied long-range weapons, blaming its setbacks on the battlefield on their reluctance.

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has included the request to use weapons from NATO countries to conduct such strikes in his so-called ‘victory plan’. The recently-unveiled wish list for a conclusion to the ongoing conflict has so far been approached with caution by many Western leaders.

Earlier this week, Fox News reported, citing an unnamed official, that both the Pentagon and the US Intelligence Committee had advised Washington against giving Kiev permission to use American-supplied weapons for strikes deep inside Russia. Allowing it to use ATACMS missiles would have no strategic impact, while it would risk further escalation between Washington and Moscow, according to the outlet.

Moscow has dismissed Kiev’s ‘plan’ as a “set of incoherent slogans”intended to push “NATO members towards a direct conflict” with Russia.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces thwart attempted cross-border assault from Ukraine, official says

Russian forces thwarted an attempt at another cross-border incursion by Ukraine into southwestern Russia, a local official reported Sunday, months after Kyiv staged a bold assault on its nuclear-armed enemy that Moscow is still struggling to halt.

An “armed group” sought Sunday to breach the border between Ukraine and Russia’s Bryansk region, its governor, Aleksandr Bogomaz, said but was beaten back. Bogomaz did not clarify whether Ukrainian soldiers carried out the alleged attack, but claimed on Sunday evening that the situation was “stable and under control” by the Russian military.

There was no immediate acknowledgement or response from Ukrainian officials.

The region neighbors Kursk province, where Ukraine launched a surprise push on Aug. 6 that rattled the Kremlin and constituted the largest attack on Russia since World War II. Hundreds of Russian prisoners were blindfolded and ferried away in trucks in the opening moments of the lightning advance, and Ukraine’s battle-hardened units swiftly pressed on across hundreds of square miles (square kilometers) of territory.

Responsibility for previous incursions into Russia’s Belgorod and Bryansk regions has been claimed by two murky groups: the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion.

Russian officials and state media have sought to downplay the significance of Kyiv’s thunderous run in Kursk, but the country’s forces have so far been unable to dislodge Ukrainian troops from the province. Western officials have speculated that Moscow may send troops from North Korea to bolster its effort to do so, stoking the almost three-year war and bringing geopolitical consequences as far away as the Indo-Pacific region.

Russian lawmakers Thursday ratified a pact with Pyongyang envisioning mutual military assistance, a move that comes as the U.S. confirmed the deployment of 3,000 North Korean troops to Russia.

North Korean units were detected Wednesday in Kursk, according to Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, known by its acronym GUR. The soldiers had undergone several weeks of training at bases in eastern Russia and had been equipped with clothes for the upcoming winter, GUR said in a statement late Thursday. It did not provide evidence for its claims.

Moscow warns West against approving long-range strikes against Russia

Also on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow is working on ways to respond if the U.S. and its NATO allies allow Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia with long-range Western missiles.

Putin told Russian state TV that it was too early to say exactly how Moscow might react, but the defense ministry has been mulling a range of options.

Russia has repeatedly signaled that it would view any such strikes as a major escalation. The Kremlin leader warned on Sept. 12 that Moscow would be “at war” with the U.S. and NATO states if they approve them, claiming military infrastructure and personnel from the bloc would have to be involved in targeting and firing the missiles.

He reinforced the message by announcing a new version of the nuclear doctrine that considers a conventional attack on Russia by a nonnuclear nation that is supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack on his country — a clear warning to the U.S. and other allies of Kyiv.

Putin also declared the revised document envisages possible nuclear weapons use in case of a massive air attack, opening the door to a potential nuclear response to any aerial assault — an ambiguity intended to deter the West.

Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly said they need permission to strike weapons depots, airfields and military bases far from the border to motivate Russia to seek peace. In response, U.S. defense officials have argued that the missiles are limited in number, and that Ukraine is already using its own long-range drones to hit targets farther into Russia.

That capability was evidenced by a Ukrainian drone strike in mid-September that hit a large Russian military depot in a town 500 kilometers (300 miles) from the border.

The U.S. allows Kyiv to use American-provided weapons in more limited, cross-border strikes to counter attacks by Russian forces.

Civilian deaths reported in Kherson as warring sides trade drone strikes

In a separate update, Bryansk Gov. Bogomaz claimed that over a dozen Ukrainian drones were shot down over the region on Sunday. Separately, a total of at least 16 drones were downed over other Russian regions, including the Tambov province some 450 kilometers (290 miles) north from the border, officials reported. There were no reports of casualties from any of the alleged attacks.

In Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson, Russian shelling killed three civilians on Sunday, local Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin claimed. Another Kherson resident died in a blaze sparked by shells hitting a high-rise, according to Ukraine’s Emergency Service.

Air raid sirens wailed for over three hours in Kyiv overnight into Sunday, and city authorities later reported that “around 10” drones had been shot down. They said no one had been hurt. Ukraine’s air force on Sunday reported that it had shot down 41 drones launched by Russia across Ukrainian territory.

RT/AP

“A Judge shall avoid developing excessively close relationship with frequent litigants – such as government ministers or their officials, municipal officials, police prosecutors in any Court where the Judge often sits, if such relationship could reasonably create an appearance of partiality.”

Rule 2.8, Revised Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers in Nigeria (2016)

Sylvanus Nsofor was a little known Justice of the Court of Appeal when he breathed oxygen into Muhammadu Buhari’s political aspirations with his dissent in the presidential election petition in 2007. Eight years earlier, he had launched a unique career in the history of political litigation in Nigeria.

The case arose from the election into the office of Chairman of the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area (LGA) in Rivers State in Nigeria’s Niger Delta on 12 December 1998. Cyprian Tasie Wike was the candidate of the All Peoples’ Party (APP). Cyprian Chukwu flew the flag of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). After screening aspirants on 24 November, 1998, the Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP) settled on Ezenwo Nyesom Wike as its candidate.

At the time, local elections were conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the PDP initially submitted Nyesom Wike’s name as their candidate. However, sometime before election day, the party substituted his name with Samuel Rogers Icheonwo. When it announced the results, INEC declared the candidate of the PDP as the winner with 40,370 votes, beating the candidate of the AD into second place with 11,441 votes.

Nyesom Wike sued, claiming that INEC had announced Icheonwo as winner when he was not lawfully sponsored by any party in the contest. The election petition tribunal struck out the petition, holding that it lacked jurisdiction “to resolve the issue as to who was sponsored by PDP.”

Nyesom Wike appealed. In his judgment on behalf of a three-person panel of the Court of Appeal on 6 March 1999, Sylvanus Nsofor nullified the result announced by the INEC and ordered a re-run of the election with Nyesom Wike as the candidate of the PDP. Wike duly won the re-run to emerge as the Chairman of the Obio/Akpor LGA.

Since then, Nyesom Wike’s political trajectory has been attended by what appears to be an unusual coincidence of mutually beneficial intercourse with the judiciary. In 2008, he became Chief of Staff to a Governor of Rivers State whose emergence rested on a somewhat improbable piece of judicial machination.

After a stint as Minister of State for Education, Wike emerged in 2015 as the candidate of the PDP for the governorship of Rivers State. Following the election on 11-12 April 2015, the INEC declared him as winner, ahead of  Dakuku Peterside of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Peterside petitioned challenging the result declared by INEC. The tribunal granted his petition and initially set aside the result. The Court of Appeal agreed with the trial tribunal.

On 12 February 2016, the Supreme Court set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal on a specious technicality and restored Wike as duly elected. The author of the Supreme Court judgment was Kudirat Kekere-Ekun.

In the past week, she and Wike resumed mutual acquaintance. In the intervening nine  years, Kekere-Ekun had risen to become Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), while Wike emerged in August 2023 as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. The venue was the flag-off of the construction by the Minister of 40 units of judicial housing in Abuja.

This was the latest chapter in Wike’s durable track-record as Nigeria’s most prolific judicial benefactor.

As Governor of Rivers State, he gave 41 Range Rover Sports Utility Vehicles(SUVs) to judges in the state. Customary Court judges were not left out. He gave them 29 Renault SUVs, while complaining about the “unfortunate and the unwillingness of the judiciary in Nigeria to seek true independence to discharge their functions.”

The irony was clearly lost on him.

In 2020, Wike donated 24 luxury duplexes to judges in Rivers State and reportedly “handed out $300,000 in cash to judges who preferred to build their own houses.” It was presumably tax-free. Then CJN, Tanko Muhammad, slavishly “applauded his generosity saying the gifts spoke of the ‘love the Rivers State governor has for the judiciary.’”

The love was fully requited.

The previous year, in January 2019, the judiciary had made Wike’s re-election an electoral non-event when it disqualified the opposition APC from fielding any candidate against him. Neutral observers did not need to wonder whether all the investment in the judiciary was without mutual benefit.

Before leaving office as Governor in 2023, Wike launched yet another construction of quarters for judges also in Rivers State, this time on a site “where his administration recently demolished flats initially belonging to Bayelsa State.”

This gubernatorial generosity to the judiciary went beyond the state level. Former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, reported that as Governor, Wike awarded a contract to former President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Zainab Bulkachuwa, “to build the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt”, the capital of Rivers State. In return, he said “anything Wike wanted was granted before he asked.” Neither Wike nor Bulkachuwa has thought it fit to issue a denial.

Now, as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Wike’s political generosity has become fully federalized under the judicial benediction of yet another CJN. At the launch of the 40 new units of judicial housing in Abuja this past week, the Minister had in attendance both the CJN and the PCA. Presumably keen to impress such high judicial presence, Wike serenaded them with testimony as to how he summarily revoked the land previously allocated to construction conglomerate, Julius Berger, in order to make it available for building suitable judicial digs.

The high judicial figures present looked nothing if not suitably impressed, but the Minister was only getting started. According to him, it was important “to build houses for judges so they would not be susceptible to temptations from unscrupulous politicians.”

No one around had the presence of mind to ask him to look in the mirror.

This has been described charitably as convenient overreach. A better description for it will be judicial subornation. In full public glare, the two senior-most judges in the country looked rather giddy as they advertised an undisguised breach of the Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers, whose effectiveness depends on their combined leadership and example.

There is no political litigant in the country more prolific than the current Minister of the FCT. He has an almost extra-terrestrial ability to normalise outcomes that defy all cannons of lawful judicial enterprise. If anyone fits the description of the prohibition in Rule 2.8 of the Judicial Conduct, it is Minister Wike. Yet, for him, the Chief Justice of Nigeria is happy to retrench that same Code of Conduct.

It was not supposed to be like this.

Jerome Udoji, one of Nigeria’s best known lawyers and public servants, was born in Ozubulu in present day Anambra State around 1912. Udoji was also the first indigenous District Officer in the colonial civil service. He ended his civil service career Chief Secretary to the government of the Eastern Region under the military coincidentally in 1967, the same year in which Wike officially was born.

When he got the opportunity to undertake a retrospective on his public tour of duty  in 1995, fifteen years before he died in 2010, Udoji chose to issue his memoirs with the title “Under Three Masters.” The three masters whom he served, of course, were colonial administrators, post-colonial civilian politicians, and their military usurpers.

Each set of masters was not without exertions in seeking judicial subservience. Until now, they had usually encountered judicial resistance. Under the current dispensation, however, it is almost as if government has a minister responsible for judicial subornation. To many, the leading judges have simply become Wiked and the country has a CJN who appears happy to have the judicial branch fully Nyesomised.

** Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, a professor of law, teaches at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and can be reached through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

In the early days, my company sold one product.

Our flagship product. The bestseller. The one we're known for. We built our business around the wired bra. And as a result, in ThirdLove's building stages, we devoted all of our focus to positioning and messaging around one key product.

Last year, we extended into a number of new categories.

Our original product marketing cadence focused exclusively on the flagship. With irons in so many fires, we found that our strategy had to evolve.

Especially when you venture into new categories, customers will visit you (virtually and/or in person) at different stages of a lifecycle: new customers, repeat customers and lifers. Each group has its own preferences and needs, which should be reflected in your product marketing strategy.

Understand what they prefer – and when. A company with many products is like a house with many rooms. Almost everyone enters through the front door, where they're all greeted by your flagship product.

You should look at your product marketing cadence through the eyes of new customers, repeat customers, and brand loyalists alike. Which of your products brings people in the front door, and how can you tailor messaging funnels to the needs associated with that product? 

How do customers tend to move through your product's secondary rooms, and how can your marketing be an effective tour guide?

To see through customers' eyes, you need to know how they think. Talk to them in focus groups and leverage data to understand at which stages of the lifecycle customers purchase which products. This is the power of product marketing personalization at work.

Leverage personalization to amplify your strategy. Once you understand what customers want and when, make personalized modifications to your marketing imagery and content. This starts with your website's hero images – how different customers are greeted when they land on your site.

Generally speaking: Core products drive new business, while new products drive repeat business. So, different categories of customers will respond to different types of hero images.

When a new customer visits your site, they should see core products, core messaging, core imagery. When a repeat customer visits your site, they already know about your main products, so show them hero images of other parts of your product ecosystem. 

You've earned their trust with your main offering. Now extend that trust into other dimensions of their lives.

Admittedly, with evolving web/cookie regulations, it may be challenging to break out web messaging this way. If you run into digital obstacles, default to core hero images for all site visitors.

Preserve core narratives across different products. When we launched activewear, we launched three different collections: low, medium, and high-impact – all designed for different types of activity. Of those three, one sold much better than the others.

Why? In retrospect, we determined that its high sales were due to the way its messaging mirrored our flagship product's messaging. With this new product, we emphasized benefits very similar to those of our core products. 

What that told us was that when we're putting new products into the market, we need to stay true to core tenets. The same will be true for all companies, especially with today's values-forward standards.

Romeo & Juliet notwithstanding, most people won't enter your home by climbing the garden wall. Use quantitative and qualitative data to understand the path customers take from the front door to secondary rooms, and use your marketing cadence as a map from stage to stage. 

The better you understand each category of visitor, the more of a personalized, hospitable experience you'll be able to give them.

Inc

Standard Bank says Nigeria is losing an estimated $26 billion annually due to electricity shortages in the country.

In its latest Africa Trade Barometer report, Standard Bank identified electricity supply as a critical barrier to business operations in Nigeria and across other African markets.

The report also said businesses in the country spend around $22 billion yearly on off-grid fuel to offset the impact of unreliable electricity, further driving up operational costs.

“In Nigeria, surveyed businesses must contend with a national grid that frequently collapses as it fails to meet a daily peak demand which is nearly four times its generation capacity,” the report reads.

“Economic losses arising from Nigeria’s electricity shortages are estimated to be USD 26 billion annually, without accounting for spending on fuel for off-grid generators, which is estimated to be a further USD22 billion.” 

According to the report, power outages disrupt production, compromise the quality of temperature-sensitive goods, disrupt water supplies, and affect telecommunications infrastructure critical for payment systems.

The disruptions, the bank said, result in reduced sales and income for businesses.

“Across the 10 African markets, power supply infrastructure remains the most severe obstacle to surveyed businesses’ operations,” Standard Bank said.

“It is reported as one of the most poorly perceived infrastructural attributes as well as the one presenting the most severe obstacle to business operations. 

“Blackouts cause a downtime of production, risk the quality of goods that require controlled environments, impact water supply, and affect telecommunications infrastructure which businesses may rely on for payments. The result is reduced sales and income.”

To address the challenges, the report said there was a need for a diversified energy mix to reduce dependence on the national grid.

Standard Bank also called for policy interventions to stabilise electricity generation and attract investment into renewable energy solutions.

‘BUSINESSES EXPERIENCED LARGEST DECLINE DUE TO  NAIRA DEPRECIATION’

In the report, Standard Bank highlighted that Nigeria experienced the largest decline in business confidence among businesses surveyed in Africa.

“This was primarily due to the significant depreciation of the Naira,” he said.

“The primary driver of this was the liberalisation of the exchange rate by the central bank to consolidate the multiple 

exchange rate systems into a unified market.

“This aimed to let supply and demand dictate the rates, but in June 2023, the Naira fell further by 36% on the official market, showing notable devaluation amidst dollar scarcity and market unrest.

“Efforts to stabilise the Naira were further compromised by the removal and later partial reinstatement of the fuel subsidy, which had stoked inflation and sparked nationwide protests over increased living costs.”

On October 17, Wale Edun, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, said the FX subsidy era was gone.

Edun said the subsidy had cost the country over 5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), causing financial strain.

Also, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on October 23, said the naira is showing signs of stability due to interest rate hikes.

According to FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees the official FX window, the naira closed at N1,600/$ on Friday, compared to N464.51 per dollar when President Bola Tinubu’s administration began.

The Cable

The Nigerian telecommunication regulator, NCC, has disqualified Nigerians below the age of 18 from getting a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card.

Sources at the commission said that this policy is aimed to “protect minors” from the liabilities that arise from the usage of such SIMs.

One source, a senior official of the commission, told our correspondent that parents and guardians can acquire SIMs in their names on behalf of their children and wards and assume any responsibilities or liabilities that may arise from the use of such SIMs.

The overall intent, according to sources, is to protect minors and strengthen national security.

NCC has been tweaking its telecommunications policies to combat security threats in Nigeria.

Constitutionally, 18 years is the age of consent in Nigeria.

NCC believes SIM acquisition is a contract between service providers and their subscribers, which requires the subscriber to have proper legal status, be of mature mind and be rational enough to bear certain responsibilities, obligations and liabilities imposed by a contract.

In 2021, the NCC proposed a Registration of Telephone Subscribers Regulations where it suggested banning minors in Nigeria from acquiring a SIM card. That regulation is now in effect, officials said.

One of the NCC officials said the policy would place a significant responsibility on parents to monitor the mobile activities of their minors.

Reduction in subscribers

Data shows that Nigeria’s mobile subscriptions have dropped from 219 million in March to 153 million in September.

Officials said the decline was attributed to the removal of SIMs not linked to a verified National Identification Number (NIN).

Another reason was that there was a discrepancy in data submitted by a Mobile Network Operator.

One source said the NCC found that “one Mobile Network Operator incorrectly reported around 40 million subscribers as active, despite the absence of any revenue-generating activity over a 90-day period.”

“This was in direct violation of the Commission’s guidelines for determining active subscribers and led to an inflated report of the operator’s subscriber base, thereby skewing industry statistics.”

PT

Nigeria have been awarded a 3-0 victory over Libya, and three vital points, from their scheduled Africa Cup of Nations qualifier earlier this month which they refused to play after being stuck in a remote Libyan airport for half a day before the match.

The disciplinary committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Saturday awarded the match to Nigeria 3-0, putting them on the brink of qualifying for next year’s finals as they sit top of Group D.

The three points took Nigeria to 10 with two matches left to play, four ahead of second-placed Benin and five ahead of Rwanda. Libya have a single point from four games and are in last place. The top two teams in the group qualify for the 2025 finals in Morocco.

Nigeria had refused to play the match in Benghazi on Oct. 15, citing mistreatment on arrival in the country some 48 hours before the scheduled kick-off.

Nigerian players and officials were kept in a locked airport for more than 16 hours, almost 250km away from their intended destination, after their charter flight was redirected while on approach to Benghazi and instead landed in Bayda.

They said they had no access to food or water and no contact from Libyan officials during the episode, and they decided to fly back to Nigeria rather than fulfil the fixture.

The Libya Football Federation said the incident was not deliberate, adding that their players had also faced travel difficulties when they played in Nigeria four days earlier.

But CAF found Libya in breach of competition rules that stipulate visiting teams must be properly received by the host association, who must see them through entry formalities and put a bus at their disposal.

CAF said Nigeria were awarded the match with a 3-0 scoreline and that Libya had been fined $50,000.

Libya had earlier complained about the treatment of their players and officials on arrival in Nigeria for their qualifier in Uyo on Oct. 11, when their flight landed hours away from the match venue and the players endured long travel delays.

Nigeria won that match 1-0. Their treatment ahead of the scheduled return game four days later was seen as a tit-for-tat measure and widely condemned across the continent as Libya taking gamesmanship a step too far.

It also highlighted the consistently poor treatment meted out to visiting sides when playing around Africa -- in both national team and club competitions.

CAF president Patrice Motsepe said earlier this week his organisation was looking at tightening up rules and regulations to deter bad treatment of visiting teams.

African football is notorious for poor treatment of visiting teams, with common tricks being delays going through immigration on arrival, circuitous and lengthy bus trips and the allocation of poor training facilities.

Reuters

Iran plays down Israel's strikes, says they caused 'limited damage'

Iran on Saturday played down Israel's overnight air attack against Iranian military targets, saying it caused only limited damage, as U.S. President Joe Biden called for a halt to escalation that has raised fears of an all-out conflagration in the Middle East.

Scores of Israeli jets completed three waves of strikes before dawn against missile factories and other sites near Tehran and in western Iran, Israel's military said.

It was retaliation for Iran's Oct. 1 attack on Israel with about 200 ballistic missiles, and Israel warned its heavily armed arch-foe not to hit back after the latest strike.

Iran condemned the Israeli raid and its foreign ministry said Iran was "entitled and obligated" to defend itself. But it added that it "recognises its responsibilities towards regional peace and security," a more conciliatory statement than after previous bouts of escalation.

Iran's military said the Israeli warplanes used "very light warheads" to target border radar systems in the provinces of Ilam, Khuzestan and around Tehran.

"Enemy planes were prevented from entering the country's airspace ... and the attack caused limited damage," Iran's military joint staff said in a statement.

David Albright, a former U.N. nuclear weapons inspector, said low resolution commercial satellite imagery appeared to show that one Israeli strike hit the sprawling Parchin military complex near Tehran, damaging three buildings, including two where solid fuel was mixed for ballistic missile engines.

Decker Eveleth, an associate research analyst at CNA, a Washington think tank, said Israel also hit Khojir, a sprawling missile production site near Tehran.

Tensions between Iran and Israel have grown rapidly since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Iran-backed Hamas, raising fears of a wider regional conflict that could drag in global powers and imperil world energy supplies.

Worsening conflict in Lebanon, where Israel is waging an intense campaign against Iran's main regional ally Hezbollah to stop it firing rockets into northern Israel, has raised the temperature still further.

The United States, which had pressed Israel to avoid targeting sensitive Iranian energy and nuclear sites, joined other countries in calling for a halt to the cycle of confrontation between Israel and Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel had chosen the targets in Iran based on its national interests, not according to what was dictated by the United States.

Biden said the strikes appeared to have only hit military targets and added that he hoped they were "the end".

Vice President Kamala Harris, who hopes to succeed Biden by winning the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, said it was "the strong perspective of the United States that there must be de-escalation."

Two regional officials briefed by Iran told Reuters that several high-level meetings were held in Tehran to determine the scope of Iran's response. One official said the damage was "very minimal" but added that several Revolutionary Guards bases in and around Tehran were also hit.

Iranian news sites aired footage of passengers at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport, seemingly meant to show there was little impact.

Israel's military, signalling it did not expect an immediate Iranian response, said there was no change to public safety restrictions across the country.

'MESSAGE TO IRAN'

Beni Sabti, an Iran expert at Tel Aviv's Institute for National Security Studies, said the Israeli strike appeared designed to give Tehran an opportunity to avoid further escalation.

"We see that Israel wants to close this event, to pass this message to Iran that it is closed and we don't want to escalate it," he said.

Videos carried by Iranian media showed air defences continuously firing at apparently incoming projectiles in central Tehran, without saying which sites were coming under attack.

Israel's military said its jets had struck missile manufacturing facilities and surface-to-air missile arrays, and safely returned home.

"If the regime in Iran were to make the mistake of beginning a new round of escalation, we will be obligated to respond," the military said.

U.S. Defense Secretary LLoyd Austin, in a statement, said Iran "should not make the mistake of responding to Israel's strikes." Austin said he also stressed in a call with his Israeli counterpart diplomatic opportunities to lower tensions in the region, including in Gaza and Lebanon.

Israel notified the U.S. before striking, but Washington was not involved in the operation, a U.S. official told Reuters. Targets did not include energy infrastructure or Iran's nuclear facilities, a U.S. official said.

In the days after Iran's strikes on Israel this month, Biden had warned that Washington, Israel's main backer and supplier of arms, would not support a retaliatory strike on Tehran's nuclear sites and had said Israel should consider alternatives to attacking Iran's oil fields.

Arab states situated between Israel and Iran have been particularly worried that use of their airspace could prompt retaliation against them.

Jordanian television quoted a source in the country's armed forces as saying no military planes had been allowed through its airspace. A Saudi official also said that Saudi airspace had not been used for the strike.

A regional intelligence source said Israeli jets had flown across southern Syria, emitting sonic booms near the Jordanian border, and then across Iraq.

Saudi Arabia, which has mended fences with Iran after years of regional rivalry, and had been edging towards better ties with Israel before the war in Gaza, condemned the attack as a violation of Iranian sovereignty and international law.

LEBANON CONFLICT

Israel's military eased some safety restrictions for residents in areas of northern Israel late on Saturday, a possible indication that it does not expect any immediate large-scale attack from Iran or its proxies in the region.

The decision followed a "situational assessment", it said in a statement.

Still, Lebanon's Hezbollah warned residents of more than two dozen towns in northern Israel to evacuate immediately, saying they had become legitimate targets because it said Israeli troops were stationed there.

Israel meanwhile said it had struck Hezbollah facilities in Beirut's southern Dahiyeh suburb including a weapons-making site and an intelligence headquarters.

The conflict in Lebanon, which has greatly intensified in recent weeks, has also led to strikes on sites linked to Iran and Hezbollah in Syria.

Israel launched airstrikes against some military sites in central and southern Syria early on Saturday, Syrian state news agency SANA reported. Israel has not confirmed striking Syria.

Efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage-release deal in Gaza, which could help cool the wider conflict, are expected to resume in Doha when negotiators fly there on Sunday.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian troops in Kursk Region oblivious to being encircled – Putin

Ukrainian military units in Russia’s Kursk Region, which have been cut off from the border, are apparently not aware how bad their situation is, President Vladimir Putin has said.

On Thursday, Putin claimed during a press conference that up to 2,000 Ukrainian troops had been encircled on Russian soil. In a follow-up interview overnight, published by Russian media on Friday, he made more comments on the situation.

Several Ukrainian units have been cut off in the Russian region, where Kiev had launched a cross-border incursion in August, the president said. The troops themselves and their commanders may underestimate the gravity of the situation, he suggested.

”Our feeling is that the people who were encircled are not fully aware that they are in an encirclement,” he said. Russian intelligence suggests that “stable command and control of the troops has been lost.”

Putin added that Ukrainian forces have been trying to break through to the group in question, but had not been successful. Overall, Russian troops are making progress across the conflict frontline, while Kiev is making no gains at all, he reported.

However, neither Ukraine nor its Western backers are willing to end hostilities, so the Russian military must stay focused on the mission, Putin stressed.

The president attributed Russian battlefield successes to a combination of a bolstered defense industry and troops learning how to use modern military technology and to quickly adapt to changes in Ukrainian actions. Some of the innovations in the use of drones are achieved right on the front line and showcase the high engineering skills of Russian service members, he said.

”This experience in warfare with modern tools is very important,”Putin said.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian drone hits Kyiv high-rise building, kills one, injures five

A Russian drone struck a multi-storey residential building in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Friday evening, triggering a fire in the top floors and killing one person and injuring five, officials said.

Serhiy Popko, head of the capital's military administration, said more than 100 residents were evacuated from the high-rise in Solomyanskyi district, just west of the city centre.

Air defence units were in action during the hour-long air raid alert and two hours later a new alert was declared in the city for incoming drones.

"Apartments from the 17th to the 21st storeys were damaged in the apartment building in Solomyanskyi district," Popko wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "Apartments were on fire on the 20th floor."

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a teenage girl had died. One of the five injured was being treated in hospital and a first aid tent was set up at the site.

Emergency services said the fire had been brought under control. Photos and videos posted on their site showed firefighters using long hoists to battle the blaze.

Popko also said drone fragments had fallen in an open space in the central Shevchenkivskyi district. No casualties were reported.

RT/Reuters