The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, blamed foreign exchange challenges and prevailing uncertainty for the inability of oil marketers to resume fuel import. Addressing newsmen in Abuja, Executive Secretary of the PPPRA, Mr. Saidu Abdulkadir, explained that the Petroleum Products Marketing Company, PPMC, had been the one announcing the price of petrol over the last few months, because it was within its rights to do so, as one of the oil marketers and a major supplier of the commodity. Abdulkadir, who was represented by the General Manager, Administration, and Human Resources of the PPPRA, Mr. Victor Shidok, stated that because of the difficulties in accessing foreign exchange by oil marketers, the PPMC is currently the sole importer of the commodity into the country, and...
Deputy Governor of Ondo State and governorship candidate of the Zenith Labour Party, Hon Agboola Ajayi, has lambasted Governor Rotimi Akeredolu for describing him as a betrayal, neophyte and a nincompoop. Ajayi while responding to Akeredolua in a statement by his Media Adviser, Allen Sowore, in Akure said governor Akeredolu ”reckless gaffe is a continuation of his fruitless and sterile efforts to demean the constitutionally established office of the Deputy Governor and his person. “The Deputy Governor, Agboola Ajayi, is not surprised at this latest castigation of his person by Mr Governor. “This has been the favourite tactics of Akeredolu and now that he’s frustrated by the people’s obvious rejection of his reelection bid, it’s expected that he would not desist on the road to infamy and pe...
The governorship candidate of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Hon. Agboola Ajayi, on Tuesday, stated that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) would be defeated in the forthcoming governorship election in the state Ajayi who stated this while receiving PDP defectors from Okitipupa Local Government led by a governorship aspirant, Banji Okunomo, former chairman of the local government, Mr Solomon Bitire, said the ruling APC has failed the people of the state. He noted that the lacklustre performance of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu has contributed to the dwindling fortune of the APC in the state while the PDP has no structure to win the election in the state. Ajayi said the party has breached the zoning arrangement in the state and v...
Merck Mercuriadis‘ Hipgnosis Songs has acquired independent publisher Big Deal Music, Billboard has learned. A formal announcement is expected as soon as Thursday. Under the deal, Big Deal will keep its Los Angeles-area office and staff, rebrand under the Hipgnosis banner and operate as Hipgnosis’ full-service U.S. office, a source familiar with the situation tells Billboard. Big Deal’s catalog includes songwriters Teddy Geiger (Shawn Mendes, Niall Horan), Kamasi Washington, Gary Numan, Ross Golan (Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande), and Sleater-Kinney, among others, as well as joint venture deals with Ricky Reed (Lizzo, Jason Derulo) and Diplo‘s Mad Decent. The company was founded by publishing vet Kenny MacPherson, whose resume includes founding Redhead Music Publishing...
Audio entertainment giant SiriusXM has raised its 2020 subscriber forecast ahead of an appearance by CEO Jim Meyer at a virtual investor conference on Wednesday. SiriusXM now expects full-year self-pay subscriber net additions of approximately 700,000, up from 500,000. The company reiterated its financial guidance for the year. “Our business continues to demonstrate strong performance and favorable trends since we resumed providing our subscriber and financial guidance in conjunction with our second- quarter earnings report” following the initial hit from the novel coronavirus pandemic, Meyer said in a statement. “It’s clear that demand for SiriusXM remains strong – quite simply, consumers continue to find immense value in our unique audio bundle and all of the ente...
Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori is reportedly close to making a loan move to Everton following his breakthrough campaign in the Premier League. After loan spells at Brighton and Hull, Tomori impressed as he spent the 2018/19 season at Derby County, featuring in 55 games in all competitions for then Rams boss Frank Lampard. Lampard would go on to return to his spiritual home at Stamford Bridge following the departure of Maurizio Sarri to Juventus, the club legend not showing any fear in handing a number of opportunities to a number of young players. While Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount were instantly thrust into the Chelsea side by Lampard, Tomori would be handed his chance in the fourth game of the season after the Blues sluggish start to the season, having conceded seven goals in the openin...
Premier League clubs agreed on Thursday that all 28 fixtures in September will be broadcast live in the United Kingdom and around the world. The move comes to ensure supporters in the UK will still legally be able to watch their teams while matches are being played behind closed doors. Sky Sports will air an additional six matches live in the UK in September, with BT Sport broadcasting three extra and one each going to the BBC and Amazon Prime. This means that three kick-off times have now been changed on the opening weekend of the season … West Ham v Newcastle will now take place at 20:00 BST on Saturday 12 September. Sheffield United v Wolves has been brought forward to 18:00 BST on Monday 14 September. And Brighton v Chelsea gets under way at 20:15 BST on Monday 14 September. The Premie...
Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the October 10 governorship election in Ondo State, Eyitayo Jegede, has assured residents of the border communities in Akokoland of adequate protection against kidnappers, if elected governor. Jegede gave the assurance while on a campaign visit to Ikakumo, in Akoko North-East local council area of the state. Recall that majority of the abduction cases in the state took place along Owo/Ose/Akoko highway. While lamenting the ordeals of the locals in the hands of kidnappers and other criminals, Jegede said the scenario would become a thing of the past, once PDP is given the mandate to govern Ondo State. “We are highly concerned about your welfare and are worried about the onslaught of kidnappers and other criminals in Akoko border communities...
The United Nations has condemned the repurposing of schools for use as markets, military bases, isolation centres and camps for internally displaced persons, IDPs, saying schools must remain safe places free of conflict and violence. It also warned against further attacks on educational institutions and students, lamenting that between 2009 and December 2018, about 611 teachers were killed in the Northeast due to the wave of insurgency in the region. In a statement marking the first International Day to Protect Education from Attack, the UN urged Nigeria to prioritise school safety as well as learners’ protection. It said while 910 schools were destroyed in the region within the period, 1, 500 schools were forcefully closed, with 4.2 million children at the risk of missing out on an educat...
Collections from April to June fell by an estimated $60 million, but a digital boost helped make up the difference. BMI generated $1.311 billion in revenue in the year ended June 30, 2020, a 2.2% increase over the $1.283 billion it reported in the year earlier period. Distributions were up too, totaling $1.233 billion — a 3.1% increase from the $1.196 billion paid out to songwriters and publishers in the prior fiscal year. Domestically, the performance rights organization collected $961 million, increasing 1.9% from the year-earlier period. Foreign receipts grew 2.9% to $350 million. As a percentage of revenue, that breaks out to 73.3% domestic and 26.7% foreign, a 0.2% shift in favor of international collections compared to the prior year. BMI estimates that its fourth quarter reven...
DaBaby’s “Rockstar” feat. Roddy Ricch officially finished out the season at No. 1 on Billboard’s 2020 Songs of the Summer chart, having led the tally for 13 out of 15 tracking weeks. The annual chart tracks the most popular songs based on their cumulative performance on the weekly streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Billboard Hot 100 chart between Memorial Day and Labor Day. In addition, “Rockstar” was the most streamed song of the summer, having racked up 514.6 million streams, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. It topped the Hot 100 for a total of seven weeks. Explore the team of musicians, producers, engineers and more behind the track with recording credits provided by Jaxsta below. ArtistsMain Artist – DaBabyFeatured Artist – Roddy Ricch Songwriters:Composer Lyricist ...