Nigerians may have begun the journey towards enjoying low tariffs from GSM providers,which many thought was a far cry going by the earlier disposition of the providers and their regulators. This is sequel to a fierce price war that is currently raging among the GSM operators. The tariff battle, which is being fought by the four major GSM operators in the country, has as its target GSM subscribers whose patronage the warring service providers seek to attract. The battle was started by Etisalat Nigeria with its 25k per second and N15 per minute on all calls. This was taken over by other operators including Airtel, Glo and MTN Nigeria which last Friday unveiled what could be described as the mother of all tariffs cut. However, the M-TEL is nowhere to be found in this battle as it is still waiting for a buyer to revive it.

TRAGEDY struck yesterday along the Benin-Ore express road when 18 persons whose identities are yet to be known were burnt to death while 16 passengers were seriously injured in a multiple accident involving an 18-seater-bus and other vehicles. The accident was said to have occurred near Okada in Ovia North East Local Government Council of Edo State when an on-coming truck was said to have veered off its track apparently trying to avoid bad spots and rammed into the bus which burst into flames.

Leading telecommunications company, MTN Nigeria Communications Limited has, once again, taken the telecommunications landscape by surprise with a revolutionary discount on its tariff structure that brings true value to its over 35 million subscribers. In its sustained strategy of adding value to its esteemed customers, MTN rolled out three pocket-friendly initiatives namely: MTN Magic Number, MTN Talk-On and MTN Family and Friends. Speaking yesterday at the Protea Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos before the media, MTN’s Chief Executive Officer, Ahmad Farroukh, said: “This change is one that every customer can experience in a tangible way.”

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) chairman and chief executive officer,  Sam Amadi, says the on-going review of the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO), expected to be concluded in May  will usher in a more investment-friendly environment by addressing existing gap between revenue and cost profile. This has been a contentious issue for prospective investors and independent power producers (IPPs). The review was approved by the Federal Government last  August, following concerns that the current structure did not provide an acceptable framework that reflected its true meaning for implementation, and did not adequately address the pricing constraints that had inhibited potential investors from participating in the power sector.

The Central Bank of Nigeria  (CBN) expects the drop in foreign reserves to end due to increasing oil prices, tighter monetary policy and stronger capital markets. Furthermore, the CBN sees no need to let the naira weaken; Lamido Sanusi, the CBN governor, said. “The Central Bank is convinced that a stable exchange rate is crucial both for maintaining price stability and attracting foreign investment as it provides a transparent anchor,” Sanusi told Reuters late on Wednesday. “If we feel the need to move to a new equilibrium, we will and we will announce it but at this point, we don’t feel under any credible pressure to,” Sanusi said.

The on-going voter registration exercise in the country would be extended beyond the stipulated two weeks’ duration if many eligible voters are not registered by the end of next week, both President Goodluck Jonathan and Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] chairman Professor Attahiru Jega said at separate occasions in Abuja yesterday. Jonathan spoke when he received a delegation of the G-20 group of Northern politicians which came to congratulate him on his emergence as the PDP presidential flag bearer. He said the deadline could be extended due to the volume of complaints trailing the exercise. He said one of the problem causing delays was probably due to lack of adequate training of Corps members conducting the exercise. He however said every eligible voter will be registered.

The Nasarawa State government yesterday denied reports of the collapse of a section of the banquet hall of the Government House which is still under construction, just as Shelter Development Limited, the firm handling the construction project,  said that its project is still in top form. Information Commissioner, Barrister Mamman Alakayi, who conducted reporters  round the site of the project in company if the director of press to the  governor, Ibrahim Addra, said government was embarrassed by the reports which  were carried in some national dailies.

Unknown gunmen killed three policemen yesterday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, as they were escorting to the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, the state’s contingent to Jerusalem. One of the would-be pilgrims was injured in the attack between the Port Harcourt City Centre and the dualised road to Omagwa.

The majority leader of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Ifedayo Akinsoyinu, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to declare a state of emergency in Plateau State as a way of taking control over the crisis in the state. Mr. Akinsoyinu, told reporters that with the crisis that had engulfed Jos, the capital of Plateau State in recent times, there was no alternative to the declaration of a state of emergency in the state.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigerian Accounting Standards Board (NASB) are at loggerheads over general provisioning by banks for their December 2010 results. The crux of the dispute is based on whether the general provisioning of banks should be observed for the banks' 2010 results or suspended due to the huge provisioning the banks have made in the last two years. General provisioning was one per cent of performing loans while a two per cent controversy came up when the Central Bank released the first revised version of the Prudential Guidelines, which the banks argued against and was subsequently dropped in the final one.