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Sprite Partners Filmhouse in West African Premiere of ‘Black Panther’ Sequel

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Sprite Partners Filmhouse in West African Premiere of ‘Black Panther’ Sequel

By Edozie Obasi-Eze

In the spirit of celebrating African history through entertainment, Coca-Cola Nigeria’s beverage brand, Sprite, has partnered with Filmhouse Cinemas for the West African premiere prior to the global premiere of the ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Film, the follow-up to the Chadwick Boseman-starring original, at Filmhouse IMAX in Lekki, Lagos.

Sprite Partners Filmhouse in West African Premiere of ‘Black Panther’ SequelBiztellers reports that the premiere will adopt an ‘afro-celebratory’ theme that promises to be a grandiose showcase of African culture through costumes, venue decor, food, and music.

In his remark, Marketing Director, Coca-Cola Nigeria, Yusuf Murtala, reiterated the importance of celebrating history in a fashion that inspires and fuels ambition. He explained saying, “Coca-Cola alongside its other brands like Sprite would continue to support entertainment, globally and locally, especially those that resonate with youths and promote Africa’s rich culture and heritage”.

Sprite seeks to connect with its consumers through music and film that speaks to the heat in their lives, as it provides platforms with content from fearless artists/producers who take on the heat, using their creativity to make pieces that fans love and that speaks to them to create refreshing moments of clarity.

Read Also >> Nigeria Customs Nabs Officer For Reportedly Exposing ‘Petrol Smuggling’ To Other African Countries

On his part, the Chief Cinema Operating Officer of Filmhouse Cinemas, Dr. Onamari Horsefall said, “Black Panther is a story carved out of African culture and history. It illustrates the heights Africa can reach if its economic and technological strategies are sound”. He praised Sprite for the sponsorship and noted how much the brand has done to promote fun times and refreshments for its consumers.

Recall that Sprite recently announced the launch of a new campaign, Sprite Limelight, which sought to bring to realization, the purpose, and aspirations of youths and support them at the apex of their heat period by cooling them down through music.

The new music program was part of Sprite’s new global brand narrative, Heat Happens, which positions the brand as the drink that helps the youth cool down in the face of everyday heated moments. It was one musical starting point reinterpreted through different creative and cultural lenses and was released in collaboration with top artists and headlined in Nigeria by youth sensation, Omah Lay.

Filmhouse Cinemas, the sole distributor of the sequel in West Africa, pledges to continuously play facilitatory roles in delivering memorable premieres to the Nigerian audience, with Horsefall stating that “‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ will not be an exception”.

‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ will be the final film in phase four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

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CBN Extends Suspension Of Cash Deposit Fees

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In an effort to ease financial transactions, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has extended the suspension of cash deposit processing fees from September 30, 2024, to March 31, 2025.

In a letter addressed to banks and financial institutions, signed by the Director of Banking Supervision, Adetona Adedeji, the CBN referenced its previous directive, which had initially suspended the fees until September 30, 2024.

Read Also: Nnamdi Kanu’s Trial Delayed As Justice Nyako Steps Down

The suspension applies to cash deposits exceeding N500,000 for individuals and N3 million for corporate accounts.

Hitherto, individual accounts are charged a 2% processing fee, while corporate accounts incur a 3% fee on excess deposits.

The CBN reiterated that all regulated financial institutions are required to continue accepting cash deposits from the public without any charges during this extended period.

The letter reads, “Further to our letter dated May 6, 2024, referenced BSD/DIR/PUB/LAB/016/023, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) hereby extends the suspension of processing charges on cash deposits above N500,000 for individuals and N3,000,000 for corporates. The previous suspension, set to expire on September 30, 2024, has now been extended until March 31, 2025.”

“This suspension pertains to the 2% and 3% fees outlined in the ‘Guide to Charges by Banks, Other Financial Institutions and Non-Bank Financial Institutions,’ issued on December 20, 2019.”

Recall that in 2019, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) unveiled a plan to introduce fees on cash deposits and withdrawals, set to take effect from September 19, 2019.

The bank explained in a publicly shared circular that the move was part of efforts to limit cash usage and improve the collection of government revenues.

At first, these charges were only applicable to customers in Lagos, Ogun, Kano, Abia, Anambra, Rivers, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The CBN also outlined that the policy would be rolled out nationwide by March 31, 2020, as part of its cash-less initiative.

In December 2023, the CBN instructed banks and other financial institutions to halt the application of fees on large cash deposits.

This temporary suspension was originally planned to last until September 30, 2024.

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Dangote, Gates Headline Relaunch Of Capital Campaign For Africa

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The Capital Campaign for the Africa Center was relaunched at the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Wednesday.

To highlight its importance, Africa’s richest man, President Dangote Group, Alh Aliko Dangote and Co-Chair, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates led other notable captains of industry from Africa and the United States of America (USA) graced the event.

ALSO READ: The Tale Of Dangote And Arsenal Football Club

Prominent among those spotted therein include, Chairman, Oriental Energy Resources, Mohammed Indimi; Group Executive Director, Commercial Operations, Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Fatima Aliko Dangote and Co-Chair, Africa Center, Chelsea Clinton.

Also the elite group are, President/Chief Executive Officer, DIL, Aliko Dangote; Co-Chair, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates; Commissioner for Cultural Affairs, New York City, Laurie Cumbo and Chairman, Afreximbank, Benedict Oramah.

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Dangote not truthful on petrol prices in Saudi Arabia- Findings

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Fresh findings have revealed that the Founder of Dangote Refinery, Alhaji Aliko Dangote may have lied on live bloomberg interview while  asserting that petrol pump price was 40 percent higher in Saudi Arabia than in it is in Nigeria.
The billionaire, who said this in an interview with Bloomberg, claimed that the product is 40% cheaper in Nigeria than in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, known as the second largest producer of crude in the world, with about 9 refineries.
The imbalance of this statement prompted several checks by multiple platforms and organisations, including Biztellers.com.ng, which launched a review of the billionaire’s statement during his recent bloomberg live interview.
Biztellers.com.ng findings reveals that a gallon of petrol currently sells for US$2.48 which when divided into 4 liters accordingly, comes down to US$0.62, and when converted to naira at the open market rate of N1,670 comes down to N1,036 a liter, this is against the current average pump price in Nigeria is about N1100 especially in the far north.
Lagos based online publication, Platform Africa, using data from Saudi Arabia and other reputable global statistic websites and online platforms showed that the claim by the Nigerian oil mogul is wrong.
For instance price tracking sites like statista, and tradingeconomics showed that petrol was actually more expensive in Nigeria than in Saudi Arabia as of today, Wednesday, September 25, and the day the billionaire made the statement.
PMS in Saudi is sold for 2. 33 Saudi Riyal equivalent to 62 cents / litre according to tradingeconimics while the PMS Average price in Nigeria is N1100/litre that is about 67 cents/litre, using the present exchange rate of Naira to dollar.
In Russia, the price per litre of petrol is 64 cent while it goes for 65 cent in Indonesia.
How 63 cent per litre in Saudi is 40% cheaper compared to 67 cent per litre in Nigeria will be left for Africa’s richest man to explain.
However, based on the verifiable figures by the petrol product price tracking institutions, Mr. Dangote is not correct.
PMS is more expensive in Nigeria than in Saudi as of today, Wednesday, September 25, 2024.
Beyond this, an earlier report by Bloomberg showed that contrary to claim by the billionaire on need for Nigeria to totally end petrol subsidy, Saudi Arabia spends $7,000 per person on energy subsidies, highest in G-20 economies.
The kingdom’s total spending on fuel subsidies soared over the past two years, hitting the highest among the Group of 20 economies on a per capita basis, the Bloomberg report has shown.
This, which came amid the harsh impact of petrol subsidy removal by the Bola Tinubu administration, which has cited the unsustainable nature of the decades-long payments, also punctured the claims by Alhaji Dangote that the Nigerian government has to hand over totally from subsidising petrol for its citizens
In 2022, Nigeria spent about $10 billion for the purpose.
The report published in 2023 indicated that Saudi Arabia spent almost $7,000 per person, equivalent to about 27 per cent of economic output, across both explicit and implicit energy subsidies, according to a paper published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Fossil fuel subsidies soared globally since 2020 to $7 trillion last year as governments took measures to protect consumers and businesses from a spike in prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the IMF paper.
It estimated that cutting fossil fuel subsidies could help reduce carbon dioxide emissions, deaths from air pollution, and boost government revenues.
“Fossil fuels in most countries are priced incorrectly,” Simon Black, Antung Liu, Ian Parry and Nate Vernon wrote in the IMF working paper. “Unfortunately, current prices are routinely set at levels that do not adequately reflect environmental damages and, in some cases, not even supply costs,” they added.
China-which spent $2.2 trillion – was the biggest provider of subsidies in absolute terms, followed by the US and Russia, according to the IMF. Saudi Arabia spent a total of $253 billion on subsidies last year, it added.
The IMF has been urging Saudi Arabia to push ahead with measures to cut the government subsidy bill and take steps to protect the welfare of low-income households through increased and targeted social spending. The spending has made Saudi fuel one of the cheapest in the world.
In 2021, the government set a cap for the domestic cost of gasoline to soften the impact of higher living costs on citizens, just months before prices soared to over $100 a barrel.
In its Article IV Consultation, the IMF said that the kingdom’s work on subsidy reforms is “continuing unabated through planned step price increases that will lead to their elimination by 2030.”
Implicit subsidies, which the IMF defined as undercharging for the environmental cost of fossil fuel burning and lost tax revenue, made up the bulk of the global total. Explicit subsidies, or selling fuels as below supply costs, had a share of just 18 per cent.
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