Business
California sues Exxon over plastics recycling ‘deception’
(BBC)
California’s attorney general is suing ExxonMobil, alleging the oil giant engaged in a “decades-long campaign of deception” about the effectiveness of plastics recycling.
In the civil lawsuit filed on Monday, Attorney General Rob Bonta accused Exxon of contributing to a “deluge” of plastic pollution, while telling Californians that recycling was a fix.
“For decades, ExxonMobil has been deceiving the public to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew this wasn’t possible,” Bonta said.
In a statement, Exxon blamed California for an inefficient recycling programme.
For decades, California officials have known their recycling system isn’t effective. They failed to act, and now they seek to blame others. Instead of suing us, they could have worked with us to fix the problem and keep plastic out of landfills,” the company said in a statement.
An Exxon spokesperson added that the company had processed more than 60 million pounds (27 million kilograms) of plastic waste into usable raw materials, “keeping it out of landfills”.
Bonta’s office said the case marks the first time US officials have attempted to hold a gas or oil company accountable for deceptive claims about plastics recycling.
California is seeking an unspecified amount of money that Bonta said could come to as much as “multiple billions of dollars”.
“ExxonMobil lied to further its [record]-breaking profits at the expense of our planet and possibly jeopardising our health,” he said.
Last year, Bonta sued ExxonMobil as well as four other oil giants for compensation over climate change damages.
The most recent lawsuit, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court, comes after a nearly two-year investigation by Bonta’s office into the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries and global plastics pollution.
ExxonMobil is the world’s largest producer of resins used for single-use plastics, according a report by Australia’s Minderoo Foundation.
Bonta alleged that, through its marketing, the company was promoting its “advanced recycling” programme to the public as a solution to plastic waste, while knowing that the company would “never be able to process more than a tiny fraction of the plastic waste it produces”.
The 147-page suit alleges that nearly all of plastic waste processed by the company has been turned into fuel instead of recycled plastic.
The deception violated state nuisance, natural resources, water pollution, false advertisement and unfair competition laws, Bonta said.
The world produces over 400 million tons of plastic each year, but only 9% is recycled, according to a 2022 report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Business
Investors Rush For Airtel Money IPO on LSE
Airtel Money is proving popular among retail investors ahead of full admission next week.
Airtel Money began conditional trading on the London Stock Exchange this morning in a £5.3 billion market debut, dubbed Africa’s Revolut.
Shares, which were open only to investors allocated stock in the offer, were trading flat at around 194p.
But armchair investors are rushing to sign up to the City’s largest IPO in five years ahead of full admission on October 14.
It is the ninth most popular initial public offering on AJ Bell’s investment platform based on the number of customers applying to take part in the offer, it said.
Airtel Money is proving popular among retail investors ahead of full admission next week
Airtel Money, a subsidiary of Airtel Africa, which offers mobile payment services in 13 countries across Africa, is a subsidiary of FTSE 100 telecoms group Airtel Africa, whose shares have trebled in less than two years.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has clarified that its ongoing petrol discount is a temporary customer relief measure and does not amount to a restoration of the petroleum subsidy abolished in 2023.
In a statement issued on Friday by Chief Corporate Communications Officer Andy Odeh, the company said the N66-per-litre sales discount, first introduced on 1 October 2026 to mark Nigeria’s 66th Independence Anniversary, will continue until 31 October 2026 at NNPC Retail stations nationwide.
NNPC stressed that the initiative is designed to ease the burden of rising fuel prices linked to elevated global crude oil costs and the Middle East conflict. It applies only to NNPC Retail outlets and does not set a uniform national pump price or change the market-based pricing framework for petroleum products.
“This discount is a customer relief initiative and does not represent the reintroduction of petroleum subsidy,” the statement said. The company urged the public to disregard any interpretation of the measure as a return to the subsidy regime.
The clarification followed comments by Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Taiwo Oyedele, who explained that the discount is funded solely from NNPC Retail’s own profit margin and involves no public funds from the federal budget or Federation Account.
Business
Manufacturers sitting on N40trn untapped opportunities, says report
The Nigerian Manufacturing Opportunity Report 2026 provides decision-makers with the insights on opportunities that are most immediate, where Nigeria is already making progress and what needs to be done better to unlock greater value.
SEID, a marketing communications and market intelligence firm in Lagos, has estimated that the Manufacturing industries in Nigeria is sitting on more than N40 trillion in untapped manufacturing opportunities.
The Managing Partner at SEID, Tubosun Akeju, disclosed this in a report -The Nigerian Manufacturing Opportunity Report 2026 launched by the during the 54th Annual General Meeting of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, held at the Oriental Hotel.
Akeju emphasised that the report provides decision-makers with the insights on opportunities that are most immediate, where Nigeria is already making progress and what needs to be done better to unlock greater value.
“The opportunity is to understand where those strengths exist, deepen them, and build the competitiveness required to capture more value locally and compete beyond our borders,” he said .
The report examines manufacturing opportunities across Nigeria’s subsectors, states, value chains and industrial clusters, while identifying areas where existing strengths can be deepened and competitiveness improved.
It said that Nigeria’s manufacturing landscape was shaped by distinct areas of industrial strength, with different states, regions and value chains demonstrating varying levels of scale, specialisation and competitiveness.
The report noted that this created an opportunity to build on existing capabilities rather than adopt a one-size-fits-all approach to industrial development.
Manufacturing activity is spread across states with different levels of scale, specialisation and growth.
The South-West remains the country’s largest manufacturing zone, while other regions are developing strengths in areas ranging from food and agro-processing to textiles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, cement, steel and light manufacturing.
The report maps these differences to show where investment and industrial development can build on existing capabilities.
Investors Rush For Airtel Money IPO on LSE
JUST IN: NNPC Clarifies Petrol Discount: Relief Initiative, Not Subsidy Restoration
JUST IN: A’Court Stalls SERAP, Oluwadare Defamation Appeals Over Late Briefs
Tech Expert, Zuckerberg trains with UFC champions, Adesanya, Alexander
Organ Trafficking: Ekweremadu bags 10 years in UK prison
SAINT OBI: Between his marriage and his death
-
News2 days agoNAF Helicopter Makes Precautionary Landing In Makurdi
-
News3 days agoMilitary Chiefs Visit Ondo Crash Site As Underwater Search Intensifies
-
Business2 days agoNaira Today Exchange Rates, Thursday October 8
-
News1 day agoTears, Embraces as Rescued NYSC Members Reunite with Families in Ibadan
-
Business3 days agoAfrican Union launch continent’s first credit rating agency
-
Business1 day agoNaira Exchange Rates Friday, October 9
-
Business2 days agoObi advocates policy support for manufacturers
-
Business1 day agoManufacturers sitting on N40trn untapped opportunities, says report