The naira depreciated to N1,320 per dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday.

The current FX rate signifies a decline of 1.54 percent from N1,300/$ traded on April 24.

Currency traders, known as bureau de change (BDC) operators, quoted the buying rate at N1,260 and the selling price at N1,320 — leaving a profit margin of N60.

At the official window, the local currency depreciated by 2.24 percent to N1,339.23 against the dollar on Friday, from N1,309.88 on April 25.

According to FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), also known as the official window, during trading hours, a dollar was sold as high as N1,410 and at a low rate of N1,051.

Meanwhile, on April 24, Emeka Obegolu, president, Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), asked the federal government to develop policies that will strengthen the naira and foster economic growth in Nigeria.

“We are here to brainstorm innovative strategies for strengthening the naira, assessing progress, identifying challenges, and formulating practical solutions,” Obegolu said.

He pledged that the recommendations from the roundtable will be diligently conveyed to the relevant authorities for implementation.

Broadcasting company, Multichoice, on Wednesday, increased the prices of its offerings in Nigeria four months after its last increment.

The company reviewed prices in its packages across the board. The new prices will take effect from May 1, 2024.

With the latest price hike, the DStv Premium package increased from N29,500 to N37,000. Similarly, the DStv Compact+ went up from N19,800 to N25,000 while the Compact package increased from N12,500 to N15,700.

The Comfam package moved from N7,400 to N9,300. Yanga package moved up from 4,200 to N5,100 while Padi package increased from N2,950 to N3,600. HDPVR was increased from N4,000 to N5,000, the Access Fees package from N4,000 to N5,000, and XtraView moved from N4,000 to N5,000.

Meanwhile, the Gotv Supa+ package moved from N12,500 to N15,700, Supa package from N7,600 to N9,600, and Max package from N5,700 to N7,200.

While the Jolli package was increased from N3,950 to N4,850, the Jinja package moved from N2,700 to N3,300, and Smallie package from N1,300 to N1,575.

The upward review of the broadcasting company’s offerings has stirred mixed reactions online, with social media users arguing that the increment was coming at the wrong time.

Reacting to the hike on X, a social media user, Kelvin Odanz, who tweets as @MrOdanz, asked Nigerians to explore other options rather than complain about the increase.

He wrote, “If you can afford stable Internet, there are so many other services you can use aside from DSTV. For football and other entertainment. Because aside football, nothing dey DSTV. Explore these options and stop whining.

“I am not even a fan of DSTV one bit. Aside from football, there’s basically nothing of note there. But this whole outrage over them hiking their price is quite hypocritical. Everyone has hiked the price of their goods/services. Even small businesses. So why shouldn’t DSTV do same?

Sharing his sentiment, @Letter_to_Jack said, “Electricity tariffs increased: Small rage. Cement prices through the roof: Small rage. Diesel to 1700/L at a point: Small rage. Indomie at 13k = small rage. Dstv increases prices: OUTRAGE! At this point, you’d think DSTV/MultiChoice is the only trigger Nigerians have.”

On his part, David Ofor, said while the price increase was understandable, it was important for the broadcasting company to justify it by offering value for the money.

He wrote, “I understand the fact that Multichoice is operating in a free market economy, and Govt has limited control mechanism in such. What people are complaining about is not primarily the price hike, but, the static content being provided, DSTV and GoTV have not improved on their services despite the plethora of increments over the years.

“They should justify the payments made, more so, why are they increasing now that Diesel prices are coming down and Naira is strengthening?”

While the debate continues, we look at other alternatives Nigerians can consider for their pleasure.

DSTV — Despite the mixed reactions that greeted the increase, many Nigerians will continue with the broadcasting company. With several increments, Multichoice still boasts customers’ loyalty among other alternatives offering the same services.

Many households prefer DStv and GOtv as their source of entertainment. This may not be unconnected to the company’s premium in international sports broadcasting, particularly European leagues and UEFA Champions League.

When contacted on Friday, the spokesperson for Multichoice Nigeria, Caroline Oghuma, said despite the hike, subscribers can still enjoy their current price for the next year with a “Price Lock” incentive.

“With Price Lock, you can continue to pay your current subscription for up to a year, if you pay before your due date, each month,” Oghuma told our correspondent.

Star Times — The company, a major player in the Asian country’s Pay-TV market, has a considerable market share in some African countries, including Nigeria and Kenya.

Startimes has channels that include news, music, movies, and football channels, including exclusive rights to some football content.

ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, says it has no intention of selling the social media platform.

“Foreign media reports that ByteDance is exploring the sale of TikTok are untrue,” the company wrote in a statement on Toutiao, a news aggregation app that it owns.

“ByteDance doesn’t have any plan to sell TikTok.”

The statement was in response to an article by The Information on Thursday saying “ByteDance is exploring scenarios for selling TikTok’s US business without the algorithm that recommends videos to TikTok users”.

The development followed after the US passed a law to force ByteDance to sell the hugely popular video app or be banned in America.

The sell-or-ban measure was signed into law by US President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

The bill, passed by the senate on Tuesday, follows concerns among US lawmakers that China could access Americans’ data or use the app for surveillance.

In March, the house of representatives passed a bill to ban TikTok unless the app parts ways with ByteDance.

The lawmakers voted — 352 in favour of the proposed law and 65 against it — in a rare moment of bipartisan unity.

In 2022, the US house of representatives ordered its staff to delete TikTok from any house-issued mobile devices.

TikTok recently said it would challenge in court the “unconstitutional” law.