Nigerian Rice Industry Crumbles as Imports Hit N51bn
Nigeria spent N51 billion ($34.4 million) on foreign rice in 2024, signaling a sharp reversal…
Nigerian Rice Industry Crumbles as Imports Hit N51bn
Nigeria spent N51 billion ($34.4 million) on foreign rice in 2024, signaling a sharp reversal of the self-sufficiency gains claimed by the previous administration. Data from UN Comtrade confirms that local rice has become uncompetitive against cheaper imports. High production costs and expensive energy are pricing Nigerian farmers out of their own market. President Bola…
Japan to Start Strategic Oil Release Monday
Tokyo has moved ahead of its international partners. Japan will begin releasing strategic petroleum reserves as early as Monday, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced on Wednesday, in a unilateral step that signals the depth of concern in the world’s fourth-largest economy over a rapidly deteriorating energy supply outlook tied to the widening conflict in…
Oil Prices Rebound 5% as Dangote Cuts Petrol To ₦1,075
Global oil markets swung sharply upward on Wednesday, recovering five per cent after a brief retreat to $88 per barrel the previous day, as the conflict involving the United States, Iran, and Israel continued to drive volatility across energy markets and its consequences rippled directly into Nigeria’s fuel economy. Brent crude climbed to $92.43…
Britain Bans Pro-Palestinian March For First Time In 13 Years
For the first time in more than a decade, the British government has banned a protest march in London. Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood announced late Tuesday that she had approved a Metropolitan Police request to prohibit the annual Al-Quds Day march, which had been planned for Sunday, citing fears of serious public disorder arising…
NiDCOM Confirms Active Evacuation Of Nigerians In Iran
The Federal Government has moved to extract Nigerians from Iran as the Middle East crisis deepens, escorting willing citizens across the Armenian border in what officials have described as the safest available route out of the country. The land corridor through Armenia has become the primary channel for evacuation after airspace over the region…
CBN Grants Banks 18 Months For AML Compliance
The Central Bank of Nigeria has extended the deadline for commercial banks to automate their anti-money laundering systems. Lenders now have 18 months to meet these baseline standards, while smaller financial institutions have two years. This shift moves the goalposts from a previously proposed 12-month window. The apex bank wants every transaction under its watch…
Russia Normalizes Internet Blackouts Amid Ukraine Conflict
Mobile internet disruptions spreading across Russian cities are not going away any time soon. The Kremlin made that plain on Wednesday, telling the public that network outages will continue for as long as the authorities deem them necessary, a formulation that offered no timeline and no ceiling on how far the restrictions could go. Kremlin…
NGX All-Share Drops to 196k on Heavy Profit-Taking
The Nigerian Exchange Limited closed Tuesday in negative territory, as investors moved to lock in gains from a sustained rally, triggering a broad sell-off that reversed Monday’s advances and shaved nearly three-quarters of a trillion naira from the market’s total value in a single session. The benchmark All-Share Index fell by 1,130.87 points, settling at…
Federal Government Suspends Petrol Imports to Protect Local Refiners
The Federal Government has suspended the issuance of petrol import licences for a second consecutive month, signalling a hard pivot toward domestic self-sufficiency. This move, enforced by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), marks the first significant application of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) provisions that restrict imports unless local supply fails…
FG Approves 50 Doctors, 100 Nurses For Correctional Centres
Nigeria’s correctional system has long been a space where the state’s obligations to those in its custody receive little public scrutiny. That reality is now being forced into view. President Bola Tinubu has approved the deployment of 50 medical doctors and 100 nurses to hospitals inside the country’s correctional centres, a direct response to…