News
Improved revenue: Nigeria moves to refinance loans
Nigeria is considering refinancing some of its expensive debt obligations and raising fresh funding to bridge its budget deficit, buoyed by improved investor confidence and elevated crude oil prices triggered by tensions in the Middle East.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed that the federal government was looking to take advantage of favourable market conditions to restructure costly legacy debt and secure additional financing for development projects.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg TV, Oyedele said the current environment presented a unique opportunity for Nigeria to improve its debt profile while mobilising resources to support economic growth.
“We think that this timing is good for us to be able to maybe even refinance some of our expensive past debts, but also to raise more funding for our development at this critical time. You don’t know what happens tomorrow. But as of today, market conditions are actually very good,” he pointed out.
The renewed optimism stems largely from the sharp rise in crude oil prices following the conflict involving Iran, which has boosted the fortunes of oil-producing countries outside the Middle East, including Nigeria.
Higher oil prices have strengthened Nigeria’s external earnings position and improved investor perception of the country’s creditworthiness. The premium demanded by investors to hold Nigerian dollar-denominated bonds over comparable United States Treasury securities has fallen significantly, reflecting growing confidence in the economy.
Despite improvements in government revenue, Oyedele noted that Nigeria still faces a budget deficit of about N30 trillion this year, necessitating the search for additional financing sources.
The minister explained that the government was keeping its financing options open, including access to concessional loans from multilateral institutions. “We’re keeping our options open, we know the size of the deficit, including less-costly concessionary loans,” he said.
According to him, discussions are ongoing with the World Bank and other development finance institutions, while reforms implemented by the Bola Tinubu administration have continued to attract investor interest.
The government has undertaken a number of reforms since assuming office in May 2023, including fuel subsidy removal, tax policy changes, foreign exchange reforms and efforts to improve fiscal revenues.
However, while rising oil prices have boosted government earnings, they have also contributed to inflationary pressures globally, complicating monetary policy decisions and increasing the cost of delivering critical infrastructure and social services.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has pushed the price of Brent crude up as much as 63 per cent this year, creating an opportunity for producers outside the Middle East like Nigeria, while the premium investors demand to hold Nigerian dollar bonds rather than US Treasuries has fallen 80 basis points since the start of the war to 262, the lowest in more than a decade.
Meanwhile, Nigeria may face fresh trade headwinds from the United States after the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) proposed imposing an additional 12.5 per cent tariff on Nigerian exports over concerns relating to alleged forced labour regulations.
The proposal forms part of action targeting 60 economies under Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974, following investigations into what Washington described as inadequate measures by several trading partners to combat forced labour in international supply chains.
In a statement issued by the USTR, Nigeria was listed among 54 economies found to have “failed to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labour.” As a result, the agency proposed additional duties on products originating from the affected countries.
The agency explained that countries with existing forced labour import prohibitions or those that have committed to implementing such measures through trade agreements would face a lower tariff of 10 per cent.
However, countries categorised as having no effective prohibition regime, including Nigeria, could be subjected to a 12.5 per cent additional duty should the proposal be adopted.
U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Jamieson Greer, said the failure of major trading partners to adequately address the importation of goods produced with forced labour created unfair competition for American workers and businesses.
“The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labour is unacceptable. This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field,” Greer said.
He added that while some countries had taken initial steps to curb the importation of forced labour goods, much more needed to be done to eliminate the practice from global supply chains.
The USTR argued that the failure of the affected economies to establish and enforce effective forced labour import prohibitions undermines global efforts to eradicate forced labour, distorts market competition and disadvantages firms that comply with acceptable labour standards.
According to the agency, such practices burden U.S. commerce by exposing American producers to unfair competition and facilitating the circumvention of existing forced labour restrictions.
Aside from Nigeria, other impacted countries include: Algeria; Angola; Argentina; Australia; the Bahamas; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Brazil; Cambodia; Chile; China, People’s Republic of; Colombia; Costa Rica; Dominican Republic; Egypt; El Salvador; Guatemala; Guyana; Honduras; Hong Kong, China; India; Iraq; Israel; Japan; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Kuwait; Libya; Malaysia and Morocco.
Others include: New Zealand; Nicaragua; Norway; Oman; Peru; the Philippines; Qatar; Russia; Saudi Arabia; Singapore; South Africa; South Korea; Sri Lanka; Switzerland; Taiwan; Thailand; Trinidad and Tobago; Türkiye; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; Uruguay; Venezuela; and Vietnam.
Culled from ARISE NEWS
Justice Muhammad Nuraddeen Bello of High Court sitting in Sokoto State has sentenced three men, including a foreign national, to death by hanging, after convicting them on charges bordering on terrorism and arms proliferation.
The convicts, Yusuf Muhammad (alias Sallau), a Nigerien; Jabbi Alhaji Yalle; and Kabiru Muhammad, were apprehended on 13th June, 2025, by the Department of State Services (DSS) Counter Terrorism Unit in connection with cross-border criminal activities bordering on arms trafficking and terrorism.
Bello, who found all three defendants guilty as charged and sentenced them to death by hanging, while also ordering the forfeiture of all monetary exhibits recovered from the convicts to the Federal Government, said: “The conviction is the latest in a series of successful prosecutions by the DSS in its sustained operations against terrorism and organised cross-border criminal networks across Nigeria.”
The sentencing is coming about two weeks after the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja sentenced each of the five suspects arrested on May 31, 2026, by the DSS for their involvement in the November 21, 2025, attack on St Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State, to 25 years’ imprisonment.
Justice Binta Nyako, had handed down the judgment after the men, including two Nigeriens, pleaded guilty to all four terrorism-related charges, bordering on support for the commission of an act of terrorism, breaching both Section 16 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the Firearms Act, were pressed against them.
According to Count One, the men were accused of jointly conspiring to assist a terrorist by agreeing and intentionally playing various roles towards conveying 15 AK 103 rifles as well as about 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition from the Diffa region, Republic of Niger, to one Malam Ahmad, a member of the Boko Haram terrorist group based in Borgu, Niger State, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Primate Elijah Ayodele, is on the verge of coughing out a whopping N10billion, if he fails to offer unrestrained apology to Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former Governor of Kano State within the next 24 hours, and retract his claim that the former Minister of Defence is bidding his time to betray Peter Obi, to whom he is to contest the 2027 presidential election as a running mate.
Without doing so, the controversial cleric, should be ready for a major court battle with the vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), the platform on which the pair is to contest the election.
In a letter indicating a legal action against Ayodele of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church over defamatory remarks, Kwankwaso, through Magaji Mato Ibrahim, SAN & Co., his lawyers demanded an immediate retraction and apology from the cleric over the allegations.
Details of the letter, dated June 11, and unveiled through the X platform of the legal team, was based on a viral video recorded during a live-streamed church service, where the preacher made allegations targeting Kwankwaso’s integrity as Peter Obi’s running mate under the NDC.
Quoting the cleric as stating: “KWANKWASO IS A FAKE TO OBI, KWANKWASO WILL BETRAY YOU. KWANKWASO HAS BEEN PAID TO BE VICE PRESIDENT TO OBI AMONG OTHER LIBELOUS COMMENTS WHILE PRETENDING TO BE A PREACHER,” the former governor said the comments were unprovoked, grossly unfounded, and carefully designed to create a rift within the ranks of the political party and its supporters.
Handing Ayodele a 24-hour ultimatum to publish a full and unequivocal retraction across all social media platforms and news outlets with the same prominence as the original video, they also demanded a written undertaking that he would cease and desist from making any further malicious statements against their client, warning that failure to comply, would lead to full legal actions.
The letter stated: “We shall claim substantial damages to the tune of Ten Billion Naira and cost of the action on a full indemnity basis amongst other reliefs.”
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday demanded the immediate end to the exportation of minerals from countries in Africa in their raw forms, which he said had led to massive exploitation of the continent.
The President, told member countries of the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), a forum of Ministers in charge of Mining and Solid Minerals on the continent to speak with one voice to promote, collective interests, ensure value addition, and prevent the continent from becoming merely a source of raw materials for the rest of the world.
As the Grand Patron of the group, chaired by Dele Alake, Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, gave the charge while receiving a delegation of AMSG in the State House, Tinubu told the delegation that the group had a critical role to play in strengthening Africa’s bargaining power in the global mineral market and ensuring that the continent derives maximum value from its natural resources.
His words: “ What we should do is avoid bureaucracy and deceit; we must put an end to exploitation. The rest of the world won’t mind if your country is a cesspit of dams and rubbish and excavates your raw materials without giving value.
“It is our responsibility to collaborate and cooperate to ensure that these metals and minerals bring value to us, bring technology to us, and we can do it. It is how much each country will put into the research, development and refinery. I don’t see reasons we cannot demand centralisation of that conversation somewhere on the continent. So why not utilise that in our research and development and knowledge-based economy to enhance the quality of life and bring prosperity to our people.”
Emphasising that Africa possessed enormous mineral wealth that should be strategically harnessed to drive industrialisation, create jobs and accelerate economic transformation across the continent, the President, said the era of exporting raw minerals without local processing and beneficiation must give way to a new model that encourages investment in local industries, technology transfer and the development of value chains that retain wealth within Africa.
Alake, who had earlier expressed gratitude to the President for his exemplary leadership under the Renewed Hope Agenda, said the gesture had shown support for Nigeria’s mineral sector, especially in the local value-addition and economic diversification drive, where artisanal miners are empowered.
He told the President: “You encouraged us to look at the focal point of the establishment of this group, which is to ensure that the African natural resources, especially with regards to minerals, critical matters, are localised, the beneficiation coming directly to Africans generally.
“You charged us that we should set our sails very high and ensure that local value addition is a pivot around which all the objectives of this organisation should revolve.
“So, sir, we have gone implemented your charge and we are quitted that today local value addition is reverberating all over Africa.”
He added that some member countries have gone ahead to ban the export of raw minerals.
He explained members of the body were in Abuja for the Fifth edition of the African Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit (AFNIS 2026), to push for a new continental approach to resource management and industrial development.
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