Nigeria and China have agreed to expand their currency swap agreement, aiming to boost trade in Naira and Yuan, originally signed in 2018. Experts say reducing Nigeria’s trade deficit will be key.
Monday, September 16, 2024
Video - Nigeria, China revive $2.4 billion currency swap deal
Video - Nigeria's Maiduguri struggles after Alau Dam breach
Floods caused by the dam burst have displaced over 400,000 people in Maiduguri. The city, already vulnerable from years of insurgency, now faces a new crisis.
A boat capsizes in Nigeria drowning at least 40 people
A boat carrying mostly farmers capsized on a river in northwest Nigeria, drowning at least 40 people, President Bola Tinub u said Sunday.
The accident happened in Zamfara state, as farmers were trying to get to their land, Tinubu said in a statement. The president promised support for the victims and directed emergency agencies to assess the incident.
Yazid Abubakar, a police spokesperson in Zamfara, told The Associated Press the accident happened on Saturday and that five people were rescued, but 40 are still missing. It was not immediately clear how many people were on the boat when it went down.
The boat was carrying mostly farmers who use the crossing regularly to sell produce at the markets and locals say they’re often overloaded.
Zamfara state is rampant with armed groups who kidnap for ransom, steel cattle and engage in illegal mining.
Boat accidents are common in remote communities across Nigeria because of overloading and boats that are in poor condition.
In August, more than 20 people died in a boat accident on a river in southern Nigeria after the engine exploded.
Most boats don’t carry life jackets or have proper safety measures in place, say locals.
By Dyepkazah Shibayan, AP
Related story: Drowning of Nollywood start forces industry to look at safety
Video - 200 prisoners escape Maiduguri prison after flood
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed that some Boko Haram commanders held at the Maiduguri New Prison were among those who escaped. Not fewer than 200 inmates have escaped after a devastating flood pulled down a prison wall in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
Related story: Nigeria faces humanitarian crisis as floods ravage communities, farmlands
NNPC raises petrol prices again as Dangote fuel hits market
Nigerian state oil firm NNPC Ltd on Monday increased the price of petrol by 11%, the second increase in two weeks and a day after it started purchasing the fuel from the giant Dangote oil refinery on the outskirts of Lagos.
Nigeria expects the 650,000 barrels per day refinery to end years of imports of gasoline, which had been subsidised for decades until President Bola Tinubu began removing support when he took office in May last year.
The price of gasoline is a sensitive issue in Nigeria because many households and small businesses use it to power generators because the majority of citizens are not connected to the national electricity grid.
On Monday, NNPC said it had increased gasoline prices from 858 naira ($0.53) a litre to 950 naira in Lagos and as high as 1,019 naira in northeastern states. It said it buys the product at 898 naira per litre from the refinery.
NNPC said it had started buying the fuel from Dangote on Sunday in U.S. dollars and that a deal to purchase gasoline in the local naira currency was still to take effect.
The latest increase is likely to add to public anger as Nigerians are already struggling with inflation of 33.4%, which has driven up transport costs and caused a cost of living crisis that led to violent protests in early August.
On Friday, a Nigerian presidential committee announced that NNPC would distribute gasoline from the $20 billion Dangote refinery to the local market, ending a deadlock that had stalled distribution.
From October NNPC will supply 385,000 barrels of crude per day to be paid for in naira by Dangote refinery, which will in turn sell its fuel in the local currency.
By Camillus Eboh, Reuters
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