The Central Bank of Nigeria says the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System will simplify transactions and help African economies keep more value circulating within their borders. Many experts also believe this will help eliminate the expensive and time-consuming process of intra-African trade relying on the U.S. dollar.
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Video - Nigeria’s central bank orders all banks to integrate Pan-African Payment and Settlement System
The Central Bank of Nigeria says the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System will simplify transactions and help African economies keep more value circulating within their borders. Many experts also believe this will help eliminate the expensive and time-consuming process of intra-African trade relying on the U.S. dollar.
Nigeria Rescue 78 from Sex Trafficking Syndicate
Nigerian authorities have repatriated 78 citizens—mostly women and girls—from Ivory Coast after rescuing them from human trafficking syndicates that exploit Nigerian girls across the globe.
In a statement released Sunday, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), said the victims included 75 females between the ages of 13 and 30, three babies, and two men. Four of the girls, many of whom are underage, were found to be pregnant.
All of the repatriated victims showed signs of malnourishment, physical abuse and trauma, NAPTIP said.
The rescue operation also led to the arrest of two suspected traffickers in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. The suspects were identified based on disclosures from some of the victims and were later apprehended in what officials described as a “high-wired” mansion. Authorities did not release further details about the trafficking network.
“[The traffickers] will face the full force of the law," said NAPTIP Director General Binta Adamu Bello. She added that a “serious manhunt” has been launched for other members of the trafficking syndicate.
The operation followed an alert by Nigerian activist Vincent Otse—also known as VeryDarkMan—who raised concerns during a visit to Ivory Coast after learning of trafficked girls who had reached out for help. Some of the girls were allegedly forced into prostitution after being lured abroad with false promises of job opportunities.
Their testimonies revealed that traffickers deceived them into traveling to Ivory Coast, only to exploit them sexually upon arrival.
The latest rescue highlights ongoing efforts by Nigerian authorities to combat human trafficking. Just last week, authorities arrested an Interpol-wanted human trafficker for allegedly smuggling Nigerian women and minors to Italy, where they were reportedly sold for sexual exploitation and forced to repay debts ranging from 20,000 euros to 50,000 euros ($22,220 to $55,548).
Nigeria remains a key source, transit and destination country in the global human trafficking crisis. In 2022, Nigerian nationals made up the highest number of human trafficking victims recorded by the European Union.
By Mariam Shenawy, OCCRP
In a statement released Sunday, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), said the victims included 75 females between the ages of 13 and 30, three babies, and two men. Four of the girls, many of whom are underage, were found to be pregnant.
All of the repatriated victims showed signs of malnourishment, physical abuse and trauma, NAPTIP said.
The rescue operation also led to the arrest of two suspected traffickers in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. The suspects were identified based on disclosures from some of the victims and were later apprehended in what officials described as a “high-wired” mansion. Authorities did not release further details about the trafficking network.
“[The traffickers] will face the full force of the law," said NAPTIP Director General Binta Adamu Bello. She added that a “serious manhunt” has been launched for other members of the trafficking syndicate.
The operation followed an alert by Nigerian activist Vincent Otse—also known as VeryDarkMan—who raised concerns during a visit to Ivory Coast after learning of trafficked girls who had reached out for help. Some of the girls were allegedly forced into prostitution after being lured abroad with false promises of job opportunities.
Their testimonies revealed that traffickers deceived them into traveling to Ivory Coast, only to exploit them sexually upon arrival.
The latest rescue highlights ongoing efforts by Nigerian authorities to combat human trafficking. Just last week, authorities arrested an Interpol-wanted human trafficker for allegedly smuggling Nigerian women and minors to Italy, where they were reportedly sold for sexual exploitation and forced to repay debts ranging from 20,000 euros to 50,000 euros ($22,220 to $55,548).
Nigeria remains a key source, transit and destination country in the global human trafficking crisis. In 2022, Nigerian nationals made up the highest number of human trafficking victims recorded by the European Union.
By Mariam Shenawy, OCCRP
Nigeria has a food security problem as water for crops is harder to find
After two decades of working his farm in northwestern Nigeria, Umaru Muazu now struggles to find water for his crops.
A murky puddle is all that remains of a river near his 5-hectare farm and those of others in this community in arid Sokoto state. Because the 62-year-old Muazu can’t afford to dig a well to keep crops like millet and maize from withering, he might abandon farming.
“Before, with a small farm, you could get a lot,” he said.
Climate change is challenging agriculture in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. With long dry spells and extreme heat, water bodies are drying because the arid season is becoming longer than usual. The wet season, though it can dump excessive rain, is short.
It’s fresh pain in a country where the World Food Program says 31 million people already face food insecurity. Efforts to recover from one climate shock are overlapped by the next, said WFP spokesperson Chi Lael.
The challenges faced by farmers in the north, who account for most of what Nigeria eats, are affecting food prices and availability in the booming coastal south that’s home to the megacity of Lagos.
More than 80% of Nigeria’s farmers are smallholder farmers, who account for 90% of the country’s annual agricultural production. Some work their fields with little more than a piece of roughly carved wood and their bare hands.
Farmers are facing low yields because the government has failed to develop infrastructure like dams to help mitigate the effects of climate change, said Daniel Obiora, national president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria.
There is little data available on the drying-up of smaller water bodies across the north. But farmers say the trend has been worsening.
In Adamawa state, water scarcity caused by higher temperatures and changing rain patterns has affected over 1,250 hectares (3,088 acres) of farmland, disrupting food supply and livelihoods, Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said last year.
Over-extraction of water and deforestation are other factors contributing to northern Nigeria’s drying rivers, according to Abdulsamad Isah, co-founder of local Extension Africa nonprofit that often works with farmers.
Elsewhere in Sokoto state, Nasiru Bello tilled his farm to cultivate onions without assurance of a meaningful harvest. With nearby rivers and wells drying up, he has resorted to pumping groundwater for the farm that provides the sole income for his family of 26. But the cost of pumping amid soaring gas prices has become unbearable.
“The plants do not grow well as it did,” he said.
Nigeria is forecast to become the world’s third most populous nation by 2025, alongside the United States and after India and China.
With Nigeria’s population expected to reach 400 million by 2050, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has been encouraging climate-smart agriculture to help ensure food security, including drip irrigation, which delivers water slowly and directly to roots and helps conserve water, instead of traditional irrigation systems that flood entire fields.
“There should be more orientation for farmers about climate change,” said Yusuf Isah Sokoto, director of the College of Environmental Science at Sokoto’s Umaru Ali Shinkafi Polytechnic.
At least two-thirds of the trees in the state have been lost due to deforestation, contributing to rising temperatures, Sokoto said.
Data from the government-run statistics agency show that local agriculture contributed 22% of Nigeria’s GDP in the second quarter of 2024, down from 25% in the previous quarter. While the trend has fluctuated in recent years, experts have said agricultural production still does not reflect growing government investment in the sector.
Household food imports, meanwhile, rose by 136% from 2023 to 2024, government statistics show.
The decreasing farm yields are being felt elsewhere in Nigeria, especially the south.
In Lagos, the price of several items grown in the north have nearly doubled in the last two years, partly due to decreasing supplies. A head of cabbage grown in the north is selling for 2,000 naira ($1.2), nearly double its price a year ago and more than five times the price in Sokoto.
Nigerian authorities acknowledge the problem. Many farmers who once harvested up to 10 tons are hardly able to get half that these days, agriculture minister Aliyu Abdullahi said earlier this year.
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and his government have touted agriculture as a means for economic prosperity. Shortly after he took office in May 2023, Tinubu’s government declared a food security state of emergency and announced plans to activate 500,000 hectares of farmland in Nigeria’s land banks, which are mostly in the north.
The land banks, however, are yet to be activated.
By Dyepkazah Shibayan, The Associated Press
A murky puddle is all that remains of a river near his 5-hectare farm and those of others in this community in arid Sokoto state. Because the 62-year-old Muazu can’t afford to dig a well to keep crops like millet and maize from withering, he might abandon farming.
“Before, with a small farm, you could get a lot,” he said.
Climate change is challenging agriculture in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. With long dry spells and extreme heat, water bodies are drying because the arid season is becoming longer than usual. The wet season, though it can dump excessive rain, is short.
It’s fresh pain in a country where the World Food Program says 31 million people already face food insecurity. Efforts to recover from one climate shock are overlapped by the next, said WFP spokesperson Chi Lael.
The challenges faced by farmers in the north, who account for most of what Nigeria eats, are affecting food prices and availability in the booming coastal south that’s home to the megacity of Lagos.
More than 80% of Nigeria’s farmers are smallholder farmers, who account for 90% of the country’s annual agricultural production. Some work their fields with little more than a piece of roughly carved wood and their bare hands.
Farmers are facing low yields because the government has failed to develop infrastructure like dams to help mitigate the effects of climate change, said Daniel Obiora, national president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria.
There is little data available on the drying-up of smaller water bodies across the north. But farmers say the trend has been worsening.
In Adamawa state, water scarcity caused by higher temperatures and changing rain patterns has affected over 1,250 hectares (3,088 acres) of farmland, disrupting food supply and livelihoods, Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said last year.
Over-extraction of water and deforestation are other factors contributing to northern Nigeria’s drying rivers, according to Abdulsamad Isah, co-founder of local Extension Africa nonprofit that often works with farmers.
Elsewhere in Sokoto state, Nasiru Bello tilled his farm to cultivate onions without assurance of a meaningful harvest. With nearby rivers and wells drying up, he has resorted to pumping groundwater for the farm that provides the sole income for his family of 26. But the cost of pumping amid soaring gas prices has become unbearable.
“The plants do not grow well as it did,” he said.
Nigeria is forecast to become the world’s third most populous nation by 2025, alongside the United States and after India and China.
With Nigeria’s population expected to reach 400 million by 2050, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has been encouraging climate-smart agriculture to help ensure food security, including drip irrigation, which delivers water slowly and directly to roots and helps conserve water, instead of traditional irrigation systems that flood entire fields.
“There should be more orientation for farmers about climate change,” said Yusuf Isah Sokoto, director of the College of Environmental Science at Sokoto’s Umaru Ali Shinkafi Polytechnic.
At least two-thirds of the trees in the state have been lost due to deforestation, contributing to rising temperatures, Sokoto said.
Data from the government-run statistics agency show that local agriculture contributed 22% of Nigeria’s GDP in the second quarter of 2024, down from 25% in the previous quarter. While the trend has fluctuated in recent years, experts have said agricultural production still does not reflect growing government investment in the sector.
Household food imports, meanwhile, rose by 136% from 2023 to 2024, government statistics show.
The decreasing farm yields are being felt elsewhere in Nigeria, especially the south.
In Lagos, the price of several items grown in the north have nearly doubled in the last two years, partly due to decreasing supplies. A head of cabbage grown in the north is selling for 2,000 naira ($1.2), nearly double its price a year ago and more than five times the price in Sokoto.
Nigerian authorities acknowledge the problem. Many farmers who once harvested up to 10 tons are hardly able to get half that these days, agriculture minister Aliyu Abdullahi said earlier this year.
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and his government have touted agriculture as a means for economic prosperity. Shortly after he took office in May 2023, Tinubu’s government declared a food security state of emergency and announced plans to activate 500,000 hectares of farmland in Nigeria’s land banks, which are mostly in the north.
The land banks, however, are yet to be activated.
By Dyepkazah Shibayan, The Associated Press
Monday, May 12, 2025
Video - Nigeria on edge as falling oil prices raise economic fears
Nigeria’s economic managers are concerned over the continued drop in global oil prices, warning of potential impacts on the oil-dependent economy. Finance minister Wale Edun says the government is monitoring the situation and will act if the trend continues.
At least 23 killed in attacks by gunmen in central Nigeria
Gunmen killed 23 people in four separate attacks in central Nigeria's Benue state, a Red Cross official said Sunday, the latest flare-up of unrest in the region.
The attacks happened Saturday night in four villages.
Clashes between nomadic cattle herders and farmers over land use are common in central Nigeria.
"Reports from the field have confirmed the killings of at least 23 people from different attacks," Red Cross secretary in Benue state Anthony Abah told AFP.
Eight people were killed in Ukum, nine in nearby Logo, three each in Guma and Kwande, he said, citing data from the organisation's field disaster officers. Several others were wounded, he added.
A police spokeswoman said she was unaware of the attacks.
Cephas Kangeh, a retired general manager with a state electricity company who recently relocated to his home village near one of the affected areas told AFP he had heard of three killings, including a couple ambushed while riding a motorcycle which "was taken away by the herdsmen".
Chinese operators are mining gold in the area, he said.
"The attacks did not take place near the mining sites," said Kangeh.
"However, one is puzzled as to why indigenous people are always attacked, maimed... yet there has never been a single case of attack on the Chinese miners who are operating in these areas."
Some of the latest attacks were staged in areas previously targeted by attacks slightly over a month ago, which left at least 56 dead.
With many herders belonging to the Muslim Fulani ethnic group, and many farmers Christian, the attacks in Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt often take on a religious or ethnic dimension.
Two attacks by unidentified gunmen earlier in April in neighbouring Plateau state left more than 100 people dead.
Across the wider Middle Belt, including in Benue, land used by farmers and herders is coming under stress from climate change and human expansion, sparking deadly competition for increasingly limited space.
The attacks happened Saturday night in four villages.
Clashes between nomadic cattle herders and farmers over land use are common in central Nigeria.
"Reports from the field have confirmed the killings of at least 23 people from different attacks," Red Cross secretary in Benue state Anthony Abah told AFP.
Eight people were killed in Ukum, nine in nearby Logo, three each in Guma and Kwande, he said, citing data from the organisation's field disaster officers. Several others were wounded, he added.
A police spokeswoman said she was unaware of the attacks.
Cephas Kangeh, a retired general manager with a state electricity company who recently relocated to his home village near one of the affected areas told AFP he had heard of three killings, including a couple ambushed while riding a motorcycle which "was taken away by the herdsmen".
Chinese operators are mining gold in the area, he said.
"The attacks did not take place near the mining sites," said Kangeh.
"However, one is puzzled as to why indigenous people are always attacked, maimed... yet there has never been a single case of attack on the Chinese miners who are operating in these areas."
Some of the latest attacks were staged in areas previously targeted by attacks slightly over a month ago, which left at least 56 dead.
With many herders belonging to the Muslim Fulani ethnic group, and many farmers Christian, the attacks in Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt often take on a religious or ethnic dimension.
Two attacks by unidentified gunmen earlier in April in neighbouring Plateau state left more than 100 people dead.
Across the wider Middle Belt, including in Benue, land used by farmers and herders is coming under stress from climate change and human expansion, sparking deadly competition for increasingly limited space.
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