Petrol subsidies have become a major campaign issue in Nigeria ahead of January's general elections, with candidates divided over how to address the country's cost-of-living pressures. President Bola Tinubu's government removed the subsidy in 2023, triggering a sharp rise in fuel prices and broader economic challenges. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who is seeking the presidency, says he would restore the subsidy if elected.
Tuesday, September 1, 2026
Video - Fuel subsidies emerge as key issue ahead of Nigeria's elections
Petrol subsidies have become a major campaign issue in Nigeria ahead of January's general elections, with candidates divided over how to address the country's cost-of-living pressures. President Bola Tinubu's government removed the subsidy in 2023, triggering a sharp rise in fuel prices and broader economic challenges. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who is seeking the presidency, says he would restore the subsidy if elected.
Nigerian extradited to US for fatal sextortion of minor
A Nigerian, Adebola Adekunle, indicted for the sextortion of a minor, has been extradited from Nigeria to the United States to face prosecution.
The US Department of Justice said Mr Adekunle was extradited from Nigeria to the US to face prosecution for the financially motivated extortion of a minor in Mississippi, which led to the victim’s death.
In a statement on Monday, the US State Department said Mr Adekunle was arrested in Nigeria in 2023 and extradited three years later.
He was “arrested in Nigeria in August of 2023, as part of a wider operation with the FBI to apprehend sexual extortionists targeting minors in the US and extradited on Thursday, August 27, 2026.”
The agency also noted that Mr Adekunle is facing a three-count federal indictment for the “sexual exploitation of a minor resulting in death, the production of child sexual abuse material, coercion and enticement of a minor, and interstate threats with intent to extort.”
He appeared before a federal court in Oxford, Mississippi, for an initial appearance last month.
According to the Department of State, Mr Adekunle is facing up to life in prison, and mandatory minimum prison sentences on at least two charges.
“The child exploitation resulting in death count carries a mandatory 30-year prison sentence, if found guilty of that charge,” it said.
“Several weeks ago we announced an undercover operation dealing with child exploitation, which resulted in 70 arrests. Unfortunately, here we are again in an unrelated child victimisation case. This time a child died,” US Attorney Scott Leary said.
This is the latest US sextortion case involving Nigerians. Many Nigerians have been extradited to America for sexual extortion schemes and cybercrimes, including wire fraud and money laundering.
In February 2026, Afeez Adewale was extradited from Nigeria to the US over his alleged involvement in a sextortion scheme that authorities said contributed to the death of a young American man.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that he was charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
In May, a Nigerian identified as Samuel Ugberase was extradited for his role in a romance scam and money laundering scheme.
Mr Ugberase was accused of using online romance scams to deceive victims into sending money under false pretences.
Prosecutors said he and his co-conspirators, who include a naturalised Nigerian, Oluwadamilare Kolaogunbule, used fake identities, fabricated stories and false promises to manipulate victims.
How sextortion scammers in Nigeria targeted my son
The US Department of Justice said Mr Adekunle was extradited from Nigeria to the US to face prosecution for the financially motivated extortion of a minor in Mississippi, which led to the victim’s death.
In a statement on Monday, the US State Department said Mr Adekunle was arrested in Nigeria in 2023 and extradited three years later.
He was “arrested in Nigeria in August of 2023, as part of a wider operation with the FBI to apprehend sexual extortionists targeting minors in the US and extradited on Thursday, August 27, 2026.”
The agency also noted that Mr Adekunle is facing a three-count federal indictment for the “sexual exploitation of a minor resulting in death, the production of child sexual abuse material, coercion and enticement of a minor, and interstate threats with intent to extort.”
He appeared before a federal court in Oxford, Mississippi, for an initial appearance last month.
According to the Department of State, Mr Adekunle is facing up to life in prison, and mandatory minimum prison sentences on at least two charges.
“The child exploitation resulting in death count carries a mandatory 30-year prison sentence, if found guilty of that charge,” it said.
“Several weeks ago we announced an undercover operation dealing with child exploitation, which resulted in 70 arrests. Unfortunately, here we are again in an unrelated child victimisation case. This time a child died,” US Attorney Scott Leary said.
This is the latest US sextortion case involving Nigerians. Many Nigerians have been extradited to America for sexual extortion schemes and cybercrimes, including wire fraud and money laundering.
In February 2026, Afeez Adewale was extradited from Nigeria to the US over his alleged involvement in a sextortion scheme that authorities said contributed to the death of a young American man.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that he was charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
In May, a Nigerian identified as Samuel Ugberase was extradited for his role in a romance scam and money laundering scheme.
Mr Ugberase was accused of using online romance scams to deceive victims into sending money under false pretences.
Prosecutors said he and his co-conspirators, who include a naturalised Nigerian, Oluwadamilare Kolaogunbule, used fake identities, fabricated stories and false promises to manipulate victims.
By Beloved John, Premium Times
Related stories: Nigerian extradited to US for sextortion, death of an American
Nigeria's oil refining just grew 43.94% and Aliko Dangote is the only reason
Nigeria's oil refining sector grew 43.94% in the second quarter, its strongest quarterly expansion on record and close to ten times the pace of the wider economy.
The figure comes from the National Bureau of Statistics, which published its second-quarter gross domestic product report on Monday, Aug. 31. The release covers rebased quarterly estimates for the four quarters of 2025 and the first two of 2026. Rebasing updates the reference year a statistics agency uses to measure the size of an economy, which changes the comparison but gives a more current picture of what the country actually produces.Nigeria's overall GDP grew 4.43% over the same period. Refining grew at almost ten times that rate.
Aliko Dangote's refinery is the reason. Maintenance and expansion work completed in February lifted its crude distillation capacity from 650,000 barrels a day to 700,000, above the plant's original nameplate figure, and the additional throughput has fed straight into the national accounts.
The scale of what it consumes shows in the crude allocation numbers. Domestic supply to Nigerian refineries reached 97.4% of requirement in the second quarter, with 53.7 million barrels delivered between April and June, according to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission. Dangote alone required 63 million barrels. Producers offered it 68.1 million, and the refinery accepted 52.6 million, roughly 78% of what was put in front of it.
That is a transformation from the first quarter, when just 28.5 million barrels reached all domestic refineries combined despite 61.9 million being allocated and 68.7 million offered.
The refining acceleration has been building. Growth ran at 37.46% in the first quarter of 2025 and 43.94% in the second quarter of 2026, well above the 19.42% and 12.33% recorded in the third and fourth quarters of 2024 under the rebased series, when full-year growth was 14.08%.
The rest of the oil sector moved more modestly. Crude production averaged 1.72 million barrels a day in the second quarter, up from 1.68 million a year earlier and 1.55 million in the first quarter. The oil sector as a whole grew 7.31% year on year, down sharply from 20.46% in the same quarter of 2025 but well ahead of the 2.57% recorded in the first quarter, and expanded 10.91% against the previous quarter. Its share of real GDP rose to 4.16% from 4.05% a year earlier.
The non-oil economy grew 4.31% and still accounts for 95.84% of output.
What the refining growth is producing is exports rather than import substitution alone. Nigeria's seaborne petroleum product exports reached 350,000 barrels a day in the second quarter, against an annual average of 46,000 in 2023, according to the United States Energy Information Administration. Total seaborne shipments averaged 561,000 barrels a day. Europe took about 130,000 barrels a day, up from 40,000 in 2025 and 15,000 in 2023. Other African markets took nearly 120,000, and Asia and Oceania around 110,000.
The refinery's own position is that too much of the domestic market remains closed to it. It told the market last week that imported petrol supplied about 43% of Nigerian demand in July under licences issued by the regulator, and that surplus product has to be exported because it cannot be sold at home.
By Adedotun Elijah Oyeniyi, Billionaires Africa
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