Naira falls to a record 980 on black market

Nigeria's naira fell to a record low on the black market on Wednesday, driven mostly by speculative demand as individuals turn to the dollar as a store of value, traders said.

The unit was quoted at 980 naira to the U.S. dollar on abokiFx, a firm that publishes online black market exchange rates for the currency, compared with 965 on Tuesday.

The naira was quoted at 773.50 on the official market at 1349 GMT, swinging between a range of 738 naira and 789 naira this month.

"The current free fall of the naira is mostly driven from speculation as the black market premium has reached 23.3%," one trader said.

"The pressure also shows that liquidity in the official market is unable to support about $400 million petroleum importers need monthly to import refined fuels, given their 70% control of the market," he said.

The currency of Africa's largest economy has been weakening on the black market due to speculative activities and as excess demand is funnelled to the informal market, widening the gap with the official market, where restrictions on trading the currency was lifted in June.

One of the key challenges for newly nominated central bank governor Olayemi Cardoso will be to boost dollar liquidity to help stabilize the currency. 

By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo, Reuters

Kano state declares curfew after election tribunal sacks governor

Nigeria's northern Kano state declared a 24-hour curfew on Wednesday after a tribunal overturned the election of an opposition candidate as governor and declared a member of President Bola Tinubu's party the rightful winner.

Police in Kano, which has the highest number of registered voters, said in a statement that violators of the curfew "will be arrested and made to face the full wrath of the law."

Ahead of the election tribunal ruling, security forces occupied major roads in the capital of Kano, which shares the same name.

Governors wield wide influence in Nigeria, presiding over budgets bigger than some small African countries and their support often influences who becomes president.

Wednesday's ruling by a panel of five judges had sparked fears of unrest in the largely Muslim state.

The March gubernatorial vote had seen Abba Yusuf of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, a regional party, defeating ruling All Progressives Congress party candidate Nasiru Gawuna, who alleged fraud.

Yusuf can appeal the tribunal decision at the Supreme Court.

It is not unusual for governorship election results to be overturned in Nigeria, which has 36 states that are presided over by state governments.

By Hamza Ibrahim, Reuters

Video - Nigerian creatives make voices heard at Abuja concert

A remarkable concert in Abuja saw the convergence of young music lovers and climate activists determined to use the universal language of music to amplify their message about the dangers of global warming.

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Video - Nigeria hosts crucial summit to address aviation sector challenges

Nigeria is poised to revolutionize the aviation industry across the African continent, igniting monumental development that promises to be a catalyst for economic growth. The stage for this transformative journey was set as the West African nation hosted the 2023 Aviation Africa Summit.

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Crypto usage growing further in Nigeria

Cryptocurrency usage is growing in Nigeria as Africa's largest economy grapples with a weakening currency and soaring inflation, New York-based blockchain research firm Chainalysis said in a report on Tuesday.

Nigeria's volume of crypto transactions grew 9% year-over-year to $56.7 billion between July 2022 and June 2023. In Uganda, crypto use is smaller but growing fast, rising 245% to $1.6 billion in the same period, while its use in Kenya fell more than a half to $8.4 billion, the report said.

In Nigeria, interest in bitcoin and stablecoins - crypto tokens whose monetary value is pegged to a stable asset to protect from wild volatility - increased when the naira's value plunged, particularly during the most extreme drops in June and July of 2023, Chainalysis said.

The currency weakened to record lows after President Bola Tinubu embarked on some of the boldest reforms that Nigeria has seen in years, including scrapping a popular but costly petrol subsidy and removing some exchange rate restrictions.

"People are constantly looking for opportunities to hedge against the devaluation of the naira and the persistent economic decline since COVID," Moyo Sodipo, co-founder of Nigeria-based cryptocurrency exchange Busha, said in a statement shared with the report.

Nigeria barred its banks and financial institutions from dealing in or facilitating transactions in cryptocurrencies in 2021.

Last year, the country's financial regulator published a set of regulations for digital assets, signalling Africa's most populous country was trying to find a middle ground between an outright ban on crypto assets and their unregulated use.

Nigeria's young, tech-savvy population has eagerly adopted cryptocurrencies, for example using peer-to-peer trading offered by crypto exchanges to avoid the financial sector ban. 

By Anait Miridzhanian, Reuters

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