Abuja is struggling with slowing growth and spiralling debt demands, and a new plan to replace old banknotes looks set to create further chaos
Ahead of February's election Nigeria's economy is flagging. Usually, governments can rely on help from their supporters for a pre-election boost, but this time it is different. Real...
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Central Bank of Nigeria governor Emefiele insists that his interest rate hikes are controlling inflation but a new president will face greater challenges
The Central Bank of Nigeria's monetary policy committee (MPC) faces tough choices as the year-on-year inflation rate has reached 21%. Food price inflation is even higher, at 23.7%....
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With no accounts or tenders published, disquiet continues to grow over the companies HYPREP has contracted for remediation work
Concerns over the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) are growing among Ogoni activists and politicians and civil society organisations against pollution, backing the already reported worries of the...
Nigeria has enlisted its former Environment Minister to keep UNEP on board while doubts on remediation contractors increase
Nigerian officialdom is doing its best to prevent the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) severing its consultancy with the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) over chronic fraud and...
Government borrowing has been soaring, and loans from the central bank are many times over the statutory limit
Lower tax revenues due to plummeting recorded crude oil output, coupled with several expansionary budgets, mean that Nigerian government borrowing has been rocketing as the country heads for...
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Three months ahead of national elections, the government wants to sell oil production leases to cash in on energy crisis
Trying to reverse a long-term fall in oil and gas production capacity and investment, the government has opened a bidding rounds for seven offshore fields close to Lagos...
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Rival candidates Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu release policy plans to boost oil and gas output, cut unemployment
The multi-billion dollar campaign platforms launched in the week-ending 22 October of the presidential candidates from the two biggest parties, Bola Tinubu for the ruling All Progressives' Congress...
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Theft from the billion-dollar oil clean-up in Ogoniland is so bad that the operation's chief architect, the UN Environment Programme, wants to quit
The UN Environment Programme is set for a bitter break with Nigeria over the clean-up of pipeline spills in the Niger delta despite almost 15 years of close...
A younger, better-informed and more demanding electorate is challenging the state and mainstream politicians to run fairer elections
Every week or so a new scandal about a plan to steal the national elections next year hits the headlines and social media. One of the latest claims...
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Both the ruling party and an outsider candidate may benefit from Atiku Abubakar's mis-steps
The flurry of secret meetings between senior Nigerian politicians in Paris and London this week points to trouble for presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and his Peoples' Democratic Party...
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The Vice-President calls for a fourfold hike in green energy investment but warns economic pressures are boosting fossil fuel use
With Western countries accused of unfairness for compelling Africa to curtail fossil fuel use when they are only responsible for a tiny proportion of greenhouse gases, Nigerian Vice-President...
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After breaking into a prison in the capital and killing elite security officers, Islamic State fighters claim they are now targeting President Buhari
As Islamist militants launch deadly assaults on the outskirts of Abuja and the country groans under a hydra-headed security crisis, enraged opposition senators have issued an ultimatum to...
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The currency has fallen 20% on the parallel market since January driving inflation and challenging government strategy
At the heart of Nigeria's deepening foreign exchange woes is a paradox – that revenues from Africa's biggest oil and gas producer have been falling as energy prices...
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The depth of the country's crises is forcing voters to rethink their choices – to the great benefit of the former governor of Anambra state
Millionaire bankers make improbable revolutionaries, especially in Nigeria. But Peter Obi, the geeky former governor of Anambra state, is upending the political establishment's complacency about next year's presidential...
With a boost from the ruling party, Bola Tinubu bets on a Muslim-Muslim ticket as Peter Obi is set to pick up votes from Lagos and the south-west
The longest-ever presidential election campaign in Nigerian history is into its next, more intense phase after the three leading candidates – Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Bola Ahmed...
Spiralling prices, public debt and joblessness make living standards the top issue in the presidential race
A month after their emergence as presidential candidates, the economic programmes of Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar extolling the virtues of untrammelled market economics face more serious scrutiny...
The ruling party's flagbearer brings together democracy campaigners and beneficiaries of the country's most venal dictatorship
This year's Democracy Day celebrations on 12 June were muted, overshadowed by the expensive shenanigans of the national election campaign mixed with a pervasive disenchantment with the political...
By picking Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar as their flagbearers, the two main parties risk alienating younger voters and extending the political stasis
The ease with which Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar defeated their rivals to win their parties' presidential nominations for next February's elections highlights their similarities – super-rich...
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Ruling party to decide between younger technocrats and veteran party baron in presidential primaries on 6-8 June
Over 2,300 delegates of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are meeting in the Eagle Square convention centre on 6-8 June in Abuja to choose their presidential candidate...
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Opposition PDP chooses ex-Vice-President Abubakar as candidate, prompting some in ruling party to rethink regional strategy
When the Independent National Electoral Commission in Abuja announced it would be extending the deadline by six days to 9 June for parties to submit their chosen candidates...
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One of the few immutable facts about the presidential primary elections in Abuja is that the deadline by which all parties must submit the names of their candidates...
All ministers vying for office in next year's elections have been ordered to quit. Bank governor Emefiele is yet to confirm his presidential run
In one executive order the country's presidential contest has been up-ended and a sweeping cabinet reshuffle has been triggered. On 12 May, President Muhammadu Buhari called on political...
Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu – political godfathers turned contenders – may lose out in primaries as alliances shift
The next four weeks will be critical as over 30 contenders compete to become the country's next president – the parties have until 3 June to submit all...
Bureaucratic rivalries and vested interests are blocking efforts to hold companies and officials responsible for the ecological destruction of the Niger Delta
Nigeria should meet its OPEC quota, due to rise to 1.753 million barrels a day next month, in a matter of weeks after months of struggling to produce...
Those backing governor Godwin Emefiele for the presidency believe eight years of cheap loans to millions of small farmers will pay dividends
The clamour among senior government officials for Central Bank governor Godwin Emefiele to vie for Nigeria's presidency has its roots in his politically oriented management of the institution...
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The latest contender to join the race for the ruling party's presidential nomination may benefit most from his rivals' flaws
After weeks of consultations with the ruling All Progressives' Congress (APC) and state governors, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo launched his campaign on 11 April to win the party's presidential...
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On 26 March the All Progressives' Congress will pick its leaders and decide how to choose its candidate for next year's presidential elections
Late on 24 March, Senate President Ahmed Lawan told journalists that he is confident the national convention of the ruling All Progressives' Congress would follow President Muhamadu Buhari's...
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The battle over who runs the All Progressives' Congress threatens what had earlier looked like a smooth path to victory in the 2023 elections
The furore over the peremptory replacement of Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni as interim chair of the ruling All Progressives' Congress by Niger State Governor Abubakar Bello...
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A few days after Africa Confidential reported on the power of financiers in Nigerian politics, a couple of colourful election prospectuses extolling the virtues of African Development Bank...
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Opaque deals by middlemen still dominate crude oil and products trading despite last year’s reforms
After a week of worsening shortages caused by the discovery and withdrawal of adulterated fuel from the market, the state oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC),...
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The country’s military is over-stretched and few trust the political class but its financiers are projecting power like never before
As the race for next year's presidential elections heats up, two political outsiders have been named as contenders with support by some in the top ranks of President...
The ruling party begins the tortuous and divisive task of choosing its presidential candidate for the 2023 elections
On 26 February the ruling All Progressives' Congress (APC) will hold its national convention in Abuja to choose its top officials and set a schedule for the primary...
As economic and security woes mount, electoral calculations will shape policy and business strategy
With presidential and national assembly elections due in February 2023, political campaigns will go into overdrive this year as alliances are made and deals struck. Outgoing President Muhammadu...
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Opposition parties fight back after presidency rejects voter reform as activists mobilise on fuel subsidy and spate of deadly attacks
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is bracing itself for a series of battles in the new year over election rules, fuel subsidies and spending cuts which could...
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