Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria showed that the local currency gained N9.69.

This represents 0.7 per cent increase compared with N1,374.94 recorded on Thursday, April 30.

Source: NAN

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According to data released on the official website of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, the Naira gained N1.24.

This represents a 0.09 per cent gain when compared to Tuesday when the local currency traded at N1,380.70 to the dollar.

The Naira which had been on almost two weeks decline before appreciating on Wednesday traded at N1,364.23 on Monday.

Source: NAN

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According to data released on the official website of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on Friday, the Naira lost N1.33.

This represents a 0.09 per cent loss against what it recorded on Thursday when it stood at N1,342.30 to the dollar.

The Naira, which had sustained a two weeks appreciation before crashing on Friday, traded at N1,356.18 on Monday.

On Tuesday the local currency traded at N1,343.76 and closed at N1,343.74 on Wednesday.

Source: NAN

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According to data released on the official website of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, the Naira gained N12.50.

This represents a 0.9 per cent gain when compared to Wednesday when the local currency traded at N1,371.82 to the dollar.

The Naira has been relatively stable due to sustained CBN reforms.

Source: NAN

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Naira gains N14.83 at official market

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According to data released on the official website of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, the Naira gained N14.83.

This represents a one per cent increase compared with N1,386.65 per dollar recorded on Tuesday.

Naira, which had experienced relative stability, had posted marginal losses over three consecutive trading sessions before rebounding on Wednesday.

Source: NAN

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Data published on the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, showed that the Naira lost N5.86, representing a 0.4 per cent decline compared with N1,380.79 per dollar recorded on Thursday, April 2, before the Easter break.

The Naira had traded at N1,378.70 per dollars on April 1, indicating a marginal depreciation of 0.1 per cent.

However, with the recent movement, analysts remained optimistic about the outlook of the currency in 2026, citing ongoing reforms by the apex bank.

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, CPPE, said Naira stability in the first quarter of the year boosted business confidence.

According to the CPPE, the currency remains relatively stable during the period, trading within the N1,340 to N1,430 per dollar band.

It attributed the stability to improved foreign exchange liquidity, stronger oil earnings, and rising external reserves, which had climbed above 50 billion dollars.

Source: NAN

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President Bola Tinubu demonstrated foresight in July 2024, when he approved the use of the naira as the payment currency for crude oil supplied by the NNPC to the Dangote Refinery. Since the launch of the naira-for-crude initiative on October 1, 2024, Nigeria has experienced a strategic breakthrough amid the ongoing economic turmoil resulting from the Iran-Israel-US conflict in the Middle East.

Since its inception, the technical committee on naira-for-crude, which has the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun and Executive Chairman of the Nigerian Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji and others as members, the Federal government has developed a robust framework that has ensured the Presidential initiative continues to deliver on its core objectives by maintaining supply security, stabilising the economy, and safeguarding Nigeria’s energy future.

The US/Israel-Iran war has now entered its 6th week, triggering global economic chaos. With no immediate end in sight, the conflict has been exacerbated by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, an important maritime corridor between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, that accounts for over 20% of global oil and gas flows. The disruption of this vital waterway has sent shockwaves through energy markets worldwide.

Across Europe, the United States, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, prices for  LPG, LNG, PMS, and diesel have skyrocketed, placing enormous pressure on households and governments alike. The rising costs of energy have intensified economic strain on many nations, especially those with limited resources, where transportation and basic goods are becoming increasingly unaffordable.

While the cost of PMS and other petroleum products has also gone up in Nigeria, as in other countries, the global energy crisis has not led to a domestic scarcity of petroleum products, unlike in major countries where people are standing in long queues for days at gas stations. Many countries in Europe, Asia, and major African countries, such as South Africa and Kenya, now rely on supplies from Nigeria through the Dangote Refinery.

The Dangote Refinery, located in Lekki, Lagos, has validated the strategic importance of local production and refining capacity for a country as critical as Nigeria, a regional economic powerhouse. There is no doubt that the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has exposed critical vulnerabilities in the global energy supply architecture.

Furthermore, the ongoing crisis has positioned Nigeria as a strategic and credible exporter to Africa – a role with long-term commercial and diplomatic significance as African governments seek more resilient and integrated energy supply arrangements.

The conflict has constrained crude oil and refined product availability, triggering acute shortages and sharply rising energy costs across many markets. Countries that historically depended on the import of refined products are currently experiencing disruptions to their supply chains, with immediate and visible consequences.

A few examples: Vietnam is encouraging people to work from home to reduce transportation costs. The Thai government has ordered civil servants to conserve energy in public buildings and is considering whether to compel private businesses to do the same.

Bangladesh told universities to close early for a holiday and imposed daily limits on fuel sales. Pakistan has implemented emergency measures, including a four-day government work week and temporary school closures, to conserve energy. Indian restaurants are closing their doors due to LPG scarcity. In Egypt, shops and restaurants are mandated to close by 9 pm every day as part of the government’s exceptional measures to combat soaring energy prices. In the Philippines, the government has declared a national energy emergency. In parts of the United States, Americans join long queues to buy fuel.

Fortunately, the Dangote Refinery has largely shielded Nigeria from the worst effects of the global supply crisis. By scaling up production at a critical time before the escalation of the conflict, the refinery has met Nigeria’s refined products requirements.

Even in the face of more attractive export options, the Dangote Refinery committed to prioritising Nigeria’s energy security. This commitment has ensured full availability of petroleum products with zero queues, while other countries grapple with scarcity.

While the price of petroleum products has had to go up, this is being managed to reduce the impact on Nigerians. For example, despite a 10% increase in crude oil prices over the last couple of days, the Refinery has cut petrol prices by 75 Naira per litre. This was done,  even though the refinery is paying an additional premium of up to $18 per barrel for Nigerian crude oil cargoes. This is the benefit of local refining.

The Dangote Refinery is transforming Nigeria into a more resilient and energy‑independent nation, providing all‑year‑round availability of petroleum products and enabling the country to withstand external shocks better. Petrol queues, even during festive seasons,  have disappeared since the Refinery commenced PMS production in Oct 2024. What is perhaps not visible to many Nigerians is how this was achieved while simultaneously eliminating the huge demurrage bill that NNPC used to incur in maintaining safety stock on several floating vessels.

Furthermore, the ongoing crisis has positioned Nigeria as a strategic and credible exporter to Africa – a role with long-term commercial and diplomatic significance as African governments seek more resilient and integrated energy supply arrangements.

Since the conflict began, the Dangote Refinery has ramped up exports to Africa in a bid to help shore up supply across the continent. In March, the refinery exported close to 500,000 tons of refined products to various African countries, generating export earnings for Nigeria.

This underlines the importance of local production and the need for Africa’s industrialisation as championed by the Dangote Group. Not only does local production create and sustain jobs for thousands of people, preserve foreign exchange, and stimulate other sectors of the economy, but more importantly, as we have seen, it insulates the country from global volatility, supply disruptions, and geopolitical risks that continue to batter import-dependent economies in times of stress.

The Dangote Refinery is more than an industrial asset; it is the foundation of Nigeria’s energy sovereignty and a catalyst for sustainable economic growth.

*Ajayi is the Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to President Bola Tinubu.

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Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, showed the currency strengthened by N3.30 compared with Thursday’s closing rate.

This represents a 0.23 per cent rise from Thursday, when the Naira traded at N1,383.88 to the dollar.

On Wednesday, the local currency had closed weaker at N1,386.70, indicating a steady recovery over consecutive trading sessions.

A currency analyst said the improvement reflected “renewed confidence driven by better liquidity and policy consistency at the official window.”

He added, “Sustained inflows and tighter monetary measures are gradually stabilising the exchange rate and narrowing volatility in the market.”

Another market observer noted that “continued reforms and transparency in foreign exchange management are beginning to yield measurable results.”

She cautioned, however, that “external pressures and global dollar strength could still test the Naira’s resilience in the coming weeks.”

Source: NAN

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According to data released on the official website of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, the Naira gained N5.75, representing a 0.4 per cent increase compared to Monday, when the local currency traded at N1,388.38 to the dollar following resumption from the Sallah break.

The Naira, which had been on a steady appreciation, recorded its first decline on Wednesday, March 18, before the Sallah break, when it traded at N1,353.90 per dollar.

Source: NAN

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There is a particular kind of silence that follows a kidnapping. It is not the absence of sound, but the absence of certainty. Phones stay charged. Families stop sleeping. Every unknown number becomes both hope and dread. In that silence, the Nigerian citizen is reduced to a negotiable asset—waiting, not for justice, but for a price.

In the concluding part of last week’s The Sunday Stew, I had promised that today we would take a deep dive into the paradox of living under the shadow of self-inflicted disasters. In reflecting on the approach to adopt, my mind went back to the world-acclaimed scholar, Ali Mazrui.

In 1986, Mazrui — then a towering figure at the University of Jos and Binghamton — released his seminal documentary, The Africans: A Triple Heritage. Mazrui argued that the African identity was a product of three interlocking legacies: the Indigenous, the Islamic, and the Western.

Nigeria, however, appears to be shaped by a far more dangerous convergence of forces.

We are currently shadowed by what I call The Insecurity Triad—a three-headed monster of Kidnapping, Banditry, and Terrorism that threatens to dismantle the very heritage Mazrui celebrated. We begin today with kidnapping, what I have chosen to call the ‘Ransom Economy.’

From Global Origins to the Nigerian Evolution

Kidnapping is not a Nigerian invention. Historically, it has evolved from sporadic opportunism to structured enterprise. In the 19th-century United States, abductions were mostly local or motivated by personal vendettas. However, the 1932 abduction of Charles Lindbergh Jr. marked a global turning point, demonstrating the potential for ransom at a national scale and prompting the US Federal Kidnapping Act.

Today, the more pressing parallels lie in the “narco-states” of Latin America. In Mexico, cartels use “express kidnappings” to drain bank accounts and mass-abduct migrants to extort their families.

In Colombia, what began as a tool for political “taxation” by groups like the FARC eventually became an outsourced criminal market. Whether it is a drug lord in Michoacán or a bandit leader in the Kuyambana Forest, the logic is identical: kidnapping is the “venture capital” or liquidity that funds larger insurgencies.

Nigeria’s journey followed a similar, albeit accelerated, trajectory. Prior to the year 2000, incidents were sporadic. By the early 2000s, the Niger Delta became the first laboratory for industrial-scale abductions.

It is essential to note that the genesis of this trend was rooted in grievance rather than simple greed. In those early days, the targeting of oil workers was a violent form of protest against multinational oil companies accused of systemic environmental degradation and the utter neglect of oil-bearing communities. What began as a desperate cry for resource control, however, soon mutated. The “grievance model” of Niger Delta provided the blueprint for the “profit model” we see today nationwide, as criminal networks realised that human liberty was the most liquid asset they could trade.

The Human Face of the Ransom Economy

Behind the statistics are real people, real trauma, and real negotiations.

In 2021, a friend of Sundiata Post, Mrs. Elsie Iloelunachi, a businesswoman, travelled from Abuja to Onitsha to purchase goods. On her return journey, somewhere in Kogi State, her vehicle was hijacked. While a few passengers managed to escape, she was not so fortunate. She was marched into the forest and held for a few days.

According to her account, she survived partly because she could communicate in the language of her abductors. She pleaded. She negotiated. Eventually, the kidnappers sent an account number to her husband. He raised the money and transferred it.

When she later came to my office to recount her experience, the psychological toll was unmistakable. She was visibly shaken, emotionally and mentally scarred, yet she still counted herself lucky. She had returned alive, without physical injury or molestation—a “best-case outcome” in a system where survival is increasingly uncertain.

In another case, a past president of the Rotary Club of Abuja CBD travelled to Lagos on official duty. On his return journey to Abuja, his vehicle was hijacked in Ondo State. What followed was panic—not just within his family, but across the Rotary community. The club and district mobilised. Funds were raised. Networks were activated. For weeks, uncertainty loomed until he eventually regained his freedom.

There is also the growing pattern of attacks on schools and religious institutions—spaces once considered sanctuaries. One particularly harrowing case involved St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary School in Papiri, Niger State, on November 21, 2025. Gunmen abducted 315 people, including nursery pupils as young as five. Parents received intermittent, terrifying calls from the abductors, alternating between threats and negotiation. Some students escaped into the surrounding forest, while others were released in staged groups over the next month. Families, like that of 62-year-old Dauda Chekula who lost four grandchildren, endured unimaginable trauma, with no immediate government support.

Another alarming example occurred in Sokoto, where a cleric and his students were abducted during a nighttime raid. The cleric negotiated tirelessly to secure the children’s release, demonstrating the terrifying human calculus families now face in a system where trust in protection is fragile.

The Ransom Economy has moved from the lonely highway to the family dinner table. The early 2024 abduction of the Al-Kadriyar sisters in Bwari, FCT, remains a scar on the national psyche. The subsequent killing of one daughter, Nabeehah, to “accelerate” payment proved that even the seat of power in Abuja was no longer a fortress. From coordinated street-level raids in Katampe to the surgical, contract-style snatching of professionals in Port Harcourt, kidnappers have weaponised the doorstep.

The systematic targeting of the clergy represents a war on the soul of the nation. In the last year alone, at least 17 Catholic priests were abducted. Kidnappers demanded a total of ₦460 million with approximately ₦70 million verified as paid by desperate parishioners and families. The case of Fr. Mikah Suleiman in Sokoto and the heroic sacrifice of Fr. Thomas Oyode in Edo—who reportedly traded his own liberty for that of his students—illustrate that for the kidnapper, the Church is not a house of God, but a guaranteed source of crowd-funded negotiation.

These stories are not isolated. They are fragments of a larger system—one that has turned fear into currency and human beings into collateral.

Why Kidnapping is ‘Attractive’

We must ask: why is Nigeria a global outlier in this menace? The answer lies in the collapse of the legitimate economy. When a state cannot provide viable means of income, the ‘Ransom Economy’ fills the vacuum. For a youth in a marginalised rural community or an urban slum, the return on investment (ROI) of a kidnapping raid far outweighs years of manual labour.

However, we cannot ignore the role of greed. The industry has attracted “investors”—informants, logistics providers, and even rogue elements within formal structures—who see kidnapping as a high-reward, low-risk business. This combination of economic despair and predatory greed has turned a crime into a career path.

The Ransom Economy by the Numbers

To understand the financial scale of this crisis, we look to data provided by SBM Intelligence for the period of July 2024 to June 2025. During this window, the total ransom demanded by criminal networks reached a staggering ₦48 billion (approximately $31 million), reflecting a high-volume strategy. Out of this, ₦2.57 billion (roughly $1.66 million) was verified as paid—a 144% year-on-year increase in actual payments.

These funds were extracted from 4,722 victims across 997 reported incidents. Most chilling is the lethality rate: 762 deaths were recorded, meaning nearly one person died for every reported incident. This reveals a “naira-to-dollar trap”; as the naira devalues, kidnappers become more aggressive, demanding higher sums simply to maintain their purchasing power for black-market arms and logistics.

Why Nigeria?

How can a country with so much promise and capacity be reduced to a state where it cannot protect its citizens? The answer lies in our “ungoverned spaces” and a centralised policing structure that has created a dangerous intelligence gap. When the state is physically absent, the criminal becomes the de facto sovereign.

Ali Mazrui’s Triple Heritage was about the synthesis of culture to build a future. Our Insecurity Triad is about the collision of forces that destroy it. To protect her citizens, Nigeria must re-occupy her own land. We must:

• Decentralise Intelligence
• Close Ungoverned Spaces
• Bankrupt the Triad

Every abduction is a withdrawal from the fragile bank of national trust. If we do not act decisively, the Ransom Economy will continue to fund even more destructive forces.

Join me next week for Part II, where we examine the Rural Siege of Banditry.

Don’t miss it

Trust it is sacred. Stay seasoned

• Amuchie, CEO of Sundiata Post, writes The Sunday Stew, a weekly syndicated column on faith, character, and the forces that shape society, with a focus on Nigeria and Africa in a global context. X – @MaxAmuchie | Email: max.a@sundiatapost.com | Tel: +234(0)8053069436.

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