Business
FG inaugurate collaborative task team on overtime cargoes at ports
The Federal Government has inaugurated a collaborative task team of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Ministry of Transportation, saddled with responsibility of addressing lingering issues of overtime cargoes at the national seaports and terminals while also proffering best-case situations on how the cargoes can be cleared.
While inaugurating members of the task team in Abuja, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transportation and Chairperson of the Committee, Dr Magdalene Ajani, said the inability to clear overtime cargoes at the ports and terminals had affected the number of cargoes that can be handled due to limitation of space.
Also, Ajani observed that this has resulted in a drastic drop in the volume of cargo coming into the country, adding that the reduction in cargoes has ultimately affected Internally Generated Revenue which is now lost to the neighbouring countries, while explaining that the clearing of overtime cargoes should not be confined to the Ikorodu Lighter Terminal, Lagos Port Complex, and TinCan Island Port Complex but all other ports and terminals within the country.
On the composition of the task team, Ajani said, ”It was a result of a series of meetings between the Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo and the Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, and the Permanent Secretary, FMT, Dr Magdalene Ajani.”
Ajani, in a statement by the Director, Press and Public Relations of the ministry, Henshaw Ogubike, called on the task team to bring their professionalism to bear in the discharge of the onerous task.
Ajani, while reading the “Terms of Reference” said the team work includes but not limited to confirming the inventory of submission by the NPA on the actual number of overtime cargo in the ports and other locations; conducting a joint examination of all such cargo to determine contents suitable for use or consumption; providing a list separating goods for disposal by public auction and those to be deposed by condemnation/destruction.
“Others include gazetting all cargoes identified as overtime for disposal; determining the methodology for public auctioning at various ports/locations; determining the recoverability of part of the Terminal Operator’s revenue arising from long occupation of economic spaces and transfer charges; ensuring that the process is in conformity with applicable customs practices and any other task that may arise in the cause of the assignment.”
Responding on behalf of the team, Comptroller Adekunle Oloyede of the NCS, assured that the task team is a one-stop shop that will certainly unravel the overtime cargo challenge.
The task team is expected to submit its report within eight weeks.
Business
Nigeria To Review Inflation Reporting First Time In 15 years
The agency said the expected spike in December inflation did not reflect actual price movements in the economy but was largely a statistical distortion caused by the rebasing of the Consumer Price Index.
Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has announced plans to revise its inflation reporting methodology.
This followed concerns that December’s year-on-year figure may be artificially inflated due to the impact of last year’s rebasing exercise.
The agency said the expected spike in December inflation did not reflect actual price movements in the economy but was largely a statistical distortion caused by the rebasing of the Consumer Price Index.
Reuters reported that the rebasing, the first in 15 years, adopted December 2024 as the index reference point.
Officials explained that the change is likely to exaggerate the year-on-year inflation figure for December without accurately capturing prevailing market trends.
Business
Dangote splashes N15bn on cement distributors, targets 90m tons by 2030
Dangote made this known during an event organised by the Group to celebrate its most loyal Dangote Cement customers, where CNG-powered trucks, SUVs and other items were presented to distributors across various performance categories, including regional awards, growth awards, best distributor in export sales and national awards.
Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, yesterday, rewarded his cement distributors with gifts valued at about N15 billion.
The group is targeting a cement production capacity of approximately 90 million tonnes by 2030.
Dangote made this known during an event organised by the Group to celebrate its most loyal Dangote Cement customers, where CNG-powered trucks, SUVs and other items were presented to distributors across various performance categories, including regional awards, growth awards, best distributor in export sales and national awards.
According to him, the cement expansion drive forms part of the group’s newly launched Vision 2030 strategy, which is aimed at positioning the conglomerate as a $100 billion enterprise by the end of the decade through industrial expansion and cross-border investments.
“Under this vision, we have actually signed an agreement.
But before even signing the agreement, the target that we have, our cement company, will end up being at 90 million tons by 2030 means that we are 50 per cent more than the entire production of Saudi Arabia,” Dangote said.
He said the group has also signed an agreement to expand its petroleum refinery from 650,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day, adding that construction work would commence immediately.
Business
Nigeria, UAE scrap tariffs on over 13,000 goods
Dr Oduwole said that the tariffs removal was part of a new trade pact aimed at expanding market access for Nigerian goods, businesses, and professionals, under the Nigeria–UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed in January 2026.
•Dr Jumoke Oduwole
Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates have signed an agreement to eliminate tariffs on 13,000 manufactured products.
Dr Jumoke Oduwole, Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment disclosed this, saying that while the Federal Government has eliminated tariffs on 6,243 products imported from the UAE , they have removed tariffs on 7,315 products imported from Nigeria.
Dr Oduwole said that the tariffs removal was part of a new trade pact aimed at expanding market access for Nigerian goods, businesses, and professionals, under the Nigeria–UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed in January 2026.
Under the agreement, Nigeria will immediately remove tariffs on 3,949 products, representing 63.3 per cent of the total, while phasing out tariffs on 2,294 products over five years. Nigeria excluded 123 products from tariff liberalisation.
On its part, the UAE will immediately eliminate tariffs on 2,805 products, representing 38.3 per cent of the total, remove tariffs on 1,468 products within three years, and on 3,042 products within five years.
The UAE excluded or prohibited 593 products.
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