• An oil-themed mural in Caracas, Venezuela

Crude oil prices edged lower Sunday, as the overthrow of President Nicolas Maduro by the Trump administration has cast deep uncertainty over oil-rich Venezuela.

Venezuela, a founding member of OPEC, sits on the largest proven crude oil reserves in the world at 303 billion barrels or about 17% of the global total, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

CNBC reports that U.S. crude oil fell 31 cents, or 0.54%, to $57.01 per barrel. Global benchmark Brent fell 22 cents, or 0.36%, to $60.53 per barrel.

President Donald Trump made it clear Saturday that U.S. investment in Venezuela’s oil sector is a key objective of the regime change operation that ousted Maduro.

“We’re going to have our huge United States oil companies — the biggest anywhere in the world — go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure,” Trump said in a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida.

The president said Saturday that the U.S. embargo of Venezuelan oil remains in place.

Cover image: MAN

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has called on the monetary authorities ( CBN and MOF) to introduce a Manufacturing Refinancing and Rediscounting Facility (MRRF) believing that it can reinvigorate the manufacturing sector in 2026.

The Director -General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, made the call for the facility in a report on the manufacturing outlook for 2026.

He said that the MRRF is to enable banks to refinance approved manufacturing loans at single-digit rates for up to seven years.

He emphasised that to ensure a more robust manufacturing sector in 2026 , there was need for:

• 1. Launch a Manufacturing Refinancing and Rediscounting Facility (MRRF) that allows banks to refinance approved manufacturing loans at single-digit rates for up to 7 years.
• 2. Create a publicly accessible dashboard tracking lending flows, interest rate spreads, loan approvals and sectoral disbursement patterns in real time.

3. Further reduce the benchmark interest rate by at least 200–300 basis points over the next two quarters to make credit affordable for manufacturers.

4. Craft and ensure the effective execution of the implementation strategy for the recently approved Nigeria Industrial Policy.

5. Categorize manufacturers as strategic users of gas to remove the gap between what manufacturers and electricity generation companies pay per cubic foot of gas.

6. Introduce a stable, transparent gas pricing framework for manufacturers and prioritize local gas supply before exports.

The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), which has replaced the now-defunct Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), has unveiled its institutional brand identity (logo) as part of efforts to reposition the country’s revenue administration structure.

The agency came into operation following the signing of the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Act 2025 by President Bola Tinubu in June 2025, marking a major shift in the legal and operational framework governing tax administration in the country.

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony in Abuja on Wednesday, the Executive Chairman of the NRS, Zacch Adedeji, said the launch of the logo and accompanying brand elements represents an important milestone in the evolution of Nigeria’s revenue administration framework.

Adedeji noted that the new institutional identity “signals continuity of purpose, strengthened institutional capacity, and a forward-looking approach to supporting taxpayers and national development.”