” While the U.S. may frame this as a step toward “fair trade,” the reality is that lowering tariffs on U.S. imports could flood the Nigerian market with subsidized goods, thereby undermining local producers.”

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has called on the Federal Government not to bow to potential pressure to reciprocate by reducing its own tariffs on U.S. goods entering the Nigerian market.

MAN, in its position document on the new U.S. tariff imposed on Nigeria by President Donald Trump’s administration, said :

” While the U.S. may frame this as a step toward “fair trade,” the reality is that lowering tariffs on U.S. imports could flood the Nigerian market with subsidized goods, thereby undermining local producers.

Segun Ajayi-Kadir, the MAN Director-General, emphasized that this is especially troubling given the weak state of Nigeria’s infrastructure, logistics, and energy supply—all of which already place local manufacturers at a disadvantage.

He said: ” Another key concern is the risk of policy diversion.

Nigeria has, in recent years, made commendable strides toward achieving self-sufficiency in several manufacturing segments and diversifying away from oil. However, succumbing to external pressures to liberalize trade prematurely would reverse these gains.

Instead of supporting domestic production, such actions would signal to investors and industrialists that Nigeria lacks a coherent long-term trade and industrial policy.”

Projects Fall in Export Revenue by N1 to N2 Trillion

Commenting on the broader impacts of Trump’s tariff on the domestic industries, he referenced the National Bureau of Statistics:” Agricultural exports accounted for over N4.42 trillion in 2024, with the U.S. being one of the top destinations.

The tariff could potentially wipe out N1 to N2 trillion of that figure annually.

As export revenues fall, many companies may reduce their production scale or downsize their workforce to cut costs.

Contract manufacturers, small-scale industrialists, and firms operating in special economic zones targeting the U.S. market are likely to be worst hit.

Nigerian firms that are part of regional or global supply chains—particularly in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, foods, beverages, and motor vehicle assembly—stand to lose their competitive edge as their products become less attractive to U.S. companies seeking sourcing partners.”

MTN Group says that its partnership with Meta has significantly enhance the quality and reliability of voice and video calls on real-time apps like WhatsApp.

CTO of MTN Nigeria, Yahaya Ibrahim, said that the collaboration spans 12 MTN markets and aims to elevate user experience through smarter, more efficient network performance.

He explained that the initiative focuses on optimizing how mobile networks and real-time calling apps interact, resulting in more stable and high-quality calls.

“Since MWC 2024, MTN and Meta engineers have worked together to identify performance gaps and deploy targeted network upgrades using data analytics and extensive testing.

Nigeria is the first country to roll out these enhancements, and early results show a 50 percent improvement in key performance indicators, signaling a major boost in user experience for MTN Nigeria customers.

“This rollout underscores our commitment to delivering innovative digital experiences.

We’re excited about the improvements our users are already seeing in call quality,” he said.

Meta’s Head of Network Ecosystems Engineering, Diego Marí, added that ‘this partnership demonstrates how we can deliver superior real-time communication while continuing to optimize network efficiency.

Nigerians have taken to their various social media platforms to lament their losses after a digital asset trading platform, known as CBEX, allegedly swept over N1.3 trillion from investors’ accounts on Monday.

This comes as CBEX, operating without legal approval from the Nigeria Securities Commission, crashed on Monday after the money in their investors’ wallets vanished.

The digital platform also locked its Telegram channels and postponed withdrawals while offering investors the option of $2,000 for $200 verification and $1,000 for $100 verification.

The development has sparked condemnations from Nigerians on X.

Explaining the CBEX crash, cryptocurrency expert and security analyst Taiwo Owolabi said the total volume of stolen investors’ funds so far in USDT is $847 million and likely to increase.

Owolabi questioned why Nigerians would invest their money in a digital platform that is unregistered by the SEC with the promise of a 100 percent return on investment.

They designed the weak website to convince people in the future that it was a security breach that affected them.

Apparently, when you make payments, you pay them into a TRX account, and then, immediately, they move it from that TRX wallet, gather it, convert it to USDT, and then to ETH. So, when you are logging into your account, there is literally no money on your profile.

“What you see are just numbers. All the daily activities you do to ‘trade’ increase your money. All the AI trading is fake. When it’s time for withdrawal, they will send you another person’s money,” Owolabi explained on an X space.

Similarly, Steve Fred, a user on X, wrote on Tuesday:

“Are we not just fantastically stupid in Nigeria?

“Nigerians are as gullible as their leaders. How many times will they be scammed before they have sense?

“How can a company like ‘CBEX’ just appear from thin air and promise you 100 percent ROI in 1 month, and you begin to invest?”

Another user, known on X as Oku, reacting to the CBEX crash, said: “The smaller the profit, the more I TRUST YOU.

“You have no business doing a business that promises you 50 percent to 100 percent ROI.

”The development comes after the SEC recently warned Nigerians to stay clear of unregistered trading platforms.

The SEC particularly pointed out that, in accordance with the ISA 2025 recently signed by President Bola Tinubu, it is now an offense for any entity to operate an online forex trading platform or provide related services without prior registration with the commission.

“By virtue of this act, it is an offense in Nigeria for any entity that is not registered by the commission to carry out the business of online foreign exchange trading platforms or related services.

“Any business entity planning to set up a business in any of these areas is advised to visit the HOD DRM Department of the commission for further direction on how to register with the commission to avoid sanctions,” it added.