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US Embassy Issues New Directive For Nigerian Visa Applicants

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The United States Embassy in Nigeria has announced updates to its immigration visa process, effective January 1, 2025.

Applicants with scheduled interviews will now need to visit the Consulate General in Lagos twice as part of the application procedure.

The embassy shared on its official X page that “For applicants with interviews scheduled after January 1, 2025, applicants are required to visit the Consulate General in Lagos at least twice during the immigrant visa process.

It wrote, “This new process is designed to help you prepare for your visa interview and to prevent significant delays in processing your immigrant visa.

”According to details on the embassy’s website, the first visit will involve an “In-Person Document Review” with a consular staff member.

The embassy explained, “This review ensures that applicants are prepared for their visa interviews.

The review allows applicants to retrieve any missing documents ahead of their visa interviews, helping to avoid delays in application processing.

”The second visit will be the visa interview itself, conducted by a Consular Officer. This appointment will be scheduled by the National Visa Center (NVC).

“If you do not complete the In-Person Document Review before your visa interview, you will be required to reschedule your appointment,” the embassy noted.

These changes, the embassy said aim to enhance efficiency and reduce delays caused by incomplete documentation.

As announced earlier, in a related development, the embassy has transitioned to a new visa services provider for its Abuja and Lagos consulates on August 26, 2024.

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Business

Cement: Manufacturers Post N5.8tn Nine Months Revenue

The surge in the revenue is being driven by the increasing prices of cement selling N12,000 to N15,000 between July and September 2026 in Lagos and Ogun States, compared with around N10,000 sold in September 2025.

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The three largest cement manufacturers in Nigeria Dangote Cement Plc, Lafarge Africa Plc, and BUA Cement Plc have reported a combined N5.8 trillion revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2026.

The surge in the revenue is being driven by the increasing prices of cement selling N12,000 to N15,000 between July and September 2026 in Lagos and Ogun States, compared with around N10,000 sold in September 2025.

THISDAY reported that their unaudited result and accounts, the N5.8 trillion revenue is about 21 per cent increase over the N4.8 trillion revenue reported in nine months of 2025.

A breakdown revealed that Dangote Cement reported N3.8 trillion revenue during the period under review, about 19.6 per cent increase when compared to N3.15 trillion in 2025.

Dangote Cement’s production capacity increased by 9 per cent to 22.1million metric tonnes from 20.2 million tonnes in the corresponding period of 2025. It sold 14.1Mt, up by 6.4 per cent in the period under review. Its average selling price also rose by 9.4 per cent to N170,493 per tonne.

Exports of cement and clinker from Nigeria increased by 41.8 per cent to 1.5Mt, including 26 clinker shipments to Ghana, Cameroon and Ivory Coast. The company’s operations in other African countries sold 9.1Mt, up by 14 per cent. Senegal grew by 30%, Ethiopia by 19 per cent and Tanzania by nine per cent, and a new grinding plant in Ivory Coast sold 0.53Mt. Sales in Ghana and Cameroon were lower.

The first phase of the company’s 6Mt/yr plant at Itori in Ogun state is on track to be commissioned in 2027, part of a plan to increase capacity to 80Mt/yr from 55Mt/yr across Africa.

On its part, BUA Cement posted N1.09 trillion revenue, a growth of 26.5 per cent from N858.72 billion in 2025, while HBM Nigeria declared N928.25 billion revenue, representing an increase of nearly 19 per cent from N780.5 billion in 2025.

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Dangote Says Refinery’s IPO Misses 10 Million Investors Target

According to him, the company is yet to establish the official number of investors who participated in the offer, as the necessary reports are still being compiled.

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Chairman of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Aliko Dangote, has disclosed that the initial public offering (IPO) of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery failed to meet its target of attracting 10 million investors.

Dangote disclosed this during the 25th annual conference of the Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ) in Lagos.

Dangote, however, said the public offer recorded significant participation, attracting millions of investors despite not reaching the projected figure.

According to him, the company is yet to establish the official number of investors who participated in the offer, as the necessary reports are still being compiled.

“We cannot tell the figure right away because we have not reported to this, but we’ve gotten an amazing demand from various people,” Dangote said.

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Dangote Rice Mill in Jigawa Begins Processing

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The Jigawa State Government investment tracker has confirmed that the Dangote Rice Mill in Hadin is operational with a processing capacity of 32 tonnes per hour, equivalent to roughly 280,000 tonnes annually.

The commencement of the rice mill is trending on a video shared on X.

The footage comes 12 years after Aliko Dangote committed $1 billion to commercial rice farming and processing across Nigeria

The facility is linked to commercial cultivation schemes around Hadejia and Kafin Hausa.

Dangote Group signed a memorandum of understanding with the Federal Government in August 2014 to invest $1 billion in integrated rice farming and milling across Jigawa, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara and Edo states. Two years later, the company launched an 8,000-hectare rice outgrower scheme in Hadejia, Jigawa State. Participating farmers received improved seeds, fertilisers and technical support, and the company committed to buying their harvested paddy for processing.By February 2017, the outgrower scheme had expanded to 25,000 hectares across 14 states. Dangote set a target of 225,000 metric tonnes of milled rice by the end of that year, with an ambition of reaching one million tonnes annually. Construction announcements followed over several years without matching production results.

Dangote laid the foundation for a processing plant in Hadin, Kaugama Local Government Area of Jigawa State, in March 2018.

The facility was initially designed to handle 16 tonnes of paddy per hour.In July 2025, Dangote said Niger State had joined Jigawa, Sokoto, Kebbi, Kano and Nasarawa as locations with rice mills under construction.

By November 2025, the group outlined plans for mills across five states with a combined annual processing capacity of 1.5 million tonnes.

To secure raw materials, Dangote Rice Limited signed a N1.8 trillion paddy rice supply agreement with Niger Foods Security Systems and Logistics Company in July 2025.

The 10-year deal requires Niger State to develop 25,000 hectares of commercial rice farms and support 50,000 local farmers.

In May 2026, Dangote confirmed the company had committed to purchasing one million metric tonnes of paddy rice from Niger Foods over the life of that agreement.

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