Category: Business Day

The engagement focuses on training, knowledge development, knowledge exchange, and institutional capacity building as Nigeria explores opportunities to develop SAF as part of efforts to reduce emissions from the aviation sector.

According to a statement signed by the Head of Public Relations, AAAU, the discussions followed a visit by the NCAA Environment Team, Jon McKechnie, comprising an NCAA SAF Technical Expert and an ICAO Consultant, to AAAU for discussions on SAF development and capacity building.

The team was received by Mustapha Sheikh Abdullahi, Ag. Vice-Chancellor of AAAU, alongside members of the university’s management and staff.

Speaking during the engagement, Abdullahi outlined the university’s academic focus on aviation, aerospace and environmental sustainability, as well as the role of the African Centre for Climate Change and Aviation Decarbonization (ACCCAD) in research, knowledge development and capacity building.

He said the discussions built on preliminary efforts initiated in 2025 to examine Nigeria’s potential for Sustainable Aviation Fuel production.

According to him, studies had identified opportunities for SAF production from available sustainable resources, providing a basis for further consideration of the technical, academic and institutional requirements for developing a functional SAF ecosystem.

Abdullahi said the latest engagement would examine the potential role of AAAU as a knowledge and training base for SAF capacity development.

He identified the proposed Training of Trainers (ToT) programme as a key area of collaboration, saying it was designed to develop a pool of professionals and subject-matter experts capable of transferring knowledge and supporting wider capacity development in the SAF sector.

He said the proposed capacity-building activities were consistent with AAAU’s aviation and environmental sustainability mandate and the work of ACCCAD, particularly in climate change, aviation decarbonisation and professional capacity development.

Abdullahi expressed the university’s readiness to host and support SAF-related training and knowledge-development activities, adding that the initiative could also strengthen ACCCAD’s technical foundation and broader capacity-development objectives.

McKechnie, who led the NCAA team, discussed the structure and requirements of the proposed programme, including the technical and knowledge areas to be covered and the academic foundation required to support the initiative.

He also highlighted opportunities for the exchange of tutors, trainers and subject-matter experts among relevant institutions, as well as the institutional infrastructure required to develop, absorb and transfer knowledge in the emerging SAF field.

McKechnie stressed the importance of collaboration among regulators, academic institutions, technical experts, industry stakeholders and other partners, given the multidisciplinary nature of Sustainable Aviation Fuel development.

He said the leadership of ACCCAD and other relevant experts within AAAU would work with the NCAA technical team to further define areas of collaboration, including training, subject-matter expertise, knowledge exchange and the proposed Training of Trainers programme.

The engagement is expected to strengthen the human and institutional capacity required to support Nigeria’s SAF ambitions while deepening collaboration between the aviation regulator and academia on aviation decarbonisation and the development of a lower-emission aviation sector.

George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), on Friday, said his office is ready to provide necessary institutional support for all heads of the federal government Ministries, Departments and Agencies to mobilise 10 million votes for President Bola Tinubu, ahead of the 2027 presidential election

This is just as he charged the Forum of CEOs of Federal Parastatals to cascade government reforms and achievements down to the grassroots to counter disinformation and project the true impact of the administration’s policies.

The forum is tasked with the mandate to mobilise a minimum of 10 million votes for the President ahead of the January 16, 2027 presidential election

Akume gave the directives when he received the delegation of the Forum of CEOs of Federal Parastatals, led by its Convener/Chairman and the CEO of National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI), Kazeem Raji.

Chris Ugwuegbulam, Head, Information and Public Relations, Office of the SGF, in a statement, said Akume, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Political and Economic Affairs Office, Bekearedebo Augusta Warrens, commended the ‘Forum for conferring on him the Grand Patron of Forum of CEOS of Federal Parastatals and for organising themselves into a cohesive body with a shared vision, noting that the structures on the ground and mathematical projections make their proposed target of mobilising 10 million votes for Mr President achievable.’

Akume emphasised the critical need for effective grassroots communication to correct false narratives surrounding current economic reforms.

‘In your various domains where your power is operative, ensure that people become aware of these achievements. Push this message down to the grassroots, because one thing I’ve observed in the policy right now is a lot of disinformation.

This reform policy is not meant to imprison or impoverish Nigerians, and that is the narrative that has been spread down to the grassroots. Push this message to help promote the image of this administration.’

He noted that as the main drivers of federal government projects, the Forum is best positioned to actively promote and pursue the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu within their respective agencies and domains.

He assured the CEOs that the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) will provide all necessary institutional support required to achieve their strategic goals.

The SGF also urged the leadership to maintain momentum and establish a structured framework for ongoing collaboration.

Akume stressed the importance of purposeful and effective communication between the Forum and the OSGF to ensure proper tracking of their objectives and strategic initiatives moving forward.

For founders, rising revenue is often the clearest indication that something is working. More customers, more stores, larger orders and expanding distribution all appear to tell the same story: the business is succeeding.

Investors notice growth too. Revenue is easy to measure, easy to communicate and easy to celebrate.

But there is an uncomfortable truth behind some rapidly growing businesses: A company can be getting bigger while simultaneously becoming weaker.

Revenue tells us how much a business sells. It tells us far less about the quality of those sales, what they cost to generate, or whether they are creating lasting value.

That distinction matters enormously for Africa’s consumer businesses.

Growth Is Not the Same as Health

Imagine two consumer companies.

The first generates N1 billion in revenue from customers who repeatedly purchase its products. Its margins are healthy, inventory moves efficiently, costs are controlled and each year the business generates increasingly predictable cash flows.

The second generates N2 billion.

But it relies heavily on discounts to drive sales. Customers rarely return without another promotion. Inventory sits for months, expansion consumes cash and margins deteriorate as revenue increases.

Which is the stronger business?

The headline numbers suggest the second company.

The underlying economics may tell a very different story.

This is why one of the most important questions founders and investors can ask is not simply, ‘How fast are we growing?’

It is:

‘What kind of growth are we creating?’

The Quality of Revenue

Not all revenue is equal.

High-quality revenue tends to be repeatable, profitable and increasingly predictable.

For a consumer business, this might mean customers returning because they genuinely value the product rather than because they received another discount. It may mean distribution channels where the economics remain attractive after logistics and retailer margins are considered. It may mean expanding product lines because customers are asking for them rather than because the company is searching desperately for another source of sales.

These distinctions become increasingly important as businesses scale.

Revenue generated at the expense of margin can create the appearance of momentum while quietly weakening the company underneath.

Growth should strengthen the economics of a business, not disguise them.

When Growth Consumes Cash

There is another paradox founders often discover too late: growth can create a cash problem.

A consumer company experiencing increased demand may need to purchase more inventory, increase production, extend credit to distributors, hire employees or invest in logistics long before customers ultimately pay.

Revenue rises.

Cash disappears.

This is particularly important in markets where financing remains expensive and working capital is difficult to access.

Nigeria’s economic environment makes this discipline especially relevant. Although macroeconomic conditions have begun to stabilise, household incomes remain under pressure and the cost of capital remains high.

In that environment, businesses cannot afford growth at any price.

Every naira deployed into expansion must work harder.

The Metrics Behind the Headline

Revenue deserves attention. But it should rarely be considered in isolation.

Founders building for scale should understand what sits beneath it.

Are gross margins strengthening?

Are customers returning?

How quickly is inventory moving?

How much working capital does each stage of growth require?

Is customer acquisition becoming more efficient?

Does opening another location improve the economics of the company-or simply increase its size?

These questions are less exciting than announcing a revenue milestone.

But they are far more important.

They reveal whether growth is creating value or merely creating activity.

Good Growth and Bad Growth

Good growth makes a business stronger.

It creates operating leverage, deepens customer loyalty, improves purchasing power, strengthens distribution and generates the cash required to invest in the next stage of development.

Bad growth does the opposite.

It adds complexity faster than capability. It increases revenue while compressing margins. It requires increasingly larger amounts of capital simply to sustain itself.

From the outside, both businesses may appear to be growing.

Eventually, however, the difference becomes impossible to hide.

Building Better, Not Simply Bigger

There is understandable pressure on African founders to demonstrate growth.

Capital providers want traction. Markets reward momentum. Entrepreneurs themselves are ambitious and eager to expand.

But scale should never become an exercise in pursuing size for its own sake.

The strongest businesses are not necessarily those that grow fastest.

They are the businesses whose economics become stronger as they grow.

For founders, this requires the discipline to occasionally resist attractive-looking growth when the underlying economics do not make sense.

For investors, it requires looking beyond the headline revenue number and understanding the machinery producing it.

And for Africa’s consumer economy, it means changing how we define business success.

Revenue matters.

Growth matters.

But neither tells the whole story.

Because ultimately, revenue can make a business look successful.

The quality of that revenue determines whether the success can last.

A friend once questioned: ‘Do they learn leadership?’ At first, I thought about my own education. During my degree in Business Administration, I remember taking a course titled Leadership, that lasted eight weeks. I wrote, on average, about ten essays, completed two graded quizzes, and sat for an examination.

And yet many still walk around expecting social conditioning to somehow produce leadership behaviour. But my own experience of leadership did not begin with social conditioning because people immediately imagine that being the firstborn meant I was inherently leadership material. Ask my siblings; I was too fragile for that.

How did it happen then? At 22, I was seeing schools with dilapidated libraries and thinking, these children need books; perhaps I should do something about it. And I remember nailing a partnership with Heinemann Books. I had also been the child who was a Brownie, who genuinely thought she could save the world. Perhaps I did.

But what I did not yet understand was that the responsibility of a calling is only the beginning of leadership. Business Administration-and that leadership course in particular-began teaching me something my enthusiasm could not: that wanting to solve a problem is not the same as knowing how to lead its solution. You need judgement. You need strategy. You need to understand people, institutions, resources and incentives. You need to make decisions when the answer is not obvious. You need to stay when the excitement wears off. You need to persuade people who do not already agree with you. And sometimes, you need to carry responsibility for an outcome that does not go according to plan.

The Problem with Relying Solely on Conditioning

As I earlier explained, it was quite counterintuitive for me to be a leader. You can ask my primary and secondary school peers. And that is the thing about relying on social conditioning alone to reproduce leadership behaviour: people are not always equally socialised or given equal opportunities to practise agency, risk-taking, confrontation or decision-making.

We hold boys to a different set of expectations. They are often encouraged to be bold, take risks, speak up and take charge. Girls, on the other hand, are often encouraged to be caring, polite, accommodating and protected. Over time, these expectations can shape the behaviours people practise and become comfortable with. Assertiveness, agency and independence become more strongly associated with masculinity, while care, deference and receptiveness become more strongly associated with femininity.

There is nothing inherently wrong with either set of qualities. The problem begins when we treat them as opposites, or assume that one belongs in leadership while the other does not. A good leader needs both. You need the courage to make a difficult decision and the empathy to understand its consequences. You need the confidence to speak up and the humility to listen. You need the ability to take charge and the willingness to collaborate. You need firmness without becoming domineering, and care without becoming conflict-avoidant. When social conditioning gives people unequal opportunities to practise these different capacities, however, we can end up reproducing stereotypes rather than developing leaders.

Make Leadership Healthier, Not Easier

Some people have argued that, in our effort to make workplaces more inclusive, we are simply trying to make things easier for women. No. We are trying not to reproduce trauma. We are trying not to codify harmful norms. We are trying to build workplaces where women do not have to endure dysfunction or unnecessary hardship simply to prove that they belong. But there is an equally important conversation we need to have. If we have spent years challenging leadership models built around aggression, emotional suppression, constant competition, and the idea that exhaustion is evidence of commitment, we must also be careful not to swing to the other extreme. We cannot prepare women for leadership by protecting them from everything that makes leadership difficult. Because leadership is difficult.

Leadership sometimes means making a decision when everyone will not agree. It means delivering difficult feedback, disappointing people, holding someone accountable, and making an unpopular call. It means sitting with ambiguity, taking responsibility when the outcome is uncertain, and having conversations you would rather avoid.

It means withstanding criticism. It means carrying the consequences of a decision. It means saying no. It means making decisions with incomplete information. And sometimes, it means choosing what is institutionally right over what is personally comfortable. These are not male qualities. They are leadership capacities.

The objective, therefore, is not simply to get more women into leadership. It is to prepare women to exercise leadership. Getting women through the door is representation. Preparing them to make difficult decisions, exercise authority, navigate conflict, withstand pressure, and carry responsibility is leadership development. And perhaps that is the balance we need to find: remove unnecessary hardship, but do not remove necessary challenge.

A Real World Example

Perhaps this is why I think of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. In an interview about taking on the leadership of the World Trade Organization, she was asked about what she described as an ‘impossible job.’ Her response was revealing: ‘maybe I’m a masochist, and I like challenges.’

But the point is not that women should enjoy suffering. It is that leadership will sometimes place you in situations where there is no easy option. Okonjo-Iweala has had to navigate those kinds of situations precisely. As Nigeria’s Finance Minister, she led the country’s delegation in the 2005 Paris Club negotiations, at a time when Nigeria’s public-sector debt stood at about $36.2 billion, including roughly $30 billion owed to Paris Club creditors. Later, during the COVID-19 pandemic, her work with Gavi involved confronting another kind of difficult problem: how to secure access to vaccines in a world where supply was scarce, and countries were competing for doses.

These are not simply stories about a woman occupying an important position. They are stories about judgement, negotiation, strategy, uncertainty and consequence. They remind us that preparing women for leadership cannot mean preparing them only to be visible, collaborative or inspiring. We have to prepare them to carry responsibility when the answer is unclear, the stakes are high, and somebody still has to make the decision.

Final Thoughts

So, do they learn leadership? I think we have to stop treating leadership as something that people simply absorb from their environment and start treating it as something we intentionally develop.

Social conditioning matters. It shapes what people believe they are capable of, the risks they are encouraged to take, the authority they are comfortable exercising, and the behaviours they get to practise. But conditioning is not leadership development. If anything, relying on it alone can reproduce the very inequalities we are trying to change.

We should give girls opportunities to take risks, make decisions, disagree respectfully, solve problems, manage resources, fail, recover and try again. We should teach women not only how to enter rooms, but how to use their voice when they are in them. And perhaps this is where the conversation about women and leadership needs to mature.

We should not have to make women suffer to prove that they are capable of leading. But neither should we confuse a healthier leadership environment with an easier one. The goal is not to protect women from every difficult experience. The goal is to ensure that they encounter necessary challenge without unnecessary harm because leadership will always ask something of us.

And sometimes, as Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s example reminds us, to walk towards problems that other people might reasonably consider impossible.

When Oloruntomi Akintade left banking to pursue beauty full-time, she was not simply changing careers. She was betting on an industry that was still largely informal and relatively fragmented in Nigeria.

Today, Akintade is the founder of YBB Beauty International, with operations in Abuja and Lagos, and is recognised in her biography as the artist who introduced Nano Brows to Nigeria.

Her journey reflects a broader shift in Nigeria’s beauty industry, where technical expertise, specialised services and professional standards are increasingly becoming differentiators.

Akintade’s entry into beauty began long before YBB Beauty. As a secondary-school student in Lagos, she was already known for styling her friends’ hair. After studying Sociology at the University of Lagos and completing her national youth service in Abuja, she launched a beauty business, Maquilage by Tomi, while pursuing a career in banking.

She subsequently worked with Zenith Bank and FCMB, maintaining the two careers simultaneously for several years. The decision to make beauty her primary career came after encouragement from a fellow beauty technician, Onyekachi of Beauty Ateliers.

Akintade eventually applied the discipline she had acquired in banking to an industry she had always been passionate about.

‘I chose beauty, but I chose to pursue it with the rigour I had learned in banking,’ is effectively the trajectory reflected in her professional journey.

Akintade’s transition into permanent makeup was deliberate.

In 2017, she travelled to the United Kingdom to train in permanent makeup, where she graduated at the top of her class. She later undertook additional cosmetology training in the United States, expanding her knowledge beyond the practical application of beauty techniques into the science underpinning aesthetics.

Back in Abuja, she established her practice, initially offering frontal installations, microblading and lash extensions.

But rather than continue operating as a generalist, Akintade chose specialisation.

Her focus increasingly shifted towards brows and lashes, with an emphasis on precision and results. That decision would eventually provide the foundation for YBB Beauty’s positioning in the permanent makeup market.

The pivotal moment came with Nano Brows.

The technique, which emerged from Korea around 2018, caught Akintade’s attention.

According to her biography, she searched for Black practitioners who had mastered the technique and did not find any at the forefront of the field.

Rather than seeing this as a limitation, she saw a market opportunity.

By 2019, she had committed to mastering Nano Brows and began demonstrating the technique

on models in Abuja. At the time, microblading was significantly more familiar to Nigerian consumers, while Nano Brows remained largely unknown.

The early results helped establish the proposition.

Clients responded to the natural appearance of the healed brows, while the successful trials helped reduce some of the hesitation surrounding permanent makeup.

By 2020, Akintade had opened her Lagos studio, further establishing YBB Beauty’s presence and her position as a pioneer of Nano Brows in Nigeria.

The evolution of YBB Beauty reflects an approach that places technical expertise at the centre of the business.

Akintade’s operating philosophy is built around three principles: safety, science and professionalism. The company positions itself not simply as a beauty service provider but as a solution-driven business focused on addressing clients’ aesthetic needs through considered procedures.

That positioning is particularly relevant as Nigeria’s beauty economy becomes more sophisticated.

For operators in the permanent makeup space, differentiation is no longer limited to aesthetics.

Training, hygiene, technical knowledge, client experience and consistency can determine the sustainability of a beauty practice.

Akintade’s strategy has therefore been to build credibility around the craft itself.

The biography notes that she has prioritised results over certificates, reflecting an emphasis on demonstrated technical ability rather than credentials alone.

Akintade’s ambitions extend beyond the growth of her own client base. She intends to train more artists and contribute to a more inclusive permanent makeup industry in Africa.

Her outlook is that as the technique develops, Nano Brows will become an increasingly important part of the repertoire of professional permanent makeup artists.

This could prove significant for an industry where technical knowledge is often acquired through individual practitioners rather than structured professional ecosystems.

For Akintade, building YBB Beauty is therefore also about building knowledge around the discipline.

The company’s name, YBB, stands for Young Black Billionaires, reflecting the founder’s ambition to build a beauty house centred on empowerment, ambition and a new standard of practice.

Akintade’s journey illustrates the commercial possibilities that can emerge when a traditional career skill set is applied to a creative industry.

Banking gave her exposure to structure and discipline. Beauty gave her the opportunity to build around a personal passion. International training provided technical depth, while Nano Brows offered a specialised category through which she could differentiate her business.

Today, YBB Beauty operates across Abuja and Lagos, while Akintade is focused on expandingthe pool of trained practitioners and shaping the future of permanent makeup in Nigeria. Her story is ultimately not just about eyebrows.

It is about identifying an emerging category early, developing the expertise to compete within it and building a business around a standard of service.

For a Nigerian beauty industry moving increasingly towards specialisation and professionalisation, Tomi Akintade is betting that the next phase of growth will belong to practitioners who can combine artistry with science, business discipline and technical excellence.

Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, has denied any involvement in the activities of the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, saying he has never betrayed the President’s trust.

Gbajabiamila clarified allegations linking him to the organisation and claims that he authorised its activities.

The House of Representatives committee investigating the purported agency has, however, said its preliminary findings found no evidence that Gbajabiamila approved, established or participated in its operations.

Instead, the committee said documents before it showed that the Chief of Staff took steps to alert security and investigative agencies after concerns about the organisation were brought to his attention.

The committee said Gbajabiamila communicated with the Nigeria Police Force, the Office of the National Security Adviser, the Department of State Services and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, while also initiating administrative checks.

The panel further found that a letter purportedly appointing Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi as Director-General of the PFIPC and allegedly bearing Gbajabiamila’s authority was fabricated.

Evidence obtained from the State House showed that no such appointment was made or approved by the Presidency and that Gbajabiamila neither issued nor signed the letter, according to the committee.

The committee also found that the purported organisation had no valid legal basis, saying it could not identify any authentic Act of the National Assembly, executive order or other lawful instrument establishing the PFIPC.

Its preliminary findings further uncovered alleged irregularities involving official documents, bank accounts and entities linked to Adeyemi.

The panel said its investigation identified about 58 bank accounts linked through identifying information associated with Adeyemi, with more than 30 accounts apparently operated in the names of several agencies, companies, foundations or related entities. It stressed that the investigation was ongoing and that not every identified account or transaction had been established as unlawful.

The development followed separate allegations made against Gbajabiamila by Adeyemi, who was accused of operating the purported agency.

Gbajabiamila has rejected the allegations and previously instituted a N15 billion defamation suit against Adeyemi at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.

In the suit, the Chief of Staff denied ever meeting Adeyemi, communicating with him or authorising anyone to demand or receive money on his behalf.

The European Union (EU) and Kwara State Government are strengthening efforts to improve reproductive and adolescent healthcare in the State.

The push is aimed at improving health services, workforce capacity, family planning and community engagement while addressing gaps in healthcare delivery.

The development followed a two-day mission by an EU delegation led by Massimo De Luca, Head of Partnerships at the EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, which began with a meeting with top officials of the Kwara State Government, according to a statement by the EU.

The EU and the dtate Government took stock of progress under the EU-supported health interventions, as a visiting EU team assesses results on the ground and explores opportunities for deeper cooperation.

De Luca said the mission offered an opportunity to assess how cooperation was translating into results for communities. ‘It is very important that we take stock, and we see how we are moving together,’ he said.

According to the statement, abkey focus of the visit is the EU-funded Strengthening Access to Reproductive and Adolescent Health (EU-SARAH) programme, implemented by UNICEF and UNFPA in collaboration with Nigerian government institutions.

The four-year programme operates in Adamawa, Kwara and Sokoto states, supporting reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and contributing to Nigeria’s progress towards universal health coverage.

In Kwara, the programme is supporting stronger health services, workforce capacity, family planning, data use and community engagement, with particular attention to women, children and adolescents.

De Luca said the partnership also placed importance on domestic investment and government ownership as EU support grows.

‘With the growing budget from our side, we would also like to understand how much Kwara is investing and delivering to the health sector,’ he said.

AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Governor of the state, who was represented by Deputy Governor Kayode Alabi. said the state would continue working with partners to strengthen coordination, use evidence to guide decisions and increase its own contribution to health services.

‘Kwara State Government is committed to working with you on practical steps to strengthen coordination, use evidence to guide decisions, and increase the state’s contribution,’ he said.

Amina El-Imam, Kwara State Commissioner for Health, said EU-SARAH was helping the state strengthen services while identifying areas requiring further investment.

‘The EU-SARAH emphasis on service quality, workforce capacity, community engagement and overall system strengthening has helped us identify gaps and direct resources,’ she said.

She highlighted improvements in health infrastructure, referrals, family planning and services for adolescents and young people, as well as the state’s counterpart funding for family planning commodities.

Africa’s biggest central banks are taking increasingly divergent paths on interest rates, with Nigeria delivering a sharp cut, South Africa tightening policy, and Egypt, Ghana, and Morocco keeping borrowing costs unchanged as policymakers respond to different inflation and growth pressures.

The Central Bank of Nigeria cut its benchmark interest rate by 350 basis points to 23 percent at its September meeting, its largest reduction since 2007. The move followed the bank’s decision to keep the rate unchanged at 26.5 percent at its May and July meetings.

Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the CBN, said the decision was aimed at improving the transmission of monetary policy, after market interest rates increasingly diverged from the benchmark rate. He said the adjustment was an operational reset rather than a change in the overall policy stance.

‘The committee decided to reset the MPR and recalibrate the policy corridor as an important operational realignment aimed at strengthening monetary policy transmission and reinforcing the primacy of the monetary policy rate,’ Cardoso said.

Nigeria’s decision came as inflation continued to ease, with annual inflation slowing marginally to 15.39 percent in August from 15.43 percent in July. Cardoso said inflation was expected to moderate further in the short to medium term, supported by previous monetary tightening, exchange rate stability and improved inflation expectations.

South Africa moved in the opposite direction, raising its policy rate by 25 basis points to 7.25 percent in its second increase of the year. The South African Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously for the increase as the conflict in Iran added to fuel and other price pressures.

‘South Africa’s growth recovery has slowed, while inflation has increased well above our target,’ Lesetja Kganyago, governor of the SARB, said.

The central bank raised its near-term inflation forecasts and lowered its economic growth forecast for the year to 1.2 percent from 1.4 percent. It expects headline inflation to rise above five percent later this year before returning to around its three percent target towards the end of 2027.

‘Global shocks are clearly hurting our economy,’ Kganyago said, while pointing to services inflation as a concern. He added that the rand had remained resilient and food price pressures were relatively contained.

In Egypt, the central bank kept its deposit rate at 19 percent and lending rate at 20 percent for a sixth consecutive meeting. Annual urban inflation slowed to 14.5 percent in August from 14.9 percent in July, although core inflation edged up to 14.9 percent from 14.7 percent.

The Central Bank of Egypt said the decision reflected recent and expected inflation trends and the changing balance of risks, including renewed regional tensions, tighter global financial conditions and supply chain disruptions. Economic growth slowed to 4.7 percent in the second quarter from five percent in the previous quarter.

Ghana also kept its policy rate unchanged at 14 percent for a third straight meeting. The Bank of Ghana said inflation and growth risks were broadly balanced, even as higher food and energy prices linked to conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East created new risks.

‘Global tensions have constricted global supply chains,’ Johnson Asiama, governor of the Bank of Ghana, said.

Ghana’s headline inflation rose to five percent in August from 4.6 percent in July but remained below the lower end of the central bank’s target band. Asiama said exchange rate stability had helped contain imported inflation, while inflation expectations had eased.

Morocco’s Bank Al Maghrib also held its benchmark rate at 2.25 percent, extending its run of consecutive holds. Inflation averaged just 0.3 percent in the first eight months of 2026, with the central bank saying the impact of higher energy prices had remained limited because of transport subsidies and stable gas and electricity prices.

The bank expects inflation to average 0.7 percent this year before rising to 1.5 percent in 2027. Economic growth is projected to slow to 4.4 percent in 2026 from 4.9 percent in 2025, before weakening further to 2.9 percent in 2027.

The different decisions show how monetary policy across Africa is increasingly being shaped by domestic inflation, exchange rate conditions and growth prospects, alongside common external pressures from geopolitical tensions, energy prices and disruptions to global trade.

While Nigeria is using easing to improve policy transmission as inflation moderates, South Africa is tightening to prevent temporary price shocks from becoming entrenched. Egypt, Ghana and Morocco are maintaining their current settings while assessing whether falling or relatively contained inflation can withstand renewed external pressures.

Abia State Governor Alex Otti has defended the removal of the petrol subsidy, saying government resources should be directed towards production rather than subsidising consumption.

Otti, who spoke in an interview with Arise Television on Thursday, warned against attempts to restore the subsidy, arguing that the policy encouraged inefficiency, waste and corruption.

‘I’ve always been consistent on subsidies. And I’ve written extensively. I also refer you to my backpage in THISDAY, including the one that I wrote in 2020 during COVID-19. At that time, nobody was buying oil, and I said it was a good time to remove the subsidy,’ Otti said.

The governor said subsidising consumption reduced incentives for efficient use of resources while creating opportunities for abuse.

‘When you subsidise consumption rather than production, you are just subsidising laziness. You are subsidising, sometimes, corruption,’ he said.

Otti said the removal of the subsidy was necessary despite the economic hardship it initially created for households and businesses.

‘You know, as election approaches, people will be making all sorts of arguments. But removing the subsidy was the right thing to be done,’ he said.

‘If you are pushing for a subsidy to return, you don’t mean well for the country.’

The debate over petrol subsidy has gained renewed attention ahead of the 2027 general elections, with some political actors proposing alternatives to the current market-based pricing regime.

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, said in August that he would restore petrol subsidy if elected president. He later clarified that his proposal would focus on subsidising production rather than reviving the former import-based arrangement.

Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, another presidential candidate, has also rejected a return to the former subsidy regime, arguing instead that Nigeria should reduce petrol costs through the pricing of crude supplied to domestic refineries.

Otti said businesses that consume petrol for production would benefit more from reliable electricity than from fuel subsidies.

‘For the people who use it for production, for their factories, those people, they really don’t need the subsidy. They just need constant power supply. And once you’re able to guarantee them constant power supply, they’ll pay,’ he said.

President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of petrol subsidy on May 29, 2023, shortly after assuming office. The policy resulted in a sharp increase in petrol prices and contributed to higher transportation and living costs.

Otti acknowledged the immediate pressure created by the reform but maintained that the long-term focus should be on building an economy where businesses can operate without relying on government intervention.

His position comes as the subsidy debate increasingly features in discussions around the 2027 elections, with political parties and candidates offering different proposals on how Nigeria should manage petrol prices and support consumers.

Atiku Abubakar’s presidential campaign has begun strengthening its policy structure and broadening its membership base as the African Democratic Congress (ADC) intensifies preparations for the 2027 election.

Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday, saying the campaign was bringing together party members, experienced political leaders, professionals, young Nigerians and other citizens to deepen its national structure.

Atiku’s presidential campaign council was announced on Thursday, with Kashim Ibrahim-Imam, former Borno State governor, named Chairman; Nasir El-Rufai,

former Kaduna State governor, as Deputy Chairman and Senator Austin Akobundu as Director-General and Campaign Manager.

Shaibu said additional appointments would be announced as consultations continued and the campaign expanded its operations across the country.

‘The campaign is still evolving. Consultations are continuing, and further responsibilities will be assigned as the structure expands across the country,’ he said.

He said the campaign was also developing a policy architecture designed to mobilise Nigerians with expertise and experience around the major challenges confronting the country.

According to him, the policy team will focus on the cost of living, food security and agriculture, security, energy and power, job creation, industrialisation, manufacturing and SMEs, education, healthcare, infrastructure, housing, public finance, governance, technology and innovation.

Other areas, he said, include social protection, natural resources, the environment and human capital development.

‘Nigeria’s challenges are interconnected and cannot be addressed in isolation. The objective is to ensure that every major national problem is matched with a serious, practical and implementable policy response capable of improving the everyday lives of Nigerians,’ Shaibu said.

Shaibu said the campaign structure would extend beyond the national level to the zones, states, wards and polling units. He also reassured supporters who were not included in the first batch of appointments that further engagements were underway.

‘To those who may feel disappointed that their names have not appeared yet, we ask for patience and understanding. No one should believe that years of commitment and sacrifice have been forgotten,’ he said.

‘Our strength has always been our people and the relationships built over many years. We must preserve that bond,’ he added.

He added that the campaign was intended to be a broad-based national movement capable of attracting Nigerians who shared its objective of making life more affordable, creating opportunities for young people and improving the operating environment for businesses.