In a stunning reversal of fortune, Nigeria's naira has plummeted to claim the unenviable title of the world's worst-performing currency in the past month, according to a recent Bloomberg report. This development heaps pressure on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to consider further interest rate hikes.

With the naira depreciating to 1,466.31 against the dollar, hitting its weakest level since March 20, the report underscores the critical need for action. The scarcity of the US dollar locally exacerbates the situation, with Thursday's supply dwindling to a mere $84 million, half of the previous day's allocation.

Earlier accolades lauding the naira's performance by CBN governor, Yemi Cardoso, have now been overshadowed by these recent challenges. Despite Cardoso attributing the naira's previous success to market reforms and positive sentiments from international investors, the current downturn raises concerns about sustained stability.

Razia Khan, Chief Economist for Africa and the Middle East at Standard Chartered, anticipates a further strain on the market as $1.3 billion in naira futures mature by month-end, potentially fueling increased demand for dollars. This looming scenario underscores the volatile nature of the Naira.

The CBN faces mounting pressure to take decisive action following its upcoming policy meeting on May 21, with possibility for additional rate hikes echoing previous increases in February and March totaling 600 basis points. These hikes had initially bolstered the naira's value, offering respite to investors seeking higher returns.

The naira's vulnerability extends beyond official markets, with informal exchanges also witnessing a decline to 1,468 naira against the dollar on Friday.

Abubakar Muhammed, CEO of Forward Marketing Bureau de Change Ltd., attributes this trend to heightened demand from individuals and small businesses, indicating broader economic uncertainties.

Notably, Nigeria isn't alone in grappling with currency woes. Zambia's kwacha hit a record low, while Ghana's cedi weakened to its lowest level since 2022, both countries navigating complex debt restructuring processes. Ayodele Salami, Chief Investment Officer for UK-based Emerging Markets Investment Management Ltd., highlights the impact of debt negotiations on investor confidence across Africa.

Amidst these challenges, the naira and other African currencies face mounting pressure from domestic demand for dollars, particularly for raw material imports, including oil. These multifaceted factors underscore the urgent need for strategic interventions to stabilize Nigeria's currency and restore confidence in its economic outlook.

Tragedy struck two farming communities in Zamfara State as bandits mercilessly took the lives of at least 30 farmers in separate attacks. While details are yet to be fully disclosed, the police spokesperson in Zamfara, Yazid Abu Abubakar, confirmed the grim events in two local government areas of the state.

According to sources, the assaults occurred on Thursday, ravaging Maradun and Tsafe local government areas. In Maradun, the renowned Islamic cleric Makwashi Maradun Mai Jan Baki and another individual were among the victims, with two of the cleric’s children still missing following the attack.

The brutality extended to Gidangoga village, where three more individuals fell victim to the bandits. However, the villagers retaliated fiercely, eliminating 24 assailants and recovering eight motorbikes.

Residents lamented the escalating frequency of attacks in Maradun, forcing many to abandon their homes in fear of reprisals.

Meanwhile, reports from Tsafe LGA revealed that Bilbis village bore the brunt of the banditry, resulting in the tragic deaths of 20 civilians.

In a troubling incident, gunmen stormed a university in Kogi state, abducting at least nine students from their classrooms, as announced by the state government on Friday. This occurrence underscores the pervasive insecurity gripping Africa's most populous nation.

Armed gangs continue to sow chaos in northern Nigeria, targeting villagers, students, and motorists for ransom, while security forces struggle to curb the menace.

According to Kingsley Femi Fanwo, the information commissioner of Kogi state, the students were taken captive during an assault on the Confluence University of Science and Technology late Thursday night.

Efforts are underway to locate and rescue the abducted students, with a joint operation involving security personnel and local hunters who possess intimate knowledge of the terrain. The gravity of the situation is compounded by the historical context of school kidnappings in Nigeria.

Initially perpetrated by the jihadist group Boko Haram, exemplified by the infamous abduction of over 200 students from a girls' school in Chibok, Borno state, a decade ago, this tactic has since been adopted by criminal gangs driven solely by financial gain.

The Pentagon has issued a formal directive this week for all 1,000 U.S. combat troops to withdraw from Niger, dealing a setback to the Biden administration's efforts in countering terrorism and Russian influence in West Africa.

Following Niger's military junta's decision to revoke its military cooperation agreement with the United States, discussions began in April regarding an "orderly and responsible withdrawal." Despite ongoing negotiations between U.S. officials and the junta, hopes for an agreement waned this week when the Defense Department instructed the troops to depart Niger over the coming months.

While the timeline remains subject to change, troops will relocate to other regional bases to maintain operational capabilities. Notably, embassy security personnel are excluded from the withdrawal.

The withdrawal marks a significant shift in U.S. counterterrorism efforts in the Sahel region, where Niger, particularly the U.S.-established drone base at Agadez, played a pivotal role until last summer's military coup. Additionally, the partnership with Niger served as a deterrent against Russian expansionism in the area.

However, concerns have risen with reports of Russian forces, including former members of the Wagner group, establishing a presence in Niger since the coup. While U.S. officials downplay immediate threats posed by the Russian troops, there are apprehensions about potential provocations that could escalate tensions with American soldiers.

In ongoing discussions with the junta, a U.S. delegation led by Deputy Secretary of State Molly Phee is engaging in discussions to navigate the withdrawal process. However, the State Department remains cautious not to speculate on the outcome of these discussions.

Heavy fighting in Gaza's Rafah keeps aid crossings closed and sends 110,000 civilians fleeing

Heavy fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah has left crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible and forced more than 110,000 people to flee north, U.N. officials said Friday.

With nothing entering through the crossings, food and other supplies were running critically low, aid agencies said.

The World Food Program will run out of food for distribution in southern Gaza by Saturday, said Georgios Petropoulos, an official with the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Rafah. Aid groups have said fuel will also be depleted soon, forcing hospitals to shut down critical operations and bringing to a halt trucks delivering aid across south and central Gaza.

The United Nations and other agencies have warned for weeks that an Israel assault on Rafah, on the border with Egypt near the main aid entry points, would cripple humanitarian operations and cause a disastrous surge in civilian casualties. More than 1.4 million Palestinians — half of Gaza’s population— have been sheltering in Rafah, most after fleeing Israel’s offensives elsewhere.

Heavy fighting was also underway Friday in northern Gaza, where Hamas appeared to have once again regrouped in an area where Israel has already launched punishing assaults.

Israel’s move into Rafah has been short of the full-scale invasion that it has planned. The United States is deeply opposed to a major offensive and is stepping up pressure by threatening to withhold arms to Israel.

But the heavy fighting has shook the city and spread fear that a bigger assault is coming. Artillery shelling and gunfire rattled throughout the night into Friday, an Associated Press reporter in the city said.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said more than 110,000 people have fled Rafah. Families who have already moved multiple times during the war packed up to go again. One woman held a cat in her arms as she sat in the back of a truck piled with her family’s belongings about to head out.

The full invasion hasn’t started “and things have already gotten below zero,” said Raed al-Fayomi, a displaced person in Rafah. “There’s no food or water.”

Those fleeing erected new tents camps in the city of Khan Younis — which was half destroyed in an earlier Israeli offensive — and the town of Deir al-Balah, straining infrastructure.

The international charity Project Hope said its medical clinic in Deir al-Balah had seen a surge in people from Rafah seeking care for blast injuries, infections and pregnancies. “People are evacuating to nothing. There are no homes or proper shelters for people to go to,” said the group’s Gaza team leader based in Rafah, Moses Kondowe.

Petropoulos said humanitarian workers had no supplies to help them set up in new locations. “We simply have no tents, we have no blankets, no bedding, none of the items that you would expect a population on the move to be able to get from the humanitarian system,” he said.

Israeli troops captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, forcing it to shut down. Rafah was the main point of entry for fuel.

Israel says the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing — Gaza’s main cargo terminal — is open on its side, and that aid convoys have been entering. It said trucks carrying 200,000 liters of fuel were allowed to enter the crossing Friday.

But the U.N. said it is too dangerous for workers to reach the crossing on the Gaza side to retrieve the aid because of Israel’s incursion and the ensuing fighting with Hamas.

Israeli troops are also battling Palestinian militants in eastern Rafah, not far from the crossings. The military said it had located several tunnels and eliminated militants in close combat and with airstrikes.

Hamas’ military wing said it struck a house where Israeli troops had taken up position, an armored personnel carrier and soldiers operating on foot. There was no comment from the Israeli military,

It is not possible to independently confirm battlefield accounts from either side.

Hamas also said it launched mortar rounds at troops near the Kerem Shalom crossing. The military said it intercepted two launches. The crossing was initially closed after a Hamas rocket attack on nearby forces last weekend killed four Israeli soldiers.

Hamas rockets also reached the southern Israeli city of Beersheeva on Wednesday, injuring a woman with shrapnel, Israel’s military and rescue services said Friday. Five rockets were fired toward the city, with one intercepted and most falling in open areas, the military said. Through much of the war, Gaza militants fired thousands of rockets from Gaza on Israeli cities and towns, most of them intercepted, but such attacks have grown rarer in past months.

Israel says Rafah is the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza and key to its goal of dismantling the group’s military and governing capabilities and returning scores of hostages Hamas captured in its deadly Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war.

But Hamas has repeatedly regrouped, even in the hardest-hit parts of Gaza.

Heavy battles erupted this week in the Zeitoun area on the outskirts of Gaza City, in the northern part of the territory. Northern Gaza was the first target of the ground offensive, and Israel said late last year that it had mostly dismantled Hamas there.

The north remains largely isolated by Israeli troops, and the U.N. says the estimated 300,000 people there are experiencing “full-blown famine.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to proceed with the Rafah offensive with or without U.S. arms, saying “we will fight with our fingernails” if needed, in a defiant statement late Thursday. The U.S. has stepped up weapons deliveries to Israel throughout the war, and the Israeli military says it has what it needs for Rafah operations.

The war began with Hamas’ surprise attack into southern Israel last year, in which the militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 250 hostage. They are still holding some 100 captives and the remains of more than 30, after most of the rest were released during a cease-fire last year.

Israel’s bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 34,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. Much of Gaza has been destroyed and some 80% of Gaza’s population has been driven from their homes.

Israel’s incursion into Rafah complicated what had been months of efforts by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt to broker a cease-fire and the release of hostages. Hamas this week said it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but Israel says the plan does not meet its “core” demands. Follow-up talks appeared to end inconclusively on Thursday.

Hamas has demanded guarantees for an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as part of any deal — steps that Israel has ruled out.

 

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces attack Ukraine's Kharkiv region, striking on new front

Russian forces launched an armoured ground attack on Friday near Ukraine's second city of Kharkiv in the northeast of the country and made small inroads, opening a new front in a war that has long been waged in the east and south.

Ukraine sent reinforcements as fighting raged in the border areas of the region, the defence ministry said, adding that Russia had pounded the frontier town of Vovchansk with guided aerial bombs and artillery.

"Russia has begun a new wave of counteroffensive actions in this direction," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told a news conference in Kyiv. "Now there is a fierce battle in this direction."

Ukraine had warned of a Russian buildup in the area, potentially signalling preparations for an offensive or a ploy to divert and pin down Ukraine's overstretched and outnumbered defenders. It was unclear if Moscow would develop the attack.

In its evening battlefield update, the Ukrainian General Staff said for the first time that Russia was also building up forces to the north of Kharkiv near the Ukrainian regions of Sumy and parts of Chernihiv.

Zelenskiy has said Russia could be preparing a big offensive push this spring or summer. Kyiv's forces were prepared to meet Friday's assault, but Moscow could send more troops to the area, he told reporters.

The Ukrainian defence ministry said Russia launched an armoured assault at around 5 a.m. In an update at 10 p.m., the General Staff said battles were continued to prevent Russian offensive efforts to advance in the Kharkiv region.

A senior Ukrainian military source who declined to be named said Russian forces had pushed 1 km (0.6 mile) inside the Ukrainian border near Vovchansk.

The source said Russian forces were aiming to push Ukrainian troops as far back as 10 km inside Ukraine as part of an effort to create a buffer zone, but that Kyiv's troops were trying to hold them back.

The White House said the United States had been coordinating closely with Ukraine on Russia's Kharkiv offensive.

"It is certainly possible that the Russians are setting themselves up for a larger assault on Kharkiv," White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

Top Ukrainian officials have repeatedly said they do not believe Russia has the force capacity available to launch a successful operation to capture the city of Kharkiv, home to 1.3 million people.

The General Staff said battles raged for control of three frontier villages - Strilecha, Pylna and Borysivka - that were already seen as in a "grey area" of control.

"Counter-offensive measures continue in the direction of the settlements of Lyptsi and Vovchansk. The enemy is using infantry and equipment," it said on the Telegram app.

Military spokesperson Nazar Voloshyn said fighting was still raging in the evening and that the situation was dynamic. He said he believed Moscow's operation aimed to draw troops to Kharkiv from the east where Russia is focusing its offensive.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow.

HEAVY SHELLING

At least two civilians were killed and five were injured during heavy shelling of border settlements, said Oleh Synehubov, governor of Kharkiv region.

"All the enemy can do is to attack in certain small groups, you can call them sabotage and reconnaissance groups or something else, and test the positions of our military," he said.

In Vovchansk, a town with a pre-war population of 17,000 that has dwindled to a few thousand, authorities said they were helping civilians evacuate from the settlement and surrounding areas due to the heavy shelling.

In his evening address, Zelenskiy said his top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi had reported to him that "heavy fighting" was taking place all along the more than 1,000-km (600-mile) front line.

Ukraine chased Russian troops out of most of the Kharkiv region in 2022, following Russia's full-scale invasion in February of that year. But after weathering a Ukrainian counteroffensive last year, Russian forces are back on the offensive and slowly advancing in the Donetsk region that lies further south.

Ukrainian concerns grew in March over the Kremlin's intentions in the Kharkiv region when Russian President Vladimir Putin called for the creation of a buffer zone inside Ukrainian territory. He said this was needed to protect Russia from shelling and border incursions.

Since then, Kharkiv, which is particularly vulnerable because of its proximity to Russia, has been hammered by air strikes that have damaged the region's power infrastructure.

More than two years after its invasion, Russia has the battlefield momentum and Ukraine faces shortages of manpower and stocks of artillery shells and air defences.

** US announces new $400 mln military aid package for Ukraine, official says

The United States is preparing a $400 million military aid package for Ukraine, as the U.S. returns to a regular pace of supplying weapons to Kyiv after lawmakers passed a $95 billion bill, the White House said on Friday.

The Ukraine aid package includes artillery, munitions for NASAMS air defenses, anti-tank munitions, armored vehicles and small arms that can immediately be put to use on the battlefield, a U.S. official told Reuters earlier on condition of anonymity.

The weapons aid will utilize Presidential Drawdown Authority, or PDA, which authorizes the president to transfer articles and services from U.S. stocks without specific congressional approval during an emergency. As a part of the $95 billion aid bills, Congress authorized $60.8 billion worth of various forms of aid to Ukraine, including $8 billion worth of PDA items.

The aid announcement came after Russian forces launched an armored ground attack on Friday near Ukraine's second city of Kharkiv in the northeast of the country and made small inroads, opening a new front in a war that has long been waged in the east and south.

As replenishment funds for articles drawn from stocks are deployed, U.S. defense companies would gain more contracts as the Russia-Ukraine war grinds on. The aid package was first reported by Politico.

Experts expect a boost in the order backlog of RTX (RTX.N), along with other major companies that receive government contracts, such as Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), General Dynamics (GD.N), and Northrop Grumman (NOC.N), following the passage of the supplemental spending bill.

 

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia fighting ‘reincarnation of fascism’ – Medvedev

Russia’s military operation in Ukraine is a step towards defeating fascism and Nazism once and for all, former president and head of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev has said.

In an article marking the 79th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany, he wrote that fascism had been officially defeated in World War II but the West has allowed its ideological descendants to continue wreaking havoc by supporting the Kiev regime.

“For many years, even the demonstration of Nazi symbols, not to mention other symbols and ideas of Hitlerism, was legally prohibited in most countries of the world,” he said.

Now, however, he said Russia was being “forced to fight the reincarnation of fascism, its zombie spawn, which embodies the disgusting and cynical great-grandson of Hitlerism – the Nazi regime of Kiev.”

The US, EU and other Western states have firmly sided with Kiev in its conflict with Russia. Ukraine’s backers have spent billions on the war effort and have supplied it with ammunition and weaponry, while placing unprecedented economic sanctions on Moscow.

In the article, published on the official webpage of the Russian Security Council on Thursday, Medvedev slammed the “furious efforts to turn the world upside down, split and burn it in the conflagration of World War III.”

Our former World War II allies enthusiastically feed, stuff with weapons and incite new Nazis, whose goal is to erase Russia from the map.

According to Medvedev, Nazism won’t disappear on its own and therefore needs to be eradicated – this is what Russia sees as its “historical mission.” He noted, however, that Russia’s military operation and “the denazification” of Ukraine is only the first step towards building a new “architecture” of international relations, which would involve creating global instruments aiming to ensure the security and stable development of all states.

Together with our colleagues and partners, we are building a new, just and multipolar world order in which there can be no place for pressure and oppression, the rise of some nations at the expense of others, humiliation and exploitation of entire peoples, neocolonial habits and criminal business schemes.

Medvedev said Russia’s victory over the Kiev regime would bring justice against both its nationalist leaders and their “owners, sponsors and ideological inspirers,” who are profiting from efforts to drag out the conflict.

Similar sentiments had been voiced earlier on Thursday by Russian President Vladimir Putin. In his address at the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, he accused the West of pursuing a colonial policy and inciting regional conflicts to restrain the development of non-Western nations. He vowed that Russia would do everything possible to prevent a global conflict, but warned that it would not allow anyone to threaten its own safety and sovereignty.

 

Reuters/RT

A Nigerian investigative journalist has spent more than a week in police detention without being brought to court for allegedly violating the country's cybercrime laws, his employer said, in a case that has sparked criticism from media rights groups.

Under Nigerian law, suspects must be brought to court within 48 hours after arrest or be released.

Nigeria's Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) said its reporter, Daniel Ojukwu, went missing on May 1, but it was only informed two days later that he had been detained by police under the cybercrime law.

FIJ said Ojukwu's arrest was related to a November story that exposed government corruption.

Nigerian national police spokesperson Muyiwa Adejobi did not respond to several calls and messages on his phone.

Adejobi told reporters on Sunday that Ojukwu was arrested by the Nigeria Police National Cybercrime Centre based on a petition filed against him.

"The Nigerian Police Force has veered off course from its duty to uphold law and order to become an oppressive tool in stifling dissent and independent journalism," a statement by a group of 33 civil society organisations said this week.

The Committee to Protect Journalists demanded Ojukwu be released "promptly and unconditionally," adding that at least 25 Nigerian journalists had been charged under the cybercrime law since it was passed in 2015. Activists and pressure groups say the law is used by the government to silence journalism.

The 2024 World Press Freedom Index ranks Nigeria 112th out of 180 countries.

 

Reuters