Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote said on Thursday he was "comfortable" with the impact President Donald Trump's tariffs would have on his urea exports to the U.S. because major competitor Algeria had been slapped with a higher levy.

Trump imposed a 14% tariff on imports from Nigeria, Africa's largest oil exporter, as part of widespread trade measures introduced last month, later paused for 90 days.

Dangote told an investment conference in Lagos that Dangote Fertiliser, which began commercial operations in 2022, shipped 37% of its 3 million metric tonnes of urea production to the United States.

He said he was initially worried by Trump's tariff on Nigeria, which also exports crude to the U.S.

"But when I checked who we are really competing with, we are competing with Algeria. So luckily for us Algeria were slapped with 30%," said Dangote. "So it actually makes us a bit comfortable."

Dangote, who built Africa's largest petroleum refinery, said he expected revenues from Dangote Group, also a major cement producer, to grow to more than $30 billion next year from about $25 billion projected in 2025.

Reuters

Looting of Gaza stores signals worsening hunger crisis

Increased looting of food stores and community kitchens in the Gaza Strip shows growing desperation as hunger spreads two months after Israel cut off supplies to the Palestinian territory, aid officials say.

Palestinian residents and aid officials said at least five incidents of looting took place across the enclave on Wednesday, including at community kitchens, merchants' stores, and the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency's (UNRWA) main complex in Gaza.

Israeli forces are continuing their aerial and ground offensive across Gaza in the war with Palestinian militant group Hamas that began nearly 19 months ago. Israeli air strikes on Thursday killed at least 12 people, the territory's health ministry said.

The looting "is a grave signal of how serious things have become in the Gaza Strip -- the spread of hunger, the loss of hope and desperation among residents as well as the absence of the authority of the law," said Amjad al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) in Gaza.

Thousands of displaced people broke into the UNRWA complex in Gaza City late on Wednesday, stealing medicines from its pharmacy and damaging vehicles, said Louise Wateridge, a senior official for the agency based in Jordan.

"The looting, while devastating, is not surprising in the face of total systemic collapse. We are witnessing the consequences of a society brought to its knees by prolonged siege and violence," she said in a statement shared with Reuters.

Hamas deployed thousands of police and security forces across Gaza after a ceasefire took effect in January, but its armed presence shrunk sharply since Israel resumed large-scale attacks in March.

Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Gaza Hamas-run government media office, described the looting incidents as "isolated individual practices that do not reflect the values and ethics of our Palestinian people."

He said that despite being targeted, Gaza authorities were "following up on these incidents and addressing them in a way that ensures the preservation of order and human dignity".

CHILD MALNUTRITION

Thawabta said Israel, which since March 2 has blocked the entry of medical, fuel, and food supplies into Gaza, was to blame. Israel says its move was aimed at pressuring Hamas to free hostages as the ceasefire agreement stalled.

Israel has previously denied that Gaza was facing a hunger crisis. It has not made clear when and how aid will be resumed.

Israel's military accuses Hamas of diverting aid, which Hamas denies.

The United Nations warned earlier this week that acute malnutrition among Gaza's children was worsening.

Community kitchens that have provided lifelines for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are at risk of closure due to lack of supplies, and face an additional threat from looting.

"This is going to undermine the ability of the community kitchens to provide meals to a great number of families, and an indication that things have reached an unprecedentedly difficult level," PNGO's Shawa told Reuters.

More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's campaign in Gaza, Palestinian officials say.

It was launched after thousands of Hamas-led gunmen attacked communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Much of the narrow coastal enclave has been reduced to rubble, leaving hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in tents or bombed-out buildings.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

US rejected Ukraine’s security guarantee demands – NYT

The US has rejected Ukraine’s request for security guarantees as part of a newly signed mineral resources agreement, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the talks.

The nine-page deal, signed the same day after months of negotiations and published on Thursday by the Ukrainian government, gives Washington preferential access to Ukraine’s mineral projects, including rare-earth metals. It also establishes a joint investment fund to support Ukraine’s post-conflict reconstruction.

Despite its scope, the final agreement contains no formal pledge of future US military support, a key demand from Ukraine during negotiations. Instead, it vaguely mentions a “long-term strategic alignment” and promises US backing for Ukraine’s “security, prosperity, reconstruction, and integration into global economic frameworks.”One source told the NYT that the US dismissed the idea of providing Kiev with explicit security guarantees early in the talks.

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce defended the agreement, suggesting that US involvement alone offers implicit protection.

“When America is your friend and your partner, your nation is going to be better off. And there is a security component just in our presence,”she told Fox Business.

Analysts told the NYT that the deal could help secure US President Donald Trump’s continued interest in Ukraine now that he is directly invested, and will potentially open the door to further discussions on military aid and a ceasefire with Russia. Still, critics argued that without binding guarantees, the deal’s impact may be limited if the conflict continues.

Ukraine’s parliament is expected to ratify the agreement within two weeks. The US has framed the deal as a way for Ukraine to repay past military aid – estimated at $350 billion by Trump, though Kiev claims the figure is closer to $100 billion and that the support was unconditional. The debt repayment clause, however, was dropped from the final text. After signing, Trump said the US could “in theory”recover “much more” than $350 billion through the deal.

Commenting on the deal, deputy head of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said the US has essentially “forced the Kiev regime to pay for American aid with minerals,” warning that all future military supplies will have to be paid “with the national wealth of a vanishing country.”

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian drone attack kills two, injures 15 in Ukraine's Odesa

Russian drones attacked Ukraine's Black Sea port city of Odesa early on Thursday, killing two people and injuring 15 more, in addition to sparking fires and damaging infrastructure, emergency services said.

"The enemy attack damaged residential high-rises, private houses, a supermarket, a school, and cars," regional governor Oleh Kiper wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "Fires broke out in some places and are being extinguished by our rescuers."

Ukraine's state-owned railway Ukrzaliznytsia said the overnight attack also damaged its tracks, the contact network and three freight cars.

"Railway employees are carrying out rapid repair work to ensure that freight trains run to ports without interruption. They are currently following an alternative route."

Passenger trains were running on schedule, it added on Telegram. One of the people killed in his home during the attack on Odesa was a railway worker, according to the company.

Ukraine's air force said that Russia launched five ballistic missiles and 170 drones during the overnight attack.

The air force shot down 74 drones while another 68 drones did not reach their targets likely due to electronic warfare countermeasures, it said.

It did not specify what happened to the missiles or remaining 28 drones.

Videos posted by Kiper showed heavily damaged facade of a high-rise building, a storefront with shattered windows and fire-fighters battling flames at one of the sites in the city.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city in the northeast, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said a drone had struck a petrol station in the city centre, sparking a fire.

RT/Reuters

There’s a concern that Nigeria could soon become a one-party state, not by law, like in China, but through subterfuge – or in legal terms, de facto – similar to Cameroon, Uganda, Equatorial Guinea, or even Rwanda, where the ruling parties are inflicting a slow, painful death on the opposition.

Those who express this concern have given many reasons. The clearest and most troubling, it seems, is the wave of defections to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that has depleted the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Wave after wave

Apart from Federal lawmakers from Osun to Kaduna and Niger States who have defected, as of April 25, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State and his predecessor,Ifeanyi Okowa and the entire Delta PDP structure defected to the APC, with more defections still anticipated nationwide. It’s likely that soon, five of the six South-South states, which have been the bastion of the PDP since 1999, may fall.

Concerned persons, mainly those in the PDP and civil society, have said these are not defections. Instead, they argue that they are negotiated exits by politicians to evade trial by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) or for the personal political gain of the governors and other defectors. They have blamed the government of President Bola Tinubu for instigating the defections out of a desperation to win the 2027 presidential election because his record in office cannot save him.

Chasing shadows

I think it’s nonsense. And though he did not use these words, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, out of self-interest, put it more elegantly when he said he believed that defections are a fact of Nigerian politics and defectors are merely exercising their freedom of association under the law.

A serial defector himself, and sixth-time contender for the presidency, it would have been a surprise if he said anything else. The problem, according to Atiku, is not the defections but the two-year record of performance that, all things being equal, cannot return the president to office.

However, if the worst fear of Atiku and the opposition comes through, as is likely, and Tinubu returns to office in 2027, as is probable, it would not be because of the defections; it would be because Atiku paved the way for the destruction of the PDP. He has proved to be the party’s undertaker-in-chief, something not often said, because it is convenient to blame Tinubu.

Best chance lost

For example, Sule Lamido, a leading member of the PDP, reportedly said on Tuesday that “the President should be fair” and save the opposition from being crushed. I’m unsure how much Lamido will pay Tinubu for self-sabotage. It’s surprising that one of the PDP’s founders does not know that a few of the founders ruined the PDP, and no one but its remnant can save it.

The party’s best chance since it lost power 10 years ago was in 2023 when the APC was at its most vulnerable. The government of President Muhammadu Buhari would have viewed a hostile takeover by the opposition PDP as mercy killing, if not as an act of charity. Lamido knows, more than anyone else, that Atiku stood in the way.

Rolling stone, no moss

After contesting and losing the APC primaries to Buhari in 2014, Atiku defected again to PDP in 2017 and contested the PDP primaries in 2019. At that time, the PDP was recovering from the catastrophic defeat of 2015, during which it lost nine of its 22 states and 93 seats in the National Assembly. In the winner-takes-all creed of the presidential system, the PDP faced a long harmattan of recriminations and decay while Atiku was away.

However, the party was gradually rebuilt, primarily through the efforts of Nyesom Wike, the Rivers State Governor at the time. When Atiku returned, the party was not what it was in its heyday. Still, it was not the ramshackle he had abandoned.

The calamitous record of the APC under Buhari, the party’s division leading up to the 2023 election, and the overall mood in the country at that time indicated that Nigeria was vulnerable to a hostile takeover. The country was fed up with the APC.

Marabout’s prophecy

But Atiku, being Atiku, felt obliged to live up to the marabout’s prediction in 1998 that he would one day be Nigeria’s president. It was this pursuit of prophecy that got him into trouble with President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003; it was the blind pursuit of it that drove him from the PDP to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and later to the APC. The obsession with this prophecy finally brought him back to the PDP. He just had to run.

But it shouldn’t have happened in 2023. While the odds favoured another party to succeed the exhausted APC, it certainly did not favour a northerner to run. Not after eight years of Buhari, a Northerner, not after Tinubu had wrested the flag of the APC, and certainly not when the convention in the PDP favoured rotation.

Atiku cast aside the odds, defied the restraints of common sense, ignored the party’s convention and a last-minute understanding after a key London meeting, and subverted the primaries to carry the flag. Things, quite naturally, fell apart.

Looking for a scapegoat

The rest is history. The PDP lost. The party that boasted that it was Africa’s largest party, destined to rule for 60years, lost its way, leaving its members desperately searching for shelter and rehabilitation, and looking for rest wherever it may be found.

How can that be Tinubu’s problem when Atiku, the wrecking ball, still sits pretty? I understand the hysteria in the opposition, but it does not have to waste its current misery looking for scapegoats outside. Two years is still a reasonably long time to rebuild. The rise of Peter Obi nine months to the last general election and the impact the Labour Party made show that voters will reward a viable alternative platform.

The word here is viable. Not a party led by opportunists who have made a life career of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. Say what you like about Tinubu, he has stood with his progressive brand of politics for nearly 30 years, even standing alone against all odds and at significant personal and reputational costs.

Go, Atiku, go

If the PDP is serious about a future, and Atiku cares about it, he must immediately drop his ambition to run again. This ambition is at the heart of the current turmoil in the party; it was why the PDP broke into three factions on the eve of the last election; it was why he has been unable to rebuild the ruins two years later. And it is why he is arguably the first Nigerian presidential aspirant to lose two running mates to defections.

There’s no point blaming Tinubu for the wreckage, or getting angry with Okowa for sexifying his incredible opportunism as the beginning of a movement. PDP will get a fresh start on life when Atiku, the main obstacle, steps down. Everything else is a waste of time.

** Ishiekwene is the Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP and author of the book Writing for Media and Monetising It.

Aditi Shrikant

I attended a party recently where the conversation just couldn’t gain momentum. Many of us didn’t know each other and surface-level topics were exhausted after the first hour. Then, one of my more candid friends asked everyone to share their salaries.

At first, I was mortified. In what world was that going to make anyone feel more comfortable?

To my surprise, though, it did. After the first few people volunteered their salary information, the party quickly turned around. Did you know a firefighter could make $140,000? I did not.

We were all asking each other follow-up questions, being vulnerable about where we were in our careers — and where we wish we were.

After talking to Alison Wood Brooks, a professor at Harvard Business School and author of “Talk: The Science Of Conversation And The Art of Being Ourselves,” I started to understand why this unorthodox, and often perceived as impolite, question saved the party.

“We’re all very hungry to feel understood,” she says. “It’s not even that we need people to agree with us. We just need to know that what we said or did registered.”

We’d all have been lying if we said that we didn’t want to know what others earned, and that curiosity made us all exceptional listeners, and therefore, conversationalists.

I’m not sure I’d suggest this specific tactic the next time there’s a lull in a conversation, but Brooks has some other ideas on how to have better discussions with anyone. In her book, the word “TALK” is actually an acronym for all the ingredients you need.

Here’s Brooks’ playbook for having better conversations.

Topics

In the same way you put thought into your outfit before attending an event, it’s smart to prepare some conversation topics that could be relevant to the group. In her book, Brooks offers ups some questions to help you prep:

• What happened during our last conversation that I can call back to?
• What’s happened in their life since we last spoke that I can or should remember to ask about?
• What can I share about my perspective or my life that might be interesting, fun, or helpful to them?

Not all topics need to be deep. Small talk is perfectly OK, so long as you don’t get stuck chatting about something like the weather for too long. A good conversation, Brooks says, toggles between deeper discussions and lighter subjects.

Asking

You can never ask too many questions. Even insincere inquiries are generally appreciated. If you want to change topics, asking a question can serve as a good transition and prepare others to switch gears.

There are, however, some types of questions Brooks says you should avoid.

• “Boomerasking”: Questions that you really just want to answer yourself.
• Gotcha questions: This is when you ask a question meant to test someone else’s knowledge.
• Repeated questions: Asking for the same information in different ways.

Levity

Pre-planning topics and focusing on asking the right questions is as important as facilitating fun. Conversations should be a good time. Giving compliments often and really laughing at others’ jokes can bring some joy and excitement to the interaction.

Kindness

Really try to understand what other people are saying and aim to make them feel seen. Ask follow-up questions that show you’re not judging, but trying to learn more.

You don’t have to agree with them, but you should communicate that you respect how they feel and what they’re saying.

When going around the circle, sharing our salaries, pretty much all of these boxes were ticked. And then, we were able to transition into other topics.

One person told us they took a pay cut to pursue a career as a chef. Another felt grossly overpaid for her work, but felt like that had more to do with her imposter syndrome than her skill set. The question facilitated some deeper talks, and also allowed room for some levity.

Last week, I ran into someone who I’d only talked to briefly at this party. “How crazy was that question?” he asked me. And for about 15 minutes we had another great conversation.

CNBC

As Nigerian workers join the global commemoration of Workers’ Day, the mood is far from celebratory. Instead, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has painted a grim picture of widespread suffering, blaming President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies for exacerbating the cost-of-living crisis and pushing millions deeper into poverty.

Since Tinubu took office in May 2023, his administration’s economic policies—including the abrupt removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the naira—have triggered skyrocketing inflation, a collapsing currency, and unprecedented economic hardship. Official data underscores the severity of the crisis:

- Inflation has surged to 33.2% (March 2024), the highest in nearly three decades, with food inflation at a staggering 40%.

- The naira has lost over 70% of its value against the dollar since the forex liberalization policy, driving up import costs and crippling businesses.

- Fuel prices have jumped by over 400% since subsidy removal, pushing transport and food costs to unbearable levels.

- Despite a nominal N70,000 minimum wage, real wages have plummeted, with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reporting that 63% of Nigerians (133 million people) are multidimensionally poor.

NLC: "Workers Impoverished, Dehumanized"

NLC President Joe Ajaero delivered a scathing assessment, declaring that workers have faced "one anti-worker policy after another" under the current government.

"The ruling elite have ganged up against workers and the masses," Ajaero said. "They promote impoverishment, exploitation, and slavish wages while enforcing oppressive policies dictated by global financial institutions."

He highlighted the struggle to implement the N70,000 minimum wage, with many state and federal agencies defaulting, leaving workers struggling to survive.

A System in Crisis

Ajaero accused the Tinubu administration of deepening Nigeria’s "two-class society"—where the rich grow wealthier while workers and the poor bear the brunt of austerity measures.

"Capitalism devours jobs, strips dignity, and widens inequality," he said. "The state, instead of protecting workers, has become an enforcer of exploitation."

Despite the challenges, the NLC vowed to intensify its fight for living wages, full implementation of labour laws, and resistance against neoliberal policies.

"Our liberation will not be gifted—it must be won," Ajaero declared. "We must demand not just crumbs, but our fair share of the bread we bake."

What’s Next?

Analysts warn that without urgent intervention, Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis could spiral further, fueling social unrest.

As the world marks Workers’ Day, Nigeria’s labor movement stands at a crossroads—fighting not just for better wages, but for survival in an economy that has left millions behind.

The Court of Appeal in Calabar has upheld the conviction and three-year prison sentence of Peter Ogban, a professor of soil science at the University of Calabar, for manipulating the outcome of the 2019 senatorial election in Akwa Ibom North-West District in favour of Godswill Akpabio, now President of the Nigerian Senate.

Ogban, who served as the returning officer in the contentious election, was first convicted in March 2021 by the Akwa Ibom State High Court in Uyo. The court found him guilty of falsifying election results in Oruk Anam and Etim Ekpo local government areas, unlawfully inflating the vote tally of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the expense of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was sentenced to three years imprisonment and fined N100,000.

The appellate court reaffirmed the verdict, condemning Ogban’s actions as a gross abuse of academic and professional trust and a betrayal of public confidence in Nigeria’s electoral process. During his trial, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) prosecuted Ogban, who admitted under oath to altering results, including adding 5,000 fictitious votes to the APC’s total in one local government area. He pleaded for leniency, but trial judge Justice Augustine Odokwo insisted the law must take its course, calling the case “novel” and precedent-setting.

Ogban had argued in court that he merely collated figures submitted by local government polling officers and did not personally manipulate the results. However, the court found this defense unconvincing given the deliberate inflation of votes in specific areas.

The judgment has sparked widespread reactions across social media, with many Nigerians questioning why Akpabio, the main beneficiary of the manipulated results, continues to serve in high public office.

One user, Lawal Ahmed, wrote, “Then what’s Akpabio still doing in the upper chamber?” Another, Peter Johnson, lamented, “What pains me most is how professors who spent years researching and teaching would rig elections for politicians who don’t even have complete WAEC results.”

Others, like Dave Adode, expressed outrage: “Akpabio should also face the penalty. The Professor has dragged his name in the mud; his family will suffer shame, and he cannot enjoy the money. Money don go; prison don come, Akpabio dey free.”

Critics argue that while Ogban is facing justice, Akpabio not only walked free but contested again in 2023, won, and is now Senate President. Some called for his resignation or fresh legal scrutiny into his electoral victories.

Ogban’s case is not isolated. In February 2025, another academic, Ignatius Uduk of the University of Uyo, was also sentenced to three years in prison for publishing false results during the 2019 state house of assembly elections in the same Akwa Ibom North-West zone.

As these convictions continue to stir national debate, many Nigerians are calling for broader accountability in the electoral system, especially among those who benefit from manipulated results.

Oil prices settled down on Wednesday and recorded the largest monthly drop in almost 3-1/2 years after Saudi Arabia signaled a move toward producing more and expanding its market share, while the global trade war eroded the outlook for fuel demand.

Brent crude futures settled $1.13, or 1.76%, lower at $63.12 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures dropped $2.21, or 3.66%, to close at $58.21, the lowest settlement since March 2021.

For the month, Brent settled down 15% and WTI was down 18%, the biggest monthly percentage declines since November 2021.

Both benchmarks slumped after Saudi Arabia, one of the world's biggest oil producers, signaled it was unwilling to prop up the oil market with further supply cuts and could handle a prolonged period of low prices.

"It raises concern that we could be headed towards another production war," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst with Price Futures Group. "Are the Saudis trying to send a message that they are going to get back their market share? We'll have to wait and see."

Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia pushed for a larger-than-planned OPEC+ output hike in May.

Several OPEC+ members will suggest a ramp-up of output increases for a second straight month in June, sources told Reuters last week. The group will meet on May 5 to discuss output plans.

"The trade war directly reduces oil demand and hinders travel by consumers. Combined with OPEC’s unwinding of output cuts, the risk of oversupply is escalating," said Raymond James investment strategy analyst Pavel Molchanov.

U.S. President Donald Trump's announced tariffs on all U.S. imports on April 2 and China responded with its own levies, stoking a trade war between the world's top two oil-consuming nations.

Concerns over the global economy weakening continued to pressure oil prices.

Data on Wednesday showed the U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter, weighed down by a deluge of goods imported by businesses eager to avoid higher costs.

Trump's tariffs have made it probable the global economy will slip into recession this year, a Reuters poll suggested.

U.S. consumer confidence, meanwhile, slumped to its lowest in nearly five years in April on growing concerns over tariffs, data showed on Tuesday.

U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell unexpectedly last week on higher export and refinery demand, limiting some price losses.

Crude inventories fell by 2.7 million barrels to 440.4 million barrels in the week ended April 25, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 429,000-barrel rise.

Reuters

US backs Israel's ban on UNRWA Gaza aid operations at World Court

Israel cannot be forced to allow the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA to operate in Gaza, the United States said on Wednesday at a World Court hearing in The Hague.

Israel last year passed a law that banned UNRWA from operating in the country, as it said the organisation had employed members of Hamas who took part in the attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The U.N. said in August that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the assault and had been fired. Another Hamas commander, confirmed by UNRWA as one of its employees, was killed in Gaza in October, according to Israel.

The United Nations General Assembly in December asked the U.N.'s top court to give an advisory opinion on Israel's obligations to facilitate aid to Palestinians that is delivered by states and international groups, including the United Nations.

At the third day of hearings on the matter, the U.S. said Israel had the right to determine which organisations could provide basic needs to the population of the occupied Palestinian territories.

"An occupational power retains a margin of appreciation concerning which relief schemes to permit," U.S. State Department legal adviser Joshua Simmons said.

"Even if an organisation offering relief is an impartial humanitarian organisation, and even if it is a major actor, occupation law does not compel an occupational power to allow and facilitate that specific actor's relief operations."

Simmons also stressed the "serious concerns" Israel has about UNRWA's impartiality.

U.N. and Palestinian representatives at the opening of hearings on Monday had accused Israel of breaking international law by refusing to let aid into Gaza.

Since March 2, Israel has completely cut off all supplies to the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip, and food stockpiled during a ceasefire at the start of the year has all but run out.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in Jerusalem on Monday that Israel had submitted its position in writing to the hearings, which he described as a "circus".

Reuters