The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has commenced export of its new crude grade – Cawthorne, marking a significant milestone in the company’s drive to increase Nigeria’s crude oil production and expand its portfolio of globally competitive export streams.
Cawthorne blend crude, the latest addition to Nigeria’s basket of crude grades, has an API gravity of 36.4, placing it firmly within the light, sweet category – comparable to Bonny Light, and highly valued in the global market for its superior petrol and diesel yields.
NNPC Ltd confirms that on Sunday, April 5, 2026, the Cawthorne blend crude, which was loaded on an MT Eburones vessel, headed to The Netherlands, and unto the global market.
Bayp Ojulari, Group CEO of the NNPC
The maiden 950,000 barrels cargo was exported via the Cawthorne Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) vessel. Strategically located offshore Bonny, Rivers State, the FSO enhances crude evacuation from OML 18 and strengthens Nigeria’s export reliability, operational efficiency, and overall energy security.
The introduction of Cawthorne to the international market underscores NNPC Ltd’s deliberate strategy to unlock value from its asset base, deepen market competitiveness, and support the Presidential mandate of scaling crude oil production to three million barrels per day and gas output to 12 billion cubic feet per day by 2030.
The launch of the Cawthorne grade builds on recent additions such as Nembe and Utapate, reflecting a sustained and structured approach by NNPC Ltd to optimise production, expand market offerings, and reinforce Nigeria’s position in the global crude oil market.
Commenting on the development, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd, Bashir Bayo Ojulari, commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s policy direction and sector reforms and the tremendous collaboration shown by OML 18 partners, the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and other stakeholders towards achieving the milestone.
Stressing that NNPC Ltd is focused on deepening partnerships, strengthening operational discipline and deploying innovative solutions to ensure sustainable growth and energy security for the nation, Ojulari also reaffirmed the Company’s commitment to disciplined execution and value delivery.
“This milestone reflects the direction we have set for NNPC Limited—one anchored on execution, partnership, and value creation. We are moving decisively from resource potential to resource monetisation, ensuring that every asset delivers measurable commercial outcomes.
“The successful export of the Cawthorne crude grade is not an isolated achievement; it is part of a broader, deliberate strategy to grow production, deepen market relevance, and strengthen Nigeria’s position as a reliable global energy supplier. We remain firmly focused on delivering sustainable growth in line with national objectives and global market expectations,” he added.
NNPC Limited says it will continue to leverage innovation, strategic partnerships, and operational discipline to unlock the full value of Nigeria’s hydrocarbon resources while ensuring Nigeria’s long-term energy security and economic growth.
Environmental activists have adopted humour as a strategic tool to confront Nigeria’s growing ecological crisis.
The activists insisted that traditional advocacy approaches are no longer sufficient to spur meaningful action.
The Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) spearheaded the initiative by organising a one-day eco-comedy show on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Benin.
Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director, HOMEF (left), presenting a dummy cheque to Cynthia Bright
At the event, stakeholders highlighted the power of humour to engage the public, simplify complex environmental issues, and sustain advocacy efforts.
The Executive Director of HOMEF, Nnimmo Bassey, said the initiative was in response to rising frustration among citizens and environmental campaigners over slow progress.
“The environmental challenges in Nigeria are so many and so severe that people are getting tired of merely complaining.
“Even those campaigning for environmental justice are beginning to wonder if change is possible,” he said.
Bassey explained that HOMEF deliberately introduced eco-comedy to reshape environmental conversations and attract attention in new ways.
“Eco-comedy is not just about making people laugh. When people laugh about an issue, they also reflect on it. It becomes a tool for awareness and action,” he said.
He added that humour could help bridge the gap between advocacy and policy response.
“Sometimes, it is difficult to know whether government is listening. But humour can capture attention and make people see what they would normally ignore,” he said.
Bassey also cautioned against trivialising serious environmental concerns, including debates around genetically modified organisms.
“These are issues of life. They affect us in many dimensions and should not be treated casually,” he said.
Also speaking, Mariann Bassey-Olsson of the Environmental Rights Action said activists now rely on humour to cope with the pressures of sustained advocacy.
“We are laughing on purpose because if we don’t, this work will overwhelm us.
“The issues we deal with are heavy, and without joy, the movement cannot survive,” she said.
She described eco-comedy as both a communication and survival tool.
“Humour allows us to tell the truth, expose injustice, and remain human in the struggle. “One good joke can achieve what a 40-page report cannot,” she said.
Bassey-Olsson warned that losing morale could weaken advocacy movements.
“If we lose our joy, we risk losing the movement.
“Laughter helps us reconnect and keep going,” she added.
The event also featured an eco-comedy short film competition, where Cynthia Bright emerged winner and received a N250,000 prize.
Participants said integrating creativity into advocacy could boost public engagement and help drive meaningful action on environmental issues.
Eight countries forming the core of the OPEC+ group of oil producers have voiced concern over Iran’s attacks on energy infrastructure as oil shortages persist amid the war in the Middle East.
“Restoring damaged energy assets to full capacity is both costly and takes a long time, thereby affecting overall supply availability,” the countries said in a joint statement after an online meeting.
They also highlighted the “critical importance of safeguarding international maritime routes to ensure the uninterrupted flow of energy” – a reference to the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively blocked in reaction to U.S.-Israeli attacks
OPEC
The group – consisting of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman – said they would increase oil production in May by 206,000 barrels per day.
Given the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20 per cent of global oil trade passes, the move is more symbolic than practical, as the oil market faces a supply problem rather than a production shortage.
Much of the available oil supply is currently going to Asia, namely China, Japan and South Korea, according to Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Germany’s Commerzbank.
“Asia is currently sucking everything up like a vacuum cleaner,” he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has urged countries facing shortages to source oil from the United States.
However, the impact of this on global prices remains uncertain, as they are determined by global supply, which has been restricted due to the war.
According to figures from the International Energy Agency in March, countries in the Gulf region have reduced their daily oil production by at least 10 million barrels, or nearly 10 per cent of global demand, citing limited storage capacity for oil that cannot pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
The Kaduna State Government, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment, has flagged off the distribution of clean cooking stoves to residents to promote environmental sustainability and improve public health.
Abubakar Buba, Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Kaduna, the state capital, said the initiative was aimed at addressing climate change and environmental degradation in the state.
According to him, the adoption of clean cooking stoves will reduce deforestation, indoor air pollution and carbon emissions associated with traditional cooking methods.
Distribution of clean cooking stoves to Kaduna residents
Represented by Ahmed Abdullahi, Director, Administration and Finance in the ministry, Buba said the programme aligned with the environmental sustainability agenda of Gov. Uba Sani.
He described the initiative as a major step toward climate resilience, environmental protection and sustainable livelihood in the state.
“We appreciate the Federal Ministry of Environment for this gesture, which will address environmental and public health challenges linked to unsafe cooking practices,” he said.
Abdurrahman Bashir, Director, Climate Change Department, Federal Ministry of Environment, said the campaign was part of the Presidential Initiative on Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation.
Bashir noted that traditional cooking methods contribute significantly to indoor air pollution and deforestation.
He added that the National Clean Cooking Policy aims to expand access to clean energy by 2030.
He said the campaign would sensitise communities, build capacity and promote safer cooking practices.
Bashir urged the beneficiaries to adopt and maintain the stoves properly.
Some of the beneficiaries described the initiative as a relief that would improve their health and reduce household expenses.
Nafisatu Bello said the stoves would eliminate exposure to harmful smoke and reduce cooking costs.
“I no longer have to worry about inhaling smoke while cooking. It will improve my health and save time and money,” she said.
Another beneficiary, Esther Anthony said that the initiative had empowered women to adopt safer cooking practices and protect the environment.
“We have learned the dangers of smoke inhalation and the need to reduce carbon emissions.
“We are grateful to the Federal and state governments for this support,” she said.
Stakeholders in the environmental sector have explored the potential of a new Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) initiative in Nigeria.
The stakeholders said this at the Inclusive Environment Nigeria Workshop organised by the University of Derby, Renevlyn Development Initiative and the Environmental Defenders Network on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Lagos.
The initiative aims to address long-standing issues of community exclusion and environmental injustice in development projects across the country.
Executive Director of Renevlyn Development Initiative, Mr. Philip Jakpor, moderating the session
It is anchored on findings from a 12-month research led by Dr Eghosa Ekhator of the University of Derby and other scholars.
The 2023 research adopted co-production principles through extensive engagement with communities and key stakeholders.
The outcome is the Inclusive Environments (Environmental Justice) Framework designed to promote equitable environmental decision-making.
Speaking at the workshop, Ekhator said the framework provides a structured approach for inclusive and accountable environmental governance.
He said the tool draws from equality impact assessment models but tailored for environmental sustainability challenges.
Ekhator added that the framework is flexible and can be adapted to different national and institutional contexts, including Nigeria.
The Executive Director of Renevlyn Development Initiative, Mr. Philip Jakpor, who moderated the hybrid workshop, said the failure to involve communities in decision-making around development projects remains a “sore point” nationwide.
Jakpor noted that although EIAs are legally required for projects with significant environmental impact – such as oil and gas exploration, mining, and large-scale construction – implementation in Nigeria is often flawed.
“Community people are supposed to be part and parcel of the process. Their views should inform whether a project goes forward or not.
“Where projects must proceed despite concerns, safeguards should be agreed upon with the communities,” Jakpor said.
He, however, lamented that in practice, communities are largely sidelined.
“What we see in Nigeria is limited or no community involvement in EIA processes and a total lack of transparency by project implementers. In many cases, the so-called EIA reports cannot even be found,” he said.
Jakpor cited several examples across the country – from the Niger Delta to northern mining regions – where communities claim projects were imposed on them without consultation.
“The process is treated as a mere formality. Companies only inform communities instead of engaging them as stakeholders whose views matter,” he added.
He stressed that the exclusion of communities makes it difficult for them to seek justice when their environmental rights are violated, noting that companies are rarely penalised for breaching EIA requirements.
“These gaps are largely responsible for the environmental degradation we see across the country,” Jakpor said.
Also speaking, an Ogoni environmental activist, Chief Eric Dooh, decried what he described as a long-standing conspiracy between government authorities and oil companies, which has left host communities to bear the brunt of environmental damage.
Dooh said there was little or no consultation with communities before the commencement of oil exploration activities in Ogoniland.
“There were no discussions with the people who own the environment. What we saw was a high-level arrangement between the government and companies, without considering the impact on communities,” he said.
Dooh recounted his personal journey in environmental advocacy, which began after taking over from his father, who had initiated legal battles against oil companies over environmental pollution.
“My father had taken Shell to court several times. When he became too weak, I took over the struggle. It has not been easy – seeking justice in Nigeria is very difficult,” he said.
He noted that decades of oil exploration have devastated the local economy, which once thrived on fishing and farming.
“That environment sustained us before – it supported fishing and farming. Today, it is destroyed. We have lost so much,” he lamented.
The activist called for a more inclusive approach to resource management, urging the government and companies to actively involve communities in decision-making processes.
“If development must continue, then communities must be carried along. They should be involved in project planning, empowerment programmes, and environmental management.
That is the only way to ensure peace and sustainability,” he said.
The workshop brought together policymakers, academics, community representatives and civil society organisations.
Participants called for stronger collaboration among government, civil society and host communities.
They stressed that development must not marginalise vulnerable populations but ensure equitable outcomes.
In December 2024, São Tomé and Príncipe officially graduated from the category of least developed countries (LDCs). Shortly after, in December 2025, the Gulf of Guinea archipelago presented in Brussels a national sustainable development strategy through 2040 and an integrated National Financing Framework (INFF).
This dual signal, graduation and roadmap, positions this island state of 235,000 inhabitants as a structured partner for private investors, climate finance actors and public-private partnership stakeholders. Four sectors are targeted: biodiversity, blue economy, premium cocoa and ecotourism.
Carlos Vila Nova, President, São Tomé and Príncipe
An unprecedented financing framework for a small island state
Graduating from LDC status represents a major transition for São Tomé and Príncipe: it comes with a reduction in international aid and heightened budgetary constraints. The country responds with an approach that is unprecedented at this scale: aligning public and private capital, climate finance and development finance within a single framework. The National Strategy 2026–2040 and the INFF together form the foundation of this structured proposal to international partners.
The first country entirely designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
São Tomé and Príncipe is the first country in the world where 100% of the national territory has been designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Not a park, not a region, but the entire country. This status is not a marketing label: it defines a governance framework in which economic activity is designed to reconcile growth and conservation. For investors, it provides long-term visibility rooted in sustainability, independent of shifting political cycles. The country also hosts one of the most singular island ecosystems in the world, with endemic flora and fauna holding strong potential for bioprospecting, nature-based solutions and climate research.
A 160,000 km² EEZ as a lever for the economy
While São Tomé and Príncipe’s land territory is modest, its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) covers approximately 160,000 square kilometres of ocean, nearly 160 times the size of its land surface. Located along major Atlantic routes, the archipelago oversees waters that have remained largely intact. The blue economy, encompassing sustainable fishing, marine sciences, biotechnology, ocean data services and offshore renewable energy, is identified as one of the most undercapitalised pillars of future global growth. São Tomé and Príncipe is positioning itself to develop this resource within sustainable models from the outset.
Premium cocoa: value over volume
São Tomé and Príncipe produces cocoa recognised for its exceptional quality, with output estimated at around 4,000 tonnes. In volume terms, the country remains a small player. Yet on European markets now shaped by anti-deforestation regulations, carbon accounting and traceability requirements, the position is differentiating. The identified lever is not the export of raw beans, but the creation of local value: premium chocolate, traceable brands, agrotourism, and partnerships that reward quality over volume.
Ecotourism: a preserved model, a value chain to structure
No cruise terminals, no artificialised coastlines. São Tomé and Príncipe remains untouched by mass tourism. The strategy focuses on high unit-value models: boutique hospitality, conservation-based tourism and scientific travel, where returns are measured in decades rather than seasons. For investors exposed to the volatility of saturated destinations, the opportunity lies in structuring an ecotourism value chain before the destination is discovered.
Political stability as a foundation
In a region often viewed through the lens of risk, São Tomé and Príncipe stands out for its tradition of stable democracy and orderly transfers of power. This political context forms the foundation on which the investment proposal presented in Brussels in December 2025 is built.
The Executive Committee of the pan-African organisation United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa) has officially appointed Mr. François Menguelé as Secretary General.
Following a rigorous and competitive international recruitment process launched in September 2025, Mr. Menguelé stood out among the three finalists during interviews in January 2026. He succeeds Mr. Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi, following his official assumption of office on March 19, 2026, on the eve of the organisation’s elective General Assembly held from March 23 to 25, 2026, in Nouakchott, Mauritania.
Mr. François Menguelé, Secretary General, UCLG Africa
The new Secretary General is firmly committed to restoring UCLG Africa’s reputation.
“We will work to ensure that our organisation regains its former prestige. My ambition is for African local governments to be recognised as leading actors, both within the architecture of pan-African governance and on the global multilateral stage. The goal is also to enable our youth to regain hope and play their rightful role in shaping their future,” he said following the General Assembly.
Biography of Mr. François Menguelé
A recognised expert, practitioner, and passionate theorist in the field of sustainable development, Mr. François Menguelé has an exemplary academic and professional background.
He holds a master’s degree in Urban Engineering and Regional Planning from the Technical University of Dortmund (Germany), and has also attended a Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein (South Africa) and earned a specialist degree in Public Affairs Management from Quadriga University in Berlin. As a holder of the “Net Zero Carbon Emissions Leader” (CNZ™) certification, he is also accredited by the Chartered Institute of Professional Certifications based in Singapore.
With 30 years of experience, he has led long-term assignments on behalf of GIZ, the European Union, and the African Union in numerous countries (Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, South Africa, Cameroon, Mali, Egypt, and Togo).
Notable achievements
Urban policies: He played a key role in shaping South Africa’s post-apartheid urban renewal and housing policies, helping to build 12,000 decent homes for low-income households.
Pan-African institutional frameworks : As facilitator of the ministerial conferences, he played a central role in the establishment of the AU Specialized Technical Committee on Urban Development (STC08) and in the adoption of the African Charter on Decentralization and the Niamey Convention on Cross-Border Cooperation.
Key Areas of Expertise : His areas of expertise include institutional development in the panafrican context, decentralization, local governance, resilience to climate change, sustainable urban development, local economic development, and regional integration.
Awards
He was knighted as Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Valeur (in 2015) by the President of the Republic of Cameroon, and he also holds an honorary doctorate conferred by the CVPT in Tunis and the IARPA. Since March 2026, Mr. François Menguelé has been managing the General Secretariat of UCLG Africa, headquartered in Rabat, Morocco.
For those who studied Economics at the Ordinary Level in the 1970s, the name O.A. Lawal likely rings a bell. His seminal work, O’ Level Economics of West Africa, outlines the four pillars of production – land, labour, capital, and enterprise – as the essential resources for creating value.
Centuries earlier, in 1776, Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations just as the Industrial Revolution began to flicker across Europe. Smith dismantled the antiquated notion that wealth was a finite hoard of gold, arguing instead that prosperity flowed from productive labour and the “invisible hand” of the market, which incentivised innovation. Similarly, Karl Marx viewed labour as the fundamental human activity that transforms the world.
Tunji Bello, Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC)
Today, we stand at the precipice of a digital revolution in which these theories are being put to a surreal and perverse test. In the expanding frontier of Artificial Intelligence, the “invisible hand” has begun to look like a sleight of hand. Creative labour doesn’t matter anymore, at least in Nigeria’s media ecosystem.
For Nigerian journalists and newsrooms, the digital economy is no longer a marketplace of fair exchange; it has become a modern enclosure movement. Intellectual commons are being fenced off and harvested by global tech giants without a single kobo of compensation for the “tillers of the soil.”
The most predictable and substantial profits are currently going to firms that sell the necessary tools to build AI, often likened to the merchants who profited more than the miners during the Gold Rush. As of early 2026, AI-driven wealth creation is largely concentrated in Silicon Valley, with top tech executives reaching record net worths, and AI startups achieving massive valuations.
For instance, Elon Musk leads the 2026 Forbes list with an estimated net worth of $839 billion, followed by Google co-founders Larry Page ($257 billion) and Sergey Brin ($237 billion), Amazon’s Jeff Bezos ($224 billion) and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg ($222 billion). I don’t have the numbers, but it’s doubtful whether any individual Nigerian publisher hits a billion-dollar net worth.
For decades, the bedrock of Nigerian democracy has been its independent press. Our pressmen and journalists have served as the nation’s primary witnesses, travelling to the furthest reaches of the Delta or the volatile borders of the north to document the pulse of the country, sometimes putting their lives on the line.
They and their publishers are the ones who bear the cost – economic, legal, and often physical – of extracting truth from the noise of a complex society. Yet, today, the fruits of this labour are being mindlessly treated by Silicon Valley as “free” raw material to generate the mega-wealth of Elon Musk & Co.
It is just time to act. Giant tech and AI firms must share the enormous value they reap from exploiting trusted Nigerian content with the human journalists and publishers who actually create it. It is the legal and patriotic duty of the Federal Competitive and Consumer Protection Commission to right all the wrongs.
These firms are currently scraping decades of Nigerian reportage to train systems that can mimic our cultural cadence, summarise our investigative journalism, and answer queries about our local politics. When a user asks an AI to explain the intricacies of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s latest fiscal policy or to summarise a deep dive into national infrastructure, the “value” is captured entirely by the tech firm: the original newsroom – which paid the journalist’s salary, costs of investigation, and all that goes into storytelling – left to pick the crumbs that fall from Big Tech table.
Yet, in an era of rampant misinformation and sophisticated deepfakes, trusted journalism is more expensive to produce than ever. In Nigeria, documenting the truth is a service to the state, often performed under the shadow of business volatility and economic instability. But the Big Tech and AI firms turn these resources into mind-boggling wealth. That isn’t right or fair.
When AI models ingest the archives of Nigerian newspapers, they are not just taking data points; they are taking specialised local knowledge and hard-won public trust. If these firms continue to exploit this content without a revenue-sharing model, they are effectively starving the very sources they depend on for accuracy. If our newsrooms collapse because they can no longer monetise their work, AI models will eventually be forced to “hallucinate” based on a vacuum of real-time facts. The truth is an AI is only as smart as the human bravery that feeds it.
Our stories are our national assets. If an AI firm uses Nigerian reportage to build a product valued in the billions of dollars, a percentage of that value must flow back to the sources, as of right not of aid. And this is not merely about corporate profits; it is about the survival of the Nigerian press.
To move from exploitation to equity, we need a model built on three pillars: transparent licensing, usage royalties and algorithmic transparency. Countries like Australia, Canada and South Africa have already introduced measures along these lines. The Nigerian government, through its regulatory agencies, especially FCCPC and the Bosun Tijani-led Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, must provide the regulatory muscle for this fight.
For the press, we either swim or sink together. We must work together to avoid mutual failure. Individual media outlets cannot take on the behemoths of Silicon Valley alone and win. We need collective bargaining power to ensure that “innovation” does not become a euphemism for uncompensated extraction.
The argument that the internet is a “free and open” space has always been a convenient fiction for those who own the servers. While the distribution of information should be free, the production of verified information is not. It requires labour, capital, and entrepreneurship—the very factors of production Smith identified 250 years ago. And that must be paid for.
Big Tech must be forced to the table. Tunji Bello-led FCCPC should exercise its powers now. Innovation is the engine of the future, but it must not be fueled by the theft of others’ intellectual labour. If tech giants wish to build truly “intelligent” systems, they must act ethically by acknowledging and reimbursing the human cost of their data sets.
This is our clear message: Big Tech brigandage must stop. Those who profit from retelling creative content must pay the original tellers. It’s about the basic tenets of a fair market: value for value, and respect for the productive/creative labour, the fundamental human activity, that makes human progress possible.
By Segun Adediran, CEO, Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria, olusegunadediran@gmail.com
As Nigeria joined the global community to mark World Health Day 2026 on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has urged governments at all levels to move beyond rhetoric and urgently address the chronic underfunding and policy gaps undermining the country’s health sector and worsening its disease burden.
In a statement to mark the day, CAPPA decried Nigeria’s persistent failure to adequately fund the health sector over the past decade. Citing data from the Budget Office of the Federation, the organisation noted that allocations have consistently fallen short of the 15 per cent benchmark set under the Abuja Declaration, with even approved funds often not fully released.
CAPPA’s Executive Director, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) Akinbode Oluwafemi
The group pointed to recent examples. In January, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare reportedly lamented its inability to implement its 2025 capital budget after only N36 million was released out of the N218 billion allocated. Similarly, in 2024, just N26.552 billion was released from the N233.656 billion earmarked for capital projects.
“This longstanding gap between budget promises and actual releases has weakened the health system and is short-changing Nigerians,” said CAPPA’s Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi. “It shows up in limited access to essential medicines, overstretched facilities, a severe shortage of health workers worsened by the ‘Japa’ trend, high out-of-pocket costs, and a growing burden of non-communicable diseases driven by unhealthy food environments.”
CAPPA warned that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) – including hypertension, diabetes, obesity and heart-related conditions – now account for about 29 percent of annual deaths in Nigeria, placing enormous strain on families and the health system. It stressed that reversing this trend requires urgent preventive policies, particularly to curb excessive consumption of salt, sugar and trans fats.
Referencing the World Health Day 2026 theme, “Together for health: Stand with science,” the organisation called on governments to prioritise evidence-based policies.
One such measure, CAPPA said, is a stronger Sugar-Sweetened Beverage (SSB) tax. The group welcomed moves by the National Assembly to review the current N10 per litre levy and transition to a percentage-based tax tied to retail price, with part of the revenue earmarked for health promotion.
“We maintain that the current SSB tax is too low to significantly reduce consumption,” Oluwafemi said. “We are calling for an increase to at least 50 per cent of the retail price, in line with World Health Organisation recommendations. There is compelling evidence that stronger fiscal measures can reduce consumption while generating much-needed revenue for health financing.”
Beyond taxation, the organisation reiterated its call for complementary policies, including mandatory sodium reduction targets, front-of-pack labelling for processed foods, and restrictions on the marketing of unhealthy foods, especially to children.
Setting mandatory salt targets for processed and pre-packaged foods, the group argued, is a practical and evidence-based intervention to protect public health. It added that simple, visible warning labels would empower Nigerians to make informed choices at a glance, counter deceptive marketing tactics, and encourage manufacturers to reformulate products to meet healthier standards.
“These measures are critical to tackling what is now a silent epidemic of diet-related diseases,” CAPPA said. “Fiscal and regulatory policies that promote healthy diets remain among the most cost-effective tools available to governments.”
CAPPA further highlighted the rising burden of diseases linked to tobacco use and emerging nicotine products, urging increased funding for tobacco control. It described the current N13 million allocation to the Tobacco Control Fund (TCF) as grossly inadequate, calling for a review to at least N300 million.
“Tobacco use remains one of the leading causes of preventable deaths worldwide, including in Nigeria,” Oluwafemi said. “Effective implementation of the National Tobacco Control Act requires far greater investment than what is currently provided.”
The organisation called on governments, policymakers and relevant agencies to scale up health sector funding, ensure full and timely release of budgeted funds, fast-track the adoption of healthy food policies, and strengthen accountability across the system.
“Prevention must become central to Nigeria’s health strategy,” Oluwafemi added. “That means backing science with action through adequate funding and strong policies that protect public health.”
Secretary general of the African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO), Farid Ghezali, is set to take centre stage at this year’s Angola Oil & Gas (AOG) Conference, as African energy leaders prepare for the launch of a continent-backed financing institution aimed at transforming the sector.
The conference, scheduled to hold from September 9 to10, 2026, in Luanda with a pre-conference session on September 8, comes just months after the expected debut of the African Energy Bank (AEB), a $10 billion initiative designed to close persistent financing gaps in Africa’s oil and gas industry.
The bank – spearheaded by APPO in partnership with Afreximbank – is being positioned as a strategic alternative to Western capital markets, which have increasingly restricted funding for fossil fuel projects.
Secretary general of the African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO), Farid Ghezali
Its launch signals a shift toward Africa-led financing mechanisms in a sector long constrained by external capital flows.
Financing pivot for major producers
In its initial phase, the AEB will prioritise projects in Angola, Nigeria and Libya – three of the continent’s largest oil producers – with plans to scale funding capacity to $15 billion by 2030.
The institution will target investments across the value chain, including upstream exploration, refining, gas-to-power projects and cross-border pipeline infrastructure.
Its “Mutual Assured Development” model is designed to balance commercial returns with national economic priorities, while leveraging partnerships with more than 700 African financial institutions to mobilise private capital and distribute risk.
Angola’s urgent capital needs
For Angola, the timing is critical.
The country is attempting to sustain crude production above one million barrels per day while expanding both exploration and refining capacity – ambitions that require substantial and sustained capital inflows.
Although Angola’s upstream sector is attracting an estimated $70 billion in investment, downstream projects remain underfunded.
The Lobito Refinery – expected to be the country’s largest at 200,000 barrels per day – is still seeking $4.8 billion to close its financing gap ahead of a planned 2027 launch.
The AEB is widely seen as a potential solution to such bottlenecks, particularly for capital-intensive infrastructure projects that have struggled to secure funding through traditional channels.
Strategic boost for national oil companies
Beyond direct project financing, the bank is also expected to play a role in strengthening African national oil companies.
In Angola, Sonangol is preparing for a partial privatisation through a planned 2027 initial public offering, which would release 30 percent of its shares to investors.
The move is aimed at expanding access to capital and repositioning the company as a competitive upstream operator.
Institutions such as the AEB could provide critical financial backing and market confidence as companies like Sonangol transition toward more commercially driven models.
A defining moment for Africa’s energy sector
The AOG 2026 conference is expected to draw policymakers, financiers and energy executives at a moment when access to capital has become the decisive factor in whether major oil and gas projects proceed.
With the launch of the African Energy Bank on the horizon, the gathering is likely to serve as a key forum for shaping how the continent finances its energy future – and whether Africa can successfully assert greater control over its resource development agenda.
