By Adedapo Adesanya

Nigeria hopes to begin delivering natural gas to Abuja by July through its long-delayed Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline.

According to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), this marks a key milestone for the country’s gas development plans.

“We’re hoping that by July, gas will be delivered to Abuja through the AKK gas pipeline,” a spokesperson for the commission told the regulator’s in-house magazine.

The 614-kilometre (382-mile) pipeline is designed to deliver more than 2.2 billion cubic feet of gas per day and is a core part of Nigeria’s strategy to shift its energy mix towards gas, supply power plants and industries in the north, and reduce reliance on diesel and fuel oil.

Nigeria holds Africa’s largest gas reserves, estimated at over 210 trillion cubic feet, but much of the country’s gas infrastructure remains underdeveloped, making the AKK pipeline a critical test of its gas-led growth ambitions.

The $2.8 billion project, first conceived in 2008, has missed several delivery targets, including earlier deadlines of 2023 and the final quarter of 2025.

Construction began in 2020 but was slowed by funding pressures and engineering challenges, most notably the crossing of the River Niger.

That section, widely regarded as the project’s most technically demanding, required drilling beneath the riverbed using horizontal directional drilling, often compared to a scaled-down version of the Eurotunnel.

Reuters reported that work on the project is moving at an advanced pace, with the critical pipeline more than 90% complete.

Gas transported through the AKK pipeline will be sourced from Nigeria’s southern producing areas largely through its interconnection with the East-West Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) gas pipeline, according to industry officials.

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

In March 2026, Nigeria became a net exporter of premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, with Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals exporting 44,000 barrels per day (b/d) of the product.

This allowed the country to earn fresh foreign exchange (FX) to help boost the value of the Nigerian Naira in the currency market, which, in turn, will strengthen the economy.

In a statement on Monday, Dangote Refinery said it exported gasoline to East Africa for the first time, delivering a 317,000‑barrel cargo to Mozambique. The shipment reflects growing regional demand as East African buyers diversify supply sources away from the Middle East Gulf amid ongoing supply disruptions. A further gasoline cargo from the refinery is scheduled for delivery to Beira, Mozambique, in April.

Before now, Nigeria relied heavily on imported refined petroleum products from across the world, but this seems to be changing, especially at this time, the globe is experiencing supply disruptions due to the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz.

The March export milestone underscores Nigeria’s accelerating progress toward self-sufficiency in refined petroleum products and strengthens its ambition to become a competitive supplier in the global downstream energy market.

Data from market intelligence firm Kpler showed that Nigeria’s gasoline imports fell sharply to 41,000 b/d in March, the lowest level ever recorded. At the same time, crude oil supply to the Dangote facility climbed to approximately 565,000 b/d, the second-highest intake since the 650,000 b/d-capacity refinery began operations in late 2023. The figures point to strong processing rates and rising product yields across the complex.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira opened the week positively against the Dollar on Monday, April 13, as it gained 70 Kobo to trade at N1,356.19/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) compared with the previous value of N1,356.89/$1.

The domestic currency also appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N3.67 to close at N1,825.15/£1 versus last Friday’s quoted rate of N1,828.82/£1, and improved against the Euro by N4.89 to settle at N1,587.69/€1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,592.58/€1.

Similarly, the Nigerian Naira appreciated against the greenback at the GTBank FX desk by N3 to N1,373/$1 from N1,376/$1, and at the parallel market, it maintained stability at N1,385/$1.

Meanwhile, interbank turnover surged to N114.887 million across 141 deals, up from N71.156 million on Friday, as per information on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) website.

FX inflows into the NAFEM window moderated significantly, declining to $571.80 million from $1.06 billion in the previous week, according to Coronation Merchant Bank’s research report, indicating relatively tighter FX supply conditions.

The CBN had pledged to stabilise the Naira and boost sales of high-yield short-term debt to attract inflows of Dollars.

In the cryptocurrency market, risk assets shrugged off the failed weekend negotiations between the US and Iran and the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The move came alongside surging stocks and oil’s decline to back under $100 per barrel, largely due to the US not reaching an agreement with Iran in Pakistan after the US’s nearly six-week-long war campaign against Iran.

Ethereum (ETH) grew by 8.1 per cent to $2,362.57, Solana (SOL) surged by 4.9 per cent to $85.75, Bitcoin (BTC) appreciated by 4.9 per cent to $74,321.71, Ripple (XRP) expanded by 3.0 per cent to $1.36, and Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 2.8 per cent to $612.83.

Further, Dogecoin (DOGE) added 2.3 per cent to close at $0.0930, Cardano (ADA) climbed 2.2 per cent to trade at $0.2427, and TRON (TRX) increased by 0.2 per cent to $0.3207, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.