Business

France has 48 hours to back down in fishing row, warns Liz Truss

The UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has warned France it has 48 hours to back down on threats made in the row over fishing licences or the UK will begin dispute talks set out in the Brexit deal.

French officials have said they will bar UK fishing boats from some ports and tighten customs checks on lorries entering the country unless more licences are granted for their small boats to fish in Britain’s waters.

Almost 1,700 EU vessels have been licensed to fish in UK waters, equating to 98% of EU applications for fishing licences, the UK government says, but this figure is disputed in Paris.

Truss suggested the French president, Emmanuel Macron, may be making “unreasonable threats” because he has a difficult election looming.

Asked about whether France and the UK had come to an agreement, Truss told Sky News: “The deal hasn’t been done. The French have made completely unreasonable threats, including to the Channel Islands and to our fishing industry and they need to withdraw those threats.”

Truss said if the French did not withdraw the threats the UK government would use “the mechanisms of our trade agreement with the EU to take action”, which “could lead to taking direct action in trade”.

“The French have behaved unfairly. It’s not within the terms of the trade deal,” she added. “And if someone behaves unfairly in a trade deal you’re entitled to take action against them and seek some compensatory measures and that is what we will do if the French don’t back down.”

She added: “[The French must] stop threatening UK fishing vessels, stop threatening the Channel ports, and accept that we are entirely within our rights to allocate the fishing licences in line with the trade agreement, as we have done.”

She said she would “absolutely” take legal action in the coming days if France did not back downs, saying: “This issue needs to be resolved in the next 48 hours.”

Asked why the row had emerged, Truss said: “You might say there’s a French election coming up.”

Truss seemed angered by the dispute and said: “I’m not remotely happy about what has happened.”

Pierre-Henri Dumont, a French politician for the Republicans party, said France simply wanted the UK to “fulfil its commitments that were made during the post-Brexit treaty”.

He said he though “harder negotiations” may need to be opened up with the British side.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What we are asking is just for the British government to fulfil and keep its promises that were made by signing this post-Brexit agreement.

“We’re not asking any more. We’re not asking for something that was not into this treaty. We’re just asking for the British government to fulfil and to keep its signature. That’s it.”

Business

Dangote refinery commits to petrol price stability, reduction in Nigeria

Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals has reaffirmed its commitment to premium motor spirit price stability despite the fluctuations in global crude oil prices.

The 650,000 barrels per day refinery disclosed this in a statement on Monday by its spokesperson, Anthony Chiejiena.

This comes as crude oil prices dwindled around $63 to $65 per barrel while local petrol went between N910 per litre and N930 nationwide.

Reacting in a statement, Dangote Refinery said it is committed to alleviating the burden of fuel cost on Nigerians.

The company added that to the implementation of the Nigeria First Policy recently approved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“This decision reflects our unwavering commitment to supporting the Nigerian economy and alleviating the burden on consumers from the increase in fuel prices by maintaining price stability.

“It underscores our dedication to providing affordable, reliable, and high-quality petroleum products without compromising operational efficiency and sustainability.

“Our approach aligns with the objectives of the federal government’s Nigeria First policy, which promotes the prioritisation of locally produced goods and services.

“By refining petroleum products domestically at the world’s largest single-train refinery, we are proud to make a substantial contribution to Nigeria’s energy security, foreign exchange savings, and overall economic resilience—aligning with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which is focused on addressing the nation’s economic challenges and improving the well-being of Nigerians. We are immensely grateful to His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu, for making this possible through the commendable Naira-for-Crude Initiative, which has enabled us to consistently reduce the price of petroleum products for the benefit of all Nigerians.

“We assure all stakeholders—consumers, partners, and the government—of our continued dedication to operational excellence and national service.

“Dangote Petroleum Refinery remains committed to ensuring that the benefits of our local refining capacity are fully realised and enjoyed by the Nigerian populace. We will continue to prioritise affordability, quality, and national interest in every facet of our work,” the statement reads.

Recall that Tinubu approved the implementation of the Nigeria First Policy and ban on foreign goods.

Business

FAAC: FG, States, LGAs share N1.681tr in April

The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has shared a total sum of N1.681 trillion, being April 2025 Federation Account Revenue to the Federal, States and the Local Governments at the May 2025 meeting held in Abuja.

The N1.681 trillion total distributable revenue comprised distributable statutory revenue of N962.882 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N598.077 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N38.862 billion and Exchange Difference N81.407 billion.

A communiqué issued by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) indicated that total gross revenue of N2,848.721 trillion was available in the month of April 2025.

Total deduction for cost of collection was N101.051 billion while total transfers, interventions, refunds and savings was N1066.442 billion.

According to the communiqué, gross statutory revenue of N2,084.568 trillion was received for the month of April 2025.

This was higher than the sum of N1,718.973 trillion received in the month of March 2025 by N365.595 billion.

Gross revenue of N642.265 billion was available from the Value Added Tax (VAT) in April 2025. This was higher than the N637.618 billion available in the month of March 2025 by N4.647 billion.

The communiqué stated that from the N1,681. 228 trillion total distributable revenue, the Federal Government received total sum of N565.307 billion and the State Governments received total sum of N556.741 billion.

The Local government Council received N406.627 billion, while the sum of N152.553 billion (13% of mineral revenue) was shared to the benefiting State as derivation revenue.

On the N962.882 billion distributable statutory revenue, the communiqué stated that the Federal Government received N431.307 billion and the State Governments received N218.765 billion.

The Local Government Councils received N168.659 billion and the sum of N144. 151 billion (13% of mineral revenue) was shared to the benefiting States as derivation revenue.

From the N598.077 billion distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue, the Federal Government received N89.712 billion, the State Governments received N299.039 billion and the Local Government Councils received N209.327 billion.

A total sum of N5.829 billion was received by the Federal Government from the N38.862 billion Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL).

The State Governments received N19.431 billion and the Local Government Councils received N13.602 billion.

From the N81.407 billion Exchange Difference, the communiqué stated that the Federal Government received N38.459 billion and the State Governments received N19.507 billion.

The Local Government Councils received N15.039 billion, while the sum of N8.402 billion (13% of mineral revenue) was shared to the benefiting States as derivation revenue.

Bawa Mokwa Director (Press and Public Relations) said in April 2025, Petroleum Profit Tax(PPT), Oil and Gas Royalty, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), Value Added Tax (VAT), Excise Duty, Import Duty and CET Levies increased significantly while Companies Income Tax (CIT) decreased considerably.

Business

‘We Will Keep Crashing Rice Prices,’ BUA Chairman Rabiu Warns Hoarders

The Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, has pledged to further lower the prices of rice and other food items, which he said have already decreased over the past year.

He commended President Bola Tinubu for granting waiver on imported food items, saying that his “foresight” helped crash food prices in the country.

In July 2024, the Tinubu administration announced the suspension of customs duties on imported food items to stem food inflation.

Speaking to State House Correspondents after meeting with President Tinubu on Thursday, Rabiu said BUA Foods keyed into that policy and was able to import quite a lot of wheat, maize and rice.

“And the moment the shipment started coming, we started processing, we crushed the prices of some of these commodities. And today I’m happy to inform you that the price of rice is about N60,000 from what it was last year at N110,000. Flour is today N55,000 Naira per 50 kilo bag.

“Maize is about N30,000. And this happened because of Mr President’s foresight and vision by introducing that one-off duty waiver for a period of six months, and with that, we’ve been able to bring down the prices of these commodities,” Rabiu said.

The billionaire businessman further explained the causes of the food price increases and how the President’s policy helped to curb the trend.

“So, what has been happening and a lot of people probably don’t know this, is that Nigerians, a lot of companies in Nigeria usually buy a lot of paddy. That is rice paddy. Rice Paddy is what you use to process rice. So, the moment the harvest season starts, a lot of people will now buy a lot of these paddy and hold it for a period of three to four months. The moment the season finishes, then the price will double. So a lot of people don’t know that, but that has always been the problem.

“That does not really in any way affect the farmer, because the farmer is getting his four to N500,000 per ton of paddy. But the people that are buying and holding for three to four months, once the season finishes, it goes back up to N800,000. Hence why you are getting N110,000 per bag.
“So, what that intervention did at the time when we brought in was to create an issue for those hoarders. Because the moment we imported, we were selling, and those orders had a lot of paddy, they could not sell, and the price now came down, and it is still down.
So a lot of those holders are actually crying now and losing money.”

He said that the Rice Millers Association has come together to address the issue of hoarding by some companies, adding that the association will not allow any of its members to hoard rice.

“What we are doing as rice Millers is that we want to ensure that rice Millers are not buying and hoarding Paddy, although at the end of the day, it’s quite difficult to stop that. But what is happening is that once they know that there is rice availability imported, because BUA has imported enough rice to last us until the end of the year, for example.

“So, they know that if they try to hot rice and try to take it up, Bucha is there and will crash the price. So I am hopeful that at the end of the day, the price of rice going forward is not going to go any higher than what it is today.

“And I’m sure as soon as the season starts, the farmers will get the price they’ve always gotten, and the price of rice is going to stay the same, because people will be wary of hoarding, because if they hoard it is going to be a problem for them, because they might lose money. So that is on rice.

“And again, let me use this opportunity to thank His Excellency, for his foresight, for his vision, because I actually didn’t see that. I didn’t know that that was going to work, but we keyed in. We imported and we have supported, and now prices are down. So that is what we did, and we will continue to do to support the efforts of the government to ensure that food prices continue to come down. And I’m sure prices will come down.

“It is quite interesting that when prices were quite high, N100,000 everybody was shouting, now that prices are down or are coming down, it is like, nobody is coming out to say, look, food prices are coming down, but I’m happy to say that food prices are coming down, and they will continue to come down. That is what BUA foods is doing to support the efforts of the government in ensuring that food prices are down,” Rabiu said