Wednesday 25 March, 2026
Every institution with a promise outstanding is being asked to deliver this week.
The power minister gave himself a deadline yesterday. Fourteen days. The clock is running.
The ICPC arraigned El-Rufai after 35 days in custody without a charge sheet. The formal legal contest has finally started. Two bombers are still in Maiduguri. The governor knows they're there. He's told the public.
This is the week promises collide with calendars. The Naira is officially stable. The parallel market charges ₦73 more per dollar. The Philippines announced yesterday that it can't refuel its planes abroad. Nigeria's airfares are already moving.
Seven stories. One question running through all of them. Let's go.
1. THE CITY and the bombers
Three suicide bombs killed 27 people in Maiduguri on March 16. The hospital gate. Monday Market. The Post Office. The bombers timed it for iftar, the densest hour of the evening.
That same week, the 68 Battalion killed 61 fighters and three commanders at Mallam Fatori. The military is winning battles. The governor says two bombers are still somewhere inside a city of four million people.
Those two facts aren't contradictions. They're the same operation seen from two different ends.
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2. Arraigned at last
The ICPC arraigned Nasir El-Rufai at the Federal High Court in Kaduna yesterday. Charges: conversion of public property, money laundering, abuse of office. It took 35 days in custody before a charge sheet appeared.
His lawyers are fighting on three fronts simultaneously. They've already won a procedural round at the Court of Appeal. The ICPC case resumes March 31.
The constitutional clock that his Senior Advocates are invoking runs for everyone. The speed at which it runs depends on who can afford to keep filing.
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3. FOURTEEN DAYS
Power Minister Adelabu promised recovery "within 14 days" yesterday. Sixteen of Nigeria's 33 power plants are currently offline. Generation is at 3,705 megawatts. The sector carries ₦6.8 trillion in debt.
He said the underlying issues are "beyond the ministry's direct control." That sentence was also in his December statement. And the one before that.
The date is April 7. Mark it.
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4. TWO NAIRAS
The official dollar rate this week is ₦1,357. The parallel market rate is ₦1,410 to ₦1,430. That's a gap of ₦73 per dollar. Roughly 8% above what the government's stability numbers show.
Reserves are strong. Inflation has been falling for ten months. Banks met the recapitalisation deadline. The official story is accurate.
The ₦73 doesn't show up in any press release. It shows up on your transfer receipt.
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5. CAN'T REFUEL
The Philippines announced yesterday that several countries have told its airlines they can't refuel at destination airports. Carriers are loading fuel for both legs. The president called grounding planes "a distinct possibility."
Nigerian Jet A1 fuel went from ₦900 per litre to ₦2,500 in 30 days. Analysts say Lagos-Abuja fares are heading toward ₦240,000. Airlines say they can't absorb the cost.
The Philippines can import Russian crude as an alternative. Nigeria doesn't have an equivalent option.
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6. ONE NUMBER, TWO USES
NIMC is scaling up diaspora NIN enrolment in the UK right now, using the Windsor visit as a platform. If you're in the UK without a National Identification Number, you're cut off from the National Housing Fund mortgage scheme and Nigeria's growing digital economy services.
The same NIN database also runs the identity verification layer for the deportation MoU signed last week.
One number. It opens things you want. It also processes something you don't.
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7. THE ARCHITECTURE
Before the Iran war, Jet A1 aviation fuel cost ₦900 to ₦995 per litre at Nigerian airports. This week it costs ₦2,500 to ₦2,700. That's a 170% increase in under 30 days.
The simple explanation is the war. Crude above $100. Imported fuel more expensive. All of that is true.
But in early March, Nigeria froze gasoline import licenses and concentrated supply in one refinery. Then the war started. The war raised the price. The architecture decided how high.
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