The naira appreciated massively against the United States dollar at the parallel foreign exchange market.

Abubakar Alhasan, a Bureau De Change operator in Wuse Zone, Abuja, told DAILY POST that the Naira strengthened significantly to N1,490 per dollar on Wednesday, up from N1,520 on Tuesday.

“We buy at N1480 and sell at N1490 on Wednesday due to lower FX demand,” Alhasan confirmed to newsmen.

READ ALSO:Naira Appreciates Against Dollar As External Reserves Swell

This means that the Naira gained N30 against the dollar on a day-to-day basis.

The last time they were exchanged at this level in the black market was in June 2024.

Meanwhile, at the official market, it dropped marginally by N1.19 to N1,488.56 per dollar on Wednesday, down from N1,487.37, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

READ ALSO:Naira Appreciates At Official Market

Analysing the trend at both markets, the difference between official and parallel markets has shrunk to 1.44.

Recall that on Tuesday, the Naira appreciated across official and parallel foreign exchange markets upon an interest rate cut by the apex bank by 50 basis points to 27 per cent.

The President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, Festus Osifo, has revealed the reasons oil unions rejected the government’s plan to sell assets.

Osifo said that the plan will be injurious to the Nigerian economy in the long run.

He made this statement on Wednesday, while responding to questions in an interview on ‘Prime Time’, a programme on Arise Television.

READ ALSO:NUPENG Accuses Dangote Of Breaching Agreement, Says Nationwide Strike Inevitable

“What informed our position in this is that as PENGASSAN and NUPENG, we represent the workforce of the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.

“So it’s our responsibility first to our members to ensure that their jobs are protected and to ensure that their welfare is enhanced.

“Secondly, our members live in a country called Nigeria. Nigeria must survive and strive before our members will be able to survive.

READ ALSO:‘We Like Greek Gifts,’ Nigerians Blast NUPENG Over Dangote’s Fuel Price Reduction

“So we feel the move to go in this direction will not just affect the plights of our members but is injurious to Nigeria’s economy in the long run.

“The oil unions’ rejection of this plan is to protect Nigeria’s economy and the welfare of its members.

“This decision will certainly boomerang, revenue will plummet, and it will lead to a lot of other issues,” Osifo said.

The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, says Nigeria has what it takes to lead Africa’s new era of trade if it tackles high logistics costs, develops efficient payment systems, and invests in value addition.

Okonjo-Iweala, who was speaking on the sidelines of the WTO Public Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, said Nigeria and other African economies must speed up the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, and build stronger infrastructure to unlock billions of dollars in opportunities in manufacturing, services, and digital trade.

“The AfCFTA is a great step, but Africa trades only about 15–20 percent within itself — far below the European Union, EU’s 60 percent. We (Nigeria) need to speed up implementation so Africans trade more with each other.

READ ALSO:U.S, China Tariff War Could Slash Trade By 80%, Okonjo-Iweala Warns

“Take Lesotho: it exports around $200 million worth of textiles (jeans, etc.) to the U.S. — about 10 percent of its GDP — while Africa imports $7 billion of similar goods. Why not absorb Lesotho’s products within Africa? To unlock intra-African trade, we (Nigeria) need efficient payment systems (Afreximbank and others are working on this), better infrastructure and lower trade costs. It shouldn’t take longer to ship goods from Cape Town to Lagos than from China to Lagos.

“With critical minerals, energy, and new supply chains, plus opportunities in services and digital trade, there’s huge potential — if we invest in connectivity and implementation,” she said.

The former Nigeria’s Minister of Finance also cautioned that negative narratives about global commerce risk overshadowing recent successes achieved through multilateral cooperation.