• Nigeria ready to support global oil supply, says FG
• Oil prices are set to rise further as M’East conflict escalates

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr Muda Yusuf, has lamented the persistent rise in food, transport and energy costs at a pace that erodes purchasing power. 
  
Real incomes, he said, remain under severe strain, particularly for vulnerable and urban households. 
 
However, the Federal Government said Nigeria is prepared to step in as a reliable supplier in the global oil market, as tensions in the Gulf region continue to threaten energy flows and push countries to seek alternative sources.
 
Meanwhile, oil prices look set to rise further, having closed before the weekend at their ​highest in nearly four​years, after the United States (U.S.) and ​Iranian threats to target energy facilities, analysts said yesterday.
  
Speaking through a policy brief on the February 2026 CPI report, which presented a cautiously optimistic picture with headline inflation easing marginally to 15.06 per cent year-on-year, Yusuf said that, for businesses, especially Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the operating environment remains extremely challenging. 
  
“Energy, logistics and raw material costs are elevated, while weak consumer demand limits pricing flexibility. The result is a tightening squeeze on margins, declining profitability and rising business vulnerability, particularly in consumer-facing sectors,” he noted.
  
According to him, the ‘improvement’ in headline inflation is fragile and does not yet signal a decisive turnaround in price dynamics, adding that underlying inflation reality remains concerning, as on a month-on-month basis, inflation accelerated to 2.01 per cent while food inflation surged to 4.69 per cent, reversing any moderation recorded previously.
  
He stressed that there was nothing to celebrate as disinflation, in this context, simply means a slower increase in prices, not a reduction in the cost of living.
  
Pointing out that the most immediate threat to the inflation outlook is the escalation of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, which, he said, “has already triggered a surge in crude oil prices above $100 per barrel,” amid disruptions to energy infrastructure and heightened risks to global supply routes, including the Strait of Hormuz.
  
“For Nigeria, the transmission channels are direct and profound. Rising global oil prices are already feeding into higher petrol and diesel prices, increased transportation and logistics costs, rising production costs across sectors, renewed exchange rate pressures and escalating food prices driven by input and distribution costs. There is, therefore, a high likelihood that the disinflation trend could be reversed if these external pressures persist,” he warned.
  
Calling for urgent and coordinated policy measures to cushion the impact of rising energy prices and sustain the fragile disinflation gains, he said priority should be accorded to strengthening domestic refining capacity through the provision of stable and reliable crude oil supply to local refineries, including the Dangote refinery, under supportive, predictable and, where feasible, concessionary terms. 

MINISTER of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, in an interview with BBC’s Victoria Uwonkunda, stated that Nigeria “is ready to support efforts” to stabilise global energy supply.
 
“Nigeria is ever-ready to contribute to energy security around the world. Whatever Nigeria can do to ease tension, it will do. The world needs oil, and Nigeria is there,” Idris said.
 
The minister’s comments came amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, which have already affected critical oil infrastructure and heightened concerns about the safety of the Strait of Hormuz, a key maritime route through which a significant portion of the world’s crude oil is transported.
 
In Africa, the impact is already being felt, with countries such as Ghana, Kenya and South Africa increasingly turning to the Dangote Refinery for fuel supply.
 
Idris also addressed domestic security concerns during the interview, including the recent bomb explosions in Maiduguri, which renewed public anxiety.
  
He noted that while such incidents remain troubling, the North-East had recorded improvements in stability over the years due to sustained military operations and government interventions.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if Tehran did not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, ⁠a ‌significant escalation barely a day after he talked about “winding ⁠down” the war, now in its fourth week.
 
Yesterday, Iran warned it would attack U.S.-linked infrastructure, including energy and desalination facilities in the Gulf, if Trump carried out his threat.
 
On Friday, international benchmark Brent crude settled up 3.26 cents at $112.19 ‌a barrel, the highest since July 2022.
 
Brent gained about 8.8 per cent ‌last week, while the front-month WTI settled down around 0.4 per cent compared with last Friday’s close. WTI’s discount to Brent hit its widest in 11 years on Wednesday.
 
Restoring supplies from the Middle East Gulf could take up to six months, International Energy Agency chief, Fatih Birol, said on Friday.
 
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said minimising road and air transport, working from home where possible, driving slower, and switching to electric cooking could significantly help cushion the shock of the Middle East conflict for consumers.
 
In a report on Friday, the IEA urged governments, households and businesses to adopt the demand-side measures to protect consumers from the current instability in global oil markets.