By Godwin Oritse

A former Director of Shipping Development and Cabotage, Mr. Boniface Igwe, has warned that the continued dominance of foreign interests in Nigeria’s territorial waters poses a serious threat to the country’s internal security.

Igwe, in his forthcoming book, Cabotage Law and Practice, argued that the growing presence and dominance of foreign operators in Nigeria’s coastal waters could undermine national security and the country’s maritime sovereignty.

He said, ”apart from the economic opportunities inherent in the practice of reserving coastal shipping trade for indigenous operators, the uncontrolled foreign domination of trade in a country’s coastal waters portends grave national security implementation for that country.”

The unreleased book reads in part: “The idea of countries creating captive markets for their indigenous stakeholders for the purpose of developing capacity in critical sector of their economies and making them globally competitive is commonplace.

“The historical reason for this interventionist policy template ranges from economic, through political, to security considerations. There is no gainsaying the criticality of the maritime industry to the economic growth of Nigeria as it provides the interface between it and the oil and gas industry which is the lifeblood of the nation’s economy.

“Statistics revealed that an average cargo traffic of 152 million metric tonnes approximating $5billion in freight earnings was generated annually in the country and close to 90 percent of this income was earned by foreign controlled businesses.”

By Emma Ujah,  Abuja Bureau Chief 

The Ag. Director of Corporate Communications of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mrs. Hakama Sidi-Ali, has won the 2026 edition of the National Spokespersons Award.

The recognition was announced during the 6th National Spokespersons Awards and the 4th Economic Confidential Annual Lecture, organised by Image Merchants Promotion Limited (IMPR), publishers of PRNigeria, Economic Confidential and Spokespersons Digest, in Abuja at the weekend. 

The organisers stated: “With the latest honour, Sidi-Ali completed an unprecedented hat-trick at the National Spokespersons Awards, becoming the first communications professional to progress from winning a sector-specific award twice consecutively to claiming the overall Spokesperson of the Year title.

“Her achievement comes just three years after she broke another historic barrier when CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso appointed her in 2023 as the first female spokesperson in the Central Bank’s 66-year history.”

In 2024, Mrs. Sidi-Ali won the Outstanding Spokesperson – Banking Sector award, becoming the first female banking communicator to receive the honour and retained the same title in 2025.

The climax came in 2026, when the awards jury elevated her to Spokesperson of the Year, recognising her influence beyond the banking industry and acknowledging her role in shaping national economic communication, strengthening public confidence in the Central Bank and projecting Nigeria’s monetary policy on the global stage.

Image Merchants said the award followed a rigorous evaluation process based on four key criteria: impact, innovation and originality, campaign reach, and quality of evidence.

“The jury acknowledged her efforts in building a proactive communications architecture at the apex bank through regular Monetary Policy Committee briefings, stakeholder engagements, investor relations, media management and international advocacy.

“These initiatives also earned international recognition, with the CBN’s communications campaign emerging as a finalist at the 2026 International Public Relations Association (IPRA) Golden World Awards,” the organisers said.

Earlier in the year, Sidi-Ali was honoured as the African Iconic Female Spokesperson of the Year at the African International Women Recognition Awards (AIWRA) 2026, following a continent-wide public voting process Chairperson of the Awards Jury, Professor Saudat Abdulbaqi, disclosed that the 2026 edition attracted 171 nominations from across the country.

She explained that after an initial screening, only entries meeting the required standards of clarity, measurable impact and verifiable evidence progressed to subsequent stages of evaluation, eventually producing 30 finalists across 15 categories.

Speaking at the event, Alhaji Yushau A. Shuaib, Chief Executive Officer of IMPR, said the National Spokespersons Awards and the Economic Confidential Annual Lecture were established to promote informed national discourse, celebrate professional excellence and strengthen strategic communication in Nigeria. 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan

Nigeria’s food inflation rate rose significantly by 2.79 percentage points to 20.31 percent in July from 17.52 percent in June, representing the fifth consecutive month’s rise since March 2026.

The 20 percent threshold in food inflation rate was last recorded in February 2021.

The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, disclosed this yesterday in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) Report for July 2026.

The report stated: “The Food inflation rate in July 2026 was 20.31 percent on a year-on-year basis and stood at 26.2 percent in the same month of the preceding year (July 2025).

“On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in July 2026 was 5.56 percent, up by 1.82 percent points from June 2026 (3.75 percent).”

The bureau noted that the increase in food inflation rate was due to change in the average prices crayfish, pepper (fresh), onions (fresh), carrots (fresh), rice, water yam, tomatoes (fresh), garri, plantain, beef, egg, guinea corn, ginger, plantain flour, etc.

The bureau added: “In July 2026, food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Adamawa (51.36 percent), Katsina (30.84 percent), and Zamfara (30.65 percent), while Borno (-0.31 percent), Nasarawa (6.88 percent) and Kebbi (12.50 percent) recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis.

“On a Month-on-Month basis, however, July 2026 Food inflation was highest in Adamawa (17.02 percent), Lagos (13.48 percent) and Borno (13.26 percent), while Jigawa (-3.68 percent), Kebbi (-3.67%), and Bauchi (-1.85 percent) recorded the slowest rise in Food inflation on a Month-on-Month basis.”

However, the headline inflation rate fell for the second consecutive month by 0.48 percentage point to 15.43 percent in July from 15.91 percent in June driven primarily by a deceleration in core inflation to 14.97 percent in July from 15.92 percent in June.

Likewise, MoM inflation moderated to 1.57 percent  in July, compared with 1.66 percent in June.

This means that in July 2026, the rate of increase in the average price level was lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in June 2026.