President Bola Tinubu has asked Nigerians to remain faithful to the country.

The appeal was made by the President on Friday during his nationwide broadcast on the 27th anniversary of Nigeria’s uninterrupted democracy, it was reported.

He said he welcomed criticism from Nigerian youths but charged them to be resolute in the belief that the country will be better.

He said democracy fails when citizens lose faith in the process, adding that the National Assembly, judiciary, the press and civil society are the guardrails of Nigeria.

“Disagree with me, criticise me, but never stop believing in the country.

2. “To our young people, Nigeria is your home and your future. Work here, build here, eat here. Every great nation was built by those who stayed to fix problems, not by those who jumped ship.

“Our forces, police and intelligence services salute your sacrifices for Nigeria. “Thank you to our traditional rulers, faith leaders and community heads for your support for peace and reconciliation,” Tinubu said.

Meanwhile, Tinubu has warned bandits, kidnappers and sponsors of terrorism to surrender or face the full might of the Nigerian state.

President’s warning was reported in a nationwide broadcast to mark the 2026 Democracy Day and the 27th year of uninterrupted civilian rule on Friday.

The country has made significant progress in the fight against terrorism with security forces moving from training with foreign allies to precision targeting of terrorist positions, Tinubu said.

The President said Nigerian security forces had “degraded” an ISWAP command centre in Arege, Borno State.

He said terror-related deaths have dropped sharply since 2015.

“We’ve gone from training with our allies, the United States, France and other European countries, to precision targeting.” We degraded ISWAP command centre at Arege, Borno State. Terror-related deaths down 81% since 2015. “In the last one year, we have neutralized over 13,000 terrorists,” Tinubu said.

Tinubu said government will continue to give a surrender window for those ready to drop their arms.

Since 2023, Operation Safe Corridor has facilitated the surrender of over 124,000 fighters and their dependents, he said.

“But we are also leaving the door of surrender open,” Tinubu further stated. More than 124,000 fighters and dependents have surrendered their arms since 2023 under Operation Safe Corridor.

To bandits, kidnappers and sponsors of terror: Surrender or face the full weight of the Nigerian State. These windows of surrender will not be open forever. “Those who trade in the blood of Nigerians will not get any mercy.”

The President appealed to Nigerians to stay united and to avoid blaming any ethnic group for criminal activities.

Tinubu added, “Let us not engage in blame game or finger pointing at this time.” Crime does not have an ethnicity. Let us come together and make sure that the enemies of our nation will soon be history.

“We will defeat terror and we will continue to build a more prosperous country.

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank spring meetings 2026 will take place in Washington, D.C., United States, from April 13 to April 18.

The yearly meeting brings together governors of central banks, ministers of finance and development, business leaders, civil society groups, and academics to talk about the state of the world economy and important policy issues.

Most of the time, the talks are about the global growth outlook, financial stability, and ways to reduce poverty.

Nigeria’s inflation in April

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is going to put out a report about Nigeria’s consumer price index (CPI) and inflation for March 2026.

The NBS said in February that Nigeria’s inflation rate dropped slightly from 15.1% in January to 15.06% in February.

The NBS said that the CPI, which shows how prices of goods and services are changing, went down by 0.04 percent from January 2026 to February 2026.

The SEC DG and the NGX Chair will lead a discussion about digital assets at the 2026 IAPM conference.

The 2026 annual conference of the Association of Investment Advisers and Portfolio Managers (IAPM) will be about how digital assets are regulated and used in Nigeria.

The event, called “Fostering Enduring Operating Environment for Digital Assets Trading and Investments — Regulators/Operators’ Perspectives,” will take place on April 16, 2026, at the Oriental Hotel on Victoria Island in Lagos.

Umaru Kwairanga, chairman of the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), is the guest of honor, and Emomotimi Agama, director general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), will be the special guest of honor and chairman of the event.

The conference will have a powerful panel that includes Kashifu Abdullahi, the Director General of NITDA, and Bola Ajomale, the SEC Commissioner for Operations. Olufemi Awoyemi, the chairman of Proshare Nigeria, will be in charge of the panel.

Robert Barnes, who used to be the director of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), and Nicky Okoye, who is the chairman of Anabel Group, are the guest speakers.

New fiscal policy measures from the FG lower tariffs on cars, palm oil, and sugar.

The federal government has given the green light for the 2026 fiscal policy measures (FPM) to go into effect. These include big changes to tariffs.

The government said in a circular dated April 1, 2026, and signed by Wale Edun, the minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, that the new rules replace the 2023 FPM.

The policy has a national list of 127 tariff lines with lower import duty rates that are meant to “promote and stimulate growth in critical sectors of the economy.”

The LIRS has pushed back the deadline for filing individual tax returns to April 21.

The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) has pushed back the deadline for filing individual annual income tax returns to April 21.

The agency thanked taxpayers for their continued compliance in a statement on Friday. They also noted that usage of its eTax platform had increased since the deadline was moved to April 14.

The tax agency said that the platform’s higher traffic shows that taxpayers are trying to meet the deadline for filing.

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Under a new initiative aimed at smallholder farmers, value chains, and food security, the World Bank has authorized a $500 million International Development Association credit to support Nigeria’s agricultural sector.

The money will help the Nigeria Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains for Growth Project, or AGROW, which aims to boost market connections, increase productivity, and generate employment nationwide.

“The World Bank has approved a $500 million International Development Association credit for the Nigeria Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains for Growth Project, aimed at increasing smallholder farmers’ productivity, strengthening agricultural value chains, and creating jobs while improving food and nutrition security,” stated a press release taken from the World Bank’s website on Thursday.

As previously reported in February 2026, the loan project’s approval date was revealed as March 30, 2026.Under a new initiative aimed at smallholder farmers, value chains, and food security, the World Bank has authorized a $500 million International Development Association credit to support Nigeria’s agricultural sector.

The money will help the Nigeria Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains for Growth Project, or AGROW, which aims to boost market connections, increase productivity, and generate employment nationwide.

“The World Bank has approved a $500 million International Development Association credit for the Nigeria Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains for Growth Project, aimed at increasing smallholder farmers’ productivity, strengthening agricultural value chains, and creating jobs while improving food and nutrition security,” stated a press release taken from the World Bank’s website on Thursday.

As previously reported in February 2026, the loan project’s approval date was revealed as March 30, 2026.In reference to the loan, the international lender stated that although agriculture is still Nigeria’s biggest employer, structural limitations continue to cause it to perform poorly.

“Agriculture remains Nigeria’s largest source of employment, but its potential to generate better jobs and affordable food has been constrained by low productivity, limited access to quality inputs, climate shocks, and weak market linkages for smallholder farmers,” the statement read.

The bank pointed out that food and nutrition insecurity still exists nationwide, and many smallholder farmers are still forced to engage in subsistence farming.

The statement claims that the AGROW project will use a results-based matching funding program to assist agribusinesses that purchase food from smallholder farmers.

The program would prioritize important crops such rice, maize, cassava, and soybeans and concentrate on aggregation, post-harvest handling, agro-processing, and enhanced market access.

The program will create a national digital farm and farmer registry, increase access to enhanced and climate-resilient seeds, and improve agricultural research and extension services, according to the release.

It stated that in order to increase production and resilience, farmers will also profit from digital advisory services, such as localized weather and climate information.

The bank also revealed that the project would strengthen early-generation seed supplies, improve seed and fertilizer regulatory frameworks, and increase private sector involvement in the production of high-quality inputs.

“In addition, the project will enhance private sector production of high-quality seed and farmers’ access to quality fertilizer, expand early-generation seed supply, improve seed and fertilizer regulatory systems, and promote transparent and responsible land-based investments,” it said.

Strong coordination, monitoring, and citizen participation mechanisms, with a focus on the involvement of women and youth, would assist the program, the lender continued.

Mathew Verghis, the World Bank’s Country Director for Nigeria, spoke about the project and called it a significant step in changing the industry.

He declared, “AGROW is a revolutionary step for Nigeria’s agriculture—empowering smallholder farmers, unlocking growth driven by the private sector, and strengthening food security in a sustainable way.”

“This project is expected to mobilize significant private investment, increase yields across targeted crops, and benefit up to one million smallholder farmers,” he continued. In addition, it would make farmers in the participating states of Nigeria more resilient to climate shocks and promote better food and nutrition security.

It is anticipated that the six-year project, which will run from 2026 to 2032, will draw an extra $220 million in private agriculture investment.

According to the bank, the program supports larger initiatives to turn smallholder farms into profitable agribusinesses while also helping Nigeria’s aims of increasing agricultural output, generating jobs, and improving value addition.

Nigeria frequently depends on concessional multilateral funding for economic and infrastructure projects.

Nigeria’s exposure to the World Bank Group was $19.54 billion as of September 30, 2025, according to data from the Debt Management Office. This amount was made up of $1.36 billion from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and $18.18 billion from the International Development Association.

This indicates the World Bank’s leading position among Nigeria’s creditors, accounting for around 40.34 percent of the country’s total external debt stock of $48.46 billion.

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