The Federal Government has suspended the planned 15 percent ad-valorem import duty on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) — commonly known as petrol and diesel — following widespread concerns from oil marketers and industry stakeholders.

The decision was announced by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) in a statement on Thursday, which also sought to reassure Nigerians that there is sufficient supply of petroleum products across the country despite rising demand during the current peak season.

“It should be noted that the implementation of the 15% ad-valorem import duty on imported Premium Motor Spirit and Diesel is no longer in view,” the NMDPRA said.

Background to the Decision

In October, President Bola Tinubu approved the 15 percent ad-valorem duty on imported petrol and diesel, a move aimed at generating additional revenue and promoting local refining.

The approval, conveyed through a letter dated October 21, 2025, by Damilotun Aderemi, Private Secretary to the President, was directed to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the NMDPRA for implementation.

However, the proposed levy sparked strong reactions from oil marketers, who warned it would lead to a sharp increase in pump prices and further strain consumers already grappling with high inflation and rising energy costs.

Marketers argued that the import duty would make it difficult for private importers to bridge supply gaps created by local refineries, which have yet to reach full production capacity.

Government Moves to Stabilize Supply

In its statement, the NMDPRA emphasized that both domestic refineries and importation channels are ensuring a steady flow of petroleum products — including PMS, AGO, and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) — to stabilize the market and prevent shortages.

“There is a robust domestic supply of petroleum products (AGO, PMS, LPG, etc.) sourced from both local refineries and importation to ensure timely replenishment of stocks and storage deposits at retail stations during this period,” the agency stated.

The regulator added that it is maintaining close surveillance on supply and distribution networks across the country to prevent any form of disruption or artificial scarcity.

NMDPRA also warned marketers and depot operators against hoarding, panic buying, or arbitrary price increases not justified by market forces, stressing that such actions could destabilize the downstream sector.

Dangote Refinery’s Position

Meanwhile, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery had earlier supported the government’s plan to impose the import duty, calling it a necessary protection for local producers.

The refinery said the measure would discourage dumping of imported fuel and strengthen local refining capacity, noting that it currently has the capacity to meet Nigeria’s demand.

According to company data, Dangote Refinery is loading around 45 million liters of petrol and 25 million liters of diesel daily, while working closely with regulatory agencies to ensure nationwide distribution.

The company has consistently argued that Nigeria’s long-term energy security depends on prioritizing domestic production over heavy reliance on imports, even as the government balances local industry protection with consumer affordability.

Broader Market Implications

The suspension of the duty is expected to ease immediate pressure on fuel prices and help stabilize supply in the short term. However, energy analysts say the government faces a delicate balancing act — supporting local refiners such as Dangote and modular refinery operators while avoiding policies that drive up import costs or fuel scarcity.

The NMDPRA’s assurance of product availability and its ongoing market surveillance are seen as critical steps to maintain public confidence and price stability in the coming weeks, especially as fuel demand typically peaks toward the end of the year.

The import ban was criticized by some economists, who noted that it contravened the PIA (Petroleum Industry Act) principle of free market, although many believed the move would ease FX pressure on the naira.

Elon Musk’s xAI has secured $15 billion in new capital, sources close to the deal confirmed to CNBC’s David Faber on Thursday, pushing the two-year-old startup’s post-money valuation to $200 billion and intensifying the GPU-fueled arms race among frontier AI labs.

The round comprises a $10 billion tranche first reported by CNBC in September and an additional $5 billion closed this week. Insiders described the bulk of the proceeds as earmarked for “a massive build-out” of graphic processing units—the silicon backbone of large language models like xAI’s Grok series. While the company declined to specify vendors, the allocation aligns with industry patterns: Nvidia’s H100 and next-generation Blackwell GPUs remain the gold standard, though AMD, Intel, and custom silicon from Google and Amazon are gaining traction.

The $200 billion valuation catapults xAI past Anthropic ($61 billion after a $13 billion raise in September) and into rarefied air behind only Sam Altman’s OpenAI, which closed a $6.6 billion secondary sale last month at $500 billion. Reuters reported in October that OpenAI is laying the groundwork for an IPO that could value the ChatGPT maker at $1 trillion as early as 2027.xAI’s fundraising velocity—$15 billion in under 60 days—mirrors a broader frenzy in artificial intelligence.

Venture firms, sovereign funds, and corporate strategics are pouring unprecedented sums into a handful of labs believed capable of training models at the scale required for general intelligence. Training a single frontier system now routinely exceeds $1 billion in compute alone, and xAI is reportedly negotiating for tens of thousands of GPUs across multiple U.S. data centers.

Tesla Shareholder Vote Adds Intrigue

The xAI raise landed days after Tesla shareholders approved Musk’s $1 trillion compensation package—which cast a non-binding but symbolically significant vote on a proposal for Tesla to invest directly in xAI. Tesla general counsel Brandon Ehrhart said that the xAI investment resolution received more “for” than “against” votes but noted “meaningful abstentions.” He declined to release precise tallies, citing ongoing review by the board’s special committee.

Any transaction would require approval from the Delaware Chancery Court, which voided the original pay package in 2024. Musk has publicly framed xAI and Tesla as complementary rather than competitive, with xAI focused on foundational reasoning models and Tesla applying AI to Full Self-Driving software and humanoid robotics. A direct Tesla investment could provide xAI with both capital and access to proprietary sensor data from the Tesla fleet—estimated at over 6 billion miles of real-world driving—but would also invite scrutiny over conflicts of interest.

Investor Syndicate and Capital Intensity

Sources said the $15 billion round drew from a mix of returning September backers and new entrants, though participant names remain under wraps. The syndicate is believed to include at least one Middle Eastern sovereign fund, a major U.S. public pension, and strategic limited partners with data-center or chip expertise. xAI has now raised at least $25 billion in equity since its March 2023 founding, excluding any debt or convertible notes.

The capital burn is equally eye-watering. Industry estimates peg xAI’s annual run rate above $1.5 billion, driven by GPU leases, power contracts, and a growing engineering roster that topped 400 last quarter. Musk told investors in a September memo that the company will require “hundreds of thousands” of Nvidia GPUs by mid-2026 to keep pace with OpenAI and Anthropic, according to a document seen by CNBC.

Navigating Competitive Market Dynamics

The valuation surge reflects a market consensus that a small cohort of labs—xAI, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind—will dominate the economics of artificial general intelligence. McKinsey projects the generative AI infrastructure market alone will exceed $200 billion annually by 2030, with training compute growing at a 70% CAGR.

However, the numbers are brewing concerns. xAI remains pre-revenue, with Grok accessible primarily through a freemium tier on X (formerly Twitter) and limited enterprise pilots. Monetization pathways—API access, enterprise licensing, and potential government contracts—are still nascent. Meanwhile, GPU supply constraints persist despite Nvidia’s record capex, and power availability is emerging as the next bottleneck, with xAI reportedly negotiating 500-megawatt deals in Texas and Nevada.

For Musk, the $15 billion war chest buys time and leverage. It funds the GPU clusters needed to train Grok-3, due for release in Q1 2026, and positions xAI to bid for top talent amid a tightening labor market—OpenAI poached xAI’s former safety lead last month, and Anthropic has doubled its compensation bands. For the broader AI ecosystem, xAI’s raise signals that the bar for entry has risen irreversibly. Startups without nine-figure compute budgets are increasingly relegated to fine-tuning open-source models or niche applications.

Looking ahead, xAI has no public timeline for profitability or an IPO. Musk has said the company will remain private “as long as it takes to solve AGI safely,” a stance that echoes OpenAI’s pre-2023 nonprofit roots but sits uneasily with a $200 billion price tag. Investors, for now, are betting on Musk’s track record of turning capital-intensive bets—SpaceX, Tesla—into multi-trillion-dollar outcomes.

Listening to our faculty today as he dissected sustainable strategies for SMEs in moments of economic dislocation, something profound struck me. Even as the lecture was ongoing, in that signature Tekedia way where learning connects seamlessly with the pulse of the market, I picked up news that speaks to the velocity of this age.

Good People, Cursor, the AI-powered coding startup, has grown its valuation 12x in barely eleven months: “Engineers love Cursor because its AI coding tools adapt to a programmer’s style across a range of models, and now, investors are buying into the hype, too. The buzzy startup just raised $2.3 billion from heavyweights such as Google and Nvidia, The Wall Street Journal reports, and is now valued at $29.3 billion — a nearly 12-fold increase since January.” – LinkedIn News

Yes, a company built on the promise that anyone can code, and that machines can learn your style and become your digital apprentice, has unlocked massive investor confidence. So, let me ask our community: Is this the moment to rethink sustainable strategies for careers, especially for software developers, when AI is collapsing the moat that once protected coding? If Cursor is teaching us one thing, it is this: the future belongs to those who redesign their relevance, not those who defend old territories.

Dr Abel Osuji, DBA, FCA, thank you for the masterpiece today. Thanks for teaching our learners.