Some residents of Dutse in Jigawa have decried the rising price of ram and other sacrificial animals for the Eid-el-Kabir celebration.

They said the trend would not allow them to sacrifice animals for the festivities.

A check at Dutse cattle market, showed that prices had shot up by over 300 per cent compared to the previous season.

A big size ram was sold at N500,000, and a well-bred bull sold for N1 million, as against its previous prices of N130,000 and N400,000, respectively.

Traders at the market attributed the price hike to the high cost of animal feeds.

Malam Musa Ayuba said animal rearing was no longer easy due to the rising cost of feed and medication.

“Aimal feed is extremely expensive resulting in soaring livestock prices,” he said.

Alhaji Abubakar Jamilu, a resident, lamented that most families could not afford to slaughter ram for the season due to exorbitant prices.

“Animals are costly for sacrifice now. Many people cannot afford it like before,” he said.

Corroborating an earlier opinion, Umar Abdu, described the trend as unbearable and challenging, adding that most families had resorted to alternative measures to cope with the situation.

Also, Nuhu Iliyasu said that he would contribute money with others to buy a cow and share the meat.

He said that contribution was the only option for the low income earners to enable them to slaughter animals for the season.

“I cannot afford to buy a ram. I joined a contribution group to buy a cow and share the meat,” he said.

On his part, Ishak Ibrahim, said that he would buy chickens to celebrate the season with his family in a good mood.

Stakeholders at the maiden Enterprise Security Risk Management Conference in Lagos have called for stronger collaboration, intelligence-driven systems and technology-based solutions to address Nigeria’s evolving security threats.

The conference, organised by the Association of Enterprise Risk Management Professionals (AERMP) on Saturday in Lagos, had the theme: “Repositioning Enterprise Security Risk Management in Evolving Global Threat Landscape”.

Lagos Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, said the changing global security environment required a multi-stakeholder approach to safeguard investments, financial systems and critical infrastructure.

Hamzat, represented by Festus Todowede of the Lagos State Safety Commission, said cyber-attacks targeting financial systems, logistics chains and defence infrastructure had become increasingly sophisticated, making enterprise risk management a necessity.

He added that Lagos State had continued to strengthen its business and technology environment through investments in security and implementation of cybercrime and data protection laws.

Similarly, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adeniyi, said modern security threats had become increasingly transnational and technology-driven.

Represented by Acting Comptroller, Kirikiri Lighter Terminal, Bolaji Adigun, Adeniyi said criminal networks now exploited cyber platforms, artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency to advance illicit activities.

He stressed the need for Enterprise Security Risk Management to move from reactive enforcement to predictive, intelligence-led and technology-driven systems supported by stronger inter-agency collaboration and public-private partnerships.

The Controller-General of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Sylvester Nwakuche, called for stronger collaboration to tackle violent extremism, cybercrime and organised criminal networks.

Represented by Lagos Controller of Corrections, George Daramola, Nwakuche said the service was strengthening custodial security, intelligence gathering and technology-driven solutions to improve national security.

Former Ogun Governor, Gbenga Daniel said enterprise security risk management should move beyond IT departments to become a broader governance responsibility involving government, the private sector, academia and civil society.

Daniel, represented by Dr Babatunde Onadeko, in a keynote, warned that threats driven by artificial intelligence, cyber warfare and fragile supply chains posed systemic risks to economies and national security.

The Director General, AERMP, Olayinka Odutola, urged stakeholders to translate discussions into practical strategies to tackle insecurity.

Odutola said enterprise risk management provided a holistic framework for addressing strategic, operational, cyber and human related risks.

The Chairman of the occasion, Rtd Rear Admiral Bolanle Ati-John, said security risks such as terrorism, cybercrime, kidnapping and oil theft had become interconnected and required coordinated responses.

The Chief Information Security Officer at Quest Merchant Bank, Marjorie Alamogu, said enterprise security risk management must become a board-level priority rather than remain an IT function.

 “Security is now everybody’s business and must be addressed at enterprise level,” she said.

Another guest speaker, who is the Director, Halogen Security Risk Advisory and Consulting, Adewale Adeagbo, said security must move “from the gatehouse to the boardroom” to become a strategic concern for governments and organisations.

Other experts and panelists at the conference also called for stronger digital risk management frameworks and greater preparedness for the disruptive impact of artificial intelligence across sectors.

The event also featured induction of new risk experts into AERMP.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has revised downward its 2026 global oil demand growth estimates, citing expected slower consumption growth in advanced economies, where collective demand will rise by only 100,000 barrels per day.

The cartel said it now expects global oil demand growth to reach 1.

2 million barrels per day in 2026, down from its previous forecast of 1. 4 million barrels per day, explaining that the revision would bring total global oil consumption to 106.3 million barrels per day.

In Europe, oil demand will decline by 30,000 barrels per day as weaker economic activity weighs on consumption, OPEC, said in its monthly oil market report.

The OPEC also expects some Asian economies, particularly Japan, to record slower demand growth. The organization forecast Japanese oil consumption to fall by 80,000 barrels per day.

However, strong demand from major emerging economies partly offset these weaker signals.

The OPEC said China would add 250,000 barrels per day to global demand, supported by its petrochemical industry. The organization also forecast India to increase demand by 200,000 barrels per day, driven by infrastructure spending and growth in vehicle ownership. Overall, OPEC expects emerging economies and developing countries to contribute an additional 1.1 million barrels per day to global oil consumption in 2026.

The OPEC’s revision aligns with a broader reassessment of global oil demand expectations.

In its May 2026 report, the International Energy Agency projected a much sharper downturn. The agency forecast a contraction of 420,000 barrels per day in global oil demand for the full year rather than a slowdown in growth.

The gap between the two institutions now exceeds 1 million barrels per day, highlighting the uncertainty surrounding the market outlook.

Both reports identified the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz as a major factor behind market instability. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, six Gulf countries collectively reduced production by 10.5 million barrels per day in April, marking what the agency described as an unprecedented contraction outside pandemic periods.

As supply shortages intensified, oil producers outside the Middle East moved to increase production to offset part of the missing volumes. Several African producers, including Nigeria, Libya and Angola, benefited from rising demand for Atlantic Basin crude among Asian and European buyers that lost access to Gulf oil supplies, according to the IEA.

However, not all African producers can fully capitalize on the opportunity. Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer and an OPEC member, nonetheless showed encouraging momentum. According to provisional data published on May 15 by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the country increased oil production from 1.546 million barrels per day in March to 1.663 million barrels per day in April 2026.