He ain’t no divaaa!
Trump wants to ship prisoners to African countries, but Nigeria isn’t having it
Calvary greetings to you, Big Brains. All the words in today’s newsletter are odd words I never thought I’d ever have to put together, but anything is possible when a president’s name starts with T.
- Margaret
Word count: ~ 1, 200
Reading time ~ 7 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition:
Trump wants to ship prisoners to African countries, but Nigeria isn’t having it
Nigeria’s inflation rate has dropped again
The Big Deal
Trump wants to ship prisoners to African countries, but Nigeria isn’t having it
It’s been a minute since Donald Trump found his way into The Big Daily newsletter, and boy, did he pull off a comeback.
Last week, the US president tried to ship a handful of prisoners to African countries like Liberia, Senegal, Mauritania, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau and yours truly.
Now, if you’re thinking, “What the hell?” You’re thinking correctly. The plan was to deport these individuals to third-world countries because their home countries didn’t want them back. But when countries like Nigeria humbled Trump with the most iconic no in history, he decided to carry his business to Eswatini, where he has already sent five violent criminals.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the five men, who are originally from Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam, and Yemen, had been convicted of horrific crimes like child rape and murder. DHS described them as “so uniquely barbaric” that even their own countries said, “Keep them.”
And if you’re wondering how this is even possible, a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling gave the Trump administration the legal backing to deport migrants to third countries, even if those countries have absolutely nothing to do with the individuals in question. Just a few weeks ago, criminals from Myanmar, Vietnam, Mexico and more were dumped in South Sudan.
Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar shut down the idea in case it still isn’t clocking to Trump that Nigeria is standing on business. “Flava Flav has problems of his own. I can’t do nothin’ for you, man,” Taggar said.
Tuggar explained that Nigeria already has 230 million (plus) citizens and a million other issues to worry about, and is therefore not in the mood to serve as a dumping ground for Venezuela’s or anyone else’s criminals.
Tuggar says the country is open to working with the U.S. on gas, tech, and minerals, but hosting deported criminals? Hard pass, and that’s on Flava Flav.
Why is this a big deal?
Trump has been going hard on his immigration crackdown since he assumed presidential duties in January 2025. No hate to the guy, but the good old rule is “you made your bed, now lie in it.” It doesn’t say you should involve Nigeria or any other country that has absolutely nothing to do with the effect of your policies.
Deporting criminals to countries they’re not affiliated with isn’t just messy, it’s dangerous. When you send people with violent histories into nations that didn’t sentence them, and aren’t equipped to handle them, you’re simply exporting a crisis.
Nigerian prisons, for example, are overcrowded, and most of them are operating at 136.7% capacity. There’s no space to accommodate foreigners convicted of serious crimes like murder and child rape.
There’s also the ethical angle. If this sounds like something out of a Black Mirror episode, it’s because it kind of is. The Trump administration is playing a weird immigration game, and African countries are slowly becoming vulnerable targets.
Targeting the Global South and moving past most European or Asian nations seems intentional and (cough, cough) neocolonial.
If someone commits a crime, the conversation should be about justice, not who’s vulnerable enough to take them in.
Nigeria’s inflation rate has dropped again
It’s been a rough couple of months for the Nigerian economy, but things seem to be shifting… at least on paper.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s annual inflation rate dropped slightly to 22.22% in June 2025 from 22.97% in May. That’s a 0.76% dip. It’s not the best decrease, but in this economy, a win is a win.
The data also shows that year-on-year inflation has seen a sharper drop. In June 2024, headline inflation was 34.19%, meaning we're down by nearly 12% in 2025.
On a month-to-month basis, inflation went up a bit. The NBS says June’s price increase hit 1.68%, slightly higher than May’s 1.53%. That’s just a fancy way of saying that prices are still going up, but not as aggressively as before. But that’s not enough for the day-to-day reality of most Nigerians to see any significant improvement.
Food inflation followed a similar pattern. In June 2025, it stood at 21.97% year-on-year, down from 40.87% in June 2024.
It might not seem like much, especially seeing as food prices are still going crazy, but we’ll take the win and hope that the impact goes beyond paper to reality.
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This Week’s Big Question
“What’s one Nigerian propaganda you’re falling for?”
Ayo’s response - “Afrobeats is bigger than the oil sector.”
You can also share your response here, and if it’s as interesting as Ayo’s, we’ll feature it in the next edition.
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