LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's government has banned the export of raw shea nuts, an essential raw material in many cosmetic products, in a bid to grow the country into a global supplier of refined shea butter and other skincare ingredients.
The immediate ban on the crop will be in place for six months and then reviewed, Vice President Kashim Shettima said.
Nigeria follows a growing list of other West African countries, including Burkina Faso, Mali, Togo, Ivory Coast and Ghana, that have banned or restricted export of the crop in the past two years.
“The ban will transform Nigeria from an exporter of raw shea nut to a global supplier of refined shea butter, oil, and other derivatives,” Shettima said Tuesday.
He added that the decision was not “an anti-trade policy but a pro-value addition policy designed to secure raw materials for our processing factories" and boost income and jobs for rural workers.
Raw shea nut is pulverized and processed to produce shea butter, a key ingredient for manufacturing products like lotion, shampoos, conditioners and moisturizers.
“It is one of the most important bases for skincare, especially now that a lot of people are tilting toward nontoxic skincare,” said Zainab Bashir, an Abuja-based dermatologist.
While Nigeria accounts for 40% of the world’s supply of the crop, it contributes to just 1% of the $6.5-billion global market share in shea products, according to the vice president.
The measure came weeks after the northern Niger state opened a shea butter processing plant that officials described as one of Africa’s largest.
Authorities said that if the export ban remains in force, it is expected to generate $300 million in the short term and $3 billion by 2027.
Experts have argued that such efforts must come with more investment to grow domestic industries.
“The ban seems to suggest that the government has identified a supply-gap issue, but an export ban does little actually to lock in current in-country production solely for Nigerian processors,” Ikemesit Effiong, a partner at SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based risk advisory firm, told The Associated Press.
The move appeared to contradict the long-standing trade policy of Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu, who has positioned the country as a free-market economy by removing a series of subsidies on essential commodities such as fuel and electricity. Tinubu has also floated the country's currency and reversed a ban on the import of dozens of items by the former government.
Women sell shea butter on a street, in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/David Durowaiye)
People buy shea butter on a street, in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/David Durowaiye)
A woman sells shea butter on a street, in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday, Aug 28, 2025. (AP Photo/David Durowaiye)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.
Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.
The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, and the independent counsel has requested the death sentence in the case that is to be decided in a ruling next month.
Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.
In Friday’s case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation, and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting and thus depriving some Cabinet members who were not convened of their due rights to deliberate on his decree.
Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.
Yoon’s defense team said they will appeal the ruling, which they believe was “politicized” and reflected “the unliberal arguments by the independent counsel.” Yoon’s defense team argued the ruling “oversimplified the boundary between the exercise of the president’s constitutional powers and criminal liability.”
Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials Yoon faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.
Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.
South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.
South Korea has a history of pardoning former presidents who were jailed over diverse crimes in the name of promoting national unity. Those pardoned include strongman Chun Doo-hwan, who received the death penalty at a district court over his 1979 coup, the bloody 1980 crackdowns of pro-democracy protests that killed about 200 people, and other crimes.
Some observers say Yoon will likely retain a defiant attitude in the ongoing trials to maintain his support base in the belief that he cannot avoid a lengthy sentence but could be pardoned in the future.
On the night of Dec. 3, 2024, Yoon abruptly declared martial law in a televised speech, saying he would eliminate “anti-state forces” and protect “the constitutional democratic order.” Yoon sent troops and police officers to encircle the National Assembly, but many apparently didn’t aggressively cordon off the area, allowing enough lawmakers to get into an assembly hall to vote down Yoon’s decree.
No major violence occurred, but Yoon's stunt caused the biggest political crisis in South Korea and rattled its diplomacy and financial markets. For many, his decree, the first of its kind in more than four decades in South Korea, brought back harrowing memories of past dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s, when military-backed leaders used martial law and emergency measures to deploy soldiers and tanks on the streets to suppress demonstrations.
After Yoon's ouster, his liberal rival Lee Jae Myung became president via a snap election last June. After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to look into allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates.
Yoon's other trials deal with charges like ordering drone flights over North Korea to deliberately inflame animosities to look for a pretext to declare martial law. Other charges accuse Yoon of manipulating the investigation into a marine’s drowning in 2023 and receiving free opinion surveys from an election broker in return for a political favor.
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shouts slogans outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waits for a bus carrying former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs as police officers stand guard outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A picture of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is placed on a board as supporters gather outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
