Vice President Shettima reads Nigerian leader's message to world's rising economic bloc, pitches Africa's youngest population as its biggest asset P resident Bola Tinubu did not travel to India for the 18th BRICS Summit, but his message still reached the room. Vice President Kashim Shettima stood in for him, reading out a speech that laid out, in clear terms, what Nigeria wants from its growing relationship with the bloc: real investment, shared technology, and a seat at the table when big decisions about the global economy are made. The summit, chaired by India this year, carried the theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability." Shettima opened by thanking the Indian government and people for their hospitality, before getting into the heart of Nigeria's message one built around partnership, not charity. A key part of that message centered on Nigeria’s people. One number stood out in the speech: 16.9. That is the average age of N...

A four-storey building under construction in Enugu came crashing down early Sunday morning, trapping six people inside and sparking a frantic rescue operation that saved four lives while leaving one person's fate still unknown at press time. The structure, an unfinished hotel project in the city's Independence Layout neighbourhood, gave way just before dawn. Residents who rushed to help said things could have turned out far worse had the state government not already flagged the building as unsafe and shut it down months earlier. At the scene, Barr. Uche Anya, who heads the Enugu Capital Territory Development Agency, told reporters the tragedy stemmed from a builder who repeatedly brushed aside safety rules. He explained that his agency had already closed the site down, even though the project itself had received official approval back in 2021. Anya recounted how his team arrived at the wreckage around six in the morning, only to learn from a security guard that six workers had...

G etting into an HND programme in Nigeria will now go through JAMB.   The National Board for Technical Education, NBTE, announced on Tuesday that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board will handle all Higher National Diploma admissions starting this session. In a circular dated September 9, 2026, signed by NBTE Executive Secretary, Prof. Idris Bugaje, the board said the change affects polytechnics, related institutions, colleges of nursing, and colleges of health technology. The goal is simple: to create one central admission system and stop "illegal and compromised admissions." According to NBTE, the decision was made after a meeting with the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, and officials from JAMB, NYSC, NBTE, and the Federal Ministry of Education. The board explained that the new system will also protect students. In the past, some HND graduates had problems with NYSC mobilisation because of irregular admissions. Centralising the process through JAMB is meant...

𝑩𝒀- 𝑬𝑮𝑼𝑵𝑮𝑾𝑼 𝑪𝑯𝑼𝑲𝑾𝑼𝑲𝑨 𝑩𝑬𝑵𝑱𝑨𝑴𝑰𝑵 ‎Paying a bride price does not grant automatic consent, and forcing intimacy on a partner is basically sexual slavery. Last week, national newspapers highlighted a crucial clarification from Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions, Dr. Babajide Martins. Addressing journalists at the launch of Domestic and Sexual Violence Awareness month organized by the DSVA, he firmly stressed that marital rape is illegal. ‎I shared this vital report on my website and cross-posted it to Nairaland with full credit to the original source, not expecting a quiet room, but the reaction was heated. Within days, the thread pulled in over ten thousand views and more than a hundred comments. ‎The response came mostly from men, and it quickly became clear that the message struck deeply raw nerves. Many made it clear they wanted nothing to do with the law. Some made predictive statements like, "marriage will soon start taking place without the paym...

K aduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, has announced a major reshuffle with a fresh set of appointments covering commissioner offices, government agencies and advisory roles across the state. The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Ibraheem Musa, made the announcement public on Thursday, September 10, 2026. According to him, the new appointments cut across sports, health, youth development, trade, gender issues and public infrastructure. Governor Sani said the changes are part of his administration’s plan to strengthen reforms and make government services reach people at the grassroots more effectively. Leading the new cabinet team is Ben Kure, who will now serve as Commissioner for Sports Development. He will be joined by Amina Akilu Dalhat and Abdullahi Garba Abbas, both named Commissioners for Special Duties to handle the first and second portfolios. Dr. Halliru Soba has been appointed Deputy Chief of Staff for Administration, while Hon. Ismaila Aliyu Makarfi and Hon. Mukhtar...

P resident Bola Ahmed Tinubu says the Federal Government has now paid the D'Tigress basketball team every cash reward it promised them, closing out a pledge first made after their exploits on the international stage. In a statement , the President said each player received the naira equivalent of $100,000, while team officials were paid $50,000 each. This payment completes the full package promised to the team, which also included national honours and three-bedroom homes already built for them in Abuja. Tinubu called it a first for Nigeria, saying no previous administration had delivered a presidential sports reward of this size in full within a single year. He admitted the process took time, but said it was for good reason. "We had to follow the processes required by law and ensure that every commitment was properly implemented," he said. "That took time, but a promise made must be a promise kept." The President said similar work is ongoing for the Super Falcon...

A 42-year-old farmer, Ganiu Agbajo, has been taken into custody in Ogun State after he was accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in Ipokia Local Government Area. The case has sparked anger in the community and raised fresh worries about the safety of children. According to The Punch Newspaper , operatives of the Ogun State Community, Social Orientation and Safety Corps, known as So-Safe Corps, arrested the suspect on Monday after residents alerted them. The girl’s name is being kept secret to protect her. The corps’ Director of Information and Public Relations, Adegunwa Adegbuyi, who spoke in a statement on Thursday for Corps Commander Soji Ganzallo, said the incident came to light when the child got home upset. When her mother asked what was wrong, the girl said a man had raped her. The mother raised an alarm right away. Residents in the area then reported the matter to So-Safe Corps. Officers moved quickly and traced the suspect to his home in Hassan Compound, Igbokulu, ...

A peace meeting in Ado-Ekiti ended in blood on Wednesday after a 25-year-old woman, Kehinde Onizeokaraga, was allegedly killed by her husband with a machete. The man accused of the crime, Sodiq Ibrahim, who works as a meat seller, fled the scene right after the attack. Police are now searching for him. Both Kehinde and Ibrahim are from Kogi State. For months, their marriage had been troubled. Relatives said the constant fighting became too much, and Kehinde eventually left the home they shared. Hoping to mend things, community elders arranged a reconciliation meeting last week.  On Wednesday morning, Kehinde was asked to come to the house of her father’s friend for the discussion. Her cousin, Yussuf Lawrence, told reporters that she had no idea Ibrahim would also be present. What started as a talk to settle differences quickly fell apart. As reported by Sahara Reporters, Ibrahim pulled out a machete in the middle of the argument and struck Kehinde several times. She suffered deep ...

T he National Orientation Agency has said its role in the federal government’s digital Learner Identification Number policy is to inform Nigerians, not to start or run the programme. According to a statement seen by TheCable, NOA Director-General Lanre Issa-Onilu made this known on Thursday while responding to concerns raised by the National Association of Nigerian Students. Speaking through Paul Odenyi, the agency’s Deputy Director of Communication and Media, Issa-Onilu said NOA did not design the LIN and is not responsible for implementing it. The reaction followed NANS’ rejection of the LIN. The students described the policy as unnecessary and warned that it might duplicate the National Identification Number. They also questioned NOA’s involvement, saying the initiative falls outside the agency’s duties. Despite the criticism, the federal government began nationwide rollout of the LIN in April. Government records show that more than 1.9 million students who registered for the 2026 W...

T he Office of the President of the Senate has asked the Department of State Services to launch a full investigation into a false social media post wrongly credited to Senate President Godswill Akpabio. In a letter dated September 9, 2026, the Chief of Staff to the Senate President, Chinedu Francis Akubueze, told the DSS that the viral post was deliberately designed to cause ethnic tension and threaten national security. The post, which has been circulating widely on Facebook and other platforms, shows a picture of Senator Akpabio with his official title and a quote that reads: "Northerners, you will be the ones to suffer the most if you allow Tinubu to lose the election." The Senate office said the quote was completely made up. According to the petition, there is no record anywhere to back it up. The office checked speeches, interviews, public appearances, video and audio clips, official statements and media reports, but found nothing linking Senator Akpabio to those words. ...

S hould a police officer be filmed while he works? Yes, says the new President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya. But she is also asking Nigerians to know where to draw the line. Badejo-Okusanya made her position known on Tuesday in Abuja, during a sit-down with Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu and senior NBA officials at the Force Headquarters. The meeting, Premium Times reports, was arranged to ease long-running tension between lawyers and police officers across the country. Her point was simple: officers acting within the law have nothing to hide, so there is no reason to fear a camera. It is a bold stance for someone who only stepped into office last month, becoming the first woman ever elected to lead the NBA. To understand why this matters so much right now, it helps to go back to a court judgment delivered on 17 March. The Federal High Court in Warri, Delta State, ruled that filming police officers while they work in public is a constitutiona...

L agos State University has a new Vice-Chancellor. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who by law serves as Visitor to the university, announced on Wednesday, 9th September 2026, that Professor Ayodeji Olawunmi Badejo has been appointed as the 10th substantive Vice-Chancellor of Lagos State University, popularly known as LASU. The news was made public through a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso. According to the statement, the appointment follows due process, guided by the LASU Law 2004 (As Amended), the legal document that sets out how a Vice-Chancellor is chosen for the university. So, who is Professor Badejo? He is a Professor of Counselling Psychology, and he comes into the role with years of experience as an academic and university administrator behind him. That background, university watchers say, is what qualified him for one of the most important jobs in Lagos State's education sector. He will not be starting from scratch, though...

T he National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has thrown its weight against a fresh government plan to give every student in the country a new identification number, describing the move as unnecessary and an overreach by the agency behind it. In a statement issued on Monday, the student body faulted the National Orientation Agency (NOA) over its recent announcement of the National Learner Identification Number (LIN), a scheme meant to create a special ID for students across Nigeria. NANS, which speaks for millions of Nigerian students both within the country and abroad, said no policy that affects its members should be rolled out without first consulting the union's leadership. "Anything done for us without us is outrightly against us," the group stated. According to NANS, the biggest problem with the new scheme is that it duplicates something that already exists. Every Nigerian, including students, already owns a National Identification Number (NIN), which the g...

T he National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) has moved swiftly to fill the vacuum left by the killing of its substantive Bursar, appointing Mrs Ramatu O. Ibrahim as Acting Bursar barely 48 hours after the university announced the death of Mallam Nasiru Gusau Marafa. According to a statement cited by Sahara Reporters, the university's Registrar and Secretary to Council, Mr Oladipo Ajayi, disclosed Mrs Ibrahim's appointment in a public notice issued on Tuesday. Her elevation takes effect from Tuesday, September 8, 2026, and remains valid until further notice. The appointment was sanctioned by NOUN's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Uduma Oji Uduma, and received the backing of the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Malam Isa Yuguda, CON. University officials say the decision is designed to guarantee continuity and steady financial leadership at the institution during a difficult period. Bursar Shot Dead Returning From Gusau Marafa's death has cast a shadow over the unive...

T he Benue State Government has dismissed claims by Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi that he was stopped by government-backed thugs from visiting Yelwata to meet victims of last year’s attacks. The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Hyacinth Alia, Tersoo Kula, said in a statement on Tuesday that the state was not aware of any such incident. He also doubted that Obi was in Makurdi, the state capital, on the day he claimed.  According to Kula, Obi has a pattern of making claims against Benue that cannot be proven. He said the governor does not see Obi as a threat. And even if he did, the response would come from trained security agencies, not thugs.  Kula described Governor Alia as a calm man and a former priest whose administration has never relied on violence to govern. He said the government operates strictly within the law. The Chief Press Secretary also questioned why a presidential candidate would visit the state without informing police and other security agen...

T he Federal Government has put an end to long queues at the Ministry of Education. Starting now, anyone who needs to check or confirm their academic certificate can do it online from home. The Ministry of Education announced this on Tuesday, September 8, 2026. The statement was signed by Boriowo Folasade, the Director of Press and Public Relations. The Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, said the new online portal will handle everything from start to finish. He explained that the decision is part of the government’s plan to take more services online and to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. In the past, graduates and job seekers had to travel all the way to Abuja to get their certificates evaluated. For many, it meant spending money on transport, taking days off work, and waiting for weeks before anything was done. Nigerians living abroad also had to go through the same stressful process. That will no longer be the case. The ministry said the new sys...

  Two suspects arrested as Imo and Abia Commands warn against spreading misinformation T he Nigeria Police Force has confirmed that the armed men seen assaulting a young lady and her brother in a viral video at Okigwe are not police officers, but members of a local vigilante group. The video, which spread widely on social media over the weekend, showed the siblings being attacked while they were reportedly on their way to Abia State University. The footage sparked outrage and raised questions about police conduct in the area. In separate statements on Monday, the police commands in Imo and Abia States moved to clarify the situation. The Imo State Police Command said the men in the video are operatives of the Imo State Vigilante Organization, a security outfit that operates independently of the police.  According to the command, two suspects linked to the attack, identified as Ejiogu Nchekwube and Caleb Onyebuchi, have been arrested. They are currently being held at the Okigwe ...

From abandoned forest to supermarket shelves, Enugu’s JV turns dead plantations into jobs and growth W hat used to be thick, abandoned forest in Enugu State is now producing palm oil for Nigerians. Enugu United Palm Products Limited, UPPL, has started full commercial production and rolled out its first batch of palm oil to markets nationwide. The company also announced a new $2.2 million plan to build a refinery for vegetable oil and other palm products. UPPL is a joint venture between Pragmatic Palms Limited and the Enugu State Government. The Managing Director, Prof. George Nwangwu, disclosed this on Monday during a visit to Governor Peter Mbah at Government House, Enugu, where he gave an update on the company’s progress since operations began two years ago. According to Nwangwu, UPPL took over three plantations that had been left to rot for years: Ibite-Olo in Ezeagu, Umulokpa in Uzo-Uwani, and Ugwu-Oba in Oji River.   “When we took over, the place was thick forest and noth...

G alatasaray’s celebrations did not last long. The Turkish champions confirmed on Sunday that two of their key players, Victor Osimhen and Mario Lemina, will be out for weeks after suffering groin injuries in the same match. The update was revealed by the club through an official statement. Both men went down during the 3-2 win over İstanbul Başakşehir, and the club sent them straight to Acıbadem Hospital for MRI scans to know exactly how bad it was.  The results were not what Galatasaray fans wanted to hear. According to the club, doctors found an advanced-moderate strain with bleeding in the same muscle for both players. For Osimhen it was his right adductor. For Lemina, the same area. Treatment has already started. Osimhen’s pain came early. He had already scored in the 33rd minute before clutching his groin and walking off with help. Lemina did not even come out for the second half. At the time it looked like just another knock. Now we know it is much more serious. The Nigeria...

F ormer Vice President Atiku Abubakar has once again spoken up for a plan he believes can ease the tough economic conditions Nigerians are facing, saying the government must back local producers if it truly wants to bring down prices of everyday goods. Through his aide on public communication, Phrank Shaibu, the ADC's presidential flagbearer said on Sunday that whatever positive figures officials present about the economy mean little if ordinary people don't feel the difference in their pockets whether at the fuel station, the market, or while paying for transport. As reported by Tribune Online , Atiku drew attention to the position of the Crude Oil Refinery Owners Association of Nigeria (CORAN), which has been pushing for stronger government backing of refineries operating within the country. He also referenced how the United States, under President Donald Trump, has taken similar steps to strengthen its own local energy sector suggesting Nigeria could learn from that approach...

B ritish-Nigerian businessman and social media personality Igho Ubiribo, popularly known as "Tiny," "Denisi" or "Ego," has died in Thailand after complications from a cosmetic procedure. He was 43. The father of one passed away in the early hours of March 6 at Sukhumvit Hospital in Bangkok. His death has also brought back memories of a 2023 case in which he and his wife were declared wanted by Nigeria’s anti-drug agency. According to details presented at an inquest at Inner West London Coroners’ Court, Ubiribo had travelled to Bangkok in March with his wife, fashion designer Danielle Simba Allen, for what the couple described as a luxury vacation. While there, he underwent a cosmetic enhancement procedure at a clinic. According to evidence at the inquest, about 40 millilitres of hyaluronic acid mixed with lidocaine was injected into his body. The name of the clinic was not made public. After the procedure, the couple went to a spa for a massage. It was the...

T he Federal Ministry of Education has announced new steps to address weeks of public frustration over the 2026 WAEC results. After a meeting with the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, NAPPS, the Ministry said it would not order a full independent investigation into the West African Examinations Council for now. The meeting between the Honourable Minister of Education and NAPPS followed a wave of complaints from schools, parents and students about how WAEC handled this year’s WASSCE. In a summary dated 3rd September, NAPPS listed 10 agreements reached by both parties. A major outcome of the meeting was the decision to focus more on NECO. The Ministry explained that its control over WAEC is limited because the body is run jointly by several West African countries. NECO, on the other hand, operates under the Federal Government, making it easier to reform and monitor. As a result, all schools, public and private, have been urged to embrace NECO more. NECO has also be...

T he National Association of Nigerian Students has praised the management of Abraham Adesanya Polytechnic, Ijebu-Igbo in Ogun State for running the federal student loan scheme with honesty and openness. The commendation came on Thursday when top officials of NANS, led by Secretary General Comrade Oladimeji Uthman, visited the polytechnic. They were received by the Students’ Union President, Comrade Khalifah, other union leaders, and the Rector, Dr. M.A. Onasanya. During talks with school management, NANS said it discussed key issues affecting students including welfare, security, learning conditions and overall growth of the institution. A major highlight was the loan programme. NANS noted that Abraham Adesanya Poly was not named among schools accused of diverting money from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND.  The student body said the school’s approach to the loan was a good example to follow. According to them, beneficiaries got their money as expected, and that level of ...