Author: Lawan

•Importers: We need investors, not invaders•Experts: Foreigners exploiting FG’s fiscal laxity Local businesses are groaning and folding. Traders and importers are in the streets with placards protesting what appears to be an unchecked influx of foreign nationals in businesses traditionally dominated by Nigerians. Fingers point to the federal government’s fiscal laxity which grants business access to many foreigners without considering the economic consequences and national security implications. From freight forwarding, construction, trading, mining to agriculture, manufacturing, trawling, bonded terminal operations and other related businesses, the invasion is brutal and total. Freight forwarders, who contribute to Customs revenue generation, say their…

By Thomas Agagu‎‎In the life of any institution, recognition means little when it is detached from results. But when an honour follows measurable achievements, it becomes a useful reminder that hard work is being noticed and that a new direction is beginning to make an impact.‎‎This is the context in which Bashir Bayo Ojulari’s emergence as the 2026 Leadership Newspapers CEO of the Year (Public Sector) should be viewed.‎‎The recognition comes at a particularly important moment for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, as the national oil company records stronger financial performance, attracts fresh investment, advances critical oil and gas…

Fraud: EFCC Expands Insurance Recapitalisation Investigations To Industry ***Stakeholders, CSOs Call For Sack Of NAICOM Commissioner The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has widened its probe into the controversial insurance industry recapitalisation exercise, with invitation letters now being issued to other operators beyond the initial petitioners. A letter dated 3rd September 2026 and addressed to the Managing Director of Linkage Assurance Plc, Mr Daniel Braie, at the company’s Abuja office, 29 Aswan Street, Wuse Zone 3, confirms the expansion. Titled “Investigation activities letter of invitation – Re: capitalisation exercise in the insurance sector,” the correspondence from the EFCC’s Capital…

Controversy is raging over an alleged strategic move by parties controlling states to limit the visibility of the opposition as campaigns commence in full swing, through the imposition of exorbitant billboard levies on candidates and their political parties. Such levies, stakeholders argue, constitute a clear violation of equal opportunity and fair play in a democratic election. Abia, Enugu, Kogi, Anambra and Imo states are among those toeing this path, a development that has sparked widespread outrage among opposition parties.In Abia State, for instance, the State Structure for Signage and Advertisement Agency (ABSSAA) in late July announced that campaign advertisement for…

Atiku: FG owes Nigerians explanation over death of 37 miners As normalcy gradually returns to Minna, the Niger State capital, after the violent protests that greeted the death of 37 miners in the custody of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) on Thursday, residents are counting their losses following the destruction of properties by the rampaging youths. Minna and its suburbs were engulfed in coordinated violent protests by youths after news of the death of the artisanal miners spread to town like wildfire. Although shops, markets, banks, filling stations and other businesses were hurriedly shut down, the youths…

Accord Party chieftain, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has said he does not share the same political ideology as former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar ahead of the 2027 presidential election. Olawepo-Hashim made the distinction during an interview on the Mic On Podcast, where he discussed the ideological positions of opposition politicians preparing for the election. He described Obi and Atiku as belonging to what he called the “extreme conservative political wing”, while identifying himself with African Action Congress presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore and Social Democratic Party candidate Adewole Adebayo as politicians of a left-centre orientation. “Peter is…

The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has rejected a 59-member Presidential Campaign Council announced by the Obi-Kwankwaso (OK) Movement, saying the structure was not authorised by the party. The party’s National Chairman, Senator Cleopas Moses, made the position known in a statement on Saturday, directing the public and the media to disregard the campaign council. The development followed the unveiling of the 59-member council by the OK Movement on Thursday to mobilise support for NDC presidential candidate Peter Obi and his running mate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, ahead of the 2027 election. The structure included zonal and state coordinators, as well as…

Former Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Farouq Aliyu, has alleged that he and former Speaker Aminu Masari rejected a combined ₦650 million offered to secure their support for former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s third-term bid. Aliyu made the allegation during an interview on the ‘Naija Unfiltered’ podcast published on YouTube on Friday, insisting that the controversial third-term agenda was real despite Obasanjo’s repeated denial that he sought to remain in office beyond 2007. According to Aliyu, the then Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu, contacted him during discussions over the proposed constitutional amendment and asked…

The Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Dr Dennis Brutu Otuaro, has charged the programme’s offshore scholarship beneficiaries to be deliberate about excellence in their studies. Otuaro said those selected for the programme have no option but to appreciate President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s goodwill by excelling academically to justify the sacrifice the government made for them. Otuaro spoke as another group of 31 offshore post-graduate scholarship beneficiaries of the PAP, on Friday, departed Nigeria for the United Kingdom for studies in various universities. The scholars, who took off from Abuja and arrived in London, were among the 150 beneficiaries who…

— Group Demands Suspension Over Explosive EFCC Petition, Warns Insurance Sector Collapse The Coalition for Good Governance in Nigeria (CGGN) has called for the immediate resignation of Olusegun Ayo Omosehin, Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive Officer of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), over what it described as a deepening regulatory and financial crisis that threatens to destroy public confidence in the nation’s insurance industry. In a statement signed by Salisu Mohammed, the group said Omosehin’s continued stay in office while a formal petition against him and NAICOM sits before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) constitutes a clear…