Author: Lawan

Anxiety grows in opposition camps The political space available to Nigeria’s leading opposition figures, including former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, is steadily shrinking as a fresh court ruling against the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) deepens a mood of anxiety, and in some quarters resignation within the opposition bloc ahead of the 2027 general election.Justice Isah Dashen of the Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State, sitting on Friday, set aside the court’s own judgment of December 10, 2025, which had compelled the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the NDC as a political party. The judge…

Experts have said stronger reserves can improve investor confidence, enhance the country’s ability to manage external shocks and provide greater flexibility in foreign exchange management. The recent data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) shows that Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves climbed to $50.11 billion in June, the highest since 2009. This position strengthens the country’s external position and provides additional support for currency stability.The rise reflects improved foreign exchange inflows and reinforces efforts to strengthen macroeconomic fundamentals. According to Mr. Yemi cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the rise in foreign reserves is a critical buffer…

Xenophobia: FG reveals date for next evacuation flight for Nigerians Spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi EbienfaSpokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa The Federal Government has intensified efforts to safeguard Nigerians in South Africa, confirming that another evacuation flight will depart on Tuesday as concerns mount over planned anti-immigrant protests expected to begin on June 30. The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, disclosed on Monday that an Air Peace aircraft departed Nigeria for South Africa and will return on Tuesday morning with another batch of Nigerians who opted for the government’s voluntary evacuation programme. According…

Nigeria leads sub-saharan Africa as 24 varsities make 2026 global rankings The Federal Government has hailed the improved performance of Nigerian universities in the 2026 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, describing it as evidence that the ongoing education reforms under the Renewed Hope Agenda are yielding measurable results. Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, in a statement, said Nigeria recorded its strongest performance yet in the 2026 rankings, with 24 universities earning global recognition, up from 21 institutions in previous years.According to the minister, the achievement makes Nigeria the most represented country in sub-saharan Africa in the prestigious…

NDC deregistration bid: Nigerians now seeing Tinubu’s true colours – AtikuNigeria’s former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has called out President Bola Tinubu over the Federal High Court’s ruling vacating its December 10, 2025 judgement compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) as a political party. In a statement on Saturday, Atiku said the development shows Tinubu’s true colours and accused his administration of undermining democratic competition ahead of the 2027 general election. “Nigerians are now seeing the true colours of President Tinubu, who pretends to be a democrat, but his body language and…

2027: Endless lawsuits tie opposition parties’ hands With barely six months to the 2027 general elections, Nigeria’s main opposition parties are sinking deeper into a season of leadership wars and courtroom battles, even as the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) consolidates its structures and prepares to face a divided and depleted field. From the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), once the country’s dominant opposition platform, to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the Labour Party (LP), and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), the story is the same. Parallel leaderships, rival conventions, duplicated candidates and an unending procession of lawsuits before the courts…

State police: Sparks fly over execution, others A new legislative framework is taking shape in Nigeria to shift the country from a centralised police system to state-controlled policing. The constitutional amendment passed by the National Assembly now moves the debate to the states’ Houses of Assembly. The structural limits of centralised policing sit at the heart of Nigeria’s current insecurity. Because policing has long been controlled almost exclusively from Abuja, a bottleneck forms when responding to highly localised threats: banditry and kidnapping in the North-West, Boko Haram in the North-East, and farmer-herder clashes in the North-Central and South. The federal…

Fashion apprenticeshipAuto technicians, bricklayers, tailors lament, urge govt to invest in skills acquisition programmes Nigeria is gradually drifting towards a skills crisis, as youths continue to lose interest in and shun apprenticeship. The warning came last week at a forum where artisans and experts lamented the growing dearth of trainees in workshops across the country. Youths are abandoning skill acquisition, leaving ageing masters with no successors, they bewail. At the various automobile engineering, welding, tailoring, hairdressing and bricklaying workshops, the benches that trained a generation are now sitting idly, gathering dust. Mr Peter Afia, a generator mechanic who specialises in…

Kebbi returns all 4,256 Hajj pilgrims, records no death The Executive Chairman of the Kebbi State Pilgrims Welfare Agency, Alhaji Faruk Yaro Enabo, has disclosed that all 4,256 pilgrims from the state who performed the 2026 Hajj in Saudi Arabia returned home safely, with no deaths recorded. Enabo stated this at the official closing ceremony of the 2026 Hajj operation in Birnin Kebbi. He explained that the agency successfully evacuated 7,860 pieces of pilgrims’ luggage from the Holy Land to Birnin Kebbi and handed them over to their individual owners. According to him, “the success of our operations is attributable…

Some of those who escaped death in the building that collapsed in the Alakija area of Amuwo-Odofin, Lagos on Friday gave accounts of how they survived death as the building caved in. A survivor, Felix Monday who hails from Akwa Ibom and owned a phone repair shop within the collapsed building, told Saturday Sun that he had arrived his shop some minutes past 10 am and had opened for the day but had to step out to find something for breakfast. Minutes later, he heard the sound of the building collapsing. “I got to my shop some minutes past 10…