The Niger State Government has secured $150 million in financing from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) for the development of a 100-megawatt solar power project aimed at expanding electricity access and improving energy reliability across the state. The Chairman of the New Niger Development Project (NNDP), Mustapha Abubakar, disclosed this on Tuesday at the second edition of the quarterly media briefing organised by the Niger State Ministry of Information and Orientation in Minna. According to Abubakar, the state government will provide an additional $10 million counterpart contribution, bringing the total investment in the project to $160 million. He attributed the…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
The Kaduna State Ministry of Health has commenced a two-day Joint Annual Review (JAR) of the health sector to assess progress made in the implementation of its 2026 health programmes. The review, which began on Tuesday in Kaduna, brought together officials from the Federal and Kaduna State Ministries of Health, development partners, academia, civil society organisations, traditional rulers, health professionals, community representatives and the media. Declaring the meeting open, the Kaduna State Commissioner for Health, Umma Kaltume-Ahmed, described the review as a vital platform for evaluating the state’s performance under the Nigerian Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative and the Sector-Wide…
The claim that Nigeria is “running four budgets concurrently” is a simplified way of describing a real, documented fiscal practice—but it is not literally four full, separate annual budgets in the strict sense. What has been happening is an overlap of multiple budget instruments (main appropriation, supplementary budgets, and carry-over/carry-forward capital liabilities from prior years) being executed at the same time. Government officials themselves have acknowledged operating three concurrent budget instruments at points in 2025–2026 (2024 main, 2024 supplementary, and 2025 appropriation), while critics and analysts sometimes frame this as “four budgets” when they include: the current year’s main budget,…
A recent monitoring report released by the International Press Institute (IPI) has revealed that journalists across Africa who investigate illegal mining, deforestation, oil deals and land grabs are being assaulted, arrested, threatened with prosecution, and even targeted with attempted killings, with state security forces, powerful companies and armed groups colluding to silence critical environmental reporting. The report, covering October 2025 and March 2026, was released by the International Press Institute (IPI) and made available to ASHENEWS on Monday. READ THE FULL REPORT HERE According to the report, IPI documented 26 incidents of attacks, arrests and intimidation against reporters covering climate…
Hundreds of residents of Dangamau community in Kusada Local Government Area of Katsina State have been displaced after a devastating windstorm accompanied by heavy rainfall destroyed more than 200 houses, shops and other property worth millions of naira. The incident, which occurred during the week, left several families homeless and disrupted economic activities in the community. Reacting to the disaster, Katsina State Governor, Dikko Radda, expressed sympathy with the affected residents, describing the destruction as painful and unfortunate. The governor, in a statement issued on Sunday by his Chief Press Secretary, Ibrahim Kaula Mohammed, assured the victims that the state…
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, and the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, will headline the 7th Africa Emerging Markets Forum scheduled to be held in Abuja next week. The two-day forum will take place at the CBN Headquarters on Wednesday, July 29, and Thursday, July 30, 2026, with senior policymakers, central bankers, ministers, development partners, private-sector leaders and economists expected to attend. Organised by the CBN in collaboration with the Emerging Markets Forum (EMF) and the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA), the event is themed…
CLAIM: A viral claim that the European Union has banned South Africans—including President Cyril Ramaphosa—from entering its countries is false, fact-checks have confirmed. The allegation, which has spread widely on TikTok and WhatsApp since late July 2026, misuses old footage of Ramaphosa and misrepresents current travel rules. Verdict: The claim that the EU has banned South Africans and President Ramaphosa from entering Europe is false. The video used to support it is from 2021 and relates to pandemic-era travel restrictions, not to the current xenophobic violence in South Africa. Full Text: Posts circulating on social media allege that “Europe has…
As many as 16.99 million Nigerians may require urgent food assistance by January 2027, according to projections by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). The latest projection comes amid broader concerns over food insecurity in Nigeria. Previous projections by PwC and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) had estimated that up to 34.7 million Nigerians could experience acute or severe food insecurity during 2026, particularly during the lean season. FEWS NET projection is contained in the organisation’s July 2026 Food Assistance Outlook Brief, which estimates that between 16 million and 16.99 million Nigerians could face acute food insecurity…
The State Police Constitution Alteration Bill passed by the House of Representatives has introduced measures aimed at insulating the proposed State Police Services from political interference while guaranteeing direct funding and strengthening independent oversight. The bill, which seeks to amend the 1999 Constitution to establish a dual policing structure comprising the Federal Police Service and State Police Services, also outlines the financial, operational and institutional framework for the proposed system. One of the key provisions is the direct funding of State Police Services. The proposed amendment to Section 121 of the Constitution stipulates that any amount standing to the credit…
The Nigerian government has launched an application portal for Nigerians seeking affordable credit to purchase laptops, smartphones, tablets and other digital devices under its C.L.I.C.K.D. Programme. The initiative, implemented by the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation (CREDICORP) in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, is aimed at expanding access to digital tools for education, remote work, freelancing, entrepreneurship and other technology-driven activities. The programme is designed to enable eligible Nigerians to acquire digital devices through affordable credit and instalment payments rather than paying the full cost upfront.It also seeks to expand access to digital tools for…