Nigerian banks will begin charging a ₦50 stamp duty on electronic transfers of ₦10,000 and above from January 1, 2026, following the implementation of the Tax Act. The development was disclosed in notices issued by financial institutions to customers ahead of the policy’s commencement. The charge, officially known as the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), is a one-off ₦50 fee applied to electronic receipts or transfers of funds deposited in any commercial bank or financial institution on transactions of ₦10,000 and above. In a notice to customers, United Bank for Africa (UBA) said the ₦50 EMTL will now be referred…
Author: Abdoulaye Kay
The Bauchi State House of Assembly passed the N877 billion 2026 Appropriation Bill on Tuesday. The House, presided over by the Speaker, Abubakar Sulaiman, passed the bill after the adoption of a report by Wanzam Mohammed, Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation. Mohammed said the estimate consisted of N308.7 billion recurrent expenditure and N568.3 billion capital expenditure. He said the capital component of the budget would drive infrastructure development, enhance social services and stimulate economic growth. The chairman commended the state government’s key fiscal reforms, including the establishment of a Fiscal Service Commission, capacity building on the new budget framework, enforcement…
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has presented its N1.74 trillion 2025 budget to the House of Representatives for consideration and approval. Presenting the proposal to the House Committee on NDDC in Abuja, the Managing Director of the commission, Mr Samuel Ogbuku, said the budget is titled “Budget of Consolidation.” Ogbuku explained that the proposed expenditure represents a nine per cent reduction from the 2024 budget, driven by a no-borrowing revenue approach. According to him, N47.5 billion is allocated for personnel costs, while N96.4 billion is earmarked for overhead expenditures. He said the 2025 budget is designed to strengthen the…
Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, has signed the N515.5 billion 2026 budget into law following its passage by the State House of Assembly. The governor had presented the “Budget of Economic Growth and Infrastructural Transformation” to the Assembly on November 6, but lawmakers reduced it slightly from N515.6 billion. Speaking in Damaturu on Tuesday, Buni said the budget allocates N291.9 billion, or 62 per cent, to capital expenditure, while N223.6 billion, representing 38 per cent, is earmarked for recurrent spending. He expressed confidence that the budget would drive development in key sectors, including education, health, agriculture, infrastructure and employment,…
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)has approved a $3.45 billion regular budget for the organisation’s 2026 financial year, following weeks of negotiations under the UN80 reform initiative. The budget, endorsed by the 193-member Assembly on Tuesday, allocates $3,450,426,300 to support the UN’s core pillars—peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights. It reflects a 15 per cent reduction in financial resources proposed by the Secretary-General, alongside a nearly 19 per cent cut in staffing. The regular budget funds key UN activities, including political affairs, international justice, development cooperation, human rights, humanitarian work and public information. It is separate from the…
Nigeria posted an overall Balance of Payments (BOP) surplus of $4.60 billion in the third quarter of 2025, reversing the deficit recorded in the preceding quarter, according to data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The improvement was driven by a current account surplus of $3.42 billion, supported by stronger trade performance, resilient diaspora remittances, increased financial inflows and continued growth in external reserves. The goods account remained in surplus at $4.94 billion, reflecting higher export earnings during the period. Crude oil exports rose to $8.45 billion, while exports of refined petroleum products increased by 44 per cent…
Nigeria’s foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows surged to $720 million in the third quarter of 2025, marking a sharp rebound from the $90 million recorded in Q2 2025 — a quarter-on-quarter increase of about 700 per cent. The figures are contained in the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Balance of Payments (BoP) Highlights for the period. On a year-on-year basis, FDI inflows were also higher than the $570 million recorded in Q3 2024, representing a 26.3 per cent increase. CBN data shows that Direct Investment liabilities, which capture FDI inflows into the Nigerian economy, stood at $0.72 billion in Q3…
A Consultant Endocrinologist, Dr Grace Senbanjo, has warned Nigerians against self-medication and the indiscriminate use of antibiotics, saying the practice is driving the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the country. Senbanjo, a Consultant Physician at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), said in Lagos that the abuse of unprescribed antibiotics has become alarmingly common, posing serious risks to effective healthcare delivery. She explained that antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria and other disease-causing organisms no longer respond to treatment, leading to severe infections, longer hospital stays, and increased deaths. According to her, antibiotics are meant to treat specific…
The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Tuesday, ordered the remand of former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, his son, and a co-defendant at the Kuje Correctional Centre, pending the hearing of their bail applications. Justice Emeka Nwite gave the order while ruling on an oral bail application moved by the defence counsel, Joseph Daudu, SAN. The judge held that it would be in the interest of justice and fair hearing to allow the prosecution respond to the bail application earlier filed by the defendants. “I have listened to the submissions of learned counsel on both…
An artificial intelligence (AI) educator, Ms Zainab Saidu, says most AI tools still struggle to accurately interpret Nigerian languages and cultural contexts, warning that reliance on Western-trained systems could lead to bias and misinformation. Saidu, founder of the Creativity Enthusiast Network, observed while assessing the performance of AI systems currently in use in Nigeria. She explained that many tools misinterpret Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and Nigerian Pidgin, often failing to grasp tone, dialect variations, proverbs and everyday expressions. She added that speech recognition systems also struggle with local accents and background noise, despite gradual improvements driven by local data collection efforts.…