With the passing of Professor Adamu Baikie on Friday, 12 December 2025, Nigeria and, indeed, Africa lost a great intellectual, institution builder, and architect of modern education. He was someone who created significant impact on the lives of those he encountered as a teacher, administrator, church and community leader. We are grateful to God for giving him a full and accomplished life having lived 94 years. For me, the Baikies are family and we grew up in a small closely-knit community. In 1934, our parents were foundation members of Christ Church, Anglican Communion in Fagge, Kano. The geographical location of…
Author: Editor
The Federal Government has filed 16 alleged money laundering charges, to the tune of ₦1.014bn, against a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), and his son, Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami, before the Federal High Court in Abuja. Also listed as a co-defendant with Malami, who served as Attorney-General and Minister of Justice from 2015 to 2023 under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, is Hajiya Bashir Asabe. According to the charge, the government is accusing Malami, his son, and others of being involved in the laundering and concealment of ₦1,014,848,500.00 (One Billion, Fourteen Million, Eight Hundred…
The Bauchi State Drugs and Medical Consumables Management Agency (DMMA) has expanded its Drugs Revolving Fund (DRF) scheme to 616 public health facilities across the state to improve access to affordable and quality medicines. Managing Director of the agency, Abdulkadir Ahmed, disclosed this during a step-down training for health workers, noting that about 800 staff from 264 facilities are being trained on effective management of the scheme. The DRF, established ten years ago, ensures the continuous availability of essential medicines and medical consumables in public health facilities. Ahmed said the expansion was approved by Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed and is…
Introduction: Recently, the leadership of the De Renaissance Patriots Foundation (DRPF) attended—by invitation—what was presented as a stakeholders’ consultation meeting on the decision of the Lagos State Government to move the issuance of Indigeneship Certification to itself, contrary to the constitutional rights vested in Local Governments and traditional institutions to do so. The state government is planning to transition the issuance from physical to digital formats, and the Lagos indigenes group’s position presented at the meeting is as follows: The De Renaissance Patriots Foundation (DRPF) is committed to protecting the heritage, identity, and rights of indigenous Lagosians. We were invited…
The United States has been carrying out intelligence-gathering flights over Nigeria since late November, according to flight-tracking data reviewed by Reuters. The surveillance missions, operated by contractor aircraft, point to deepening security cooperation between Washington and Abuja following high-level engagements last month. Reuters reported that the aircraft typically departs from Accra, Ghana, conducts flights over Nigerian territory, and returns to Ghana’s capital. The operations come amid rising security concerns in Nigeria and growing diplomatic pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. The surveillance jet is operated by Mississippi-based Tenax Aerospace, a firm that specializes in special-mission aircraft and maintains close…
When a billionaire suddenly becomes an overnight anti-corruption crusader, one should pause. Not because activism is wrong, but because power rarely moves without an agenda. In Nigeria’s oil sector—where money, regulation, and influence intersect—nothing happens in isolation. I was drawn into this debate long before the current drama peaked. In July 2024, during the first public clash between Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Engr. Farouk Ahmed of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), I wrote an article titled “Monopolistic Oligarchies: The Tale of Dangote of Nigeria and Ambani of India.” In it, I defended indigenous industrial growth while…
As mentioned in the first part of this piece, government officials and others questioning the university’s autonomy are either ignorant of the law or being mischievous. The university must be an autonomous system to fulfill its fundamental role in nation-building and to preserve the integrity of its certificates, which are awarded to deserving graduates for character and learning after passing through qualitative, quantitative, and temporal measures validated by internal and external assessors. Tamper with the autonomy, as allegedly done in Nigerian private universities, and the degrees may be awarded like “a gift of groundnuts.” What irony! Nation-building through innovation, good governance,…
The Vice-Chancellor of Northwest University, Sokoto (NWUS), Professor Mukhtar Umar Bunza, has said the institution was established to bridge Nigeria’s educational gap, particularly in the Northwest region. Professor Bunza, a Professor of Social History, made this known on Monday while receiving members of the Sokoto Advancement Forum (SAF), who paid an advocacy visit to the university. According to him, NWUS was founded by former Governor of Sokoto State, Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, with a clear vision to address knowledge deficits in the region and beyond. “NWUS was established to bridge the knowledge gap. It is important to note that the…
Former Minister of Communications and ex-General Officer Commanding (GOC), 3 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju (retd.), has expressed deep sorrow over the death of former Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Soyemi Ayodele Sofoluwe (retd.). Sofoluwe died on Saturday, December 20, 2025, at the age of 80. He would have turned 81 on January 14, 2026. In a tribute issued on Monday, Olanrewaju described the late Sofoluwe as an exceptionally sharp-minded officer, a gentleman, and a people-oriented general who hailed from Abeokuta, Ogun State, in southwest Nigeria. According to Olanrewaju, the two…
United States President Donald Trump has ordered the recall of the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, Richard M. Mills Jr., along with senior diplomats posted to 29 other countries, in a sweeping diplomatic reshuffle by his administration. The affected ambassadors have reportedly been informed that their assignments will end by January 2026. Many of them were appointed during the previous administration and had remained in office during the early phase of Trump’s return to power. U.S. officials explained that the recalls are part of efforts to realign America’s diplomatic representation abroad with the administration’s foreign policy priorities, stressing that ambassadors serve…