The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Niger/Kogi Area Command, has reinforced its stakeholder engagement drive with a strategic meeting with the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), aimed at enhancing border security and safeguarding legitimate transport operations. The engagement took place on Tuesday, 13 January 2026, when the Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Pascal Chibuoke, received a NARTO delegation in collaboration with NAXAR Strategic Consult Limited at the Command’s headquarters. In a statement signed by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Customs I Abubakar Zakariya, the visit focused on deepening cooperation in key areas, including border security, combating illegal…
Author: Newsdesk
Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has appeared before the Southwark Crown Court in London, United Kingdom, for the preliminary hearing of her bribery trial. Alison-Madueke, who served as Minister from 2010 to 2015, was Nigeria’s first female oil minister and also the first woman to become President of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The case was listed on the cause list for Court 8 before Justice Thornton on Monday. She appeared in court for the preliminary hearing ahead of her full trial, which is scheduled to commence on January 26, 2026. Preliminary proceedings, including technical…
Eleven persons lost their lives, while seven others sustained injuries in a fatal auto-crash that occurred at Okhuahe community along the Benin–Agbor Road in Edo. The accident, which reportedly occurred on Saturday, involved an 18-seater commercial bus travelling towards Lagos and a truck. Eyewitnesses said the crash occurred when the bus driver attempted to overtake another vehicle and collided head-on with an oncoming truck. Confirming the incident, Mr Cyril Mathew, the Edo Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), said 11 victims died instantly at the scene. “The crash involved a truck and an 18-seater bus. The bus…
The Nigerian government says it is shifting focus from heavy borrowing to increased domestic investment and revenue mobilisation as part of efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s economy. Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, disclosed this while speaking on Bloomberg Television on Tuesday at the ongoing 56th World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. “The issue now is to focus on revenue, focus on domestic resource mobilisation. We’re hoping to rely less on borrowing,” Edun said. He explained that although Nigeria remains open to international capital markets if necessary, the government’s priority is to mobilise domestic resources…
Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) has unveiled an ambitious Vision 2030 strategy aimed at accelerating Africa’s industrialisation, enhancing economic self-sufficiency, and empowering the continent’s next generation. President of the Group, Aliko Dangote, reaffirmed that the company’s long-term direction is focused on building Africa’s capacity to feed itself, power its economy and develop its people sustainably. Revealing the Group’s expansion roadmap, Dangote said Dangote Cement is targeting an increase in production capacity to about 90 million tonnes by 2030, noting that the scale-up would position the company as one of the world’s most competitive cement producers. “Our ambition goes far beyond building…
The Federal Government has announced that the admission portal for Federal Technical Colleges nationwide will open on January 26. The announcement was made in a statement issued on Monday in Abuja by Folasade Boriowo, Director of Press and Public Relations at the Federal Ministry of Education. The development follows the approval of the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, and is part of efforts to expand access to skills-based education for young Nigerians. According to the statement, registration for the National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) will commence on January 26 and close on May 24, while the examination will be…
Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) have arrested a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, over fresh allegations bordering on terrorism financing. Sources in the secret police said Malami was taken into custody on Monday shortly after his release from the Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja, where he had been remanded over money laundering charges. According to security sources, DSS operatives picked him up immediately after he exited the facility. Officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service confirmed that Malami was released after perfecting his bail conditions. Efforts to obtain official comments from the DSS…
The GrainMate Grain Moisture Meter is a compact, handheld agricultural innovation developed to help farmers, grain traders, feed manufacturers and aggregators accurately assess grain moisture levels before storage, processing or sale. Moisture management plays a vital role in modern agriculture, as excessive moisture in harvested grain can result in post-harvest losses, mould development and aflatoxin contamination, all of which threaten food safety, grain quality and farm profitability. Created by Sesi Technologies in Ghana, GrainMate reflects a growing push towards climate-smart and climate-resilient agricultural technologies tailored to the needs of smallholder farmers and agribusinesses across Africa. The device is already widely…
Liberia’s Ministry of Agriculture has officially launched a major farm-to-market road rehabilitation initiative in Bong County, marking a significant step towards strengthening agricultural value chains and improving rural livelihoods. Implemented through the Tree Crops Extension Project Phase II (TCEP-II), the project will see the construction and rehabilitation of 59 kilometres of critical feeder roads designed to improve market access for farmers across the county. The road works have been divided into seven lots covering key farming communities and some of Bong County’s most productive agricultural zones. Once completed, the improved road network will provide farmers with more reliable links to…
The Federal Government has inaugurated a committee on Book Ranking and Selection, to strengthen the quality and affordability of textbooks used in Nigerian schools. The initiative is aimed at addressing gaps in the current textbook approval process, which has allowed poor-quality materials, lack of standardisation and excessive financial burden on parents, to thrive. Speaking at the inauguration in Abuja on Monday, the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, said that the existing system had failed to adequately validate and rank textbooks before approval. He said that this had led to a situation where some subjects had up to 50 approved books…