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Former Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Dr Richard Aisuebeogun, has identified fuel price volatility, foreign-exchange fluctuations and disruptions in global supply chains as major factors exposing airlines to operational and financial risks, warning that these challenges could increase airfares, disrupt flight schedules and weaken connectivity.

Aisuebeogun, who spoke in a paper titled ‘Navigating Global Disruptions and the Road Ahead: Mobility, Energy and Trade Facilitation for a Resilient Future,’ presented at the second edition of Transport Summit 2026, organised by JustAlive Communications Limited recently, called for stronger supply-chain management, strategic fuel infrastructure and the development of domestic technical capabilities to improve aviation resilience.

He explained that airlines operate within a cost-intensive environment in which fuel, aircraft leasing, insurance, maintenance and other essential inputs are significantly exposed to international market conditions and foreign-currency obligations.

According to him, fluctuations in energy prices and disruptions in fuel supply can affect airline operating costs, while foreign-exchange volatility increases the cost of maintaining aircraft, acquiring spare parts and financing fleet expansion.

These pressures, he noted, could constrain investment, delay equipment replacement, increase ticket prices, reduce flight frequency and undermine operational reliability.

Explaining further, he stressed that ‘conflicts in major energy-producing regions and along important international trade routes can increase the cost of fuel, insurance, shipping, and imported transport inputs. For a country whose transport operators depend on petroleum products and imported technical equipment, these changes can quickly affect service delivery’.

Aisuebeogun stressed that energy security was fundamental to the resilience of the transport sector, particularly aviation, where fuel availability and affordability directly influence service delivery.

‘Strategic fuel infrastructure is therefore essential for national resilience,’ he stated.

Aisuebeogun identified fuel price fluctuations and supply interruptions as significant risks to transport operations, noting that airlines require reliable access to aviation fuel to maintain schedules and sustain commercial operations.

He explained that disruptions in fuel availability or sharp increases in prices could trigger flight delays and cancellations, increase operating expenditure and place additional pressure on airfares.

‘Rising energy costs can translate into higher fares and freight charges, which ultimately increase the cost of food, manufactured goods, and other essential consumer commodities’.

‘The aviation industry perhaps demonstrates the importance of energy security. Fuel costs often represent a significant proportion of airline operating expenses. Disruptions in fuel supply can lead to: Flight delays or even cancellations; Increased ticket prices; reduced connectivity; economic losses. strategic fuel infrastructure is therefore essential for national resilience,’ he said.

He consequently advocated strategic fuel infrastructure, diversified sourcing arrangements and improved supply-chain risk management to reduce exposure to external disruptions.

Former Cross River state governor and presidential candidate of Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, Tuesday said floating the naira without first developing local industries and strengthening domestic production is further impoverishing Nigerians.

In an interview with reporters in Abuja, Duke argued that Nigeria’s economic difficulties were being worsened by import dependence, weak industrial production, rising fuel costs, excessive government spending and monetary policies that failed to address the underlying causes of inflation.

The former governor questioned the wisdom of allowing the naira’s value to fluctuate without deliberate measures to strengthen the economy and sustain a realistic exchange rate.

‘No country floats its currency. The currency is your economic worth. It is like floating your value. As a human being, what is your worth? Are you going to float your worth? You manage your worth. You manage your currency.

‘You have to sit down and determine what an exchange rate should be. So, if you say a fair exchange rate for us would be 500, 600 naira to a dollar, fine, how do we achieve that?

‘You need foreign currencies to allow you to import your necessities, but you must develop the local industry.

‘Now, when you float the currency, you impoverish your people further because they’re not even developing their local industry and so, everybody’s importing one thing or another.

‘That’s why I said if the naira becomes one naira to two dollars, everybody will clap. But how can you just keep on importing more?,’ he asked.

Duke insisted that countries deliberately pursue policies designed to sustain the value of their currencies, adding that Nigeria should similarly determine the exchange rate it considers appropriate and work towards achieving it.

‘You look at the currency and you look at the value you want to sustain. Everybody does it. The Chinese do it. The Americans do it. They’re not going to allow their currency to fall.

‘Then you look at what it is that we ought to do to achieve the value that we think we ought to be.

‘So, what are the things that we’re importing that we can do without and make sure that they’re done here in Nigeria? That’s the way we ought to be thinking.

‘I mean, doing it in Nigeria, we’ll be creating jobs for our people. And if you’re creating jobs for our people, you’re creating economic stability for your people. As long as you continue importing, you’re creating jobs overseas,’ he said.

The former governor also lamented what he considered insufficient attention to Nigeria’s balance of trade, saying the country could not achieve economic stability without addressing the relationship between its imports, exports and foreign investment.

‘Nobody’s even talking about balance of trade anymore. Balance of trade is: I buy so much from you, you buy so much from me. If I have nothing to give you, then you invest in me.

‘So you balance what goes out to what comes in.’

On trade, he argued that Nigeria needed to pay greater attention to the balance between imports, exports and foreign investment, saying economic stability would remain difficult without a stronger domestic production base.

Duke also faulted the Central Bank of Nigeria’s high interest rate regime, saying the cost of borrowing was discouraging investment and making it difficult for businesses to obtain financing for productive activities.

‘I will also talk about the interest rate regime. I’ve had this conversation with the governor of the Central Bank.

‘They believe that the interest rate is so high because they’re trying to stem inflation.

‘I said, well, there’s a misalignment between monetary and fiscal policy. Monetary policy has interest rates and all that.

‘But interest rates don’t cause inflation. The price of your fuel causes inflation. The high cost of your fuel causes inflation because everything moves through transportation.’

He said the prevailing interest rates meant that many businesses could no longer afford to borrow.

‘But right now, because of your interest rates, no one will borrow money today. They won’t give it because they know you can’t pay for it.’

Duke identified fuel costs as a major driver of inflation, arguing that the price of transportation affected the cost of virtually every product and service in the country.

He also blamed excessive government spending and the widespread patronage of imported products by public institutions for putting additional pressure on the naira.

‘The second thing is the unbridled spending by the governments. If you go to government establishments, literally everything is imported. Vehicles, everything is imported.

‘When you learn to start making those things here, and you patronise yourself, you don’t put pressure on the exchange rates because they’re made locally.

‘And secondly, you’re creating jobs. But more importantly, you’re localising your expenditure, your growth.’

Duke said government spending should be directed towards strengthening domestic production, creating jobs and reducing the demand for foreign exchange.

Duke also questioned the emphasis on age in assessing political leaders, arguing that competence and the quality of appointments were more important considerations.

‘Age doesn’t affect your brain,’ he said.

He maintained that political leaders depended considerably on the quality of the teams they assembled, but complained that appointments were increasingly driven by political considerations rather than the requirements of effective governance.

‘When a government sets up the cabinet, you see the number of politicians that are playing with it. A lot of the appointments are based on politics and not on governance,’ he stated.

Duke also expressed enthusiasm about the personalities in the presidential contest, saying he looked forward to substantive debates in which aspirants would explain their programmes and approaches to the country’s challenges.’I’m actually very excited about the pool of candidates we have. Adewole Adebayo – Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Peter Obi – National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Old students of Imade College, Owo, Ondo State, have invested more than ?200 million in infrastructure projects at the school, but lamented a shortage of teaching staff and other challenges affecting its operations.

The projects, executed as part of activities marking the institution’s 80th anniversary, included classrooms, laboratories, accommodation facilities, three-bedroom flats and public toilets.

Chairman of the anniversary planning committee, Yinka Akinola, said individuals and different sets of alumni undertook about 10 projects to improve the learning environment.

Akinola, who left the school in 1971, when it had about 300 students, said the growing student population, had increased pressure on existing facilities, despite improvements, including the provision of computer laboratories.

He identified inadequate teaching staff as the college’s major challenge, saying the alumni had been forced to divert funds meant for infrastructure development to employing temporary teachers. According to him, the association spent about ?11 million this year to engage ad hoc teachers and pay the salaries of more than 20 staff members.

Akinola named the worldwide president of the Imade College Owo Old Students Association (IMACOSA), Ambassador Godson Echegile, as a major contributor, disclosing that he had spent over ?100 million on projects at the school this year.

He appealed to the government to recruit more teachers to ease the alumni’s financial burden.

Also, IMACOSA worldwide vice president, Felix Ajibade, said the association had employed 29 ad-hoc teachers at ?70,000 salary each monthly to prevent the shortage from affecting students’ academic performance.

Ajibade urged the government to provide more teachers, drivers and security personnel, noting that the school had three vehicles, but no drivers.

He added that teachers had been burdened with additional responsibilities, while the size of the premises required adequate security during the day and at night.

He appealed to financially capable alumni to support the institution, stressing that even modest contributions could make a difference.

Responding, Chairman, Ondo State Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Dr Oluwadayisi Oke, acknowledged the need for more teachers in public schools but said the government was addressing the shortage through recruitment.

She said Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa had prioritised education through improved teachers’ welfare, timely salary payments, training and retraining programmes, and attention to pensioners, expressing optimism that better working conditions would attract more young people to the profession.

Former Technical Advisers to Ekiti State governor, Biodun Oyebanji, have donated foodstuffs and other essential items to the Erelu Adebayo Children’s Home, in Iyin-Ekiti, as part of efforts to support the welfare and wellbeing of vulnerable children.

The initiative was also aimed at complementing the state government’s commitment to social care and protection.

Items donated to the home included bags of rice, toiletries, detergents, bathing soaps, noodles and other essential supplies.

The former technical advisers, led by Chief Akin Fasae said the initiative was aimed at complementing Governor Oyebanji’s people-oriented programmes, particularly those designed to improve the living conditions of children in need of care, protection and support.

Chief Fasae added that the gesture formed part of activities to celebrate the successful completion of Oyebanji’s first term in office and recognise the administration’s efforts towards inclusive governance, social welfare and the promotion of an egalitarian society.

The former aides said the welfare of vulnerable children remained a collective responsibility requiring contributions from individuals, organisations and other members of society.

In their remarks, Akogun Tai Oguntayo, Mr Stephen Adetunji and Mrs Abimbola Oni noted that Governor Oyebanji had made significant contributions to the welfare of orphans, vulnerable children and the underprivileged members of society over the past four years.

They said the development informed their decision to round off the first phase of his administration’s tenure with the donation.

The former aides stressed the importance of extending a helping hand to children in care facilities, noting that access to essential supplies and a supportive environment would contribute to their comfort, development and overall wellbeing.

They encouraged the children not to lose hope in their future and urged them to remain focused, disciplined and committed to their education and personal development.

They commended the management and caregivers of the children’s home for their dedication to the children’s welfare, urging them to sustain their efforts to provide a safe, nurturing and supportive environment where the children could thrive and realise their potential.

Tertiary institutions in Ondo State have called for a coordinated research and innovation framework that will link academic knowledge with government policies, industry needs and community development.

The institutions, under the Consortium of Tertiary Institutions in Ondo State (COTION), said stronger collaboration, improved funding for education and greater investment in technical skills were essential to addressing development challenges and promoting sustainable growth.

The call was made during the first international conference of COTION 2026, hosted by the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), with the theme ‘Smart Innovation in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Management (STEAM): A Panacea for Sustainable Development.’

Speaking at the opening ceremony, FUTA Vice-Chancellor, Prof Adenike Oladiji, advocated a shift from isolated institutional research to a collaborative model that would enable tertiary institutions to pool expertise, share infrastructure and develop practical solutions to societal challenges.

She said issues such as food insecurity, climate change, energy access, environmental degradation, infrastructure deficits and public health required coordinated, interdisciplinary responses rather than the efforts of individual institutions.

Oladiji described the establishment of the consortium as a step towards institutionalising collaboration, innovation and shared responsibility among tertiary institutions in the state.

She said: ‘This inaugural gathering therefore represents more than the commencement of an annual event; it is the first step towards a stronger culture of collaboration, innovation, and shared responsibility among tertiary institutions in Ondo State.’

She urged universities, polytechnics and colleges of education to strengthen joint research, staff and student exchanges, and partnerships with government agencies, the private sector and host communities to ensure that research outcomes informed policies and delivered measurable development benefits.

According to her, the STEAM approach offers a framework for combining scientific and technological advances with creativity, human-centred thinking and effective management to address real-world problems.

The keynote speaker and former Vice-Chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Prof Olufemi Mimiko, identified inadequate government funding as a major constraint on the education sector and called for increased public investment.

He also advocated stronger emphasis on technical education and closer engagement between educational institutions and industry professionals to bridge the gap between classroom learning and workplace demands.

‘Nigeria’s education is not doing well because the government is not funding it properly. The government should invest more in education. Also, technical aspects of education should be taken seriously,’ he said.

Mimiko said exposing students to professionals with practical experience would improve their skills and better prepare them for employment and productive engagement.

Earlier, the Chairman of the Organising Committee, Prof Sesan Ayodeji, said COTION was conceived in 2024 through the vision of the FUTA Vice-Chancellor, with 13 heads of institutions embracing the initiative in 2025, leading to the consortium’s first colloquium.

He said the platform was designed to promote research cooperation, facilitate the sharing of facilities and expertise, strengthen links between academia and industry, and provide opportunities for young researchers.

Ayodeji disclosed that more than 100 participants joined the conference physically and virtually from institutions within and outside Nigeria.

He urged participants to convert discussions into actionable commitments, including joint research programmes, institutional partnerships and practical interventions.

‘Let us not leave this conference with only a communiqué; instead, let us leave with concrete collaborations, joint research plans and practical solutions that will make a real difference in Ondo State, in Nigeria and beyond,’ he said.

The three-day conference features keynote lectures, technical sessions, panel discussions and research presentations on agriculture, food security, energy, water resources, environmental sustainability, infrastructure, healthcare, industrial development and digital transformation.

The First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has described Nigeria’s health sector workforce as highly skilled and dedicated, expressing confidence in the ability of the country’s health team to make effective use of support aimed at tackling hunger and child malnutrition.

She made this known when the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Mohammed Ali Pate, led a delegation of a US-based organisation, Operation End Starvation, and other agencies under the ministry to seek her support for a partnership to address hunger and malnutrition in the country.

The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, is exploring collaboration with the organisation to strengthen efforts to combat acute child malnutrition and prevent deaths caused by starvation.

Speaking during the meeting, Pate said Nigeria was committed to addressing malnutrition through existing government frameworks. He noted that the recently launched National Community Food Bank Programme, implemented in partnership with the Office of the First Lady, was already making a positive impact across the six geopolitical zones.

‘Nigeria is working hard to scale down its 6.4 million figure of acute child malnutrition, while also attending to the health of pregnant women and lactating mothers,’ he said.

‘A lot of good things are already happening in the country.’

The Chief Executive Officer of Operation End Starvation, Williams Holdsworth Moore, said the initiative, supported by a macro grant from the US Government and other global philanthropists, aimed to direct more than $1bn annually towards preventing child deaths caused by starvation.

‘The foundation is impressed by Nigeria’s focus on combating acute malnutrition and we are seeking partnership for this global ‘Operation End Starvation’ program,’ he said.

‘We want to move 1 billion to end starvation in the next 2 years across Sub Saharan Africa. The burden is high but the capacity is also very high.’

Moore added that the US State Department had approved Nigeria’s inclusion in the programme’s outlook.

‘We have met with the Nigeria health team and they are the one of the best of many we have met,’ he said.

Responding, Tinubu said the level of expertise, commitment and dedication demonstrated by Nigerian professionals extended beyond the health sector.

‘It’s been a delight working with Prof Pate, Dr Muyi and others. I also work with the Ministry of Education and others. The manpower we have now in the Ministries are so wonderful,’ she said.

The First Lady added that President Bola Tinubu was undertaking reforms aimed at overhauling the country’s system, expressing optimism that Nigeria was making progress.

‘Nigeria deserves better and there is nothing we give to her that is too much because if the system works, it will ultimately come back to us,’ she said.

She assured the delegation that any assistance provided would be put to effective use by the country’s health team.

‘I assure you that whatever aid you give us, this Health team would put it to good use,’ she said.

Operation End Starvation, an initiative of the Eleanor Crook Foundation, aims to make Nigeria a primary site for demonstrating the impact of large-scale investment through direct government partnerships over the next two years.

The nonprofit public-private partnership initiative seeks to end child malnutrition and deaths caused by starvation across sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria.

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, on Monday flagged off the Renewed Hope Light Up Project in Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State, targeting 42,000 households across the 13 electoral wards of the constituency with solar lights.

He also distributed 26 power transformers to the wards to connect communities to the national electricity grid.

Commissioning the solar lights, which marked the second phase of the project, the Deputy Speaker, who represents the constituency at the National Assembly, described access to power as the pressing need of the people uncovered during a constituency-wide needs assessment.

He said: ‘In representation, one of the key expectations of the office of a representative is to do needs analysis, and in the course of doing needs analysis, we discovered that one of our greatest problems in this federal constituency is darkness, lack of access to power and that has affected our economic life, the security life of the community, the human capacity development and job creation, all of which fall under the proposition of the Renewed Hope Agenda, the eight agenda of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who from the start intended to improve the economic life of our nation, starting from the communities; create more jobs; improve the security of our communities, human capacity development, agriculture and food security and the list goes on’

The Deputy Speaker said the project had two components: connecting communities to the national grid through transformer distribution and providing alternative energy through solar for all homes in the constituency.

He said the intervention aligned with the eight-point Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which seeks to improve the economic life of Nigerians, starting from the communities.

‘What we are doing today has a multiple effect, a ripple effect that trickles down to different aspects of this Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President. Today, we stand as the partners of the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President. We call ourselves Renewed Hope Partners. We are members of APC, Bende constituents who believe in the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and his agenda to improve the lives of the people of Nigeria starting from Bende federal constituency.

‘What we are here to do is to drive that vision home, by making it a mission that our people can feel, touch and experience. Light before now to many homes in Bende seemed to be luxury. That has been demystified,’ he said.

The Deputy Speaker further disclosed that he received approval of the plan from President Tinubu when he presented the figure of 42,000 households with a request to ensure that children could read at night without kerosene lanterns and that families could power their fans and charge phones.

He expressed profound gratitude to the President for his interventions in Bende in particular and in the entire South-East in general, noting that the Light Up Project was aimed at making its impact felt directly by rural households in Bende.

‘Let me thank the President for initiating Renewed Hope Agenda which has been the roadmap towards the achievements we have made in the last few years.

‘There is nothing we are doing in Bende, in Igboland as members of this government that has not been approved by the President. He is a President that loves the south Easterners and he is making sure that most of the landmark initiatives commence from this area of the country. Today, we are saying bye bye to darkness in Bende Federal Constituency’, Kalu said.

Explaining that the rollout was in batches of 10,000 households, Hon. Kalu said 1,000 solar units had already been distributed to beneficiaries from all electoral wards in the constituency who were present at the ceremony to testify.

He said each solar unit would serve for 10 years, revealing that it came with a maintenance agreement.

‘The people who are handling this have said that this particular solar will serve our people for 10 good years which means you are not going to look for kerosene to power your lanterns in 10 good years, where to charge your phone, power fan. The arrangement we have made with them is that if anything goes bad, we will invite them to come back and fix it as far as you didn’t break it’, he said.

The Deputy Speaker also assured that the first 10,000 of the solar lights distributed on Monday would be completed in the next two weeks before the next batch began.

‘In the next two weeks, I am sure this 10,000 will be done with and another 10,000 will come in and that is how we will follow it until we finish’, he said.

To ensure accountability and prevent diversion of the solar lights, Kalu said all installations were geo-located and programmed through an app, adding that it was the first time 42,000 homes in a single federal constituency would receive solar power in Nigeria.

‘All the installations will be geo-located through the App. Let me warn. Don’t take your own meant for Item to Ozuitem, it will not work. They are all programmed. This is the first of its kind in the Federal Republic of Nigeria that 42,000 homes will receive light in a federal constituency,’ he said.

Also distributing the brand-new transformers, Hon. Kalu explained that each of the 13 wards in Bende would receive two transformers to gain access to the national grid and help boost their small and medium enterprises.

‘Just like we promised that the light in Bende is in two phases, we have the one for national grid and then, we have places that have not experienced the effect of national grid. Based on that, we requested for alternative source of energy that is environmentally friendly and we chose solar. But we also know that while solar handles the home, the small and medium scale enterprises across Bende need support to power fridges, welding machines, small scale industries, you need a transformer to pick up power from the national grid. So, we have made provisions for all the Wards. Every Ward in Bende Federal Constituency wil receive two transformers.

‘The decision on where they will be located will not be based on sentiment and will not be political. It will be needs- influenced decision. It will be decision based on lack of access to electricity. Thereafter, all parts will follow. So, my advise to the leaders when you go back is that these should not be packed in anybody’s home. They should be placed around the place it will be easier to be hooked to the national grid to be begin to serve greater number of the people.

‘We must choose a location where wider number of our constituents will enjoy access to electricity. We are doing all this because of the ripple effect power brings. If you see us distributing solar fans, it is to prevent the heat waves so that Bende people will not be badly impacted by the heat wave that is coming from the global warming. We also believe that these transformers will add values that will protect us from global warming.

‘I want to thank Bende people for sending me to Abuja. I want to thank them for making that decision. The decision is what is fetching what is happening here today and many more that we have done as well as much more that we will do in the coming days.

‘Secure these transformers when it gets to your place. It will be economic sabotage if you tamper with them. They should be protected by the youths, the Presidents-General and the traditional rulers because it is meant to serve Bende communities and everyone in Bende both those in APC and those not in APC. These transformers do not know the colour of political parties. It will serve everyone that I am representing,’ Hon. Kalu said.

The Deputy Speaker also signed a ?100 million contract with the electricity company that installed the transformers for the restoration of light to Item and Alayi wards, which have been disconnected for years.

Some constituents representing the 13 electoral wards and the Presidents-General of different town unions, who testified to the effective representation of the Deputy Speaker at the commissioning, pledged to vote massively for both President Tinubu and Kalu in the 2027 general elections to continue their people-oriented projects.

The Nigeria’s Minister of Steel Development, Shuaibu Abubakar Audu, has met with Kogi State Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo in Abuja to discuss strategies for mobilising support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.

The meeting, held at the governor’s residence on Monday, focused on strengthening the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State and consolidating support for Tinubu ahead of the general elections.

The minister’s Special Assistant on Media, Lizzy Okoji, disclosed this in a statement.

According to the statement, the discussions centred on collaboration among APC leaders, engagement with party stakeholders and strengthening political structures across the state’s three senatorial districts.

Both leaders pledged to work together to advance the party’s interests and secure electoral support for Tinubu in the state.

Speaking after the meeting, Audu described Ododo as the leader of the APC in Kogi State and emphasised the need for unity among party leaders to achieve the president’s re-election bid.

‘Governor Ododo is the leader of our Party, APC in Kogi, and the Governor and I are committed to working together with other party leaders and stakeholders across Kogi State to ensure that we deliver a resounding victory for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027,’ he said.

The minister said the party was committed to strengthening its grassroots structures and mobilising residents across the state ahead of the elections.

‘We understand the importance of this task, and we are determined to mobilise our people and strengthen our structures across the state.

Kogi is united in this mission, and we will work together to deliver an overwhelming victory for Mr President,’ Audu added.

He said the meeting was part of ongoing efforts to improve cooperation among APC leaders in Kogi State and coordinate preparations for the 2027 general elections under Ododo’s leadership.