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The Federal High Court sitting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, has convicted and sentenced nine of 19 persons arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) for crude oil theft.

Delivering judgment on Monday, the presiding judge, Justice Joy Ikpeme, found the nine convicts guilty on a two-count charge of conspiracy and tampering with an oil pipeline, contrary to Section 1(7) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act.

Justice Ikpeme sentenced each of the convicts to five years’ imprisonment on count one and 10 years on count two, without an option of fine.

The sentences are to run concurrently.

The convicts, alongside 10 other suspects, were arrested earlier in the year following an intelligence-led operation by the Nigerian Navy and the DSS.

They were caught stealing crude oil from an oil wellhead identified as ASABO-D in Ibeno Local Government Area of the state.

”The conviction marks another milestone in the Navy’s sustained campaign against crude oil theft and illegal bunkering activities along Nigeria’s maritime and riverine areas, which have continued to drain the nation’s oil revenue and damage the environment in host communities,’ a security source declared.

Her STEAM Impact Initiative, in partnership with Tecpal, has held the Lagos edition of The Evolution Workshop 2026, bringing together women from different backgrounds for discussions on personal and professional development.

The workshop took place on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, in Lagos, with young women, entrepreneurs, professionals, creatives, industry leaders, and other participants attending.

The programme focused on leadership, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, personal development, mental, emotional, and physical well-being, beauty entrepreneurship, personal branding, innovation, technology, and future readiness.

Participants engaged in panel discussions, fireside conversations and practical learning sessions aimed at providing insights and tools for navigating personal and professional development.

The workshop also gave participants opportunities to share experiences, network, and discuss issues related to their careers, businesses, and personal growth.

Speaking on the Lagos edition, Juliet Ibrahim, founder of Her STEAM Initiative, described The Evolution Workshop as more than an event.

‘The Evolution Workshop is more than an event; it is a growing movement designed to equip women with the knowledge, confidence, community and opportunities they need to evolve and thrive,’ Ibrahim said.

‘The Lagos edition demonstrated what becomes possible when women are given a safe and intentional space to learn, connect, share their experiences and prepare for the future.’

The event featured speakers, facilitators and moderators drawn from different sectors.

They included keynote speaker Gboyega Akosile, Juliet Ibrahim, Sam Nduka, CEO of TecPal, Sharon Ifeoma Asika-Anene, Sonia Ibrahim, Adekunle Olopade, Aishat Abdulkabir, Victoria Nkong of Bridge Afric, Dr Omobolaji Mogaji, Dabota Lawson, Abbyke Domina, Amb. Dr Ekwutoziam Ashiedu Ogwus Chinedu, Ramat Babah, Aisha Amirah Adedeji, Oyinkansola ‘Foza’ Fawehinmi, Obinna Okerekeocha, Omolayo Olufayo and Anaturuchi Iroapali, popularly known as Mr Green.

Chioma Geraldine Ikechukwu served as moderator, while Nancy Enyioma Iheoma was the master of ceremonies.

Her STEAM Impact Initiative also acknowledged the organisations and media partners that supported the Lagos edition.

They included Tecpal, Nord Motors, East Coast Water, Lagos Food Bank, Tonnie Photography, WIFT Ghana, Ovation Media Group, Lapel Honey, Cypress Multimedia, A Slice of Naija, FWIFT Nigeria, Yaw Naija, HipTV, Wallex, Nexus TV/FM, One Twelve Fruities, Pixie Events, Juliet Ibrahim Studios and Jalent Africa.

Following the Lagos edition, the initiative said it plans to expand The Evolution Workshop to other parts of Africa, with a focus on providing women with access to practical knowledge, mentorship, professional networks and communities.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday warned that developing countries risk surrendering control of their future unless they move from merely consuming technology to producing it, creating knowledge and owning intellectual property.

Tinubu, who declared that ‘a nation that owns no technology risks renting its future’, challenged BRICS countries to deepen cooperation with developing economies in artificial intelligence, digital public infrastructure, fintech, telecommunications, cybersecurity, biotechnology and advanced manufacturing.

The President spoke at the 18th BRICS Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi, India, in an address delivered on his behalf by Vice President Kashim Shettima.

BRICS is an intergovernmental organisation comprising 11 major emerging market and developing countries: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates

According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Office of the Vice President, Stanley Nkwocha, Tinubu said Nigeria was determined to leverage its youthful population and growing innovation ecosystem to become a producer rather than merely a consumer of emerging technologies.

‘We welcome deeper BRICS cooperation in artificial intelligence, digital public infrastructure, fintech, telecommunications, cybersecurity, biotechnology and advanced manufacturing, because developing countries must produce technology, create knowledge and own intellectual property. A nation that owns no technology risks renting its future,’ Tinubu said.

The President identified Nigeria’s young and dynamic population as one of its greatest assets, saying its creativity and enterprise were already driving the country’s innovation agenda.

He said his administration was investing in digital skills, entrepreneurship, research, artificial intelligence and technology-enabled businesses through initiatives such as 3MTT, Project BRIDGE and national AI programmes.

‘As Project BRIDGE expands broadband, fibre and digital public services, we seek an open, secure, and inclusive digital ecosystem that advances innovation, digital trade, responsible artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity,’ he said.

Tinubu said Nigeria viewed its relationship with BRICS as a practical platform for securing investment, technology transfer and human-capital development rather than merely another forum for diplomatic dialogue.

‘Nigeria sees cooperation with BRICS as a practical opportunity for trade, investment, technology transfer, and human-capital development. We support partnerships in infrastructure, connectivity, energy, agriculture, healthcare, education, and industrialisation, backed by development finance’, he said.

Beyond technology, the President called for an urgent overhaul of global governance structures and international financial institutions, arguing that the international system must better reflect contemporary economic and demographic realities.

He said the transformation championed by BRICS should extend to the international system, particularly the United Nations Security Council and global financial architecture.

‘Nigeria supports a more representative, equitable and responsive global governance architecture, including reform of the United Nations Security Council and the international financial system.

‘BRICS amplifies the voice of the Global South and advances a more inclusive international order, consistent with Nigeria’s call for institutions that reflect contemporary economic and demographic realities,’ he said.

Tinubu consequently made a case for ‘a BRICS partnership that moves from dialogue to delivery, from commitments to implementation, and from cooperation to measurable development outcomes’.

The President also invited foreign investors to take advantage of opportunities in Nigeria, urging them to see the country as a gateway to Africa’s expanding market under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

He defined economic resilience for Nigeria as building an economy capable of withstanding global shocks while creating sustainable opportunities for citizens.

Tinubu said the objective was embedded in his administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda through reforms aimed at strengthening macroeconomic stability, diversifying production, raising productivity, expanding infrastructure and human capital, attracting investment, promoting private-sector-led growth and deepening climate resilience.

‘We welcome BRICS cooperation in trade, agriculture, food security, energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, healthcare and critical minerals, especially partnerships that advance technology transfer, local value addition, industrial capacity and employment’, he said.

On climate change, Tinubu said Nigeria’s sustainability model sought to balance climate action with the development aspirations of emerging economies.

He reaffirmed Nigeria’s support for affordable climate finance, technology transfer and capacity-building for Africa, while seeking greater cooperation in renewable energy, gas, clean technologies, climate-smart agriculture, sustainable infrastructure and responsible critical-mineral development.

The President said climate responsibility should contribute to broader economic growth rather than become an obstacle to the development ambitions of emerging economies.

Tinubu expressed Nigeria’s readiness to contribute to a BRICS partnership resilient enough to withstand global shocks, innovative enough to embrace the future and cooperative enough to advance shared prosperity while protecting future generations.

‘Our partnerships must create jobs, expand trade, transfer technology, and strengthen our nations’ productive capacity. We must build a future in which Africa moves from the margins of global development to the frontiers of global growth and innovation,’ he said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said confidence in BRICS among countries of the Global South had grown because their voices were being heard, their experiences respected and solutions developed with them rather than for them.

Modi said the strength of BRICS lay in its diversity and cooperation, noting that the bloc was expanding participation beyond governments to entrepreneurs, farmers, researchers, women and young people.

‘We may be rooted in different realities, but together, we rise through cooperation and blossom for humanity,’ he said.

The Indian Prime Minister said initiatives such as BRICS CONNECT, the BRICS MSME Cooperation Portal and the BRICS Urban Mobility Hub were designed to promote skills, employment, enterprise development and knowledge-sharing among member and partner countries.

Modi also stressed the need to balance development with environmental responsibility, saying sustainability must remain central to BRICS cooperation and the interests of future generations.

The Ogun State Government has ruled out the reintroduction of the monthly environmental sanitation exercise, opting instead to strengthen daily waste collection and disposal through increased investment in equipment for the Ogun State Waste Management Authority (OGWAMA).

Governor Dapo Abiodun stated this in Abeokuta while commissioning waste management equipment, operational vehicles and an office block to mark the first six months in office of the Special Adviser and Managing Director of OGWAMA, Hon. Farouk Adeniyi Akintunde.

Represented by the Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Ola Oresanya, the governor said Ogun had moved beyond the era of shutting down economic activities for several hours each month in the name of environmental sanitation.

He said residents had increasingly embraced daily sanitation, making a return to the monthly exercise unnecessary.

‘Already our people are used to daily sanitation, so instead of re-introducing monthly Environmental Exercise, we have decided to buy more Compactors and other waste management equipments for the state Waste Management Authority OGWAMA to daily collect and dispose properly waste generated by households, commercial outlets and industrial facilities in conjunction with accredited PSP across the state.’

Abiodun said the state government would soon take delivery of additional compactors and other waste management equipment to further strengthen OGWAMA’s operations.

‘Infact the state government will soon take delivery of these Compactors and other waste equipment to further strengthen OGWAMA thereby affirming the state government’s determination of not going back to the old ways when Environmental Sanitation Exercise are done once in a month with its problems of ineffective collection and disposal even hours after the end of the exercise.’

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, has called for a coordinated financing framework that would enable manufacturers to get cheaper loans.

Oyedele said during the Ministerial Roundtable 2 of the Industrial Revolution Work Group (IRWG), the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) in Lagos at the weekend that the high cost of loans to manufacturers is unsustainable.

The minister, represented at the event by his Special Adviser on Finance and Investment, Marie Opere, stated that commercial banks’ credit to the manufacturing sector contracted by about N1.9 trillion last year, representing a decline of more than 22 per cent from N8.5 trillion to N6.61 trillion. He said manufacturers were borrowing at prime rates averaging about 27 per cent, with maximum rates reaching the mid-30 per cent range.

Oyedele described the financing scheme as unsuitable for investments requiring seven, 10 or 15 years to deliver returns.

He said the financing gap required government, regulators, development finance institutions and commercial capital providers to understand the constraints from one another’s perspective and develop a more coordinated financing framework.

The minister said the focus should extend beyond commercial bank lending to the deliberate use of public balance sheets, blended finance, institutional capital, pension funds, insurance assets and the capital market to support productive investment.

He added that fiscal, monetary and industrial policies were interconnected, warning that an incentive, guarantee scheme or development fund that manufacturers could not access effectively produced the same outcome as having no policy at all.

Oyedele said the proposed National Industrial Finance Compact should ultimately be judged by whether manufacturers could access financing and use it to expand installed capacity, create jobs and increase export earnings.

Also, Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, John Enoh, pointed out that Nigeria’s financing architecture is wired against long-term funding for the manufacturing sector.

Speaking on the theme: ‘Affordable Long-Term Finance and Building: The Capital Architecture for Industrial Growth and MSME Inclusion,’ Enoh said the challenge facing manufacturers was not simply the availability of money, but the high cost, tenor and structure of financing.

He added that industrial investments often require years to mature and therefore cannot be sustained with short-term funds, arguing that the country cannot achieve industrial growth without restructuring how capital gets into factories.

Enoh said manufacturers needed what he described as the ‘right kind of money’ to expand production and compete.

According to him, the right financing must be long enough to support investment in machinery and production capacity, while being affordable enough for manufacturers to price their products competitively.

‘Our manufacturers do not lack ambition, they don’t lack orders, they don’t lack markets. What they continuously lack is money, the right kind of money,’ he said.

Enoh explained that the long gestation period of industrial investments made the current structure of financing unsuitable for manufacturing.

‘The issue is not that there is no money. It is the price of the money, the term of the money and the capital architecture into the factories,’ he said.

The minister said a business investing in a long venture that could take 10 to 15 years to mature could not reasonably be expected to repay financing within three or six months.

He pointed out that the mismatch in financing was contributing to a situation where businesses could find trading more attractive than investing in production, particularly when the cost and structure of capital made manufacturing less viable.

Enoh said the finance sector needed to help move Nigerians from trading to production, stressing that the objective of the ongoing discussions was to find ways of directing capital towards productive investment.

Ebonyi State Governor Francis Nwifuru has warned the people of Izhi Nnodo clan against the indiscriminate sale of ancestral lands, family compounds and burial grounds.

He said such practices could make them strangers in their own homeland.

Nwifuru issued the warning at the weekend in Amagu, the ancestral home of Izhi Nnodo, during the grand finale of the Ojiji Izhi New Yam Festival.

He also cautioned against the erosion of indigenous values in the name of religion, modernity or political expediency.

The governor said ancestral land was not merely a commodity but represented the history, identity and collective memory of the people, urging families to preserve inherited properties for generations yet unborn.

‘I have seen situations where people sell not only family lands but even the burial grounds and ancestral compounds of their fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers.

‘Such actions are regrettable because they disregard the sacrifices and struggles through which our ancestors secured these lands,’ Nwifuru said in his Izhi dialect.

He appealed to elders, traditional rulers, youths and religious leaders to protect the cultural heritage of the clan, stressing that the people must distinguish between legitimate cultural traditions and practices that violate religious or moral principles.

Nwifuru said religion and culture should not be unnecessarily conflated, noting that legitimate traditions promoting unity, respect for elders, communal responsibility and peaceful coexistence should not be discarded merely because of religious convictions.

‘Many have confused religion for tradition and have failed to locate the difference between the two. There is sharp demarcation between the two and they do not conflict and clash in their operations,’ he said.

The governor identified respect for elders, dignity of labour, hard work, peace, unity and communalism as some of the core values that historically defined the Izhi people.

He also warned against allowing political disagreements to tear the clan apart ahead of the 2027 elections, saying political contests should not destroy ancestral bonds or communal relationships.

Nwifuru said those seeking elective positions under opposition platforms were free to exercise their democratic rights but urged them to pursue their ambitions peacefully and in the interest of the people.

He equally cautioned against what he described as the use of social media to provoke political crises, insisting that legitimate grievances should be addressed through appropriate channels.

‘People should not leverage social media to castigate our leaders and deny our sincere performances all in the name of politics,’ he said.

Defending his administration’s record, Nwifuru said Ebonyi had witnessed significant infrastructure development under his administration, particularly in the road sector.

‘We have completed more than 500 kilometres of roads across the 13 LGAs. We have done roads connecting other states with span bridges,’ he said.

He urged the people to support the All Progressives Congress in the 2027 elections, expressing confidence that the party would secure victory across the state.

The governor said the administration’s political objective was to consolidate its development agenda and deliver electoral victories for APC candidates from the presidency to the governorship, Senate, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly.

Chairman of the Ojiji Izhi cultural event, Edward Nkwegu, said the festival remained a platform for transmitting the values of good morals, sincerity, industry, justice, equity and fairness handed down by the ancestors.

Nkwegu lamented the increasing erosion of traditional values among youths, attributing part of the development to modernity and Western influences.