Category: Business Day

Super Falcons head coach Justine Madugu says his team will approach Tuesday’s 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) qualifier against Benin Republic in Abeokuta with full seriousness, despite holding a comfortable first-leg advantage.

The 10-time African champions lead the tie 2-0 on aggregate, thanks to goals from Chinwendu Ihezuo and Esther Okoronkwo in the first leg played at the Stade Kégué in Lomé on Friday.

But Madugu insists his side will not underestimate the Amazons of Benin, who are expected to come out stronger in the return leg.

‘We are looking forward to a tough game from the Beninoise, but we will be ready for that by putting up a good performance with the ultimate goal of qualification for the 2026 WAFCON,’ Madugu said.

‘They have some quality players from Germany, Morocco, France and Equatorial Guinea, so we’re not taking anything for granted. Underrating any team in Africa now is dangerous – we’ll be going all out for victory.’

The Super Falcons are expected to retain much of the same lineup from the first leg, with Chiamaka Nnadozie in goal, Michelle Alozie, Osinachi Ohale, Tosin Demehin, and Ashley Plumptre forming the backline.

Rasheedat Ajibade, Deborah Abiodun, and Taiwo Afolabi will anchor the midfield, while Ihezuo, Okoronkwo, and Folashade Ijamilusi are likely to lead the attack.

Madugu also has attacking options in Asisat Oshoala, Joy Omewa, and Kafayat Mafisere if needed.

The return leg will take place at the MKO Abiola Sports Complex in Abeokuta at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, with the winner on aggregate advancing to the 14th Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, scheduled for March 17 to April 3, 2026, in Morocco.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the appointment of Adedayo Oketola as Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the chairman of the Commission.

The announcement was made to members of the INEC Press Corps on Monday morning, in a message welcoming Oketola to the Commission’s communications team and media coordination platform.

Oketola, an accomplished journalist and media strategist, brings over two decades of experience in investigative reporting, media management, and strategic communications. Before his appointment, he held senior editorial positions at The Punch newspaper, where he covered national politics, business, and governance.

His appointment is expected to strengthen INEC’s media relations and enhance public communication as the Commission continues its reforms toward transparent and credible elections in Nigeria.

Members of the INEC Press Corps have congratulated the new CPS and expressed their readiness to work closely with him in promoting accurate and timely dissemination of electoral information.

Courts across Kaduna State were on Monday, shut down as members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) commenced an indefinite strike to demand the implementation of financial autonomy for the judiciary and other pending entitlements.

From the Federal and State High Courts to the Upper Shari’a, Customary, and Magistrates’ Courts, judicial activities were completely grounded, with gates locked and banners bearing the inscription, ‘JUSUN Kaduna State chapter embarks on strike,’ displayed at the entrances.

At the Shari’a Court, Magajin Gari, courtrooms were also closed, though a few staff members were seen outside the premises attending to individuals seeking affidavits.

The strike followed a notice issued on October 23, and signed by Nasiru Haruna, the union’s secretary. JUSUN accused the state government of ignoring multiple correspondences, including a demand letter dated September 1 and an ultimatum dated October 9, 2025.

According to the union, efforts to resolve the issues amicably were unsuccessful, leaving it with no option but to embark on industrial action.

Among JUSUN’s demands are the full implementation of financial autonomy for the judiciary in line with the 1999 Constitution (as amended), payment of withheld salaries for April and May 2021, implementation of consequential salary adjustments, and settlement of nine years’ arrears of a 20 percent salary component from 2016 to date.

Other demands include the payment of outstanding leave and transport grants covering nine years and outfit allowances for judiciary staff.

The decision to proceed with the strike, JUSUN said, was reached at an emergency meeting held on October 23, 2025.

‘An indefinite strike action shall begin on Monday. All activities of the Kaduna State Judiciary shall be shut down. All staff are to withdraw their services until further notice,’ the union’s statement read in part.

It also directed all courts and judicial units, including the High Courts, Shari’a Courts, Customary Courts, and other judicial offices across the state, to ensure full compliance with the strike directive.

Meet Abayomi Whint. A Nigerian born lawyer who arrived in Brooklyn at six years old and has just taken the oath of office as a judge of the Kings County New York Civil Court. Her story blends resilience, family values, legal excellence and a deep belief that justice must serve everyone fairly.

‘I am overwhelmed with joy. This is a tremendous honour,’ she said during her swearing in at Brooklyn Law School, surrounded by family and friends dressed proudly in white and green.

An immigrant journey shaped by service

Born in Nigeria, Whint was inspired by her grandfather, a respected magistrate and chief, who instilled in her a passion for justice and leadership. Her father, a nurse, and her mother, an educator and advocate for children, reinforced the belief that community service is a calling.

Those values followed her into the American school system. She graduated cum laude from Connecticut College with distinction in psychology and later earned her law degree from Rutgers School of Law Newark, becoming an associate editor of the Race and the Law Review and a committed advocate for racial justice.

A career built on fairness and community

Whint brings more than 20 years of public sector experience into her new role. Most recently, she served as a legal enforcement attorney in the New York City Fire Department, where she also championed diversity and inclusion initiatives as president of CONNECT, the department’s first affinity group dedicated to civilian staff. She currently sits on the Fire Commissioner’s Committee on Diversity and Inclusion and the Taskforce on Racial Equity and Inclusion.

Her career spans assistant corporation counsel at the New York City Law Department, deputy managing attorney and administrative law judge at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings and years running her own law practice handling bankruptcy, real estate, family law and civil rights matters. She has also served Brooklyn for more than a decade as a volunteer arbitrator in Small Claims Court.Her colleagues describe her as a tireless advocate for fairness.

‘How do we begin to say thank you to someone who has given so much of herself,’ said Frank Seddio, retired surrogate court judge. ‘This is the beginning of a great career in the judiciary.’

Justice that people can feel

Whint’s judicial philosophy is clear. Courts must ensure that every voice is heard. ‘The legal system should serve everyone equally,’ she explained. ‘When people leave court, they should feel they have been given due process and a fair opportunity to be heard.’

She believes judicial decisions shape the lives of families and neighbourhoods. Her compass remains grounded in restorative justice, mediation and community building. As a certified mediator, arbitrator and restorative circle keeper, she works actively to heal harm, resolve conflict and uplift those who feel excluded from the justice system.

Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, celebrated the significance of Whint’s appointment.

‘Her journey speaks volumes about the resilience and determination that fuel so many immigrant families,’ she said. ‘With faith and perseverance anything is possible.’

Breaking barriers and inspiring many

Elected as one of eight new judges in Brooklyn in the November 2024 ballot, her elevation has been widely celebrated within New York’s Nigerian community. The Nigerian Consul General, Ambassador Abubakar Jidda, hosted a reception in her honour, describing her achievement as a victory for representation and community service.

Whint describes the role not as a career milestone, but as a purpose. ‘This is not just a career choice. This is my calling.’

Her arrival on the bench signals a profound message to young immigrants, women in law and communities in search of hope. Whint has vowed to work every day to make Brooklyn ‘a more just and equitable place for all.’

On 26 August 2025, Nigeria announced a six-month halt on exports of raw shea nuts. By then, we had mobilised private financing, signed export contracts, and trained our partner farmers to gather, sort, crack, and dry shea kernels, the semi-processed step before butter. Overnight, working capital sat idle, and shipment timelines snapped.

A quick note on definitions: Raw shea nuts are the uncracked fruit; shea kernels are the dried, de-hulled seed; shea butter is the extracted fat. The ban targeted nuts, but its intent, to push more value-addition at home, spilled over to operators like us who export kernels to long-established overseas processors.

Nigeria sits on one of the world’s largest shea belts, yet we’re underrepresented in global shea value chains. The instinct to build domestic capacity is right. But timing and execution matter. By mid-June (mid-season for us), processor quotas, budgets and offtake plans were already locked. There was no practical pivot to domestic processors at that point without breaking other contracts.

This isn’t the first time Nigeria has tried to steer markets with hard stops. From the Hides and Skins framework (1940s) to the land-border closure in 2019-20 to the maize-export criminalisation bill in late 2024, the logic is familiar: keep raw materials at home, fight leakage, and build local industry. But the reasons sudden export restrictions underperform haven’t changed:

1) We have a production problem: Our yields are chronically lower when compared to our peers because most production is smallholder-led and underserved. Grants and NGO projects help at the margins, but scale demands season-fit extension, drying/quality infrastructure, and reliable aggregation.

2) We have a financial problem: Appropriate working capital remains scarce. Flagship schemes that should have filled the gap (e.g., Anchor Borrowers Scheme) faltered on governance and recoveries. Cheap credit without discipline, offtake and enforcement is not finance.

3) We have an incentives problem: When cross-border arbitrage pays and borders are porous, blanket bans tend to divert rather than develop trade. Informal traders route around policy; formal operators eat the friction.

At Aké Collective, we built around those realities: a lean, farmer-led model where women’s cooperatives act as primary processors and community aggregators. It keeps overheads low, quality high, and local impact real. In what became a short foray into shea this season, partner incomes rose materially, up to 4x, for women who had long abandoned the shea trade. Despite the expectations of policymakers, the sudden shea ban did not translate into a sudden shift to butter-making within these communities. Without guaranteed buyers, equipment, and working capital, telling rural women to ‘process more’ is not a plan.

What would make the policy bite without breaking operators mid-season?

? Time-bound transition: Announce bans pre-season with a dated glide path; grandfather already-contracted volumes.

? Clarify scope: Exempt kernels that meet domestic value-add thresholds (e.g., moisture, FFA specs) while still discouraging export of unprocessed nuts.

? Processor certification and quotas: Prioritise domestic processors with verifiable capacity; allocate transitional quotas for exporters linked to local offtake commitments.

? Season-fit working capital: Create an accountable SME window (not grants) tied to delivery and quality metrics; pay rural women processing groups on acceptance, not on hope.

? Border discipline that targets leakage, not compliance. Focus enforcement on high-risk corridors and known arbitrage, not operators with mapped farms and traceable lots.

Nigeria should absolutely become a hub for value-added shea. But we get there by matching policy timing to season economics, by backing operators who already execute, and by aligning incentives so the formal route wins. Otherwise, we freeze the very supply chains we need to build the processors we want.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says over $50 billion worth of cryptocurrency transactions flowed through Nigeria between July 2023 and June 2024.

The Director-General of SEC, Emomotimi Agama, said in a notice on Sunday that the situation raised concern over the low participation of citizens in the traditional capital market.

Agama said no fewer than four per cent of the country’s adult population were active investors.

The director-general described the low participation rate as a major impediment to economic growth and capital formation.

He noted that, while fewer than three million citizens invested in the capital market, more than 60 million engaged daily in gambling activities, spending an estimated $5.5 million every day.

‘This reveals a paradox, an appetite for risk clearly exists, but not the trust or access to channel that energy into productive investment,’ he said. Agama also lamented that Nigeria’s market capitalisation to Gross Domestic Product ratio stood at about 30 per cent, far below South Africa’s 320 per cent, Malaysia’s 123 per cent, and India’s 92 per cent.

He said the disparity highlighted the urgent need to deepen financial inclusion and rebuild investors’ confidence.

‘Nigeria’s $150 billion annual infrastructure deficit far exceeds the market’s contribution, with only N1.5 trillion approved in Public Private Partnership bonds.

‘This shows a misalignment between financial innovation and national priorities,’ he said.

The director-general called for a ‘reimagined SEC’ that served as both regulator and enabler of private-sector-driven growth.

ýOlatunbosun Oyintiloye, a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State, has called on Joash Amupitan, the newly appointed Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), not yield to political intimidation or manipulation in the discharge of his duties.

ýOyintiloye, who was a member of the defunct APC Presidential Campaign Council, made the call while addressing journalists on Sunday in Osogbo, urging the INEC boss to demonstrate a high level of courage and integrity in the face of intimidation from politicians, especially the opposition parties, ahead of the off-cycle and general elections.

ýHe also advised Amupitan not to disappoint Nigerians and to resist all forms of undue pressure from politicians, especially opposition who may seek to blackmail the Commission to discredit valid electoral processes.

ýAccording to him, the Commission, under Amupitan’s leadership, must act in line with the established rules and regulations, as well as, acceptable standard of practice to avoid committing errors in the face of pressure from politicians.

ýThe former lawmaker said, ‘All eyes are on the new INEC boss, and I want to advise him to stay focused and resist all forms of pressure that could undermine the integrity of the Commission. Amupitan must ignore all forms of negative criticism and ensure he abides by the laid-down rules and regulations for the conduct of free and fair elections in the country.

ý’Those who lost elections will continue to undermine the efforts of the commission towards conducting a credible elections in the country for their own personal gain, but the INEC boss must fear no one. He must apply the rules without favour,’ he added.

ýOyintiloye who also commended President Bola Tinubu for appointing Amupitan for the job, saying his choice could not have been a mistake said that ‘Amupitan’s appointment by the President shows that he is a man of integrity and honour with capacity to sanitise the country’s electoral processes.’

ýHe, however, noted that the November Anambra governorship election and the 2026 gubernatorial elections in Ekiti and Osun would be a litmus test for Amupitan.

ýWhile congratulating him on his appointment, Oyintiloye further said all eyes are on the new INEC boss to protect the integrity of the electoral Commission.

Every crypto cycle has its breakout presales, and 2025 is already shaping up to be one of the biggest yet. Several new presale crypto coins are pulling strong attention for their technology, concepts, and early-stage performance. These projects are still in their fundraising phases, but the excitement around them is hard to ignore.

From advanced blockchain architecture to wallet ecosystems and community-driven meme tokens, these presales cover a mix of serious utility and light-hearted fun. Let’s look closer at four notable names like BlockDAG, Maxi Doge, Best Wallet Token, and Pepenode, and see what’s driving their momentum and why so many early buyers are watching them closely.

1. BlockDAG: The Hybrid Powerhouse With $432M+ Raised

BlockDAG (BDAG) has become the most talked-about among all presale crypto coins, thanks to its record-breaking $432 million+ raise. Its core innovation is combining Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work security with a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) system for massive scalability.

This hybrid design allows BlockDAG to handle between 2,000 and 15,000 transactions per second, which is something traditional blockchains can’t match. Developers can already test and build on its Testnet, which supports Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility, attracting more than 4,500 developers.

Another key strength is BlockDAG’s accessible mining ecosystem. The project’s X-Series rigs (X10, X30, and X100) allow everyone from beginners to professionals to mine BDAG coins efficiently. More than 20,000 units have already been sold, creating a strong sense of community participation. Each rig can mine anywhere between 200 and 2,000 BDAG coins daily, depending on the model.

The presale is now in its 31st batch at $0.0015 per BDAG, with a planned launch price of $0.05. Over 27 billion coins have been sold to 312,000+ holders worldwide. With a strong team led by CEO Antony Turner and backed by advisors like Dr. Maurice Herlihy, the project has completed security audits by CertiK and Halborn. For many, BlockDAG represents the kind of mix between innovation and trust that’s rare in new crypto projects.

2. Maxi Doge: The Meme Power Presale

Maxi Doge is bringing the fun side of crypto back to life. Built on the spirit of Dogecoin, it combines meme energy with a loyal online community that loves humor as much as speculation. Despite being lighthearted in tone, Maxi Doge’s presale results are serious, it has already raised around $2.2 million, with token prices floating near $0.000258 per MAXI.

Its simple message of strong community, fun culture, and straightforward utility has helped Maxi Doge become one of the popular presale crypto coins in 2025. Like many meme projects, its strength lies in how engaged the holders are rather than what the code can do. Whether it sustains that momentum beyond listing depends on how active the developers remain after launch. Still, it’s gaining attention from traders looking for quick-moving projects with viral potential.

3. Best Wallet Token: Utility With a Purpose

Best Wallet Token (BEST) is one of the few presale crypto coins that focuses on practical use from day one. It’s tied directly to the Best Wallet app, a platform promising secure storage, early access to new presales, and staking rewards. Its token acts as the fuel for that ecosystem: used for governance, rewards, and discounts within the wallet.

The project has gathered real traction, reportedly raising about $13.5 million so far. The ongoing presale price sits at $0.025855 per token, and the sale period has been extended until the end of December 2025 to allow new participants to join. If Best Wallet can convert presale interest into active app usage, it could have a steady base of long-term users rather than just short-term speculators.

4. Pepenode: The Meme-Mining Experiment

Pepenode is one of the more unusual presale crypto coins this year. It merges meme culture with mining rewards, branding itself as a ‘mine-to-earn’ ecosystem. The idea is that token holders can operate Pepenode Nodes that generate rewards in PEPENODE and other meme tokens like PEPE and FARTCOIN.

Its presale has already attracted nearly $2 million, showing how meme projects can still find fresh twists to stand out. The community push behind it is enthusiastic, though the success of its ‘mine-to-earn’ model depends entirely on whether the promised infrastructure goes live and performs well. It’s fun, risky, and unpredictable. Exactly the combination that defines many new-age meme presales in 2025.

Summing Up

The current lineup of presale crypto coins is diverse, blending serious technology and playful community-based tokens. BlockDAG stands out for its mix of scalability, security, and transparency. Maxi Doge adds humor and hype, Best Wallet Token offers a real-world wallet use case, and Pepenode experiments with meme-based mining. Each has its strengths, but they all share the same risk: being in presale means success isn’t guaranteed.

Still, with careful research and realistic expectations, exploring presale crypto coins can give traders an early window into projects shaping the next crypto cycle. Whether they prefer innovation, utility, or community energy, 2025 is proving to be one of the most active years for presale opportunities.

The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has revealed that Nigeria’s public debt has decreased by over $19 billion since President Bola Tinubu assumed office in 2023, countering perceptions of a rising debt crisis.

In an explainer released on October 24, the NOA stated that misinformation has fueled a misleading narrative about the country’s debt burden.

Citing data from the Debt Management Office (DMO), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Ministry of Finance, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and international institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the agency maintained that Nigeria’s debt position has, in fact, improved.

According to the NOA, Nigeria’s total public debt was $113.42 billion in June 2023, with a debt-to-GDP ratio below 40 percent considered sustainable by the IMF and World Bank. By December 2024, total public debt had fallen to approximately $94.22 billion, a reduction of over $19 billion in 18 months.

‘The reduction in Nigeria’s debt reflects active management of borrowings and repayments,’ the NOA said. ‘Rather than accumulating new debt, the government has made down payments on existing loans and avoided unnecessary borrowing.’

The agency noted that before the Tinubu administration, debt servicing consumed nearly all federal revenue, with 97 percent used in the first half of 2023. By the end of 2024, this ratio fell to 68 percent and is now under 50 percent as of the second quarter of 2025.

NOA highlighted the government’s commitment to meeting its debt obligations, including the repayment of a $3.26 billion IMF loan within two years and spending about $7 billion on external debt servicing during the first 18 months of the administration.

While debt is manageable, the agency noted Nigeria’s continued economic challenges due to reliance on oil revenue. Efforts to diversify income sources have led to a 30 percent increase in non-oil revenue in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

In the first quarter of 2025, the Nigerian Customs Service collected N1.3 trillion – more than double the N600 billion collected in the same period in 2023.

The NOA added that Nigeria’s economy shows signs of recovery, supported by diversification beyond oil. The World Bank projects GDP growth of 3.7 percent in 2024, driven by agriculture, telecommunications, and services the highest in a decade outside post-pandemic rebounds.

The report also highlighted government investments in infrastructure, agriculture, the digital economy, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to create sustainable revenue streams and reduce dependence on oil.

Former Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has formally declared his intention to contest for the position of National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), pledging to restore internal democracy, rebuild public trust, and reposition the opposition party ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Lamido’s declaration, made on Sunday in Dutse, Jigawa State, marks the beginning of what is expected to be a competitive race for the PDP’s top leadership seat, as the party struggles to recover from internal crises, defections, and dwindling influence since its loss of power at the national level in 2015.

Speaking to journalists and party supporters, the former governor said his decision to seek the chairmanship was born out of a desire to unite the PDP family and return it to its founding ideals of inclusiveness, justice, and equity. According to him, the party had drifted away from the principles that once made it Nigeria’s dominant political force, noting that it was time for experienced leaders to step forward and rebuild it from within.

‘I am offering myself to serve because our party is at a critical juncture,’ Lamido stated. ‘The PDP must rediscover its soul. We must move away from personal ambitions and sectional interests to rebuild a national movement that speaks for ordinary Nigerians. I believe we can restore the PDP’s pride and reposition it as a credible alternative to the ruling party.’

Lamido, who governed Jigawa State from 2007 to 2015, is one of the party’s founding members and a long-time ally of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He has been a vocal critic of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), accusing it of failing to deliver on its promises and deepening Nigeria’s socioeconomic challenges.

His announcement comes amid growing calls within the PDP for leadership renewal following a series of electoral setbacks, internal wrangling, and public perception issues. Many stakeholders have blamed the party’s decline on weak leadership and factional divisions, urging a return to the disciplined, issue-based politics that once defined its early years.

Reacting to Lamido’s declaration, some PDP chieftains welcomed his ambition, describing him as a leader with ‘the political maturity and ideological clarity’ to stabilize the party. Others, however, expressed concerns that his candidacy might reignite old rivalries among senior figures, especially from the North-West, where several party heavyweights are also eyeing the top position.

Political observers note that Lamido’s entry into the race could significantly reshape internal power dynamics within the PDP. His long-standing relationships with party elders, coupled with his reputation as a grassroots mobilizer, may give him an edge in negotiations with state chapters and influential blocs.

The PDP National Executive Committee is expected to announce a date for its elective convention in the coming months. Until then, Lamido and other aspirants will intensify consultations across the country to secure support.

As the race gathers momentum, analysts say Lamido’s bid symbolizes more than a personal ambition; it represents a call for revival within Nigeria’s oldest surviving political party. Whether that call will unite or further divide the PDP remains to be seen.