Category: Nigerian Tribune

The Imo State Government has disclosed its position on the abduction of 19 NYSC members in the state, which occurred five days ago along the Owerri-Onitsha Road.

The Imo State Commissioner for Information, Public Enlightenment and Strategy, Hon. Declan Mbadiwe Emelumba, told the Nigerian Tribune in Owerri on Monday that the government was not sleeping over the issue.

He said the state government was collaborating with security agencies in the state to ensure the safe rescue of the kidnapped victims.

He said, ‘Of course, you know that the government is not sleeping on the matter.’

He assured that the kidnapped victims would soon be released unharmed.

The removal of the fuel subsidy has enabled the Federal Government to raise about $500m for the reconstruction of the Lagos airport and other aviation infrastructure, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has said.

Keyamo disclosed this on Monday in Lagos while speaking at the 67th anniversary of Aero Contractors Airline, where he highlighted the investments made in the aviation sector under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Responding to a question on the state of the industry under the Renewed Hope Agenda, the minister said the funds for the infrastructure projects were not obtained through borrowing.

According to him, the administration’s economic reforms had improved Nigeria’s liquidity and strengthened its foreign reserves, creating conditions that made it easier to attract capital for major infrastructure projects.

‘The President raised $500m to rebuild the Lagos airport. Not money borrowed, because we were able to do what we should do. Our liquidity rose. Our foreign reserves also rose from $3bn to $56bn now,’ Keyamo said.

He added that improved economic conditions had also increased investor confidence in Nigeria, with more investors showing interest in the country.

Defending the administration’s position, the minister argued that stronger macroeconomic indicators and foreign reserves were necessary to attract the investment required to expand infrastructure and create employment.

He dismissed arguments that improved foreign reserves offered little relief to Nigerians facing economic hardship, describing such criticism as an attempt to exploit public sentiment.

‘People say, ‘What will foreign reserves do for the economy? People are hungry.’ You know, this is the cheap talk they engage in to play on cheap sentiment,’ he said.

Keyamo maintained that Nigeria’s priority should be to create an environment capable of attracting investors who can bring capital, build infrastructure and generate employment.

He said sustainable employment could not be achieved through government declarations alone, stressing that jobs were ultimately driven by investment and infrastructure development.

‘Jobs don’t fall from heaven, jobs come as a result of either the infrastructure you are building or investments. That is how jobs are created,’ he said.

Beyond the Lagos airport reconstruction, Keyamo said the administration was pursuing other major aviation infrastructure projects across the country.

He disclosed that Tinubu had approved the return of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) to the Abuja airport project to construct the long-awaited second runway at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.

‘The President is not only stopping at rebuilding Lagos International Airport. Mr President has also approved that CCECC go back to build the second runway in Abuja now,’ he said.

The minister recalled that the Abuja runway project had previously stalled following concerns over its cost. He said the project was estimated at about N45bn when it was initially proposed, but opposition to the expenditure contributed to the delay.

Keyamo said the cost had since risen substantially, with the project now estimated at nearly N500bn.

‘The National Assembly fought that project because they said that N45bn was too much to spend on the second runway,’ he said.

He argued that the delay demonstrated the cost of postponing critical infrastructure, insisting that investment in aviation infrastructure would strengthen the sector and support wider economic growth.

Keyamo reiterated that attracting investment, improving infrastructure and creating investor confidence remained central to the administration’s strategy for generating sustainable jobs.

Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has said the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, does not pose a threat to President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 election, describing Obi as his brother and friend.

Umahi stated this while appearing on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, where he also said his position on integrating the South-East into the mainstream of the country had remained unchanged.

‘Peter Obi is my brother and friend. My position about integrating the Southeast into the main stream of the nation never changed as a governor,’ he said.

The minister recalled that while former President Muhammadu Buhari was in office, he publicly urged people in the South-East to support Buhari, despite backing former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar in Ebonyi.

‘When Buhari was there I publicly asked the Southeast to give Buhari 25 percent while I gave Atiku 75 percent in my state,’ he said.

Umahi said the South-East should adopt a broad-minded approach to the 2027 election, noting that Peter Obi was not the only presidential aspirant from the region.

‘So my position has not changed; my position is that we should have a broad mind. Peter Obi is not the only Southeast candidate contesting; we have three other Southeast candidates that are contesting.

‘So Peter Obi is not a threat to APC. Talk is cheap and I’m saying what we are doing. I said what I did as governor of Ebonyi,’ he said.

He challenged presidential candidates seeking to lead the country to present evidence of their achievements at the community level while they held public office.

‘I’m saying any of these people that say they want to rule the country should open the video on how they developed their community when they occupied the position,’ Umahi said.

All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta has mobilised about 400 support groups for grassroots engagement ahead of the 2027 elections, charging them to take the party’s message to voters across the state.

The party gave the directive at an interface with representatives of the support groups in Asaba on Monday, where its leadership urged them to intensify mobilisation, consolidate their support base and align their activities with the party’s structure and electoral strategy.

The State Chairman, Chief Solomon Arenyeka, who declared the meeting open, described the support groups as a key component of the party’s mobilisation structure, saying their numerical strength and grassroots networks could influence the APC’s performance in the 2027 elections.

Arenyeka said the meeting was aimed at bringing the groups under a coordinated framework, eliminating duplication of efforts and ensuring that their activities complemented the established structures of the party.

He disclosed that the party would soon unveil its campaign structure for the 2027 elections, with a dedicated directorate expected to coordinate the activities of the various support groups.

The chairman urged the groups to move beyond meetings and declarations by engaging voters consistently at the grassroots.

He said the outcome of elections was often influenced by the strength of a party’s organisation at the grassroots, citing the 2023 presidential election as an example of the importance of political mobilisation.

According to him, the APC defeated the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the federal level in 2023 through effective organisation and mobilisation.

Arenyeka urged the groups to recognise the task ahead and deploy their networks towards expanding the APC’s reach across Delta State.

Also speaking, the State Organising Secretary, Hon. Emmanuel Egbabor, said the registration and recognition of the groups by the party marked only the beginning of their responsibilities.

Egbabor described the groups as partners in the APC’s political activities rather than parallel structures, warning that their operations must strengthen the party’s established structures.

He urged them to take the policies and programmes of the APC to the grassroots, engage directly with voters and provide the party leadership with information on the challenges and concerns of their communities.

The organising secretary also asked the groups to begin mobilisation ahead of election day by identifying supporters, educating voters on the electoral process and maintaining regular contact with their constituencies.

He cautioned against the circulation of rumours, fake news and unverified information, directing the groups to ensure that information disseminated in the name of the APC was accurate and properly communicated.

The meeting brought together representatives of the various support groups as the party sought to establish a coordinated grassroots mobilisation strategy ahead of the 2027 elections.

Stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Eti-Osa Constituency I, Lagos State, have appealed to President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the controversy surrounding the party’s ticket for the constituency ahead of the 2027 elections.

The stakeholders called for the restoration of Hon. Noheem Adams as the APC candidate, insisting that he won the party’s primary election conducted on 20 May 2026.

According to them, Adams polled 7,638 votes against the 1,225 votes recorded by his challenger, Saheed Bankole, describing the outcome as a clear reflection of the preference of APC members in the constituency.

However, the APC’s published list of candidates names Bankole as the party’s candidate for the constituency.

The stakeholders, comprising ward leaders, grassroots mobilisers, youths, women and other party members, urged the party leadership to respect what they described as the outcome of the primary and resolve the dispute through dialogue and reconciliation.

‘Politics is local,’ they said, stressing that the views and interests of grassroots members should be taken into consideration in resolving the controversy.

They argued that restoring Adams’ ticket would strengthen members’ confidence in the party’s internal democratic process and help prevent divisions within the party ahead of the 2027 elections.

‘We seek justice, but we equally seek peace. We seek restoration, but we equally seek reconciliation,’ the stakeholders said.

They appealed to Tinubu to ‘hear the voice of the grassroots, respect the choice of the locals, reconcile our political family’ and help resolve the dispute amicably.

The stakeholders said a peaceful resolution of the matter would strengthen the party’s unity and improve its chances of retaining the constituency in the forthcoming elections.

For institutions from Africa to compete globally, they must be able to see, measure and understand their own reputation, Lead Analyst, Africa Reputation Pulse (ARP), Philip Odiakose, has said.

Odiakose, who was speaking on the recently-launched ARP, explained that the continental independent reputation intelligence and audit infrastructure is designed to make that intelligence accessible, evidence-led and continuously available.

Describing it as the first step towards building a stronger reputation intelligence culture across Africa, Odiakose added that ARP is aimed at also addressing hallucination, a key challenge facing AI- powered research.

He argued that since AI is capable of generating information that sounds authoritative, but without sufficient evidence, Odiakose stated that ARP has come to fill that void by assisting with query processing and retrieval, with evidence, citations, historical records and analytical outputs, subjected to human review and evidence controls.

‘Where evidence does not exist, ARP’s position is to say so, rather than manufacture an answer,’ he added.

He added that the launch of ARP is meant to give African institutions access to evidence-led intelligence on how they are seen, trusted, represented and positioned across media, public narratives and generative AI environments.

‘ARP is not simply a media monitoring or media intelligence platform. It brings together reputation intelligence, institutional auditing, media intelligence, narrative analysis, peer benchmarking, risk intelligence and AI/GEO visibility into a single continental intelligence infrastructure designed to help African institutions understand and strengthen their reputation,’ he stated.

ARP’s intelligence engine is powered by P+ Measurement Services, bringing specialist experience in reputation, media intelligence, measurement and auditing. Its role provides the research, measurement, review and analytical engine supporting the platform.

‘Reputation intelligence must be treated as institutional infrastructure, not an occasional communications exercise,’ said Mildred Kaunda, Strategic Advisor, ARP.

Stanbic IBTC Bank has notified its retail, commercial and corporate customers of changes in interest rates, following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) decision to cut its benchmark Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 350 basis points.

The bank said the new rates took effect from September 22, 2026, the same day the CBN Monetary Policy Committee approved the reduction in the MPR from 26.50 percent to 23 percent.

The rate cut is expected to affect both loans and deposit products linked to the MPR, according to notifications sent to customers.

For borrowers, the reduction could lower interest payments on variable-rate loans, including commercial loans, overdrafts and mortgages whose pricing is linked to the CBN benchmark.

Commercial banks had previously priced some prime lending facilities at rates of about 27 percent to 30 percent. The reduction in the MPR is expected to put downward pressure on such rates as banks adjust their pricing to reflect the new benchmark.

However, depositors may also see lower returns on some interest-bearing accounts.

Stanbic IBTC said the repricing would affect products on both sides of its balance sheet. While borrowers may benefit from lower rates, customers holding variable-rate savings accounts, fixed deposits and call accounts may see reductions in the interest paid on their funds.

The CBN, at its September 21-22 meeting, reduced the MPR by 350 basis points to 23 percent in its first major rate cut after a prolonged period of tight monetary policy.

The committee also retained the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for deposit money banks at 45 percent and adjusted the asymmetric corridor around the MPR to +50/-300 basis points.

The move marked a major shift in the central bank’s monetary policy stance as inflationary pressures showed signs of easing.

Stanbic IBTC’s repricing is an early example of how the CBN’s decision is being passed through to customers and the wider financial system.

The transmission of monetary policy through commercial banks is important because changes in the MPR affect the cost of borrowing, returns on savings, investment decisions and, ultimately, economic activity.

Lower lending rates could support businesses and households that rely on bank credit, although the actual benefit will depend on how quickly and fully banks pass the reduction on to customers.

At the same time, lower deposit rates could reduce returns for savers and investors who keep funds in interest-bearing bank accounts and other short-term instruments.

The development also highlights the balance banks must maintain between supporting credit growth and managing funding costs as the new lower interest-rate environment takes effect.

The Federal Government has said prices of some essential food commodities have dropped by up to 50 per cent as it intensifies efforts to strengthen food security, with Germany supporting Nigeria’s agrifood systems transformation agenda.

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, disclosed this on Monday in Maiduguri while declaring open the Community of Practice Meeting of Commissioners for Agriculture, Health, Environment and Rural Development in Borno State.

The meeting was organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in collaboration with the Borno State Government and supported by Germany under the theme, ‘Stronger Partnerships for a Food Secure Nigeria’.

Kyari said President Bola Tinubu had placed food security at the centre of the national agenda, with measures aimed at increasing production, improving affordability and strengthening rural economies.

He said the government had expanded input delivery, rural infrastructure and support for smallholder farmers as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s food system.

Kyari said early procurement under the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative had generated N61.58 billion in savings, with Nigeria on course for a 1.1 million metric-tonne fertiliser programme in 2026.

The minister said the government had also unveiled the National Agricultural Mechanisation Policy and National Agricultural Mechanisation Investment Strategy to establish a sustainable mechanisation ecosystem.

He said plans included a mega tractor assembly plant with a capacity to produce between 2,000 and 4,000 tractors annually.

Kyari said the government was expanding all-season production through irrigation, quality seeds and support for National Agricultural Research Institutes, while Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones would link production to processing and markets.

He urged states to align their agricultural action plans with national priorities, including rural infrastructure, extension services, credit and inputs, labour-saving technologies, post-harvest loss reduction and climate-resilient agriculture.

He also called for stronger participation of women and youths in agriculture, alongside increased private investment and development finance.

Kyari expressed condolences to the families of 15 farmers reportedly killed in Marte Local Government Area of Borno State, adding that three others were still missing.

Also speaking, Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum, said agriculture must move beyond subsistence to become a major driver of employment, wealth creation and sustainable development.

Zulum said farmers must be empowered with the knowledge, inputs, technology, access to finance, markets and infrastructure needed to make agriculture a profitable and dignified enterprise.

He commended the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, ActionAid, GIZ, AGRA and other institutions and partners involved in organising the summit for their commitment to strengthening collaboration and promoting practical solutions to development challenges.

Zulum stressed the need for government, development partners, civil society organisations, private-sector actors, researchers, farmers’ organisations and communities to work together, saying the Community of Practice should turn experience into knowledge, knowledge into action, and action into measurable improvements in people’s lives.

Nigeria’s agricultural trade balance has returned to deficit after agricultural exports fell by 36 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to N803 billion in the second quarter of 2026, raising fresh concerns over food security and the country’s growing reliance on imported food.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that agricultural exports accounted for only three percent of Nigeria’s total exports of N27.0 trillion during the quarter, and underscored the sector’s relatively weak contribution to the country’s external earnings despite its huge production potential.

The decline represents a 36 percent YoY and 32 percent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) deterioration in agricultural trade performance.

The development also highlights the continued dominance of crude oil and refined petroleum products in Nigeria’s export basket. The two categories generated N23.3 trillion in Q2 2026, accounting for about 86 percent of total exports.

Non-oil exports, excluding crude oil and petroleum products, stood at only N3.7 trillion, representing about 14 per cent of total exports.

The agricultural sector remains central to the Federal Government’s economic diversification strategy because of its extensive value chain and potential to generate non-oil export earnings, create jobs and reduce the dependence on imported food.

However, the latest trade figures suggest that the sector is yet to fully realise this potential.

The leading agricultural export commodities in Q2 were cashew nuts in shell, standard-quality cocoa beans and sesame seeds, with export values of N286.6 billion, N154.3 billion and N96.0 billion, respectively.

While agricultural exports weakened, imports moved sharply in the opposite direction.

The NBS data showed that the country’s agricultural import bill rose by 45 percent QoQ and two percent YoY to N1.2 trillion in Q2.

Consequently, the agricultural sector recorded a net trade deficit of N400.8 billion, reversing the surplus recorded in the preceding quarter.

The reversal points to persistent supply-side weaknesses in domestic agriculture, including low productivity, insecurity in major food-producing areas, post-harvest losses, inadequate storage and weak processing capacity.

It also suggests that domestic production remains insufficient to meet demand for several key food and agricultural commodities, forcing consumers and businesses to rely increasingly on imports.

The renewed deficit comes amid continuing food-security concerns across the country.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), an estimated 36.3 million Nigerians experienced crisis-level food insecurity or worse during the June-August 2026 lean season, representing about 16.7 percent of the population covered by the assessment.

The figure was higher than the more than 30.6 million people estimated to have faced similar conditions during the corresponding period of 2025.

The deterioration has been linked to insecurity, elevated food prices, displacement, climate-related disruptions and weak household purchasing power, highlighting the disconnect between improvements in some macroeconomic indicators and living conditions for many households.

The situation remains particularly severe in the North-East, where prolonged insecurity continues to restrict access to farmland, markets and humanitarian assistance.

FAO estimates that more than 3.7 million people were internally displaced nationwide as of early August, with about two-thirds located in Borno State.

Insurgency, kidnapping and banditry have disrupted farming activities and displaced rural communities, while farmer-herder conflicts in parts of the North-Central and other agricultural regions have further affected crop cultivation and livestock production.

Climate-related shocks are also compounding the pressure on food production, with flooding and other extreme weather events threatening agricultural output, particularly in rural and low-lying communities.

Analysts at Quest MFB and CSL Research said reversing the agricultural trade deficit would require simultaneous interventions across production, processing, storage and distribution.

They called for stronger security in rural areas to enable farmers to return to their farms, alongside greater investment in rural roads, irrigation and storage infrastructure to reduce post-harvest losses and improve market access.

They also stressed the need to expand climate-smart agriculture through drought- and flood-resistant crop varieties, improved water management and other measures capable of protecting farmers from weather-related shocks.

In addition, improved access to inputs, affordable financing and extension services for small holder farmers would be critical to raising domestic output.

Analysts said targeted social-protection and nutrition programmes would also remain necessary to cushion vulnerable households, particularly internally displaced persons and low-income communities, from elevated food costs.

The latest trade figures therefore reinforce the need for Nigeria to move beyond agricultural production for domestic consumption towards stronger value chains capable of supporting food security, import substitution and competitive non-oil exports.

The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has called for far-reaching constitutional and electoral reforms, including a 50 per cent threshold for presidential elections and the resolution of electoral disputes before the swearing-in of declared winners.

The Guild also called for reforms to the appointment of the Chairman, National Commissioners and Resident Electoral Commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as well as State Electoral Commissioners.

The resolutions were contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the 22nd All Nigeria Editors Conference (ANEC 2026), held in Enugu from September 24 to 26.

The communiqué was signed by the NGE President, Eze Anaba, and General Secretary, Onuoha Ukeh.

The conference, with the theme, ‘The Ballot, the Media and the Task of Keeping Democracy Alive,’ was chaired by the Obi of Onitsha, His Royal Majesty Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe, while the Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, His Eminence John Cardinal Onaiyekan, delivered the keynote address.

Vice President Kashim Shettima participated virtually as Special Guest of Honour, while Enugu State Governor, Dr Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, was the Chief Host.

More than 500 editors, publishers and senior media practitioners from print, broadcast and digital platforms, alongside political, traditional, religious, academic, regulatory and development-sector leaders, attended the conference.

The Guild said it examined challenges confronting Nigeria’s electoral democracy ahead of the 2027 general elections, particularly artificial intelligence, misinformation, disinformation, electoral insecurity and declining public confidence in the electoral process.

It noted that while the ballot remained the principal instrument through which citizens exercised their sovereign will, its value depended on credible information, public confidence and the assurance that votes would be properly counted and respected.

The editors identified voter apathy as being influenced by poor governance, electoral violence and intimidation, administrative shortcomings, declining public confidence and concerns over the relationship between electoral outcomes and subsequent judicial decisions.

The Guild expressed concern that judicial interventions in some electoral disputes had created perceptions in sections of the public that court decisions could displace outcomes recorded at the ballot box.

It, however, stressed the need to respect judicial independence while calling for electoral adjudication that is timely, transparent, predictable and impartial, with genuine electoral irregularities appropriately addressed.

On presidential elections, the NGE recommended consideration of an appropriate constitutional threshold and provision for a run-off where the candidate with the highest number of votes fails to secure up to 50 per cent of votes cast.

It also called for the resolution of electoral disputes within appropriate timelines, preferably before the swearing-in of declared winners.

The Guild further advocated a review of limitations on ordinary voters seeking to challenge electoral results and called for a constitutional framework permitting independent candidacy.

On emerging technology, the editors identified generative artificial intelligence, deepfakes, voice cloning and automated networks as major threats to electoral information integrity.

It warned that synthetic content could be used to fabricate election results, clone the voices of public officials, forge documents and result sheets, and produce fake reports attributed to established media organisations.

The Guild therefore urged newsrooms to institutionalise fact-checking and verification systems and integrate digital verification, deepfake detection and forensic tools into their editorial workflows.

It also urged news organisations to adopt the Nigerian Media Code of Election Coverage (Revised 2022) and train journalists and other editorial staff on its provisions ahead of the 2027 elections.

The editors stressed that editorial neutrality meant impartiality among legitimate political contenders and did not require journalists to remain silent in the face of verified wrongdoing or create false equivalence between established facts and unverified claims.

The Guild also called for evidence-based journalism that neither exaggerates failures nor suppresses verified achievements and developments.

On election security, the NGE said the safety of journalists must form part of the broader security of the electoral process.

It called on security agencies and political actors to protect journalists and ensure they could observe and report electoral events without intimidation, obstruction or attack.

The Guild urged INEC to sustain nationwide readiness assessments, strengthen cybersecurity and electoral technology partnerships, ensure the technical integrity of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and protect the institutional independence of the commission.

It also stressed that all technology deployed during elections must remain subject to human oversight, transparency, accountability and legal verification.

On terrorism reporting, the conference endorsed the principle, ‘Inform, Don’t Amplify’, urging newsrooms to identify terrorist claims as claims until independently verified and avoid reproducing propaganda, recruitment messages, slogans or graphic material except where editorially justified.