Category: The Nation – Nigeria

Seasoned actress Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde has been honoured with two prestigious awards in the United States.

The recognition comes months after the actress disclosed that she would donate a percentage of her earnings from her latest film, Mother’s Love, to support children in underserved communities.

Omotola announced on her social media that Israel Tribune and 90210 Enterprise presented her with a Social Impact Award and a Lifetime Social Impact Recognition, noting it was their first joint recognition.

Expressing gratitude, the screen diva said she never imagined her act of obedience would resonate with so many people when she decided to channel the film’s producers’ earnings into educating children from communities like Makoko, which the film featured.

She wrote, ‘When I decided to donate our entire producers’ earnings from Mother’s Love: The Movie to the education of children from underserved communities such as Makoko, which was one of the backgrounds of our movie, little did I know how many it would resonate with, touch, or be watched by. Our little act of obedience has continued to inspire me.

‘Honoured to receive both a Social Impact Award and a Lifetime Social Impact recognition from both the Israel Tribune and @90210enterprise, a joint first recognition by them. Thank you! I am truly grateful to God to be able to do what I love and give back through it.’

Schools across Ogun State are set to introduce a new environmental programme aimed at promoting recycling, climate action and green entrepreneurship among students.

The W2WA School Programme, initiated by Waste2wealthAfrica Hub (W2WA) in collaboration with the Ogun State Ministry of Environment through the Environmental Management and Climate Change Club (EM3C), is designed to move environmental education from classroom awareness to practical action.

The programme seeks to teach students that waste, when properly managed, can become a resource with environmental and economic value.

Under the initiative, participating schools will engage in weekly activities covering waste auditing, segregation, collection, recycling economics, composting, climate change, climate action and green entrepreneurship.

The programme will culminate in environmental exhibitions and graduation activities.

Founder and Project Lead of W2WA, Tunde Solarin, said the initiative was designed to change students’ perception of waste and encourage them to participate in environmental protection.

‘We want students to see waste differently. They should understand the environmental problems caused by poor waste management, but also recognise the value that can be recovered when waste is properly sorted, collected and recycled,’ he said.

Solarin added that schools were important starting points for building a culture of responsible waste management and environmental stewardship.

The initiative will expose students to the recovery and recycling of materials including plastic bottles, paper, cartons and metals, while also introducing them to composting and the economic opportunities associated with recycling.

According to the organisers, the programme is also expected to promote school cleanliness, responsible waste handling and student-led environmental activities.

Technology will form part of the programme, with the W2WA digital platform supporting school registration, documentation, activity records, recycling records, monitoring and reporting.

The organisers said the collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and EM3C would provide an institutional framework for strengthening environmental and climate education in schools.

W2WA has developed a structured weekly training and activity framework and is engaging relevant ministry and EM3C stakeholders on programme alignment, monitoring and reporting.

The organisation said schools, educators, environmental organisations, recycling stakeholders and community groups were being encouraged to support and participate in the programme.

It said the long-term objective was to make environmental responsibility part of everyday school life while equipping young people with knowledge and practical skills to contribute to cleaner and more sustainable communities.

Edo Deputy Governor, Hon Dennis Idahosa, has attributed the state’s economic growth to the implementation of Governor Monday Okpebholo’s security policies.

Idahosa said the security policy has restored confidence and created a safer environment for investment and agricultural production in the state.

The Edo Deputy Governor spoke in Benin City while receiving members of the Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND), led by its Programme Director, Dr Effiong Essien.

Idahosa said Governor Okpebholo’s people-oriented policies, programmes, and legislative reforms helped reduce crime and strengthen the justice system, particularly in dealing with criminal elements.

He said the administration remained committed to its SHINE Agenda, which has helped position Edo as the most peaceful state in the Niger Delta.

According to him, ‘Security remains critical to the state’s economic development. Investors and farmers can only operate effectively when they are confident about the safety of their lives, businesses and farmlands.

‘In any nation where there is security, investors and transformation would come.

‘It is only when it is safe for our mothers to go to the farm that they can go to the farm and be productive.

‘Security is number one in the SHINE Agenda. It shows the Governor’s emphasis on security and even agriculture,’ he said.

The Deputy Governor cited several corporate social responsibility interventions impacting rural communities, implemented through partnerships involving PIND.

He described PIND’s interventions as needs-driven, saying its projects were designed around the specific needs of communities and beneficiaries while strengthening relevant value chains.

On his part, Essien said PIND’s interventions focused on reducing poverty, strengthening coastal communities, promoting youth employment, fostering stability, and supporting sustainable development across the region.

He appealed for the state government’s collaboration in establishing safe farm corridors, strengthening agricultural value-chain actors, and reactivating the Udo Skills Development Centre for practical training, entrepreneurship, and youth employment.

Managing Director, Coleman Technical Industries Limited, George Onafowokan, has described the recent adjustment in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) as a ‘reset’ aimed at aligning monetary policy with prevailing market realities.

Onafowokan said the market had already moved away from the previous 26.5 per cent rate, with commercial lenders offering loans at about 22 to 23 per cent.

According to him, the gap between the CBN’s policy rate and actual lending rates had become misaligned, making the latest adjustment a realignment with the prevailing conditions in the financial market.

He attributed the shift partly to the recapitalisation of Nigerian banks, which significantly increased the equity and lending capacity of financial institutions.

Onafowokan explained that banks that previously had capital bases of about N50 billion were required to increase them to N200 billion, while institutions with N200 billion were required to scale up to N500 billion.

He said the additional capital eventually increased liquidity in the financial system, prompting banks to compete for lending opportunities and pushing market lending rates below the CBN’s previous policy rate.

‘The market found its own level based on the amount of liquidity and the new money in equity in the market. And so it repositioned itself and started lending lower than the CBN was,’ he said.

Onafowokan said the impact of the rate adjustment would not be immediate but expressed confidence that it would begin to reflect across the economy within the next two to three months.

He said lower interest rates could also affect treasury bill yields and influence the decisions of foreign portfolio investors, while noting that Nigeria remained attractive to international investors because of the returns available in the country.

The Coleman CEO also called for a reduction in the lending rate of the Bank of Industry (BOI), saying the institution’s current rate was becoming too close to commercial banking rates.

He urged the CBN, Ministry of Finance and the Federal Government to support the BOI in returning to a lower lending rate, which he said would better reflect its development-finance mandate.

Onafowokan further said the Nigerian economy was showing positive signs, citing economic growth of more than four per cent, declining inflation and relative stability in the naira.

He maintained that the naira had remained resilient and advised Nigerians to have confidence in the currency, saying those who retained their naira holdings had benefited from its recent performance.

‘The economy is in the right direction,’ he said.

A prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of Professor Moke Ozekhome and one other before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has said the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) cannot issue passports that do not meet the standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Ozekhome and Ponfa Useni, a son of the late General Jeremiah Useni, a military-era FCT Minister, are being prosecuted by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (OAGF) on a 12-count charge bordering on forgery and impersonation.

The prosecution alleged, among others, that both Ozekhome and Ponfa Useini conspired in 2020 and made ‘a false Nigerian International Passport No. A07535463 with the name Shani Tali.

While being cross-examined on Monday by Useni’s lawyer, F.R. Onoja (SAN), the witness, Bamaiyi Haruna Mairiga, insisted on the distinction he made between a forged document and a counterfeit document during his evidence-in-chief on June 29.

The witness, who said he stood by that distinction, added that he concluded the disputed passport’s data page was forged to bear Shani Tali.

He said, ‘My conclusion is that the data page of passport A07535463 is forged to bear Shani Tali as the holder of the passport.

‘The reason for this is that ICAO has set the standard for forged character between the visual character and machine-readable character recognition.

‘What I am saying is that passport number A07535463, date of birth 2nd February, 1973 and expiry date 1st July, 2026 all failed the ICAO optical character recognition test. Hence, I conclude it was forged to reflect Shani Tali as the holder.

‘The Nigerian Immigration Service cannot issue a document that does not meet ICAO standards for passport recognition.’

Mairiga, the second prosecution witness (PW2), said the data page of a passport could be counterfeited, and entries on the page could also be altered and referred to as forged.

The witness said the Nigerian passport, which he accepted was a continuous document, was machine-readable.

Mairiga recalled that in conducting forensic analysis of the disputed passport, he consulted the NIS E-passport verification system portal, which he said was designed to check for the authenticity of every Nigerian passport.

PW2 added that he did not refer to the outcome of the consultation with the NIS E-passport verification system portal in his forensic analysis report of the disputed passport, which was earlier tendered as Exhibit P7a.

He said, ‘In my report, I did not reference the outcome of the consultation with the Nigerian Immigration Service E-passport verification system portal. The reason is that ICAO set a standard for all its 193 members. ICAO is superior to NIS.’

While being cross-examined by Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), Ozekhome’s lawyer, Mairiga said he was specifically asked to conduct a forensic analysis of the disputed passport to check whether the content of the visual zone matched the machine zone.

Mairiga said the passport in question failed all elements required to ascertain an authentic passport: the passport number, the date of birth of the holder, and the date of expiry of the passport.

The PW2 said the A series of the Nigeria E-passport, at the inception, did not carry the National Identification Number (NIN), adding that when the A series passport was run on the ICAO passport document checker with passport number or NIN, it usually returned a pass.

He added, ‘When a data page is subjected to the ICAO E-passport document reader, what the system does is that it captures every data in that data page. It shows the issuing country and also the sex, surname, given name and nationality of the holder.

‘However, the key elements set aside for checking substitution of data or forgery of data are simply the date of expiry, passport number and date of birth,’ the PW2 told the court.

At the conclusion of the cross-examination session, Justice Chizoba Oji postponed the further hearing till Tuesday (today).

The Kano State Executive Council has approved N144,005,812,319.50 for the execution of projects and programmes across the state.

The approval was granted at the 41st Executive Council meeting held at the Aminu Kano House, Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja.

The Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Comrade Ibrahim Abdullahi Waiya, disclosed this while briefing journalists on the outcome of the meeting on Sunday.

Waiya said the Ministry of Works received the largest allocation of N84.97 billion for the construction and rehabilitation of major roads and public infrastructure, including the N16.68 billion Rawul-Gani-Sitti-Masu-Gomo Road in Sumaila local government area.

Other sectors include Education with N14.27 billion for renovation of schools, UBEC counterpart funding and settlement of boarding school feeding; Land and Physical Planning with N11.06 billion for the Pfizer Hospital land settlement and traffic management; Health with N2.6 billion for upgrade of PHCs to General Hospitals and renovation of hospitals; Water Resources and Environment with N2.4 billion, and Power with N1.24 billion for water plants and hospitals.

The Council also approved N1.16 billion for the Amana City perimeter fence, N435 million for Hisba operational vehicles, and N368.7 million for a Women Skills Acquisition Centre at Kofar Ruwa.

In addition, the Council approved the acquisition of Saymays Specialist Hospital and a property at the Infectious Diseases Hospital for overriding public interest, a Public-Private Partnership for the Kano Energy and SME Industrial Park at Tamburawa, and the hosting of KANFEST 2026.

The Council further approved a N1.201 trillion 2026 Supplementary Budget and directed its transmission to the State House of Assembly for consideration.

It also directed the Ministry of Works to submit a Bill of Engineering Measurement and Evaluation for the dilapidated Eastern Bypass-Tsamiya Babba-Larabawar Abasawa-Nera Roundabout Road.

The Kano State Government has begun the distribution of 3, 400 clean cooking stoves donated to vulnerable women in the state by the Federal Ministry of Environment.

The state’s Commissioner for Environment, Water and Climate Change, Dr Dahir Hashim, inaugurated the distribution on Monday in Kano.

Hashim said that about 800 clean cooking stoves have successfully been distributed to vulnerable women across the state.

‘These clean cooking stoves are part of the 3, 400 allocated to Kano by the Federal Ministry of Environment,’ he said.

He announced that the state governor, Abba Yusuf, supported each of the 800 beneficiaries with N25, 000 to boost their small businesses.

According to him, the intervention aligns with the government’s broader mission of cutting down emissions to the barest minimum.

The commissioner noted that for years, women had endured severe health hazards from inhaling toxic firewood smoke, saying that it was an exposure equivalent to smoking multiple packs of cigarettes daily.

He said that the new stoves would drastically reduce those risks and protect the women from respiratory diseases.

Hashim commended the federal government for the efforts and urged the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the items given to them.

He revealed that the government was also committed to the solarisation of street lights and many of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

He expressed appreciation to the state governor for his visionary leadership in combating climate change and empowering grassroots communities.

Former Big Brother Naija housemate and entrepreneur, Uriel Oputa, has questioned the growing trend of couples taking their private relationship issues to social media.

In a post shared on her Instagram story, the reality star wondered why people now use social platforms to settle personal disagreements.

She asked when social media became a family court, stressing that not every misunderstanding needs public attention.

Uriel said she prays to end up with a partner who has the emotional maturity to know that some issues should be resolved privately, through honest communication or with the help of a counsellor.

According to her, social media does not love people as much as they think, as users will only watch, take sides, make memes and move on to the next gist.

She wrote, ‘This is probably an unpopular opinion, but why do people bring their personal relationship fights to social media? Like… when did social media become the family court?

‘I pray that I end up with a partner who has the wisdom and emotional maturity to understand that not every disagreement needs an audience. Some things should be handled within the family, privately, with honest communication, and if necessary, with counselling or a trusted professional.

‘Because the truth is, social media doesn’t love you the way you think it does. People will watch, pick sides, screenshot, make memes, laugh, argue in the comments… and then scroll to the next thing.’

She clarified, however, that her comment was not aimed at any particular couple, but was a general observation.

‘My comment wasn’t targeted at any specific couple. It’s a generalised statement. Before una twist me inside o biko o’, she added.

Vice President Kashim Shettima has returned to Nigeria after leading the country’s delegation to the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, United States, where the Federal Government renewed its push for reforms of the global governance and financial systems.

Shettima, who represented President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the annual gathering of world leaders, used the engagements to advance Nigeria’s demand for permanent African representation on the UN Security Council, fairer development financing, stronger climate support and greater economic opportunities for developing countries.

The Vice President had departed Abuja on September 20 on the mandate of the President to lead Nigeria’s delegation to the General Assembly.

His return was announced on Monday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Stanley Nkwocha.

The Presidency had earlier confirmed that Tinubu delegated Shettima to represent him at the UN gathering.

At the General Debate, Shettima delivered Tinubu’s National Statement, restating Nigeria’s position that the architecture of global governance must be reformed to reflect contemporary realities, particularly by giving Africa permanent representation on the Security Council.

Nigeria also pressed for reforms to the international financial system, increased climate financing and deeper multilateral cooperation to address development, security and other challenges confronting developing economies.

Beyond the General Debate, Shettima participated in the Third High-Level Roundtable of the Africa Minerals Strategy Group, where Tinubu challenged African countries to break away from the longstanding model of exporting raw minerals without capturing sufficient value from their natural resources.

The President’s position, delivered at the meeting, was that African countries should deepen local processing, refining, manufacturing and other forms of value addition to create jobs, strengthen domestic industries and retain a greater share of the economic benefits from the continent’s mineral wealth.

Shettima also represented Nigeria at a high-level education financing event co-hosted by Nigeria and Italy, where he reaffirmed the administration’s position that education remained a strategic investment in productivity, human capital development and long-term national prosperity.

At the event, Nigeria backed the Global Partnership for Education’s $5 billion financing campaign, underscoring the need for stronger international investment in education, particularly in developing countries facing significant financing gaps.

The Vice President also met Nigerians in the Diaspora, urging them to deploy their investment, professional expertise and international networks towards Nigeria’s development.

According to the Presidency, Shettima held engagements with the new leadership of the Economic Community of West African States Commission and met United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed as part of Nigeria’s diplomatic consultations on the margins of the Assembly.

Across the engagements, the Vice President pushed Nigeria’s positions on development financing, regional integration, economic cooperation, technology, peace and security, while reiterating the Tinubu administration’s demand for a more representative and equitable international order.

Shettima’s participation at the UNGA came while Tinubu was on a working vacation in Europe.

The President left Nigeria on August 30 for London before proceeding to Paris, France, where he held meetings with French President, Emmanuel Macron, and business leaders.

The Presidency had said the President continued to direct affairs of state while abroad and delegated Shettima and other senior government officials to represent him at official engagements during the period.

Singer Barry Jhay has said he would choose wealth over fame if given another chance to live his life.

The singer made the statement while reflecting on his journey in the music industry, his family background and the challenges he faced after his father’s death.

Barry Jhay described fame as dangerous, noting that the pressures of being a public figure can be overwhelming.

He said he would rather have money without the burden of public attention in his next life.

‘Fame is dangerous. In my next life, I don’t want to have a talent or be famous; I just want to be rich,’ he said.

The singer, whose late father was Fuji icon Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, also opened up about how his father’s death changed his circumstances.

According to Barry Jhay, he was born into privilege but had to struggle after losing his father and the advantages that came with his family background.

‘I was born a Nepo baby, but after losing my dad and everything, I am hustling like a Lapo baby,’ he said.

He described his experience as a ‘sweet-bitter feeling’, explaining that although he enjoyed certain privileges growing up, his reality changed after his father’s death.