Category: The Nation – Nigeria

Nigeria has secured three strategic partnerships with U.S. companies as the Tinubu administration intensifies efforts to attract investment, technology and jobs into the country’s critical minerals sector.

The partnerships involving Promethean Resources, Vermeer Corporation, Renewvia Energy and Terra Industries will focus on modern mining technology, renewable energy and enhanced security.

The deals are expected to drive technology transfer, local value addition, job creation and sustainable development while further strengthening Nigeria-U.S. economic ties.

Speaking at the U.S.-Nigeria Strategic Investment Dialogue in New York, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to converting investment frameworks into tangible commercial partnerships.

‘Our priority is to translate dialogue and cooperation frameworks into tangible commercial partnerships that advance Nigeria’s industrial ambitions. The partnerships announced at the Nigeria-US Strategic Investment Dialogue mark an important step in that direction: Promethean’s collaboration with Vermeer will bring US equipment and technology to the development of iron ore, tin, lithium and gold deposits, complemented by partnerships with Renewvia for renewable power and Terra for security. Together, these provide a platform for investment, local value addition and deeper Nigeria-US economic ties.’Oduwole stated.

The announcements bring together Nigerian mining company Promethean Resources and partners across three interlinked area’s security, Infrastructure and Minerals.

Vermeer Corporation, a U.S. equipment manufacturer, and Promethean Resources are exploring a partnership to deploy precision mining equipment across Promethean’s mineral portfolio, including iron ore, tin, lithium and gold.

The proposed collaboration aims to improve operational efficiency, strengthen workforce development and support responsible mineral extraction and processing in Nigeria.

Promethean Resources and U.S.-based Renewvia Energy Corporation will develop renewable energy solutions for mining and processing operations while extending affordable, reliable electricity to surrounding host communities.

The partnership will initially assess priority mining locations and develop scalable solar, battery storage and mini-grid solutions, supporting industrial productivity, energy access and local economic development.

Promethean Resources and Terra Industries have also signed a Letter of Intent to explore the deployment of technology-enabled security solutions at mining and mineral processing sites in Nigeria.

The proposed collaboration will integrate autonomous surveillance towers, unmanned aerial systems and Terra’s Artemis OS platform to strengthen perimeter monitoring, threat detection and incident response.

Initial deployment is proposed for mining operations in Plateau and Kaduna States, with potential expansion to other locations.

Collectively, these announcements highlight three interconnected priorities for Nigeria’s critical minerals sector: modernizing mining operations, expanding reliable energy infrastructure and strengthening the security of mining assets and personnel. They also demonstrate opportunities to connect Nigerian mineral development with international technology, expertise and commercial partnerships, while supporting local processing, value addition and host-community development.

Promethean Resources is a Nigerian minerals extraction and processing company established in 2012 under Managing Director Demola Gbadegesin. The company has built its portfolio around the exploration, exploitation, and processing of tin and other solid minerals, with mining assets and joint ventures across Kaduna, Plateau, and Bauchi States.

ID Africa, organisers of NECLive, will hold the conference’s 11th edition on November 12, 2026, at Alliance Française, Lagos.

Themed ‘Home Advantage: Transforming Local Demand into Global Power,’ the edition is said to be built around the argument that Nigeria’s strongest bargaining chip in global entertainment may no longer be international validation, but the scale and value of its own domestic market.

‘Nigeria has already demonstrated that its creative industries can capture the world’s attention. The next opportunity is to understand how the strength of our domestic market can help us build greater ownership, attract investment and strengthen our position globally ‘ said Ayeni Adekunle, Founder and Convener of NECLive. ‘Home Advantage is about moving the conversation beyond how far our creativity can travel to what we can build from the market that exists right here. It is about ownership, investment and creating stronger systems that allow local demand to translate into sustainable power.’

NECLive 11’s theme argues for a different sequence that scale at home is what should now buy Nigeria leverage abroad, better deal terms, equity stakes, a stronger negotiating position with the platforms and partners it once simply courted.

The numbers make the domestic case. Nigeria’s Arts, Entertainment and Recreation sector grew 11.93% in Q2 2026, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, nearly three times the country’s overall GDP growth rate of 4.43% for the same quarter.

Cinema tells the story most visibly: the box office closed 2025 at a record N15.6 billion, up 34.7% year-on-year, with Nollywood outselling Hollywood locally for the first time, 49.4% market share against 48.8%, per FilmOne Entertainment’s Nigeria Box Office Yearbook. By mid-2026, Funke Akindele’s ‘Behind The Scenes’ had crossed N1 billion in 19 days.

Data from NECLive’s State of Nigeria’s Creative Economy 2026 Report underscores this home reliance, showing that 56% of creative practitioners rely on local clients as their primary source of income, compared to just 19.4% who draw their primary income from international markets. Yet access to affordable funding and reliable local distribution networks, rather than physical tools, are cited as the primary structural gaps holding practitioners back, confirming that while domestic demand is proven, the capital pipelines to scale it remain severely underdeveloped.

But growth and reach are not the same thing, and this is where the theme’s harder questions live. Ticket prices have more than quadrupled since 2019, and the average cost of 1GB of data more than doubled between 2023 and 2025. Nigerians now spend an estimated ?7.6 trillion a year on internet access alone. Technical infrastructure constraints compound these costs: the NECLive report identifies power outages and poor internet connectivity as the single biggest daily obstacle for practitioners, ranking well above funding delays, IP theft, and regulatory hurdles combined.

Moreover, 83% of creative professionals report losing over 10% of their weekly productive time to non-creative administrative burdens, such as chasing payments and managing logistics. Taken together, this suggests much of the current boom is being driven by deeper spending and effort from an existing base of consumers and practitioners, not necessarily a widening one – a distinction that matters if ‘local demand’ is meant to be the foundation of a global strategy rather than a ceiling on it.

Nigerian music’s 30 billion streams tell a similar story: strong headline numbers, but with significant revenue leakage to intermediaries, and most Nigerians actually discovering and streaming music on Boomplay and Audiomack rather than Spotify, because Spotify’s economics assume an affordability most local users don’t have.

That he won a Western Regional government scholarship to pursue his secondary school education is illustrative of his early scholastic promise and brilliance. Yet, the precocious youngster was thrown out of the Gbongan-Odeomu Anglican Grammar School, Gbongan, Osun State, in form 2, his scholarship withdrawn, following the political crisis in the region in the First Republic.

His father’s political affiliation had thrown into potential jeopardy the nascent educational career of Adebayo Biala Alamu Williams who had his primary school grounding at Saint Luke’s Anglican Primary School, also in Gbongan.

For a person of lesser fettle, determination, courage and persistence, that traumatic disruption of his educational trajectory could have had irretrievably terminal implications for his scholastic dreams and aspirations. Indeed, it is a measure of the tenaciousness that was later to define Williams’s life that, as he later narrated, ‘I made a vow that my colleagues would not take their GCE O’ Level School Certificate ahead of me. I made another promise that if they were ever going to the university at all, they would not get there ahead of me, and I was able to fulfill it. So I started training myself from 1966′.

Today, the son of Late Pa Johnson Bolarinwa Williams and late Mama Maria Oyedun Williams, born in the then rustic Gbongan community of Osun State, is one of Nigeria’s most respected Professors of the Arts and Humanities. His 75th birthday on September 9 attracted widespread attention, both within and beyond Nigeria.

Admitted into the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, in 1971, Williams obtained his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from the institution, earning a PhD degree in the Theory of African Literature in 1983.

Easily one of Nigeria’s most prolific and incisive public intellectuals, Professor Williams is a widely published scholar, a consistently brilliant, provocative and audacious journalist and an academic of global repute and influence. The virility and pungency of his written word demonstrates and vindicates the oft-cited aphorism that ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’.

Not content to bury his head in the safe obscurity and anonymity of the ivory tower, Professor Williams was one of those intellectuals who deployed his cerebral endowment in the struggle against the unjust annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, brutally oppressive military dictatorship and for the restoration of democratic governance to Nigeria.

It is in recognition of his sacrificial role in this regard that the President Bola Tinubu administration conferred on him the National Honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON).

His active involvement in journalism over the last five decades has served as the connecting link between his ideas and theories adumbrated in learned peer-reviewed journals and his articles published in newspapers and magazines accessible to the general public.

Even though he communicates through his journalism with a mass, largely non-scholarly audience, the sophistication and profundity of his popular writings still shine through. This is why the military dictatorships against which he wielded his pen did not hesitate to hound him into exile. Even then, it is a testimony to his courage and daring that he opted to return to the country to continue to participate in the struggle for democratic restoration before the expiration of military rule.

Professor Williams’s journalism has seen him writing brilliant and hard-hitting columns over the years for diverse mediums, including the Nigerian Tribune, Guardian, Newswatch, The News, Tempo, Africa Today and now The Nation newspaper. An accomplished novelist, his creative works, ‘The Year of the Locusts’ and ‘The Remains of the Last Emperor’ won the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) prizes for 1988 and 1995, respectively. His last novel was titled ‘Bulletin from the Land of Living Ghosts’. He was the winner of the Odunewu Prize for Informed Commentary in 1993 and 2000.

His stellar academic career encompasses Professor Williams serving for over two decades as a senior academic and professor at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, teaching and researching as Professor of Liberal Arts, Savannah College of Arts and Design, Georgia, USA, and research appointments at the University of Birmingham, England, and the African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands. He has also held the Amy Freeman Lee Distinguished Chair of Fine Arts at the University of the Incarnate Word, Texas, USA.

He had offered public service leadership at various times as Director-General of the Africa Policy Group, a London-based think tank; Chairman, Lagos State Electoral Reform Panel; member, Board of Trustees, Obafemi Awolowo Institute of Governance and Public Policy, and Chairman, Lagos State Gubernatorial Advisory Committee.

In his native Gbongan that sprang him, he holds the revered traditional chieftaincy title of Asiwaju Otun Olufi of Gbonganland.

We agree that Professor Williams is long overdue to be conferred with the Honorary Fellowship of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL).

?Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Royal Kingdom of Thailand, His Excellency Ambassador Bello Dogon-daji Haliru, has officially presented his Letters of Credence to His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn at the King’s Palace in Bangkok.

?According to a statement issued by the Nigerian diplomatic mission in Bangkok, the ceremony took place on Monday evening. Her Majesty Queen Suthida Bajrasudha Bimalalakshana was also in attendance.

?With the presentation of his credentials, Ambassador Haliru is now fully accredited as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the Royal Kingdom of Thailand.

?During the audience, Ambassador Haliru conveyed warm greetings and best wishes from His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, to His Majesty.

He also commended the King’s exemplary airmanship, referencing His Majesty’s recent flights to Bhutan and Vietnam-a compliment received with a gracious smile.

?His Majesty warmly welcomed the envoy and expressed optimism for the continued strengthening of bilateral relations between Nigeria and Thailand.

?Ambassador Haliru was among the 65 career and non-career ambassadors whose postings were approved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu earlier this year following confirmation by the Senate.

ýA consortium led by Ardova Plc and including Diadem Energy has agreed to acquire 100 per cent of Powergas Global Investments Nigeria Limited and Powergas Ebedei Limited (PEL), the companies said.

ýThe agreement was entered into with A.P. Moller Capital, through its Africa Infrastructure Fund I (AIF I), and Impala Energy Holdings.

ýPowergas is one of Africa’s largest compressed natural gas (CNG) producers and virtual pipeline distributors, supplying industrial, commercial and power customers through compression facilities and road-based distribution infrastructure.

ýCompletion of the transaction is expected by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory and other required third-party approvals.

ýArdova said the acquisition would add natural gas operations to its existing businesses in petroleum products, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), shipping, aviation fuel, lubricants and logistics.

ýPowergas was founded in 2013 by the Clean Energy Group.

ýIts operations include the production and distribution of CNG to customers beyond the reach of the conventional pipeline network.

ýIts Ebedei project in Delta State was developed to monetise gas that would otherwise have been flared.

ýA.P. Moller Capital invested in PEL through Impala in April 2019. PEL commenced operations in 2020, while its Ebedei compression plant was commissioned in 2021.

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ýThe company has since expanded its distribution network across Southeast, Southsouth and Southwest Nigeria.

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ýPowergas operates four mother stations and has a fleet of more than 250 tube skids, according to the companies.

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ýArdova said it plans to deploy CNG infrastructure across its retail network, with a target of 100 CNG refuelling sites nationwide within 24 months of the acquisition.

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ýThe company also plans to expand Powergas’ compression capacity in gas-producing areas and increase its offtake of associated and non-associated gas.

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ýExecutive Chairman of Ardova Plc, AbdulWasiu Sowami, said the acquisition would enable the company to expand its activities in the gas sector.

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ýHe said: ‘Powergas has built the compression backbone required to take natural gas beyond the conventional pipeline grid.

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ý’Ardova brings a national distribution network, deep customer relationships and the ability to invest for the long term. Together, we intend to connect Nigeria’s abundant gas resources to industry, power and transportation.’

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ýManaging Director of Ardova, Abiola Babatunde-Ojo, said the company would focus on expanding compression capacity and introducing CNG facilities into its retail network.

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ý’Our focus now is execution: expanding compression capacity, bringing CNG into our retail network and connecting more industries and fleets to a reliable domestic energy source,’ she said.

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ýVice-Chairman of Powergas, Pulak Sen, said the acquisition would enable the company to expand into new markets.

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ýSam Senbanjo, a partner at A.P. Moller Capital, said the fund had supported PEL through its development, construction, commissioning and operational scale-up since 2019.

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ýHe said the company had helped customers access domestic gas beyond the reach of the pipeline network.

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ýChairman of Diadem Group, George Eluwa, said his company had worked with Powergas as its virtual-pipeline logistics partner.

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ýDiadem Energy is a member of Diadem Group and will participate in the acquisition consortium.

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ýThe transaction will transfer ownership of Powergas from A.P. Moller Capital and its investment partners to the Ardova-led consortium, subject to the completion conditions.

The OMDCA – Online Movies and Digital Content Awards – is a new and dynamic awards platform created to celebrate, recognize and promote outstanding creativity, excellence and innovation within Nigeria’s rapidly evolving online movie and digital content industry.

Today, digital platforms have transformed the way stories are created, distributed and consumed.

From web series and online films to skits, short-form videos, documentaries, reviews and other forms of digital entertainment, Nigerian creators continue to demonstrate exceptional talent and originality.

However, many of these creative contributions remain under-recognised.

OMDCA, according to the organisers, was established to bridge this gap by creating a credible platform where outstanding practitioners can receive the deserved recognition.

The objective, according to the organizers, is to seek and recognize outstanding achievements in online movies and digital content.

The scope of the AWARDS, the organizers revealed, will recognize excellence across various areas of online entertainment and digital content creation, including acting, directing, producing, writing, cinematography, editing, comedy, web series, short films, skits and other emerging digital-content categories.

The awards will also accommodate both established practitioners and emerging talents whose work demonstrates creativity, quality and meaningful impact.

The Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mariya Mahmoud, said the effectiveness of governance should be measured by the safety, opportunities, and dignity citizens enjoy.

Mahmoud made this point while delivering a keynote address at the Resilience in Leadership and Governance Roundtable, held on the sidelines of the 2026 United Nations General Assembly.

Speaking on the theme, ‘Catalysing Effective Governance and Human Security,’ the minister said governance must translate into tangible improvements in citizens’ daily lives.

She identified access to quality healthcare and education, safe transport, efficient public services, economic opportunities, and the meaningful participation of women and young people as key indicators of effective governance.

Mahmoud said resilient leadership goes beyond surviving crises, stressing that leaders must learn from challenges, adapt, and continue to provide essential services to the people.

‘Resilient leadership is more than the ability to endure a crisis; it is the capacity to learn, adjust, and continue delivering essential services without losing sight of the people affected by public decisions,’ she said.

On human security, the minister said the concept goes beyond protection from armed conflict, noting that hunger, illness, unemployment, displacement, and a lack of basic services can also expose citizens to insecurity.

‘A person may be free from armed conflict and still remain deeply insecure because of hunger, illness, unemployment, displacement, or the absence of basic services,’ she said.

She therefore called for sustained investment in infrastructure, healthcare, education, livelihoods, and food security, as well as strengthening institutions capable of reducing citizens’ vulnerabilities.

Mahmoud also highlighted ongoing initiatives in the Federal Capital Territory, saying the administration under FCT Minister Nyesom Wike was pursuing infrastructure renewal, improved transport, healthcare, water supply, urban development, investment promotion, and social interventions.

She said the initiatives aimed to improve residents’ quality of life and strengthen the capital’s capacity to respond to emerging challenges.

The minister stressed the need for governments to deliberately create space for women and young people in development and decision-making processes.

She also advocated responsible digital transformation, saying technology should improve public service delivery and transparency while safeguarding citizens’ data.

Turning to Africa’s development challenges, the minister urged African countries to take greater ownership of their development priorities.

She said international partnerships should strengthen African institutions rather than create dependency.

According to her, although global experiences and best practices could offer useful lessons, they should be adapted to local realities rather than copied wholesale.

‘Global best practices are useful, but they must be adapted to local realities rather than copied without regard to context,’ she said.

Mahmoud proposed establishing a continuing African governance peer-learning network to document successful reforms, strengthen institutional capacity and track commitments made beyond international conferences.

She said sustainable governance required leadership anchored in integrity, accountability and service, stressing that public office carries significant responsibilities.

‘Public office is a trust, and it must be exercised with integrity, humility and a commitment to service,’ she said.

The Relax Tinubu Is Fixing Nigeria (RTIFN) movement on Wednesday held a town hall, public engagement and grant empowerment programme for residents of Gishiri, Abuja.

The programme brought together the RTIFN executive leadership, community stakeholders, farmers, traders, youths and other residents, with grants presented to farmers, students and traders as part of the movement’s empowerment initiative.

The RTIFN leadership also engaged residents on the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda, highlighting areas including agriculture, infrastructure, economic reforms, youth empowerment and social investment.

Discussions at the gathering also focused on the 2027 general elections, with the movement urging participants to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for continuity of his administration’s programmes.

The Director General of RTIFN, Hon. Ahmed Bala, said the engagement was part of the movement’s efforts to connect with communities and discuss government programmes at the grassroots.

Also present were the Deputy Director General, Hon. Zack Orji; Director of Townhall and Special Duties, Hon. Farida Deborah Ibrahim; National Secretary, Amb. Audu Eleojo Obaje; Amb. Dr. Joyce Matthew Andrew; and FCT Coordinator, Comr. Dr. Donald Amagbo, alongside other members of the RTIFN executive and community stakeholders.

The leadership of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar yesterday paid condolence visits to the Emir of Minna, Umar Bahago, and the families of the 37 artisanal miners who died in the custody of the Corps last week.

Atiku also met behind closed doors with former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, at his Hilltop residence in Minna.

NSCDC Public Relations Officer, Babawale Afolabi, said the Corps Commandant-General, Ahmed Audi, who led the team, assured the bereaved families that no one found culpable would go unpunished.

The team, according to him, also promised the public that the NSCDC is fully cooperating with the Independent panel constituted by the Federal Government to probe the deaths.

Highlighting the cultural and spiritual significance of the third and seventh-day prayers for the departed, Audi explained that the visit was also to join the Muslim faithful in offering prayers for the repose of the souls of the deceased and strength for the bereaved families.

Emir Bahago, who responded on behalf of the traditional institution and the families, expressed appreciation to the team for cooperating with the presidential committee and for visiting and identifying with the community in its moment of grief.

Former Vice-President Atiku, who is the African Democratic Congress(ADC) candidate for the January 16 presidential election, donated N20 million to the bereaved families.

Atiku, according to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, described the deaths as a tragedy requiring truth, justice and accountability.

He said the account given by one of the survivors about the conditions at the NSCDC detention facility was disturbing.

‘It was a gory tale listening to one of the survivors. He told us that more than 68 of them were crammed into one small detention facility and that conditions became so desperate that they had to drink one another’s urine just to stay hydrated,’ he said.

The tragedy, according to him, raises questions about the treatment of people in state custody.

He said: ‘No Nigerian should ever be subjected to such indignity in the custody of his own government. These were human beings in the care of the state. Whatever accusations may have been made against them, they were entitled to their lives, their dignity and the protection of the law.’

The former Vice-President linked the incident to wider economic pressures, including poverty, unemployment and the rising cost of living, arguing that government policies should be assessed by their effects on ordinary Nigerians.

‘Thirty-seven young Nigerians entered the custody of the state alive and did not return alive to their families. That tragedy demands truth, justice and accountability.

‘Economic reform must ultimately be measured by what it does to the lives of ordinary people. If life becomes progressively more difficult for families, workers and young people, then government has a responsibility to reconsider the choices producing those outcomes,’ he said.

The ADC candidate also restated his proposal for a targeted production subsidy for petroleum products refined in Nigeria, saying it would support domestic refining and reduce petrol prices for consumers.

Atiku said his proposal differed from the previous subsidy regime on imported fuel.

‘My promise to make life affordable again is not a political slogan. It is a solemn covenant with the Nigerian people.

‘We will support what Nigeria produces. We will support fuel refined in Nigeria, create Nigerian jobs and insist that every naira of government support delivers a measurable benefit to the consumer,’ he said.

He added that government should create conditions that enable young Nigerians to pursue legitimate livelihoods rather than turn to hazardous activities because of economic hardship.

‘The purpose of government is not merely to announce reforms. The purpose of government is to make life better for the people,’ he said.

The Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI) has called on the Code of Conduct Tribunal to probe former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar over an alleged undeclared $500,000 foreign transaction made while he was in office.

The call followed revelations contained in a recent International Chamber of Commerce arbitration award on the disputed 3,960MW Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project.

In a statement signed by its Chairman, Dr Omoniyi Akinsiju, IMPI said its review of the 616-page arbitral award showed that $500,000 was transferred on January 30, 2003, from China Castle Investments, an offshore company linked to Sunrise Power promoter, Leno Adesanya, into a United States Citibank account belonging to Atiku’s then-wife, Jennifer Douglas.

The group said the payment was made about two weeks before Sunrise Power submitted its tender for the multi-billion-dollar Build, Operate and Transfer contract.

According to IMPI, the tribunal noted the close timing between the payment to Douglas and the alleged award of the BOT contract to Sunrise Power on May 22, 2003.

While Atiku’s legal team argued that the ICC tribunal did not make an explicit finding of bribery against him, IMPI said the tribunal rejected the explanation that the payment was a domestic foreign-exchange swap, citing the absence of supporting financial documentation.

The group said the circumstances surrounding the transaction warranted investigation under Nigeria’s Code of Conduct framework.

The statement read, ‘Under Section 7 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, public officers are strictly prohibited from maintaining foreign bank accounts.

‘If the former Vice President was the ultimate source of these foreign funds routed through a third-party offshore shell entity, or if he maintained undeclared foreign accounts to service his family abroad while in office as evidenced by Adesanya and his former wife, Jennifer, it constitutes a clear constitutional breach.’

IMPI also cited US State Department diplomatic cables reviewed during the arbitration proceedings, which described Adesanya as an ‘Atiku insider’ with direct access to the executive branch and said he accompanied official state delegations to China.

The group noted that although Atiku was not a direct signatory to the procurement process, his position as Vice-President gave him substantial influence over economic affairs.

It argued that undisclosed payments to a public official’s proxy around a critical procurement period raised questions about transparency and conflict of interest.

‘Even where direct quid-pro-quo instruction cannot be proven beyond reasonable doubt in civil arbitration, the existence of unverified, off-record offshore transfers creates an untenable conflict of interest.

‘It compromised the integrity of the original administrative process and set a dangerous precedent for major infrastructure concessions in Nigeria,’ the statement said.

IMPI also urged anti-corruption agencies to strengthen safeguards against the negotiation of major infrastructure projects outside statutory ministerial frameworks.

On possible sanctions, the group said that upon a successful prosecution, the CCT could order property forfeiture and impose a 10-year ban from holding public office, alongside possible criminal proceedings.