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Beauty in the Motherland (BITML) is set to return to Lagos for the 2026 edition.

The 2026 edition is scheduled to run from October 5, 2026 to October 7, 2026 at the Eko Convention Centre, Eko Hotel and Suites, for three days of exhibition, networking, learning and business opportunities.

Positioned as Africa’s leading beauty exhibition, BITML was created to celebrate and advance Africa’s beauty, natural and creative resources while expanding market access across the continent.

The platform is driven by a Vision 2030 ambition: to help the African beauty industry attain a $100 billion valuation and position Africa as a global hub for beauty innovation, brands, talent, manufacturing and investment.

The vision is championed by Founder Beatrice Eneh, a global beauty entrepreneur and African beauty market strategist and Co-founder Linda Edozien, founder and MD/CEO of Barazahi spa, has extensive corporate experience including as a pioneer executive at AMNI International Petroleum. Together, the fashion and beauty experts are building a platform to make African beauty businesses more visible, structured, investment-ready and globally competitive.

The 2026 edition will bring together 300 plus leading brands, over 400 exhibitors, 10,000 beauty professionals, 60 speakers, 20 partners and participants from other countries.

The event is produced in partnership with Fidelity Bank, Unilever, and the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) – a collaboration aimed at bringing finance, industry expertise and enterprise development to help beauty businesses grow and scale.

A major highlight is the BITML Business Pitch Competition with EDC. Selected beauty businesses receive training, mentorship and pitch to judges on the final day for cash prizes and development support.

The Nail Art Competition, sponsored by Nectar Beauty Hub, will also return. Winners get up to N1 million worth of nail products plus exposure and training opportunities.

The conference will feature thought leaders discussing international brand growth, digital influence, funding, sustainability, quality, and the future of African beauty.

Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has urged people in the South-East to support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid in the 2027 general elections and stop complaining about marginalisation.

Umahi said Tinubu had already secured victory in the election, insisting that nothing would prevent him from winning.

The minister spoke on Friday while inspecting the Nkwelle-Ezunaka flyover linking about four communities from the Second Niger Bridge to the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway in Anambra State.

Umahi said he would continue to speak about the need for the South-East to support the Tinubu administration, regardless of criticism directed at him.

‘Some of our people like shouting marginalisation. Nobody is marginalising us; rather, we are our own problem. The South-East must vote for Mr President. I don’t care if you insult me. We want the progress in the South-East to continue.

‘We have to show gratitude to Tinubu. This is the first time in the history of this region that the Igbo are benefiting like this from the Federal Government.

‘If you continue insulting the President, it will not stop him from winning in 2027. I will continue to educate our people. Our brother will never win with this ethnic politics of hate, blackmail and name-calling.

‘Anambra State is a strong base for Mr President because progressives are working together. So, Tinubu will win the 2027 presidential election,’ Umahi said.

The minister attributed some of the road challenges in the South-East to what he described as neglect by previous administrations, saying the Tinubu administration was addressing the situation through ongoing infrastructure projects.

He also criticised what he described as the tendency of some social media groups to raise alarms over minor issues, attributing it to what he called ‘myopic politics’.

The Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement, Chioma Nweze, and the Acting Controller of the Federal Ministry of Works in Anambra State, Timothy Emenike, commended Tinubu and Umahi for projects being executed in the region.

They, however, appealed to the President to direct the release of more funds to complete ongoing projects, including the flyover.

Nweze said members of the public and community leaders had a responsibility to protect federal infrastructure from vandalism.

She said, ‘Criminal justice gives us the right to arrest and not to detain those vandalising Federal Government projects, but when we arrest them, we hand them over to the police for prosecution.’

The Anambra State Commissioner for Works, Okey Ezeobi, who accompanied the minister during the inspection, also commended Tinubu and Umahi for projects in the state and the wider South-East.

Ezeobi said the projects demonstrated the benefits of cooperation between the Federal Government and the state, adding that Governor Chukwuma Soludo and Tinubu had an alliance ahead of the 2027 elections.

The writing had been on the wall for months, scrawled in the bitter ink of recurring sporting tragedy and compounding administrative embarrassment. For anyone paying attention to the fragile, tectonic plates of Nigerian sports governance, the eventual, catastrophic collapse of Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau’s presidency at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) was never a question of if but only a question of when.

That fateful hour struck on Thursday, August 27, 2026.

Inside the press briefing room of the NFF Secretariat at Sunday Dankaro House, Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, the curtain officially crashed down on an era defined by grand promises, fleeting heights, and, ultimately, unprecedented structural failure. Faced with an unbearable crescendo of national indignation, a crippling investigation into financial records and an inescapable sporting legacy of historical misses, Gusau formally threw in the towel.

Accompanying him in a dramatic, collective capitulation were his Executive Committee members and the long-serving NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi. The mass exit, coming just 34 days shy of the official expiration of Gusau’s four-year mandate, effectively decapitated the leadership of the Sunday Dankaro House.

For an administrator who climbed to power on a wave of political calculation in late 2022, Gusau’s dramatic fall from grace to grass serves as a sobering epitaph on how fragile authority becomes when disconnected from pitch-side reality. In Nigerian football, administrative longevity is dictated by the scoreboard. And when the scoreboard repeatedly reads zero, not even the most entrenched political machinery can shield an executive from the wrath of a heartbroken nation.

How the journey began in Benin

To truly understand the depth of Gusau’s downfall, one must journey back to September 30, 2022, in Benin City, Edo State. The 78th NFF Elective Congress had gathered to choose a successor to Amaju Melvin Pinnick, whose turbulent eight-year reign had ended amid fierce controversy following the Super Eagles’ failure to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Gusau, then the influential Chairman of the Zamfara State Football Association and Chairman of Chairmen on the NFF board, entered the contest as a consummate political insider. An accountant by training, born on March 1, 1964, the 62-year-old administrator was viewed by many state FA chairmen as a unifying figure who understood the intricate corridors of domestic sports politics.

The election itself was a master class in coalition building. The initial ballot yielded no absolute winner: Gusau led the field with 21 votes, followed by former NFF 1st Vice President Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi with 12, and Shehu Dikko with six. However, as the contest moved into a decisive run-off, political realignments forced withdrawals from Akinwunmi and Dikko. Facing former Super Eagles goalkeeper Peterside Idah in the final tally, Gusau flexed his political muscles, sweeping 39 out of 40 votes to emerge as the 40th President of the Nigeria Football Federation.

Taking office, Gusau spoke passionately about ushering in an era of transparency, structural reform, league calendar stability, and technical rejuvenation across all national teams. He inherited a football ecosystem desperate for direction, promising that under his stewardship, the painful missteps of the past would be systematically corrected.

Highs before the storms

It would be a historic disservice to render Gusau’s tenure as entirely destitute of achievement. For nearly half of his four-year tenure, the Zamfara-born administrator navigated the federation through moments of genuine celebration and crucial administrative progress.

The crowning sporting achievement of the Gusau administration arrived in early 2024 at the 34th Africa Cup of Nations in Côte d’Ivoire. Defying pre-tournament scepticism, the Super Eagles marched all the way to the final in Abidjan, ultimately claiming the silver medal after a hard-fought 2-1 defeat to the host nation. It was Nigeria’s finest AFCON performance since winning the trophy in South Africa in 2013, briefly convincing a cynical public that the national team was charting a path back to continental dominance.

Months later, women’s football delivered another landmark moment. The Super Falcons qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, ending an agonizing 16-year absence from the Olympic women’s football tournament dating back to Beijing 2008. The team followed that up by reaffirming their continental supremacy with a triumphant campaign at the 2025 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

Beyond the international turnstiles, Gusau oversaw crucial structural updates within the domestic game. The Nigeria Premier Football League experienced unprecedented calendar stability, aligning its start and end dates with European and continental standards, thereby eliminating the chaotic schedule shifts that previously crippled club operations. In collaboration with CAF, the NFF reactivated long-dormant coaching development structures, laying the groundwork for the return of the prestigious CAF A-License course after years of bureaucratic delay. Through FIFA-supported forward projects, his administration pushed forward construction on a 68-room Players’ Hostel and upgraded training pitches at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium complex in Abuja, alongside developmental pathways for younger referees.

Addressing journalists in his emotional farewell conference, Gusau leaned heavily into these milestones, stating that he left office with his head held high, knowing his administration put in their best effort under difficult circumstances, and insisting that history alone would judge their achievements.

Yet, in football administration, past credit is quickly erased by present failure. And the failures that lay in wait were catastrophic enough to tear down every brick of progress Gusau had painstakingly laid.

The unforgivable sins amid World Cup misses

If the AFCON silver medal in Abidjan was the peak of Gusau’s presidency, the qualification campaigns that followed represented an unchecked free-fall into an abyss of sporting failure.

The first major blow was the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the expanded 48-team 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted jointly by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Coming at a time when Africa had been allocated a record nine guaranteed slots plus a play-off spot, Nigeria’s inability to navigate a qualifying route-culminating in a tragic play-off elimination on penalties against DR Congo-sent shockwaves through the nation.

Missing out on back-to-back World Cups was a bitter pill for Nigerians to swallow, particularly as nine African nations, including South Africa, Cape Verde, and Angola, booked their passage to North America. The frustration among former players and fans turned into sheer fury as the rest of the continent celebrated global participation while Nigeria watched from the sidelines.

If the Super Eagles’ failure fractured Gusau’s presidency, the Super Falcons’ subsequent collapse shattered it beyond repair. In an African play-off fixture in Morocco, the nine-time African champions suffered a devastating 2-1 loss to South Africa, failing to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil. It marked the first time in 35 years-since the inception of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in China in 1991-that the Super Falcons would be absent from the global showpiece.

To compound the crisis, the youth pipeline dried up entirely. The Golden Eaglets and the Flying Eagles both faltered in their continental qualification series, ensuring an unprecedented sweep of World Cup absences across every category of Nigerian football. For a football-obsessed nation of over 200 million people, this was not merely a string of bad results; it was a systemic national tragedy.

The voices of resentment from former internationals

As the magnitude of the sporting disaster sank in, the calls for Gusau’s immediate removal reached a fever pitch. Former national team icons stepped forward to decry what they viewed as administrative embarrassment.

Segun Odegbami, legendary former Green Eagles captain and 1980 AFCON champion, spared no words in calling for fundamental governmental intervention to clean out the Glass House, noting that Nigeria’s absence was a sad commentary on the state of football and that the government must step in. Former Brentford defender Sam Sodje was equally scathing regarding the lack of accountability among board members, calling it shameful that those who masterminded the disappointment remained in office while the rest of the continent moved forward. Ex-BCC Lions star Bolaji Douglas forcefully dismantled administrative arguments attempting to mask the World Cup failures behind domestic or continental progress, stressing that missing consecutive World Cups in an era of expanded slots is a national tragedy. While US-based former youth international Paul Okoku advocated for broader structural evaluation over emotional bloodletting, the overwhelming consensus across the country was clear: the Gusau-led board had exhausted its moral authority to govern.

Financial scrutiny and the political pressure cooker

As the on-field crises multiplied, the administrative floor began to give way underneath Gusau. Beyond match results, severe questions began to surface surrounding the financial management of public funds injected into the federation.

At the center of the storm was the utilization of the massive ?12 billion Federal Government intervention fund released in 2024 to clear outstanding operational debts, match bonuses, and allowances for various national teams. Reports of ongoing inquiries by anti-corruption bodies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, created an intolerable atmosphere of scrutiny around Dankaro House. Further pressure mounted following recommendations from the Ambassador Fanny Amun-led fact-finding panel, which was set up to audit national team preparations and structural inefficiencies.

Though Gusau vigorously maintained his innocence during his resignation address-stating that they had fully cooperated with all relevant agencies and provided all requested documentation to show transparency-the combined weight of financial probes and public outrage rendered his political position entirely untenable.

The ‘coronation’ that never was

Gusau’s resignation also put a dramatic, unceremonious end to what many critics had begun calling an orchestrated coronation ahead of the scheduled NFF Elective Congress.

Before the crisis reached its boiling point, an election had been slated for Sunday, September 27, 2026, in Lafia, Nasarawa State. However, the pre-election process had drawn intense condemnation from stakeholders who claimed the electoral landscape was heavily rigged to ensure Gusau’s uncontested re-election. Despite widespread public anger over World Cup failures, state FA chairmen across the South-West, North-West, South-East, and North-Central geopolitical zones had issued a gale of endorsements adopting Gusau as their sole candidate. With Gusau’s sudden departure alongside his entire executive committee, the controversial Lafia congress has been rendered effectively dead in the water.

Normalization and the search for salvation

The immediate aftermath of Thursday’s mass resignation leaves Nigerian football at its most critical governance juncture in over a decade.

With the Dankaro House vacant, the National Sports Commission, under the leadership of Chairman Shehu Dikko and Director-General Bukola Olopade, would expectedly move swiftly in consultation with FIFA and CAF to establish an interim governance structure. Reports confirm that the NSC is finalizing the appointment of a Normalisation Committee to run daily operations, audit administrative structures, expand the long-criticized NFF Electoral Congress to accommodate broader stakeholder representation, and ultimately organize free, fair, and credible elections.

The task awaiting the incoming interim leadership-and whoever eventually succeeds Gusau permanently-is colossal: rebuilding national team frameworks, restoring public and corporate trust through transparent financial mechanisms, overhauling the NFF Statutes to dismantle restrictive electoral bottlenecks, and re-investing in developmental leagues and school sports structures.

The Nigerian Navy and the Federal Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture (FDFA) have arrested three fishing trawlers with 33 crew members, comprising three Chinese, two Ghanaians and 28 Nigerians, over suspected illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities.

The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Idi Abbas, disclosed this on Friday, during the closing ceremony of a two-day joint fisheries protection operation, codenamed Operation Abo Eja, held aboard the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) KADA in Lagos.

Represented by the Flag Officer Commanding, Western Naval Command (WNC), Rear Admiral Abubakar Mustapha, the CNS said the operation, conducted in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, aimed to strengthen surveillance, enforcement, and interagency collaboration against IUU fishing within Nigeria’s maritime domain.

He said the exercise, part of a wider Regional Simultaneous Fisheries Patrol also conducted in Ghana under the coordination of the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) and its Regional Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Centre, was intelligence-led, with the Navy deploying ships, helicopters, drones, Special Boat Service (SBS) elements and its maritime domain awareness assets, alongside the WNC Mission Control Centre.

Abbas said the FDFA complemented this with regulatory expertise, boarding and inspecting vessels around the Lekki offshore area.

Mustapha said Nigeria imports over 70 per cent of its fishery needs, against a local production shortfall, a gap he attributed partly to poaching. He said the partnership between the Navy and FDFA would continue, with naval personnel occasionally drawing on the department’s regulatory expertise while officers are trained to identify infractions during patrols.

He said enforcement powers had been strengthened by the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Related Offences (SPOMO) Act, under which the Navy had previously prosecuted offenders, including oil thieves.

On concerns that poachers exploit overlapping maritime boundaries among Gulf of Guinea states, including Ghana, Togo, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea and São Tomé and Príncipe, Mustapha said Nigeria was strengthening regional cooperation, noting that fish stocks are migratory and losses in neighbouring waters ultimately affect Nigeria.

Garba, however, disputed widely circulated claims that foreign vessels routinely poach in Nigerian waters and that offenders are sometimes caught and released, describing such reports as unsubstantiated and confined to the media. He said the Navy maintains round-the-clock presence in Nigerian waters and would have reported such incidents to his department if they occurred. He also dismissed claims that frozen fish sold in local markets originates from stolen Nigerian stock, saying the fish types involved are not native to Nigerian waters.

Giving details of the arrest, the Director, Monitoring Control and Surveillance, FDFA, Usman Garba, said the patrol team found a vessel operating with a 36mm mesh size, contrary to the prescribed standard for its category, alongside discrepancies in its Automatic Identification System (AIS) data. Two other vessels were found fishing within five nautical miles of the shoreline with their AIS switched off, he said.

Garba, who was represented at the closing ceremony by Head of Quality Assurance, Mrs. Adejoke Adeleke, said the three vessels were consequently escorted to the Lagos Defence Jetty for further investigation and processing in line with applicable laws, adding that the outcome demonstrated the value of combining fisheries technical expertise with the Navy’s maritime enforcement capacity.

Garba added that the FDFA was collaborating with other agencies to curb marine pollution, including plastic waste, which he said killing fish stock rather than driving them to other countries.

He called for stiffer punishment for offenders, noting that they were exploiting weaknesses in fisheries laws to keep committing crimes and endangering aquatic life in the country.

Stakeholders at the event also recommended the introduction of a fishing off-season, as was applicable in South Africa, to preserve nests and fingerlings from being poached and killed by criminally minded individuals.

Ikorodu is set to pulse with excitement as the Lagos Boxing Hall of Fame (LBHF) brings its Ibile Divisional Championships to the Ikorodu Township Hall on Saturday, August 29.

The one-day tournament, staged in partnership with the Lagos Amateur Boxing Association (LABA), will feature 10 thrilling bouts, continuing Nigeria’s longest-running grassroots amateur boxing initiative – a project founded in July 2009 and sustained by the vision and support of former Minister of Finance, Wale Edun.

According to LBHF Director David Mohammed, the championships have grown steadily, drawing enthusiastic crowds across divisions.

Following successful outings in Ikeja and Badagry, Ikorodu now hosts the third leg of the Ibile format introduced this year.

The stakes are high: boxers are battling for coveted spots in the prestigious Governor’s Belt, the grand finale of the monthly championships.

Fighters representing Ikorodu Local Council, Ikorodu North LCDA, Ikorodu West LCDA, Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA, Ijede LCDA, Ketu Agboyi, Ikosi Isheri, and Imota LCDA will converge on the Town Hall, each determined to prove their mettle.

Adding youthful energy to the card, two exhibition bouts will showcase rising talents: Pamilerin Abayomi of Bethel Gemini Junior Secondary School faces Esumba Peter of Odogunyan Junior Secondary School in the boys’ 36kg, while John Adigun of Ikosi Primary School squares off against Rasaq Adebayo in the boys’ 22kg.

The women’s division promises fireworks, with Aishat Yisa of Ikorodu North LCDA clashing with Abisola Agbolade of the same council in the 50kg category, and Oyindamola Kuseju of Ikorodu LGA taking on Basirat Kelani of Ijede LCDA in the 54kg.

Six men’s bouts round out the day’s action. Wahab Adiat of Ikorodu West LCDA opens proceedings against Jamiu Adeniji of Agboyi Ketu in the 50kg, followed by Kolade Ojo of Ikorodu North LCDA against Akinola Akingbade of Agboyi Ketu in the 55kg. In the 60kg, Waris Sanusi of Ikosi Isheri LCDA meets Shazilly Hamzat of Ikorodu West LCDA, while Kingsley Gabriel of Ikorodu North LCDA battles Folagbade Ademola of Ikosi Isheri LCDA in the 65kg. The 70kg contest pits Kazeem Ibrahim of Ikorodu West LCDA against Adewale Adesanya of Ikorodu North LCDA, before the final showdown: Yusuf Nasiru of Ikorodu LGA versus Nasiru Mustapha of Ikorodu North LCDA in the 75kg.

With community pride at stake and the Governor’s Belt looming on the horizon, Ikorodu is poised for a day of passion, grit, and unforgettable boxing drama.

MoMo Payment Service Bank (MoMo PSB) has appointed Bode Abifarin as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, effective September 1.

The bank announced the appointment in a statement yesterday.

Abifarin takes over the leadership of the payment service bank with more than 23 years of experience in financial services, consulting, digital payments, fintech, operations and business transformation.

She previously served as Chief Operating Officer of Flutterwave, where she was involved in the company’s expansion across several markets, operational development and regulatory engagement.

Before joining Flutterwave, Abifarin spent 15 years at KPMG, where she rose to Associate Director in Management Consulting. In that role, she advised financial institutions and other organisations on strategy, business transformation, customer experience and growth.

She most recently founded Strata Advisory, a technology-focused advisory firm.

MTN Group Fintech Chief Executive Officer, Serigne Dioum, said Abifarin’s experience in financial services and technology would support MoMo PSB’s next phase of operations.

MoMo PSB Board Chairman, Michael Ajukwu, also said her background in payments, digital transformation and stakeholder engagement informed the board’s confidence in her appointment.

Abifarin said she would work with the bank’s management, regulators and partners to expand access to digital financial services.

MoMo PSB, a subsidiary of MTN Nigeria, is licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria to provide services including money transfers, bill payments and mobile wallet solutions.

The appointment comes as payment service banks and other financial technology operators continue to compete for a larger share of Nigeria’s expanding digital financial services market.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered a comprehensive forensic audit of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) and Federal Government ministries, departments and agencies as part of measures to uncover ghost workers, payroll fraud, ‘fake agencies’ and other weaknesses through which public resources may have been diverted.

The President directed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, to oversee and coordinate the exercise, which will also scrutinise the administration and internal controls of government institutions.

The directive followed a resolution of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at its August 19, 2026 meeting in response to findings by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on the existence of ‘fake agencies’, ghost workers and other failures in government control systems.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed this in a statement on Friday.

According to the statement, the audit is designed to establish the nature and extent of weaknesses in the Federal Government’s control systems and determine how such vulnerabilities have been exploited.

The exercise will be undertaken in two interconnected components, with the first concentrating on a forensic examination of government systems, particularly IPPIS and related payroll, personnel, pension and financial-management platforms.

The audit will investigate reported cases of ghost workers and payroll fraud, reconcile figures identified by the ICPC and establish how fictitious or otherwise ineligible persons were enrolled on government payrolls.

It will also scrutinise access, identity, biometric and bank-account controls to determine weaknesses that may have facilitated fraudulent enrolment or payments.

Beyond IPPIS, the exercise will examine its interfaces with other government financial platforms, including the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), Remita, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and Sub-TSA.

According to the statement, investigators are expected to determine whether identified fraud arose from defects in government systems, failures in administrative processes, inadequate segregation of duties or deliberate circumvention of established controls.

The second component will involve a sweeping review of all Federal Government agencies, departments, commissions, councils, parastatals and other government bodies.

Under this phase, the audit will establish a definitive inventory of Federal Government entities and verify the legal basis for their existence.

It will also investigate the processes through which government bodies obtain official recognition, budgetary consideration, correspondence privileges, office facilities and access to government systems.

The Presidency said the review would further assess governance, procurement, internal audit and oversight controls across the Federal Government, with a view to shutting loopholes that could enable irregular entities or unauthorised persons to gain access to public resources.

Tinubu directed that the exercise be conducted to the highest standards of independence, professionalism and forensic integrity.

To facilitate a thorough investigation, the audit team will be granted access to relevant government systems and records.

It will also work with the ICPC to ensure that the forensic review complements ongoing investigations, prosecutions and recovery efforts by the anti-corruption agency.

The President said the exercise must extend beyond merely uncovering individual cases of fraud or administrative lapses and address structural weaknesses that make such abuses possible.

According to the statement, the administration expects the audit to strengthen the architecture of government, close systemic loopholes, improve data verification and reconciliation and reinforce accountability across federal institutions.

It is also expected to ensure that only legally constituted government entities and eligible personnel have access to public funds and other government resources.

The Presidency said the comprehensive exercise underscored Tinubu’s commitment to strengthening transparency, accountability, fiscal governance and institutional integrity across the Federal Government.

Nigeria made its debut at Gamescom 2026 with its first official country pavilion, bringing a 10-person delegation to one of the world’s largest gaming events and putting the country’s emerging games industry in front of international publishers, investors, platforms and ecosystem partners.

The Games from Nigeria Pavilion, located in Hall 4.1, became a meeting point for developers, publishers, investors, international organisations and industry partners over three days, showcasing Nigerian-made games alongside initiatives focused on talent development, research, conferences and ecosystem building.

The debut marked a significant step in Nigeria’s efforts to increase the international visibility of its games industry and expand access to global markets.

Gamescom 2026 features more than 1,700 exhibitors, with country pavilions providing national games industries with a platform to connect local developers and companies with international audiences and commercial partners.

For Nigeria, the pavilion was designed to go beyond showcasing individual games. It brought together different parts of the country’s games ecosystem, including development studios, educators, community builders, researchers and industry organisations.

Visitors were able to discover Nigerian-made mobile, PC and console games, meet developers and discuss opportunities around investment, publishing, distribution, skills development and international collaboration.

The initiative was created by Maliyo Games, one of Nigeria’s pioneering game development studios, with support from the Embassy of France in Nigeria, which has supported the development and internationalisation of Nigeria’s games and wider creative industries.

Hugo Obi, founder and CEO of Maliyo Games and leader of the Nigerian delegation, said the pavilion represented an opportunity to bring years of work across Nigeria’s games ecosystem under a single international platform.

‘This is a great opportunity to showcase the future trajectory of Nigeria’s emerging games ecosystem and a signal to the world that we have immense talent and the ability to compete in the global industry.’

Obi said developers and ecosystem organisations had spent years building studios, training talent, producing games, collecting industry data and creating connections with the global games economy.

‘Games from Nigeria brings all of those efforts together under one identity,’ he said. ‘We are saying: we are here, we are building, and we want to work with the world.’

The Nigerian presence also attracted attention from international industry organisations.

Maria Burns Ortiz, managing director of Global Game Jam, said Nigeria’s presence at Gamescom represented an important milestone for the country’s development community.

‘It is incredibly exciting to see Nigeria establishing such a visible presence at Gamescom,’ Burns Ortiz said. ‘There is tremendous creativity and talent across Nigeria and the wider African game development community.’

She added that initiatives such as Games from Nigeria could help connect African developers directly with the international games industry.

‘Seeing Nigeria represented here in Cologne is an important milestone, and hopefully just the beginning of a much bigger story,’ she said.

Nigeria’s Gamescom appearance comes as Africa’s gaming market continues to expand, driven by a young population, increasing smartphone adoption and improving internet connectivity.

The continent is home to hundreds of millions of players, with mobile gaming accounting for a significant share of the market. However, African developers and studios still capture only a relatively small portion of the economic value generated by the continent’s growing gaming audience.

For Nigeria, that gap represents both a challenge and an opportunity.

The country is already one of Africa’s largest gaming markets and is home to tens of millions of players. The Games from Nigeria initiative seeks to strengthen the other side of the equation by helping more Nigerian developers create, own and commercialise intellectual property for local and international audiences.

The pavilion therefore served as a platform for market access as much as a showcase.

A programme of developer presentations, industry discussions and networking sessions ran throughout Gamescom, culminating in the Africa Games Industry Mixer, which brought African developers together with international publishers, investors, technology platforms and ecosystem partners.

The event was designed to create relationships that could lead to publishing agreements, investment, distribution opportunities and other forms of international collaboration.

The diversity of the Nigerian delegation reflected an ecosystem that is beginning to develop beyond game production alone.

Alongside developers, representatives included organisations involved in education, community building, industry events, research and other parts of the games value chain.

That broader ecosystem will be critical if Nigeria is to transition from a promising emerging market into a sustainable participant in the global games industry.

The Games from Nigeria initiative is seeking to accelerate that transition by increasing international visibility, market access, investment and partnerships for Nigerian studios, intellectual property and ecosystem organisations.

As Africa’s gaming audience continues to grow, the industry’s next challenge will be ensuring that the continent captures a greater share of the value generated by that growth.

That means increasing the number of African-owned studios, intellectual properties and globally successful games, while creating pathways for local developers to access international capital, publishing networks, technology and distribution.

Nigeria’s Gamescom debut was an early step in that effort.

Organisers say they hope to establish Games from Nigeria as a recurring international platform for Nigerian developers and use it to build deeper relationships with publishers, investors, technology companies, governments and other games ecosystems.

For Obi, the long-term impact will be measured by what follows the event.

‘The real measure of success isn’t simply that we built a beautiful pavilion at Gamescom. It is what comes next – the introductions that become partnerships, the games that find publishers, the developers who gain access to new markets and the young Nigerian creators who see this and realise that there is a place for them in the global games industry.

‘This was our first outing. It certainly won’t be our last,’ he said.

The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has promised to reopen Nigeria’s land borders with neighbouring countries if elected president.

Atiku made the pledge while addressing supporters in a video circulating online and shared by ADC chieftain Dele Momodu on Friday.

He said the closure of the country’s borders had negatively affected transborder trade and contributed to rising unemployment, particularly among young Nigerians.

‘The Northern states border Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and the Benin Republic.

‘And you close all those borders. All our young men who are doing trading between these countries, they carry goods across, they do this and that; all what we call transborder trade is a legitimate business,’ Atiku said.

According to him, many young people who previously operated businesses with millions of naira in capital were forced out of business following the border closures.

‘All the upcoming young men and women who used to have a capital of 10 million, 20 million, and they were employing two, three other people, and then all of them went bankrupt and unemployed. How can there be security?’ he asked.

‘So I said I am going to reopen the borders and I will,’ he added.

Atiku also spoke about the need to improve the movement of goods through ports in southern Nigeria, saying he had previously explored ways to develop the region’s port infrastructure.

‘During the last campaign, I went across to Europe to discuss with shippers and ship development companies how we can together develop South and South-Eastern ports so that there is balance as far as importation of goods and transportation of goods are concerned,’ he said.

The ADC candidate said developing ports in the South would reduce the time and cost involved in transporting goods to the North-East.

He cited the transportation of containers from Lagos to Yola in Adamawa State, where he said he had a factory.

‘So when, if I drop my container in Calabar or in Uyo or in Port Harcourt, it will just take me 24 hours to take the container to Yola.

‘But right now, it takes me not less than two months to take my container from Lagos because you have to cross over from South-West, you go to North-East, and then there is even no road,’ Atiku said.

He said his position reflected concerns about the movement of goods across the country and the need to develop southern ports.

Nigeria’s land borders were closed in August 2019 under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. The Federal Government at the time said the measure aimed to curb large-scale smuggling of rice, poultry products, petroleum products, and other goods, as well as weapons and drugs, while encouraging local agricultural production.

In December 2020, Buhari ordered the reopening of four border crossings, including the Seme Border in Lagos State, the Illela Border in Sokoto State, the Maigatari Border in Jigawa State and the Mfun Border in Cross River State.

Under President Bola Tinubu, the Federal Government reopened the Tsamiya land border with the Benin Republic in Kebbi State and the Kamba corridor linking Nigeria with the Niger Republic in February 2026.

The Nigeria Customs Service said at the time that the reopening would be accompanied by measures to prevent smuggling and other illegal activities.

While some strategic border posts have since been reopened, some land borders have remained restricted or under tight controls.

As the All Progressives Congress (APC) commenced the 2027 presidential election campaign, Lagos stands ready and well equipped for the task of providing the necessary grassroots mobilisation and electoral strength for the victory of the party in the elections.

The State chapter of the party has energized its structures and mobilized its members in readiness for the election which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is contesting alongside the candidates of the opposition parties. It has continued to consolidate its structures and deepened grassroots engagement across the state.

Under the able leadership of Hon. Cornelius Ojelabi, the party has sustained ward-level meetings and stakeholder engagements across its 20 Local Government and 37 Local Council Development Areas. Women organizations, youth groups, market associations, community leaders, artisans and other critical stakeholders have also been actively engaged and continually patronized to give them a sense of belonging.

In Lagos, the party will have no problem moving along with the people as the evidence of development is visible and measurable. From the operational Lagos Blue Rail Line to the Red Rail Line to the continued road construction and rehabilitation, urban renewal, human capital development and other people-friendly programs, the state has continued to witness significant investment and visible progress.

At the federal level, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope administration has pursued bold economic reforms aimed at repositioning Nigeria’s economy and addressing long-standing structural challenges.

The removal of fuel subsidy, foreign exchange reforms, and broader fiscal restructuring have been complemented by large-scale investments in infrastructure, transportation, education, healthcare, agriculture, and social development. The government’s infrastructure drive across six geopolitical zones is a strategy for strengthening national integration and economic connectivity.

The 1,068 km Superhighway; 750 km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road; 114.5 km Ibadan-Ijebu-Ode Road; 465 km Calabar-Abuja Superhighway; 700 km Akwanga-Jos-Bauchi-Gombe-Biu-Maiduguri Superhighway; and Sokoto-Gusau-Funtua-Zaria Road (275 km) are some of the roads that are linking regions and spreading development across the country.

Beyond infrastructure, the administration continues to pursue policies aimed at attracting investment, strengthening Nigeria’s global economic standing, and creating an enabling environment for businesses to grow, expand, and create jobs.

These efforts form part of the broader Renewed Hope Agenda, focused on economic reform, infrastructure expansion, human capital development, and national renewal.

The 2027 presidential election campaign therefore provides an opportunity to present these achievements to Nigerians and make a clear case for continuity.

For Lagos APC, the task is straightforward: take the message to the people. Every ward, every Local Government Area, every community, and every polling unit will be engaged. The party will communicate the record, explain the policies, and highlight the impact of APC-led governance at both state and federal levels.

The objective is not merely to campaign, but to connect governance with the people and translate political organisation into electoral strength.

With continuity in 2027, Nigerians can expect:

Consolidation of ongoing infrastructure projects across all regions

Expansion of rail, road, and transport connectivity nationwide

Strengthening of economic reforms for long-term stability

Increased investment inflows and job creation opportunities

Improved access to social services including education and healthcare

Greater integration of regional economies through strategic corridors

The commencement of the presidential campaign is, therefore, more than the opening of another election cycle. It marks the beginning of an intensified mobilisation to consolidate the gains of the APC, strengthen the Renewed Hope mandate, and secure victory in 2027.

With a strong grassroots structure, experienced leadership, and a clear record of governance achievements, Lagos APC is fully prepared for the task ahead.

From Lagos, we are ready.

The foundation is firm.

The structure is standing.

The campaign has begun.

The mobilisation has begun.

The engagement has begun.

The journey to victory has begun.

Nowoola-Akingbehin Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Lagos State APC Chairman