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The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) reminded Nigerians on August 18 that every passenger in a vehicle must have a working seatbelt and must wear it whenever the vehicle starts moving.

‘Wear a seatbelt even for a 5-minute drive,’ the Corps said in a post on X.

It was the direction of the responses to the post that caught my attention.

Nigerians were not arguing against the safety value of seatbelts. Again and again, the responses turned to commercial vehicles and the long-running concern about how road-safety rules are enforced on them.

The FRSC’s mandate covers road users and vehicles generally, including commercial transport.

The Corps is empowered to regulate the use of seatbelts and other safety devices and to regulate the movement of vehicles on Nigerian roads. Its own description of its responsibilities also says it regulates, enforces and coordinates road traffic and safety management activities. Commercial vehicles therefore fall within the Corps’ road-safety enforcement responsibilities.

Commercial vehicles deserve particular attention in any discussion of seatbelt enforcement because they routinely carry several passengers at a time. A crash involving a commercial bus can put far more people at risk than a crash involving an ordinary private car. Their passenger-carrying role makes the condition of their safety equipment and compliance with road-safety rules especially important.

The responses suggest that many Nigerians do not have that experience on the roads.

One commenter wrote: ‘You people need to start implementing these laws. How can passengers use seat belt when two people sit in front and four at the back and you just pretend as though you’re not aware?’

Another said: ‘I don’t rate you until you start enforcing these laws for commercial drivers too. Your men would see a car in good conditions with complete papers and would still be looking for what’s not missing. Meanwhile, a commercial vehicle that’s barely moving gets a sure pass.’

Another wrote: ‘Enforce it on commercial drivers and quit yapping about it.’

A fourth commenter said: ‘Let’s not even talk about how your officers on the road don’t care about commercial bus drivers and front-seat passengers not wearing seatbelts but you’ll penalize a private car driver for not using seatbelts.’

Nigeria has had compulsory seatbelt requirements for years. The National Road Traffic Regulations require vehicles to be fitted with seatbelts and require occupants to wear them while the vehicle is in motion. The regulations also provide for a seatbelt for each seating position and require fitted seatbelts to be in good working condition.

The FRSC’s current official offence schedule lists seatbelt violation as a traffic offence carrying a N2,000 penalty and five penalty points.

For many years, however, the seatbelt enforcement experienced by motorists and passengers has been most visible among drivers and front-seat occupants. That history helps explain why the prospect of enforcing the requirement on every passenger, particularly passengers in commercial vehicles, has generated such a strong reaction.

One commenter asked: ‘This particular instructions about seatbelt is for PRIVATE CAR owners ONLY abi.’

The commenter followed with: ‘Does it apply to passengers inside Danfo or Korope?’

Another questioned whether the policy could be implemented without wider consequences for commercial transport in Lagos:

‘Good advice but is it practicable now? You may have at least 50,000 commercial vehicles to be taken off Lagos roads.’

Another wrote: ‘I’m yet to see you enforce this with commercial vehicles and passengers. Even the drivers do not wear seatbelts and carry 2 people in the front seat.’

The reaction also brought up other safety conditions associated by the public with commercial vehicles.

One commenter said: ‘Every traffic law in Nigeria na for private cars…nothing concern commercial drivers. Many commercial buses on the road no get working lights.’

A passenger can only use a seatbelt if the vehicle provides a functional one.

That is especially relevant in commercial buses. If there are more passengers than proper seating positions, or if belts are missing or defective, telling passengers to buckle up does not solve the problem. A seatbelt rule cannot work properly if the vehicle itself does not meet basic safety requirements.

The World Health Organisation identifies seatbelts as one of the most effective ways of reducing deaths and injuries among vehicle occupants. FRSC road-safety material similarly cites substantial reductions in the risk of death and serious injury for occupants who use seatbelts.

Nigeria’s road-crash figures show why the subject deserves serious attention.

The FRSC recorded 10,446 road traffic crashes and 5,289 deaths in 2025, with 33,400 people injured. The number of crashes rose from 9,570 in 2024, although fatalities fell from 5,421 to 5,289.

Between January and May 2026, the Corps recorded 2,214 road traffic crashes involving 4,165 vehicles. The crashes affected 16,349 people, killed 1,181 and injured 7,809. During the same period, the FRSC said it arrested 279,414 traffic offenders and booked 308,816 traffic offences nationwide.

A seatbelt cannot prevent every crash. It can, however, improve a passenger’s chances of surviving one.

Yet overcrowding and other safety violations remain familiar features of commercial transport despite repeated enforcement campaigns.

The FRSC has carried out enforcement operations against commercial vehicles. In October 2025, its FCT Command said it apprehended more than 250 commercial drivers within two days of an enforcement campaign against overloading. The operation also targeted the practice of carrying more than one passenger in the front seat.

So commercial vehicles are not outside enforcement.

I have also personally interacted with a couple of commercial vehicle drivers who told me they had never obtained a driver’s licence and had never been asked to produce one by any road traffic enforcement official since they started driving. Their accounts, though limited to those individual experiences, point to wider questions about how consistently basic traffic requirements are checked among commercial drivers.

Across major cities in Nigeria, it is also common to see commercial vehicle drivers engaging in reckless driving and making indiscriminate stops that disrupt traffic and contribute to avoidable incidents and hold-ups. These everyday experiences add another dimension to the public concern over whether traffic rules are being enforced consistently on commercial vehicles.

Another commenter wrote: ‘The day you guys succeed with this particular goal, I will crown you as the most serious agency in Nigeria. You can’t even get public transport buses to have working seat belts in their front seats!!! Achieve that first, then we can talk.’

For a passenger travelling by Danfo or Korope, compliance is not entirely within the passenger’s control. The passenger does not decide whether the vehicle has working seatbelts, how many people it carries or whether it is mechanically sound.

But the passenger remains inside the vehicle when it crashes.

The seatbelt requirement therefore also depends on the conditions in which commercial transport operates. There must be functional seatbelts for designated seating positions and reasonable passenger capacity. Drivers and vehicle owners must comply with the safety requirements that make it possible for passengers to comply too.

For millions of Nigerians, the real test will not be another reminder on social media. It will be the next commercial bus they enter and the safety conditions they find there.

The reaction to the FRSC’s post shows that the public lacks confidence in its enforcement capabilities, particularly on commercial vehicles.

Ladigbolu is a journalist based in Lagos.

Veteran journalist and publisher, Dele Momodu, has told Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, that he is not competing with anyone over his support for Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke.

Momodu made the position known on Saturday in an X post responding to Wike’s comments on Adeleke’s political alignment ahead of the 2027 elections.

Wike had said Adeleke belonged to his political camp and was fully supporting President Bola Tinubu. He also criticised Momodu over his reported support for the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Adeleke.

The FCT minister made the remarks on Friday while speaking with journalists during an inspection exercise in Abuja, where he discussed Adeleke’s recent visits to him and President Tinubu.

Wike said the 2027 election would witness broader political alliances and predicted that more politicians and groups would join the coalition supporting Tinubu.

He said, ‘I told you that the 2027 election would be the most in-depth election. I have told ADC who are talking about, oh, they helped Adeleke to win, they just wanted to go ahead and harvest what they never planted, you know.’

According to Wike, Adeleke’s meetings with him and Tinubu were evidence of the governor’s political direction.

He said, ‘So, Adeleke is fully supporting Mr President.’

Wike further said the political movement was still developing and urged Nigerians to expect more groups to join the alliance backing Tinubu.

He said, ‘And so, we went to bed last night and encouraged ourselves to continue. And the next few weeks, watch what is going to happen. You will see a larger rainbow coalition in this country supporting Mr President.’

The former Rivers State governor also rejected suggestions that the 2027 election had already been decided.

He said, ‘You will see more. And that’s why I said, the election is not concluded. It’s not concluded.’

Wike subsequently directed his criticism at Momodu, questioning where the publisher would stand politically and referencing his connection to Ile-Ife.

He said, ‘I don’t know where Dele Momodu will be now. Every time you see him on television, he was born in Ife thinking that will make Adeleke come to your side.

In his response, Momodu said his support for Adeleke was based on the governor’s performance and not personal friendship or financial considerations.

The publisher also explained that his ties to Osun State predated the current political contest, tracing his connection to Ile-Ife, where he was born on May 16, 1960, three days after Adeleke.

Momodu said his father, Jacob Momodu, had moved from Ihievbe, now in Edo State, to Ile-Ife, where he met and married his mother, who was from Gbongan Olufi in present-day Osun State.

He said he completed his education in Ile-Ife up to a master’s degree between 1966 and 1988, with periods spent working different jobs, describing the ancient city as the foundation of his life.

He wrote, ‘I was born in the ancient town (now a modern city, courtesy of GOVERNOR ADEMOLA ADELEKE) on May 16, 1960, three days after the birth of my ‘Twin Brother’, ADEMOLA ADELEKE)…

My adventurous father JACOB MOMODU had navigated his way from the old Mid Western village of IHIEVBE (now in EDO State) to ILE-IFE, where he met my adorable mother, from GBONGAN Olufi, in today’s OSUN State, and they got married, and I’m the only child of their union. They were prayer warriors who imbibed the spirit of love and contentment in me…

I had all my education in Ile-Ife, up to a Master’s degree, (from 1966-1988) with intermittent breaks for different jobs that prepared me for a future of global fame and fortune. ILE-IFE was my rock…

Momodu said his stake in Osun State was not dependent on who occupies the governorship, adding that his backing of Adeleke was motivated by what he described as the governor’s ‘superlative performance’.

He wrote, ‘I will forever remain a major stakeholder in OSUN State, regardless of whoever is Governor. I supported ADEMOLA ADELEKE, not because he is my friend, or pecuniary gains, but for the glaring evidence of his superlative performance.

Addressing those who may seek to claim ownership of Adeleke’s support, Momodu said he was not interested in a political contest with anyone. He also highlighted his distance from government and political power despite his access to influential people.

He wrote, ‘Those who wish to claim ownership now are welcome. I’m not in competition with anyone. I’m proud of my glorious heritage. I have never been in government or power, despite my uncommon ACCESS to men and women of influence. I thank my parents for their love and spiritual fortification. I’m a child of DESTINY… AND I KNOW WHO I’M…

MR WIKE, cool temper. Life is not determined only by power and wealth. Remember Tomorrow…’

Nollywood actress Ronke Oshodi Oke has opened up about her battle with a health challenge, revealing that she spent as much as N800,000 monthly on drugs during the period.

The actress made this known during an interview on African A List, where she recounted the difficult period and the support she received from MC Oluomo and some of her colleagues.

The actress also expressed gratitude to God, MC Oluomo and some of her colleagues for supporting her through the difficult period.

Speaking about the financial burden of her treatment, Ronke said the cost of purchasing drugs every month was overwhelming.

‘Thank God that He is God, and thanks to MC Oluomo and my colleagues who kept me alive today. Do you know what it means for someone to buy drugs worth N800,000 every month?

She also recounted the unexpected support she received from fellow actress Sotayo, despite their long-standing disagreement.

According to Ronke, she and Sotayo had not spoken for about five or six years after a disagreement, but Sotayo sent her N150,000 after learning that she was ill.

‘Take Sotayo, I don’t just mention names lightly but I will mention hers. Sotayo and I hadn’t spoken in a long time, not that we were at war, but we had a little disagreement. The last time Sotayo and I spoke was five or six years ago. But when she heard that I fell sick, she sent me N150,000,’ she said.

When asked whether Sotayo had called her since then, Ronke said they still do not speak whenever they meet at social gatherings.

‘If we meet at a party, we bypass each other without greeting,’ she said.

Ronke also revealed that she joined the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) during the period she was seriously ill, stressing that her decision was personal and that she does not condemn other religions.

‘It was when I was terribly sick that I joined Cele. As for me, I don’t condemn other religions,’ she said.

Nollywood actress and filmmaker Funke Akindele has unveiled the star-studded cast of her upcoming movie, The Four: No One Fights Alone, as anticipation builds ahead of its December cinema release.

The film is scheduled to hit cinemas nationwide on December 11, 2026, making it one of the major Nigerian productions expected to compete for audiences during the highly competitive festive season.

Akindele leads an ensemble cast that features some of the biggest names in Nollywood and the wider Nigerian entertainment industry.

The cast includes Richard Mofe-Damijo, Bisola Aiyeola, Chioma Akpotha, Timini Egbuson, Lateef Adedimeji, Ali Nuhu, Uzor Arukwe, Ronke Oshodi-Oke, Antar Laniyan and Wunmi Toriola.

The production also features singer Waje, Afrobeats artiste Shoday and other entertainment personalities, adding a music and contemporary entertainment dimension to the project.

The title, The Four: No One Fights Alone, centres on four women and the lengths they are willing to go to in protecting someone whose future becomes important to them. The storyline explores themes of loyalty, friendship, sacrifice and the consequences of standing together when circumstances become difficult.

The unveiling of the cast has already generated interest among movie lovers, particularly because of the combination of established veterans, younger Nollywood stars and popular entertainment personalities.

For Akindele, the project comes after a series of successful December releases that have strengthened her reputation as one of Nigeria’s most commercially successful filmmakers.

Her previous productions, including A Tribe Called Judah, Everybody Loves Jenifa and Behind the Scenes, attracted significant attention at the box office and established December as an important period for her film releases.

The Four will therefore face high expectations when it arrives in cinemas, especially as Nigerian filmmakers continue to target the festive period when cinema attendance traditionally increases.

The film will also enter a competitive December market, with major local and international productions expected to compete for audiences.

With its large ensemble cast, prominent production team and December 11 release date, The Four: No One Fights Alone is shaping up as one of the Nollywood films to watch as the 2026 festive cinema season approaches.

Yes, it is true that Oranges are a rich source of Vitamin C.

The Association of Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries of Oyo and Osun States (AREHSPSOOS) has urged serving and retired top civil servants to prioritise healthy living, social interaction and purposeful engagement as they advance in age.

The association made the call at its 2026 AREHSPSOOS Day, which brought together serving and retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries from Oyo and Osun states for a day of sightseeing, health education, medical screening and reminiscences of their years in public service.

Delivering a health lecture at the event, a consultant family physician, Dr Oluwatoyin Olalemi, said advancing age should not be regarded as synonymous with ill health, stressing that lifestyle choices and genetic factors play significant roles in determining health outcomes.

Olalemi identified physical health, mental well-being, social interaction, purposeful living and personal fulfillment as essential components of healthy aging.

She said, ‘Ageing is not a disease. The way we live our lives, what we eat and drink, our environment and our daily activities all have significant effects on our health as we grow older.’

The physician encouraged the participants to pay greater attention to their diets, remain physically active and maintain meaningful social relationships, noting that healthy ageing required a holistic approach.

She described the health session as interactive, saying members also shared personal experiences and practical ideas on maintaining healthy lifestyles in retirement.

Speaking on the significance of the annual event, the Chairman of AREHSPSOOS, Chief Adebisi Adesola, said the association introduced the celebration to create an avenue for members to relax, reconnect and interact outside their regular professional environment.

According to him, August 21 was deliberately chosen for the annual celebration, with the 2026 edition being the third since the initiative began.

Adesola commended members for their commitment and sacrifices during their years in public service, urging them to continue using their wealth of experience to mentor younger generations.

He said retirement should not mark the end of meaningful contributions to society.

‘We are retired, but we are not tired. For us to live useful lives, we need to be useful. The experiences that we’ve all gathered, I advise that we continue to make use of them for the coming generations,’ he said.

The AREHSPSOOS chairman added that the continued involvement of retired public servants in community and national development would help younger people benefit from the knowledge and experience accumulated during their years of service.

In his goodwill message, the Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Oyo State Council, Comrade Olusegun Abatan, represented by the Assistant Secretary, Comrade Banji Koleosho, commended members of the association for their contributions to the development of Oyo State.

Abatan prayed for the retirees to enjoy continued good health, peace and prosperity in their later years.

Earlier, the Chairman of the Planning Committee, Chief Bayo Oyero, welcomed participants to the programme and expressed appreciation for their presence.

Oyero urged members to use the occasion to renew old friendships, share experiences and apply the health lessons from the lecture to their daily lives.

The event also provided an opportunity for the retired senior civil servants to look back on their years in public service, while strengthening the bonds of friendship, fellowship and camaraderie among members of the association.

The Kogi State Government has ordered an immediate investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of four members of the same family in Ihima, Okehi Local Government Area, reportedly after consuming a local delicacy known as Amala.

The Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Femi Fanwo, disclosed this on Saturday in a statement, saying Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo had directed the Commissioner for Health to commence a comprehensive investigation into the incident.

According to Fanwo, the Governor is deeply concerned about the deaths and wants the authorities to determine whether food poisoning, contamination or any other medical or environmental factor was responsible.

‘The Chief Servant is deeply concerned by this tragic incident and has directed the Commissioner for Health to immediately investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths, with particular attention to the possibility of food poisoning or food contamination,’ Fanwo said.

He added that the investigation would establish the facts surrounding the incident, including whether the food consumed by the deceased was contaminated.

Fanwo said relevant samples and other available evidence would be properly examined in line with established public health procedures.

The Commissioner further disclosed that reports that the family’s dog also died after consuming the same food would be taken into consideration as part of the investigation.

He said the Ministry of Health had been directed to collaborate with relevant agencies and stakeholders to ensure a thorough investigation and to implement appropriate public health measures based on its findings.

The government also appealed to members of the public to remain calm and refrain from speculating about the cause of the deaths until the investigation is concluded.

‘The Government urges members of the public to remain calm and avoid drawing conclusions about the cause of the deaths until the investigation is concluded and the facts are established by the relevant authorities,’ Fanwo said.

He added that Governor Ododo sympathised with the bereaved family and the people of Ihima over the tragic incident, while praying for strength and comfort for those affected by the loss.

Fanwo assured residents that the state government would provide further updates once verified facts emerge from the investigation.

A suspect, Haruna, who is among the suspects arrested by the Oyo State Police Command in connection with alleged armed robbery and recovery of a locally made gun with cartridges, has admitted to buying stolen items from those who are into the sale of scrap items, but denied knowledge of a locally made gun recovered by the operatives of the Monitoring Unit during a raid of his residence at Sabo area, Ibadan.

Saturday Tribune learnt that before the arrest of Haruna a.k.a Malo and two others, Tomiwa (28 years) and Kabiru (32 years), the operatives had apprehended some suspects who vandalised the light-up transformer used for solar-powered street lights at Ring Road. During interrogation, the suspects named Haruna as the one buying the stolen items from them, which made the operatives storm his residence at Sabo, Mokola area, in the dead of the night, where they met a lot of people sleeping, including a Yoruba man, Tomiwa.

While searching, the operatives reportedly found a bag in Haruna’s room, and on checking the bag’s contents, which were initially thought to be illicit drugs, the police discovered a gun. Also found in Haruna’s residence was Kabiru, the third suspect.

The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Olayinka Ayanlade, had disclosed in a statement: ‘The operatives of the Command’s Monitoring Unit conducted a coordinated raid on the identified apartment in the early hours of the day, and during the operation, three suspects identified as Tomiwa (28 years), Kabiru (32 years), and Haruna alias ‘Malo’ (32 years) were arrested.

‘A search conducted at the scene led to the recovery of one single-barrel locally made cut-to-size gun and seven cartridges.

‘The suspects are currently in police custody while investigations continue to determine their involvement in other criminal activities and to apprehend possible accomplices.’

In an interview, Haruna admitted buying stolen goods but denied knowing anything about the gun recovered by the police.

Haruna, who hails from Kano State but was born in Ibadan, told Saturday Tribune: ‘I’m the first of my mother’s 10 children. My father had four wives and 32 children, and I live in his house at Sabo. I deal in purchasing scraps from those picking them. I started the business in 2018. In 2019, I left for Katangowa in Lagos State to sell used clothes (okrika). In 2022, I returned to Ibadan when my father died.

‘A year after his burial, I thought of the young children he left behind, with three of us as males and the remaining seven, females from my mother alone. My mother is the fourth wife. I didn’t want my nine siblings to go through suffering or anything that would disrupt their schooling. At least, I had primary and secondary school education. We held a family meeting and it was decided that someone should be at home to take care of them. My brothers and I started the scrap purchase from those who go round to pick disused items. We would put them in our shop until those who would buy them would come.’

Speaking of his relationship with those who pointed him out to the police after their arrest, Haruna said that they had brought copper to him about three times for sale. He admitted to knowing that the sellers were stealing part of the items he was buying from them, saying: ‘I know the act was bad, but I needed to take care of my siblings. My father was a politician, but he had nothing to take care of the children he left behind. I know that it is against the law, so I stopped and returned to Lagos in 2024. While there, I used to buy used clothes and bring them to Ibadan for sale. However, I still purchased scraps from the boys.’

On the gun found in his room, Haruna said that he knew nothing about it. ‘In my father’s house where we were staying at Sabo, many people used to sleep there. It’s a storey building, and I stay on the upper floor. I didn’t know that the boys I was buying scraps from had been arrested. The police met me at home the day they came. I was brought to the station. After interrogation, I was taken back home. That was when they saw a bag in a room where my siblings were sleeping in. I believe it belonged to a cousin called Abdulrahman living with us. He used to buy phones and laptops but I didn’t know he had a gun. He ran away before I was brought back for a search,’ Haruna explained.

The second suspect, Tomiwa, 28, told Saturday Tribune that he was just a victim of circumstance. ‘I’m a Lagosian but I was born and brought up in Ibadan. I have a National Diploma in Mass Communication from The Polytechnic, Ibadan, and am currently running my HND programme.

‘On the day I was arrested, my department was having a get-together party at a hall in the city before our exams. When I got there, I found it boring because my friends that I expected there didn’t come. After exchanging pleasantries with my classmates, I left. At that moment, my phone was down, so I couldn’t check the time, but it was almost midnight. I took a bike to Sabo at a place where I used to charge my phone whenever I was in my parents’ printing shop at Mokola on weekends.

‘When the Aboki I went to finished with the charging of my phone and I switched it on, I saw that it was past 1 a.m. A security man advised me to sit somewhere and leave for my place at 5 a.m. at the start of the call to Muslim prayer. I did as advised, and was pressing my phone when the police arrived at about 2 a.m. and arrested everyone, including me,’ Tomiwa narrated.

The third suspect, Kabiru, who also hails from Kano and claimed to be a tailor, said he was woken up from sleep in Haruna’s residence by the police, who said they recovered a gun. He said that the house owner was his father’s friend and that was why he was sleeping there. ‘They didn’t catch anything with me,’ he stated.

The Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to shift its regulatory approach from merely digitising supervisory processes to achieving complete digital transformation.

Speaking at the CBN’s Committee of Departmental Directors’ Retreat, Inuwa stressed that while Nigeria has successfully built an extraordinary digital financial system, the rapid evolution of financial services demands an equally sophisticated and intelligent supervisory capability.

Reflecting on his former tenure at the Central Bank, the NITDA chief highlighted how banking had migrated from physical branches and standalone mobile apps to embedded, everyday customer experiences.

‘Banking begins to disappear into the activity the customer is already performing,’ Inuwa noted.

‘The customer does not necessarily go banking. The customer wants to buy something… and the financial service increasingly appears inside that experience at the moment it is needed.’

He pointed out that Nigeria’s modern payment ecosystem now deeply connects traditional banks, fintechs, switches, cloud providers, telecommunications firms and shared national rails.

‘Consequently, operational failures in non-bank entities outside the CBN’s direct perimeter can transmit risk directly into supervised institutions, requiring a fundamental update to the architecture of financial supervision.’

Drawing on framework models from MIT CISR, Inuwa made a clear distinction between being ‘digitised’ – doing existing manual tasks faster through electronic forms or PDFs – and true ‘digital transformation’, which creates continuous institutional capacity for innovation.

He urged the Central Bank to transition from traditional retrospective supervision towards ‘intelligent supervision’ built around five key capabilities: AI-assisted analysis, anomaly detection, graph and network analytics, early-warning systems, and AI-assisted horizon scanning.

Addressing operational risk, the NITDA boss urged regulators to view cybersecurity through the wider lens of ‘digital operational resilience’. While cybersecurity focuses on prevention, detection and response, operational resilience assumes prevention will eventually fail and focuses heavily on recovery and adaptation.

‘Your customer does not experience your cybersecurity policy. Your customer experiences whether the payment works,’ he said, advocating that resilience should be measured outward from the critical service itself.

Kashifu linked digital resilience directly to national digital sovereignty, defining it as the capacity for digital self-determination – building sufficient local infrastructure, skills, computing capacity and data governance capabilities while remaining open to global technology.

He commended the CBN’s alignment with national sovereign-cloud directives, which enforce local data-residency requirements for financial transaction data, calling it a prime example of regulatory complementarity.

Summarising his address, Inuwa presented three core propositions to the committee of directors: ecosystem visibility, digital transformation, and resilience and sovereignty.

‘The opportunity before us now is to build a supervisory capability worthy of our financial system – one that can see it, understand it, anticipate its risks and protect its resilience.’

The International Conference Centre, Awka, Anambra State, came alive on Thursday as supporters and delegates from the five South East states converged for the maiden South East Town Hall Meeting of the Relax Tinubu Is Fixing Nigeria movement, RTIFN, hosted by its South East Zonal Coordinator, Chief Engr JohnBosco Onunkwo.

The meeting, held on August 21, 2026, brought together delegates from Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu states, alongside the organisation’s five state coordinators and national officers led by the National Director on Town Hall Matters, Dr Mrs Farida Deborah Ibrahim, as the movement intensified mobilisation for the continuity of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration ahead of the 2027 general election.

Addressing participants, the organisers said the town hall was designed to take the message of continuity, progress and the Renewed Hope Agenda directly to the people, with a focus on mobilising Nigerians to support Tinubu for a second term in office.

They highlighted road infrastructure, improved workers’ welfare, education opportunities through NELFUND, fertiliser support for farmers, business opportunities, increased allocations to states and local governments, as well as improved wages and allowances for members of the armed forces and other security agencies as evidence of the administration’s impact.

The South East leadership of RTIFN maintained that the benefits of the Federal Government’s policies were being felt across the country, including in the South East, insisting that the ongoing reforms and development programmes should be sustained beyond the current administration’s first term.

The event was described as a massive outing, with delegates and supporters from across the region participating in discussions centred on Nigeria’s future and the road to the 2027 elections.

The movement reiterated its commitment to grassroots engagement under its guiding principle that ‘Everybody is a stakeholder,’ stressing that the people must remain at the centre of national development.

Dr Francis Chidozie Okoye, Head of the Media and Publicity Directorate of Relax Tinubu Is Fixing Nigeria, South East Zone, said the Awka town hall marked the beginning of intensified regional mobilisation, declaring that the road to 2027 had begun in earnest as the organisation rallied support for the continuation of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.