Author: Tahir Ahmed

SwiftTrust Microfinance Bank Limited has been named the official financial partner of the inaugural MISS 9JA competition, with the Abuja-based bank to hold the ₦10,000,000 grand prize and manage the winner’s monthly allowance. The partnership, which runs through the national finale in Abuja on June 12, 2027, will also see SwiftTrust provide banking services to applicants and contestants and deliver financial literacy training to the 37 State Queens. Under the arrangement, the bank will keep the grand prize in a designated account until it is disbursed to the eventual winner after the finale. It will also disburse the reigning Queen’s…

With Japanese-backed Sasakawa support, 18,000 smallholders in Lafia, Obi and Doma prove climate-smart farming works. By Attayi Mohammed AJOBE For generations, the logic in Obi was simple: put three or four seeds in one hole, so that if two die, one may live. This planting season, Jibril Elayo does the opposite. He drops one seed in one hole. He measures 75 centimetres between rows. 25 centimetres between stands. He plants one seed, covers it, and moves to the next hole. To any traditional farmer watching, it looks like a risk. To Elayo, it is science. “Before now, you hardly find…

By NEXTER A non-governmental organisation (NGO) the Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) has begun a specialized training for 100 young graduate Cassava Seed Entrepreneurs (CSEs) in Ogun State. The Country Director of Sasakawa Association, Nigeria, Dr Godwin Atser stated this during a visit to the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Professor Olusola Babatunde Kehinde in Abeokuta on Thursday. He said the training is meant to equip young Nigerians to be drivers of Nigeria’s agricultural transformation, Dr. Atser said the training, is organised in partnership with the Industrial Cassava Stakeholders Association of Nigeria (ICSAN) and the Federal University…

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen regulatory oversight on aviation insurance compliance in Nigeria. According to a post on the authority’s X account, the agreement was signed on Wednesday at the NCAA’s corporate headquarters in Abuja by Chris Najomo, director-general of the NCAA, and Olusegun Omosehin, commissioner for insurance. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Najomo said the agreement was built on the long-standing collaboration between the two regulatory institutions, particularly in assessing the adequacy and viability of insurance policies procured by aviation operators in line…

The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) has appointed Ramatu Ibrahim as acting bursar following the death of Nasir Marafa, the substantive bursar. Omotola Ojudu, acting director of media and publicity, said in a statement issued on Tuesday that the appointment, approved by Uduma Uduma, the vice-chancellor, and Isa Yuguda, pro-chancellor and chairman of council, took immediate effect. According to Ojudu, Oladipo Ajayi, NOUN’s registrar, who announced the appointment on Tuesday, said it was aimed at ensuring continuity, stability and effective leadership in the university’s financial administration. “Mrs Ibrahim, who until her appointment served as Deputy Bursar, Treasury, is an…

President Bola Tinubu said the current phase of his administration’s economic reforms is focused on converting macroeconomic stability into investment, production, jobs and improved living standards. Tinubu spoke on Tuesday at the 19th annual banking and finance conference in Abuja, themed “Building a Resilient Economy in an Era of Disruption: Strategic Imperatives for the Banking and Financial Services Industry”. The president, represented by Taiwo Oyedele, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, said the banking and financial services industry would be central to achieving the transformation. “Stability is the foundation, prosperity is the destination,” the president said. “The…

The Benue state government has denied having prior knowledge of the visit of Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC). On Tuesday, Suspected a mob blocked Obi’s convoy at Gboko road while he was attempting to access the state. In a series of videos shared on X by Esther Umoh, Obi’s photographer, the mob was seen chasing after the NDC presidential candidate’s convoy in the north-central state. The former governor of Anambra said he came to the state not for campaign but to sympathise with victims of the 2025 Yelewata massacre, but was denied access by “thugs”…

Nobody who has watched Nigerian agriculture for a decade believes the journey from emergency relief to real industry is neat. It is messy. Governments learn, unlearn, and sometimes start again. Policy papers pile up. Banks still treat the farm as a gamble. Tomatoes still rot on the road between Kano and Lagos. That unfinished story was on the table this week in Kigali, at the Africa Food Systems Forum, where former President Goodluck Jonathan sat with other retired African leaders on the Council of the Wise and spoke to a hall full of young people who want agriculture to pay…

This week in Kigali, at the Africa Food Systems Forum, former African leaders said Africa’s borders are now part of why the continent still struggles to feed itself. Former Botswana president Mokgweetsi Masisi spoke at the Council of the Wise session. He did not soften the point. Young agribusiness founders in the room talked about the problems traders already know: trucks delayed at borders, too many papers, and markets that stop at the checkpoint. Masisi said the weather does not stop at a border. Rivers do not stop at a ministry. If more than 50 countries keep planning food only…

Muhammad Gadaka, chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Yobe, has urged women in the state to leave their husbands if they prevent them from voting for the party. Speaking on Thursday at a political rally in Nangere LGA of the state, Gadaka said he was willing to pay the women’s bride price and marry them if they were divorced for voting for the APC. The politician said his political base in the state has remained strong for years, adding that new members of the party would have opportunities to rise to leadership positions in the future. “The prayers…