Author: Tahir Ahmed

The National Association of Road Transport Owners has attributed the relative stability of the naira to the Federal Government’s removal of fuel subsidy and expansion of domestic refining capacity. NARTO National President, Yusuf Othman, made the assertion during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, explaining that reduced dependence on imported petrol had eased pressure on the country’s foreign exchange market. “We have all along been clamouring for the removal of subsidies, and it is for the benefit of everybody, including Nigeria,” Othman said. “Although we are feeling the pain in our pockets, you’ve noticed that the naira has…

BudgIT Nigeria has critiqued the Federal Government, insisting that reform gains must be felt in everyday life, not in fiscal numbers. In a statement on Thursday, BudgIT critiqued the press release issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance on strong Q2 2026 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 4.43% and progress toward a $1 trillion economy by pointing out persistent high costs for citizens, including 20.31% food inflation in July and petrol prices rising from ₦617 per litre in July 2023 to ₦1,345. “Nigeria’s reform dividend cannot stop at stronger fiscal numbers. It has to show up in the things…

KIGALI, RWANDA — When AGRA President Alice Ruhweza stepped onto the opening plenary panel at the 20th Africa Food Systems Forum Summit, her remarks signaled a decisive shift in how Africa’s premier agricultural institution defines its purpose and measures its ultimate impact. Appearing alongside continental leaders as the forum marked two decades since Kofi Annan’s foundational call to action, Ruhweza directed the discussion away from historical milestones toward an uncompromising blueprint for the next decade of implementation. She positioned AGRA not as an enduring manager of rural development programs, but as an agile institutional catalyst deliberately engineered to build domestic…

When African heads of state and agricultural ministers gathered in Kigali for the 20th Africa Food Systems Forum Summit, the customary celebration of continental policy declarations gave way to an overdue conversation on execution. Across the opening plenary, continental leadership converged on a blunt conclusion: Africa’s post-Malabo agricultural goals under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) 2026–2035 Strategy will collapse unless governments fundamentally upgrade state capability and institutional governance. Delivering the official opening keynote address on behalf of President Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Dr. Justin Nsengiyumva, challenged delegates to look beyond the adoption of the…

By NEXTER The gubernatorial candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in Katsina State, Senator Ahmad Babba Kaita, has expressed gratitude to his supporters and the people of the state for their prayers and goodwill messages following his recent surgery abroad. Senator Kaita, who emerged as the ADC governorship candidate for the 2027 election, recently underwent what his campaign described as a minor orthopedic procedure at a foreign hospital. In a statement issued by his campaign spokesman, Abubakar Ahmed, the former Senator representing Katsina North said he has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of concern from within and outside the…

KIGALI, RWANDA — A decisive mindset shift reverberated through the Youth Dome at the ongoing Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF) 2026: development partners and commercial financiers must immediately retire the practice of treating youth and women as charity beneficiaries and start backing them as the bankable commercial backbone of Africa’s agrifood future. The charge was led by Sheila Kaaya, Lead for Agriculture and Agrifood Systems at the Mastercard Foundation, during an incisive panel on “Special Investment Programs for Youth and Women in Agrifood Systems.” Confronting the continent’s long-standing failure to channel private capital to young agripreneurs, Kaaya argued that fragmented…

KIGALI, RWANDA — In one of the most definitive policy declarations at the Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF) 2026, the Federal Government of Nigeria put hard fiscal figures behind its commitment to agricultural transformation, revealing a historic expansion in public financing designed to transition domestic agriculture from a social sector intervention into a primary engine of macroeconomic security. Speaking during a high-level ministerial roundtable in Kigali, Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, outlined the unprecedented trajectory of the country’s agricultural financing. From an allocation of ₦362 billion in 2024, the federal capital envelope jumped to ₦1.2…

The North-East Unity Forum for Asiwaju has threatened to withdraw its support for President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid if former Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, remains in the APC campaign council. The forum, in a statement signed by its Convener, Hon. Yusuf Umar, on Friday, called on Tinubu and the APC leadership to reconsider Sheriff’s proposed role, saying the decision could affect its mobilisation efforts across the North-East. The group said it would suspend its mobilisation machinery and review its commitments to the President’s re-election campaign if its demand was not addressed. It described the continued inclusion of…

At least three people have been killed and nine others abducted following an evening attack on passengers in Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State. The victims, mostly traders from Ajobe community in Ojoku district, were returning from the popular Nkwo Idoko market in Awo in a pick-up van along the deteriorated Ankpa-Adoka-Makurdi federal road when they ran into an ongoing operation by gunmen. It was gathered that on sighting the gunmen, some of the passengers jumped from the vehicle in an attempt to flee, but ran out of luck. “The assailants opened fire on the fleeing passengers, killing three…

By NEXTER Local Government Campaign Coordinators for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in Katsina State have held their inaugural meeting ahead of the 2027 general elections. The meeting, held on Tuesday at the Ahmad Babba Kaita Gubernatorial Campaign Office in Katsina, was attended by coordinators from all 34 Local Government Areas of the state. The coordinators deliberated on strategies for winning the 2027 elections for the African Democratic Congress, ADC, at all levels. The meeting was convened by the State Coordinator of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign, Alhaji Surajo Aminu-Makera, who charged the coordinators to ensure a rancour-free campaign anchored…