The lack of cost-reflective tariffs is discouraging investments in the ailing Nigerian electricity sector, a firm involved in power generation in the country has said. Azura Power, which in 2018 delivered Nigeria's first privately-financed power plant in Edo State, has acquired a new power plant in Senegal, investing funds an…

Nigerian officials, on a day in January 2010, sat facing a familiar business team across the table, ready to sign an agreement for gas supply and processing (GSPA), capping years of lobbying and conversations, which involved late President Umaru Yar'Adua. The agreement, a copy of which has been obtained by…

The IPOB attack on a Nigerian lawmaker, Ike Ekweremadu, in Germany "stands as a crime" and "an act of terrorism," Nigeria has said, challenging the German police to bring the perpetrators to book. The attack in August during an Igbo cultural festival in Nuremberg, Germany, was dismissed as 'just a…

Most political parties in Nigeria, including the front-running APC and PDP, as well as reforms-touting parties of Omoyele Sowore and Kingsley Moghalu, among others, breached the country's law on financial disclosure to the electoral commission, INEC, findings by PREMIUM TIMES show. Section 93(4) of Nigeria's electoral law provides that "a…

The village of Gomani lies inward from Yangoji on the Abuja-Lokoja Expressway. The journey is taxing due to the unpaved, bumpy road, dotted on one side with electric polls not linked by cables, indicating abandonment due to either insufficient funds or misappropriation. On one edge of the village is the…

The governor of Nigeria's central bank, Godwin Emefiele, on Monday said the presidential directive against the provision of foreign exchange for food importation runs in consonance with the apex bank's existing policy. President Muhammadu Buhari had in the past week asked the CBN to stop providing forex for food importers,…

The chief executive of Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Tunde Fowler, has replied the query issued him by the presidency. While Mr Fowler agreed that actual tax collection since the beginning of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is lower than the 2012-2014 period under former President Goodluck Jonathan, in general terms, he…

President Muhammadu Buhari has queried the chief executive of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Babatunde Fowler, over worsening tax collection since 2015. Sources within the FIRS confirmed the development to PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday after a letter querying Mr Fowler's delivery appeared on the social media in the morning.…

Nigeria's anti-graft agency, ICPC, has issued an order to the suspended presidential aide Okoi Obono-Obla, to report for questioning on Monday, sources familiar with the development have told PREMIUM TIMES. Mr Obono-Obla was suspended from office as the chairman of the  Special Presidential Investigation Panel on the Recovery of Public Property by President Muhammadu…

The slumbering village of Gidinwaya between Ibi and Wukari, southern Taraba State, was the scene of the fatal shooting of three Nigerian policemen and a civilian by Nigerian soldiers last week Tuesday. The soldiers from 93 Battalion were manning a checkpoint at Gidinwaya when they opened fire on a vehicle…

The Nigerian presidency has accused Atiku Abubakar of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of drawing on "negative developments" to whip up sentiments to influence the outcome of his petition against the outcome of the 2019 presidential election. The presidency made the accusation following Mr Abubakar's statements on developments such…

A move by the government of Botswana to deport a Nigerian, who had spent weeks in prison, has failed at the south African country's appeal court. The court upheld the Nigerian's right to stay and continue his healthcare business in Botswana. The judgement delivered on Friday followed an appeal brought…

Nigeria is eyeing 25,000 megawatts of operational capacity in the electricity system through a new three-phase plan designed by tech giant, Siemens AG. The company was tapped by the German government for the power sector of largest economy. President Muhammadu Buhari signed the agreement with Siemens represented by its chief,…

The Alaafin of Oyo, Lamidi Adeyemi, on Sunday, warned that the Yoruba people could resort to self-help against the “increasing and incessant menace of herders” in the face of “apparent helplessness” of Nigeria’s security agencies. The Alaafin issued the warning in a letter – titled “Yoruba Question in Nigeria Conundrum”…

Operatives of Nigeria's anti-graft agency, ICPC, on Wednesday, raided the office of Nigeria's surveyor-general over suspected corrupt practices, including allegations of contract frauds and theft of public asset. PREMIUM TIMES had in April reported how corruption allegations, including N1.4 billion suspected scam in one case and alleged theft of three…

The Yoruba group, Afenifere, has announced the killing of a daughter of its leader, Reuben Fasoranti, allegedly by Fulani herdsmen. The deceased, Funke Olakunrin, 58, died Friday morning, Afenifere said. The group's spokesperson, Yinka Odumakin, told PREMIUM TIMES Friday evening that "Mrs Funke Olakunrin, based on accounts of all eyewitnesses,…

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday finally signed the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement. The signing comes several months after the Nigerian leader initially refused to sign the agreement which has already been signed by about 52 other African countries. Mr Buhari signed the agreement in Niger Republic on…

The demotion of a Nigerian academic, in 2016, by the Lagos State University, Ojo, was an exercise in nullity, the National Industrial Court has ruled. The court however declined to order that N100 million be paid to the lecturer as damages. Olatunji Abanikanda, an expert in animal breeding and genetics,…

Hands on the hip, elbows turned outward, a sword pouch dangling – the young Fulani man watches as his cows stray into an already harvested farmland where they graze marginal grasses. This is Karu, a neighbourhood off Abuja-Keffi Expressway, central Nigeria. Several kilometres away, in Benue State, a herdsman who…

Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has said he erred by occupying another passenger's seat on an airplane but condemned any thought he tried to "consolidate" that error. Mr Soyinka was recently a subject of a trending media topic after businessman Tonye Cole narrated how a male passenger asked the professor of…

In the second part of this interview, Adebayo Shittu speaks on his failed gubernatorial ambition, the future of the All Progressives Congress and his chances of being re-elected a minister. Read the first part of the interview here. Excerpts: PT: Now you are out of the communications ministry and probably…

In this exclusive interview, Nigeria's former communication minister, Adebayo Shittu, grants audience to PREMIUM TIMES' managing editor, Idris Akinbajo, and senior investigative reporter, Hassan Adebayo. Mr Shittu talks about his failure to partake in the mandatory NYSC scheme, his role in the MTN fine saga, his achievements as a minister,…

About a third of women - who exhibit "dark" personality traits - have considered a date as a source of free meal, not because of romantic interest, research has found. The research found that 23 to 33 per cent of women in an online study said they had engaged in…

The internally displaced people’s population in North-eastern Nigeria is expanding, according to a new United Nations’ report, spotlighting the unabating humanitarian disaster precipitated by the Boko Haram terrorism in the region. At the end of 2018, there were 2.2 million internally displaced persons in Nigeria, representing a 27 per cent…

The humanitarian crisis precipitated by Boko Haram in Nigeria’s North-east will be the theme at an international symposium on forced displacement holding in Leicester, the United Kingdom, on June 12. The symposium is the first public engagement aspect of an international development research project - funded by Leicester-based De Montfort…