An ex-wife of a factional leader of the Boko Haram terrorist group, Mamman Nur, was one of the two teenage suspected suicide bombers intercepted by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Borno State, Punch newspaper reported on Tuesday. According to the report, the 15-year-old Fatima Kabir was married…

A Briton was on Monday Morning robbed by some hoodlums near the Abuja Central Mosque. ‎The victim (name witheld), who is said to work as a consultant in Abuja, had checked out of her room at the Sheraton Abuja Hotels at about 5:30 a.m to catch a British Airways flight…

As the Federal Government hastens to fix the failed sections of the Abuja-Kaduna highway ahead of the closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, some regular users of another federal road in the same axis are biting their lips over what might have been. The government is shutting down the…

A court has ordered that the $9.8 million and 74,000 pounds recovered from a house belonging to Andrew Yakubu be forfeited to the Nigerian government. The anti-graft agency, EFCC, last Friday announced it recovered the money (about N3 billion in total) from a Kaduna home of the former head of…

The Federal Government has secured $7.5 billion loan for the construction of standard rail gauge from Lagos to Kano, an official has said. The $7.5 billion is part of the $30 billion loan the federal government seeks to take and for which it has sought approval from the National Assembly.…

Over 20 per cent of the $30 billion that the Nigerian government plans to borrow would be used for construction of railways across the country, an official has said. The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, stated this on Monday. Mr. Amaechi urged Nigerians to appeal to the National Assembly to…

President Adama Barrow of The Gambia has confirmed that he is back to the country. Mr. Barrow confirmed this on his twitter handle, @adama_barrow, on Thursday. He tweeted: “I’m finally home. #Gambia”. Reuters earlier reported that hundreds of people gathered along the streets of Gambia’s capital Banjul to welcome home…

Two top officials of the federal government have provided contradictory figures on the looted funds already recovered by the federal government. The Muhammadu Buhari administration has made the recovery of looted funds, as well as prosecution of culprits, one of the focus of its anti-corruption war. [caption id="attachment_215550" align="alignleft" width="317"]…

Several months after it was abandoned largely due to the corruption trial of the contractor, work is set to commence on the Apo-Karshi road, in the Nigerian capital Abuja, PREMIUM TIMES learnt. The contract for the construction of the 13.25 km road was awarded in 2011 to Kakatar Engineering Limited,…

A witness in the ongoing trial of a Federal High Court Judge, Adeniyi Ademola, has stated that various amounts of foreign and local currencies were found in the defendant's residence during a midnight raid by operatives of the State Security Service in October last year. The witness, Ike Onuoha, an…

A son of Gambia’s President-elect, Adama Barrow, has died after being bitten by a dog, the BBC has reported. Eight-year-old Habibou Barrow was reported to have died on the way to the hospital on Sunday in Manjai near the Gambian capital Banjul. Mr. Barrow missed his son’s funeral as he…

A witness in the ongoing trial of a Federal High Court judge, Adeniyi Ademola, has explained how a BMW luxury car was purchased for the defendant by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Joe Agi. The witness, Ifeoma Ofornagolu, the first of 14 witnesses to testify in the matter, said she…

In this exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES’ Oluwatoyosi Olawande and Aminu Adamu, Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Issac Adewole, speaks extensively on various issues and developments in the health sector, including the performance of the 2016 budget in the sector and what to expect going forward. PT: What is the ministry…

The President-elect of the United States of America, Donald Trump, on Monday declared his intention to appoint Ben Carson to serve as Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Mr. Trump said this in a statement on his official Facebook page. He described Mr. Carson…

The United Nations said on Friday that $1billion was needed in 2017 for the provision of aid to victims of Boko Haram terrorism in north-east Nigeria. The Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator, Peter Lundberg, in a statement said the Boko Haram menace was the largest in Africa, and that hope can be…

The spokesperson to President Muhammadu Buhari, Femi Adesina, has admitted that the Nigerian “boat” under his principal is going through a bumpy ride, but said the president knew where he was going. Mr. Adesina, who admitted that the situation in the country was very tough, expressed the conviction that Mr.…

The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that nearly half of people living with HIV around the globe do not know they are infected. The organisation, therefore, called for broader access to at-home testing kits. The UN health agency said that 40 per cent of people living with the virus…

The House of Representatives has advised the Petroleum Products Prices Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to review the current price template for petrol and reduce the price to N70. The call followed a motion by a member, Abubakar Fulata, titled “Urgent Need to Review the Petroleum Price Template”. The lawmaker expressed disappointment…

Cross River State’s Homeland Security Service is expected to recruit more than 3,000 youth, the government said. The state government has in collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, commenced the recruitment process. In a statement issued on Monday in Calabar by the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Ben Ayade…

A group of professional and business women has advised the Federal Government to address issues affecting women-owned businesses in Nigeria. The Association of Nigerian Women Business Network gave the advice through its National Business Agenda launched in Abuja last week. The launch, which was witnessed by dignitaries from government, public…

A non-governmental organisation has introduced a programme to help young entrepreneurs and innovators contribute more to Nigeria’s development and to thrive under the current economic recession in the country. The Joint Initiative for Development (JID), which has as members Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 35 years old, said…

Workers of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), on Tuesday morning shut down the headquarters of the agency in Abuja and denied the acting director general, Yetunde Oni, access to her office. The development was in continuation of a protest by the workers against the…

A Nigerian blogger has been granted bail after he was detained for 22 days for a blog post. Jamil Mabai was arrested on September 19 by the police for a post on his blog where he criticised the Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, for buying coffins with public funds despite…

Nigerian bloggers are canvassing the creation of a union that could defend the interests of its members, after the arrests of several bloggers and journalists by the government. Federal and state agents have arrested more than a dozen bloggers and journalists deemed critical by political authorities in the last three…

Some Nigerians studying in Turkey have pleaded with the Nigerian government to intervene and halt the continued arrest and detention of their colleagues in the wake of the July failed coup in that country. They also lamented the deportation of some of their colleagues by Turkish authorities. No fewer than…