Author: Ifetayo Adeniyi

Banking industry: 229 branches closed FILE: CBN Gov, Yemi Cardoso Lagos recorded a decline of 11 branches, from 1,532 in 2023 Nigeria’s banking industry shut 229 physical branches in one year as customers increasingly turned to Point of Sale terminals for their daily transactions. This is according to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s 2024 financial sector statistical bulletin. The data showed that the number of Deposit Money Bank branches across the country fell from 5,373 in 2023 to 5,144 in 2024, even as electronic payments, particularly through POS channels, surged sharply. The statistics cover branches and cash centres of commercial,…

Ogoni Leaders Demand Oil Production Under Community Control Southern Nigeria, Ogoni region seeks an extraction model that prioritizes community benefit and environmental safety. In Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, traditional leaders from Ogoniland are advocating for the resumption of crude oil production after three decades — but with a fundamental shift in how operations would be managed and who would benefit. The Ogoni people inhabit territory containing substantial petroleum deposits, yet the history of extraction has been marked by tragedy and environmental harm. Oil drilling operations halted in 1993 following years of conflict, including the controversial 1995 execution of nine environmental…

Trump Stages Rule Over Venezuela After President Maduro’s Abduction President Nicolas Maduro Trump has declared his plan to rule Venezuela. U.S. President Donald Trump said he was setting Venezuela under temporary American control after the United States captured President Nicolas Maduro in an audacious raid and whisked him to New York to face drug-trafficking charges. “We will run the country until we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition,” Trump said during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. “We can’t take a chance that someone else takes over Venezuela who doesn’t have the interests of Venezuelans…

Election 2027: Until I Find Any Party Willing To Surrender Presidential Ticket To Me, I won’t Defect – Kwankwaso Rabiu Kwankwanso Kwankwaso came a distant third in the 2023 presidential election, far behind President Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, and Peter Obi. National leader of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has set conditions for joining any coalition or forming an alliance with any political party. Kwankwaso said that although NNPP is looking for a party to merge with ahead of the 2027 general elections, such a party must be willing to surrender its presidential or vice-presidential ticket to him. Speculations…

-Manny Ita LOS ANGELES— The National Society of Film Critics (NSFC) has crowned One Battle After Another as the Best Picture of 2025. The announcement came Saturday following the organization’s 60th annual voting meeting, which consists of more than 60 of the United States’ most prominent film critics. The sprawling adventure drama, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, solidified its status as an Academy Awards frontrunner by securing multiple top honors. In addition to the night’s biggest prize, the film earned Paul Thomas Anderson the award for Best Director, while Teyana Taylor and Benicio del Toro took home Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting…

-Manny Ita Senator Solomon Adeola, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, has declared that Nigeria is now saving over ₦10 trillion annually following the federal government’s decision to terminate the long-standing fuel subsidy regime. Speaking on Saturday in Ogun State, the Senator, who represents Ogun West, characterized the previous subsidy system as a “cankerworm” that had historically drained public finances to the benefit of a small elite. He asserted that the removal has significantly eased fiscal pressure on the nation’s economy. ​“I am a living testimony to what the president has done. Within his two years of assumption of…

Depots raise petrol to N800/litre in Lagos File photo: Fuel pump Eterna and Integrated depots raised petrol prices to N800 per litre on Friday. Private petroleum depots across Lagos and other key fuel trading hubs have raised the ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) to as high as N800 per litre. Data obtained from petroleumprice.ng on Saturday showed that the average cost of petrol at private depots increased sharply within 48 hours, tightening margins for marketers and raising fresh concerns over an imminent spike in retail pump prices nationwide. In Lagos, Dangote depot, which consistently offers the lowest petrol…

Education remains most powerful tool and never a gamble — VP Shettima Vice President Kashim Shettima Governor Zulum declared automatic employment for 81 best graduating students. Vice President Kashim Shettima has declared that no investment in education is ever a gamble, describing the sector as a deliberate and enduring commitment to securing Nigeria’s future. Speaking on Saturday at the combined convocation ceremonies of Kashim Ibrahim University in Borno State, where 2,294 students graduated across the 2022/2023, 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 academic sessions, Shettima said education remains the most powerful tool for development, economic empowerment and societal liberation. “No investment in education…

Kemi Adeosun Reacts To Fake NYSC Certificate Saga As ‘… A Matter Of Principle.’ The Former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, has described her 2018 resignation from President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet as the “best decision” she ever made, emphasising that it was guided by principle rather than guilt. While speaking on ‘Inside Sources’, a programme on Channels Television, Adeosun said she stepped down to protect the integrity of the Finance Ministry and to avoid distractions while contesting the controversy over her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Exemption Certificate in court. “People kept asking, why did I resign? That no…

NAF attacks terrorist locations across North East, North West, causing casualties NAF Says terrorists’ movement activities were tracked while moving in large motorcycle convoys and engaged at a forested convergence point. The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says it has carried out airstrikes on terrorist hideouts, routes, and assembly areas in the North East and North West regions, resulting in heavy casualties among the armed groups. It said the joint task forces of Operations HADIN KAI and FASAN YAMMA Sector 2 conducted a series of ‘coordinated, intelligence-led operations’ from January 1 to 3 across critical threat corridors in the regions. NAF’s…