Latest News
FEATURES
A significant revelation has emerged from the former Governor of Plateau State and member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Fidelis Tapgun.
He has alleged that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and former Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has been working to ensure the downfall of the PDP after losing the vice-presidential ticket on two separate occasions.
In an interview with The Sun at his Jos country home, Tapgun claimed that Wike was determined to destroy the party because he was denied the vice-presidential ticket in both the 2019 and 2023 elections.
He said, “Because of the failure to secure the vice presidential ticket, Wike is doing everything in his power to bring down the PDP.”
Tapgun further accused the FCT minister of using his influence and resources to manipulate key members of the PDP, including powerful figures within the party.
According to Tapgun, Wike’s actions are part of a broader strategy to destabilize and ultimately collapse the party.
The former governor also highlighted what he termed as unconstitutional actions within the party, notably the extended tenures of acting Chairman, Umar Damagum, and former National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu.
Naija News reports that Tapgun contended that both individuals were well aware that their terms had expired but continued to hold on to their positions, playing a key role in the party’s internal chaos.
He pointed out that this internal strife is being exploited to weaken the PDP, as the actions of Damagum and Anyanwu were contributing to the destabilization of the party’s structure.
Tapgun, a former minister and Nigeria’s ambassador to Kenya, expressed grave concern over the PDP’s future, claiming that the party’s inability to unite and resolve internal conflicts would make it nearly impossible for the party to challenge the ruling administration in the 2027 elections.
He said, “I don’t see the PDP surviving or being able to participate in the 2027 election due to the insincerity within the party.”
He added that the party should shift its focus beyond the 2027 elections and begin preparing for 2031, noting that the party lacked the necessary cohesion to effectively contest against President Bola Tinubu’s government, whose reforms were beginning to show positive effects on the Nigerian economy.
A Call For Reflection And Reform
Tapgun also took issue with the party’s internal elections and the ongoing power struggle over key positions. “The tussle over the chairmanship and the secretaryship of the party is part of the ploy to ensure that PDP dies a natural death,” he argued, criticizing the actions of Damagum and Anyanwu.
According to Tapgun, the party’s constitution clearly mandates that the position of the chairman belongs to the North-Central region after Iyorchia Ayu’s departure.
Similarly, Anyanwu, who had resigned to contest the Imo State governorship election, no longer had the legal or moral grounds to remain as secretary.
In his conclusion, Tapgun expressed doubt about the party’s ability to reinvent itself in time to mount a serious challenge to the ruling government in the upcoming elections.
“People organizing now should just forget it because I don’t see the party coming together to confront the present administration in the election,” he said, adding that the actions of some members had taken advantage of the party’s popularity to destroy it. However, he expressed hope that the PDP might look to 2031 for a more structured and unified attempt at governance.
Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab on Wednesday unveiled its seventh-generation artificial intelligence chip named Ironwood, which the company said is designed to speed the performance of AI applications.
The Ironwood processor is geared toward the type of data crunching needed when users query software such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. Known in the tech industry as "inference" computing, the chips perform rapid calculations to render answers in a chatbot or generate other types of responses.
The Technology Roundup newsletter brings the latest news and trends straight to your inbox. Sign up here.
The search giant's multi-billion dollar, roughly decade-long effort represents one of the few viable alternative chips to Nvidia's (NVDA.O), opens new tab powerful AI processors.
Google's tensor processing units (TPUs) can only be used by the company's own engineers or through its cloud service and have given its internal AI effort an edge over some rivals.
For at least one generation Google split its TPU family of chips into a version that's tuned for building large AI models from scratch. Its engineers have made a second line of chips that strips out some of the model building features in favor of a chip that shaves costs of running AI applications.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
The Ironwood chip is a model designed for running AI applications, or inference, and is designed to work in groups of as many as 9,216 chips, said Amin Vahdat, a Google vice president.
The new chip, unveiled at a cloud conference, brings functions from earlier split designs together and increases the available memory, which makes it better suited for serving AI applications.
"It's just that the relative importance of inference is going up significantly," Vahdat said.
The Ironwood chips boast double the performance for the amount of energy needed compared with Google's Trillium chip it announced last year, Vahdat said. The company builds and deploys its Gemini AI models with its own chips.
The company did not disclose which chip manufacturer is producing the Google design.
(This story has been corrected to fix the name of the Google executive to Amin Vahdat, not Amind Vahdat, in paragraph 6)
[Reuters]
Silicon Valley startup Lightmatter revealed on Wednesday it had developed a new type of computer chip that could both speed up artificial intelligence work and use less electricity in the process.
Valued at $4.4 billion after raising $850 million in venture capital, Lightmatter is one of a number of companies seeking to use beams of light, rather than electronic signals, to move data around more quickly between computers. Those connection speeds are critical for artificial intelligence because the software is so complex that it must be spread over many computers.
Make sense of the latest ESG trends affecting companies and governments with the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter. Sign up here.
But Lightmatter also believes that it can use beams of light to carry out the computation itself, which was the focus of a paper it published in the scientific journal Nature on Wednesday. Conventional computers use transistors, which are akin to tiny on-off electrical switches, and gain more computing power by making transistors smaller and cramming more onto a chip.
In recent years, the chip industry has struggled with shrinking those transistors. Lightmatter's chip skips those problems by steering carefully calibrated beams of light into one another and measuring the results with an integrated package of chips made at its manufacturing partner GlobalFoundries.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
Previous photonic computers struggled to compute with precision, meaning that if the outcome of a computation was a very small number, the chip might report the answer as a zero. Lightmatter gets around that by breaking up very big and very small numbers into groups before sending them through the photonic circuits so that very small numbers do not get lost.
Nick Harris, Lightmatter's CEO, told Reuters on April 8 that the result is a chip that can work on some current AI problems with the same precision as conventional chips, though he said it will likely be a decade before the technology goes mainstream.
"What we're doing is looking at the future of where processors can go. We fundamentally care about computers, and this is one of the alternative paths. There's trillions of dollars of economic value that's behind the idea that computers will keep getting better," Harris said.
[Reuters]
- Gold price jumps over 2.5% on Wednesday with US tariffs being switched on.
- China meanwhile retaliated while secretary Bessent issues a warning for China on devaluing its currency.
- Gold bounces from the sub-$3,000 region to just below $3,070 at the time of writing.
Gold price (XAU/USD) bounces higher and recovers to $3,045 at the time of writing on Wednesday after United States (US) President Donald Trump’s tariffs came into effect. At one point this week, markets were hoping for a last-minute solution as several news outlets informed on Monday that President Trump was considering a 90-day pause in tariffs for all countries except China. However, the White House stated that any suggestion that President Trump was considering a 90-day pause in tariffs was “fake news.”
“Gold’s rebound reflects growing investor anxiety over tariff threats and the potential reshaping of global trade norms,” says Christopher Wong, a foreign currency strategist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. Bullion remains a good hedge against a more disorderly global economy, Wong said, Bloomberg reports. The market also speculates that heightened volatility may prompt the Federal Reserve (Fed) to speed up interest rate cuts to prevent a recession. Lower rates typically benefit Gold, which doesn’t pay interest.
Halfway through the European trading session, headlines emerge that China is retaliating against the US imposed tariffs. Chinese Finance Minister Lan Fo'an said an additional 84% of tariffs will be imposed on all US goods. The tariffs will take place as of April 10th.
United States Secretary of the Treasury Scot Bessent meanwhile said China should rather come to the table instead of retaliating. Bessent also said the country will be the biggest loser with these counter-tariffs. Bessent also called out and warned China should not devalue its currency as an additional measure to circumvent the US tariffs, Bloomberg reports.
Daily digest market movers: FOMC Minutes will not move the needle
- Shares of Muthoot Finance, an Indian financial corporation and the largest Gold loan non-bank financial company in the country, declined as much as 6.3% after the Indian central bank said it would undertake a comprehensive review of gold loan regulations, which could potentially increase competition in the sector.
- The CME FedWatch tool shows the chance of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve (Fed) in May’s meeting surging to 53.5%, compared with only 10.6% a week ago. For June, the chances of lower borrowing costs are 100%, with 55.2% anticipating a 50 basis point (bp) rate cut.
- Chinese investors funneled a record amount of cash into Gold-backed Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) last week, drawn by the asset's safety as combative trade war rhetoric from the world’s biggest economies shakes global markets. Inflows to four major onshore Gold ETFs, including Huaan Yifu Gold ETF, hit a record of 7.6 billion yuan ($1 billion) last week, according to Bloomberg’s calculations, with strong inflows continuing this week, Bloomberg reports.
- Later this Wednesday, around 18:00 GMT, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will release its latest Minutes from the rate decision meeting in March.
Gold Price Technical Analysis: Will it really get resolved?
With the US tariffs taking effect this Wednesday, the markets' reaction is one still with some surprise. It seems that markets were positioned for some last-minute solution or delay, which would soften the actual blow and impact of the tariffs. Nonetheless, duties are taking effect immediately, and that is enough for last-minute investors to head back into Gold.
Looking up, resistances are a bit spread out, with the first cap of the R1 resistance at $3,041 being tested when writing, followed by $3,057, a pivotal level since March 20. Further up, the R2 resistance at $3,089 precedes the current all-time high of $3,167.
On the downside, the pivotal level of the March 14 high at $3,004 roughly coincides with the $3,000 round number. If this area does not hold as support, bears can target the S1 support at $2,964 and the $2,955 level, where clearly many buyers were interested in scooping up Gold on Monday. Further down, the S2 support at $2,945 is the last line of defense before the 55-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) at $2,935.
[fxstreet]
Nigerian singer and songwriter, Damini Ogulu, popularly known as Burnaboy, has said that Nigerian artists earn significantly less for streams from their local audience compared to those from U.S. and U.K. listeners, with payouts up to 90% lower.
The 33-year-old musician shared his thoughts via Instagram, revealing that Nigerian artists typically earn just $400 for 1 million local streams, compared to the $3,000 to $4,000 that artists from the UK and US receive for the same number of streams.
Burna Boy, known for hits like Ye and Anybody, explained the pay disparity between different regions, saying, “1 million Nigerian streams: $300-$400. 1 million UK streams: $3,000-$4,000. 1 million US streams: $3,000-$4,000. 1 million euro streams: $3,000-$4,000.”
His comments highlight a significant income gap between African musicians and their international counterparts, driven by various factors including the market size, revenue-sharing models, and currency exchange rates.
One of the primary reasons for this disparity is the revenue-sharing model used by music streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and TIDAL. These platforms operate on a system where artists earn a percentage of the revenue generated from ads, subscriptions, and other services.
In larger markets like the U.S. and the U.K., where subscription fees are higher, there is more ad revenue and a larger paying user base, which results in higher payouts for artists in these regions.
Some context
The subscription models in these regions further amplify the earnings gap. In the US, Apple Music charges $10.99 per month for an individual subscription, $5.99 for students, and $16.99 for family plans. Similarly, YouTube Music Premium in the US costs $11.99 per month or $119.99 annually.
- In contrast, Nigerian users pay significantly lower fees. Spotify Premium costs just N1,300 (about $0.82) per month in Nigeria, and YouTube Music Premium is part of a YouTube Premium subscription, priced at N1,300($0.82) for individuals and N2,000($1.27) for family plans.
- The Nigerian market is relatively smaller, with fewer paying subscribers and less ad revenue, which directly impacts the amount local artists receive per stream in the country. Additionally, the value of local currencies plays a role in the disparity. The Nigerian Naira is significantly weaker than the US Dollar or British Pound.
- Also, the exchange rate opened 2023 at N461.5/$1, closed the year at N907.11/$1, and ended 2024 at N1,535/$1. While the payment per stream for Nigerian artists remains comparatively low, the growth of Nigerian music on global platforms has been substantial.
According to Spotify’s 2024 Loud & Clear report, Nigerian artists earned more than N58 billion in royalties from the platform alone in 2024, a figure that more than doubled from the previous year and was five times greater than the amount earned in 2022. This marks a major milestone for Nigerian music, reflecting the growing influence of Afrobeats and other local genres on the international stage.
What to know
However, despite these significant earnings, the financial gap between Nigerian artists and their international peers remains substantial. As Burna Boy pointed out, having the number one song on a Nigerian streaming platform is not necessarily something to celebrate, as the financial rewards from local streams pale in comparison to those earned in the UK, US, and European markets.
Instead, he encourages Nigerian artists to look beyond their local scene and explore opportunities in international markets, where higher payouts can provide better financial sustainability.
Despite these challenges, Nigerian artists continue to gain global recognition, and platforms like Spotify have helped amplify their music worldwide.
[Nairametrics]
Kemi Olunloyo, the daughter of the late former Oyo State governor, Dr. Victor Omololu Olunloyo, has publicly stated that she will not be accepting condolences following her father's passing on Sunday, April 6.
In a Facebook post, the social media personality revealed personal events that she claims affected her family before her father's death. "I am uploading video statements on my father's death on TikTok," she wrote. "I am NOT part of the Olunloyo family anymore, and I told you that in 2024, that I will never return to Nigeria even if my parents died."
In a subsequent video, Kemi discussed the family dynamics, blaming her late father for allegedly causing turmoil within the family. "I am not accepting anybody's condolences because I am not condoling with anybody," she said. "If you want to condole with my father on his death or his family, you need to go to (link unavailable)."
Kemi stated that she had forgiven her father, saying, "I have forgiven my Dad for everything he did." However, she continued to express her grievances, claiming that her father presented a different persona to the world and to their family.
"My father, Victor Omololu Olunloyo, is two different people," she said. "He was one person to the world; he was another person to the family. My father destroyed our family unit; my father tortured us as kids. He tortured us emotionally and physically. My father ruined the family unit."
Kemi also shared her feelings of betrayal, noting that although her father presented her as his "favourite daughter" to the public, she felt far from it. "My father used me for a lot of things," she claimed. "My father did a lot for all of us. When I said used me, he took advantage of my own positive energies."
Additionally, Kemi discussed her father's involvement in occult practices, claiming that he was "into 'juju' heavily" and "occult practices." She also alleged that her father's issues began after he married Ronke Sonaike, who later became Aderonke Olunloyo.
"My mother married an intellectual, a man who got his Ph.D. at 26 years old," Kemi said. "And he turned into a polygamist. Not that polygamists are not good, but the way it happened to my family."
Kemi shared disturbing memories of the tension caused by Ronke's entry into the family, including claims that her stepmother had attempted to poison her mother. "Ronke said it's my mom that put it there," she recalled, referring to a time when her mother allegedly placed a miniature coffin under Ronke's son, Olumide's bed.
Kemi concluded by stating that she had no contact with her stepmother and revealed that, according to her older sister, "Towards the end of Daddy's life, nobody had access to him after the 2021 stroke. They couldn't talk to Daddy on the phone because Ronke did not give anybody access
Supporters of the Senator Esther Nenadi Usman-led National Caretaker Committee (NCC) of the Labour Party (LP) on Wednesday in Abuja broke into jubilation following the release of the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the last week’s Supreme Court judgment on the party’s leadership dispute.
Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, who read excerpts from the document, announced that the court affirmed the leadership of Senator Usman.
He was speaking at the National Executives Committee (NEC) meeting and expanded stakeholders summit held at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.
The meeting also attended by the LP national leader and it’s presidential candidate in 2023 elections, Peter Obi, came two days after a fractional national chairman of the party, Barrister Julius Abure, threatened to sanction Otti and Obi for anti-party activities and the planned parallel NEC which held today.
“The Supreme Court has affirmed that the plaintiff (Usman and others) were right in their appeal and went further to admonish politicians to respect the tenures of office as stipulated in their respective political party constitutions,” Otti said.
He also faulted Abure for insisting on staying as the LP national chairman, even when his tenure had expired and the party members also don’t want him again.
He said, “I had a meeting with him (Abure) and asked him, what he wanted, he said he didn’t want anything, we offered him the Chairmanship of the party’s board of trustees (BoT). He went ahead to want to stay when his tenure and those of the NWC (National Working Committee) had expired.
“The correct procedure of you still want to be national chairman is to start from the ward congress, state congress, zonal congress, where the delegates would emerge for the national convention and everyone member is free to contest,” Otti said.
[DailyTrust]
The 2023 Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has urged party members not to fear anyone, stressing that Nigeria is in a state of collapse and urgently needs rescue.
He made this statement while addressing party members during the ongoing National Executive Council, NEC, meeting in Abuja.
“Do not fear anybody. Those who were afraid yesterday didn’t do any better,” Obi said. “We must speak out when things are going wrong. Nigeria is collapsing. The numbers are clear; the indices are clear—people are getting poorer every day.”
The former Anambra State governor stressed the need for unity and inclusion within the party.
“The Labour Party has chosen to be a family, and we must do everything as a family. It’s not about Peter Obi’s choice; it’s everyone’s choice. This family excludes no one. We want to build a party that is fair and just.
“We want to go into the next election fully prepared, offering Nigerians the best and most competent candidates for the House of Representatives, the Senate, Governorships, and the Presidency.”
He also emphasised the relevance of party loyalty and competence among aspirants, adding that they want to correct the mistakes they made in the past.
“Anyone seeking to contest under our party must be a committed member, not just someone passing through. They must be competent,” he added.
[DailyPost]
A former president of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide, Engr. Udengs Eradiri, has told the Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, to stop dragging the entire Ijaw nation into his fight for political survival in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Eradiri, a former governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Bayelsa, said Diri should go and grind his political axe with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, and stop making it look like the Ijaw was at war with Wike.
He said it was unfortunate that the likes of Diri were attempting to drag the entire ethnic group into political fight.
Eradiri, a former Commissioner for Youths and later Environment in Bayelsa clarified that he was neither a Wike’s man nor looking for the Minister’s endorsement, recalling that he tried to get Wike’s nod as a candidate of the LP during the last governorship election in Bayelsa, but that some persons around the Minister blocked him.
He said: “I guess it was the game at the time because a Wike’s endorsement would have perhaps made the outcome of the governorship election different as evident his support led to the victory of Douye diri because if not for the cancellation of Chief Timipre Sylva’s stronghold made possible by Wike’s support things would have been different.
“This is why I am talking about the hypocrisy in display today. When Douye Diri, ‘Governor-General of the Ijaw Nation’, went down to kneel down for Wike to collect power he used in ijawland to win Sylva and myself where was the Ijaw pride they so profess today?”
Eradiri queried the whereabouts of today’s so-called Ijaw lovers, when Wike splashed N5bn on the dilapidated Law School in Yenagoa, which was abandoned by those claiming to love Ijaw more than others.
He asked those fighting Wike to take a trip to Port Harcourt in Rivers and behold the magnificent Law School Wike built in Ikwerre land.
Eradiri asked persons, who claimed Wike insulted the Ijaw nation to replay the Minister’s statements and judge for themselves without biases if what the Minister said they was not bitter truth.
Eradiri said: “As usual, our people don’t read or listen. They simply went to the ijaw square to sentence Wike. Without even knowing what the issues were, they jumped into bandwagon of crucification.
“Lets even ask ourselves, this our ijawness, why is it not in the development and progress of our nation and people? Why always solidarity at war but not for development?
“Look at Yenagoa, the capital of ijaw nation, like a place where mad people reside replete with abandoned projects courtesy of some ijaw leaders, yet no solidarity is shown for the development , light up and progress of ijaw nation.
“Our airport is moribund and our schools are a disgrace to education. Young talents are deliberately not encouraged to stardom; jobless youths roam the streets due to visionless leadership; no hope of survival but you are very active for solidarity to fight political battles of those impoverishing them.
“There are herdsmen in our bushes killing and destroying our crops yet no solidarity to deal with such a menace but same youths can gather against a speech of fact from deputy governor but they cannot gather for their progress but easy to gather against a perceived political enemy?”
Eradiri said Wike suddenly became an enemy of Ijaw simply because he took the PDP from Douye Diri and his colleague governors.
“When did ijaw people choose PDP as ijaw party? Diri should go and deal with his issues in PDP and stop dragging ijaw people into what does not concern us”, he said.
Eradiri insisted that lack of leadership tact on the part of the suspended Governor of Rivers State, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, caused the crisis in his state and asked the governor to stop etnicising the impasse.
He said: “As for Governor Siminalayi Fubara, he is incompetent and that is what has brought all this negative energy. He should not involve ijaw in his political issues and affairs. Let him tell us how he has supported the ijaws or ijaw activities?
“How many ijaws of Rivers State did he empower that he is demanding Ijaw support now? How many of the IYC comrades in Eastern zone were LGA chairmen, commissioners and appointees in his government?
“Or are all the ijaw youths of Eastern Zone only good at supporting political fights but not good enough for appointment and empowerment? When Chief Wike visited Abalama, how much did Fubara mobilise his people? Wike is a fighter and i like his style.
“I advise Fubara to go and kneel before Wike and beg for forgiveness. Those, who are deceiving him have no balls. They go cap in hand kneeling and begging same Wike when they get it they come in the open to claim ijaw lions.
“Now, Fubara is the one outside they are there ranting. Mr. President used the state of emergency to save Fubara and the ijaw nation the embarrassment of impeachment. He should go thank and appreciate President Bola Tinubu.”
Eradiri recalled that when Wike singlehandedly made Fubara Rivers governor, no ijaw gathered or even went to thank him.
“Fubara did not buy form or even spoke a word during campaigns. Why should he now be disobeying and reneging on agreement? Men are those who keep their words and abide by agreements”, he said.
Eradiri criticised the way and manner the Ijaw National Congress (INC) handled the Rivers crisis and warned the body against ethnicizing political issues, insisting that the INC brought the Rivers embarrassment on the Ijaw nation.
He said: “The INC failed to realize that those supporting Wike are ijaws too, Abalama chiefs and youths lined up to welcome Wike, are you saying they are no longer ijaws? George kelly and the numerous ijaw sons empowered by Wike are they not ijaws?
“INC should not be romancing governors’ egos. The institution is bigger than them and once you belittle the INC before these incompetent governors then the institutions will be ripe for ridicule and insults. Nobody is more ijaw than any other, so INC should protect all interest and stay away from politics.
“Non of these governors have empowered ijaw nation more than Wike , the peanuts they give to our platforms cannot be mentioned anywhere as support. Cant you see how Wike developed his people and empowered them? If they want challenge they should brag with their work on ground. Wike’s work is visible for the blind to see even in our ijawland.
Eradiri said the NDDC Forensic Report revealed that those so-called lovers of ijaw nation looted the commission and stole money meant to develop same ijawland, adding that they got paid for contracts but refused to execute them.
He said they deliberately underdeveloped the only ijaw state, noting that they collapsed the educational system and resorted to sending their children abroad.
Eradiri said: “Just look at the Atala Marginal Field, the one owned by ijaw state but taken away from ijaw youths and sold to outsiders by ijaw leaders to the detriment of ijaws. We lost jobs and opportunity for economic growth of the same ijaw nation.
“See the darkness in ijaw land no power to drive growth, if not for the NDDC led by Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, who is not in their league but they continue to fight to bring him down, all our communities will have still been in darkness at night
“Please, lets stop ethnicising political issues, Diri and Fubara should go fight their political party battles and leave ijaw nation out of politics. When it favors you you laugh and dance in thanksgiving , when it doesn’t favor you it becomes ijaw affair. Wike is not the ijaw enemy, you people are the real enemies”.
[TheNation]
Former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, has called on President Bola Tinubu to adopt a rapid, decisive implementation strategy—similar to that of former U.S. President Donald Trump—to achieve an ambitious ₦500 trillion national budget by 2026/2027.
In a 35-page policy report titled “OAL Governance and Economic Analysis and Forecast 2025: To Nigeria Can Succeed,” Agbakoba commended Tinubu’s fuel subsidy removal but stressed that economic reforms must translate into tangible improvements for everyday Nigerians.
“The paper presents a comprehensive strategy for transforming Nigeria from a resource-dependent to a production-driven economy capable of generating a ₦500 trillion budget,” he said.
“This target requires reimagining Nigeria’s economic architecture and governance to reduce debt and boost revenue.”
Agbakoba cited the need to replace extractive institutions—those concentrating wealth among elites—with inclusive ones that spread economic and political power more broadly, drawing on the book “Why Nations Fail” by Acemoglu and Robinson.
Two Imperatives for Economic Transformation:
Restructure Governance:
Devolve power to states and local governments
Enact constitutional reforms to reflect true federalism
Ensure judicial independence
Tackle corruption and reform public services
Sectoral Interventions to Unlock ₦500 Trillion:
₦85tn: Oil & gas reform (shift from “Contract Oil” to “Development Oil”)
₦65tn: Tax reform and revenue collection
₦50tn: Asset monetization via MOFI and PPPs
₦45tn: Development of critical minerals
₦40tn: Unlocking dead capital through property rights
₦35tn: Maritime and blue economy
₦30tn each: Aviation sector and digital economy
₦25tn each: Local content enforcement and strategic trade policy
₦10tn: Space industry development
Agbakoba emphasized that executing this plan requires “Trumpian speed”—rapid, concurrent actions across multiple fronts, bureaucratic streamlining, and leveraging technology.
“The success of these policies will not be judged by statistics or international praise, but by their impact on ordinary Nigerians,” he stated.
“Can the market trader in Onitsha earn more? Is food more affordable in Kano? Can a farmer in Benue access healthcare and education?”
He reiterated that Nigeria’s economic underperformance is due more to institutional failure than resource scarcity.
“With strategic reforms across sectors like maritime, aviation, oil and gas, digital economy, and trade, Nigeria can become a ₦500 trillion economic powerhouse,” Agbakoba said.
“This transformation is not just necessary—it is the moral imperative of our time.”
He concluded with a rallying call: “With our natural resources, strategic location, and resilient people, Nigeria has all it takes for economic greatness. It’s time to make Nigeria and Africa great again.”
[Vanguard]
More...
Crude oil price has dropped to $59 for the first time since February 2021.
Brent crude, global oil price, fell by 5.09 percent to $59.62 per barrel at 12.30 WAT while US West Texas Intermediate fell by 5.54 percent to $56.28 per barrel on Wednesday.
The recent decline in oil prices follows an announcement by President Donald Trump on April 2, imposing sweeping global tariffs (including 14 percent on Nigeria) on all imports into the US.
Moreso, on April 4, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies decided to increase oil production by 411,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May.
The current oil price threatens Nigeria’s oil revenue, as it is lower than Nigeria’s 2025 budget benchmark of $75 per barrel.
Speaking on the development, Jide Pratt, chief operating officer (COO) of Aiona, and country manager, Tradegrid, said the recent drop in oil prices means lower revenues and lower foreign reserves for Nigeria, especially with the suspension of the naira-for-crude deal.
“We’ve seen an increase in foreign exchange (FX) rates, which does not help monetary or fiscal policy,” he said.
“Personally, I believe it does show that the benchmark for our budget leaves a lot to be desired. More importantly, we are on the road to a supplementary budget and loans.
“We need to sell off some assets tothe private sector and enable growth in our economy to buffer low crude oil prices.”
Since the country depends largely on oil revenue, Pratt said “there can be no better time to really diversify”.
On Monday, Wale Edun, the minister of finance, said the oil price plunge will have an adverse effect on Nigeria, and to curtail any price effect, “we are intensifying efforts to ramp up crude oil production”.
“We are also focusing on non-oil revenue mobilisation by FIRS and Customs” he said.
“Budget adjustment and prioritisation where possible, and also innovative non-debt financing strategies.”
Nigeria’s oil production fell to 1.46 million barrels per day (bpd) in February — below the 1.5 million quota set for the country by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
The output level is below the 2.1 million barrels of oil per day target set by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) for 2025.
[TheCable]
Mr. Peter Obi, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, has dismissed rumors suggesting he is planning to leave the party.
Obi stated that he has not entered into any discussions with any individual or group regarding his departure from the Labour Party.
He emphasized that any decisions about the party’s future would be made in consultation with its stakeholders.
He made this clarification while addressing party members during the ongoing National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja.
“I’ve not told anybody that I’m leaving the Labour Party,” the former Anambra State Governor said.
Barely 48 hours after the Julius Abure-led National Executive Committee of the Labour Party threatened to sanction LP presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi and Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, over Wednesday’s meeting, the camps of the duo told PUNCH Online that the summit will hold as planned.
The Acting Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress Political Commission, Prof Theophilus Ndubuaku, and Obi’s media aide, Umar Ibrahim, disclosed this in two separate phone chats.
The clarifications come in the wake of speculations that Obi and Otti had chickened out following Abure’s threat of sanction.
“Who are those speculating about the nonsense? This is the real theatre of the absurd. If someone were acting this out as a Nollywood script, everyone would say this scriptwriter is a foolish and demented scriptwriter. Nigerians can innovate the good, the bad and the ugly,” Ndubuaku kicked.
The union leader, however, confirmed that he would be attending the event.
Ibrahim also dispelled the insinuation, saying all the invited stakeholders are ready to storm the venue today. He said, “It is not true. There is nothing like that. If it was postponed, I would have issued you and other media persons an official statement on that.”
When asked about the threat of sanctions on his principal and the governor, the spokesman declined to comment.
“We don’t want any drama with the Labour Party or join issues with members of the party,” he said.
PUNCH Online earlier reported that the Abure-led NEC sacked LP Caucus Leader in the House of Representatives, Afam Ogene, from his position over his alleged involvement in anti-party activities.
The NEC also vowed to direct the disciplinary committee to sanction Obi and Otti if they go ahead with their planned stakeholders’ engagement on Wednesday and other activities that may undermine the party.
The development was announced in the communique read to journalists by the Labour Party’s National Secretary, Alhaji Umar Farouk, at the end of a NEC meeting held at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja.
Earlier, both Abure and Obi had simultaneously called for separate meetings of the National Executive Committee to discuss the future of the party following Friday’s judgment by the Supreme Court.
While Abure’s NEC was held at the national headquarters on Monday, Obi and Governor Alex Otti moved their stakeholders’ summit to Wednesday to a yet-to-be-named venue.
The feuding parties made the summons in separate terse statements made available to PUNCH Online.
When contacted for reaction, the National Publicity Secretary of LP, Obiora Ifoh, insisted that the NEC, which is the highest organ in the party, has made its position known.
“However, we are watching the development and will respond at the right time,” Obiora said.
Niger military government has officially made Hausa the country’s new national language, moving away from its colonial past where French played a central role.
The change was announced in a new charter released on March 31, published in a special edition of the government’s official journal.
According to the document, “The national language is Hausa,” and “the working languages are English and French.”
Hausa is already the most commonly spoken language across Niger, especially in the Zinder, Maradi, and Tahoua regions.
Most of the country’s population of about 26 million people understand and speak Hausa. In comparison, only around three million people, just 13 per cent, can speak French.
The new charter also officially lists nine other local languages, including Zarma-Songhay, Fula, Kanuri, Gourmanche, and Arabic, as “the spoken languages of Niger.”
This language switch follows a national meeting held in February.
During that event, the military government received more support and General Abdourahamane Tiani, the junta leader, was given approval to stay in power for five more years.
Since taking over in a coup in July 2023, which removed the country’s civilian president, Mohamed Bazoum, the junta has been cutting off ties with France.
These actions include removing French troops from the country, ending diplomatic relations, and changing the names of roads and buildings that used to carry French names.
Like Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, which also have military governments and used to be French colonies, are taking similar steps.
They’ve also pulled out of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, a group similar to the Commonwealth that supports French-speaking nations.