MTN Telecom company has apologized to its subscribers over continued network challenges that started early last week. In a centralized short message system (SMS) today, the Telecom giant blamed the network challenges on inadequate supply of diesel for its operation. The Telecom regulatory body, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) had earlier promised to intervene in the diesel supply issue for the purpose of enabling the network providers to restore network.. MTN, in the text message today said: “Dear Valued Customer, we are still experiencing intermittent network challenges in some areas of the FCT due to diesel supply challenges affecting one of our infrastructure partners. “Our teams and partners are actively working on the ground to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience.”
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has sacked Aso Savings and Loans Plc and Union Homes Savings and Loans Plc through revocation of their operational licenses. In a statement, the acting Director, Corporate Communications department of the apex Bank, Hakama Sidi Ali said that the action is part of the efforts of the CBN to re-position the mortgage sub-sector and promote a culture of compliance with relevant laws and regulations. The statement said that the CBN, in exercise of the powers conferred on it under Section 12 of BOFIA 2020, and Section 7.3 of the Revised Guidelines for Mortgage Banks in Nigeria, revoked the licenses of Aso Savings and Loans Plc and Union Homes Savings and Loans Plc. “The affected institutions had violated various Sections of BOFIA 2020 and the Revised Guidelines for Mortgage Banks in Nigeria, including: (a) Failure to meet the minimum paid-up share capital requirement for the category of the bank licence granted to them by the CBN. (b) Having insufficient assets to meet their liabilities; (c) Being critically undercapitalised with a capital adequacy ratio below the prudential minimum ratio as prescribed by the CBN; and (d) Failure to comply with several directives and obligations imposed upon them by the CBN. “The CBN remains committed to its core- mandate of ensuring financial system stability.”
President and Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has dragged the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Engineer Farouk Ahmed to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), insisting that his sources of income should be thoroughly investigated. Spokesperson for the ICPC, John Okor Odey in a statement today, December 16, confirmed receipt of a petition from Dangote on the matter. The statement said that the Commission “writes to confirm that it received a formal petition today Tuesday 16th December, 2025 from Alhaji Aliko Dangote through his lawyer. “The petition is against the CEO of the NMDPRA, Alhaji Farouk Ahmed. “The ICPC wishes to state that the petition will be duly investigated.” The short statement did not mention the content of the petition, but at a news briefing on Sunday, December 14, Aliko Dangote had accused the leadership of the NMDPRA of actions he described as economic sabotage. He alleged NMDPRA collusion with foreign oil traders and fuel importers to undermine domestic refining through continued issuance of petroleum product import licences. Dangote alleged that the NMDPRA boss is living far beyond his legitimate earnings, citing what he described as extravagant expenditure on the foreign education of his children. He alleged that Ahmed Faruk’s four children attended elite secondary schools in Switzerland, with costs allegedly running into several millions of dollars. In a statement yesterday, December 15, Dangote said that more than $5 million was expended on the children’s secondary education in Switzerland over a six-year period. He listed such institutions to include Montreux School, Aiglon College, Institut Le Rosey and La Garenne International School. He further alleged that annual tuition, travel and upkeep amounted to approximately $200,000 per child, totalling about $800,000 annually for the four children, with estimated cumulative living expenses of $4.8 million over six years. Dangote also alleged that an additional $2 million was spent on tertiary education over four years, including a reported $210,000 MBA programme at Harvard University in 2025 for one of the children. Dangote stressed that public officials owe Nigerians an explanation when their lifestyles appear inconsistent with their earnings, adding that many families in Ahmed’s home state of Sokoto struggle to afford basic school fees. “Nigerians deserve to know the source of these huge sums spent by a public officer, especially at a time when many parents cannot afford even modest school fees.” Meanwhile, Ahmed Faruk was not within reach to react to Dangote’s allegations. This came even as the House of Representatives Joint Committees on Petroleum Resources (Downstream and Midstream) have summoned both parties and ordered an immediate halt to further public exchanges. The lawmakers warned that escalating the dispute could disrupt Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector, which has only recently began to experience relative stability following years of volatility.
Bello Turji, described in security circle as one of the most dangerous leaders of the Bandits operating in many parts of the Northwest has given reasons why he and his men sre fighting the government. He also confirmed that he participated in a series of peace meetings with the Zamfara State Government during the administration of former governor Bello Muhammad Matawalle, now Minister of State for Defence, but that he had never received ₦30 million or any material inducement as part of the process. In a separate video widely circulated online, Bello Turji said that past political leadership in Zamfara and Sokoto states laid the foundation for the lingering insecurity in the Northwest. According to him, former governments of Zamfara and Sokoto had armed vigilante groups, popularly known as ‘Yan Banga,’ to be constantly attacking Fulani communities unprovoked. Bello Turji stressed that the attempt by the unjustly attacked Fulani people to defend themselves from such attacks snowballed into deadly violence. He specifically named former Sokoto State governor, Attahiru Bafarawa and former Zamfara State governor, Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima for being responsible for the crisis in the Northwest and called for their arrest. The Bandit leader insisted that the two former governors should be investigated for their roles in the crisis. Bello Turji distanced himself from any political influence, saying that he is not acting on behalf of any politician or interest group. “We openly say that former governors of Zamfara and Sokoto, Bafarawa and Ahmed Sani Yerima, are responsible for the calamities that befell these states. “We are not politicians, and we are not tools of politicians. There is no human being backing us.” Reacting to a statement by Musa Kamarawa, a former peace mediator appointed by the Sokoto and Zamfara state governments to facilitate non-kinetic engagement with armed groups, Bello Turji denied receiving any money during the meetings. He said that though peace talks took place, neither he nor any Fulani leader acting on his behalf received money or vehicles. “By Allah, since I was born, I have never possessed even five million naira. What I am doing is not for personal gain. We were never given the ₦30 million you are talking about.” According to him, the meetings with government officials were solely aimed at reducing violence and restoring peace in the state, stressing that he did not benefit financially from the engagement. He accused Kamarawa of betraying the trust built during the negotiations and peddling what he described as false and malicious testimony. Addressing Kamarawa directly, Bello Turji said: “when the Zamfara State government appointed you, we agreed on peace. But what you are saying now is full of lies and deceit. I did not even receive three million naira.” Kamarawa had alleged in a viral video that the former Zamfara governor held meetings with bandit leaders, including Turji, at the Government House in Gusau and allegedly distributed cash and vehicles to them. He specifically claimed that Turji collected ₦30 million during the peace initiative. Although Turji did not address reports of any recent negotiations with the Federal Government, he framed his remarks as a personal defence, insisting he was speaking “before Allah alone.” Despite his claims, Nigerian security agencies have repeatedly identified Bello Turji as one of the most dangerous armed group leaders operating in the North-West, with the military previously declaring him wanted for terror-related activities.
There are truths that don’t just hurt pride; they puncture illusions, strip hypocrisy and leave us naked, facing our own creation. The Dangote case is one of them. Over 11,000 Indian technicians were recruited because Nigeria couldn’t find 100 locally qualified. That is a country of 235 million people, Africa’s largest economy, and a self-proclaimed giant of the continent. This is the clinical diagnosis of a disease that doesn’t just affect Abuja: it affects the entire African body. Many cry scandal. I see a mirror. And a mirror never lies. Africa wasn’t defeated by tanks, but by polytechnics Dangote is accused of preferring Indians. False. Dangote prefers those who know how to run a refinery. Period. It’s not India that humiliates us; it’s our inability to produce skills that match our ambitions. While Africa organizes summits, national assemblies and endless conferences, India builds classrooms. While we politicize technical education, India professionalizes. While we churn out theoretical degrees, India trains thousands of operational technicians. The Indians didn’t take Lagos by force. They enter with their screwdrivers, software, and skills. Without skills, even our billionaires become dependent Dangote isn’t the problem. He’s proof that wealth isn’t enough to compensate for weak human capital. We can have oil, bauxite, gold, cobalt, lithium and many more, but without people who can transform them. And for that, we remain tenants of our own development. We provide land, raw materials, tax breaks, sometimes even public funds while others provide modern productive and functional brains. And in the end, they leave with the biggest share of added value. Africa is a continent where a port can be built in 18 months with foreign labour. But it takes 25 years to modernize a technical high school. That should wake us up. Technical education is obviously our silent Waterloo Our technical high schools, when they still exist, run on the 1980’s machines, unretrained teachers, frozen curricula, workshops turned into dusty museums with students deemed “less brilliant” than those in general education. That’s where it starts. That’s where India beats us. Not at Dangote. Not in Lagos. At school. African parents dream of lawyers, doctors, MPs… Rarely of industrial mechanics, electromechanics, maintenance technicians and process engineers. Our societies continue to despise technical trades, even though the modern world relies entirely on them. The Nigerian problem is African: DRC, Kenya, Cameroon, Senegal and others. It is the same fight What’s happening in Nigeria today is no exception. It’s the announced future of all African countries if they don’t wake up. In our countries, our power plants are repaired by foreigners. Our mines are calibrated by foreigners. Our dams are built by foreigners. Our data centers are configured by foreigners. Our roads are asphalted by foreigners. And we applaud, as if modernity was just about inaugural photos. Real development starts when we no longer need them for basic operations. The mental revolution begins in turning every technical high school into a talent factory. No magic. No slogans. No empty “2030 visions.” Development is to have qualified welders, certified electronics technicians, industrial mechanics, petrochemical technicians, IT professionals who can code, repair, program and assemble. Africa must massively professionalize its technical education. Not 200 students per year. Not 1,000. We need 50,000 to 100,000 technicians per country, every year. Only then will Dangote, and all the Dangotes of the continent, no longer need to look elsewhere. The Dangote’s reality is not a scandal. It’s a wake-up call Africa will never be respected as long as it asks others to do what it should have learned to do itself. Dangote doesn’t humiliate Africa. He wakes us up. The question isn’t why does he employ 11,000 Indians? The real question is why haven’t our education systems produced 11,000 Nigerians who can replace them? And that applies to DRC, Kenya, Angola, Ghana and others. The continent that wants to take off must first learn to run its engine As long as we don’t understand that the 21st-century struggle is no longer geopolitical but technological, we’ll remain giants with clay feet. As long as our technical high schools are pedagogical graveyards, others will come to work for us, surpassing us, and telling us how to manage our own wealth. The day Lagos, Kinshasa, or Nairobi train 10,000 qualified technicians per year, Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Turks will knock on our doors. And that day, Africa will stop being a market. It will become the world’s workshop.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, has revealed how bandits and terrorists operating in Nigeria rely on sophisticated technology to protect their communications from security agencies. According to the minister, the criminal groups use call-hopping technology, which allows their phone calls to bounce across multiple cell towers, making them difficult to track. Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics yesterday, December 12, the minister explained that the criminals deliberately operate from areas with little or no telecommunications coverage to further evade detection. “There was a special kind of technology they were using to make calls. They weren’t using normal towers. They bounced calls off multiple towers. That is why they enjoy staying in areas that are not connected at all.” According to Bosun Tijani, this method ensures that their communication signals disappear once they move from one location to another, enabling them to launch attacks from unserved or poorly connected areas. He assured that Nigeria is upgrading its communication satellites to serve as a backup in situations where ground-based telecom infrastructure is unavailable or disrupted. “If our towers are not working, our satellites will work. Nigeria is the only country in West Africa with communication satellites, and we are bringing in new ones to upgrade their capabilities.” Meanwhile, President Bola Ahmed recently declared an emergency on security to upturn the trend. The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, had accused Tinubu’s government of not being able to deliver results in tackling insecurity.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has assured subscribers of its swift moves to resolve the Quality of Service (QoS) challenges being experienced in Abuja, especially the network connections.
In a statement, Head of Public Affairs of NCC, Mrs. Nnenna Ukoha, said that the Commission is collaborating with major stakeholders and licensees to address these challenges, which was largely caused “by disruption to diesel supply affecting IHS Nigeria Limited, the colocation provider responsible for powering Airtel and MTN base stations in the affected areas.” NCC confirmed that the challenges are a result of the activities of the National Oil and Gas Suppliers Association (NOGASA), which disrupted diesel supplies to sites with the attendant telecommunications services outages in Abuja.” It assured subscribers of its commitment to ensuring seamless communication services for all Nigerians, saying that it recognizes the importance of reliable power supply for the provision of optimal telecommunication services. “The NCC is actively engaging with relevant stakeholders to address the diesel supply issues and explore sustainable solutions.” The Commission urges all parties to work together to collaboratively resolve these challenges swiftly by removing the diesel supply bottlenecks affecting critical telecommunications infrastructure, arising from NOGASA’s actions. ” In the face of these challenges, we reiterate our commitment to fostering a conducive environment for the growth and sustainability of telecommunications services in Nigeria. We are taking proactive steps to facilitate dialogues between the impacted service providers and other stakeholders to promptly resolve the diesel supply concerns that have negatively impacted service quality. ” The Commission remains dedicated to effectively managing the situation and will keep the public updated on progress towards restoring full telecommunication services in Abuja. “We thank telecommunications subscribers for their understanding and patience during this period and reaffirm our commitment to delivering high-quality telecommunications services nationwide.”
The Ajaokuta Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (AJACCIMA) has commended the State Governor, Ahmed Usman Ododo for the establishment of Ajaokuta as a new industrial hub in the State, describing it as visionary. In a statement by the Director General, Alhaji Ibrahim Aliyu, AJACCIMA said that the establishment of Ajaokuta city as the new industrial hub of the state is a game-changer for the state’s economy and a testament to Governor Ododo’s commitment to revitalizing the industrial sector and driving sustainable growth and development in Kogi State. AJACCIMA applauded the governor’s efforts to attract investments, create jobs and stimulate economic activity in Ajaokuta and its environs. “The development of Ajaokuta city as an industrial hub is expected to unlock new opportunities for businesses, entrepreneurs and the local community.
The Director-General of AJACCIMA, particularly assured members of the group as well as stakeholders of the unwavering support “for this initiative and our commitment to partnering with the state government to drive the growth and development of Ajaokuta city. “We urge all stakeholders to join us in celebrating this milestone achievement and to seize the opportunities presented by this initiative.”
The Supreme court of Nigeria has written off Presidential pardon on Maryam Sanda as granted by President Bola Tinubu recently. In a split decision of four-to-one, today, December 12, the Supreme court affirmed the death sentence handed Sanda by the Court of Appeal, Abuja which upheld the decision of a HIgh Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). She would now face death by hanging. In a lead judgement, Justice Moore Adumein held that it was wrong for the President to seek to exercise executive power of pardon over a case of culpable homicide, in respect of which an appeal was pending. The Supreme court insisted that the prosecution had proved the case beyond reasonable doubt as required, adding that the Court of Appeal was right to have affirmed the judgement of the trial court. The Apex Court looked at all the issues raised in the appeal she filed against her and dismissed the appeal for being without merit. Maryam Sanda, a housewife in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, was in 2020, sentenced to death by hanging for killing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, during a domestic dispute. President Tinubu later this year, cancelled the judicial pronouncement and reduced her sentence to 12 years imprisonment on what was termed “compassionate grounds.”
Information reaching us at Greenbarge Reporters online newspaper has indicated the tumbling down of ex-depot petrol price of the Dangote Refinery to N699 per litre. The pump price was before now N828 per liter. This is coming about 24 hours after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) announced the reduction of its pump price to a little above N900 per liter. The reduction by the Dangote Refinery in price of fuel represents 15.58 per cent from the previous price. The latest adjustment, according to information, is the company’s 20th price review this year. Dangote Refinery’s ex-depot price review came today, December 12, in the wake of announcements by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company and fuel filling stations of at least two price reductions in the past three weeks, pushing the retail price between N915 and N937 per litre in Abuja.
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The Director-General of AJACCIMA, particularly assured members of the group as well as stakeholders of the unwavering support “for this initiative and our commitment to partnering with the state government to drive the growth and development of Ajaokuta city.
