Author: Mohammad Adamu

MTN Nigeria’s Chief Executive Officer, Karl Toriola, has defended the recent telecoms tariff increase, saying the company was on the verge of collapse before the adjustment was approved. Toriola made the disclosure at a stakeholder engagement session themed ‘Data on Trial’, held in Lagos and hosted by television personality Ebuka Obi-Uchendu.He said the company could not meet its basic financial obligations at the time. “At the point when the tariff increase was implemented, we practically could not pay our bills. There was not enough money coming into MTN’s accounts to pay for diesel, rent and software licences. We were effectively…

A phone call from Washington has — for now — stopped the bombs from falling. Israel has halted its strikes on Iran after President Donald Trump personally intervened, a senior Israeli official told Channel 12. Netanyahu reportedly relented following a direct call from the US president. But the ceasefire comes with a warning: if Hezbollah keeps hitting Israeli towns, Israel says it will return fire on Beirut’s southern suburbs. The report remains unverified, though multiple outlets have corroborated the broad outline of Trump’s intervention.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have threatened to embark on a nationwide strike to protest the worsening security situation in the country. NLC President Joe Ajaero made the declaration on Monday in Geneva, Switzerland, on the sidelines of the ongoing International Labour Conference (ILC). The two labour centres also pressed the Federal Government to immediately commence renegotiation of the National Minimum Wage, ahead of its scheduled review next July. The organised labour movement further rejected any legislative imposition of a new wage figure, insisting that negotiations remain the only acceptable route to determining a…

The Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has assured shortlisted recruitment candidates that a computer-based test will be conducted shortly, dismissing online claims that the exercise has been abandoned. In a personally signed statement released at the weekend in Abuja, Olaopa described the circulating reports as frivolous and unfounded, saying all necessary measures had been put in place to conduct the CBT. “What is left is the adequate provision of resources to support the process,” he said, adding that the test would hold as soon as those resources were made available. Olaopa clarified that the…

The Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, visited Uganda on Monday as the country battles an Ebola outbreak that has claimed two lives after crossing from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. The WHO declared an international health emergency over the outbreak, first announced on May 15 in northeastern DRC, where 515 confirmed infections and 91 deaths have been recorded. “I am in Uganda, where the government has mounted a prompt and capable response,” Tedros wrote on X following his arrival and a meeting with a senior Ugandan health ministry official. Of the 19 confirmed Ugandan cases,…

Russian drone strikes have killed two people in Ukraine, authorities confirmed on Sunday, as world leaders convened in London to discuss intensifying pressure on Moscow over its four-year war. A 56-year-old minibus driver was killed in a drone strike in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. In a separate attack, a 59-year-old man died in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, where Russian drones and aerial bombs struck two districts. A 35-year-old man was also wounded and infrastructure damaged in the attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled to meet the leaders of France, Germany, and Britain on…

Suspected Boko Haram terrorists have released 360 women and children abducted from Ngoshe, a community in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State.The President of the Borno South Youth Alliance (BOSYA), Samaila Kaigama, confirmed the release to journalists on Sunday, stating that the captives were freed on June 6. BOSYA had previously served as an intermediary between the terrorist group and the victims’ families, maintaining communication with the press since April 10, when Boko Haram first displayed the abducted victims publicly. “BOSYA has secured the release of all the Ngoshe 360 women and children. They were released on June 6,”…

A retired Nigerian Army general and his wife, who were abducted along the Karaduwa–Matazu Road in Katsina State one week ago, have appeared in a video released by their captors, appealing to the government to help secure their freedom. Major General Abubakar Rabe (rtd) and his wife, Hajiya Amina Abubakar, were seen standing in the four-minute, two-second clip, which circulated widely on social media, relaying the demands of their abductors.In the video, Hajiya Amina stated that the kidnappers are demanding the release of three of their members — identified as Sani, Aminu, and Nasiru — as well as the return…

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has rejected reports that he promised to restore senatorial tickets to lawmakers who lost in the recent All Progressives Congress (APC) primary elections, describing the claims as misleading and inaccurate. A statement issued on Saturday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Hon. Eseme Eyiboh, said Akpabio’s remarks during a Tuesday interaction with senators were taken out of context. According to the statement, the Senate President only expressed sympathy for affected senators and informed them that the APC leadership was already working to address concerns arising from the primaries. “What the President of the Senate…

The Federal Capital Territory Police Command has launched a sweeping enforcement operation targeting vehicles with illegal tinted windows, concealed number plates and missing registration, Commissioner Ahmed Sanusi announced Friday in Abuja. Sanusi said the clampdown follows a surge in criminal activity linked to such vehicles, which have been used in one-chance robberies, kidnappings and other offences across the territory. He noted that criminal elements deliberately exploit such vehicles to evade detection and frustrate law enforcement. More than 30 vehicles have already been impounded since the exercise began. Owners and operators face prosecution under the Laws of the Federation and the…