West Africa
The latest news from Nigeria: politics, business, technology, culture, sport and more.
Nigeria has approved a ₦70,000 monthly transport allowance for workers for six months from November 2026, alongside plans to pay outstanding allowances to public servants and resume negotiations on the new minimum wage.
Twenty young designers will compete for 13 weeks to transform homes with African ideas and materials, from early 2027.
Onions, okra, cabbage and carrots are lifting household incomes, helped by free fertiliser for 150,000 smallholders.
Nnadozie kept her first clean sheet of the season for Brighton, and Okpe reached 22 goals in Belarus.
Cardoso, Adesina, Dangote and Elumelu complete the top five of Podhium's first GREY Capital Index; 44% of the 500 ranked are women.
More than 40 players took part in the fifth Ajayi Elebire Elite Basketball Camp, coached by Nigerians and Americans.
Governor Sanwo-Olu says the steel design honours the old cane market at Odo-Iya Alaro, and the bridge is about 80% done.
Nigeria's president defended his reforms at a rally of thousands. The vote is on 16 January.
Each gets $50,000 to help protect 30% of land and sea by 2030, from wetlands in Zambia to community-run reserves in Rwanda.
The ECOWAS Court lets individuals bring cases directly, and has ordered states to change policy. A KNUST lawyer explains what works and what needs fixing.
Training for security staff and accessible ways to report incidents are planned before the January 2027 elections.
The money from the Needs Assessment Revitalisation Fund is for buildings, labs and classrooms at 79 universities, 46 polytechnics and 41 colleges of education.
Food brands such as Knorr drove revenue to ₦184bn in nine months; shareholders get ₦2 a share on 18 November.
The NCDC will pay quarantined contacts ₦100,000 a week, and has widened its case definition so suspected cases are caught early.
Africa's richest industrialist told the FT Africa Summit in London what the continent needs most to turn its resources into factories.
KPMG's 2026 Africa CEO Outlook finds 72% of bosses see AI as a top investment priority and 84% expect to hire more people over the next three years.
Under colonial rule, Lagos editors launched five Yoruba weeklies in a decade, mixing news, satire, proverbs and serialised stories for a new reading public.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has granted approval-in-principle for JPMorgan Merchant Bank Nigeria, with Dapo Olagunju as managing director.
Plumbers, electricians, tilers, solar installers and other artisans in Lagos, Abuja and Accra can join Proptiva Africa's Vendor Network free to win well-paid property jobs from diaspora homeowners.
From welfare checks on elderly parents to video verification before you pay, the Lagos company sends vetted helpers to do what Nigerians abroad cannot do in person — and sends back proof.
From the first block to the last tenant, the Lagos company supervises, secures and manages African property for owners abroad, with timestamped photo updates and a 12-month workmanship guarantee.
The Nigeria-focused fintech, used by about 50 million people a month, could be valued at $4.4bn. Standard Bank is also buying a stake of up to $200m.
The Premium Times editor-in-chief studied how Nigerian newsrooms team up on investigations.
KPMG's Africa CEO Outlook finds bosses confident about growth and hiring, but only 14% say their firms are keeping pace with AI.
Nigeria's development bank says 2025 lending rose 26%, with 41% going to small businesses and ₦120.9bn to women-owned firms.
The Nollywood actor, whose career began in 1989, died after a brief illness, his family says.
Arriving passengers face temperature screening; 44 contacts of Nigeria's first case have been traced so far.
Six Nigerians scored or assisted across the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League this week.
Six decades after forming his first band, the King of Jùjú is remembered for modernising Yoruba music without losing its proverbs, praise songs and talking drums.
Farida Isiak, 23, had been sentenced without a lawyer over a Facebook post criticising police. She has pleaded not guilty and been granted bail.
From Kano to Ekiti, state health teams opened emergency centres, reactivated isolation units and stepped up surveillance, while the Senate moved to update quarantine law.
About 39,000 underage candidates sat the 2026 UTME; 391 scored 320 or more, and 108 passed every test to be considered for early admission.
The ECOWAS Business Council, chaired by Aliko Dangote, wants industrial power corridors and a regional electricity gap study, financed with multilateral lenders.
Lucy Eyo's project will track three years of spending on health, education, water and women's livelihoods to see whether money reaches women and girls.
At the Gatefield Health Summit in Abuja, WIPO pointed to Kemi Bolarinwa's breast cancer device as proof that protecting ideas helps African health innovations scale.
Health authorities in Nigeria are stepping up Ebola surveillance in Abuja after confirming a case of the Bundibugyo strain and identifying 44 contacts for monitoring.
In Aba, 18km from South Sudan, health officials agreed weekly data sharing, joint investigations and common messages, with help from refugee leaders.
In Beijing, CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso asked China's biggest bank to help fix payment bottlenecks and invest in naira assets.
The health minister says surveillance, laboratory and training work done since May let Nigeria identify an imported case quickly and notify the WHO.
Lagos State is backing two endurance challenges, one against drug abuse and one for mental health, including a swim-cycle-run from Osogbo to Ikeja on 15 November.
Nigeria's CJID launches a digital platform to preserve the continent's media history on 22 October, starting with a book on Lade Bonuola as he turns 80.
The communications regulator says a quick check can show whether a handset is genuine and approved. Phones already in use before 7 October need no action.
A growing number of Nigerian-born or Nigerian-heritage footballers are representing other African countries. Here is who, and why the rules allow it.
The ongoing demolition in Dakibyu, Abuja, has left families homeless and traders struggling after losing their homes, goods and sources of income.
A memorandum signed in Port Harcourt brings a Chinese engineering group in as main financier for a petrochemical project on 500 hectares of community land.
Businesses in EWA's 2026 Deal Room will compete for grants paid out at the Lagos event in November. A survey of 377 Nigerian creatives named affordable funding their biggest barrier.
Nigerian ports received 4,477 vessels and handled 129.3 million tonnes of cargo in 2025, the maritime agency says, and Lekki drew the region's biggest ships.
Chosen from 170 submissions in more than ten countries, the projects will be put to heads of state and investors in Sierra Leone. Tony Elumelu says the focus must move "from talk to action".
Built by Shalom Rayhamen, who began her tech journey at a training centre in Aba, the Lagos life simulator has raised $500,000 at a $10m valuation and now wants other developers to build games inside it.
The state's rice mill is running, 106 hectares are under cultivation and the government is buying paddy from farming communities, the agriculture commissioner said on World Food Day.
The Cambridge-trained historian reshaped the Daily Times in the 1970s, advised Obasanjo on foreign affairs and served as Nigeria's ambassador to Brazil and Argentina.
A first N10bn tranche is due from this week, after a committee checked the records of 66,783 people to weed out false claims.
Johnvents can process 48,000 tonnes of cocoa a year, works with about 40,000 farmers and wants to reach 150,000 by 2030. Its founder says Africa must stop exporting raw commodities.
An exhibition, a documentary and a comic book for young readers will mark four decades since Wole Soyinka became the first African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Two Super Eagles scored the only goals of their games on Saturday, in Venice and in London.
The four Nigerian stars have submitted albums and songs across major categories, including Album of the Year. Nominations are announced on 16 November.
Four national commissioners, one of them reappointed, and two state electoral commissioners now go to the Senate for confirmation.
The governor pledged more room for women, young people and people with disabilities, and better roads. Vice President Shettima represented President Tinubu.
Femi Adebayo has unveiled the cast of the sequel to his award-winning Yoruba epic. Netflix premieres it on 4 December.
The N20bn issue is the first part of a N100bn programme to fund expansion at home, in the region and abroad. Revenue grew from N10.3bn in 2021 to N90.8bn in 2025.
The financing is meant for farmers, small businesses and a 90,000km national fibre network. Tinubu welcomed it and pointed investors to 65 projects worth $78.5bn.
Petrol prices continue to worry families and motorists in Nigeria as transport costs put pressure on household budgets. In Abuja, the Nigerian capital, petrol prices remain a key concern for consumers hoping for lasting relief.
Nigeria’s National Orientation Agency (NOA) launched a nationwide campaign in Abuja on October 15, 2026, to mobilise citizens ahead of the 2027 general elections. The initiative urges Nigerians to reject voter apathy, vote-buying and electoral violence while promoting peaceful and credible elections.
The trainees, backed by the EU and IOM, leave with the tools to start businesses in the trades they learned.
Three in four working women in sub-Saharan Africa work in farming and food. In Enugu, solar cold rooms and greenhouses are being built for 500 young farmers, most of them women.
Prices rose 14.63% in the year to September, down from 20.98% a year earlier. Food prices fell month on month, and the naira firmed to ₦1,333 to the dollar.
Access, Zenith, UBA, GTCO, First HoldCo and others move to a positive outlook after Nigeria's own outlook improved. Their ratings stay at B.
At Wuse Market in Abuja’s Wuse district, customers are complaining bitterly about rising food prices, with one onion reportedly selling for as much as ₦500. Traders say families are struggling to afford basic food items, as the same amount of money now buys far less than before.
Newswatch will present Dele Giwa's Granite Journalism, edited by Ray Ekpu, in Lagos on 19 October, the anniversary of its founding editor's killing.
The third GYMFEST, at The Dome in Lekki on 7 November, follows two editions that drew more than 400 athletes from over 20 schools.
The Abia Industrial Innovation Park at Owaza has a new managing director, and Governor Alex Otti says several companies want in.
Phones already on the networks are safe, the regulator says. New devices must now be verified before they can connect, to keep out counterfeits.
Ethiopia, Angola, Sudan, Egypt and Zambia top a ranking of the continent's lowest household power prices. Nigeria is sixth, at about a quarter of the African average.
Mary-Brenda Akoda, a Google DeepMind scholar trained at Imperial College, plans to launch GenMRI in Nigeria and Britain next year. It works on the scanners hospitals already have.
EbonyLife Place, a few steps from Parliament, has a cinema for African and black storytelling, a Nigerian restaurant and a boutique for African designers. It is the first of its kind in Britain and Europe.
More than 13,000 primary health centres will now benefit, and about 90,000 prisoners are being brought into health insurance.
From a Lagos rail line to a fertiliser plant and a data centre powered by flare gas, the portfolio presented in Bangkok could create about 367,000 jobs, the government says.
Sworn in before Senegal's president, the judges from Benin, The Gambia, Liberia, Nigeria and Togo will each serve a single four-year term.
Nigeria's leading music awards will be held over two days in Canada instead of on 23 October.
Entertainment Week Africa will fund standout companies from its Deal Room when it returns to Lagos in November.
Most senators backed treating it as a medical emergency. Senate President Godswill Akpabio said survivors should still face jail.
The Nigerian payments company's revenue more than doubled in six months, with lending now earning more than payments. Loan losses are rising too.
A Central Bank of Liberia team visited Nigeria's insurance regulator after 50 Nigerian insurers raised about N720 billion in new capital.
The fund sees 4.3% growth next year, but says rising prices are hurting households and calls for targeted cash support.
Proptiva Africa has put approvals, photo evidence, messages and payments for a property project into one login. Here is how the pieces fit together.
The Nigerian forward sealed a 2-0 Champions League win for Atletico Madrid. Victor Osimhen's Galatasaray lost 4-1 to Barcelona.
Toni Payne and Uchenna Kanu scored twice each as Nigeria won 7-0 on aggregate in qualifying for the 2028 Olympics.
Nine-month revenue more than doubled to $22.5 billion as the Lekki refinery moved from start-up into full commercial running.
Four African countries are among 15 elected by the General Assembly to serve on the Human Rights Council from 2027 to 2029.
The pipeline's regulator briefed the region's new infrastructure commissioner. The line was set up by Benin, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo to supply power stations.
The anti-trafficking agency says each returnee will be assessed. It has not said how many were victims and how many were willing participants.
The information minister says the conversion programme has drawn $2.5bn in private money. Drivers still face a high upfront cost and too few filling stations.
A judge has rejected a hospital operator's attempt to stop the coroner's inquiry, ruling that an inquest is a fact-finding exercise in which nobody is on trial.
Both countries spent 2026 signing up young voters by the million. The numbers look similar. The politics behind them do not.
Nearly one in four confirmed patients has died, up from fewer than one in five last year. Health officials blame late arrival at hospital and the cost of treatment.
The electoral commission's final list for the state assembly shows two men standing for both the PDP and the APM. Fewer than one candidate in ten is a woman.
Users in four states have struggled to load or upload videos since mid-September. Civil society groups want to know whether someone ordered it.
At least 22 people are feared dead after gunmen attacked a convoy heading to a weekly market in Bukkuyum. The army and police have yet to comment.
Marking the International Day of the Girl, Oluremi Tinubu said protecting girls is an economic priority and asked for action, not statements.
The state emergency agency reports damage in seven local government areas after prolonged heavy rain and is telling riverside communities to move.
Nigeria and Egypt have condemned the Houthi strike on Saudi Arabia's main airport. The Egyptian victim was a 28-year-old flight attendant.
The agency kept the rating at B but says reforms to the naira and interest rates are working, and that reserves have reached $54.9 billion.
The Securities and Exchange Commission says the online investment platform is not registered and that anyone who uses it does so at their own risk.
The state says it will go from under 1,000MW to more than 3,000MW, using smart meters, private plants and its new powers to regulate electricity.
Isa Pantami in Gombe and Ladi Adebutu in Ogun are missing from the final list for February's elections. INEC has given no reasons.
The Eli Adewole Foundation pairs education and business grants with mentorship and skills training. Its argument is that money alone rarely gets a young person from potential to progress.
Two Super Falcons, two moves: the veteran defender signs for Como after leaving Pachuca, and the forward is traded from Washington Spirit.
On Pan African Half Hour, Jay Adewole argues that the country's problem was never a shortage of talent or resources. It is the absence of systems that outlast the people in charge.
The Naija Concierge matches clients with vetted drivers, errand runners and inspectors it calls Gigsters, and pays them through the app. It is betting that trust is the thing Lagos logistics has been missing.
Proptiva Africa gives property owners abroad a team on the ground in Lagos, Abuja and Accra, and a portal where every update is photographed and time-stamped.
A media researcher argues that the country's institutions were built for a slower kind of lie, and that they must be ready before the campaign, not after the first crisis.
A presidential skills programme has graduated its first 700 young people in Oyo State, with laptops, sewing machines and make-up kits to start work.
Galatasaray say they are protecting the Nigerian striker after injury. He had six goals in four games before he was hurt.
Karl Von Batten alleges defamation and a plot to harm him. A lobbying firm also named in the Washington suit calls the claims absurd.
The former Kaduna governor has been held since February. Judges said he showed no new facts to justify bail. His trial is due to begin on Monday.
Twenty young Nigerians on their way to national service were abducted on 1 October and released a week later. Parents say they paid. The police say they know of no payment.
Rosemary Adukwu was seized near the Enugu-Anambra border. Her family says the kidnappers did not contact them for almost a week.
Nigeria were held for 45 minutes by a Comoros side that scored 30 goals in the previous round. The second leg is on Tuesday.
Kayefi's Tales & Tunes brought music, fashion, dance and food together, with the producer ID Cabasa directing the music.
More than 3,000 people are on death row in Nigeria, which will reach ten years without an execution in December.
Sending $200 through a traditional service costs about $17. Stablecoin services charge between 0.5% and 2%, and Nigeria now accounts for most of sub-Saharan Africa's inflows.
The ACReSAL programme, which restores degraded land in the semi-arid north, counts 4.4 million direct beneficiaries. Supporters want additional financing to extend it.
Nigeria host both legs in Ikenne, starting on Friday evening, without Asisat Oshoala and four other regulars. Only two African teams will reach the 2028 Olympics.
The presidency says NNPC stations will give up their retail margin as crude passes $100 a barrel. It insists this is not the return of the subsidy.
Bolaji Alonge's photographs of the New Afrika Shrine sit beside Lemi Ghariokwu's original artwork on a limited vinyl release of 1,000 copies.
At this year's memorial, the traditional ruler of Asaba said his people are ready to forgive but want a sitting Nigerian president to say sorry for the killing of more than 1,000 civilians in 1967.
Officers found the animals caged and hidden in sacks at a waterside in Abeokuta. The suspects fled, and the pangolins have gone to a conservation group for release.
Taiwo Oyedele warns that a return to the subsidy could push the naira towards ₦3,000 to the dollar. The government says it will offer targeted relief instead.
The aircraft came down in mangrove swamp near Igbokoda in Ondo State. The flight recorders have not been found and President Tinubu has declared three days of mourning.
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