Author: Vardiafrica

The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has presented award letters to 600 successful candidates for its 2025/2026 Local Post Graduate Scholarship Programme Presenting the scholarship letters to the successful candidates during the award ceremony in Port Harcourt, the NDDC Managing Director, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, stated that the scholarship programme was an initiative designed to enhance human capital development in the Niger Delta region. Ogbuku, who was supported by the Executive Director of Corporate Services, Hon. Ifedayo Abegunde; the Representative of Bayelsa State on the NDDC Board, Senator Dimaro Denyanbofa , and other Directors of the Commission, urged the awardees to be…

Determined to equip young Nigerians with advanced digital and data analytics skills needed to excel in the oil and gas industry, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has officially launched its Digitisation Initiative, a flagship capacity development programme that would impact the oil and gas industry significantly. The South-West leg of the event was held on Tuesday in Victoria Island, Lagos and it marks a significant milestone in NCDMB’s sustained efforts to promote digital transformation, local content growth, and youth empowerment through strategic partnerships. The initiative is sponsored by Seplat Energy Plc, in collaboration with NCDMB’s Human Capacity…

President Bola Tinubu has approved a presidential prerogative of mercy for Nigeria’s foremost nationalist, Herbert Macaulay, and 174 other individuals across different categories. The announcement followed a presentation by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), who submitted the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy during the National Council of State meeting held on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Macaulay, widely regarded as the “father of Nigerian nationalism,” was twice convicted by colonial authorities in Lagos. In 1913, while practising as a private surveyor, he was accused of misappropriating funds…

The National Council of State has approved the nomination of Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN) from the North-Central as the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). President Bola Ahmed Tinubu presented Amupitan as the nominee to fill the vacant position, following Professor Mahmood Yakubu’s exit. Yakubu served from 2015 till October 2025. President Tinubu told the council that Amupitan is the first person from Kogi, North-Central state, nominated to occupy the position and is apolitical. Council members unanimously supported the nomination, with Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo describing Amupitan as a man of integrity. In compliance with the…

Children will be able to choose their own gender at any age under controversial new EU proposals. The proposals, which are laid out in the European Commission’s new ‘LGBTIQ+ equality strategy 2026-2030’, have been condemned for ‘silencing women’. Therapy to check whether children are certain they want to change their gender and age limits on gender recognition could be discarded in the new plans. EU member states that challenge gender ideology could be punished, with ‘discriminating regions’ that do not comply with ‘values’ seeing funding blocked. The document, published on Wednesday, declares it will ‘support the development of legal gender recognition procedures based on self-determination that…

The Presidency has challenged the latest economic report from the World Bank, which estimated that 139 million Nigerians live in poverty. The government described the figure as “unrealistic” and disconnected from the country’s actual economic conditions. President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, stated on his official X account on Thursday that the poverty statistics need to be “properly contextualised” within the framework of global poverty measurement models. “While Nigeria values its partnership with the World Bank and appreciates its contributions to policy analysis, the figure quoted must be properly contextualised. It is unrealistic,” Dare…

The University of Ibadan (UI), Oyo State, has been named Nigeria’s best university in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking 2026. The latest ranking, released on THE’s official website on Thursday, also placed the federal university between 801 and 1,000 globally, ahead of other top Nigerian institutions — reclaiming a position it last held in 2023. According to THE, the ranking assessed 2,191 institutions across 115 countries, using 18 performance indicators that measure excellence in five key areas — teaching, research environment, research quality, industry, and international outlook. UI move up from fourth place in 2025 to become…

Former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, has denied that his resignation from office was prompted by guilt, insisting that his decision to step down was made to protect his integrity and the reputation of the government. Nnaji resigned on Tuesday, October 7, following mounting controversy over the authenticity of his academic certificates after a PREMIUM TIMES investigation revealed discrepancies in his claimed educational background. According to the report, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) officially disowned the Bachelor of Science degree certificate in Nnaji’s possession. The university’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Simon U. Ortuanya, confirmed that although Nnaji was…

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has submitted responses to all 19 queries raised by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts over discrepancies amounting to N210 trillion in its audited financial statements. The chairman of the committee, Senator Aliyu Wadada, disclosed this on Tuesday, saying the committee had received the company’s written replies and would soon present them for consideration. “I can confirm that NNPCL has answered all 19 questions we asked. What remains now is to lay the responses before the committee for deliberation,” Wadada said. The lawmaker, however, declined to disclose the content of the responses,…

Cristiano Ronaldo has become football’s first billionaire player, according to financial information and media firm Bloomberg. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index,, external which tracks the world’s richest people based on their net worth, has measured the 40-year-old Portugal and Al-Nassr striker’s wealth for the first time. The valuation takes into account career earnings, investments and endorsements and says Ronaldo’s net worth is $1.4bn (£1.04bn). It says he earned more than $550m (£410m) in salary between 2002 and 2023, and breaks down his reported earnings through deals and sponsorship, including a decade-long deal with Nike worth almost $18m (£13.4m) a year. When Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr…