Author: Vardiafrica

The Federal Government on Tuesday announced fresh incentives to boost agricultural investment under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. This is part of ongoing reforms to unlock Nigeria’s vast food production potential through new policies that serve as a game-changer for agriculture and infrastructure investments in the country. Vice President Kashim Shettima who made this public in Abuja during the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) National and Subregional Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum stressed that while hunger poses a global security issue, Nigeria must mobilise its strengths to secure a future of abundance. According to him: “Nothing unifies…

Goodluck Jonathan Foundation (GJF) will host its 2025 Democracy Dialogue in Accra, Ghana, on September 17, bringing together prominent African leaders and global development experts to discuss the state of democracy in the region. According to a statement from Ikechukwu Eze, Special Adviser to former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, attendees will include Ghanaian President John Mahama, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and other notable figures such as Kadré Ouédraogo, former Prime Minister of Burkina Faso and ex-President of the ECOWAS Commission, as well as the current ECOWAS Commission President, Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, and Most Rev. Matthew Kukah, Catholic Bishop of…

The Department of State Services (DSS) has filed a five-count charge at the Federal High Court, Abuja, against the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore. It listed X Corp and Meta Inc. (Facebook) as defendants. A Director of Public Prosecutions at the Federal Ministry of Justice, Muhammed Abubakar, as well as other lawyers for the DSS, filed the charges on behalf of the agency and the Nigerian government. The DSS had on September 8, handed Sowore a one-week ultimatum to delete what it described as a ‘false, malicious, and inciting’ social media post about President Bola…

A five-day training programme for 50 young facility engineers, organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in conjunction with Ijalla Engineering Services Limited, reached the concluding phase on Thursday in Port Harcourt with special focus on project cost management in oil and gas, and maintenance records and documentation. The engineers, shortlisted from the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content (NOGIC) Joint Qualification System (JQS) Portal of the NCDMB, were introduced to costing for a structured Field Development Plan (FDP) Programme over four phases (2026-2029), centring on activities such as well intervention, drilling campaigns, flowline installations, surface facility…

Donald Trump will get the red carpet treatment this week on an unprecedented second United Kingdom state visit, as Britain counts on royal pomp and circumstance to woo the unpredictable United States president. From a flyby and carriage ride with King Charles III to a grand state banquet at historic Windsor Castle, Britain is pulling out all the stops to flatter Trump, who has long been fascinated with the monarchy. The aim is to keep Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Trump’s good side when they meet at the British leader’s country residence for talks centred on trade, tariffs and the…

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board has been named Government Partner of the Year by the Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria at its 4th Annual Human Capital Development Awards 2025 in Lagos. The award was received at an event on Friday by Executive Secretary, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe.  In his acceptance speech at the event themed ‘Indigenous Excellence and Human Capital: Partners for the Future of Energy’, Ogbe described the recognition as a tribute to the Board’s partners, stakeholders and Nigerians who share the vision that human capital is the most valuable resource for industrial growth. “This honour is not just a recognition of NCDMB…

Nigerian celebrity chef Hilda Baci has secured yet another historic milestone as Guinness World Records, GWR, has officially recognised her for preparing the largest serving of Nigerian-style jollof rice. In a post shared on its official X account, Guinness World Records announced: “New record: Largest serving of Nigerian-style jollof rice – 8,780 kg (19,356 lb 9 oz) achieved by Hilda Baci and Gino in Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.” They wrote. The achievement came after a grand culinary spectacle held on September 12, 2025, at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos. The event, tagged the ‘Gino World Jollof Festival’…

If unpredictability were an official event in athletics, the women’s 100m hurdles would embody it perfectly. The event is stacked with talent and depth, leaving no clear favorite — and the final lived up to its billing as one of the marquee contests of the Tokyo 2025 World Championships. For Tobi Amusan, this edition carried a sense of unfinished business. She had narrowly missed the final at the Paris Olympics despite being among the title favorites, and four years earlier in Tokyo, she agonizingly placed fourth. This time, she was determined not to let history repeat itself. The World Record…

The Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, has fixed September 15, 2025, to rule on an application by a former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, seeking a forensic examination of some WhatsApp messages admitted in evidence in his ongoing trial for an alleged $4.5 billion and ₦2.8 billion fraud. Justice Rahman Oshodi fixed the date after listening to arguments from Emefiele’s counsel, Olalekan Ojo (SAN), challenging the authenticity of the digital messages presented by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against him. Through the lawyer, the former CBN boss told the court that he would…

President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum to NATO allies in a letter Saturday, saying the US will issue “major” sanctions on Russia only when they agree to do the same and stop buying oil from Russia. Meeting Trump’s demands would mark a major shift among the alliance, and there are major questions as to whether there would be collective interest in taking these steps. “I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA,” he said in a…