Author: Vardiafrica

One hundred young graduates of diverse academic disciplines on Thursday began a Graduate Internship Programme jointly sponsored by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Renaissance Africa Energy Company (RAEC) Limited, and the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) as part of a collaborative initiative to provide youths with critical skills, exposure and practical knowledge of the work environment in the oil and gas industry.  Under the initiative tagged 2025/2027 NCDMB/PETAN/Renaissance Graduate Internship Programme, the graduates drawn from engineering, geology, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and the natural sciences, among others, are to be deployed to PETAN member companies in the oil and gas sector for structured,…

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan won a landslide election victory. Official results showed Saturday, after key candidates were jailed or barred from a vote, which triggered days of violent protests. The final result showed Hassan won 97.66 percent of the vote, dominating every constituency, the electoral commission announced on state television. A quick swearing-in ceremony would take place on Saturday, state TV said. The main opposition party, Chadema, says hundreds of people have been killed by security forces since protests broke out on election day on Wednesday. Hassan was elevated from vice-president on the sudden death of her predecessor, John…

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has commenced an indefinite nationwide strike effective 12am today Saturday, November 1, 2025. The strike, which is expected to paralyze activities in government-owned hospitals across the country, followed the federal government’s alleged failure to meet a 19-point list of demands described by the association as its “minimum expectations.” At a press conference held in Abuja, NARD President, Dr. Muhammad Suleiman, said the decision was reached after a five-hour emergency meeting of the association’s National Executive Council (NEC) last week. He said the association had exercised restraint and patience despite repeated government’s inaction on…

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday maintained its decision to proceed with its forthcoming national convention scheduled for November 15 and 16, 2025, in Ibadan, Oyo State, despite a ruling by a Federal High Court in Abuja under trial justice James Omotosho, that torpedoed the process and restrained the party from convening the exercise. While the National Publicity Secretary of the Party, Debo Ologunagba said the order does not vitiate their planned convention as it did not stop them from activities towards it, Chieftain and Deputy National Vice Chairman of the Party, Chief Olabode George dismissed the order as “joke…

US President Donald Trump has redesignated Nigeria as a ‘country of particular concern’ in response to allegations of a Christian genocide in the country. Trump announced his decision in a Truth Social post on Friday. “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed,” Trump said. He blamed radical Islamists for the “mass slaughter”. “I am hereby making Nigeria a ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN’,” he declared. Trump said when Christians are slaughtered like is happening in Nigeria (3,100 versus 4,476 worldwide), something must be done. The US president did not mention where he cited the…

The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has filed a fresh motion before the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking the dismissal of all charges against him and his immediate release. In the motion dated October 30, 2025, and titled “Motion on Notice and Written Address in Support,” Kanu argued that there is no valid charge against him under any existing law in Nigeria. He said the charges currently before the court are “a nullity ab initio for want of any extant legal foundation.” The IPOB leader, who is representing himself, filed the motion…

A federal high court in Abuja has stopped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from going ahead with its planned national convention slated for November 15 and 16 in Ibadan, Oyo state. In a judgment delivered on Friday, James Omotosho, the presiding judge, said evidence before the court showed that the party failed to hold valid state congresses before the planned national convention as stipulated in the 1999 constitution, guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as well as its own constitution. He said notices and official correspondence signed by the PDP national chairman without the national secretary’s co-signature were “invalid”…

The Federal Government has intensified efforts to implement the National Single Window at Nigeria’s ports by 2026. Vice President Kashim Shettima said the initiative aims to harmonise port documentation, reduce human contact, and enhance transparency in cargo clearance. He described the plan as a “game changer” for port operations. Speaking at the second meeting of the Ports and Customs Efficiency Committee at the Presidential Villa, Shettima said the policy targets a major reduction in cargo clearance time. “By the end of 2026, we aim to reduce average cargo clearance time in Nigeria to under seven days,” he said. According to…

The lawmaker representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has invited Senate President Godswill Akpabio to attend a project commissioning in her constituency. Akpabio read the the invitation letter, which was also extended to other senators, during plenary on Thursday. The event is scheduled for Sunday in Ihima, Kogi State, to mark Natasha’s second year in the Senate. “In marking my second-year anniversary as serving Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I wish to invite fellow Distinguished Senators to join me for projects commissioning in Kogi State,” the letter read. The letter specifies Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s residence at Plot 101,…

King Charles III has formally stripped Prince Andrew, his younger brother, of his “prince” title and ordered him to vacate his Windsor residence. The decision comes amid renewed scrutiny of Andrew’s links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In a statement on Thursday, Buckingham Palace said the King “has today initiated a formal process to remove the style, titles and honours of Prince Andrew”. The statement added that the 65-year-old royal “will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor”. The palace also confirmed that “formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease” on Royal Lodge, Andrew’s Windsor mansion, which…