Author: Alade Adisa

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Olayemi Cardoso, has declared that the buying and selling of Naira notes is an offence, hence anyone caught engaging in the act risks being prosecuted. Irked by the trend, which he said had become widespread in the country, the apex bank supremo vowec to make it become a thing of the past. Cardoso spoke in a keynote address at the inaugural Stakeholders’ Conference of the Committee of Heads of Banks Operations (CHBO) in Lagos, with the theme “Commoditization of Naira: The Way Forward.” Represented by the Senior Special Adviser to the…

US president says Ross Ulbricht was victim of ‘weaponisation of government’ Donald Trump has pardoned Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for masterminding an online marketplace for illegal drugs and hacking services. “The scum that worked to convict him [Ulbricht] were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponisation of government against me,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social late on Tuesday. During Ulbricht’s trial, US prosecutors said he had built the anonymous marketplace, known as Silk Road, to exploit the anonymity of the dark web and digital…

Even the anti-Donald Trump graffiti on the streets of West Hollywood is scarce and halfhearted now. Eight years ago, California was the “resistance” state. It is a different mood that a visitor encounters in 2025: resignation, boredom with the subject, a we-had-it-coming attitude among thoughtful Democrats and, at times, something approaching curiosity about the economic potential of America under a deregulating president. A great liberal shrug is going on. It has been happening around the world since Trump clinched his win in November, and it is natural. You can’t be angry all the time. In the autocracies of 20th-century Europe,…

President Donald Trump has ordered that all US government staff working on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) schemes be put on immediate paid administrative leave. In an executive order late on Tuesday, he called for an end to the “dangerous, demeaning and immoral” programmes. The White House confirmed that all federal DEI staff had to be put on leave by 17:00 EST (22:00 GMT) on Wednesday, before the offices and programmes in question were shut down. Since re-taking office on Monday, Trump has acted swiftly on a number of key pledges through a raft of unilateral actions. He repeatedly attacked…

Restarting oil production in Ogoniland topped the agenda of the meeting between President Bola Tinubu and critical stakeholders in Rivers State, led by Governor Siminalayi Fubara; and the president and governor were quick to identify the entrenchment of peace in the oil-rich community as a catalyst for its clean-up and development. Most importantly, the President launched a passionate appeal to the Ogoni leaders to set aside their age-long differences and grievances, and join hands with the government to achieve the set goal in Ogoniland. The Rivers delegation comprised Senators Lee Maeba, Magnus Abe, Bennett Birabi, Barry Mpigi, Joe Poroma and…

Immigration authorities can now enter schools, healthcare facilities and places of worship to conduct arrests, according to a new policy from the Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, announced the change in a statement, emphasizing the importance of eliminating spaces where individuals could evade arrest. Churches and schools are previously classified ”off-limit” for enforcement. The policy change ends more than a decade of restrictions that protected these “sensitive areas.” “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,”…

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has called on the Federal Government to sack the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, over the repeated collapse of the national power grid. The NLC, in a statement by its President, Joe Ajaero, late Tuesday night expressed deep concern over the worsening state of Nigeria’s electricity sector, which it described as being on the brink of total collapse. According to Ajaero, “If the Ministry of Power is manned by competent officials, the now embarrassing constant grid collapse would have been averted instead of the worrying statement by the Minister that this will continue as if…

Twenty-two Democratic-led states and civil rights groups filed several lawsuits challenging US President Donald Trump’s bid to roll back birthright citizenship on Tuesday in an early bid by his opponents to block his agenda in court. After his inauguration on Monday, Trump, a Republican, ordered U.S. agencies to refuse to recognise the citizenship of children born in the U.S. if neither their mother nor father is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident. Consequently, 22 Democratic-led states along with the District of Columbia and the city of San Francisco filed a pair of lawsuits in federal courts in Boston and…

In compliance with the national minimum wage agreement between labour unions and the federal government last year, Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State has approved the payment of a new minimum wage of N80,000 to civil servants in the state, effective from November 2024. This development was announced on Tuesday in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Ekerete Udoh. According to the statement, the decision followed the submission of the Minimum Wage/Personnel Verification Report by the Head of Service, Mr. Effiong Essien, to the governor on Monday. The new wage will be paid to…

Following the approval of a 50% telecom tariff hike by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), telecommunication companies (telcos) in the country have introduced revised data prices. NEW DAILY PRIME reported that the NCC announced the tariff hike on Monday, enabling operators to adjust their pricing structures accordingly. Consequently, major telecom providers such as MTN, Glo, Airtel, and 9mobile have released updated rates. For MTN, the price for 25GB of data now stands at ₦9,750, up from the previous ₦6,500. Similarly, 10GB, 5GB, and 1GB now cost ₦5,250, ₦2,250, and ₦525, respectively, compared to their earlier prices of ₦3,500, ₦1,500, and…