By Mark Gleeson Luca Zidane, son of France’s World Cup-winning playmaker Zinedine, has switched international allegiance to Algeria, putting the goalkeeper in line to follow in his father’s footsteps and play at the World Cup. Zidane’s switch of allegiance after playing for France at junior level was approved by soccer’s world governing body FIFA on Friday, 19 September, 2025, and posted on their Change of Association Platform. Zidane plays for Spanish second division outfit Granada and his switch of allegiance is an indication the Algerians are seeking to add more options to their goalkeeping department. Algeria has used four keepers…
Author: Soffiyyah Olamide
The Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Dr Dennis Otuaro, has expressed deep appreciation to President Bola Tinubu for strongly supporting the agency’s recent deployment of its foreign post-graduate scholarship beneficiaries. Otuaro said the PAP had, as at the last count, sent 161 post-graduate scholarship beneficiaries to universities in the U.K. for the 2025/2026 academic year. He also expressed gratitude to the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, for his invaluable input and guidance in the exercise. He attributed the huge number of beneficiaries so far deployed abroad for studies in various industry-relevant programmes to the backing and generosity of…
Zenith Bank Plc is set to pay its founder and chairman, Jim Ovia, about N7 billion in interim dividend for the first half of 2025, following the lender’s strong financial performance. Ovia directly holds 4.14 billion shares in the bank, entitling him to the interim dividend of N1.25 per share, a 25% increase from the N1.00 per share paid in the same period last year. Ovia also has an indirect shareholding of 1.65 billion units of the bank, which, if added, would further raise his total dividend entitlement to N7 billion. The bank’s performance Zenith Bank posted a profit before…
The Maiduguri Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, arraigned one Ali Mohammed before Justice Mohammed Maina of the Borno State High Court, Maiduguri. The defendant was arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on obtaining by false pretence and criminal misappropriation to the tune of N9 million. Count one of the charges reads: That you, Ali Mohammed on or about September, 2022 in Maiduguri, Borno State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud obtained the sum of N9,000,000.00 (Nine Million Naira) from Nuhu Alfa which you receive through…
Oyebanji has expended a total of ₦14,293,424,499 on education under the World Bank-supported Adolescent Girls’ Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project to significantly improve infrastructure, digital access, student welfare, and learning outcomes in all the 203 public secondary schools across Ekiti State.The Special Adviser to the Governor on Information, Rt. Hon. Taiwo Olatunbosun, who made this known in Ado Ekiti, said the target is to boost secondary education opportunities by creating a sustainable, conducive, safe, and technologically equipped learning environment.Rt. Hon. Olatunbosun added that the investments are also intended to increase school enrollment, security, and support indigent students in…
Following the announcement by the Lagos State Sports Commission on the commencement of a registration exercise for a new Senior Team Lagos athletes, a step that was necessitated by the dissolution of the old team, aspiring young athletes trooped to Teslim Balogun Stadium to pick their registration forms. The athletes enlistment exercise, unveiled last week at a press conference jointly chaired by the Director General, Lagos State Sports Commission, Mr. Lekan Fatodu; and the state Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Mr. Mobolaji Ogunlende, is an effort aimed at injecting fresh energy into the state’s athletes pool. To broaden access…
The Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Monday, September 22, 2025, secured the conviction and sentence of a former legislative aide and banker, Mr. Goni Yilkan, for offences bordering on obtaining by false pretence to the tune of N120.5 million before Justice F. E Messiri of the Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Jabi, Abuja. Yilkan, who hails from Nguru, Yobe State, was found guilty on a two-count charge of obtaining money by false pretence, contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006, and punishable under Section 1(3) of…
Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc has released its Audited Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements for the period ended June 30, 2025, to the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) and London Stock Exchange (LSE). The Group recorded profit before tax of ₦600.9billion on the back of strong performance on core earning lines of interest income and fee income, which grew y-o-y by 31.5% and 33.0%, respectively. The strong core-earning performance doused the impact of the ₦493.01bn fair value gains recognised in H1-2024 which did not recur in H1-2025, thereby narrowing y-o-y dip in PBT to 40%. The Group recorded growth across all its…
Residents of Royal Gardens Estate in Ajah, Lagos, have declared themselves victims of injustice, urging the Lagos State House of Assembly to intervene in their prolonged crisis with developer, Trojan Estate, over electricity supply and service charges. Appearing before the House Committee on Housing, chaired by Mr. Segun Ege, the Chairman of the Royal Gardens Estate Residents Association (RGERA), Mr. Anthony Ogbebor, said the community had endured unfair practices for more than a decade, which worsened in the last 18 months. According to him, the most pressing issue is the controversial bulk-metering system introduced after the estate’s communal generator failed…
The story of Nigeria’s economy, once told in the language of imports, queues, and ballooning debt, is beginning to change. At the heart of this shift, according to Asiwaju Olayinka Fasuyi, lies President Bola Tinubu’s insistence that the country must produce what it consumes. Also in Ibadan, he spoke on Fasuyi, a management consultant, business school as founder and community leader, who wove together a narrative that blended praise with a challenge. “When a country borrows to finance consumption, it mortgages its future,” he said. “But when borrowing is channelled into production and infrastructure, the nation prospers.”He spoke against the…