The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has stepped up efforts to strengthen emergency healthcare across the region with the deployment of 30 fully equipped ambulances to improve the speed and quality of medical response to life-threatening emergencies. The ambulances were formally handed over on Friday, August 14, 2026, in Lomé, Togo, under an initiative being implemented by the ECOWAS Commission, in collaboration with the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). The intervention is aimed at addressing one of the region’s most persistent healthcare challenges: delays in transporting patients from the…
Author: Abimbola Ogunaike
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The Philippines has challenged Nigeria to move beyond policy declarations on gender equality and strengthen its laws, institutions and accountability mechanisms to ensure that women’s inclusion becomes an enforceable reality across government. Philippine Ambassador to Nigeria, Mersole Mellejor, made the call in Abuja during a high-level dialogue organised under the Female Legislative Mentorship Initiative on Parliamentary Affairs and Diplomacy at the Philippine Embassy. The envoy’s intervention centred on a key lesson from the Philippine experience: gender mainstreaming must be backed by institutional sanctions and financial consequences if government agencies fail to implement it. Mellejor explained that the Philippines had developed…
The United States has launched a fresh drive to deepen agricultural trade and investment with Nigeria, deploying American expertise, technology and private-sector partnerships to unlock opportunities in the country’s livestock industry. The initiative, unveiled under the Freedom 250 programme of the U.S. Mission to Nigeria, signals a renewed push by Washington to expand two-way commercial relations with Africa’s largest economy, with livestock development emerging as a major area for cooperation. The programme brought American livestock development expert, Dr. Gregg BeVier, to Nigeria from August 10 to 13 for a series of engagements with Nigerian policymakers, agribusiness leaders, young entrepreneurs and…
Nigeria risks squandering a potentially transformative opening in the Chinese market unless it urgently fixes its production, processing and export capacity, stakeholders warned on Friday as China’s new zero-tariff regime opened a fresh $18 billion trade window between both countries. The warning came against the backdrop of China’s decision to remove tariffs on imports from African countries with diplomatic relations with Beijing, a move that Nigerian officials and trade experts said could dramatically expand the country’s access to one of the world’s largest consumer markets. Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Yu Dunhai, disclosed in Abuja that bilateral trade between Nigeria and…
The Senior Technical Assistant to Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, on Print and Digital Communications, Abdurrahman Bundi, has emerged winner of the Digital Communication category at the 2026 National Spokespersons Awards, joining 14 other individuals and institutions honoured for excellence in public communication. Bundi received the award at the sixth edition of the National Spokespersons Awards, held alongside the fourth Economic Confidential Lecture at the Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja, on Wednesday, 12 August, 2026. The recognition places the Borno governor’s communications aide among a select group of professionals and institutions acknowledged for demonstrating impact, innovation and effective engagement in an…
The Federal Government is set to launch a major electric mobility programme in the North-East, with an assembly plant in Maiduguri, Borno State, preparing to roll out 10,000 electric vehicles and tricycles in an initiative projected to generate employment for up to 100,000 people during the assembly process. The Minister for Regional Development, Abubakar Momoh, disclosed this on Wednesday, 12 August, 2026,after inspecting the electric vehicle assembly facility being managed by the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) ahead of its planned inauguration by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Momoh said the project had moved substantially beyond the planning stage, with nearly all…
China has announced a RMB 200 million grant to Nigeria to support the implementation of development projects agreed upon by the two governments, in a fresh demonstration of Beijing’s expanding economic partnership with Abuja. The announcement was made on Thursday by the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, H.E. Yu Dunhai, during a meeting with the Permanent Secretary of Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Dunoma Umar Ahmed, in Abuja. Yu said the grant was part of China’s continuing support for Nigeria’s national development and economic growth, stressing that the assistance would be deployed to projects jointly agreed by the two governments.…
Nearly 3,000 people in Badagry Local Government Area of Lagos State benefitted from the latest edition of the Vision First initiative of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo) which held there last week. Some 38 patients had surgeries which restored their sights on the first day alone. The beneficiaries thanked NNPC/SNEPCo for the treatment, saying the restoration of their sights would help reintegrate them into society. A total of 2,297 people were seen by the medical team of which 1,458 had eye care services with 154 surgeries for cataract and…
By Segun Adewale in Bauchi Nigeria’s emerging opposition party, Allied People’s Movement (APM), on Thursday, 13 August, 2026, held its National Elective Convention in Bauchi where Twenty-seven new members of the National Working Committee (NWC), led by Yusuf Mamman Dantalle were elected, vowing to refix and reset Nigeria in 2027. The National Convention was held at the Rilwanu Adamu Square, Government House, Bauchi, attracting delegates from the 36 States and FCT. Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, was formally inaugurated as the National Leader of the Allied People’s Movement (APM). In his post election speech, the reelected National Chairman…
The report of the shooting of the former Chairman of the Osun State chapter of ALGON Chairman, Hon. Abiodun Awotunde, has been confirmed not to be true after all, reports thegazellenews.com. Investigation conducted by thegazellenews.com revealed that it was a verbal confrontation with a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) which led to a physical combat in which the ex-ALGON Chairman was allegedly the aggressor. Thegazellenews.com gathered that Awotunde was said to have first attacked the APC member. Eyewitnesses told our reporter that the ensuing physical combat led to the APC member overpowering the former ALGON Chairman. The injury…