The Dangote IPO: When Africa’s Biggest Refinery Opened Its Doors to the Public
Recently, Dangote Refinery has stood as one of the most ambitious industrial projects ever undertaken…
The Dangote IPO: When Africa’s Biggest Refinery Opened Its Doors to the Public
Recently, Dangote Refinery has stood as one of the most ambitious industrial projects ever undertaken in Africa, requiring enormous capital and a level of private-sector commitment rarely seen on the continent, from its 2013 announcement through more than a decade of construction to its 2024 startup. Now it’s entering a different phase entirely. On September…
Why Currency Stability Fails at the Kitchen Table
Official statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics and the Central Bank of Nigeria present an apparent monetary achievement. Foreign exchange volatility has receded, the naira has found relative equilibrium against major trading currencies, and core inflation measures have shed several percentage points from their previous peaks. Yet across the retail markets of Dawanau in…
Retail Investors and the Reality of Dangote Refinery’s Public Listing
Nigeria’s capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, has cleared the procedural pathway for the Dangote Petroleum Refinery to offer 4.1 billion ordinary shares at N525 each. The transaction, expected to yield gross proceeds exceeding N2.1 trillion on the Nigerian Exchange, marks the largest equity flotation in African capital market history. Order books…
The ‘Hot Pot’ Heist: How Night Thieves and Billion-Dollar Museums Plundered the Ancient World
When a New York museum paid a fortune for an ancient vase, it exposed a global underground network of night thieves, elite smugglers, and prestige institutions profiting from stolen history. Late one morning in the mid-1970s, near the ancient Italian town of Cerveteri, a television crew stepped over freshly churned earth to inspect a hole…
Jehovah’s Witnesses Ease Stance on Blood Products
The leadership of Jehovah’s Witnesses announced on Friday, 18 September 2026, that members may now receive treatments derived from donated blood, softening a doctrinal ban that has shaped the denomination’s identity for eight decades. Under the revised guidance issued by the faith’s Governing Body in New York, the movement’s 9.2 million adherents worldwide can accept…
Philanthropic Repatriation and the Vacuum in Citizen Diplomacy
A coalition of prominent Christian denominations, Islamic relief charities, and private philanthropic foundations across Nigeria raised hundreds of millions of naira to charter commercial flights and secure exit visas for hundreds of undocumented and destitute Nigerian migrants stranded across transit corridors in North Africa and the Middle East. Spurred by renewed waves of xenophobic intimidation,…
Police Rescue Nine Kidnap Victims Across Nigeria
The Nigeria Police Force freed nine kidnap victims and arrested several criminal suspects during a coordinated 24-hour sweep across multiple states on Friday, 18 September. The quick-response operations targeted violent gangs across rural transit routes, farming communities, and regional hubs. Operatives seized illicit firearms, ammunition, and dangerous weapons while storming remote camps to retrieve captive…
Jonathan Urges Unified Civil Service Pay Structure
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has urged the harmonisation of salary scales and grade structures across Nigeria’s federal and state civil services. Speaking in Yenagoa on Friday, 18 September, during a foundation-laying ceremony for retired permanent secretaries, he argued that identical public duties deserve equal financial reward. He maintained that state workers match their federal peers…
Troops Free 66 Hostages Across Troubled States
The Armed Forces of Nigeria rescued 66 kidnap victims, killed scores of insurgents, and arrested dozens of suspected collaborators between 11 and 17 September 2026. Major General Michael Onoja, Director of Defence Media Operations, released the operational summary in Abuja on Friday. The nationwide push spanned five geopolitical zones, targeting forest redoubts and rural highways….
First Niger Bridge and National Maintenance Deficits
Federal authorities have ordered the closure of the First Niger Bridge for two weeks, cutting off the historic primary link between Asaba and Onitsha. The Federal Ministry of Works cited severe carriageway degradation and extensive structural vandalism, most acutely the stripping of stanchion bolts, steel truss components, and expansion joint fixtures by scrap scavengers, as…