The Super Eagles suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat to Guinea-Bissau in their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Estádio 24 de Setembro in Bissau on Monday.
Franculino opened scoring in the 15th minute after a setup from Ronaldo Nhaga to give the hosts a 1-0 lead at halftime, despite Nigeria dominating possession with 56% and recording 12 shots, 7 on target.
Coach Éric Chelle made a double change at the start of the second half, bringing on Moses Simon and Mathias Usor for Taiwo Awoniyi and Frank Onyeka in search of an equaliser.
But it was Guinea-Bissau who doubled their lead in the 66th minute through Mama Balde from Mauro Rodrigues’ assist.
Chelle threw on Tolu Arokodare, Gift Orban and Raphael Onyedika to rescue the game, and Guinea-Bissau were reduced to 10 men in the 88th minute when Alfa Semedo was sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Nigeria failed to capitalize on the numerical advantage, and Alexandre Djalo sealed the win in the 5th minute of stoppage time off Carlos Mane Tamble’s assist.
The result leaves Nigeria on 3 points from 2 games in Group L, while Guinea-Bissau top the group with 6 points from two wins.
The Super Eagles will next face Russia in a friendly in Novgorod on October 6 as they look to bounce back before the next round of qualifiers.
The Federal Government is set to borrow an additional $1.5 billion from the World Bank as Nigeria’s total public debt climbs to N166.79 trillion.
The three new facilities — $500m each for climate resilience, early childhood development, and social protection — are before the National Assembly for approval.
The World Bank board is expected to consider the loans before end of 2026, with disbursement tied to reforms in fiscal transparency and social safety nets.
Reacting on Monday, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar accused President Bola Tinubu of running a government that demands endless sacrifices from Nigerians while continuously seeking fresh loans.
“President Tinubu must first account for the money already borrowed,” Atiku said in a statement, warning that debt servicing is crowding out health, education and infrastructure.
The Presidency has defended the borrowing, saying the funds are concessional, long-term, and targeted at pro-poor sectors to cushion the impact of subsidy removal and drive growth toward the $1 trillion economy target.
As of Q2 2026, debt servicing already gulps over 60% of federal revenue, according to Debt Management Office (DMO) data.
A US advocacy firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, has called on the Donald Trump administration to publish the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with Nigeria on critical minerals.
The MOU was signed on September 24, 2026 on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York by Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake and US Deputy Secretary of State, Christopher Landau. It covers geological data, exploration, mineral processing, infrastructure and technical capacity.
Von Batten, which works for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, said publishing the full document would dispel allegations of corruption and “pay-to-play” surrounding the deal.
In a post on X, the firm said: “The integrity of the United States is on the line. Democrats are openly signaling plans to investigate the Donald Trump Administration’s critical-minerals deals and the officials involved.”
The firm claimed Democrats in the US House have told it that if they win back the House, they will include any US-Nigeria mining deal and the role of Trump officials for Africa in broader oversight investigations.
The firm also earlier claimed the deal was one of the proposals President Bola Tinubu offered in exchange for a meeting with Trump at the UN, a claim that has not been independently verified. It claimed its intervention led to the planned UN signing with Tinubu being cancelled, with Tinubu staying in France.
Neither the Nigerian Presidency nor the US State Department has issued an official response to the latest demand for disclosure.
The leadership of the United Kingdom Chapter of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) has reaffirmed its commitment to the growth and development of the party.
The reaffirmation came after a high-level meeting with the party’s National Leader, Senator Seriake Dickson, in London.
The NDC-UK Executive Committee paid a courtesy visit to Dickson at the London Park Lane Hilton Hotel on Saturday. The meeting brought together members of the chapter and representatives of the Nigerian community across Great Britain and Ireland.
According to a statement on Sunday by the Publicity Secretary of NDC-UK, Boniokoye Imegwu, the meeting provided an opportunity for Dickson to brief party members and supporters on developments within the party, its progress since formation, and preparations for the forthcoming general election.
Dickson was in London on his return to Nigeria from the Netherlands, where he had inaugurated the NDC Netherlands Chapter.
During the interaction, Dickson expressed confidence in the party’s leadership and presidential ticket. He also urged institutions and officials responsible for conducting elections to uphold integrity, fairness, responsibility and patriotism.
The NDC-UK Country Chairman, Princewill Urum, thanked Dickson for his leadership and reaffirmed the chapter’s commitment to advancing the objectives and programmes of the party.
Also present was the leader of the Coalition for the Protection of Democracy (COPDEM), a Nigerian and global political network, who commended the direction and progress of the NDC and pledged to deploy resources and personnel to support credible elections and democratic participation in Nigeria.
Anambra State Police Commissioner, Nnanna Oji Ama, through the Officer in Charge of Community Policing, ASP Oluchukwu Anaemena, has taken the campaign against cultism, drug abuse and other antisocial behaviors to teenagers/ young people in Abba, Njikoka Local Government Area of the state.
Addressing the teens at Abba Town Hall over the weekend, the law enforcement officer warned that cultism limits freedom and breaks bond of unity among people.
He urged the youngsters to report to trusted adults or security personnel anyone who tries to lure them into cultism, as well as cult-related activities in their areas.
The CP, who promised to revisit the community with more impactful programme, said such engagement has been going on and will continue in various other communities for the purpose of achieving positive behavioral change among young people, and charged the people to aspire to be good representatives of their community.
While urging the youngsters to avoid evil friends that corrupt good attitudes, CP Ama encouraged them to report their parents to the police “if they are covering evil”, and gave out phone number with which to alert the Police.
Obviously inspired by OC Anaemena’s smart look and message delivery, a teenager who identified herself as Chinaza, said; “I’ll be a Police Officer”.
In his remarks, the President, Abba Town Union Youth Wing, Comrade Paschal Iloabuchi Uchelue, urged the youngsters to embrace the life-changing message of the event for their own good and that of the larger society.
The President General of Abba Town Union, Dr. Roy Chinweuba, was on ground to welcome the police team in the community.
Nigeria’s maritime map is set for another major expansion in the South-West, following the signing of agreements for the development of the proposed Gateway Deep Seaport in Ogun State and a 10,000-hectare Blue Marine Special Economic Zone.
The Ogun State Government and global ports and logistics operator, DP World, signed the Memoranda of Understanding in Paris on Thursday, September 24, 2026, in an investment package valued at more than $7 billion. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu witnessed the signing.
The proposed Gateway Deep Seaport, to be located in Ogun Waterside, is planned with a four-kilometre berth and an 18-metre draft, allowing it to accommodate larger vessels. The Presidency says the project is expected to help decongest the Lagos port corridor, ease pressure on Apapa and Tin Can Island ports and reduce logistics costs and delays.
At full development, the two projects are projected to attract more than $7 billion in initial investment and create over 50,000 direct jobs, in addition to indirect employment and opportunities across manufacturing, logistics, maritime services and exports.
President Tinubu described the agreements as part of efforts to expand Nigeria’s productive capacity and strengthen the country’s position as a hub for maritime trade, manufacturing, logistics and exports.
He also assured investors that the Federal Government would provide regulatory and institutional support, as well as facilitate road, rail and power connectivity and remove unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles.
The development is particularly significant because the Lekki Deep Sea Port in Lagos is already operational, while the Ogun project is now being advanced through a major investment agreement with DP World.
The Ogun project is also designed differently from a stand-alone port. It is expected to be integrated with the proposed 10,000-hectare Blue Marine Special Economic Zone, where manufacturing, processing and export-oriented activities are expected to take place.
The Presidency has described the concept in simple economic terms: a port moves cargo, but a port connected to an industrial zone can become part of a wider production and export ecosystem.
However ,this new development has made the South Western part of Nigeria concentrated with Sea Ports- Six in number as listed below:
1.Lagos Port Complex (Apapa) – Apapa, Lagos((Operational)
2.Tin Can Island Port Complex – Apapa, Lagos((Operational)
3.Lekki Deep Sea Port – Lekki, Lagos (Operational)
4. Badagry Deep Sea Port in Lagos(Still being developed)
5. Ondo Deep Sea Port( Still being developed)
6. Ogun Deep Sea Port (Still being developed)
But where is the South-East in Nigeria’s seaport development?
The latest Ogun announcement inevitably raises a regional development question: when will the South-East have a major modern deep-sea port of its own?
The South East particularly at Azumiri/Obuaku in Abia State and Oseakwa/Urashi in Imo State have great economic corridors for development of a viable Seaports . Many have argued that South East is landlocked and therefore a dot in a circle with no coastline . These people promoted the argument that a major seaport would require coastal locations which South East do not have ,therefore , no investor will stake his hard earned money in the development of a landlocked South East Sea port. South East Region is strongly advised to use the nearest sea port at Onne, Rivers State and Calaber Port in Cross Rivers State to serve its large market.
The distinction, therefore, is between having access to ports in the wider eastern region and having a strategically located modern deep-sea port specifically developed around the economic needs of the South-East. An operational Seaport in South East is long overdue as Sea port attracts several opportunities on a large scale.
We should note that transportation costs, road congestion and distance from major ports can influence where industries locate and how competitive goods become in domestic and international markets.
The South-East is one of Nigeria’s major commercial and industrial regions, with strong concentrations of trading, manufacturing, agro-processing and small and medium-sized enterprises.
A modern maritime gateway connected by efficient highways and rail to cities such as Onitsha, Nnewi, Aba, Owerri and Enugu could potentially reduce the logistics burden on businesses importing machinery and raw materials or exporting manufactured and agricultural products.
The question is therefore not simply about constructing another port.
It is about whether Nigeria’s port-development strategy should deliberately create multiple integrated maritime-industrial corridors, rather than concentrating the largest concentration of new investments in the Lagos–Ogun axis.
The Federal Government’s argument for the Ogun project is that Nigeria needs more port capacity, better logistics and stronger connections to the African Continental Free Trade Area. Those objectives are national rather than exclusively regional.
The same logic can be applied to the South-East.
If a new port is economically justified in Ogun because it can support manufacturing, exports, logistics and an industrial zone, policymakers and investors could also examine whether a comparable eastern maritime-industrial corridor would be economically viable.
Such a discussion would need to consider existing ports, proposed projects, cargo volumes, road and rail connectivity, environmental factors, financing, navigation channels and the commercial viability of any proposed location.
The South-East does not merely need political declarations about ports. It needs a concrete, commercially viable maritime strategy, backed by feasibility studies, private investment, federal support and the infrastructure required to connect any eastern maritime gateway to the region’s industrial centres.Thankfully ,Gov Alex Otti has contracted a Chinese Film to conduct a feasibility study on the viability of a Deep Seaport at Azumiri.
As Ogun moves another major seaport proposal forward with a reported $7 billion-plus investment framework, the question for the South-East is increasingly straightforward:
When will the region’s enormous commercial and industrial potential be matched by a modern maritime gateway capable of connecting its businesses directly and efficiently to Nigerian and global markets?
Enugu Air made its first international flight on Wednesday, September 23, 2026.
What happened:
– At exactly 2:48 p.m., the Embraer E170 (76-seater) touched down at Douala International Airport, Cameroon, from Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu. It was received with cheers and a welcome ceremony by Cameroonian authorities, Nigerian community, and aviation officials.
– The flight is now a direct Enugu-Douala corridor. Governor Peter Mbah flagged it off in Enugu, calling it a major step to position Enugu as a hub for investment, business and tourism. He said 14 months after launch, Enugu Air is now one of the fastest-growing airlines in Nigeria.
– First passengers — including traders who normally travel to Lagos first to catch Cameroon flights — said the direct 1-hour flight saves cost and hotel stress. Mrs. Love Chidiogarum and Mr. Ogbonna Jude were rewarded with gifts for joining the inaugural flight.
The airline, which started domestic operations in 2025 connecting Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, Owerri, Asaba, Benin and Warri, says Douala is the first of several planned international routes to connect South-East Nigeria with Central Africa for trade — especially traders from Aba and Onitsha.
The Enugu State Police Command has arrested a building owner after a concrete water reservoir collapsed and killed five members of the same family.
The incident happened at about 5 a.m. on September 18, at Umuike-Aja Village, Nenwenta Community in Awgu Local Government Area.
Police spokesperson, SP Daniel Ndukwe, said the reservoir was attached to an uncompleted building and collapsed onto the adjoining house of a neighbour identified as Raphael Onwu.
Onwu, his wife, his mother and two of his children died in the incident. A 9-year-old boy was rescued alive from the rubble.
According to the police, operatives from Awgu Division, with support from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and community members, rushed to the scene, rescued the child and took him to hospital where he is receiving treatment.
The five deceased family members were recovered and taken to hospital where they were confirmed dead. Their remains have been deposited at the mortuary for preservation and autopsy.
The police identified the arrested building owner as Onyedikachi Nkwo Geoffrey.
The Commissioner of Police, CP Bitrus Giwa, has ordered a thorough investigation into the incident and urged residents and developers to comply with approved construction safety standards.
Geometric Power’s laudation last week of the Abia State government for its efforts to ensure reliable power supply in its utility’s coverage area brings to the fore a critical element in Nigeria’s economic development, public-private partnership (PPP) which has become regrettably a desideratum. While the PPP is officially a development strategy adopted by every government in the country, the reality tells a different story.
With the publication in 2014 of the book entitled Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy, Francis Fukuyama, one of the leading global thinkers, shocked the world by revealing that a Nigerian state governor compelled a soya milk-producing company owned by a German named Robert and his Nigerian wife to shut down for refusing to offer huge bribes to him. Ironically, it was the couple that brought the governor into the picture by reporting the state police commissioner to him for demanding huge bribes from the nascent firm. Also ironical is that it was the couple that brought the police commissioner into the picture by reporting the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) to him for demanding unaffordable bribes from a company yet to find its feet. The DPO was brought into the matter because local government officials where the business was located were involved in repeated extortion. The DPO demanded higher bribes than the local government officials, and the state police commissioner demanded a higher sleaze than the DPO, and the state governor demanded a much higher amount than the state police commissioner. The company folded up.
Remarks Fukuyama on page 218 of the book which is a deep and wide-ranging reflection on political theory development: “Although this might seem like a typical story about developing world corruption, it raises troubling questions. The willingness of Robert and his wife to establish a business should have led to a win-win situation for everyone: for the soyabean farmer, for the consumers of their products, for the 200 employees of Robert’s company, and, indeed, for the public officials who would have seen long-term tax revenues rise and who might have been rewarded at the next election for having encouraged the creation of so many jobs. .. Once Robert left the country, there was no one from whom they could extract a bribe, no one further tax. The potential win-win became a lose-lose”.
Nigerians who followed the privatization of the electric power sector in November 2013, for instance, were not surprised at Fukuyama’s disclosure that top Nigerian public officers deliberately destroy businesses, however critical they may be to the economy or society, for purely private gains. We saw how the country’s leadership brazenly refused to uphold the 2004 agreement, amended in 2005, between Geometric Power and the Federal Government carving out nine of the 17 local government areas in Abia State to form the Aba Ring-fenced Area where Geometric Power would generate electricity and distribute to the area. This was despite the fact that the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) published notices in the media advising prospective investors in the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) that the Aba Ring-fence was not part of the territory up for grabs.
The BPE went a step further by putting in the prospectus for intending investors in the EEDC a documenting warning that the nine LGAS in and around Aba had been separated from the EEDC territory. Still, top government officials ignored all this for purely personal gains. When President Goodluck Jonathan visited Geometric Power on Tuesday, March 24, 2015, while on a reelection campaign in Abia State, he expressed great surprise at the humongous expenditure on the Aba Independent Power Project totaling almost $800m. He pledged to resolve the problem because, in his own words, “this is a man-made problem”. The statement turned out, however, to be a mere political promise. He never corrected the gross injustice.
It is, therefore, gratifying to learn of the lauditory letter by the Geometric Power management to the Abia State government for what the company called its authentic partnership with the government. The statement signed by Edise Ekong, the Brand and Communications manager at Aba Power, the embedded distribution subsidiary of the Geometric Power group, revealed that following a series of outages in the Aba Ring-fence in recent weeks arising from disruptions in the gas supply chain Governor Alex Otti of Abia State, his Commissioner for Power and Public Utilities, Ikechukwu Monday, and the governor’s Special Adviser on Power and Public Utilities, Katchi Etolue, worked round the clock with the Geometric management and staff to resolve the disruptions. The disruptions are now over.
The governor spoke directly and personally to Heirs Energies, which took over the operatorship of Oil Mining Licence (OML) 17 in Owaza in Ukwa West LGA in Abia State from The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) when the President Muhammadu Buhari administration declined to renew the licence for Shell, leading to protracted litigation and drying up of investments in the gas facilities for years. This development worsened the condition of the aged gas pipelines built between 50 and 60 years ago. According to the Aba Power communication head, Gov Otti has also been discussing with the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and the Independent System Operator (ISO) with a view to enabling Geometric Power to receive supplies from the national grid during emergencies. The discussions were fruitful.
True, Otti isn’t the only governor to assist Geometric Power to succeed for the benefit of the Abia people. Every Abia State governor from Senator Orji Uzor Kalu helped enthusiastically. But that of Otti is special. As Geometric Power chairman Bart Nnaji once noted, it would seem that both his firm and Otti are joined at the hip. Otti was an executive director with First Bank when the proposal for financing the Aba Independent Power Project was made to the bank, and, by a twist of fate, he headed an internal committee that looked into the proposal. When he moved to Diamond Bank as the Managing Director, Otti came to head the financial institution that had from inception been promoting the new privately owned power firm. Years later, he was leading Abia when the Aba Power Project was commissioned on February 26, 2024, by Vice President Kashim Shettima. The power project is a socioeconomic game changer in the state, resulting in historic investment flows into Aba famous for indigenous manufacturing.
The Abia State government is showing the light on how the public and the private sectors can work collaboratively. This is significant. As Aliko Dangote, Africa’s most successful entrepreneur, has stated publicly, some Nigerian government officials work gleefully in cahoots with economic sharks for the killing of tremendous investments like the $20bn Dangote Refinery in Lagos just for their private benefit. Shortly after the accusation, Farouk Ahmed was removed last December 17 as the chief executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
Nigerian government leaders need to borrow a leaf from the Abia State government and even from Chinese civil servants who, as Edward Tse, has reported in the influential book, The China Strategy: Harnessing the Power of the World’s fastest-growing Economy, work effectively, efficiently and enthusiastically to attract huge investments in their places. No matter what many may say against President Donald Trump, no one doubts his eagerness to attract investments to the United States. The Abia State government is on the right trajectory.
Adinuba was the Commissioner for Information & Public Enlightenment, Anambra State, from 2018 to 2022.
I have remained silent over the past few days because I have been grieving the loss of my very dear elder brother and friend, Chief Okey Ezeibe. However, the time has come for me to address some of the matters that have occupied public discussion in recent days.
I respectfully urge everyone to concentrate on the existential challenges confronting Nigeria and the hardships endured by its citizens, rather than on the needless distractions that have become widespread in our politics.
I wish to assure the public that I have no disagreement with my dear elder brother, Governor Soludo, or with any governor in Nigeria. I am not seeking the office of governor in any state, and I will not seek that position again, even if the Constitution is amended.
Accordingly, I appeal to governors to support whichever presidential candidate they choose while also permitting and assisting other presidential candidates and contenders for other offices to campaign freely and without interruption in their states. Ultimately, voters should be allowed to determine whom they wish to serve them.
Regarding the multilateral funding inaccurately described as “debt owed by Peter Obi” in Anambra State, I wish to state unequivocally:
As Governor of Anambra State, I did not approach any financial institution to borrow funds or issue a bond on behalf of the state. Indeed, at his farewell ceremony, the then Director-General of the DMO, Abraham Nwankwo, appointed me chairman and declared that, during his 10 years in office, I was the only state governor who had not approached him for a loan facility.
When I left office, the Anambra State Government owed no unpaid salaries, gratuities, or pensions. Neither did it owe any contractor or supplier who had completed work that the government had verified and certified.
Regarding development financing from the World Bank, these are concessionary development-support funds secured by the Federal Government for states selected by it to address specific needs. Repayment is spread over 25 to 30 years.
The Anambra State Government must therefore differentiate among three separate figures: the total amount approved for the multiyear development program; the amount Anambra State actually drew during my tenure; and the funding balance outstanding when I handed over on 17 March 2014.
The government has combined these distinct categories, added them together, and described the resulting US$123.77 million as “loans left by Peter Obi.” That is an incorrect application of public-sector accounting.
The eight facilities identified were primarily World Bank and IFAD development programs negotiated by the Federal Government, with participating states receiving access to the funds through subsidiary arrangements. They were not conventional commercial loans that I personally secured during my tenure.
This does not suggest that Anambra had no repayment responsibilities; rather, each facility must be examined in light of its approval, effectiveness, drawdown, and repayment record.
The clearest contradiction appears in the government’s own figures. It states that the original facilities amounted to approximately US$123.77 million and that US$92.35 million remained outstanding in June 2026. However, the DMO’s published records showed Anambra’s total external debt at approximately US$18 million when I began my tenure in March 2006, about US$30 million in March 2014, when I left office, and approximately US$45.15 million as of 31 December 2014, nine months after my departure.
The Anambra State Government must therefore clarify how a state whose recorded external debt was about US$30 million in March 2014 and US$45.15 million in December 2014 could supposedly have inherited US$123.77 million from Peter Obi, who left office in March of that same year.
On the day I left office, I left more than US$150 million as the dollar component of my investment in Anambra State as governor. I hereby provide documents that can be verified with the various banks. Had it remained untouched, this investment was expected to provide Anambra State with approximately US$10 million in annual income.
Even if their assertion were accurate—which it is not—that Anambra owed US$123 million, the government could have used the US$10 million generated annually from my savings to reduce the debt. It has now been 13 years since I left office, which would amount to US$130 million. The debt should have been fully settled by now.
Had they retained the funds I left in the bank, including the compound interest on the principal and the additional income, the total would be approximately US$335 million today. If they had chosen to repay the US$92.35 million funding, the entire amount would have been covered, leaving approximately US$242 million to be reinvested. That sum would have generated about US$20 million annually for Anambra State.
Let me reiterate that, when I left office, I left Anambra State in a strong financial position—the strongest of any state in Nigeria—and I stand by that position.
Through this clarification, I wish to state categorically that I will neither engage nor trade words with anyone regarding my tenure in Anambra State. My focus will now be on issues affecting the suffering Nigerian masses, which is the reason for my presidential ambition.
