Author: Anule Emmanuel

The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), has issued comprehensive guidance aimed at bringing cryptocurrency and other digital-asset activity into the country’s formal tax system. The move is intended to widen the tax base as the country’s digital economy expands. The Guidelines on the Taxation of Virtual Assets, published on the NRS website, set out registration, reporting and record-keeping requirements, valuation principles and the tax treatment of virtual-asset transactions under the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025, and the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025. The agency said the framework applies to taxpayers, virtual-asset service providers, peer-to-peer marketplace operators, tax practitioners and individuals engaged in…

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike has told opposition parties to stop counting on Rivers State for the 2027 presidential election, saying only President Bola Tinubu could carry it. Speaking at his monthly media briefing in Abuja, Minister Wike said a pragmatic cross‑party alignment of state politicians — drawn from the Peoples Democratic Party, the All Progressives Congress, the Labour Party, the Action Alliance and smaller groups — had agreed to back Tinubu’s re‑election bid. “If anybody is counting Rivers, go now and cancel it,” he said, adding that his remarks reflected political calculation rather than bravado.…

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, on Tuesday said he will back the President’s re-election bid, arguing that Nigeria needs political will and hard reforms rather than “rhetoric” as the nation struggles to recover from years of economic decline. Speaking at his monthly media briefing in Abuja, the Minister defended Tinubu’s decision last year to remove a long-standing fuel subsidy, calling it one of the most courageous economic reforms in recent memory. Minister Wike said the policy, while causing short-term hardship, has freed up funds for federal and state governments and eased fiscal pressures that once left…

Minister of Education Tunji Alausa on Tuesday ordered Vice Chancellors, Rectors, and Provosts to dismiss any student found, after proper investigation, to have participated in kidnapping or related crimes. In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Communications Ikharo Attah, the Minister urged heads of all tertiary institutions to deepen cooperation with security services to protect campuses. Minister Alausa told the governing council and management of the Federal University of Lafia that institutions must strengthen internal intelligence and work more closely with the Department of State Services and other security agencies. According to Attah, Minister Alausa made the…

By Anule Emmanuel ia measured, policy‑driven address recently at the International Conference Centre in Umuahia, Governor Alex Otti  of Abia State described security as the indispensable precondition for prosperity. The Governor’s position agrees with those of the US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Jacob Helberg who in May this year, while speaking at a press roundtable at the US Embassy in Georgetown said that  “We understand and agree that security is a precondition for prosperity. World wide, leaders have come to agree that indeed, national prosperity is inextricably tied to national security. Without a…

The National Economic Council (NEC) has approved the refinancing of the US$3.3 billion Project Gazelle Pre-Export Finance Facility through a new US$4.5 billion facility named “Project Gazelle 2”. Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications to the Vice President Stanley Nkwocha in a statement said the approval allows NNPC Limited to refinance the outstanding balance of approximately $1.5 billion under the original 2023 facility, while unlocking an additional $3 billion in liquidity to strengthen the country’s external reserves, support ongoing fiscal and infrastructure priorities of the government. “This was the outcome of the 159th meeting of the National Economic Council…

The Federal Government on Monday urged Japanese investors to deepen their footprint in the country’s economy as officials signaled an interest in broadening bilateral ties. Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, made the appeal during a courtesy meeting with Japanese Ambassador Suzuki Hideo in Abuja. Akume reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to strengthening relations with Japan and called for increased investment in critical sectors, without specifying target industries. The visit indicates government’s drive to attract foreign capital as the government pursues economic reforms aimed at boosting growth and infrastructure development. Japan is a long-standing partner for Nigeria in areas…

The Presidency on Monday commenced work on the drafting of a broad legal framework needed to implement a new federal‑and‑state policing model for the country. Chairman of the Presidential Working Group of the National Advisory Committee on State Policing and Chief of Staff to the President Femi Gbajabiamila told State House Correspondents at a press conference that members of public are immediately invited to submit memoranda as inputs for the draft framework aimed at translating legislative advances into a practical plan. “This is a monumental reform that Nigerians have debated for many years. The central task is to “design a…

The Minister of Education Olatunji Alausa has inaugurated a technical working group to fast-track the establishment of an Armed Forces College of Medicine and Health Sciences. In a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Communications to the Minister Ikharo Attah, the move is part of the Federal Government’s broader drive to build a dedicated pipeline of health professionals for the country’s military. Alausa said the college, approved by the federal government earlier this year, is intended to end the long-standing reliance of the armed services on civilian universities for doctors, nurses and specialized rehabilitation professionals. He said the…

By Solomon Iorpev There is a quiet but profound truth that runs through the history of every society that has ever transformed itself: ‘no state rises higher than the quality of counsel that guides it’. Nations are not built by good intentions alone, nor by the passion of leadership in isolation. They are built when visionary leadership marries itself to competence, when power sits at the same table as expertise, and when policy is shaped not by guesswork but by the disciplined rigour of knowledge. It is this timeless truth that His Excellency, Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia has…