Author: News Room

Aspirants for the Ondo East/Ondo West Federal Constituency seat in the House of Representatives under the All Progressives Congress have accused the party’s state leadership of allegedly plotting to impose a consensus candidate ahead of the primaries. The four aspirants — Jibayo Adeyeye, Ade Adeniyi, Bola Fisayo and Michael Ajilo — raised the allegation in a communiqué issued after a meeting held on Thursday, warning that such a move would undermine internal democracy. A copy of the communiqué was made available to our correspondent on Saturday, though the issues raised in it were denied by the All Progressives Congress leadership…

Nigeria’s foreign currency-denominated tax receipts rose sharply to N6.33tn in 2025, reflecting increased contributions from multinational firms and exchange rate effects, an analysis of data released by the National Bureau of Statistics has shown. The figure represents a 27.3 per cent increase from N4.97tn recorded in 2024, highlighting a growing reliance on foreign-currency-linked tax inflows amid currency volatility and the expanding activities of foreign and export-oriented companies. Breakdowns from the NBS Value Added Tax and Company Income Tax reports, analysed by The PUNCH, show that foreign currency tax payments accounted for a significant share of total tax collections across the…

The National Data Repository has released updated statistics on Wednesday, revealing the current state of HIV detection, treatment, and viral suppression across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The data also provides insights into trends over the last decade and the demographics of newly identified cases. Lagos and Benue have surfaced as the dual epicentres of new infections, driven by a deeply concerning trend: the rising vulnerability of young women. According to the NDR, “95% of people living with HIV now know their status”, marking a significant achievement in national awareness efforts. Among those aware, “95% are receiving…

Arsenal head into a defining weekend in the title race, hosting Fulham at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday with the chance to move six points clear at the top of the table. City, who have a game in hand, sit second on the table, three points behind, and will not play until Monday when they face Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool, PUNCH Online reports. The match comes amid a decisive stretch of the season for Arsenal, who are also balancing a Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid in the coming days. Fulham, meanwhile, arrive chasing European qualification,…

Afrobeats star Davido has won the Best International Act category at the 2026 Liberian Entertainment Awards, beating Gunna, Rema and Tyla to the prize. The award was presented on April 25 during a ceremony held at the Lisner Auditorium in Washington, DC, United States. Music charts platform, ChartsAfrica, announced the winner via X on Monday, saying, “#davido has emerged victorious at the 2026 Liberian Entertainment Awards, clinching the prestigious award for Best International Act.” The latest recognition adds to Davido’s growing list of international honours and underscores the increasing global appeal of Afrobeats. It also reflects the continued strong presence…

The Vice-Chancellor of Aletheia University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, Prof. Olukayode Akinyemi, has called on newly admitted students of the institution to shun all forms of indiscipline, uphold integrity, and pursue academic excellence while aiming to be the very best in life. Akinyemi, according to a statement on Monday signed by the spokesperson of the university, Ayodele Maraiyesa, gave the charge during the institution’s third matriculation ceremony, which marked the formal admission of 264 fresh students for the 2025/2026 academic session. The vice-chancellor said the university, which received its operational licence in June 2023, began with 17 programmes across three…

Across Africa’s fast-expanding digital economy, a central assumption underpinning modern infrastructure planning is increasingly being challenged, that national electricity grids can reliably power data centres. Industry executives say the continent’s fragile power system is now the decisive bottleneck shaping the pace and structure of investment in data centres, cloud computing, and emerging artificial intelligence workload  At the GITEX Africa conference in Marrakech, executives from across the energy and digital infrastructure sectors argued that the continent’s power systems are structurally misaligned with the demands of cloud computing, artificial intelligence and high-density data processing. Rather than acting as the backbone of digital…

As Nigeria inches toward another defining electoral cycle, ADEBAYO FOLORUNSHO-FRANCIS reports that early permutations ahead of the 2027 presidential election are already reshaping the country’s political landscape At the heart of the unfolding drama is a fresh push by three of the opposition’s most formidable figures—Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso—to close ranks under a common platform and mount what could become the stiffest challenge yet to President Bola Tinubu. The trio, who ran separately in the 2023 presidential election, collectively secured over 15 million votes but fell short individually, allowing Tinubu to clinch victory in a tightly…

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 126, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, I need 10 or 15 skirts from Calvin Klein, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)Happy Ruthless Self-Promotion Week! We’re dedicating almost all of this issue to the stuff we’ve been making recently. Personally, I’ve been reading about the Tesla diner and Dwarkesh Patel and The Rest Is History, starting a Ted Lasso rewatch to get ready for season 4, watching a robot injure Joanna Stern, continuing down the rabbit hole…

Bitcoin could be setting up for a multimonth price decline, after a rally in April driven mainly by futures traders while spot demand declined, according to the crypto analytics firm CryptoQuant.Bitcoin gained around 20% in April, rising from $66,000 to a peak of $79,000 in a rally “driven entirely by growth in perpetual futures demand,” CryptoQuant said in a report on Thursday. Meanwhile, spot demand for Bitcoin contracted throughout the rally, “indicating that the market’s marginal buyer was speculative, not fundamental,” it said.“The divergence between rising price and contracting spot demand is one of the clearest on-chain signals that price gains…