Author: News Room
In an entertainment industry fuelled by talent, ego, competition and constant public scrutiny, conflict is inevitable. From music to movies, comedy skits to Instagram Live sessions, Nigerian pop culture has witnessed spectacular fallouts that have played out in real time before fans. In this piece, TOFARATI IGE writes on the yearnings of many entertainment lovers to see some of their faves who are currently at loggerheads work together in 2026 Portable and Speed Darlington If there were ever two entertainers who thrived on controversy as much as creativity, it would be Portable (Habeeb Okikiola) and Speed Darlington (Darlington Okoye). Both…
A growing gap between academic talent and access to opportunity is shutting thousands of high-performing Nigerian graduates out of global education pathways, the i-Scholar Initiative has warned. President of the initiative, Victor Ogunmola, gave this warning at the organisation’s Board of Trustees reception in Lagos. He noted that since its founding in 2019, iSI has received over 15,000 applications for scholarships, of which more than 10,000 met global admission standards, yet only 455 candidates (about five per cent) have been supported so far due to financial and mentoring constraints. He noted that, in 2025 alone, over 4,000 applications contested for…
Now that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has appointed a new CEO to run Microsoft’s biggest businesses, he has a little more time on his hands for other adventures. Beyond focusing on Microsoft’s technical work, Nadella is now turning to the ancient art of blogging to discuss Microsoft’s year ahead and why he thinks everyone needs to move “beyond the arguments of [AI] slop vs sophistication.”Nadella’s first blog entry in “sn scratchpad” is all about Microsoft and other AI companies still needing to get a bunch of stuff right with AI. Chief among them is creating a new concept for AI…
Crypto phishing attacks tied to wallet drainers dropped sharply in 2025, with total losses falling to $83.85 million, down 83% year over year from nearly $494 million in 2024.The number of victims also declined significantly to 106,000, a 68% drop from the previous year, Web3 security platform Scam Sniffer said in its new report analyzing signature-based phishing across Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains. Despite the steep fall, the report warned that phishing activity has not disappeared. Instead, losses closely followed market cycles, rising during periods of higher onchain activity and easing as markets cooled. The third quarter of 2025, which…
It’s taken Tori Roloff nearly a year to feel confident in her own skin — literally. “OK, this is a little bit of a vulnerable post,” Roloff, 34, wrote via her Instagram Stories on Saturday, January 3, alongside a throwback selfie from 2025. “This time last year, I was struggling so bad with my skin. I was getting the worst cystic acne.” She continued, “It hurt and looked terrible. I’m not one to get insecure, but this one was hard to work through for me.” In a follow-up slide, Roloff posed for a new selfie to show how her skin…
Former Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun has again attempted to mislead the public regarding the certificate forgery scandal that led to her resignation in 2018. In an interview with Channels Television aired on Friday, Ms Adeosun framed the controversy around her exit from government as merely an allegation that she “graduated at 22, skipped NYSC, and therefore the certificate I presented must have been forged.” However, that narrative misrepresents the facts established by a PREMIUM TIMES investigation. The investigation was not just about whether Ms Adeosun was required to participate in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme. It was mainly…
Nigeria entered the year with inflation easing but interest rates still at crisis levels, forcing the CBN to balance early signs of price relief against the risk of losing hard-won credibility. The CBN in 2024 had fought inflation with one of its most aggressive tightening measures, raising interest rates five times and lifting the benchmark rate by 850 basis points in seven months. The aim was to drain excess liquidity, curb price pressures and restore policy credibility after years of loose monetary conditions. The move pushed the benchmark interest rate above 27 per cent. In the early part of the…
…the lessons of 2025 indicate that AI’s impact in 2026 will depend not on deployment speed, but on governance readiness — including data quality, interoperability, accountability, and safeguards for trust. These emerging trends, and the choices governments face as AI adoption deepens, will be explored in greater detail in the coming weeks. In 2025, technology did more than digitise public services — it revealed how governance actually functions. Across countries like the United States, Nigeria, Estonia, India, Brazil and Singapore, digital systems became a mirror through which institutional coherence, accountability, and capacity were made visible. Where governments had clear rules,…
Chris Okafor, founder of the Mountain of Liberation and Miracle Ministry in Lagos, has announced a decision concerning his role as the presiding pastor amid growing controversies involving his ex-wife, Bessem, and actress Doris Ogala. In 2025, PREMIUM TIMES reported that Ms Ogala accused Okafor of breaking promises of marriage, causing emotional distress, and other allegations. Ms Bessem, his ex-wife, in turn, alleged that he subjected her to physical assault, while denying the claims of adultery Mr Okafor levelled against her. Stepping aside Amid these controversies, Mr Okafor announced during a church service, captured in a video that went viral…
With the group stage dust settled and the stakes sharply raised, the Super Eagles of Nigeria are bracing for the unforgiving realities of knockout football at the Africa Cup of Nations. Despite a flawless run of three wins from three games, Alex Iwobi has issued a clear message to Nigerian fans and teammates alike: standards must not drop, intensity must not fade. Nigeria stormed through the group phase with maximum points, but the midfielder insists past results count for little once the Round of 16 begins. The margins are thinner, the pressure heavier, and complacency, he warns, can be fatal.…
