Author: Samuel Akpenpuun

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has revealed plans by the Federal Government to establish an aircraft manufacturing firm in Nigeria. The facility is a collaboration between XeJet and indigenous banks, aiming to transform Nigeria into a regional hub for aviation services. Keyamo announced this during the launch of XeJet’s Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul, MRO, facility and flight support centre in Abuja. He noted that the move aligned with the government’s vision to support local operators and boost the nation’s aviation industry. Keyamo said: “Since we came to office, we’ve been focused on attracting MRO facilities to…

Wildfires in Brazil last year consumed a total area larger than all of Italy, a monitor reported Wednesday, as the country continues to battle blazes often set by farmers and ranchers illegally expanding their territory. Some 30.8 million hectares (119,000 square miles) of vegetation were burned in Brazil in 2024, a 79 percent increase from 2023, monitoring platform MapBiomas reported. Fires in the Amazon, a crucial carbon sink for the rest of the world as well as a global hotspot of biodiversity, accounted for 58 percent of the damage. The figures are discouraging news for the government of President Luiz…

A Federal high court in Kaduna State has denied the bail application filed by Mr Bashir Saidu, the former chief of staff to the immediate past Governor of the state, Nasir El-Rufai. Saidu, who also served as Commissioner for Finance under the El-Rufai administration, was arraigned on 10 counts bordering on money laundering, embezzlement and stealing of public funds belonging to the Kaduna State Government. He was arrested on January 2nd, 2025 by the police and was later remanded at the Kaduna correctional centre in the state capital. However, when the matter came up for mention before Justice Isa Aliyu…

President Donald Trump’s administration has removed Admiral Linda Fagan — the first woman to lead a US military service — as the head of the Coast Guard. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the Coast Guard, did not immediately respond to a request on Tuesday for comment on Fagan’s dismissal. Fox News cited a senior official saying reasons included her failure to address border security threats, excessive focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, and an “erosion of trust” over the Coast Guard’s investigation into sexual assault cases. Trump and other Republicans have long railed against government programs aimed…

The Senate has vowed to push for the conduct of a national population census before the current administration ends in 2027. This commitment was reiterated during a budget defense session with the Chairman of the National Population Commission, Nasir Isa Kwarra. The Chairman of the Committee on National Identity Management and Population, Senator Abdul Ningi, said, “We will not rest on our oars until a census is conducted before this administration ends”. He revealed that the Senate was preparing to meet with President Bola Tinubu to stress the urgency of conducting the census in 2025. “We will soon engage the…

Immigration advocates have sued the US President, Donald Trump following his move to end automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily in the country. According to a Bloomberg report, immigration advocates swiftly filed a lawsuit in New Hampshire on Monday evening, shortly after the order was signed. The development was after Trump on Monday, signed an executive order at the White House aimed at ending the longstanding policy of birthright citizenship. The order, which is set to take effect in 30 days, challenges more than a century of US policy and…

Manchester City announced Tuesday they had completed the signing of teenage defender Vitor Reis from Brazilian club Palmeiras for a reported fee of £29.6 million ($36.2 million). The 19-year-old Brazilian youth international has signed a four-and-a-half-year deal with the Premier League champions. “I’m excited to join Manchester City, one of the biggest clubs in the world,” said the right-footed centre-back. “Everyone has seen the amazing achievements in recent seasons and I want to make my mark as we seek more trophies. “Working with Pep Guardiola is something every young player wants to do and I know he can help me…

President Donald Trump announced severe new restrictions on immigration and asylum in the United States hours after taking office Monday, declaring that he will send troops to the US-Mexico border and attempt to end birthright citizenship. Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border and used a careening press conference in the Oval Office to announce the controversial order seeking to revoke the right of US nationality to anyone born in America. “That’s a big one,” he told reporters. The move to reverse a right enshrined in the US Constitution will face stiff legal challenges, an inevitability the president…

The Chairman, Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has revealed that the external revenue service announced by the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, could disrupt global trade. Oyedele said this via his X handle on Monday night, following the inauguration of Trump. During his inauguration, Trump made true his plan for external revenue service, saying, “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we tariff and tax other countries to enrich our citizens. For this purpose, we are establishing the External Revenue Service to collect all tariffs, duties and revenue. It…

US President Donald Trump repealed numerous executive orders promoting LGBTQ equality and issued new ones decreeing only two genders and ending government diversity programs Monday, definitively breaking with what he decries as “woke” culture. On the campaign trail, Trump vilified diversity, equity and inclusion policies in the federal government and corporate world, saying they discriminated against white people — men in particular. “The Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military,” said one new…