As Lagos Muslims join their counterparts worldwide to observe fasting season of Ramadan, the State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has called for vigilance among all residents saying, although government has put all structures in place to ensure safety of residents, the latter have every reason to be vigilant.
Fashola gave the admonition on Sunday at Onikan Stadium, venue of the annual Ramadan Lecture of the State Council of the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria.
He urged Lagosians to be vigilant and security conscious, pointing out that since they live in the territorial area called Nigeria, they should be concerned with whatever happens in the country.
"When the country does well, we do well; when it is challenged, it means that we are challenged because our brothers and sisters are challenged too. This is the season of eternal vigilance," Fashola said.
"We have put in all of the structures to be sure you have no cause to fear, but you have every reason to be vigilant.
"In the mosques and in the churches, I know that many of us have a traditional place we sit in the evenings and if you look around you see people who sit there with you every evening, every morning, every Sunday, every Friday’ when you see a strange face next to you, please ask questions, introduce yourself, greet that person and find out who that person is.
"I know that you also go to churches or other traditional places; some people sit in the middle traditionally, if you are looking for them, you know where to find them and they know who sits on their right and on their left.
"When we see strangers around us now, ask questions. If the stranger cannot hurt us, I am sure we cannot hurt ourselves."
The governor also advised Muslims to eschew struggle for material things, especially at this period, saying the owner of all things, including humans, is the Almighty Allah.
He cited an example with the incessant litigations over land and property pointing out that there would be no need for litigations if people stopped fighting over them.
Noting that some people have had cause to complain to him about the numerous litigations over land and properties, the governor disclosed: "I told them we are the ones that cause it. If we do not fight over land, there would be no need to go to court and if we do not fight over properties which the owners have died there would be no need to fight over land.
"If we do not fight over money and business and we do not stab one another with knives, there would not be any criminal case.
"The lawyer will still have what to do for a living. He can be a company secretary, he can engage in business, Sports Law and numerous other Law practices that will make life to be meaningful.
"While we are here, we owe ourselves all of the duties of organisation, of cooperation and of understanding of the state.
"I do say it that when you fight over land, are you the real owner of such land or the land owns you? Meanwhile, when you now die, do you think over it that you are not the real owner of land because it is in that same portion of land that they will dig and bury you; so are you now the owner of that land or the land owns you?" He argued.
Fashola appealed to all Lagos residents to embrace the on-going residents registration exercise statewide saying the registration card, which according to him, is prepared with the taxpayers’ money, is an important asset that belongs to all the residents irrespective of tribe or ethnic nationality.
Listing some of the benefits of the registration card to residents, Governor Fashola said: "at this period of heightened security challenges, it may become a life-saving document to have in your house, it may help us respond quicker and faster in terms of security crises and it is important for us as a people to know how many we are."
The governor told members of the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society: "I know that this society has a record of its members that is why you can reach them and you can contact them. If a society that is only a part of a larger state can keep a record of its members, don’t you think it is important for us as a state to have a record of its residents?
"It has nothing to do with indigeneship; it has nothing to do with where you were born: it is only a function of knowing that you reside here and we want to know you.
"That is the only way we can plan ahead to make sure that everybody will get water, that is the only way we can understand how many people will; be in the bracket of getting married so that we can begin to plan for the expected children that will follow."
Other benefits of the registration exercise to residents, the governor said, include helping the businesses through the data that will be available in the public space in terms of how many live in any local government and so on who would require a particular product or the other.
"If you are selling special women’s fabrics, that data will help you know how many people in the local government in your own area of business are within the age that can wear that fabric, it will help us to keep a track record in terms of emergencies to be able to respond. God forbid, but accidents do happen; it will help us to identify who the accident victims are," he said.
Reiterating that the registration centres are open in every local government in the State, Governor Fashola said the exercise would also help the State to compete with so many cities across the world adding: "perhaps, we do not notice when we go on pilgrimages either to Saudi Arabia or Jerusalem, we would see that we that are not residents of those countries, when we are coming in, we show our passports while the residents pass another line and just use their cards to enter.
"But you know what happens here that when we come into our own country, we still show our passports.
He said Government has resisted the temptation to give a time limit to the registration in other to avoid rush.
He congratulated all the Muslims who are beneficiaries of this year’s Ramadan season, praying that God should give them the grace to complete it.
Earlier in his lecture with the theme: 'In The Spirit Of Ramadan', the National Missioner of the Society, Sheik Abdur Rahman Ahmed, urged all Muslims to honour the Almighty God with gratitude adding that all Muslims in the country must rise during this month and cleanse themselves by praying for forgiveness.
"This Ramadan period is specifically to honour Allah. It is not to discipline or make us suffer. We should honour Allah with the attitude of gratitude," he said listing some of what constitute the Spirit of Ramadan to include God’s favour, caution in daily actions, giving with cheerfulness, tolerance in all ramifications, endurance, patience and love for one another and for all humans.
Also speaking earlier, Chairman of the State Council of the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, Alhaji Nurudeen Olalekan Okuleye, reviewed some of the achievements of the society in the last one year expressing pleasure that the Lagos State Council had made greater and progressive stride in its religious propagation and humanitarian dispensation.
He listed such strides to include remarkable progress on the Summit University project in Offa, Kwara State, approval and certification of the Society’s ADSON Table Water by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and success in anchoring last year’s Hajj operations among others.
In his welcome address, Chairman of the occasion, and President of the Society in Lagos, Alhaji Femi Okunnu, urged members to work hard to continue to propagate the ideals of the society as bequeathed to them by the founding fathers adding that the society has provided the platform for members to produce major talents.
Alhaji Okunnu, who was represented by Alhaji Abdul Rafiu Ademola Sanni, urged the society to fund businesses that would be beneficial to the society and use the proceeds to propagate Islam advising that they should they should visit hospitals and prisons and also organise seminars during this period.
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The EFCC chairman, Olu Olukoyede, however, said that after concluding the investigation, he invited Eze, who is also the convener of the New Season Prophetic
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has said that he investigated the Lead Pastor of Streams of Joy International, Jerry Eze, for six months for alleged money laundering.
Olukoyede disclosed this at the Jerry Eze Foundation Business Grant Award Ceremony in Abuja on Wednesday.
He said that the agency observed that there was a domiciliary account where dollars and pounds were “dropping like raindrops” from different countries.
“I am going to embarrass you today. I never wanted to say it, but I just felt that was my little way of making this contribution.
“I investigated this man for six months for money laundering. We work by intelligence, we work by petitions.
“At some point, there was an account, a domiciliary account; dollars, pounds were dropping like raindrops from Colombia, from America, from Sri Lanka, even from Togo.
“I said, ‘Who is this man?’ Yes, I have been hearing about his name. I have seen his face a couple of times. I never bothered about what he was doing; he is a pastor,” Olukoyede said.
“So, they said it’s one Pastor Jerry Eze of Streams of Joy. Go and investigate him. So, we went into investigation; we combed the books. Yes, we saw the money coming in.
“So, my investigating officer came to me one day and said, ‘Sir, this is the preliminary report.’ I said I would like to see this man. Go and invite him.
“So, he (Eze) came to my office. I saw him. I had seen that face, but I didn’t know it was him, because I saw somebody who came in with baggy trousers, a T-shirt, and some punk with a parting.
“I was almost going to say, ‘Go and call your pastor, my friend; go and bring your bishop,’” the EFCC chief said.
Olukoyede, however, said that after concluding the investigation, he invited Eze, who is also the Convener of the New Season Prophetic Prayers and Declarations (NSPPD), and commended him.
“So, he told me what happens, how the money came, and how he has been helping people and all of that. I told him, ‘I didn’t call you here to explain to me. We’ve already done our work. I called you here to commend you,” he added.
Olukoyede said that the EFCC also has a preventive mandate, adding that the agency should also identify with righteous people with integrity.
The EFCC chairman urged him to continue to keep his hands clean, because the anti-graft agency, according to him, “will always come for you”.
“The only thing that is remaining now is to give you a letter of validation, but I’m not going to give you because I’ll still continue to monitor your finances,” he told the pastor.
News
Lagos, Nigeria – April 2026 – United Bank for Africa Plc, leading Pan-African financial institution, has released its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026, demonstrating resilient operating performance and continued balance sheet strength despite a moderated profitability environment.
Gross earnings increased by 5% to ₦801.5 billion, driven by growth across key revenue lines. Interest income also rose 6.9% to ₦641.1 billion, while non-interest income grew 17.3% to ₦137.1 billion, highlighting the Group’s expanding and diversified revenue base.
Net interest income advanced 10.5% to ₦383.7 billion, supporting a 12.2% increase in operating income to ₦520.8 billion, demonstrating sustained momentum across core banking operations.
UBA recorded notable improvement in key profitability and efficiency metrics, reflecting a more sustainable earnings profile.
While return on average equity rose to 13.7%, return on assets improved to 1.77%, signalling stronger earnings efficiency. Cost of risk declined significantly to 2.02%, underscoring improved asset quality and disciplined risk management. Cost of funds moderated to 3.73% from 3.83% in Dec 2025, reflecting improvement in funding cost.
Profit before tax moderated to ₦160.7 billion, while profit after tax moderated to ₦146.6 billion, representing declines of 21.4% and 22.8% respectively, consistent with the Group’s guidance on earnings normalisation.
The bank also did well in maintaining a strong and resilient balance sheet with total assets of ₦33.1 trillion and customer deposits of ₦26.2 trillion.
Commenting on the results, Group Managing Director/CEO, Oliver Alawuba, said: “UBA’s Q1 2026 performance underscores the strength of our diversified Pan-African model and the resilience of our core banking franchises. While profitability has moderated in line with our expectations for a transition year, we are seeing strong underlying momentum across our markets, supported by improved earnings quality and disciplined risk management.
Our continued investments in digital capabilities and regional expansion are enhancing revenue resilience and positioning the Group for sustainable long-term growth. We remain firmly committed to driving financial inclusion, enabling intra-African trade, and delivering superior value to our stakeholders.”
Also speaking, Executive Director, Finance & Risk Management, Ugo Nwaghodoh, added: “The Group’s Q1 performance reflects a deliberate shift towards a more sustainable and scalable earnings profile following our successful recapitalisation. Key profitability indicators, including return on equity and return on assets, show improvement on a year-to-date basis, despite the normalisation of headline earnings. Our balance sheet remains robust, supported by a diversified funding base and disciplined loan growth. With stable funding costs and improving asset quality, we are well positioned to drive operating leverage and long-term value creation.”
UBA expects 2026 to remain a transition year characterised by continued investment in digital transformation and operational scalability; strengthened risk management and provisioning frameworks; enhanced focus on high-quality, sustainable earnings and deeper penetration across African markets.
The Group remains strongly capitalised, highly liquid, and strategically positioned to execute its long-term growth agenda.
United Bank for Africa Plc is a leading Pan-African financial institution, serving over 45 million customers through 1,000 business offices and customer touchpoints in 20 African countries. With operations in New York, London, Paris, and Dubai, UBA connects people and businesses across Africa through retail, commercial, and corporate banking, payments, trade finance, and cross-border solutions.
Business
In The Spotlight
Once upon a time, elections in Nigeria were fought in town halls, party secretariats, and the noisy arenas of Abuja and Lagos where political legitimacy was earned through persuasion, coalition building, and the unpredictable alchemy of Nigerian democracy. Today, the political class has discovered a more glamorous battlefield and a grotesque new theatre has emerged: Nigerian politicians now conducts its fiercest battles not at home, but in Washington, London, Brussels, and any foreign capital willing to rent out its influence for a fee. What used to be a domestic contest for legitimacy has mutated into a transcontinental lobbying war; one that threatens not only Nigeria’s sovereignty but the very idea that Nigerians, not foreign policymakers, should determine their own future.
The latest episode - Atiku Abubakar’s $1.2 million contract with the Washington lobbying firm Von Batten–Montague–York, illustrates the scale of the problem. According to publicly available filings, the firm is tasked with “counterbalancing” the Nigerian government’s messaging in Washington, briefing members of Congress, shaping US policy narratives, and even taking concerns about INEC’s internal decisions directly to President Donald Trump. This is not subtle diplomacy. It is a direct appeal to a foreign power to intervene in Nigeria’s internal affairs. And Atiku is not alone. Abuja itself has long maintained its own lobbying presence in Washington.
The implications for Nigerian sovereignty are profound. When political actors outsource legitimacy to foreign capitals, they implicitly concede that domestic institutions - INEC, the courts, the legislature - are insufficient arbiters of political competition. Every time a Nigerian politician hires a K Street firm to “shape narratives,” they reinforce the perception that Nigeria’s democratic institutions are too weak, too compromised, or too distrusted to manage their own affairs. This is not merely embarrassing. It is dangerous. Foreign governments, including the United States, act according to their own interests. Their priorities - counterterrorism, energy security, migration, geopolitical competition - rarely align neatly with Nigeria’s democratic aspirations. When Nigerian politicians invite foreign actors into the electoral arena, they risk turning domestic politics into a bargaining chip in someone else’s strategic calculus.
The internationalization of Nigerian elections is unmistakable. Nigerian elections are no longer fought solely in Abuja, where institutions are contested; Lagos, where money and media converge; Kano, Port Harcourt, Enugu, where political blocs mobilize. They are now fought in Washington, through lobbyists and congressional briefings; London, through diplomatic signaling and media narratives; Brussels, through human rights reports and EU statements, and global think tanks, which increasingly shape elite opinion. This internationalization is not inherently new. Nigeria has always been entangled in global politics, but the scale and brazenness are unprecedented. Lobbying contracts worth millions, public statements aimed at foreign leaders, and strategic leaks to international media have become routine tools of political warfare.
Three forces drive this trend. First, elite signaling: Nigerian elites - governors, financiers, power brokers, watch Washington closely. A photo op with a US senator or a favorable mention in a congressional report can shift alliances faster than any manifesto. Second, institutional distrust: When domestic institutions are perceived as compromised, politicians seek validation abroad. This is a symptom of democratic fragility, not strength. Third, narrative power: International narratives shape domestic legitimacy. A critical report from a foreign government can damage a candidate more than any local scandal. But the revelation that Atiku’s lobbyists intend to brief President Trump directly on Nigeria’s internal political disputes marks a new frontier. It suggests that Nigerian actors now view foreign leaders not merely as observers but as potential arbiters of domestic political legitimacy. Even if Trump takes no action; and there is no evidence he will, the symbolism is corrosive. It signals to Nigerians that their political destiny is being negotiated in rooms they cannot enter, in conversations they cannot hear, by actors they did not elect.
It would be naïve to pretend that only opposition figures engage in this behavior. Successive Nigerian governments have spent millions on lobbying firms to burnish their image abroad, counter criticism, and influence foreign policy circles. Abuja’s own lobbying footprint in Washington is well documented. The Tinubu administration entered a significant lobbying contract with the DCI Group in Washington DC, with payments totaling $9 million per annum. The lobbying effort is designed to improve the image of the Nigerian government, particularly in countering reports of religious persecution and Christian killings, which led to the US designating Nigeria as a "country of particular concern." An initial $4.5 million was paid as an upfront retainer. Thus, the problem is not partisan. It is systemic.
The result is a grotesque spectacle: Nigerian factions fighting proxy battles on American soil, each hoping that a congressional hearing, a think tank panel, or a raised eyebrow from a US official will tilt the balance of power back home. Every time a Nigerian politician hires a foreign lobbying firm to “shape narratives,” they send a clear message: Nigeria’s institutions are not trusted to referee Nigeria’s politics. This is not merely a symbolic problem. It is a structural one. When domestic actors outsource legitimacy to foreign capitals, they weaken INEC’s authority, judicial independence, public trust in elections, and the principle that Nigerians, not foreign policymakers, should determine Nigeria’s future.
The cost to democracy and the consequences are severe; not the least of which is the delegitimization of domestic institutions. If foreign capitals become the ultimate referees, INEC’s authority erodes. Courts lose credibility. Elections become performative rather than decisive. Besides, it can engender voter alienation. Ordinary Nigerians, already skeptical of political elites, see foreign lobbying as proof that elections are elite games played on foreign turf. In addition, there is policy distortion. When foreign approval becomes a political asset, leaders prioritize external optics over domestic needs. Finally, there is sovereignty erosion. A nation that allows foreign actors to shape its electoral outcomes, directly or indirectly, risks becoming a client state in all but name.
Foreign governments can issue statements, hold hearings, or express concern. But they cannot, and should not determine Nigeria’s political future. The real contest will still be decided by economic performance, institutional credibility, voter mobilization, coalition building, and public dissatisfaction or approval. No amount of lobbying can substitute for legitimacy earned at home. Nigeria’s political class must rediscover a basic democratic principle: sovereignty is not merely territorial; it is political. A sovereign nation does not subcontract its political disputes to foreign capitals. It resolves them through its own institutions, however imperfect. If Nigerian leaders want stronger institutions, they must build them. If they want international respect, they must earn it domestically. And if they want credible elections, they must stop treating foreign governments as political referees. Until then, Nigeria’s democracy will remain vulnerable; not because of foreign interference alone, but because its own leaders keep inviting it.
Opinions
In The Spotlight
When President Bola Tinubu announced that Nigeria would extend the 2025 budget implementation deadline to June 30, 2026, three months beyond the original March 31 closure, the decision barely registered as a scandal.
Instead, it was packaged as practical governance: a mere extension to “allow for full utilisation of funds for ongoing infrastructure projects.”
But within 48 hours, three events revealed the ruse: Tinubu fired Finance Minister Wale Edun. Just hours later, on April 23, he requested Senate approval for another $516.3 million external loan.
Read together, these moves tell a story of institutional collapse so profound it should terrify every Nigerian who believes governance matters.
Edun’s removal was not sudden. According to Premium Times’ exclusive reporting, tension between Tinubu and Edun stemmed from “widespread complaints about low capital budget releases and slow budget planning,” which had “serially disrupted the country’s January-to-December budget cycle.”
In February, lawmakers accused Edun of recording “zero implementation” of the 2025 capital budget despite approving N1.15 trillion for capital components.
By December 2025, tensions erupted. At a Federal Executive Council meeting, Edun and Tinubu allegedly clashed so severely over capital releases that a presidential aide had to advise the Minister against raising his voice at the president.
One official present said, “From that point, it seemed that his goose was cooked.”
We know better now: Edun was not fired for releasing money recklessly. He was fired for not releasing it. He had resisted the “unsustainable” practice of “printing money” to pay contractors and instead prioritised debt servicing.
In a government committed to borrowing without limit, Edun represented a constraint. Now, that constraint is gone.
On April 23, Tinubu requested Senate approval for a $516.3 million external loan for the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway.
This loan, like many before it, was swiftly approved by a Senate that has abandoned any pretence of fiscal scrutiny.
This follows a pattern that alarmed even opposition figures.
In early April, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar issued a searing critique after the Senate approved $6 billion in external loans in less than four hours.
The loans comprised $5 billion from Abu Dhabi Bank (for budget deficit coverage and debt financing) and $1 billion from London Citi Bank (for port rehabilitation).
Four hours. For $6 billion. Not even the most elementary debate.
Atiku condemned the Senate for reducing itself to “a conveyor belt, processing requests of grave national consequence without due diligence. Borrowing decisions that will bind generations yet unborn cannot, and must not, be treated with this level of casual urgency.”
What emerges is not disorganisation but a deliberate strategy: approve massive budgets, execute them poorly, extend deadlines to hide execution failure, and request external loans continuously, not to finance new infrastructure, but to service existing debt and plug gaps created by poor spending.
According to theWorld Bank data cited by Atiku, Nigeria’s exposure to the International Development Association had risen to $18.7 billion by February 2026, placing the country among the largest recipients of concessional loans globally.
In March, while Edun was still nominally Finance Minister, the government requested an additional $6 billion in external borrowing, even as the Debt Management Office pursued aggressive domestic borrowing through high-volume bond auctions.
The math is inescapable: Nigeria is now borrowing not to invest in growth, but to service prior borrowing.
Few writers can claim to have criticised Atiku more than myself in the past two decades, but he is certainly correct on this one: “Resorting to fresh borrowing to service existing debts, plug budget gaps, and meet routine obligations…reflects a troubling absence of fiscal discipline, clear prioritisation, and sustainable economic planning.”
Atiku posed the critical question: “What does a government that appears to be preparing for electoral rejection in 2027 intend to do with an additional $6 billion in borrowed funds, on top of the mounting obligations it has already accumulated in just the first quarter of 2026?”
This is why Edun’s removal makes perfect sense: He was an obstacle to a borrowing drive on steroids.
His insistence on debt servicing, his resistance to “printing money,” his refusal to release capital budgets when execution capacity was nil, all these made him expendable.
His firing signals that the path is now clear: borrow continuously, execute sporadically, extend budgets infinitely, and rotate out any official who asks uncomfortable questions.
If budget execution failure was the genuine problem, two evidence-based policies could have addressed it without the fiction of extension deadlines.
Policy One: Use-It-or-Lose-It Reversion with Mandatory Public Inquiry:
Under this mechanism, any funds unspent by March 31 would revert to a centralised contingency account, jointly overseen by the Budget Office and National Assembly. Before reallocation, these reverted funds would trigger mandatory public inquiry: Which ministries failed? Were procurement processes broken? Was deliberate underspending occurring to preserve cash for debt service?
This creates real consequences for non-performance and makes execution discipline a matter of institutional reputation. Several nations use variants of this approach. The result is visible accountability, and that visibility itself creates incentive for improvement.
Policy Two: Quarterly Budget Reviews with Automatic Reallocation:
Every 90 days, the Budget Office would assess spending velocity. Ministries on track continue spending; underperforming ministries have allocations immediately reallocated to performers. The underperforming ministry must justify failure publicly, in writing.
This makes execution visible in real-time. It rewards actual performance rather than optimistic projections. Ministries and contractors would have every incentive to execute, because underperformance is immediately visible and immediately punished through reallocation.
Budgetary discipline is foundational to democracy. When a government can spend money on undefined timelines under invisible oversight with no consequences for failure, it has exempted itself from accountability.
The National Assembly becomes ceremonial, as exemplified by the current one under Godswill Akpabio. Citizens lose the baseline to measure whether tax revenue was wasted or stolen.
In an election year, this matters intensely. A government seeking re-election should demonstrate efficiency and disciplined execution. Instead, the pattern—budget extension, Finance Minister removal, serial loan requests, Senate approval in hours, signals an administration so insulated from consequences that it need not demonstrate competence at all.
Atiku stated it plainly, “Nigeria is not a private enterprise to be leveraged at will. The future of our nation cannot be signed away in a matter of hours.”
He was right. That future is being mortgaged systematically, with institutional blessing. And the real scandal is that the one official who stood between the presidency and unlimited borrowing authority has been removed.
Between Tinubu, Akpabio and the man for whom the president holds out the federal hat, …Chagoury, it is party time at Aso Rock.
Now, Nigerians learn the truth, not because Edun is gone, but because of that “Anybody else?” glance around the room.
This moment is another reminder that, unlike every successful nation or endeavour, Nigeria is not run by rules or regulations, patriotism or principle.