General news

• Selection process for next UN chief begins

  30-07-2026 17:45 via vanguardngr.com
  
  The UN Security Council began the process of selecting the UN’s next secretary-general, holding a first “straw poll” to gauge the seven candidates’ support for the high-profile global statesman role.Four women and three men are so far in the running to succeed Antonio Guterres, who will complete his second five-year term on December 31, 2026.They are Michelle Bachelet of Chile, Maria Fernanda Espinosa of Ecuador, Rafael Grossi of Argentina, Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica,
  
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• Digital Finance growth outpaces confidence — Bridgforte

  31-07-2026 08:15 via vanguardngr.com
  
  By Babajide KomolafeThe rapid growth in digital finance is outpacing public confidence in the financial ecosystem, prompting the Bridgforte Centre for Global Impact to launch a new governance framework and the Trust Lab to strengthen trust in platform-led finansce.The Centre disclosed this yesterday at the unveiling of its flagship policy report, Trust Architecture in Platform-Led Finance, launched during a global online dialogue attended by over 400 central bankers, regulators, financial
  
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• Stakeholders raise alarm over foreign logistics dominance

  31-07-2026 08:11 via vanguardngr.com
  
  By Godwin OritseThe Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, CRFFN, has said that the growing participation of foreign firms in Nigeria’s freight forwarding, customs brokerage and logistics sector should be viewed as a reflection of deeper structural deficiencies rather than simply a nationality issue.Speaking on the ongoing debate over foreign involvement in the industry, the Registrar of the Council, Mr. Kingsley Igwe, said the issue deserves serious policy atte
  
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• Enoh hails Dangote as Nigeria’s industrial champion

  31-07-2026 08:06 via vanguardngr.com
  
  The Minister of State for Industry, John Enoh, has described Aliko Dangote as Nigeria’s “foremost industrialist” and the driving force behind the successful launch of the Nigeria Industrial Policy (NIP), even as he disclosed that his ministry was targeting a rise in manufacturing’s contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) to about 20 per cent by 2030 and 25 per cent by 2035.Enoh made the commendation while leading a high-level delegation on an extensive tour of
  
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• Dollar to Naira exchange rate today, July 31, 2026

  31-07-2026 08:06 via vanguardngr.com
  
  The naira remained broadly stable against the United States dollar on Friday, July 31, 2026, with only marginal movements recorded in both the official Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) and the parallel market.Data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria showed that the official NFEM exchange rate hovered around ₦1,379 per dollar, reflecting little change from recent trading sessions. Independent market trackers also placed the official rate in the ₦1,379–₦1,384 r
  
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• Otedola acquires additional N222bn FirstHoldco shares, now controls 26%

  31-07-2026 08:01 via vanguardngr.com
  
  By Peter EgwuatuFemi Otedola, Chairman of First HoldCo, parent company of First Bank, has bought additional 1.779 billion shares of the company worth N222.209 billion.According to a statement signed by the company’s secretary, Abiola Baruwa, made available to the Nigerian Exchange Limited, NGX, yesterday, the shares were acquired through Otedola’s investment vehicle, Calvados Global Services Limited.Specifically, Otedola bought 1,779,094,976 units of FirstHoldco at a
  
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• Can the Super Falcons bounce back to claim an 11th WAFCON title?

  31-07-2026 07:16 via vanguardngr.com
  
  By TONY UBANIA shocking WAFCON Cup story unfolded in Rabat, Morocco on Tuesday when against all odds, tournament debutants Malawi stunned record champions Nigeria 3-2 in their Group C opener. This result sent tongues wagging regarding the possibility of Nigeria’s quest to win their 11th WAFCON title and qualify for the FIFA Women World Cup in Brazil.The Scorchers(Malawi), playing their first match at the continental finals, stunned the 10-time champions with three second-half goals at Al
  
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• Menace of open defecation: Nigeria’s silent sanitation emergency

  31-07-2026 07:14 via vanguardngr.com
  
  YET, consider this: Right inside the major car park on inner Marina on Lagos Island, stretching from directly opposite the UBA Headquarters Building to the Old Kingsway Building (just before Oando gas station), is a public toilet. Five years ago, it had eight pit latrines and four urinaries. The stench oozing forth from inside is better left for the imagination. The methane effluvium from the pits is unmistakably hazardous as it stings the nose. The handler sits by its entrance, in the midst of
  
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• INSECURITY: US intervention in Nigeria questionable – Tukur Baba, ACF spokesperson

  31-07-2026 06:42 via vanguardngr.com
  
  •Asks: What did the bombing achieve?•Optimistic that a viable Nigeria is possibleBy Ibrahim Hassan-WuyoProfessor Tukur Muham++mad Baba, National Publicity Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, speaks on the achievements, challenges and future of the organisation, Nigeria’s insecurity and relations with other socio-cultural groups. Excerpts:About two decades after the establishment of the ACF, can you say the organisation has achieved its objectives, or is there still w
  
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• We won’t bow to intimidation — Adeleke

  31-07-2026 06:41 via vanguardngr.com
  
  •SSG regains freedom, APC kicks•They plan to arrest me too — Osun speakerOSOGBO— FOLLOWING the detention of Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Mr Teslim Igbalaye, by operatives of the police command over alleged vote buying, Governor Ademola Adeleke, yesterday, declared that the people of the state will not succumb to any form of external interfereance or intimidation as the August 15 governorship election draws near.This came as the Police command confirmed the relea
  
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• We’re crushing security threats—Ribadu 

  31-07-2026 06:32 via vanguardngr.com
  
  ABUJA— THE National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, yesterday, reassured Nigerians of the Federal Government’s commitment to mopping up illegal weapons across the country as part of efforts to secure lives and property.He said this during the public destruction of 2,819 illicit, decommissioned and unserviceable small arms and light weapons at the Muhammadu Buhari Cantonment, Giri in Abuja,.The exercise was conducted by the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Ligh
  
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• FG, Labour clash over use of fuel subsidy removal savings

  31-07-2026 06:28 via vanguardngr.com
  
  ***Savings used to service increased workers’ salaries, others***Oyedele lYou‘re economical with truth, Labour tells FG lDares Finance Minister to produce evidenceVictor Ahiuma-YoungABUJA — The Federal Government, and Organised labour yesterday, disgreed over the use of savings from the removal of fuel subsidy, with government explaining how the savings were used used to finance Ways and Means, service foreign debt, increased federal workers’ salaries, students’ lo
  
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• Zelensky, Netanyahu and Trump: A prostrate world at their feet, by Owei Lakemfa

  31-07-2026 04:59 via vanguardngr.com
  
  There are one hundred and thirty active wars lit around the world today and three outstanding men can be linked to many of them.But President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine has emerged the best tactician and strategist of the threesome. Always playing the victim, he just pulled off a major tactical link between the two most active and devastating conflicts: the US-Iranian and the Russo-Ukrainian wars. He did so by attacking commercial Iranian vessels in the Caspian Sea, hitting the Anna, k
  
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• Xenophobic attacks and ANC’s leadership failures

  31-07-2026 04:56 via vanguardngr.com
  
  South Africa is once again disgracing itself. The latest wave of xenophobic attacks against African migrants, including Nigerians, Zimbabweans, Mozambicans and Somalis, has reopened wounds that should have healed after the shameful outbreaks of 2008, 2015 and 2019. Shops have been looted, businesses destroyed, homes abandoned and livelihoods shattered simply because fellow Africans crossed borders in search of opportunities. For a nation whose freedom was sustained by the solidarity of the rest
  
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• Housing crisis: Declare emergency on building costs, not rent — Wamakko

  31-07-2026 04:43 via vanguardngr.com
  
  By Luminous JannamikeABUJA — Former President of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria, REDAN, Dr Aliyu Wamakko, has urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on soaring building costs rather than rising rents, saying spiralling construction costs, not landlords, are driving Nigeria’s housing crisis.With rents climbing beyond the reach of many Nigerians, Wamakko said the answer is not rent controls but cheaper housing production, arguing that lowering
  
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• What Ishaq Oloyede’s tenure says about JAMB, by Azu Ishiekwene

  31-07-2026 04:31 via vanguardngr.com
  
  If the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) was sick when Professor Ishaq Oloyede was appointed registrar 10 years ago, it might have been said that even great institutions have their difficult times. That’s not unusual. But JAMB wasn’t sick.It was dying and becoming so irrelevant that those it was supposed to serve were wishing it dead. JAMB was not just a problem; it had become the problem of gaining admission to higher institutions, with heartbreaking stories of t
  
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• Nigeria’s Quest for Energy Accessibility, Affordability: The AKK Initiative

  31-07-2026 04:23 via vanguardngr.com
  
  Nigeria’s energy journey has long been marked by a dilemma: a nation blessed with extraordinary natural gas reserves, yet millions of its citizens and industries continue to wrestle with unreliable, costly, and inaccessible energy. With proven reserves now standing at 210.54 trillion cubic feet (TCF) as of 2025 and among the largest in the world; Nigeria holds the potential to power its future, drive industrialisation, and deliver cleaner, more affordable energy. Yet for decades, this imm
  
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• Arrogance Personified, by Donu Kogbara

  31-07-2026 04:13 via vanguardngr.com
  
  Mary Habila, a young nurse on secondment from a federal teaching hospital named after him, was found unconscious on June 27th in a building owned by the Minister of Works, David Umahi. According to eyewitness accounts, she was naked, blood was oozing from her nose and mouth and she died en route to the hospital. The Minister remained silent when this scandal first hit the headlines. The Minister said not a single word publicly while lurid rumours and salacious speculations circulated in cy
  
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• Mentoring Key to Stem Nigeria’s Brain Drain — Ogunsola

  31-07-2026 03:31 via vanguardngr.com
  
  … As young doctors gain leadership, financial, career skills beyond medical schoolBy Sola OgundipeMentorship could become one of Nigeria’s most effective tools for retaining young doctors, even as the country continues to lose medical professionals to opportunities abroad, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, has said.Speaking at the close of the fourth cohort of the Dr. Abayomi Ajayi Mentoring Programme, Ogunsola said many young doctors are surr
  
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• Economy improving for Tinubu, worsening for the people, by Adekunle Adekoya

  31-07-2026 03:24 via vanguardngr.com
  
  LAST Tuesday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu received in audience the leadership of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), led by its President, Most Rev. Matthew Ndagoso. The clerics were on what was described as a courtesy visit.After remarks by the leader of the delegation, the president responded, and I quote, inter alia:“I have listened to you carefully, and most importantly, your key areas are security and education. I can tell you categorically with sincerity that t
  
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• Film Lab Africa heads to Kano as nationwide momentum builds

  31-07-2026 02:50 via vanguardngr.com
  
  Following successful Creative Hustle and Film Club activations in Abuja and Jos, Film Lab Africa continues its nationwide journey with its next stop in Kano on August 6, 2026, bringing together filmmakers, students, producers, writers, directors and creative entrepreneurs for a day of industry conversations, learning and collaboration.
  The Abuja and Jos editions brought together emerging and established voices from across Nigeria’s screen industries, creating opportunities for participant
  
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• BUA targets 2 million-ton imports with $85m port expansion

  31-07-2026 02:43 via vanguardngr.com
  
  . . . NPA expects double-digit cargo, revenue growth from BUA Port Investment – DantsohoBy Godwin OritseBUA Group has said it is investing about $85 million in the expansion of its BUA Ports and Terminals facility in Port Harcourt as it prepares to handle more than two million tonnes of imported raw materials annually for its growing food business.
  Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, disclosed this during a visit to the managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr Abu
  
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• Nigeria yet to Practise Omoluabi social democracy — Prince Faloye

  31-07-2026 02:37 via vanguardngr.com
  
  By Chris OnuohaPresident of the African Sociocultural Harmony and Enlightenment Foundation (ASHE), Prince Justice Faloye, has expressed dissatisfaction with the current APC administration, describing its neoliberal leadership style as un-African.Faloye, who is the national publicity secretary of Afenifere, stated this in a press release, saying Nigeria is at the bottom of the global Quality of Life Index due to its neoliberal push, which he said runs contrary to global standards of life.He said
  
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• 2027: Likeminds volunteers vows to deliver Tinubu’s re-election

  31-07-2026 02:32 via vanguardngr.com
  
  LikeMinds Volunteers for Tinubu, also known as CityBoy LikeMinds Volunteers, has said it remains committed to the re-election of President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general elections.The group declared that its nationwide mobilisation programme would continue irrespective of the outcome of its proposed collaboration with the CityBoy Movement.This followed an announcement by the leadership of the CityBoy Movement, Ogun State Chapter, that it had no affiliation with CityBoy LikeMinds.The General Se
  
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• Oborevwori winning in infrastructure, but failing in human capital development — Louis

  31-07-2026 02:03 via vanguardngr.com
  
  While acknowledging visible strides in physical infrastructure across Delta State, Chieftain of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Amb. Dr. Temisan O. Louis, has raised strong concerns over what he describes as an alarming, systemic neglect of human capital development under the administration of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori.
  ​Addressing members of the press,Louis argued that while asphalt and concrete projects provide visible political highlights, a state’s true measure of
  
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• Judiciary trains Zamfara magistrates, high court staff

  31-07-2026 01:55 via vanguardngr.com
  
  Zamfara State judiciary had organised a training workshop for magistrates, state high court staff and other stakeholders in the justice system.Speaking at the opening of the workshop, the Chief Judge of Zamfara State, Justice Kulu Aliyu, said adequate funding of the state judiciary would enable it to carry out its constitutional duties effectively.She appreciated Zamfara State government for making funds available for the workshop.“As we gather here today, we must acknowledge with appreci
  
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• Intervention: Zamfara gov’t begins renovation, upgrade of ABU Sickbay

  31-07-2026 01:55 via vanguardngr.com
  
  Zamfara State Government had taken over over the Medical Centre of Ahmadu Bello University for rehabilitation and upgrade.The government took over the facility better known as Sickbay at a brief ceremony at the medical centre inside the Main Campus, ABU, Samaru, Zaria held Saturday, 25 July, 2026.The contract for the rehabilitation and upgrade of the medical centre was awarded to Lakeside Ventures Limited.Dr Dauda Lawal, the Zamfara State governor, approved the project.This followed a request t
  
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• FUGUS VC commends Lawal over ongoing campus projects

  31-07-2026 01:53 via vanguardngr.com
  
  The Vice Chancellor of the Federal University Gusau, Professor Tukur Adamu, has commended the Zamfara State Government for its sustained infrastructural interventions in the university.Professor Adamu made the commendation when he led members of the university management on an inspection tour of ongoing construction projects on campus.The projects inspected include the construction of a one-storey Staff Office Complex and a one-storey block comprising eight classrooms, both being executed by th
  
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• Zamfara presents curricula to schools in Zurmi, Shinkafi, Moriki

  31-07-2026 01:52 via vanguardngr.com
  
  Zamfara State government yesterday presented the newly-approved education curricula to some selected schools in three local governments of the state.The state Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Abdulmalik Abubakar Gajam, presented the newly approved curricula during an official inspection tour of Shinkafi, Moriki and Zurmi Local Government Areas.The presentation forms part of the Ministry’s ongoing efforts to strengthen curriculum delivery, improve teaching standards and
  
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• I will create thousands of jobs by reviving textile industries, cotton ginneries, oil mills – Governor Lawal

  31-07-2026 01:49 via vanguardngr.com
  
  Governor Dauda Lawal revealed that he would create thousands of jobs for Zamfara people by reviving textile industries, cotton ginneries and oil mills across the state.The governor revealed this after joining Vice President Kashim Shettima on an inspection of the integrated industrial zone near Cotonou, where cotton, cashew nuts, soybeans and other agricultural commodities are processed into finished and semi-finished products.A statement by the spokesperson of the vice president, Stanley Nkwoc
  
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