Author: damazah@gmail.com

Can Nigeria’s record 2026 budget deliver as the second half of the year begins?  Festus Akanbi examines BudgIT’s analysis and the tough questions it raises When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed the N68.32 trillion Appropriation Act for 2026 into law, Nigeria crossed another fiscal milestone. Never before has the country approved a budget of such magnitude. The record spending plan reflects the government’s determination to sustain economic reforms, expand infrastructure, strengthen security, and stimulate growth. Yet beneath its impressive size lies a more fundamental question: can Nigeria realistically finance its most ambitious budget ever? That question has increasingly occupied economists, development…

Artificial intelligence poses a “Hiroshima”-style risk to humanity if governments do not agree to curb how it is developed, the foreign secretary has warned.Yvette Cooper urged countries, including the US and China, to agree international rules for AI, telling the Guardian she believes the issue will dominate foreign policy over the next two years.In an essay covering her thoughts on everything from emerging technology to Palestine, Cooper said the world was at a dangerous moment, not least because of what she sees as the permanent withdrawal of the US from its role as a global arbiter.And in a separate interview…

Police are making inquiries after a complaint was made about the finances of Yes Scotland, the group which campaigned for independence in the 2014 referendum.The Sunday Mail, external has reported on claims that income of more than £1.5m was unaccounted for.The newspaper said the complaint was made by David Henry, who was one of those whose concerns about the SNP’s finances led to the Operation Branchform investigation and the eventual conviction of former chief executive Peter Murrell.Yes Scotland Ltd, a company which was set up by former SNP leader and First Minister Alex Salmond to campaign for independence ahead of…

Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi and Femi Gbajabiamila Thanks to scientific advancement in the form of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing, it is now possible to determine a child’s paternity with a 99.99 per cent certainty. In the light of recent events that have left our collective jaws on the floor, Nigerians are beginning to wish that a governance/public administration version of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test were possible to help them ascertain the paternity of an administrative child of yet indeterminate pedigree — the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC).  Without the level of certainty that only science can guarantee, there may…

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is the first to be co-hosted by three nations, with the tournament being staged across North America in the United States, Canada and Mexico.Each country is different from the other, with football culture also having unique characteristics across each border. So how have the U.S., Canada and Mexico embraced the tournament, and what is different about the World Cup in each nation?Mark Ogden has been to three cities in the three host countries to find out.June 12: U.S. 4-1 ParaguayLOS ANGELES — There are two televisions in the Sushi Hanashi restaurant on Lincoln Boulevard in…

‘But is it theatre?” you might keep asking as you experience the latest offering from Silent Uproar. It’s theatrical; there’s a set and lighting design. There’s an atmospheric sound design by Eddi Pickard and a singular central performance. There’s a script and a director.The question arises from the form: The Night of the Werewolves involves the audience playing a version of the game Mafia (or whatever you call the game on which the BBC’s The Traitors is based). The performance begins with Alex Mitchell welcoming us, setting parameters and talking a lot about consent; the game is rated 18+ and…

With the passing of Olaseinde Odimayo, Nigerian art has lost one of its indispensable behind-the-scenes builders, a man who devoted a lifetime to connecting artists with collectors, vision with patronage, and talent with opportunity. Okechukwu Uwaezuoke writes  Who among those gathered last December to celebrate Olaseinde Odimayo’s 75th birthday could have imagined that the occasion would feel, only a few months later, like a farewell? The gathering brought together collectors, gallery owners, artists, curators, friends and admirers, all paying tribute to a man whose influence on Nigerian art was immense, even if much of his work happened behind the scenes. Odimayo was…

Education DeskLast Updated: 05 Jul 2026, 12:12 pm ISTStay updated with the major global and national developments for your morning school assembly on July 3, 2026. Read on for the full breakdown of top national and international news. Representational imageGood morning everyone. Moving on to today’s top national updates, India and Japan have forged a major milestone by signing a new defence and economic pact. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education is evaluating a landmark reform to give 50% weightage to school board exams for NEET and JEE admissions, aiming to ease competitive pressure on students. In space tech, Skyroot Aerospace has…

Carlos Giménez, a Republican congressman from Florida, broke with the Trump administration on Sunday, calling on the White House to reconsider its push to eliminate temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitian migrants.Returning some 350,000 Haitians to their chaotic, dangerous homeland following the US supreme court’s ruling that the Trump administration can cut off temporary legal protections, would be a grave error, Giménez said.“Haiti is a failed state, and I think that deporting Haitians that are under TPS right now, back to Haiti, would be a huge mistake,” he told CBS News. Giménez also called for the re-instatement of TPS status…

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was among those who had demanded the decision be reviewed.Asked about the USA’s World Cup performance during a news conference, Rubio said: “It was great. They got screwed with that red card. “There needs to be an appeal process for that. It’s probably too late for that.”More broadly in the US, there has been much disquiet from fans about the red card for one of their star players. Many media outlets have questioned the decision and the way football applies its rules – in terms of having to leave the field of play after…