Author: damazah@gmail.com

Nigeria’s plan to turn its state oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), into a publicly traded firm is back on the table, ten years after officials first floated the idea in November 2016 and then let it stall. The question facing investors now is whether this attempt will be any different because this time the numbers behind it are hard to ignore. President Bola Tinubu told the leadership of Nigerian Exchange Group on Aug. 6 that the NNPC would eventually be floated on the bourse in its entirety, reviving a listing promise that has hung over Africa’s biggest…

Situational Awareness may have had to sell off the majority of its public portfolio last month, but the AI-focused hedge fund is still making some big bets. This week, the fund invested $400 million into Source Foundry, a startup founded by Stanford researchers aiming to make chip manufacturing faster and cheaper, according to The Wall Street Journal. That brings its total investment in Source Foundry to $500 million. Situational Awareness was founded by Leopold Aschenbrenner, a former OpenAI researcher in his mid-twenties who had no trading experience when he launched the fund in 2024. Early returns were reportedly strong, but…

GREG JACOB argues that the EFCC acted to protect Osun’s treasury When the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) moved to freeze the bank accounts of the Osun State Government, the reaction was swift, loud, and predictable. Political actors called it “an attack on federalism.” Commentators also took up arms against the commission. Within 24 hours, President Bola Tinubu reversed the order. But in the noise, one fundamental question was ignored: who protects the money of the people of Osun when alarm bells ring? The EFCC Chairman did not act on a whim. He acted on duty. His mandate under…

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended that a vaccine called Ervebo be prioritised for a randomised clinical trial against Bundibugyo virus disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).The recommendation followed preliminary animal study data suggesting that the vaccine may provide some cross-protection against the disease, particularly in reducing deaths. WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Candidate Vaccine Prioritisation made the recommendation at its third meeting on 31 July, after reviewing available evidence on the vaccine’s safety, efficacy, availability and feasibility. The development comes as the DRC continues to respond to an outbreak of Ebola disease caused by the Bundibugyo…

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the deadline for the submission of the list of candidates for the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections for the 2027 general elections to 11 August. Mohammed Haruna, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information Voter Education Committee, announced the extension in a statement in Abuja on Sunday. Mr Haruna noted that the extension of the deadline for the upload of nominations onto the commission’s dedicated portal followed appeals by political parties. “The submission window which, according to the revised time table and schedule of activities for the general elections, originally scheduled…

There has been a small slice of Wales in Argentina for more than 150 years. About 160 Welsh emigrants sailed to Patagonia in 1865 to create a new settlement, ‘Y Wladfa’, where their language, culture and religion could flourish free from English influence and dominance. The language is still actively spoken there, while more than 50,000 Patagonians can claim Welsh ancestry.One of those is Jeremias James. James was born and raised in Trelew, a city founded in 1886 by Welsh settlers in the Chubut province. Its name translates from Welsh to “Town of Lewis” in honour of its founder, Lewis…

We are all familiar with the cliche of the influencer narrating their daily routines – or should I say, their journey? – and trying to convince us, and perhaps themselves, they are living their best life. We know, too, about the websites offering intimate access in exchange for cash.But what if the online medium were put to more honest purposes? What if, instead of endless positivity, it presented a painful recovery from trauma?Haunted … Verona Verbakel in OnlyFans for Therapy. Photograph: Soraya AzbiriIt would, suggests writer and performer Verona Verbakel, be cheaper than paying for therapy. After a back-of-the-envelope calculation,…

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ABUJA — The Nigeria Revenue Service, NRS, has said the Nigerian economy is showing strong signs of recovery and accelerated growth following a series of “painful” reforms implemented by President Bola Tinubu. The revenue service, in an internal report, said the economy had moved “decisively from acute macroeconomic distress toward a more stable and increasingly resilient footing.” According to the report, the improvement followed reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration. The NRS said the administration inherited four major economic distortions: a fiscally unsustainable fuel subsidy regime, an opaque foreign exchange system that discouraged investment, a non-performing oil sector and a…

When Mathipa was assigned to the case a month later, he issued a subpoena to special forces to force them to hand over full details of this alleged training exercise and all the personnel involved.When access to these documents was finally promised, three months later, Mathipa had a premonition that he would be murdered – according to Brig Paulina Sekgobela, his commanding officer.”When [Mathipa] left my office he said: ‘Brigadier, you know, these people – they are going to kill me. I’m going to die’,” she told the BBC.On the day Mathipa was killed, he was phoned by a man…