A CARPENTER and father in the Makoko area of Lagos State, Papa Eve Amossou, has alleged that his three-week-old daughter died during the ongoing demolition of the waterfront community by the state government.
Amossou said the tragedy occurred amid the chaos that trailed the enforcement of the demolition order by security operatives. According to him, police fired tear gas to disperse residents, and in the confusion, his wife, who was carrying their newborn, slipped into the lagoon.
he said symphatisers rescued both mother and child and rushed them to a nearby hospital, where medical personnel confirmed the baby had died.
“They started firing tear gas and people were running. My wife was holding our baby when she slipped and fell into the water. We took the child to the hospital, but they said she was already dead,” Amossou said.
He added that his workshop, which provided the family’s livelihood, was also destroyed during the exercise, leaving him without work.
The ICIR reported that the Lagos State government began demolishing parts of Makoko, a densely populated waterfront community along the Third Mainland Bridge, three weeks ago. Authorities said the exercise was part of a broader plan to redevelop waterfront areas and increase revenue from coastal assets.
Makoko has long been a flashpoint for forced evictions, with its first large-scale demolition in April 2005 and another in July 2012, when armed police dismantled parts of the stilt community after issuing a 72-hour notice.
The Lagos State government has defended the current demolition, emphasising safety concerns, particularly for structures built near high-tension power lines. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the exercise was necessary to prevent potential accidents. “Of what interest would it be for the government to demolish anyone’s structure if not for the overall safety of citizens?” he said.
The demolitions have disrupted lives beyond the alleged death of the carpenter’s child, with nursing mothers and infants rendered homeless and basic services, including immunisation services, negatively affected.
Political figures have criticised the demolition for its impact on livelihoods and residents’ rights, calling for more inclusive approaches to urban planning.
Residents continue to live under uncertainty as the demolition continues, with many struggling to rebuild their homes and livelihoods.
Protests are currently ongoing in parts of the state over the exercise.
THE battle for land in Niger State is no longer just between man and nature. It is now between farmers, herders, and miners, with women caught in the middle. From Paikoro to Gurara and Agaie, farmlands are being destroyed and livelihoods are being erased. This report highlights how the women who fed their communities now struggle to hold on to the land and to hope for themselves.
Every morning, Agnes Aynadanyi, a farmer in Daku village in Gurara Local Government Area (LGA) of Niger state, walks past deep holes carved into the earth where her millet once grew. She does not need anyone to tell her who dug them – gold miners who have invaded their lands.
Agnes, who started farming three years ago, had always enjoyed bountiful harvests despite challenges of accessing fertilisers and other farm inputs but she barely got 10 bags of guinea corn from her last planting season.
Agnes woman famer in Gurara Local Government Area
“When they came, they took no permission from anybody, they just started digging the corner there,” she said, standing near one of the pits and pointing to the edge of the farm.
“Before we knew anything, they started shifting, digging holes everywhere. When we asked them, they said they were looking for gold.
“There was a year, I harvested up to 50 bags of guinea corn, but last year, I did not get up to 10 bags because these days, if you plant, nothing grows here. The land is dead; Look at what I planted recently, corn. You can see that they did not grow very well. The land is gone because of these miners”, she lamented.
Comfort Joseph had to abandon her farm located at Dikko ward in Gurara LGA of Niger state and move to a farm along Lambatta Road which is still in the same local government but a long distance from the farm in Dikko ward in order to be able to farm properly and avoid the menace of the miners who had destroyed her farm.
“These miners have really driven many farmers around here out of their farms, me, particularly. It has drawn farmers back. They made me vacate the farm I have been tilling for years. I have to get another farm in another village, which is some kilometres away. The way they have affected the land, in 10 to 15 years, no one can farm there, and the crops will yield results. The farm I abandoned is where I farm maize, guinea corn and soyabeans, and it is very good for those crops”, she said.
The identity of the miners is currently unknown, some of the affected farmers said some of them come from far northern states like Zamfara, Kano and Kebbi while there are foreigners who come from Niger and Benin Republic who also join in the mining. In Niger State, the government policy passed a policy in 2024 banning mining across the state but this has not been heeded to as there are several mining activities happening across the state – mining is very rampant in Shiroro, Munya, Rafi, Paikoro, Gurara, Rijau.
There is usually enforcement team from the state Ministry of Mineral Resources who often go to these mining sites to enforce the no mining policy, but the enforcement train are limited by funding which makes the enforcement drive less frequent, giving room for the miners to operate without restriction.
Farming between fear and loss
Across Paikoro, Gurara, and Agaie, not only are the miners the only concern for women farmers, who are also losing their crops to herders who graze cattle through their fields.
“I planted cassava, I spent a lot of money on my cassava”, said Alice Amako in Agaie LGA, her voice rising with anger.
“The cows entered and ate everything. Nothing remained. The money I spent on it before it was wasted. I will say I spent up to N200,000. When I went to complain, the police said they would look into it, but till today, nothing.”
Sarah Mathew, another farmer in Agaie who plants rice and groundnut, lamented that the Fulani herders unleashed their cows to her farm when her crops had gotten to the stage of harvesting and she lost a lot of money, including the money she used in hiring labourers to help her.
Women farmers in Agaie
“One of my challenges is getting labourers to the farm, I cook for them and pay them. Then, when you plant, the Fulanis will not allow you to harvest what you have planted, even yesterday, they cut my crops for their cows to eat, whereas I have spent so much, they won’t even allow us farmers to harvest what we plant.”
In Paikoro, Hannah Bala says she no longer sleeps soundly during the harvest season.
“Sometimes, I go to the farm in the morning and see that my maize and groundnuts have been eaten up (by cattle) overnight. Last season, my groundnut and maize were all eaten; I couldn’t salvage anything. If you confront them, they threaten you. They carry sticks and cutlasses.”
The cost of silence
The women farmers say they have learned to avoid confrontation.
“It is better to run for your life,” said Comfort about the herders. “If you fight, they can harm you. They have killed people before.”
But running comes at a cost. Many have abandoned their ancestral farmlands and now rent new plots in faraway villages.
“I pay ₦100,000 every year for land,” said Ladi Makun, who farms rice and pumpkins in Paikoro LGA. “We women don’t get free land. If you don’t rent early, you won’t get anywhere to plant.”
But efforts made to dislodge the miners from their lands often prove abortive as they return days after they are driven away or arrested by security personnel. Others return at night when the farmers have gone home.
Women farmers-in Paikoro
“We sometimes use police and soldiers to pick them up, but after some days, they reemerge and continue from where they stopped before they were picked. We quarrel sometimes, but they have not fought anybody here in my land. They always come back despite everything we do”, said Agnes.
The combination of destroyed farms, expensive rent, and high input costs has left many women with little or no profit.
“Before I even start farming, I’m already in debt,” Ladi said quietly.
Mining the soil, killing the land
The miners’ presence is changing more than the landscape. The air smells of burnt earth, and rainwater collects in the pits, turning them into breeding grounds for mosquitoes, and if a farmer or someone not used to the terrain gets unlucky to falls into the pit, the person gets injured and may end up breaking a leg.
“We used to get 20 bags of corn,” Agnes said. “Now, even with fertiliser, we get little. The land is tired. The holes are too many. You can fall in and die.”
Mining on fertile farmland has severe and often irreversible impacts, leading to land degradation, water pollution, and the loss of agricultural livelihoods. Environmental experts warn that unregulated mining contaminates soil and water with heavy metals, making farmland infertile for years.
Leah Kolo woman farmer in Katcha Local Government
The most direct impact is the complete loss and degradation of the soil, which is the primary asset of fertile land. Open-pit mining, which is the most common method, involves removing topsoil and vegetation to access minerals. This permanently destroys the land’s agricultural capacity. Mining waste, known as tailings, and windblown dust can heavily contaminate the surrounding soil.
This contamination often includes heavy metals like lead, arsenic, and cadmium. These metals are toxic to plants, inhibit growth, and can be absorbed by crops, posing a serious health risk to humans and livestock.
Mining is extremely water-intensive and a major source of water pollution, which devastates farming operations far beyond the mine’s immediate footprint. One of the most serious environmental effects is acid mine drainage (AMD). When sulphide minerals in excavated rock are exposed to air and water, they create sulfuric acid.
This acid leaches toxic heavy metals from the rock, creating a highly polluted runoff that can poison rivers, streams, and groundwater. This water becomes unusable for irrigation or livestock, as it can kill crops and animals. Mining operations also consume vast quantities of water, often diverting it from local rivers or groundwater sources. This directly competes with agriculture, which relies on the same water for irrigation, especially in water-stressed regions.
But for the women farmers, the danger is more immediate: hunger and displacement.
Herders, fear, and the fading hope
The fear of herders is the beginning of wisdom for farmers, especially women farmers, as the former move about with deadly weapons ready to attack anyone who opposes their cattle from eating the crops.
In Agaie, Halima Mohammed lost her entire rice farm when migrating herders let their cattle loose on her fields.
“Those Fulani who were migrating allowed their cows to eat up my rice. The rice was already close to harvest, and they allowed their cows to finish my rice. I could not farm last year because I could not get money to pay for labour. I cried that day it happened.”
Woman famer in Katcha
Other women say herders roam freely even in daylight, often daring farmers to protest.
“They behave as if the land belongs to them,” said Sarah Mathew, a rice and groundnut farmer. “If you argue, they will attack you. We are women; we can’t fight them.”
Sado said: “Sometimes, you will be on the farm and maybe Fulani will be roaming about with his cows around your farm waiting for you to leave. Immediately you leave, they will enter and allow their cows to eat up your crops. Some are even more daring, they enter when the farmer is there, daring them to do or say anything. They killed a woman on her farm last year because she tried to stop them from entering. They have entered my farm, even recently. My cassava was eaten up, though not all.”
The farmers say they have reported several incidents to security agents, but without results. “Even if the police catch them, they release them,” said Amina Mohammed, a widow from Paikoro. “It is like the herders have more power than us.”
Where the law gets tired
The Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, in 2024 announced a statewide ban on mining after a mining incident where a pit collapsed in Shiroro, burying many miners underground. This stance was reiterated by the Governor in October this year and covers both legal and illegal mining.
During a visit to the Niger state Commissioner of Police, Adamu Elleman, the former Commissioner of Mineral Resources, Alhaji Garba Sabo Yahaya, stated the need for a stronger and more aggressive response to tackle the issue of illegal mining pointing that the ministry does not have the required manpower for enforcement of the state government’s suspension on illegal mining. He appealed for the Police and other security agencies to assist the ministry in the enforcement.
Woman market leader in Agaie
The Director of Mining in the Niger state Ministry of Mineral Resources, Alhaji Umar Yusuf, who spoke to the reporter confirmed that there are a lot of people engaging in illegal mining across the state, adding that there are others who are mining legally after being issued mining titles from the Federal Ministry of Mines. He said that the mineral resources ministry has received a lot of complaints about illegal mining across the state.
He noted that the normal process in starting mining is to meet with the landowner and the community leaders where certain community development agreements will be reached upon but several of the miners, both legal and illegal ones, do not do so.
He stated the need for community residents to report such incidents to the ministry so that they will be aware of it and know what to do about it.
“What you do now, madam, anybody that complains to you, direct them to come to the Ministry of Mineral Resources. And once they come, we will lead them to the Federal Ministry of Mineral Resources to confirm what they will do with those people.”
Yusuf also lamented that there is no adequate logistics to go on surveillance tours across the local government areas where illegal mining is rampant, pointing out that these surveillance tours are supposed to be done bi-weekly.
“One of our problems is that there are no sufficient funds to go on regular surveillance tours. Because if we go and dispatch them today, they will return after we have gone. It is supposed to be a continual exercise, like every two weeks. We are supposed to go there with the men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps as back up but presently, the government doesn’t give us the logistics to carry out that operation.
“For the past four good months now, there has been no logistics for us to go on surveillance especially the logistics for the civil defence like fuelling our vehicles and others, all these are not there now. That is the problem.
The director confirmed that the artisanal miners are very despotic people who can harm anyone who forces them out without security backup, noting that “they are hooligans. They are very despotic people. But in our case, if the government sponsors us, so we are able to go there with our surveillance group, with civil defence and the other hunters to talk to them and make them leave.”
The Agro-Rangers and local vigilantes, on their part try to intervene, but their efforts are also limited by poor logistics and lack of manpower. The Managing Director of the Niger state Mechanization Development Agency, Muhammad Alibaba said that the agro-rangers are not enough in the state but the government is making arrangements to recruit more hands as extension workers and agro-rangers. Local government authorities promise action, yet the attacks and mining continue.
The Niger state Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO), SP Wasiu Abiodun said that the police has always responded to distress calls including those of illegal and artisanal mining activities in the state adding that a lot of arrests have been made with exhibits recovered while some of the suspects have been charged to court for prosecution accordingly.
“The Police Command as a responsive law enforcement agency have been responding to a series of distress calls, including illegal or artisanal mining activities in the State, such as the recent incidents in a school at Mutun-Daya, Shiroro LGA, Western Bye-Pass behind El-Amin area, Mechanic area around Angwan-Daji, COE Tungan-goro area and Korokpan, Chanchaga.
“The Command has made many arrests in this regard and recovered a lot of exhibits such as shovels, diggers, head pans, and other dangerous weapons including knives, cutlasses and illicit substances. These suspects were charged to court for prosecution accordingly.”
Abiodun, however pointed that the challenge at hand is the need for stiffer punishment for these offenders because it has been observed that they mostly pay a meager amount of fine and return to these activities after they are released, “We hope that there can be a legal framework for stiffer punishment to serve as deterrence.”
Farming on borrowed time
The result of the miners’ invasion of farmlands and herders leading their cattle to eat up farm produce is that more women are leaving farming altogether. Some now work as petty traders; others rely on family support.
Grace Disa, the Niger state Coordinator of the Smallholder women Farmers of Nigeria (SWOFON) said that women farmers in Niger East and some parts of Niger South are leaving farming due to the threats from farmers but added that she cannot give the exact numbers.
But for many, giving up the land feels like losing a part of themselves.
“I was born into farming,” said Agnes, gazing at her ruined field. “My mother farmed here. Now, even the soil doesn’t know us anymore. We will not stop farming, but we need peace to plant, and land that still remembers us.”
Still, they keep hope alive. “We will not stop,” said Comfort. “We only want the government to protect us, give us peace and land, and we will feed the nation.”
The cries of Niger’s women farmers are not just about lost crops; they are warnings of a deeper crisis. Each mine dug, each herd let loose on farmland, is another wound to Nigeria’s food security. Until the government acts, the women who feed the nation will remain its hungriest.
This report was made possible with support from the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) under the Strengthening Public Accountability for Results and Knowledge (SPARK 2.2) project.
THE Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award is seeking applications that celebrate the courageous work of women photojournalists.
The award was created to honour the life and work of Pulitzer Prize-winning AP photographer and International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award winner Anja Niedringhaus (1965-2014), with a generous $1 million gift from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.
With this award, the IWMF celebrates the courageous work of women photojournalists like Anja who inspire us to take action and better understand the world. This courageous work manifests in many different forms which may include but not limited to conflict or frontline reporting.
Recipients of the Courage in Photojournalism award will receive a cash prize of $20,000 and have their work showcased during the award ceremony. The IWMF will accept applications and third-party nominations in English until March 31, 2026.
Applications are not accepted based on the length of work or engagement in conflict areas. No matter your level of experience, you have a story to tell; if you are dedicated to your work in journalism and passionate about your content, apply!
The application deadline is March 31, 2026. Interested applicants can apply here.
THE Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR) budgeted N700 million for the construction of inner roads in Igbo Etu/Apuabi communities in Iyin, Ekiti State, in the 2026 Federal Government’s appropriation bill.
It proposes to spend another N420 million on the renovation of six primary healthcare centres (PHCs) in Owan Federal Constituency of Edo State within the financial year.
The institute also plans to spend N980 million on the provision of 14-seater buses for religious and community development organisations in Ikeja, Lagos State from its proposed N58.68 billion (N58,679,565,787) for the year.
Finding showed that the N980 million earmarked by the institute for PHCs repair represents 1.67 per cent of its total budget.
The ICIR reports that the proposed spending is outside the mandate of the institute, which includes “Rational exploitation of marine resources and conservation for sustainable development and healthy environment.”
Other statutory responsibilities of the organisation obtained from its website include “Genetic improvement of marine and brackich water living resources in Nigeria; brackich and marine waters; establishment of physical and chemical characteristics of Nigerian territorial waters and the determination of the effects of pollution of Nigerian coastal waters, and its prevention.
The institute budgeted another N1.05 billion for the fabrication, fencing and equipping of ultra-modern town halls in selected schools of South-South states
The N1.05 billion budget represents 1.79 per cent of the total N58.67 billion for the institute in the proposed budget.
It also seeks to spend N490 million on the supply of grains to the less privileged people of Njikoka/Anaocha and Njikoka Federal Constituency to reduce hunger in selected communities.
The proposals are coming at a time when the government is to fund a large chunk of its budget from borrowing through domestic and dollar-denominated bonds.
The government is also struggling to fund the capital component of its budget, with only 30 per cent achievement recorded in 2025, while 70 per cent was carried over to 2026.
Apart from the stipulated fund for borrowing, a large chunk of the budget is to be funded by the new tax laws.
Economic watchers lent their voice and urged the National Assembly to subject the 2026 budget to rigorous scrutiny, with lots of questionable allocations already identified in the N58.47 trillion 2026 appropriation bill.
The scrutiny, they said, should not be neglected, given the government’s proposal to borrow N17.89 trillion to fund the 2026 budget.
With Nigeria entering a new fiscal phase in which oil revenues play a lesser role, analysts said legislative diligence during budget defence sessions must not be optional but central to fiscal credibility.
Chief Economist at SPM Professionals, Paul Alaje, said the 2026 budget is most likely to be funded largely by tax revenue and borrowings.
He warned that while the government had expressed optimism around tax reforms, Nigeria’s fiscal history suggests borrowing will still play a dominant role.
“Perhaps the government expects taxes to deliver the 2026 budget, but if that does not happen, borrowing will finance the gap. The framework already shows borrowing above 30 per cent of financing needs, and that could rise,” Alaje said.
NIGERIA’S urban health system is heading for tougher times, as new projections show that urban populations across Africa and Asia will grow by as much as 90 per cent over the next two decades, health policy experts say.
The experts warn that without urgent reforms, cities such as Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Enugu could face deepening health crises.
This warning comes from the (community-led effective urban health systems) CHORUS Urban Health Consortium, a multi-country research group working in Nigeria, Ghana, Bangladesh and Nepal, which says cities are expanding far faster than the health systems meant to serve them.
Speaking from the Nigerian perspective, a professor, Obinna Onwujekwe, Lead of the Health Policy Research Group at the University of Nigeria and Nigeria’s lead for the Consortium, said the situation demands deliberate efforts to build resilient health systems.
“Cities across Africa and Asia are expanding faster than their health systems can contain, prompting urgent discussions about the present and future of urban health,” he said.
He added that the work of the Consortium “emphasises the need for Africa and Asia to build resilient health systems to address the challenges posed by a rapidly growing urban population and significant disease burden.”
To advance these discussions, the Consortium is convening researchers, policymakers and city officials at a major Evidence-to-Policy Forum in Accra on January 29–30, 2026, in partnership with the University of Ghana’s School of Public Health and the International Society for Urban Health. The meeting will focus on how African and Asian cities can build resilient health systems capable of coping with rapid urbanisation and rising disease burdens.
Across Nigeria’s cities and other focal countries, healthcare delivery is often fragmented, with public hospitals, private clinics, pharmacies and informal providers operating side by side with little coordination. This fragmentation according to a professor, Helen Elsey, Co-Director of the Consortium has contributed to poor maternal and child health outcomes and a growing crisis of non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.
She noted that CHORUS research has shown that informal providers, including traditional birth attendants, remain a major source of care for urban residents, particularly the poor.
One of Nigeria’s key breakthroughs from the research on linking informal healthcare providers into formal urban health system in Nigeria, according to Onwujekwe, is the creation of an Urban Health Unit within the Enugu State Ministry of Health, designed to formally link informal providers with government primary healthcare services.
Findings from the five-year urban health research further revealed that a large share of healthcare in urban slums is delivered by informal providers such as patent medicine vendors, traditional birth attendants, many of whom lack the training and oversight to safely manage conditions like hypertension and diabetes, despite serving more clients than formal health facilities. These insights have pushed state authorities to recognise that informal care providers must be integrated into formal health systems if quality and equity are to improve.
Beyond healthcare delivery, CHORUS Urban Health Consortium leaders stress that urban health cannot be separated from wider social and economic conditions. Poor roads, unreliable electricity, unsafe water, air pollution and weak sanitation systems all compound health risks in fast-growing cities.
The Accra forum is expected to showcase lessons from Nigeria alongside experiences from Ghana, Bangladesh and Nepal, where researchers are testing ways to integrate pharmacies and NGO clinics into government health systems to better manage chronic diseases.
SOME workers under the Joint Union Action Committee (JUAC) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have reacted defiantly to a court order directing them to suspend their ongoing strike.
Mocking the ruling, the workers said they were no longer on strike but would shun work until their demands are met.
The National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), sitting in Abuja, on Tuesday, January 27, ordered JUAC to suspend the industrial action that has shut down activities across the FCT.
The ICIR reported on Monday that primary and secondary schools across the nation’s capital were also shut down following a directive by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) ordering its members to join the strike.
JUAC gave the directive as contained in a communiqué signed by the FCT NUT Chairman, Secretary, and Publicity Secretary, Abdullahi Shafas, Margaret Jethro, and Ibukun Adekeye, respectively. The union said the decision followed a directive by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) instructing all its affiliates in the FCT to comply with the strike.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the presiding judge, E.D. Subilim, granted an interlocutory injunction filed by the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, and the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) in suit number NICN/ABJ/17/2026, restraining JUAC and its leadership from continuing the strike pending the determination of the substantive suit.
The judge ruled that although the matter constituted a trade dispute and satisfied the necessary legal requirements, workers’ right to strike was not absolute. He held that once a trade dispute is referred to the National Industrial Court, workers are barred from embarking on any strike action, and where a strike is already underway, it must be suspended pending the court’s determination.
However, workers protesting at one of the FCTA facilities in Abuja described their response to the ruling as a “stay-at-home” action rather than a suspension of the strike.
“We are no more on strike, but we are in our house. Let them open the gate wide; we are in our house. Tell them Wike has won. Let them open all the gates,” one of the protesters, said.
The worker, who was addressing journalists alongside her colleagues, added that employees would only resume duties after their demands were met.
“When they meet our demands, we will come. We are not struggling with anybody. We are going home to relax and be praying,” she said.
“They have the gun, they have the power and the resources, but the people’s power is more than their own. We are remaining in our houses. We are no more on strike, but we are not resuming work,” the protester added.
Some protesters also chanted “Wike must go” during the demonstration, while insisting the industrial action must continue.
When The ICIR contacted the Public Relations Officer of the Joint Unions Action Committee (JUAC) Holina Adejoh, for an official reaction, she said there was no immediate response to the ruling.
According to her, the leadership of the union is currently meeting with the chairman of the NLC to review the court order and determine the next steps.
Backstory
The ICIR reported that the strike followed a directive issued by JUAC President, Rifkatu Iortyer, and Secretary, Abdullahi Saleh, dated January 8, ordering workers across all cadres to withdraw their services from Monday, January 19, in protest against what they called the government’s continued neglect of their demands.
The union said an earlier ultimatum issued on January 7 had elapsed without meaningful engagement from the authorities.
According to the group, key grievances include the non-payment of outstanding promotion arrears, delays in the conduct and release of promotion exercises, and what they described as the continued extension of service for retired directors and permanent secretaries, a practice they said was blocking career progression for serving officers.
The workers also accused the administration of failing to remit statutory deductions, including pension contributions and National Housing Fund payments, warning that the situation could jeopardise the future welfare of affected staff.
JUAC further expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome of the 2024 promotion examinations, describing the exercise as largely unsuccessful and alleging that a significant number of its members were adversely affected.
On Monday, the striking workers, backed by the NLC, picketed the Nigeria Industrial Court in Abuja.
They also reportedly attempted to block the motorcade of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, who allegedly escaped through the FCTA’s back gate.
THERE appears to be no end in sight as the National Electricity Grid on Tuesday recorded its second collapse in 2026, consequently throwing many Nigerian cities into darkness.
A check on the website of the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) showed that all the Discos had no allocated supply as of 11. am, January 27.
As of the time of filing this report, data showed zero megawatts of power supply to the 11 electricity distribution companies in the country.
The grid recorded its first collapse on Friday, January 23, barely weeks after a similar incident on December 29, 2025, which caused widespread power outages across the country.
Grid collapses have largely been attributed to a combination of technical faults, including inadequate maintenance of transmission lines, and fluctuations in generation capacity.
Electricity generation dropped sharply from over 4,500 megawatts to as low as 0 megawatts as of 11 am on Tuesday.
Checks showed that all 23 power generation plants connected to the grid lost output during the incident, resulting in zero power allocation to power distribution companies.
Meanwhile, NISO has yet to respond to the latest grid collapse.
NISO had explained that the first 2026 collapse was associated with the simultaneous tripping of multiple 330kV transmission lines, alongside the disconnection of some grid-connected generating units.
MANY traders are currently protesting the Onitsha Main Market closure by the Anambra State government.
On Tuesday, January 27, viral videos show the protesters as security officials enforce the market closure order by Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo.
Eyewitnesses also confirmed that traders were seen staging a protest walk from the Main Market down to Upper Iweka axis of Onitsha municipal and chanting solidarity songs with the lyrics, ‘Say No to Monday Market’.
However, they were not allowed access to their respective shops by armed security officers who were on the ground to enforce the government’s directive.
Soludo had ordered the market closure for a week on Monday, January 26, following the observance of the Monday sit-at-home by the traders.
Traders who spoke with The ICIR urged the government and the market leadership to find a common ground to avoid further disruption of economic activities and other possible chaotic situations.
Some of them said they did not have any incentives or insurance from the government, yet they are subjected to a forced market closure directive.
“As traders, we have sustained ourselves for years without government incentives. The government doesn’t even give us loans for business. During COVID, when governments elsewhere gave palliatives, Anambra traders received nothing. We bore the burden alone. Yet, the government continues to collect taxes, stallage fees and levies from us. Today, the government that cannot do anything for traders is now using all security apparatus to enforce sit-at-home,” a businessman and importer at the market, Ezennia Ifekudu, told The ICIR.
Ifekudu stressed that the same government that claimed it was losing N8 billion from Monday trading revenues in the state was justifying a week market closure.
“This is a private business, not civil service. Traders are not paid by the government; we survive from our own sweat,” he added.
An importer and dealer in specialised ladies’ wear, Morgan Okoye, told The ICIR that the governor’s directive had disrupted business flow.
“I have some of my clients who came in from Lagos since Saturday and are currently lodged at Hotels in Asaba. They have already incurred more debts because of the unplanned market closure,” he said.
Public affairs analysts are also speaking up and urging the government to engage the market leaders in managing the chaos in the market.
“Soludo may not understand the gravity of his actions and their consequences. The earlier he summons an emergency meeting with the market leaders, security personnel and stakeholders, the better, before this escalates to unprecedented bad reactions. The use of force may not be the best option for this kind of situation,” said a public affairs analyst, Christopher Ihejirikwe.
The governor ordered the closure of the market for one week as a warning to traders and businessmen who defied the government’s order to stop the enforcement of sit-at-home directives on Mondays.
The governor expressed regret on Monday, when he visited the market, and warned that the state was losing much revenue to the sit-at-home ritual.
“The government cannot stand by while a few individuals willfully undermine public safety and disregard official directives meant to restore normalcy. This is plain economic sabotage,” he said.
The Commissioner of Information in the state, Law Mefor, corroborated the government’s stand, noting that “The government loses N8 billion revenue weekly to the sit-at-home order.”
Notably, the Onitsha Main Market is one of the largest markets in the South-East and has trading and business links to some West African traders.
The closure comes amid long-standing economic losses linked to the sit-at-home order in the region.
The ICIR reports that Anambra generated N52.69 billion (N43,689,648,058.74) as internally generated revenue (IGR) for 2024. This placed the state 17th out of 37 states, including the Federal Capital Territory.
Also, a report by The ICIR in January 2023 showed that micro businesses in Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, Imo, and Abia lost an average of ₦4.618 trillion ($10.495 billion) in one year due to sit-at-home.
DANGOTE Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals has increased its petrol gantry price to N799 per litre, while MRS retail outlets will now sell at N839, up from N739 per litre.
The company, in a statement, reaffirmed its commitment to market stability and uninterrupted nationwide supply of the product.
The refinery clarified that the Christmas price slash was a deliberate and temporary price support intervention to cushion Nigerians household spending.
According to the $20 billion refinery plant, its gantry price of petrol is now sold at N799 per litre, while the retail price is N839 per litre, up from N699 and N739 per litre sold since December last year.
The Chief Executive Officer of the refinery, David Bird, stated that the refinery continued to supply the domestic market with approximately 50 million litres of petrol daily, with nationwide evacuation and distribution operating normally.
He stressed that the refinery’s design flexibility allowed it to process a wide range of crude and intermediate feedstocks, enabling continued fuel supply during planned maintenance activities.
According to him, this capability ensures that the domestic supply remains stable and uninterrupted.
Dangote Refinery had recently resorted to gasoline imports to boost its capacity amid its Residual Fluid Catalytic Cracker (A type of secondary conversion process that makes heavy oil lighter) downtime.
As of Monday night, retail filling stations, including Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, dispense petrol between N805 and N830 per litre.
However, Dangote’s price hike may trigger a petrol price increase across the country’s downstream sector.
The president of the refinery, Aliko Dangote, had in December last year said that its N739 per litre retail fuel price would persist nationwide to edge out importers.
Petroleum Retail Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) had kicked against Dangote’s market influence on petroleum pricing, noting that it was disrupting importers who had imported at a higher cost to close demand gaps in the petroleum downstream market.
KANO State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, has officially joined to the All Progressives Congress (APC), becoming the 29th serving governor under President Bola Tinubu’s ruling party.
The announcement came on Monday, January 26, three days after he resigned from the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).
Yusuf formally communicated his resignation on Friday, January 23, citing internal crises, leadership disputes, and ongoing legal battles within NNPP which he said had destabilised the party at both state and national levels.
In his resignation letter to the NNPP Chairman of Diso-Chiranchi Ward, Gwale Local Government Area, the governor expressed gratitude for the platform and support he received since joining NNPP in 2022, but said unresolved disputes left him with no choice but to resign.
Yusuf was elected governor under the NNPP in 2022. His tenure was recently marked by internal party conflicts and leadership disputes, which he cited as reasons for his resignation.
Following Yusuf’s resignation, multiple NNPP lawmakers and officials in Kano State reportedly also left the party, including 22 members of the State House of Assembly, eight federal lawmakers, and 44 local government chairmen.
The lawmakers announced their defection during a plenary session on Monday, January 26.
This, many have argued, would cause a major collapse of the party’s structure in the state.
The ICIR reports that Yusuf’s defection is part of a wider pattern of governors and lawmakers leaving opposition parties, particularly the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and NNPP, to join the ruling APC ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Recent months have seen similar high-profile defections, including Rivers Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Plateau Governor Caleb Mutfwang Bayelsa Governor Douye Diri, and Akwa Ibom Governor Udom Eno, who all cited political alignment with the federal government as a key motivation.
Current governorship standings (January 2026)
Party
Number of Governors
APC
29
PDP
4
APGA
1
Labour Party
1
Accord
1
The addition of Yusuf as the 29th APC governor strengthens the party’s influence in northern Nigeria, consolidating its reach in a region that is often regarded during election.
Several online commentators suggested that the wave of defections is likely to influence both state and national politics, giving APC a strategic advantage in key regions ahead of the next polls.
The ICIR reports that there have also been concerns among political analysts that the shrinking number of opposition governors could result in a de facto one-party state in the country, as the APC steadily consolidates power under the Tinubu’s leadership.
