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Abuja, July 18, 2026 The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has released N7.61 billion retirement benefits of its 4,237 former retirees to nine Pension Fund Administrators. Adewale Adeniyi, the Comptroller-General of Customs, who disclosed this on Friday while speaking with some retired officers, said the money was transferred to the PFAs for onward payment into the retirees’ Retirement Savings Accounts. “The Nigeria Customs Service has released N7.61 billion to nine Pension Fund Administrators for payment to 4,237 retirees,” he said The NCS boss said the payment was to ensure that retired …

Abeokuta, July 18, 2026 – The Ogun State Chapter of the League of Veteran Journalists (LVJ) has congratulated Chief Olusegun Osoba, a Journalism Icon and former Governor of Ogun State, on his 87th birthday anniversary on July 15, 2026. The letter of the congratulation was jointly signed by Veteran Dele Akinsola (Chairman) and Veteran Austeen Elewodalu(Secretary) of the association. The letter said the veterans raised their pens and voices in joyful celebration of the legendary professional on the occasion. It reads: “Our Dear Leader, Mentor, and Doyen of Journalism On …

Dubai, July 18, 2026 – Iran launched more ​attacks on Washington’s Gulf allies on Saturday after a seventh straight night of U.S. strikes targeting Iranian military sites including logistics facilities, escalating the war one week after a ceasefire fell apart. Kuwait came under sustained attack, with a desalination plant hit and operations at Kuwait International Airport suspended due to repeated missile and drone threats. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said they struck a U.S. military support centre at Camp Arifjan and destroyed a radar facility at Ali Al Salem Air Base in …

Abuja, July 18, 2026 -President Bola Tinubu has signed the Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination 2026. The executive order, which was signed in Abuja on Friday, is in pursuant to Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution (Amended) and provides for a coordinated regulatory framework for virtual assets in Nigeria, Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, disclosed this in a statement on Friday. The statement said the Executive Order is to harmonise the regulation of virtual assets, strengthen collaboration among financial regulators, protect …

Abuja, July 18, 2026 – Nigeria’s Dangote Petroleum Refinery has raised $2.5 billion through ​a private placement as it ‌seeks to strengthen its financing structure, company executive Devakumar Edwin confirmed on Friday. The ​capital raised ahead of a ​planned IPO this year is expected ⁠to help fund the refinery’s expansion ​as it ramps up operations and ​expands in domestic and export fuel markets. The 650,000-bpd refinery, which started production in 2024, ​has ramped up output of diesel, ​jet fuel, naphtha and petrol, sharply cutting Nigeria’s ‌reliance ⁠on fuel imports. Last …

Washington, July 18, 2026 – The world’s first trillionaire is back to slumming it among the billionaires, according to a report by Forbes. That’s right. Elon Musk saw his net worth drop back to a mere twelve digits after the SpaceX stock price took a tumble after the latest failed Starship launch attempt reported ,  Forbes’ Ty Roush on Friday. Musk became the world’s first trillionaire last month after SpaceX went public in the largest initial public offering in history. He holds 4.8 billion shares of SpaceX, plus another 350 million stock options, and about …

By Paul Ejime Abuja, July 18, 2026 – Ahead of the ECOWAS Summit in Freetown on Sunday, July19, Guinea-Bissau’s two main opposition political coalitions – PAI-TR and API-CG – have called for a civilian-led transition government to replace the military junta currently in power in the country following former President Umaro Sissoco Embaló’s self-coup on Nov 26, 2025. In a Memorandum to the Chair of the ECOWAS Authority, Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio, the group demanded “…a genuine civilian transition, as recommended by ECOWAS at the Abuja Summit, (on …

New Delhi, July 17, 2026  – Oil prices inched up on Friday after the U.S. and Iran stepped up attacks across the Gulf, with their broken truce limiting oil flows ​out of the Strait of Hormuz and with Tehran asking  the Houthi organisation to ‌stand ready to shut the Red Sea export route. Brent crude futures rose 7 cents, or about 0.08%, to $84.30 a barrel at 0632 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures gained 16 cents, or 0.2%, to $79.11 a barrel. Both ​benchmark contracts have climbed nearly 12% …

 Lagos, July 16, 2026 – Fidelity Bank Pl, a leading financial institution, has reaffirmed its commitment to health and social welfare through a comprehensive intervention at Heritage Homes Orphanage in Anthony Village, Lagos. The initiative was executed under the Fidelity Helping Hands Programme (FHHP), Fidelity Bank’s flagship employee-led corporate social responsibility scheme which empowers staff to identify impactful community projects, raise funds towards their execution, and receive matching support from the Bank to execute the projects. The outreach was championed by the Bank’s Audacious Class of newly inducted employees and …

Lagos, July 16, 2026  Union Bank of Nigeria, in furtherance of its commitment to building a cleaner and more sustainable environment, organised a beach cleanup in partnership with the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) at Alpha Community Beach, Lekki, Lagos, on July 3, 2026. Nigeria currently generates an estimated 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, with Lagos alone accounting for approximately 870,000 tonnes of that figure. More than 88 per cent of this waste is never recycled, and a significant proportion finds its way into rivers, lagoons, and the ocean, …