Author: Drum Africa Correspondent
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday seeking to ban transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports, in his latest move targeting transgender people since returning to office. “From now on women’s sports will be only for women,” Trump said before he signed the order at the White House, surrounded by dozens of children and female athletes. “With this executive order the war on women’s sports is over.” Top Republicans including US House Speaker Mike Johnson and firebrand Congresswoman Marjorie Green were among those in the audience to watch the signing ceremony. “We will defend the proud…
Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, led a high-profile Nigerian delegation to initiate the repatriation of refugees who fled the Boko Haram insurgency to Baga Sola, Chad Republic. The displaced persons, mostly Borno indigenes, have spent nearly 10 years away from their homeland due to the insurgency that affected communities around the Lake Chad Basin. The delegation, which included the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Yusuf Sununu, and the Federal Commissioner/CEO of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, was received in Baga Sola on Wednesday by the Governor of Lac Province, Saleh Tidjani. The…
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, on Wednesday, welcomed the senator representing Delta North, Senator Ned Nwoko, following his defection from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party. Nwoko, who officially defected to the APC, hinged his exit on the current crisis rocking the PDP leadership. Nwoko added that Delta Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and a former governor of the state, Ifeanyi Okowa, did not accord him a conducive atmosphere to function at an optimal level. Welcoming Nwoko on Wednesday, Ganduje assured his delegation that with all three Delta senators on their side, the ruling party is…
President Bola Tinubu has raised the proposed 2025 budget from ₦49.7 trillion to ₦54.2 trillion, citing additional revenues generated by key government agencies. The President conveyed the budget adjustment in separate letters sent to both the Senate and the House of Representatives, which were read during plenary today by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio. According to President Tinubu, the increase was driven by ₦1.4 trillion in additional revenue from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), ₦1.2 trillion from the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), and ₦1.8 trillion generated by other government-owned agencies. Following the announcement, the Senate President has referred the…
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, has announced Prof Adamu Ahmed as its new vice-chancellor. Prof Ahmed’s appointment was announced on Wednesday morning by the school’s public affairs directorate. He was picked by the institution’s Governing Council, chaired by Mahmud Yayale Ahmed, during its 209th special council meeting. Ahmed teaches at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning of the institution. He was a one-time Director of the institution’s Directorate of University Advancement; Prof. Ahmed is the current Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the Federal University of Education, Kano. “Prof Ahmed’s appointment was announced at 6:15 am today (Wednesday,…
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) has predicted high-intensity rainfall likely resulting in flash floods between May and June 2025 in coastal cities of the country. The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, made this disclosure while presenting the annual climate prediction for the year 2025 in Abuja. He also revealed that the onset of rain is predicted to be delayed over the northern and central states of Plateau as well as parts of Kaduna, Niger, Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba, Adamawa, and Kwara. While early onset is expected over the southern states of Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Anambra, and sections of…
The management of the Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo, Taraba State, has dismissed recent media reports alleging a severe drug shortage at the hospital. It acknowledged that while the hospital has faced some challenges in the supply chain, the situation was not as complicated as portrayed in certain media reports. Haruna Abubakar of the hospital’s Press and Protocol Department in a statement on Tuesday, said the FMC management is committed to ensuring the availability of drugs and the delivery of quality healthcare services. The statement reads, “When this administration took over nearly five years ago, we inherited a significant debt related…
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, Kaduna State University branch, has announced plans to embark on an indefinite strike starting on February 11 due to unresolved welfare concerns. The union announced this in a letter signed by its Chairman, Dr Peter Adamu, and Secretary, Dr Peter Waziri, addressed to the national body seeking approval for the action. The letter, obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Tuesday, highlighted the union’s decision to embark on the strike following the non-response from the Kaduna State Government regarding their grievances. Some of the issues raised by the union include nonpayment…
A Tokyo court on Tuesday upheld a suspended six-month sentence for former Nissan executive, Greg Kelly, a one-time aide of the firm’s fugitive ex-CEO Carlos Ghosn. Both prosecutors and Kelly, a 68-year-old American charged with helping Ghosn attempt to conceal income, had questioned the 2022 verdict, but the Tokyo High Court dismissed their appeals. Kelly was arrested in 2018 in Japan at the same time as Ghosn, whose detention sent shockwaves around the business world. Ghosn, a French, Lebanese and Brazilian national, fled the country concealed in a music equipment box the following year while on bail — leaving Kelly…
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) rose from its inaugural meeting in 2025, on Monday, with the approval of the sum of N4.8 billion for the treatment of HIV patients across the country. The approval came on the heels of the recent plan by President Donald Trump of the United States to suspend financial assistance to countries for HIV treatment, among others. The Council also approved $1 billion for health governance and human capital development which the sub nationals are expected to benefit from. Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Ali Pate, disclosed this while briefing newsmen at the end of…