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Osun 2026: APC Fixes December 13 for Guber  Primary

Osun 2026: APC Fixes December 13 for Guber  Primary

. Pegs nomination form at N50m

Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo

The All Progressives Congress (APC)  yesterday  announced that its primary for the August 8, 2026 governorship election in Osun State will hold on December 13, 2025.

The party also remarked that its nomination and expression of interest forms will go for N50 million.

This is contained in the party’s official schedule of activities detailing timelines for nomination, screening, delegate congresses , and primary elections.

In a statement signed by the National Organising Secretary, Sulaiman Argungu, and issued from the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja, the APC said the election process would  commence with the notice of election to the State Chapter on Friday, 3rd October 2025, while the update of the membership register will run from Monday, 20th October to Friday, 31st October 2025.

“Members whose names appear on the Register and are up to date in paying their membership dues over the past year up to February 2025 will be eligible to vote and be voted for,” the statement said.

The timetable also highlighted key dates for the sale and submission of nomination and expression of interest forms.

“The sale of Nomination and Expression of Interest Forms commences on Wednesday, 12th November 2025.

“The last day for submission of completed Nomination Form, Expression of Interest Forms, and accompanying documents & submission of Delegate Forms is Monday, 1st December 2025,” the statement added.

The party also clarified arrangements for women, persons with disabilities, and youth aspirants.

“Female Aspirants and Persons with Disabilities are to purchase the Expression of Interest Form while the Nomination Form is free.

“Youths aged 25 to 40 are to purchase the Expression of Interest Form with a 50 per cent discount on the Nomination Form,” Argungu stated.

As of Tuesday evening, more than 12 aspirants including the incumbent National Secretary of the APC, Ajibola Basiru, a former Commissioner for Finance, Bola Oyebamiji, a former Deputy 

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. Pegs nomination form at N50m Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo The All Progressives Congress (APC)  yesterday  announced that its primary for the August 8, 2026 governorship election in Osun State will hold on

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Nigeria’s Electricity Meltdown: Why the Lights Won’t Stay On

Nigeria’s Electricity Meltdown: Why the Lights Won’t Stay On

By Ugo Inyama

“Up NEPA!” — the familiar cheer that greets the flicker of returning power — still echoes across Nigeria. But in 2025 it is no longer joyful. It is weary: a sigh of relief mixed with resignation. Blackouts are no longer an exception; they have become the rule, shaping business decisions, household routines and, increasingly, the national debate over why Africa’s largest economy cannot keep the lights on.

Nigeria’s power crisis is neither new nor mysterious. What has changed is how acute it has become. On paper, the country boasts more than 13,000 megawatts of installed generation capacity. In reality, barely 4,000 to 4,500 megawatts reach the grid on most days — about the same power a mid-sized European city consumes but spread across more than 200 million people. Gas shortages, ageing turbines, vandalised pipelines and chronic breakdowns at thermal plants are only part of the story. Transmission and distribution systems leak energy like sieves, unable to deliver even the limited power produced. According to the World Bank, the resulting productivity losses and disrupted businesses cost Nigeria between $25 billion and $29 billion every year.

This vacuum has turned Nigeria into one of the world’s biggest informal electricity markets. Millions of petrol and diesel generators now power everything from roadside salons to banks and factories. Together, these noisy machines churn out an estimated 40,000 megawatts — many times the reliable output of the national grid. But the generator economy comes at a staggering price. Fuel costs have soared in the last three years, air pollution is thick, and poorer households are entirely excluded by affordability constraints. A dark hospital operating theatre or a student bent over homework by candlelight has become part of everyday life — the soundtrack of a nation forced to improvise for survival.

Meanwhile, grid collapses continue to puncture public confidence. More than ten national blackouts were recorded in 2024 alone, and 2025 has already seen several, including a countrywide outage on 10 September. Each collapse erodes trust further, fuels reliance on generators and undermines the investment case for any long-term reform.

Efforts to expand and diversify supply show mixed progress. Solar and hydropower projects dot the horizon, but many remain half-built or entangled in disputes. The Ashama Solar Plant in Delta State, at 200 megawatts, is a bright spot, but far from sufficient for a country of Nigeria’s scale. The long-promised 3,050-megawatt Mambilla Hydroelectric Project has been delayed for years by funding bottlenecks and legal challenges over land acquisition. Renewable-energy potential is vast, but policy uncertainty and weak infrastructure still keep investors wary.

Since the 2023 amendment to Nigeria’s Electricity Act, states are allowed to generate and distribute power independently. Lagos, Kaduna and Rivers have moved fastest, sketching out their own electricity markets and wooing private developers. But decentralisation is only as strong as the states’ technical capacity and financial depth — both of which are uneven. Without robust coordination and clear regulation, state-level projects risk duplicating the same problems already baked into the national grid.

Yet Nigeria’s electricity crisis is not destiny. It is the predictable outcome of decades of policy inertia, underinvestment and regulatory fragility. The remedy is equally clear: upgrade the grid to cut losses and stabilise transmission, diversify the energy mix to reduce dependence on gas and unlock abundant solar and hydro resources, strengthen regulatory institutions to attract private capital, and target subsidies to protect the poorest while moving the rest of the market toward commercial viability. State and local capacity must also be built to execute projects credibly and at scale.

None of these measures promises an overnight fix. But consistent leadership, credible policy signals and transparent communication could gradually rebuild confidence. Stable electricity would power businesses and homes and restore a sense of possibility to a country with vast energy resources and an entrepreneurial population eager to harness them. Nigeria has solved big problems before. Its fintech sector shows what happens when regulatory clarity meets private innovation. Its telecoms revolution shows how quickly a market can transform when incumbents are disrupted. Energy could be the next frontier if the country stops lurching between short-term palliatives and commits to a long-term turnaround plan with measurable milestones.

For now, “Up NEPA!” endures as a momentary celebration of a fragile service. Nigerians continue to hope for a future in which the phrase marks history rather than habit — and where the lights stay on long enough to illuminate the country’s full potential.

*Ugo Inyama writes from the African Digital Governance Centre, Manchester, UK.
www.Africandgc.org

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By Ugo Inyama “Up NEPA!” — the familiar cheer that greets the flicker of returning power — still echoes across Nigeria. But in 2025 it is no longer joyful. It

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Katsina Resuscitates 139 Communities with N1.7bn Projects

Katsina Resuscitates 139 Communities with N1.7bn Projects

Francis Sardauna in Katsina

The Katsina State Government has resuscitated 139 communities with N1,668,000,000 worth of rural development projects across the 34 local government areas of the state.

The community-driven projects, which cut across healthcare, education, water ,,and road,s were executed in the communities by the government through its Community and Social Development Agency (CSDA).

The state Commissioner for Rural and Social Development, Prof. Abdulhamid Ahmed, disclosed in in this an interview with some journalists at his office in Katsina.

He said the 139 communities were given a grant of N12 million each from the state government’s coffers, amounting to N1,668,000,000, to execute at least two major projects of their choice.

He reiterated that the projects had revamped the benefiting communities and empowered residents through inclusive and sustainable access to other essential services aimed at ameliorating their impediments.

Ahmed said: “139 communities were supported with a N12 million grant each by the state government through the CSDA to undertake at least two projects of their choice. These projects include education, health, water, roads, and drainage, among others.

“So, 139 projects were sponsored within my period as a commissioner, and we are hoping to do more next year by God’s grace. These projects are out there for everyone to see and there is also a compendium for all the projects.”

He added that the state government, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), had built 152 houses for victims of banditry and supported over 1,300 vulnerable persons in the Jibia Local Government Area.

Ahmed stated that through the CSDA, the state government had empowered 6,300 vulnerable and low-income persons selected across the state with N50,000 each to commence businesses to become self-reliant.

The commissioner explained that the 152 houses had well-constructed access roads, adequate water supply systems, educational and religious facilities,, and other befitting social amenities to tackle the challenges besetting internally displaced persons in the area.

The commissioner reiterated that the government also renovated Jibia cattle market, constructed a new veterinary clinic and climate peace hub in the area to provide different vocational training for victims of banditry in order to improve their livelihoods.

He said the state Governor, Dikko Umaru Radda-led government has injected additional N2 billion to support the expansion of the UNDP-funded projects to Batsari and Faskari Local Government Areas.

The commissioner further disclosed that the government and UNDP would be constructing houses, providing  irrigation facilities and livelihood supports concurrently to victims of banditry in Batsari and Faskari Local Government Areas.

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Francis Sardauna in Katsina The Katsina State Government has resuscitated 139 communities with N1,668,000,000 worth of rural development projects across the 34 local government areas of the state. The community-driven projects,

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Federalism, Fair Elections, and Elite Consensus: The Crucible of Nigeria’s Next 65 Years

Federalism, Fair Elections, and Elite Consensus: The Crucible of Nigeria’s Next 65 Years

Nasir El-Rufai

A few weeks ago, I addressed a gathering of clergy, professionals, and everyday citizens at an interactive session in Owerri. I was invited to speak not as a politician, but as a fellow Nigerian, to reflect candidly on where we are, and more importantly, where we are going. In that room, I was reminded that while the history that has shaped a nation’s past cannot be undone, it is collective vision, clarity and courage that determine its future.

It goes without saying that Nigeria is at a difficult crossroads, but the evidence compels us to say it plainly. We are now the world’s most populous Black nation, projected to exceed 400 million citizens by 2050, yet we remain structurally fragile. Over 130 million Nigerians are classified as multidimensionally poor. Many are trapped in a cycle of deprivation, with limited access to education, healthcare, or clean water. Nearly 40 per cent of our youth are unemployed or underemployed, living in cities where opportunity is outpaced by frustration. Public debt has surged; inflation remains high and poverty continues to chip away at the dignity of millions of households.

These are not abstract statistics; they are signposts of a nation that is drifting from potential to paralysis. And though we have held elections every four years since 1999, a remarkable democratic feat on paper, fewer and fewer Nigerians are choosing to participate. In 2003, over 60 per cent of registered voters cast their ballots. In 2023, it was barely 27 per cent. That is not just apathy, that is estrangement. Many of our compatriots are, quite literally, demonstrating a lack of faith in our electoral system, becoming mere observers rather than rightful participants in our democratic journey.

Optimism in our country’s prospects is what propels every patriot to keep striving. In times like these, however, optimism becomes inadequate without a clear anchor. We need an openness of mind for candid and difficult conversations, to agree on a vision and summon a collective willingness to do be pragmatic, consistent and focused on implementing the policies and programmes that can translate that vision into prosperity, progress and pro-poordevelopment.

These, in my view, constitute the irreducible minimum of civic expectations that our politicians, public servants, business leaders, civil society and citizens must subscribe to, as the future direction of our nation. Some general agreement around this clear anchor of expectations – an elite consensus – is what Nigeria needs now more than ever.

We must craft a new elite consensus that transcends the arithmetic of power and confronts the fundamentals of how we govern, how we elect, and how we grow. Elite consensus is not a new idea. However, it still remains Nigeria’s most elusive and ignored governance framework. In every functioning democracy, the real stability lies not in constitutions alone, vital as these are, but in unwritten agreements among the elite about the limits of power, the sanctity of citizenship, and the rules of political competition. In Nigeria, we have the elite, but we clearlyalways lack consensus. We have competition, but we seldom show restraint. As politicians and leaders, we argue over access to office, but rarely over the shape of the country that we are trying to build, when we occupy the office. That vacuum has left us with a political culture that sees public office not as a vehicle for solving problems and developing a country, but as a spoils system, a zero-sum arena where personal interest and survival matter more than public service and societal substance.

To reverse this, we must begin where all democracies begin, with elections. Since 1999, we have held six presidential elections. Every one of them, except in 2015, ended in litigation. The 2015 concession by President Goodluck Jonathan was not just honourable, it was historic. It was also the exception. More troubling still, as mentioned earlier, voter turnout has plummeted with each cycle. The irony is unmistakable, even as our population has soared, our democratic engagement has shrunken. We are becoming a democracy in which a super-majority of citizens do not vote, and where even more citizens believe that their votes may not count.

This is not sustainable. If citizens believe the electoral process is neither credible nor consequential, democracy begins to hollow from within. This is why, we must restore trust at the very foundation of our system, the ballot box. That is also why I have consistently advocated for an immediate transition to electronic voting and real-time transmission of results ahead of the 2027 general election. This is not a radical idea, it is a rational one, tested and proven in Kaduna State during the 2018 and 2021 local government elections. The technology exists. The legal framework can easily be created. All that remains is the political will.

Imagine a system where each voter is verified electronically, casts his or her vote digitally, and sees the result transmitted instantly and transparently onconclusion of the election without human interference. Imagine polling units where rigging is rendered obsolete by design, where party agents, electoral and securityofficialswalk away with printed results within minutes of the polls closing, and where public confidence begins to rebuild itself, one fair vote at a time. In Kaduna, in2018 and 2021, such a system saw the ruling party lose some local government councils and accept the results.

Yet, elections, however well conducted, are only the starting line. What follows must be an equally serious approach to governance. Our political space has long been dominated by what I referred to earlier asthe arithmetic of power; the careful, cynical calculus of zones, coalitions, and incumbency. But progress and development are more complex than politicalarithmetic. It is a combination of engineering, economics, finance, sociology, geology, history, and many other factors that responsible leadership summons and mixes into a recipefor the greater good. To illustrate with just one of these: engineering requires plans, materials, blueprints, and most of all, execution. We must demand that the capability, capacity, and competence to govern are considered as integral to the ability to win elections.

We have to be truthful with ourselves. Today, Nigeria has more poor people than its total population at independence in 1960. That is a moral indictment, a policy failure, and a fact that tells us that no amount of oil, debt, or donor aid will substitute for serious economic thinking, planning, and execution. What we need is not more ministries with humanitarian titles, but a conscientious, comprehensive and continuous war on mass poverty, anchored on growth and development.

To do that, we must confront six uncomfortable but essential questions. How will we restructure our economy to produce and export value, rather than merely extract and import? Which sectors will be driven by private enterprise, and which require strategic public investment? How will we align our educational system with our labour market needs, closing the gulf between classrooms and industries? What kind of infrastructure, physical and virtual, must we build to enable a modern, inclusive economy? How do we fund healthcare and education not as social expenditure, but as strategic investments in productivity? And most critically, how do we reward honest work and discourage rent-seeking?

These questions are key to our national survival – and they can only be answered if we agree, across party lines and ethno-religious divides, that the real purpose of politics is to solve problems, not to share power for personal or group enrichment.

Which brings me to what may be the most neglected, yet most foundational element of our national crisis, federalism. Nigeria was conceived as a federation. It functioned as one in its earliest and arguably most productive years. The regions had autonomy, fiscal control and clear developmental mandates. That was an era that encouraged competition, innovation and accountability. But over time, and particularly since the 1970s, we have drifted towards unitarycentralization. Power gravitated to the centre, and with it, fiscalresources and responsibility. Today, the Federal Government tries to do everything and ends up doing most things poorly. States, meanwhile, have become dependents, awaiting monthly allocations rather than building internal fiscalcapacity.

This is not how federations work. And it is not how Nigeria can work. True federalism was designed as a framework for effective and inclusive governance in diverse societies. It means states taking up more responsibilities over policing, education, healthcare,infrastructure and taxation. It means letting sub-nationals compete and cooperate, not just comply with the dictates of thecentre. It means replacing uniform mediocrity with decentralized excellence.

The recent constitutional amendment that moved electricity and railways to the concurrent list is a step in the right direction. But we must go further. In 2018, I chaired the APC Committee on True Federalism. Our recommendations, which included devolution of powers, resource control reforms and enhanced fiscal autonomy for states still remain valid. Again, implementing them will take political will.

At 65, Nigeria must choose.

We can continue to lurch forward, alternating between bursts of hope and periods of decline. Or we can reset, boldly, deliberately and with collective purpose. In Owerri, I spoke as a witness to both the promise and the pain of Nigeria. Because I believe, with all conviction, that Nigeria can actually be great. But it must be deliberately made great – not wished into greatness.

That is the work that is before us.

Happy Independence Day!

·         Mallam El-Rufai is a former Governor of Kaduna State and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory

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Nasir El-Rufai A few weeks ago, I addressed a gathering of clergy, professionals, and everyday citizens at an interactive session in Owerri. I was invited to speak not as a