Author: Platform Times Newspaper

…Jigawa Tops 34-State Ranking With 29.9%, Ekiti, Nasarawa Follow …Akwa Ibom Records Lowest Commitment At 0.6%, Imo Gets 4.2% …Ogun Spends N36.58bn In H1 2026, Ranks 13th Daud Olatunji A fresh fiscal performance report by BudgIT has exposed significant disparities in education spending among Nigerian states, with Lagos, despite recording the country’s second-highest actual expenditure on education in absolute terms, allocating just 5.8 per cent of its total expenditure to the sector in the first half of 2026. The findings also showed that Akwa Ibom devoted a paltry 0.6 per cent of its total expenditure to education, making it the…

…Daud Olatunji Five police officers have been killed, while an unspecified number of their colleagues were reportedly abducted after suspected bandits ambushed a vehicle conveying security personnel along the Sokoto-Gusau highway in Zamfara State. The attack occurred on Monday night when the officers, who were travelling in a Zamfara State mass transit bus popularly known as Bazamfara, came under heavy gunfire from the armed assailants. PLATFORM TIMES gathered that the officers were deployed from Sokoto State to Zamfara to provide security during the All Progressives Congress primary election for the Zamfara North Senatorial District scheduled to hold in Kaura Namoda…

Firdaus Obiremi Dangote Cement Plc, Okpella Plant, Edo State, has invested over ₦32m in education and electricity infrastructure in its host communities, awarding scholarships to 80 students and commissioning four 500KVA transformers. The interventions, implemented under the company’s Community Development Agreement (CDA) with its host communities, were unveiled on Thursday, October 29, 2026, at a ceremony attended by traditional rulers, community leaders, students, parents, government officials and management representatives of the company. The scholarship scheme covered 60 undergraduate students studying in various tertiary institutions across the country and 20 secondary school pupils drawn from the company’s host communities. While each…

Daud Olatunji A Lagos State Special Offences Court has sentenced a couple, Harry Uyanwanne and Oluwakemi Odia, also known as Kristein Uyanwanne, to 14 years’ imprisonment each over a N67.66m fraud involving a property belonging to the beneficiaries of the estate of late Dr Moshood Babatunde Odemuyiwa. The court also ordered the convicts to refund the entire N67,659,592 to the petitioner, Olusola Odemuyiwa, following their conviction for conspiracy, stealing and obtaining money by false pretence. Justice Mojisola Dada delivered the judgment on Monday at the court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, holding that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had established…

Toyyibat Qasim The World Bank Group has identified investments in agricultural surveys and data collection as a critical foundation for artificial intelligence-driven farming in Nigeria and nine other African countries, saying the data could help farmers predict crop yields, detect pests and manage production risks. The global financial institution said integrating agricultural survey data with satellite imagery, weather information, soil maps and other digital resources could transform agricultural decision-making, improve productivity and provide farmers with more targeted advisory services. According to a report on agricultural statistics and artificial intelligence readiness, recent surveys conducted in 10 African countries, including Nigeria, have…

Daud Olatunji As Nigeria moves towards the 2027 general elections, former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, the incumbent INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, and the European Union Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, have raised concerns over the growing threat of artificial intelligence-driven disinformation to electoral credibility. The stakeholders warned that the increasing sophistication and accessibility of Artificial Intelligence tools could provide politicians and other malicious actors with new opportunities to manipulate public opinion, circulate fabricated electoral information and undermine citizens’ confidence in the electoral process. They spoke on Monday in Abuja at a…

Toyyibat Qasim The Imo State Police Command has arrested a 26-year-old man, identified as Ifeanyi Chukwu Joseph, for allegedly pushing a 17-year-old girl, Chiamaka Chukwuokore, from a two-storey building in Owerri, the state capital. The teenager, who reportedly sustained serious injuries after falling from the building, is currently receiving treatment in a hospital, with her condition described as critical. PLATFORM TIMES gathered that the incident occurred on Sunday, November 1, 2026, at about 1pm, along Mbonu Ejike Street, Ikeneagbu, Owerri, following an alleged confrontation between the suspect and the teenager. The Imo State Police Public Relations Officer, Henry Okoye, confirmed…

Daud Olatunji Troops of the Nigerian Army, working in collaboration with operatives of the Department of State Services, have arrested a suspected kidnapper while allegedly collecting a ₦200,000 ransom from a female resident of Nasarawa State. The suspect, identified as Mukaila Iliyasu, was reportedly arrested at Akwaba in Eggon Local Government Area of the state during an intelligence-led operation involving troops of Sector 2, Joint Task Force Operation Whirl Stroke, and DSS operatives. PLATFORM TIMES gathered that the arrest followed intelligence reports that Iliyasu had allegedly threatened to abduct a woman if she failed to pay the sum of ₦200,000.…

…Forensic investigators identify 111 collapse incidents, 344 injured between 2015 and 2025 …Lagos accounts for over half of recorded cases as experts blame substandard materials, poor supervision …CIFCFIN, COREN, NBRRI launch initiative to tackle structural failures, demand accountability Daud Olatunji Nigeria has lost an estimated ₦4.6tn in property, goods and business assets to fire-related incidents between 2022 and 2025, while building collapses continue to claim lives and expose serious weaknesses in the country’s construction and regulatory systems. A 2026 engineering study cited by the Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Investigators of Nigeria (CIFCFIN) also identified 111 validated building-collapse…

Daud Olatunji Nigeria and the United States have secured 41 extraditions through joint operations between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the last five years, as both countries intensify efforts to dismantle transnational cybercrime networks. The United States Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria disclosed this on Monday, saying the extraditions were facilitated through the collaboration between the EFCC and the FBI Legal Attaché Office at the US Embassy in Abuja since 2022. The figure includes five extraditions completed in 2026, representing a significant increase compared with the period between 2012 and 2021, when the…