Author: Lagos Brief

When the momentous task of leading a constituted regulatory edifice like NUPRC is entrusted to a single person, the world expects two things: fidelity to statutory duty and demonstrable outcomes. In Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector, it is no surprising that those expectations have been largely met, and have been exceeded on many occasions by Engineer Gbenga Komolafe. Being the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Komolafe is a living metonym for “Regulatory Excellence”, one who is meticulous in method, and relentless in his delivery. Komolafe’s regulatory excellence is a precis of performance. His ability to expressly…

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sent the names of 32 ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation, days after he sent the first batch of three names. In two separate letters to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, President Tinubu asked the Senate to consider and confirm expeditiously 15 nominees as career ambassadors and 17 nominees as non-career ambassadors. There are four women on the career ambassadors’ list and six women on the non-career ambassadors’ list. Among the non-career ambassador designates are Barrister Ogbonnaya Kalu from Abia, a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri (Delta), former chairman of the Independent National Electoral…

Last year, 2024, renowned Islamic scholar and leader of Tijjaniyyah islamic sect, Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi, reportedly clocked the milestone age of 100 years according to the Islamic calendar. Born on Almuharram 2, 1346 A.H. Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi’s contributions to Islamic scholarship and education have been widely celebrated. He was born in Nafada, initially part of the old Bauchi State, but now in Gombe State. Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi currently resides in Kofar Gombe area of Bauchi metropolis of Bauchi State. He began his Islamic education under the tutelage of his father, Alhaji Usman, becoming a Hafizul Qur-an (memoriser of the…

The Lagos State House of Assembly came alive once again on Tuesday, 26 November 2025, when Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu presented the 2026 budget. As usual, the Chamber was filled with dignitaries from all walks of life. However, unlike last year—when the atmosphere was tense and the Speaker and the majority of members hid their faces behind goggles—the mood this year was genial. The Speaker’s Idiosyncrasy Since COVID-19, whenever the Speaker enters the Chamber, he rubs his hands with sanitiser and wipes down his table. But on this particular Tuesday, the hand-rubbing and the rearrangement of his table took so long…

Nigeria’s push to eliminate illegal mining and safeguard its mineral wealth has received renewed momentum with the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which has launched a specialised capacity-building programme for the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Mining Marshals. The initiative—part of the Canada-funded Project to Strengthen Nigeria’s Response to Criminal and Terrorist Finance Related to Minerals—will train Mining Marshals Corps (MMC) personnel to strength their detection, investigation, and disruption of criminal and terrorist financial networks that are tied to mineral exploitation. The four-day workshop, scheduled to hold from 25–28 November 2025 in…

Malaysia is on the verge of a digital transformation. The government has set up a new rule for social media and messaging apps. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has started a class licensing for big online sites. This has caused a lot of discussion among different groups. This change will greatly affect online fun, like online betting. The role of regulated platforms will also change. As the digital world grows, strong rules are needed to keep it safe and fair. This new rule means more control over online activities. It might change how sites like gembet work. Malaysia…

On the surface, the piece published in the online and PDF editions of the Africa Oil+Gas Report on 24 November 2025 under the title “The irregularities of the regulator will keep Nigeria’s upstream underachieving” wears the respectable garb of a professional intervention designed to stimulate debate and provoke corrective action. A closer, honest reading instantly betrays the personal grievance of the publisher, Toyin Akinosho, who has cynically disguised his private shopping list as an “editorial.” The deliberate distortion of facts, the selective deployment of half-truths, and the insertion of outright falsehoods disgrace the very idea of an editorial—an exercise that…

It is with profound sadness and a heavy heart that the National Headquarters of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria received the devastating news of the passing of our beloved brother and member, Ustaz Alqasim Usman Ibrahim, the respected Ameer of MSSN Yauri Area Council; who was abducted in his farm by armed criminals on Saturday 16th November 2025. Despite prayers and hopes for his safe return, we were deeply pained to learn that he was confirmed killed on Sunday 17th November 2025. This tragic loss has thrown our entire organization into mourning. Ustaz Alqasim was not only a committed…

Yorubaland in Nigeria has embraced Islam some seven centuries ago. The Islamic faith has passed through different stages in the region. There is a consensus by researchers over the need for reforming many practices of Yoruba Muslims, including their clerics. Those areas that need reformation among Yoruba Muslims, as asserted by Al-Ilori, Opeloye, Oloyede and Arikewuyo include but not limited to, syncretism (an act of mixing Islam with paganism), hereditary imamship, incompetent clerics and Imams, enslavement of Arabic pupils by their teachers, practice of spiritual power through satanic means by Alfas and worshipping of graves, etc. The attempt to address…

His Excellency, Farmer (Dr) Mohammed Umaru Bago, Niger State Governor’s model, carries lessons for Nigerian and African governance more broadly. Agriculture-Led Growth: By centering his state’s economy on farming, he challenges the narrative that agriculture is backward—positioning it instead as a driver of modern economic transformation by making our farmers’ hero Mass mechanization, tractor deployment, expansion of farmland, and Special Agro-processing zones (SAPZ) Strenghtling small-holders farmer and out-grower schemes for youth and women empowerment Development Diplomacy: His national and international engagements show how subnational governments can partner locally and globally to attract investment. Internationally, Bago has become a vocal ambassador…