…Advocates trust, transparency, skills transfer, sustainable partnerships

The Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Abuja Investments Company Limited (AICL), Her Excellency, Ambassador Maureen Tamuno, has called for stronger partnerships between Africa and its diaspora to accelerate investment, facilitate skills transfer, create jobs and promote sustainable economic development across the continent.

Tamuno made the call on Thursday while delivering the keynote address at the seventh Diaspora Africa Conference, held at the Afreximbank Africa Trade Centre, Abuja, under the theme, “Homecoming: Bridging the Divide from Diaspora to Africa’s Future.”

She said homecoming should go beyond reconnecting with ancestral roots to building lasting relationships through productive investments, knowledge exchange, enterprise development and initiatives capable of improving livelihoods.

Drawing on her experience as Nigeria’s former High Commissioner to Jamaica, with concurrent accreditation to Haiti, Belize and the Dominican Republic, Tamuno stressed that diaspora engagement should extend beyond financial remittances to include professional expertise, international networks, entrepreneurship and technology transfer.

She identified trust, capital, skills, identity and policy as five critical bridges required to strengthen collaboration between Africans at home and abroad.

According to her, transparency, accountability and reliable institutions are essential to attracting diaspora investments. She urged governments to make investment information accessible, digitise public systems and ensure that transactions are transparent and independently verifiable.

“Patriotism should inspire an investment; it must never replace due diligence. Shared ancestry does not guarantee financial return,” she said, advocating structured investments backed by clear agreements, proper documentation and effective accountability mechanisms.

The AICL chief executive highlighted investment opportunities across the company’s portfolio, including real estate, markets, public infrastructure, transportation, entertainment and the creative economy. She invited diaspora entrepreneurs, investors and institutions to explore mutually beneficial partnerships with AICL to unlock opportunities within the Federal Capital Territory.

She also advocated a shift from the traditional emphasis on remittances for consumption towards structured investments that generate financial returns while delivering social and economic benefits.

Tamuno called for stronger collaboration in professional training, research, technology and enterprise development, noting that diaspora professionals could contribute through mentoring, knowledge exchange and partnerships without necessarily relocating permanently to Nigeria.

She further stressed the importance of including women, young people and persons with disabilities in investment opportunities, leadership, technical training and enterprise ownership, saying Africa’s development must provide inclusive opportunities for all.

To translate the conference’s resolutions into measurable outcomes, Tamuno proposed a Homecoming Partnership Compact to track progress over the next 12 months. The proposed framework would monitor partnerships established, enterprises supported, people trained and jobs sustained.

She said the success of diaspora engagement should be measured not by announcements and promises alone, but by functioning businesses, responsible investments and tangible improvements in people’s lives.

Tamuno urged Africans at home and abroad to embrace shared responsibility in building a prosperous continent, stressing that trust, mutual respect and sustained collaboration were essential to creating an Africa that future generations would be proud to call home.

“Let this seventh edition mark a movement from recognition to relationship, from relationship to responsibility, and from responsibility to results.We cannot undo the journeys that divided us. But we can choose the partnerships that shape our future.” she added.

The vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Rabiu Kwankwaso, has defended the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, following the “bogus statistics” allegation by Vice-President Kashim Shettima.

Shettima, while speaking during the inauguration of the APC’s presidential campaign council, said, “I respect Peter Obi. But he has gone beyond his mastery of philosophy to make a bogus claim about winning the 2023 presidential election without adducing a shred of evidence to buttress his assertion,” Shettima said on Wednesday.

He described Obi as “the master of bogus statistics and incoherent economic prescriptions”, juxtaposing the adoption of foreign policies without peculiarities with trying to fit a garment designed for a smaller body on a much larger physique.

But Kwankwaso has come out to defend Obi, saying although Obi, like everyone else, makes mistakes, Shettima was wrong to make the remark.

Kwankwaso spoke on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television, where he was asked to respond to the vice-president’s criticism of Obi’s statistics and economic proposals.

“What else would you expect him to say?” Kwankwaso queried.

“You see, I always listen to him (Obi). Like all others, I take time to check the statistics. As far as I’m concerned, most of the figures he was reeling out were correct.

“And the only thing is, because as human beings, we are bound to make mistakes or slip of tongue, as they call it. But for him to come and make that statement, I don’t think he was correct.”

He praised Obi’s “proficiency” in development statistics, describing it as a positive for a presidential candidate.

“So I am happy that our presidential candidate is somebody who is conversant with the statistics not only in this country but all over the world, in Europe, in Asia, everywhere. And I think that is a good thing,” Kwankwaso added.

1. The proposed constitutional amendment to establish State Police has suffered a setback, with only five of the 36 State Houses of Assembly having approved the bill as of Thursday, October 15, despite a 30-day deadline set by the National Assembly for the state legislatures to communicate their positions.

 The Assemblies of Edo, Osun, Oyo, Rivers and Zamfara have passed the proposed amendment, which seeks to decentralise Nigeria’s policing system and provides a constitutional framework for the establishment and operation of state police services.

2. The Independent National Electoral Commission has inaugurated a multi-agency electoral logistics committee for the 2027 general elections, warning that no Nigerian should be disenfranchised because of delays in the arrival of election materials. The commission also charged the National Orientation Agency to intensify grassroots mobilisation against voter apathy, vote buying and electoral violence ahead of the elections scheduled for January 16 and February 6, 2027.

3. Troops of Operation Fansan Yamma have neutralised several Lakurawa terrorists and destroyed their camps during a clearance operation in Waria Forest, Tangaza Local Government Area of Sokoto State. The operation, conducted on Thursday, October 15, also led to the recovery of weapons and five motorcycles from the terrorists’ enclave.

4. President Bola Tinubu met with heads of security agencies in the country on Thursday, charging them to demolish all bandits’ camps and rescue abducted victims across the country. The meeting, which lasted for hours, also centred on how to provide an enabling environment for the conduct of the 2027 general elections.

5. A car dealer, Chima Edmund, has accused the Lagos State Police Command of releasing a man suspected of attempting to steal a 2025 Toyota Tundra pickup worth about N130m from his showroom in the Victoria Garden City area of Lekki, Lagos State. Edmund, founder of Mayor and Sheiks Autos, said the suspect allegedly drove the vehicle away from his showroom on Monday after posing as a prospective buyer but crashed it into a canal in the Ajiran area while attempting to escape

6. The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), at its October 2025 meeting chaired by the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Shamsudeen Ogunjimi, shared a total sum of N2.428 trillion to the three tiers of government as federation allocation for the month of September 2026 from a gross total of N3.913 trillion. From the stated amount, inclusive of Gross Statutory Revenue and Value Added Tax (VAT), the Federal Government received N832.242 billion, the states received N799.872 billion, the Local Government Councils got N560.660 billion, while the Oil Producing States received N236.049 billion as Derivation (13% of Mineral Revenue).

7. The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has seized counterfeit packaging materials worth more than N200 million from five shops at Old Court Road Market in Aba, Abia State. The agency said the materials, allegedly intended for the production and supply of counterfeit alcoholic beverages and other products, included labels, corks, packs and outer packaging bearing the names of popular brands.

8. The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Nentawe Yilwatda, has assured party members that the ruling party will translate its numerical strength and organisational capacity into victory in the 2027 general elections. Yilwatda gave the assurance on Thursday in Abuja, disclosing that the APC had more than 261,000 executive committee members nationwide, as well as more governors, ministers, local government chairmen and councillors than other political parties.

9. The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, said on Thursday that the Federal Government had no plan to increase electricity tariffs. Tegbe made this known in Ibadan while flagging off the 17.7MW hybrid solar mini-grid project, which includes a 17.74MW battery energy storage system for communities in Oyo State. The minister described reports of a planned tariff hike circulating on social media as misinformation and urged Nigerians to disregard them.

10. The Federal Government on Thursday reopened the First Niger Bridge linking Asaba and Onitsha after extensive rehabilitation works. Speaking at the reopening, the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, said the intervention reflected President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to maintaining critical infrastructure. He said the rehabilitation was aimed at improving structural safety, strengthening security and restoring seamless vehicular movement between the South-South and South-East regions.