By Modupe Gbadeyanka

About 3,000 widows in Ogun State have been empowered with cash grants and business tools by the wife of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Mrs Temitope Adeola.

Her husband, Mr Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, is currently the Senator representing Ogun West Senatorial District at the National Assembly.

He was picked as the consensus candidate of the ruling APC for the 2027 gubernatorial election.

Mrs Adeola is the founder of Chadash Empowerment Foundation, and to commemorate 2026 International Widows’ Day, she gave out the items through the organisation’s annual Widows’ Empowerment Programme, which birthed in 2021, as part of efforts to promote economic independence.

The empowerment programme, held at the Ake Palace Amphitheatre in Abeokuta, Ogun State, brought together widows from across the state for a day of capacity building, entrepreneurship support and social inclusion.

As part of the initiative, widows who completed the foundation’s vocational training programme received business tools to help them establish or expand their enterprises. The tools distributed included sewing machines, grinding machines, hair dryers, makeup kits, deep freezers, and gas cookers. In addition, 2,000 widows received cash grants of N50,000 each to strengthen existing businesses, improve household income and enhance their economic resilience.

Mrs Adeola said the initiative reflects the organisation’s unwavering commitment to empowering widows through sustainable economic opportunities rather than one-time interventions.

According to her, empowering widows extends far beyond financial assistance, as providing practical skills, vocational tools and start-up capital equips them to build sustainable livelihoods, regain their confidence and become financially self-reliant.

“Seeing more than 3,000 widows gathered here today with renewed hope and confidence reminds us why we remain committed to restoring dignity, creating opportunities, and empowering vulnerable women to achieve financial independence.

“At the Chadash Empowerment Foundation, empowerment goes beyond giving; it is about equipping people with the skills, resources, and confidence to build sustainable livelihoods that will positively impact their families and communities,” the politician’s wife stated.

She urged beneficiaries to make productive use of the support provided by investing in viable businesses that generate sustainable income and improve their families’ welfare.

“The heartfelt testimonies we continue to receive from our beneficiaries reaffirm our mission. Their stories of renewed hope, restored confidence, and brighter futures inspire us to do even more. Together, we are transforming grief into growth, despair into hope, and challenges into opportunities,” Mrs Adeola stated.

Since its inception, the Chadash Empowerment Foundation has impacted more than 15,000 widows across Ogun State and the Federal Capital Territory through vocational training, entrepreneurship support, cash grants, and sustainable livelihood initiatives.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The federal government will seek reparations from South Africa for Nigerians compelled to leave behind businesses and other assets as they voluntarily return home ahead of planned anti-immigrant protests.

Acting Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa, Mr Alexander Ajayi, disclosed the plan on Tuesday during an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, as another batch of evacuees was expected to arrive in Lagos under the government’s voluntary evacuation programme.

Mr Ajayi said the Nigerian government had instructed returnees to comprehensively document all businesses, vehicles, shops and other movable and immovable properties they were leaving behind to facilitate formal engagement with the South African authorities.

“I have asked them before they left yesterday to document very accurately those things they were leaving behind in terms of businesses, in terms of even cars, movable and immovable properties. We can now take it up with the South African government. That is the next step we are going to take.

“So, this repatriation will not end with just taking people to Nigeria. We are going to systematically follow up on the information given to us, and I told them to be very accurate with what they are going to give because we are going to work with the South African government to get to the exact locations of all these businesses, shops and properties and present them to the South African government for possible compensation because we will not allow the labour people have suffered to build over the years to just go down the drain or be taken over by people,” Mr Ajayi said.

According to him, Nigerian officials had already initiated discussions with South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Finance on the matter and would systematically verify the information provided by returnees before presenting claims for possible compensation.

He stressed that the evacuation exercise would not end with bringing Nigerians home, adding that the government was determined to ensure that years of investment and hard work by its citizens were not lost without redress.

The envoy also rejected claims that most Nigerians living in South Africa were undocumented, arguing that many entered the country legally but became victims of prolonged delays in the renewal of immigration documents due to administrative backlogs at the country’s Home Office.

He explained that the delays affected many foreign nationals, not only Nigerians, making it inaccurate to classify them as undocumented migrants.

Meanwhile, an Air Peace aircraft departed Nigeria on Monday to evacuate another group of Nigerians who voluntarily opted to return ahead of demonstrations planned by anti-immigration groups from June 30.

The federal government has continued its voluntary evacuation programme for Nigerians willing to leave South Africa as tensions over anti-immigrant protests persist.

By Adedapo Adesanya

Nigeria has announced the discovery of new deposits of valuable copper, lithium, and rare earth minerals, boosting efforts to further diversify the country’s economy away from oil.

The Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development received a new report identifying Nigeria’s abundant lithium, copper and bauxite deposits as strategic resources capable of accelerating the country’s transition to clean energy and supporting domestic industrialisation.

The report, presented on Monday in Abuja by the Council for Critical Minerals Development in the Global South, outlines how Nigeria can leverage its mineral wealth to meet growing demand for renewable energy technologies while retaining more value within the country.

According to a statement by the minister’s Special Assistant on Media, Mrs Lara Owoeye-Wise, the report was formally handed over to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Mr Dele Alake, at the State House Conference Centre.

The report comes days after the Minister, Mr Dele Alake, announced the discovery of what the government described as a world-class polymetallic mineral province in Kaduna State containing deposits of platinum group metals, gold, nickel, copper, lithium and rare earth elements.

The minister said the discovery, verified by the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA), ranks among the most significant developments in Nigeria’s mining sector in recent years and strengthens the country’s critical minerals potential.

The latest report examines Nigeria’s projected demand for solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, battery storage technologies and electric vehicles alongside current mineral production and trade patterns.

It concludes that the country’s deposits of lithium, copper and bauxite closely match the minerals required to support the transition to cleaner energy sources.

According to the statement, the report also identifies existing gaps in Nigeria’s mineral value chain and proposes policy measures to maximise the economic benefits of the country’s natural resources.

Receiving the report, Mr Alake said it provides practical policy guidance for Nigeria’s efforts to transform its mineral resources into a foundation for green industrial development.

“By mapping domestic demand, supply and trade patterns, this report provides mineral-specific policy pathways to leverage Nigeria’s resources for our own green industrialisation,” he said.

He added that the report aligns with the ministry’s broader objective of ensuring that Nigeria moves beyond exporting raw minerals to developing local industries that create jobs and add value to the economy.