General
Sanwo-Olu Assures Lagos Residents Dividends of Democracy
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has promised to continue to deliver dividends of democracy to residents of the state after getting re-election.
On Monday morning, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Mr Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of Saturday’s governorship elections in Lagos after it was announced that he polled a total of 762,134 votes to defeat his closest rival, Mr Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party, who scored 312,329 votes.
Professor Adenike Oladiji, Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology (FUTA) Akure, the Returning Officer, during the announcement, said the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Abdul-Azeez Adediran garnered 62,449 votes to come a distant third in the election.
She listed votes garnered by other political parties in the contest as A (800), AA (904), AAC(627), ADC (6,078), ADP(2833), APM (884), APP (259), BP (616), NNPP (1,583), NRM (340), SDP (1,746), YPP (461) and ZLP (1,635).
She put the total number of registered voters at 7,060,195; total accredited voters at 1,182620; total votes cast at 1,173,631, total valid votes at 1,155,678 and rejected votes at 17,953.
Prof. Oladiji said: “I declare that Sanwo-Olu Babajide Olusola of APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law by scoring 25 per cent in two-thirds of the local government areas in the state and also scoring the highest number of the vote cast, is hereby declared the winner and he is returned elected.”
The APC won in 19 Local Government Areas of the state; the LP won in one LGA, while the PDP did not win any.
In his remarks, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr Olusegun Agbaje, noted that some of the allegations of manipulation levelled against him were a fallacy.
Mr Agbaje, however, said that such allegations were not strange in a clime like ours and decried the poor turnout of voters.
Assessing the process, Mr Olusegun Mobolaji, Lagos state Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), decried the pockets of violence experienced in some parts of the state as well as vote buying and apathy.
He urged the candidates to imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship and accept the outcome of the elections in good faith.
Mr Mobolaji urged INEC to improve on the shortcomings in future elections.
Regardless of this, Business Post spoke to voters over the weekend who were disenfranchised on account of their ethnicity by elements that were believed to be working for the ruling party, with tribal slurs and stereotypes hurled at them.
On his part, the re-elected governor on Monday said his re-election for a second term has reaffirmed that Lagos has chosen competence and experience on the march to true greatness.
Mr Sanwo-Olu said this at the Lagos House Marina while giving the victory speech for his re-election, following the official announcement by INEC.
He said that elections were over now, and governance must continue, and the dividends of democracy must continue to be delivered, as there must be no break and no time off.
According to him, his government will keep all the promises made to the people of Lagos state.
“Lagosians, you did not just vote for Babajide Sanwo-Olu. You voted for a greater Lagos. I promise that together we shall achieve this. This is a promise that shall not be broken. A greater Lagos shall be ours.
“Let me boldly and proudly say that we are already well on the way to that greater Lagos, and we now have four more years to join hands to advance in ways that will pleasantly surprise even the most sceptical amongst us,” he said.
“Lagos is what it is today because of each and every one of you, regardless of ethnicity, religion, political affiliation, gender, or age.
“We are a vibrant and thriving hub of commerce, finance, entrepreneurship, innovation, and culture because of the diversity that has come to define us over the decades and the centuries. Thank you,” he said.
He said that during the course of the campaign, sadly, there was a lot of divisive rhetoric used, as some tried to make the elections about ethnicity and religion when in fact, they should only have been about capacity, competence, and experience.
“We saw hateful and hurtful ethnic profiling by fellow citizens – which is totally out of place for us as Lagosians, the proud residents of West Africa’s pre-eminent melting pot.
“I want to recognise and salute all of the multitudes of residents who refused to succumb to those who sought and still seek to divide us with their unguarded and inciting comments.
“Unfortunately, there are reports of skirmishes in some local government areas wherein some citizens were reported to have been injured. We strongly condemn these reprehensible incidents – that is definitely not who we are as a people.
“The relevant law enforcement and security agencies have been directed to investigate these breaches of the law and to ensure that those found culpable face the full wrath of the law.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has said the implementation of the Defined Benefit Scheme Pension Harmonisation is a reform meant to advance and enhance pension payment equity in the country.
The chief executive of PTAD, Mrs Tolulope Abiodun Odunaiya, said this initiative was a landmark reform designed to restore fairness, improve retirees’ welfare and strengthen confidence in the administration of the country’s legacy pension system.
The harmonisation exercise marks one of the most significant policy interventions in the Defined Benefit Scheme since PTAD was established in 2013 to take over the management of pensions under the old federal pension arrangement.
Unlike periodic pension increases that merely raise existing benefits by a percentage, she stressed that pension harmonisation was further than that by recomputing pensions using the latest approved salary structures that existed before the closure of the Defined Benefit Scheme.
She noted that the objective is to ensure that retirees who held similar positions and rendered comparable years of service receive equitable pension benefits regardless of their retirement dates.
The initiative comes against the backdrop of years of agitation by pensioners over historical disparities in pension computation.
She added that the PTAD’s harmonisation programme seeks to resolve that challenge by restoring parity within the system. According to her, pension harmonisation is the formal recomputation of pensions using approved salary structures applicable before the DBS cut-off date.
In practical terms, it ensures that pension outcomes are determined by rank, grade level and years of service rather than the year of retirement.
The Directorate believes the exercise will significantly improve social justice by correcting historical inequities that disadvantaged thousands of retirees.
The harmonisation applies primarily to pure Federal Government pensioners as well as eligible retirees under the Parastatals Pension Department (PaPD), Defunct and Transferred Agencies Pension Department (DTAPD), and the Education and Health Pension Department (TEHPD), particularly those who initially served under the Federal Government before their agencies were transferred to state governments.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Police Force will today, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, arraign the controversial director-general of the non-existent Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), Mr Adeniyi Adeyemi.
The arraignment will take place before Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The police had charged Mr Adeyemi alongside two others with eight counts, including forgery and impersonation, in the case marked FHC/ABJ/CR/562/2025.
The case was initially filed on November 27, 2025, by Mr Wisdom Madaki, a police prosecutor.
Court proceedings had stalled on June 16, scheduled for Mr Adeyemi’s arraignment, due to his absence from court on grounds of ill health.
According to the court documents, proposed prosecution witnesses to testify against the defendants include the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila; Paul Emmanuel, Jeremiah Imoukhede and Ituah Sylvester.
Others are civil servants working in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr Akimbo Shola and Mr Adamu Balongu, a deputy superintendent of police, were on the list.
Also listed as witnesses are Mr Ojo Victor, Mr Omeh Amarachukwu, and Mr Wakili Saidu, all of whom were allegedly posted to work with Mr Adeyemi at the non-existent agency.
Others are Mrs Joy Ngwoke, the owner of Kachi Hotel in Abuja, and Mr Ven Okoriko, the pastor of St. Matthew’s Anglican Church, Maitama.
The documentary exhibits planned to be tendered by the prosecution to prove the case include the police investigation report, Mr Gbajabiamila’s petition dated October 17, 2025, and Mr Adeyemi’s fake presidential appointment letter dated March 8, 2024.
They also include the request for a note verbale by Mr Adeyemi sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the approvals he got to open accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the request for approval of self-accounting status Mr Adeyemi sent to the Accountant-General of the Federation’s office and the conveyance of approval for take-off of the PFIPC.
Other documents listed by the prosecution are a letter of request for collaboration with the ministry in the area of land acquisition and offices across the 36 states of the federation; statements of all the witnesses and that of the defendants, and pictures.
The police, in the court document, said, “The prosecution shall at the trial call any other related witness or witnesses to prove its case.”
The prosecution accused Mr Adeyemi of operating the fictitious agency from the 2nd Floor of the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja, Phase III, before his arrest.
Last week, President Bola Tinubu directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to conduct a thorough investigation into the activities of the fictitious agency.
The president gave the ICPC 30 days to complete the investigation, so it is currently unclear how the outcome of the ICPC investigation would impact the police prosecution.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
A coordinated push to position gender inclusion as a driver of business competitiveness, investment and long-term economic growth has led to the introduction of the Nigeria Gender Country Programme (NGCP) by the private sector.
This initiative, led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, in partnership with Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc and the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), aligns advisory expertise, funding and partnerships to strengthen women’s representation in leadership, improve access to quality employment, and expand access to finance, technology and markets for women and women-led businesses.
It builds on the CEO Roundtable held in June and the progress achieved through Nigeria2Equal, IFC’s earlier initiative, as it now moves into implementation, with participating organisations expected to adopt practical, measurable gender-smart business practices.
The economic case is significant, with the program underpinned by research showing that closing gaps in women’s leadership, employment and entrepreneurship could generate an estimated $22.9 billion in additional economic output annually, reinforcing the economic case for stronger private sector action on gender inclusion.
“Advancing women’s economic participation is no longer simply a social aspiration; it is a business imperative, an investment in productivity, a catalyst for innovation and a driver of sustainable economic growth.
“Through the Nigeria Gender Country Program, we are creating a practical framework that will help businesses strengthen leadership, expand opportunity and unlock the inclusion dividend for Nigeria’s economy,” the chairman of NGX Group, Mr Umaru Kwairanga, stated.
The Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by the Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment, Mrs Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, reaffirmed the state’s commitment to creating an enabling environment for women-led enterprises and strengthening inclusive economic development, while the Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, represented by Ms Aishatu Digili, called for stronger collaboration between government, development institutions and the private sector to accelerate women’s economic empowerment and expand opportunities for women across key sectors of the economy.
The Division Director for West and Central Africa at IFC, Mr Olivier Buyoya, said, “Creating more and better jobs is central to IFC’s mission across Africa. Economies grow faster, and businesses perform better when women have equal opportunities to participate, lead, innovate and succeed.
“Through the Nigeria Gender Country Program, we are bringing together the private sector, capital markets and development partners to help companies turn this opportunity into stronger business performance, greater competitiveness and more inclusive growth. We look forward to working with Nigerian businesses to unlock the full economic potential of women as a driver of Nigeria’s future prosperity.”
Speaking on behalf of the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Emomotimi Agama, the Commission’s Executive Commissioner, Legal and Enforcement, Ms Frana Chukwuogor, said, “The Commission welcomes the Nigeria Gender Country Program as an important platform for deepening collaboration, innovation and knowledge sharing in support of inclusive market development. We commend the IFC for its leadership in promoting inclusive private sector development globally, and for its partnership with Nigeria in strengthening our financial markets.”
