News
NIS CG Orders Arrest of ex-Govs, Others over Diplomatic Passports

Mohammad Babandede, new comptroller general of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), has ordered the arrest of former governors, ex-ministers and former senators who are still in possession of Official/Diplomatic passports.
The new immigration boss said such categories of political office holders and retired public servants have no right to hold on to such passport as they have loose right to use them again.
The CG, who was appointed last week, gave the charge while delivering his vision and mission statements to officers in the rank of Comptroller and above at the National Headquarters of the service in Abuja.
Babandede said: “In view of the earlier publication for return of official/diplomatic passports by former political office holders and retired public servants, it must be noted that charges will be pressed against unauthorised holders of such documents.
This is because such persons are no longer in the eligibility list and, therefore, in contradiction of S.10 of the extant Immigration Act 2015.
“I am hereby directing that unauthorised holders of such passports be arrested at the airports and other points of entry/ departure. Efforts will be made also to trace such unauthorised holders in their given addresses.”
David Paradang and Martins Abeshi, two former Comptroller Generals of Immigration, had earlier directed the holders of such diplomatic passports, who are no longer government functionaries to return same to the Service.
Such persons are former governors, ministers, legislators, special advisers to the president, permanent secretaries and directors.
According to Immigration source, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs approves the issuance of diplomatic passports to government functionaries while Immigration Service issues such passport.
Babandede said the service has so far retrieved about 158 diplomatic passports and 310 passports. Also, the CG stated that he would not accept what he tagged “blood money” from the officers.
He accused the officers of engineering the setting up of illegal checkpoints at hinterland, to bully and extort money from citizens.
To curb this, he said, I am setting up an anti-corruption squad, but before this, I will hold the zonal coordinators and comptrollers responsible.
“I don’t want your blood money, as organised crime law enforcement calls ‘re turns’. All zonal coordinators and state comptrollers must put an end to this to provide a comfortable environment for operatives.”
The CG also stated that he has decentralised the issuance of passport that had been a concern to international passport seekers. On the issuance of new passports based on change of name and loss, he said: “Approval for change of name due to marriage can now be given by the Comptroller of State; approval for replacement of lost passport shall, henceforth, be given by State Comptrollers after online vetting and processing of application at the passport division in the Service Headquarters.” The new CG promised to return the Service to the path of honour.
His words: “The NIS under my stewardship must be returned to the path of honour, integrity, discipline and unalloyed commitment to national security it was known for. “I am aware of money being extorted from the hands of passport applicants and at various borders/ check points in the country. What is happening in the liberated territories in the North-East is most disturbing to me.”
News
FG Unveils AI Public Services Platform

Federal government has launched GovGuideNigeria, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered digital platform designed to streamline access to public service information through WhatsApp and the web.

The platform consolidates information from more than 35 federal ministries and over 60 government agencies, marking a significant step in Nigeria’s drive to expand AI-enabled public infrastructure and digital government services.
According to Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s minister of communications, innovation and digital economy, the initiative aims to simplify interactions with government services, particularly for underserved communities that often face challenges navigating complex public-sector systems.
Developed in collaboration with the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Meta, and Publica AI, GovGuideNigeria uses conversational AI to provide real-time responses via WhatsApp and a web interface in English, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.
Sade Dada, head of public policy at Meta, said the multilingual rollout highlights the growing use of natural language processing within African public institutions to improve digital inclusion and broaden access to services.
Ignatius Willie, chief executive of Publica AI, said the platform demonstrates how Africa’s next generation of digital public infrastructure can be developed locally using African languages.
GovGuideNigeria is intended to address longstanding challenges in Nigeria’s public information system, where citizens often struggle to access reliable guidance because of fragmented government websites, poor communication channels and the expense of travelling to physical offices.
Through AI-driven automation, users can obtain information on immigration procedures, documentation requirements, public programmes and agency-specific services through chat-based interactions.
The launch also reflects Nigeria’s broader ambition to integrate AI into digital governance, while strengthening partnerships between government agencies, global technology companies and local AI startups to modernise public service delivery.
News
Elon Musk to Become First World’s Trillionaire with SpaceX Historic IPO

Elon Musk is poised to become the world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX, his company, confirmed plans to go public.

Elon Musk
Because Musk owns the majority of the shares, it could push his net worth over the trillion dollar mark.
The entrepreneur is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X, and xAI.
Musk has been the wealthiest person in the world since 2025; as of May 2026, Forbes estimates his net worth to be $788 billion.
SpaceX has filed for a blockbuster public listing in the United States, paving the way for what could become the largest stock market debut in Wall Street history.
The company, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies, announced plans to begin trading under the ticker symbol “SPCX” as early as next month.
The listing values SpaceX at about $1.25 trillion, with Musk’s majority ownership potentially worth more than $600 billion alone.
Combined with his existing holdings in companies including Tesla, the IPO could push Musk’s personal wealth above the $1 trillion mark.
The long-awaited filing also offered investors a rare look into SpaceX’s finances.
The company reported $18.6 billion in revenue last year but recorded a net loss of $4.9 billion. In the first quarter of this year, SpaceX generated $4.7 billion in sales while posting a $4.3 billion net loss.
Financial disclosures showed the company holds $102 billion in assets, including rockets, launch infrastructure and satellite systems, while carrying debts totalling $60.5 billion.
Despite the losses, analysts suggested investors were unlikely to be deterred given SpaceX’s dominance in commercial space launches and satellite internet services.
Ruth Foxe-Blader, managing partner at Citrine Venture Partners, described the planned flotation as “extremely exciting.”
“SpaceX is just an absolutely sprawling, enormous project with so many different selling points, and so many points that really point to the future,” she said.
SpaceX operates the Starlink satellite internet network and also owns Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI.
The IPO filing revealed that xAI recently reached a major commercial agreement with rival AI company Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot.
Under the arrangement, Anthropic will reportedly pay $15 billion annually to access data centre infrastructure linked to xAI operations in the American South.
The filing also disclosed that SpaceX expects to incur more than half a billion dollars in legal costs from multiple ongoing lawsuits and regulatory disputes.
Among the cases listed were claims alleging that xAI’s chatbot Grok had been used to create sexualised deepfakes of women and girls, alongside patent infringement disputes, music copyright claims, data breach allegations and investigations into compliance with European Union content moderation rules.
Musk has previously said he plans to dissolve xAI as a standalone company and pursue his AI ambitions directly under SpaceX.
The filing came shortly after Musk lost a high-profile legal battle against OpenAI and its chief executive Sam Altman.
Musk had accused OpenAI of abandoning its non-profit mission after shifting towards a commercial model, but a jury dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that he had waited too long to bring the claims.
News
Moniepoint Boosts UK Payments Security

African financial services platform Moniepoint has partnered with open banking software-as-a-service provider tell.money to deploy a transaction security system in the UK market.

The companies said the partnership will allow Moniepoint to implement Confirmation of Payee, an account name-checking service designed to verify recipient details before payments are processed.
The integration will be rolled out through Monieworld, Moniepoint’s UK remittance subsidiary, as part of the company’s broader European expansion strategy.
Tell.money will provide the underlying verification technology, which the companies said is intended to reduce misdirected payments and help protect users against cross-border fraud.
Ravi Jakhodia, CEO of Monieworld, said: “Our goal with Monieworld is to build financial services for Africans in the diaspora.”
He added that tell.money was selected because it manages compliance and accreditation requirements, allowing the fintech company to focus on customer service.
Moniepoint is entering a competitive UK-to-Africa remittance market that includes established providers such as Wise, WorldRemit and Remitly, as well as African fintech firms including Flutterwave’s Send App.
According to data from the World Bank’s KNOMAD programme, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries are estimated at about $620 billion annually, with digital -first platforms capturing increasing market share through open banking integrations and automated compliance systems.
The rollout reflects a broader trend of African fintech firms expanding into developed markets by adopting local regulatory and open banking standards.
Industry analysts expect diaspora-focused platforms to evolve beyond money transfers into services such as multi-currency banking, credit and investment products.
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