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The Big Story
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SERAP Sues INEC Over NGN126 Billion in Unaccounted Election Funds
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“Electoral resources are public resources.” Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) [Premium Times] |
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SERAP has taken the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the Federal High Court in Abuja, asking it to explain how it spent NGN126.46 billion meant for running elections. The money was for ballot boxes, result sheets, vehicles, voter-checking devices and other election supplies. The case is based on the Auditor-General’s 2023 report, published on 7 August 2026, which covers spending in 2022 and 2023. It said INEC paid over NGN112 billion for ballot boxes, electoral devices and materials without open bidding or clearance from the Bureau of Public Procurement, the government’s buying watchdog, found no evidence the items were bought, and said the money may have been diverted. The report also flagged 22 contracts worth about NGN9.25 billion that were split into smaller deals to avoid buying rules. SERAP wants INEC ordered to publish what it paid, to whom, and who owns the contractors, and to show where the equipment is now. No hearing date has been fixed, and no INEC response was included. [Premium Times]
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What Else Is Happening
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Finance Ministry Disputes World Bank’s 124% Interest Claim
The Federal Ministry of Finance says the World Bank’s claim that interest took 124% of federal revenue in the first half of 2026 is misleading. It says the figure mixes in debt the Federal Government pays for states, leaves out agency earnings not yet handed over, and covers only six months. It says full-year debt payments, interest and loan repayments together, are projected at 46% of revenue. [Premium Times]
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Presidency Rejects Makinde’s NGN250 Billion Gas Payout Claim
Bayo Onanuga, President Bola Tinubu’s adviser on information, said Oyo Governor Seyi Makinde’s claim that each state is owed NGN250 billion from Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) profit payouts is false. He said that would add up to NGN9 trillion for 36 states, while the company has paid about $21.5 billion into the country’s shared revenue pool in 25 years. The statement did not show a detailed breakdown. [Premium Times]
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Federal Government Rules Out Fuel Subsidy and Multiple Exchange Rates
Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele said on Saturday that fuel subsidies and multiple exchange rates, meaning different official dollar prices for different buyers, will not return. He said the 30-day petrol discount from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) is a short-term business decision, not a subsidy paid with public money. He also said the economy grew 4.4% in the second quarter of 2026. [Nairametrics]
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Lagos Water Corporation Says Its Network Reaches 1.03% of Residents
The Lagos Water Corporation says its pipes serve 34,424 registered households, about 206,444 people at six per household, or 1.03% of the state’s 20 million residents. Its plants can produce 210 million gallons a day, but 2025 output averaged about 3% of that. One Iponri resident said his household spends about NGN1,500 a day on vendor water. [Premium Times]
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Rural Electrification Agency Switches On Solar Power Plant in Gombe
The Rural Electrification Agency switched on a 1-megawatt solar power plant with battery storage in Tallasse, Balanga Local Government Area of Gombe State, on Saturday. It serves 6,028 connections, including 5,929 homes and 84 businesses. Work also began on four more small solar plants, called mini-grids, in Dukku, Bajoga, Kumo and Kaltungo, with a combined 16 megawatts. [Nairametrics]
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Market Watch
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The naira strengthened this year, with the official rate at NGN1,332.26 per dollar on 16 October, down 9.68% from NGN1,475.00 on 31 December 2025, so a dollar costs fewer naira. [CBN] Street dealers quoted about NGN1,375 to NGN1,390 on 15 October, roughly 3% to 4% higher, according to Within Nigeria. [Within Nigeria]
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The NGX All-Share Index fell 0.07% to 247,539.73 on 16 October from 247,707.13 on 15 October, and is up 59.07% since 31 December 2025. [NGX Group] It fell 0.33% over the week, its third straight weekly drop, as banking stocks slid while oil and gas stocks gained, according to Nairametrics. [Nairametrics]
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| Macro |
The Debt Management Office (DMO) borrows for the government by selling treasury bills, which are short loans from investors. At the 14 October auction, the interest rate on one-year bills edged up to 15.90% from 15.85%, the first rise since August. Investors offered NGN982.21 billion against a plan to raise NGN350 billion, but the DMO accepted only NGN220 billion. [Nairametrics]
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Quick Hits
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| → Livestock Feeds was the NGX’s best performer last week, rising 44.49% from NGN13.15 to NGN19.00, after a 47.75% gain the week before. Over two weeks the stock has more than doubled, up about 113%, even as the wider market fell for a third straight week. [Nairametrics] |
| → The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) seized 8,725kg of powdered tramadol, a strong painkiller, worth more than NGN6.98 billion at Apapa Port in Lagos. The shipment from India was labelled as maize starch, and laboratory tests later confirmed it was tramadol. [Premium Times] |
| → A Premium Times review of 100 public answers on Atiku Abubakar’s new Ask AA question platform found it publishes tough questions on selling state companies and on corruption, but some answers leave out the records, figures or commitments users asked for. [Premium Times] |
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On a Lighter Note
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Bricklayer Travels 2,000km to Meet a Woman Who Was Not Real. Brazilian bricklayer Edimar Martins, 49, sold his belongings and rode a bus for over 36 hours to meet “Jéssica,” a farm owner from online videos. She was an artificial intelligence (AI) character, and her creator says the account was made for engagement and sales. [Pulse Nigeria]
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Why It Matters
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If your home in Lagos is not on the public water pipe, you are paying someone else for water. The state water corporation says its network reaches 1.03% of residents, and one Iponri household told the News Agency of Nigeria it spends about NGN1,500 a day on vendor water, which comes to about NGN547,500 a year. At the pump, the Finance Minister says petrol subsidies are not coming back, and the NNPC petrol discount is a 30-day offer, not a subsidy. In Tallasse, Gombe, 6,028 connections, almost all of them homes, now have solar power backed by batteries, and the project includes an electric rice mill and a groundnut oil plant. A voter in 2027 will rely on ballot boxes and result sheets, which are what NGN126.46 billion in election spending was meant for. The Auditor-General found no evidence that items worth over NGN112 billion were bought, though that audit covers 2022 and 2023 and does not show how election money is spent today.
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Produced with AI assistance using open-source web content. Edited by Tomiwa Afolabi. Sources have not been independently verified by Frontier Brief Media. Readers are encouraged to consult original sources before acting on any information herein.
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