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The Big Story
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Tinubu Asks Senate to Approve $20.5bn and €1.05bn in External Loans
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“It has become essential to pursue prudent external borrowings to close the financing shortfall.” President Bola Tinubu
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President Bola Tinubu has asked the Senate to approve a supplementary external borrowing plan of $20.52 billion and €1.05 billion for 2026 to 2027, to fund projects in power, transport, healthcare, agriculture, education, water supply, security and job creation. Senate President Godswill Akpabio read the request at plenary on Tuesday and sent it to the Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, working with the committees on Appropriations and Finance. Akpabio said the plan was already in the budget and in an external borrowing plan approved for 2025 to 2027. Tinubu urged the Senate to treat it as urgent, saying approval would allow timely release of funds, and said most projects would be spread across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Nigeria’s public debt was NGN166.79 trillion on 30 June, up 4.7% from NGN159.35 trillion in March and 90.9% from NGN87.38 trillion in June 2023, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said. External debt rose from $42.49 billion in December 2023 to $51.86 billion in December 2025. [Nairametrics]
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What Else Is Happening
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Panel Says 37 Miners Died of Suffocation in NSCDC Custody
A federal government panel says 37 suspected illegal miners who died in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Minna, Niger State, died from asphyxiation, meaning too little oxygen. Panel chairman Jonathan Kure told Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo on Tuesday that early findings also pointed to institutional gaps and overzealousness among some officers. The men were arrested in mid-September, and the state commandant and 20 officers were suspended. [Premium Times]
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Gunmen Kill Katsina Cleric as Ansaru Claims Responsibility
Sheikh Yahaya Masusuka, a Katsina cleric who taught peaceful coexistence among faiths, was shot dead with another man, Adamu Abubakar, outside his home on Monday evening, police said. Two armed men on a motorcycle opened fire and fled, and police have begun an investigation. In a four-minute video obtained by Premium Times, the armed group Ansaru said it carried out the killing and called him an infidel. Amnesty International condemned the killing. [Premium Times]
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Tinubu Seeks Law to Bring Convicted Nigerians Home to Serve Sentences
President Bola Tinubu has asked the Senate to amend the law on transferring convicted offenders so Nigeria can agree with other countries to let eligible Nigerians jailed abroad serve their sentences at home. The bill would let the president extend the law to countries with such agreements, particularly outside the Commonwealth. Nigeria already has an arrangement with the United Kingdom. ThisDay notes transfers would depend on each agreement and each prisoner’s eligibility. [ThisDay]
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DStv Cuts Packages to Four, With New Nigerian Prices From 5 November
From 5 November, DStv will cut its packages in several African markets to four, with lower prices in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya, CANAL+ and MultiChoice announced. Nigeria keeps Premium as its top tier. Monthly prices in Nigeria will be NGN6,000 for Starter, NGN11,000 for Select, NGN21,000 for Sports and NGN44,500 for Premium. The Sports package carries every English Premier League and Champions League match. Nairametrics did not report the previous Nigerian prices. [Nairametrics]
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Market Watch
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The naira strengthened, with the official rate at NGN1,352.87 per dollar on 27 October, down 1.08% from NGN1,367.61 on 26 October, so a dollar costs less. Since 31 December 2025 (NGN1,475.00) the rate is down 8.28%, so the naira remains stronger year to date. [CBN]
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The NGX All-Share Index rose 1.07% (2,699.52 points) to 253,990.06 on 27 October from 251,290.54 on 26 October. Since 31 December 2025 (155,613.03) the index is up 63.22%. [NGX Group] Nairametrics reported market capitalisation at a record NGN164.9 trillion as the index closed at a peak. [Nairametrics]
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Banks parked NGN6.98 trillion at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday in its Standing Deposit Facility, the window where banks leave spare cash overnight to earn interest. On Wednesday the CBN offers NGN800 billion of Treasury Bills, short-term government IOUs, while only NGN130.72 billion of bills mature, so a full sale would soak up about NGN669 billion more cash. [Nairametrics]
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Quick Hits
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| → MTN Nigeria says phone settings, not unexplained deductions, are draining many subscribers’ data. An MTN executive advised turning off automatic media downloads, limiting background data and downloading large files only on Wi-Fi. MTN’s chief executive said it spent about NGN4.05 trillion on power last year. [Nairametrics] |
| → Delta State has raised the retirement age for 26 groups of clinical health workers in government hospitals from 60 to 65, or 40 years of service, to ease staff shortages. Workers must apply through their chief medical directors with a medical fitness certificate. [Pulse Nigeria] |
| → Nigeria’s first robotic surgery academy has opened in Redemption City, Ogun State, aiming to train 400 specialists in two years. Education Minister Tunji Alausa said the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) will fully fund doctors and medical students on the course. [Pulse Nigeria] |
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On a Lighter Note
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Sixteen-year-old Mexican student Ángela Karime Venegas Hernández won gold at the 2026 International Science and Invention Fair in Indonesia with Vortex Tech, a device that puts out small flames using low-frequency sound waves instead of water or chemicals. It remains an experimental prototype, not a replacement for certified fire extinguishers. [Pulse Nigeria]
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Why It Matters
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Tinubu is asking the Senate to approve $20.52 billion in supplementary foreign borrowing, on top of €1.05 billion. Nigeria’s foreign debt stood at $51.86 billion at the end of 2025, total public debt is almost double what it was in mid-2023, and Akpabio says the plan was already in the budget. In Delta, a nurse due to retire at 60 can now apply to work until 65, because the state wants to keep experienced staff in hospitals that are short of them. The federal government has approved something similar. In Minna, a federal panel investigating the deaths of 37 suspected miners in NSCDC custody says they died of suffocation. The state commandant and 20 officers are suspended. Then there are the bills you pay yourself. DStv will charge NGN6,000 a month for its Starter package from 5 November. MTN says the data vanishing from your phone is a settings problem and advises switching off automatic downloads, limiting background data and saving big files for Wi-Fi. Handy tips from the company whose job is to deliver the data. As for why data costs what it does, MTN points to power: about NGN4.05 trillion last year to keep its masts running.
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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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