By Sam Otuonye 

The Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Adewale Adeniyi, has pledged the full support of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for the realisation of Nigeria’s ambition to build a $1 trillion economy, stressing the need for institutions to translate national aspirations into concrete, measurable results.

CGC Adeniyi committed on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, while delivering a keynote address at the New Nigeria Festival at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Conference Hall, Abuja, saying the economic target was achievable if the plans and strategies developed to achieve it were properly implemented.

The CGC said the Customs had moved beyond ideas and discussions to taking practical steps in support of the national economic ambition, citing the Service’s ongoing Modernisation Reforms, including the deployment of B’Odogwu, the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) programme and the Advance Ruling mechanism, as initiatives designed to facilitate legitimate trade, improve predictability in the trading environment and ultimately strengthen revenue generation.

“Execution is nothing if it is not concrete. We have to move from ideas to action and ensure that whatever we plan translates into results. That is how we can begin to see the kind of transformation we are talking about.” He said.

Adeniyi stressed that the responsibility for achieving the $1 trillion economy could not rest solely on government agencies, noting that the target required the collective commitment of institutions, businesses and citizens. 

He said the Customs Service, by virtue of its responsibilities in revenue collection, trade facilitation and border management, remained strategically positioned to contribute to the country’s economic transformation.

CGC Adeniyi therefore called for a shift from rhetoric to implementation, stressing that the country’s economic ambition could be achieved only when institutions and citizens alike took ownership of their responsibilities and turned plans into practical, measurable action.

By Sam Otuonye 

Africa Climate Forum (ACF), a climate change stakeholder group, has said that Africa’s climate ambitions must be matched with financial, coordination, and execution realities to achieve a measurable outcomes for the continent.

The group argues that as Africa’s climate ambitions are increasingly confronted with the realities of financing, coordination and execution, attention should shift to the harder issue of how commitments can be translated into action that delivers measurable results for the continent.This becomes the focus of their 2026 conference that will bring together policymakers, business leaders, investors and climate practitioners in Abuja on October 13 and 14.

The fourth in its edition, organised by the Global Centre for Law, Business and Economy (GCLBE), will hold at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, under the theme, “Implementing in Lockstep: Public-Private Action for Green Outcomes.”

The two-day event, which will feature both physical and virtual participation from across Africa and beyond, is expected to examine how governments, businesses, financial institutions and development partners can strengthen collaboration to accelerate the continent’s climate transition.

The Forum comes at a time when Africa’s climate ambitions are increasingly being confronted by challenges around financing, institutional coordination and implementation.

Among those expected at the event are Ambassador Philbert Abaka Johnson, Director and UNIDO Representative in Nigeria and ECOWAS; Mr Olasupo Shasore, SAN, Senior Partner at Africa Law Practice NG & Company; Hon. Sam Onuigbo, Governing Board Member and Chairman of the Committee on Security, Special Interventions and Climate Change at the North East Development Commission; Dr Salisu Dahiru, former Director-General of the National Council on Climate Change; and Engr. Chijioke Okwuokenye, Managing Director of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company.

Others include Dr Forster Boateng, Managing Director of C4Impact Advisory Group; Dr Gloria Boamah Kusi, Senior Sustainability Officer at the Jospong Green Transition Office; Dr Debany Fonseca Batista, Research Associate at Dalhousie University’s CERC.OCEAN Laboratory and Executive Director of the DOTCAN Institute; and Claudette Hutchinson, Chief Executive Officer and AI Implementation Architect at Owning My.

Speaking on the event, the Convener and Director-General of GCLBE, Prof. George Nwangwu, said climate action requires more than commitments, stressing the need for governments, businesses and financial institutions to work together to achieve measurable outcomes.

“Climate action requires more than ambition. It requires governments, businesses and financial institutions to move together. We have an opportunity to refine our partnerships, forge new ones, and make bold commitments that can translate into meaningful action,” he said.

The programme will feature plenary sessions addressing critical issues affecting Africa’s climate transition, including private-sector participation, carbon markets, energy access and natural gas, food security and adaptation, community-led climate action, human rights and the just transition.

Participants will also examine the role of artificial intelligence, data and digital technologies in improving climate planning, implementation and delivery.

A major component of the event will be the ACF Deal Room, designed to connect climate project developers and green businesses with investors and financial institutions. The initiative will run throughout the two-day event and is expected to provide opportunities for partnerships and access to climate finance.

The Forum will also host a Pulitzer Centre side event on Journalism, Climate Action and Civic Space Engagement, which will explore the role of public-interest journalism in strengthening climate accountability, improving public understanding and amplifying the experiences of communities affected by climate change.

The Abuja gathering follows climate conversations held by ACF in Accra earlier in the year, where stakeholders discussed climate partnerships, financing, just transition and public-private collaboration.

Since its inaugural edition in 2023, the Africa Climate Forum has provided a platform for policymakers, businesses, investors and development stakeholders to deliberate on Africa’s climate response.

By Sam Otuonye 

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has said the electricity industry went through the second quarter of 2026 without a single grid collapse.

Contained in its latest report, the Commission stated that no system disturbance occurred on the national grid between April and June 2026.

The national grid is a large network of transmission lines linking power stations to customers across the country.

It is built to operate within set stability limits, including a voltage of 330kV give or take 5.0 percent and a frequency of 50Hz give or take 0.5 percent.

Operating outside these ranges can reduce power quality and, in serious cases, cause outages that range from the failure of one section of the grid to a total blackout.

The Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) monitors all grid parameters, but frequency is the main indicator watched to prevent disturbances. Frequency falls when demand outstrips supply and rises when supply exceeds demand.

When frequency drifts outside the normal range, especially on the low side, safety settings can trip generation units offline. That can deepen the imbalance and set off a chain of shutdowns, leading to a partial or full collapse.

On Wednesday, September 30, 2026, the Federal Government began work on a modern National Control Centre (NCC) for NISO in Osogbo, Osun State, aimed at making the grid more reliable. The existing facility has served for 64 years and is widely seen as outdated and unable to meet the demands of running today’s grid.

The NCC is the nerve centre of the country’s electricity system, where operators track generation, transmission and demand as they happen and act to keep the network balanced.

A failure of the grid affects far more than household lighting. Factories stop production, small businesses lose income, hospitals struggle to deliver essential services and schools are disrupted.

Grid collapse has long been one of the most persistent and costly problems in the sector. The national grid has suffered repeated total and partial failures over the years, and the problem became especially visible recently.

Incidents rose sharply in 2024, which saw a string of nationwide blackouts, including a major collapse in October. Each time, the system operator and generation companies had to carry out a slow, delicate restoration that often took many hours before supply returned.

Industry experts blame a mix of factors, including sudden loss of generation, gas supply constraints, transmission line faults, ageing or weak equipment, and poor visibility of the system when trouble starts.

Running a modern, interconnected grid with outdated tools makes it harder to catch problems early and stop a fault from spreading. The new centre is meant to close that gap.

Vice President Kashim Shettima performed the groundbreaking, supported by the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe.

Speaking through his representative, the Senior Special Assistant (Legal) in the Office of the Vice President, Shettima said dependable electricity is central to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

He described power as the base of a working economy, helping manufacturers plan production, small businesses operate with confidence, and hospitals and schools’ function, while also creating jobs and wider opportunity.

He added that the National Control Centre is where that reliability is protected, and that Nigeria cannot run a modern, interconnected grid with yesterday’s tools.

Giving an overview of the project, Minister Tegbe said it will let NISO see what is happening across the grid and respond quickly. He called it a concrete sign of the President’s determination to fix the underlying weaknesses in electricity supply.

Once commissioned, the centre will feature integrated SCADA, large displays and analytics tools. These will help operators spot developing faults, plan preventive maintenance and make better use of existing generation and transmission capacity.