Author: Prima News

Nigerian actress Victoria Inyama has sparked conversations online after sharing her personal experience with female circumcision, describing it as both traumatic and, in her view, beneficial. In a video posted by media personality Daddy Freeze via his Instagram page on Wednesday, Inyama revealed that she underwent the procedure as a child while living with her grandmother in the village. According to her, the experience, though painful, shaped her mindset and personal choices as an adult. “FGM is evil, but you now have to deal with the consequences of that thing…” she said. The actress explained that she believes the procedure…

Aged 17 and coaching archers three times her age on her home Caribbean island of Tobago, Ms. Lewis transfers the confidence and skills she gained from the sport into advocacy and diplomacy, spaces where youth, especially girls, must often fight to have their voices heard.“The biggest challenge has to be my age,” she said, highlighting a cultural norm passed down to many young Caribbeans to “speak only when you’re spoken to” and to “leave the older heads to have the big discussions.”Sport has helped her overcome these barriers: “Archery gives you that discipline to keep pushing forward,” she said. Anthurium…

No fewer than 2.2 million candidates are expected to sit the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, which commenced nationwide on Thursday. The examination, organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, will run from April 16 to April 22 across accredited centres in the country. JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, urged examination officials to demonstrate professionalism and commitment, noting that the success of the exercise depends largely on their performance. Oloyede gave the charge during a virtual briefing for technical officers ahead of the examination. He commended staff and service providers for their roles in the conduct of the mock…

Cristóbal Valenzuela, the co-founder and CEO of AI video-generation startup Runway, now valued at north of $5 billion, may not be winning over more hearts and minds in the anti-AI, creative crowd with his recent comments about AI’s potential in Hollywood. At Semafor’s World Economy Summit this week, the AI executive suggested that studios should take the $100 million they spend on a single film and put it toward 50 films, in order to increase their output and their chances of getting a hit. “If you’re spending a hundred million dollars on making one feature film, which is 90 minutes, imagine…

A Nigerian couple, Luciana and Femi Akanbi, have been jailed in the United Kingdom for orchestrating a large-scale fraud involving the stolen personal data of Transport for London employees, in a case described as the ‘worst’ data breach in the agency’s history. According to a report by KentLive, the couple were each sentenced to three years and nine months’ imprisonment after defrauding the UK tax authority through false rebate claims. The report said Luciana Akanbi, 38, who worked in the human resources department of Transport for London, accessed sensitive personal information of her colleagues, including passport details, National Insurance numbers…

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated reported a record profit before tax (PBT) of $801 million for the financial year ended December 31, 2025, representing a 21 percent increase from $662 million recorded in 2024 as the lender leveraged revenue growth, cost discipline and diversification across its pan-African operations. Profit attributable to shareholders rose by 22 percent to $407 million, while earnings per share increased by 23 percent to $0.017. The board proposed a dividend payout of $40 million, up from $28 million in the previous distribution cycle, subject to shareholder approval. The group’s net revenue climbed 17 percent year-on-year to $2.45 billion,…

The Abia State Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party on Thursday urged Abians to reject the All Progressives Congress in the 2027 general elections in the state. Speaking at a press conference in Umuahia, the Chairman of the PDP Caretaker Committee in Abia State, Ikpegbu Emeka-Yellow, said a vote for the APC would amount to endorsing hardship, stagnation, and regression. “A vote for the APC is a vote for hardship, stagnation, and regression. We must not import the failures of the Federal Government into our state,” he said. Emeka-Yellow said many of those now promoting the APC in Abia…

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Kano Strategic Command, has hailed the sentencing of a 20-year-old suspect, Muhammad Maharazu, to 15 years in prison. In a statement issued on April 16, 2026, by Sadiq Muhammad Maigatari, the agency said the judgment was delivered by Federal High Court 1 in Kano on April 15, 2026. Maharazu was arrested on February 14, 2026, at Filin Idi, a known drug hotspot in Kano. NDLEA operatives from the Commander’s Special Joint Task Force caught him with different illegal drugs, including Diazepam tablets. According to the statement, the suspect tried to escape during the…

World Athletics has rejected an application by Turkey to switch the allegiance of Nigerian sprinter Favour Ofili, dealing a significant blow to the athlete’s proposed nationality change ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games. The decision was contained in a document obtained by PUNCH Online on Thursday. According to the document, the World Athletics Nationality Review Panel ruled that the application submitted by the Türkiye Athletics Federation would not be approved after reviewing the circumstances surrounding the request. The panel, comprising Donna Raynor, Cydonie Motherskill and Susanne van Waert, said granting the request would undermine key regulatory principles guiding international athletics.…

Nigerian comedian, Okey Bakassi, has offered a ₦5 million reward for information leading to the recovery of stolen phones and the arrest of a suspected thief who allegedly infiltrated a private football gathering in Ikoyi, Lagos. Bakassi disclosed this in a video posted on Instagram on Thursday, recounting how an unknown individual joined their weekly football session on Wednesday evening and later made away with several phones. According to him, the suspect was allowed to participate in the game out of goodwill but later pretended to be injured and left the pitch. He said, “This evening, 15th of April 2026,…