The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has dismissed as untrue, reports circulating on social media that an explosion occurred at Zungeru Power Plant in Niger State.

Adelabu stated that the Power Plant is on the grid and is running at full and optimum capacity.

The minister’s Special Adviser, Strategic Communication and Media Relations, Bolaji Tunji, described the report as a figment of the imagination of peddlers of the falsehood.

“I have spoken with the Managing Director of Mainstream Energy and I can assure you that nothing of such took place in Zungeru. The plant is working and it continues to supply to the grid.

“We have video evidence from Zungeru that nothing like that occurred today and whoever is interested should go there to find out. It is rather unfortunate that people will sit down somewhere and cook up this sort of story. It is unpatriotic, such people should desist from creating unnecessary panic.”

The minister, while assuring Nigerians of adequate supply of energy, however said: “We have seen the worst in the sector, we can only get better. We promised incremental supply of power and that is what is happening now and that’s why we have the present improvement and it will continue.”

Ethiopian Airlines has announced that the Nigerian government is no longer interested in establishing the proposed Nigeria Air joint venture.

This confirmation came from the Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Mesfin Tasew, in Dubai over the weekend.

The announcement was reported by Ethiopian Tribune, a major Ethiopian media outlet.

In May 2024, during the ministerial briefing marking the first year of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, announced the indefinite suspension of the Nigeria Air project.

Keyamo had previously criticized the deal with Ethiopian Airlines as unfair to Nigerian airlines, stating it would be irresponsible for the Federal Government to allow a foreign entity to monopolize Nigeria’s aviation industry, thereby compromising the growth of local businesses.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has condemned last weekend’s suicide bomb attacks in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State and warned that purveyors of wanton violence in the country will certainly face justice.

Tinubu described the incident, which resulted in the loss of several lives, as cowardly. He stated that it was an isolated episode, and the government was already taking necessary steps to secure citizens.

Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) and Governor of Gombe State, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, also condemned the act and expressed condolences to the victims, government and people of Borno.

Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said it was sad that suicide bombing was to resurfacing in the North-east.

Director-General of Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Dr. Barkindo Saibu, gave a  vivid account of how the teenage female suicide bombers detonated explosives that killed 18 children, pregnant women, men and others on Saturday in Gwoza.

Gwoza is the birthplace of Chief Whip of the Senate, Mohammed Ali Ndume.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Air Force, yesterday, said the Air Component of the Joint Taskforce, Operation Delta Safe, intercepted fleeing speed boats with stolen oil in the Niger Delta, and killed some terrorists at Kuchi-Kapana community in Munya Local Government Area of Niger State.

In a release by his media adviser, Ajuri Ngelale, Tinubu described the Borno attacks as desperate acts of terror, a clear manifestation of the pressure mounted against terrorists, and a mark of the success achieved in degrading the terrorists’ capacity to launch offensives.

He declared that perpetrators of wanton violence will have a certain encounter with justice, adding, “These cowardly attacks are only but an isolated episode.” He said his government will “not allow the country to slither into an era of fear, tears, sorrow, and blood.”

He emphasised that his administration was applying necessary measures to secure citizens, stressing that efforts would be redoubled to ensure that those who trouble the country, dispatching precious lives, and disrupting law and order are completely removed.

Tinubu condoled with the victims of the attacks, the families of the deceased, as well as the government and people of Borno State.

But Boko Haram conducted yet another bombing at Monguno, in the northern part of Borno State, on Sunday.

Meanwhile, two female suicide bombers were, reportedly, arrested in Borno State in connection with the detonation of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Gwoza. A local government official, who confirmed this to Channels Television, said 30 of the female suicide bombers were sent into Gwoza to detonate the IEDs at different locations.

But only four suicide bombers exploded so far, the source said.

The source added that one of the female bombers that came from Pulka Axis was being interrogated by the military at a checkpoint when she panicked and detonated the IED, killing herself, a soldier, and a civilian JTF member.