Category: International News

The Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A, of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has intercepted three live pangolins during an anti smuggling operation at Oyo Dam, Igbo Ora, Ogun State, in a renewed effort to combat illegal wildlife trafficking.

The endangered animals were intercepted at about 9.05am on Monday, October 12, 2026, when Customs operatives, acting on credible intelligence, discovered them concealed in a wire mesh cage inside a sack. The suspected traffickers reportedly abandoned the consignment and fled into a nearby swamp upon sighting the patrol team.

The development was disclosed in a statement issued by the unit’s Public Relations Officer, Chief Superintendent of Customs Hussaini Abdullahi, in Ikeja, Lagos.

The Acting Controller of FOU Zone A, Deputy Comptroller Oladapo Afeni, represented by the Deputy Comptroller in charge of Enforcement, Oluwaseun Oguntuase, described the interception as a significant achievement in the Service’s sustained campaign against smuggling, wildlife trafficking and transnational organised crime.

Afeni commended the officers for their vigilance and prompt response, noting that intelligence driven operations remained crucial to disrupting criminal networks involved in the illegal exploitation of Nigeria’s borders and waterways.

He said the operation also demonstrated the unit’s commitment to protecting the country’s biodiversity and enforcing laws against the trafficking of endangered wildlife.

Pangolins are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which regulates international trade in threatened wildlife species. Their illegal trade remains a major conservation concern, with trafficking posing a serious threat to their survival.

The Customs Service warned that anyone involved in the illegal possession, transportation, smuggling or commercialisation of protected wildlife could face prosecution and severe penalties under applicable Nigerian laws.

Following the interception, the three pangolins were handed over to the Greenfingers Wildlife Initiative Centre for safekeeping, rehabilitation and appropriate care to safeguard their welfare.

Afeni warned smugglers and their collaborators that FOU Zone A would intensify patrols, intelligence gathering and collaboration with relevant agencies to combat illegal wildlife trade. He reaffirmed the commitment of the Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, to securing Nigeria’s borders, protecting endangered species and strengthening efforts to tackle transnational smuggling networks.

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has repatriated Bili, a rescued female baby gorilla, to the Republic of Congo following a landmark international wildlife operation that spanned interception, rescue, rehabilitation and safe return.

The operation, conducted from September 22 to 28, 2026, was coordinated by the NCS Special Wildlife Office (SWO) under the Customs Intelligence Unit (CIU), with Bili departing through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

The Service described the exercise as its first full cycle international wildlife operation, marking a significant step in Nigeria’s enforcement of international obligations against wildlife trafficking and the protection of endangered species.

Bili was rescued by Customs officers in August 2023 during an enforcement operation targeting illegal wildlife trafficking. She was subsequently transferred to the care of the Pandrillus Foundation in Calabar, Cross River State, where she underwent rehabilitation.

Following a DNA test that established Bili’s origin as the Republic of Congo, arrangements were made for her return to the country. She was transported from Calabar to Lagos before being airlifted to Congo by DHL at no cost to the operation.

Bili travelled with a caregiver and veterinary doctor to ensure her welfare throughout the journey. Her repatriation was supported by the CITES Management Authority under the Federal Ministry of Environment, in accordance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The gorilla is listed under Appendix I of CITES, which provides the highest level of international protection for species threatened with extinction. Nigeria’s participation in the convention places obligations on relevant authorities to combat illegal trade in protected wildlife.

The Customs Service said Bili’s return demonstrated the importance of cooperation among enforcement agencies, conservation organisations and international partners in tackling wildlife trafficking and ensuring rescued animals receive appropriate care.

The operation also comes against the backdrop of intensified wildlife enforcement by the Service. Between January and September 2026, the Special Wildlife Office and Customs Area Commands recorded 22 wildlife seizures, rescued 699 live animals and arrested 11 suspects.

The seizures during the period included 220 kilogrammes of pangolin scales, 48 elephant tusks and 219.05 kilogrammes of worked ivory. Enforcement operations were recorded in Ogun, Kano, Borno, Yobe, Calabar, Taraba, Kaduna and Lagos, among other locations.

Other rescued or intercepted species included pangolins, primates, lion cubs, hyenas, crowned cranes, tortoises, gorillas and chimpanzees. In September alone, Customs officers also intercepted 440 African mud turtles and 90 ostrich chicks as part of ongoing efforts to curb the illegal wildlife trade.

The Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, and his management team commended the Pandrillus Foundation, DHL, Focused Conservation, the Aspinall Wildlife Trust, the CITES Desk of the Federal Ministry of Environment and the Government of the Republic of Congo for their support. The Service urged members of the public to report suspected cases of illegal wildlife trafficking to the nearest Customs formation, stressing that its mandate extends beyond revenue collection to include national security and environmental protection.

The second edition of the Pivot Nigeria Conference has called for collective action by citizens, government, businesses, institutions and the media to strengthen Nigeria’s reputation and promote a more balanced national narrative.

The conference, held on Tuesday at La Scala, MUSON Centre, Lagos, focused on the theme, “The Reputation Dividend: Who Pays for Nigeria’s Perception?”

The gathering brought together stakeholders from the creative industry, media, communications and corporate sectors to examine the relationship between Nigeria’s reputation, public trust, economic opportunities and national development.

Convener of Pivot Nigeria and Lead Consultant at HighStakes PR Professionals, Victoria Uwadoka, said reputation should not be viewed as a superficial concept, stressing that it was closely linked to trust, credibility and long-term sustainability.

Uwadoka said individuals, organisations and nations depend on reputation as a foundation for building relationships, attracting opportunities and sustaining confidence.

She said the conversation was particularly significant as Nigeria prepares to commemorate its 66th Independence Anniversary on October 1, noting that the country gained independence from Britain on October 1, 1960.

According to her, responsibility for Nigeria’s reputation should not rest solely with government, as citizens, businesses, institutions and media organisations also influence how the country is perceived.

“There is a lot about us that is great. We have made progress in so many ways,” she said, urging Nigerians to recognise their collective responsibility in shaping the country they desire.

Uwadoka argued that Nigeria’s age should be considered alongside what the country had achieved, learnt and built over the years.

She noted that while Nigeria had developed policies and institutional frameworks across several sectors, sustained implementation remained necessary to translate those initiatives into tangible benefits for citizens.

The convener said efforts to improve Nigeria’s reputation must begin from within, with citizens developing greater confidence in their abilities while creating products, services and solutions capable of competing internationally.

She also urged government to create an enabling environment through sound policies, infrastructure and other conditions that would allow citizens and businesses to thrive.

“Trust is also an infrastructure. Perception is an infrastructure,” Uwadoka said, stressing the need to deliberately strengthen both as part of Nigeria’s development process.

She called on the media to tell more balanced Nigerian stories by reporting the country’s challenges alongside its achievements, rather than presenting a one-sided narrative.

Uwadoka said Pivot Nigeria was established to examine how Nigerians perceive themselves and how such perceptions influence the way the country is experienced by others.

“If you say you’re a lion, behave like a lion,” she said, urging Nigerians to demonstrate through their conduct the values associated with the country’s description as the “Giant of Africa.”

She challenged citizens to examine their individual conduct, including professionalism, punctuality, discipline, ethics and respect, noting that every Nigerian contributes to the country’s reputation through everyday interactions.

“When people meet me, I am the Nigeria that they meet,” she said, urging citizens to recognise the impact of their personal conduct on the country’s wider image.

Veteran actor and filmmaker, Richard Mofe-Damijo, popularly known as RMD, said Nigerians should distinguish between honestly acknowledging the country’s challenges and condemning Nigeria without contributing to solutions.

Mofe-Damijo said efforts to reframe Nigeria’s image should not involve ignoring its problems, but should encourage citizens to confront challenges and pursue practical solutions.

He urged Nigerians to see themselves as ambassadors of the country, arguing that nation-building required citizens to take responsibility for the kind of society they wanted to create.

The actor cited the international growth of Afrobeats and the achievements of Nigerian entrepreneurs as examples of how local talent, enterprise and persistence could influence global perceptions of Nigeria.

He also called for greater accountability in public leadership, saying citizens have a responsibility to demand accountability from those entrusted with public office.

On Nigeria’s 66 years of independence, Mofe-Damijo described the country as a work in progress, stressing that its age should reinforce the need for patience, consistency and deliberate nation-building.

Also speaking, Head, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, Rite Foods Limited, Ekuma Eze, said changing Nigeria’s narrative required a paradigm shift that should begin from the family and extend to institutions and wider society.

Eze urged Nigerian companies to build to international standards rather than being constrained by perceptions surrounding locally made products, saying globally competitive businesses could attract investment, create employment and contribute to economic growth.

He added that citizens must identify areas where they could make meaningful contributions to national development, stressing that sustainable progress could not depend solely on solutions coming from outside the country.

The Pivot Nigeria 2026 conference consequently placed Nigeria’s reputation within the wider context of citizenship, leadership, business, media, culture and national development, with participants emphasising the need to combine honest storytelling with measurable action.

The Nigeria Association of Tour Operators (NATOP) marked the 2026 World Tourism Day with activities which capture capacity building, technology, destination promotion and domestic tourism, and celebration.

In the South West Zone, close to 200 tour operators gathered at Ziba Beach Resort, Lagos, for a special training focused on Artificial Intelligence and its application in tourism, equipping operators with digital tools to improve their businesses and destination marketing.

In Abuja, the FCT and Northern Zone, in collaboration with Naija Adventurers, staged a colourful Tourism Awareness Walk and Hike to the Centre of Nigeria.

The celebration also spread to the South-South Zone, where members marked the day with a destination tour, alongside activities to commemorate with the world tourism day celebrations.

In line with the theme for this year’s WTD celebration: ‘Digital agenda and artificial intelligence to redesign tourism’ the NATOP training on AI and application in tour operation at Ziba Beach Resort Lagos saw a large turnout of the members of the association.
NATOP President addressing the members

The President of the association, Hajia Bolaji Mustapha explained that the idea for the location and training was to train members on how to do tour business, to know how to promote tourism digitally, using different AI tool and everything so that they will grow their businesses.

She said: “we follow the theme and, you know, blend with the old situation. Let’s do the training so that we attach it to the World Tourism Day with the theme that we have achieved something and also celebrate.”

She said the training will go a long way in helping the tour operators do greater content to digitally tell destination stories using AI, and also using the tool for expression.

Mustapha also explained why the association chose Ziba Beach Resort: “We always attach World Tourism Day to a tourism site. And definitely, if you look at this whole area and this community, that’s why we see that Ziba is a tourism site. We want to explore and of course. The resort newly launched its third phase. So, we will use this opportunity to look at their rooms, look at how we can sell this destination, to showcase it that the resort is actually in Nigeria, not Zanzibar. By using the place, we would kill two birds with one stones.

“As tour operators who are willing to tell the good story of our Nigeria, we need to bring ourselves up to the speed, align with the digital revolution. Let everybody go digital. Because we also see the content creators are taking our business, we want to align it with what they do. We are the ones that understand the business and we’ll be able to tell the story better, so that anybody coming to Nigeria will be able to discover Nigeria with the experts.”

Also commenting on the celebration, the NATOP Vice President South West and chairman of the WTD Organizing Committee for the zone, Mrs. Wonuola Olatunde-Lamidi explained why NATOP South West’s usage of the 2026 WTD for training. She said many of the members still have a lot to learn about the tour business, and that some do not understand the foundation of the business, including how to create packages hence the need for the training.

Mrs. Olatunde-Lamidi spoke further: “Many don’t understand the foundation of what it is to create a tour package. And when you have people that are not well-trained in an industry, the industry will not grow. The kind of people that you also have will not have enough earning power to do many things. And because this is an industry that I have been in for 16 years, I run Diamonds and Pearls Travels with my husband. And I’ve seen Diamonds and Pearls Travels metamorphose into a company where people don’t just look at us as travel agents. We have become a Destination Management Company (DMC). We have become a trusted brand. We have become a company that when we talk about a destination, people want to go to that destination because of how we have portrayed the destination. And you may not realize that, as tour operators, you can actually decide where people go. You can make people go to a particular destination by marketing it, by letting them know the benefits of that destination.”

The tour operators had opportunity to tour the resort and unwind during the programme.

Thirty three years after the original Agbara Nla became a memorable title among Nigerian audiences, the faith based classic is returning to the big screen with Agbara Nla: The Return, scheduled to open in cinemas nationwide on October 1, 2026.

The new production is co produced by Mount Zion Film Productions, Sozo Films and Circuits, popularly known as Circuits TV, an African virtual cinema platform, while Nile Entertainment is handling its theatrical distribution across Nigeria.

Originally released in 1993 during the VHS era, Agbara Nla became part of the growing culture of Nigerian faith based films, taking stories centred on family, faith, spiritual conflict and Christian values into homes across the country.

Written by Mike Bamiloye, the original film, also released in English as The Ultimate Power, established a strong connection with audiences and contributed to Mount Zion’s influence in Nigeria’s Christian film industry.

Agbara Nla: The Return now brings the story to a new generation through a contemporary cinema production directed by brothers Damilola and Joshua Bamiloye, sons of the original writer and founder of Mount Zion Film Productions.

Produced by Chris Odeh, the film features Mike Bamiloye reprising his role as Isawuru, alongside a new generation of actors including Damilola Bamiloye as Kola, Philip Olubakin as Olaboye and Aanu Kolade Abiodun as Bose.

Set against the growing influence of occult forces in the village of Muwonleru, the film explores themes of spiritual warfare, faith, prayer and the power of God while presenting the familiar story through a contemporary cinematic experience.

The transition from VHS to the cinema screen also represents a major change in how audiences will experience the story. While the original was watched through television broadcasts and shared VHS tapes, the new production is designed for audiences to experience collectively on the big screen.

Head of Theatrical Distribution at Nile Entertainment, Thelma Udeze, said the film offers an opportunity to connect audiences who remember the original with younger viewers discovering the story for the first time.

“Agbara Nla is one of those stories that already has a history with audiences,” Udeze said, noting that the journey from the VHS era to cinema creates an opportunity to connect two generations of viewers.

Following its Nigerian cinema release on October 1, 2026, Agbara Nla: The Return is also scheduled for international theatrical release in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, with further details expected to be announced.