Today’s Headlines: NSA Rolls Out New Rules to Secure Oil Sector; Makinde Appoints New Chief of Staff

The Office of the National Security Adviser, led by Nuhu Ribadu, introduced a new operational framework to strengthen security across Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. The guidelines aim to coordinate security agencies, private surveillance contractors and other stakeholders, improve accountability and tackle crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism and illegal refining. The initiative followed the recovery of more than 2.4 million barrels of stolen crude oil.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited said industry-wide security collaboration had also helped deactivate more than 10,000 illegal refineries, remove nearly 7,000 illegal pipeline connections and arrest over 3,700 suspects. Officials said the new procedures would clarify responsibilities, improve information sharing and reduce conflicts between security agencies. They stressed that the framework’s success would depend on effective implementation, oversight and sustained cooperation.

Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde appointed Bashorun Akinwale Akinwole, popularly known as Wolekanle, as his new Chief of Staff, with the appointment taking immediate effect. Akinwole previously served as Chairman of the Oyo State Local Government Service Commission and is known as a grassroots politician. The appointment was announced in a letter signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Professor Musibau Babatunde.

Makinde also appointed Aderonke Adedayo as Director-General of the state’s Due Process Office. Adedayo, who currently serves as Special Adviser on General Intervention and Donor Agencies, will retain that role alongside her new responsibility. The governor congratulated both appointees and urged them to discharge their duties with loyalty, commitment and dedication to the service of Oyo State.

Ghanaian police arrested eight suspects for allegedly assaulting a 21-year-old man, Godstime Umukoro, during an initiation into an internet fraud operation at Kotokrom in the Sunyani West Municipality of the Bono Region. The arrests followed a distress call on October 4, 2026, after which officers found Umukoro with multiple marks of assault and apprehended the suspects at the scene.

Police said the suspects admitted during interrogation that they had severely beaten Umukoro as part of the initiation process they had allegedly experienced themselves. Preliminary investigations also suggested that a man identified as Nwachukwu King Augustine, described as the group’s chairman, had brought them to Ghana. The police alleged that the group used downloaded images of foreign military personnel to deceive people online, pretending to be soldiers deployed to Yemen before collecting money from victims.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called for an increase in the 13 per cent derivation fund allocated to oil-producing states, arguing that the current arrangement does not adequately compensate them for their natural resources. He made the appeal at the inauguration of the Crude Distillation Unit of Azikel Refinery in Obunagha, Bayelsa State, where Governor Douye Diri also criticised the existing revenue-sharing formula and urged oil-producing states to receive a greater share of their resources.

Obasanjo commended Azikel Group President, Azibapu Eruani, for advancing the $1 billion refinery project and challenged him to complete it within 12 months. The facility is expected to produce 2.5 million litres of petrol and two million litres of diesel daily. Eruani said the refinery would promote industrialisation and strengthen local participation in the petroleum industry, while Diri called for greater involvement of oil-producing communities in decisions concerning their resources and urged residents to acquire the skills needed to benefit from the project.

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