Juventus are preparing to offer a player-plus-cash deal to sign Nigeria international Victor Osimhen from Napoli in the summer, TheNigerian Sports Extra reports.

The Bianconeri have identified Osimhen as a key target for their offensive overhaul and are willing to include defender Federico Gatti in the package to entice their Serie A rivals into negotiations.

According to Tuttosport, Juventus are aware of the complexity of the deal given Napoli’s reluctance to sell such a prominent player to a direct competitor.

Osimhen played a crucial role in Napoli’s Scudetto-winning campaign in 2023 scoring 26 goals to become the first African to win the topscorer award as they ended a 33-year jinx.

The Old Lady’s strategy involves leveraging Napoli coach Antonio Conte’s admiration for Federico Gatti, hoping the centre-back could address the Partenopei’s defensive needs while facilitating their pursuit of the Nigerian striker.

This move comes as Juventus prepare to offload Dusan Vlahovic and renegotiate Randal Kolo Muani’s loan with Paris Saint-Germain to extend his stay at the Allianz Stadium beyond the summer.

Osimhen, currently on loan at Galatasaray, has been in blistering form this season, scoring 20 goals in 22 league appearances for the Turkish giants.

The 26-year-old striker recently made headlines on international duty after surpassing Segun Odegbami’s 44-year-old goalscoring record for Nigeria. Osimhen netted his 24th and 25th goals for the Super Eagles during Friday’s 2-0 victory over Rwanda in a 2026 World Cup qualifier in Kigali.

Former Nigeria international Odegbami, who held the position of Nigeria’s second-highest goal scorer since 1981, expressed delight at seeing his record broken.

“Osimhen has finally overtaken me and I think that is good because the record has been hanging on for a very long time. I am very happy for him and I want to say good luck to him,” Odegbami told TheNigerian Sports Extra.

“He is still young and he has a long way to go.”

The striker now sits behind only the late Rashidi Yekini, who holds Nigeria’s all-time scoring record with 37 goals.

Since making his Super Eagles debut in June 2017, Osimhen has established himself as the team’s talisman, including notable performances in AFCON qualifiers where he scored two hat-tricks in 2023.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it has reduced time to market in its bid to ensure that the capital market is now more efficient and better positioned to aid the development of the Nigerian economy.

The director-general of SEC, Dr. Emomotimi Agama stated this during an interview in Abuja. He emphasised that the current management of the SEC has reduced the time it takes companies to obtain approval to two weeks.

According to Agama, “since we came on board, it is instructive to say that we have helped propel the economy. One of the things that has been a challenge before we came to the saddle was time to market, issuers will come to the market, and they will spend time before they get approval to be able to raise capital.

“The Capital market is the life and blood of any economy and of course this is actually regulated by time. So, one of the first things we have tackled since we came was to reduce the time to market. We have reduced the time to market from over a year to 14 days.”

Agama said, with the banking recapitalisation exercise, banks were able to raise over N2.2 trillion from the Nigerian capital market using the e-offering platform. He said, issuers did not experience delays in their applications because the commission had various mechanisms in place to ensure that applications were swiftly attended to and approvals received in record time.

The Katsina State government, the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Tropical General Investments (TGI) Group, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have joined forces to provide sustainable solutions for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities in Katsina.

Yesterday, at the Katsina State Government House, Governor Dikko Umar Radda welcomed Dr Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction; Mr Farouk Gumel, vice chairman of TGI Group; and Mr Arjun Jain, UNHCR Representative in Nigeria, for the formal signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

This partnership marks the launch of the Livelihoods for Improved Futures for Everyone (LIFE) project, which aims to provide economic empowerment and resettlement opportunities for 600 displaced families and their host communities.

Through this initiative, the governor has allocated 600 hectares of land to relocate displaced communities and offer them a chance to live in dignity and earn a livelihood once again. Host communities will also be included in this project.

“Katsina is committed to ensuring that all displaced communities can return home safely or find a suitable alternative where they live safely. This initiative is the first of its kind, underscoring our commitment to our people,” noted Radda.

The minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Yilwatda, said government will support social inclusion and community assistance.

He said, “This project will stabilise 600 families and allow for dry-season irrigation. This will ensure that more families are employed and that we are one step closer to tackling food security and ensuring economic independence to some of the most vulnerable families, especially during the lean season.”
TGI will be offering technical support to the farmers, along with agri-inputs and zero-interest loans, while committing to off-take their produce.

“For TGI, we believe that rural inclusion is core to the overall economic development of our nation. We have a long history of working with small-holder farmers across the nation, ensuring they have the resources and support needed to thrive.

This initiative is important because it not only strengthens food security but also promotes a dignified approach to re-integrating displaced members of society while expanding the capacity of the agricultural value chain,” stated Farouk Gumel, vice chairman of TGI Group.

UNHCR will be supporting the communities and installing a solar-powered irrigation system that will allow for dry-season irrigation, which will eventually be run by the communities themselves.

“The number of internally displaced persons across Nigeria is increasing every year. We need to urgently find solutions for them. Towards that, we are delighted that the government of Nigeria and Katsina are taking the lead on this and that the private sector is engaging more actively.”

There are around 3.5 million internally displaced persons across Nigeria. Katsina hosts approximately 250,000 IDPs. Under the leadership of Governor Radda, a few thousand residents are also refugees across the border in Niger.

Katsina has taken significant measures to address the issue of forced displacement. All internally displaced persons live in host communities instead of camps, allowing them to integrate into communities.

Renowned leadership coach and former presidential candidate of the defunct Alliance for New Nigeria, Fela Durotoye, has revealed how he rejected an opportunity to siphon N5bn in a fraudulent government deal, despite immense pressure from an official who claimed to be a pastor.

Speaking on Tuesday, at the ongoing biannual conference of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria in Abuja, Durotoye recounted the experience, which he described as a test of integrity.

This is according to a Church Times Nigeria report on Wednesday.

According to him, the official approached him with a lucrative training contract, insisting that he had already been selected for the job.

The programme involved training people in all 774 local government areas of Nigeria within eight weeks, and Durotoye was assured that he fit the criteria perfectly.

Upon request, he prepared an invoice, ensuring the cost was strictly based on actual expenses.

His team calculated a fair price of N1.3 bn for the training.

But just three days later, a call from the presidency changed everything.

“I got a call congratulating me that I had secured the job.

“But they said the amount I was asking for was too small. They promised to add N700m to make it N2bn. Then they asked me to submit an invoice for N5bn,” Durotoye recalled.

Alarmed, he questioned the ethics of inflating the price, especially for a training centred on ethical leadership.

The official, however, dismissed his concerns.

“The man assured me he wasn’t ripping off Nigeria.

“He said he had served the country and deserved compensation. When I reminded him that the blessings of God make one rich and add no sorrow, he fired back, saying, ‘There is no sorrow in this one. You have been doing well for Nigeria. It is time for Nigeria to do well for you,’” Durotoye said.

As pressure mounted, Durotoye claimed he made a bold decision—he switched off his phone.

He added that three months later, news broke that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had arrested some presidency officials for stealing N426m from an ethical leadership training fund.

Reflecting on the ordeal, he emphasised the importance of strong moral values.

“Only your values can help you turn down corrupt tendencies,” he warned.

Durotoye also revealed details about his time serving under the Tinubu administration as Special Assistant to the President.

“I did not collect an official car, I did not collect a house, and I did not collect a salary for serving.

“It was difficult to get my letter out because, according to somebody in government, my refusal to collect those things would make it difficult to pin me to corruption,” he stated.

Despite the challenges, he said he encountered like-minded individuals in government who shared his commitment to integrity.

“When we have the right values, there won’t be corruption in this land,” he concluded.

A former presidential candidate of the now-defunct Alliance for New Nigeria, ANN, Fela Durotoye, has claimed he turned down a chance to siphon N5bn in a fraudulent government deal.

According to him, this came amid serious pressure from a government official, who worked in a previous administration and claimed to be a pastor.

Durotoye stated this while speaking at the biannual conference of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, in Abuja, on Tuesday.

According to him, the official approached him with a lucrative training contract, and claimed he (Durotoye) had already been picked for the job.

He was informed the programme would involve trainings across all 774 local government areas in Nigeria within eight weeks.

Durotoye’s team went ahead to prepare an invoice, calculating a price of N1.3bn for the training.

“A few years ago, I’ll not say how long, but it’s not this administration, it’s not last administration it’s a while ago let me leave it like that,” Durotoye said.

He added: “I got a phone call and it happened to be a Man of God from Abuja who called me to say Fela, there’s an opportunity that I want you to explore, in fact let me be clear with you, you have already gotten it.

“But they said the amount I was asking for was too small. They promised to add N700m to make it N2bn. Then they asked me to submit an invoice for N5b.

“The man assured me he wasn’t ripping off Nigeria.

“He said he had served the country and deserved compensation. When I reminded him that the blessings of God make one rich and add no sorrow, he fired back, saying, ‘There is no sorrow in this one. You have been doing well for Nigeria. It is time for Nigeria to do well for you.’”

As pressure mounted, Durotoye revealed he switched off his phone.

Durotoye said three months after the conversations, some officials in the presidency were arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for stealing N426m from an ethical leadership training fund.

Durotoye also disclosed that he did not earn a salary while serving under the President Bola Tinubu administration as Special Assistant to the President.

“I did not collect an official car, I did not collect a house, and I did not collect a salary for serving.

“It was difficult to get my letter out because, according to somebody in government, my refusal to collect those things would make it difficult to pin me to corruption,” he said.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed new details about Nigeria’s refinery woes, recounting failed efforts to privatise the country’s refineries and the subsequent financial losses under government management.

In an exclusive interview with Channels TV on Thursday, Obasanjo discussed the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries during his presidency.

He explained how he sought external help to rehabilitate and manage the facilities but faced resistance.

He recalled, “I asked Shell to come and run it for us and Shell said they wouldn’t I said, Please come and take equity they said no. I said okay, don’t take equity, come and run it, they said no.

“Later on, I called them. I called the boss of Shell to come and tell me what the problem was and he gave me four or five reasons. He said, first of all, they make a major profit from upstream, not from downstream. He said they run downstream just to keep their head above water.

“Two, our refineries were too small: 60,000 barrels 100,000 barrels and I think 120,000 barrels. He said that at that time, the average refinery was going for 250,000 barrels.

“Three, he said our refineries were not well maintained. Four, he said that there was too much corruption around the activities of our refinery and they would not want to get involved in that.”

Obasanjo shared that after Shell’s refusal, Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, assembled a team and paid $750 million to operate the refineries through a public-private partnership.

“Aliko got a team together and they paid $750m to take part in PPP (Public–Private Partnership) in running the refineries. My successor refunded their money and I went to my successor, I told him what transpired, he said NNPC said they wanted the refinery and they could run it and I said but you know they cannot run it,” he stated.

The former president expressed confidence in Dangote’s ability to manage his privately owned refinery effectively, contrasting it with the government’s inefficiency.

“I was told not too long ago that since that time, more than two billion dollars have been squandered on the refinery and they still will not work.

“If a company like Shell tells me what they told me, I will believe them. If anybody tells you now that it is working, why are they now with Aliko? And Aliko will make his own refinery work; not only make it work, he will make it deliver.”

Obasanjo concluded with a Yoruba proverb, comparing inflated claims about the refineries’ performance to planting 100 heaps of yam but falsely claiming to have planted 200.

“They say after he has harvested 100 heaps of Yam, he will also have 100 heaps of lies. You know what that means,” he said.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed new details surrounding Nigeria’s ongoing refinery challenges, including the failed attempt to privatise the refineries and the subsequent financial losses under government management.

In an exclusive interview with Channels TV monitored by our Correspondent on Thursday, Obasanjo discussed the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna Refineries, emphasising his efforts to seek external help for their rehabilitation and management during his presidency.

He recounted how Shell, one of the world’s largest oil companies, refused to take on the responsibility despite his government’s invitation.

“I asked Shell to come and run it for us and Shell said they wouldn’t. I said, ‘Please come and take equity.’ They said no. I said ‘okay, don’t take equity, come and run it, they said no’,” Obasanjo explained.

The former president further elaborated on his conversation with the Shell boss, who cited several reasons for the company’s refusal. He said Shell’s primary business was in upstream oil production, not refining, and the refineries in Nigeria were too small by global standards.

“He said our refineries were too small: 60,000 barrels, 100,000 barrels, and I think 120,000 barrels. At that time, the average refinery was going for 250,000 barrels,” Obasanjo recalled. “He also mentioned that the refineries were poorly maintained and that corruption was rampant around their operations, which made Shell hesitant to get involved.”

After Shell’s rejection, Obasanjo turned to Nigerian businessman and later Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, who assembled a team to offer a solution. According to Obasanjo, Dangote paid $750 million for a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement to operate the refineries.

“Aliko got a team together and they paid $750 million to take part in PPP in running the refineries. My successor refunded their money and I went to him and explained what happened, but he said NNPC wanted to run the refineries, claiming they could manage them,” Obasanjo said.

Despite this, Obasanjo expressed confidence in Dangote’s ability to manage his privately owned refinery, noting that government-run refineries had failed to operate effectively.

“I was told not too long ago that since that time, more than two billion dollars have been squandered on the refineries, and they still will not work,” Obasanjo said. “If a company like Shell tells me what they told me, I will believe them. If anybody tells you now that it is working, why are they now with Aliko? And Aliko will make his own refinery work; not only make it work, he will make it deliver.”

He concluded with a Yoruba proverb, drawing a comparison between the government’s inflated claims about the refineries and deceptive promises.

“They say after he has harvested 100 heaps of yam, he will also have 100 heaps of lies. You know what that means,” Obasanjo said, emphasising the ongoing failure to resolve Nigeria’s refinery crisis.

Babafemi Ojudu, former Special Adviser on Political Matters to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, has revealed how he and other allies convinced President Bola Tinubu to reject an offer to serve as Minister of Finance under the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

Ojudu disclosed this during an appearance on State Affairs, a podcast hosted by Edmund Obilo, on Monday.

He noted that accepting the role would have posed significant political risks for Tinubu, who was then the leader of the Action Congress.

“Tinubu called me one day and said, ‘Congratulations to me.’ I asked, ‘Congratulations for what?’ He then told me that former President Yar’Adua had called him to join his government of unity as Minister of Finance,” Ojudu recounted.

According to the journalist, he immediately warned Tinubu about the potential fallout of the decision, citing the fate of Bola Ige, a former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, who was assassinated under controversial circumstances.

“I said, ‘You are in Action Congress. Are you not a student of history? Do you not see what happened to Bola Ige? You are digging your political grave if you accept that type of job,’” he stated.

Rauf Aregbesola, a close ally of Tinubu and former Governor of Osun State, reportedly joined the discussion and supported Ojudu’s stance.

He added, “Rauf walked in and said, ‘Femi is right; that is not a job to take.

“One businessman walked in and said, ‘You guys are too radical. This thing will benefit everyone.’ But I insisted, ‘No, we are not looking for this type of benefit. We are looking for his political survival.

“He is our leader. Our dream for him is bigger than him becoming a minister in Yar’Adua’s government. Nine months down the line, they would arrest him, try him, and finish him off — the way they did to Bola Ige.”

Ojudu also addressed allegations of betrayal during the 2023 presidential election, where he backed former Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo instead of Tinubu for the All Progressives Congress ticket.

He dismissed the claims, emphasising that their differing visions at the time were not personal.

He said, “We cannot quarrel. It is about our vision taking different routes. I just came from Bayo Onanuga’s daughter’s wedding. People saw me and said, We never knew you would come around.

“I told them, Do you think we are boxing each other? It is not personal. For me, loyalty to friendship is on a lesser scale than sacrifice for the country.”