Author: Tribune Online

Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, on Wednesday held a breakfast meeting with diplomats from

Bayern Munich forward, Luis Diaz, has insisted that the match referee, Slavko Vinčić, was right to send Real Madrid midfielder, Eduardo Camavinga off during both sides’ UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg tie.

Real Madrid was eliminated from the Champions League on Wednesday night after losing 4-3.

Arda Güler’s brace and a goal from Kylian Mbappe ensured the Los Blancos were leading 2-3.

However, everything changed with Vinčić’s controversial decision to send off Camavinga in the 86th minute for a second yellow card because the France international was holding on to the ball when Bayern was awarded a free-kick.

Speaking on the development, Diaz told El Chiringuito: “The referee was right to send Camavinga off.

“We wanted to take the free kick quickly and he didn’t release the ball.”

UCL: Referee was right to send Camavinga off, he didn’t release ball – Diaz

A new wave of Nigerian tech startups isn’t waiting for the government to fix the roads. They’re building smarter systems around the chaos, using APIs, real-time tracking, cold-chain technology, and data-driven route optimisation to move goods faster, cheaper, and more reliably than ever before.

The mouthpiece of the North, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has said that Nigeria’s worsening security crisis has escalated to what could be described as a “state of war”. To this end, it urged the federal government to adopt extraordinary measures to address the crisis. This position was contained in a communiqué issued at the end […]

Some Bayern Munich players have reacted to their team’s UEFA Champions League victory against Real Madrid.

Bayern eliminated Real Madrid from the Champions League on Wednesday night after beating the Los Blancos 4-3 in the quarter-final second leg tie.

Vincent Kompany’s men advanced to the Champions League semi-final stage on a 6-4 aggregate victory and will take on Paris Saint-Germain later this month.

Reacting, Michael Olise, Bayern midfielder, told TNT Sports: “It was a good, back-and-forth match. We knew they would try to come back. At first, it was a bit like ‘goal, goal, goal’.

“When it eventually calmed down, we played a bit better in the second half and took our chances. We showed good resilience to keep coming back. In the end, it was a result we’re happy with.”

Similarly, Harry Kane, Bayern Munich striker, told TNT Sports: “It was a tough game. Obviously, Real Madrid have this special connection with the Champions League, and you need to be at the highest level to beat them and knock them out.”

Also reacting, Joshua Kimmich, Bayern midfielder, told DAZN: “We did not start the game the way we wanted to. But at half-time, we felt that the advantage was with us, and it paid off watching until the end.”

UCL: Olise, Harry Kane, others react as Bayern Munich knock out Real Madrid

In markets, kiosks, and roadside stalls across Nigeria, a quiet transformation is underway. The familiar neighbourhood POS operator, once seen as a convenience provider, is fast becoming something else entirely: a frontline compliance officer in Nigeria’s financial system.

Under agreements like those issued by Moniepoint Microfinance Bank Limited, agents are no longer just facilitating withdrawals and transfers. They are now expected to enforce Know Your Customer (KYC) rules, detect suspicious transactions, monitor customer behaviour, and in some cases, act as the first line of defence against crimes as serious as kidnapping and money laundering.

This shift raises a fundamental question: When did small business owners become de facto financial regulators?

The obligations placed on agents mirror standards set by the Central Bank of Nigeria, and rightly so.

Financial crime is real, and the informal cash economy has long been a weak point. But the execution reveals a troubling imbalance.

Agents carry the burden. Platforms retain control.

A POS operator in a small shop is now expected to identify red flags that even trained bank staff sometimes miss – structured transactions, identity inconsistencies, behavioural cues. If they fail, the consequences are immediate and severe account freezes, financial clawbacks, or worse, entanglement with law enforcement.

And yet, these same agents are not equipped like banks. They lack advanced fraud detection tools, legal departments, real-time intelligence on suspicious accounts

What they do have is risk, almost entirely theirs to bear.

This is where the system begins to look less like financial inclusion and more like risk outsourcing.

Pushing compliance obligations downstream helps financial institutions expand rapidly without proportionately expanding their own exposure. The agent becomes the shock absorber, absorbing fraud losses, regulatory pressure, and operational liability, while earning thin, variable commissions that can change at any time.

To be clear, agency banking has been a success story in Nigeria. It has brought financial services closer to millions, especially in underserved communities. But success should not come at the cost of fairness.

If agents are to function as gatekeepers of the financial system, then the system must evolve to support them accordingly.

Otherwise, we risk creating a fragile ecosystem, one where the weakest link carries the heaviest burden.

Because when a POS agent must decide whether to question a customer transferring money, they are no longer just running a business. They are making judgment calls that could determine whether they earn a commission, or lose everything.

And that is too much power, and too much risk, to place on the shoulders of the smallest players in the chain.

OPINION: POS Agents Becoming Unpaid Compliance Officers For Banks is first published on The Whistler Newspaper

Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has warned that domestic flights may be suspended from April 20 over the persistent rise in the price of Jet A1, also known as aviation fuel. According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the body said in a notice signed by its President, Dr Abdulmunaf Yunusa Sarina, on Wednesday […]

Former Chelsea player, Joe Cole has forecast the Champions League semi-final matchup between Arsenal and Atletico Madrid.

Mikel Arteta’s Premier League leaders narrowly defeated Portuguese champions ,Sporting 1-0 in a closely contested quarter-final.

Arsenal will face Spanish powerhouses Atletico after Diego Simeone’s team triumphed over La Liga rivals, Barcelona with a 3-2 aggregate score.

Champions League titleholders PSG will encounter German champions, Bayern Munich in the other semi-final fixture following their victories over Liverpool and Real Madrid, respectively.

After a remarkable first half of the season, Arsenal seems to be faltering towards the conclusion, having secured only one win in their last five matches across all competitions.

Nevertheless, former England international Cole remains optimistic, asserting that Arsenal supporters should feel ‘very confident’ about their prospects of defeating Atletico Madrid and advancing to the Champions League final.

“Arsenal fans should be very, very confident,” Cole remarked on TNT Sports. “They have always recognized they were on the favorable side of the draw.

“A semi-final against Atletico Madrid… Arsenal possesses significant strength in various areas.

“The only advantage Atletico Madrid holds is experience, but I genuinely believe Arsenal can achieve the double.

“It will be chaotic, but Arsenal cannot afford to be gentlemen in such a match. Atletico will employ dark tactics, so Arsenal must navigate that effectively.”

Arsenal secured a 1-0 victory against Sporting in Lisbon last week, thanks to Kai Havertz’s goal in injury time, which was sufficient to propel the Gunners into the Champions League semi-finals.

UCL: ‘They’re a lot stronger’ – Joe Cole predicts Atletico Madrid vs Arsenal semifinal clash

The Nigerian naira appreciated against the US dollar at the official NFEM window, with a NFEM rate of N1,343.7409 per dollar on 15th April 2026, and black-market rates hitting N1,395–N1,402.

The launch of the National Single Window (NSW) has triggered additional cost for cargo owners due to teething issues that arose at the port’s aftermath of the launch. With calls for waivers for trapped cargoes gaining traction, foreign shipping companies may revisit the suspended shipping charges hike to make a bargain for waiver implementation, writes […]