• Governor Peter Mbah

Enugu State has been ranked as Nigeria’s fastest-improving state in the 2026 Phillips Consulting State Performance Momentum Index, outperforming 32 other states in the latest assessment of governance and development across the country.

The report assigned Enugu under Governor Peter Mbah a Momentum Score of +1.15, the highest among the 33 states assessed, placing it ahead of Jigawa, which scored +0.77, and Abia with +0.67 to complete the top three.

According to Phillips Consulting, the Momentum Index measures the rate at which states improved relative to the national average during the review period. Positive scores indicate above-average progress, while negative scores reflect slower-than-average improvement.

The report said Enugu’s emergence as the national leader reflected deliberate governance, strong fiscal discipline, and sustained implementation of reforms, while the South-east recorded the strongest overall regional performance among Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called on central banks and financial regulators to strengthen governance frameworks for Artificial Intelligence (AI), warning that the rapid adoption of the technology across the financial system could create new systemic risks if left inadequately supervised.

The recommendation was made by the IMF’s Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, Tobias Adrian, in a blog post outlining how AI is transforming financial markets, lending, supervision and risk management.

Adrian noted that AI is increasingly being used to price financial risks, allocate credit, execute trades and support supervisory activities, creating opportunities for greater efficiency while introducing new vulnerabilities that regulators must address.

He identified three immediate priorities for policymakers: strengthening oversight of AI-driven trading, lending and supervisory technology (SupTech); improving transparency around AI adoption, model dependencies and correlated investment strategies; and expanding international cooperation on cyber security and operational resilience.

According to him, AI has compressed the speed of financial transactions, allowing trading, lending decisions and supervisory analysis to occur in real time. While these innovations have improved market efficiency, they also increase the speed at which financial shocks can spread across institutions and markets.

• Solar

The Rural Electrification Agency (REA)is on the move to establish 3.7 gigawatts (GW) of local solar photovoltaic (PV) panel manufacturing capacity by the end of 2027.

The planned manufacturing expansion will significantly reduce imports while strengthening Nigeria’s renewable energy value chain.

Managing Director of the agency, Engr. Abba Aliyu, disclosed the initiative in Abuja during a benchmarking visit by officials of the Zanzibar Utilities Regulatory Authority (ZURA).

He said that the agency is encouraging Chinese solar manufacturers to establish production facilities in Nigeria, noting that locally assembled solar panels are already being exported from Lagos to neighbouring Ghana.