The World Bank Group has said it will support reforms to Nigeria’s electricity tariff and subsidy frameworks as part of efforts to restore financial sustainability in the power sector.

The World Bank disclosed this in its Country Partnership Framework for the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the period FY26-FY32.

According to the document, the World Bank’s intervention will focus on improving electricity access and reliability for households and businesses through both on-grid and off-grid solutions, in line with Nigeria’s Mission 300 Compact targets.

“The WBG will also support reforms to restore financial sustainability, focusing on tariff and subsidy frameworks, competitive investment planning, and sound sector regulation,” the document stated.

The World Bank said Nigeria currently had the world’s largest electricity access deficit, with more than 86 million people without access to electricity.

It noted that frequent power outages have forced households and businesses to rely on expensive generators, which had negatively affected the productivity of firms.

The development finance institution further stated that the financial position of the electricity sector remained unsustainable, with tariff shortfalls estimated at $2.45bn by the end of 2025.

It said its support would enable the mobilisation of private capital for renewable energy expansion and grid densification, with the aim of improving the resilience of the power sector while advancing affordability and access.

The World Bank also added that it would continue to support the Nigeria Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up platform, which it said would catalyse private capital for investments in mini-grids and standalone solar systems on a large scale.

It added that it would assist the Federal Government in developing well-structured public-private partnerships and private investment frameworks across the generation, transmission and distribution segments.

The support, according to the bank, would include project preparation, transaction structuring and transparent competitive processes to attract private investors.

“Together, these off- and on-grid efforts under the CPF will provide electricity access to over 32 million Nigerians,” it stated.

The World Bank’s six-year framework comes amid ongoing efforts by the Federal Government and electricity sector regulators to address the financial challenges confronting the power industry and improve electricity supply.

The bank said the tariff and subsidy reforms would form part of broader measures aimed at creating a financially sustainable electricity market, while its planned investments and technical assistance would support increased private participation in the sector.

For years, the Federal Government froze tariffs, allowing consumers to pay less than their electricity consumption.

The failure of the government to pay the shortfalls as promised has been the major cause of the liquidity crisis in the power sector.

However, the power minister, Joseph Tegbe, said the challenges of liquidity would be addressed next year. (NAN)

Afrobeats singer FOLA has gifted his mother a car, completing the two things she asked for after his music career began to take off.

Rising Afrobeats singer FOLA has gifted his mother a car, completing what he described as the two things she ever asked him for since his music career took off.

Sharing the news on his social media page, the singer said he had asked his mother what she wanted when things began to align for him, and her requests were her own church building and a specific car.

“When things started to align, I randomly asked my mother what she wanted and she said she wanted her own church building and this specific car.

The car gift completes a promise that began earlier in his career when he used his first major earnings to buy his mother a piece of land in Ibadan, where she subsequently built a church. At the time, he had spoken about the decision publicly, saying his mother was the first person he thought of after earning money from music.

The gesture is significant given how recently FOLA’s life looked very different. Before his breakthrough, he worked as a Bet9ja cashier in Ibadan, a detail he has spoken about openly as a reminder of how far he has come.

His mother, he has said, never doubted his potential even during those years. She consistently told him he would become a star and encouraged him to keep making music when few outside his family were paying attention.

FOLA rose to prominence with his single Alone before a string of high-profile collaborations with Ayra Starr, Wizkid, BNXN, Zlatan, Victony and DJ Tunez cemented his place among Nigeria’s most exciting emerging acts. He is signed to Dangbana Republik and Empire, and released his debut studio album Catharsis in September 2025.

His post has since drawn widespread reactions online, with many fans praising him for the gesture.

Nollywood actor Osita Iheme, popularly known as Pawpaw, has made a global list of people who became internet legends through viral moments as kids.

Nollywood actor Osita Iheme, popularly known as Pawpaw, has found himself on a global list of people who became internet legends through viral moments associated with their childhood, although there is one funny detail about his inclusion.

A post shared by foreign social media account REALIBITY placed Iheme alongside famous internet personalities and meme figures such as Success Kid, Bad Luck Brian and Side-Eyeing Chloe, who became widely recognised after photos or videos of them went viral online.

The inclusion of Pawpaw has caught attention because, unlike most of the people on the list, Iheme was not actually a child when he became famous.

The Nigerian actor was already 25 when he rose to prominence after starring alongside Chinedu Ikedieze in the 2002 Nollywood blockbuster Aki na Ukwa. Iheme played the mischievous character Pawpaw, while Ikedieze played Aki.

The pair became hugely popular for playing childlike characters despite being adults, with their small stature contributing to them being repeatedly cast in children’s roles. Their performances eventually became a major part of Nollywood’s pop culture legacy.

Years after their films became popular, clips, screenshots and facial expressions from Iheme’s movies found a second life on social media. His images became widely used as reaction memes, allowing Pawpaw to reach an entirely new audience outside Nigeria.

By 2019, memes featuring Iheme and Ikedieze had become a major part of internet culture, with their images being used to express emotions ranging from confusion and frustration to excitement and disbelief. The popularity extended beyond Nigeria, with international brands and media also using the memes.

Iheme as one of the Nollywood actors who had become a major part of Nigerian meme culture, noting how internet users frequently use his expressions from old movies to add humour to online conversations.

The viral list also features people whose faces became globally recognisable from individual childhood moments.

Sam Griner, known online as Success Kid, became an internet meme after his mother posted a photograph of him as a toddler. Kyle Craven became known as Bad Luck Brian after his school yearbook photograph was turned into a meme, while Chloe Clem became known as Side-Eyeing Chloe after a 2013 video of her reaction to a surprise Disneyland trip went viral.

Pawpaw’s story is different but arguably just as remarkable. His internet fame did not come from a childhood photograph or a random viral video. Instead, it came years after he had already established himself as a Nollywood actor, when old scenes from his films were rediscovered and transformed into some of the internet’s favourite reaction memes.

So, while the internet may have placed Pawpaw in the company of famous viral kids, Nigerians know the real gist: Pawpaw was already a grown man, he was simply playing the role of a child.

More than two decades after Aki na Ukwa, Iheme remains one of Nollywood’s most recognisable faces, with his Pawpaw character continuing to live on across social media through memes and reaction images.