Nation
THE STATES
Adamawa
Nigerians need to develop interest in reading books and learning history to develop their future, veteran Actor/Producer, Zack Orji, has said.
Orji spoke with The Tide’s Source in Lamurde, Lamurde Local Government Area of Adamawa recently.
He said majority of Nigerians tended to forget things easily except if they were made into entertainment forms, such as films, and so it was necessary to capture history in movies.
“One of the tragedies that have befallen this country today is that Nigerians don’t read. Give the typical Nigerian a book and a movie, they would pick the movie and abandon the book,” Orji said.
The actor said learning and capturing the culture and lifestyles of other tribes in the country could form a true picture of national cohesion.
Bauchi
The Bauchi State Government has recruited more than 2,030 medical personnel to boost its health care services.
Alhaji Sanusi Muhammad, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Publicity, told The Tides Source in Bauchi that the exercise was aimed at rejuvenating the health sector.
He said those employed were nurses, laboratory scientists and 30 Egyptian doctors who specialised in different fields of medicine.
Muhammad said more than 30 state-of-the-art ambulances were also purchased and distributed to the 23 general hospitals in the state.
He said government had embarked on the rehabilitation and re-equipping of the more than 24 primary health centres in the 20 local government areas.
Muhammad said all the 23 general hospitals had been provided with new generators to ensure steady power supply.
Ekiti
Mrs Clara Anekwe, the NYSC Coordinator in Ekiti State, has urged members deployed to the area to be part of the re-branding programme of the federal government.
Anekwe stated this on Tuesday at the NYSC permanent orientation camp at Ise/Orun during an interactive session with 2010 batch “A” corps members currently undergoing orientation.
The Tide’s Source reports that 2,200 corps members deployed to the state are participating in the orientation programme.
The coordinator, who described the NYSC members as “the future leaders”, counselled them to imbibe the re-branding programme for a better society.
She said “My dearest corps members, Nigeria is re-branding now. As future leaders of our great nation, the re-branding must start with you.
“What you profess in the light, do not go against it in the dark. Our collective aspiration must produce a better society. In the next three weeks, let us come together to fashion a course for a New Nigeria.”
Katsinaa
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) plans to open 15 area offices in the country.
The NYSC Director-General, Brig.-Gen. Maharzu Tsiga, told The Tide’s source in Katsina that the project was to decentralise the operations of the scheme to enhance its efficiency.
He said an NYSC area office would be opened in each of the six geo-political zones and nine other states before the end of April.
Tsiga said the NYSC Governing Board had approved the establishment of the offices, adding that the exercise would be for the benefit of the corps members.
He declared: “The establishment of the area offices is to ensure the security, welfare and comfort of corps members.
“It will also enable the administrators of the scheme to play their statutory responsibilities so that the dream of the founding fathers of the scheme will be realised”.
Kebbi
The Kebbi State Government has released about N363 million to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), as its counterpart fund for 84 community development projects in the state.
Alhaji Garba Argungu, the IFAD Project Manager in the state, The Tide’s source in Birnin Kebbi that four projects would be executed in each of the 21 local government areas.
He said the projects would be executed in phases, adding that each benefiting community would receive N1.2 million for the execution of the first phase of the projects.
According to him, each of the four communities, Gomozo, Alelu, Tafkin-Kada and Sadam-Razai, in Jega Local Government Area, had already received their share of N1.2 million for the execution of projects initiated by them.
He said the money would be utilised for the execution of capital projects such as schools, dispensaries, rural roads and water supply as well dry season fish and irrigation farming activities.
Kwara
The Kwara Government on Monday in IIorin commenced the annual mass vaccination of local chickens in selected communities.
The exercise is being carried out under the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ Rural Poultry Bio-security Improvement Scheme (RUPBIS).
Prof. Mohammed Gana-Yisa, Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, said government had released N1.5 million on to support the exercise.
He said various poultry inputs worth more than N3 million supplied by some international agencies were also released.
Gana-Yisa said the Bio-security Improvement Scheme was an intervention strategy put in place by the Avian Influenza Control Project in 2008 in 12 pilot communities spread across six local government areas.
Osun
Capt. Stephen Mamvong, Commandant of the NYSC camp in Ede, Osun State, on Tuesday warned corps members against stealing.
Mamvong said the warning became necessary against the backdrop of previous incidents of stealing involving corps members.
He told The Tide’s source in Ede that any corps member caught stealing would face the full weight of the law.
‘‘We are here to give leadership qualities by demonstrating practically that leaders are supposed to lead by examples of virtuous living and not to steal or rob.
‘‘The corps members must start practising this now so that by the time they go out, they will not start manipulating figures in the public service.
‘‘They must check thieves in their midst by being wary of those who steal their things,’’ he said.
Plateau
A middle aged man, Sunday Rimnil, who routinely embarked on a binge, was found dead on Monday in Chigwong, Plateau, in a gutter.
Relations told The Tide’s source, Monday, that Rimnil was a drunk, and had lost so much weight, even as he was constantly cautioned on the bad effects of excessive drinking.
The victim’s uncle, Mr Moses Dakyil, told the source that Rimnil was found in a gutter near the market in the early hours of Monday, when he did not return home the previous day.
According to him, Rimnil’s wife was the breadwinner of the family as her husband spend most of his time drinking.
Zamfara
Alhaji Aminu Marafa, an Islamic scholar in Zamfara, has called for more legislations that would encourage economic empowerment of women in Nigeria.
Marafa, Director- General, Islamic Orgnisations and Quranic Schools in Zamfara, said in Gusau on Tuesday at a three-day training programme on modified life saving skills for community health extension workers.
The scholar noted that “self- imposed traditional and cultural beliefs that had nothing to do with religion, have over time impeded the progress of women in Nigeria, especially in the northern states“.
Marafa further said that “unless the government, especially the legislative arm, enact laws that will release women from the burden of such cultural beliefs, their social lives will continue to be trampled upon”.
The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project(HYPREP) has inducted and given orientation to 100 Ogoni youths for training on Creative Arts. The beneficiaries were drawn from Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme Local Government Areas of Rivers State.
The induction and orientation ceremony, which took place at the CRAB of the Department of Theatre Arts of the University of Port Harcourt on Wednesday, was a prelude to the training proper, billed to commence next Tuesday.
As usual, HYPREP issued undertaking forms to the trainees, for them to complete and submit as a guarantee that they would subject themselves to the requirements of the programme as well as be of good behaviour throughout the four-month duration of the training.
HYPREP also announced that it would pay N150,000 to each of the beneficiaries monthly, as transport and feeding allowance, stressing, however, that only those who fully participate in the training would be entitled for the allowance.
Speaking at the event, the Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey, welcomed the trainees to the programme, saying, HYPREP’s projects are evolving and that one thing that is happening today is that the Project has gotten leadership right, by making promises and keeping those promises.
According to him, the Project had equally promised to move away from rudimentary skills acquisition to high impacts acquisition levels, which it has kept today by sponsoring the training on Creative Arts.
He noted that in planning its livelihood programmes for Ogoni youths, HYPREP has taken time out to look for skills that would add value to the lives of the beneficiaries.
Zabbey, who was represented at the event by the Director of Technical Services, Prof Damian-Paul Aguiyi said by packaging the Creative Arts training, it was expected that the Ogoni people would have their own version of Nollywood known as Ogoniwood just as Nigerians are familiar with Hollywood, Bollywood, Kannywood and Nollywood.
To achieve this goal, the Project Coordinator explained that it was the reason for choosing a reputable establishment like Halibiz Consult Limited, to partner with the Department of Theatre Arts of the University of Port Harcourt, which he described as one of the most prestigious in the Niger Delta, for the training of the beneficiaries.
He also indicated that in doing this, HYPREP was desirous of going for talents that would help the Ogoni people grow in the film industry, and urged the beneficiaries to take the training seriously.
Zabbey equally enjoined the trainees to put in their best so that in the next three to five years, they would carve a niche for themselves and become forces to reckon with in the film industry.
On her part, HYPREP’s Head of Sustainable Livelihood, Mrs Josephine Nzidee said HYPREP does what it says it will, stressing that the process of training Ogoni youths on specialised skills started three years ago.
According to her, the selection process for the training was rigorous and transparent, and was carried out by renowned actors actresses.
She disclosed that the training consists of three major aspects, which include acting, script writing and make-up, while Nollywood actors like Charles Nnoje, Ngezu J. Ngezu and award-winning make-up artist, Jude Odo would be on hand to drill and groom the beneficiaries.
Mrs Nzidee noted that the programme is a specialised training that does not have anything like starter packs but that it is purely a professional certification programme that would launch the beneficiaries into the Nollywood industry in Nigeria.
According to her, the Creative Arts training is one of the four specialised trainings organised by HYPREP to ensure that the Ogoni people are well positioned in vital industries like Aviation, Maritime, Creative Arts and Mechatronics.
She said the last of such trainings on Mechatronics would take place in the coming months, and urged the beneficiaries to take the training seriously so as to put the Ogoni people on the Nollywood map.
She further indicated that while Charles Nnoje and Ngezu J. Ngezu would take the beneficiaries on the practical aspects, Jude Odo would take them on the make-up aspects.
Also speaking, the External Relations Manager of Halibiz Consult Limited, Alabo Experience Douglas said his company gives much premium to standard and quality, and assured that the firm would give the trainees value for the money spent on the programme.
While charging the beneficiaries to be dedicated and punctual, he stressed the need for them to approach the programme with the mindset of being empty so that at the end of the day, they would benefit maximally.
On his part, the Head of the Theatre Arts Department of the University of Port Harcourt, Dr Ovunda Ihunwo said the CRAB is an acronym for Creative Review of Arts and Books, stressing that it was named by renowned playwright, Prof Ola Rotimi.
According to him, the CRAB had nurtured, groomed and produced Nollywood actors and actresses like Bobmanuel Udokwu, Ejike Asiegbu,Francis Duru, Hilda Dokubo, Monalisa Chinda, Julius Agwu, and a host of others, assuring the beneficiaries that they were on fertile environment to hone their talents.
He noted that symbolically, the crab is a nutritious seafood common in the Niger Delta, and reiterated the need for the beneficiaries to come empty for the training, as it were.
Ihunwo disclosed that the theory classes of the programme would run for three weeks while the fourth week would be for the master classes, and urged the trainees to avail themselves of the opportunity to make a difference by telling the Ogoni story, which he described as inexhaustible by themselves, in order to put Ogoni on the map.
A 23-year-old student of Nasarawa State University identified as Jatau Rilokwah, has been reportedly found dead in the university’s senior staff quarters.
A counter-insurgency expert, focused on the Lake Chad region, Zagazola Makama, disclosed this on his X handle on Tuesday.
According to him, the discovery was made on April 27, 2025, by a security officer at the university, Emmanuel Gyawo.
He stated that Gwayo was directed by Prof. Shedrack Jatau to check on his son upon arriving at the residence, and he found Rilokwah hanging from the ceiling.
“Professor Jatau, who was reportedly out of the State at the time, was informed of the incident. A team of police detectives, led by the Divisional Crime Officer of Angwan Lambu, was dispatched to the scene.
“The body showed no signs of violence, and no suicide note was found. Rilokwah was rushed to the Federal Medical Centre in Keffi, where he was confirmed dead by a medical doctor,” he further stated.
He added that the student’s corpse had been deposited in the hospital morgue.
He also quoted police sources as saying that investigations were ongoing to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The Ogun State Government has partnered with Nike Art Gallery to establish a new exhibition space at the Olumo Rock Tourist Centre in Abeokuta, a move Governor Dapo Abiodun says is aimed at boosting annual tourist visits from 20,000 to over 100,000.
Abiodun disclosed the plan on Wednesday while receiving the founder of the Nike Art Gallery, Chief (Mrs) Nike Davies-Okundaye, at his office in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
“I went to Olumo Rock about a month ago and I decided that we needed to do something about restoring Olumo Rock to its old glory. From statistics, Olumo Rock hosts about 20,000 people a year in its current state, and I felt that we could increase that to at least ten times,” the governor said.
As part of the plan, an events hall within the tourist centre will be repurposed as a permanent gallery operated by Nike Art Gallery.
“I told them to shut it down. Practically, we want to bring it down and turn it into a gallery for you to use as an exhibition gallery,” he told Davies-Okundaye.
He added that the gallery will be ready before the National Sports Festival in May, when the State will host about 15,000 visitors.
“I want them to be able to see our tourist sites,” he said, listing attractions such as the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, the Ransome-Kuti family home, and the Adire market among key heritage spots to be showcased.
Highlighting Ogun’s improved infrastructure, the governor said, “Now that we’ve succeeded in having the intra and inter-state roads in place, you can come to Ogun State by rail; you can come by air. We’ve constructed one of the best airports in Nigeria, and very soon, you will be able to come by sea.”
Davies-Okundaye, in her remarks, praised the state’s efforts to promote tourism and pledged to use the new gallery to attract global attention.
“This gallery will bring many Heads of State. The one I opened in Abuja already has more than 10 Heads of State, including those from South Korea and the Czech Republic. The same will happen here,” she said.
She also applauded the Governor for his commitment to the Adire fabric industry.
“Adire is all over Nigeria, but Ogun has been promoting Adire for over 50 years. Today, the only cloth we can call our own is called Adire. This is what we can sell to the Europeans,” she said.
Abiodun reaffirmed his administration’s backing of the Adire industry, citing policies such as the Adire Ogun Digital Marketplace, compulsory wearing of Adire in the state, and provision of solar-powered production equipment to support artisans.
He also revealed plans to open a creative arts and entertainment village in partnership with Bolanle Austen-Peters, expected to be completed within two months.