Nation
THE STATES
Adamawa
Dr Aliyu Shehu, Executive Director, Niger State Primary Health Care Development Agency (NSPHCDA) says many rounds of polio vaccines are not harmful to children.
Shehu told newsmen in Minna that parents should not be afraid because it boosts the child’s immunity.
“Many rounds of polio vaccination do not affect the child, they boost the immunity of the child.
“We have gone a long way to eradicate polio and we are succeeding and we will not want to fail, especially now that the country is being praised by the whole world,” he said.
Shehu called on parents to collaborate with the government on the fight against polio to make the country polio-free.
According to him, the agency will ensure that parents are educated before the next round of immunisation exercise.
Bauchi
Senator Iliya Audu, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Bauchi State, has urged CPC to resolve the crisis rocking the Bauchi chapter of the party.
Audu who made the call when members of the Caretaker Committee of the party paid him a courtesy visit in Bauchi on Tuesday said that the commission would support members of the party to enable them run its affairs smoothly.
The REC explained that the Electoral Act provided that all parties should notify the commission 21 days before holding any meeting.
Borno
The price of livestock has remained slightly stable in Borno State as the Eid-el Kabir celebration approaches, a survey conducted by our correspondent has shown.
Our correspondent who visited some livestock markets on Tuesday, reports that prices have either gone down or record marginal increases.
At Damboa market, a middle size ram which sold for N18,000 in June, goes for between N18,000 and N19,000, while the price of a big one has remained unchanged N30,000.
Similarly, a small size ram which sold for N12, 000 in June, is now selling for between N10,000 and N12,000 at the same market.
Ekiti
Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State says the House of Representatives’ resolution asking the Accountant-General of the Federation to stop further allocations to local governments in the state is advisory.
He said it was not binding on the state.
The House had at its sitting on Tuesday, passed a resolution that the AGF should stop allocations to the councils, following their dissolution by the governor.
The governor had dissolved the councils’ executives and legislatures, regardless of their three-year tenure which was still subsisting at the time he replaced Segun Oni.
Oni’s election was recently voided by the Court of Appeal in Ilorin.
The chairmen and councillors were elected on the platform of the PDP in December 2008 for a three-year tenure.
Fayemi’s Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr Mojeed Jamiu, however told newsmen in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday, that the resolution was not binding on the government since it was not a law.
Also reacting, former spokesperson of Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Mr Dayo Adeyeye, said the resolution was aimed at making the government to respect the nation’s Constitution.
FCT
The National Committee on Job Creation says about 15 million jobs will be created in five years if its recommendations are fully implemented.
The Chairman of the Committee, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, made this known on Tuesday at the presentation of the report on job creation to the National Economic Management Team (NEMT) in Abuja.
He listed the recommendations to include massive overhaul of the national skills acquisition capacity to help facilitate job creation in the country.
“A key recommendation in our report is therefore the massive overhaul of our national skills acquisition capacity in order to better align the skills that our citizens have to the skills that the country needs to grow and develop.
“Central to this is the need to resuscitate structured, credible and respected vocational programmes to provide the skills that will fuel the growth of local industry and improve that attractiveness of vocational careers,’’ Dangote said.
He said the committee also recommended that core sectors such as agriculture and agro- allied, manufacturing, building and construction, should be adequately explored, adding that a deep examination of the small and medium industries would help to create jobs.
Gombe
The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) is now a united and indivisible family, its National Chairman, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, said in Gombe State.
Onu told newsmen on Monday that his submission was based on the fact that members of the party had resolved their differences.
“With this, our members and the party are now poised to spring surprises in the coming elections,” he said.
Kwara
Dr Bukola Saraki has explained that he is in the presidential race to reform the country and place it among the comity of developed nations.
He told newsmen at Government House in Ilorin on Sunday that his administration would focus on commercial agriculture to make food abundant and secure.
He pointed out that with commercial agriculture, more employment opportunities would be created for the youths.
He said agricultural revolution would also help the country fight against over dependence on oil. “it is high time the nation diversified its sources of revenue.”
He promised to make graduates embrace self employment as against chasing scarce white collar jobs.
On the PDP primaries, the presidential aspirant urged the leadership of the party to ensure level playing ground for all aspirants.
Saraki warned that anything short of that would wreck the party, saying that he was optimistic of winning the primaries if a level playing ground is provided.
Lagos
The Anglican Bishop of Awori Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Akin Atere, on Monday cautioned against money politics, saying it would undermine democracy if unchecked.
Atere told newsmen in Lagos that politicians should woo the electorate with their records of achievements and not bags of money.
Atere also urged that political aspirants should not receive donations for their electioneering campaigns from the citizens to avoid being influenced by the donors.
He said that money politics had no place in a true democracy and that it should be avoided in 2011 by politicians who meant well for Nigeria.
The cleric spoke against the backdrop of the fundraising for President Goodluck Jonathan’s electioneering campaign.
Some groups including the Conference of Nigeria Peoples Party (CNPP) had criticised the fundraiser during which N450 million was realised.
However, the Goodluck-Sambo Campaign Organisation had said that nobody was allowed to donate more than a million naira at the event.
Niger
Nigerians should take personal hygiene seriously, Dr Mohammed Usman, Director Public Health, Niger State Ministry of Health, has advised.
Usman told newsmen that personal hygiene and proper environmental sanitation was key to prevention and control of most diseases.
“Take your personal hygiene seriously, personal hygiene and environmental sanitation is key to prevention and control of most disease. Prevention is better than cure,” Usman said.
He urged people at the grassroots to make use of the facilities at the primary healthcare centres, where most treatments are free.
Usman said in an effort to prevent malaria, the state had evacuated all the waste, cleared all drainages and brought back the environmental sanitation exercise days.
“After all this, we still give health talk to the people to educate them on how to take care of their health,” he said.
Usman added that the state had concluded plans to introduce ‘indoor-residual spray’ to complement the Long Lasting Insecticide-treated Mosquito Nets.
Ondo
The Ondo State Government has promised that 140 of the 150 rural transformation projects planned for the year will be completed by the end of November.
Mr Clement Faboyede, the Commissioner for Community Development and Cooperatives, told newsmen Tuesday in Akure that contractors handling the projects had been given six weeks to deliver them.
He said that N600 million was spent on 80 such pilot projects in 2009 in three local government areas.
Faboyede said that the N1 million approved for the second phase of the programme was grossly inadequate for the type of projects the communities were demanding, which were estimated to cost between N8 million and N20 million.
He, however, promised that in spite of the development, government was determined to give the communities what they asked for.
Plateau
A Don, Prof. Etannibi Alemika, has tasked Nigerian security agencies to be proactive in their strategies toward curbing violent conflicts.
Alemika was speaking at a workshop organised by Governance and Social Research Institute, Jos.
While blaming the elite for most of the nation’s crises, he challenged the security agencies to deal decisively with people responsible for any conflict no matter the status in the society.
“Experience has shown that most of the conflicts are caused by the rich and the influential; it is only they that stand to gain from such crises. “The ordinary person, who is concerned with making ends meet can never be the cause of any crisis,” he said.
Alemika advised the ordinary people against allowing themselves to be used by the rich as they would be abandoned thereafter.
He urged the people to strive to understand each other, saying that there was the need to discard religious or ethnic differences that could prove to be useful tools for the elite.
Taraba
The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has called on the Federal Government to fully harness the environment and natural resources available at the Mambilla Plateau in Taraba.
The President of PSN, Mr Azubike Okwor, made the call during a courtesy call on the Taraba acting Governor, Alhaji Sani Abubakar, on Monday in Jalingo.
He said such a step by the government would enhance pharmaceutical development and tourism.
He suggested the establishment of a National Hospital on the Mambilla Plateau because of its unique climate.
He said there was no point for Nigerians to seek medical treatment in China or in India when Nigerian pharmacists could develop the required drugs for production locally.
Responding, Abubakar stressed the importance of the society in the medical field, saying that “no meaningful healthcare delivery system will be successful without its members”.
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.