News
Abductors Kill Doctor’s Wife, Seminarian In Kaduna

Kaduna kidnappers are getting deadlier and more ruthless as the corpses of two of their victims were found, yesterday: a seminarian, 18 year-old Michael Nnadi and the beautiful wife of a Kaduna-based medical doctor, Philip Ataga.
The bodies of Mrs Ataga and Nnadi were found dumped by the roadside, meaning they were kidnapped by the same ruthless gang, at different times and different places.
While Nnadi was kidnapped in the night of January 8, in his seminary, Mrs Ataga and her two children were kidnapped on January 24 by armed men from the family’s residence at Juji, in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State.
Her captors were said to have killed her after her family failed to meet their demand of a N150million ransom for the deceased and two of her children who were also abducted.
Mrs Philip Ataga, left; with her two kids, now with the abductors.
“The bandits killed Mrs. Ataga, dumped her corpse, and called her husband and directed him to pick the corpse at a particular location”.
Her corpse was picked and deposited at the mortuary at the Barau Dikko Specialist Hospital, Kaduna.
After killing her, the bandits are still reportedly making a demand of N20million ransom for the release of the children.
Nnadi, whose body was also recovered, yesterday, was one of the four students kidnapped from the Good Sheppard Catholic Major Seminary at Kakau village along the Kaduna-Abuja highway, was found dead in a bush, yesterday.
The four students, including Pius Kanwai, 19, Peter Umenukor, 23, Stephen Amos, 23 were kidnapped from The Good Shepherd Major Seminary, Kaduna.
The gunmen, disguised in military camouflage, broke through the fence surrounding the seminarians’ living quarters and began shooting sporadically.
They stole laptops and phones before kidnapping the four young men.
The Registrar of the seminary, Rev. Fr. Joel Usman, who announced the release of three of the students, last Friday in Kaduna, was hopeful for the return of the fourth student.
But yesterday, Michael Nnadi, the youngest of the four captives was found dead.
The kidnappers had done their worst.
According to the Registrar of the seminary, Reverend Father Joel Usman who confirmed the incident in a statement, the body of the seminarian was found dead inside a bush, yesterday.
In a statement released last Saturday, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah said, “With a very heavy heart, I wish to inform you that our dear son, Michael was murdered by the bandits on a date we cannot confirm. He and the wife of a doctor were arbitrarily separated from the group and killed. The rector identified the corpse this afternoon.
Kukah said that he had to delay the announcement of Nnadi’s death slightly until his mother could be informed.
“We have broken the news to her and I will be with her,” Kukah said.
News
FG Ends Passport Production At Multiple Centres After 62 Years

The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
News
FAAC Disburses N2.225trn For August, Highest In Nigeria

The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
News
KenPoly Governing Council Decries Inadequate Power Supply, Poor Infrastructure On Campus
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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