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Boko Haram: Buhari Assures Of Chibok/Dapchi Girls Release

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President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, reassured Nigerians and the international community of the steadfast commitment of his government to secure the freedom of all children and other victims abducted by terrorists in the country.
The President renewed the pledge at a high-level Breakfast Dialogue on ‘‘Stop the War on Children Affected by Armed Conflicts, Dividend of Silencing the Guns’’, a side event during the 33rd AU Summit.
The programme was co-sponsored by the Governments of Nigeria, Uganda, Norway, the AU Commission and Save the Children.
The six grave violations are killing and maiming of children, recruitment or use of children as soldiers, sexual violence against children, abduction of children, attacks against schools or hospitals and denial of humanitarian access for children.
President Buhari expressed concern that these grave violations against children have continued unabated.
“It is for this reason that the Nigerian government has severally condemned, and is combating frontally the dreadful activities of terrorist groups like Boko Haram and the so-called Islamic State.
“Of course, the severity of these grave violations varies from country to country.
“The incidence of a single violation of children’s rights in any country is an indelible dent on the African consciousness and is to be deplored and condemned,” he said.
Reminding the AU Member States of their commitments to protect children affected by armed conflicts in Africa, President Buhari reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to the protection of children in armed conflict zones.
He also used the occasion to outline some concrete measures taken by Nigeria towards tackling the root causes of child soldiers and the misfortune of out-of-school children.
“To stem, the tide of out-of-school children Nigeria embarked on an all-inclusive reconstruction of schools vandalized by the ravaging terrorist activities of Boko Haram, while returning children are rehabilitated and reintegrated into society.
“Our Nomadic Education policy is also being implemented to reduce the number of out-of-school children. We have also prioritized de-radicalization and demobilization of ex-combatant children of Boko Haram insurgents,” President Buhari said.
The Nigerian leader also called on the AU Peace and Security Council to energetically champion the strategy to stop the war on children and adopt the Child Protection Architecture within the African Peace and Security Architecture and the Roadmap on Silencing the Guns.
“The call to action is now for accountability by all African States to the rights of the children caught up in wars.
“Let us stop the war on children. This is a wake-up call for us all to create the enabling environment for rooting out the impact of armed conflicts against our children across the continent,” he said.

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FG Ends Passport Production At Multiple Centres After 62 Years

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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.

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FAAC Disburses N2.225trn For August, Highest In Nigeria

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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.

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KenPoly Governing Council Decries Inadequate Power Supply, Poor Infrastructure On Campus

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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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