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Don’t Give Or Collect Bribe, Avoid Cutting Corners, DG Urges Corps Members
The Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim has warned corps members to stop cutting corners while reminding them that their services to the nation transcends beyond service year.
The director general disclosed this to the 2021 Batch ‘B’ (Stream 1) corps members during the virtual meeting, yesterday morning in all orientation camps and NYSC formations nationwide.
Ibrahim encouraged the members of the service corps to remember always the last line of the Oath of Allegiance sworn to during the Swearing in Ceremony and abide by it.
The one star General, who is an associate professor urged corps members to live with the reality embedded in the said portion which says ‘always remember the motto and strive continuously to live up the ideals of the National Youth Service Corps during and after my service year’.
“My dear children in the national service, I am addressing you this morning as a father and director general of NYSC. You have to use your participation in this laudable programme to promote national unity and integration. The government at all levels have invested much in you and you have to be patriotic.”
“I want to admonish you not to cut corners and desist from offering or taking bribe as both persons are liable in the court of law. NYSC keeps records and any negative thing you do today will hunt you in the nearest future”.
“NYSC has continuously been building for leadership, crop of disciplined, honest and detribalised Nigerians who are well groomed and cerebral right from the orientation camp and indeed throughout the service year and beyond to ensure that the unity of this country is sacrosanct and non-negotiable,” he said.
The NYSC DG warned that corps members should desist from embarking on night journeys as this is extremely dangerous for the corps members, and brings negative publicity to the scheme when unforeseen circumstances happen.
He also commiserated with the management of the scheme, state governments and families of the five prospective corps members who lost their precious lives recently, praying such will never happen again.
“However, I wish to let you know that the unfortunate incident occurred late into the night but I am using the opportunity provided by this address to reiterate our commitment to providing adequate security and welfare to all our corps members nationwide”, he promised.
In closing remarks, the NYSC Number One Corps Member admonished the corps members to take their personal security and well-being seriously by taking the Covid-19 vaccine as against the conspiracy theory circulating on social media.
“NYSC loves you just like your parents do. There is no harm in taking the vaccination. Ensure that you take Covid-19 vaccine to protect yourselves and others around you because the nation wants you alive.
“Disregard all the fallacies that the social media is churning out concerning the effects of the vaccination. I have taken the two jabs likewise all the officers that are travelling to the camps with me. We don’t want to keep you perpetually at home and that is why the Federal Government is investing hugely to protect you right at the point of entering the service and indeed throughout the service year,” he said.
The NYSC helmsman of the leading youth organisation in Sub-Saharan Africa, enjoined corps members to use social media to promote the objectives and advance the cause of the scheme.
“Don’t promote fake news or forward every news or reports sent to you without verification but use it to promote our national unity. You are expected to use the platform to preach unity and love and not to use it to discredit the activities of the scheme”
“NYSC has various social media handles and accounts you can use to verify all that you need to know about NYSC but if you go against this advice, you will be culpable for your actions”, he concluded.
He wished the corps members a successful orientation course and a fruitful service year with admonition to them to serve the nation diligently and with unflinching commitment and steadfastness.
Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, had lauded the courage and commitment of troops of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) to the ongoing counter-insurgency operations in North East Nigeria.
Abubakar gave the commendation during a morale-boosting visit to the Air Component of Operation HADIN KAI in Maiduguri, Borno.
This is contained in a statement by the Director, Public Relations and Information, NAF, Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, yesterday, in Abuja.
The CAS said their sacrifices were etched in the history of the nation, and in the hearts of millions of Nigerians who sleep safer because of the troops’ vigilance.
He emphasised that their bravery and resilience in the face of adversity have not gone unnoticed, saying his visit underscored the vital role airpower plays in neutralising threats and protecting communities.
Abubakar pledged continued investment in cutting-edge technology to empower frontline units.
According to him, the NAF remains steadfast in its mission, guided by leadership, strengthened by unity, and driven by the selfless service of its personnel.
The visit comes at a critical moment, reinforcing the importance of public support for military operations and spotlighting the human element at the heart of national defence.
Nigeria’s soft drinks and beverage market continues to show strong growth potential, making it the leading consumer of soft drinks in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association.
A statement by the VDMA disclosed during a press conference held in Lagos ahead of drinktec 2025, that Nigeria consumed over 53 billion litres of soft drinks in 2024, placing it well ahead of other African countries such as Ghana and South Africa.
Despite challenges such as inflation and a weakening naira, Nigeria’s growing population, rising urbanisation, and expanding middle class are key factors driving demand in the beverage sector.
Bottled water led the segment with 48.7 billion litres sold in 2024, a figure projected to rise by 27% to 62 billion litres by 2028.
Carbonated soft drinks followed with 3.4 billion litres, expected to reach 4.4 billion litres by 2028, while energy drinks are forecasted to grow by 30% over the same period. Juices, though relatively small, are also on an upward trajectory.
“The Nigerian beverage market is expanding quickly due to increasing accessibility and affordability,” VDMA stated, citing data from Euromonitor International.
Set to take place in Munich from 15 to 19 September 2025, drinktec is the world’s leading trade fair for the beverage and liquid food industry.
VDMA, a key exhibitor and technical partner for the event, revealed that Nigerian participation is expected to be strong, especially as the country anticipates economic recovery.
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has condemned the recent ban placed on a song by Nigerian musician, Eedris Abdulkareem, describing the development as a return to the culture of censorship and a threat to the right to free expression.
Abdulkareem had waxed a song titled “Tell Your Papa” which criticized President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
In a statement issued from New York University, Abu Dhabi, yesterday, Soyinka criticised the action and its wider implications, saying it echoed past attempts to stifle artistic and socio-political commentary in Nigeria.
“Courtesy of an artist operating in a different genre – the cartoon – who sent me his recent graphic comment on the event, I learnt recently of a return to the culture of censorship with the banning of the product of a music artist, Eedris Abdulkareem,” Soyinka said in the piece posted on PM news.
He expressed irony in suggesting that the ban did not go far enough, stating, “It is not only the allegedly offensive record that should be banned – the musician himself should be proscribed. Next, PMAN, or whatever musical association of which Abdulkareem is member, should also go under the hammer.”
Soyinka noted that he had not listened to the banned song but stressed that the issue transcends content and concerns a fundamental democratic principle.
“It cannot be flouted. That, surely is basic. This is why I feel that we should look on the bright side of any picture and thus recommend the Aleshinloye cartoon – and others in allied vein – as an easy-to-apprehend, easy-to-digest summation of the wisdom of attempting to stifle unpalatable works of art or socio-political commentary,” he said.
He also pointed out the irony that censorship often benefits the targeted artist.
The ban is a boost to the artist’s nest egg, thanks to free governmental promotion. Mr. Abdulkareem must be currently warbling his merry way all the way to the bank. I envy him,” he added.
The literary icon warned that such censorship was not only counterproductive but also dangerous to democratic development.
“We have been through this before, over and over again, ad nauseum. We know where it all ends. It is boring, time-wasting, diversionary but most essential of all, subversive of all seizures of the fundamental right of free expression,” Soyinka said.
He warned that the ban creates “a permissive atmosphere of trickle-down power,” where state authorities feel emboldened to clamp down on dissent.
Soyinka’s statement also touched on broader issues of impunity and mob violence in Nigeria, lamenting the recent lynching of 19 youths in Edo State.
“My heart goes out to friends, colleagues and families of victims and traumatised survivors of this senseless slaughter. Our thirst for justice must remain unslaked,” he said.
Referencing the 2022 killing of Deborah Samuel in Sokoto, Soyinka criticised the culture of impunity, saying, “Identified killers were set free to gloat, and paste their photos on the Social Media… in full daylight glare, in the presence of both citizen voyeurs and security forces.”
He called for accountability, warning that “as long as the culture of impunity is given the sheerest strain of legitimacy in any given cause, such gruesome assaults on our common humanity will continue to prevail.”
Soyinka concluded by urging the relevant regulatory body to reverse what he described as a “petulant irrationality,” warning that any government that only tolerates praise-singers “has already commenced a downhill slide into the abyss.”