Nation
THE STATES
Adamawa
A National Transformation Party (NTP) Senatorial candidate in Adamawa North, Alhaji Musa Bulama, has pledged to address the problems of unemployment and water scarcity, if elected in April.
Bulama told newsmen in Mubi, Adamawa, that he intended to tackle the challenges in health and infrastructure through proactive legislation.
He commended INEC for the successful conduct of the voter registration.
INEC had registered more than 63 million voters for the April general elections in the country.
Bulama said the Commission had displayed high sense of political acumen and professionalism in the conduct of the exercise.
“The high participation and coverage recorded in rural areas is a clear indication of the Commission’s readiness to conduct free and fair polls,” Bulama said.
Benue
Succair is on the way for many orphans in Benue State as the Rose of Sharon Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), is set to establish schools in the state.
The founder of the NGO, Mrs Folorunso Alakija, disclosed this last Thursday while addressing newsmen in Makurdi said adequate arrangement had been made to ensure that widows in the state were given the needed support that would better their lives and that of their children who often suffer as a result of the lost of their bread winners.
Alakija explained that in view of the challenges widows face, Rose of Sharon foundation would train two children of each widow from primary school up till tertiary institution in order to lessen their burden.
She said “we take two children from every family and train them from whatever level they begin like from primary to tertiary level with the hope that those people that we train will goback to help their families.
Alakija said the foundation has 18 Orphans which it currently caters for, 21 students who are receiving university education and empowered about 2000 others in the state.
Ekiti
The Inspector-General of Police, Hafiz Ringim had blamed politicians in Ekiti State over the location of a federal university in which three persons were reportedly dead and several others injured.
Ringim passed the blame last Friday expressing displeasure over a burnt police post and two operational vehicles of the force at Ido-Osi.
The police chief said that the incident was sequel to the death of three persons who lost their lives at Ikole-Ekiti when demonstrators against the location of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, attacked the Federal Government College Ikole-Ekiti, injured four students of the College and vandalised the school.
In his words “the demonstration was against the rumoured relocation of the Federal University from Ikole to Oye-Ekiti. Information from the Ministry of Education however confirmed that the federal university was originally located at Oye-Ekiti, with Prof. Chonedu Nebo as the Vice-Chancellor.
FCT
Community Emergency Response Initiative (CERI), an Abuja-based NGO, has trained more than 70 residents of Karu and Jikwoyi communities in the FCT on Community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach and effective management of solid waste.
Mr. Benson Attah, CERI’s Executive Director, disclosed this on Wednesday in Karu during a training workshop.
He said the workshop was organised for the people of Karu and Jikwoyi due to lack of effective management of solid waste in the two communities.
He expressed the hope that the training would help the people imbibe the practice of safe hygiene and proper management of solid waste.
Kwara
Students under the aegis of the National Association of Kwara State Students (NAKSS) and the police on Friday clashed in Ilorin.
Scores of the students staged a Peaceful Protest over non-payment of their 2009/2010 annual bursary allowance but the protest turned violent as the students in the early hours of Friday Prevented free flow of traffic in parts of Uorin town, particularly, the ever busy Murtala Mehammed Way and Ahmadu Bello Bourlevard, the road leading to the State Government House.
Confirming the incident, the State Police Spokesperson, Ezekiel Dabo revealed that 16 students have been arrested adding that about three police officers were wounded in the process.
Lagos
Students of the Lagos State University (LASU) on Thursday raised alarm over growing cases of ritual killing and armed robbery along LASU/Iba road and other communities around its main campus at Ojo, Lagos. Some of the students told the newsmen that the frequent killings and robberies posed great threat to their lives and their academic pursuit.
Mr Senapon Ajasa, speaker of the institution‘ Students Union Government, told reporters that no fewer than 10 people have been killed in LASU area in the last two months by suspected ritual killers.
The student leader said that the development had thrown the entire university community into panic as students and other people around the campus now live in fear.
“Everybody, particularly the students, is afraid. Ritual killers who remove body parts of their victims after killing them have made LASU/Iba expressway and adjoining communities unsafe.
Niger
A Maiduguri High Court last Wednesday granted bail to 65 suspected Boko Haram members arrested over the recent killings in Borno.
The suspects were charged with holding unlawful assemblies in Bolori, London Cikin, Gwange and Dala wards in Maiduguri the Niger State Capital and its environs and breaching public peace. The prosecutor, Mr Abdullahi Izge, told the court presided over by Justice Wokil Gana that the action contravened the penal code.
Izge urged the court to adjourn the case to enable him to produce additional charges against the suspects.
The counsel to the accused persons, Baba Waziri, opposed the prayer, saying the case could only be adjourned if the suspects were granted bail.
Ondo
Ondo State Government said it has injected over N3.9 billion into its community development programme, in two years.
Disclosing this to journalists, the state commissioner for Community Development and Cooperative Services, Mr Clement Faboyede said the projects include classrooms, community health centres, Solar Power, borcholes, markets among others.
He said the state governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko would be commissioning over 308 “Quick Win Projects’ to mark his second tenure and commended the administration for the creation of the ministry, which he said was meant to cater for people in the rural communities.
Oyo
Eight men were arrested in Ogbere Onilanta area of Ibadan, Oyo State Capital, in connection with the stampede caused by the rumour of poisoned food allegedly served by the agents of Governor Adebayo AkoAkala to School Children.
Although residents of the community protested at the palace of the Olubadan of Ibadan last Thursday evening, alleging that policemen raided their children at Elekuro High School, Ogbere. The Commissioner of Police, Mr Adisa Bolanta, said eight adults were arrested for vandalizing a car belonging to a woman conveying food to a school to serve teachers at a meeting.
The police boss said the women narrowly escaped being lynched for no just cause pledging that the suspects would be prosecuted.
Plateau
Five people were killed and nine others injured last Friday night in a fresh attack suspected to have been carried out by Fulani herdsmen, who made away with about 30 cows at the quarters of the federal College of Land Resources Technology Kuru, in Jos South Local Government Area of Platean State.
It was gathered that the stolen cattles belonged to the Chief Security Officer of the institution, haruna Danjuma, who was among the five victims.
Others who lost their lives in the incident include the Sccountant of the school, Mr Audu Chube, his wife and a four-year-old daughter and the electrician of the institution.
Yobe
Despite the flamboyant launch of its campaign in the three geo-political zones in the North, there are probably fears among the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that it might lose Yobe State and a few others to the opposition.
Also, there might be a battle to the finish between the PDP and the opposition in Nasarawa, Kwara, Yigawa and Kaduna State.
Investigation showed that out of the 19 state in the North, 16 are being controlled by the oppositions including Kano and Borno by the All Nigeria Peoples’ Party (ANPP) and Banchi, Katsina and Kebbi States where the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) has gained tremendous acceptance by the populace.
Zamfara
The Zamfara Government has said that it would soon set up an incinerating plant for the conversion of waste to wealth.
Alhaji Sada Ibrahim, the Director-General, Zamfara Environmental Health Sanitation Agency, said this on Thursday in an interview with journalists in Gusau.
Ibrahim said that the government had already built a “waste transfer loading centre’’ in Gusau, where waste products would be separated for recycling.
According to him, Zamfara generates 5,000 tonnes of waste daily, which will be converted into fertiliser, plastics and other products for domestic uses.
He also said that the government had procured four additional trucks for the evacuation of refuse to the site.
Ibrahim said that the project was aimed toward industrialising the state and creating employment opportunities for unemployed youths.
He also said that it would help improve the revenue base of the state and check the spread of diseases such as typhoid, malaria and cholera.
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.