THE police in Benue State have confirmed the rescue of six law students who were kidnapped along the boundary between Benue and Taraba states on July 28, 2025. The students were traveling to the Nigerian Law School in Adamawa State before they were abducted. In a statement issued by the Command’s Police Public Relations Officer, Udeme Edet, on Friday, the police said the six law students were traveling from Anambra State to resume at the Yola Campus of the Nigerian Law School when they ran into the kidnappers along the Benue-Taraba boundary. “Please be informed that the police have successfully…
Author: Maryam Garba
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The Minister of Labour, Muhammadu Dingyadi, has appealed to the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives to suspend their ongoing strike, saying that it is not the best solution to industrial disputes. The Minister urged the Association to embrace dialogue while the government continues to work on addressing their concerns. In a statement on Wednesday, the Head of Press and Public Relations in the Ministry of Labour, Patience Onuoha, noted that the Minister held a meeting with the association on Tuesday in a bid to stop the industrial action. The statement added that the meeting will continue on Friday…
PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu has honoured 200 former members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for their exceptional performance during the 2020–2023 service years, offering them immediate employment in the Federal Civil Service, ₦250,000 each, and postgraduate scholarships up to PhD level. Speaking through the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, at the Combined President’s NYSC Honours Award Ceremony held at the Presidential Villa’s Banquet Hall, President Tinubu applauded the awardees for demonstrating values such as discipline, patriotism, integrity, teamwork, and selflessness. “In appreciation of their service to the nation, all the awardees will receive ₦250,000…
A STAGGERING $29.29 billion was spent by Nigerians on foreign healthcare services during the eight-year administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, a detailed analysis of data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed. This translates to an average of $3.66 billion per year, indicating an unrelenting appetite for medical tourism during a time when Buhari repeatedly vowed to reform and invest in Nigeria’s collapsing healthcare sector. Ironically, the highest single-year health-related outflow occurred just months after Buhari assumed office in 2015. The figures, culled from the CBN’s quarterly statistical bulletins under the category “Health-Related and Social Services,” capture…
AT least One in six children in Katsina State reportedly die before celebrating their 5th birthday, a stark reminder of urgent need to strengthen child survival interventions in the state. This figure represents 159 per 1,000 live births, with the state population estimated to be 9.64 million, where about 4.5 million of them are children. The Chief of UNICEF Field Office Kano, Rahama Rihood Farah, disclosed this on Tuesday during a Media Dialogue on Child Sensitive Budgeting and Planning organized by the UNICEF Kano Field Office in collaboration with Katsina State Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning. He said despite…
PRESIDENTIAL candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has confirmed he will contest the 2027 presidential election. Obi added that he was willing to serve a single four-year term if elected. He made the declaration on Sunday night while speaking during a live session on X Spaces, where he answered questions from supporters both in Nigeria and abroad. In a statement released on Monday by his spokesman, Ibrahim Umar of the Peter Obi Media Reach, Obi dismissed claims of a possible joint ticket with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. However, he admitted being open to coalition…
OFFICE of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) has said President Bola Tinubu has no plan to remove George Akume as the SGF. A statement issued yesterday by the Director of Information and Public Relations in the office, Segun Imohiosen, described the reports of Akume’s removal as “false, misleading, and entirely baseless.” The statement reads: “The attention of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation has been drawn to rumours circulating online and in some media outlets regarding the alleged removal of the SGF, Senator George Akume, by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed…
THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has confirmed receiving letters of intent from 110 associations seeking registration as political parties. Chairman of the Commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this on Wednesday, noting that the requests are being processed in line with the relevant laws and the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines. “As of Monday, 23rd June 2025, the Commission has received letters of intent from 110 associations that wish to register as political parties. We are diligently processing the requests in line with the procedure outlined in the law as well as our regulations and guidelines. We have acknowledged all requests…
THE National Hajj Commission of Nigeria on Saturday announced the airlifting of more than 14,000 Nigerian pilgrims from Saudi Arabia. A report from the NAHCON Command and Control Centre in Makkah, which was posted on the Commission’s official X handle, said a total of 14,014 pilgrims from Sokoto and the Federal Capital Territory were airlifted from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The report said, “Flynas flight, XY9082, departed Jeddah for Sokoto at 07:51 hrs (local time) today. On board were 422 Sokoto pilgrims accompanied by four officials, bringing the total number of pilgrims airlifted so far to 13,589 across 32 flights. “Subsequently,…
DESPITE a renewed immigration crackdown under President Donald Trump, a federal court in the United States has temporarily blocked the deportation of Matthew Ariwoola, a Nigerian PhD chemistry student at the University of South Carolina. The ruling comes in response to a controversial move by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which revoked Ariwoola’s student visa over a case of mistaken identity tied to a 2023 criminal warrant issued in Georgia—a state the student maintains he has never visited. The visa revocation on April 8, 2025, abruptly disrupted Ariwoola’s academic journey. He was banned from attending classes, suspended from his…
THE Bank Customers Association of Nigeria has revealed that it has written to the Central Bank of Nigeria about the charges being deducted from customers’ accounts. This was disclosed by the president of BCAN, Uju Ogubunka, on Thursday at the 2025 Artificial Intelligence conference organised by SuperNews under the theme ‘Power of AI: Enhancing Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction for Better Financial Services Experience’. This disclosure comes amid an increase and a migration to the end-user billing model for unstructured supplementary service data from charges being deducted from bank account balances, a move which BCAN had faulted, describing it as falling…
THE National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has reported that 6,528 Nigerian pilgrims have returned from Saudi Arabia following this year’s Hajj, as the airlift enters its next phase. The update followed the 16th inbound flight, which landed on Tuesday, June 17. Flight VM265 operated by Max Air departed Jeddah for Lagos at 8:33 a.m., carrying 560 passengers. Among them were 550 pilgrims—549 from Oyo State and one from Plateau—and 10 officials, according to NAHCON’s Command and Control Centre based in Makkah. NAHCON said its scheduling of inbound flights is proceeding steadily, with the support of its aviation partners. The…
OPERATIVES of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) have successfully rescued 14-year-old Bashariyya Usman, who was recently captured in a viral video showing signs of severe maltreatment, exploitation, and torture. Bashariyya, the firstborn and only daughter of Malam Usman Aliyu, fled her home in the Dan Gyalla village of Zamfara State due to banditry, seeking refuge in an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Sokoto, where she was allegedly recruited by a prominent Abuja socialite, the wife of a high-ranking public official in Sokoto, through a nurse at the IDP. She was said to have…
As 400 Editors Converge In Coal City For NGE Biennial Convention Ribadu, DG SSS Speak On Security Challenges, Media’s Role THE Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) is set to hold its Biennial National Convention in Enugu from June 26 to 29, 2025, with a theme ‘’Building A Secure And Cohesive Nigeria: The Role of Dialogue, Inclusion And The Media.” In a statement signed by its President, Mr Eze Anaba and the General Secretary, Dr Iyobosa Uwugiaren, the NGE said that the convention will bring together over 400 editors, including prominent figures such as Prince Sam Amuka-Pemu, Publisher of Vanguard; Chief Onyema…
THE National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has sponsored a fierce critic of President Bola Tinubu, Mr Abdulmajid Almustapha Danbilki (Danbilki Kwamanda) to Saudi Arabia for Hajj — where he launched vicious attacks on the president and APC governors in the holy land. Kwamanda was sponsored by the NAHCON Chairman Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman as part of the government- funded “stakeholders” team. He was flown to the holy land via Air Peace with a pilgrim Serial No: 147AP and passport No: B50160345, according to findings by this newspaper. An official document sighted by this newspaper that contained names, serial numbers,…
THE 2025 Hajj pilgrimage ended Monday, the thirteenth of Dhul Hijjah, corresponding with the ninth of June, with over 1.6 million Muslims from more than 150 nations that participated in this year’s exercise. Saudi authorities from the Hajj and Umrah Committee announced the conclusion in Mina, declaring it free of any health, security, or service-related incidents. On Monday, the Deputy Emir of the Makkah Region, Prince Saud bin Mishaal, who made the announcement, praised the Kingdom’s leadership for ensuring the event was incident-free. Prince Mishaal, who commended the efforts of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin…
THE Federal Government says it remains committed to reducing maternal mortality rate in Nigeria by 20% before 2027. The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako, stated this on Monday in Enugu State during the presentation of 10,000 professional kits to midwives by the wife of the President, Remi Tinubu. The minister also said the government is relentless to reducing infant or under-fives mortality rate by 15%. He said the distribution of professional kits to nurses and midwives was part of the government’s efforts to motivate and empower medical professionals leading the fight againts maternal and infant…
THE Imaratus Sanan Hotel, which accommodated over 480 Nigerian pilgrims performing the 2025 Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, has been gutted by fire. The hotel is located in the Sharamansur area of the holy city. The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has confirmed that all 480 Nigerian pilgrims affected by a fire incident are safe and accounted for. According to a statement signed by the Assistant Director, Information and Publications Division, Fatima Sanda Usara, for the Chairman/CEO of NAHCON, “Immediate emergency response by Saudi authorities and the hotel management helped to contain the fire swiftly and prevent it from…
A NIGERIAN pilgrim has died on the plain of Arafat. THE Chairman, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Prof Abdullahi Saleh Usman, disclosed this to newsmen shortly after the national prayer organized by the commission. “We received as a sad news that we lost one of our pilgrims today in Arafat, and the other one died before we left Mecca,” he said. He also said the pilgrim’s death was natural, ruling out speculations that it was caused by heat wave. Meanwhile, NAHCON has repeatedly warned that the name of any deceased person must not be made public by the commission…
LESS than 24 hours to the commencement of the Hajj ritual, a pilgrim from Kano State, Shu’aibu Jibrin, has been confirmed dead in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The passage of Jibrin was confirmed by the spokesperson of the Kano State Pilgrim Welfare Board, Mal. Suleiman Dederi. The pilgrim was said to have died at a Saudi hospital after a brief illness on Tuesday. A relative of the deceased, Sama’uddin Aliyu Kadawa, who is also on pilgrimage, also confirmed the incident in an interview with journalists in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. According to Aliyu, the late Jibrin was a farmer from Gargai in…