Youth
Ex-VP Namadi Sambo advocates shift in Nigerian educational system
Reuters Former Vice President Namadi Sambo has advocated for a dynamic approach of the Nigerian educational system to produce employees with skills and ability to handle complex jobs and create opportunities for others. Sambo made the call in his goodwill message at the 22nd Matriculation of Igbinedion University, Okada, on Saturday in Edo. The former vice president noted that it was the best time for the country to refocus from one size-fits-all approach that creates employees that are not fit for complex jobs. According to him, Nigerian universities must refocus on building of graduates that will create and end poverty among the people and ultimately close the wide social inequality and promote social coefficient in the communities. “As a nation, we must focus our educational system to o...
Security: Northern governors, NSA, IGP meet in Kaduna
Governors of the 19 Nothern States and traditional rulers of the region are meeting in Kaduna over security challenges bedeviling the region. Newsmen report that the two-day meeting, which opened on Thursday, is also being attended by Senate President, Ahmad Lawal, Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari and Information Minister, Lai Mohammed. Others are National Security Adviser, Maj.-Gen. Mohammed Monguno, Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Ibrahim and Director General, State Security Service, Yusuf Bichi. The participants are expected to discuss current security challenges bedevilling the Northern region and youth unemployment. Governors at the meeting, holding at Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, include those of Plateau, Adamawa, Sokoto, Nasarawa, Jigawa and Katsina. Niger, ...
Senator Saraki calls for stakeholders’ meeting on solution to insecurity
Former Senate President Bukola Saraki has called for a stakeholders meeting to find solution to the problems of insecurity across the country. Saraki made the suggestion in Minna, Niger State on Friday while fielding questions from newsmen after leading the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Reconciliation and Search Committee to former President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida at his uphill residence. “It (insecurity) is of great concern to all of us as I have always said it is a matter that should not just be left to the government. “It is a matter that both the ruling party, opposition and elder statesmen should all meet and contribute to find solution to the problem so that we can successfully address the problem,” Saraki said. On the mandate of the committee, the former Senate Preside...
NSA, Northwest governors to meet in Kaduna over rising insecurity
The National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (Retd) and all the seven governors from the North-West region of the country have scheduled a town-hall meeting for Monday in order to address growing insecurity in the region. It was gathered that the meeting, which will hold in Kaduna, was convened on the heels of recent disagreements among some of the governors which border on whether to give amnesty to bandits or not. Newsmen report that Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai said that his administration was at war with bandits and so cannot negotiate with them. The governor, in an interview with BBC Hausa radio as monitored on Monday, also ruled out the issue of forgiveness and compensation for bandits being advocated by the state based Islamic Scholar, Dr Ahmad Gumi. But Kano S...
Insecurity: Nigerian governemtn to hold nationwide town hall meetings
In view of the security challenges confronting the nation, the Federal Government is set to convene town hall meetings in the six geo-political zones. Government is expected to confer with state chief executives, religious leaders, women and youth groups in a bid to find lasting solutions to the spiralling, multiple security threats in the country. A statement issued by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) said the move was in furtherance of Federal Government’s commitment to address multiple security threats facing Nigeria. It said the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd) convened a meeting of the General Security Appraisal Committee (GSAC) on 11th February, 2021. The meeting, which was attended by the service chiefs and heads of law enforcem...
#ENDSARS: Group urges youths to end proposed protest in Lagos
The Committee of Youths on Mobilisation and Sensitisation (CYMS) has urged Nigerian youths to boycott the proposed protest in the interest of peace and socioeconomic stability that were affected after the 2020 “ENDSARS PROTEST”. The Lagos State coordinator, CYMS, Leonard Obasi, disclosed this in a statement issued to newsmen on Friday in Abuja. To counter the proposed Feb. 13 protest #OccupyLekkiTollGate at the tollgate plaza, some youths had announced a #DefendLagos rally to hold at the same venue. The plan to #OccupyLekkiTollGate came barely a day after the controversial ruling of the Lagos Judicial panel of inquiry to reopen the Lekki Tollgate. Obasi said that this has become compelling owing to reports of a planned protest by what he described as some self-centered elements who were he...
2023: Group begs Yahaya Bello to join presidential race
As the preparations for Nigeria’s presidency in 2023 intensifies, a diaspora group known as Governor Yahaya Bello Solidarity Movement, has joined the voices calling on Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello to join the race. Coordinator of the group, Joy Robinson, in a statement issued in Abuja said, that their decision to back the governor is because there’s need for what she called a competent, energetic, detribalised, progressive, courageous and a religious leader to oversee the affairs of the country. The group noted that anybody with such qualities would assist in taking the country away from the current social and economic problems facing the country, saying Bello possessed all these in addition to being a youth with a track record of performance. According to it, “After considerin...
Ex-President Obasanjo urges Nigerian youths to make it uncomfortable for old leaders to remain in government
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged youths to mobilise and make it uncomfortable for old leaders to remain in government. He stated this on Sunday during a virtual interview with academic and historian, Toyin Falola. Obasanjo, who was Nigeria’s president between 1999 and 2007 under the banner of the Peoples Democratic Party, also apologised to youths, saying his generation had done a lot of wrongs in Nigeria but the youths can change the fortunes of the country by taking over leadership. Many Nigerians have lamented the persistent recycling of leaders since post-independence Nigeria till date as some leaders who ruled Nigeria during the military era have been in charge in the last 21 years since the country returned to democracy in 1999. Responding to a question by a youth during ...
Niger governor: Incompetent leaders took over from military in 1999
Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger state has attributed the failures recorded in governance since the coming of democracy in 1999 to incompetent leaders who took over leadership of the country from military. The Governor spoke just as former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, blamed the nation’s educational system for the failure being recorded in leadership in the country, saying the system was not designed to produce leaders. Both men spoke at a youth summit organized by a member of the House of Representatives and Chairman Board of Trustees of Lead Generation Initiative (LGI), Shina Peller, in Abuja. The Niger governor said the that when the military decided to hand over power to civilians, a lot of competent people never believed in the process and therefore stood ba...
Uganda election: Will Bobi Wine derail Yoweri Museveni’s sixth term bid?
As millions of Ugandans prepare to pick the country’s president this week, the stakes could not be higher. The run-up to Thursday’s vote has been marred by restrictions on campaigning, arrests of opposition figures and deadly violence. At least 54 people were killed in November as security forces put down protests by opposition supporters. Longtime President Yoweri Museveni, 76, is facing a strong challenge from popular musician-turned-politician Bobi Wine in his bid to secure a sixth, five-year term in office. Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, was just four years old when Museveni, a former rebel leader, came to power in 1986. In 2005, Uganda’s ruling-party-dominated parliament removed presidential term limits. And in 2017, lawmakers scrapped the age limit of 75 fo...
AfDB grants $11.26 million for women, girls’ education in Chad
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank has approved a grant of $11.26 million to the Government of Chad to finance the Girls’ Education and Women’s Literacy Project – the bank’s first grant exclusively targeting women and girls. The project will be financed from the Bank’s Transition Support Facility and will be implemented over a five-year period by the Chadian Ministry of National Education and Civic Promotion, in coordination with partners involved in the education sector, civil society organisations, and youth organisations. The Chadian government will contribute a non-monetary contribution of $713,000 towards the program. “Through this financing, the African Development Bank is providing support to the Chadian government to reduce inequalities through access to educati...
Nigerian government begins three-month special public works scheme in Jigawa
The federal government on Friday inaugurated the Extended Special Public Works (ESPW) programme in Jigawa with 1,000 unskilled youth benefiting from the 27 local government areas of the state. Each participant will receive N20,000 monthly for three months for the duration of the programme. The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, who made this known at the ceremony in Dutse, said that the extended programme was an outcome of the pilot SPW in rural areas approved by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2020. Mr. Adamu said that the programme was introduced following the emergence of the novel COVID-19 pandemic, as a measure to cushion the adverse socio-economic effects on citizens. “It aimed at shielding the vulnerable from the ravaging effects of COVID-19 pandemic which included, but are ...
