Category: Nigerian Tribune

2027 Oyo State governorship candidate of Accord, Oriyomi Hamzat, has unveiled the official Media Team of his campaign, bringing together media professionals, political strategists, communication experts and creative practitioners as the campaign moves into a new phase.

At the centre of the new media structure is Samuel Ibikunle (ArugboBoisi), a seasoned broadcast journalist and communicator with years of experience from management roles at different broadcast stations across southwest Nigeria, who was appointed the Official Spokesperson.

Leading the Directorates is Olabode Rufai Anisoloja, a strategic thinker and communications consultant, appointed Director of Strategic Communications and Public Engagement.

Tobiloba Ogunsina, JP (Wokilumo), a political strategist and public relations practitioner, takes charge as Director of Publicity and Campaign Promotions.

The digital communications arm will be headed by Badru Idris, a new-media professional, who takes on the role of Director of New Media.

Gbenga Olayiwola (Oyato), an accomplished journalist with decades of experience, was appointed Director of Media Logistics and Operations. At the same time, Edward Taiwo, a political affairs commentator and media professional, becomes Director of Research and Political Communications.

In the creative communications space, Okikiola Oluwadamilare, a creative professional, takes charge as Director of Content and Creative Services.

The new structure brings strategy, publicity, broadcast, digital communications, research, media intelligence, logistics, and creative content under a coordinated campaign communications architecture.

Hamzat charged the newly constituted Media Team to commence operations immediately as the Oriyomi Hamzat Campaign (OCC) intensifies its media engagement and political activities ahead of the 2027 Oyo State governorship election.

THE Department of State Services (DSS) says it has secured a death sentence against Ibrahim Usman, also known as Dan Iyali, over his involvement in the kidnapping and killing of three persons in Sokoto State in September 2023.

Usman faced a four-count charge before the High Court of Justice of Sokoto State, sitting in the Sokoto Judicial Division, alongside other suspects who are currently at large.

The charges bordered on criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, culpable homicide punishable with death, and voluntarily causing grievous hurt without provocation.

The latest development comes months after the DSS secured the death sentence of three men, including a Nigerian national, over terrorism and arms proliferation charges in Sokoto State.

The three convicts-Yusuf Muhammad, also known as Sallau, a Nigerien; Jabbi Alhaji Yalle; and Kabiru Muhammad-were sentenced to death by hanging in June 2026 by the High Court of Justice, Sokoto.

They were convicted after being apprehended by the DSS Counter Terrorism Unit in June 2025 in connection with alleged cross-border criminal activities involving arms

Not less than 10 million Nigerian children are currently not captured in early childhood care, development and education (ECCDE), the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has revealed.

UBEC warned that the low participation in early childhood education was contributing to poor learning outcomes and developmental challenges among children across the country.

Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr Aisha Garba, disclosed this in Abuja at a three-day capacity-building workshop for state actors on the utilisation of the ECCDE Minimum Standards, Implementation Guidelines and UNICEF Parental and Community Engagement documents.

Garba, who was represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary (Technical), Rasaq Olajuwon Akinyemi, said only 35.6 per cent of Nigerian children aged 36 to 59 months currently attend any form of early childhood education.

She said analysis of the 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey also showed that about 46 per cent of children aged 24 to 59 months were developmentally off track.

According to her, the consequences of inadequate early childhood education become more pronounced as children progress through the education system.

‘Only 35.6 per cent of Nigerian children aged 36 to 59 months attend any form of early childhood education. That leaves roughly 10 million of our youngest children outside ECCDE altogether,’ she said.

Garba added that about 70 per cent of Nigerian 10-year-olds could not read and understand a simple text, while only about 2.4 million of the 5.9 million children who enter primary school each year remain in the education system at the end of junior secondary school.

She therefore called for early childhood development to be treated as an integrated national priority rather than a stand-alone education programme.

‘There is no cheaper place in the education system to buy results,’ Garba said, citing Nobel Laureate James Heckman’s estimate of about 13 per cent annual return per child on high-quality birth-to-five programmes.

The UBEC boss urged states to ensure that ECCDE interventions were captured in their State Matching Grant Action Plans, warning that programmes not included in the plans would not receive funding, procurement or monitoring attention.

‘I must be blunt: what is not in the Action Plan will not be funded, will not be procured and will not be monitored,’ she said.

Garba also disclosed that the deadline for states to submit their ECCDE Action Plans for the next intervention year had been extended from September 30 to October 5, 2026.

She, however, stressed that the extension was not an opportunity for further delay, adding that plans submitted after the new deadline would not be considered for the intervention year.

‘The extension is not an invitation to be delayed.

‘I expect every State to leave Abuja with a costed, integrated and inclusive draft plan, to present it to your Executive Chairman on your return, and to submit the final plan through the digital planning template within the extended period. Plans received after that date will not be considered for this intervention year,’ she added.

She further directed states to develop ECCDE programmes around the needs of the whole child by working with the health, nutrition, water and sanitation, women affairs, social welfare and Local Government Education Authorities.

Garba said the 2023-24 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey put stunting among children under five at 40 per cent nationally, with the figure ranging from 12 per cent in Rivers State to 65 per cent in Katsina State.

She also urged states to ensure that ECCDE centres complied with essential standards covering child safety, supervision, safeguarding, food and water safety, structural safety and emergency exits.

The UBEC boss called for measures to ensure that children with disabilities and those living in hard-to-reach, nomadic, riverine and conflict-affected communities were not excluded from ECCDE programmes.

She also called for stronger engagement with parents, caregivers, School-Based Management Committees, traditional institutions and religious bodies, stressing that communities could serve as important delivery platforms for children who could not easily be reached through conventional classrooms.

Earlier, the Acting Director, Department of Special Programmes and Early Childhood, UBEC, Dr Chijioke J. Onwuzurike, said Nigeria currently had more than 45 early childhood development delivery channels across the health, nutrition, education, agriculture and social protection sectors.

She, however, said the multiplicity of channels had created fragmentation, with platforms sometimes duplicating one another, failing to share data and providing inconsistent services across communities.

Onwuzurike said the Commission expected every state, over the next 18 months, to map and streamline its existing early childhood development platforms.

The House of Representatives on Tuesday tasked Federal Government and Security Agencies with the urgent need to intensify efforts to secure the safe rescue of the 116 schoolchildren and other persons abducted in Lassa, Mussa and along the Buratai-Maiduguri road in Borno State.

The resolution was passed sequel to the adoption of a motion under urgent public importance sponsored by Hon. Midala Balami (APC-Borno)

He said: ‘The House will recall that sometime ago, I stood on the floor of this Honourable House with the sad and grave news of the abduction of 44 schoolchildren and 36 other persons in Mussa and along the Buratai-Maiduguri road, an incident that has continued to cause widespread fear, anguish and anxiety among the affected families and communities, and that this was followed by the abduction of 36 students and 4 teachers in Lassa Ward, Askira-Uba Local Government Area.

‘The House further notes that the continued captivity of the victims poses a serious threat to their lives, safety, education and fundamental rights, while placing an enormous emotional and psychological burden on their families and the affected communities.

‘The House is concerned that the affected areas and adjoining communities remain vulnerable to further attacks, abductions and other forms of insecurity if urgent, sustained and coordinated security measures are not strengthened.

According to him, 44 schoolchildren from Mussa were abducted on 15 May 2026, and that on the same day the House considered and adopted a resolution calling for urgent action towards their rescue.

‘The House notes with grave concern that, as of the date of this Motion, the 44 schoolchildren from Mussa have spent more than 138 days in captivity while 36 schoolchildren from Lassa have been in captivity for more than 70 days, and other persons abducted along the Buratai-Marduguri Road have remained in captivity for more than 160 days.’

While noting that the prolonged captivity of these innocent schoolchildren and other victims has subjected their families and constituents to unbearable emotional distress, uncertainty and fear, with communities continuously crying out for urgent and decisive action to secure their safe release, the Borno lawmaker acknowledged efforts made by security agencies, local authorities, traditional institutions and community members involved in the search-and-rescue efforts.

Balami, who lamented that despite previous resolutions and ongoing efforts by the relevant authorities, the victims remain in captivity, thereby underscoring the need for a more intensified, coordinated and appropriate approach to their rescue; however, he urged that such efforts be substantially intensified, better coordinated and sustained until all the victims are safely rescued.

He maintained that any further delay in securing the safe release of the abducted persons could expose them to further danger and compound the trauma already suffered by their families and communities.

To this end, the House urged relevant security agencies to intensify and sustain search-and-rescue operations aimed at securing the immediate and safe release of the 116 abducted schoolchildren and all other persons held in captivity.

The lawmakers also called for enhanced intelligence gathering, information sharing and interagency coordination among the Armed Forces, Nigeria Police Force, Intelligence Services and other relevant security agencies to locate the victims and apprehend those responsible for the abductions.

The House further tasked security agencies to strengthen security along the Buratai-Maiduguri road, Mussa, Lassa and other identified vulnerable communities and routes, including through increased patrols, intelligence-led operations and appropriate security checkpoints.

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Tuesday met with security chiefs in the state to review security operations and strengthen measures ahead of the end-of-year festivities and other major activities expected to take place in Lagos.

The meeting, held at the State House, Marina, focused on ongoing security operations and plans to reinforce the state’s security architecture ahead of the expected influx of visitors during the Yuletide.

Sanwo-Olu assured residents and visitors to the state that his administration would continue to prioritise security and prevent criminal activities.

He said, ‘We will not relent on our efforts to ensure that criminals don’t find a place for their evil activities in our state.’

The governor was briefed by the security chiefs on security activities across the state, as well as measures being planned to enhance public safety in the coming months.

Those at the meeting included the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Tijani Fatai; Commander, 9 Brigade, Ikeja, Brig.-Gen. A.O. Owolabi; Commander, Nigerian Navy Ship Beecroft, Commodore A. Adams-Aliu; Commander, 651 Base Services Group, Ikeja, Air Commodore M.A. Imam; and Executive Secretary, Lagos State Security Trust Fund, Dr Ayodele Ogunsan.

Also present were the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Tayo Ayinde; Secretary to the State Government, Abimbola Hundeyin; and the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Lawal Pedro.

The meeting came as Lagos prepares to host President Bola Tinubu from Tuesday, with several official engagements expected during his visit.

The state is also preparing for increased activities during the Yuletide, when a large number of visitors are expected to arrive in Lagos.

Beyond the festive season, the government is also anticipating increased religious, cultural and political activities following the announcement by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that campaigns for the 2027 general elections can commence.

The governor’s meeting with the security chiefs is therefore expected to form part of the state’s preparations to maintain public safety amid the anticipated increase in movement and activities across Lagos.

President Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday, forwarded the names of seven nominees to the Senate for confirmation as chairman and board members of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the request was contained in a letter addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio by the President.

In the correspondence read by Akpabio during plenary, Dr Abdullahi Saidu was nominated as chairman, alongside Mohammed Asmau, Mohammed Makama, Suleiman Gidado, Louis Ndukwe, Amaechi Ugwele and Olaniyi Onikola as members.

After reading the letter, the Senate President referred the nominations to the Senate Committee on Finance, directing it to report back within two weeks for legislative consideration.

Another executive communication from the President sought consideration of the National Medical College Amendment Bill 2026, proposing changes to the institution and its academic responsibilities and mandate.

According to Tinubu, the proposed bill seeks to strengthen the college’s mandate for postgraduate training and professional examinations in medicine, dentistry and related medical disciplines across Nigeria.

Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has called on the Federal Government to publish the full text of Nigeria’s health agreement with the United States.

Atiku made the call in a statement issued on Tuesday by the Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Phrank Shaibu.

He said the call became necessary following disclosure by Ghanaian President John Mahama that Ghana rejected a proposed health compact over concerns about medical records, pathogen information, funding obligations and inspection of imported medicines.

‘At this point, Nigerians do not know whether provisions Ghana rejected are in the agreement Tinubu signed. That is precisely why government must publish the full text. Nigerians should not have to guess what has been agreed in their name,’ Atiku said.

Nigeria signed a five-year health Memorandum of Understanding with the United States on 19 December 2025. According to the Federal Ministry of Health, it covers disease surveillance, health data systems and procedures involving pathogen samples. The United States is expected to provide nearly $2 billion in grants, while Nigeria has made health spending commitments projected to mobilise nearly $3 billion over five years.

Atiku said the commitments must be measured against the condition of healthcare at home, noting that the latest internationally comparable estimates put Nigeria’s maternal deaths at 75,000 in 2023.

He also questioned how the administration would fulfil domestic funding commitments, referencing disclosure by the Minister of Health, Prof Muhammad Ali Pate, that at the time of his budget defence, only N36 million had been released from N218 billion appropriated for capital projects and programmes at the Ministry of Health headquarters in 2025.

‘A government that cannot release funds for approved health projects must explain how it intends to honour a multibillion-dollar commitment,’ Atiku said.

He called on the Federal Government to publish the complete Memorandum of Understanding, together with related protocols, annexes, data-sharing arrangements, specimen-sharing agreements and financial undertakings.

He asked whether Nigerians’ medical information or pathogen samples can leave the country, who may access them, what safeguards protect patients, whether NAFDAC retains full authority to inspect medicines and medical products, and what the Federal and state governments have promised to spend.

Atiku said Nigeria welcomes international cooperation that saves lives, but the government must be accountable for the terms it accepts and the results it delivers, adding that the same duty of disclosure applies to other international commitments, including the partnership with France.

The Nigerian naira opened the trading week depreciating against the United States (US) dollar, trading at N1,331.3292 at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) official foreign exchange (FX) window on Monday, September 28, 2026.

The data shared on the CBN’s official platform shows that the naira traded at the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) rate of N1,331.3292 per dollar and closed at N1,331.5000 per dollar.

The currency, which traded at an NFEM rate of N1,329.5138 on September 25, 2026, depreciated slightly by at least N1.82 after trading activities on Monday.

At the parallel market, the buying remained the same while the selling rate decreased by N3 when compared to the previous trading rate on Friday , September 25, 2026.

According to Aboki FX , the Naira-to-dollar exchange rate at the black market on Monday , September 28, 2026, was N1,375 and N1,382 per dollar for buying and selling rates, respectively.

The Federal Government has launched the Nigeria Health Financing Observatory to improve accountability in health spending by tracking how funds are allocated, released, and spent, while linking financing to health outcomes.

The Director-General of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr Kelechi Ohiri, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja at the second day of the inaugural Nigeria Health Finance Research and Learning Forum, themed, ‘Evidence and Learning for Nigeria’s Health Financing Future: Building a Locally Led Research and Learning Ecosystem.’

Ohiri said the observatory was developed to address persistent challenges of fragmented health financing data and provide reliable evidence for policy and decision-making at both national and subnational levels.

He said the country could no longer afford to continue relying on the status quo in health financing decisions, noting that poor data should not remain an excuse for inaction.

‘Can we really afford the status quo? I think it’s way too expensive,’ Ohiri said.

Reflecting on previous efforts to use evidence to measure health outcomes, he recalled the challenges encountered during the implementation of the Saving One Million Lives Initiative, when government struggled to obtain timely and reliable data.

He said that while Nigeria’s data environment had improved significantly through better technology and increased availability of information, the challenge of translating data into useful evidence remained.

‘A common theme, really, about today and yesterday is about narratives and telling stories. And how can we use the data we have and translate that into evidence? How can we translate that evidence into insight, and how can all the insight we pull together create a credible and accurate narrative about who we are and where we are as a country?’ he asked.

Ohiri said Nigeria had increased healthcare financing over the years but still spent less than comparable countries in terms of health expenditure per capita and as a percentage of GDP.

He stressed that beyond increasing resources, government must be able to determine whether available funds were being spent appropriately.

‘Even tracking to know are we spending it right? Is it channelled to the right things? And we have different data sources. There’s a health account. There are public expenditure tracking surveys. There are multiple data sources, extremely fragmented, and so it’s almost starvation of evidence in the midst of plenty data,’ he said.

According to him, the observatory would bring together fragmented information and transform it into evidence that could generate insights for policymakers, researchers and other stakeholders.

He said the platform would provide dashboards, comparative analytics and an evidence repository to document research findings and lessons on health financing.

Ohiri said the observatory would also address the challenge of insufficient subnational data, which had limited the ability of policymakers to understand health financing across Nigeria’s federal structure.

‘The notion of the observatory is to again do something about the bad quality of data we have, do something about the fragmentation of data, do something about the fact that the data is always very high level in global observatories,’ he said.

He explained that health financing in Nigeria involved several layers of government and development partners, making it difficult to determine the exact flow of resources to individual facilities and programmes.

‘The average primary healthcare centre in Nigeria is partly funded by a development partner, the local government, the state government, and the federal government at the same time,’ he said.

Ohiri added that the observatory would provide greater visibility into intergovernmental fiscal transfers and the contributions of different levels of government to healthcare financing.

He described the observatory as a public good that would make information available to researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders.

‘This observatory is a public good, meaning that the TWG intends to make this data available to people, to researchers, to anyone who wants it,’ he said.

He also invited civil society organisations to use the information on the platform to promote accountability.

‘I would always welcome civil society that holds us accountable based on evidence rather than based on perceptions,’ Ohiri said.

He said federal and state institutions would be expected to contribute reliable and current financial, budget and expenditure information, while researchers and academics would contribute their findings and analytical expertise.

Ohiri said the ultimate measure of the observatory’s success would not be the sophistication of its dashboards but its impact on policy decisions and healthcare delivery.

‘The success of this observatory will be measured not just by how beautiful the dashboards will be. They are nice, by the way, but will be measured by the policy decisions it enhances and improves its utilisation,’ he said.

He added that the platform should contribute to ‘better care, better financial protection, better budgeting, better planning in the health sector.’

Speaking on the rationale behind the platform, Dr Yewande Ogundeji of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research said the observatory would strengthen Nigerian ownership of health financing information and enable policymakers to make decisions using locally generated evidence.

She said the platform would bring together data from Nigerian and international sources and make it accessible to researchers and policymakers.

‘No ownership without control for health financing. This means being able to set our own priorities, understand the resources that are available to us, and use our own evidence to guide our decisions,’ Ogundeji said.

She said the observatory would support Nigeria’s financing transition by tracking domestic and external financing, budgets and releases at national and subnational levels.

Ogundeji said the platform would also help researchers overcome difficulties associated with accessing health financing data.

She disclosed that almost 200 indicators had been identified for the observatory, with the platform being rolled out in phases.

‘For this particular observatory, we have almost 200 indicators that have been identified as important and necessary for the observatory to be functional,’ she said.

According to her, the first phase has about 50 validated indicators, while subsequent phases would introduce additional indicators and test artificial intelligence-assisted search and predictive analysis.

‘We don’t want it to be a static observatory. We want to be able to somewhat test as we go along, receive feedback, evolve it if necessary,’ she said.

Ogundeji said the platform would ultimately provide health financing and health outcome data in one place, enabling users to examine how financing decisions affect health outcomes.

‘It’s about being able to have that harmonised on one platform,’ she said.

Presenting the technical features of the observatory, Samuel Atanda, who led the team that developed the platform, said it was designed to provide unrestricted public access to verified health financing information while supporting research and accountability.

He said the platform would allow users to compare indicators across states and regions, track trends and identify gaps in health financing.

Atanda said one of the key features was the ability of researchers to submit research and data to the platform, which could then be reviewed and used to generate further research questions.

‘What that does is that it raises some questions. We begin to create relationships between health outcomes, health financing data, establish new questions that may have not been asked before, give birth to further research subject or topic areas that needs to be deeply looked into,’ he said.

He said the observatory would also provide an indicator catalogue explaining how each indicator was defined and, for derived indicators, the formula used to calculate it.

Atanda said the platform would draw data from about 10 sources, including the NHIA, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, National Population Commission, Budget Office, Central Bank of Nigeria and WHO, among others.

He said the system had been designed to provide transparency on the sources and methodology behind the data.

‘So that by the time you go into the platform, you see exactly where we got the data from. If it is a derived indicator, how we derived it, and how you can either use that in your research to arrive at the same figure,’ he said.

Atanda said the observatory could also be used by state governments to assess their performance against the Abuja health financing target, while legislators and civil society organisations could use it to scrutinise budget allocations and expenditure.

He said the platform would also enable users to compare health budgets, execution, insurance enrolment and health outcomes.

According to him, the observatory currently contains indicators covering budgets and allocations, health spending, government health expenditure, household financial burden, health coverage and outcomes.

He said data would pass through validation processes before publication, including automated checks for anomalies and review by the technical working group.

Responding to concerns about cybersecurity, data protection and reliability, Atanda said the platform had been developed in compliance with Nigeria’s data protection requirements.

‘We are NDPA certified,’ he said.

He added that the platform’s architecture was selected after considering data sovereignty, reliability, sustainability and future integration.

Also speaking, the Executive Director of the WHO Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, Dr Kumanan Rasamathan, said the observatory could strengthen Nigeria’s health sovereignty by enabling the country to clearly track where health resources came from, where they went, and what they achieved.

He said countries could not make effective health financing decisions without knowing how money was flowing through their health systems.

‘How do you make decisions about your policies if you don’t know where the money is flowing? You don’t know what you’re getting for the money,’ he said.

Rasamathan compared the observatory to an astronomical observatory, saying it would help policymakers bring together fragmented data points and identify patterns that might otherwise remain hidden.

He cautioned, however, that the value of the platform would depend on the quality of the data feeding into it.

‘You could, however fancy your dashboards are, there are a lot of dashboards in the world, but their value is only in the quality of the data informing those dashboards,’ he said.

Rasamathan said the initiative was consistent with a World Health Assembly resolution urging countries to improve tracking of health financing data to inform policy.

He stressed that the observatory should remain Nigerian-led, with international partners supporting the country’s priorities rather than determining them.

‘This is not a WHO initiative. This is not a World Bank initiative. This is an initiative from Nigeria. That is sovereignty,’ he said.

He said the platform could eventually support broader health-system performance monitoring, analysis, knowledge brokering and advocacy.

Rasamathan urged stakeholders to ensure that the observatory produced timely data that could support current policy decisions, rather than relying on information several years old.

He said the ability to provide timely and accessible financial data would be important for advancing universal health coverage and strengthening Nigeria’s health system.

‘It’s a necessary condition for progress, for universal health coverage, and for health sovereignty,’ he said.

The Kaduna Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, when completed, is expected to create between 10,000 and 20,000 jobs, thereby providing employment to teeming jobless youths.

The Acting Director-General of the Kaduna State Transport Regulatory Authority (KASTRA), Alhaji Inuwa Ibrahim, disclosed this while speaking with journalists on the proposed BRT project in Kaduna on Monday.

Ibrahim said the project, which will cover a 24-kilometre corridor, will provide residents with a more efficient and affordable means of transportation.

The Acting DG noted that the project, which is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2027, is the first BRT system in Northern Nigeria and the second of its kind in Nigeria after Lagos, when completed.

According to him, the project will deploy about 120 articulated buses, alongside dedicated lanes, bus shelters and other supporting infrastructure.

He said the project would generate significant employment opportunities across its operations, including for drivers, mechanics, maintenance workers and other personnel.

‘We are expecting to have about 10 to 20,000 jobs for this BRT corridor of just 24 kilometres,’ he said.

He noted that the dedicated BRT lanes would allow buses to operate with minimal disruption from traffic congestion, thereby improving the reliability and efficiency of public transportation in the state.

The KASTRA Acting Director-General explained that the buses would operate on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), which he said was cheaper to operate and cleaner than conventional fuel.

He added that the use of CNG would also help reduce environmental pollution and contribute to a cleaner environment in Kaduna State.

‘We are using CNG all through, which is cheaper and cleaner. Even our environment will be cleaner than it used to be when we start the operation of the BRT system,’ he said.