Category: The Nation – Nigeria

The Abia State government has frowned at the attitude of some pregnant women who patronise traditional birth attendants for child delivery instead of the government hospitals.

Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti was speaking while commissioning the newly retrofitted Ohiya Primary Health Centre, in Ohiya, Umuahia South Local Government Area of the state.

Governor Otti, represented by the Commissioner for Health, Professor Enoch Ogbonnaya Uche, regretted that many women have lost their lives due to uncontrolled complications at the traditional birth attendants, saying that, his administration is intentional about the lives of the people, especially the mother and child, hence his government embarked on the retrofitting of 200 PHCs across all the wards in the state.

He reiterated his resolve to take decisive action against operators of such traditional birth attendants to safeguard the lives of expectant mothers.

He urged community leaders to take ownership of the facility.

The governor disclosed that the state government would also build staff quarters for health workers and encouraged residents to make full use of the centre.

He later conducted a tour of the facility with the State Director of Orientation Agency, Mrs. Ure Abazie, and the traditional ruler of Ohiya, Eze Abel Uhuegbu.

Super Eagles defender Felix Agu could miss Nigeria’s upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers next week, as he suffered an injury in Werder Bremen’s 1-0 win over St. Pauli on Saturday, Soccernet.ng reports.

On Friday, Agu was one of the 23 players called up to the Super Eagles squad ahead of the World Cup Qualifiers against Lesotho and Benin next week.

The 26-year-old left-back has been a regular for Werder Bremen this season, and he started for them once more in their Bundesliga fixture against St. Pauli at the Weserstadion.

Agu had a really good showing in the first half, but he had to be helped off just before halftime, as he sustained an injury and could not continue.

Although the extent of the injury has not been confirmed, it is highly unlikely that Agu will be available for the Super Eagles by next week.

The former Osnabruck man has a bad injury history, so for him to have to leave a game, it must have been a serious problem.

Nigeria’s fight against child malnutrition and out-of-school children took a major step forward with the official launch of the Renewed Hope Mo’Feed Project, Fundraising Gala and Humanitarian Award Night in Lagos.

Speaking at the event, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, represented by the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr. Jamiu Tolani Alli-Balogun, described the project as a ‘timely intervention’ that aligns with the state’s food security roadmap.

‘Food is dignity and hope. By targeting over 600,000 vulnerable Nigerians across all six geopolitical zones, this project sends a bold message: hunger will not define our people,’ Sanwo-Olu said.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on School Feeding Programme, Dr. Yetunde Adeniji, who represented President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, declared that the project was more than a feeding scheme, it was ‘an agenda to secure Nigeria’s future through nutrition, education and empowerment.’

‘Eight out of every ten children in rural Nigeria suffer one form of malnutrition or the other. Feeding is not just about giving food, it is about keeping children in school, reducing crime, and supporting farmers and women across communities,’ Dr. Adeniji said.

She stressed that the school feeding programme, first introduced in the last administration and now revived under Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, had already shown life-changing results in rural communities, where children rush to school for what is sometimes their only meal of the day.

Founder and President of Bella Amor Global Aid Foundation, Mirabel Etuk, whose foundation partnered with the Presidency to scale the initiative, framed the launch as a vision of ‘compassion in action.’

‘The Mo’Feed Project was born from the conviction that a simple meal can restore dignity and transform futures. Feeding a child means opening the door to education and a brighter tomorrow,’ she said.

The night also celebrated individuals and leaders driving humanitarian impact. Awardees included Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Nasarawa Governor Engr. Abdullahi Sule, Dr. Yetunde Adeniji, Dr. Chika Nwokedi, and Bluemath Realty CEO Akinwale Abidakun, among others.

Receiving his award, Abidakun called on Nigerians to support the project:

‘This is not just about feeding, it is about empowerment. More Nigerians of means must rise to back initiatives like this, because the wellbeing of our children defines the future of our nation,’ he said.

The Akwa Ibom Festac Forum, represented by

Mrs. Helene Usenekon commended Mirabel for her humanitarian efforts, describing her foundation’s launch as a ‘beautiful initiative’ that reflects the values of love, care, and hospitality for which the Akwa Ibom people are known.

Mrs. Usenekon, said the group is proud to support Mirabel, who hails from Akwa Ibom. She urged the founder not to relent in her commitment to helping the less privileged, assuring her that ‘every good seed will definitely germinate and the blessings will follow her.’

The Renewed Hope Mo’Feed Project, anchored on Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, aims to bridge hunger gaps, improve school enrolment, support women and local farmers, and provide dignity for vulnerable families nationwide.

The Emir of Hadejia and Chairman of the Jigawa Council of Chiefs, Dr. Adamu Abubakar Maje, has expressed deep concern over the deteriorating condition of primary schools within his domain, describing the situation as ‘worrisome and unacceptable.’

The royal father stated this after paying an unscheduled visit to several primary schools in Ayama District of Auyo Local Government Area, where he observed dilapidated classrooms, absence of desks for pupils, and shortage of teaching materials.

Dr. Maje lamented that many pupils were forced to sit on bare floors while learning in leaking or cracked classrooms. He urged Governor Umar Namadi to embark on similar surprise visits across the state ‘to see things for himself and boost the morale of hardworking teachers.’

He disclosed that the emirate council would compile a detailed report on the state of education in the area and forward to the government for urgent intervention.

The Emir also appealed to parents and guardians to play active roles in school monitoring and support, rather than abandoning everything to the government.

Responding, the Executive Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Prof. Haruna Musa, admitted that the challenges were ‘a product of decades of accumulated neglect’ which could not be fixed overnight.

According to him, the present administration under Governor Namadi has intensified efforts through massive construction and renovation of classrooms under both the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) intervention and state-funded projects.

‘Recently, over 300 projects were advertised for tender under the 2023 UBEC intervention. Tender opening was conducted last week, and contract awards are now in progress,’ he said, adding that preparations for the 2024 phase are already underway.

Musa, however, decried what he described as the ‘unpatriotic attitude’ of some communities who vandalise school infrastructure.

‘In many places, people remove iron windows, doors, roofing sheets-even chairs. Worse still, when minor damages occur, instead of fixing them, communities wait for government intervention. By the time we become aware, the damage has escalated,’ he lamented.

The federal government has called for the strengthening of efforts to deliver on the promises of the Education for Renewed Hope Agenda and the Education targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 4).

Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, made the appeal during this year’s World Teachers’ Day, celebrated globally on October 5.

‘While commending all stakeholders in achieving positive milestones for teachers nationwide, I implore community leaders, teacher unions, parents, and development partners to strengthen their efforts so that together we can effectively deliver on the promises of the Education for Renewed Hope Agenda and the Education targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 4),’ the minister said.

This year’s celebration had ‘Recasting Teaching as a Collaborative Profession’ as its theme.

He explained that the theme resonated deeply with Nigeria’s education reform agenda.

‘Our experience has shown that when teachers are supported to work together through peer mentoring, joint lesson planning, co-teaching, and the use of digital platforms, learning outcomes improve, and teachers themselves experience professional growth and fulfilment,’ the minister said.

The minister said that the Federal Ministry of Education has initiated policies to revitalise the teaching profession, including the National Teacher Policy, which ensures that teachers are professionally empowered and motivated.

He added, ‘Peer support structures are being encouraged at school and zonal levels nationwide. The sector is also leveraging ICT to connect teachers across states and provide access to global best practices.

‘We have a robust continuous professional development opportunity through the Teachers Registration Council (TRCN) of Nigeria, National Teachers Institute (NTI), and Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC). The current situation is that TRCN concentrates on licensing, monitoring compliance to standards, registration, and regulating the teaching profession, while NTI focuses on and sustains in-service teacher training and continuous professional development at the basic and post-basic levels.

‘Teaching is often viewed as an individual practice, which can make some teachers resist collaboration for fear of interference or added workload. To address this, it is essential to build and sustain a culture of trust, openness, and shared responsibility.

‘We must note that Teachers shape all other professionals working behind closed classroom doors with little exchange of ideas, experiences, or support. Today, as education faces increasing demands and rapid change, the role of the teacher has evolved to become collaborative. He /She shares, learns, and grows with others in pursuit of collective student success is the new vision.

‘A collaborative teacher understands that education is not an individual task but a shared responsibility. Such a teacher freely shares lesson plans, resources, and teaching strategies, while remaining humble enough to learn from others. They demonstrate strong communication skills-listening actively, speaking clearly, engaging respectfully in dialogue, and offering constructive feedback-while showing a willingness to build consensus even when opinions differ.

‘Above all, they are committed to lifelong professional growth, both for their personal advancement and for the enrichment of the wider teaching community.’

Minister of State for Education, Prof Suwaiba Ahmad, said the ministry was strengthening teacher collaboration through initiatives such as the National Teacher Development Policy (2022), the Digital Literacy and Skills Framework, and the promotion of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) across schools.

According to her, these efforts are in line with the government’s commitment to raising teacher quality, professional pride, and overall learning outcomes.

She said, ‘Teaching is often viewed as an individual practice, which can make some teachers resist collaboration for fear of interference or added workload. To address this, it is essential to build and sustain a culture of trust, openness, and shared responsibility.

Big Brother Naija’s housemate, Kaybobo has been evicted from the ’10/10′ season.

The remaining housemates Imisi, Dede, Kola, Jason Jae, Isabella, Mensan, Koyin and Sultana are now in a high-stakes battle for the ultimate prize.

The show host Ebuka Obi-Uchendu announced Kaybobo’s exit, marking a pivotal moment in the competition.

Big Brother Naija premiered on July 26-27, 2025, and is scheduled to conclude today, October 5, 2025.

The eviction set the stage for an intense finale, with the remaining four housemates vying for the top spot.

Jan Paul van Hecke’s late header snatched a point for Brighton and denied Wolves their first Premier League win of the season in a dramatic encounter at Molineux, which also saw Wolves boss Vitor Pereira sent off.

Wolves remain rooted to the bottom of the table with just two points from seven games after Sunday’s 1-1 draw.

The hosts took the lead in the first half through an unfortunate own goal by Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, whose back deflection off the bar from Marshall Munetsi’s strike put Wolves ahead.

The goal came moments after Pereira was shown a red card by referee Jarred Gillett for kicking a ball into the broadcasters’ dugout in frustration over a denied free-kick.

Despite the setback, Wolves showed renewed energy and looked close to sealing their first league win since April. Jhon Arias missed a golden opportunity to double the lead when he fired over, while Jorgen Strand Larsen struck the post with 15 minutes remaining.

At the other end, Wolves goalkeeper Sam Johnstone pulled off a brilliant save to deny Georginio Rutter’s equaliser, but Brighton eventually found a breakthrough when Van Hecke powered home a header four minutes from time to secure a late draw for the visitors.

The result extended Wolves’ winless run and piled further pressure on Pereira as his side continued to search for their first Premier League victory of the campaign.

Independent Hajj Reporters (IHR) has joined the call on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to abolish the 2% charge it receives from the payments of intending Hajj pilgrims from Nigeria.

IHR said the 2% charge by the country’s apex bank, which translates to $90 per pilgrim (N144,000), based on the N1,600 foreign exchange benchmark used by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), has contributed to the high cost of Hajj for Nigerian pilgrims.

Saudi Arabia allocates 95,000 slots to Nigeria for the annual pilgrimage.

IHR said if the quota is filled, the CBN generates approximately $8,550,000 (N13.68 billion) in revenue yearly from Hajj payments by pilgrims.

IHR, in a statement on Sunday signed by its National Coordinator, Ibrahim Mohammed, said following public outcry over the high cost of Hajj, ‘The CBN should abolish the revenue it collects simply for transferring Hajj payments to NAHCON’S IBAN account in Saudi Arabia’.

The statement added that, ‘While we do not claim that the payments are illegal, we believe that the CBN can waive them as their contribution to the reduction of Hajj fare in the country. Nigerian pilgrims are paying multiple service charges to various government establishments, which has jerked up the overall cost of the Hajj fare.

‘It should be noted that NAHCON has been funding its operations since 2019, relying on its service charge and relieving the government of Hajj operational costs. Such self-reliance measures need to be supported by other government institutions to guarantee seamless and efficient services for Nigerian pilgrims’.

The CSOs’ appeal follows similar calls by many Hajj stakeholders urging the Central Bank to waive the payments.

Managing Director and CEO UTMOL, Mr. Julius Rone has said there are lots of incentives and good return of investment (ROI) for investors willing to invest in Nigeria and Africa as a continent.

Rone disclosed this at the just concluded Africa Energy Week in Cape Town, South Africa.

Rone , who joined other top executives from across the globe to speak at the event and spoke during a panel session on LNG.

He also provided a project update on the planned FLNG facility, detailing the role floating liquefaction plays in Africa and the project’s impact on the Nigerian energy industry.

He also mentioned that Africa must develop its God given resources to attract investors around the world.

‘Africa is a beautiful bride for the world to exploit. We have the resources and we must be allowed to develop our resources for the world to come and invest. This is actually the reason we gather every year for Africa Energy Week, to discuss how to develop our resources in Africa’

The MD of UTM also appreciates the effort of African leaders especially President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his effort to bring large investment to Nigeria.

‘So you’re aware the president has been travelling round the world to galvanise investors to ensure that the oil and gas industry is fully amortized and developed. The President has also given a lot of incentive to encourage investors back to the country.

Nigeria is pushing so much amenities and so much incentive for investors to come in, Brazilian national oil company is coming back to Nigeria to develop oil and gas in the deep offshore location, so you can see everybody is coming back to the energy sector. I also want to thank the management of NNPC, Mr. Bayo Ojulari and his team for the leadership and carrying out Mr. President’s directive to ensure that the gas is developed based on the directive that is given to the new management of NNPC by Mr president they swing into action so immediately they came they invited UTM to present our position’ He added.

Rone also revealed that his company UTM will be signing a gas agreement soon with SEPLAT.

‘SEPLAT has been fully cooperative. We’ve advanced the negotiation and within the next two weeks maximum we should be signing the gas supply agreement and that is a gamechanger for Nigeria for Nigeria oil and gas industry having our first floating LNG and I think that we are quite excited over this.

In addition to his participation in the panel discussions, Rone’s engaged with global and regional stakeholders saying Nigeria has opened new pathways for collaboration across the gas industry.

As a very critical part of her 65th birthday celebration, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, restructured the usual pomp that attend the birthday celebration of the political class as we know it. Rather than submitting herself to the numerous treats, felicitations and pageantries that would be sure to have been deployed to mark the auspicious occasion, she demanded that anyone who needed to celebrate her should focus their largesse on the furtherance of the National Library project, and possibly its final completion. And that appeal has generated a beautiful sum of N20b. This is all so grand, and noble but unusual. It is an unusual gesture because a member of the political class, rather than the government itself, is the one championing the resuscitation of the National Library project. Maybe it is the government by association, but then the gesture is not the result of an intentional and deliberate policy commitment that enable the government to connect the library to the larger goal of national development. How do we read this strange but commendable gesture into the overall development status of the Nigerian state?

The current state of the Nigerian National Library speaks tremendously to the possibilities and failures of the national development project in Nigeria. In many nations of the world, from the Library of Congress in the United States to the Bibliotheque de France and also the National Library, Singapore, the national library signals the single repository of books, manuscripts, orature, archival materials that connects cultural heritages, knowledge production programmes, critical ideas and paradigms, historical documentation and national memories. Adolf Hitler perfectly understands this fundamental significance of the knowledge base of any nation. And this is why, in a most pernicious manner during the Second World War, he ordered the massive destruction of books and materials that were considered to be subversive of, or even contrary to, the ideals of the German Third Reich project. And quite fortunately and pragmatic enough, the allied forced, led by the United States thought it significant and strategic to fight back by making the book resurgent from their crematorium.

This speaks to the indomitable spirit of ideas, ideals and knowledge that books embody. It is in this critical sense that books and library connect a state to not only its historical and cultural knowledges and heritages, but also signal the state’s willingness to project itself into the emerging knowledge and information society that ultimately define the progress and wealth of nations. Libraries connect reading and learning culture, the dynamics of literacy, educational projects, human capital development and the generation of ideas, as well as paradigms fashioned purposely for creative innovation and policies especially in sociopolitical, socioeconomic, development and governance contexts. Libraries therefore connect a state’s willingness to become a legitimate participant in the evolving fourth industrial revolution while also keeping alive its own credentials as an entity that keeps generating culturally and historically relevant knowledge.

Knowledge, ideas and books-indeed the entire educational structures-reinvigorate the ways a state keep reengaging its problems, challenges and the solution and resolution frameworks for understanding and undermining them. Education is the fundamental bedrock that instigates individual, collective and national enlightenment and progress. And this therefore ultimately connects not only with the creative policy intelligence that is enabled by the availability of knowledge preserved in libraries (especially as it denotes the repositories of global knowledge, ideas and paradigms), but also how leaders connect with these ideas and knowledge through what they read. When I wrote my op-ed piece on the reading habit of HE Vice President Senator Kashim Shettima, I opened up the possibilities for a nation that an enlightened leadership embodies.

Unfortunately, Nigeria does not have a national library. Or more precisely, the national library project that was formulated in 1981 has refused to materialize into a symbolic and concrete structural manifestation of Nigeria’s willingness to join the global knowledge society. The idea of the national library was muted in 1981, but it took the next twenty-five years for the idea to get an enabling contract in 2006. And yet forty-three years later, the structure remains a pipedream that refused to take off. And so, while it was all too easy to build the National Ecumenical Centre and the National Mosque within which the dilapidated library structure located, this significant element of Nigeria’s progress has remained uncompleted. This is simply just emblematic of the general institutional and structural dysfunctional experience that characterize the Nigeria Project right from independence to date. Knowledge production and the entire educational structure in Nigeria have faced significant limitations that derive from the myopic inability to connect development with an enlightened human development capital. There is also the tightrope of anti-intellectualism that the Nigerian political class has always been walking in its relationship with the institutions and structures of knowledge production and idea generation in Nigeria. The ongoing adversarial industrial relations between consecutive Nigerian governments and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over transforming universities into a significant force in nation building efforts in the state is a clear evidence of this a-developmental elite orientation.

All these dysfunctional issues are surprising given that the Nigerian state is very concerned about both her geopolitical status and credentials as a democratic and developmental state in the world-as the Giant of Africa-and also to achieve a stable and empowering economic growth that measurably improve the life prospect and economic lives of her citizens. However, efforts at making the lives of Nigerians better are usually concentrated on purely economic, econometric and macroeconomic indices of development. If reading and education come into reckoning, it is strictly to the extent that they are inescapable to the fruition of any particular human capital development policy. And yet, the quality of a nation’s human capital is measurable only to the extent of the place of an enlightened reading culture, symbolized by a functional and efficient library systems.

Thus, a state is instigated not only by the economic but also informational and educational resources at its disposal. In other words, the availability and the rate of access to the information resources and the extensive reading rate per capita are the development indices of a society. The number of published books, journals, libraries, readers, writers, translators and publishers of a country are all indices and fundamental criteria of its development. Extending the culture of studying and book reading, developing libraries, publications and distribution of books and utilizing these unrivaled cultural instruments are therefore the requirements and necessities of each society’s growth. This connects the functional and efficient library system to a reading culture that stimulate the young people into the consumption of ideas and paradigms that enable creative and critical thinking.

Building a Nigerian national library-that possibly will be replicated in all the states of the federation-signals a symbolic aspiration by the government to ground learning and reading as a key variable in the determination of the quality of the human capital that Nigeria needs for her development process. It also determines the quality of Nigeria’s democratic experiment founded on the enlightened status of the Nigerian citizenry. Thus, a lot is riding on Nigeria’s capacity to build a functional and efficient national library as a repository of local, national, regional and global experiences, histories, ideas, paradigms, ideals, perspectives and creative innovation. So, does it matter who lead the crucial initiative to jumpstart and crystallize the national library project as long as it is done? The First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, saw what should be considered a national embarrassment, and responded to it while also ensuring that the gesture is funneled through government institutions, like the Federal Ministry of Education. Having woken up the nation from its slumber on this unarguably defining project with deep essence, it is now an all-stakeholder national challenge to get the noble gesture by the First Lady concluded and put into use. That seems like a long stretch given the forty-three years of policy and implementation inactivity. And I think we should all support this very unique and very ardent attempt to push a significant dimension of Nigeria’s development effort to bring to life what ought to have been alive and kicking many years ago.

However, whether we like it or not, the fact that it is an individual and not the government that is pushing for the realization of this project is an indictment of national proportion. One way to read this is that the National Library project is happening on the sideline of whatever consecutive Nigerian governments considered to be significant policy initiatives that aligned with development visions and implementation frameworks. But then, the redemption comes from the fact that the Nigeria Project, unlike the national library project, is a work in progress. And this allows for the government to pick up where there is any glaring historical and political failure and provide redemptive policy reclamation and reconstruction. I think this is the most important lesson that Senator Oluremi Tinubu’s gesture towards the National Library project has provided us. The government and other stakeholders cannot afford to have this project to remain at the individual level. This gesture has therefore become an instigator in terms of what the citizenry can do to push the government to implementing the general will. And this is even all the more crucial because it is coming from a bona fide member of the government itself. This then implies that the government is now instigating itself to action on behalf of the Nigeria Project.