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Zamfara Ministry of Works and Infrastructure says its one-day stakeholders’ engagement will improve energy access and strengthen the power sector in the state.

The programme was organised in collaboration with the Zamfara State Electrification Agency (ZEA) and S2R Consulting.

It brought together key players in the electricity sector such as government officials, individuals, community leaders, legal experts, and technical specialists.

The Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr Lawal Barau, in his address at the event in Gusau on Tuesday, said that the engagement would help review and validate the state electricity policy and bill.

He said it was also to appreciate stakeholders for their commitment to strengthening the electricity sector in Zamfara.

The commissioner, who was represented by the Director, Mechanical in the ministry, Mr Sanusi Mande, said the engagement marked a significant milestone in the state government’s efforts to develop a unified and progressive electricity framework.

He emphasised the importance of collaboration in addressing gaps within the power value chain.

Barau reaffirmed the ministry’s readiness to work closely with all relevant actors toward achieving sustainable energy solutions.

In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of the Zamfara State Electrification Agency, Mr Muzammil Muhammad, noted the importance of developing a strong and forward-looking policy framework that would guide the state toward a sustainable and reliable electricity system.

He said the government remains committed to creating an enabling environment that would attract investment and promote efficient electricity generation, distribution, and management.

He highlighted the new opportunities created by the Electricity Act 2023, the expanded regulatory powers granted to states, and the strategic pathways Zamfara could adopt to strengthen electricity governance, improve market efficiency, and accelerate access to power across communities.

Muhammad said that the new electricity policy and bill were designed to align Zamfara with ongoing national power sector reforms.

Lagos-based firm, Easy Porta Nigeria, has introduced prefabricated containers into the market.

Managing Director, Allen, said the move to high-specification prefabricated container structures is a necessity.

In a statement, Allen, an engineer, also said: ‘The greatest advantage of prefab is not just the speed, but the quality consistency you achieve in a controlled factory environment.”

The engineer, with over three decades’ experience in the metal and steel fabrication and construction business, said Nigeria’s construction sector is undergoing a quiet, yet fundamental, revolution driven by need for speed, cost certainty, and quality control.

At the heart of this shift, he said, is the rise of modular construction-manufacturing of structures off-site for rapid assembly, a methodology industry veterans believe is suited to bridging the country’s infrastructure and housing gaps.

He noted that for decades, traditional brick-and-mortar processes dominated the industry. But as logistics become more complex and material costs fluctuate, the predictability offered by factory-built systems, particularly those relying on robust steel structures, is proving highly attractive.

Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed has said that the closure of all schools in the state was based on security advice.

He spoke yesterday before chairing the State’s Executive Council (SEC) meeting, explaining that intelligence reports indicated a potential threat of school invasions and student abductions in the state.

Mohammed said the closure of both public and private schools from primary to tertiary levels was to avert such attacks.

‘Yes, we closed our schools because the security agencies advised us to do so. They have more information than us, and even though I am the Chief Security Officer, I don’t have the personnel to act alone. They warned of possible abductions of our students, similar to incidents that have occurred in other states,’ the governor said.

According to Mohammed, the decision was proactive, not to instill fear, adding that measures were being taken to secure schools, particularly those more vulnerable to terrorists’ incursions.

‘We have closed the schools, and we will ensure that such schools are fenced, possibly before the end of this year,’ he said.

Aside from fencing, Mohammed said all schools in the state would be equipped with lights, adding that recruitment of vigilantes would run alongside the Safe School Programme outlined by the Office of the National Security Adviser.

On the killing of five policemen in Darazo Local Government Area, Mohammed clarified that it was not a banditry attack, as reported by some media outlets, but a community-related issue.

‘We had an incident in Darazo. While some reported it as banditry, it is actually a community issue. We are on ground and will handle it with the police and DSS,’ he assured.

With a charge to ensure that criminals do not turn Edo to a safe haven, Governor Monday Okpebholo, yesterday met with heads of security services in the state.

The meeting followed a viral video in which a self-acclaimed terrorist threatened to attack Edo Central Senatorial district.

In the video, the individual claimed presence around Ekpoma and adjoining communities, issuing threats.

Confirming the meeting in a statement, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor, Fred Itua, said the security chiefs briefed the governor on the issue.

Itua assured Edo residents that security was top-tier priority for the Governor, adding that emerging threats were being confronted.

He said the security architecture was designed to ensure early detection, swift response, and sustained pressure against criminal networks.

‘Following the Governor’s latest directive, the Department of State Service (DSS), the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), local vigilante formations, and the Edo State Special Security Squad, have commenced intensified operations across forests, boundary communities, and known flashpoints.

‘Search-and-comb missions are ongoing, backed by enhanced intelligence gathering and coordinated patrols to deny criminal elements safe haven anywhere within the State.

‘Already, significant breakthroughs have been recorded. Arrests have been made in connection with recent security breaches, and several leads are currently being pursued.

‘The Government reiterates that these operations are continuous and will not cease until every inch of Edo land, urban centres, rural communities, and transit corridors are fully secured and safe for residents, commuters, and investors,’ he stated.

Itua urged the people to shun misinformation, panic-driven narratives, and unverified videos.

Barely 17 days to the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election in Osun State, a political movement of the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, has begged the APC leadership to make the ex-Managing Director, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Mr Bola Oyebamiji (AMBO), as a consensus candidate of the party for 2026 governorship election.

The movement, under the auspices of The Earliest Ileri-Oluwa Caucus, led by Amb. AbdulYekeen Abilagbo (Rtd.), made the plea yesterday at a solidarity rally for Oyebamiji in front of Oluwo’s palace, Iwo town.

He highlighted the achievements of Oyebamiji as the managing director of Osun State Investment Company Limited (OSICOL), who he noted improved the fortune of the company, growing it from N300million to N3billion, stopping half salary as finance commissioner, among other contributions to develop the state.

Abilagbo said: ‘Oyebamiji has something to offer the state. Osun has been unlucky for the past three years. There is no governance, nothing to show for the boost in revenue coming to the state. We must rescue the state from the current government and Oyebamiji is the best man to take Osun State to an enviable future.

‘He is a tested and a thoroughbred technocrat, particular in financial management. He was an accountant and showed capacity to deliver in whatsoever responsibility placed in his hand.’

Secretary of the movement, Dr. Kamal Okunola, affirmed the stance of Oyetola’s group, saying: ‘Oyebamiji should be the consensus candidate of the party because of his competence.

‘He is from Osun West Senatorial District, which has been marginalised for a very long time in the progressives fold. In our party, Baba Akande and Oyetola from Osun Central were in government for eight years and in the East, Aregbesola was in government for eight years. Only the West that is yet to produce governor.

‘ PDP and ADC have concluded to pick their governorship candidate from the West. So, APC’s case should not be different and if they consider our district, they should make Oyebamiji the consensus candidate of the party.’

The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has identified a strong public-private partnership, backed by reforms that reduce import dependence, ease pressure on the Naira, and support backward integration as vital to the full realisation of the Nigeria First Policy.

Its Director-General of NECA, Mr. Adewale Smatt Oyerinde, who spoke when NECA convened a high-level virtual Knowledge Sharing Session (KSS) for employers nationwide, with ‘Nigeria First Policy: Unlocking Opportunities for Businesses and the Economy’ as theme, reaffirmed the commitment of NECA to advancing enterprise competitiveness and national economic development through proactive policy advocacy.

He emphasized the need for a more competitive and business-friendly environment, while urging employers to proactively patronize Nigerian products and services.

The virtual engagement was designed to deepen understanding of the Federal Government’s Nigeria First Policy and explore its implications for private-sector growth.

The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Ambassador Nura Abba Rimi who was represented by the Director, Industrial Development Department, Mrs. OlumuyiwaAjayiade, made a detailed presentation on the policy’s objectives and strategic priorities. She explained that the Nigeria First Policy prioritizes local goods and services in public procurement, enhances local content participation, and promotes economic growth through targeted government expenditure. She further stated that the initiative aligns directly with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, focused on industrialization, strengthening local production, and shielding the economy from global disruptions.

Also addressing the session, the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement, Dr. Adebowale Adedokun, highlighted procurement and local content requirements under the policy. He assured stakeholders that the Nigeria First Policy aims to empower local enterprises, promote quality standards, and improve global competitiveness of Nigerian products. He disclosed that implementation guidelines are currently being finalized and will be shared with NECA for further stakeholder engagement.

Representing the business community, the Chairperson of NECA’s Committee on Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Experts, Ms. Victoria Uwadoka, stressed the importance of sustainable enterprise growth and outlined the strategic opportunities the policy presents for Nigerian companies.

The Knowledge Sharing Session recorded strong participation across sectors, with robust interaction and positive feedback from employers. Participants acknowledged the session as timely and expressed confidence in the policy’s potential to drive business expansion and national economic transformation.

NECA remains fully committed to working with government and the private sector to ensure successful implementation of the Nigeria First Policy and to champion initiatives that strengthen the Nigerian economy.

Bitget Wallet, teveryday finance app, has launched a Bank Transfer feature in Nigeria and Mexico, allowing users to convert USDT and USDC into naira and peso and send funds directly to local bank accounts.

The feature turns stablecoins into a practical payment method, enabling users to pay merchants, send money to friends and family, or settle bills from their wallet. The rollout marks the first time a global crypto wallet has enabled direct stablecoin-to-bank transfers at scale in these regions, making crypto more usable.

The feature enables users to pay and transfer seamlessly from crypto to local currency, without relying on peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms or centralised exchanges. It works much like a mobile banking app – users choose a cryptocurrency, enter the amount and bank account, then confirm. Bitget Wallet’s network of licensed partners manages fiat conversion and settlement through regulated payment channels, ensuring instant processing, compliance, and reliability. The service supports 45 banks in Nigeria and 35 in Mexico.

The feature supports USDT and USDC across BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana, Tron, and Base networks.

By merging crypto payments with traditional banking rails, Bitget Wallet bridges onchain assets with real-world spending. The launch comes as stablecoins play a growing role in emerging-market finance, where crypto is increasingly used to store, move and spend value amid inflation and currency volatility. According to Chainalysis, Nigeria remains Africa’s largest crypto market, accounting for most of the region’s onchain activity with over $90 billion in annual transaction value. In Latin America, Mexico recorded more than $70 billion in onchain volume over the same period. Through Bank Transfers, Bitget Wallet enables users to use crypto as easily as local money – whether sending, spending, or saving.

The feature addresses long-standing challenges in these markets, where turning crypto into usable local money has often been slow, risky, and costly. In Nigeria, users typically rely on P2P platforms subject to liquidity gaps and exchange-rate volatility, while in Mexico, limited infrastructure and regulatory friction constrain access. Bitget Wallet’s Bank Transfer automates the process, reducing risk and enabling instant, compliant one-tap conversions.

‘Stablecoins are quickly becoming a new layer of everyday payments in emerging markets, and connecting them to local banking rails is the next step in that evolution,’ said Jamie Elkaleh, CMO of Bitget Wallet. ‘Nigeria and Mexico together process more than $160 billion in annual onchain volume. Bringing instant stablecoin payments directly into their banking systems makes self-custody more practical, more usable, and increasingly aligned with how people pay today.’

‘The new feature will expand to additional emerging markets in the coming months, complementing Bitget Wallet’s suite of payment tools, including its crypto card, QR code payments, and in-app lifestyle shop, allowing users to pay globally in local ways across shopping, rent, remittances, and everyday expenses. To mark the launch, Bitget Wallet is offering a zero-fee promotion. For more information, visit Bitget Wallet’s blog.’ Jamie Elkaleh explained.

Nigeria stands at a critical moment in its reform journey. With the passage of modernised tax laws between 2023 and 2026, the federal government has set in motion one of the most ambitious overhauls of the country’s tax administration in decades. From digital compliance measures to the rationalisation of incentives, new dispute-resolution structures, and strengthened enforcement powers, these reforms attempt to reshape Nigeria’s tax landscape for the realities of a 21st-century economy.

Yet, the success of these reforms depends on one fundamental factor: capacity. Tax laws, no matter how well drafted, do not execute themselves. They require competent institutions, skilled personnel, modern technology, data-driven intelligence, and taxpayer trust. Without these, even the most progressive legislation will struggle to deliver results.

To bridge this gap, Nigeria must commit to a systematic and sustainable programme of capacity building across national and sub-national tax agencies – FIRS, NCS, State Boards of Internal Revenue, and local government revenue units. This article proposes a four-pillar blueprint to achieve exactly that: Legal and Policy Competence, Digital and Data Capability, Organisational Excellence, and Taxpayer Engagement.

Pillar one: Legal and policy competence

The starting point for effective tax administration is a deep and uniform understanding of the law. In Nigeria, the challenge of inconsistent interpretation across levels of government has long created confusion for taxpayers and fuelled avoidable disputes. With the new tax laws, this challenge becomes even more pressing. The country has introduced new rules on digital taxation, expanded VAT provisions, modernised excise operations, reviewed incentive regimes, and updated administrative procedures. Many of these provisions require technical understanding and accurate legal interpretation.

To this extent, a national curriculum shared across FIRS and all State Boards of Internal Revenue is therefore essential. This curriculum should break down the provisions of the new laws into practical modules relevant for assessments, audits, enforcement, and dispute resolution. Monthly legal-policy interpretation clinics will help harmonise approaches and significantly reduce litigation. Additionally, sector-specific competence is equally necessary. Oil and gas, fintech, digital commerce, informal sector operations, telecoms, manufacturing, and financial services all have unique tax dynamics. Officers must understand the peculiarities of each sector to administer the law effectively. Therefore, legal competence is the foundation. Without it, every other reform pillar becomes shaky.

Pillar two: Digital and data governance capability

The second pillar speaks to the technological engine of the tax system. Globally, the future of tax administration is digital. Nigeria’s new laws reflect this reality mandating e-invoicing, e-filing, e-payment, digital audit trails, automated risk analysis, and greater reliance on real-time data. Despite significant strides by FIRS in automation, many state and local government agencies still lack the capacity to operate robust digital systems. Even where technology exists, officers often need more training to utilise the systems effectively. Consequently, a Digital Tax Operations Academy would help bridge this divide. Through structured training, tax officers would acquire skills in:

Data analytics and risk profiling

AI-based audit selection

Cybersecurity and digital forensics

Understanding and managing digital tax platforms

Cross-agency data matching (BVN, NIN, CAC, Customs, Land Registries, etc.)

Digitisation is not merely about reducing paperwork; it is about building a smarter tax administration that detects evasion patterns, generates insights, and sharpens enforcement tools. With stronger digital governance capacity, Nigeria can move decisively toward automated compliance, fewer leakages, and more predictable revenue flows.

Pillar three: Organisational excellence and human capital development

Reforming tax institutions requires more than legal knowledge and digital skills. It requires a motivated, ethical, and professional workforce. So, the third pillar focuses on building a tax administration anchored on performance, professionalism, and integrity. For too long, promotions in public service have been heavily influenced by tenure. The new era demands competency-based progression, where officers advance based on skills, certifications, knowledge, and results. Therefore, professional qualifications must be mainstreamed: CITN, ICAN, ACCA, ANAN, cybersecurity certifications, internal audit certifications, and forensic accounting skills all have roles to play. These qualifications ensure that officers bring global standards into their daily work.

Capacity building must also incorporate a gender-inclusive focus. Women make up a significant share of the taxpayer base and workforce, yet their tax experiences, business dynamics, and compliance challenges differ. A gender-responsive tax administration is not only fair it improves compliance and reduces distortions. Leadership training is another critical area. Directors, regional coordinators, and unit heads must be equipped with modern governance skills – change management, strategic leadership, collaborative problem-solving and cross-agency coordination. Organisational excellence creates the institutional backbone for efficient tax administration.

Pillar four: Taxpayer engagement and service delivery

No tax system can thrive without the trust and cooperation of taxpayers. The fourth pillar focuses on creating a citizen-centred service environment where taxpayers feel informed, respected, and supported. Nigeria needs a comprehensive taxpayer education strategy that communicates the implications of the new tax laws in simple language. Radio programmes, market outreach, digital campaigns, community town halls, and materials in local languages will help explain filing requirements, rights, obligations, and available remedies. Modernising service touchpoints is equally important. Taxpayers should be able to access support through:

Upgraded call centres

AI-enabled chatbots

Online dispute-resolution portals

Secure e-payment channels

Appointment-booking systems

Improved service delivery reduces the cost of compliance, encourages voluntary filing, and strengthens public confidence. In addition, stakeholder engagement with business groups, market unions, civil society, accountants, tax practitioners, investors, and the broader public will provide important feedback that shapes more responsive tax policies. A modern tax system must communicate, listen, and adapt.

Toward a high-performance tax administration

Nigeria’s new tax laws offer a historic opportunity to strengthen domestic resource mobilisation and reduce overdependence on oil revenue. But laws alone cannot transform a tax system. Institutions do. By adopting a four-pillar capacity-building blueprint legal competence, digital capability, organisational excellence, and taxpayer engagement Nigeria can build a future-ready tax administration capable of delivering results for decades to come.

The country cannot afford half-measures. Revenue agencies must rise to the challenge with urgency, collaboration, and a focus on excellence. If implemented diligently, this blueprint will not only improve compliance but also deepen public trust, strengthen fiscal stability, and accelerate national development. The task before us is clear: build institutions that can deliver the promise of the reforms.

Dancer and reality TV star Liquorose has disclosed her enduring passion for music, stating that she had always aspired to be a musician.

In an interview with media personality, VJ Adams, Liquorose revealed that she was actively pursuing a music career prior to her participation in the Big Brother Naija show.

She said, ‘I love music too much. I’ve always wanted to be a musician. Yeah, I’ve been recording. There was a time when I was always in the studio before I went for BBNaija show. I was very hungry with music.’

Liquorose further stated that while she currently feels comfortable about acting, she still has a strong desire for music.

She added, ‘I know that feeling because I’m a poet and I write. If the music isn’t sounding like that, I know I could do better. And I work with writers as well now and stuff. I wanted to ignore music because I’m like I love acting.

‘Acting is like my safest place right now. I’m comfortable, I can act till like I’m 80 or 70 years old. But the urge to make music remains strong. But you see music, there’s a side of me that people have not seen. And it’s my music side.

‘And one thing I need people to know is that the sound won’t just be for you to dance. It’s going to touch you. I can do dancehall, I can rap if I want to, because I write poems. I can’t sing like Beyoncé, but I can hold my own.’

Long before bandits preyed on schoolchildren, long before ransom notes began to read like market lists including palm oil, dried fish, onions, and yam tubers, Nigeria itself had been taken hostage.

Thus, what we now call an epidemic of abductions is merely the physical manifestation of captive Nigerianness: with our consciences bound, institutions gagged, and the citizenry caught between fraying morals and failing structures.

Truth is, the hostage crisis did not begin at gunpoint. It began in the dumbing down of Nigerian character; in the fragmentation of our family systems; in the erosion of public trust, and in the corruption that has become as ambient as the air we breathe.

Nigeria’s kidnap-for-ransom enterprise has matured into a grotesque industry, sprawling from forest corridors to the fringes of urban life. Between July 2023 and June 2024 alone, SBM Intelligence reports that 1,130 kidnapping incidents were recorded, involving no fewer than 7,568 victims.

In that period, abductors demanded N10.99 billion, but received only N1.048 billion, a mere 9.5 per cent of their outrageous demands. This gap reveals a frightening evolution: rather than targeting only business magnates, politicians, or oil barons, kidnappers have shifted their sights to the masses: to farmers, market women, students, commuters, villagers, minors, and the elderly.

Yet the absurdity has assumed darker shades. In one widely reported case in the South-West, kidnappers demanded N3.5 million plus a carton of Schnapps, 30 litres of palm oil, 10 tubers of yam, and a keg of vegetable oil before releasing three captives. Elsewhere, abductors have asked for cooking oil, dried fish, garri, power banks, phone chargers, items required to restock a household inventory rather than a ransom ledger.

This is what happens when criminality fuses with hunger; the consequence is a madness that confounds profit logic. It feeds, ultimately, an ever-widening maw of need.

Yet, beyond the abductions that dominate news cycles, Nigeria suffers from a deeper, subtler captivity. Every Nigerian, in some form, is a hostage: hostage to creed, weaponising faith to justify bigotry; hostage to ethnic and religious loyalties; hostage to greed, that turns public office into a private empire.

Many are hostage to hypocrisy, condemning loudly in public what they cuddle in private; hostage to poverty, which renders dignity an unaffordable luxury; hostage to materialism, chasing wealth with the desperation of a drowning man gasping for air.

Some are hostage to sexual lust, weaponising desire to destroy marriages, careers, and destinies; hostage to rage, exploding at the slightest provocation because Nigeria heats everyone, like a pressure cooker; hostage to daily needs, locked in a battle that yokes survival to the next meal.

Many more are hostage to imperialist agendas, gorging on colonist doctrines at the expense of indigenous wisdom. And perhaps most tragically, we are hostage to sentimentality, defending leaders who impoverish us, praising institutions that betray us, and romanticising the very dysfunctions that hold us captive.

Amid this moral malaise, corruption manifests as a social ill and a vehicle of national dysfunction. Recent 2023 data reveal that 32.3% of Nigerians reported personal experience with bribery while dealing with public officials. In total, an estimated 87 million bribes were exchanged that year-approximately 0.8 bribes per adult. Among those who admitted paying bribes, the average number paid within 12 months was 5.1.

The import is alarming: about US $1.26 billion in cash bribes changed hands in 2023; that is roughly 0.35% of Nigeria’s GDP.

The citizen pays bribes to secure what is already his by right. The official extracts bribes to perform what he is already paid to do. And the system, greased by these transactions, chugs out detritus of misgovernance.

To mend all that we have broken, we must rejig our cultural foundations. No society reforms itself without reshaping its stories; the narratives it consumes often become the beliefs it normalises, and the beliefs it normalises form the culture it lives by.

Essentially, patriotism thrives on cultural standards. The politics we espouse and our lore of nationhood manifest the kernel of our sovereignty. A similar dynamic undergirds our politico-literary traditions. Politics thrives on artistic vistas and vice versa.

What shouldn’t we do for an evergreen story? What shouldn’t we give? The evergreen story, if progressively spun, yields fresh insights through the imagination of the writer or filmmaker, who milks history and recalibrates reality to espouse a positive national lyric.

What is the Nigerian lyric? What is our reality? What do our artists project about us to our internal and external publics? Filmmakers, for instance, possess a critical tool: storytelling. But too often, this instrument is pointed inward to glamorise crime, trivialise trauma, and distort our image in the pursuit of box office glory. A recent film, for instance, irresponsibly romanticised kidnap-for-ransom while maligning Islam, thus reinforcing stereotypes that worsen social fissures. This is artistic sabotage masquerading as creativity.

It’s about time the government partnered with filmmakers to produce hard-hitting political thrillers, social dramas, and moral epics that diagnose Nigeria’s ailments and offer a path to healing.

Hollywood perfected this strategy decades ago. Between 1911 and 2017, over 800 feature films received support from the U.S. Department of Defence. More than 1,100 television titles enjoyed Pentagon backing. These ranged from Iron Man and Transformers to Homeland, 24, NCIS, and others.

The United States’ democratic enterprise is one of the most profitable constructions via art, in its bid to ‘make America great again,’ at any cost. It is both music and philosophy, a sensory stream of thought feeding generations of writers, political activists, filmmakers, politicians, gender rights activists, academia, and so on.

Hollywood, democracy and foreign aid do for America what painting and sculpture did for the Italians. They are potent tools for wooing and recolonising the world. Also, both China’s and South Korea’s cultural ascents were deliberately constructed around cinematic narratives aligned with national philosophy. Likewise, Nigeria must birth an artistic movement that elevates, not erodes, the collective psyche. The country’s creative economy stands at an inflection point. With projections estimating a leap from $5 billion in 2022 to $25 billion by the end of 2025, there is an undeniable hunger for indigenous storytelling. Yet, economic prosperity must not overshadow ideological direction.

Nigeria must fuse state power with cultural influence to dismantle the criminal economy, using cinema, storytelling, and public-facing art to drive awareness while strengthening intelligence systems with drones, satellite surveillance, digital tracking, and community-powered reporting tools that predict and prevent abductions.

The government, in partnership with the creative sector, must spotlight the importance of state policing, securing forest corridors and rural communities, using film, radio dramas, and digital content to mobilise public vigilance, while a national forest security command, integrated with trained community vigilante units, constrains bandits’ operations.

Through socially conscious art and nationwide cultural programming, the government must help citizens understand that no crime thrives where jobs, education, and social welfare exist, and the government must walk in virtual lockstep with what it preaches.

A nation’s heart beats in its stories. A country without a socially responsible literary and artistic community is a body without a soul. Our filmmakers must move beyond the monotonous tropes of gender wars, feminist-misandrist vendetta-laden plots. Our novelists must cease writing solely for Western patronage and pity.

Shall we script a new national narrative? One that does not lament Nigeria but reimagines her. One that does not beg for Western approval but commands global reverence.

It’s about time we resolved the maladies that make the Nigerian dream the fantasy of thieves, kidnappers, and blinkered murderers.