Connect with us

News

Only 18% of School Children Transit from Primary to Junior Secondary School in Bauchi

Published

on

 

 

The United Nations Children’s Fund Bauchi Field office has expressed it’s worry over the low transition rate of school children from primary to junior secondary school.

This concern was expressed by the Chief of Bauchi Field Office Mr. Tushar Rane at the opening ceremony of a three days children’s creative workshop for students, organised by the National Troupe of Nigeria (TNT) in Bauchi.

Mr. Rane said that as it is there are 3,183 primary schools, with only 753 Junior Secondary Schools and 191 Senior Secondary Schools in Bauchi State.

He said over 1.2M children enrolled in Primary out of which only 200 thousand transit to Junior Secondary Schools and 130 thousand to Senior Secondary Schools, which put the transition rate from primary to Junior Secondary School at only 18%.

“Every state should invest in young generation and ensure that every child is loved, cared for and protected. Achieving that means promoting quality call for action, investing in early year and adolescent programmes to harness qualitative efforts”, said Rane.

While appreciating Bauchi State Government in collaborating with NTN for organising the creative workshop at school level, he reminded guests that UNICEF work towards improving the lives of Children and Women in Nigeria and also committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Education for All (EFA) goals of educating all children at all levels and in all groups.

“UNICEF has a vision to collaborate with Government institutions, Civil Society Organisations, Faith Based Organisations, Communities and other Partners to discuss issues around children and Adolescent Education programmes; hence the “Children’s Creative Station” workshop organised by the National Troupe of Nigeria in collaboration with Bauchi State Government, the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) and UNICEF.

Advert

“The programme aims at equipping children with the rudiments of theatre for expression of prime national aspirations such as promotion of unity in diversity, patriotism, and rights of the child as fundamental Human Rights.

“It is a common knowledge that the Adolescence stage is a second window of opportunity in a child’s cognitive and growth development. Besides the physiological importance, adolescent development is also a human right as stated in the Convention on Rights of the Child and the general commitment to the implementation of the Convention on Rights of the Child during Adolescence”.

He stressed that strong evidence suggests that promoting adolescent development and their protection will lead to better short and long term public health, economic and demographic benefits.

Mr. Rane said that the school environment provides the most effective and efficient way to reach adolescents because it offers the opportunity to get students at an influential stage in their lives, during childhood and adolescence.

The Chief of Field office, who sounded optimistic, maintained that school-going adolescents can also be used to reach out-of-school adolescents and even become the role models for them.

“UNICEF is stepping up its engagement with rural young people, including adolescent girls. And thanks to the generosity of Bauchi State Government and other partners for the difference being made.

“We are committed to work with all the arms of the Federal Government of Nigeria, CSOs, development partners, private sectors, families and communities to increase support for the young children through the existing community systems, building on the positive practices that already exists.

“All our children across the country and in Bauchi State have a better start to life using evidence-based implementation strategy as a support for national priority achieving the SDGs for child survival, growth and development. It is morally right and economical to invest in adolescent programmes”, said the chief field officer.

While congratulating the schools selected for the training, Mr. Rane said that, “I hope you will be able to explore how to scale up what works and to learn from sharing experiences – the less successful as well as the good. And I hope that, at the end of this workshop, you will convey the case for rural adolescent children back to the schools and communities.

Mr. Rane concluded his address saying, “Life is not about us, but about children, so if we start wrong, we get it wrong, but if we start right, we get it right in every facet of the society”.

News

President Tinubu Counters Police Academy in Kano, Establishes New Campus in Ogun

Published

on

 

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the establishment of a new campus of the Police Academy in Erinja, Yewa South Local Government Area in Ogun State.

A statement by Bayo Onanuga
Special Adviser to the President,
Information & Strategy, says President Tinubu also approved a special take-off grant of N15billion for the college.

The President’s approval was in fulfilment of the provisions of the Nigeria Police Academy (Establishment) Act, 2021, particularly with respect to the expansion of the Police Academy based in Wudil, Kano state, into multiple campuses across the country.

Advert

The intervention fund will be sourced from the TetFund 2026 allocation to finance priority infrastructure, academic facilities, student accommodation, and core training assets.

A high-level consultative meeting involving the Minister of Police Affairs, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, officials of the Federal Ministry of Education, the Inspector-General of Police and the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) recommended the siting of the new campus in Erinja.

The meeting considered student intake capacity, funding realities, academic quality assurance, and the long-term needs of the Nigerian Police Force, which is currently recruiting more men.

President Tinubu believes the expansion will strengthen institutional governance, modern policing education and national security.

Continue Reading

News

Retired Police Storm Villa Gate, Call Contributory Pension Scheme a ‘Killer Disease’

Published

on

 

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

Retired police personnel and their families, under the umbrella of the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria, on Monday blocked one of the gates of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, in protest.

The retirees are demanding the removal of the Nigeria Police Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme, which they described as “fraudulent, illegal, inhumane and obnoxious.”

Protesters carried placards reading “End CPS,” “If military, DSS were removed from PENCOM, why not police?” while many were chanting, “Police dey work, PenCom dey chop.”

They said the protest was aimed at urging President Bola Tinubu to assent to the Police Exit Bill passed by the National Assembly on December 4, 2025, and transmitted to the Presidency on March 16, 2026.

Advert

According to them, the bill, if signed into law, would exempt police personnel from what they called a “slavery and untimely death-inducing pension scheme.”

Speaking in a video of the protest posted by Channels Television, a retired ASP, Nurudeen Dahiru, said, “We are not begging anybody. We have come to fight for our rights. We have suffered.

“We are not here to fight anybody. We are just here to demand for our rights. We have served for 35 years.

“According to the Constitution of the country, when you serve your country for 35 years, you should go home and rest. But see us suffering now. We are not able to take care of our children.

“We have no food to eat. We are dying. Silent killing. So this contributory pension scheme is a killer disease. 35 years is not easy. We are not here to fight anybody.”

Another retired officer said, “We don’t have anything to train them. As I retired 20 years ago, how much are they paying me?

“It is 24,000 that I am paying you because I retired with the inspector. So they have to sign our bill and give us all our money.

“So that somebody can use it for something. You can buy a house. And then now we don’t have a house.

“How can an ASP, a DSP, a CP retire and they are paying him how much? No, no, no. Enough is enough. It is a do or die. Even if some people are killed today, others are coming.”

Speaking to reporters, the National Coordinator of the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria, CSP Raphael Irowainu (retd), who led the protest, said the group was at the Villa to press for the President’s assent to the bill exiting the police from the CPS.

Continue Reading

News

Court Admits Nine Exhibits Against Malami and Family

Published

on

 

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

A Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja and presided over by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik on Monday, April 20, 2026 admitted nine exhibits against a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, alongside his wife, Hajia Bashir Asabe, and his son, Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami.

The exhibits were presented before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in its ongoing trial of the former Minister and some family members.

The EFCC is prosecuting the defendants on an amended 16-count charge bordering on conspiracy, procuring, disguising, concealing and laundering proceeds of unlawful activities to the tune of N8,713,923,759.49 (Eight Billion, Seven Hundred and Thirteen Million, Nine Hundred and Twenty-Three Thousand, Seven Hundred and Fifty-Nine Naira, Forty-Nine Kobo), contrary to the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

The exhibits, which are documentary in nature, were tendered through the fourth prosecution witness, Mashelia Arhyel Bata, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank Plc.

Led in evidence by prosecution counsel, J. S. Okutepa, SAN, the witness told the court that, in the course of his official duties, he received correspondence from the EFCC requesting documents relating to several accounts linked to the defendants and associated entities.

“I work as a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, Maitama branch. My duty includes receiving correspondence from law enforcement agencies and responding accordingly,” he said.

Advert

Bata further disclosed that the bank complied with EFCC’s requests by providing both soft and hard copies of documents relating to accounts belonging to the defendants and companies such as Rayhaan Hotels Limited, Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited, Nashab Limited, Golden Age Global Ventures, and Rahamaniyya Properties Limited.

“My lord, the documents are nine,” he stated, confirming his ability to identify them when presented in court.

Upon application by Okutepa, the court admitted the documents, dated between July 19, 2024 and March 12, 2026, as Exhibits D1 to D9, despite an initial objection by defence counsel, J. B. Daudu, SAN, who noted that “the dates are almost all in March.”

Continuing his testimony under further examination by prosecution counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, the witness provided details of transactions contained in the exhibits.

He identified Exhibit D1 as containing account opening documents and statements for accounts belonging to Abubakar Malami and A.A. Malami & Co, including a naira account and a dollar account.

According to him, the statement of account for one of the accounts covered the period from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2023.

The witness confirmed that the accounts were active between 2015 and 2023, noting that “there were transfers within that period.”

He further revealed that total credits into one of the accounts stood at N383,637,21.55 between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2023, while total credits from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2015 amounted to N560,506,465.12.

On debits, he stated that N384,322,120.85 was recorded between 2016 and 2023, while N571,891,174.08 was debited between 2012 and 2015.

Giving further breakdown of transactions, the witness told the court that on November 11, 2020, the account received N194,791,608.00 from New Horizons Limited, and on June 24, 2022, it received N622,500,000.00 from Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited.

He added that on July 1 and July 7, 2022, the account received N250 million each from Rayhaan Hotels Limited, while on December 22, 2022, there was an inflow of N500 million linked to Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited.

Continuing in that format, the witness identified so many transactions running into billions.

Following the testimony, the defence counsel, J.B Daudu SAN sought an adjournment to enable him study the exhibits and prepare for cross-examination.

“My lord, we need time to go through the nine exhibits tendered,” Daudu said.

Justice Abdulmalik subsequently adjourned the matter till May 13, 2026, for continuation of trial.

Continue Reading

Trending