Author: Drum Africa Correspondent

The Director General, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Yushau Ahmed, has said corps members will start receiving monthly allowance of N77,000 in February 2025. Ahmed, who disclosed this Thursday while addressing the 2024 Batch ‘C’ Stream 11 corps members in Katsina, said the allowance has been captured in the 2025 Federal Government’s budget. “This month (January) has already ended, but once the budget is passed. By next month (February), you will start receiving N77,000 instead of the usual N33,000,” the NYSC DG said. He explained that the N77,000 monthly allowance was approved by the Federal Government and urged…

The Northern Elders Forum has strongly condemned the arrest of Professor Usman Yusuf on Wednesday, January 29, by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). In a statement released by the spokesman of the group, Prof. Abubakar Jika Jiddere, the arrest was alleged as a means to suppress and oppress popular democratic voices that openly challenge the poor public policies and bad governance being imposed on the people by this administration. “We are calling for his release, as it sees his arrest as purely politically motivated to suppress and oppress popular democratic voices that openly challenge the…

The Federal Government, on Thursday, donated a sum of N30 million to the family of renowned National Flag designer, the late Pa Taiwo Akinkunmi, two years after his demise. The Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lanre Issa-Onilu, who was accompanied by the Oyo State Director of the agency, Olukemi Afolayan, made the official presentation of the cheque on behalf of the Federal Government at the Elebu in Ibadan residence of the late icon. Akinkunmi died on August 29, 2023, at the age of 87. On September 4, 2023, President Bola Tinubu sent a government delegation led by the…

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has introduced a new feature to assist candidates unable to recover lost SIM cards linked to their previous registrations. JAMB announced this on Thursday via their X handle, that the new feature is now available at all its CBT centres. The exam body urged candidates to fill out the template to access this service for the upcoming UTME/DE registration. It also noted that SIM SWAP is still not available. JAMB stated: “Good news for those who cannot retrieve their previously used but lost SIM cards. A feature is now available at all CBT…

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has challenged former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to provide concrete evidence to support his claim that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is bribing opposition parties with N50 million. Atiku made the allegation on Monday while speaking as a panellist at a national conference on strengthening democracy in Nigeria held in Abuja. The event was organised by the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development, the Centre for Democracy and Development, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, the Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa, and the National Peace Committee. The former VP warned that…

The immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has issued a riposte to the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala. El-Rufai had previously criticised the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, for straying away from its core values, adding that he no longer recognises his own political party. “I am a founding member of the APC. But frankly, I no longer recognise the APC. No party organ has met in two years — no caucus, no NEC, nothing. I don’t even know if it is a one-man show. It is a zero-man show,” El-Rufai said…

The Kwara State University, Malete, has said that the recent one-year ban on admission into KWASU’s law programme does not affect students currently running their programmes in its Faculty of Law. The Acting Director, University Relations, Dr Saeedat Aliyu, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Ilorin. Aliyu said the ban was a result of the decision of the Council for Legal Education to sanction KWASU for commencing the law programme in 2018 with only the approval of the National Universities Commission. She said KWASU had full accreditation from the NUC and the CLE to run two undergraduate law…

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested the former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Prof. Usman Yusuf, for allegedly awarding contracts to family members while in office. Yusuf was also accused of inflating the scheme’s ICT budget from N4.975 billion to N8.7 billion and approving payments beyond his approval limit. Credible sources in the commission told our correspondent that the ex-NHIS boss was arrested on Wednesday night and would be arrianged on Thursday. One of the sources said, “ We have just arrested the former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme,…

Management of the Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma, Edo State, has announced the cancellation of some final year examinations written on Wednesday following “wild jubilation” by graduating students on the school campus. A statement issued by the Head Information/Public Relations and Protocol of the institution, Mr Mike Ade Oladenika said the graduating students violated an established law prohibiting such jubilation on the school campus. According to the statement, some departments in the Faculty of Art, including Mass Communication, English and History were affected by the decision taken after an emergency meeting on Wednesday. The statement reads, “The University community is disturbed…

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) will not be conducting admissions for law programmes in eight universities following the suspension of the Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) degree by the Council of Legal Education (CLE) for the 2025/2026 academic session. The council had suspended admission of students into the Faculties of Law of the universities for “wilfully admitting and graduating students before obtaining the accreditation of the council.” In a statement signed by JAMB’s spokesperson, the affected institutions include: Kwara State University, Malete, Ilorin, Kwara State, Bingham University, Karu, Nasarawa State, Redeemers University, Ede, Osun State, Western Delta University, Oghara,…