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  By Professor Babagana Umara Zulum As a father of daughters, I can’t even imagine the pains of having one’s daughter held by terrorists for as long as seven whole years. However, I urge parents, especially anyone with a female child to pause for a while, no matter how brief, to imagine how it might feel to have one’s daughter abducted and held for more than 2,549 days so far. Imagine how parents and relations of these girls have been feeling in each of these days. Certainly, the mental torture of not knowing the fate of one’s daughter in the hands of Boko Haram is far worse than losing a child. No parent can ever lose hope in a missing child and having that hope comes with so much pains of anxiety and depression. Parents of Chibok schoolgirls have been devastated yet they have demonstrated faith and strength in the hope of reconnecting with their missing daughters. They deserve our continued empathy, our compassion, our support and most importantly, sharing their optimism. As a fa...

  Nigerian religious, Livinius Nnamani, was ordained a priest on 1 April in Rome following Pope Francis approval for his early ordination. The recently-ordained priest suffers from Leukemia, a cancer of blood cells. By Vatican News staff writer A Nigerian religious, Livinius Esomchi Nnamani, who has been suffering from Leukemia has been ordained to the Catholic priesthood with the approval of Pope Francis. The 31-year-old had written to the Holy Father requesting to move forward his ordination and was granted his wish on 1 April when Auxiliary Bishop of Rome, Daniele Libanori, ordained him at the Presidio Sanitario Medica Group Casilino Hospital in Rome. Fr. Livinius’ story Recently-ordained Fr. Livinius began his vocation journey in Owerri, Imo state, in Southeastern Nigeria when he entered the Order of the Mother of God, aged 20. Shortly after his first vows, Livinius was diagnosed with Leukemia, setting off a challenging period of therapies and treatments for the young religious...

  ...Commends his leadership qualities The Commandant National Defence College (NDC) Nigeria, Rear Admiral OB Daji has commended the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru's leadership quality in piloting the affairs of the Nigerian Army. He made the remarks today Tuesday 13 April 2021 during a courtesy call on the COAS at the Army Headquarters, Abuja. The Commandant while congratulating the COAS on his well deserved appointment as the 21st COAS described his leadership skills as unique and exceptional which he said have led to huge successes recorded so far in the fight against Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists in the North East and other security challenges in the country. He said he was around to pay homage to the COAS and also to inform him of his recent assumption of duty as the Commandant of NDC. According to him, it was pertinent that he did so considering that the COAS is member of the College Board. The Commandant also used the opportunity to intimate...

  Some 20 children died Tuesday after several classrooms caught fire at a school in Niger’s capital Niamey, the fire service said. “Twenty-one classrooms in straw huts caught fire. Around 20 children were trapped in the blaze,” fire service commander Sidi Mohamed said on public television. “Rescuers set off rapidly and the fire was put out… but the power of the fire was enormous,” he added. “The children were not able to escape.” Public television, citing witnesses, said the fire had broken out at around 4.00 pm (1500 GMT), “when the victims were in class”. The cause of the fire was not yet known. Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou travelled to the scene of the tragedy, on the edge of the capital, to offer his condolences to the children’s parents. Niger ranks as the poorest country in the world under the UN’s 189-nation Human Development Index. Authorities in the Sahel country have built thousands of straw huts to serve as classrooms, with children sometimes seated on the floor....

  The Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Yohana Izam, confirmed Emmanuel’s death in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday. The vice chancellor however described the death of the student as “very sad” and “unfortunate”. “To us as an institution, Emmanuel’s death is shocking and a great loss to us considering the cause of his death. “We have been cautioning the students against demonstration and protests, which are not jamborees, yet they keep doing it. “Our pain and regret is that the Monday protest has robbed us of a precious soul and forced us into mourning,” Izam lamented. Also speaking, the SUG President, Mr Luepai Ezekiel, confirmed the death of Emmanuel and expressed sadness over the sudden death. “Emmanuel fell off from one of the vehicles during our protest against the insecurity in the institution and landed with his head on the tarred road. “We rushed him to the Bokkos Cottage Hospital but unfortunately he couldn’t make it as he died later ...

  Operatives of the Port Harcourt Zonal Office of the EFCC have arrested five suspected Internet fraudsters in an early morning operation on Wednesday, April 14, 2021, along New Airport Road, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Details shortly...

  OFFICE OF THE HEAD OF THE CIVIL SERVICE OF THE FEDERATION. PRESS RELEASE THE NIGERIAN CIVIL SERVICE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE AFRICA INITIATIVE FOR GOVERNANCE (AIG) DEVELOPS SOPS FOR FLAGSHIP DIGITALISATION PROJECT. Ahead of the launch of its innovative Enterprise Content Management System, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), in collaboration with its private sector partner, Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG), has completed the development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all processes carried out in the Office. 2. In a statement, issued on Tuesday 13th April 2021, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan stated “We are pleased to announce that after a rigorous exercise of business process analysis and documentation, all 26 departments of the OHCSF have successfully developed SOPs for their processes. This is a first and fundamental step ahead of the digitalisation of the work of the OHCSF, which will m...