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NYSC Set To Be Scrapped As FG Increases N-Power Beneficiaries By 100%

Following the spate of insecurity across the country and the incessant killings of corp members who are posted to different parts of the country for the national service, the bill seeking discontinuation of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme has been passed for a second reading by the House of Representatives.

The NYSC Act, which was promulgated by the Yakubu Gowon military administration in May 1973, under Decree No. 24 of 1973 sought to unify and re-integrate Nigerians after a bloody civil war that cost the lives of millions of Nigerians.

While this was a noble cause, the sponsor of the bill in the lower legislative chamber, Mr Awaji-Inombek Abiante, also pointed out the various reasons why the NYSC scheme as it is, should be a thing of the past. The proposal he put forward read in part:

“This bill seeks to repeal Section 315(5)(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, (as amended) on the following grounds:

“Incessant killing of innocent corps members in some parts of the country due to banditry, religious extremism and ethnic violence; incessant kidnapping of innocent corps members across the country;

“Public and private agencies/departments are no longer recruiting able and qualified Nigerian youths, thus relying heavily on the availability of corps members who are not being well remunerated and get discarded with impunity at the end of their service year without any hope of being gainfully employed;

“Due to insecurity across the country, the National Youth Service Corps management now gives considerations to posting corps members to their geopolitical zone, thus defeating one of the objectives of setting up the service corps, i.e. developing common ties among the Nigerian youths and promote national unity and integration.”

Meanwhile, the federal government in a bid to empower more Nigerian youths and lift more Nigerians out of poverty has increased the number of beneficiaries of the N-Power Youth Empowerment Scheme from 500,000 to 1 million.

This was revealed by the Director-General of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Sir Joseph Ari, while empowering the graduands of the 2020 National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP), who were trained by the ITF in cosmetology, tailoring, and information technology (IT).

In his speech, Mr. Ari, charged the beneficiaries to make use of the training to create wealth for themselves and job opportunities for others – which he indicated is the aim of the government in providing them with the necessary skill and training.

Furthermore, he revealed that the FG has increased the N-Power slot for Nigerian youths from 500,000 to 1,000,000 in an effort geared towards lifting as many Nigerians as possible above the poverty line in the next 10 years.

His statement to that effect read in part:

“The Government also increased the number of beneficiaries under the N-power programme from 500,000 to 1,000,000 amongst other efforts designed to actualize its target of taking 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.

“Without the Government’s committed efforts, the unemployment and poverty situation in Nigeria could conceivably have been worse. But going by the report of the survey by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of Q4 of 2020, to the effect that unemployment was still hovering at over 33 percent while youth unemployment was as high as 44 percent, it is obvious that more needs to be done. What is again very clear is that the efforts of the Federal alone cannot completely solve the problems of poverty and unemployment and the attendant fallouts.

“The problems that stare us in the face today require Nigerians to pull together and synergize as institutions of Government, Corporate bodies, and Non-Governmental Organisations to fully resolve them,” he added.

The N-Power Youth Empowerment Scheme is a flagship Social Investment Programme of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration that was established in June 2016. The scheme is aimed at addressing issues relating to unemployment among Nigerian youths.

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Wike’s son accused of collecting $2.1 million for land in Abuja

Jordan Ezenwo Nyesom-Wike, son of FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, is facing a civil suit over an alleged $2.1 million land deal gone wrong, with the claimants saying most of that money was intended for his father.

According to court filings, two men say they met Jordan in London and later reconnected with him in Abuja, where they asked for his help securing 60 hectares of land split between Katampe and Guzape. They claim Jordan told them the facilitation fee would come to $2.1 million: $2 million of it earmarked for the minister himself, and $100,000 as Jordan’s own cut.

The claimants say they handed over the full amount on 26 September 2025, at a property in Gwarimpa, Abuja, with several named witnesses present. They allege that after the money changed hands, they got no land and no refund, and Jordan stopped responding to them.

Jordan’s defence hinges on a single detail: he says he wasn’t even in the country that day. Under cross-examination at the FCT High Court in Maitama, he told the court he was on a British Airways flight from Abuja to London on 26 September 2025, the exact date the claimants say the payment was made. He also denies signing any acknowledgment of receipt for the money, calling the signature on the document a forgery.

The exchange prompted the claimants’ lawyer to ask the court to compel Jordan to produce his American passport, to check it against his travel claim, and to write out his name and signature five times on a plain sheet of paper for comparison. Justice Sylvanus Oriji granted both requests. Jordan produced the passport the following day; the court has not yet ruled on whether his account of his whereabouts holds up.

Jordan has said he flagged the allegations himself, in a letter to his father and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission back in November 2025.

The case has since drawn wider attention. Rights lawyer Chidi Odinkalu has called on Justice Oriji to step aside from the case over family and professional ties, while the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria has urged the EFCC and ICPC to open an independent investigation rather than wait for the civil case to conclude.

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Morocco gets first Female Prime Minister

Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri has made history as Morocco’s first woman prime minister and only the second woman to lead a government in the Arab world. Morocco has made history after Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri was appointed the country’s first woman prime minister, making her only the second woman to lead a government in the Arab world.

King Mohammed VI appointed El Mansouri on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, and tasked her with forming a new government after her Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) emerged as the biggest party in Morocco’s September 23 parliamentary election.

Morocco officially refers to the position as head of government, although it is commonly described internationally as prime minister.El Mansouri’s appointment marks the first time a woman has occupied the position since Morocco established its modern government system

Her rise also places her in a particularly small group of women who have headed governments across the Arab world. She becomes only the second woman to serve as prime minister in an Arab country, following Tunisia’s Najla Bouden, who served as Tunisia’s prime minister from 2021 to 2023.

The appointment came after PAM won the largest number of seats in Morocco’s 395-member House of Representatives.

The party secured 97 seats, but fell well short of the 198 seats needed for a majority, meaning El Mansouri will have to negotiate with other political parties to form a coalition government.

The appointment is also significant because Morocco operates as a constitutional monarchy in which the king remains head of state, while the head of government leads the cabinet and oversees the government’s day-to-day administration.

Under Morocco’s constitutional system, the king appoints the head of government from the political party that wins the most seats in the House of Representatives. El Mansouri was therefore selected after her party emerged as the largest bloc in the latest election.

El Mansouri, 50, is a lawyer and experienced politician who has held several prominent positions in Moroccan public life. Before her appointment as head of government, she served as Morocco’s minister responsible for national planning, urban planning, housing and urban policy. She also served as mayor of Marrakesh, a position she first won in 2009, making her the city’s first woman mayor. She later returned to the position in 2021.

She is also a senior figure in PAM, a liberal-centrist party founded in 2008.El Mansouri’s appointment comes at a significant moment for Morocco, with the new government expected to deal with economic pressures, unemployment and public concerns over living standards. The government will also oversee preparations for the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Spain and Portugal. The tournament is expected to involve major infrastructure and investment projects across the country.

The September 23 election recorded turnout of about 38%, down from roughly 50% in the previous parliamentary election, according to Reuters. The low turnout came amid concerns about economic conditions and frustration among parts of Morocco’s population, particularly young people.

El Mansouri now faces the task of turning her party’s electoral lead into a functioning government.

Because PAM does not have a parliamentary majority, she will need to reach agreements with other parties before she can form her cabinet and begin governing.

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Tems and Runtown In Scintilating Prformance at Spotify Surround Sound in Lagos

Spotify brought fans closer to Tems and Runtown across two nights of Surround Sound in Lagos, inviting selected Premium listeners based on their listening behaviour to experience the artists and music they care about in an intimate, in-the-round setting.
Held at Livespot in Lagos on 25 and 26 September, the performances brought two distinct catalogue stories into the room. Tems revisited For Broken Ears, while Runtown placed Mad Over You at the centre of a career-spanning set.

Surround Sound is Spotify’s live performance format, launched from Sub-Saharan Africa, which brings artists and fans together at close range and captures those performances as full-length music films for Spotify. Lagos provides the cultural context for these stories, with Nigerian artists and listeners at their centre.

Tems performed For Broken Ears tracks including Ice T and Damages, alongside earlier singles Mr Rebel and Try Me and later material such as Love Me JeJe and What You Need, tracing different chapters of her catalogue.

Ahead of the performance, she reflected on the beginnings of that journey: “I remember making Free Mind on my bed, on my laptop, experimenting with chords and seeing what stuck. The first two chords sounded so good, and it ignited melodies in me. Those melodies I made on my bed are what is in the song right now.”

Spotify’s relationship with Tems also reaches back to that period. In September 2020, shortly after the release of For Broken Ears, she became the third artist to join Spotify’s RADAR Africa programme, following South African singer Elaine and rapper Willy Cardiac. Six years later, Surround Sound revisited that early chapter of her catalogue in Lagos.

During the performance, Tems turned towards the audience and invited them to sing along, making the fans’ voices part of the experience. The following night, Runtown opened with Lagos to Kampala and Gallardo, moving through For Life, International Badman Killa and Unleash. The set also included Kini Issue, drawing together different parts of his catalogue.

Mad Over You became a shared moment between artist and audience. Runtown performed the song during the set before returning to it a second time to close the show, with fans singing along.

Speaking ahead of the performance, Runtown said: “This is the first time in 10 years I am performing with my band, and I am looking forward to seeing my fans.”

Spotify’s September 2026 analysis offers context for the continuing relationship with this music. Of the listeners who played For Broken Ears in January 2022, 21.6% also listened in August 2026. Meanwhile, Mad Over You appeared in more than three million user-created playlists at the time of the analysis.

Surround Sound connected that existing relationship with an opportunity to experience the artists live. There was no public ticket sale; Spotify invited selected Premium listeners directly through the platform, using listening behaviour to identify fans for the experience.

The live room is intentionally intimate and has a fixed capacity,” said Rifumo Mdaka of Spotify. “We use listening signals to reach selected Spotify Premium listeners in Lagos directly rather than running a public ticket sale. The aim is to create a close artist-fan experience while keeping the room suitable for the performance and film capture.”

Across both nights, Premium’s fan value took a tangible form: selected listeners had the opportunity to hear familiar music performed up close, with the audience’s responses becoming part of the experience.Both performances were filmed for Spotify.

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