Category Nigeria News

Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, the governor of Rivers State, has urged all citizens to “put the interests of Rivers State first” in all their conduct.

In order to honor the 58th anniversary of Rivers State’s creation, Vice Admiral Ibas appealed during a thanksgiving service held at the Ecumenical Centre in Port Harcourt.

He expressed confidence in the state’s ability to overcome the country’s current difficulties and become stronger, more united, and more determined.

The administrator acknowledged the state’s steady development, but added that more needs to be done, particularly in developing access to high-quality education, training young people with relevant skills, and creating transparent and inclusive public institutions.
He believes that all communities should experience development as a privilege rather than a privilege for a select few.

PETROAN Tells NNPCL TO STAY WITH A 30-DAY REFINERY REPAIR OR RISK A FIRE.

He also urged religious leaders to practice as moral pillars and defenders of the truth.

He urged teachings that emphasize love, unity, integrity, and hope, saying, “Let your pulpit be an altar of healing.”

The administrator said that when he considered the significance of the anniversary, one should put the emphasis on both preserving the past and preparing for a future that inspires character and integrity.

Among others, the Chief Judge of the State, the Secretary to the State Government, the Acting Head of Service, service leaders, paramilitary agency heads, local government administrators, and traditional rulers, were present at the service.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is being advised by the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PREOAN) to strictly adhere to the 30-day repair schedule for the recently shut down old Port Harcourt Refinery.

PETROAN, who raises questions about the potential effects of delays, says the rehabilitation must not go beyond the agreed length if the country wants to prevent worsening supply disruptions and economic hardship.

While the maintenance shutdown was anticipated, PETROAN National President, Billy Gillis-Harry, stated in a statement on behalf of the organization because the organization fears that Nigeria’s long-standing infrastructure bottlenecks could prevent this.

The refinery needs repairs, but we are urging NNPCL to make sure the 30-day window is not just another announcement without any real action. He claimed that delays could cause more suffering for Nigerians.

The inclusion of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) blending unit in the ongoing maintenance is one of PETROAN’s top demands. Without it, the entire crude cracking process might not be as effective as increasing the price of gasoline.

READ MORE: NNPCL Reopens Port Harcourt Refinery For Maintenance

The organization also calls on the government to actively monitor the process. It recommends the formation of a task force led by Petroleum Industry Stakeholders Forum members to oversee repair projects.

PETROAN also requests weekly updates on the progress of the repair, as well as urging that contractors’ payments be made on time to avoid delays.

According to Dr. Joseph Obele, PETROAN’s National Public Relations Officer, “the inclusion of all relevant stakeholders in a monitoring task force and timely communication with Nigerians will ensure accountability.”

The group warned that delays in finishing the repairs could lead to market monopolization, limited supply, and cost increases, which would have a direct impact on consumers and the already constrained economy.

In the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), there were 17 candidates, 025 of whom scored 0.88 per cent of the total of 1, 931, 467.

The results of candidates who took the resit examination were made public by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board on Sunday in their report.

Since the CBT format was introduced in 2013, the performance of the report indicates a significant improvement over previous years.

The number indicates a steady increase in UTME participation over the years, surpassing the 1, 842, 364 results from 2024.

In comparison, 8, 401 candidates (0.46 per cent) achieved similar scores in 2024, while 5, 318 (0.35 per cent) did so in 2023.

Only 724 candidates (0.06%) received 300 or higher in 2021, compared to none in 2014 and 2013. Prior figures were generally lower.
In the 250 and above category, 117, 373 candidates (6.08 per cent) attained this range in 2025.

The board reported that of the 336, 845 candidates who had their exams rescheduled, 21 082 were absent.

21 082 were absent, according to JAMB, out of the 336 and 845 who were eventually scheduled after isolated good sessions at the affected centers were excluded and their previously unverified candidates were added.

READ ALSO: JAMB Rescheduled UTME Results Are Announced

Additionally, it made the announcement that the underage candidates (as opposed to those subject to legal action) who performed below the law’s requirements and those who participated in “Chat Runs” and other misdemeanours were given access to the withheld results.

“It should be recalled that the Board’s Chief External Examiners (CEEs) met to discuss the results after the resit examination was conducted in all of the federation’s states. A few notable people were present at the meeting.

A subcommittee led by Prof. Olufemi Peters, the vice-chancellor of the National Open University and a member of the CEE FCT, was established to confirm that the results are in order after reviewing the report from the resit examination and extensive discussion thereon.

A psychometrics expert, Prof. Boniface Nworgu, was requested to analyze and approve the results for a subsequent release, according to the CEEs after reviewing the exercise.

The meeting decided to release the withheld results of underage candidates who performed below the established standards as part of the healing process (aside from when litigation is involved).

They had previously signed an agreement during the registration process that only those who meet the required criteria would be considered for under-age special admission, but this result does not make them eligible for admission.

Release of Results of Candidates’ Elections for “Chocolate Runs” and Other Misdemeanours: This category of candidates was found to be engaged in defrauding of money. The meeting put forth a once-for-all waiver rather than an endorsement of candidates’ inadmissible acts. Therefore, candidates were advised to avoid enlisting in shady “Chat” and other anti-social groups.

“All results are now available, with the exception of those obtained from candidates who took examination infractions and candidates who are scheduled to take mop-up exams.” While releasing the results, it should be noted that some of the results of implicated candidates across the nation who’ve previously been released have been withdrawn due to recent discoveries, particularly those made by the security agencies.

Candidates who previously received results are no longer required to recheck them because they are being made aware via text messages on their registered lines, profiles, and emails.

At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos, two Nigerians and two British nationals have been detained for drug trafficking.

The suspects, Mhizha Jordan Alexander Tatendra and Ayedipe Andrew Adejuwon, were apprehended by NDLEA agents.

Femi Babafemi, a NDLEA spokesman, made this known in a statement on Sunday.

According to him, the suspects were attempting to smuggle 92 bags of Loud, a powerful strain of cannabis that was 51.10 kg at the time of their arrest on May 22 into Nigeria.

Two British nationals have been detained by NDLEA agents for attempting to smuggle 92 bags of Loud, a powerful strain of cannabis weighing 51.10kg through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos, along with Mhizha Jordan Alexander Tatendra, Ayedipe Andrew Adejuwon, and two Nigerians, Shonowo Oluwaseun Imole and Ofuoma Omokaro Ayo

Based on processed intelligence on Thursday, May 15, Alexander was detained with the consignment upon his arrival at the MMIA on a Qatar Airline flight from Doha.

According to Babafemi, “He was allowed to pass through the security control to the car park, where the owner of the cargo, Ayedipe Andrew Adejuwon, who is a Nigerian British, was waiting in an SUV with his relationship Shonowo Oluwaseun Imole and the vehicle’s driver, Ofuoma Omokaro Ayobami, to receive the courier.”

READ MORE: NDLEA Discovers Drugs In Plantain Chips Package

At the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers, and the Apapa seaport, Lagos, the anti-narcotics agency found six million pills of opioids, namely: tamol 225 mg, tapentadol 225 mg, and carisoprodol 225 mg, as well as 332, 000 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup with a combined street value of N6.52 billion.

The Apapa and Onne ports’ surveillance of new trafficking routes by drug cartels, which necessitated the placement of containers on a watch-list for a 100 percent inspection, led to the seizures.

At the Lagos-based Murtala Muhammed International Airport, NDLEA agents detained a shipment of marijuana that was hidden inside packages labeled as plantain chips.

Babafemi urged Nigerians to be cautious when accepting travel packages.

According to a report posted on X on Monday, “Narco-trend update: This consignment was packaged as plantain chips, but a skunk was hidden inside one of their most recent seizures at Lagos airport,” he wrote.

Timilehin Opesusi, the 19-year-old tragically passed away after taking her own life due to her high score on the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), has filed an appeal with the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to request the release of his daughter’s “actual” results.

Among the more than 300, 000 candidates who were affected by the “technical error” during the 2025 UTME was Timilehin, who cohabitated with her older sister Opeyemi in Ikorodu, Lagos.

She received a 400-point score. The youngster ingested a rodenticide, which caused her death, after being irritated by the news.

READ ALSO: I Used Saved Money To Bury Her, The Daughter of a Teen Who Died After Having A Low UTME Score, In Timilehin’s Varsity Education.

The grieving father pleaded with the JAMB to hold him accountable in an exclusive interview with Channels Television, insisting Timilehin’s result was inaccurate.

“JAMB should give me the actual results of my daughter, not the one they altered after they learned of my daughter’s death.” God will decide whether or not to judge, according to the bereaved father.

Timilehin reportedly felt confident in her performance and was devastated by the grade she received.

“Daddy, this is not my outcome!” Femi Opesusi recalled what his daughter said when her result was made public, “Daddy, this is not my result.”

“I received a score of 190 last year, and 146 this year,” I said. This is not the outcome I want to see.

Mr. Opesusi claimed he tried to calm her down and that he would resolve everything: “I told her to just take it easy, just take it easy.” You and your sister are present. Take it easy. I am aware of what to do.

However, Timilehin ingested a “Push Out” sachet of rodenticide a few hours later.

Opeyemi, her older sister, was taken to the hospital but passed away.

During the 2025 UTME, other candidates and parents reported unusually low scores and technical issues, which Timilehin’s death sparked national outcry.

The examination body initially defended the results, insisting that all of the results were true.

However, on May 14, the JAMB Registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, acknowledged during a press conference that a technical glitch had affected 379, 997 candidates across 157 centers, mostly in Lagos and parts of the South-East, following a widespread public outcry.

He apologized in a teary apology, saying, “We are human, we are not perfect.”

A mop-up examination, which took place on May 16, 2025, was scheduled by the JAMB to accommodate the candidates who had been affected.

Mr. Opesusi claims JAMB has not reached out to his family despite the Board setting a minute of silence in her honor at a recent meeting.

He claimed that they have never called me, never given me an interview, or never spoken to me.

The father, who was clearly shaken, declared, “I don’t want to see them.” The only thing I want is my daughter’s actual outcomes.

Since his daughter’s death, he continued, not a government official has reached him.

Among the 1.95 million candidates who took the 2025 UTME, over 78% of those who sat the exam scored below 200, compared to only 12 candidates who scored 300 or higher, according to JAMB.

The 10th House of Representatives’ South-East Caucus demanded Oloyede’s resignation in the wake of the controversy. The outcome of the exam was described as a “national shame” by the caucus.

Following a tragic bandit ambush that claimed the lives of five Community Security Watch Corps personnel, Katsina State Governor Dikko Radda led a top-level security delegation to Maharba village in the state’s Matazu Local Government Area to conduct an on-the-spot assessment.

Community Watch Commander Mallam Sanusi, who was responsible for security operations for Kusada, Kankia, and other Charanci Local Government Areas, as well as four of his men, who were on a Hilux vehicle on a reinforcement mission, was reportedly killed in the attack.

According to reports, the security team responded to intelligence reporting that a large number of bandits had been ambushed by about 20 bandits riding motorcycles in mango trees as they were approaching Matazu LGA.

The Commander and his team were stranded there, and the attack resulted in the destruction of their Hilux vehicle. When the Governor arrived at the scene to assess the situation, the vehicle was still molten.

The delegation was led to the scene by Matazu Local Government Chairman, Alhaji Shamsudeen Muhammad Sayaya, according to a statement released on Sunday by Ibrahim Kaula Mohammed, the governor’s chief press secretary.

READ ALSO: Army neutralizes 21 bandits and recovers ruined cattle in Katsina.

He claimed that after the site inspection, Governor Radda visited remote areas to get firsthand knowledge of community conditions and spoke with residents about the government’s mission and readiness to address security issues.

Radda also reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to enhance protective measures for both the security personnel and the general public.

State Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs Dr. Nasiru Muazu Danmusa described the comprehensive strategy being used to combat insecurity as an insight into the governor’s visit.

According to Dr. Danmusa, “the state had recently witnessed incessant banditry attacks on one hand and recorded success in the fight against bandits taking into account the military’s efforts against bandits around Ruwan Godiya access.”

The commissioner argued that the state governor’s visit to the scene where the five members of the community security watch corps were attacked and killed by bandits was both a witness for himself and the ministry as it assessed the events that took place.

The Commissioner argued that the findings of this study “were intended to implement additional strategies to safeguard the lives and property of community members.”

Dr. Danmusa urged people in the state to pray and be patient as the government is more focused on restoring order to the state.