Through a thorough biometric verification exercise, the Rivers State Local Government Service Commission has made more efforts to rid the state’s local government system of ghost employees.
Dr. Israel Amadi, the commission’s chairman, made this known to journalists in Port Harcourt during an interview. He cited the ongoing verification as a way to ensure that only legitimate and legitimate employees are employed on government payroll.
Amadi emphasized that the exercise is a part of the Commission’s wider plan to improve service delivery, promote accountability, and sanitize the system.
He assured that all necessary security measures have been in place to ensure a smooth and transparent procedure.
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Amadi thanked Governor Siminalayi Fubara for his support and confidence, and he claimed the initiative would help ensure that local government workers’ moral character and efficiency were used when implementing grassroots development.
He further explained that teams are deployed to verify employees’ biometric data and cross-check their records against existing records while the verification process is being carried out simultaneously across all 23 local government areas.
He added that the exercise is intended to aid in the identification of instances of multiple employment and salary duplication, which have been a persistent issue for the local government system.
Amadi urged all local government employees to work closely with the verification officers by ensuring them that the procedure is not harsh but aims to improve efficiency and transparency.
A police official told AFP that 64 South Koreans who had been detained in Cambodia on suspicion of participating in alleged cyberscam operations returned home on Saturday and were being detained.
On Wednesday, South Korea had sent a team to Cambodia to look into cases of phony jobs and scams committed against dozens of its citizens.
The official stated that a total of 64 people had just boarded a chartered flight to the Incheon International Airport.
Seoul alleged that Cambodian authorities had detained around 60 South Koreans over the alleged crimes and promised to bring them home.
Following a public outcry in South Korea over the alleged involvement of a crime ring in the torture and killing of a Korean college student in Cambodia this year.
Shortly after boarding the chartered flight, the official reported that the passengers had been detained.
The official stated that all 64 of them have been taken into custody as criminal suspects upon arrival at the Incheon airport and will be assigned to police stations with jurisdiction over their respective cases.
Two police officers each led the suspects into the airport’s arrival hall, many of whom had masks and caps, with their arms firmly tucked either way, according to TV footage.
The majority of them appeared to be handcuffed, with cloth strewn across their restraints.
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As South Koreans wait to board a chartered plane at Techo International Airport in Kandal province as they are being detained by authorities in Cambodia over alleged cyberscam operations, are shown in this handout from Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP), which was taken and made public on October 18, 2025. (Photo by Handout/AKP/AFP)On their arrival at the Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on October 18, 2025, police escort repatriated South Koreans who had been detained by Cambodian authorities over alleged cyberscam operations. A police official informed AFP that 64 South Koreans had been detained in Cambodia on October 18 and were currently awaiting arrest. South Korea OUT / NO USE AFTER NOVEMBER 17, 2025 01: 46: 57 GMT – – SOUTH KOREA OUT / NO ARCHIVES – RESTRICTED TO SUBSCRIPTION USE
According to Park Sung-joo, head of the National Office of Investigation, the repatriated people are responsible for a number of crimes, including “no-show” fraud schemes, romance scams, voice phishing, and other crimes, according to Park Sung-joo, the airport’s head.
He continued, “everyone who returns will have their drug tested as a standard procedure because there have been suspicions of drug use in Cambodia.”
According to Wi Sung-lac, the national security adviser, the detained people were both “voluntary and involuntary participants” in scam operations.
Kim Jina, the vice foreign minister, thanked Cambodian authorities, adding that Seoul confirmed Phnom Penh’s “continued efforts to crack down on such criminal activity and commitment to close cooperation with our country.”
According to Seoul, about 1, 000 South Koreans are thought to be among the 200, 000 people involved in Cambodian scam operations.
Some “pig butchering” scams, which are cryptocurrency investment schemes that build victims’ trust over time before stealing their money, are forced to carry out under the threat of violence.
According to experts, Cambodia’s multibillion-dollar illicit industry has grown exponentially in recent years as a result of thousands of people engaging in online scams, some willingly, while others were forced by the organized criminal organizations that run the fraud networks.
Torture And Human Trafficking
According to Amnesty International, abuses occur in Cambodia’s scam centers on a “mass scale.”
According to the rights group, there are at least 53 shady locations in the nation where organized criminal organizations engage in slavery, human trafficking, forced labor, torture, and deprivation.
Since late June, Cambodia’s anti-cybercrime commission has taken 3, 455 online fraud suspects from 20 different Asian and African nations into custody, according to a statement released on Wednesday.
In 10 of the cases involving online fraud, murder, and human trafficking, authorities reportedly sent dozens of suspected “ringleaders and their accomplices” to court, according to the statement.
More than 2,800 foreign nationals were deported from Cambodia, according to the report, and some “victims from trafficking” were “rescued” by authorities.
South Korean police have announced that they will also look into the recent death of a Cambodian college student. This is a shocking development for South Koreans.
The student was reportedly tortured and kidnapped by a crime ring and found dead in a pickup truck on August 8.
According to a Cambodian court statement, his death was caused by “severe torture, with numerous bruises and injuries across his body,” according to an autopsy.
According to Seoul’s foreign ministry, South Korean and Vietnamese authorities are looking into a Korean woman’s death on October 8 close to the Vietnam-Cambodia border.
As South Koreans wait to board a chartered plane at Techo International Airport in Kandal province as they are being detained by authorities in Cambodia over alleged cyberscam operations, are shown in this handout from Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP), which was taken and made public on October 18, 2025. (Photo by Handout/Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP)/AFP)On October 17, 2025, South Korean police officers from Cambodia and South Korea stand near a chartered plane traveling from South Korea to pick up South Koreans detained in a Cambodian police crackdown. (Photo by TANG CHHIN Sothy/AFP)
In a major counter-banditry operation that spans Kwara and Kogi States, Nigerian Army troops have rescued 24 kidnapped victims.
Polycarp Okoye, the acting Deputy director of army public relations for the 2d division of the Nigerian Army, made this known in a statement released on Friday.
The operation came after coordinated offensives by members of the 22 Armoured Brigade Ilorin and the 12 Brigade Lokoja, according to Okoye, a Lieutenant Colonel.
14 men, 5 women, 1 infant, and 4 Chinese nationals who were kidnapped from various locations throughout Kwara and Kogi States make up the 14 rescued victims.
Before the military’s intensive operations forced the bandits to release them, he claimed some of the victims had been imprisoned for more than four months.
On October 17, 2025, troops from 2 Division/Sector 3 Operation FANSAN YAMA successfully rescued 21 kidnapped victims, according to the statement.
The kidnapped victims, who included 14 men, 5 women, 1 infant, and 4 Chinese nationals, were the result of coordinated operations by the soldiers of 12 Brigade Lokoja and 22 Armoured Brigade Ilorin. The victims’ claims that they were kidnapped throughout Kwara and Kogi States were unspoken. The bandits were forced to release their captives, some of whom had been with them for more than four months, as the troops’ offensive grew more intense.
Major General CR Nnebeife, the commander of Sector 3 Operation Fansan Yama, and the general officer commanding (GOC) 2 Division, Nigerian Army (NA), ensured that the troops were given the necessary first aid and other aid to help them recover from the torture they had endured while being tortured by their abductors.
“Major General Nnebeife expressed sympathy for the victims, giving assurance that the Division will continue to fight against all criminal elements.” Within the Division’s Area of Responsibility (AOR), he stated that there will be no hiding places for criminals and bandits.
The rescued victims were immediately taken to a military hospital for treatment. The majority of them are responding to treatment and will be reunited with their families once they are fully recovered and were physically weak and unable to walk without assistance.
Agbu Kefas, the governor of Taraba State, passed the 2025 Supplementary Budget, which includes a total of 143.42 billion dollars, along with a total of 14.68 billion dollars that the State House of Assembly has recently approved.
The 2025 supplementary budget’s implementation date will be extended until May 31. 2026.
The Governor made the revelations shortly after signing the supplementary budget, explaining that it is intended to address urgent funding needs in key areas of the state, including security, infrastructure, and economic development, while also reducing the impact of inflation and exchange rate pressures on ongoing projects.
According to him, the additional funding will enable the state to accelerate strategic development projects and realign spending with the MTEF (MTEF) as a response to emerging economic and security challenges.
With the new approval, Taraba’s total budget for 2025 has increased to $578.8 billion, with 68.9% of recurrent spending coming in and 31.1% of capital expenditures coming in.
Following the demolition of illegal duplexes constructed under a high-tension power line at Apo Dutse District, Abuja, allegedly belonging to the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has announced he will meet with the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun.
Wike disclosed this during an on-the-spot inspection of the destroyed structures on Friday, according to a statement from Wike’s media aide Lere Olayinka.
He claimed that the FCT Department of Development Control had refused to grant the FCT Department of Development Control’s request for development approval.
The FCT Department of Development Control staff demolished a total of eleven flats with three and four bedrooms in the Apo-Dutse area of Abuja on Thursday, which caused the department’s staff to be detained by the police.
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“Unfortunately,” I say. Development Control called me yesterday to tell me that some buildings had to be stopped from happening, Wike said.
“The high-tension line is dangerous, and you can see it. The Nigerian Police requested permission to use the land, but Development Control declined because of the high-tension risk.
Development Control had to intervene because they refused to stop. Unfortunately, the Nigerian Police detained our officers, so I must contact the IGP about this. We cannot allow this, though I’m sure he might not be aware of it.
Peter Mbah, the governor of Enugu State, has announced plans to set up a committee to investigate state allegations of tax increases.
He claimed that the tax rate had not been raised because his administration had only widened the net.
Mbah claimed that the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) increased as a result of the use of e-payment and other revenue-monitoring tools to stop revenue leakages.
He attributed beneficiaries of the old, corrupt revenue system to what he thought were false accounts of Enugu’s taxation.
The governor made the remarks during a media briefing at the government building in Enugu earlier this week.
Enugu State ranked fifth in the nation overall in terms of the National Bureau of Statistics, recording N180.05 billion IGR in 2024, up from N37 billion in 2023.
Lagos State came in first with a list value of N1.26 trillion, followed by Rivers, FCT, and Ogun, who had N194.9 billion.
However, Mbah said, “The taxation thing that you hear is actually misplaced.
However, I’ve also committed to creating a committee made up of market unions, civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations, and other important organizations so they can review the state of our tax system and prepare a report.
He made it clear that neither his or her government had the authority to raise taxes.
We are unable to do that even by the laws. The National Assembly enacts legislation that would affect personal and business income taxes. The Enugu State House of Assembly did not set those rates, he claimed.
Mbah added that Touts’ only changes were preventing leaks and removing cash collections.
“Payments are now made through e-payment directly to the state’s finances.” He claimed that there is no longer a time when people would harass traders, drivers, and Keke operators with paper receipts.
He noted that the reforms had displaced well-established interests that were now contesting.
People who benefit from the old system will resist change, he said.
The governor emphasized that the governor’s administration remained open to the public’s opinions despite the accusations being made.
