By Abdullahi Mukhtar Algasgaini

The Federal Government has announced plans to replace the National Youth Service Corps’ traditional khaki uniform with locally produced Adire fabric as part of a comprehensive reform initiative aimed at repositioning the scheme.

Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, revealed this during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Thursday, stating that the move is designed to promote local manufacturing and ensure government spending supports the Nigerian economy.

“It’s Adire. So, Adire is being produced in Nigeria. We have them in Ogun, we have them in Kwara, we have textile industry. Let’s put our money back into the country,” Olawande said.

The minister also outlined several other key reforms approved by the Federal Executive Council on Monday, marking the first major overhaul of the NYSC since its establishment in 1973.

Under the new framework, corps members will increasingly be posted according to their fields of study, with graduates holding education qualifications deployed to schools rather than being assigned without consideration for their professional backgrounds.

“After you are leaving the camp, you are not just posted to a school just because NYSC wants you to be in school but because of the process you followed when in camp,” Olawande explained.

Addressing security concerns, the minister revealed that the government is considering posting prospective corps members to regions where they studied and are already familiar with the environment, particularly in areas facing security challenges.

The arrangement would alleviate concerns among parents and prospective corps members while making the deployment process more practical, according to the minister.

“If you have interest that you want to go to the North-East why not, but if you don’t have interest, instead of redeploying you, paying people for camp, doing all those funny things, we said no, let us look at it and say who are those in that area, that can reside in those geographical areas and still give us the kind of number we are looking for since we are saying NYSC should be more impactful,” he stated.

The minister dismissed reports suggesting the military would be completely removed from the NYSC, describing such claims as a misconception.

Under the approved reforms, the Federal Executive Council has directed the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Youth Development to amend the NYSC Act and its regulations to accommodate the changes.

The new framework provides that the scheme’s operational leadership will be headed by a civilian, while the military will continue to provide security support for corps members nationwide.

By Abubakar Idris Misau

At first glance, the words “Deserting” and “Desertification” sound almost identical and, taken together, seem to make no sense; ironically, however, especially as intended here, they are the antagonists who jointly tell us what we must do to save life on Earth. Sorry, let me explain.

It was my elementary school Maths teacher who first taught me that multiplying two negative numbers yields a positive result. I had to concede later that this isn’t a conspiracy. If it were, it would never have been corroborated by our English teacher. The two core-subjects’ teachers were staunch enemies [I mean, non-friends]; yet the latter said there’s a similar rule in linguistics and semantics about what is called the “double negatives”.

Since deserting literally means abandoning something, it seems negative. By contrast, desertification, the process by which fertile, productive land becomes arid and desolate, is so dangerous that it no doubt qualifies as another negative. Following the arithmetic-linguistic logic of double negatives, therefore, “deserting”, as used in this piece, becomes an honourable cause. Simply put, deserting desertification does not mean running away from what one needs to care for, but rather abandoning our harmful habits that are turning our green, fertile lands into dry, lifeless deserts. In other words, desertification is a call to action to change how we treat the surface of our dear mother Earth.

Come to think of it, Mother Earth is the only mother whose children are hell-bent on turning her barren, out of greed. We do this by double-dealing, on the one hand with the mother and on the other with her enemies. It seems to me as though we love coming to her in the morning, saying “Oh, Mama, give us today our daily bread”, and then going behind her back and setting the bakery on fire at night! I mean, it’s no different when the so-called most intelligent species, numbering up to 8 billion, dedicates its intellect to deforestation, overgrazing, poor agronomic practices, open-pit mining, and other unsustainable land-use practices that strip land of vegetation, exhaust soil nutrients, and disrupt the water cycle; all while expecting the mother to keep providing us with every ecosystem service as if nothing happened. But it is simply an “inevitable consequence of nature” [to borrow from Prof. Brian Cox] that when we stretch dryland ecosystems to their breaking points, they turn into arid wastelands – read: deserts – or, more appropriately, “sandlands”.

As a matter of fact, whichever way one sees the bad guy, the truth is that Mr Desertification hardly ever acts alone. In the Sahelian ecological region of Northern Nigeria and other regions globally, he almost always works with Madam Earth’s children to damage her reproductive organs. Now, that’s a bad revelation. Meanwhile, the good news is that not all her children are the same. Some good Samaritans have even been working to extinguish the fire, in which case they deserve some support; some conspire against her out of ignorance, in which case they can do with some education; and so on – hence this call to action.

Here, forgive me for introducing the Greek philosopher Aristotle. It was his idea that writers, in fulfilling their duty, should try to structure arguments around the three fundamental pillars [modes] of persuasion, the rhetorical triangle: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Ethos concerns the communicator’s credibility; Pathos, the audience’s emotions; and Logos, the logical reasoning contained in the presentation.

Long story short, since this writer is not an authority on the subject in question, he ought not to suggest any social behavioural change straight out of his moro-moro head. He is simply to convey the message of the world’s most credible Who’s Who on the issue: namely, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

According to the UNCCD, humanity destroys about 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 …100 million hectares of productive land every year. The first time I read this, I was shocked. I knew that we cleared up to 10 million hectares of forest land annually, but I didn’t know that we were destroying the rangelands, grasslands, and so on at that rate. For perspective, damaging 100 million hectares of land annually is equivalent to losing the whole of Egypt. Or, better still, destroying the equivalent of four football fields every second. Most probably, this message would make more sense to us if the changes were happening right before our eyes. Imagine two countries playing a game in the ongoing World Cup, only for the stadium to turn into a total desert in a second. The World Cup would likely be asked to give way for an emergency UNCCD Summit.

In fact, there is no doubting it, the more land we allow to desert encroachment, the more likely we are to go to war with each other. That is why, in 2020, during a UN Security Council meeting to discuss ‘Maintenance of international peace and security: the humanitarian impact of environmental degradation and peace and security’, Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of UNCCD, said: “In arid lands, such as in Africa’s Sahel region, violence often erupts over competition for access to depleted land and scarce water resources.” He then went on to outline three factors that are adding fuel to the fire: over-dependence on natural resources by rural dwellers; shrinking resources due to land degradation, drought, and climate change; and high population density.

All of these are self-evident. In Northern Nigeria, the conflict between farmers and herders over scarce natural resources is a vivid case of that. It’s also common knowledge that Lake Chad has lost up to [a staggering] 90% of its surface area since the 1960s, shrinking from 26,000 km² in 1963 to as low as <1,500 km² in 2018 when the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) published the story “Tale of a disappearing lake”. These affect millions of people.

There is no question whatsoever: drylands are the closest bus stops to deserts and are therefore the major victims of desertification. Now, let’s go back to Bonn to collect some statistics from the UNCCD again. Covering up to 41% of the earth’s land surface, mainly in developing countries of Africa and Asia, drylands are home to more than 2 billion people. And because more than 70% and 20% of them are rangelands and grasslands, respectively, half of the world’s livestock and up to 44% of crops are produced from drylands. How essential are they?

Meanwhile, right now, as scientists say, up to 40% of the world’s land is already degraded, directly affecting over 3.2 billion people. Also, land degradation and droughts cost the global community an estimated eye-watering $878 billion every single year. Isn’t that a lot of money to squander on making the earth look like the surface of Mars, huh?! For me, turning the green planet into another red planet is a cold, dry, bitter joke.

As the Roman Philosopher-Emperor Marcus Aurelius put it 18 centuries ago, “You can commit injustice by doing nothing”. Indeed, this is an issue on which neutrality is complicity. It now makes more sense to me what one of my mentors once told me, for which I must quote him verbatim: “Mr Idris”, he said, “you see, doing nothing is such an expensive hobby…” Suffice it to say that if we continue to ignore this crisis, the financial and physical hangover will be brutal. Well, it actually already is.

I don’t want to go into a discussion of the need for governments and big corporations to invest $1 billion a day until 2030 to meet global land restoration targets, which, in fact, is precisely required. I know it might sound like a hefty price tag, but it is actually the ultimate buy-one-get-one-free deal. We know for a fact that for every $1 invested in healthy land, the economic return ranges from $7 to $30. It turns out that, under this realistic assumption, saving the planet is highly profitable.

While not everything can be detailed in an article this short, addressing desertification isn’t rocket science. We know how to do it well enough. The solution simply requires a massive shift. We first need to address deforestation and work toward restoring already degraded lands. Farmers need to switch to smart agricultural methods that protect the soil. If we can save rainwater and give the soil periodic holidays to “fallow”, we definitely can stop the deserts from winning. I tell you all these because I have a modest understanding of the basics. After all, I am a development practitioner who envisioned a climate-resilient, food-secure sub-Saharan Africa and whose work and current focus span sustainable land-use practices, assisted natural regeneration, and agroforestry and livelihood systems in Nigeria.  

In 1994, the UN General Assembly established the UNCCD and declared June 17 as the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. Since then, June 17 has been commemorated to raise awareness of solutions to land degradation, drought, and desertification. The theme for this year, 2026, is “Rangeland: Recognise. Respect. Restore.” As this writer presumes we all know what rangelands are, it’s fair to allow relevant MDAs, such as the Ministries of Agriculture, Environment, and Livestock, and initiatives such as the African-led Great Green Wall Initiative, to deliver their mandates in peace. At the same time, we equally do our parts as individuals and as groups.

Therefore, the choice before us is simple, yet likely embarrassing depending on how we manage it. We can either continue on our current path, in which case we will watch our favourite green spaces turn to dust, or we can take a stand today to save life on land. Because if we don’t desert our destructive habits right now, the desert is going to move in and claim our dessert (dessert, not desert). My ancestors would say, “Dabara ta rage wa mai shiga rijiya.”

There I lie.

Abubakar Idris Misau, a Forestry and Wildlife graduate from the University of Maiduguri, writes from Akure, Southwest, Nigeria. He is reachable via email abubakar.consult@gmail.com.

By Dahiru Kasimu Adamu

The Kebbi State Police Command has dismissed widespread reports about the emergence of a terrorist group known as “Sai Mallam” allegedly imposing illegal levies on communities in Argungu and Zuru Emirates, describing the claims as a gross misunderstanding of criminal activities by a cybercrime syndicate.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Bashir Usman, clarified that investigations have established no such terrorist organisation exists within the state.

Instead, what residents mistook for a terrorist group’s activities was traced to a sophisticated cybercrime network locally known as “Yan Vocal,” operating within the Argungu Local Government Area and specialising in hacking and online extortion schemes targeting individuals and prominent personalities.

According to police findings, the syndicate comprises young individuals aged 19 to 24 who use advanced digital techniques to defraud unsuspecting victims.

The group’s operation involves hacking social media accounts, creating fake identities, and using sophisticated video editing tools to manipulate pre-recorded nude footage. Victims are deceived into believing they are engaged in live video calls with women, only to be blackmailed with threats of public exposure unless financial demands are met.

The victims, police said, include high-profile individuals such as politicians, traditional rulers, religious leaders, business owners, and other prominent figures.

Between June 26 and June 29, 2026, the command’s coordinated operation resulted in the arrest of thirteen suspects linked to the syndicate.

Those arrested include:

Ahmed Nasir, Rabiu Sani, Sadiq Umar, and Umar Nasir, all from Argungu, who allegedly conspired to obtain nude images of a female victim and demanded ₦1,000,000 from her.

Faisal Muhammed and Abbas Baraye were arrested for online extortion using nude pictures.

Abdullahi Abubakar, Abdulhamid Mukhtar, and Al’amin Aminu were accused of defrauding a victim of ₦3,000,000 after manipulating a video to falsely portray the victim in a compromising position. Haliru Bashar, Abubakar Faruk, Almustapha Munnir, and Saifullahi Nata’ala, who allegedly obtained a nude video of a female acquaintance through a sex-related Snapchat group and threatened to expose her.

Commissioner of Police, CP Umar M. Hadejia,  issued a stern warning that cybercrime constitutes a serious offence with grave consequences.

He called on parents and guardians to closely monitor their children’s online activities and discourage involvement in fraudulent schemes.

“We urge members of the public to exercise caution on social media, protect personal information, avoid suspicious online interactions, and promptly report cases of cyber extortion to the nearest police station,” CP Hadejia stated.

The police command has provided emergency contact numbers  09039911876 and 07081074395  for reporting cyber-related crimes.

All arrested suspects will be charged in court upon the conclusion of investigations, while efforts are ongoing to apprehend other fleeing members of the syndicate.

By Ibrahim Aliyu Gurin 

The Federal Government’s decision to reform the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has been greeted with excitement by some and scepticism by others. After 53 years, many believe the scheme is finally getting the attention it deserves.

For years, corps members have complained about insecurity, poor welfare, irrelevant postings and outdated processes. The newly approved reforms, ranging from technology-driven mobilisation to skills-based deployment and improved orientation camps, suggest that the government is finally listening. That is a good start.

However, the NYSC was never established solely to teach graduates entrepreneurship or job skills. It was established to promote national unity after the civil war, and to a large extent, many would agree that it has contributed to that goal.

Perhaps that is why the government now believes the scheme can be led by civilians rather than the military officers who have overseen it since its inception. But that decision raises an important question.

One of the things that has distinguished the NYSC over the years is discipline. The orderliness in orientation camps and the sense of responsibility expected of corps members have largely been shaped by the scheme’s military leadership. While the military will still provide security, it remains to be seen whether civilian leadership can maintain the same standard.

The bigger challenge, however, is implementation. Nigerians have seen many good policies announced with great excitement, only for little to change in reality. If corps members still face unsafe postings and placements that add little value to their future, then these reforms will remain good ideas on paper. Otherwise, after years in school and a year of national service, they may simply be told to start an akara or kuli-kuli business. Honest work deserves respect, but graduates hope these reforms will create greater opportunities.

So, is the NYSC reforming or deforming?

The answer is not in the policy document. It will be written in the experience of the next corps member who leaves home believing that service to the nation is still worth it.

After all, changing the driver doesn’t automatically make the journey better. What matters is whether the person behind the wheel knows the road.

Ibrahim Aliyu Gurin is a graduate in mass communication from Bayero University, Kano, and can be reached at ibrahimaliyu5023@gmail.com.

By Uzair Adam

The Climate Resilience Action Group (CRAG), with support from the Kano Independent Research Centre Trust (KIRCT), has trained frontline health workers in Dawakin Kudu Local Government Area of Kano State on the prevention, detection and management of climate-related diseases.

The Daily Reality reports that the training, held at Tsakuwa Primary Health Care Centre on Tuesday, formed part of the group’s ongoing climate and health pilot project aimed at strengthening the capacity of health workers and communities to respond to the growing health impacts of climate change.

Speaking during the programme, the team lead of CRAG, Dr. Bashir Isa Waziri, said the initiative was designed to sensitise primary healthcare workers on climate-health risks, particularly climate-sensitive diseases associated with extreme heat and flooding.

He explained that the training focused on conditions such as heat stress, heat exhaustion and heat stroke, as well as infectious diseases including cholera and malaria, which are often linked to climate-related events.

“Today we conducted climate and health awareness and training for frontline health workers. The aim is to sensitise primary healthcare workers on climate-health risks, especially climate-sensitive diseases that are common during extreme heat exposure and the rainy season,” he said.

Dr. Waziri noted that climate change continues to pose significant threats to public health and stressed the need for healthcare workers to educate communities on preventive measures and effective responses when such illnesses occur.

As part of the programme, CRAG also conducted a climate and health awareness session for students of Yusuf Bayero Government Secondary School, where participants were educated on the effects of climate change on human health, particularly the dangers associated with extreme heat and flooding.

The organisation further launched a tree-planting campaign at the school, planting 20 trees and appointing student climate-health ambassadors who will be responsible for nurturing them.

According to Dr. Waziri, the ambassadors will be monitored and rewarded based on their commitment to maintaining the trees as part of efforts to promote environmental sustainability and climate resilience.

A specialist physician with KIRCT and member of CRAG, Dr. Maryam Ahmad Sa’id, said flooding remains a major public health concern because of its potential to trigger outbreaks of infectious diseases.

She explained that floodwaters often contaminate water sources through the mixing of sewage and waste materials, increasing the risk of diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever and malaria.

“Flooding is associated with many health risks, especially the spread of infectious diseases. When sewage and refuse contaminate water sources, diseases such as cholera and typhoid fever can spread rapidly within communities,” she said.

Dr. Sa’id urged residents to pay greater attention to water hygiene, advising them to ensure drinking water comes from safe sources, keep water storage containers clean and covered, and practise regular handwashing with soap and water.

She also identified pregnant women, children, elderly persons and individuals living with chronic illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes, chronic kidney disease and sickle cell disease as among those most vulnerable to the effects of extreme heat.

The physician called for sustained public awareness and early detection of climate-related illnesses to reduce complications and improve health outcomes.

The officer in charge of Tsakuwa Primary Health Care Centre, Ibrahim Yusuf Kura, described the training as enlightening, saying it exposed health workers to important information that would improve healthcare delivery in the community.

“There are many things we did not know before this training. The knowledge we gained will help us provide better healthcare services to members of our community,” he said.

Kura urged participants to make effective use of the knowledge acquired and apply it in their daily duties.

Similarly, the second officer in charge of the facility, Amina Hamisu Abdullahi, said the programme broadened her understanding of climate-related health challenges and would help her perform her responsibilities more effectively.

She added that the lessons learned would be shared with colleagues who were unable to attend the training.

By Sabiu Abdullahi

The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) has announced the death of Palestinian goalkeeper Saleem Al-Ashqar following an incident involving Israeli forces in Gaza earlier this week.

In a statement, the association said Al-Ashqar died after “fire opened by occupation forces.”

The PFA described the late footballer as one of many Palestinian sports figures who have lost their lives since the war in Gaza began in October 2023.

According to the association, more than 1,000 Palestinian athletes have been killed during the conflict.

Reports said Al-Ashqar got married five months ago, while his wife is currently expecting their first child.

His death has drawn reactions from relatives, teammates and members of the international sporting community, many of whom expressed sadness over the development.

Chilean football club Deportivo Palestino also reacted to the incident in a statement issued on Wednesday.

“We deeply mourn the tragic death of 32-year-old Palestinian goalkeeper Salim Al-Ashqar. He was killed by the Israeli army. We are deeply saddened by the continuation of such events. We call for justice and peace,” the club said.

By Abdullahi Mukhtar Algasgaini

A Nigerian man by the name of Prince Adeniyi Mathew is currently under investigation over allegations that he fraudulently established a phantom federal agency which he named the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), falsely claiming it was an official body of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

According to sources, Mathew went a step further by appointing himself as the council’s director-general, securing a physical office for the agency within the Federal Secretariat complex in Abuja, and even opening a dedicated account for it at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Most shockingly, he is accused of successfully inserting a budgetary provision of approximately ₦1.3 billion for the agency into Nigeria’s 2026 fiscal proposal.

Insiders reveal that, emboldened by the apparent success of his deception, Mathew allegedly convened high-level meetings with serving ministers and Nigerian ambassadors, issuing directives to them on the execution of government programmes. He is also said to have represented Nigeria at several international summits on multiple occasions, all under the guise of his bogus office.

However, the elaborate ruse has now collapsed. Security agencies have been alerted and are said to have commenced appropriate legal and administrative actions against the suspect, as investigations into the full extent of the fraud continue.

By Sabiu Abdullahi

The Presidency has defended the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, against allegations of bribery levelled against him by Adeniyi Adeyemi, whom it described as the convener of a non-existent government agency.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, alleged that Adeyemi forged an appointment letter and falsely claimed to be a presidential appointee.

Onanuga said Adeyemi presented himself as the director-general of the so-called Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council. He added that the agency had no legal backing and was not recognised by the federal government.

The presidential aide said the matter came to the attention of security agencies after complaints emerged in 2025 that the group was operating alongside the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission.

According to him, Gbajabiamila petitioned the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Police Force in October 2025 over the activities of the group.

“The attention of this office has been drawn to the activities of certain individuals and groups engaged in the forgery of official appointment letters purportedly issued from my office,” the petition reads.

Onanuga stated that the Chief of Staff could not have appointed Adeyemi into office because the agency in question did not exist. He also explained that appointments into federal government offices are handled through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and not through the office of the Chief of Staff.

He further disclosed that police operatives arrested Adeyemi in Abuja on October 27, 2025. Security operatives reportedly recovered forged documents from his office and residence during the investigation.

The Presidency alleged that investigators discovered that Adeyemi forged documents to present himself as a government official. It also accused him of attempting to obtain a note verbale from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to secure United States visas for himself and members of the council he allegedly created.

Onanuga also claimed that investigators uncovered 34 bank accounts linked to Adeyemi, including nine accounts allegedly opened in the names of fictitious agencies.

He alleged that Adeyemi used forged documents to open an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria after misleading the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. However, he added that investigators did not find evidence showing that public funds were paid into the account.

The presidential spokesman said the police filed an eight-count charge against Adeyemi and two other persons before a Federal High Court in Abuja on November 27, 2025.

He said the matter is expected to come up in court on July 27.

Onanuga also said Adeyemi’s recent claim that Gbajabiamila appointed him contradicted the statement he earlier made to investigators during interrogation.

“Politicians and members of the public who are weaponising Adeyemi’s claim against the Chief of Staff should refrain from swallowing his narrative hook, line and sinker,” he said.

“They are advised to await the trial of Adeyemi and his accomplices, as well as the court’s judgement, as comments made today are subjudice.”

By Sabiu Abdullahi

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has asked the federal government to make public the identities of beneficiaries of the N501 billion bond issued to offset debts owed to electricity generation companies, also known as GenCos.

Atiku, who was the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), made the demand after the Association of Power Generation Companies claimed that the funds had not been fully released despite several assurances from the government.

Earlier in the year, the federal government announced the successful issuance of the N501 billion inaugural bond under the Presidential Power Sector Debt Reduction Programme.

In February, the Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Power Generation Companies, Joy Ogaji, disclosed that the federal government owed GenCos about N6.5 trillion.

President Bola Tinubu later approved a payment arrangement in April to clear debts in the sector through the Presidential Power Sector Financial Reform Programme.

Reacting in a statement released on Wednesday through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the comments made by Ogaji had raised questions about how the government was handling debts in the power sector.

He said the call by the APGC chief for details of the disbursement to be made public had exposed concerns about accountability and transparency.

“Dr. Ogaji’s vivid description of the government’s token payment as ‘like rubbing oil on a crying child’s mouth to imply that he had eaten’ perfectly captures the Tinubu administration’s approach to governance: grand announcements, impressive figures, glossy headlines, and very little substance,” the statement reads.

The former vice-president said repeated announcements by the government on settling electricity sector debts had failed to end the crisis.

“This is no longer a policy failure. It is a crisis of credibility,” he said.

“The question is no longer whether the government is borrowing. The question is why Nigerians are repeatedly being asked to applaud fresh borrowing to solve a problem that government insists it solved only yesterday.”

Atiku also challenged the federal government to publish the names of the power generation companies that benefited from the bond, the amounts paid to each company, the dates the payments were made and the balances yet to be settled.

“Public money cannot disappear into official press statements. Every naira borrowed in the name of Nigerians must be traceable to its destination,” he said.

He accused the Tinubu administration of depending on fresh borrowing instead of tackling the root causes of the problems in the electricity sector.

“Every challenge is met with another ceremony. Every crisis is greeted with another headline. Every unresolved debt is answered with another borrowing plan,” he said.

“Yet electricity generation remains constrained, investors remain uncertain, businesses continue to spend fortunes powering themselves, and ordinary Nigerians still pay exorbitantly for darkness.”

Atiku further called on the National Assembly, the Auditor-General of the Federation and other oversight agencies to conduct a public audit of intervention funds released to the power sector under the current administration.

“Nigerians deserve to know precisely how much has been borrowed, how much has been disbursed, who received the money, and why the debts continue to rise despite repeated claims of settlement,” he said.

The former vice-president added that “darkness has become one of the most expensive commodities in Nigeria” and urged the government to explain how previous loans were spent before seeking additional borrowing.

By Sabiu Abdullahi

Authorities in Côte d’Ivoire have confirmed that the number of people killed by recent flooding has risen to 59 after days of heavy rainfall in the country.

Government spokesperson Amadou Coulibaly announced the updated figure after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. He described the casualty figure as “particularly high” compared to previous years.

Coulibaly said rescue teams were still searching affected areas and warned that the number of victims could increase.

He also appealed to residents to obey safety directives and move away from locations identified by the government as high-risk zones.

Earlier on Wednesday, officials had reported that 12 people died in the disaster.

The Minister of Social Cohesion, Belmonde Dogo, said the flooding and landslides began after persistent rainfall started on the night of June 27 in the commercial capital, Abidjan.

According to Dogo, the floods caused severe damage in several parts of Abidjan and nearby communities.

Images and videos shared online showed roads covered by floodwater, vehicles trapped in submerged streets and homes surrounded by rising water levels.

Several countries in coastal West Africa, including Nigeria and Ghana, have also experienced flooding in recent weeks due to heavy rainfall.

The World Meteorological Organisation has repeatedly warned that African countries remain among the most vulnerable to extreme weather conditions despite contributing only a small share of global greenhouse gas emissions.

The organisation noted that flooding disasters continue to claim lives across many parts of the continent each year.