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Collective Efforts of All is Needed to Stop Nigeria’s Economic Hiccups- Institute

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Collective Efforts of All is Needed to Stop Nigeria’s Economic Hiccups- Institute

By: Michael Mike

The African School of Diplomacy and International Relations (ASDIR) has said collective efforts of all is needed to achieve meaningful economic growth in Nigeria, insisting that without this Nigeria’s economy would continue to witness hiccups.

The Vice-Chairman/CEO of ASDIR, Dr Tunji Asaolu, gave the advice at the 2023 annual public lecture series, induction and conferment of honorary doctorate degree ceremony organised in Abuja by the school.

Asaolu, who is also the Deputy Secretary-General, African Affairs, International Society of Diplomats (ISD), said the call has become imperative in order to ensure sustainable progress in the country.

The event, which marked the third edition, had as its theme: “The Political Economy of Nation Building: The World’s Unfinished Business”.

Asaolu said: “To support government efforts to achieve its purpose of representing the people, is the reason we looked at perceived gaps in terms of economic crisis to chart a way forward.

“Critically, we looked at some ways we can be of help in terms of recommending solutions to perceived economic challenges. Then we came up with a topic centered on the political economy of nation building.

“We considered this topic as unfinished business because we will continue to be experiencing economic challenges if all hands are not on deck to tackle issues bordering inequality, socioeconomic crisis, poverty and insecurity.”

He explained that the honourary degrees and fellowship awards were carefully conferred on specific persons based on proven track record of excellence in the society.

He mentioned that the awards, which cut across various fields of endeavour, were conferred through collaboration with Queens University Belfast, United Kingdom, that has the right of conferment.

In his remarks, Prof. Jonathan Aremu, Chairman, Governing Board of ASDIR, said the programme is apt, because it will help to boost the capacity of citizens in the area of diplomacy.

He said: “This programme has become necessary for diplomats like those inducted today, to enable them develop the know-how about best practices and to collaborate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on diplomacy.

“What the school is doing is to position the graduands to contribute meaningfully to government efforts centered on diplomatic activities and ensure Nigeria performs excellently, among the committee of developed nations.

“It is mandatory for countries to abide by ratified international relations, therefore, this ASDIR initiative is to enable Nigerians imbibe international best practices and concepts of diplomacy.”

The keynote speaker Prof. Mkpa Agu Mkpa, former Vice-Chancellor, Abia State University, Uturu, described knowledge sharing about diplomacy as apt, saying it will enable people tackle challenges collectively.

According to him, the society that has a sound diplomacy inculcated into its leadership will not experience many conflicts.

“Wherever there is a breakdown of law and order, whenever there is conflict, the first thing people consider is the breakdown of diplomacy.

“So what ASDIR is doing for Nigeria actually is a very key role in bringing peace to this country.

“All over the world, diplomacy is rated as the number one tool to advocate peace wherever there is conflict,” Mkpa said.

High point of the event, was the conferment of 10 honorary fellowship, award of 10 honorary doctorate degrees to distinguished personalities and induction of 40 persons into the ASDIR.

The event was chaired by Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele, Majority Leader of the 10th Senate, represented by Dr Sadiyat Adepoju.

It attracted dignitaries including Rev. Sam Oye, Founder/Lead Pastor of the Transformation Church and Dr Temitope Enitan-Ogunwusi, Wife of the Ooni of Ife, as awardees among others.

Collective Efforts of All is Needed to Stop Nigeria’s Economic Hiccups- Institute

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Airstrike Hits ISWAP Enclave in Tumbuma Baba, scores Nutrialised

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Airstrike Hits ISWAP Enclave in Tumbuma Baba, scores Nutrialised

By: Zagazola Makama

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF), under the Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), conducted a successful Air Interdiction (AI) mission at a terrorists’ hideout in the Southern Tumbuns general area in the Lake Chad of Borno, killing scores of the terrorists.

Intelligent sources told Zagazola Makama that the precision air strike, which took place at about 2100 hours on 5 May 2025, targeted a major terrorists’ concentration camp located in the Tumbuma Baba axis of Lake Chad.

The sources said that the offensive was in continuation of a decisive Operation KALACHEN WUTA II, aimed at denying terrorists the freedom to execute large-scale attacks during the Eid el-Kabir period.

The sources said that Intelligence and Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) reports confirmed that several terrorists were neutralised during the strike, and key logistics under heavy foliage were destroyed.

The sources said that the strikes followed credible intelligence on planned coordinated attacks by the insurgents before, during, and after the Eid festivities. The mission was meticulously planned and executed to forestall such threats and sustain pressure on terrorist elements operating in the Lake Chad fringes.

“We observed significant secondary explosions, indicating the presence of arms and fuel storage. Multiple terrorists were seen fleeing the area, while several others were eliminated during the strike,” the source said.

The sources said efforts are ongoing to gather further feedback, as well as to assess the operational impact of the interdiction.

He added that preliminary signs suggest a high level of disarray and panic within the terrorists’ ranks, with reports of attempted regrouping under surveillance.

Airstrike Hits ISWAP Enclave in Tumbuma Baba, scores Nutrialised

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Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani

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Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani

By: Zagazola Makama

The Nigerian Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai have executed a coordinated strike on a major terrorist enclave located at Maisani in the Timbuktu Triangle general area of Borno State, killing several ISWAP terrorists.

Intelligence sources told Zagazola Makama that the air interdiction mission conducted on May 4, 2025, at approximately 1800 hours, was informed by credible intelligence and sustained surveillance, targeted terrorists’ structures cleverly concealed and camouflaged under thick shrubs in the area.

The sources said that using advanced platforms, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) conducted a focused Air Interdiction (AI) mission, resulting in the destruction of the identified enemy hideouts and the neutralisation of an unconfirmed number of insurgent fighters.

According to the sources, Post-strike Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) obtained from our Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms confirmed that the airstrike achieved its intended objectives, dealing a significant blow to terrorists.

Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani

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Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting

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Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting

By: Michael Mike

As the world marks the 2025 Environment Day, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has appealed to the World Bank for support on capacity building, data and in addressing the challenges poised by Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) in the country.

Head of Department, National Accounts Energy and Environment at the NBS, Dr. Baba Madu made the appeal at the 2025 Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) Conference on Thursday in Abuja with support from the World Bank in. collaboration with the NBS and the Federal Ministry of Environment.

Madu while noting that the NCA was a new area Nigeria must exploit to further boost the nation’s economy, said for Nigeria to grow and be at par with other developed nations, there was need to account for her natural resources.

He said: “NCA has been tasked with the crucial role of integrating natural capital into economic measurement. It is impossible to measure the economy accurately without accounting for natural resources. Issues such as environmental degradation, afforestation, desertification, and climate change all directly impact productivity.

“Productivity in turn, influences output—one of the core components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). These environmental factors must be reflected across all economic activity sectors to present a more accurate picture of national output.”

While stating that Nigeria currently has data on NCA in Nigeria, the NBS official however raised concerns over the huge data gap from relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the environment sector.

He said: “We are not doing badly but we need to improve on what we are doing. In terms of data sources, I can tell you there’s a big gap because these are new areas needed to be exploited.”

Programme Leader on Sustainable Development at the World Bank, Vina Vutukuru, said there was need to jointly
explore the vital role of national accounting in national development plans and to brainstorm on how Nigeria could institutionalize it.

He said: “Establishing the national capital accounting as part of the national account system will allow us to measure the economic value of ecosystem services such as clean air, water and biodiversity which are essential for our well-being and economic prosperity.”

Vutukuru commended Nigeria for having “very bold ambitions” as far as responding to climate change was concerned saying, “That shows the commitment of the policy makers here towards the issue of climate.

“But I think to back up that aspiration and the aggressive goals that Nigeria has set for itself, the foundational thing for those goals to materialize those objectives to come true is a very strong natural account system.”

Head of Media, National Council on Climate Change Secretariat (NCCCS), Chioma Azie who represented her Director General, Dr. Nkiruka Maduekwe at the event, described Nigeria as a very ambitious country, stressing that natural resources was instrumental to achieving all the objective of climate action.

She said: “Technology, policy reforms, behavioral changes has a role to play but natural resources is very key because they’re underpinning the mitigation and adaptation for climate action.

“If you look at Nigeria’s NDC, the NCA is an avenue to provide raw materials that we could use to develop mitigation and adaptation strategies.

“If you look at what we have done in terms of this NDC in 2020.which is the second leg of the NDC, we identified a lot of mitigation activities within this mentioned sectors of ours. In agricultural sector we talked about smart agriculture. What is smart agriculture without natural resources?

“We talked about biomass, what is biomass without natural resources? We also spoke about land use changes and that is natural resources, we talk about natural solutions and we talked about also afforestation, reafforestation. Those are mitigation potentials of our NDC. So, we cannot achieve our NDC without SEEA.

“What you cannot be able to account for is recorded as if it is not done so if we know what is existing in terms of the reservoirs we have for natural resources, it can inform the scope of the mitigation activities we’re going to be imputing in the NDC 3.0,” she said.

Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting

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