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Lux Tera: Catalyzing responsible leadership and informed citizenship

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Lux Tera: Catalyzing responsible leadership and informed citizenship

By Felix Anayo

In the build-up to the 2023 general elections, the Network and Advocacy Group of Lux Tera Leadership Foundation has been at the forefront of organisations working assiduously to drive citizenship education. It has organised various leadership training programmes, targeted campaigns, public enlightenment programmes, youth development initiatives, and community-based initiatives. The Foundation has also organised developmental workshops, in the course of which it generated and spread advocacy materials, to guide the citizenry toward informed political decision-making.

One of the tools it has deployed most effectively is the media, especially through the facilitation of television discussion programmes in this regard. Besides its own branded television programme, it has also, on various occasions and through its programme partners and members of its Think-Tank, expanded the frontiers of national discourse through the deployment and appearance of third parties to drive its developmental narratives, and the one goal of creating a better society, on various media platforms.

For the 2023 elections alone, the organisation has remained consistently visible in the public space through its well-thematized initiatives, including, and especially, through its ‘Advocacy Thursday” interventions. These are targeted, periodic releases, skits, and educational content, which focus on core legal, statutory, and social responsibility steps and issues that would lead to free, fair, transparent, and credible elections. These issues are central to the integrity of the electoral process/outcomes, as well as lasting development and citizenship education.

By ensuring that each such advocacy message addresses specific, current, and urgent matters of leadership, citizenship, general public interest, and the general public good, the Foundation has created a unique, impactful, and admirable approach to sustainably building public awareness. It is working with a carefully selected person with confirmed voices and credibility in the Nigerian media, public and political space. It, thus, now has a committed group of persons who are held together by their convictions about the paradigms for sustainable leadership and followership in Nigeria.

The Foundation’s installment and targeted advocacy work in such a way as to ensure that each advocacy theme builds on the one before it. The result is a series of mutually reinforcing narratives that allow breathing space for absorption and application in everyday life. This has been the approach in its handling of matters about the coming elections. The communication/campaign on the new electoral Act did not come before the one on display on the voters’ register. Nor did the one on the collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVC) come before the advocacy message on the need to register, etc.

The approach allows for a period of assessment, a feedback mechanism, and periodic review that monitors impact, the objectives attainment of the desired impact, and the recalibration of subsequent interventions. All the focal issues for communication, advocacy, and public enlightenment are articulated to improve the people’s understanding of the true meaning of development, better leadership, service delivery in office, a sense of community, improved political decision-making among the citizenry, and a better-governed society.

As we walk into the last weeks before the elections, Lux Tera must be counted among the few organisations that have maintained a consistent focus on improving governance, leadership, citizenship, and political engagement in Nigeria. When its Network and Advocacy Group Think Tank is measured against the background of its task as a platform for the birth of new ideas, promoting discourse, and suggesting solutions for extant and emerging leadership, developmental and citizenship issues in Nigeria, the Foundations stands tall in every sense of the word.

The creative initiative of creating a pool of informed persons who, in addition to being active on their own across several socio/political advocacy platforms and activities of their own, are now part of the Lux Tera team of informed advocates is a unique achievement of the Foundation. By generating, and projecting, new ideas toward creating a better Nigerian society, the Foundation’s well-produced Advocacy materials have been effective in this regard.

The print, electronic and social media, as also Talk Shows and Roundtables, have been veritable platforms for advancing the Foundation’s enlightenment and developmental programs. Its outreach and youth leadership training programs, including the programs organized for school teachers, students, and education stakeholders are all now dovetailing into three main focal channels, namely: measurable political education, the expansion of social consciousness/ group cohesion, and confirmed commitment to, and impact on, the imperative of free, transparent, fair and credible elections in Nigeria.

Anayo writes from Lagos

Lux Tera: Catalyzing responsible leadership and informed citizenship

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Teenager butchered in suspected ritual killing in Ogun, one arrested

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Teenager butchered in suspected ritual killing in Ogun, one arrested

By: Zagazola Makama

A 16-year-old boy, Lawal Wahab, has been gruesomely murdered in Igbile area of Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State in what authorities suspect to be a ritual killing.

Zagazola learnt that the boy, who had been declared missing for several days, was confirmed dead after his decomposing body was discovered on July 23 along Old Express Road in Igbile.

His father, Lawal Olumide, of No. 28 Jagerin Street, Ijebu-Ode, said he received the tragic news after efforts to locate his son proved abortive. Wahab had reportedly been staying with his grandmother before he went missing.

Security operatives who visited the scene confirmed that the boy’s corpse was mutilated his head, both wrists, heart, and private parts were removed, in what is believed to be a ritual-related killing.

Following an intensive investigation, one suspect, Salawu Omikansola, aged 25, was arrested in connection with the murder. He was apprehended alongside a man identified as Serefusi Agemo and others whose identities are being withheld to aid the ongoing investigation.

Authorities disclosed that confessional statements were obtained from the suspects, with video evidence recorded. The case file and associated exhibits will be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Abeokuta, for further investigation.

Efforts are ongoing to track and apprehend other accomplices in the heinous crime.

Teenager butchered in suspected ritual killing in Ogun, one arrested

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Education Undergoing Revival Under Renewed Hope Agenda — VP Shettima

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Education Undergoing Revival Under Renewed Hope Agenda — VP Shettima

** Receives University of Ibadan Sole Ambassador Plenipotentiary award

By: Our Reporter

Vice President Kashim Shettima has restated the Federal Government’s unwavering resolve to reposition Nigeria’s education sector.

Specifically, he affirmed that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will mobilise both public and private sector support to uplift institutions such as the University of Ibadan (UI), Nigeria’s premier university.

This is just as the Vice President has been bestowed with the highest alumni honour of the University of Ibadan, “UI at 75 Ambassador Plenipotentiary.” He obtained a master’s degree (MSc) in Agricultural Economics in 1991 at the University.

Speaking on Thursday during a courtesy visit by the management of the University of Ibadan, led by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Kayode Adebowale, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the Vice President described the institution as the greatest citadel of learning in West Africa, recalling its illustrious past and continental impact.

“This is an honour that I cherish deeply. Ibadan is certainly the greatest citadel of learning in this country and in West Africa. When we were there, we had students from South Africa, Namibia, and even the Caribbean.

“There was a time when the King of Saudi Arabia was sick and he was recommended for treatment at the University College Hospital, Ibadan,” the Vice President said.

He pledged the government’s commitment to mobilising both private and public sector resources for educational transformation across the country.

“We are going to mobilise resources from both the private and public sectors to ensure that UI and other universities in the country succeed.”

VP Shettima also highlighted the President Tinubu administration’s education-focused policies, including the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), aimed at supporting indigent students.

“Under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we are determined to rescue the educational sector. The Nigerian Education Loan Fund is the first of its kind, directly addressing the needs of underprivileged students,” he stated.

On the economy, the VP said that Nigeria had turned a corner, expressing confidence in the country’s economic trajectory.

“Our economy has turned the corner, we have crossed the Rubicon, and we are on the path to sustained economic growth. The tax revenue of the government has steadily increased. The President is an economic guru who understands the language of commerce and is completely at home in the economic ecosystem,” he said.

Earlier, Professor Adebowale explained that the award given to the Vice President as UI at 75 Ambassador Plenipotentiary is the first in the university’s history in recognition of his contributions to both the public and private sectors.

“You are a foremost alumnus of the University of Ibadan — the first and the best,” Professor Adebowale said.

He continued: “We honoured some of the alumni as UI at 75 Ambassadors, those who are friends of the university, and we made them Ambassadors Extraordinary. We thought that, for the position you have assumed and being an Alumnus of our university, we exceptionally put you in a class and decided to induct you as UI at 75 Ambassador Plenipotentiary. You will be the only person to be so awarded.

“We came here to honour one of our own; someone who has contributed in the banking sector, as Governor of Borno State, and now as Vice President of Nigeria.”

Other members of the delegation included the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Professor Peter Olamakinde Olapegba; Registrar of the University, Mr. Ganiyu Oke Saliu; Director of Alumni Relations, Professor Olakunbi O. Olasope; Lecturer at the Department of Classics, Babatunde Blavo and Mr Oladayo Olajide of the Directorate of Public Communications at the university.

Education Undergoing Revival Under Renewed Hope Agenda — VP Shettima

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Joint Nigeria–Niger military offensive hits major terrorist stronghold near Damasak

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Joint Nigeria–Niger military offensive hits major terrorist stronghold near Damasak

By: Zagazola Makama

In a major show of regional military cooperation, troops of the Nigerian Military in collaboration with the Nigerien Defence Forces have launched a decisive joint offensive on a fortified terrorist stronghold located between Damasak in Borno State and Diffa in southern Niger Republic.

Zagazola Makama learnt that the offensive, which began in the early hours of Sunday, targeted a well-defended insurgent position approximately 25 kilometres from Damasak and 17 kilometres from Diffa, believed to be operated by fighters of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).

Intelligence sources told Zagazola Makama that the location served as a key logistical hub and operational base for the insurgents, complete with anti-aircraft (AA) gun emplacements and an extensive network of trenches.

“In the first wave of the assault, the Air Component Command of Operation HADIN KAI conducted four precision strikes which successfully knocked out enemy anti-aircraft positions and neutralised scores of terrorists,” the source said.

The coordinated strikes were immediately followed by aerial bombardment from the Nigerien Air Force, which delivered additional blows to the insurgents’ infrastructure and personnel. A subsequent Battle Damage Assessment confirmed the effectiveness of the air operations.

On the ground, combined troops from Nigeria and the Nigerien Defence Forces subsequently executed a dual-flank ground offensive to clear and secure the area.

“This joint operation point to the recent deepening regional cooperation between Nigeria and Niger Republic in the fight against terrorism and trans-border criminality in the Lake Chad Basin,” confirmed the source.

The offensive comes at a time of increasing cross-border attacks and insurgent movement in the region, especially around the Kamadougou-Yobe River axis and other porous points of the Nigeria–Niger border.

Joint Nigeria–Niger military offensive hits major terrorist stronghold near Damasak

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