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NIPSS INDISPENSABLE IN OUR NATION’S POLICY RETOOL – VP Shettima
NIPSS INDISPENSABLE IN OUR NATION’S POLICY RETOOL – VP Shettima
By: Our Reporter
The Vice President, Sen Kashim Shettima, has assured that the Tinubu administration will reposition the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, for good and quality policy advice to the government.
This, he said, had become pertinent given the very crucial and indispensable role the institute would be playing in shaping and retooling government’s policies.
According to the VP, the Federal Government would make use of the beautiful recommendations brought by the institution.
Vice President Shettima gave the assurance on Tuesday when he received in audience the management team from NIPSS led by the Director General, Prof. Ayo Omotayo, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said, “We really need to recalibrate the system and see to it that all the beautiful policy recommendations by NIPSS are brought into reality, because the world is changing and the world is gradually becoming knowledge-driven.
“NIPSS is a policy think-tank for the government just as we have its equivalent in other parts of the world such as the Global Policy Institute, the Chatham House, the Adam Smith Institute, the Royal United Institute for Defence Studies in Russia, and the Hopkins Institute in the United States of America.”
VP Shettima cautioned Africa against missing the chance to fill the gap in a knowledge-driven world as she did during the agriculture and industrial revolution.
“We missed the agricultural age; Africa missed the industrial age. We are now in the knowledge-driven age. When others are talking about artificial intelligence, of bio-technology, of internet things, we are busy dwelling on farmer-herders clash and things that we ought to have overcome decades ago,” he stated.
Asking the management of the Institute to make a formal presentation of the executive summaries of all its policy recommendations to the government, Vice President Shettima said, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is determined to reset the national agenda. President Bola Tinubu has the courage to take far-reaching decisions.
“As much as possible, we will support you not to compromise on your quality, not to compromise on your standard, so that you should not be a dumping ground for frustrated public officers because, at a point in time, that was what NIPSS degenerated into.
“If somebody is going to be punished then he is sent to NIPSS for a year. Somebody with such a mindset can hardly absorb what you are going to teach. So, this time around, as much as possible, we will minimise political patronage and send credible people within the required age bracket, within the required professional cadre so that whatever experiences and exposure they gain can be translated into the governance structure.”
Earlier in his remarks, the Director General of NIPSS said his management team came to brief the Vice President on the operations of the institute, adding that the organisation was established in 1979 to advise government on several policy directions and train high profile policy makers in the country.
His words, “There is no problem in the country that NIPSS has no solution to. NIPSS supports the Presidency in terms of policy. It deals with all sectors of the economy.”
According to Prof Omotayo, the Vice President oversees the administration of NIPSS, approves the nominees to be trained, as well as approve the course of study for the session.
Those in the delegation were Brig Gen L Y Udaya (rtd); Prof Fumi J. Para-Mallam; Prof Dung Pam Sha; Codr S Dahun; Prof Sola Adeyanjin; Bawa Ahmed and Dr Catherine Maduagwu.
NIPSS INDISPENSABLE IN OUR NATION’S POLICY RETOOL – VP Shettima
Troops repel insurgents, neutralise suspected informant in Borno
By: Zagazola Makama
Troops of Operation Hadin Kai have repelled suspected insurgents and neutralised a suspected informant during operations in Ngamdu area of Borno.
Military sources said the action followed signals intelligence indicating that suspected Boko Haram elements were massing.
At about 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 18, troops carried out a fire mission on the identified area, forcing the insurgents to disperse and abort their suspected plan.
Shortly afterward, at about 3:45 a.m., troops engaged and neutralised a suspected insurgent informant who attempted to breach the trench defensive position in Ngamdu.
Sources said the troops immediately conducted a search of the surrounding area after the encounter but made no further contact with fleeing suspects.
Troops repel insurgents, neutralise suspected informant in Borno
Yobe: Troops Disperse Terrorists, Arrest Five Suspected Arms Smugglers
By: Zagazola Makama
Troops of Operation Hadin Kai have disrupted a suspected terrorist gathering and arrested five suspected arms smugglers during separate operations in Yobe State.
Security sources said that at about 6:21 p.m. on Feb. 17, troops conducted a fire mission following credible intelligence that terrorists were converging in large numbers on motorcycles at Mangari, about 10.6 kilometres from the location of the 135 Special Forces Battalion in Buratai.
The swift action forced the insurgents to disperse in disarray, effectively disrupting their suspected plans.
In a separate development, troops of the Forward Operating Base (FOB) Potiskum apprehended five suspected arms smugglers and abductors at about 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 18 at a checkpoint along the Gombe–Potiskum road.
Those arrested included a 41-year-old suspect, Baba Abare, who was found in possession of an AK-47 rifle, alongside four others identified as Idris Zakari, 33; Nasiru Aliyu, 25; Abdullahi Sulaiman, 35; and Mohammed Idris, 34, all said to be indigenes of Potiskum town.
The suspects were intercepted in two Golf Wagon vehicles bearing registration numbers Borno NGL-506XA and Kaduna DKD16-01.
They were disarmed and handed over to appropriate authorities for further investigation.
Yobe: Troops Disperse Terrorists, Arrest Five Suspected Arms Smugglers
News
Ward Congress: Bayelsa APC Group Condemns Marginalization Of Sylva’s Supporters, Call On Party NWC, Tinubu To Intervene
Ward Congress: Bayelsa APC Group Condemns Marginalization Of Sylva’s Supporters, Call On Party NWC, Tinubu To Intervene
The Bayelsa State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Grassroot Movement (BSAGM), has expressed deep dissatisfaction over the State Governor, Senator Douye Diri biased, marginalized conduct of the party ward congress in the state.
Condemning in strong terms the APC ward congress conducted on Wednesday, 18th of February, 2026, the group described the process as witch-hunt of a selected group of stakeholders and leaders in the party.
A statement issued on Thursday by the group’s spokesman, Mr John Peremobowei, condemned the governor’s deliberate segregation of key stakeholders in various wards geared towards generating division.
Some APC stalwarts through their followers have expressed profound dissatisfaction on the social media over segregation and non-inclusion of critical stakeholders who stood firmly as an opposition in building the “Hausa party” in Bayelsa State.
They stated that Governor Douye Diri’s failure to conduct an all inclusive APC congress in various wards across the state; which is his first assignment as party leader after defection, has proven beyond a shadow of doubt that the governor is incapable to manage affairs of the party in the state.
The group said “Governor Diri who could not manage insignificant affairs of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP leading to Mr George Turnah factional leadership in Bayelsa, has transferred the same attitude from the PDP to the APC barely four months of defection.
“The governor whose administration and leadership depend, and feed on propaganda, rumours, gossip from subordinates without investigation before making decisions, obviously cannot build, neither maintain the APC–as he couldn’t manage the PDP.
“Senator Diri leadership of division, propaganda to incite leaders against other leaders, can’t build people like he was deliberately built by the likes of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, Chief Timi Alaibe, Senator Seriake Dickson and others.
“Diri is a Supreme Court Governor who has never had grassroot support due to failure to manage people from his days in house of representatives, senate till date as governor, and the Bayelsa APC is in trouble because he can’t build neither maintain a party.”
The group said the governor who was a financier of Atiku-Okowa PDP presidential ticket, and worked so hard against President Ahmed Bola Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election, defected to the APC for fear of prosecution by the anti-corruption agencies over misappropriation.
Governor Diri who has been receiving over thirty-four billion naira and above on a monthly basis from the federation account since the inception of President Bola Tinubu administration, was caught by the United States interpol with huge amount of money early 2025.
The group’s spokesman cried out to the APC National Working Committee, President Bola Tinubu for immediate intervention, saying followers/loyalists of the former governor and minister, Chief Timipre Sylva were sidelined in the ward congress in various wards across the state, describing it as witch-hunt.
“Sylva with the support of loyalists brought APC to Bayelsa, and fought so hard to build, and strengthen the party as an opposition, and today, he is unjustly marginalized in the party.
“Despite undeserved exclusion in the party congresses, we the steadfast supporters of Chief Timipre Sylva will stand firm in galvanizing support for President Bola Tinubu re-election.
“We have stood firm in APC even as an opposition in the state, but can’t relent now that it is the ruling party.
“We call on President Bola Tinubu to intervene, as he did in Rivers, and call Governor Douye Diri to order–as his actions are targeted towards generating division in the party.
Ward Congress: Bayelsa APC Group Condemns Marginalization Of Sylva’s Supporters, Call On Party NWC, Tinubu To Intervene
Troops repel insurgents, neutralise suspected informant in Borno
Yobe: Troops Disperse Terrorists, Arrest Five Suspected Arms Smugglers
Ward Congress: Bayelsa APC Group Condemns Marginalization Of Sylva’s Supporters, Call On Party NWC, Tinubu To Intervene
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