News
Oyo Speaker Inaugurates Youth Parliament
The Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Olagunju Ojo Wednesday inaugurated the 3rd Assembly of the Oyo State Youth Parliament.
According to Speaker, the effort is meant to encourage the youths in the decision making process in the state.
The inauguration ceremony which took place at the House of Chiefs, Parliament Building, House of Assembly Complex, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan had many youths across the state in attendance.
In his welcome address, Olagunju said based on the provision of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, role of the youths in the decision making process, support of government’s policies as well as promotion of people-oriented and good governance can not be over emphasized.
He described the parliament as a powerful institution that champions the course of the people, adding that Youth Parliament is a replica of the representative function of the House of Assembly members in the state, where interests and demands of the constituents are canvassed and debated.
While commending the initiative of the Oyo State Agency for Youth Development for keying into youth’s development policy, Hon Olagunju stressed that youths, having bulk of total population in the country must always be at the fore front in engaging political leaders on critical issues of national interest.
The Speaker, who was accompanied to the occasion by the Minority Leader of the House, Honourable Akeem Ige and the Chairman, House Committee on Youth and Sports, Honourable Fatai Adesina enjoined the newly inaugurated parliamentarians to be good ambassadors of the state by always promoting the pace setter status which the state is known for in all their engagements.
He also implored the youths to shun every unethical behavior such as thugerry as witnessed in the recently concluded general elections, where issues of electoral violence such as ballot boxes snatching and other electoral vices were perpetrated by the youths.
In his message at the occasion, the State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Barrister Abayomi Oke who was represented by the Special Adviser to the Oyo State Governor on Youth and Sports, Mr Afeez Bolaji disclosed that the present administration led by Senator Abiola Ajimobi has in the last eight years given proper recognition to the youth as principal stakeholders and foremost drivers of the nation’s growth and development.
He pointed out programmes like Youth Empowerment Scheme of Oyo State (YES-O), Oyo Ajumose Business Leadership and Entrepreneur (Oyo-Able) Scheme, OYO NISE, OYO LEKO as major strategic and systematic youth empowerment programmes embarked upon by the state government to ensure that youths are sufficiently equipped to compete with their counterparts at the larger World.
He commended the Federal Government initiative for approving the laudable youth programmes which enabled them the opportunity to contribute their quotas in the decision making process both at the State and Federal levels.
During the first plenary of the newly inaugurated Youth Parliament, two Principal Officers were elected to be in charge of the newly inaugurated parliament.
The two Principal Officers are Honourable Adegoke Abayomi from Ogbomoso South State Constituency who was elected as the Honourable Speaker while Honourable Taoheed Adebayo from Irepo State Constituency was elected as the Honourable Deputy Speaker.
The two Principal Officers and other thirty Parliamentarians were later sworn-in by the imaginary Clerk of the Youth Parliament.
The thirty two members of the Oyo State Youth Parliament who were selected from the thirty three Local Government Areas of the state are between the ages of 15 and 35 years old while the new Speaker is an Electrical Engineering Graduate of Osun State Polytechnic, Iree.
Among important dignitaries that graced the colourful ceremony are the Iyaloja of Ibadanland, Alhaja Iswat Ameringun,the Permanent Secretary, Oyo State Ministry of Youth and Social Development, Alhaja Ololade Agboola as well as the Acting Clerk and Permanent Secretary, Oyo State House of Assembly, Mrs Foluke Oyediran.
Twelve inmates have escaped from the Federal Correctional Centre in Kotonkarfe, Kogi State, following an early morning jailbreak on Monday.
Confirming the incident, the Kogi State Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, described it as “unfortunate” and assured the public that the government, in collaboration with security agencies, was taking measures to prevent a recurrence.
According to Fanwo, law enforcement officers have already re-arrested one of the escapees.
“The theory that the inmates escaped through the tower without causing any structural damage raises serious concerns. This calls for a thorough investigation to determine the exact circumstances of the escape, arrest the fleeing inmates, and identify possible saboteurs within the system,” he stated.
The commissioner further disclosed that Governor Usman Ododo has directed security agencies to ensure that such breaches do not happen again.
“We call on the public to report any suspicious individuals in their communities. Anyone found harbouring an escaped inmate will be held accountable,” Fanwo warned.
Reassuring residents, he added: “There is no cause for panic. We encourage citizens to go about their daily activities as normal, knowing that the security of lives and property remains our top priority.”
Authorities have yet to disclose further details about the escapees or ongoing efforts to apprehend them.
The United States has announced the termination of legal status for over 500,000 immigrants, ordering them to leave the country within weeks, as President Donald Trump pushes forward with what he calls the largest deportation campaign in American history.
The sweeping directive, issued on Friday, affects approximately 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who arrived under a programme launched by Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, in October 2022 and later expanded in January 2023.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the affected immigrants will lose their legal protections 30 days after the order is published in the Federal Register on Tuesday. This means they must leave the United States by 24 April, unless they secure another immigration status permitting them to stay.
Welcome.US, an organisation that supports asylum seekers, has urged those impacted to “immediately” seek legal counsel regarding their options.
A Reversal of Biden’s Immigration Policy
The Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV) programme, introduced in January 2023, allowed up to 30,000 migrants per month from these nations to enter the United States for two years. The initiative was designed to offer a “safe and humane” alternative to the dangerous crossings at the US-Mexico border, which had seen a surge in arrivals.
However, the DHS reiterated on Friday that the programme was never meant to provide permanent residency.
“Parole is inherently temporary, and parole alone is not an underlying basis for obtaining any immigration status, nor does it constitute an admission to the United States,” the agency stated.
Mass Deportations Under Trump
Trump, who has made immigration control a cornerstone of his presidency, has vowed to crack down on migrants—particularly those from Latin America.
Last week, he invoked rare wartime legislation to deport more than 200 alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador, a country that has controversially offered to imprison both migrants and U.S. citizens at a discounted rate.
The latest order signals Trump’s intent to follow through on his hardline immigration policies, raising concerns among human rights advocates about the humanitarian impact of such mass deportations.
Tens of thousands of malnourished Nigerian children face a dire future as lifesaving food supplies are set to run dry, the United Nations Children’s Agency (UNICEF) warned on Friday, attributing the crisis to a funding shortfall exacerbated by U.S. foreign aid cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration.
The agency said that within the next two months, 80,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Nigeria could lose access to vital treatment, while a total of 1.3 million children under five in Nigeria and Ethiopia remain at risk of starvation this year.
“Without new funding, we will run out of our supply chain of Ready-to-Use-Therapeutic-Food by May, and that means that 70,000 children in Ethiopia that depend on this type of treatment cannot be served,” UNICEF’s Deputy Executive Director, Kitty Van der Heijden, said in a video press briefing from Abuja. “Interruption to continuous treatment is life-threatening.”
The situation in Nigeria is even more urgent, with UNICEF warning that food supplies for malnourished children could be exhausted as early as the end of this month. Van der Heijden recounted a harrowing experience at a hospital in Maiduguri, where she saw a child so severely malnourished that her skin was peeling off.
U.S. Aid Suspension Escalates Crisis
UNICEF’s funding crisis follows a significant drop in international donor contributions in recent years, compounded by the U.S. government’s decision to halt all foreign aid for 90 days upon Trump’s return to the White House in January.
According to Reuters, the U.S., a major donor to UNICEF, implemented sweeping suspensions on USAID programmes worldwide, disrupting the delivery of essential food and medical aid. The impact has been catastrophic, with global humanitarian efforts thrown into disarray.
“This funding crisis will become a child survival crisis,” Van der Heijden warned, adding that the abrupt nature of the cuts left UNICEF unable to cushion the impact.
Health Services Crippled in Ethiopia
Beyond food shortages, UNICEF highlighted the devastating effects of the funding crunch on health services in Ethiopia. Programmes providing nutrition and malaria care for pregnant women and children have suffered, with 23 mobile health clinics shut down in Afar, leaving only seven operational.
As the crisis unfolds, humanitarian organisations continue to urge global donors to step in and prevent a full-blown catastrophe. Without urgent intervention, tens of thousands of children in Nigeria and Ethiopia may not survive the coming months.
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