Kaduna reopens schools for junior NECO exams

•EFCC asks NGOs to account for IDPs’ funds
•Group urges prosecution of repented terrorists

The Kaduna State Government has ordered secondary schools to reopen for the 2021 JSS III National Examination Council Examinations (NECO) test.

In a statement by the Commissioner for Education, Shehu Usman Muhammad, the state government stated: “The NECO examination will be conducted from Monday, August 23 to Monday, September 6, 2021.”

It added: “Secondary schools are hereby directed to resume operations only for JSS III students with effect from Wednesday, August 18,2021 and to inform the students to appear in mufti.”

This is even as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), yesterday, called on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in Borno and Yobe states to provide it with “Cash Notification Forms” for vetting and approval before disbursing funds to internally displaced persons (IDPs).

The Maiduguri Zonal Commander of the anti-graft agency, Onwukwe Obiora, clarified that the move was to check sabotage, money laundry and terrorism financing in the region.

Receiving a delegation from the United Nations Cash Working Group and International NGO Forum in his office, Obiora commended the body for its deliberate efforts to cater for the IDPs in the face of insurgency.

ALSO, stakeholders in the gun Arabic sub-sector have appealed to the Federal Government to urgently tackle insurgency for better yield.

Making the appeal under the aegis of National Association of Gum Arabic Producers, Processors and Exporters of Nigeria (NAGAPPEN), they also urged government to empower indigenous processors to engage actively in the foreign market.

Chairman of the association in Borno State, Alhaji Abba Babagana, worried that the protracted challenge had largely crippled production

SIMILARLY, a religious group, Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria (CSWN) said the identified violators of the kidnapped Chibok girls should be made to face the full wrath of the law.

In a statement yesterday by its Research and Press Officer, Reuben Buhari, the group submitted: “After seven years in forceful, dehumanising and unlawful captivity, two abducted students of the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State have been found.”