President Muhammadu Buhari has accepted the immediate resignation of the Service Chiefs, and their retirement from service. Those involved are the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas; and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar. President Buhari thanked the outgoing Service Chiefs for what he called their overwhelming achievements in the effort at bringing enduring peace to the country,” The president has also announced the new Service Chiefs, they are: Major-General Leo Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff; Major-General I. Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral A.Z Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff; and Air-Vice Marshal I.O Amao, Chief of Air Staff. The President congratulates the new Service Chiefs, and urges them to be loyal and dedicated in the discharge of their responsibilities. The Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, on Monday, suspended all his political appointees from Effium and Ezza Effium communities following a bloody clash that claimed scores of lives and led to the destruction of property worth millions of naira on Saturday. The crisis, which escalated in one of the communities and spilled over to another, was as a result of clashes between two factions of National Union of Road Transport Workers in the area. The governor, who spoke at the State Security Council meeting held in Effium community on Monday, said all the political appointees and stakeholders in police custody would remain in detention until peace returned to the area. The governor directed the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Cletus Ofoke, to procure a court order, that for anybody to be released from detention, the governor has to authorize it. # The Federal Government is to engage 30,000 graduates to serve as agriculture extension workers who will provide strategic support to farmers across the country. The government has also announced on Monday that it had empowered 20 young Nigerian farmers with an initial take-off grant of N30m, adding that the fund was provided through the Bank of Agriculture. Executive Secretary, National Agricultural Land Development Authority, Paul Ikonne, told journalists in Abuja that the graduates would be trained in agriculture extension services including the collection of soil samples and how to conduct soil tests. This came as the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono, in a statement, said the N30 million grant to the 20 young farmers would serve as seed capital for the beneficiaries to establish smallholder agro-businesses. # The Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, on Monday, said the government would shut down any National Youth Service Corps’ orientation camp that fails to comply with the COVID-19 safety protocols. The minister said this in Abuja at the joint national briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19. He said it was discovered that over 700 serving corps members across the states had tested positive to COVID-19. According to him, the NYSC would not endanger the life of any member of the scheme, adding that those already deployed to states with high rate of infection would be redeployed. # The Oyo State police command, on Tuesday morning, confirmed the razing of the residence of an Ibadan based activist and agitator of Odudua Republic, Chief Sunday Adeyemo. The Police Public Relations Officer, Olugbenga Fadeyi, confirmed the incident in Ibadan on Tuesday. Fadeyi said that in the early hours of Tuesday, Sanyo Police Station received a report, that some unidentified hoodlums came to Sunday Adeyemo’s house at SOKA area of Ibadan in a Hummer bus, fired sporadically, and set his house ablaze. Adeyemo’s mini sitting room got burnt in the process while other properties were yet to be estimated. Investigations had commenced into the incident while the Police is on the trail of the hoodlums. # Following requests by candidates to be given more time to complete the registration process for the 2020 Senior School Certificate Examination, the National Examinations Council has fixed new dates for the examination. In a statement by the Head, Information and Public Relations Division, Azeez Sani, the Council noted that the examination which was earlier scheduled to commence on Monday, February 1, 2021, and end on Wednesday, March 3, 2021, will now start on Monday, February 8, 2021, and end on Wednesday, March 10, 2021. The Council also informed the set of candidates who missed some papers during the 2020 internal examination due to the EndSARS protests in some states to take note of these new dates and report for the examination accordingly at their various examination centers to be designated #.
