The Chief of Army Staff (COAS),  Lt.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, says the Nigerian Army will stop at nothing to neutralise all adversaries to ensure peace in the country.

Lagbaja gave the assurance at the closing of the 2024 First Quarter Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Conference, on Thursday in Abuja.

“I wish to warn criminal elements in our society that the Nigerian Army will stop at nothing to neutralise them,” he said.

Lagbaja warned troops not to be carried away by the successes being recorded against criminals, saying it was not yet time to celebrate.

He said the conference was to awaken all commanders to the reality that they must ensure total victory against all adversaries.

The COAS assured Nigerians that the army has competent and committed personnel to win the war against all criminals, so as to create the enabling environment for good governance and economic prosperity.

Lagbaja told officers and soldiers to be courageous in the fight against insecurity, adding that any fear on their part would embolden the criminals.

“I must, however, remind you all of the need to always be ingenious and courageous because the adversaries we fight are emboldened by weakness; thus, we cannot afford to show a jot of it.

“Fear is a major currency with which our adversaries trade, and we must turn the tide against them and out-trade them in their currency,” he added.

He urged law-abiding Nigerians to continue to support the army in the efforts to safeguard every inch of Nigerian territory and the people.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the COAS used the occasion to present commendation awards to seven Major Generals for their meritorious services during their tour of duty as operations commanders.

Also, a video of a community in Borno celebrating the return of troops after they captured and destroyed terrorists’ enclaves in Timbuktu Triangle recently, was shown before the end of the conference.

President Bola Tinubu has approved three frameworks towards enhancing the educational sector of the country.

The framework would comprehensively overhaul the education sector to improve learning and skill development, increase enrolment and ensure the academic security of the nation’s children.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, made this known in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

He said that the approved policies are captured as DOTS, an acronym for Data Repository, Out-of-School Children Education, Teacher Training & Development, and Skill Development & Acquisition.

On data repository, Tinubu approved the conduct of an extensive census to address the current paucity of coordinated, verifiable, and authentic data of the education sector in Nigeria.

Ngelale said this would involve data on all schools from primary to tertiary level, their conditions and live-in facilities, proximity to one another, educational infrastructure, etc.

“All teachers in Nigeria, their qualifications, training support received, etc. All pupils and students in primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions, gender, exam grades, etc.”

Ngelale said these information would guide federal and state interventions for teachers’ training and development as well as overall support.

He said it would also provide data on gender ratio (boys and girls), their specific learning needs, and who is in school or who has dropped out based on daily monitoring with year-by-year reporting.

He said the dissemination of these information would be done through a dedicated portal/dashboard in the Federal Ministry of Education, offices of state governors, and local government chairpersons to monitor in real time.

“This new data tracking architecture will enable the government to track the progress of students, thus having a clear data-driven mechanism for interventions, especially concerning out-of-school children, girls, and those with specific learning disabilities, among others.”

On the out-of-school children’s education and training, he said the Federal Ministry of Education is already implementing the government’s policy through the activities of four of its agencies.

Already, there are about two million beneficiaries, adding that the system-wide policy would further enhance the education and training of the nation’s out-of-school children.

On the Teachers’ development and support, he sais: “Under this programme, the Federal Ministry of Education will support and train teachers in digital skills to facilitate the use of technology in classrooms. This is expected to bring technology and digitization to teachers and learners at all levels of education.

The National Skill Framework Skill is to enhance skill diversity in the education sector in order to effectively equip Nigerian students with the requisite skills, knowledge, and values to become functional and productive members of society.

“The framework is designed to provide the appropriate skills for each level of education that will result in the empowering of generations of Nigerians with the required aptitude for the evolving needs of the global economy of the 21st century.

“This framework is expected to address skill-gaps, quality of education, and unemployment concerns as students will acquire certain skill sets, in addition to general knowledge.”

Ngelale said that once fully implemented, these programmes would succeed in resetting learning and connecting the ‘DOTS’ for improvement of the overall education system.

The Inspector General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun, has withdrawn all police officers attached to the former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.

The order for the withdrawal was contained in a police wireless message.

The document with reference number: “CB:4001/DOPS/PMF/FHQ/ABJ/VOL.48/ 34 read in part, “IG has ordered the withdrawal of all policemen attached to His Excellency and former Executive Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello.

The Nigerian Immigration Service had earlier placed the former governor on its watchlist after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, declared him wanted in connection to an alleged case of money laundering to the tune of N80.2bn.