News
Shettima Launches 2.5m Jobs Scheme, Urges Nigerians To Embrace Opportunities At Home
Vice President Kashim Shettima has launched the Labour Employment and Empowerment Programme (LEEP), an initiative aimed at creating 2.5 million jobs across various sectors.
Anchored on six pillars of employment opportunities, LEEP which was developed by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment is designed to tackle youth unemployment and position Nigeria as a competitive force in the global digital economy.
The Vice President at the launch in Abuja on Tuesday, described the initiative as a season of opportunity for Nigerians.
He emphasised the urgent need to prepare Nigerians for the future of work as shaped by rapid technological transformation, digital ecosystems and shifting global job dynamics.
The LEEP initiative, a flagship programme of the President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, is designed to equip Nigerians with critical digital, vocational and entrepreneurial skills.
It targets all sectors of the economy, including the growing gig and remote work economies, leveraging technology to connect employers with a ready, skilled workforce.
Shettima therefore discouraged the trend of mass emigration, known popularly as “Japa” and urged Nigerians to believe in the nation’s potential and invest their skills at home.
“Traditional employment structures are giving way to digital ecosystems, but in this uncertainty lies a sea of opportunity, if only we are bold enough to seize it.
“All we need is to equip our youth. They don’t need to Japa from this country, we are a nation of over 230 million people, with a median age of 16.9, by 2050, we’ll be 440 million strong, the 10th most populous nation in the world”, the Vice President noted.
Highlighting Nigeria’s advantages from English language fluency to proximity to global market, Shettima also stressed the country’s potential to become a global outsourcing hub, referring to India’s $125 billion annual outsourcing revenue as a benchmark Nigeria can surpass.
In his goodwill remarks, Minister of Labour and Employment, Maigari Dingyadi, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to fighting unemployment through strategic and sustainable interventions.
“Through this programme, our target is to create millions of jobs annually, LEEP is structured to identify marketable skills and build youth capacity, matching talent with demand and encouraging self-reliance”, Dingyadi said.
The LEEP initiative will operate through six strategic pillars of digital nomads and LEEP digital academy offering courses in software development, AI, digital marketing and data analysis to prepare a tech-savvy workforce.
It will also centre on Vocational and Entrepreneurship Programmes (VEP), job fairs and National Electronic Labour Exchange (NELEX) and learning centres, including remote work initiative and labour compliance digitisation.
Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, will lead the programme’s rollout to ensure its nationwide accessibility.
“With LEEP, we are setting a clear national target, to directly and indirectly create at least 2.5 million sustainable jobs within two years, while laying the foundation for long term growth and productivity”, Onyejeocha said.
-Leadership
Entertainment
Davido breaks silence after Grammy Award loss
Five-time Grammy nominee, David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, has reacted after losing the Best African Music Performance category at the 68th Grammy Awards held in Los Angeles, United States.
The Afrobeats star shared a message of faith and resilience following the outcome of the ceremony, which took place on Sunday night at the Crypto.com Arena in California.
In a post on his Instagram page, Davido shared photos with his wife, Chioma, from the event and wrote, “Oluwa Dey my side,” alongside prayer and music emojis.
Hours later, he posted another set of pictures of himself and Chioma at the Grammys, reflecting on the loss in a longer caption.
“I said baby listen we lost again let’s not go ! she said ‘Be humble in victory and gracious in defeat’ we outside,” he wrote.
Chioma also reacted via her Instagram page, praising the singer, “You already know that you’re the perfect one, @davido,” she wrote, while sharing photos from the awards night.
Davido was nominated in the Best African Music Performance category at the 2026 Grammy Awards but lost to South African singer Tyla, who won with her song Push 2 Start.
Other nominees in the category included Burna Boy (Love), Ayra Starr and Wizkid (Gimme Dat), Davido (With You featuring Omah Lay), and Eddy Kenzo and Mehran Matin (Hope & Love).
The win marked Tyla’s second Grammy Award, following her first victory in 2024 for her hit single Water.
Speaking during the awards ceremony, the singer revealed that With You, featuring Omah Lay, almost did not make the final tracklist of his album 5IVE.
“Man, it’s so crazy because that song almost didn’t make the album. With You was not in anybody’s top five.
“And now look at it go. Every time I was performing it, my heart would just start beating like, what if I didn’t put this song?” he told OkayAfrica.
Davido also recounted how he learned about the Grammy nomination, saying the news came unexpectedly while he was in Dubai, days before his birthday.
“I was in the car, actually, checking a car, and then my phone rang. They were like, ‘Oh yeah, another nomination.’ I was like, wow. Thank God,” he said.
“With You” was released in April 2025 as the 17th track on Davido’s fifth studio album, 5IVE, and has since become one of his most successful recent records, surpassing 100 million streams on Spotify.
Despite the song’s success, Nigeria did not record a win at the 2026 Grammy Awards.
Davido said he is now focused on touring and releasing new music.
He is also billed to perform at Coachella 2026, where he will be the only Nigerian artiste on the festival lineup, performing on April 11 and April 18, 2026, in Indio, California.
-Guardian
Entertainment
Kunle Afolayan gives reasons to marry many women
Nollywood filmmaker, Kunle Afolayan, has stirred reactions after advising men to “marry many women” while reflecting on his upbringing in a polygamous home.
The actor and producer made the remarks at the watch party of Aníkúlápó: The Ghoul Awakens, with a clip from the event going viral on Tuesday.
Speaking at the event, Afolayan linked his existence and achievements to his late father’s decision to marry several wives.
“Without my father, there wouldn’t have been a KAP Village or even Kunle Afolayan. I am the seventh born of my father because my father had ten wives. For the men, marry many women, or rather be involved with many women. You know why? If my father didn’t, he would not have born me, and that is the honest truth. But today, a few of us are lifting his legacy. Life is short, death is constant. Nobody has life forever. Everybody has a period. Use your period,” he said.
While his daughter, Eyiyemi Afolayan, joined him on stage, the filmmaker compared his childhood experience with his relationship with his children.
“They are lucky. For her, staying by my side is luck. Do you know why? I couldn’t stand it with my father. My father didn’t know my school. My father didn’t know my date of birth. He did not know anything about me other than, ‘He is the son of that person.’ But today, I’m so proud of my father,” he added.
Afolayan also spoke about fatherhood.
“Sometimes when people say ‘Happy Father’s Day,’ I’m always saying whether he pays child support or not, he’s still a father. I have been going to court because I want to get a divorce. I don’t mind being in the witness box, and I experienced the shit, so that I can marry many wives,” he said.
He thereafter prayed for his daughter, praising her role in the series.
“Hephzibah, her mother is the one who gave her the name. I don’t care, but I am proud of you. You started with the film, you did the first season, and now with the second season, you did amazingly well. My good Lord will continue to increase you in wisdom, in knowledge, and in understanding. If this is your path, the good Lord will see you through.”
However, this is not the first time the filmmaker has spoken about his late father’s polygamous lifestyle.
In March 2021, Afolayan told BBC Pidgin that his father, Adeyemi Afolayan, who died in 1996, married 10 wives and had 25 children, a decision he said took a toll on the family.
“I would not want to marry many wives because my father had 10 wives and I knew what happened throughout that period. I knew that really distracted my father. In this age, nobody needs to tell you before you know what’s right,” he said at the time.
He also disclosed that growing up in a polygamous home affected bonding among the children due to language and other barriers.
Afolayan further narrated how he battled poverty in his early years, revealing that he once lived in a one-room apartment in Ebute-Metta and sometimes had to deal with flooding.
“I was born in Ebute-Metta and have lived in one-room apartment before that we even have to grapple with flood sometimes. It’s not shame to say have been poor before. But if you see how l made it, it’s a matter of consistency. My father was a very popular filmmaker and ordinarily, people would expect me to life the kind of live akin to Hollywood stars,” he said.
“But that wasn’t the case. How would one live such life when you’re living in a room with ten women. That doesn’t mean there was no love among us.”
He had advised young filmmakers to start with the little resources available to them while working towards their dreams.
-Guardian
Article
Court adjourns Ganduje’s corruption trial to April 15
A Kano State High Court has adjourned until April 15 the trial of former governor Abdullahi Ganduje, his wife, Hafsat Umar, and son, Abdullahi Umar, alongside five other defendants, over alleged misappropriation of public funds amounting to billions of naira.
The defendants are facing an 11-count charge bordering on bribery, conspiracy, misappropriation, and diversion of public funds. The remaining accused persons are Abubakar Bawuro, Jibrilla Muhammad, Lamash Properties Ltd, Safari Textiles Ltd, and Lasage General Enterprises Ltd.
At the resumed hearing, the prosecution told the court it was ready to proceed and drew attention to a motion dated November 24, 2025, seeking leave to file additional proof of evidence.
However, defence lawyers raised objections, informing the court that multiple applications were pending and must be resolved before the trial could continue.
Lydia Oluwakemi-Oyewo, counsel to some of the defendants, said the defence had filed a motion dated July 17, 2025, seeking a stay of proceedings.
Adekunle Taiye-Falola, representing the third and seventh defendants, also referred to a separate motion dated May 23, 2025.
In addition, Muhammad Shehu, counsel to the fifth defendant, told the court that an affidavit had been filed notifying it of a pending application for stay of proceedings before the Court of Appeal.
Abubakar Ahmad, counsel to the sixth defendant, informed the court that he had filed a notice of preliminary objection and an application for extension of time to respond on points of law dated February 2, urging the court to fix a date for hearing.
Only Faruk Asekome, counsel to the eighth defendant, indicated readiness to proceed with the trial.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the presiding judge, Justice Amina Adamu-Aliyu, adjourned the matter to April 15 for the hearing of all pending applications and preliminary objections.
The trial has suffered repeated delays due to legal challenges. The high court had earlier dismissed preliminary objections raised by the defence as “incompetent” and affirmed its jurisdiction to hear the case.
That ruling was appealed by the defendants, who argued that the trial court lacked jurisdiction. However, in October 2025, the Kano Division of the Court of Appeal struck out the appeal, citing failure to properly transmit the record of appeal.
-Guardian
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