Today’s Headlines: Nigerians May Regret It If Tinubu Loses–APC Chieftain, Trump proposes $70,000 fee for international students seeking to work in US

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Obidike Chukwuebuka, has urged Nigerians to consider the continuity of ongoing economic and institutional reforms when deciding their choice in the 2027 presidential election.

The APC chieftain, who is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Clarivo Holdings Limited, said in an interview with Vanguard that President Bola Tinubu’s administration had introduced several reforms which, in his view, required time to deliver their full impact.

He said the removal of fuel subsidy, foreign exchange reforms, increased revenue mobilisation, student financing, infrastructure projects and measures aimed at strengthening local government autonomy were among the major policy changes of the administration.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has proposed a $70,000 fee for international students seeking to work in the country, Associated Press reports.

This development was in the latest move to restrict foreign student enrolment and employment in the country.

The Department of Homeland Security proposed the fee on Wednesday, saying schools would be required to pay it for every international student participating in the Optional Practical Training programme.

The OPT programme allows international students to work in jobs related to their fields of study during or after their education in the US.

Businesswoman and philanthropist, Apostle Folorunso Alakija, has urged Nigerian women to move beyond having a voice to leading the transformation of society.

Alakija, who spoke as the keynote speaker at the 10th Voice of Women Conference and Awards in Lagos on Tuesday, said women must ensure that their voices translate into solutions and engender lasting change.

Alakija said, “A voice by itself is only potential. A voice may carry an idea; your voice may carry a solution; your voice may carry a business; your voice may carry wisdom that can change a young woman’s life. But if that voice remains inside you, the impact remains trapped.”

She argued that finding one’s voice was only the beginning, adding that women needed capacity to make meaningful use of opportunities.

“God can open a door, but we must develop the capacity to walk through it and be effective once we enter,” she said.

Alakija, who recalled her journey from office administration and banking into fashion, oil and gas, philanthropy and leadership, said women must progress from capacity to influence and ultimately to impact.

Katsina State has been urged to draw lessons from the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda in Kano and Niger states to strengthen its structures and improve women’s participation in peacebuilding and security decision-making.

The call followed experience-sharing by the Kano State WPS Chairperson, Hadiza Bala Fage, and Nana Hauwa Isa, representing Niger State WPS, who shared lessons and success stories from their respective states during a WPS stakeholders’ engagement in Katsina on Tuesday.

The session provided an opportunity for Katsina stakeholders to examine strategies that had worked in Kano and Niger and identify areas that could be adapted to strengthen the state’s WPS implementation.

Support Staff Union members of the Port Harcourt Refining Company have protested the delay in the payment of their seven months’ salaries and the non-implementation of a new salary structure recently approved by the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Bayo Ojulari.

The workers gave the management of the NNPCL a 48-hour ultimatum to implement the new salary structure or risk the total shutdown of the Port Harcourt Refining Company, located in Eleme, Rivers State.

The protesting workers, who barricaded the entrance of the PHRC on Monday, displayed placards with various inscriptions and mounted tents in front of the refinery gate, temporarily disrupting activities at the complex.

They alleged that after the NNPCL GCEO gave the approval, the Refinery Coordinator had refused to implement it.

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