The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, has reaffirmed the commission’s neutrality ahead of the 2027 general election, saying INEC has no candidate or political party to favour.

In a post obtained from INEC’s X handle on Sunday, Amupitan stated this during a visit to the Emir of Zazzau, Amb.

The visit formed part of activities surrounding INEC’s planned interactive meeting with staff and readiness assessment at the zonal level.

The INEC chairman was accompanied by National Commissioners, the Acting Director-General of the Electoral Institute, his Chief Press Secretary, Chief Technical Assistant, Chief of Staff, Special Aides and other senior officials of the commission.

Amupitan described traditional institutions as important stakeholders in the electoral process because of their influence and reach within communities.

He said elections were fundamentally about the social contract between citizens and those entrusted with public office, stressing that public trust was essential to the success of democracy.

According to him, INEC has commenced preparations early because of the size and complexity of conducting elections across Nigeria.

He said the commission had moved away from last-minute preparations and was testing, auditing and strengthening its operational systems well ahead of the 2027 polls.

Amupitan assured the Emir that INEC remained committed to neutrality, fairness and transparency in the conduct of elections.

“We have no candidates, we have no political party, we have no interest other than the sovereign will of the people of Nigeria,” the INEC chairman said.

He added that the commission would continue engaging traditional institutions and other stakeholders as it intensifies preparations for the 2027 General Election.

The Nigerian Forest Security Service (NFSS), Kano State Command, has deployed personnel to Garko Local Government Area to track and contain dogs suspected to be infected with rabies.

The service said the suspected rabid dog had bitten 18 people in Garko and its environs.

The NFSS State Commander, Abdullahi Al’ameen, disclosed this in a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the service, Usman Abdullahi-Umar, on Sunday in Kano.

Al’ameen said: “The command received a distress report at about 2 p.m. that a dog suspected to be rabid has attacked residents in Garko town.

“The dog has so far bitten 11 persons in Garko town before moving to neighbouring communities, including Raba, Kadage, Gurjiya and Dausai.

“It has also attacked and bitten seven additional persons in the affected communities.”

The commander further explained that they had received another report that two more dogs had been infected with rabies in the area.

Al’ameen said personnel of NFSS Garko Division, under the leadership of the Divisional Forest Officer, Auwalu Muhammad, had been deployed to the affected areas to track and contain the infected dogs.

He urged residents of Garko and neighbouring communities to remain vigilant and report sightings of stray or suspected rabid dogs to the nearest NFSS office or other security agencies.

The commander also advised residents who might have been bitten by suspected rabid dogs to seek immediate medical attention.

Al’ameen assured residents that the NFSS would continue to monitor the situation and take necessary measures to prevent further attacks.(NAN)

The Federal Government said it is working to create one million export-linked jobs and produce 10 million globally certified Nigerians by 2030 through reforms in education and skills development.

This is contained in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja by Mr Ikharo Attah, Special Adviser on Media and Communications to the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa.

Attah quoted Alausa to have said this at the “Hire From Nigeria” side event on the margins of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Alausa said the Federal Ministry of Education was playing a key role on the supply side of the National Talent Export Programme by building a talent pipeline linked directly to global employment opportunities.

He said the ministry was repositioning Nigeria’s education and skills system to produce trained, certified and adaptable talent capable of competing in the global outsourcing and digitally enabled services market.

According to him, Nigeria’s youthful population, English-language advantage, cultural adaptability and growing digital capabilities provide a strong foundation for participation in the global services economy.

“Nigeria’s greatest asset is its people: a young, ambitious, English-speaking and increasingly digitally capable population.

‎“Our task in Education is to turn that scale into verified competence and reliable service delivery,” he said.

Alausa said skills, quality and reliability would determine Nigeria’s competitiveness in a rapidly changing global market.

He identified the gap between training and evolving employer demand, limited work-based learning opportunities and access to internationally recognised certification as some of the challenges requiring attention.

The minister said the ministry was addressing the challenges through curriculum reform, stronger accreditation and quality assurance, as well as expanded digital and technical training.

“We need a permanent employer-led feedback loop, not occasional curriculum reviews,” he said.

Alausa stressed the need for employers to participate in programme design, training, assessment, certification and recruitment.

He said the reform agenda also sought to change perceptions of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) by positioning skills training as a pathway to income, enterprise and global opportunities.

The minister disclosed that the Federal Government’s free TVET programme had attracted more than one million applications, with 160,000 trainees supported through about 1,200 centres nationwide.

He said the centres included Federal Technical Colleges and accredited private training centres.

Alausa said the government was also promoting multiple pathways to employment and enterprise through university education, TVET, apprenticeships and continuous upskilling.

He said each pathway was designed to provide opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship and further learning.

The minister said preparing young Nigerians for an economy increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and advanced technologies was another priority.

“We must train young people to work with artificial intelligence, not to compete with it on routine tasks,” he said.

He said the focus was increasingly on skills that complemented technology, including judgement, creativity, domain knowledge, data literacy, cybersecurity, cloud services, software development, customer success and quality assurance.

Alausa said the Digital Training Academy was partnering with global learning providers, including Coursera and Pluralsight, to provide 32,000 Nigerians with free access to professional digital and technology training.

He said the programme covered fields including product management, cloud computing, cybersecurity, information technology automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning, financial technology and natural language processing.

The minister added that the Student Venture Capital Grant was supporting students in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) disciplines to translate innovative ideas into viable enterprises.

Given the pace of technological change, Alausa said Nigeria’s education system must enable young people to learn, unlearn and retrain throughout their careers.

He therefore urged international employers, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) operators, investors and development partners to move beyond expressions of interest towards practical partnerships and investable talent pipelines.

He urged employers to define their skills requirements, co-design training programmes, provide work-based learning, recognise credible Nigerian certifications and recruit from Nigerian talent pools.

Alausa also urged BPO operators and investors to establish and expand delivery centres beyond Nigeria’s largest commercial cities while supporting training infrastructure, connectivity, quality systems and management capability.

He said development partners could support the initiative through scalable certification, instructor development, inclusion of women and underserved communities, labour-market intelligence and outcome measurement.

The minister said international institutional partnerships and centres of excellence in Nigerian institutions would further strengthen global linkages, benchmarking and knowledge transfer.

He said the ministry would deepen industry participation in curriculum development and certification, expand market-relevant TVET and digital-skills pathways, and strengthen accreditation and quality assurance.

Alausa reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to aligning education reform with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly its focus on human capital development, job creation, skills acquisition and inclusive economic growth.

He said the ministry would continue to build an education and skills system that connected Nigerian talent to opportunities, strengthened Nigeria’s position in the global economy and enabled young Nigerians to build sustainable careers at home and abroad. (NAN)