By David Owei,Bayelsa
The leadership of the Bayelsa State Educational Trust Fund, EDTF, has solicited partnership with the media in the role of educating, and sensitizing the public on the mandate of the board as well as the publicization of its activities.

The Chairman of EDTF, High Chief Fidelis Agbiki stated this yesterday when he led the Executive Secretary, Prof Ebimieowei Etebu and other members of the newly inaugurated Board on a familiarization visit to the Federated Correspondents’ Chapel, of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Bayelsa State Council.

High Chief Agbiki who is also the Chairman of the Publicity and Sensitization Committee of the Board, said as critical stakeholders, it became imperative upon their inauguration in October last year to introduced the new Board to journalists and couth the cooperation of the media, who he noted has been a partner of the Board since its inception.

He said: “We are here to introduced the new board, which is the third since the inception of the EDTF and thanked the media for your support and solicit continued partnership and cooperation, understanding and cooperation. We have come here to introduced ourselves to you, that the relationship we have built over time should be sustain. When you are a friend of the press you are a friend of the community.”

On his part, the Executive Secretary of EDTF, Prof Ebimieowei Etebu, plead with the media to always project the activities of the Board in a way and manner that will engender unity, development and growth

He said: “We are new but not new to the educational sub sector. I have always had a passion to see how I can develop the youths and younger generation. I took this position over thirty years ago that whatever role I can play to better the lots of our youths in our society, I will do it, because once you have a vibrant youth, that society has a future. When that group of people in the society are educated, that society has a bright future but when that section are derail then we have a time bomb. So that has been my driving force.

“So when I was called upon to be the Executive Secretary of this Board, that is one thing that inspired me. We want to plead with you that has people that has the ears of the public, please I am calling on you to project the activities of the Board in a way and manner that will engender unity, development and growth.”

In his remark , the Chairman of the Federated Correspondents’ Chapel, of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Bayelsa State Council, Tife Owolabi, commended the EDTF for the visit and for holding the media in high esteem and urged them to always make their doors open to journalists to confirm, verify and cross checks facts.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced the sales of registration forms for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry (DE) admissions for the 2026/2027 academic session.

JAMB stated this in a post on its X handle on Tuesday night.

“UTME is open to suitably qualified candidates for admission into Nigerian tertiary institutions for the 2026/2027 academic session,” the photo statement signed by its Registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, read.

“Registration commences January 2026 and closes March 2026 (exact dates to be announced by JAMB),” the post read, disclosing that the UTME examination is scheduled to hold in April 2026.

“The period of registration for UTME candidates, including those from foreign countries, is from Monday, 26th January, 2026 to Saturday, 28th February, 2026,” the statement read in part.`

Maduka College Advert
According to JAMB, candidates must have obtained their National Identification Number (NIN) before registration.

The agency said, “Only candidates who will not be less than 16 years old by 30th September, 2026 are generally eligible to apply/be considered.”

But it clarified that, “Candidates less than 16 years old by 30th September, 2026 will have to undergo an intensive evaluation to determine their eligibility for a waiver. Such must have scored not less than 80% in each of UTME/ALEVEL, PUTME, SSCE, and in the exceptional candidate assessment.”

“The UTME results of the underage candidates will be released only at the conclusion of the complete evaluation process,” JAMB said.

For Direct Entry candidates, the “Sale of 2026 Direct Entry (DE) application documents and E-PIN vending would commence from Monday, 2nd March, 2026, and end by Saturday, 25th April, 2026, and would only be at the Board’s State and Zonal Offices.”

“The 2026 UTME will commence on Thursday, 16th April, 2026 and end on Saturday, 25th April, 2026,” JAMB wrote. “Mock-UTME (optional) shall hold on Saturday, March 28th, 2026.”

By George Mgbeleke

Even as report emerged that the federal government has hired a lobbying firm in a $9 million contract to assist in communicating its actions on protecting Christians in Nigeria to the United States government, the action has been dismissed as wasteful, hypocritical and a smokescreen. The action has also been termed an effort by the top government official to provide job for the boys which is totally irrelevant and meaningless.

Prominent pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) said it was nonsensical that the same government that denied that Christians were the targets of attacks genocide by armed Islamic terrorists has decided to fritter a huge chunk of public fund on the meaningless venture to explain to the United States of America what the government is doing for Christians which therefore means that truly the government has now accepted the obvious that indeed Christians are targeted in a well coordinated mass killings by Uslamic extremists in the North of Nigeria.

HURIWA stated that the media is reporting that according to the lobbying contract document filed with the US Department of Justice, Aster Legal, a law firm in Kaduna state, hired the services of DCI Group on behalf of Nuhu Ribadu, the national security adviser.

The agreement was signed by Oyetunji Olalekan Teslim, the managing partner of Aster Legal, and Justin Peterson, managing member of DCI group, on December 17, 2025.

According to the contract details, the American lobbying firm is expected to “assist the Nigerian government through Aster Legal in communicating its actions to protect Nigerian Christian communities and maintaining U.S support in countering West African jihadist groups and other destabilizing elements”.

It was agreed that the contract would be for six months until June 30, 2026, and would be automatically renewed for another six months.

HURIWA which condemned the wasteful gambit of frittering billions of Naira that could have been used to even motivate soldiers waging war on terror in the North of Nigeria, the Rights group said it makes no sense that the Nigerian government wants to explain happenings in the Country that are already well known and extensively reported on the Internet and aired in several global television stations like BBC, CNN, SkyNews, Aljazeera television all of which habe locally based journalists feeding them with happenings in Nigeria.

Besides, HURIWA reminded the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that it is an unproductive gambit to invest such a huge amount of public funds in attempting to sell propaganda to the same American government that is fully represented in Nigeria by their Ambassadors and hundreds of local staff just as HURIWA recalled that even the Congressional team from the USA spent nearly one month recently visiting theatres of terror attacks and generated information from eye witnesses and survivors of the terror attacks in several states of Nigeria.

The Rights group said that even the Congressional group from America that came were met hy government officials which then makes us wonder why we have to spend such a princely sum to educate American government on what government is doing to protect the same Christians that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu insisted were never targeted by terrorists. So who is deceiving who?

“Did President Tinubu and the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria not recently appointed and approved over 68 Ambassadors some of whom would be deployed to the United States of America? So why is the federal government frittering away such a humongous amount to inform the US government about treatment of Christians when representation of the country qualitatively is the core job of Ambassadors? This is an absolute bunkum.

“This Nigerian government deceitfully maintained that Christians were not been targeted by terrorists but at the same time the government has to hire US based lobbying firm to help it explain how it is protecting Christians. So why is the government protecting Christians that the same government said were never targeted for mass killings and extinction by Islamic terrorists? This shows you that the government of Nigeria has all the time been dishonest and untruthful about the situation of Nigerians and mostly Christians in the North facing genocidal killings by Islamic terrorists.