Nigerian YOUTH FORUM

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The children and teachers kidnapped by bandits in Ogbomosho, Oyo State, are reportedly still being held in the bush, yet there seems to be little action or response from the government toward their rescue. 😪

Nigeria is currently facing a serious security crisis, with innocent people being kidnapped and killed on a daily basis. 💔

This is a cry for help. 😭

🇳🇬]

😢😭😿😢😭
Until every kidnapped children is rescued, our Children’s Day is only grief wearing a smile.

The Founder of Moniepoint says he cannot fill 500 vacancies because Nigerian youths are not employable.

A post currently circulating on Facebook talks about a friend trying to hire for a cold room business, offering N200,000 to N250,000 monthly, and still cannot find the right person.

The conclusion from both sides is the same.

Nigerians are not employable.

Both of them are not entirely wrong.

But both of them are not telling the complete story either.

Let me try.

First

this is not a Nigerian problem. It is a global problem.

The United States, the largest economy in the world has over 8 million unfilled job vacancies as of 2025.

Not because Americans are lazy or unintelligent. But because the skills employers want and the skills the education system produces do not match.

Germany, the industrial engine of Europe is facing its worst skilled labour shortage in history. They are actively importing workers from Africa and Asia because their own population cannot fill the gap.

Japan, one of the most disciplined, educated, and hardworking societies on earth — has a skills crisis so severe that companies are hiring people in their 70s and 80s to stay operational.

China, with 1.4 billion people and the second largest economy in the world has millions of unemployed graduates while factories cannot find skilled technicians.

This is a structural development problem that every economy faces at different stages of growth.

It is not a Nigerian character flaw.

So before we use one man's frustration to indict an entire generation — let us be honest about the global context we are operating in.

Second

let us talk about Moniepoint specifically.

Moniepoint is a payment infrastructure company.

The millions if not billions of naira being transacted on that platform every single day — who is doing that?

The agents on the streets of Oshodi, Onitsha, Kano, and Warri processing payments at N100 per transaction.

The market women using the POS terminals.

The small business owners who adopted digital payments before many corporate executives did.

The same Nigerians he says are unemployable are the engine of his entire business model.

You cannot build a billion dollar Nigerian company on the back of Nigerian resourcefulness — and then turn around and question Nigerian intelligence.

That is a contradiction that deserves examination.

And then there is a deeper question nobody is asking —

What is Moniepoint's internal training infrastructure?

When Japan faced a skills crisis after the Second World War, Toyota did not go on television and complain that Japanese workers were unemployable. They built the Toyota Production System — a training philosophy so powerful it became a global management standard. They took raw, unskilled workers and built world class competence from the inside.

The most sophisticated companies in the world do not just hire competence.

They build it.

If you are running a technology company in a developing economy and your only strategy for talent is to find it fully formed — that is not a talent problem.

That is a leadership gap.

Third

and this is the point almost nobody is talking about.

Who defined what employable means in Nigeria?

The skills being demanded by Nigerian tech companies are almost entirely modelled on Silicon Valley and Western corporate frameworks.

When we say a Nigerian youth is not employable — employable by whose standard? Optimised for whose system? Built for whose economy?

The same young Nigerian that a tech founder calls unemployable is —

Running a logistics operation entirely on WhatsApp with zero formal training.

Managing a thrift contribution system for 200 people with zero defaults and zero software.

Pricing goods across three different markets simultaneously — in his head — while negotiating in two or three languages before 9am.

Repairing a generator, a phone, and a tricycle engine with tools that should not work — and making them work.

These are extraordinary economic skills.

They are just not packaged in a CV format that fits a Western corporate template.

The real question is not whether Nigerian youths are smart.

Anybody who has spent real time in this market knows they are.

The real question is whether we are building an economy and companies that recognise, formalise, and develop the intelligence that already exists.

Or whether we are measuring our people with a ruler that was never designed for them.

The employability gap in Nigeria is not a motivation problem.

It is a structural problem.

A broken education system that produces graduates without practical skills.

An economy that did not build enough industries to train people through real work experience.

Employers who want world class output but are unwilling to invest in world class development.

And a conversation that keeps blaming the individual — instead of interrogating the system that produced them.

In economics, when the output is consistently disappointing — you do not keep blaming the output.

You examine the process that created it.

The problem is not the Nigerian youth.

The problem is the soil they were given to grow in.

And until we are honest about that —

we will keep having this conversation.

Every year.

Louder and louder.

With less and less progress.

POLICE BUST TRANSNATIONAL FRAUDSTER, ARREST FAKE W’BANK OFFICIAL, 2 OTHERS OVER N85m SCAM

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has recorded major breakthroughs in its ongoing crackdown on cybercrime, dismantling a cross-border fraud syndicate and arresting multiple suspects linked to high-profile financial crimes.

The operations, led by the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) under the directive of Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu, targeted fraud schemes involving international victims, insider abuse of corporate systems, and business email compromise.

In one of the cases, operatives arrested Agbor Martins Black-Diamond, who allegedly posed as an official of the World Bank to defraud foreign victims. The suspect was apprehended on March 31, 2026, following intelligence received from a Nairobi-based NGO, the East Africa Sub-Sahara Africa Safe Promotion Foundation.

Investigations revealed that the suspect deceived two Kenyan nationals into transferring a total of $250,000 over three years under the pretext of facilitating access to donor funding. Police said the funds were collected as fictitious registration and administrative fees, while no such funding existed. The suspect reportedly organised fake symposiums in Nigeria and South Africa to sustain the fraud.

Further findings showed that in 2024, the victims were persuaded to secure a bank loan using family property as collateral to access a non-existent $850,000 empowerment fund in Ghana. Financial analysis confirmed multiple inflows, including $57,975 received between February and July 2023.

Police also uncovered that the suspect operated through an unregistered entity, Black Diamond African Beauty Restoration Foundation, before registering another company, United African Continent Limited, in November 2024 to lend legitimacy to his activities. He is additionally accused of defrauding local farmers in Kuje Area Council, Abuja, by collecting ₦50,000 each under false empowerment schemes.

In a separate operation on April 3, 2026, the NPF-NCCC arrested a former employee, Chinedu Mbachu, over allegations of cyber-related fraud against his former employer, NewLife Ventures in Makurdi. The suspect allegedly manipulated company systems, diverted customer payments into personal accounts, and engaged in cybersquatting. Items recovered from him include a mobile phone and identity documents.

In another case, police arrested two suspects — Ayodele Daramola, 31, and Dada Babatunde Oluwatobi, 29 — over a sophisticated business email compromise (BEC) scheme involving a private firm. Investigators said the duo conspired between May and December 2025 to divert company funds amounting to ₦85 million.

According to the police, the suspects exploited internal systems to channel the funds through a commercial bank account. Analysis showed that 21 per cent of the proceeds, about ₦17.85 million, was retained by Babatunde, while 79 per cent, approximately ₦67.15 million, was transferred to an account linked to Daramola. Of that amount, about ₦61 million was reportedly spent on online gambling platforms.

Recovered exhibits include ₦4 million in cash, a Lexus ES350 vehicle, a laptop, and a smartphone. Authorities say efforts are ongoing to recover the remaining funds and ensure prosecution.

Reaffirming the Force’s stance, the Inspector-General warned that Nigeria would not serve as a safe haven for cybercriminals, stressing that law enforcement agencies would continue to pursue offenders exploiting digital platforms and cross-border networks for fraud.

The police also assured both local and international stakeholders of their commitment to safeguarding Nigeria’s digital economy and maintaining the integrity of its financial systems.

IF SOMEONE DRINKS SACHET WATER, AND THROWS IT ON THE EXPRESSWAY, THEY’LL SAY IT IS CAUSED By GOVERNMENTS –2Baba

According to a report by Premium Times on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, Nigerian music icon Innocent Idibia, popularly known as 2Baba, has shared his views on the state of the nation, stating that Nigeria has experienced gradual improvement over the years despite ongoing economic and security challenges.

The award-winning artist made these remarks during a recent interview on the programme “Chookmouth” aired on Wazobia FM, where he discussed national development, governance, and the role of citizens in shaping the country’s future.

During the discussion, 2Baba reflected on Nigeria’s past and present conditions, noting that while challenges remain, there has been noticeable progress in certain areas.

His comments were made in response to questions about the country’s political and social direction, with reference to his earlier music that addressed societal issues.

He indicated that comparing Nigeria’s current situation with previous years reveals changes that suggest some level of advancement, even if the pace of progress may not meet the expectations of many citizens.

The conversation also touched on public attitudes toward governance and accountability.

According to the singer, there is a growing tendency among citizens to place responsibility for every problem on political leaders while overlooking individual actions that contribute to societal issues.

He explained that everyday behaviours, such as improper waste disposal, can create larger problems that affect communities, yet responsibility for such outcomes is often shifted entirely to government authorities.

2Baba used practical examples to illustrate how personal actions can influence public conditions.

He pointed out that when individuals engage in activities that harm the environment or disrupt public systems, the consequences are often blamed on government institutions.

This pattern, he suggested, reflects a broader issue in how responsibility is shared between citizens and leadership.

His remarks highlighted the importance of considering both individual and collective roles in addressing national challenges.

While acknowledging the responsibilities of leaders, 2Baba emphasised that governance alone cannot resolve all societal problems without active participation from the public.

He noted that progress requires a combination of effective leadership and responsible citizenship.

By drawing attention to this balance, he aimed to encourage a broader understanding of how different factors contribute to the country’s development.

He said, “One funny thing with Nigeria is that many things are happening. If someone drinks sachet water and throws it on the expressway, they will say it is caused by Tinubu. When it blocks drainage, they will say it is the governor’s problem.

NIGERIA'S FOREST AT THE BRINKS OF NO RETURN

Nigeria stands at an ecological precipice that demands immediate national attention. The Nigerian Conservation Foundation has issued a stark warning: the country has lost nearly 90 per cent of its forest cover in the past three decades, leaving less than 10 per cent of its original forest landscape intact. This figure marks one of the most rapid deforestation rates anywhere in the world.

While insecurity, inflation and political turmoil dominate headlines, this silent crisis threatens the very foundation of water security, food production, rural livelihoods and national stability. It is ecocide unfolding in slow motion, a profound moral and governance failure that tests the social contract between state and citizen.

The drivers of this collapse are well documented yet persistently unaddressed. Illegal logging for timber and charcoal feeds urban demand and export markets. Rapid population growth has intensified pressure for fuelwood, while urban sprawl consumes peri-urban forests. Industrial agriculture and plantation expansion convert woodlands into cropland, and weak enforcement, coupled with corruption in forestry governance, allows violators to operate with impunity. Global Forest Watch data corroborate the scale: between 2001 and 2024 Nigeria lost 1.4 million hectares of tree cover, with 250,000 hectares of natural forest vanishing in 2024 alone. The Nigerian Conservation Foundation estimates current annual losses at around 400,000 hectares.

The result is accelerated desertification in the Sahelian North and intensified flooding in the South, destabilising the hydrological systems that once buffered the nation against climate extremes.

The consequences cascade across every sector. Forests once acted as natural sponges, regulating river flows, recharging aquifers and preventing erosion. Their destruction has triggered declining river volumes, falling groundwater levels and sedimentation in major dams such as Kainji and Shiroro. Urban flooding has become more frequent and severe as runoff accelerates without vegetative cover. For agriculture, which supplies the bulk of Nigeria’s food from rural smallholder farms, the outlook is equally dire. Soil fertility declines, rainfall patterns become erratic, temperatures rise and pests proliferate.

In the Sahelian belt spanning Borno, Yobe, Jigawa, northern Bauchi and Katsina, desertification is shrinking arable land, deepening food insecurity and fuelling rural poverty. This ecological unraveling directly undermines national food security.

Rural livelihoods are collapsing under the weight of lost resources. Communities in the North and Middle Belt have long depended on forests for fuelwood, herbal medicine, hunting, non-timber products such as shea, gum arabic and honey, and grazing vegetation. The disappearance of these assets has displaced families, intensified competition over shrinking resources and escalated inter-communal conflicts.

Herder-farmer tensions, already exacerbated by insecurity, are worsened as grazing routes vanish and arable land contracts. Youth, deprived of traditional forest-based opportunities, migrate to cities already strained by unemployment and housing shortages, or worse, become recruits for armed groups. Deforestation is thus not merely environmental; it is a driver of the very insecurity that further accelerates forest loss, creating a vicious feedback loop.

Philosophically, this crisis exposes a deeper failure of stewardship. Nigeria’s forests represent a shared national heritage, a common good that successive governments have treated as expendable. The social contract implicit in the 1999 Constitution, which mandates the state to protect the welfare of citizens, is breached when the very ecosystems sustaining life are allowed to vanish. Greed and short-term expediency have triumphed over moral rectitude and long-term vision.

Colonial legacies of exploitative forestry policies linger in outdated laws and fragmented enforcement. Despite multiple national policies, the absence of an updated forest inventory, coordinated federal-state action, community incentives and adequate funding has left the sector vulnerable. Illegal loggers, often shielded by political networks, operate freely while reforestation efforts remain symbolic.

Environmental advocates rightly demand decisive intervention. A federal declaration of a state of emergency on deforestation would coordinate a unified response. Large-scale reforestation campaigns, modelled on Ethiopia’s Green Legacy initiative, must be launched with measurable targets and community ownership. Satellite monitoring, drones and strengthened forest rangers should underpin an immediate crackdown on illegal logging networks. Stiffer penalties, including jail terms, must replace the current culture of impunity. A transition to renewable energy sources would reduce reliance on firewood and charcoal, while community-based forest management would restore local stewardship and economic incentives.

The stakes extend beyond ecology to national survival. Without forests, Nigeria risks losing not only water and food but also the climate buffers and biodiversity that underpin stability. Migration pressures will intensify, conflicts will multiply and economic volatility will deepen. Yet this tipping point also offers an opportunity for renewal. By treating forest restoration as a national security imperative, Nigeria can demonstrate the moral courage and strategic foresight that true leadership requires. The lessons of shared vulnerability, collective responsibility and intergenerational equity must guide policy.

History will not remember this generation by how loudly it decried crises but by whether it acted to reverse them. The vanishing canopy is a silent alarm. Nigeria must answer it with urgency, unity and resolve before the point of no return is crossed. The survival of the nation, quite literally, depends on it.

THE FALL OF A BILLIONAIRE FROM IJEBU

The story of Alhaji Safiriyu Tiamiyu,

the man who started ST Soap from a single face me i face you room apartment in Ijebu.

A business that would later make him a billionaire.

From a very young age, Alhaji Tiamiyu understood struggle.

He was travelling all the way to Kogi State to buy garri,

bringing it down to Lagos to sell.

Day in, day out, he kept pushing.

For more than 20 good years, he stayed consistent in that garri business.

After all those years,

he was finally able to save some money.

In 1979, he borrowed ₦3,000 from his father and joined it with his own ₦2,000,

money he had painfully saved from selling garri

Making ₦5,000

and he decided to enter into soap making....And nylon business

At that time, soap was in very high demand.

What people knew more were detergents like OMO detergent and Klin detergent.

The real bathing soap was scarce.

That gap became his opportunity.

Pushed by this motivation, Mr Tiamiyu decided to focus on producing soap specially made for bathing and wahing clothes.

And so, in 1979, ST Soap was born.

“ST” an abbreviation of his name, Safiriyu Tiamiyu.

From that small beginning,

something big started rising.

Because of his strong business sense, within just a few years, ST grew into a large conglomerate.

The company employed more than 1,000 people.

Its headquarters was in Ijebu Mushin, with branches spread across Ogun State.

His success did not come by chance.

It came from his diligent spirit.

And also from his heavy investment in advertisement.

If you grew up in the early 2000s in the South West,

it was almost impossible not to hear the famous ST advert on radio and television.

He also sponsored many programs on Tv and radio...

Including the popular Kola Olawuyi Show Nkan Mbe.

In fact, he was one of the major sponsors of that show.

Business was booming for him..

ST became a household name.

Infact.... the soap was my dad’s favourite.

I still remember the first time I saw it.

My dad made me love it.

Anytime we went to the stream to bathe back then in the village,

he would always use ST Soap.

Very white, foamy soap.

After bathing, rinsing the foam from the sponge was a serious battle.

You needed plenty of water.

But something happened that changed the life of Alhaji Tiamiyu forever...

In 2005, Alhaji Safiriyu Tiamiyu was accused of buying human p@rts and doing money r!tuals.

A serious allegation that would later cru$hed him.

Though the court later cleared him of of that...

But the d@mage had already been done.

His reputation was b@dly affected.

Gradually, the business began to coll@pse.

He withdrew from the public eye, and the once-famous ST Soap slowly disappeared from the market.

In October 2020, Alhaji Safiriyu Tiamiyu d!ed after a prolonged !llness,

an !llness many believed was worsened by the pa!n of watching his multi-billion naira company f@ll apart.

This is w!ckedness.

Am sure his enem!es, thre@tened by his success, decided to bring him down.

But what they didn’t know was that, they didn’t just hur*t one man.

They took food away from over 1,000 workers who depended on that company.

Something like this can never happened abroad.

That is why their country would keep growing, and many of us would always dream of going there.

Because they don't pull themselves down...

Here,we are too quick to pull ourselves down.

And we wonder why we are not progressing as a nation... everything is not government.

It's well

Onueje

Shocking: He Died in His Room, Decomposed, and Turned to Bones—No One Noticed for Four Years

This is not a riddle. It is not a movie scene. It is a true story.

Few years ago, a disturbing discovery was made in Ibadan, Oyo State. It was not a crime scene with blood or broken doors. It was not a loud tragedy that drew crowds.

It was a silent one.

The man at the centre of this story was Aderemi Abiola.

For years, nobody asked where he was. Nobody reported him missing. Nobody knocked on his door to check if he was alive. And so, a human being died in his own house and slowly decomposed into bones while life continued outside.

The house was located at Idi Orogbo, Adeosun, Life Forte area of Awotan, Apete, Ibadan. To passersby, it looked like an abandoned building. The compound was overgrown with weeds. Bushes covered the fence. Grass swallowed the driveway. It looked forgotten.

Neighbours assumed the owner had travelled. Some thought he had relocated. Others simply did not care enough to ask. The house had always been quiet, even when the man was alive.

Aderemi Abiola lived alone. He was known as a quiet, reserved man who kept to himself. He did not disturb anyone. He did not draw attention. In a society where everyone is busy with their own struggles, his silence made it easy for him to disappear unnoticed.

Years passed.

Rain beat on the roof. The sun baked the walls. Dust settled. Grass kept growing. And inside one of the rooms, a man lay on his bed, unmoving, slowly returning to the earth.

No one knew.

Everything changed when members of the community decided to clear the overgrown compound. Some feared criminals and reptiles might be hiding there. Others were simply tired of seeing the abandoned house.

They sought permission from the police before entering.

When they forced the door open, the smell spoke first—a heavy, disturbing odour that told the story of death before their eyes confirmed it.

Inside one of the rooms, they found skeletal human remains lying on a bed. The body had completely decomposed. The flesh was gone. What remained were bones, arranged in the shape of a man who had once lived, breathed, and hoped.

The skeleton was on the bed—not on the floor, not outside—but exactly where a person would lie down to rest.

Then they noticed something chilling.

A mobile phone was still in his hand.

That single detail raised painful questions. Was he trying to call for help? Did the phone have no network? Was it dead? Did he collapse suddenly while waiting for someone to answer?

No one could tell.

Police officers arrived and secured the scene. There were no signs of forced entry. The house was locked from the inside. There were no signs of struggle. No blood. No broken furniture.

This was not a murder.

It was loneliness.

Inside the compound, his car was still parked where he left it. Over the years, grass had grown around it, slowly swallowing it. Like its owner, the car had blended into silence.

During a search of the room, police found a wallet. Inside it was a driver’s licence. That was how the bones finally got a name.

Aderemi Abiola.

A driver. A Nigerian man. A human being.

Investigators believe he likely died around 2022. That means his body lay in that room for about four years, undiscovered.

Four years of silence.

A life that ended quietly, without notice.

Please, be your neighbour’s keeper. Check on people when you can!🤷🏾‍♂️

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