Senator Manu Haruna of the Taraba Central Senatorial District on Saturday concluded a three-day Quick Wins Training program dedicated to empowering women and youths in the District .

The event took place in Jalingo, the capital city of Taraba State, in collaboration with the Maryam Babangida National Centre for Women Development.

The training initiative is aimed to equip participants with practical skills and knowledge that can foster economic independence and stimulate community development. This program is a reflection of Senator Haruna’s commitment to improving the socio-economic status of underrepresented groups within his constituency.

The event was attended by prominent leaders, including Hon. Veronica Alhassan, Member of the House of Assembly for Bali I Constituency, and Hon. Alhassan Hamman, who presented certificates to participants on behalf of Senator Manu Haruna.

The involvement of critical stakeholders underscored the importance of collaboration between government officials and community leaders in driving sustained progress in Taraba Central.

Among the distinguished attendees were Hon. Ubale Gambo, Hon. Bala Baba, Alhaji Muhammad Nagaggo, Alhaji Raubilu Umar, among others, all of whom are dedicated to fostering development within the region.

Senator Manu Haruna expressed his gratitude to the National Centre for Women Development and all partners involved in the initiative.

He stressed the transformative potential of empowering women and youths, noting the necessity for continued support and resources to ensure sustainable growth in Taraba State.

This Quick Wins Training is poised to have a long-lasting impact on participants, equipping them with essential skills to make valuable contributions to their communities and the broader economy of Taraba State. By investing in the future of these underprivileged groups, the program seeks to inspire change and promote self-sufficiency among the local populace.

Disturbed by the resurgence spate of insecurity across the nation, the Nigerian Baptist Convention (NBC) has urged President Bola Tinubu to urgently convene a national security summit.

The proposed summit, according to the Convention, should bring together former Presidents, Heads of State as well as current and past security chiefs to chart a new course for tackling the worsening security crisis.

Speaking at a briefing ahead of the Convention’s 112th Annual Session and the 175th anniversary of Baptist missionary work in Nigeria, President of the Convention, Rev. Dr. Israel Akanji, said the proposed summit should include the Minister of Defence, Service Chiefs, the Inspector General of Police and heads of intelligence agencies.

He decried the deepening insecurity across the nation, citing recurring incidents of mass killings, kidnappings, and terrorist attacks in Plateau, Benue, Katsina, Zamfara, and Borno states.

He said: “The spate of mass burials in Bokkos, Barkin Ladi, Bassa, and other communities is deeply disturbing and unacceptable. This is not the time for lip service.”

He reiterated the Convention’s call for the creation of State Police, insisting that the current centralized policing model is inadequate for Nigeria’s security needs.

While noting some improvements in foreign investment inflow, he called on the government to intensify efforts to make Nigeria more attractive to investors.

Speaking on the convention with the theme: “Entering into Newness through Fasting and Prayer,” the NBC Convention President said the event will open Saturday, April 26 at the Baptist International Convention Centre along the Lagos-Ibadan Expresswayand and hosted by the Providence, Ethiope, and Anioma Delta Baptist Conferences.

Akanji also extended condolences to the Roman Catholic Church over the passing of Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, in Vatican City, a day after delivering his Easter message. “What a glorious exit,” he said.

The Nation reports that, the Nigerian Baptist Convention was established as a national body on March 11, 1914 during a meeting at First Baptist Church, Idikan Street, Ibadan.

Brazil’s former president Fernando Collor de Mello was arrested and taken to prison Friday to begin serving a nearly nine-year sentence for corruption and money laundering, the latest former leader to face jail time.

Collor de Mello, Brazil’s first democratically elected president after a decades-long dictatorship, resigned in 1992 after Congress launched impeachment proceedings against him for allegedly taking bribes.

His arrest stems from a conviction over bribes taken two decades later while a senator, part of the sprawling “Car Wash” corruption scandal.

The 75-year-old was detained in Maceio city in northeastern Alagoas state, where he served as a senator and governor, a federal police source told AFP.

In 2023, Collor de Mello was found guilty of having received 20 million reais ($3.5 million dollars) in bribes while a senator between 2010 and 2014 to “irregularly facilitate contracts” between a construction company and a former subsidiary of Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras.

On Thursday, Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes rejected Collor de Mello’s last-gasp efforts to have the arrest order annulled.

His lawyers told local media the arrest came as he was about to travel to the capital Brasilia to turn himself in.

Moraes ordered he be incarcerated in an individual cell in a “special wing” of Baldomero Cavalcanti de Oliveira prison in Maceio.

His lawyers said they would seek permission for him to serve his sentence under house arrest.

Collor de Mello is not Brazil’s first president to fall foul of the law.

Four of the seven people who have led the country since the 1964-1985 military dictatorship have either been convicted, jailed or impeached.

In the latest case, far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro has been ordered to stand trial over an alleged coup plot after losing the 2022 election.

While recovering in hospital this week from intestinal surgery, a court official handed the 70-year-old a summons giving him five days to submit his initial defense.

– ‘Car Wash’ fallout –

Current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who served two terms between 2003 and 2010, was among dozens of top businessmen and politicians in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America who were caught up in the Car Wash mega-probe.

The investigation uncovered a vast network of bribes paid by large construction companies to politicians in several countries to obtain major public works contracts.

Lula spent a year and a half behind bars before having his conviction overturned by the Supreme Court and winning a third term in October 2022.

Collor de Mello was heralded as a youthful non-conformist figure who promised far-reaching political and social reforms when he beat the leftist Lula to the presidency in 1989.

But his day in the sun did not last long.

Less than three years later he stood down as president as the impeachment process was nearly complete.

He returned to politics, after a period of ineligibility had expired, and in 2006 was elected senator for Alagoas, a seat he held until 2022.

In 2022, he campaigned for Bolsonaro who was seeking re-election but it was Collor de Mello’s old adversary Lula who triumphed. [AFP/CBS]