Okparaku Josephine A child is supposed to be protected, cared for, and given the opportunity to grow, learn, and build a future. But for some children in Imo State, this is not their reality. Trafficking does not always involve strangers kidnapping children. Sometimes, children are taken by people they know or people who pretend to want to help them. In 2025 alone, the Imo State Police Command rescued 12 children between the ages of 5 and 13 who were allegedly being trafficked from Ngor-Okpala to Aba and forced into street begging. In Imo State, child trafficking happens in different ways. Some families as a result of poverty and economic hardship allow their children to go stay with relatives, who they trust to give their children the best care, but in turn these children are brought to the city to undergo child labor, sex exploitation and other forms of child abuse. Teenage girls are particularly vulnerable to trafficking. Some are promised jobs, education or better lives but l...

  By Adediran Ayomide Lagos, Nigeria — October 3, 2026.  The Sustainable Futures Development Initiative (SUFDI) mobilised residents, volunteers and community stakeholders for a large-scale environmental sanitation exercise covering 10 streets in Ijora-Badia, Lagos State, as part of efforts to promote cleaner neighbourhoods, healthier living conditions and greater community responsibility for environmental protection. The exercise, held on Saturday, October 3, 2026, formed part of Nigeria Cleanup Day 2026, a nationwide environmental action campaign convened by the Africa CleanUp Initiative (ACI). Organised under the theme “Clean Ijora, Breathe Better: From Cleanup to Community Action,” the intervention combined street cleaning, community environmental awareness and air-quality assessment to address sanitation challenges while encouraging long-term behavioural change. During the exercise, volunteers and community residents worked across 10 streets, removing accumulated refuse an...

The ongoing employer-employee saga surrounding Mr. Stephen Akintayo of Gtek has once again opened a conversation Nigerians have been having for years but rarely want to confront honestly. And honestly, there are no completely innocent parties here. Many of the big companies we admire today are battling the same problems behind closed doors: delayed salaries, overworked employees, one person doing the job of three, unrealistic targets, and workers being told to “earn their keep” before they can justify their salaries. For many Nigerian 9 - 5 workers, the reality is brutal. You work from Monday to Friday , or sometimes Monday to Saturday. You wake up early, fight traffic, spend money getting to work, give your time, energy and expertise to a company, and then at the end of the mont h; What is left ? No meaningful savings , No investment , No financial breathing space. Sometimes, your salary finishes before it even arrives. And then you look at your employer and think, “How can yo...