The Zamfara government has certified 123 private schools pass the minimum operational teaching and learning standard test for children in the state.

  The state government had identified 508 schools operating under private ownership, and 242 were tested in various areas to ensure compliance with the state’s minimum learning and teaching standards for kids.

 Hajiya Kulu Na’ala, Chairperson, Committee for Enforcement of Minimum Standard and Regulatory Compliance of the Private Schools, said this during the presentation of the committee’s report, on Tuesday in Gusau.

 She said that part of the mandate of the committee was to ensure that private schools meet the minimum conditions for safe, lawful and quality operation in line with the state government’s policy on education.

 Na’ala said that 242 out of the 508 identified schools were assessed; 123 were rated good, and 119 rated fair or poor.

 She said that the committee recorded significant achievements during the assessment exercise, including the recovery of N23 million tax liabilities, and paid to the Zamfara State Internal Revenue Service.

 The chairlady said that proprietors were trained to generate tax invoices and use electronic payment channels to reduce revenue leakage, as well as deployment of a standardised digital assessment instrument with school grading and operational level recommendations completed.

 Na’ala said that the committee also established a comprehensive database of private schools for future exercises, to  improve awareness on minimum standards, child protection, quality assurance, and documentation.

 She identified lack of extant law to regulate private schools, as a major challenge towards ensuring effective regulations in the state.

 “The scope permitted operation in approval certificates is unclear and difficult to enforce. Schools in this category operating without approval certificates need urgent resolution,” she said.

 Na’ala reiterated the committee’s resolve to ensure that private schools comply with laid-down standards, warning that non-compliant schools risk deregistration.

 While reiterating commitment to enforce tax obligations to boost education funding, Na’ala advocated sound legislations to back enforcement, ease approval processes, and monitoring of lesson centres operating outside the formal system. (NAN).

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) says it has rescued more than 3,000 victims of sexual and gender-based violence in 2026.

The Head, Press and Public Relations of NAPTIP, Mr Vincent Adekoye, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja at the Joint Security News Briefing organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser.

Adekoye said the agency also secured more than 20 convictions in 2026 as it intensified operations against human trafficking and exploitation.

He said human trafficking was increasingly migrating to the digital space, with criminal networks exploiting social media, encrypted messaging platforms and fake online job portals.

“Human trafficking is migrating to the digital space, and we must adapt our response to meet this emerging threat,” Adekoye said.

He said traffickers were increasingly targeting Nigerian youths with fraudulent offers of lucrative employment in Southeast Asia, particularly Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.

According to him, victims are often stripped of their travel documents on arrival and forced into guarded compounds controlled by cybercrime syndicates.

Adekoye said the victims were subsequently coerced into online fraud, romance scams and cryptocurrency-related crimes targeting people in other countries.

He said NAPTIP was strengthening intelligence gathering and international cooperation to identify digital recruitment pipelines and dismantle transnational trafficking networks.

The spokesperson said the agency secured nine convictions and rescued more than 80 suspected trafficking victims during operations conducted in July and August.

He said intelligence-led operations around the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport disrupted trafficking “muster points” used to transit victims abroad.

Adekoye said rescued victims were placed under NAPTIP’s protective care and provided with counselling, medical evaluation and rehabilitation.

He also disclosed that the agency was investigating the alleged trafficking and illegal adoption of 54 children from Loko community in Nasarawa State.

He said the children were allegedly taken from displaced families through a fraudulent “Back to School Initiative” and trafficked to unauthorised orphanages and adoption brokers.

Adekoye said investigators were working with state welfare authorities and other security agencies to recover the children and prosecute those responsible.

He said NAPTIP also sealed an illegal maternity facility in Port Harcourt in August and arrested three persons allegedly linked to an international baby-selling network.

The spokesperson said the agency, supported by partners, had inaugurated a specialised Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Media Corps to strengthen public awareness and address technology-facilitated exploitation.

He urged Nigerians to verify overseas employment offers before travelling and avoid engaging unverified online recruiters.

Adekoye also called on members of the public to report suspicious recruitment schemes, unauthorised child-placement activities and unregistered care facilities to NAPTIP.

He said the agency would continue adapting its strategies to ensure that technology did not become a tool for traffickers to recruit, exploit and control vulnerable Nigerians.

Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), ACI Akinsola Akinlabi, said NIS had intensified border surveillance and migration management to identify and disrupt activities linked to irregular migration and human trafficking.

Akinlabi said the Service rescued 23 suspected victims during interventions in July and August, including cases intercepted at airports and land-border locations.

He said 99 foreigners were repatriated during the period, while the Service also apprehended a stowaway and identified four persons of interest during its border and migration-control operations.

Akinlabi said the NIS had commenced the second phase of measures to extend enhanced migration-control coverage to additional land-border points.

He said the Service was also strengthening airport operations and personnel capacity to improve the detection of trafficking, document fraud and other forms of irregular migration.

The spokesperson said the NIS and National Counter-Terrorism Centre had jointly hosted a national coordination meeting on the implementation of the Advance Passenger Information and Passenger Name Record systems.

He said the initiative would strengthen passenger screening, information sharing and the early identification of persons and movements considered security concerns.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) have clarified that candidates seeking admission into tertiary institutions will pay N4,000 once for verification of their O’Level results.

The two examination bodies made the clarification in a joint statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja, following consultations on the recently introduced policy for verification of West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE/O’Level) results.

‎They said candidates whose admissions were regulated and coordinated by JAMB would verify their WAEC results once through JAMB.

‎They said the outcome of the verification would subsequently be made available to the tertiary institution to which the candidate sought admission.

‎According to the statement, candidates are required to pay N4,000 only for the verification service through the specified JAMB platform, and not through their preferred institutions.

‎The bodies said tertiary institutions would utilise the verified results shared by JAMB for screening, admission processing and other administrative purposes.

‎“Candidates shall not be required to pay for another verification,” the statement said.

‎They also disclosed that WAEC had authorised JAMB to share the outcome of the verification exercise with relevant tertiary institutions for the stated purposes.

‎They said the arrangement was designed to ensure that candidates who had successfully verified their WASSCE O’Level results would not be required to repeat the process.

‎According to them, the initiative will reduce the stress and costs associated with repeated visits to tertiary institutions or JAMB-approved Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres.

‎The bodies said candidates could initiate the verification process from the comfort of their homes or any internet-enabled location.

‎They therefore encouraged candidates to take advantage of the arrangement by verifying their WASSCE O’Level results through the JAMB-provisioned Verification Service once, noting that the verified result would be utilised by the relevant institution.

‎They said the collaboration underscored their commitment to putting candidates’ interests first, reducing unnecessary costs and simplifying the admission process while maintaining the integrity and security of candidates’ academic records.‎(NAN).