The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has warned users of bleaching creams to refrain from using products containing excessive hydroquinone to safeguard their health.

NAFDAC Bauchi State Coordinator, Mr Hamis Yahaya, advised in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bauchi on Tuesday.

Hydroquinone is a skin-lightening agent used to treat hyperpigmentation, such as melasma and age spots.

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Yahaya said that the approved quantity of the chemical substance in cosmetics was only two per cent.

According to him, NAFDAC conducts checks on market products to ensure public health and safety.

“The black colour provides natural protection against harmful radiation due to melanin content.

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“Applying creams with hydroquinone contents more than two per cent is harmful. Mixing creams by non-experts is wrong.

“Hydroquinone affects the health of the users gradually, including causing cancer,” he said.

Yahaya urged the media to raise awareness about the dangers of cosmetics that could endanger consumer lives.

An African Union helicopter crashed Wednesday at the airport in the Somali capital Mogadishu with eight people onboard, state media said.

The aircraft was part of the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), tasked with fighting the Al-Shabaab militant group.

The state media agency Sonna said the AUSSOM helicopter, carrying eight people, “crashed during landing at Mogadishu’s Aden Adde Airport this morning after departing Balidoogle”.

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“The fire has been contained, and authorities are assessing the situation,” it said in a post on X.

Sonna quoted the country’s civil aviation authorities as saying that “flight operations remain normal”.

There were no further details given, but unverified clips and images shared online showed a plume of black smoke over the city.

The AUSSOM mission faces funding difficulties, even as fears of an Al-Shabaab resurgence are stoked by attacks in the Horn of Africa nation.

A Nigerian man, Onomen Uduebor, has been sentenced to 40 months in a United States prison for his role in a large-scale tax fraud scheme, which he admitted was driven by desperation to succeed in his music career.

The U.S. Department of Justice, in a statement released on Tuesday, said Uduebor, 39, also known as Onomen Onohi, was arrested in the United Kingdom in September 2023 and extradited to the United States in March 2025. He pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Speaking in court, Uduebor said, “I have read the victim impact statements, and I know an apology is not enough…. I was desperate to succeed in my music career. It is not an excuse, but it is the truth.”

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According to the indictment, Uduebor and his co-conspirators created fake emails between February 2016 and April 2017, posing as company executives to trick human resources departments into releasing W-2 tax documents of employees. The fraudsters then used the data to file over 300 false tax returns, seeking more than $1 million in refunds from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Uduebor personally filed 150 of those returns and tracked the payouts into bank accounts opened in the names of the victims. While the IRS managed to block most of the claims, about $140,000 was paid out—$10,000 of which Uduebor admitted to receiving. He was ordered to forfeit that amount and pay $122,720 in restitution to the U.S. Treasury.

The statement partly reads, “Uduebor admits that he filed 150 of the false tax returns and tracked the refunds and payments to bank accounts that the schemers set up in the names of the victims.

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“While the IRS paid out about $140,000 to the fraudsters, Uduebor says he received only $10,000 from the scheme. The IRS was able to seize some of the money back from the conspirators, so the total restitution owed to the U.S. Treasury was $122,720.”

At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge James L. Robart described Uduebor’s actions as significant, stating, “He freely participated in the fraud and had a substantial role in the scheme. Thirty years old is not a young man, and he ought to have known better.”

The statement added that the convict may likely be deported upon the completion of his prison term.

“Uduebor was arrested in the United Kingdom in September 2023. He arrived in the U.S. in March 2025. He pleaded guilty in April 2025. Uduebor will likely be deported to Nigeria following his prison term,” the statement concluded.