Headline

NYSC Lauds FG’s NHIS Programme For Corps Members

Published

4 years ago

February 18, 2022

Our Correspondent, Bauchi

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), on Friday, lauded the Federal Government’s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) programme for all corps members in the country.

The Federal Government recently launched the enrolment of corps members in the NHIS under the package “Group Individual and Family Social Insurance Programme’’ (GIFSHIP).

This is in line with exclusion in paying a 10-per cent co-fee for drugs.

The GIFSHIP is also designed to cover pre-orientation, orientation, primary assignment and terminal leave periods of the service year, specifically meant to terminate at the end of the youth service year.

Speaking during the sensitisation enrolment into the NHIS in Bauchi state, Mr Emmanuel Tapshang, Assistant Director, National Directorate, NYSC headquarters, said corps members would be relieved of the burden of medical bills.

Tapshang said that corps members could now easily access quality and professional health services.

He said that the gesture would further attest to the federal government concern towards the well-being of all corps members in the country.

“We want to register our profound gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari as well as the NHIS and also to other development partners working with NYSC,” he said.

According to him, NYSC was undergoing positive transformation under the leadership of the Director General of the scheme, Maj.-Gen Ibrahim Shuaibu.

The assistant director appreciated the entire management of NYSC for steering the scheme to a higher level.

“We are appealing to the public to support the NYSC to establish the scheme’s Trust Fund which would go a long way in enhancing the SAED programme we have and as well address facility deficit in our camps,” Tapshang said.

Earlier, Mr Aminu Tanimu, Deputy General Manager and State Coordinator, NHIS, Bauchi state, said the programme was a good initiative from the President.

“In the year 2016, some corps members lost their lives due to lack of medical personnel in some NYSC camps and the president was not happy with the development hence the need for the scheme.

“The president made it important for the NYSC and the NHIS to come together and create something that would be beneficial to the corps members.

“This is a laudable project for all corps members to enjoy.

”If any of them is having health issues, the person would just go to any health facility registered and accredited by NHIS and would be attended to without paying a dime,” he said.

Tanimu disclosed that all the payments for the corps members had been made by the federal government, while urging the corps members to seize the opportunity to register and abide by the rules and regulations of NHIS.

Headline

42 Killed In Israeli Attacks, Says Gaza’s Civil Defense

Published

10 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Gaza’s civil defence agency reported at least 42 people killed in Israeli attacks on Sunday, as the Israeli army prepared for a new assault on the Palestinian territory’s largest city.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there had been several air strikes around Gaza City — which the military is gearing up to capture — including one in the Al-Sabra neighbourhood that killed eight people.

Attacks were also reported elsewhere across the territory, he said, with the “total tally currently rising to 42 dead”.

The army did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the figure.

“The situation is extremely dangerous… Each day, each minute, there are bombings, martyrs, death and blood — we can’t take it anymore,” Al-Sabra resident Ibrahim Al-Shurafa told AFP, explaining strikes and shelling were ongoing.

“We don’t know where to go. Death follows us everywhere,” he added.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.

The October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 62,686 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

AFP

Headline

Venezuela Frees Eight Opposition Leaders

Published

10 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Venezuelan authorities released eight opposition leaders from jail early Sunday, including a former congressman and two Italian citizens, and granted house arrest to five others, an opposition politician said.

Most of those released had been charged with corruption in opposition-run mayoral offices.

Also set free was Congressman, Amirico de Grazia, detained amid protests that erupted during President Nicolas Maduro’s reelection in 2024.

“Today, several families are once again embracing their loved ones. We know there are many left, and we have not forgotten them; we continue to fight for everyone,” two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said on X.

Opposition leaders Victor Jurado, Simon Vargas, Arelis Ojeda Escalante, Mayra Castro, Diana Berrio, Gorka Carnevalli, as well as Italian nationals Margarita Assenzo and de Grazia were released, Capriles said.

Nabil Maalouf, Valentin Gutierrez Pineda, Rafael Ramirez, Pedro Guanipa, and David Barroso were placed under house arrest.

The Italian government confirmed the release of de Grazia and Assenzo, who must appear in court to clarify the conditions of their release. It also vowed to continue working on securing the release of other detained Italians.

“We have always said, and we maintain it: we will talk to whomever we need to talk to so that there is not a single political prisoner in our Venezuela!” Capriles added.

AFP

Headline

Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians

Published

10 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Russia and Ukraine each sent back more prisoners of war on Sunday in the latest in a series of exchanges that have seen hundreds of POWs released this year, the two sides said.

Large-scale prisoner exchanges were the only tangible result of three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul between May and July.

They remain one of the few areas of cooperation between the two countries since Russia’s offensive began in 2022.

“On August 24, 146 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled” by Kyiv, the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram.

“In exchange, 146 prisoners of war of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were transferred” to Ukraine, it added. Ukraine did not confirm any figures for the release.

Russia also said that “eight citizens of the Russian Federation—residents of the Kursk region, illegally detained” by Kyiv were also returned.

Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August last year, seizing hundreds of square kilometres (miles) of territory in a major setback for the Kremlin.

Russia deployed thousands of troops from its ally North Korea as part of a counterattack but did not fully reclaim the region until April.

Among the Ukrainians released on Sunday was journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Khyliuk was kidnapped in the Kyiv region in March 2022. He is finally home in Ukraine,” Zelensky said on social media.

Also freed was former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko, “who spent more than three years in captivity,” Zelensky’s aide Andriy Yermak wrote on X.

“In 2022, he was on the list for return, but Volodymyr voluntarily refused to be exchanged in favour of a seriously ill prisoner with whom he was sharing a cell in a Russian prison,” Yermak said.

AFP