NELFund: Universities acting in bad faith By Punch Editorial Board on July 28, 2026 – Recommended Nigerian Newspaper Report 61
THE refusal of some universities to refund school fees already paid by parents and students after the Nigerian Education Loan Fund subsequently settled the same tuition is an act of bad faith. It undermines one of the Federal Government’s most important interventions in higher education and betrays the trust of students and their families. It must end.
ICPC chairman’s extortion: Ugly face of Nigerian policing By Punch Editorial Board on July 26, 2026 – Recommended Nigerian Newspaper Report 60
IT took the extortion of the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Musa Aliyu, for Nigeria to once again confront an ugly truth that ordinary citizens have lived with for decades.
Misguided plan to raise WASSCE, NECO fees By Punch Editorial Board on July 30, 2026 – Recommended Nigerian Newspaper Report 59
NIGERIA’S season of policy reversals is becoming an embarrassing hallmark of governance. The latest addition is the ill-conceived decision by the Federal Ministry of Education, the West African Examinations Council and the National Examinations Council to raise the registration fees for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination and NECO examinations from ₦27,000 to ₦50,000.
Pros, cons of amended NIMC Act By Punch Editorial Board on July 30, 2026 – Recommended Nigerian Newspaper Report 58
NINETEEN years after the enactment of the National Identity Management Commission Act, Nigeria has taken a significant step towards unifying its fragmented identity ecosystem. With President Bola Tinubu’s signing of the amended NIMC Act on June 26, the commission now has a broader legal mandate to harmonise identity records of Nigerians, strengthen digital authentication and curb identity theft.
Dark recollections of Abacha’s terror regime By Punch Editorial Board on July 31, 2026 – Recommended Nigerian Newspaper Report 57
NIGERIA must never endure another Sani Abacha.
That is the stark warning contained in the memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, by former Department of State Services officer Dennis Amachree. The book once again casts a harsh light on the brutal dictatorship of former Head of State, Sani Abacha, from November 1993 until his death in June 1998.
Probe Habila’s death By Punch Editorial Board on July 31, 2026 – Recommended Nigerian Newspaper Report 56
EVERY death diminishes the rest of humanity. The unfortunate death of a 26-year-old nurse, Mary Habila, and the controversies surrounding it have further cast Nigeria as a country where matters of life and death are not particularly taken seriously.
The incident called for swift investigations. But more than one month after it, there is still no clear resolution on the cause of death. This is disturbing.
State police: More details, please By Punch Editorial Board on August 14, 2026 – Recommended Nigerian Newspaper Report 55
AFTER decades of indecision, Nigeria finally appears ready to embrace state police.
Despite its potential to advance true federalism and its obvious advantage as a more responsive security arrangement in a volatile, multi-ethnic environment like Nigeria, successive administrations have repeatedly dithered over this crucial reform.
Against this background, President Bola Tinubu’s proposal for a decentralised policing system is welcome. It is, in many respects, a child of necessity.
Opponents of state police focus heavily on one legitimate concern: the possibility of abuse by state governors. Without stringent safeguards, that fear is justified.