THE Makaar family once lived in a peaceful home that resonated with sounds of joy and laughter much to the envy of neighbours and visitors alike. But a mysterious inferno has since put paid to that, dealing a devastating blow on nine-year-old Aondugu Makaar who is the only survivor as both his parents and a four-year-old sibling perished in the fire.

Alhaji Kamal’din Akintunde, the National President, National Council for Muslim Youths Organisation (NACOMYO), recently warned youths in the country against indecent dressing.

Those who believe they are created only to seek the vanities of this world, work or otherwise steal to build houses, monuments, amass wealth for the children unborn; or those who profits in causing mischiefs on earth, bestriding like gods and trampling on the rights of others are just unconcious of the ephmeral nature of this world. Yes! if you seek the world, you’ll get it but Allah has said they are only deciets that will keep you far away from the bliss of eternity.

Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, has admonished legal practitioners in the country to guide their integrity jealously, saying their name and character is what they posses to be great.

Hajj as the last of the five pillars of Islam requires early and adequate preparation. This is because hajj exercise involves a lot of money, time, and physical efforts. Early preparation will not only help to minimise physical discomfort, decrease financial burden, but will enable the pilgrim perform the exercise in accordance with the dictates of shariah. The writer observed during his Hajj that many of those who performed Hajj rituals from Nigeria, especially for the first time could not perform the rites correctly due to inadequate preparation.

Law, leadership and challenges of nationhood in the 21st century Nigeria, which is the theme of the on-going Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, annual general conference in Calabar, Cross River State, took the centre stage of deliberation with Professor Jonah Elaigwu, raising concern over the selective enforcement of laws and order in the country.

In the eyes of an undergraduate who has lost 60 days of his academic calendar due to the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), N130bn is a lot of money. To the parents of such a student, N130bn should be enough to settle whatever grievances ASUU has. So why then has ASUU refused to put an end to the strike despite Federal Government’s disbursement of N130bn? In this report, Vanguard Learning seeks answers to these questions, and delves into the root causes of the ASUU strike.

This is the concluding part of the article by Comrade Salihu Lukman, a former Assistant General Secretary with the Nigeria Labour Congress on the inclusion of the National Minimum Wage on the concurrent rather than the exclusive list as it is now. The first part was published on August 1, 2013.

As the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have refused to end the 60-day-old strike, students in public Nigerian universities have taken matters into their hands by engaging in various activities to keep themselves busy.

While nine million Almajiri (Itinerant Qu’ranic School Pupils) of Nigerian out-of-school children are presently receiving attention of the Federal Government, the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, has reiterated its commitment to implement boy-child out-of school education in the South-East and South-South states of Nigeria.