Author: Platform Times Newspaper

By Yinka Kareem Your Excellency, Governor Dapo Abiodun, (MFR CON), your decision to transform the hall at the Olumo Tourist Centre into an art gallery under the management of Nike Gallery has prompted me to write this open letter. Handing over Olumo hall to Nike Gallery exposes the ongoing weaknesses in our cultural and tourism administration, though the weaknesses which predated your tenure is a worrying trend. You may wonder why I’ve chosen to raise this delicate issue in a public forum. The fact is that I regard the growth of Ogun State’s cultural and tourism sector as vitally important,…

…First Convocation in Nine Years Marks New Dawn for Ogun Polytechnic Daud Olatunji For the first time in nearly a decade, Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), Abeokuta, is set to hold a convocation ceremony, graduating over 51,000 students across nine academic sessions, spanning from 2015/2016 to 2023/2024. This milestone event—MAPOLY’s 15th Combined Convocation Ceremony—is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, and will feature the conferment of National Diplomas (ND) and Higher National Diplomas (HND) on graduands from both full-time and part-time programmes. Speaking at a pre-convocation press briefing held at the institution’s council chamber on Thursday, the Rector,…

The wife of former Ogun State Governor, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun, on Wednesday joined other descendants of the revered Egba warlord and Balogun of Ikija, Chief Ogunbona Agboketoyinbo Mosuleka, to commemorate his 164th memorial anniversary in Abeokuta, Ogun State. The ceremony, held at the family’s ancestral compound in the historic Ikija area of the state capital, brought together several generations of the Ogunbona Agboketoyinbo dynasty, who gathered to pay tribute to their forebear’s enduring legacy in Egba history. Prominent personalities at the event included the Publisher of Alaroye newspaper, Prince Alao Adedayo; the Asiwaju Onigbagbo of Abeokuta South Local Government, Prince…

The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed a total of N1.65 trillion to the three tiers of government—federal, state, and local—in May 2025, a slight decrease from the N1.68 trillion shared in April. This was disclosed in a communique issued at the end of FAAC’s June meeting, chaired by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun. The meeting, held in Abuja, was confirmed through a statement signed by Mohammed Manga, Director of Information and Public Relations at the Federal Ministry of Finance. The N1.65 trillion was drawn from a gross revenue of N2.94 trillion,…

… Says Ojukwu’s Insistence On Govs To Control Military Zones, Caused Aburi Accord Collapse Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (retd.), has declared that Nigeria, despite its current challenges, is in a much better state than it was during the civil war which ravaged the country over five decades ago. Speaking in an exclusive interview with ARISE News on Wednesday, Gowon maintained that the progress recorded across various sectors since the 1967–1970 conflict is evidence that the nation has continued to survive and grow. “Well, thriving… isn’t Nigeria thriving today? Have we not gone beyond what we were 55…

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested a former Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Moses Thomas Sule, along with 14 former lawmakers over allegations of money laundering and abuse of office. The anti-graft agency said the arrest followed a series of petitions by concerned citizens, accusing the ex-lawmakers of violating the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, as well as flouting procurement laws during their brief six-month tenure. A statement released by the EFCC on its official social media platforms revealed that the state government had procured luxury vehicles worth N2.5 billion for the…

No fewer than 38 inmates, including those on death row, have graduated from the West African College for Christian Missions with degrees in Theology and Missions. The graduation ceremony, held on Wednesday within the walls of the Ibara Correctional Centre in Abeokuta, saw 32 male and six female inmates awarded Bachelor of Arts in Theology and Diplomas in Missions after successfully completing a rigorous four-year academic programme. The event marked a significant milestone for the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), showcasing its commitment to rehabilitation through education. Representing the Controller General of Corrections, Sylvester Nwakuche, the Ogun State Controller of Corrections,…

… Hands Over Seized Arms, Cannabis Sativa To Police, NDLEA  Feyisayo Ogunbiyi  The Ogun Area 1 Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has issued a stern warning to smugglers operating along the Idi-Iroko border, as it recorded a remarkable revenue increase from N10.6 million in April to over N42 million in May 2025. This was disclosed on Thursday by the new Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Godwin Otunla, during his first press briefing since assuming office. Otunla attributed the sharp rise in revenue to a renewed commitment to enforcement and strategic realignment under his leadership. “Prior to my assumption of duty…

The Ogun State Government, in partnership with the Society for Family Health (SFH), has intensified advocacy for the adoption of family planning among women of reproductive age to reduce maternal mortality and promote child spacing. This call was made during the bi-annual review meeting of the Delivering Innovation in Self-Care (DISC 2.0) project held in Abeokuta, the state capital. The meeting brought together key stakeholders including health secretaries, reproductive health officers, health education officers, and monitoring and evaluation experts. Executive Secretary of the Ogun State Primary Health Care Development Board, Dr Elijah Ogunsola, revealed that the government had sustained the…

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has fired back at the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) over allegations of undue dominance by medical doctors in the nation’s health and education sectors, describing the claims as “unsavoury blackmail” and “emotional rhetoric.” NARD, in a statement jointly signed by its President, Dr. Osundara Tope, and Secretary-General, Dr. Odunbaku Kazeem Oluwasola, called on the pharmacists’ body to cease what it termed a campaign of “blackmail” and instead focus on meaningful contributions to patient care and health system improvement. The doctors’ response followed an open letter issued by the ACPN on…