JK. Akingbaso

Dentistry | Tech | Preserve the greenery of the Earth. #MUFC. #FaithConsistencyHardWorkPayOff.🍀🍀🍀

[JK. Akingbaso @heiskilo]

The greatest gift every man should ask for is FREEDOM, it would rescue one from SERVITUDE.

[Mr. Gist @TheMrGist]

On the afternoon of Wednesday, July 1, 2026, two daredevil "rooftoppers" scaled the very pinnacle of the Empire State Building's 1,454-foot antenna in Midtown Manhattan, creating a viral spectacle that turned into an extreme marriage proposal.

What Happened:
The Climb & Banner: Dressed in black and wearing face masks, the pair scaled the high-security structure without any visible safety tethers. At around midday, they reached the narrow ledge near the glowing red light at the top of the transmission tower.
The Message: They unfurled a large black banner that read: "When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace."
The Proposal:
Shortly after 12:30 p.m., the climbers began navigating down the metal latticework to a slightly wider platform. There, the man dropped to one knee and proposed. The woman accepted, and the two embraced, kissed, and took selfies showing off the engagement ring while broadcasting portions of the stunt on social media.
The Takedown:
The high-risk stunt drew massive crowds on the sidewalks below and triggered an immediate response from the NYPD, who deployed a drone and a helicopter to monitor the situation. Nearby streets were temporarily blocked off, and the building's public observation decks were placed on lockdown.

Who Were They?
While police have not officially released their names, the climbers are widely identified as Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus, two notorious Russian "rooftoppers" known for similar illegal, high-altitude stunts around the globe. The couple was previously featured in the 2024 Netflix documentary Skywalkers: A Love Story.

The Aftermath:
Both individuals safely descended from the tower and were taken into police custody shortly after 1:00 p.m. Authorities reported that no one was injured during the incident, and the NYPD has recovered the banner. It remains under investigation how the couple managed to bypass the skyscraper's extensive security screening to access the restricted transmission tower. Charges are pending. #TheGist

[JK. Akingbaso @heiskilo]

@Nig_Farmer I'm rooting for them. Electrifying first half.

[America @america]

BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court Votes 6-3 to Uphold Ban on Biological Boys in Girls' Sports.

[JK. Akingbaso @heiskilo]

@mohagirei Congratulations sir!!

[TFKay @TFKay_]

NYSC Reform: A Big Idea Built on a Weak Foundation

A reform can sound beautiful in Abuja and still fail inside a crowded camp in Iyana Ipaja, Kubwa, Awgu, or Katsina. That is the first problem with the new NYSC reform approved by the Federal Executive Council. On paper, it sounds ambitious: six weeks of orientation, civilian operational leadership, specialised career streams, skills-based primary assignments, professional certification, a new uniform, and a graduation ceremony to replace the Passing Out Parade. But policy is not judged by the grammar of its announcement. Policy is judged by what happens when it meets water shortage, bad hostels, weak budgets, insecurity, and Nigerian reality.

Let us start with the six-week orientation camp. Extending camp from three weeks to six weeks may look like a serious investment in young people, but it becomes dangerous if the facilities remain the same. Many NYSC camps are already overstretched. In May 2026, corps members at the Lagos orientation camp complained of persistent water shortage, inadequate storage facilities, irregular electricity, and overcrowding. Some reportedly woke as early as 1 a.m. to queue for water. If three weeks already tests the health and patience of young graduates, six weeks without massive investment in hostels, toilets, water, clinics, ventilation, food, and security is not reform. It is punishment with a policy title.

No young person learns civic values properly while struggling to bathe, sleep, eat, and stay healthy. A hungry corper listening to financial literacy under poor conditions is not being empowered; he or she is merely enduring another Nigerian survival course. If government wants six weeks, then the budget must speak before the slogan speaks. More days in camp means more feeding, more medical care, more staff, more sanitation, more electricity, more security, and more monitoring. Without that, the reform will simply double the duration of discomfort and reduce the quality of welfare.

The second issue is the shift to civilian operational leadership. This is not automatically bad. NYSC was never supposed to be a military barracks. A civilian-led structure can make the scheme more developmental, more flexible, and more aligned with skills and employment. But Nigeria must be honest about one thing: weak civilian systems are easier to bend. The military presence in camp, for all its harshness, gives NYSC a certain immediate discipline. Everyone wakes up early. Everyone lines up. Everyone wears the same white shorts. The child of a politician and the child of a mechanic can both be corrected in the same parade ground.

If that authority is reduced without a strong replacement, camp may become another Nigerian space where connection defeats discipline. Wealthy corps members may lobby their way out of duties. Influential parents may pressure officials. Some may sleep outside camp while ordinary graduates remain under stricter rules. That is why civilian leadership must come with clear enforcement rules, independent monitoring, transparent sanctions, and public reporting. A civilian-led NYSC should not mean a weaker NYSC. It should mean a more accountable one.

There is also a human management question that government should not pretend away. Thousands of young adults living together for six weeks need firm safeguarding, not moral speeches. Even under the existing military-style camp structure, discipline issues still occur. Extending camp to six weeks increases the responsibility of the state to protect corps members from harassment, exploitation, abuse of authority, bribery, and unsafe private arrangements. This is not about policing people’s private lives. It is about making sure power is not abused inside camp. Civilian officials must therefore be trained, monitored, and held accountable. If not, the reform may create new spaces for compromise and misconduct.

The third problem is the illusion of the six-week crash course. Nigeria must stop pretending that a broken education-to-work pipeline can be repaired with short camp training. A graduate who spent four or five years in an underfunded tertiary system cannot become a strong tech professional, agribusiness operator, infrastructure specialist, or entrepreneur because of a few weeks of lectures. Real skills require time, tools, mentorship, practice, assessment, and industry exposure. Germany’s respected dual vocational system, for example, is built around training in both companies and vocational schools, with apprentices employed by companies and trained over two to three and a half years depending on the occupation. That is a system, not a seminar.

If the new NYSC skills streams are serious, they must go beyond PowerPoint slides and certificates. The training must be practical, assessed by real industry standards, and linked to actual employers or enterprise support. Otherwise, Nigeria will produce another certificate economy: more paper, less competence. We must also ask uncomfortable questions. Who designs the curriculum? Who selects the trainers? Who pays the certification bodies? What happens to corps members who fail the assessment? Will they be forced to repeat training? Will certificates become another backdoor business for vendors and politically connected firms?

The certification angle deserves special attention. “Globally recognised professional certification” sounds attractive, but in Nigeria it can quickly become a contract bazaar. If not properly regulated, private training firms may begin to chase NYSC contracts, camp officials may control access, and corps members may be pressured into paying hidden fees. The government must publish the certification partners, selection criteria, cost per corps member, procurement process, assessment method, and complaint channels. A reform that claims to fight unemployment must not become another marketplace for insiders.

The fourth issue is the claim that NYSC can help build a $1 trillion economy. There is nothing wrong with ambition. A country without ambition is already tired. But advanced economies are not built by forcing graduates into state-designed career streams for one year. They are built by fixing basic education, strengthening universities and polytechnics, providing stable electricity, reducing business costs, supporting manufacturing, expanding infrastructure, and allowing the private sector to create real jobs. NYSC can support national development, but it cannot replace economic fundamentals.

The global examples also require care. Singapore has mandatory National Service, but it is rooted mainly in defence and security; full-time National Service is treated as a national security institution. South Korea’s compulsory service is also tied to national defence obligations. Germany’s vocational strength comes from long-term company-school training, not a six-week camp experiment. Nigeria appears to be mixing national mobilisation, civic training, military discipline, civilian administration, professional certification, entrepreneurship, and job placement into one overloaded scheme. That may sound innovative, but it is also risky. When one policy tries to do everything, it often ends up doing little well.

The fifth problem is the PPA reality. Skills-based primary assignment sounds good, but where are the receiving institutions? Many corps members already struggle to secure meaningful places of primary assignment. Some schools, companies, and government offices reject corps members because they lack space, funding, supervision capacity, or willingness to pay local allowance. If an organisation cannot absorb a regular corps member, calling the person “Digital Corps” or “Medical Corps” will not magically create a desk, a supervisor, internet access, equipment, or salary support. The reform must therefore include a serious employer partnership framework. Without that, the new streams will become new labels on old frustration.

The sixth issue is the Passing Out Parade. Scrapping or redesigning POP may look minor, but symbols matter. The POP is one of the few rituals that gives corps members a shared sense of completion. It is not perfect, but it is memorable. Replacing it with a formal graduation ceremony may be useful if the ceremony genuinely reflects skills acquired, projects completed, and communities served. But if it becomes another long government speech day, corps members will simply lose one emotional part of service and gain another boring protocol event.

The biggest weakness in this reform is the apparent distance between policymakers and present-day corps members. Many people designing NYSC reform still carry memories of a different Nigeria: when the scheme was more prestigious, the economy was less punishing, and allowance had real value. Today’s corps member is serving in a country of high living costs, insecurity, weak infrastructure, digital frustration, and deep uncertainty. A policy designed for an imaginary Nigeria will collapse in the real one.

This does not mean the reform should be rejected completely. Some parts are sensible. A technology-driven call-up process can reduce manipulation. Risk-sensitive deployment is necessary in a country facing serious security challenges. Skills-based PPA can make service more meaningful. Civilian leadership can modernise the scheme if properly governed. Camp grading can improve standards if it is transparent and tied to funding. The problem is not the ambition. The problem is the missing foundation.

Before implementation, government should answer five questions clearly @DrJoeAbah @NGRPresident .

1. what is the actual additional budget for six-week orientation?
2. Which camps currently meet the minimum standard for six weeks of residence?
3. Who will train, certify, and monitor the specialised streams?
4. What safeguards will prevent corruption, favouritism, and exploitation inside camp?
5. Which employers and institutions have formally agreed to accept corps members under the new PPA model?

Nigeria does not need another reform that looks powerful at announcement and weak at implementation. NYSC is too important to be treated as a laboratory for half-built ideas. If government wants to turn the scheme into a serious national development platform, it must first fix the camp, protect the corps member, fund the programme, involve the private sector, and publish the implementation plan.

A six-week camp without water is not innovation.
A certificate without skill is not empowerment.
A civilian-led system without accountability is not modernisation.
And a $1 trillion economy will not be built by slogans.

It will be built by honest policy, disciplined execution, and respect for the young Nigerians who are always asked to sacrifice first.

[JK. Akingbaso @heiskilo]

😂

[JK. Akingbaso @heiskilo]

Men prioritize your health. Men stop ignoring those signs and symptoms.

[JK. Akingbaso @heiskilo]

Baba is actually rolling out substantial changes.

[Punch Newspapers @MobilePunch]

𝗧𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗯𝘂 𝘂𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲: https://t.co/S2m4HINsPq

[JK. Akingbaso @heiskilo]

@yabaleftonline Minimum wage shouldn't be less than $1000.

[JK. Akingbaso @heiskilo]

@dammiedammie35 Olodo Uprising: So if I cannot speak good English, does that mean I am Olodo?

[JK. Akingbaso @heiskilo]

@bigjosh_0 Federal facility is now 306k

[JK. Akingbaso @heiskilo]

@mohagirei I heard they’ve started making payment, as of now I am yet to receive my mine.

[Sahara Reporters @SaharaReporters]

Nigerian Federal Hospitals Paralysed As House Officers Begin Nationwide Strike Over Unpaid Salaries | Sahara Reporters https://t.co/o4XbY974BM

[JK. Akingbaso @heiskilo]

And yet the citizens cannot feel the impact. High cost of gas fee…poor power supply.

[Instablog9ja @instablog9ja]

Nigeria Records Increase in Gas Production — Presidency

[JK. Akingbaso @heiskilo]

In an ideal society where things are working, when someone works their wages/salaries shouldn't be delayed without justification.
The case of House officers being owed salaries and arrears speaks volumes—no official statement regarding the delay in payment. MDCN, NMA,NDA??