The Presidency on Thursday, took steps to close the gaps in bringing federal policies closer to grassroots communities across Nigeria, with the inauguration of a National Community Engagement Framework Drafting Committee.

After the ceremony held at the State House, Abuja, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement (North‑West), Abdullahi Yakasai, said the framework will embody the spirit of partnership and collective action.

Yakasai said, “The framework drafting committee we are launching today embodies the spirit of partnership and collective action, ensuring that progress is shared responsibility.

“Our nation is at an important juncture where every decision must prioritise the wellbeing of our citizens.

“First, you will dialogue and have a meaningful conversation and action. It will present a new chapter in our nation’s history that is built on the principles of inclusivity and equity.”

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement North‑Central, Mrs Abiodun Essiet, said the framework would serve as a blueprint for action to ensure that no citizen feels excluded from national decision‑making.

“Today is not just a ceremony; it is a call to serve, to innovate, and to rise to the occasion,” she told committee members and invited dignitaries.

“This framework reflects our collective commitment to make sure no voice is left unheard, no community left behind, and every citizen feels seen, valued, and empowered.”

Essiet urged members drawn from government, civil society, and the private sector to act as “bridges between policy and people,” stressing that their task goes beyond representation to inspiring trust and driving impact.

Under the directive of President Bola Tinubu, the committee will draft guidelines for collaborative governance, inclusive decision‑making, and citizen empowerment, she explained.

Once completed, the framework is expected to formalise channels for regular dialogue between federal agencies and local communities, with the aim of improving service delivery and boosting public confidence in government programmes.

Its first assignments include mapping existing community engagement efforts, identifying gaps, and proposing clear metrics for measuring impact.

Essiet further said the committee would work “with courage, commitment, and clarity of purpose” to deliver results swiftly.

“Nigeria is counting on us. Let us rise to the call,” she concluded.

The State House Permanent Secretary, Temitope Fashedemi, emphasised the importance of the committee’s successful assignment and its impact on communities nationwide.

Represented by the Director, Information and Communication Technology, Lukman Kilani, Fashedemi assured the committee of support to ensure a successful assignment that will positively impact the communities across the country.

A consultant on the project, the CEO at Environmental Harmony Limited, Mrs Kitan Oluwagbuyi, apprised committee members of the task ahead.

Oluwagbuyi said the committee has six weeks to draft the framework.

She explained that the framework is meant to “Provide a structured approach to stakeholder identification, mapping, and engagement.

“Create tools and templates for participatory governance at all levels. Strengthen feedback mechanisms to improve policy implementation and service delivery.

“Enhance government accountability and transparency in community-driven development programmes.”

According to Oluwagbuyi, the opening fortnight will be devoted to stock‑taking.

During this period the framework drafting committee is expected to present a detailed status report, distilling lessons from earlier outreach programmes, while other committee members will lay out their engagement strategies, successes and persistent bottlenecks.

By the third and fourth weeks, external consultants will have drafted the first version of the National Stakeholders’ Engagement Framework and circulated it for line‑by‑line scrutiny by all members.

The final stretch, covering weeks five and six, will see the committee fold comments into a clean text, vote to adopt the document and forward it to the Federal Government for approval and nationwide implementation.

The stakeholders received goodwill messages from the President of the Community Development Practitioners of Nigeria, Prof. Bello Shittu; Professor of Public Policy, Governance and Core Government Functionality at the University of Abuja, Prof. Abdulhamid Ozohu-Suleiman and the Sarkin Bwari, Auwal Musa Ijakolo II.

The quiet community of Amasiri of Afikpo in Ebonyi State came alive on Thursday following a military incursion.

Military personnel in large numbers had invaded the community due to a crisis that emanated from a tussle for ancestral land.

Ekwutosblog learnt that Amasiri and neighbouring Edda community have been at parallel ends over ownership of an ancestral land.

The bad blood between the communities had led to Edda unleashing several unprovoked attacks on the people of Amasiri.

Confirming this to Ekwutosblog , activist lawyer, Maduabuchi Idam, lamented that the military incursion could spark an unprovoked massacre within the communities.

Speaking on the matter, Idam said Amasiri was bleeding and on fire.

He urged the Chief of Army Staff, Olufemi Oluyede and the Commander Nkwegu Military Cantonment to quickly withdraw the military presence in Amasiri and her environs to save her people from unwarranted possible carnage.

In a message titled: “A cry for urgent help, Amasiri on fire,” the activist lawyer also called on Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State to resolve the age-long crisis between the neighbouring communities.

According to Idam: “With teary eyes and a heavy heart I am crying out this morning as a concerned indigene of Amasiri, Afikpo in Ebonyi State to alert Nigerians of a despicable, teleguided military incursion in my community Amasiri, Afikpo, Ebonyi State which has occasioned a siege in the hitherto one of the most peaceful community in Nigeria today.

“Following an attempt by her neighbouring community called Edda to grab her ancestral land after unleashing several unprovoked attacks on the people of Amasiri, the said neighbouring community who have their indigenes in political positions have now used their connection to invite the military to illegally and unlawfully lay siege on Amasiri community.

“I cry out to Nigerians to intervene on our behalf and speak against the military presence in my community this morning which is a contrived bait to provoke a massacre on the defenceless peaceful people of Amasiri, simply to subdue them for her her Edda neighbours in order to achieve their age-long desire of grabbing the ancestral land of Amasiri people which has been a subject of interest to her Edda neighbours for decades.

“I’m saddened that despite several calls on the governor of Ebonyi State, Gov. Francis Ogbonnia Nwifuru, to intervene and broker peace between the two neighbouring communities (Amasiri and Edda) he has maintained a deafening silence over the matter notwithstanding the barrage of reports of loss of lives and properties and press conferences calling on him for attention to peacefully resolve the matter so as to save the lives of innocent indigenes.

“As a concerned indigene, I seek the attention of Nigerians to join me and urge the Chief of Army Staff and the Commander Nkwegu Military Cantonment to quickly withdraw the military presence in Amasiri and her environs in order to save her people from unwarranted possible carnage.

“In the same vein, Nigerians should direct the governor of Ebonyi State to step in and broker peace among these two communities as Amasiri people are willing to accept every peaceful approach that will bring a lasting solution to the matter to avoid an irreparable mishap against Amasiri people who are vulnerable and defenceless. The governor of Ebonyi State should quickly intervene. Amasiri is bleeding.”

AI-Generated videos mocking Donald Trumpand his top team have continued to go viral amid a deepening trade war between the US and China.

New footage shows Trump, senior adviser Elon Musk and JD Vance working on a production line making trainers in a thinly veiled slight at the White House‘s hopes to bring back manufacturing to the US.

Chinese accounts have been promoting the video and photos ridiculing the so-called ‘US Manufacturing Revival Plan’ in light of the Chinese Communist Party vowing they would ‘fight to the end’ in a tariff war.

Despite a 90-day pause in implementing increased tariffs on other nations, Trump has continued to focus his fire on Beijing, further hiking the rate on Chinese imports to 125 per cent.

Should the economic stand-off continue, the Nike shoes featured in the video may skyrocket in price, according to experts.

At the moment, 62 per cent of the shoes sold in the United States are imported from China, with other nations like Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia and India providing the rest.

Just one per cent of shoes are produced domestically, with figures from the sneaker industry – worth $70billion annually – left frustrated.

Devlin Carter, the founder of luxury firm SIA collective – which manufactures shoes mostly in China – told NBC News: ‘These are ridiculous tariffs that make no sense.

The footage shows Trump, senior adviser Elon Musk and JD Vance working on a production line

At the moment, 62 per cent of the shoes sold in the United States are imported from China

Just one per cent of shoes are produced domestically, with figures from the sneaker industry – worth $70billion annually – left frustrated

‘Small businesses like mine have to pay these tariffs, and it’s not a small thing. It’s a lot. So there’s no way to see this as something that’s good — for anybody.

‘And it’s all unnecessary.’

Business costs for the majority of firms producing shoes will rise, whether it is from covering increased tariff costs or trying to shift production back to the US. 

Economist Peter Schiff said last week: ‘Nike won’t build factories in the US to make sneakers. That would add more cost than the 40 per cent tariffs.

‘Plus, they need to stay competitive selling to customers in other countries that don’t impose tariffs. The result will be fewer sneakers sold in the US at much higher prices.’

Pepper Harward, chief executive officer of Oka Brands, which has a factory in the state of Georgia, told Footwear News: ‘The footwear ecosystem doesn’t really exist here.

‘Everybody’s interested in U.S. manufacturing but very few people are fully committed to it or have solid justifications for making investments there.

Chris Rogers, head of supply chain research at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said it could take a ‘couple of years’ at the minimum to move supply chains back to the US from abroad.

Economist Peter Schiff said last week: ‘Nike won’t build factories in the US to make sneakers. That would add more cost than the 40 per cent tariffs’

China is a key trading partner with a large manufacturing industry, producing inexpensive goods for American consumers

Other AI-generated videos related to the trade war have also been seen millions of times in both China and Western countries.

One popular one portrayed a glum picture of life in a re-industrialised America, with obese factory workers stitching cheap clothes.

China is a key trading partner with a large manufacturing industry, producing inexpensive goods for American consumers.

Trump’s tariffs come at a difficult time for China’s sluggish economy, with firms now scrambling to adjust their supply chains and officials concerned that any profits made selling goods to the US will be completely wiped out.

They have remained bullish in public, however, with China’s foreign ministry saying thery do not ‘fear’ further tariff threats.

‘The US cause doesn’t win the support of the people and will end in failure,’ a ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, said at a press conference.

Beijing’s commerce ministry said: ‘We hope the US will meet China halfway, and, based on the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, properly resolve differences through dialogue and consultation.’

Trump’s tariffs come at a difficult time for China’s sluggish economy, with firms now scrambling to adjust their supply chains

But Trump is seemingly insistent on refusing to budge over his tariff strategy with Beijing.

‘At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realise that the days of ripping off the USA and other countries is no longer sustainable or acceptable,’ he said.

China ‘wants to make a deal, they just don’t know how quite to go about it,’ he added.

‘They’re proud people. President Xi [Jinping] is a proud man. I know him very well. They don’t know quite how to go about it but they’ll figure it out.’

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