The West African Examinations Council , Nigeria, has debunked claims that the English Language paper written during the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination for School Candidates, 2025, has been cancelled.

A viral press release, dated Friday, May 30, 2025, and circulated widely on social media platforms, falsely claimed that the May 28 English Language examination had been cancelled and that a new date would be announced.

However, in a statement issued on Tuesday, WAEC described the release as fake and the work of “mischief-makers.”

“The management of the West African Examinations Council would like to state that the press release being circulated did not emanate from the council.

“The said examination has not been cancelled,” the statement signed by the Acting Head of Public Affairs, Moyosola Adesina, read.

Although the origin of the false document is still unknown, WAEC emphasised that its communication with the public is strictly through verified channels.

The statement added, “The council is certain that the false claim is being peddled by mischief-makers who are bent on bringing the council to disrepute, to cause confusion and panic for candidates who sat the examination.” 

WAEC further urged the general public, including candidates, parents, and schools, to disregard such unverified information and rely solely on official communication.

“All pieces of information from the council are disseminated via our official and verified social media handles, as well as accredited media platforms across the country.

“In the same vein, all press releases are issued and signed by the Public Affairs Department of the Council on behalf of the Head of National Office,” it stated.

Reassuring stakeholders, the council thanked the public for their continued trust over the past 73 years, adding that it remains committed to improving service delivery to Nigerian students.

“Once again, we thank all stakeholders for the confidence reposed in us… and we promise to always seek innovative ways to render quality services to the Nigerian child,” WAEC said.

PUNCH Online earlier reported that the examination was conducted late at night, far beyond the scheduled time, on May 28, 2025.

This, according to multiple reports, may have fuelled speculation that the exam had been cancelled. 

The examination body, however, blamed the delay in the conduct of the paper on heightened efforts to curb examination malpractice, particularly the leakage of question papers.

In an exclusive report, Sunday PUNCH gathered that some officials of the exam body might be connected to the leakage, particularly the circulation of the English Language paper to the public four days before the examination.

PayPal Holdings Inc. is set to launch a new credit card as part of its strategy to strengthen its presence in physical retail locations.

The card, issued by Synchrony Financial, will expand PayPal’s lineup of financial products, which already includes a long-standing debit card and a 3% cash-back credit card.

The California-based company said the new credit card will feature a six-month promotional offer of no-interest financing on eligible travel purchases, such as flights and hotel bookings.

This initiative is aimed at boosting PayPal’s visibility and usage in in-person transactions, complementing its strong online presence.

“PayPal Credit is one of our most popular products,” said Scott Young, global head of consumer financial services at PayPal.

He added that the new card will offer customers “more choice and flexibility wherever they shop.”

PayPal is set to distribute its new physical credit card to U.S. customers in the coming weeks, according to a company statement.

Issued by Synchrony Financial, the card will feature a six-month no-interest financing offer on eligible travel purchases and will expand PayPal’s existing lineup of financial products.

This launch is part of a broader wave of activity from the San Jose-based company.

In recent months, PayPal has made strategic investments in stablecoin technology, formed alliances with competitors to expand its market presence, and introduced an advertising business, signalling its intent to diversify and strengthen its position in the financial services landscape.

Nollywood actress Abiola Adebayo has confirmed her separation from her husband, Oluwaseyi Akinrinde, revealing that the couple parted ways over a year ago and are now committed to co-parenting their son.

In an Instagram post on Tuesday, the actress extended warm birthday wishes to her ex-husband, publicly acknowledging their separation, which took place in April 2024.

She wrote, “Happy birthday to my ex-husband and my baby daddy. I pray that grace will abound unto you, I pray you find peace in all your ways. May God continue to light your path and bless you beyond your expectations, in Jesus’ name.”

“Yes, you heard me right!” she added, marking her first public disclosure of the breakup. “My husband and I have been separated since April last year, but we have decided to maturely and peacefully co-parent our dear son, who means everything to us.”

Addressing her followers, she continued, “To everyone that feels disappointed, I’m sincerely sorry. I wished it worked, but it’s better to stay alive to tell the story. Please keep us in your prayers.”

Adebayo also shared the emotional toll the past year has taken on her, admitting that despite maintaining a strong public image, she has endured many nights of quiet sorrow.

“While I go about making other people happy during the day, my pillow is drenched with my own tears almost every night for the past 14 months,” she wrote. “But I gain strength from Christ, who loves me eternally and gave Himself for me.

“Let’s learn to be kind to people; you have no idea what others are going through until they say it. Say unto the righteous, all is well.”

Fans, colleagues, and well-wishers flooded her comment section with supportive messages, praising her courage and maturity in navigating this deeply personal chapter of her life.

Nollywood actress Regina Chukwu wrote, “Biola… it’s well.”

Other comments included heartfelt expressions of sympathy and encouragement, reflecting the public’s admiration for her strength.

In 2023, PUNCH reported that Adebayo explained why she and her husband had a brief courtship before marrying in April 2021. On her YouTube channel, she said, “I realised that we had a lot in common. We did not court for long. We got married in less than six months after we started dating because I knew what I wanted.”

The couple welcomed their first child, a boy, in April 2023 via a surrogate mother.

The Presidency on Tuesday refuted criticisms by a faction of the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, which claimed that the administration’s policies have resulted in economic hardship, democratic decline, and social regression.

A statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, described the group’s assessment as “deceitful,” “prejudiced,” and “not grounded in facts.”

The statement is titled ‘Response To Afenifere Faction’s Deceitful Statement On President Bola Tinubu’s Mid-term’.

Dare maintained that the Tinubu-led administration has made notable progress in stabilising the economy, strengthening democratic institutions, and implementing far-reaching reforms under its Renewed Hope Agenda.

“A balanced assessment based on available data reveals a more objective and progressive picture, with significant achievements amid the challenges expected from a country like Nigeria with decades-old problems,” Dare stated.

The Presidency’s reaction comes days after the factional Afenifere, in a widely circulated statement, accused the Tinubu administration of worsening human development indices, mismanaging the economy, and eroding democratic freedoms.

The group had labelled the President’s key reforms—such as fuel subsidy removal and naira floatation—as “unforced errors” that have deepened poverty and unrest.

But in Tinubu’s defence, Dare argued that these policies were necessary to stop the bleeding of public finances and build a sustainable future.

According to him, the removal of the fuel subsidy saved the government over $10bn in 2023, while exchange rate unification boosted foreign reserves and helped Nigeria record an N18.86tn trade surplus.

He also cited improvements in inflation control, foreign direct investment commitments, and debt service-to-revenue ratios as evidence that the economy is stabilising.

On the social front, the Presidency listed several interventions including the cash transfer programme reaching 5.7 million households, NELFUND student loans, and a raised NYSC allowance from N33,000 to N77,000.

Other highlighted achievements include the disbursement of palliatives to states, the rollout of CNG buses, the revitalisation of over 1,000 primary health centres, and the training of 150,000 youths under the 3 Million Technical Talent programme.

Addressing Afenifere’s claim that corruption is festering under Tinubu, Dare pointed to the suspension of a cabinet minister over mismanagement, the EFCC’s 4,111 convictions in 2024, and the forfeiture of high-value assets, including a 725-unit estate handed over to the Ministry of Housing in May.

On democratic governance, the Presidency dismissed claims of creeping authoritarianism, noting that the judiciary has upheld opposition victories and that recent electoral appointments have not been proven partisan. 

“What is excused backstage will not be excused under the spotlight,” said Dare, quoting a widely shared maxim.

The Presidency concluded with a call for collective responsibility in nation-building and an appeal to political actors to work with the administration to fight disinformation, stabilise the economy, and deliver lasting change.

“Nigeria’s comeback story is not yet complete — but it is firmly underway,” the statement concluded.

The National Youth Service Corps has advised members of the 2024 Batch B Stream I, who have just concluded their service year, to focus on wealth creation.

NYSC Coordinator in Rivers State, Mr Moses Oleghe, gave the charge on Tuesday during the passing-out ceremony of corps members held in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

He reminded the corps members of the core values instilled in them throughout their service year and encouraged them to become agents of positive change in society.

Oleghe discouraged the pursuit of white-collar jobs as the sole path to success, urging the corps members to embrace entrepreneurship and self-reliance.

“Creativity, hard work, discipline, focus, determination, and dedication are the ingredients needed to achieve your aspirations.

“Rather than wait for white-collar jobs, outgoing corps members should channel their energy into establishing businesses and creating wealth with their own hands,” he advised.

Presenting service statistics, Oleghe disclosed that a total of 2,302 corps members had successfully completed their service year in Rivers.

He noted that regrettably, two corps members died during active service, while 17, comprising seven males and 10 females, had their service extended.

Additionally, the NYSC coordinator reported that two corps members were granted pardon, while 23 others – 13 males and 10 females – absconded from service.

NAN

Mark Zuckerberg’s fortune surged by $8 billion on Monday, June 2, 2025, after shares of Meta Platforms Inc. jumped nearly 4%, driven by investor optimism surrounding the company’s growing focus on artificial intelligence. 

Meta’s stock climbed $23.41 to close at $670.90, significantly outperforming the broader S&P 500 index, which rose by just 0.4%. The rally pushed Zuckerberg’s real-time net worth to $231.6 billion, according to Forbes, making him the second-richest person in the world as of Tuesday morning. 

The stock surge followed a Wall Street Journal report indicating that Meta is preparing to launch a comprehensive suite of AI tools tailored for advertisers. According to sources cited in the article, these tools would enable businesses to generate complete ad campaigns, including creative content and targeted audience strategies, entirely through AI. The rollout is expected as early as 2026, though Meta has not yet confirmed the plans. 

Currently, Meta uses AI in limited advertising applications, but the reported expansion signals a major leap in the company’s efforts to modernise its ad-driven revenue model. With most of Meta’s income coming from digital advertising, the new tools could give it an edge in the competitive landscape dominated by platforms like TikTok and YouTube. 

Investor excitement around AI has been a key driver of tech stocks over the past year. Meta’s pivot toward AI places it alongside tech giants like Alphabet and Microsoft, which are aggressively integrating generative AI into their ecosystems.

Zuckerberg, 40, co-founded Facebook in 2004 while studying at Harvard. The company went public in 2012 and rebranded as Meta in 2021 to reflect its ambitious bet on the metaverse—a virtual reality-powered space that has yet to yield significant commercial success. In recent months, however, Meta appears to have shifted its attention toward AI, which investors see as a more immediate and practical growth engine. 

The strategic timing of this shift comes amid slowing digital ad growth and increasing privacy restrictions that have weakened traditional ad tracking. AI-powered content generation, microtargeting, and automation promise to restore some of that lost precision. 

Zuckerberg owns roughly 13% of Meta’s shares and retains controlling voting power through a dual-class share structure. In 2015, he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, pledged to donate 99% of their Meta shares over their lifetime via the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. 

Despite ongoing regulatory scrutiny and criticism regarding content moderation and data privacy, Meta remains a dominant player in global social media, with Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp serving billions of users worldwide.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has mandated deposit money banks (DMBs) to cease deducting unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) charges directly from customers’ bank accounts, with the fees now to be deducted from users’ mobile airtime.

The new directive, which took effect on June 3, 2025, was communicated to customers by the United Bank for Africa (UBA) in an email on Tuesday, June 3. The change aligns with the NCC’s End-User Billing (EUB) model, which shifts responsibility for USSD transaction charges from banks to mobile network operators (MNOs). 

“In line with the directive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), please be informed that effective June 3, 2025, charges for USSD banking services will no longer be deducted from your bank account,” the statement from UBA read. 

“Going forward, these charges will be deducted directly from your mobile airtime balance in accordance with the NCC’s End-User Billing (EUB) model.” 

Under this structure, each USSD session will attract a fee of ₦6.98 per 120 seconds, billed by the mobile network operator. Customers will receive a prompt at the beginning of each session requesting their consent, and charges will only apply if they confirm and if the bank is able to process the request. 

The bank noted that customers who do not wish to continue using the USSD platform under the new model may opt to discontinue its use, while other digital and internet banking options remain available.

This move by the NCC appears to be part of ongoing efforts to resolve the long-standing USSD debt crisis between mobile operators and commercial banks. In December 2024, the NCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had jointly urged both parties to settle a ₦250 billion debt related to USSD services. 

Tensions had escalated in early 2025, with telecom companies threatening to suspend USSD services due to non-payment. The NCC responded in January by ordering the disconnection of USSD codes assigned to nine banks over unpaid debts. Subsequently, MTN Nigeria confirmed in February that it received ₦32 billion out of the ₦72 billion owed by banks. 

The latest directive signals the regulator’s commitment to ensuring a sustainable framework for USSD service delivery, while promoting transparency and reducing disputes between financial institutions and telecom providers

Senator Shehu Sani has strongly criticised the ex-governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, over their recent comments blaming President Bola Tinubu’s administration for the country’s worsening poverty and hunger.

Speaking to journalists in Kaduna, Sani accused both men of hypocrisy, calling them key contributors to the very problems they now condemn. He described them as architects of banditry and hunger, who failed to address the same issues during their years in government.

“Both El-Rufai and Amaechi have no moral ground to criticise the current administration, as they failed to address the same challenges during their time in power,” he said. 

“El-Rufai and Amaechi should bow their heads in shame. They are the architects of the banditry, poverty, and hunger they now pretend to lament. During their tenure, they did nothing to solve these issues, and now they cry foul simply because they have been left out of the current government.”

His comments followed El-Rufai’s remarks at Amaechi’s 60th birthday lecture in Abuja, where the former governor described Nigeria as being controlled by “urban bandits” and warned that the country is facing one of its worst crises since 1914. El-Rufai also urged Nigerians to elect competent and visionary leaders in future elections.

Sani, however, dismissed the criticism as politically motivated and rooted in bitterness over exclusion from Tinubu’s cabinet.

He maintained that there was nothing wrong with criticising the government, “but when such criticism stems from personal disappointment over missed appointments rather than genuine concern for the people, it becomes dangerous.”

The former Kaduna Central Senator accused several key figures from the Muhammadu Buhari administration, including El-Rufai and Amaechi, of trying to undermine the current government after losing influence.

“These individuals controlled the affairs of the country for eight years. They had the power, the resources, and the influence to transform the North into a socio-economic model for the rest of the country. Instead, they left it in a worse condition,” he said.

Sani acknowledged ongoing security challenges in parts of the north, such as Katsina and Zamfara, but credited the current administration with making some progress. 

“Today, people can travel the Birnin Gwari road, which was once a death trap due to incessant bandit attacks. The southern part of Kaduna, once abandoned, is now relatively peaceful thanks to the efforts of the current Chief of Defence (Staff),” he noted.

While urging President Tinubu to do more to address the region’s challenges, he also called for openness to constructive criticism but warned against politically motivated attacks disguised as concern for the people.