The Lagos State Government has approved a harmonised academic calendar for all public and private primary and secondary schools across the state for the 2026/2027 academic session, aligning both categories of schools under a single schedule.

The announcement was made by the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr. Jamiu Tolani Alli-Balogun, in a statement published on the official X account of the Lagos State Government on Thursday.

The approved calendar shows that the 2026/2027 academic session will commence on Monday, September 14, 2026, after a two-day Staff Professional Development (SPD) programme scheduled for September 10 and 11, 2026.

The first term will run until December 18, 2026, followed by a vacation from December 21, 2026, to January 8, 2027. The second term will begin on January 11, 2027, and end on April 16, 2027, while the third term will run from May 3 to July 30, 2027, with the long vacation commencing on August 2, 2027.

The move formalises a unified academic timetable for both public and private schools, replacing the previous practice where schools could operate on different calendars.

It is expected to improve coordination and consistency across the state’s basic and secondary education system while providing parents, teachers, and students with a predictable academic schedule.

The calendar allocates 64 school days for the first term, 61 school days for the second term and 57 school days for the third term, bringing the total number of instructional days for the 2026/2027 academic session to 182 days.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Tunji Disu, has ordered a nationwide civil disarmament operation, ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Disu issued the directive during a courtesy visit to the Force Headquarters in Abuja by the Director – General of the National Centre For The Control Of Small Arms and Light Weapons, DIG Johnson Kokomo (rtd).

While expressing worries that illegally-manufactured small arms and light weapons were being transported across the country by road, and water, the IGP said operations aimed at dismantling arms manufacturing factories, as well as black markets, had been intensified.

Disu emphasised we have to talk to members of the public, we have to do advocacy… And most importantly, so that we can do civil disarmament; civil disarmament of people with illegal arms in their possession.

” We need to talk about it, we need to let people know that it is not only us putting on uniforms that are security operatives. “Everybody is the police, and the police are the com- munity, and the community are the police.“

So, everybody should know (that) anybody carry- ing illegal arms around, is going to use it on another citizen of the country”.

He continued: “So, all hands must be on deck to ensure that we recover all arms.

The United States House of Representatives has approved an amendment seeking to withhold 100 per cent of the country’s assistance to Nigeria until the federal government takes effective steps to prevent and respond to terrorism and violence, significantly tightening an earlier proposal that sought to suspend only half of the aid.

The amendment, sponsored by Representative Gregory Steube of Florida’s 17th Congressional District, was adopted by voice vote during consideration of the appropriations bill.

It raises the aid withholding threshold from 50 percent to 100 percent while retaining the requirement that the US Secretary of State certify that Nigeria has taken “effective steps to prevent and respond to violence and hold perpetrators accountable.”

Speaking on the House floor, Steube said the earlier proposal did not go far enough, alleging that the Nigerian federal government has failed to protect its citizens, especially Christians.

“I rise in strong support for my amendment to increase the withholding threshold for assistance to Nigeria, from 50 percent to 100 percent, while keeping in place benchmarks that demand Nigeria take effective steps to address the violence and persecution that continue to devastate the country,” he said.

(THISDAY)