President Bola Tinubu met with Mastercard Global Chief Executive Officer Michael Miebach, highlighting Nigeria's youth population as the country's most significant asset. Tinubu described Nigerian youth as tech-savvy and capable of integrating into the global economy, welcoming Mastercard's proposal to train five million Nigerian small businesses in digital skills. He stated that his reforms focus on empowering young people and small businesses with digital tools and urged Mastercard to strengthen its partnership with Nigerian institutions like the Bank of Industry. The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, noted that economic reforms have created opportunities for Mastercard, with over 10,000 informal businesses applying for registration daily. Oyedele also mentioned the government's goal to empower three million Nigerian youths through the digital economy. Miebach, who established Mastercard's Nigeria operation in 2011, noted the company prevents $200 million in fraud annually in Nigeria and brings in $2 billion in foreign exchange. He identified Nigeria's 40 million small businesses as the primary target for Mastercard's next investment phase, outlining a three-year program to build capacity for small businesses and a Cyber Centre of Excellence to address digital threats.
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This summary was AI-generated from a story originally published by Punch Nigeria.

Instagram, a social media platform owned by Meta, experienced a widespread outage on Tuesday, affecting thousands of users globally. Reports of problems began surging around 10:10 p.m., with over 8,100 users reporting issues. Users attempting to log in encountered "5xx Server Error" messages, indicating server-side problems. In the United States, complaints started rising around 4:55 p.m. Eastern Time. Many users turned to X to confirm the disruption, with some noting this was not the first outage recently. Meta had not issued an official statement regarding the cause of the outage. This incident follows a similar widespread outage a week prior that affected Facebook and Instagram, leaving millions unable to access their accounts and logging many out of Facebook's main website, mobile application, and Messenger service.

The World Health Organization WHO is urging countries globally to enhance newborn screening programs, emphasizing that early detection and treatment of birth defects can save lives and reduce lifelong disabilities. WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, presented a new report highlighting newborn screening as crucial for improving child survival and health outcomes. The report indicates that birth defects now account for nearly 8% of all deaths among children under five, with over 90% of affected children residing in low- and middle-income countries. Approximately eight million babies are born with birth defects annually worldwide. Dr. Ghebreyesus noted that access to screening and treatment is limited in many countries, despite evidence that early detection significantly improves outcomes for conditions like congenital hypothyroidism, sickle-cell disease, and hearing impairment. He highlighted global disparities in screening coverage, with some countries screening for over 50 conditions while others lack any programs. The report also shows that the proportion of under-five deaths due to birth defects increased from 1% to 4% in sub-Saharan Africa and from 3% to 11% in South Asia between 2000 and 2023. The WHO chief called on governments to integrate newborn screening into routine healthcare and universal health coverage systems, citing examples from Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Uganda that have expanded screening coverage.

The Oyo State Government has implemented a dusk-to-dawn curfew across 10 local government areas bordering the Old Oyo National Park. This measure, effective from 4 PM to 8 AM daily starting Wednesday, June 24, 2026, for an initial 48 hours, aims to combat insecurity, kidnapping, and criminal activities. The affected areas include Oriire, Orelope, Irepo, Saki West, Saki East, Atisbo, Itesiwaju, Iseyin, Olorunsogo, and Atiba. According to Dotun Oyelade, the state Commissioner for Information, this directive is part of efforts to remove criminal elements reportedly using forest reserves around the park as hideouts. Security agencies have been instructed to enhance surveillance and enforcement. The curfew is a direct response to the mass abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in May 2026 from communities in the Oriire Local Government Area, including Yawota and Ahoro-Esinle. Abducted victims are believed to be held within the Old Oyo National Park corridor, a large forest reserve. Authorities believe the kidnappers remain within this forest, leading to intensified search-and-rescue operations and sustained military and police deployment.