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Debby Goodnews Silas Becomes First African Award Organizer to Bag Doctorate Degree

Published

4 years ago

June 2, 2022

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Dr. Debby Goodnews Silas, the CEO of Debby Classique Magazine and the organizers of D’cem Awards has been honoured with a doctorate degree of humanitarianism from Heart International University in USA.

Dr. Debby is the founder of Debby Classique Magazine, and the host of the much anticipated D’CEM Awards, she is one lady you would be proud to be acquitting.

An author, a magazine publisher, a motivational speaker, an event planner, a fashion designer with skills of curating new designs.

She developed her passion for fashion from an early age, as she was always using needles and thread to make dummy dresses, and gradually she began to create wearable styles for herself with needles and thread. The need to empower her passion for fashion became more evident to her parents.

Debby Goodnews Silas

At age 12, her father searched for a fashion house and registered her and she doubled as a secondary school student as well as a fashion apprentice.

Her parents were relieved and delighted to commit her to both a two year informal training and the formal education.

Debby’s first clientele list was made up of friends, classmates, and teachers, and she was able to monetize her sewing skill while still in high school. “Sewing was never a distraction from my education, and neither was my classroom activity a distraction to my sewing time,” she says. It was enjoyable to leave school and return to fashion school, and “I was able to diligently learn faster than my co-apprentice.”

Upon graduation from secondary school, she worked as an intern for a year with a professional fashion designer where she learnt some additional tailoring techniques. She later went to the University of Lagos, where she studied philosophy. Education “ My first admission was for business administration, but there was space for me, so I was given the option of studying Philosophy. My philosophy influenced who I am today”. Despite being a degree holder, fashion was the topmost of her plans. Hence, she worked for a year and then went into the full-time practice of fashion designing and styling, a business she sees more as a way of life. According to her, “I have been fashion designing since I was in high school at 12 years old, and I continued in the fashion industry after my 1st degree.” “I created the ideal fashion that is wearable. I love glamour and elegance and I create fashion styles for other designers. The motivation for creating fashion products in Vietnam and Turkey is to reproduce my designs and sustain my Fashion label”. Her styling business has a branch in Festac Town, Lagos, Nigeria and the United States. Her fashion week often witnesses new style creations.
The exquisite fashion publisher’s drive and engagement enabled her to launch the first magazine, Debbie Classic Magazine, on June 7th, 2009. “The zeal for publishing fashion styles in a magazine arose in me at a time when the African fashion industry had not made a notable wave”. Creating and inventing fashion ideas through the use of many fabrics in different colours was the target. According to her, “I created fashion styles for the magazine publication”. One publication later became too overwhelming for the fashion content being published yearly and this gave birth to the other three publications.

The first magazine had 34 pages, then the subsequently reviewed editions had 24 pages with exhilarating content about different fashion events and fashion styles across Africa.

The desire to see African fashion accepted by developed countries became the driving force in her life. She understudied existing fashion magazines and saw a need for a men’s fashion magazine and this led to the publishing of CityMag Magazine. It got great support from TV reporters and television programmes like Silver Bird. The Silver Bird team gave great support to the fashion publication. Her other magazines include; Dee Legend Magazine, Dews Magazine, and Citymag Magazine, a magazine that captures the best of men’s clothing styles.

Debby was the founder and first President of the Fashion Magazine Association of Nigeria. She was also one of the youngest fashion publishers in Nigeria. “I was president of FEMPAN and the youngest President.” The aim was to globalize African styles across the world. She became the first female fashion designer to publish four fashion magazines with award events in Nigeria. She is also the youngest female humanitarian who created an internationally recognized award for distinguished couples, noble personalities and veterans. Debby Classic Magazine has an award event which has over the years become a golden platform that showcases the achievements of great personalities, D’CEM. The Glamours Award is yet another award event born out of the understanding that the family is the smallest unit of society and a dysfunctional family will take a turn on the society, hence “the Glamours Award’. In her words, ”My wish was to create an award that gives credit to outstanding families in the society”. It’s rare to see any organisation that honours exemplary couples with awards, especially in the Diaspora, and I am delighted that I can do that through The GLAMOURS Award.

The pretty and cheerful humanitarian is married to her best friend, Buchi Silas. They are blessed with two princesses and a prince. They are all based in the United States of America, where they live beautiful and fulfilling lives. Debby is no doubt a lover of God and humanity; her devotion to growth and excellence has often been a point of reference. The tenacious stylist who champions as the publisher of four outstanding fashion magazines loves to hang out with her family in her spare time, “I take time off for family most weekends. I travel between June and July. Family is the most important part of my life.” Her motivation: “my life is a big lesson. There was a point in my life when some people I trusted gave up on me, but with God, I was able to rewrite my story”.
Stunning and soft-spoken, Debby is quite unparalleled in researching the stories of notable Africans who have influenced the growth of African heritage, African businesses, African culture, and Africans’ support of fellow Africans in the Diaspora. Her utmost joy is to see the positive development of Africans in the Diaspora and encourage the outstanding personalities to be more persistent in inspiring a better and safer world for the black community through investment, service to humanity, exemplary lifestyle and also through the involvement of the entertainment industry.

This is the 6th D’CEM Awards and it has a lot of surprises. It covers a lot of notable Hollywood actors, actresses, entertainers, and more. The Debby brand event is notable for being top-notch. I have my studio, where I design and produce new fashion designs and do photoshoots for magazine publications. In her statement at the 2020 DCEM Awards, held in Lagos, Nigeria, she said, “We are here today to celebrate icons of excellence.” We celebrate you and honour you for your great contribution to American society and the world at large. The awardees have been carefully chosen based on their activities and the various ways they have touched lives.
It is never a small feat to put these great acts together, but Debby Classique has shown that with a little encouragement, people can achieve more.

Debby Goodnews was the first female Nigerian to have a doctorate degree honor and own 4 high in demand entertainment and fashion magazines in Nigeria. Her fashion magazine centered on promoting African fashions for global recognition.

She’s is the first Fashion and entertainment magazine publisher association of Nigerian, (FEMPAN)

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EFCC says it froze Osun account over ‘fraudulent handling’ of N11bn ecological, intervention funds

Published

2 hours ago

August 5, 2026

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has explained that it froze the bank account of the Osun state government over alleged fraudulent handling of N11 billion ecological and intervention funds.

The anti-graft agency, in a statement on Wednesday, said it has been investigating the Osun state government since March regarding the alleged mishandling of the funds.

According to the agency, some officials of the state government, including the accountant-general of the state, had been interviewed by EFCC investigators.

The agency said amid the probe, it observed that huge transfers of funds were being made from the account into different corporate entities since August 2.

“These ongoing investigations of the state government would not have warranted any placement of Post No Debit order on its account but for the precipitate and unwarranted movement of funds from the accounts to different suspicious accounts since August 2, 2026,” the statement reads.

“The Commission noticed huge transfers of funds into different corporate entities and had to swiftly halt the trend by freezing the accounts from which such heavy funds are being moved.

“The EFCC’s preventive mandate is a public-inclined framework of safeguarding public funds, assets and resources.

“The Commission cannot watch idly while a state government’s account is being pillaged.”

The anti-graft agency said it is aware of the forthcoming Osun governorship election, adding that it is “uncharitable” to overlook the huge transfers of funds over the “excuse of an upcoming election”.

“The Osun State government account was frozen to save public funds from being looted,” the agency said.

In a letter dated August 5, 2026, and signed by Adenike Babalola, assistant commander of the EFCC on behalf of the director of investigation, the anti-graft agency directed First Bank not to allow withdrawals from the Osun state government’s statutory allocation account as part of an ongoing investigation.

The agency instructed the bank to place a post-no-debit restriction on the account pending the conclusion of the probe.

Reacting to the development, Ademola Adeleke, Osun governor, said the state government will not accept a situation in which federal government agencies trample upon the rights of subnational governments.

Adeleke said the Osun government has been witnessing numerous sponsored attacks, including the harassment of Accord party members and the move to stall the operations of LGAs in the state.

Adeleke said he has directed the attorney-general of the state to challenge the “illegality”.

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Osun threatens lawsuit as EFCC freezes govt account 10 days to election

Published

8 hours ago

August 5, 2026

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Less than 24 hours after Governor Ademola Adeleke alleged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was planning to freeze the state government account domiciled with First Bank, the anti-graft agency has reportedly freezed the account, according to Vanguard.

The account, reportedly used for the payment of workers’ salaries, was placed on “Post No Debit” status by the anti-graft agency.

The development came hours after Governor Ademola Adeleke raised the alarm that the EFCC was planning to freeze the state government’s accounts and those of top government officials ahead of the August 15 governorship election.

In a statement issued earlier on Wednesday by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, Adeleke described the alleged move as an attempt to cripple government activities before the poll.

The governor had insisted that there was no legal basis for freezing the accounts of a state government, arguing that the EFCC lacked the statutory powers to take such action.

However, a source reportedly told Vanguard that the account had already been restricted.

“I can confirm that the state government account has been frozen by the EFCC. It is no longer an allegation. The governor will address the press shortly to update the public on the situation,” the source reportedly told Vanguard.

The reason for the restriction was not immediately known as of the time of filing this report.

The EFCC had yet to issue an official statement on the development.

The development comes as Osun prepares for its August 15 governorship election, with the account restriction expected to generate political reactions ahead of the poll.

Meanwhile, the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, had said he has the mandate of the governor to sue the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for freezing the government accounts.

Jimi-Bada said a ‘Post no debit’ letter from the EFCC was forwarded to the management of the First Bank where Osun government accounts were domiciled on Wednesday.

The commissioner, who expressed readiness to proceed to court, said the move by the anti-graft agency may hamper government’s business, noted that Governor Ademola Adeleke was not using state funds to run its campaign for reelection.

“I have the mandate of the governor to proceed to the Federal High Court to challenge this move. EFCC can investigate the accounts but it can’t freeze the accounts without order of court.

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WAEC releases 2026 WASSCE results, withholds 167,486 candidate’s results over malpractice

Published

11 hours ago

August 5, 2026

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The West African Examinations Council says it is withholding the results of 167,486 candidates, representing 8.59 per cent of those who sat the 2026 Computer-Based West African Senior School Certificate Examination for School candidates, over alleged examination malpractice.

This was disclosed by the Head of WAEC Nigeria National Office, Dr Amos Dangut, who announced the release of the results in Lagos on Wednesday.

The number of withheld reults, however, represents a decline from the 9.7 per cent recorded in 2025.

Dangut said the council withheld the affected results due to various infractions, including the increasing use of mobile phones in examination halls despite the existing ban and organised cheating in some schools.

“The increasing use of cell phones in the examination hall, in spite of the existing ban, and organised cheating in some schools, are other nagging issues,” Dangut said.

He added that some supervisors and invigilators found assisting candidates in malpractice had been arrested and would face disciplinary action through the relevant state ministries of education.

A total of 1,959,668 candidates from 24,207 schools registered for the examination across Nigeria, Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea, while 1,950,726 candidates eventually sat for the examination.

1,200,514 candidates (61.54 per cent) obtained credits and above in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.

1,687,378 candidates (86.50 per cent) secured credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, with or without English Language and Mathematics.

The number of candidates who obtained credits in five subjects including English and Mathematics dropped by 1.42 percentage points compared with the 2025 examination.

Of the 1.2 million candidates who achieved credits in English and Mathematics:

558,883 (28.65 per cent) were male.

641,631 (32.89 per cent) were female.

Overall, 997,267 females (51.12 per cent) and 953,459 males (48.88 per cent) participated in the examination.

WAEC said 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05 per cent, had their results fully processed and released, while the results of 116,031 candidates (5.95 per cent) were still being processed.

The council also disclosed that 1,213 candidates with special needs participated in the examination. They included:

137 visually impaired candidates;

491 candidates with hearing impairment;

55 spastic and mentally challenged candidates; and

41 physically challenged candidates.

The 2026 examination marked the second edition of the Computer-Based WASSCE for School Candidates, following the introduction of the format by WAEC.

Dangut said the council introduced several innovations, including the Digital Examiner Mark System to improve the speed of processing results, serialisation of question papers to curb malpractice, and a new portal that allows candidates to generate e-PINs directly for checking their results.

The examination was conducted between April 24 and June 19, 2026, with 102,708 examiners involved in marking across 88 marking venues.

Dangut, who described the briefing as his third and final engagement as WAEC Nigeria National Office head, said candidates sponsored by states indebted to the council would not have their results released until the outstanding payments were cleared.