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China sees prospering development of pocket parks

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By Liu Leyi, People’s Daily

In a pocket park in Shinan district, Qingdao, east China’s Shandong province, the grounds are painted to resemble piano keys, and over 30 types of flowers and shrubs are flourishing. Piano melodies are always resounding through the park.
“I never thought that the pocket park would be so snazzy, and now it has become a ‘back garden’ for the residents,” said a woman surnamed Zhang that lives in the neighborhood, who’s delighted every time when seeing the colorful paintings and flowers in the park.
In Baoding, north China’s Hebei province, there’s a displaced plant-turned pocket park called Yinxing Park. According to local official Zhang Qingfei, the park was built the last year and the transformation only took two months. There are currently 41 types of plants in the park, so that it always looks green throughout the year.
Pocket parks are often constructed in fragmented urban spaces for sports, leisure, and entertainment uses. In recent years, their prevalence in Chinese cities has increased. Built on brownfields, on irregular pieces of land, and around residential buildings, they offer extra green spaces for urban dwellers.
As one of the most accessible types of park, pocket parks present beautiful natural scenery for residents. Besides, they also come with smart equipment and related supporting facilities that help meet residents’ demand for leisure, entertainment, sports and social interaction.
Every morning, Hao Xinhua, a senior citizen living in Hedong district, north China’s Tianjin municipality, does physical exercise in a nearby pocket park. She told People’s Daily that what attracts her there is not only its proximity to her home, but also the 11 pieces of fitness equipment that were newly introduced to the park last year.
According to Wang Ruigang, an official with Hedong district’s sports bureau, the 11 sets of fitness equipment include a leg massager, an upper body pulley system exerciser, etc. Every equipment comes with a screen and can be connected to the phones of the residents. After the residents input their personal information, the smart equipment can generate individualized and professional fitness plans.
“Compared with traditional equipment, these are smarter, more tech-ish, and more interactive,” said a resident named Li Wenming. According to Li, the park is also a place where his neighbors meet.
The construction of these parks is not the finish line, but the starting point of maintenance, which is very important for benefiting surrounding residents in a sustained manner.
A pocket park in Hanjiang district, Wuhan, central China’s Hubei province, has invited local residents to help with its management, hoping they could discover and solve the common problems faced by pocket parks.
Resident Lyu Jun, who currently serves as a “director” of the park, said he would go for a walk at the park every afternoon for inspection, from which he has learned many new plant species.
China is striving to make its cities more beautiful, greener and more habitable. According to a 2021 national bulletin on land greening status released by the Office of the National Greening Committee, China has built over 20,000 pocket parks and more than 80,000 kilometers of green lanes. The per capita area of parks and green spaces for urban residents stood at 15 square meters.
An official with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development introduced that China will keep building a well-balanced park system and strive to make it possible for its residents to “see greenbelts every 300 meters and parks every 500 meters.” The country will also improve the leisure, sports, and emergency shelter functions of urban parks and green spaces, the official said.
Besides, China will enhance its management of urban gardens and strengthen oversight over relevant matters when they are being handled and after they have been handled, so as to promote the high-quality development of urban landscaping.

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Suwaiba Said Ahmad has announced that the 2026 Policy Meeting on Admissions into Tertiary Institutions will be the final one to be hosted by the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Is-haq Oloyede.

Speaking during the meeting held in Abuja on Monday, the minister praised Oloyede for his decade-long leadership of JAMB, describing his tenure as transformational.

“This is the last policy meeting you will be holding. He has been here for ten years. He has done a lot of good things. Ten years is a long time but he is not tired,” she said.

“Notwithstanding, we thank you very much. Definitely, you are not tired. We will just give you a resting period to relax a bit and then we will just call you back.”

Oloyede was appointed JAMB Registrar on August 9, 2016, and is widely credited with reforming the board’s operations and financial system within a few years of assuming office.

Under his leadership, JAMB’s remittances to the Federal Government increased significantly. While the board reportedly remitted less than N50 million between 1978 and 2016, it generated and remitted N7.8 billion in 2017 alone.

Between 2016 and 2026, JAMB reportedly remitted N20.7 billion in operating surplus while also funding infrastructure and staff development projects through internally generated revenue.

The improved financial performance also enabled the Federal Government to reduce application fees for tertiary institution admissions by 30 percent.

Before joining JAMB, Oloyede served as Vice-Chancellor of University of Ilorin from 2007 to 2012. He also chaired both the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities and the Committee of Vice-Chancellors between 2011 and 2012.

A professor of Islamic Studies since 1995, Oloyede has published nearly 100 academic papers and attended several international conferences.

His contributions to public service and education have earned him several honours, including the Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) in 2014, the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) in 2022, the National Productivity Order of Merit Award in 2019, and the Nigeria Excellence Award in Public Service in the Education category in 2022.

Oloyede, who is 71 years old, is married and has four adult children and grandchildren.

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Hyacinth Alia has congratulated the James Iorzua Ayatse on the occasion of his 79th birthday anniversary.

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By: Fabian Apechihin

In a statement issued by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula, Alia described the Tor Tiv as a respected traditional ruler, scholar, statesman, and patriot whose wisdom, courage, and dedication to peace, justice, and the preservation of Tiv cultural heritage continue to inspire people across Benue State and beyond.

The governor praised the monarch for his fatherly role in promoting unity, peaceful coexistence, and constructive dialogue among the various ethnic groups in the state.

He also noted that the Tor Tiv, also known as the Begha U Tiv, has continued to uphold the dignity and honour of the traditional institution through exemplary leadership and service.

Governor Alia further prayed for God’s continued blessings upon the royal father, asking for more years of good health, strength, wisdom, and grace as he continues to provide leadership to the Tiv Kingdom and the Benue State traditional institution.

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The official vehicle of Sesoo Gboko has reportedly been snatched by armed men in Abuja.

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By: Fabian Apechihin

In a statement released by the lawmaker’s Senior Legislative Aide, Bem Adzaagee, the incident occurred around the Gudu area of the Federal Capital Territory.

According to the statement, the yet-to-be-identified gunmen forced the lawmaker’s driver to hand over the vehicle while he was parking at a public location in the area.

“The gunmen compelled the Honourable Member’s driver to surrender the vehicle to them as he parked at the car park of a public place in the Gudu area of the Federal Capital Territory and was making his way into the premises,” the statement read.

It added that the driver had just returned from an errand and had gone to pick up the lawmaker, who was attending meetings at the location.

Adzaagee confirmed that neither the driver nor anyone else at the scene was harmed during the incident.

He also praised the prompt response of security agencies, stating that efforts were already underway to track down the stolen vehicle and apprehend those responsible.

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