A tanker conveying petroleum product, on Wednesday, exploded in Felele area of Lokoja, Kogi state. Many people, including students of Kogi State Polytechnic and primary school pupils, are reportedly feared dead. Details later…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
Adaja Damilare and Christiana Nsolo have carted home N1 million each as star prizes after emerging winners at the grand finale of Big Dream Nigeria Talent Show on Tuesday night. The reality show is geared toward discovering and developing young talents in acting and music. The youngsters were announced winners at the grand finale of the maiden edition of the show which held in Abuja. The duo beat 12 other budding talents who made it to the final day of the 5-week-long event to clinch the highly coveted grand prizes. Damilare, Ondo State –born model and upcoming singer, won the…
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, has announced 176 new cases of the COVID-19 infections in the country. The NCDC made this known on its official twitter handle on Wednesday. According to the agency, the new infection takes the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 57,437. The NCDC said that the new cases were reported from 14 states of the federation. It stated that Lagos reported the highest infection in the country with 73, Plateau (50), FCT (17), Rivers (8), Ondo (6), Niger (5), Ogun (5), Edo (3), Kaduna (3), Oyo (2), Bauchi (1), Bayelsa (1),…
PROTOCOLS Let me on behalf of the Government and good people of Nigeria, congratulate you on your well-deserved election as President of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). I would like to assure you of Nigeria’s readiness to avail the United Nations all necessary cooperation needed for the fulfillment of your mandate. 2. I wish to also thank the General Assembly for the support accorded His Excellency, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande during his tenure as President of the 74th Session of the General Assembly. 3. We acknowledge the accomplishments of the Assembly under his able leadership, particularly his efforts…
The Nigerian Navy on Tuesday deployed troops on board six warships, including 60 gunboats, in a special military exercise to tackle pirates, oil smugglers and other criminalities in the nation’s waters. Rear Adm. David Adeniran, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Naval Command (ENC), Calabar, announced the deployment at the flag-off of the exercise in Onne, Rivers. In the operation code-named, ‘Exercise Sanga Sung,’ meaning ‘Safe Transit’ in Ibibio dialect, Adeniran said that the two-day exercise, aimed at consolidating on similar Exercises Bekan Mmon I and II, would hold on the territorial waters of Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ebonyi and Rivers states,…
South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has urged the United Nations to spare no effort at ending racism and other forms of prejudice. Ramaphosa, who is the Chairman of the African Union, made the call in his pre-recorded video statement to the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday. It is the UNGA General Debate since the death of African American, George Floyd, in police custody on May 25 sparked protests in the United States and around the world. “The year 2020 will be remembered for the massive groundswell to push back the frontiers of racism under the umbrella of…
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday night urged the international community to take strong action against illicit flows of small arms and light weapons. Addressing the virtual United Nations General Assembly through a pre-recorded video statement, Buhari said Nigeria was deeply concerned over the menace. “Nigeria remains deeply concerned over the illicit trade, transfer, and circulation of small arms and light weapons, particularly on the continent of Africa. “We urge the international community to renew efforts to stem this traffic and promote the Arms Trade Treaty. “This is to codify accountability in the on-going battle against trans-border crimes, including terrorism and acts…
U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, through Power Africa, on Tuesday awarded $2.6 million (N1.2 billion) grant to nine energy companies to electrify 288 rural health facilities without reliable access to power. The Power Africa is a U.S. Government-led initiative that brings together 12 government agencies, development partners and private sector companies, with the goal of doubling access to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa. The grant, totaling $2.6 million (N1.2 billion) was launched in a virtual event which highlighted the importance of healthcare electrification for COVID-19 response and recovery. The awardees include Havenhill Synergy Ltd (Nigeria), KYA-Energy Group (Togo), Zuwa Energy (Malawi),…
The Zamfara Government has accused the administration of former governor Abdulaziz Yari of diverting N10.8 billion meant for the state university project. The State Commissioner of Finance, Alhaji Rabiu Garba, made the accusation at a press conference in Gusau on Tuesday. However, former commissioner of finance under Yari’s administration, Alhaji Mukhtar Idris dismissed the allegation as politically motivated. Garba said “based on the records available to us, the past administration in the state had diverted the sum of N10.8 billion from the N37 billion refunded to the state by the federal government for the construction of 14 federal roads. “We…
The Sokoto Hisbah Commission, has arrested Baffa Tafida, son of Special Adviser on Social Investment in the state, Alhaji Hayatu Tafida for, in 2017, allegedly luring a girl (name withheld) to a hotel, allegedly drugged her, had sex and video-recorded the act. Confirming the incident to newsmen, the Commandant of the Commission, Dr Adamu Kasarawa said that Baffa hid the recorded video and released it on social media and the supposed spouse in 2020, when the lady was about to get married. According to Kasarawa, Baffa and his partners were arrested following complaint brought before them by the mother of…