By Ejiro Umukoro Fifteen years old Tosin (not her real name) is afraid. In an interview she tells how a man in her neighborhood in Alimosho is fond of molesting young girls, touching them inappropriately and physically assaulting them. And since the lockdown, she says it has gotten worse. To prevent the constant harassment from him she says “me and my other friends in the area avoid him and we have refused to run errands for him.” The man whom she is afraid to name wields great influence in the community and whenever he chances upon them, Tosin says “he…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
The National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) says it plans to industrialise yam production in the country to ensure food security, boost job creation and the reposition the economy. The Director-General, Prof. Alex Akpa spoke with news men shortly after a tour of yam seed production facilities at the agency in Abuja on Wednesday. According to him, the Agency will use Yam Aeroponics System, a state-of-the-art green house, for the production and multiplication of yam seedlings, in partnership with Biocrops Technology Company. NABDAs-yam aeroponics system-3 Akpa said that the production and multiplication of the initial 5 million yam seedlings had been…
There’s been a definite shift around the discussion about the cloud in Africa. Businesses now accept that the future of organising, processing and presenting their data is in the cloud. And with services like cloud-based email, many companies are already using this innovative technology – whether they realise it or not. The conversation has changed from asking ‘what is cloud technology?’ to looking at how it can be harnessed to achieve business success. Organisations need to be able to adapt at the same speed as this new technology and take advantage of the opportunities it presents. This will ensure business…
The Laboratory for Geoecology and Sustainable Food Systems (GeoLab) of the Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA, in conjunction with Biospheric Nigeria Limited, recently gave practical expression to University–Industry collaboration by securing over N50 million. The loan is from the Federal Government of Nigeria /Central Bank of Nigeria/Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending- FGN CBN/NIRSAL- Anchor/Borrowers program for cocoa farmers in Akure South and North Local Governments of Ondo State. A statement by the Deputy Director, Communication ańd Protocol of FUTA, Adebanjo Adegbenro made available to Ashenewsonline on Wednesday, said this was the first time that cocoa farmers would…
The U.S. has placed sanctions on the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Ms Fatou Bensouda. Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State said on Wednesday that the sanctions are as a result of ICC’s continued investigations of U.S. persons. Included to the sanctions list is Phakiso Mochochoko, the head of the ICC’s jurisdiction division. Dpa reports that this year, the Trump administration imposed economic sanctions on ICC employees involved in investigating U.S. troops for potential war crimes in Afghanistan. The ICC was established in 2002 by the international community – with the U.S. declining to join – to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes…
The Federal Executive Council, FEC, on Wednesday, approved $3.1 billion for the end to end automation of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS. ChannelsTV reports that the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed made the disclosure at the end of the FEC virtual meeting in Abuja. She further disclosed that the concessionary period is 20 years and the funding is solely from investors with the revenue expected from this automation pegged at $176 billion. Relatedly, the Council approved N13.122 billion for the upgrade of safe towers in Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt airports, with analogue systems transformed to digital.
The Federal government has announced an increased in petroleum pump price, otherwise known as PMS, to N151.56 per litre. This Pipelines and Product Marketing Company, PPMC, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, made the announcement in a statement on Wednesday. “Please be informed that a new product price adjustment has been effected on our payment platform. “To this end, the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) is now N151.56k per litre.” “This takes effect from September 2, 2020,” the statement reads.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the country recorded a trade balance deficit of N1.8 trillion at the end of the second quarter, making the third consecutive quarter of negative trade balance. This was contained in NBS’s report for the second quarter on ‘Foreign trade in goods statistics’ released on Wednesday. According to the report, the value of Nigeria’s merchandise trade stood at N6.24 trillion in the second quarter of 2020. “This indicated a sharp fall of 27.30 per cent in Q2, 2020 compared to Q1, 2020 and 27.46 per cent compared to Q2, 2019. “The value of total…
The Presidency has debunked an online report that President Muhammadu Buhari’s aide, Sarki Abba is COVID-19 positive. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu in a statement on Wednesday, described the report as“false and disgraceful lies’’ and advised Nigerians to ignore such report. “The Presidency wishes to advise Nigerians to ignore determined agents of fake news bent on spreading false stories to the public. “We react to the utter falsehood and disgraceful lies, a report by the so-called digital newspaper which, on Wednesday, claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari’s aide, Sarki Abba is COVID-19 positive. “This…
The President of Nigerian Union in South Africa (NUSA), Mr Adetola Olubajo, has said that 11 Nigerians have so far died of COVID-19 in that country. In a statement on Wednesday, Olubajo said that the COVID-19 deaths were only for Gauteng Province. “At the last count, 11 Nigerians have died from COVID-19 in Gauteng Province alone. I have attended the funeral of some of them,’’ he said. According to Olubajo, the disease is real and has devastated several countries of the world. He said the biggest challenge was the belief by some Nigerians in South Africa that the disease was…