The Ekiti State Government has praised Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) for its efforts in promoting healthy diets to reduce Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in Nigeria. CAPPA is a group that campaigns for a healthy food environment and works to reduce the spread of deadly illnesses caused by poor diets. The group explained that eating ultra-processed foods and drinks that are high in fat, salt, and sugar — such as soft drinks, instant noodles, salty snacks, and fast foods — is a major cause of diseases like diabetes, hypertension, heart problems, stroke, and cancer. The Director General of the…
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The Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA) has called for major reforms to strengthen traditional medicine in the country. It said Nigeria must learn from countries like China and India by supporting indigenous healing practices with proper training, documentation, and institutional backing. The agency made this call on Monday during a webinar held at its Lagos headquarters to mark African Traditional Medicine Day 2025. The annual event, celebrated on August 31, highlights the importance of traditional medicine in promoting health and well-being across Africa. This year’s programme included a health walk and a lecture with the theme: “Training and Documentation:…
A young resident doctor at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, Dr. Oluwafemi Rotifa, has died after reportedly working non-stop for 72 hours in the hospital’s emergency unit. The sad incident has caused anger across the medical community. Rotifa, fondly called Femoski by friends, had gone to rest in the call room after three straight days on duty. He suddenly collapsed and was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit, but all efforts to save him failed. Reports said the late doctor was once President of the Port Harcourt University Medical Students’ Association. He had also just registered with the UK…
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has raised concern as more than one billion people globally are now living with mental health conditions, warning that services require urgent scale-up. In a report released on Tuesday, WHO noted that mental health challenges are affecting individuals, families, and entire nations, with anxiety and depression among the leading disorders. The agency stressed that mental health conditions remain the second leading cause of long-term disability, driving up healthcare costs for families and governments while costing the global economy an estimated $1 trillion annually in lost productivity. The findings are contained in two new publications —…
Governance and technology stakeholders have urged Nigeria to anchor its Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption on governance and strong enterprise leadership to compete effectively in the AI-driven global economy. The call was made on Tuesday in Lagos at the Centre for Enterprise Governance (CEG) Third Biennial Corporate Governance and Enterprise Development 2025 Conference, themed “Redefining Enterprise Leadership in a Changing Nigeria: Artificial Intelligence, Protectionism and Governance in Focus.” CEG Founder, Mr. Adeyinka Hassan, said that 78 per cent of companies worldwide had already adopted AI, with nearly half of them using it to harness big data. He warned that while the…
Ahead of the ECOWAS Lassa Fever International Conference 2025 (ELFIC2025), public health experts have called on African governments to adopt innovative financing models to support health research and vaccine development. The call was made during a preparatory webinar held on Wednesday, titled “Financing the Future: Integrating Vaccine R&D Preparedness into Sustainable Health Policy”, moderated by Ms. Oyeronke Oyebanji, Head of Lassa Engagement at CEPI. ELFIC2025, scheduled for September 8–11 in Abidjan under the theme “Beyond Borders: Strengthening Regional Cooperation to Combat Lassa Fever and Emerging Infectious Diseases,” seeks to reaffirm regional commitment, mobilise political will, and drive collective action against…
The CASCADE (Catalysing Strengthened Policy for Healthy Diets and Resilience) Project has established nutrition corners and gardens in Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) across five Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Jigawa State. The Project’s Health and Nutrition Technical Officer, Gara Alheri, disclosed this on Tuesday shortly after facilitating a cooking demonstration for selected women at Harbo Tsohuwa PHC in Jahun LGA. CASCADE is jointly implemented in Nigeria by CARE International and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). Alheri explained that the initiative seeks to improve the nutritional intake of women of reproductive age and children under 15, with a particular…
The Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA), Mr. Kamoru Ogunlana, has said Hansard/Verbatim reporters remain indispensable in legislative proceedings despite rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and transcription technologies. Ogunlana made the remark on Tuesday at the Annual National Delegates Conference of the Association of Hansard/Verbatim Reporters of Nigeria, held at the National Assembly in Abuja. He was represented by the Clerk of the House of Representatives, Dr. Yahaya Dan-Zaria. “Before technology became this advanced, it was Hansard reporters who ensured that every aspect of parliamentary business was accurately captured in the official votes and proceedings,” he said. He stressed…
The Bayelsa Government has requested an equity stake in the $3.5 billion Brass Fertilizer and Petrochemical Company project set to commence on Brass Island in the state. Governor Douye Diri made the appeal on Tuesday when the management team of the company paid him a courtesy visit in Yenagoa. Diri said the demand became necessary given the exclusion of oil-producing states and local governments in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which he described as a major flaw causing unrest in host communities. “The federal government now interacts directly with the communities, and that is an affront on the Nigerian Constitution.…
Global education funding is facing sharp reductions that could leave an additional six million children out of school by 2026, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said Official Development Assistance (ODA) for education is projected to fall by $3.2 billion, representing a 24 per cent drop from 2023. Just three donor governments account for nearly 80 per cent of the cuts. Such a decline would raise the number of out-of-school children worldwide from 272 million to 278 million, UNICEF said. “Every dollar cut from education is not just a budgetary decision—it’s a child’s future…