Former South African President, FW de Klerk, an apartheid-era leader who helped to bring about the end of white-minority rule in South Africa, has died of cancer at the age of 85, his foundation said on Thursday. De Klerk helped orchestrate the release of Nelson Mandela, with whom he later shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. However, for many South Africans he never did enough to fully atone for apartheid or for the human rights abuses carried out by the security forces when he was president. De Klerk, born in Johannesburg on March 18, 1936, was the son of…
Author: Newsdesk
The African Energy Chamber (AEC) is proud to announce the winners of the first annual African Energy Awards 2021. Sponsored by Sasol, the Awards celebrate Africa’s energy industry pioneers, promoting the accomplishments made by African energy professionals and companies. Announced during the Award Ceremony on Tuesday the 9th of November at African Energy Week (AEW) 2021 – organized by Energy Capital & Power, the winners will continue to pave the way for a new generation of industry leaders and advocates focused on making energy poverty history by 2030. THE AWARD WINNERS ARE AS FOLLOWS: Lifetime Achievement Award: Frank Fannon, Former…
A new seed system model developed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) under the Project—Building an Economically Sustainable Cassava Seed Systems, Phase 2 (BASICS II) is helping African countries such as Nigeria and Tanzania to ramp up yields to more than 25 tons per hectare, experts and farmers revealed at the recently held National Cassava Seed Summit in Abuja. Known as the BASICS model, the seed system approach creates an ecosystem of seed actors – breeder, foundation, and certified seed producers. It ensures that seeds of improved and virus-free cassava varieties are multiplied and disseminated to farmers through…
A lecturer with the Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA, Dr Gideon Idowu has emerged winner of the 2021 Jennifer Ward Oppenheimer (JWO) Research Grant for Africa. According to the organizers of the yearly grant, Dr Idowu won the award after his entry was adjudged the best from a pool of 292 entries from applicants from 27 African Countries. The grant is under the aegis of the Oppenheimer Generations Research & Conservation. “After a continent-wide search, with entries from 27 countries across Africa, we are pleased to announce that Dr. Gideon Idowu from the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA),…
Introduction Before I thank the organizers of this Conference and pay my tribute to the Memory of my friend, late Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, in whose Foundation Center this historic event is being organized, let me quickly dismiss certain lingering pernicious fallacies that have dominated all discussion about the coup of January 15, 1966 and the Biafra War. First, the Chairman of the occasion, Alhaji Ahmed Joda, has alluded to the January 15, 1966 coup as an Igbo coup that, according to him, was replied by a Northern coup of July 29 1966. Let it be said loud and clear…
Sokoto state governor, Aminu Tambuwal has called on the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state to tune down its ‘dosage of partisanship’ and “not politicize the issue of borrowing for development.” The governor was reacting to allegations by the state chapter of the APC that his administration’s recent approval to borrow N28.7 billion will further make the state one of the highly indebted states in the country. Tambuwal spoke at a town hall meeting on the implementation of the 2021 budget and public inputs in the 2022 budget held at the International Conference Center, Kasarawa on Monday. According to…
Afenifere, the Pan Yoruba Socio-Political Group has chided the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina for his alleged comment that the president is being criticised because of his Fulani origin. A statement by the group’s Secretary-General, Sola Ebiseni on Saturday said, “Femi played some odious ethnic music when he alluded that many who were criticising the lacklustre performance of his boss were only doing so because they didn’t like being ruled by a Fulani man. “There is no need reminding him that northern Nigeria which is now rendered asunder in ethnic relationships, as a…
By Fadlillah el-Kurebe Niger state government has demolished a residence of a suspected kidnapper in Yikangbe, a suburb of Minna, the state capital. The structures demolished include a completed two bed room flat where he occupies with his family and another yet-to-be completed two bedroom flat. The state commissioner for Local Government, Community Development, Chieftaincy Affairs and Internal Security, Emmanuel Umar supervised the demolition, which was carried out in the presence of heavy security men. Speaking to newsmen, Umar explained that a good citizen of the state gave the security agents vital information about the suspicious activities of the suspect,…
The president of Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Olumide Akpata has again condemned the federal government for ordering the invasion of the house of Supreme Court Justice Mary Odili in Abuja last week. Akpata at a special press briefing in Lagos on Friday, described the operation as egregious and the gathering of an ominous cloud over the judiciary. He also said that the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami may lose his SAN title if he is found culpable in the raid of the Supreme Court Justice. The president further compared the act to Department of…
Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami has explained the $418 million controversial deductions, which the state governments have kicked against by approaching the Federal High Court and obtaining restraining order in that regard. Malami gave the explanations in a statement issued by his spokesperson, Umar Gwandu on Friday. According to the AGF, “the deductions were on account of four judgments in contention which were delivered at various times in 2014, 2015, 2017 & 2019. “Two of these were Consent Judgments based on Terms of Settlement entered into by NGF in 2017 & 2019 while two of the…