Author: Newsdesk

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Youth Council Ambassador, Mr Abdurrazaq Gidado, on Monday appealed to all parties in the protracted strike in Nigerian universities to consider the reopening of universities in national interest. The four university-based unions include the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU). Others are the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT). Members of the unions have been on strike since February 2022, occasioning the total shut down of federal and some state universities in…

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U.S. pharmaceutical maker Pfizer and Biopharmaceutical Company Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) on Monday agreed that Pfizer will acquire GBT in an all-cash deal valued at $5.4 billion. Pfizer said the acquisition would drive growth by enhancing its work in rare hematology while reinforcing the company’s commitment to sickle cell disease research and treatment. Under the terms of the transaction, Pfizer will acquire all the outstanding shares of California-based GBT for $68.50 per share in cash, for a total enterprise value of approximately $5.4 billion, including debt and net of cash acquired. Pfizer expects to finance the transaction with existing cash…

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German pharmaceutical company BioNTech, which partnered with U.S. giant Pfizer to bring one of the world’s first coronavirus vaccines to market, has increased its turnover in the first half of the year. The increase was by 30.1 per cent to 9.57 billion euros ($9.74 billion) compared to the first half of 2021. The net profit was increased by 37.2 per cent to 5.37 billion, euros, the company announced in Mainz on Monday. Looking at the second quarter alone, however, had a decline in both sales (down 39.8 per cent to 3.2 billion euros) and profits (down 40 per cent to…

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The Kano State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) says flood has killed three persons and displaced 495 families in Ajingi local government area of the state. The Executive Secretary of SEMA, Dr Saleh Jili disclosure this on Monday in Ajingi while distributing relief materials to the victims, including the families of the three deceased ones. Jili listed the affected areas as Toranke, Kara Malama, Chuna and Balare. He said that the incident which occurred after a heavy rainfall on August 3 and 4, affected 495 victims, killed three and injured one. “On behalf of Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje, we are here to…

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The Sokoto state government says it has secured a N4 billion loan from Zenith Bank to be distributed to 16,000 rice, wheat and tomato farmers in the state. The state governor, Aminu Tambuwal disclosed this while launching the sale of 10,000 metric tons of subsidised fertilizer for the 2022/2023 farming season on Monday. Tambuwal said the state government obtained the loan with the support of Central Bank of Nigeria.According to him, the effort is geared toward supporting farmers across the state. He reiterated government’s commitment toward enhancing farming in the state from subsistence to commercial farming. “The NPK brand of…

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Connected Development (CODE), a civil society organisation says it plans to monitor the August 9 Kenya elections, to draw possible lessons for Nigeria, ahead of the 2023 general elections. Mr Hamzat Lawal, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CODE said this at a news conference in Abuja on Monday. Lawal said that elections were around the corner in Kenya and Nigeria and the group was working toward ensuring a free, fair and credible process. He said that CODE successfully observed elections in Kenya in 2013, Nigeria in 2015 and 2019 as well as the 2016 US presidential election. According…

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AFRICAR in collaboration with the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), has unveiled the Bajaj Qute cars used for the new ride hauling taxi. AFRICAR is a modern ride hailing service with dedicated vehicles built in Lagos, Nigeria by a home-grown conglomerate, Stallion Group. The Director General of the NADDC, Mr. Jelani Aliyu, represented by the Director, Industrial Infrastructure Department, Dr. Nua Omisanya delivered welcome address at the launching of AFRICAR which held in Ibadan, Oyo state on 4th April, 2022. Dr. Omisanya, disclosed that the objective of the federal government is for Nigeria to become a hub for…

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The television reality show, Big Brother Naija (BBNaija) on Sunday, evicted two housemates, Christy O and Cyph. Christy O, Phyna, Amaka, Khalid and Cyph were nominated for possible eviction by other housemates. However, Christy O and Cyph who had the lowest vote percentages of 08.89 per cent and 14.42 per cent, respectively, got evicted while the other nominees remained in the house. In the same vein, as the show enters its third week, BBNaija turned in two “rider housemates”, Rachael and Chizzy introduced by the host of the show, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu during the eviction night show on Sunday. Obi-Uchendu explained…

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Team Nigeria at the on-going 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham has set another record by winning the first ever women’s 4×100 race to earn a gold medal. Nigeria’s quartet of sprint sensation, Tobi Amusan, Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma and Grace Nwokocha made history Sunday afternoon at the Alexander Stadium by becoming the first women’s relay team to win a Commonwealth Games gold. The quartet achieved this feat in record breaking fashion, running 42.10 seconds to break the barely one month old 42.22 seconds African record they set in Oregon, USA at the World Athletics championships. World and Commonwealth Games 100m…

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Members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) are moving to remove the president, Sunday Asefon over alleged unlawful tenure elongation, SaharaReporters has reported. The members are accusing him of inability to protect the general interest of all Nigerian students at home and abroad. Asefon was elected on December 4, 2020, for a one-year tenure at the NANS convention in Abuja at the age of 45 and was supposed to hand over in December 2021. The students have accused him of failing to conduct another convention or hand over in line with the association’s constitution. Speaking to SaharaReporters, an…

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