HitchPay, an Africa’s rocket-fueled payment platform, has unveiled financial inclusion initiative at the NYSC orientation camp in Iseyin, Oyo State, aimed at increasing digital financial literacy among newly enlisted corps members. The Chief Operating Officer of HitchPay, Ms Eunice Bankole, said this in a statement by its Corporate Communication Advisor, Emman Ozoemena on Friday in Abuja. Bankole said that the programme combined brand activation, a digital career fair, and sponsorship of two camp events to reach thousands of participants. She said that during the brand‑activation phase, HitchPay staff demonstrated instant app registration, frictionless fund transfers, real‑time transaction validation and electronic…
Author: Newsdesk
An Enugu-based philanthropist, Chief Chris-Baywood Ibe, and his siblings have donated food items to 1,050 indigent households from 21 communities in Awgu LGA of Enugu State for the Christmas celebration. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the gesture was also carried out by the family in memory of their late mother, Mrs Eunice Ibe, scheduled to be buried on Friday. The food items included bags of rice, cartons of groundnut oil and ingredients. In a brief speech at the event, Ibe said the beneficiaries comprised indigent persons, who might not afford good food to eat during the celebration.…
The Katsina State Government said it has traced and reclaimed landed properties worth more than ₦10 billion, about 38 years after the state was carved out of the defunct Kaduna State. The General Manager of the Katsina State Assets Management Agency, Dr Lawal Aminu-Bala, disclosed this while briefing journalists in Katsina on Thursday. According to him, the recovery followed a directive by the state government led by Gov. Dikko Radda to trace and recover all public assets that were encroached or converted to private use. Aminu-Bala said that the development led to the inauguration of a committee chaired by the…
The European Union (EU) has agreed to provide Ukraine with €90 billion ($105.5 billion) for the years 2026 and 2027, European Council President Antonio Costa has said. “We have a deal,” Costa said in a post on social media platform X in the early hours of Friday. “Decision to provide 90 billion euros of support to Ukraine for 2026-27 approved. We committed, we delivered.” EU leaders gathered in Brussels reached a compromise after plans to use billions of euros in frozen Russian state assets to cover Ukraine’s financing needs of the coming years failed to gain the necessary backing. Ukraine…
Downdetector report on the largest global outages in 2025 ranks AWS, PlayStation, and Cloudflare among the top three largest service outages of the year, based on the number of reports. According to the data, Downdetector received 17 million AWS reports, 3.9 million PlayStation reports, and 3.3 million Cloudflare reports. However, the scale of an outage is not only measured by report counts, but by how many services depend on a single provider to function. On November 18, 2025, and December 5, 2025, American company Cloudflare experienced downtime, which affected many of the Internet services millions of users worldwide rely on daily, including ChatGPT,…
The Federal Government has said improving nutrition is central to human capital development and poverty reduction under the “Renewed Hope Agenda” of the current administration. Dr. Iziaq Salako, Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, made the remarks on Thursday in Abuja at the opening of the 2025 National Micronutrient Conference. The theme of the conference is “Strengthening Resilient Systems for Addressing Micronutrient Deficiencies in Nigeria.” Salako noted that micronutrient deficiencies—often described as “hidden hunger”—remain a major barrier to Nigeria’s development, particularly among children, pregnant women, and other vulnerable groups. “Poor nutrition contributes to stunted growth, weak immunity, impaired…
The Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) says the continent achieved improved control of infectious disease outbreaks in 2025, despite rising public health threats. Prof. Yap Boum, Incident Manager for Health Emergencies at Africa CDC, made the remarks on Thursday during the continent’s virtual weekly press briefing. Boum noted that coordinated responses, strengthened surveillance, and expanded vaccination efforts enabled African countries to contain several high-risk outbreaks compared to 2024. He highlighted that major Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda were successfully controlled in 2025. The 16th Ebola outbreak in the DRC…
The Abia State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) on Thursday inaugurated Local Emergency Management Committees (LEMCs) for all 17 Local Government Areas (LGAs) to enhance disaster preparedness and response. Speaking at the event in Umuahia, Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Kenneth Kalu, urged committee members to take their responsibilities seriously while pledging the government’s support. The Executive Secretary of SEMA, Dr. Sunday Jackson, said the committees, chaired by the LGA Mayors, would serve as first responders in their respective areas. He noted that the Federal Government, through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), had directed all states to establish LEMCs…
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) on Thursday assured residents of Alimosho Local Government Area of its readiness to respond swiftly to emergencies during the yuletide season. Permanent Secretary of LASEMA, Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, made the assurance during a stakeholders’ engagement on emergency preparedness in the council area. Oke-Osanyintolu said that, following directives from the Chief Incident Commander of Lagos State, Gov. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, all first responders have been placed on red alert to protect lives and property during the festive period. “We want to assure the good people of Lagos State, particularly residents of Alimosho, that we…
The Zamfara State Ministry of Health on Thursday launched the Safe Delivery Initiative to strengthen maternal and newborn healthcare services across the state. The event took place at the Unguwar Dallatu Primary Healthcare Centre in Gusau. Speaking at the launch, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Nafisa Maradun, said the initiative aims to upgrade delivery rooms, improve antenatal and postnatal care, equip facilities with essential drugs, and provide skilled birth attendants. Maradun, represented by the Executive Secretary of the State Primary Healthcare Board, Dr. Hussaini Yakubu, noted that the initiative aligns with Governor Dauda Lawal’s Rescue Mission Agenda, which prioritize health…