The Founder and Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), has urged Nigerians, particularly youths, to embrace farming as a noble vocation. Babalola made the call at the grand finale of his annual Agricultural Expo held on Saturday at the university’s premises in Ado-Ekiti. Thirty-two youths and women — two from each of the 16 Local Government Areas of the state — were empowered during the event. The beneficiaries received training in plantain chips production, packaging and marketing, and were also provided with the necessary tools for production. Babalola said he started the expo in 2015…
Author: Newsdesk
The Federal Government says Nigeria’s annual wheat production has risen from 120,000 metric tonnes to 420,000 metric tonnes through the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro-Pocket (NAGS-AP). The scheme forms part of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. Prof. Ademola Adenle, Senior Special Adviser on Agriculture and Innovation to the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, disclosed this in an interview with reporters in Abuja on Saturday while reviewing achievements in the sector. NAGS-AP is a flagship federal government project aimed at bridging food supply gaps and achieving national food sovereignty by providing subsidised high-quality agricultural inputs directly to smallholder…
The Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Mukhtar-Maiha, has called on livestock traders and handlers to embrace modern practices, including proper animal identification, to curb livestock theft and enhance the sector. Mukhtar-Maiha made the call on Saturday in Minna during the inspection and inauguration of the ultra-modern livestock market. The market was developed under the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support (L-PRES) Project. The minister is in the state on a two-day working visit to assess L-PRES projects. He said every four-legged animal would be tagged with an ear identification device and registered in a computerised database containing the owner’s details. He…
Bilaad Realty Nigeria Ltd. has provided grants to young entrepreneurs and called for increased private-sector funding for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to boost job creation. Dr Sadiq Abdullahi, Chairman and Coordinating Trustee of the company, made the call at the fifth edition of the organisation’s Gem Hunt project, themed “Roots to Riches: Building Nigeria’s Next Generation of Entrepreneurs.” Abdullahi said MSMEs and the broader informal sector contributed more than 60 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounted for between 80 and 90 per cent of employment. He said many small businesses, despite their contribution to…
Many Lagos residents remain unaware of the state’s emergency lines, raising concerns about delays in activating emergency response during life-threatening situations. The concern emerged after passengers on a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) bus witnessed two men lying on the Lagos expressway near Dopemu-Yo Junction. The men, believed to be a motorcycle rider and his passenger, were reportedly victims of a hit-and-run incident. As the BRT passed the scene, passengers expressed shock that emergency responders had not immediately arrived at the location. Some passengers also questioned the effectiveness of the state’s emergency response system, while others took pictures of the victims.…
Former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim has urged leaders and institutions to ensure that technological advancement protects human dignity rather than deepens exclusion and inequality. Anyim made the call on Saturday at the 2026 International Convention of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Alumni Association (NAUAA) in Abuja, with the theme: “Innovation, Integrity and Inclusion: Rekindling the Zik Vision for a New Era.” He said rapid changes driven by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, biotechnology and other emerging technologies, required deliberate efforts to protect human dignity. “There is no time in human history when the dignity of man…
The Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, has introduced digital clearance and certificate systems to reduce delays in students’ graduation processes, its Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Bond Anyaehie, has said. Anyaehie disclosed this in Abuja on Saturday at the 2026 International Convention of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Alumni Association (NAUAA), themed “Innovation, Integrity and Inclusion: Rekindling the Zik Vision for a New Era.” He said the digital clearance system would enable graduating students to complete the process from anywhere in the world and receive approval within five days. According to him, the system is designed to eliminate delays associated with manual clearance procedures.…
An estimated 2.3 million new cancer cases globally in 2024 were attributable to infections, accounting for about 12 per cent of all new cancer cases, a study published in The Lancet Oncology has found. The study, titled “Global Burden of Cancer Attributable to Infections in 2024: A Worldwide Incidence Analysis”, provides an updated assessment of cancers linked to infectious agents. Led by researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the study used data from the Global Cancer Observatory’s GLOBOCAN 2024 database. It assessed cancers attributable to 12 infectious agents classified as Group 1 carcinogens by the IARC…
Stakeholders in the agricultural sector have called for deliberate measures to sustain the gains of the FGN/IFAD-Assisted Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP-AF) in Kogi beyond its lifespan. They made the call on Saturday in Lokoja at a Policy Dialogue on Sustaining the Gains of VCDP and Follow-up Adoption of VCDP Key Initiatives, organised by the Kogi VCDP office. The National Programme Coordinator, IFAD-VCDP, Dr Fatima Aliyu, said the dialogue was timely as the programme gradually winds down. She stressed that the focus must shift from what VCDP provides to the systems and institutions that will continue to deliver results. Aliyu,…
The International Budget Partnership (IBP) Nigeria and the Kano State Government on Saturday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Kano to strengthen transparency and accountability in health sector financing. The partnership will support the development of a health financing dashboard to enable stakeholders to monitor budget planning, releases, expenditure and performance across health sector agencies in the state. The Commissioner for Health, Dr Abubakar Labaran, said the partnership had brought significant improvements in budget planning, execution and tracking in the ministry. He added that the dashboard would enable the ministry to monitor the performance of its various units and…