Author: Opalim Lifted

Countries on Wednesday pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in additional aid for the Horn of Africa as they sounded the alarm on a drought in the region and looming famines in Somalia and other countries. The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 40 years and experts say the region is on track for a fifth consecutive failed rainy season. The United Nations has warned that parts of Somalia will be hit by famine in coming months. The projection is more severe than in 2011, when famine killed more than a quarter of a million Somalis, around…

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday criticised fellow leaders who extend term limits to cling to power, saying this was having a “corrosive” effect, and promised free and fair elections when the country elects his successor in February. Buhari, 79, who took office after defeating a sitting president in elections in 2015, will make way for a new leader in what would be another peaceful transfer of power, helping cement Nigeria’s democratic credentials in a region prone to coups. Nigeria ended decades of military rule in 1999. Speaking at his last United Nations General Assembly, Buhari said Africa’s most populous nation…

A 131-carat white Type IIa diamond was uncovered from the Lulo mine, a 3,000 square km concession in Angola’s Lunda Norte diamond heartland, the country’s state-owned diamond company Endiama announced Wednesday. The diamond was found by Australia-based Lucapa Diamond company, and its partners in Lulo’s Block 19, 11 days after a 160-carat diamond was extracted from the same mine, making it the fourth diamond of over 100 carats to be discovered from the mine this year and the 29th overall, the company said. Located approximately 630 km east of the capital city Luanda, Lulo is the world’s 4th largest diamond…

The Police Command in Niger has arrested two suspects for operating an illegal Health Science College in Bosso Local Government Area of the state. DSP Wasiu Abiodun, the Command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO), confirmed the development to newsmen on Tuesday in Minna. Abiodun said the two suspects, who posed as the Proprietor and Director of the illegal Excellence College of Health Sciences in Maikunkele, Bosso Local Government Area, were from Shiroro Local Government of Niger and Enugu State respectively. The PPRO said the suspects were arrested on Sept. 9, based on intelligence received by the Command’s Intelligence unit. Fake surgeons…

Nigeria Breweries’ Gulder and Maltina have jointly boosted the ongoing Africa Individual Chess Championships (male and female) in Lagos, which started last weekend. The competition, which will run to September 28, is one of the top events on the African chess calendar. Nigeria Chess Federation (NCF) is hosting the competition with over 10 countries in attendance. Apart from Nigeria, the other participants are Cameroon, Togo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Madagascar, among others. Though with a strong presence in top sports like football and athletics, Nigerian Breweries in the past years have established a…

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday said the biggest challenge the nation was facing today was on national unity. Osinbajo stated this at a one-day National Unity Conference organised by the Alumni Association of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (AANI) in Abuja. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the conference is “Nigeria’s National Unity in the build-up to the 2023 General Elections”. The Vice President, represented by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, commended the alumni for always coming in to intervene whenever the nation was facing challenges. Nigeria…

Average price of 5kg cooking gas increased from N4,397.68 in July to N4,456.56 in August. The assertion was made by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its Cooking Gas Price Watch issued on Tuesday in Abuja. It noted that the price in August indicated a 1.34 per cent increase on a month-on-month basis from what obtained in July. “On a year-on-year basis, the August 2022 price was a 101.17 per cent increase over the price of N2,215.33 paid for the same volume of gas in August 2021,’’ it stated. Cooking gas, fuel prices hikes in bid to cut subsidies…

President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged that Nigeria will do its best to reach all learners, wherever they are, with quality, inclusive learning and skills development opportunities to prepare them for the bright future they deserve. Buhari made the pledge on Monday while making a statement on Thematic Session four: Digital Transformation of Education at a 3-day Transforming Education Summit in New York. The Transforming Education Summit is organised on the margins of the 77th session of UN General Assembly. According to the Nigerian President, over 50 per cent of Nigeria’s 200 million plus population is made up of people below…

The Abia Police Command has arrested 10 members of a dare-devil armed robbery gang that allegedly robbed a bullion van on July 26 and carted away about N390 million. The Commissioner of Police, Janet Agbede, said that the suspects belonged to a 14-member gang that specialised in bullion van robbery in different parts of the country. She said that they were arrested at different times and locations in Abia, Delta, Lagos, Ondo, Rivers and Imo. Parading the suspects before newsmen at the command’s headquarters in Umuahia on Monday, she said that the arrest was made possible by “a special intelligence,…

All Gunmen Caught In Anambra Are Igbo, Says Soludo. Anambra State Governor, Professor Charles Soludo on Sunday revealed the identity of gunmen terrorising parts of the state, saying all of those caught are Igbos. Gunmen have recently unleashed terror in the South-East targeting residents, security operatives, and public infrastructure. Most of the attacks have been linked to members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra and its militant wing, the Eastern Security Network. Reacting to the attacks during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Soludo said the present administration in Anambra has successfully brought the security threats in the…