debate
Atlas & Boots’ top 10 posts of 2020
As a difficult year draws to a close, we reflect on the top 10 posts that our readers most enjoyed Well, what can we say about 2020 that hasn’t been said already? As a writer, I feel that I should be able to say something grand and stirring about the global pandemic, but to be honest, I can’t. I don’t know how to aptly describe the hopelessness and inertia that so many of us have experienced this year. Peter and I are relatively lucky. Our friends and family are healthy and we’ve both had some personal highlights: I published a book, wrote another and started Asian Booklist while Peter climbed his third seven summit, completed hikes in Germany and Croatia, and undertook the ‘micro-challenge’ of climbing all 41 mountains in the Yorkshire Dales. At the same time, like everyone in the t...
Senators decry executive’s disregard for resolutions on insecurity
Federal lawmakers, on Tuesday, deplored the federal government’s continued disregard for Senate’s resolutions on the issue of national security. The Senators spoke while contributing to a motion on the recent kidnapping of students at the Government Science School, Kankara, Katsina State. The Red Chamber had twice called for the replacement of the service chiefs. The lawmakers, in their various contributions to the motion, expressed deep frustration over the recurring issues of killings and kidnappings across the country and the inability of the security agencies to address the challenges. They insisted that the service chiefs had overstayed and should allow other officers with fresh ideas to take over. Senator Mohammed Sani Musa (APC, Niger) said, “Every day, people are dying and nothing ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris jointly named TIME’s ‘Person of the Year’
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris were jointly named Time magazine’s 2020 “Person of the Year” on Thursday, chosen from a list of finalists that included the man Biden vanquished at the polls – President Donald Trump. The Democratic former vice president and his running mate, a California senator whose election broke gender and racial barriers, together “offered restoration and renewal in a single ticket,” Time said in a profile of the pair, published online with its announcement. Following the most tumultuous U.S. presidential campaign in modern times, waged in the throes of a deadly pandemic, economic devastation and a strife-torn national reckoning with racism, Biden and Harris prevailed in an election that drew the highest voter turnout in a century....
Bill to extend free education to senior secondary school passes second reading
A Bill for an Act to amend the Compulsory, Free, Universal Basic Education Act on Wednesday, passed second reading in the House of Representatives. The bill, which seeks to expand the scope of compulsory free basic education in Nigeria to include, Senior Secondary Education level, was sponsored by Taiwo Oluga and four other lawmakers. Leading the debate, Ms Oluga said the bill sought to amend sections 2, 4, 7, 11 and 15 of the existing Act. The lawmaker said the aim was to provide for rehabilitation of delinquent children and provide comprehensive definition for services, stakeholders, children or wards as captured in the existing Act. According to her, this will be done by providing a role for community based organisations in the development of basic education in states and local governme...
Jigawa Assembly passes 2021 Appropriation Bill
Jigawa State House of Assembly has on Tuesday passed the 2021 Appropriation Bill of N156.588 billion. This followed the adoption of a 2021 appropriation committee’s report led by the House Committee on Appreciation chairman, Hon. Suleiman Kadara, at plenary. Kadara, who is representing Guri Constituency, told the House that the committee had done justice to the appropriation bill presented by Gov. Muhammad Badaru to the house on Nov. 4. Badaru had sought the consideration of the House to appropriate the sum of N156.588 billion for the services of the Jigawa State Government during the period of Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2021. Of the figures, N78.346 billion was earmarked for recurrent expenditures, including provisions for contingency and stabilization funds, while N78.241 was for capital expendi...
Senate threatens labour ministers over absence at hearing
The Senate Committee on Local Content has threatened to sanction the Ministers of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige and Festus Keyamo, over their failure to appear at an investigative hearing on diving operations in the oil and gas industry. It also threatened to sanction the managing directors of international oil companies (IOCs) in Nigeria for the same reason. The IOCs MDs include ExxonMobil, Total and Chevron. The chairman of the committee, Teslim Folarin, said this at the hearing on Thursday after they all failed to show up for the event which was meant to review the challenges experienced by diving operators in the sector. The invitation followed a debate on a motion on the urgent need to ensure strict compliance with statutory regulations and provisions on Nigerian diving sector. P...
South Africa becomes new head of UN Security Council
South Africa on Tuesday assumed the rotating monthly presidency of the United Nations Security Council. During the month, South Africa will focus on strengthening the cooperation between African Union (AU) and United Nations, and emphasising the importance of a proactive approach to the maintenance of international peace and security, particularly in the form of drawing greater attention to “preventative diplomacy mechanisms,” Jerry Matjila, permanent representative of South Africa to the UN and president of the Security Council for the month of December, told journalists during a hybrid press briefing at the UN headquarters in New York. This is South Africa’s second presidency during its two-year (2019-2020) elected term on the council. December will also be the country’s final month on t...
Senate moves to make law schools beneficiaries of education tax fund
The Senate has begun moves to ensure that all the Nigerian Law Schools are beneficiaries of Education tax funds with the amendment of Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act 2007. Consequently, the Senate has come up with ” A bill for an Act to amend the Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act 2007.” The Bill Scaled second reading yesterday in the Senate. In his lead debate on the bill, Senator Micheal Opeyemi Bamidele, APC Ekiti Central, sponsor of said that the bill which was read for the first time on the floor of the Senate on Thursday, 28th May, 2020, seeks to amend sections 4, 7 and 20 of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Establishment, Etc.) Act, 2011 (hereinafter referred to as the “principal Act”) He said that amendment also seeks to add the Nigerian Law School, as one of the benefiting tert...
Donald Trump Wants Joe Rogan to Moderate a Four Hour Presidential Debate
Because we’re all dead and this is hell, Donald Trump would like Joe Rogan to moderate a four-hour presidential debate. Rogan himself pitched the debate format on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast with retired MMA fighter Tim Kennedy. Kennedy asked Rogan what his approach would be, and Rogan said, “First of all, I would want nobody else in the room. Just the three of us. And I would want to stream it live so no one can edit it.” So far, so expected, but Kennedy and Rogan act as if they’ve invented something remarkable. “Why can’t we have that?” Kennedy asked. “We should have that, it’s 2020,” Rogan replied. “We have the ability to have that. We’re not talking about 1979.” Nobody pointed out they had just invented television. Afterwards, Kennedy tweeted abo...
Hanging up my hat: why I’ve chosen to quit horse riding
After years of riding horses, Kia explains why she’s chosen to quit My first impression of horse riding was how bloody slow it all was. When I first started to learn back in 2014, all we did for months was walk and trot. I thought I’d be well on my way to cantering by then. Instead, I was mired in the minutiae of technique. As I became a better rider, however, I realised that it wasn’t minutiae at all but a fundamental part of learning. It’s often said that the best riders look like they’re not doing anything at all and I’ve learnt that this is true. I was being taught a multitude of tiny things slowly and carefully so that one day, I too might call myself a horseman. Atlas & Boots Kia riding in Montenegro, Ecuador and Namibia When I was learning to canter, my instructor as...
White privilege in the outdoors: the AT hikers who broke the law
Two thru-hikers lied and broke the law this year to finish the Appalachian Trail. Should we dismiss it as a daring adventure or tackle what lies deeper? The first thing to admit before I begin is that I’m a person who follows the rules. I never cheat at games or quizzes despite being stupidly competitive. I hate being late to meetings or gatherings and I’ve even been known to Google “how late to arrive at a dinner party” because I know it’s impolite to turn up on time (the consensus is 15 minutes). Maybe this compulsion comes from some innate sense of properness but, more likely, it’s a trait inherited from my immigrant parents. They arrived in the UK in the 1960s, a time of heightened racial tension. During my childhood, I came to notice a change in my father whenever he interacted ...
7 ways nature is flourishing under lockdown
The current pandemic has had a devastating effect worldwide but there are some glimmers of light Human impact on wildlife is almost certainly to blame for the spread of Covid-19, say scientists. The virus is thought to have originated in bats with other wild animals such as pangolins also likely playing a role in its transmission to people. Humankind’s relentless incursion into areas of nature that should be off-limits puts the world at an increased risk of new diseases, say scientists from the Royal Society. In a perfect world, wild animals such as bats and pangolins would never come into contact with humans. Due to hunting, trade and habitat loss, however, the natural boundaries between humans and animals have blurred. One positive is that during lockdown, road traffic has decreased, fos...
