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Nigerian government distributes N20,000 each to 2,900 women in Benue
The Federal Government has disbursed N20,000 each to 2,900 women in Benue to improve their living standards. Mrs Sadiya Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, said this on Saturday in Makurdi during the inauguration of the grant for rural women project. Farouq, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Bashir Alkali, said that a cash of N20,000 would also be disbursed to about 125,000 poor women across the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory. “Our target in Benue is to disburse the grant to about 2,900 beneficiaries across all local government councils. “The grant is expected to increase income and productive assets of target beneficiaries. “It is our hope that the beneficiaries of this programme will make ...
Israeli court limits use of spy agency to track coronavirus cases
Israel’s top court ruled Tuesday the government must curb its use of the domestic spy agency to track coronavirus infections, saying “draconian” surveillance constituted a blow to democracy. The government began using the Shin Bet’s surveillance technologies in March 2020, when Covid-19 infections began to spike. But the supreme court quickly blocked such practice, saying legislation was needed to authorise the programme. Tracking was discontinued in June but the following month, amid another infection surge, parliament passed a law allowing the surveillance when “an epidemiological investigation cannot be completed otherwise”. Initially approved for three weeks, that has measure has been repeatedly extended since while details of how information was obtained were kept secret. Critics crie...
Nigerian Airforce jets kill more bandits in Kaduna forests
Several armed bandits were neutralized as air platforms carried out armed reconnaissance missions over locations in Kaduna state. The Air Force jets hit at bandits in Rahama, Tami, Sabon Birni, Galadimawa, Ungwan Farinbatu, Sabuwa, Kutemeshi, Gajere, Sabon Kuyello, Dogon Dawa, Ngade Allah, Kidandan, and adjoining settlements in Birnin Gwari and Giwa local government areas. Samuel Aruwan, Commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Kaduna State, said on Wednesday, that operational feedback to the Kaduna State Government revealed that although thorough scans were conducted over the general area, no suspicious activities were observed. The forest west of Gajere was nonetheless strafed with probing shots. The crew conducted further missions over Sabon Madada, Babban Doka, Gwa...
DPR to upgrade downstream petroleum sector operations
File Photo The Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, Tuesday, disclosed that it plans to upgrade operations in the downstream petroleum industry, leveraging on its ongoing automation process. In a statement in Abuja, Director/Chief Executive Officer of the DPR, Engineer Sarki Auwalu, stated that the upgrade would be to global standards and would be driven by its deployment of improved technology. Auwalu, who was speaking at a virtual meeting with members of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, in Abuja, noted that the DPR was currently deploying appropriate technology to enhance value for operators and investors alike in the downstream sector . Specifically, Auwalu explained that the DPR had concluded plans to launch the Downstream Remote Monitoring Systems, DRMS, an in...
NESG: Nigerian economy to beat IMF growth forecast in 2021
The Nigerian Economic Summit Group has predicted a growth rate of 2.9 per cent for the Nigerian economy in 2021, higher than the 1.5 per cent growth rate suggested by the International Monetary Fund. The NESG identified eight key policies and events that will help shape the outlook of Nigerian economy in 2021. This is contained in the group’s 2021 Macroeconomic Outlook Report titled, “Four Priorities for the Nigerian Economy in 2021 and Beyond,” launched virtually on Tuesday. According to the report, for Nigeria’s economy to get back on track, the economy needs a high, robust and sustained economic growth that will deliver a significant reduction in unemployment and poverty. The report said the government’s most important agenda in 2021 must be to address these problems as a foundation for...
Zlatan Ibrahimovic denies using racist language in on-field spat with Romelu Lukaku in derby clash
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has denied all allegations of using racist abuse during his on-field clash with Romelu Lukaku in the Coppa Italia match between Inter and AC Milan on Tuesday evening. The attackers squared up to each other at half-time, trading verbal blows and ultimately being cautioned by referee Paolo Valeri. Lukaku came out on top in the end, scoring the equaliser in a 2-1 win for the Nerazzurri, while Ibrahimovic was shown a second yellow in the second half and was given his marching orders. The dust has far from settled in the wake of the spat, however, as pitch-side microphones picked up the heated conversation between Lukaku and Ibrahimovic, with the latter reportedly calling the former a “donkey” and telling him to go do his “voodoo sh*t”, among other things. The voodoo referenc...
Timi Frank: Sack, appointment of service chiefs late
Silverbird Television Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, on Tuesday, attributed the rising spate of insecurity in the country to the retention, for far too long, of Service Chiefs who were no longer delivering as expected by President Muhammadu Buhari. Frank who was reacting to what he described as the earlier reluctance and eventual sack of the Service Chiefs, as well as appointment of new ones in a statement in Abuja, lamented that despite a whooping one term and a quarter of Buhari’s administration (about six years), that the administration “has not achieved any decisive victory against Boko Haram, murderous herdsmen, bandits and kidnappers.” “It became apparent early in the life of this regime that the set of Security ...
Derby County unable to pay first team in full amid takeover doubts
Derby County’s chief executive has told the first-team squad that the club is unable to currently afford to pay them their outstanding wages from December, but is working to address the problem. Most of Derby’s first-team squad were only paid 50 per cent of the money that was due to them on December 15 and were told the rest would be paid in full, together with their current month’s wages, on January 15. But, repeated delays in the protracted takeover by Sheikh Khaled’s Derventio Holdings has meant the club has a major cash flow problem. After a number of missed deadlines, it had been hoped that the deal would be concluded on Tuesday night, but the purchase of the club remains incomplete. Sky Sports News has been told that there is a legally binding agreement between the two parties for th...
Ndifreke Effiong: No regrets scoring against Abia Warriors
Akwa United’s striker Ndifreke Effiong says he has no regrets scoring against his former team, Abia Warriors. Ndifreke was the hero as his brace sunk his former club at the Nest of champions in Uyo on Saturday. The former Attacker later revealed to the club’s official website that scoring against Abia Warriors special for him. “It was really a special day for me to open my team’s goal account for the new season. ” I have no regret scoring against my former team. We needed to get our season on track after dropping five points in two successive games. It was the first time I scored against Abia Warriors since l left them to join Akwa United. ”As a professional, my job is to score goals and I’m working hard to ensure I score more goals that will be enough for us to achieve our aim at the end ...
Nigerian singer BigLo dies of kidney failure
Popular Nigerian singer Lotanna Udueze, more popularly known as BigLo, has passed on. According to close friends, the singer who was down with a kidney ailment died on Christmas day. Biglo’s kidney ailment was diagnosed in 2018 and last year, he began undergoing dialysis at a nursing home in California, U.S three times a week. He also tried raising funds for treatment. His UK based cousin, Zuby Udezue tried to raise £50,000; about N23 million at that time. Biglo who was popular especially in the early 2000s with fellow musicians, 2shotz and StylPlus, shot into limelight with the hit ‘Delicious’ which featured 2shotz. Although the track earned him a HipHop World Award for Best Rap Collabo, the chubby rapper however, went underground after the buzz died down. Some of his colleagues have take...
Former Kogi council chairman kidnapped
Gunmen have kidnapped a former Chairman of Olamaboro Local Government Area in Kogi, Mr Emmanuel Ekpa. The state police command spokesman, DSP William Aya, who confirmed this on Sunday in Lokoja said that Akpa was kidnapped along Ochadamu Road in Ofu Local Government Area. He said a police patrol team attached to Ofu discovered the abandoned car of the victim at Ochadamu area in the late hours of Friday, December 18. “On close scrutiny, they found an abandoned ID card in the vehicle bearing the name Emmanuel Isaac Ekpa, apparently indicating that he was kidnapped by gunmen,” Aya said. He said that the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Edeh Ayuba, had raised a team to track the kidnappers and ensure the safe rescue of Ekpa. Meanwhile, the abductors had made contact with the family of the vict...
Moderna, McKesson, U.S. Army general begin rolling out new coronavirus vaccine
Distribution of Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine to more than 3,700 locations in the United States has begun, vastly widening the rollout started last week by Pfizer Inc, U.S Army General Gustave Perna said on Saturday. Moderna has already moved vaccines from its manufacturing plants to warehouses operated by distributor McKesson Corp where they are being packed into containers and loaded on to trucks on Saturday, Perna said during a news conference. Trucks will set out on Sunday and shipments will start reaching healthcare providers as soon as Monday, he said. The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved an emergency use authorization for Moderna’s vaccine, the second COVID-19 vaccine to be approved. The jab developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech SE was approved Dec. 11....
