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Wednesday, 31 August 2022 07:00

Last Soviet leader Gorbachev dies aged 91

Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War without bloodshed but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, died on Tuesday at the age of 91, hospital officials in Moscow said. Gorbachev, the last Soviet president, forged arms reduction deals with the United States and partnerships with Western powers to remove the Iron Curtain that had divided Europe since World War Two and bring about the reunification of Germany. But his internal reforms helped weaken the Soviet Union to the point where it fell apart, a moment that President Vladimir Putin has called the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the…

Wednesday, 31 August 2022 06:59

What to know after Day 189 of Russia-Ukraine war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Russian troops to flee for their lives after his forces launched an offensive to retake southern Ukraine, but Moscow said it had halted the attack and inflicted heavy losses on Kyiv. FIGHTING * Ukrainian forces are shelling ferries used by Russia to supply its forces on the west bank of the Dnipro river, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said. * Ukraine's armed forces have heightened the rate of artillery fire across southern Ukraine, and long-range precision strikes have continued to disrupt Russian resupply, Britain's defence ministry said. * Russia's defence ministry said Ukrainian forces, after…

Tuesday, 30 August 2022 07:12

FG to borrow N11trn, sell national assets to fund 2023 budget - Minister

Minister of Finance and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has said the federal government will borrow over N11 trillion and sell national assets to finance the budget deficit in 2023. She also said the government’s budget deficit is expected to exceed N12.42 trillion if it should keep petroleum subsidy for the entire 2023 fiscal cycle. Ahmed disclosed this on Monday while appearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance to defend the 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP). Explaining two scenarios of the budget deficit to the committee, the minister said the first option involves…

Tuesday, 30 August 2022 07:09

ASUU moves from periodic extensions to indefinite strike

Academic Staff Union of Universities has declared a total and indefinite strike. The decision was taken at a meeting of the union’s National Executive Council held on Sunday in Abuja. The union started its ongoing strike on February 14, 2022. The strike is in protest against government’s failure to release revitalisation funds for universities, failure to release the white paper report of the visitation panel to universities and the failure to deploy the University Transparency Accountability System for the payment of salaries and allowances of lecturers. The union’s President, Emmanuel Osodeke, disclosed the outcome of the NEC meeting in a…

Tuesday, 30 August 2022 07:07

FG releases N6.25bn for cattle ranches, grazing routes in Katsina

Mannir Takubu, Katsina deputy governor, says the federal government has released N6.25 billion for the establishment of cattle ranches in LGAs affected by banditry in the state. Yakubu, who is also the commissioner for agriculture and rural development, spoke during the ranch stakeholders development meeting in Katsina, on Monday. According to NAN, he said the frontline LGAs where grazing reserves would be established are Jibia, Batsari, Dutsinma, Safana, Danmusa, Kankara, Faskari and Sabuwa Dandume. He said part of the funds will be used to construct schools, health centres and veterinary clinics in the affected communities. The deputy governor said the…

Tuesday, 30 August 2022 07:02

What to know after Day 188 of Russia-Ukraine war

Ukraine said it broke through enemy lines in several places near the southern city of Kherson as it pressed a new campaign to retake territory while Moscow said Kyiv's counter-offensive had failed as Russia shelled the port city of Mykolaiv. NUCLEAR PLANT * A team from the U.N. nuclear watchdog (IAEA) is heading to Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the agency's chief said, as Russia and Ukraine traded accusations of shelling in its vicinity, stirring fears of a radiation disaster. * Russia's defence ministry said Russian forces shot down a Ukrainian drone that was trying to attack the Zaporizhzhia reactor complex…

Monday, 29 August 2022 06:47

WHO recommends 1 doctor to 600 people, while in Nigeria it’s 1:5,000. Here’s what both FG and doctors say about the worsening brain drain

Persistent brain drain by doctors is depleting the country’s medical care expertise and taking the country farther away from the recommended number of doctors per population, medical associations and experts have said. Their position faulted the claim by the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire that Nigeria has a sufficient number of medical doctors despite the brain drain. The minister during a briefing on Tuesday stated that there were enough medical doctors in the country and that the number of doctors produced annually exceeds the number leaving the country. But the umbrella body of medical doctors in the country, Nigerian Medical…

Monday, 29 August 2022 06:43

What to know after Day 187 of Russia-Ukraine war

Russian artillery fired at Ukrainian towns across the river from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, local officials said, while reports of shelling around the plant fuelled fears of a radiation disaster. FIGHTING * Britain's defence ministry said it was not yet clear how Russia would achieve an announced large increase in its armed forces, but the boost was unlikely to substantially increase its combat power in Ukraine. * Russian air forces hit workshops at a Motor Sich factory in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine where helicopters were being repaired, Russian state news agency RIA quoted the defence ministry as saying.…

Sunday, 28 August 2022 07:00

Will public universities’ students resume schooling after 6 months at home? ASUU decides today

National Executive Council (NEC) of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will today hold a crucial meeting in Abuja to decide whether to suspend or continue with its six-month-old industrial action. Principal officers and branch chairmen are already in Abuja for the make or mar NEC meeting that will determine the fate of millions of Nigerian students, who have been at home since February 14, 2022. Ahead of the meeting, branch congresses were held on Tuesday and Wednesday across the universities and the resolutions would be discussed at the NEC meeting. Already, some state universities such as Ekiti State…

Sunday, 28 August 2022 06:58

FG apologises for Lagos-Ibadan expressway gridlock

Federal government has apologised for the hardship faced by road users due to construction works on the Berger-Opic axis of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. Forosola Oloyede, the acting federal controller of works in Lagos state, conveyed the apology in a statement on Saturday. Oloyede said the government feels the pains of the people, especially residents of Lagos and Ogun states who are at the receiving end of the inconvenience caused by the gridlock. In recent weeks, motorists plying the route spend hours in traffic, a situation that has worsened in the last few days. Oloyede said the federal government has ordered…

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Sunday, 28 August 2022 06:57

What to know after Day 186 of Russia-Ukraine war

Moscow and Kyiv traded fresh accusations on Saturday of shelling around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which has been a focus of international concern that fighting in the area could trigger a disaster. Zaporizhzhia, Europe's largest nuclear power plant, has been controlled by Russian forces since early March, soon after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Ukrainian staff continue to operate it and in recent weeks the two sides have traded blame for shelling near the plant. Ukraine's state nuclear company Energoatom energy agency said Russian troops again shelled the grounds of the plant complex in the…

Saturday, 27 August 2022 07:10

Nigerian economy beats estimates, grew 3.5 percent in Q2, 2022

Economic growth in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest crude producer, accelerated faster than expected in the second quarter, driven by growth in the non-oil sector. Nigeria’s economy grew 3.5% year-on-year in the three months through June, compared with 3.1% in the first quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a report on Friday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 10 economists was 2.9%. Growth in the three-month period marked the seventh consecutive quarterly expansion and was driven by a 4.8% improvement in the non-oil sector, which makes up the majority of the economy, compared with a 6.1% increase from…

Saturday, 27 August 2022 07:06

Tension in N’Delta over surveillance contracts awarded to ex-militants

The recent surveillance contract awarded to ex-leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo) has continued to create tension across the Niger Delta. The multi-billion naira contract awarded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and targeted to curb the perennial oil theft is to cover the Niger Delta region. While Tompolo’s two companies had contracts covering part of Bayelsa, Delta, Ondo, Imo and Rivers States, three other companies were awarded the other contracts. However, Tompolo’s contract, believed to be the juiciest, has continued to court opposition from within and without.…

Saturday, 27 August 2022 07:05

Boko Haram: Food shortages worsen the humanitarian crisis in Nigeria’s Northeast - Report

Lying on a small bed next to her mother, 14-month-old Aisha Usman stares blankly, her eyes sunk in their sockets and rib cage visible. She is the latest arrival at a treatment centre for severely malnourished children in Nigeria's Northeast, where a long running Islamist insurgency has uprooted millions, forcing farmers to abandon fields and causing food shortages. Some 1.74 million children under the age of 5 face acute malnutrition in the area, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says. The militant Boko Haram group and its offshoot Islamic State West Africa Province have been fighting…

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