Syria's conflict enters its eighth year Thursday, with President Bashar Assad's forces fighting to drive rebels from their last bastion near the capital, Damascus, and Turkish forces closing in on the northern Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin. Assad remains firmly in power seven years after an Arab Spring-inspired uprising that began with peaceful protests but escalated into an armed rebellion following a brutal government crackdown. Russia and Iran have provided massive aid to Assad's forces, allowing them to advance on a number of fronts in recent years.The Islamic State group was able to exploit the chaos to seize up to a…

Funmi Olaitan, Ibadan Oyo State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Mr Isaac Ishola, on Thursday, said the state government had commenced House to House public health and hygiene sensitization to ensure compliance to one house, one refuse drum policy of the state. The Commissioner in a statement issued in Ibadan, the state capital, said dumping of refuse into rivers and streams channels as well as road median remain prohibited, stating that the Ministry had dredged 50 streams and rivers in the state between 2014 to 2017. Ishola said measures were being taken to expand some rivers in the state…

Funmi Olaitan, Ibadan Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has said the three model schools being constructed by his administration inIbadan and Saki will soon be ready for inauguration. He said this during an inspection tour of two of the model schools, Oba Akinbiyi High School, Mokola and Islamic HighSchool, Basorun, both in Ibadan, the state capital. He further stated that the project at the Baptist High School, Saki, which, according to him, was also nearing completion, would equally be inspected soon. The governor said the construction of the model schools was in fulfillment of his administration’s resolve to holistically…

President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration’s response to the abduction of secondary school students is better when compared to that of the previous government. While Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped 110 students of Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe state on February 19, 2018, the group abducted 274 students from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state, on April 14, 2014. Former President Goodluck Jonathan was accused of not responding to the Chibok incident on time because he felt it was the antics of the opposition. Speaking during a townhall meeting in Damaturu, Yobe state capital on Wednesday, Buhari…