Author: Chief Editor

Former Vice President and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general election, Atiku Abubakar, has decried the rising cost of food items in the market, calling for drastic action to address it before it turns into a calamity. In a statement he signed, Atiku said that the warning given by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations on Wednesday, July 29, 2021, of a looming acute food crisis in Northern Nigeria should not be ignored. According to him, “That dire warning should be seen and heard as a whistleblowing moment that ought…

One of Nollywood’s admirable actresses Rachel Oniga has died. News of her death filtered in this morning from different sources including the Chairman of Theatre Arts and Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria (TAMPAN), Jide Kosoko, confirming her death. Although details of the cause of her death are still sketchy. Oniga was a popular actress in both the English and Yoruba language film industry. Launching her acting career in 1993, she grew to become a household name in the industry, starring in Wale Adenuga’s popular TV series ‘Super Story’ as well as films like ‘Onome’, and ‘Chief Daddy’. Until her…

Federal government has said that a new batch of four million doses of Modena vaccine will arrive in the country latest by Sunday. The Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib who disclosed this during an interview on the NTA network news yesterday night, said that the vaccine would be taken to various storage facilities across the country for immediate deployment for the vaccination exercise. He said: “In Less than 72 hours from now, Nigeria will be receiving four million doses of Modena vaccines from the Covax facility and we are excited that this…

A team of doctors in Saudi Arabia has separated a Yemeni baby from her parasitic twin, authorities said, marking their 50th successful operation on conjoined twins. Aisha Ahmed Saeed was born fully developed but with an extended pelvis area and an extra pair of lower extremities, the Saudi English-language Arab News daily reported. The procedure to separate her took seven hours and 45 minutes and involved a team of 25 medical staff including doctors, technicians and nurses, said the state-run King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center. “The surgery went very well… the coordination between the team was excellent,” Dr.…

There are strong indications that Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, may be deported to Nigeria. Upon his deportation, operatives of the Nigeria Police Force would arrest him, a security source confided in our correspondent. However, the activist’s lawyers have kicked against the move, saying that it was against international law. Sources in Benin Republic told our correspondent on Thursday that Benin Republic was not ready to engage in a diplomatic crisis with Nigeria. One of the sources, who works with Benin’s INTERPOL National Central Bureau, told The PUNCH that charges against Igboho were punishable by deportation, fines,…

The Chief Whip of the Senate and former Governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to consider holding 2023 general elections same day in order to reduce cost and rigging. Kalu said that presidential election as well as the National Assembly, governorship and State House of Assembly elections could be concurrently taken care of on the same day rather than having staggered dates for them. He said in a statement that was personally signed by him yesterday that holding 2023 elections on the same day would minimise cost, give the…

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recovered N5.4billion for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). Prof. Muhammad Sambo, the Executive Secretary, NHIS, disclosed this when he led the management of the agency on a courtesy visit to the EFCC headquarters in Abuja. “In total, the EFCC has been able to recover about N5.4billion for us out of the N12.085b that has been trapped. “This is a monumental achievement and that is why we will ensure that we remain good partners to the EFCC,” he said. Sambo commended the EFCC for the recoveries and assured that every kobo recovered…

US gymnastics superstar Simone Biles said she was still struggling with the “twisties”, the mental block that has sidelined her in Tokyo, as her Olympic campaign looked in increasing doubt on Friday. Biles posted video on Instagram of her landing on her back in training, on cushioned pads, and wrote that she was having problems “literally on every event, which sucks”. The 24-year-old gymnastics great came to Tokyo seeking five gold medals to equal the all-time career record of nine, but withdrew during the women’s team competition and also skipped her all-around title defence. “This was not happening before I…

“…The common saying, which is absolutely true, is, ‘health is wealth.’ There is another noteworthy saying, which runs as follows: ‘if wealth is lost, nothing is lost, but if health is lost, all is lost.’ I am sure that it will be generally agreed that other things being equal, the healthier the man is, the more productive economically he becomes.” –  Obafemi Awolowo, 1970 Let the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) and his aides be clear about this point: there could never be an acceptable explanation for his irksome endless medical trips to the United Kingdom or another country…

Days before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games started, in an amusing tale of pure self-deceit, news headlines sensationally proclaimed that Nigeria’s male basketball team, D’Tigers, stunned the USA in a historic defeat. It was a false tale of an underdog defeating globally-acclaimed champions. The correct headline should have been along these lines: some American professional basketball players merely wearing Nigeria’s jerseys defeated their colleagues. The team’s victory had nothing to do with Nigeria. The point is not to litigate the citizenship or question the allegiance of the D’Tigers, but to stop the masturbatory illusion that Nigeria, as far as its…