TELA, a newly developed maize variety, according to the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), has shown resistance to Fall Armyworms causing huge devastation to maize in Nigeria. The agency also pointed out that following field trials, the harvest has shown remarkable progress in maize farming. NABDA’s Director-General, Prof. Abdullahi Mustapha, made this known while talking on the economic benefits of TELA maize during the harvesting of the maize’s 3rd CFT in Zaria Mustapha also disclosed that the agency was set to partner with the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University Zaria to further promote genetically improved maize variety.…
Author: Akanimo Sampson
United States’ President, Joe Biden, has set 2030 as America’s target year for Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction, aimed at creating good-paying union jobs and securing his country’s leadership on clean energy technologies. Biden will announce a new target for the US to achieve a 50-52 percent reduction from 2005 levels in economy-wide net greenhouse gas pollution in 2030 – building on progress to-date and by positioning American workers and industry to tackle the climate crisis. The announcement – made during the Leaders Summit on Climate that President Biden is holding to challenge the world on increased ambition in combatting climate…
In a seeming stranger than fiction world of today, a Taiwanese man has reportedly taken the extreme measure of marrying his wife four times, and divorcing her three times just to enjoy a total of 32 days of marriage leave. Taiwan’s Apple Daily reported that the man, who works in a bank, initially got married on April 6 last year and applied for eight days of leave. At the end of the leave, he divorced his wife before remarrying her the next day. The banker continued with the arrangement where he remarried her four times after three divorces, allowing him to enjoy…
These are terrible times! It seems humanity has returned to the State of Nature, and life has become a dog-eat-dog affair. These days, relationship matters have become a prayer project for vultures waiting patiently on the sideline to feast on the slightest disagreement by couples. A Twitter user, Esv. Adeshewa, has without any shame openly declared that she has been observing a relationship keenly. She is warming up to take the place of her fellow woman in that relationship. For some, a relationship is a hobby. But in reality it’s a full-time job. The lesson from Adeshewa’s disclosure is that you need to learn…
African Development Bank (AfDB) President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has reminded global audiences of the continent’s vast opportunities for green growth. Adesina was sounding a note of optimism at the European Union-Africa Green Investment Forum over the weekend. He said in a keynote address, “Africa is a huge market offering incredible opportunities. The recovery pathway offers enormous opportunities. Recovery must be green and build climate resilience. Recovery must boost green investments.” The hybrid forum was convened by Portugal and the European Investment Bank to mobilize private and public capital towards the green transition in Africa. The high-level event brought together leading…
Burdened by the growing concern around the world about the accumulation of plastic waste in landfills, researchers are currently looking for less expensive and more environmentally sustainable alternatives. One of the problems with the available plastics is that they can only be recycled mechanically – plastic waste is melted down, while preserving its molecular structure. This process is called “down-cycling” because the resultant material is inferior and has less applicability than the initial product. Lead author of a new study on infinitely recyclable plastics from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Nemi Vora, said “with mechanical recycling, what we are doing is just…
Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) has taken on the Executive branch of the Nigerian government, accusing it of using its overbearing powers and influence, to allegedly squash relevance out of the Legislature and the Judiciary. PLAC is concerned with promoting citizens’ engagement with government institutions and advocating for legal and policy reforms and promoting transparency and accountability in policy and decision-making processes. It says the country’s democracy rests on the principle of separation of powers, with the three arms of government forming the tripod of democratic survival and expansion. ‘’Starved of funds, these two arms of government that play…
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), OPEC Fund for International Developmentthe (OPEC Fund), Africa Development Bank (AfDB), Green Climate Fund (GCF) and Arab Bank have signed a $114 million financing package with ACWA Power for the construction of the largest private solar plant in Egypt. The development of the Kom Ombo solar plant will add 200 MW of energy capacity, increasing the share of renewable energy in Egypt’s energy mix and further promoting private-sector participation in the Egyptian power sector. The package comprises loans of up to $36 million from EBRD, $18 million from the OPEC Fund, $17.8 million from AfDB,…
2021 is likely to turn out as the deadliest for the United Nations migration agency with the latest shipwreck off the Libyan coast claiming the lives of 130 migrants, despite SOS calls for help. In the deadliest shipwreck recorded last year, 140 people drowned after a vessel carrying around 200 migrants sank off the Senegalese coast. The October 2020 tragedy followed four shipwrecks recorded in the Central Mediterranean and another in the English Channel, prompting the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to call for “unity” between governments, partners and the international community to “dismantle trafficking and smuggling networks that take advantage…
A civic group, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) says Nigeria’s economy managers do not appear to have a handle on how to reverse ongoing downward trend in the economy. In its latest newsletter on its website the group said recent statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) ‘’paint a very gloomy picture of the economy’’, adding, unemployment statistics put at 33.3%, inflation at 18.17%, and other indices paint a negative outlook for the economy. ‘’Although its recent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth figure shows a return from recession by 0.11% growth rate, for the ordinary person, current…
In launching a major study on what he called “the life support system of our planet”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said greater understanding of the ocean is essential if the world is to recover better from the COVID-19 pandemic and achieve agreed targets on sustainable development and climate action. The second World Ocean Assessment (WOA II) is the work of hundreds of scientists from across the globe and follows an initial report published in 2015. It warns that many benefits the ocean provides are increasingly being undermined by human actions, the UN chief said, describing the findings as alarming. “Pressures…
Opposition groups in Chad are condemning the ascension to power by the 37-year old son of the late President Idriss Déby, Mahamat. The opposition is viewing the young Déby’s ascension to power as an unconstitutional “coup” even when some are calling for an inclusive national dialogue – overseen by the United Nations and the African Union – to resolve decades of instability and humanitarian crisis. Despite Chad’s mineral wealth, it has remained desperately poor. The late Déby’s rule was allegedly marked by corruption, human rights violations, and repeated attempts by armed groups to overthrow him. Chad is also at the crossroads of multiple regional…
The number of migrant children in Mexico is increasing sharply, jumping from 380 to nearly 3,500 since the beginning of the year. This implies a nine-fold rise. UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is concerned. In February 2020, the authorities in Mexico were reminded by UNICEF of the need to protect the rights of migrant children who enter the country. UNICEF at the time reported that some 700 children were among the estimated 2,000 people stranded in the Mexican border city of Matamoros seeking asylum in the United States, amid insecurity and other difficulties. The agency was expanding services to children and families there,…
President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, is warning that COVID-19 crisis will widen global inequalities if the world that has mobilised around vaccination; fails to mobilize around improving nutrition too. Adesina who was Nigeria’s Agriculture Minister under the Jonathan administration said, ‘’COVID-19 threatens to create a further 132 million under-nourished people due to lost jobs, disrupted incomes and ill health. ‘’The world has mobilised around vaccination; it needs to mobilise around improving nutrition too. Otherwise, COVID-19 will widen global inequalities.’’ In an opinion article in Financial Times the AfDB chief points out that the prevalence of malnutrition, despite considerable…
Pollution from miniscule pieces of plastic, or micro-plastics, is still a growing concern for scientists, public health advocates and environmentalists as these non-degradable items are increasingly making their way into waterways and even the air we breathe. A team of Florida State University researchers is looking at what inhalation and ingestion of these tiny particles can do to humans on the cellular level. Researchers found that exposure to micro-plastics for only a few days caused human lung cells to slow down their metabolism and growth, change shapes, and decluster so that gaps exist in what is typically a solid sheet of cells. The findings raise…
United Nations has launched a $29.2 million global funding appeal to aid citizens of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines affected by the major eruptions spewing from La Soufrière volcano, pledging to remain a “steadfast partner”. Volcanic eruptions in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, affected around 30,000 people, and left the entire population of the main island without clean water and electricity. Reports from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), showed that about 30,000 evacuees on the Caribbean island are currently in need of shelter. “The eruption has affected most livelihoods in the northern part of the island, including banana farming, with ash and lava flows hampering the movement of people and…
President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Joan E. Donoghue, says she is confident the institution and its highly-regarded rules and procedures “will continue to provide fertile ground for the peaceful settlement of inter-State disputes”. This is coming as the Court is marking its 75th anniversary this week. Widely referred to as the “World Court”, the ICJ was set up in the aftermath of the Second World War as the highest judicial body of the United Nations. The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred…
Apparently worried that indigenous people are three times more likely to live in extreme poverty, United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, is currently urging them to prioritize inclusion and sustainable development. The UN chief who was speaking at the opening session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Forum on Indigenous Issues, said they represent the greater part of the world’s cultural diversity and speak the major share of its languages. In April 2018, traditional knowledge was at the core of indigenous identity, culture and heritage around the world. Chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues said at the annual event’s opening day…
Dare-devil Chadian rebels have killed the country’s President, Idriss Deby Itno. An international news agency, AFP reports that he died on the battlefield after three decades in power. The Chadian Army, according to the report, announced the tragic development on the state television this Tuesday. The announcement coming a day after the 68-year-old was proclaimed the winner of a presidential election that had given him a sixth term in office. According to the army, Deby had been commanding his army at the weekend as it battled against rebels who had launched a major incursion into the north of the country on election…
Not less than 324 soldiers, rebels and civilians were killed in two African countries over the weekend. The Chadian Army said it lost five of its soldiers, and killed 300 rebels in the north of the country. Similarly, 19 civilians were killed when armed men raided a village in west Niger close to the border with Mali, a local official told AFP in the latest bloodshed in the troubled region. “For the moment, the number of dead stands at 19, and two people have been wounded in an attack by armed men on motorbikes in the village of Gaigorou” in the Tillaberi…
Fellow of the Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Victor Alonge, says the Federal Government of Nigeria has no business with direct housing construction. According to him, the continued failure by the agencies of government saddled with providing houses for the citizens is enough to tell the public that the government has no business building houses for the citizenry. Before now, some of the icons of the real estate sector have been decrying the incursion of government into housing provision rather than formulating and implementing policies that will engender massive homeownership. For them, creating an enabling environment with a…
The harsh economic reality of the COVID-19 pandemic is seriously affecting the revenue profile of the 36 states of the federation. The 36 states, going by the data provided by States Internally Generated Revenue fell by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is facing tough times with their internally generated revenue. According to the national data agency states internally generated revenue nose-dived from N1.33 trillion by the end of last year to N20 billion, and from N1.33trillion as of the end of 2019. NBS disclosed in its report on ‘Internally Generated Revenue at the state level for the fourth quarter…
Escalating COVID-19 infections is currently a major concern to the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. COVID-19 infections are approaching their highest rates since the pandemic began just over a year ago. The WHO chief says “around the world, cases and deaths are continuing to increase at worrying rates.” “Globally, the number of new cases per week has nearly doubled over the past two months. This is approaching the highest rate of infection that we have seen so far during the pandemic.” As at the weekend, there were 138.5 million cases worldwide, and more than 2.9…
President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has set up an eight-man committee to reform the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) for optimum performance. The administration’s reform agenda for the Bank is to be achieved through the instrumentality of commercialisation and recapitalisation. The development is coming as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is having discussions with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on how to better understand and regulate the cryptocurrency market in the country. SEC on Thursday said it will continue to engage players in the financial technology space and support them to operate lawfully in a bid to ensure…
Skyrocketing food prices are stoking a widening hunger emergency in West and Central Africa, a region engulfed by conflict and the socio-economic fallout from COVID-19. United Nations food agency, World Food Programme (WFP) is warning that immediate action is required to prevent a catastrophe. Millions of families in the affected region are growing more hungry and desperate by the day as food prices head to the sun. More than 31 million people there are expected to be food insecure and unable to feed themselves during the coming June-August lean season, a period when food is scarce before the next harvest.…
Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State who is being linked with a 2023 presidential ambition on the the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC) says there is a plot by some persons to incite war in Eastern Nigeria. He said during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily that bandits were committing crimes in the predominantly Igbo region under the guise of the Eastern Security Network (ESN). However, while the brewing insurgency in the region is being blamed on the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its quest for an independent Biafran state, a political risk consultancy, Menas Associates, says there…
Burundi refugees in Tanzania are currently living in fear. As a result, UN Human Rights Council is saying that the rights of refugees and asylum seekers who have fled Burundi for Tanzania must be respected. Experts appointed by the human rights council have already made an appeal to authorities in both countries. Before now, a senior UN official had said in August 2018 those refugees should never be pressured to decide if they should return to their home countries. Assistant High Commissioner for Protection with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, Volker Türk said so after completing a four-day visit to Tanzania,…
Fairtrade International is locked in a humane cocoa price war with the European Commission and the European governments. The group is battling them to recognise the right to living income in the cocoa and chocolate sector of Europe. The is coming as cocoa prices fall in Cote d’Ivoire. Fairtrade is concerned with changing the way trade works through better prices, decent working conditions and a fairer deal for farmers and workers in developing countries. The group wants the European bloc to commit to recognising living incomes in forthcoming human rights due diligence regulation for the European cocoa and chocolate sector.…
United Nations marked the International Day of Human Space Flight on Monday, celebrating the achievements of astronauts who are “stretching the boundaries” of where civilisation can go, beyond the stratosphere. Observed annually on April 12, the International Day commemorates the date in 1961 when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin carried out the first-ever human space flight, opening a way for space exploration for the benefit of all humanity. In a message, Director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA), Simonetta Di Pippo said that 60 years ago, “a new era for humanity began – with sky no longer the limit”. “Astronauts are envoys of humankind…
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report says the value of agricultural imports in Nigeria rose by 5.75 percent to N532.4 billion in the last quarter of 2020 from N503.4 billion in the third quarter. According to the report, the country’s agricultural export value dropped by eight percent in the last quarter of 2020 from N60.6 billion in the third quarter to N55.8 billion. Interestingly, sesame seeds topped the list of export with the commodity reaping over N27.3 billion, with fermented cocoa beans following suit with a value of N6.7 billion, during the quarter. The report has it that most of…
