BRUSSELS — The European Union’s commissioner for jobs and social rights, Nicolas Schmit, has warned of a potential social crisis after the coronavirus pandemic. Although there has been no dramatic increase in unemployment figures so far, the prospects for young people, in particular, are not rosy, Schmit pointed out in an interview with dpa. He noted that a policy was needed to ensure that the people do not slide into a new social crisis after...
NEW DELHI — Indian authorities on Thursday shut down the Taj Mahal and evacuated tourists after police received a phone call about a bomb at India’s iconic monument. The police stopped entry to the monument and bomb detection squads were conducting checks of the premises after the call was received in the morning, area police chief, Rajeev Kumar Singh said. “The caller said he will blow up the monument. We have not found anything so far...
LAGOS — The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) says the 650,000 BPD Dangote Refinery in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos will be extremely beneficial to Nigeria when it begins production. MOMAN however, advised the Federal Government against preventing marketers from importing refined petroleum products when the refinery and others come on stream in order to create an open market for the sector. Mr. Clement Isong, Executive Secretary, MOMAN, made this known while speaking with the...
By John Campbell _____ Against an immediate backdrop of escalating mass kidnappings, jihadi resurgence, growing separatist sentiment in the old Biafra, and conflict over water and land that often assumes a religious and ethnic coloration, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria has issued a statement sounding the alarm over the very survival of the nation. The statement expresses concern, inter alia, over high-level government officials advising citizens to resort to self-defense as exacerbating ethnic conflict. The statement acknowledges the costs of nation-building but affirms...
LAGOS — A national-scale drone delivery service, Zipline, says it has begun the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to selected health facilities within its service areas in Ghana. Its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Keller Rinaudo, made this known in a statement on Wednesday in Lagos. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Zipline recently signed an MOU on drone delivery of medical aids – comprising vaccines, blood, and other lifesaving products with the Kaduna State...
To repel the banditry that has ravaged Zamfara State and other parts of the North-west and North-central states, President Muhammadu Buhari has declared the state a no-fly-zone. A no-fly zone, also known as a no-flight zone (NFZ), or air exclusion zone (AEZ) is a territory or area established by a military power over which certain aircraft are not permitted to fly. Such zones are usually set up in an enemy power’s territory during a conflict,...
50 persons living with disabilities in Enugu are currently undergoing five days of training on Information Technology at the Enugu State Tech Hub and Youth Innovation Center. The training which started on Monday, 1st day of March is an initiative of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, implemented by the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, in partnership with the Enugu State Government to empower persons living with disabilities, PLWDs, through IT entrepreneurship, policies,...
A Parish court has declared Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s former president, guilty of the corruption charges against him. The court also found him guilty of “influence peddling”, sentencing him to one year in prison and a two-year suspended sentence. The 66-year-old who served as president from 2007 to 2012, was convicted on Monday for having tried to illegally obtain information from a senior magistrate in 2014 about a legal action in which he was involved. According...
The Director-General of Legal Aid Council, Aliyu Abubakar says the Federal Government will soon begin the arraignment of 5,000 suspected Boko Haram members in various detention facilities across the country. Abubakar disclosed this during a courtesy visit to Borno Governor Babagana Zulum in the Maiduguri Government House. “The legal aid teams have so far interviewed about 283 as part of the efforts to establish the extent of their involvement as well as to understand the...
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) says the final forfeiture of $919,202.07 fraudulently kept in an interest-yielding bank account by some staff of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt in Rivers State has been retrieved. This was disclosed in a statement made available on the agency’s website on Thursday. The release state that the staff of the Federal High Court involved in the illegal transaction includes the Chief Registrar and Deputy...
