Author: Festus Adeloye

Kogi State Governor, Usman Ododo, has approved over N542 million for the payment of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and other internal examination fees for students in public schools across the state. The Commissioner for Education, Wemi Jones, disclosed this during a press conference on Tuesday in Lokoja. Jones said the funds would cover registration fees for the 2025 Basic Six and Common Entrance Examination, Basic Education Certificate Examination, and UTME. “A total of N145,476,984 has been allocated for 25,100 pupils for Basic Six and CCE; N215,220,000 for 30,500 students under BECE; and N181,719,800 for 18,734 students’ UTME/JAMB fees,…

The United States Government’s humanitarian agency USAID on Tuesday announced it was placing its staff in the US and around the world on administrative leave as it moved to recall employees from overseas postings. The agency said in a statement on its website, which reappeared Tuesday that the staff leave will begin shortly before midnight on February 7, 2024. The administrative leave will hit “all USAID direct hire personnel… with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs.” “Thank you for your service,” the statement read. The move is part of Trump’s–and his…

Australia has banned DeepSeek from all government devices as it seeks to block “an unacceptable level of security risk” presented by the Chinese artificial intelligence program, according to an official order Tuesday. “After considering threat and risk analysis, I have determined that the use of DeepSeek products, applications and web services poses an unacceptable level of security risk to the Australian Government,” Department of Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster said in the directive. As of Wednesday all non-corporate Commonwealth entities must “identify and remove all existing instances of DeepSeek products, applications and web services on all Australian Government systems and…

Governor Ademola Adeleke has revealed plans to host a major concert in Osun State, featuring his nephew, David Adeleke (Davido), along with other entertainers. Speaking on Channels Television’s Political Paradigm on Tuesday, Governor Adeleke stated that the event is part of efforts to promote tourism in the state. He also took the opportunity to criticise the opposition, claiming that they are ashamed of his achievements. Adeleke reaffirmed his commitment to delivering democratic benefits to the people of Osun.

The World Health Organisation has revealed that 40 people worldwide are diagnosed with cancer every minute. WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, disclosed this in a post on his X handle on Tuesday to mark World Cancer Day. “Every minute, 40 people are diagnosed with #cancer globally and embark on a journey to overcome it. On #WorldCancerDay, we honour the courage of those affected, celebrate scientific progress in cancer treatment, and reaffirm our commitment to #HealthForAll,” Ghebreyesus stated. World Cancer Day, observed annually on February 4, highlights global efforts to combat the disease. This year’s theme, “United by Unique,” underscored the…

Carlo Ancelotti said Kylian Mbappe would miss Real Madrid’s upcoming Copa del Rey quarter-final against Leganes with a bruised calf and backed his club’s complaints about Spanish refereeing on Tuesday. French striker Mbappe was hacked down by Espanyol’s Carlos Romero during their 1-0 La Liga defeat on Saturday with the defender avoiding a red card and going on to score the winning goal against the league leaders. On Monday Madrid sent a letter to the Spanish football federation blasting refereeing in Spain as “rigged” and “completely discredited”. “Mbappe started to train today, yesterday we gave him an extra day of…

President Bola Tinubu is presiding over the 23rd meeting of the Federal Executive Council at the State House, Abuja. Tuesday’s meeting, the second leg of a two-day meeting, began at 1:26 pm when Tinubu arrived at the Council Chamber. Speaking on Monday, the Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, revealed that the meeting would spill into the next day due to a long backlog of memos. “Let me also say that there is also another Federal Executive Council meeting coming up tomorrow. “Recall that since December, we’ve not had anyone, so a lot of memos have gathered and the President is…

Some armed men suspected to be kidnappers have abducted seven travellers, close to the Ipele community, along the Owo-Benin highway in Ondo State. According to a source, the victims were coming from a state in the South-South region and heading for Akure, the Ondo State capital when the incident occurred over the weekend. There were initially conflicting reports on the number of those abducted. But the spokesperson of Ondo State Police Command, Funmilayo Odunlami, told newsmen that seven persons were kidnapped. Odunlami said that the police have since swung into action to apprehend the hoodlums and rescue the victims as…

Following a verbal altercation between Kenya Airways staff at the transfer desk and a Nigerian passenger, identified as Omisore, the lady in question has arrived in Nigeria. Omisore has successfully arrived in Lagos after safely boarded a Kenyan Airways flight to the country, after a viral video captured the incident that has since drawn condemnation. This is as the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has Kenya Airways’ acting station manager. The video which was posted by Tunde Moshood, the Special Adviser to the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, on Monday showed Omisore venting her frustration about the mistreatment of herself…

Embattled former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has urged the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja to bar the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from calling additional witnesses after 10 had testified in his ongoing procurement fraud trial. Emefiele’s lead counsel, Matthew Burkaa (SAN), contended that since EFCC listed only 10 witnesses in the proof of evidence it filed in court, it should not be allowed to call additional witnesses. But the EFCC’s prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), opposed the application, asserting that further testimonies were necessary to ensure a fair and thorough presentation of…