Teenage Nigerian Girl Breaks Record, Solves 34 Questions In 172 Seconds

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December 29, 2022

In a record breaking performance, 13-year old Nasara James Dabo, a student of Ideal international college, Kaduna, solved 34 questions in 172 seconds to win International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) In the just concluded International mathematical Olympiad training.

The young prodigy who participated in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) finished the contest gathering a total score of 145 points, solving 34 Mathematical questions in 172 seconds (less than 3 minutes).

This record added a feather to her cap, as she emerged the top scorer, beating over 150 selected participants in the “Junior Category”, as first place & the Olympiad Champion.

She was honoured with a Gold medal.

ASUU May Forfeit 8 Months Pensionable Period Over Recent Strike- Ngige

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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December 29, 2022

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The controversies rocking the Nigerian universities system may be far from over as the Federal Government has given indications that members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, may also forfeit their eight months’ pension entitlements for the period the strike lasted.

Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige gave this indication in Abuja, after a private meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Ngige who described the year 2022 as a year of strikes, noted that members of ASUU triggered the fate which might befall them as a result of the “no work no pay policy” implemented while their strike lasted.

Recall that ASUU and Federal Government have been embroiled in a show of supremacy after the apex university union suspended its eight-month strike but failed to get its full month’s salary afterwards.

Lamenting the situation, Ngige said the government had to contend with industrial disputes from various unions in the public sector as against the private sector which was relatively peaceful all year round.

The Minister of Labour also hinted that government was handicapped by funding challenges, but noted that plans are on to shore up the salaries of workers in the academic system.

The minister said: “ASUU has not pronounced anything on their salary anymore because it’s one of the issues that was referred to the National Industrial Court for determination, whether a worker who is on strike should be paid in violation of Section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act which says when you go on strike, the consequences are these.

“Number one, you will not be paid, you will not be compensated for not going to work to enable your employer keep the industry or enterprise afloat. That money should not be given to you, and that compensation should not be given. It’s there in Section 43 (1). There is a second leg for Section 43, it also said that period you were on strike will not count for you as part of your pensionable period of work in your service.

“That aspect, government has not touched it, but the aspect of no-work-no-pay has been triggered off by that strike. So we are asking the court to look at it. So the matter is out of the hand of the Executive (that’s us) and out of the hand of the judiciary. ASUU has also put up a defence in court, asking the court, “yes we went on strike, but we did that for a reason.” So it’s now left for the court to look at it.”

Commenting on his mission to the presidential villa, Ngige said, he was there to brief Mr President on the labour sector for 2022.

“It’s a year we can call a year of industrial dispute starting from the February Academic Staff Union of the Universities (ASUU) strike which was joined by other sister unions in the university system and even the people in the research institutes and thereafter pressed from various unions, including the Medical Doctors Association and the youth wing of the National Association of Resident Doctors.

“JOHESU which is the Joint Health Sector Union were all asking for a wage increase, and asking for a wage increase can also be understandable because of what inflation had done to the economy and the attendance cost of living for people who have to be workers in the public sector.

“In the private sector, the private sector employers have managed their affairs better, maybe, because their finances and its management is within their very audit and they could control it, they could do collective bargaining very easily with their workers. The banking sector, food and beverages, and finance, insurance, everywhere; there is calm there. We didn’t have the desired calmness on the government’s side because of the government’s finances, “Ngige told State House correspondents.

Quality Assurance: Standards Organisation of Nigeria Sensitizes Local Manufacturers

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Elizabeth Williams

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December 28, 2022

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The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is sensitizing manufacturers, consumers and other stakeholders on the need for adherence to quality and good standards in locally manufactured and imported products.
The agency said the sensitization programme was in line with its mandate to ensure that all goods both locally manufactured or imported conform to the relevant industrial standards.
Speaking at an event in Asaba, Delta state, the Senior Special Assistant to the Director-General of SON, Chief Emeka Duru, pointed out that SON organised the sensitisation forum which is aimed at strategically projecting the vision with a view to facilitating trade and enhancing the economy.
Duru who spoke on the topic, ‘Facilitating trade, enhancing the economy’, added that the forum was an avenue for SON and the stakeholders to brainstorm on areas they can be of assistance to enable them carry out their businesses positively by following the laid down standardisation procedures.

Fitch Predicts Slow Economic Growth for Nigeria in 2023

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Elizabeth Williams

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December 28, 2022

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A Fitch Solutions Country Risk & Industry Research report has predicted, The Nigerian economy will continue to slump in 2023 due to activities leading to the general elections in 2023, but would likely pick in 2024, with growth rising to 3.3 per cent.
An affiliate of Fitch Ratings, the Fitch Solutions report estimated that economic growth in Nigeria slipped to a six-quarter low of 2.3 per cent in quarter four of 2022, predicting that the country’s economic growth would ease further in 2023.

“We expect that the country’s economy will expand by just 2.5 per cent due to disruptions associated with the February 2023 election and the continued decline of oil production. Growth will accelerate to 3.3 per cent in 2024 as oil output picks up,” it projected.
“Economic growth in Nigeria slipped to a six-quarter low in Q3, 2022, and we expect that it will continue to slow over the coming two quarters,” it added.
The Fitch report recalled the latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which it said showed that economic growth slowed from 3.4 per cent y-o-y in Q2, 2022 to 2.3 per cent y-o-y in Q3, 2022.
“The slowdown was mostly due to a poor performance in the oil sector, where the decline in output worsened from a fall of 11.1 per cent y-o-y in Q2, 2022 to a decrease of 22.3 per cent y-o-y in Q3, 2022,” the report added.

Finland Gets Floating LNG Terminal To Replace Russian Gas

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Elizabeth Williams

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December 28, 2022

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A floating liquefied natural gas terminal, Finland’s first was moored Wednesday at the southern port of Inkoo where it will supply gas to the Nordic country that was cut off from Russian gas imports earlier this year amid the war in Ukraine.
The massive 291-meter-long and 43-meter-wide offshore support vessel Exemplar, which sailed to the Baltic Sea from Spain earlier December, has a capacity of 68,000 tons of LNG and is scheduled to be operational from the beginning of 2023.

The vessel will reconvert LNG to gas which will then be fed into the Finnish network for distribution. The arrival of the Exemplar will also enable gas deliveries to the Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania — and possibly also to Poland through the undersea Balticconnector pipeline between Finland and Estonia that runs near Inkoo.

Russian energy giant Gazprom halted gas exports to neighboring Finland in May, citing Helsinki’s refusal to pay in rubles, as Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded European countries do since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Gazprom’s move marked a likely end to Finland’s nearly 50 years of importing natural gas from Russia. The two parallel Russia-Finland natural gas pipelines were launched in 1974.
Natural gas currently accounts for just some 5% of total energy consumption in Finland, a country of 5.5 million. Until May, nearly all of that gas came from Russia, and has been used mainly by Finnish industrial and other companies with only an estimated 4,000 households relying on gas heating.

House of Reps Passes 21.8TN 2023 Budget

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Elizabeth Williams

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December 28, 2022

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The House of Representatives on Wednesday 28 December passed a budget of N21,827,188,747,391 for 2023 appropriation.
This is an increase of N1,319,246,566,677 from the proposal sent to the House by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The House also passed a supplementary budget of N819.5 billion for 2022. The House also adjourned to January 17, 2023.

Meanwhile, the Senate has passed the 2022 supplementary budget of N819.5 billion.
The supplementary budget is to address food security following devastating floods across the country as well as damages to road infrastructure and the water sector.
A breakdown of the supplementary budget in the report by the Committee of Finance shows that the Ministry of Agriculture is to get N69 billion, the Ministry of Water Resources – N15.5 billion, FCT – N30 billion, Ministry of Works and Housing – N704 billion.

China Finally Ends Covid Quarantine for Travellers

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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December 28, 2022

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China has said it will scrap quarantine for travellers from 8 January, marking the last major shift from the country’s zero-Covid policy.

After almost three years of closed borders, Chinese officials say they will reopen the country to those with work and study visas, or seeking to visit family.

The announcement comes in the wake of restrictions being lifted this month following protests by millions of citizens in November.

China is the last major economy in the world to move to “living with Covid” after three years of lockdowns, closed borders and mandatory quarantine for Covid cases and contacts.

Since March 2020, anyone entering China had to undergo mandatory quarantine at a state facility – for up to three weeks at a time. That was recently reduced to five days.

But on Monday the National Health Commission announced that Covid would be formally downgraded to a Class B infectious disease on 8 January.

That meant quarantine would be axed – although incoming travellers will still need to take a PCR test – and a cap on the daily number of flights allowed into China would also be scrapped.

On Monday, December 26, President Xi issued his first remarks on the changes, calling on officials to do what was “feasible” to save lives. State media quoted him saying the country faced a new situation with pandemic control, and needed a more targeted response.

2023: NPC Reassures Nigerians of Credible, Reliable Census

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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December 28, 2022

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The National Population Commission, NPC, has reassured Nigerians that the 2023 National Census would be credible, reliable and accurate.

This was disclosed Tuesday by the commission’s Chairman, Nasir Kwarra during a press conference in Calabar

Kwarra represented by Chairman, Public Affairs Committee of the Commission, Dr. Eyitayo Oyetunji, noted that presently, Nigeria was the sixth most populous nation in the world.

The chairman said that by 2050, Nigeria would be the third most populous country in the globe going by her growth rate.

According to him, this is very significant, therefore, the next census is not just important to us in Nigeria for planning but has international relevance.

“The world wants to know whether Nigeria is set to become the third most populous country in the world.

“You hear that Nigeria has the biggest market in Africa and so, whatever happens to its population is of interest to any serious minded businessman and international organisations,” he said.

Kwarra said that was why it used the 2022 Calabar Carnival as a platform to sensitize Nigerians on the importance of the census.

He said the commission had planned the 2023 census activities in such a way that it would not get entangled in the political process, had no political undertones but purely for data collection for national planning.

While calling on the media to publicize the activities of the commission towards having a credible census, he said the 2023 enumeration exercise would be the first in Africa where every participant would be geographic defined.

Similarly, Navy Captain Charles Ogwa rtd, NPC Federal Commissioner for Cross River said the carnival was the biggest and most flamboyant street party in Sub-Saharan Africa with about 2,000,000 live viewers.

Ogwa said because of this huge viewership, the NPC in its strides to sensitize Nigerians about the census had decided to partake in the 2022 Calabar Carnival.

He said the main objective of the commission was to strategically reach a large number of people within and outside Nigeria.

“At the level we are now, we have successfully demarcated Nigeria with the use of high technological methodologies.

“We have also conducted pretests and trial census in the six geopolitical zones and it was successful.

“We are also ensuring that our staff are properly recruited and trained to have a 100 per cent quality man power,” he added.

NPFL Winners To Receive N100m – Elegbeleye

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Emenike Agu

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December 28, 2022

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Chairman of the Interim Management Committee of the Nigeria Professional Football League, Gbenga Elegebeleye, has disclosed that the next NPFL champions will pocket a cash prize of N100m, while also giving details of how the abridged season will play out.

“We promised to give support to the clubs through our sponsors, and we will do that. Remember we had a four-team pre-season tournament, each of the clubs were given N10m as participation and the winner got N100m. So, what we say, we do and the winner of this season again, will get N100m.

“Mind you, N50m was promised to Rivers United that won the league last season and it has not been paid, so we will not promise what we will not do and we are ready to give Nigerians the best gift,” Elegbeleye said during a radio interview.

Elegbeleye also gave further details about the prosecution of the season, insisting that the draw for the abridged season will be held on Wednesday and will be live on television.

“It will be a live draw on television and we will finalise arrangements with the TV station soon. You know we are just starting now and the league has been off TV for a while.

“We are going to have like three pots for the draw. We don’t want to have a north vs south arrangement. All the teams will play where they find themselves but we will make sure clubs from the same states will not play themselves,” he noted.

He also assured that the IMC will be transparent in dealings with match officials and erring clubs.

“Our own pact is that sponsors will pay the referees directly, so that we will eliminate the chances of owing referees or referees doing the bidding of home teams and any club that is found wanting of crowd violence will not be subjected to monetary fines but three points will be deducted from them. We have to change the narrative so we can have a better league.”

Sport In 2023: Five Big Events To Watch

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Emenike Agu

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December 28, 2022

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World Cups in cricket, rugby union, and women’s football while world titles in swimming and athletics are up for grabs in 2023.AFP Sport looks at the showpiece events:

CRICKET WORLD CUP

Where: India

When: October-November (dates to be decided)

— The 13th edition of the global 50-over showpiece will see England defend the title they won in thrilling fashion on home ground in 2019.

Despite the event stretching over seven weeks and featuring 48 games, only 10 teams are taking part.

There is, however, already controversy with former Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ramiz Raja having hinted his country could boycott the World Cup if India refuse to play the Asia Cup scheduled for Pakistan also in 2023.

RUGBY UNION WORLD CUP

Where: France

When: September 8-October 28

— All eyes will be on Antoine Dupont as he leads strong favourites France into a home World Cup featuring 20 nations playing at nine venues.

The opening game pitches France against New Zealand in what promises to be a thrilling start.

Reigning champions South Africa are drawn in the same pool as Ireland, while Wales are in a pool alongside Australia, Georgia and Fiji, the first two of which they lost to in the Autumn Nations Series.

England go into the tournament in a state of flux having axed coach Eddie Jones in favour of Steve Borthwick.

WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Where: Budapest

When: August 19-27

— World athletes of the year Armand Duplantis and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone will bid to recreate their world record-setting victories in the Hungarian capital.

Coming a year after the Covid-delayed world champs in Eugene, Oregon, the biennial event will play host to a raft of up-and-coming track and field stars.

All eyes will be on Jamaica’s five-time 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the women’s sprints, at the age of 36.

The US team will look to the likes of Fred Kerley, Noah Lyles, Michael Norman and Erriyon Knighton to light up the men’s short track, while Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Karsten Warholm will bid to extend their winning form.

WORLD SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Where: Fukuoka, Japan

When: July 14-30

— As swimming tries to catch up after the pandemic, Fukuoka hosts the second of three World Championships in 19 months.

The meet was originally scheduled for 2021 but was elbowed aside when the Tokyo Olympics were pushed back.

Fukuoka says it has a ‘concept’: “Water Meets the Future”, expressing “the hope that all the participants will meet the future.”

Yet, as established stars, with one eye on the 2024 Olympics, skipped major events swimming did meet its future in 2022.

Romanian David Popovici, Australian Mollie O’Callaghan, Canadian Summer McIntosh, Italian Benadetta Pilato and American Torri Huske, can all arrive in Japan to defend world titles they won last June as teenagers.

WOMEN’S FOOTBALL WORLD CUP

Where: Australia and New Zealand

When: July 20-August 20

— The all-conquering United States women’s national team face stiff competition from a series of emerging European contenders for the World Cup.

The Americans have won four of the eight previous editions of the tournament, including the last two, but have been beaten by Germany, England and Spain this year.

England are looking to back up their victory on home soil at Euro 2022, while co-hosts Australia will be hoping Chelsea star Sam Kerr can lead the Matildas beyond the quarter-finals for the first time.

Ten venues across nine host cities in Australia and New Zealand will host the first 32-team women’s World Cup, which is set to smash records for attendance and viewing figures in a further indication of the growing popularity of the sport.