Abductors of the family members of a lecturer in Zamfara State have demanded a ransom of N70 million for their release.
This comes barely a day after five members of the lecturer, Abdulrahaman Adamu’s family were abducted by bandits who stormed their residence at Damba Quarters, a community in the outskirts of Gusau.
Adamu is the chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the Federal University, Gusau (FUGUS) in the state capital.
Hours after the incident, a family source who pleaded anonymity, confirmed that the kidnappers have contacted them, demanding the sum of N70 million as ransom before their family members would regain their freedom.
Those abducted were identified as the Lecturer’s younger brother, niece, nephew, and two of his wife’s younger sisters.
While the police authorities are yet to make an official statement, the Asuu chairman said a team of policemen were at his home and asked a few questions before leaving.
Students of the Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba Akoko, Ondo State trooped out of their campus to protest against the incessant road accidents in the town, involving trucks.
The protest was ignited by the death of one of their colleagues, who was simply identified as Michael on Thursday evening by a trailer.
The driver of the truck attempted to run away after killing the deceased but was arrested and handed over to the police in the community.
The protesters gathered in front of the school gate, barricading the Owo-Ikare Akoko expressway, chanting various solidarity songs.
Security men were also at the site of the protest, trying to make the road free for the motorists.
Works have been completed to ensure a wave energy project being developed by Eco Wave Power and EDF in Israel is connected to the grid to ensure energy security, affordability and sustainability.
Eco Wave Power has announced the completion of grid connection route works at the port.
The work was conducted in two phases following approval from the Municipality of Tel-Aviv, Jaffa, to connect the project to the grid.
The works consisted of removing the upper layer of asphalt in the dedicated grid connection route and preparing the tunnels necessary for the electric cables.
The first phase was implemented with Yehimovitz Suissa in the shipyard area of the port and completed in 2021. The second phase was implemented with Ken Hator Construction and Engineering across the area covering warehouses at the port.
The electric route spans approximately 170 meters of underground tunnels.
Eco Wave is now awaiting the Israel Electric Corporation to connect the conversion unit to the electrical grid.
The EWP-EDF project is executed in collaboration with EDF Renewables IL and co-funded by the Israeli Ministry of Energy.
The State Bank of India and Tata Power Solar Systems are launching a financing scheme for C&I solar projects up to 1MW.
The Surya Shakti Cell will be domiciled in the Ballard Estate in Mumbai but is aimed at loan applications for solar projects sourced from across India, for installation in households and businesses.
The scheme is set up as an end-to-end digital platform for loan applicants who want to finance solar projects.
Applicants get support and guidance to choose the right equipment, can use the platform to ask for technical help and also receive expedition approval for their loans at competitive rates.
The African Development Fund is providing a $27.39 million grant to help Ghana improve energy access and decarbonisation by developing renewable energy mini-grids and solar PV net metering.
Ghana will use the grant to develop some 35 mini-grids and solar PV systems in 400 schools, 200 units in healthcare centers and 100 units for community energy services in the Volta region.
The grant will also support the rollout of 12,000 rooftop net-metered solar PV systems for public institutions, small and medium-sized enterprises and selected households.
The Ghana Mini Grid and Solar Photovoltaic Net Metering project under which the installations will be made will use the grant to install up to 67.5MW of capacity. The project will generate 111,361MWh of capacity per annum, avoid 0.7795 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year and create 2,865 jobs of which 30% will be women and youths.
The project has leveraged co-financing from the Scaling Up Renewable Energy Programme, a funding window of the Climate Investment Funds, and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, amounting to $28.49 million and $13.30 million.
The Oando Foundation of Nigeria, Sumitomo Chemical of Japan, with the technical support of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), organised a community clean-up exercise at Ijora Badia and Ishaga Mushin in Lagos State, themed: “Clearing of drainage, community sensitization & recycling awareness campaign”.
This initiative is aimed at promoting environmental education and sustainable action for pupils in target schools and host communities in Lagos State.
This year’s activity is a follow-up to the project that commenced in the year 2020 involving five primary schools and three communities in Lagos State.
The activities were carried out at Ireti Owoseni Street, Badia Ijora, on Tuesday, January 25, 2022, while that of Ishaga Mushin was held at Seriki Street on Thursday, January 27, 2022.
Some pupils and teachers of Badia Primary School, Ireti Owoseni Primary School, Olojowon Demonstration Nur/Pry School teamed up with the youths and residents of the area to clean their environment.
In the same vein, some pupils of Ishaga Close Primary School and Islamic Model Primary School joined the community members to carry out the exercise.
Sunday Fateye, Chairman of Badia Central Community, appreciated the initiative and urged his community members to imbibe the culture of cleanliness.
He said: “Maintaining a clean environment is everyone’s responsibility. So, all my people should get involved for us to have a better environment.”
Alhaji Mohammed Ndana, Zonal Chairman, Parents Forum, Mushin Chapter, commended the efforts of Oando Foundation and NCF in bringing such initiative to their community.
He stated that “this effort is a very good one and we thank the organisers.
This exercise will be a way of telling people to take their environment and health seriously.”
Mrs. Abidemi Balogun, Head of Environmental Education for NCF, added: “The focus of this project is to ensure sustainable waste management practices while improving healthy living.
We engaged the community members in clean-up exercises and sensitisation on proper waste management.
Our message is simple, adopt a better method of waste management in your environment, practice clean surroundings always, then teach the young ones the way.”
The United States Soybean Export Council (USSEC) in collaboration with stakeholders in Nigeria’s agronomy and poultry industry and the Government of Nigeria hosted a nutrition and food security forum titled “Nigeria Now” to explore partnership strategies that will help increase access to healthy and nutritional food.
The event, which held in Atlanta Georgia, saw more than 8,000 people from the international poultry industry including the Governor of Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade.
The forum highlighted the importance of accessibility of affordable protein to sustainable national development.
Gerald Smith, Counselor for Agricultural Affairs at the U.S. Mission to Nigeria explained that the forum enhanced collaboration while enabling Nigerian industry stakeholders to meet the country’s vision for nutrition and food security.
CEO of USSEC, Jim Sutter, underscored the need for a shared priority that will enable nutrition and food security for families, communities and countries around the world, and more specifically to improve access to healthy and nutritional food.
“We want to continue building on our growing partnerships in 2022 to help Nigerian leaders meet their food and nutrition vision for the citizens of their country,” Sutter said.
Kevin Roepke, USSEC’s Regional Director of Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa said, “We hope Nigeria will take a diversified and multi-faceted approach to achieving food and nutrition security.”
“Local food and soy production is and will remain critically important, and we invite leaders to consider complementing their local supply with high quality imports to most effectively and sustainably meet nutrition needs,” he added.
Sutter reiterated USSEC’s commitment to collaborate with varied stakeholders in Nigeria’s soy value chain.
49-year-old Zandile Christmas Mafe accused of setting South Africa’s parliament on fire has been denied bail by a court in Cape Town.
Police have said they have a video confession from Mafe as evidence they say will be presented in court when the trial begins.
But Mr Mafe has pleaded not guilty and intends to sue the state for wrongful arrest, his lawyers say.
It has been a little over a month since a portion of the National Assembly went up in flames in a suspected arson attack.
Mr Mafe, who was arrested shortly afterward, is facing a string of charges, including one of terrorism – all of which he denies.
The motive for the attack is unknown.
It may be some time before the trial begins and unless Mr Mafe wins an appeal to overturn the bail decision, he will remain in detention.
Magistrate Michelle Adams said Mr Mafe, might be a flight risk because he is known to have regularly slept on the streets of Cape Town.
She added that his defense team had failed to show that there were exceptional circumstances for Mr Mafe to be granted bail.
Earlier, state prosecutors raised questions about Mr Mafe’s mental health after a doctor told them he had paranoid schizophrenia – a diagnosis that is yet to be confirmed by an independent doctor.
His own legal team has rubbished the suggestion. The case will resume next Friday for an application to appeal against the bail decision.
Almost 3,000 athletes from 91 nations are set to compete in the 24th edition of the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The competition is officially underway after the Olympic cauldron was lit in an opening ceremony in China.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been criticized for awarding the Games to China because of the country’s alleged human rights abuses amongst other things.
IOC president Tomas Bach said one of the missions of the Games was to “unite humankind in all our diversity”.
The Olympic torch was placed into the center of a giant snowflake, which was then illuminated to become the cauldron. The snowflake is made up of placards with the names of the 91 nations competing in the games
Speaking during the ceremony, Bach addressed “all political authorities across the globe” during his speech, asking them to “give peace a chance”.
“In our fragile world, where division, conflict and mistrust are on the rise, we show the world: yes, it is possible to be fierce rivals, while at the same time living peacefully and respectfully together,” he said.
Bach told the athletes: “You will show how the world would look like if we all respect the same rules and each other.
“Over the next two weeks, you will compete with each other for the highest prize. At the same time, you will live peacefully together under one roof in the Olympic Village.
“There, there will be no discrimination for any reason whatsoever. “
The opening ceremony was held in the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium that was built for the 2008 Games as Beijing becomes the first city to host both a summer and winter edition of the Olympic Games.
Just as in Tokyo six months ago, there were no paying spectators, friends or family present in the stands, although there were diplomats and team members applauding the athletes.
Representatives of 56 ethnic groups from across China relayed the national flag into the stadium to begin the opening ceremony. The Olympic rings themselves emerged from a frozen block of ice, with athletes entering the arena underneath them.
A number of countries declared a diplomatic boycott of the Games, including the United Kingdom, with no ministers or officials attending the opening ceremony.
The Beijing government is accused of committing atrocities against the Uyghur Muslim population in the northwest province of Xinjiang, with the World Uyghur Congress describing the Games as “a genocide Olympics”.
There have been reports that, as well as interning Uyghurs in camps, China has been forcibly mass sterilizing Uyghur women to suppress the population.
China has consistently denied allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, insisting camps were not detention camps, but “vocational education and training centers”, but the IOC says it must “remain neutral on all global political issues”.
In addition, authorities across the country have removed crosses from churches, banned youth under the age of 18 from participating in religious services, and replaced images of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary with pictures of Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping
There has also been widespread concern over the safety of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai after she made accusations of sexual assault against a top government official. Bach will meet face-to-face with Peng during the Games.
Also in attendance, was Russian President Vladimir Putin after meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping earlier in the day.
211 Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta
960 Coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of the Song, initiating three centuries of Song Dynasty dominance in southern China
1555 English reformer John Rogers is burned at the stake at Smithfield, the first of many martyrs in the reign of Mary Tudor.
1789 1st US electoral college chooses George Washington as President and John Adams as Vice President
1798 Elizabeth Fry, reared a Quaker, has a conversion experience in Norwich, England, under the preaching of William Savery, an American Friend. She will become a notable prison reformer.
1859 One of the oldest known copies of the Bible, “The Codex Sinaiticus” (Sinai Bible), is seen in Egypt by Constantin von Tischendorf who takes the manuscript home with him.
1865 Robert E. Lee is named general-in-chief of Confederate forces
1928 In South Africa, the parents of teenager Manche Masemola kill her and bury her by a granite rock. Masemola had refused to abandon Christianity, worshiping in the Anglican Church at every opportunity. Decades later, she will be honored with a statue at Westminster Abbey.
1969 The Palestine National Congress appoints Yasser Arafat chairman of the PLO
1988 Panamanian General Manuel Noriega indicted by US federal grand jury for drug trafficking and racketeering
2004 Mark Zuckerberg launches Facebook from his Harvard dormitory room
Historical Events Today
Today In Film & TV
1970 “Patton” directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and starring George C. Scott premieres in New York (Academy Awards Best Picture 1971)
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1977 “Rumours” 11th studio album by Fleetwood Mac is released (Grammy Album of the Year)
Today In Sport
1991 NZ cricketers Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones make a world record 467 run stand, against Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve in Wellington
Do You Know This Fact About Today?
1936 1st radioactive substance produced synthetically (radium E)
Would You Believe This Fact About Today?
1962 Russian newspaper Izvestia reports baseball is an old Russian game
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