Once Upon A Time – Dec. 15 – 1840 – Napoleon Bonaparte Receives French State Funeral 19 Years After Death

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December 14, 2021

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) says Nigeria has regained the top spot in Africa, producing an average of 1.27 million barrels per day in November.

OPEC disclosed this in its Oil Market Report for December 2021.

Nigeria’s production declined sharply to 1.35 million barrels per day by 45,000 barrels per day (bpd) in October from about 1.40 million bpd in September.

Libya, which clinched the top spot in Africa in October with 1.24 mb/d, declined to 1.21 mb/d in November.

The new OPEC report showed an increment of 47,000 barrels per day when compared to the 1.228 mb/d produced averagely in October 2021.

“According to secondary sources, total OPEC-13 crude oil production averaged 27.72 mb/d in November 2021, higher by 0.29 mb/d Month on Month,” the report reads.

”Crude oil output increased mainly in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Nigeria, while production in Angola, Libya and Congo declined.”

According to the report, the improvement in oil prices still supported the economic recovery but was hindered by the elevated inflationary and labour market pressures.

The inflation rate, the report showed, eased to 15.99 percent in October 2021, from 16.63 percent in September, marking the lowest rate since last December, largely due to a sustained moderation in food prices.

“On a monthly basis, consumer prices increased by 0.98 percent following a 1.15 percent rise in the previous month, it added.

How It Is Celebrated – Christmas In The Democratic Republic Of Congo

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December 13, 2021

Christmas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is more of a religious festival rather than being commercial. Most people won’t have any presents.

Christmas Eve is very important with Churches having big musical evenings (many churches have at least 5 or 6 choirs) and a nativity play.

These plays last a very long time. They start at the beginning of the evening with the creation and the Garden of Eden and end with the story of King Herod killing the baby boys.

People taking part in the play really like to show off their ‘best’ acting skills!

King Herod and the soldiers are often figures of fun (like pantomime ‘baddies’) and Mary is often well advanced in labor before she arrives!

The birth of Jesus is timed to happen as close to midnight as possible and after that come the shepherds, the wise men and the slaughter of the innocents.

This means the play normally finishes about 1am. However, in some places there will be further singing until dawn! The Christmas day service then starts at 9am with lots more singing.

On Christmas day, most families try to have a better meal than usual. If they can afford it, they will have some meat (normally chicken or pork). The rest of the day is spent quite quietly, maybe sleeping after a busy and late night on Christmas Eve!

People go back to work on the 26th (Boxing Day).

In the Lingala language, which is spoken in the DRC and some other African countries, Happy/Merry Christmas is ‘Mbotama Malamu’.

Imota Rice Mill: Operations Must Begin First Quarter Of 2022 – Sanwo-Olu

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December 13, 2021

Barring any exigency, the 32-metric tons per hour Rice Mill being constructed by Lagos State Government in Imota area of Ikorodu division will start operations before end of first quarter in 2022.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu gave this assurance after touring the project site.

Sanwo-Olu said the facility would be subjected to a pre-production test run before the end of first quarter next year, after which the full production capacity would be activated rice production.

Two years after his first visit, the Governor went on an on-the-spot assessment of the biggest agro project being undertaken by a sub-national Government. He was accompanied by Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms. Abisola Olusanya, and members of the State cabinet.

The Governor said the new deadline remained sacrosanct, promising to prevail on all contractors working at the site to ramp up their activities before the next year first quarter.

He said: “I am happy with what I am seeing on the site and we are working to meet the deadline for the pre-production test run. We are going to charge on our contractors working on site to ensure that by the end of the first quarter next year, this mill should have started operations; that is, we should start producing rice from here.

“What is left is to see how quickly we can ramp up work on the storage facility, which has the capacity to take production up to three to six months. There are 16 silos which have combined capacity of 40,000 metric tons. Each has 2,500 metric tons. The two sections of the silos are at about 85 and 70 per cent completion.”

Sanwo-Olu said construction work on the storage facilities would be completed in the next four weeks, after which major cleanup would commence across the major site in preparation for production test run.

When delivered, the Governor said discussion around operation mode and production process would begin. He said full production of the facility would drastically reduce prices of rice and pressure to purchase the commodity.

“We are very much excited with how far we have gone on the construction. We are believing that all the contractors are working collaboratively to ensure the deadlines set are met,” the Governor said.

The rice mill has been built with a capacity to produce 2.8 million bags of 50kg bags of rice yearly, while generating 1,500 direct jobs and 254,000 indirect jobs.

The State Government is also developing an industrial park adjacent to the mill. The Governor said the park would have amenities that would make businesses thrive and bring returns on investment to business owners.

How It Is Celebrated – Christmas In Czech Republic

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December 13, 2021

The main Christmas celebrations are on Christmas Eve.

The Czech traditional Christmas dinner is eaten during the evening of Christmas Eve. The meal often consists of fish soup (made of carp), and fried carp with potato salad.

Ježíšek ‘Little Jesus’ (the Czech version of Christkind) brings presents during the Christmas Eve dinner and leaves them under the Christmas Tree.

Czech children have their dinner in a different from where the tree is located.

When they hear the bell ring (usually after the children have finished eating their main meal but when they are still at the table), that means that Ježíšek had been and has left their presents under the tree. The presents are normally opened right after dinner.

Religious families also usually sing Christmas carols by the tree, and go to church either at midnight or on Christmas Day.

In the Czech language Happy/Merry Christmas is ‘Veselé Vánoce’. Happy/Merry Christmas in lots more languages.

Kogi Gov. Bello Urges Nollywood To Promote Peace-Oriented Narratives

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Koko Lawrence

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December 13, 2021

Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi has urged the creative industry to produce movies that would reshape public perception and preach peace oriented narratives in the country.

Bello made the plea while hosting the 13th edition of Best of Nollywood Awards (BON) in Lokoja.

It was reported that the BON Awards, an annual Pan-Nigerian travelling film industry initiative, had in the last 12 years moved to different states of the federation.

The governor maintained that the creative industry was strategic to the development of any nation.

He stressed that Nollywood was needed now more than ever to assist the government in ensuring that the message of unity, love and peace was once again established to move the nation forward.

“The creative industry, especially Nollywood, is strategic in ensuring that the right information and perception is spread in the polity.

”As role models, your films and expression are vital to national peace and unity.

Earlier, Seun Oloketuyi, the Chief Executive Officer/ Convener of BON Awards, had urged Bello to use the remaining years of his administration to open up the state to the world for more opportunities.

Oloketuyi also appealed to the governor to work with practitioners and the creative industry to ensure that the beautiful natural landscape in the state was exposed to the world through filmmakers.

NIMC issues 30 million NIN in one year as data base hits 70 million

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December 13, 2021

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, has disclosed that as of last week, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued 70 million National Identification Numbers (NIN) to qualified Nigerians.

Pantami disclosed this in Abuja, Monday, while declaring open the 3.5GHz Spectrum Auction for 5G network in Nigeria.

The Minister, who stressed that identity management was critical to 5G network in the country, said, “as at last week, the management of NIMC told me they have hit 70 million NIN issued.”

According to him, following the directive handed him by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2020 to identify all Nigerians because of the escalating security challenges, the ministry moved and the NIN enrolment got a boost immediately.

Oromoni’s death: Coalition calls for urgent intervention on violence in schools

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December 13, 2021

The Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA) has called on the government and relevant stakeholders to urgently intervene in the reoccurring issues of violence in schools.

The Policy Advisor of the coalition, Mrs Odinakach Ahanonu, made the call in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Monday.

Ahanonu said it was necessary for Nigeria Security Agencies, the Federal Ministry of Education, Departments and Agencies, the Minister and Commissioners for Education and the Governors to find ways to curb them.

According to her, the coalition is pained by the news of the barbaric torture fed with poisonous substance and leading to the death of 12 years old Sylvester Oromoni who until his death was a Junior Secondary student of Dowen College in Lagos.

Uganda intern doctors escalate strike action over pay

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December 13, 2021

Medics working as interns in Uganda have announced an escalation of their strike for better pay.

The interns began their industrial action on 6 November, but they continued to work on emergencies and support some staff on hospital wards.

But a letter from the health ministry on Saturday ordered all medical interns who are on strike to leave thehealthfacilities where they are based, within a week.

In response, all interns in public hospitals countrywide announced that from midnight on Sunday, they would cease all work.

Dr Lillian Nabwire, the president of the association of medical interns, told the correspondents that medical interns had been taking industrial action since 2017.

The government has made promises to increase pay, but salaries have not increased, she said.

Senior doctors are now covering critical care and emergencies, but have scaled down on out-patient services, a senior specialist told the correspondents.

Black Axe: Leaked documents shine spotlight on secretive Nigerian gang

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December 13, 2021