A high court of the Federal Capital Territory, sitting in Apo has sentence a former member of the House of Representatives, Faruk Lawan to 7 years imprisonment.
Mr Lawan was found guilty of bribery during the investigation of petrol subsidy scam in 2012.
Oil marketer, Femi Otedola, accused him of demanding for bribe in order to exonerate Zenon petroleum and gas limited from the list of companies in the fuel subsidy scam.
He was caught on camera receiving bills of dollars from the oil marketer
Justice Angela Otaluka ordered Mr Lawan to return the $500,00 he collected to the federal government.
Faruk Lawan was the chairman of the House of Representatives adhoc committee probing the multi billion-naira fuel subsidy fraud in 2012.
According to reports the Community Court of Justice, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has issued a restraining order on President Muhammadu Buhari or any member of his administration from prosecuting any Nigerian using Twitter.
This ruling followed the suit filed against the government by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and 176 concerned Nigerians.
FILE PHOTO: Workers prepare foodstuff for beneficiaries at a food distribution center supported by the World Food Program in Sanaa, Yemen June 3, 2020. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah//File Photo
Some 41 million people worldwide are at at imminent risk of famine, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday, saying soaring prices for basic foods were compounding existing pressures on food security.
Another half a million are already experiencing famine-like conditions, said the WFP’s Executive Director David Beasley.
“We now have four countries where famine-like conditions are present. Meanwhile 41 million people are literally knocking on famine’s door,” he said.
The WFP, which is funded entirely by voluntary donations, said it needs to raise $6 billion immediately to reach those at risk, in 43 countries.
“We need funding and we need it now,” said Beasley.
After declining for several decades, world hunger has been on the rise since 2016, driven by conflict and climate change.
FILE PHOTO: Bags of food donations are seen at the Tsehaye primary school, which was turned into a temporary shelter for people displaced by conflict, in the town of Shire, Tigray region, Ethiopia, March 15, 2021. REUTERS/Baz Ratner/File Photo
In 2019, 27 million people were on the brink of famine, according to the WFP, but since 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic has been added to the mix.
World food prices rose in May to their highest levels in a decade, U.N. figures show, with basics like cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar up a combined 40% versus year ago levels.
Currency depreciation in countries like Lebanon, Nigeria, Sudan, Venezuela and Zimbabwe is adding to these pressures and driving prices even higher, stoking food insecurity.
Famine-like conditions are present this year in Ethiopia, Madagascar, South Sudan and Yemen, as well as in pockets of Nigeria and Burkina Faso.
But Beasley warned against “debating numbers to death” as happened in Somalia in 2011 when 130,000 people – half the eventual toll from starvation – had already died by the time famine was declared.
The WFP, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year, says around 9 percent of the world’s population, equivalent to nearly 690 million people, go to bed hungry each night.
Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote’s new fertiliser plant near Lagos will export its first shipment in late June or early July, to Louisiana, while the majority of exports from the plant are expected to go to Brazil, Dangote said on Tuesday.
The new urea plant at the Lekki Free Zone in Lagos State, designed to manufacture 3 million tonnes of urea per year, will also be able to supply all the major markets in sub-Saharan Africa, Dangote told a virtual economic forum hosted by Qatar.
Percussionist Malick Fall addresses the crowd at the Hotel De La Residence during the Saint Louis Jazz Festival in Saint Louis, Senegal, June 19, 2021. REUTERS/Cooper Inveen
On a small island where the Senegal River meets the sea, hundreds of mask-wearing jazz enthusiasts listened to French-Senegalese vocalist Awa Ly sing the blues for uncertain times.
“Once you touched the sky and you went down,” she crooned. “Use your inner senses and you’ll figure it out, like a dream you can’t remember.”
Last year COVID-19 halted Saint Louis’ jazz festival for the first time in its 29-year history. This year it was back, bringing much needed life to the Island of Saint Louis, a UNESCO World Heritage site famed for its colonial architecture and pastel-coloured houses.
Singer Awa Ly performs on stage at the Saint Louis Jazz Festival in Saint Louis, Senegal, June 18, 2021. REUTERS/Cooper Inveen.
African rhythms, funk, gospel and blues could be heard along the narrow streets last weekend, emanating from restaurants, bars and hotels into the early morning.
“I was relieved, and everybody else was relieved too,” Ly said after her performance. “It was a beautiful energy, a beautiful vibration and a beautiful link between the stage and the audience.”
Saint Louis, in northern Senegal, was spared the deadliest impacts of COVID-19. But a decline in tourism and an economic crunch have left residents hungry for a boost that only its largest annual event could provide.
Billed as Africa’s biggest jazz festival, it has struggled with dwindling attendance since its days hosting headliners like American pianist Herbie Hancock, who played there in 1996.
But it does draw enthusiasts from across West Africa and Europe and is a source of pride for the city’s street performers.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has delisted additional six Computer Based Centres (CBT) over poor performance on the second day of the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Head, Protocol and Public Affairs of JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin, disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday.
The board had earlier delisted 24 CBT centres across the country over poor performance at the commencement of the 2021 UTME.
This figure brings the total number of delisted centres across the country to 30.
Benjamin said candidates who were unable to register during the allowable time for registration despite the extension were graciously directed to visit designated centres to be registered.
He said these categories of candidates that had been scheduled for the 2021 UTME were directed to print their examination notification slip for their schedule for the examination from June 21.
He, however, directed the candidates to print their notification slip from the JAMB’s website www.jamv.gov.ng.
He further said that 464,834 candidates across the country wrote the UTME on June 21, the second day of the examination.
The additional centres delisted include: Dayspring Christian College, Opete town near Otokutu between Ughelli South lga and Udu Local Government, Delta and Fountain of Knowledge International Academy CBT, Azuiyiokwu, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.
Also, Twelve Apostles College, Ndiaboishiagu Sharon, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State and Lead British International School, 1 Aliyu Mustafa Street, off Wole Soyinka Street, Gwarimpa, Abuja, FCT, were delisted.
Others are Zaria Academy, Km 10, Zaria-Funtua road, Shika, Zaria in Kaduna State and Muhammed Kamaldeen CBT centre proposed by Muhammed Kamaldeen University along FGC, Ogidi, Ilorin in Kwara.
FILE PHOTO: Director and producer Steven Spielberg attends the European Premiere of Ready Player One in London, Britain, March 19, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
Netflix Inc added acclaimed filmmaker Steven Spielberg to its roster with a joint announcement on Monday of a deal for his Amblin Partners production company to supply multiple movies a year for several years.
The Academy Award-winning director of big-screen classics such as “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan” will continue to direct and produce movies for Comcast Corp’s Universal Pictures under a separate agreement.
The new arrangement brings a high-profile name to the list of talent working with Netflix at a time when a host of competitors including Walt Disney Co and Amazon.com Inc are competing for streaming audiences.
Spielberg had been at odds with Netflix in recent years when he argued that movies seen primarily on television should be eligible for Emmys and not Oscars. He has spoken out about wanting to preserve the experience of seeing movies in theaters.
“My entire life has been spent trying to give audiences something in a large, large forum,” Spielberg said in 2018. “I love the whole feeling of social interaction outside … Those are the kinds of audiences I like to talk to.”
In a statement, Spielberg said discussions with Netflix Co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos showed “it was abundantly clear that we had an amazing opportunity to tell new stories together and reach audiences in new ways.”
Amblin produces several movies beyond the ones that Spielberg directs himself.
Recent Amblin projects included 2018 best picture winner “Green Book” and 2019 World War One drama “1917,” both distributed by Universal. It is possible Spielberg could direct some of Amblin’s movies provided to Netflix.
Financial terms of Amblin’s deal with Netflix were not disclosed.
The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) has said it has embarked on regulation of controlled and psychotropic drugs, as well as identifying fake drugs through the planned electronic registration of manufactured and imported drugs.
The spate of insecurity across Nigeria and other vices have been blamed on easy access to psychotropic drugs by youth, who can easily pick these addictive drugs across the counter to abuse them even without prescription.
Chairman, Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, Prof. Ahmed Mora, told journalists in Kaduna on Monday during a one day sensitisation workshop to kick-start implementation of Pharmacist Consultant Cadre in Nigeria, that the electronic registration of pharmacies will ensure that drugs are regulated and addictive and psychotropic drugs become inaccessible without prescription, while drugs outside the system will be known as fake drugs.
“We have gone far in regulation of controlled drugs and pharmaceutical preparations containing addictive substances to ensure that they cannot be dispensed over the counter without prescription from a doctor and during the dispensing of these drugs, there is a poison disposal register.
“Pharmacists Council of Nigeria is working to ensure that all the outlets of pharmaceutical products, that is, the source of manufacturing and importation through wholesale to the retailers, which is community pharmacies and wholesale pharmacies, are captured electronically.
FILE PHOTO: Cast member and producer Dwayne Johnson poses at the premiere for "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw" in Los Angeles, California, U.S., July 13, 2019. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Hollywood is finally revving up the summer blockbuster engines for the first time since the pandemic idled the movie business.
“F9,” the ninth installment in the popular “Fast & Furious” saga, hits U.S. and Canadian cinemas on Thursday night. The movie is the first big-budget action spectacle being released exclusively in theaters this year.
Cinema operators hope “F9” will kick-start domestic ticket sales to help them recover from extended closures and restricted reopening with few new movies to show.
Comcast Corp’s Universal Pictures postponed the May 2020 release to give fans the chance to safely watch “F9” on a big screen in a crowd, director Justin Lin said.
“When we make these movies, it’s about connection,” Lin said in an interview. “It’s about people going to the cinemas with their friends and family, to be able to hopefully cheer together and laugh together with strangers.”
The “Fast” saga started as a story about illegal street racing and evolved into the tale of a close-knit team involved in heists and espionage. It is one of Hollywood’s most successful franchises, collecting more than $5 billion worldwide since the first film in 2001.
Guitarist Brahim Wone and singer Awa Ly perform on stage at the Saint Louis Jazz Festival in Saint Louis, Senegal, June 18, 2021. Picture taken June 18, 2021. REUTERS/Cooper Inveen.
On a small island where the Senegal River meets the sea, hundreds of jazz enthusiasts listened to French-Senegalese vocalist Awa Ly sing the blues for uncertain times.
“Once you touched the sky and you went down,” she crooned. “Use your inner senses and you’ll figure it out, like a dream you can’t remember.”
Last year COVID-19 halted Saint Louis’ jazz festival for the first time in its 29-year history. This year it was back, bringing much needed life to the Island of Saint Louis, a UNESCO World Heritage site famed for its colonial architecture and pastel-coloured houses.
African rhythms, funk, gospel and blues could be heard along the narrow streets last weekend, emanating from restaurants, bars and hotels into the early morning.
“I was relieved, and everybody else was relieved too,” Ly said after her performance. “It was a beautiful energy, a beautiful vibration and a beautiful link between the stage and the audience.”
Saint Louis, in northern Senegal, was spared the deadliest impacts of the pandemic. But a decline in tourism and an economic crunch have left residents hungry for a boost that only its largest annual event could provide.
Billed as Africa’s biggest jazz festival, it has struggled with dwindling attendance since its days hosting headliners like American pianist Herbie Hancock, who played there in 1996.
But it does draw enthusiasts from across West Africa and Europe and is a source of pride for the city’s street performers.
“Jazz attracted a lot of tourists so we could play in the streets, so we managed to collect a little money,” said Adama Ndaw, 25, who busks near the Faidherbe Bridge, which ties the island of Saint Louis to the rest of the city on the mainland.
“Nothing was there last year, but today it is good because we still managed to at least build a stage.”
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