Barcelona are eyeing a move for Nigeria international, Wilfred Ndidi, a player currently playing in the Championship, according to a report.
Xavi’s side are looking to continue to build their squad as they look to return to the top of Europe’s elite. Barcelona won LaLiga last season but are currently third and four points off top spot in the standings this term.
They have been blessed with a plethora of talented midfielders including the likes of Gavi and Pedri, but are keen to strengthen in that department in the next 12 months.
The summer transfer window is long closed, but January will present an opportunity for teams to add to their ranks as they look to kick on, or they can wait until the summer.
And it’s next summer when, according to Sport, the Spanish giants are set to move for Leicester’s Wilfred Ndidi, whose contract is up with the former Premier League champions at the end of the season.
The Catalan side reportedly approached Leicester to sign Ndidi in the past, but were quoted a price of £61.3m for his services, eventually walking away from the deal.
No contract would mean no transfer fee, however, and it’s likely the player would be very tempted by the opportunity to move to one of the world’s biggest clubs.
Ndidi and Leicester are yet to agree terms on a new deal, with it likely that the 26-year-old will leave the Foxes on the expiry of his contract.
He is judged by many to be a much better player than that of Championship-standard, but he has been forced to play in England’s second tier this season after he was unable to secure a move away in the summer.
The Nigeria international has made 12 appearances in the Championship this season.He has also played three times in the Carabao Cup this term, having previously featured in both the Premier League and Europa League in his 252 appearances for the Foxes since joining for £14m from Genk in 2017.
Barcelona, meanwhile, have been forced to think of alternative ways to sign players rather than splashing cash due to their financial limitations.
It is reported that Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid and Juventus have all had an eye on signing Ndidi, and a free transfer at the end of the season would be the
Nigeria’s Super Eagles head coach Jose Peseiro has arrived Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital ahead of Thurday’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Lesotho, as the team’s camp opens today, Sunday.
This update and information in full is credit
Peseiro who was received by the Chairman of the Akwa Ibom State Football Normalization Committee, Prince Bonny Nyong at the Victor Attah International Airport, came alongside his foreign assistants, Maykel Moreira, Acacio Santos and Vitor Hugo,
Nigeria will face Lesotho on Thursday November 16, 2023 at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo by 5pm.
The Portuguese tactician had called up 23 players for this month’s World Cup qualifying fixtures against Lesotho and Zimbabwe.
According to the team’s travelling schedule, eight players are expected to arrive camp on Monday, while fifteen others will join on Tuesday for the first full training session ahead of the game.
Iceland has declared a state of emergency after a series of earthquakes raised fears of a volcanic eruption.
Authorities have ordered overnight thousands living in the southwestern town of GrindavÃk to evacuate as a precaution.
In this image taken from a video, Lava emerges from a fissure of the Fagradalsfjall volcano near the Litli-Hrútur mountain, some 30 kilometers (19 miles) southwest of Reykjavik, Iceland, Monday July 10, 2023. Authorities in Iceland on Tuesday warned spectators to stay away from a newly erupting volcano that is spewing lava and noxious gases from a fissure in the country’s southwest. (AP Photo/Marco Di Marco)
The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said there was a considerable risk of an eruption on or just off the Reykjanes peninsula.
The probability of an eruption has increased since the morning, IMO says.
An eruption could start at any time in the next few days, according to the statement.
Thousands of tremors have been recorded around the nearby Fagradalsfjall volcano in recent weeks.
They have been concentrated in Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula, which had remained dormant to volcanic activity for 800 years before a 2021 eruption.
In a statement on Saturday the agency said a tunnel of magma, or molten rock, that extends northeast across Grindavik and some 10 km further inland, was estimated at a depth of less than 800 metres, compared with 1,500 metres earlier in the day.
On Thursday, the increased seismic activity in the area prompted the closure of the nearby Blue Lagoon landmark.
More than 20,000 tremors have been recorded in southwest Iceland since late October.
Iceland’s Civil Protection Agency said the decision to evacuate came after the IMO could not rule out a “magma tunnel that is currently forming could reach GrindavÃk”.
Thousands of tremors near Mount Fagradalsfjall (pictured in July) have raised concerns over an eruption And on Friday, the agency said people must leave the town, but also emphasised it was not an “emergency evacuation” – calling on them to “remain calm, because we have a good amount of time to react”.
“There is no immediate danger imminent, the evacuation is primarily preventive with the safety of all GrindavÃk residents as the principal aim,” it added.
All roads into the town of around 4,000 people are closed other than for emergencies, to ensure traffic can get in and out.
Iceland is one of the most geographically active regions in the world, with around 30 active volcanic sites.
Volcanic eruptions occur when magma, which is lighter than the solid rock around it, rises to the earth’s surface from deep below it.
In July, Litli-Hrutur, or Little Ram, erupted in the Fagradalsfjall area, drawing tourists to the site of the “world’s newest baby volcano”.
The site was dormant for eight centuries until eruptions in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Recent developments, like flood, demolitions has prompted this episode, Strategies For Managing Urban Development. So today on Space.com we have a professional in the built industry to talk us about town planning.
Town planning is the process of managing land resources.
It involves the control of existing and new developments, as well as strategy preparation to ensure manage future requirements.
It is a dynamic process that changes in response to policy, development proposals and local needs.
Historically, the practice of urban planning and applying some level of control to the design to communities, dates back at least as far as the third millennium BC, and the urban designs of the Mesopotamians, Minoans, and Egyptians.
Watch full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCnxvX6apuM
Grid-like, or orthogonal, urban plans were first used for structuring cities in the 8th century BC by the Ancient Greeks, and the Roman Empire then dramatically expanded city planning, predominantly for military defence, but also for public convenience, developing the ‘city centre’.
Joining us to discuss this is Niyi Olagoke: Fmr. Hon. Secretary, NigeriaInstitute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers.
Thank you for joining us.
Now what we just heard is a wholistic definition. Let’s break it down. What is town planning?
Principles of planning better cities
What are the factors affecting town planning?
ECONOTES
CHARACTERISTICS OF A WELL-PLANNED CITY
1. Grid
In grid planning, the division is made out of the streets intersecting at right angles, forming a grid.
Grid plans being the first measure for carving out the planned economy facilitate development because developers can subdivide and auction off large parcels of land.
2. Sector
The sector is defined as the self-sustainable unit constituting of the mixed land-use typologies.
Each SECTOR is a self-sufficient unit having shops, schools, health centers and places of recreation and worship.
3. Hierarchy Of Green Areas
A Hierarchy of Green Spaces can be observed in both the layout ranging from Public Greens at City Level to Semi-Private to Private Green Areas.
4. Central Business District
The central area of a city in which a concentration of certain retail and business activities takes place, especially in older cities with rail transportation.
5. Hierarchy Of Circulation
The term ‘circulation’ refers to the movement of people through, around and between buildings and other parts of the built environment.
Within buildings, circulation spaces are spaces that are predominately used for circulation, such as entrances, foyers and lobbies, corridors, stairs, landings and so on.
6. Family-Life And Community Living
Emphasis on community living can be given by designing schools along with green belts safe for children, dispensaries, shopping, community centers, centrally located at a 10-minute walk distance and bus stops on the main road within walking distance.
7. TOD – Transit Oriented Development
Transit-Oriented Development is an exciting fast-growing trend in creating vibrant, livable, sustainable communities.
Also known as TOD, it’s the creation of compact, walkable, pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use communities centered around high-quality train systems.
8. Land-Use Mapping
Land use mapping is the process of identifying an area of land’s use. It includes the classification of different types of land as well as the distribution and use of the land geospatially within a region.
9. Mixed-Use Development
In mixed-use areas, you can find housing, restaurants, services, schools, cultural facilities, parks, and more.
This connectivity reduces the need for private vehicles, thus increasing the viability of public transport.
10. Norm And Social Role Conflict
The urban community is characterized by the norm and social role conflict.
Factors such as the size, density and heterogeneity of the population, extreme occupational specialization and the class structure prevalent in the urban context, lead to such a state of affairs.
Thanks for holding on. If you just joined in, this is space.com on LN247 and we’ve been discussing town planning.
Niyi Olagoke: Former Hon. Secretary, Nigeria
Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers is still here with us. Let’s take it home.
Let’s talk about the recent oyan river dam opened in ogun state that has sacked homes, businesses, schools. This is a yearly occurrence. Talking about the estates around and the explanation you have given so far on town planning, is Isheri community well planned?
Lagos state and Ogun state share isheri community. How true is this?
Let’s talk about demolitions generally, ajao estate, lekki…where these people given notice and if they were, why would you allow them to build till they’re even living there, then demolition starts!
Lagos has a masterplan. Is Lagos following it? After Lateef Jakande, have other governors following him followed the Lagos Master Plan? What more can be done set Lagos straight.
Indian scientists plan to seed clouds for the first time to trigger heavy rain in some areas of New Delhi, hoping this will be enough to tackle the smog gripping the world’s most polluted capital for a week, the project’s head said on Thursday.
Air quality dips in Delhi ahead of winter every year, when cold air traps pollutants from a variety of sources including vehicles, industries, construction dust, and agricultural waste burning.
Scientists expect some cloud cover over the city around Nov. 20 and are hoping this will be large enough – and with high enough moisture content – to trigger heavy rain via seeding with salts, said Manindra Agrawal, a scientist at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur, who is leading the trial.
The project, estimated to cost 10 million rupees ($120,000) for 100 square kilometres (38.6 square miles), would involve spraying into clouds a mix of salts that include silver iodine, Agrawal said.
“We don’t expect that big a cloud that will cover entire Delhi, but a few hundred kilometres would be good,” he said.
The local government of the city of 20 million people, spread over roughly 1,500 square kilometres (579 square miles), has already shut all schools, stopped construction activities, and said it will impose restrictions on vehicle use to control pollution.
The air quality index in the city was 506 early on Thursday, which is categorised as “hazardous” by Swiss group IQAir.
Delhi needs heavy and widespread rain to wash away the pollutants, and light rain could worsen the situation, said Gufran Beig, the founder director of the federal government’s air-quality monitoring agency SAFAR.
Beig added that current airflow is carrying smoke from crop residue burning in the states of Punjab and Haryana to Delhi, which also has its own pollution sources and where there is currently almost no wind.
“So unless a huge pressure is established by intense rain, this chain of transport from Punjab to Delhi will not be broken, and once it is broken it is difficult for the chain to form again for some time,” he told Reuters.
About 38% of the pollution in the capital has been caused by stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana, where over 22,000 stubble burning events were recorded between Sept.15 and Nov. 7, according to a government statement.
Stubble burning is a practice followed by farmers wherein crop stubble left behind after rice is harvested is burnt to quickly clear fields before planting wheat crops.
The federal government has directed authorities in both states to “take effective actions” to check further stubble burning, the statement added.
The Delhi government is seeking to get approval for the project from the Supreme Court, which is hearing petitions related to pollution.
Several countries have used cloud seeding to produce rain, improve air quality and water crops in time of drought, including Mexico, the United States, China, Indonesia and Malaysia.
However, in 2021, a plan to seed clouds over the mountains of New Mexico to increase snowfall was pulled after allegations it could poison people and the environment.
The Kogi State Government has announced the closure of schools for the Off-Cycle Governorship Election scheduled for November 11, 2023 in the state.
The Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Wemi Jones who gave the directive in a statement issued in Lokoja, said all schools must shut down from Friday, 10th November 2023 for the election.
He said by this notice, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, hereby directs all institutions at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels be closed from Friday 10 to Tuesday 14 November 2023.
He said normal academic activities will resume on Wednesday, November 15th 2023.
The commissioner added that the reason for the closure is to ensure the safety of all students during the election period and allow those of voting age to exercise their voting rights.
King Charles III confirmed that the UK Government will introduce legislation to raise the age of sale for tobacco, ensuring no one currently aged 14 or under can ever be legally sold cigarettes or other tobacco products.
The announcement, made in the King’s Speech during the state opening of Parliament, follows on from last month’s Conservative party conference, where Prime Minister Rishi Sunak committed to creating the first smoke-free generation.Â
In response to New Zealand’s aim to be smoke-free by 2025, King Charles announced plans to gradually raise the tobacco sales age every year.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill introduced by the King, which also includes measures to curb youth vaping, ties in with government plans to provide extra funding for local stop-smoking services and invest in mass-media campaigns encouraging people to quit.
The United Kingdom government through the British High Commission in Nigeria has pledged to support the Jigawa State government in developing education in the state.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) announced this during an Education Reform Dialogue that aims to address the challenges of out-of-school children and the dearth of teachers in Jigawa.
The event, which took place at the Three Star Hotel, in Dutse with the theme: ‘Repositioning Teaching and Learning for Human Capital Development’, was convened by the Ministry of Basic Education.
The ministry highlighted the 12-point agenda of the new administration geared towards repositioning the state as a centre of excellence.
FCDO’s Senior Education Adviser, Lan Attfield, commended the effort of the state government while pledging the UK government’s support.
He commended the government on the steps taken to address key strategic issues in education especially its efforts to address the critical shortage of teachers.
He said Nigeria is still experiencing a learning crisis and one of the most vital ingredients that any state or government can do is to supply qualified, motivated and adequately supported teachers.
He added that the UK is delighted to see the progress being made across the board, under the leadership and vision of Governor Umar Namadi.
Namadi appreciated FCDO for its interventions in the state which he said spanned over a decade.
He stated that the state is still reaping the benefits of the Public Financial Management reforms done by the UK government through the then Department for International Development (DFID).
Hea said the state’s Tsangaya programme (Almajiri School) is designed specifically to drastically reduce the number of out-of-school children and called on FCDO to join hands as it is poised to replicate FCDO’s interventions.
In his remark, the commissioner for Basic Education, Lawan Danzomo, said the state has set aside more than N2.6 billion to recruit and train 6,000 new teachers.
Danzomo said the reform is in line with key recommendations highlighted in a new Teacher Recruitment and Deployment Policy approved by the state, which the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office supported through its Partnership for Learning for All in Nigeria (PLANE) and Partnership for Reform and Learning (PERL-ARC) programmes.
The PLANE team leader in Jigawa, Mustapha Ahmad, said FCDO will support the state during the recruitment, training and deployment of the new teachers.
He said FCDO will also provide technical inputs in materials supply to Jigawa State.
Hea said that so far, PLANE trained 2,361 teachers in the state and donated thousands of literacy and mathematics textbooks to pupils in the state, while also supporting teachers with guides.
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Jigawa State has the fifth largest number of out-of-school children in Nigeria after Bauchi, Kebbi, Katsina and Kano State.
Ten African Ministers of Education and a similar number of ministerial representatives have agreed to champion foundational learning as a priority for the 2024 African Union Year of Education (AUYoE) and beyond.
This initiative is part of the resolution made in Lusaka, at the end of the 2023 policy dialogue forum on foundational learning, organised by the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and hosted by the Ministry of Education in the Republic of Zambia.
In a communique issued at the end of the forum, participants agreed on foundational learning starter pack model as a resource guide to ensure uniformity, continuity and sustainability.
They further resolved to collect relevant data, working with ADEA and partners, to inform policy and decisions, foster dialogue and share good practices on what works in foundational learning.
They also agreed to strengthen links between Early Childhood and Primary Education, advance the adoption of structured pedagogy, implement age-appropriate teaching methods and harness the power of technology to increase the number of qualified teachers and enhance their well-being.
Zambia’s Minister of Education, Douglas Munsaka Syakalima, who represented President Hakainde Hichilema said the forum underscores the belief that foundational learning is at the base of any effort to change the course of Africa’s development by building people that will derive the resources to craft a new vision and bring such to life.
The Executive Secretary of ADEA, Albert Nsengiyumva said Africa is the continent most affected by learning crisis and the solutions must be developed from within.
While commending participants for providing the needed leadership, Nsengiyumva said we must build on the momentum to accelerate the progress that will make the region a leader in global response to the learning crisis.
The Director of Global Education at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Benjamin Piper, advocated scaling of what works.
He said we know what works to boost foundational learning in Africa, structured pedagogy is one way, teaching at the right level is another, so we need to do more of what works at scale.
The Founder of Human Capital Africa and co-convener of the foundational learning ministerial coalition, Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili, said ministers need to design appropriate solutions for their national contexts, and ensure that progress is tracked, remedial action taken and transparency and accountability embedded.
During the school visits, participants witnessed the nexus between policy and practice, as well as integration of socio-emotional skills through play-based learning.
A 300-level student of the Department of Finance, University of Lagos, UNILAG, Barnabas Peter, has clinched the top spot at the start-up pitch competition of the project Innovation 2 Marketing (I2M) accelerated incubator programme.
The programme, organised by the Innovation Technology Management Office (ITMO) of the institution, showcased the entrepreneurial brilliance of young minds selected from across the country.
Peter’s innovative venture, Travaye, a digital platform designed to assist tourists, low-income earners, and individuals seeking exciting places and locations to visit, emerged overall winner.
The closing ceremony, which was held at the Arthur Mbanefo Digital Research Centre (AMDRC), was witnessed by the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Digital Economy, Communication and Innovation, to the President, Jennifer Adighije.
Addressing the first set of cohorts, Adighije identified the critical role of innovation as a key driver of economic growth and competitiveness.
She observed that despite Nigeria’s struggling economy, the start-up ecosystem has remained a hub for innovation, a source of hope and an assurance of a better future for the nation.
She charged the cohorts to seek opportunities with innovative creation as the non-oil sector has suddenly become the new oil boom, attracting local and international investors.
According to her, over a billion-dollar investment flowed into the Nigerian market from viable start-ups in 2022, which made up 28.4 per cent of Africa’s total funded ventures, with Nigeria receiving 29.3 per cent of the continent’s total investments.
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, described the talents on display as immeasurable.
Represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor Management Services, Prof. Lucian Chukwu, the vice chancellor highlighted how immeasurable the I2M project is to the institution.
She said Peter’s victory not only marks a personal achievement, but also stands as a testament to the academic excellence and innovative spirit fostered within the institution.
She reiterated the university’s leadership commitment to the creation of an enabling environment that encourages entrepreneurship and innovation through initiatives like the I2M accelerated incubator programme.
Director of ITMO, Dr Abiodun Gbenga-Ilori, said the competition is a culmination of weeks of hard work and dedication by the participants, who had undergone intensive training and mentorship.
She disclosed that 20 of the participants would receive N850,000 each, while another N500,000 would be awarded by the SSA to participants with outstanding start-up ideas as part of plans by the university and its partners to nurture and support aspiring entrepreneurs, as well as equip them with necessary skills and resources to succeed from ideation to commercialisation.
Similarly, Research and Innovation Systems for Africa (RISA) Country Head, Alice Omisore, expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the six-week programme, noting that the exercise has met her organisation’s expectations.
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