Uncertainty Surrounds NNL Relegation Playoffs

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August 1, 2023

Uncertainty have surrounded the hosting of the Nigeria National League relegation playoffs in Kano.

The coalition of the eight clubs taking place in the tournament complained about the outbreak of Diphtheria in that part of the State.

The clubs also hinted at the economic hardship in the country which is likely to affect some teams’ participation in the relegation playoffs.

They however urged the NNL to cancel the playoff arrangement as the plan is outside the football calendar.

ABS, Sokoto United, Ikorodu City, Edel FC, FWC Champion FC, Smart City FC, Henserd FC and Adamawa United are the teams expected to take part in the playoffs.

In June, about 439 of suspected cases came from Kano, of which 160 were later confirmed.

In July, 130 additional cases were confirmed before the month ended.

Malawi Holds First Spelling Bee Competition for Deaf Learners

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Nzubechukwu Anodo

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August 1, 2023

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Malawi National Association for the Deaf, MANAD has conducted the first ever National Spelling Bee Competition learners with hearing impairments.

Spelling Bee Competition is one of the activities MANAD is implementing under the All Children Reading (ACR) initiative through its sign language in action prize whose project is titled ‘Promoting Accessible Malawian Sign Language Books’.

The major objective of the project is to improve their literacy prowess among deaf learners in Malawi.

The spelling bee competition, which took place at Embangweni in Mzimba, drew contestants from six schools, which included Mua, Maryview, Embangweni, Bandawe, Mountview and Karonga Schools for the Deaf, with each school sending three learners, translating into 18 learners who were from standards 2 to 4.

It was organized with basket funding support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), World Vision International, Australian Government and technical support from eKitabu and Malawi National Spelling Bee in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology through the Directorate of Special Need Education.

Speaking to journalists after the competition, ACR Reading’s Promoting MSL Accessible Books Coordinator, Sekerani Kufakwina said the competition sets an eye opener to partners and stakeholders in deaf education.

The Ministry of Education, Chief Education Officer responsible for Inclusive Education Department, Peter Msendema said the ministry is in the process of developing the first ever Sign Language Training Manual to guide the training of special needs teachers in the country.

Msendema said the development of the manual is one of the activities the ministry has set aside to improve the quality of special needs teachers as the country strives to enhance access to education for learners with special needs.

In his remarks, MANAD Board Chairperson, Robert Mbendera lamented the gaps existing in the sign language sector, stressing the need for the government and its development partners to strengthen and promote sign language at every level.

Malawi is the second country in Africa to conduct such a competition after Botswana, which conducted its first in 2019.

Transfer: PSG To Report Real Madrid To FIFA Over €160m Agreement With Mbappe

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Emenike Agu

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August 1, 2023

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Paris Saint-Germain are planning to report Real Madrid to FIFA over what they deem a potential illegal tapping up of Kylian Mbappe.

Mbappe is unwilling to extend his contract with the Ligue 1 champions beyond June 2024.

The extension clause that exists in the 24-year-old’s current contract expired on July 31.

As things stand, Mbappe will become a free agent in the summer of 2024.

There have been suggestions that Madrid already have an agreement in place with Mbappe, which will see the player pocket a €160million signing on fee if he joins the LaLiga giants.

Such agreements are banned by FIFA as they require a player to have been approached without the blessing of his current employers being sought first.

Aptech Commits £15m In Scholarship For Nigerians

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Nzubechukwu Anodo

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August 1, 2023

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Vocational and Information Technology training company, Aptech has committed a sum £15 million in scholarship for 5000 Nigerians to study in University of Massachusetts, London or Dubai to pursue their education in B.SC or Masters degree programme.

Since inception, Aptech has trained more than seven million students globally and over 100,000 in Nigeria during a 25 year period.

Aptech Senior Vice President and Functional Head Retail International, Kallol Mukherjee said the firm is awarding £3000 to 5000 students and application has been opened and have started approaching students and the scholarship will be awarded from September through October from across Nigeria.

On what the firm tends to achieve with the gesture, he said the scholarship intend to see these students complete and give back to Nigeria.

He said the firm have dedicated and have played a pivotal role in shaping the careers of countless students, enhancing the vocational and I.T training landscape in the country.

University Of Ibadan VC Urges Varsities Management To Boost Revenue

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Nzubechukwu Anodo

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August 1, 2023

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The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Kayode Adewola has called on university management to increase their Internally Generated Revenue to address the financial challenges faced by the sector.

Speaking at the 52nd swearing-in/induction ceremony of students of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ibadan, Adebowale emphasized the importance of engaging alumni to support the universities in light of dwindling resources and insufficient funding from proprietors.

The former President of Ibadan College of Medicine Alumni Association Worldwide, Abib Olamitoye, stressed the need for proper mentorship of the youth.

He lamented the lack of enough genuine role models in Nigeria to inspire and motivate the young generation towards success.

The ceremony witnessed the presentation of N100,000 each to two students that obtained six distinctions in the faculty – Adebowale Ezekiel Ayomide, and Ajao Jadesola Julian.

Olamitoye added N100,000 each to the amount, thereby summing it up to N200,000 for each of them, with a promise to continue to award the same N100,000 prize to every student that has six distinctions, irrespective of their numbers, in the faculty until he retires from the institution.

Researchers Uncover Infrared Image Of Magritte Painting Resembling Wife, Muse

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Koko Lawrence

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August 1, 2023

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An underpainting of an anonymous model by René Magritte that researchers believe could depict an image of his wife and muse, Georgette, has been discovered by researchers at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (RMFAB) in Brussels.

Overseeing the analyses of the artist’s work is Catherine Defeyt, senior researcher at the University of Liège and RMFAB, and Francisca Vandepitte, a senior curator who specializes in modern art at the Brussels museum. The study examines 50 paintings Magritte produced between 1921 and 1967.

The findings, which have been verified by conservationists at the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles, will be published by the West Coast arts center in a forthcoming book titled René Magritte: The Artist’s Materials next month.

In a statement announcing the study in May, the Los Angeles research center acknowledged that the research would add to understandings of Magritte’s practice and fill in historical gaps, despite the fact that researchers and critics have eyed Magritte’s work in-depth for decades. “Little has been documented regarding his process,” the statement said.

The previously unknown painting was uncovered during an analysis of Magritte’s 1943 work La Cinquième Saison (The Fifth Season), reported Sunday. That work, which depicts two men donning bowler hats and holding framed paintings, resides in the collection of RMFAB in Brussels. The artist, who died in the late 1960s, is known for his painted illusions that often position familiar objects against eerie scenes.

Researchers at the Getty and the Brussels museum conducting the current study argue that the unidentified figure who appears in the underpainting resembles the artist’s wife, Georgette, who Magritte married in 1922 and who was a recurring subject in his work. Eventually, she would become the painter’s sole heir overseeing his estate but kept ties to the Brussels museum. After her death in 1986, she donated a group of seven paintings to the Belgian institution.

The black-and-white x-ray image taken during the study and set to be officially published in August closely resembles another image of the surrealist muse, an image of her face starring directly at the viewer, that appears in the 1934 painting Georgette Magritte held in the Brussels museum collection.

Researchers have in similar analyses used infrared imaging to study historical paintings and other analyses have yielded appearances of previously unknown under-paintings by artists like Pablo Picasso at museums in New York and Philadelphia. Magritte and Picasso, who were active around the first half of the twentieth century, among other artists, were known to have painted over canvases multiple times in their early careers due to financial strains.

Sokoto students commend Governor over payment of tuition fees

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Nzubechukwu Anodo

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August 1, 2023

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Sokoto State Students Association, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, chapter has commended the state governor, Ahmed Aliyu, for the payment of their school fees.

The chairman of the association, Comrade Abdullahi Aliyu, while addressing a press conference said the payment covers hundred percent payment of over 7,000 indigenes of the state studying at the school.

He commended the governor for the payment adding that he has restored back hope to the entire Sokoto students across different higher institutions of learning.

The Governor said the move was to promote better education in the state.

FG, Labour Resume Talks on Subsidy Palliatives

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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August 1, 2023

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The meeting of the Presidential Steering Committee on Palliatives, which adjourned Monday, has reconvened at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, to continue deliberations.

The committee, comprising of Federal Government representatives and the Organised Labour, adjourned on Monday to enable members, especially the Labour leaders, to listen to President Bola Tinubu‘s media broadcast.

Palliatives: NLC, TUC Currently Meeting With FG

The committee was set up by the government to consider the proposed palliatives for workers to cushion the effect of the removal of petrol subsidy that has caused hardship to many Nigerians.

As of the time the meeting commenced, the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Joe Ajaero was absent, leaving the Labour side to be led by the President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, and NLC Secretary, Emma Ugbaja.

The meeting, which is taking place at the Conference Hall of the Chief of Staff to the President, is expected to receive briefings from the sub-committees of mass transit , CNG and conditional cash transfer.

It is also expected to consider the planned protest by the NLC expected to hold on Wednesday.

On the government’s side are the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila; the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Labour and Employment Kachollom Daju; the Special Adviser to the President on Energy Olu Verheijen; Director Budget Ben Akubeze and the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, Mele Kyari among others

The meeting is coming 24 hours before the scheduled nationwide protest by the Organised Labour.

Details Shortly…

Kannywood: Kano Govt Revokes Licences Of Actors, Producers, Stakeholders

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Koko Lawrence

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August 1, 2023

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The Kano State Censorship Board says it has revoked all operational licences of all actors and actresses, including directors and producers in its film-making industry, Kannywood.

The head of the board, Abba El-Mustapha, said the decision aims to sanitise the industry and ensure proper documentation.

El-Mustapha said all celebrities and producers must renew their licences to operate in the state.

“We have cancelled all licenses of all guilds in the industry for proper documentation and to have effective plans that will address some of the problems in the industry.

“We have about 13 guilds; we have revoked all their licenses, enabling us to sanitise the industry. Before a license is issued to any person, we must be satisfied with the person

“The decision also affects all the singers and other entertainers in the Kannywood industry;/they must renew their licenses, and we are going to fetch out the bad eggs among them, El-Mustapha said in an interview on radio.

Subsidy Removal: NLC Expresses Worry Over Wage Review

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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August 1, 2023

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The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has expressed worry over Federal Government’s promises to dispense wage award to workers since the removal of petrol subsidy in the country.

The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, said this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to the President Bola Tinubu’s speech.

The statement was titled, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Speech not the Silver Bullet that Nigerians expected”.

Ajaero said that the president’s statement on working with Organised Labour to review the national minimum wage was out of sync with what had played out since the removal of petrol subsidy.

“In all the meetings scheduled by the government, Organised Labour has been forced to negotiate with empty chairs on the Federal Government’s side.

” As Federal Government has not matched its public promises with firm commitment to negotiate in good faith with labour.

“As a matter of fact, the sub-committee on wage award has not been inaugurated and has not met.

“Furthermore, organised labour is disturbed that while President Tinubu in his speech lavishly praised the Private Sector for quickly dispensing wage award to their employees, the Federal Government has failed to do the same for public workers in its employment.

“This is a clear case of failing woefully to live up to the standards it has set for others to meet,” he said.

He said that it was an open knowledge that the review of the national minimum wage was a matter of the law that was expected to happen in 2024.

“How would Nigerian workers cope with the current reality of hyper inflation and suffering unleashed by the hasty removal of the so-called petrol subsidy till 2024 when the national minimum wage would be reviewed? This is incredible.”

Palliatives: NLC, TUC Currently Meeting With FG

According to Ajaero, the claims of interventions by the Federal Government through palliatives, loans and conditional grants to poor Nigerians, big manufacturing concems and small businesses and provision of CNG buses remain what they are – promises!

According to the NLC president, Nigerians are used to such promises which have never produced any verifiable and meaningful changes in the lives of citizens.

He also noted that the entire speech by President was completely silent on the issue of the repair of the national refineries.

He called on the Federal Government to unmask those behind the looting of Nigeria’s commonwealth under the guise of petrol subsidy.

“What Nigerians expected from President is a firm commitment to bring these economic saboteurs to justice and recover what they have stolen,”he said.

He, therefore, assured Nigerians that NLC remained committed to matching discussions with government with the current realities of sufferings that Nigerians were going through.

“We remain committed to continue with our struggle,” he said.