Author: News Room

A former governor of Enugu State and Senator representing Enugu East Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Dr Chimaroke Nnamani, has lost his bid to go back to the Senate. Nnamani, who ran on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, polled 48,701, to be defeated by the candidate of the Labour Party, Kelvin Chukwu, who secured 69,136 votes. The Enugu East Senatorial District election had been shifted from February 25 to March 18 following the assassination of the original candidate of the LP, Oyibo Chukwu, about 72 hours to the poll. Chukwu, who defeated Nnamani, is the younger brother…

JOSEPHINE OGUNDEJI writes on the plight of traders who have been adversely affected due to the scarcity of the redesigned naira notes The shortage of the newly introduced N200, N500, and N1000 currency notes has left millions of Nigerians struggling to survive. The worst hit were petty traders, artisans and labourers, who relied heavily on cash for their daily business. Most of them who do not have bank accounts have seen a significant drop in patronage. “I have not been able to buy plantains in the past month because I have not been able to access cash.  Point of Sales…

World Health Organisation has predicted that COVID-19 will be over as a public health emergency in 2023. Director General of the Organisation, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said this at a virtual media briefing on Friday. COVID-19 was declared a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, 2020, when there were fewer than 100 reported cases of COVID-19 outside China, and also no reported deaths outside the Communist country. A public health emergency of international concern is the highest level of alarm that WHO can sound under international law. During the briefing, the WHO chief said there were now almost…

Head coach of Slavia Prague Jindřich Trpišovský has faulted Nigerian striker Peter Olayinka for headbutting a Slovan Liberec defender, which had him sent off and perhaps cost the Slavists three points in the Fortuna Liga on Saturday evening. The 27-year-old was red carded in the 89th minute, when Slavia were leading 2-1, but the Slavists conceded after his dismissal to ensure the tie ended in a stalemate. Liberec broke the deadlock in the 26th minute when Lukáš Červ scored with the help of countryman Igho Ogbu’s deflection, but Olayinka equalised in the 30th minute. Slavia then took the lead in the 65th…

An actor, writer and filmmaker, Adetokunbo Shittu, tells KEHINDE AJOSE about his career and other issues You studied Dramatic Arts at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State. What inspired you to go for that course? I studied it because of my fascination with the arts. I have been artistically inclined since I was child. The music, colour and boisterous atmospheres of cultural festivals and other events that I witnessed while growing up in Ilesa, Osun State, still linger in my memory. The 80s television series, ‘Arelu’ also made me thirst to be a theatre and film artiste. I…

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State says he has no regret for establishing three universities in the state. Okowa stated this on Monday in Asaba while replying to his critic, the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege on the establishment of the universities. He said, “I do not regret establishing three new universities. As of today, four universities are functional in Delta State. “Those criticising me because they want to be governor of this state and telling Deltans lies over the new three universities are doing so for selfish reasons. “The new three universities have done first and second intake…

Consumers and firms operating in the Information and Communication space paid N631.09bn as tax in 2022, data from the National Bureau of Statistics has revealed. This ranked IT as one of the biggest contributors to Value Added Tax and Company Income Tax in 2022. Telecom consumers and other IT services consumers paid N268.84bn as consumption taxes for services like calls, SMS, data, and more, during the period under review. Telecom companies and other IT companies paid N362.26bn as CIT.  The government raked in a total of N5.34tn from CIT and VAT, of which the IT sector contributed 11.82 per cent.…

PETER DADA writes that major roads in Akure, the Ondo State capital, have been turned into dumpsites with no attention paid to them by relevant authorities  despite the health implications With the way things look currently, the saying “cleanliness is next to godliness” seems not to be reckoned with in Akure, the Ondo State capital, following the filthy appearance of the major roads in the capital city, which have almost been taken over by heaps of refuse. In the recent past, one could recall that Akure was adjudged one of the neatest state capitals in the country, but one begins…

A stunning Filip Kostic strike in the first half was the difference in the 180th Derby d’Italia, as Juventus beat Inter Milan 1-0 in an ill-tempered affair to keep their slim top-four hopes alive.It was far from a classic as battle resumed between the old foes, but it was Juventus who continued their fine run of form to complete the Serie A double over their fierce rivals.A speculative effort in the second minute from Nicolo Barella gave the hosts some early momentum but they failed to create anything clear cut in front of the adoring San Siro faithful.Serie AInside Europe:…

I am that guy who asks airport security if I can photograph my luggage going through the X-ray machine. I’m also the guy who spent a solid hour scrubbing through the CT scan of my broken jaw with a mix of horror and utter fascination. You could say I’ve been on a bit of a spectral imaging kick. So when a startup called Lumafield told me I could put as many things as I wanted into its $54,000 a year radiographic density scanning machine… let’s just say I’ve a sneaking suspicion they didn’t think I’d take it literally. Last month,…