Author: Editor

A GROUP of UK-based Nigerian professionals and investors who are partnering with the Odu’a Investment Company Limited to build a big housing estate in Ibadan, say they were inspired to come home and invest at a meeting in London years ago with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, even as he details required steps to address Nigeria’s huge housing deficit. The VP spoke at the commissioning of the Westlink Iconic Villa – a joint venture project of Odu’a Investment Company Limited and Chapter Four Estates Management Limited owned by UK-based Nigerians, on the requirements for addressing the housing deficit in Nigeria.…

UNITED Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has confirmed that the first UN relief convoy has arrived in north-western Syria, but added that much more aid to the rebel-controlled area is needed. In a statement, Mr Guterres said the convoy was made up of six trucks carrying shelter and other “desperately needed relief supplies”. “More help is on the way but much more, much more is needed,” he said. “We must put people first.” His words come after local Syrian volunteer organisation, the White Helmets, tweeted their disappointment that equipment needed for air rescue efforts had not been sent with the…

THE ongoing Club World Cup is being used as a trial run for another potential refereeing revolution in football, with fans in the stadium able to hear officials explain decisions taken following VAR reviews. Referees being hooked up with microphones is nothing new in other sports such as the NFL, but it is only now being tested in football, just as the sport is still getting used to Video Assistant Referees and semi-automated offside technology. And so Uruguayan referee Andres Matonte was able to succinctly explain why he awarded a late penalty to Real Madrid after coming across to review…

TEN people were killed when a makeshift gold mine collapsed in western Burkina Faso, a miners’ association said on Thursday. “In the early hours of February 8, miners… were trapped” near the town of Hounde, according to Abasse Derra, an official with the local gold miners’ association. “The death toll so far is 10,” he added giving a provisional toll confirmed by Moussa Ouedraogo, another member of the association. Collapses are frequent at Burkina Faso’s gold mining sites, where local communities feel they receive little benefit. Gold has overtaken cotton to become the poor West African country’s main export, with…

THE deadliest cholera outbreak in Malawi’s history has killed at least 1,210 people, while vaccines remain scarce, the World Health Organization said Thursday. The southern African nation has been battling its worst cholera outbreak on record, with nearly 37,000 cases reported since March 2022. WHO said in a statement that active transmission was now ongoing in 27 out of Malawi’s 29 districts, with the country seeing a 143-percent increase in the number of cases last month compared to December. “With a sharp increase of cases seen over the last month, fears are that the outbreak will continue to worsen without…

Dr DAKUKU Peterside, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and former Director-General, of Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), speaks with News Point Nigeria on the political violence in Rivers State, the G-5 governors and the chances of his party in the state in the coming elections. You have been quiet in the political scene until the APC rally in your hometown, Opobo. Why is that? You mean I have not been noisy? True. I have always been a methodological and strategic politician who do not believe in noise . I have been seriously involved in my party…

JAMES Cameron doesn’t have many regrets — after all, he has now directed three of the four highest-grossing films of all time. But if he could go back and remake “Titanic,” the film that started his record streak 25 years ago and is being re-released in theaters Friday, there is one thing he would change. “Based on what I know today, I would have made the raft smaller, so there’s no doubt!” said Cameron. Such is the film’s enduring popularity, even a quarter of a century later debates and theories continue to swirl around the fate of Leonardo DiCaprio’s lead…

MANCHESTER United have reportedly opened talks with Qatari investors as speculation intensifies over the future ownership of the Premier League giants ahead of a deadline for bids. The American Glazer family, who completed their takeover of the 20-times English champions in 2005, announced in November that they were open to a sale or investment. British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos company officially joined the race to buy the club last month — the only bidder to publicly declare an interest so far. Potential buyers are understood to have until February 17 to table offers. The Daily Mail said a group of…

THE Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) says it is on high alert and will identify, arrest and prevent foreigners from participating in the forthcoming 2023 elections. The NIS Comptroller General, Isa Jere said this during an election retreat organised for NIS Zonal Coordinators and Command Comptrollers, on Wednesday in Abuja. Jere said that the service was also on alert to avert any disruption of the process and ensure that only eligible Nigerians vote. He said that the NIS had successfully confiscated voter and national identification cards in the hands of foreigners, who were promptly repatriated back to their countries. According to…

CLEEN Foundation has said only two states and the Federal Capital Territory are presently safe for the conduct of the forthcoming general elections in the country. The Executive Director, CLEEN Foundation, Gad Peter, on Wednesday in Abuja while presenting the ‘2023 Election Security Threat Assessment’, named the two safe states as Jigawa and Kano alongside the FCT. Peter noted that 13 states were violence prone and the remaining 21 had pockets of violence in various quarters. He named the violence prone states as; Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Benue, Gombe, Bauchi, Plateau, Nasarawa, Taraba, Edo, Delta, Akwa Ibom and Abia. The report…

FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky will fly together on Thursday morning from Paris to a summit of EU heads of state and government in Brussels, the Elysee Palace announced. The two leaders will leave Villacoublay, near Paris, at around 08:30 am (0730 GMT). They are expected to arrive in Brussels at 10:00 am (0900). The Ukrainian president, who is on a surprise tour of Europe, is leaving his country for the second time since the beginning of the Russian offensive on February 24, 2022. He travelled to Washington in December. On Wednesday, he went to…

TURKEY’S president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has defended his government’s response to two catastrophic earthquakes, saying it was impossible to prepare for the scale of the disaster. At least 15,000 people are confirmed dead in Turkey and northern Syria. Critics claimed the emergency services’ response was too slow and the government was poorly prepared. Mr Erdogan accepted the government had encountered some problems, but said the situation was now “under control”. The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu disagreed. “If there is one person responsible for this, it is Erdogan,” he said. The president rejected the accusation and said…

AFRICA’S quest for a third Club World Cup final appearance ended after European champions Real Madrid beat Egypt’s Al Ahly 4-1 in the semi-final on Wednesday. Al Ahly’s well organised defence capitulated as Vinicius Jr opened the scoring three minutes before half-time with Federico Valverde doubling the lead just after the break. The Red Devils competed well after the hour mark, and the pressure paid off when Eduardo Camavinga tripped Hussein El Shahat inside the box. Tunisia’s Ali Maaloul tucked away the penalty to make it 2-1 in the 65th minute. Al Ahly had their moments during a frenetic second…

FORMER Arsenal striker Alexis Sanchez scored as Marseille knocked Paris St-Germain, the record 14-time winners, out of the French Cup. Sanchez fired the hosts into the lead from the penalty spot after Sergio Ramos’ foul on Cengiz Under. Ramos equalised but Marseille won it through a goal by Ukraine midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi. PSG included Lionel Messi and Neymar but were unable to find another equaliser in the last-16 tie. Marseille, who are second in Ligue 1 behind PSG, last won the French Cup in 1988-89. The two sides meet again on 26 February in the league in Marseille, who trail…

MARCUS Rashford and Jadon Sancho combined to deny managerless Leeds a rare Old Trafford victory as Manchester United came back from two goals down to snatch a point from a thrilling Roses clash. The hosts looked finished when Raphael Varane turned Crysencio Summerville’s cutback into his own net to put Leeds two ahead after Wilfried Gnonto had given them a first-minute lead. But Rashford halved the deficit when he headed home Diogo Dalot’s inviting cross before Sancho, only just back to first-team duties after recovering from physical and mental issues, scored his first Premier League goal since September when he…

ZAMBIA’S President Hakainde Hichilema has commuted the death sentences of 390 prisoners to life imprisonment. The announcement follows Mr Hichilema’s decision last December to abolish the death penalty. Home Affairs Minister Jack Mwiimbu told a media briefing that following the amendment of the penal code, no court could now impose the death penalty. But the law could not be applied retrospectively so some prisoners still face the death penalty unless pardoned by the president, the national broadcaster quoted him as saying. It is not known how many people remain on death row. Human rights campaigners have hailed Mr Hichilema for…

THE authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo say the number of people killed during the latest protest against UN peacekeepers has risen to eight, with 28 others injured. The military governor of North Kivu province said the peacekeepers fired in self-defence when protesters attacked their convoy as it was returning to the city of Goma on Tuesday evening. Several UN trucks were set on fire and looted. Over the last year, there have been several protests against the UN peacekeeping force which is widely criticised for failing to stop rebel attacks in eastern DR Congo. Last July more than…

FORMER Everton, Newcastle and Rangers striker Duncan Ferguson says refusing to play international football after a fall out with the Scottish FA (SFA) was the “biggest regret in my career”. Ferguson, from Stirling, scored 124 goals in 423 club appearances and picked up seven international caps. However, he quit the national side from 1997 onwards, missing out on the 1998 World Cup in France. The forward’s decision to make himself unavailable was in protest at the SFA’s decision to ban him for 12 matches following a headbutt on Raith Rovers defender Jock McStay – an incident which led to him…

CODY Gakpo might have joined Liverpool too early and is struggling to find his feet in an underperforming team, says new Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman. The 23-year-old forward had a breakout World Cup in Qatar, scoring three goals in five matches as the Netherlands reached the quarter-finals. However, he has yet to score in six appearances for Liverpool since joining from PSV Eindhoven in January. “He has ended up in a team that is not doing well,” Koeman said. “If you don’t score or you’re not important and you don’t win any matches, it’s very difficult, especially for a young…

ANGER is growing in Turkey over the government’s perceived failure to prepare after thousands died in two huge earthquakes on Monday. On a visit to one of the worst-hit regions, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the official death toll in Turkey had climbed to 10,057. The main opposition leader has blamed him for the scale of the devastation. But Mr Erdogan hit back, saying it was “not possible” to be prepared for such a big disaster. Many in the worst affected areas have have criticised the response by the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) for being too…