President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Mr. Jim Ovia, CFR, renowned banker and businessman, as the Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND). This is contained in a statement issued by Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity, on Friday.

Opposition Labour Party, LP, and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have yesterday, kicked against the report attributed to the United States 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on how arrived at its conclusion that the 2023 polls conducted in Nigeria reflected the will of people despite widespread irregularities that were recorded . However, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Presidency have applauded the report but said the party did not need external validation of its victories at the polls.

The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Rivers State, Professor Zacchaeus Adangor, has resigned from the state executive council following the ongoing crisis in Rivers State. Reports suggest that Zacchaeus' resignation was due to the reshuffle carried out by the state Governor, Sim Fubara. Earlier in the week, Fubara reshuffled his cabinet and reassigned Zacchaeus as the commissioner for Special Duties (Governor’s Office), but the former commissioner for Justice turned down the new role.

Three Sub-Saharan nations, namely Benin, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, have launched a significant program for malaria prevention in Africa. The program is a large-scale rollout of a life-saving malaria vaccine that aims to target millions of children. The vaccine's launch is announced on Tuesday 25th April 2024 in commemoration of World Malaria Day, and it seeks further to scale up vaccine deployment in the African region. Over 30 countries in the African region have shown interest in the vaccine, and several of them are scheduled to roll it out in the next year with support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

The Republic of Congo has announced an epidemic of Monkeypox (mpox) after 19 cases were confirmed across five departments, including the capital Brazaville. Mpox is a viral illness caused by the monkeypox virus. It can occur in humans and other animals. Symptoms include a rash that forms blisters and then crusts over, fever, and swollen lymph nodes. Mpox is a zoonosis, a disease that is transmitted from animals to humans, with cases often found close to tropical rainforests where there are animals that carry the virus. Evidence of monkeypox virus infection has been found in animals including squirrels, Gambian pouched rats, dormice, different species of monkeys, and others. The disease can also spread from humans to humans. It can be transmitted through contact with bodily fluids, lesions on the skin or on internal mucosal surfaces, such as in the mouth or throat, respiratory droplets, and contaminated objects.

The shutting down of some pharmaceutical companies leaving the country coupled with the hyper inflation that has hit the country after the removal of fuel subsidy by President Tinubu administration, prices of malaria, antibiotics, anti-diabetes, hypertension drugs and other related products have soured leading to fears of increased mortality and reduced life expectancy among Nigerians.The danger has manifested more vicious as retail prices for the most commonly used medication in country have skyrocketed by at least 300 per cent in the last six months unchallenged. 

The Federal Government has announced that the demolition of buildings situated within the right of way of the Lagos-Calabar coastal road will commence this Saturday. The Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, Korede Keisha, disclosed this during a press briefing held in Lagos on Thursday.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC Ltd., has reacted to the issues that led to fuel queues in some major cities of the country saying it was caused by tightness in the supply of fuel and currently have been resolved. Accordingly, the NNPC Ltd. the issues surrounding this were as a result of logistics problems. Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC Ltd. Olufemi Soneye, stated this yesterday while assuring that the problem has been fixed. 

Telecom operators in Nigeria have yesterday renewed their push to jerk up charges against end user to reflect the cost of doing business amidst inflation crises in the country. The operators, under the auspice of Association of Licensed Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ALTON) and Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) through a joint statement are calling for a federal government to consider their demand for a cost-reflective tariff of services.

Meta has now surpassed three (3) billion daily active users across its apps, showing a 7% increase year-over-year. The biggest surge was seen in Instagram's "Threads", which has now reached over 150 million monthly active users, up from 130 million in February.

Microsoft Corp. and The Coca-Cola Company on Tuesday announced a five-year strategic partnership to align Coca-Cola’s core technology strategy systemwide; enable the adoption of leading-edge technology; and foster innovation and productivity globally.

Meta has expanded its AI service, Meta AI, to 12 countries that include Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Canada, Australia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and others. Meta is the company managing Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. Meta Llama 3, Meta AI is smarter, faster and more fun. With Meta Llama 3 technology at its core, Meta AI empowers users to accomplish tasks, acquire knowledge, foster creativity, and forge connections with ease. 

Arne Slot, the Feyenoord boss who is one of the front runners for Liverpool's search for Jurgen Klopp’s successor ticks all their key criteria for the position, although Sky Sports News understands the process is not a foregone conclusion, with the Eredivisie club determined to keep Slot. There is also interest from other top clubs and Liverpool are still in dialogue with several options, but the 45-year-old is a strong candidate.

Jude Bellingham scored a late winner as Real Madrid beat Barcelona to move 11 points clear at the top of La Liga after an enthralling El Clasico. Bellingham smashed into the roof of the net as the clock ticked into stoppage time as Real twice came from behind at the Bernabeu.

Manchester United has advanced to the FA Cup final after scraping through via spot kicks against Championship side Coventry City. The second FA Cup semi-final between Coventry City and Manchester United on Sunday evening was incredibly dramatic, as it went into extra time. Manchester United appeared to be in control of the match with a convincing 3-0 lead in the second half, but Coventry City made an impressive comeback, scoring three goals to level the score. Despite this, Manchester United emerged victorious after winning the penalty shootout.

Controversial reality TV personality, Natacha Anita Akide, aka Tacha, says she is “getting tired of Nigerian boys.” According to her, Nigerian men treat Nigerian women unfairly, when compared to other climes. The social media celebrity was speaking yesterday on her Big Friday Show on Cool FM, Lagos, the reality star-turned-OAP saying she is now opting for South African men. 

Idris Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky, a controversial cross-dresser, has filed a notice of appeal on Monday to challenge the maximum six-month sentence given to him by a Federal High Court in Lagos.  Bobrisky, who was convicted of currency mutilation and abuse of the naira, currency mutilation and abuse of the naira,  is urging the appellate court to set aside the sentence and release him.

Portable, a street hop musician by name, Habeeb Okikiola, has seek the forgiveness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over spraying of naira on his fans in the past.

The death toll from heavy floods and landslides in Tanzania has risen to 155 persons. The prime minister Kassim Majaliwa cautioned that the rains might continue into May, and urged families to vacate flood-prone areas. He added that the El Nino climate pattern has worsened ongoing rainy seasons and about 200,000 people and over 51,000 households were already affected by the disaster. El Nino is a Natural occurring climate pattern typically associated with increased heat worldwide, as well as drought and heavy rains. The devastating effects of the downpour were "primarily due to environmental degradation", Majaliwa said. He also blamed deforestation, unsustainable farming practices such as "slash and burn" agriculture, and unregulated livestock grazing.

On Tuesday, the United Arab Emirates experienced strong thunderstorms that resulted in the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in the country in just a few hours. As a result, some parts of the country's main highways and Dubai's international airport were flooded. According to the state-run news agency WAM, this unprecedented weather event surpassed any other documented since data collection began in 1949, before the discovery of crude oil when the region was still part of the Trucial States, a British protectorate.

Following the counter attack launched by the Tehran government on the Israeli airspace on Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu had yesterday summoned his war cabinet for the second time in less than 24 hours to weigh a response option to Iran's massive drone attack. Although the Israeli media said the attack did not record casualty but a little damage, courtesy of the United States and other ally’s air defences and countermeasures that helped Israel to dodge casualty record.