Author: Opalim Lifted

The upcoming national Population and Housing Census would be entirely digital, according to Alhaji Nasir Isa-Kwarra, Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), to improve accuracy and timeliness. The NPC chairman announced this on Tuesday in Abuja at a reform seminar hosted by the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) on “National Development and the Imperative of 2023 Population and Housing Census.” Isa-Kwarra was represented by Mrs. Adebayo Foluke, NPC Director of Data Quality Management. He said data capture, processing and database management would be undertaken using CSPro, an open-source software developed by the US Census Bureau. ”Indeed, for Nigeria…

The February 8 order prohibiting the Federal Government and its agencies from enforcing the February 10 deadline for the use of the old 200, 500, and 1000 naira notes is still in effect, according to the Supreme Court. Following a complaint from attorney Abdulhakeem Mustapha (SAN) to the states of Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara that the Federal Government and its agencies had disobeyed the judgment and had purportedly ordered the rejection of the old notes, the court made the clarification on Wednesday. Mustapha said that the plaintiff submitted a notice of non-compliance with the February 8 court order and urged…

On Wednesday, angry protestors due to the recent naira scarcity, blocked several sections of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, leaving motorists stranded in Oyo State. When one of our reporters visited several locations, they saw that some youths had set up barricades in the Iwo Road, Gate, Challenge, Olorunsogo, and Academy sectors. On the highway, several youths were seen playing football, and some protesters set up barriers while begging passing drivers for money. The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway’s Ibadan terminus was also impassable due to multiple vehicles stopping along the side of the route. Some of the motorists who spoke in an interview with…

Lt.-Gen. Faruk Yahaya, Chief of Army Staff, has directed all General Officers Commanding (GOCs) and other formation commanders to create a conducive and secure environment for the 2023 elections. Yahaya issued the order while launching Operation Safe Conduct across all army divisions and formations in the country. Brig-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, Director, of Army Public Relations, made the announcement on Tuesday in Abuja. The army chief reaffirmed the Nigerian army’s resolve to play its constitutional role by assisting the Nigeria Police, the lead security agency in the security architecture for the 2023 elections. He charged the commanders to identify and dominate…

The window for exchanging old naira notes for new ones has closed, as reported by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which announced yesterday that the deadline of February 10 has passed. It also cited a number of other causes for the difficulties in getting access to new notes, including “our leaders who are buying and keeping the notes” and “reprehensible conduct of miscreants” at bank facilities. However, the CBN pledged to make “suitable optimal amounts of currency of N500, N200, N1000 denomination and even the existing N100 note, N50, and N20 to promote economic activities” available. The bank also…

Since Abloh’s passing in late 2021, Pharrell Williams will be Louis Vuitton’s first permanent head of menswear. However, Pharrell’s role as creative director differs from that of Abloh at Louis Vuitton, where his title was “artistic director.” The design superpower verified the rumors in an Instagram post and complimented Pharrell as “a visionary whose creative universes transcend from music to art, and to fashion.” Also warmly commended was Pharrell’s accomplishment of “establishing himself as a cultural global star over the previous twenty years.” The company also went on to laud Pharrell Williams as an individual who continually “breaks boundaries across…

Gbenga Ezekiel, a senior secondary school student from Ijapo High School in Akure, the capital of Ondo State, has entered his record for the most skips in one minute on one leg in the Guinness Book of World Records. In his effort, Ezekiel recorded 265 skips, breaking Rasel Islam of Bangladesh’s previous record of 262 skips. About four months after the 16-year-old’s first efforts at the Ondo State Sports Complex in Akure, it was established as a record. The feat was communicated to the national coach of the Nigeria Rope Skipping Federation, Chubuisi Ukandu, and has also been updated on…

The allegation that the Federal Government or the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had refused to recognize the old N200, N500, and N1,000 naira notes as lawful currency in spite of the Supreme Court judgment has been rejected by the Presidency as untrue. On behalf of their populations, Zamfara, Kaduna, and Kogi had petitioned the Supreme Court of Nigeria for justice, challenging the CBN deadline of February 10 for the discontinuation of old naira notes as legal currency. In its decision on February 8, the Supreme Court ordered all parties to maintain the status quo and revoked the February 10,…

According to Prof. Darlington Obaseki, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), the facility performed its first open heart surgery in January 2023. This was said by Obaseki on Tuesday in Benin during the launch of 50%-subsidized specialized surgeries as a part of celebrations for the hospital’s 50th anniversary, which will be held in May. The CMD said that Mr. Phillip Shaibu, the Deputy Governor of Edo, has reduced the medical fee for one of the three patients who underwent open heart surgery. He commended the deputy governor for being a pillar of support…

A total of 15 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who had just finished their orientation in Imo were kidnapped, but police officers in Anambra rescued them. When they were kidnapped, the corps members from the NYSC orientation camp at Eziama-Obaire, Nkwerre, Local Government Area of Imo, were in a car traveling to Lagos. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Anambra, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, stated this in a statement on Tuesday in Awka. He claimed that around 12:15 in the morning, police officers reacted to a distress call along the Isseke, Ihiala-Orlu expressway and rescued the 15…