Author: Opalim Lifted

The World Bank announced on Wednesday that it had approved a new $7 billion partnership agreement with Egypt for the period 2023-2027, with a focus on increasing private sector employment, improving health and education services, and adapting to climate change. According to a World Bank statement, the Country Partnership Agreement (CPF) will include $1 billion per year from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and approximately $2 billion over five years from the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The program’s goals include helping to level the playing field for the private sector, encouraging investment, and improving resilience to shocks…

Renowned Nigerian Afrobeats musician David Adeleke, better known by his stage name Davido, addressed his fans on social media on Tuesday. Returning to social media on Tuesday, the singer thanked his fans in a tweet on his Twitter handle, saying that their love kept him going. The singer, who appears to be recovering from the death of his three-year-old son, Ifeanyi, in 2022, stated that there is a time to mourn and a time to heal. He wrote: “There is a time for everything. A time to grieve and a time to heal. A time to laugh and a time…

Following the eventual declaration of the results of the contentious Obingwa Local Government Area results on Wednesday, the Labour Party candidate, Alex Otti, was declared the winner of the Abia State governorship election. Following the completion of the collation of the outstanding election results, the Peoples Democratic Party received 9,962 votes in the LGA, while the Labour Party received 3,776 votes. As a result, the LP has won in ten LGAs, the PDP in six, and the Young Peoples Party in one. The Labour Party’s governorship candidate in Abia State, Chief Alex Otti, was declared the winner of the 2023…

The Federal Executive Council approved N5.16 billion on Wednesday for the construction of two accommodation facilities with 192 flats of varying room capacities for National Drug Law Enforcement Agency personnel. The facility, which will be located in Abuja, will be completed in 60 weeks by the two contractors hired for the project. Abubakar Malami, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, revealed this to State House Correspondents following this week’s Council meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, which was chaired by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). Malami justified the approval by citing the security and…

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) leadership directed all workers on Wednesday to picket all Central Bank of Nigeria offices nationwide beginning next week in protest of the country’s current cash crisis. The directive was issued by NLC President Joe Ajaero during a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday. The labor leader stated that the directive became necessary after the apex bank’s one-week deadline to make cash available to Nigerians expired. Naira: Buhari denies ordering CBN, AGF to defy Supreme Court order The NLC last week gave the CBN and commercial banks a one week ultimatum to make naira notes available…

A US couple detained in Uganda since December on suspicion of torturing a 10-year-old boy in their care was granted bail on Wednesday by a Kampala court. Nicholas Spencer, 32, and his wife Mackenzie Leigh Mathias Spencer, 32, both from South Carolina, were initially charged with aggravated torture and aggravated child trafficking to a boy they fostered and were living within Kampala. According to their lawyer, David Mpanga, they have also been charged with overstaying a visa and working without a permit since their arrest. The offense of aggravated torture of a child in Uganda carries a maximum sentence of…

On Wednesday, Lebanese security forces fired tear gas at hundreds of protesters, mostly retired security personnel, who had gathered near government buildings in Beirut in protest of the country’s deteriorating economic conditions. Crowds gathered in downtown Beirut’s streets between parliament and the government serail, carrying Lebanon’s tricolor or flags with security forces’ logos. They were outraged by the depreciation of state pensions paid in local currency. Since 2019, the pound has lost more than 98% of its value against the US dollar. “Our kids are hungry. We’re hungry,” said Mohamad el-Khateeb, a 59-year-old who had served in the army for…

The family of an ex-permanent secretary in Ogun State, Adefemi Egbeoluwa, and his wife, Oluwafunmilayo, has been in mourning since their bodies were discovered at their home near Allen Avenue in Lagos State’s Ikeja neighborhood. On the day of the governorship and state House of Assembly elections, the couple was at home with their domestic worker when some unidentified individuals broke into their home and killed them. Following the crime, the suspects allegedly attacked the domestic worker, beat her until she passed out, and fled. Following the attack, it was discovered that neighbors who got wind of the information rushed…

On Tuesday, candidates who lost Saturday’s governorship election and their supporters protested the results and vowed to challenge them in court. Peoples Democratic Party supporters protested in Ogun and Nasarawa states, while the All Progressives Congress in Kano State gave the Independent National Electoral Commission seven days to declare the state’s governorship election inconclusive. The APC has won 15 states, the PDP has won eight, and the New Nigeria Peoples Party has won Kano State, according to the results of the governorship elections declared by INEC thus far. A PDP protest in Ogun State turned violent when a Nigeria Security…

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has ordered the resumption of collation of governorship election results in Abia and Enugu states, which had previously been suspended. Barrister Festus Okoye, National Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, stated in a statement that the commission has completed its review of the exercise in the two states. The commission halted the collation of results in Abia state due to what it described as a “invasion” of its collation center in the state’s Obingwa local government area. The statement from the commission reads: “It will be recalled that the Commission met on Monday 20th…