Author: Opalim Lifted

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Nigeria is still far from fulfilling the 2001 Abuja Declaration’s 15% target for strengthening the health system. Dr Walter Mulombo, WHO Country Representative to Nigeria, said this at a press conference in Abuja. According to media sources, African Union heads of state met in April 2001 and vowed to establish an aim of investing at least 15% of their yearly budget to improving the health sector. “In Nigeria, where a proposed target of 15% of total government budget should go to health, we are still far from achieving the target,” he stated. Mulombo,…

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has set a new start date for the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations. (UTME). The board made the announcement in Abuja on Sunday in a statement signed by its Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin. Benjamin said that the UTME, which was previously planned to begin on April 29, will now begin on April 25, 2023. He also said that the board’s rescheduled mock-UTME will take place on April 18, 2023. “It should be noted that JAMB previously held its 2023 Mock-UTME on Thursday, March 30 in 725 locations across…

According to the media, Canadian musician Drake earned $2.7 million when Israel Adesanya knocked out Alex Pereira at UFC 287 to recover the middleweight championship. The 185lb championship was reclaimed by the Nigerian-born New Zealander only five months after it was lost to his arch rival Pereira, who had previously defeated him twice in kickboxing. Drake lost $1.6 million after betting on Adesanya to win that bout, but he made up for it in the rapper’s rematch with Pereira. Drake wagered $500,000 on Adesanya to win, which paid him $885,000, and another $400,000 on him to win via knockout, which…

After an explosion forced a residential building in Marseille’s centre to fall in the early hours of Sunday, French emergency services were looking for casualties and attempting to extinguish a fire, with six people wounded thus far. The cause of the explosion is unknown at this time. According to Mayor Benoit Payan, the fall started a fire, complicating rescue attempts. Two buildings adjacent have partly fallen. “I’d like us to prepare for a difficult situation – we could have victims today,” Payan added, adding that five of the six wounded are in a “relatively urgent” condition at the hospital. According…

Prince Bola Ajibola, a former judge of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, has passed away. Ajibola, a former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) passed away at the age of 89. Segun Ajibola, SAN, the late jurist’s eldest child, made the announcement in a statement on Sunday in Abeokuta. The founder of Crescent University in Abeokuta, Ajibola, passed away at midnight on Saturday from an aging sickness. “With very deep heart and gratitude to Almighty Allah.“Our Dad, Prince Bola Ajibola, departed this world over midnight. May Almighty Allah bless him with Aljanah Firdaus,”…

A judicial official said on Saturday that at least 20 African migrants were missing after their boat sunk off the coast of Tunisia as they attempted to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, amid a surge of migrant boats from the North African nation. The coast guard also rescued 17 additional people from the same boat off the shore of Sfax, two of whom are in severe condition, according to Sfax court judge Faouzi Masmousdi. Several dozens of people have gone missing and killed in drowning incidents off the Tunisian coast in recent weeks. Tunisia has surpassed Libya as the principal…

44 people were slain in two assaults by unidentified attackers overnight on Thursday in northern Burkina Faso, according to officials. The assaults took place in the villages of Kourakou and Tondobi in the Sahel region of the nation in West Africa, which is controlled by jihadist organisations with ties to al Qaeda and the Islamic State who have been conducting strikes there for years. Which gang committed the assaults on Thursday is unknown. Authorities cited “armed terrorist groups” as the cause on Saturday. In Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest nations, more than 2 million people have been displaced,…

A humanitarian organisation reported on Saturday that more than 30 children were reunited with their families in Ukraine this week following a protracted effort to bring them back from Russia, where they had been transferred from seized regions during the conflict. According to Kyiv, approximately 19,500 children have been sent to Russia since Moscow invaded in February last year, in what it calls unlawful deportations. Moscow, which controls parts of Ukraine’s east and south, denies kidnapping youngsters and claims they were taken away for their own protection. “The sixth rescue operation is almost finished. It was unique in terms of…

Lejeune Mbella, the foreign minister of Cameroon, said on Friday that starting on April 30, all applications for entrance visas to Cameroon must be submitted online. The minister said that applications will be processed “exclusively” online using the website www.evisacam.cm, after which the applicant would be given an online authorisation for a visa. Mbella said in a statement earlier on Thursday night that the applicant may next proceed to either a diplomatic mission or a border checkpoint to actually get the visa. For applicants who live in remote locations or who are not serviced by diplomatic missions, Mbella said that…

The Sulaymaniyah airport in northern Iraq was allegedly attacked, and the Iraqi government demanded that Turkey apologise and end hostilities on Iraqi land on Saturday. Turkey has no legal authority to continue “intimidating civilians under the pretext that hostile forces are present on Iraqi soil,” according to a statement from the Iraqi president. In this respect, we urge the Turkish government to accept responsibility and issue a formal apology, the statement said. A drone strike on Friday near Sulaymaniyah airport, according to Lawk Ghafuri, director of international media relations for the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), did not result in any…