Author: damazah@gmail.com

…says 2,000 hectares of farmland, 8,794 educational facilities, 3,808 healthcare facilities to be submerged By Gabriel Ewepu As floods ravage parts of the country, the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, NiHSA, has predicted that over 18 million Nigerians are exposed to heavy flooding in the 2026 flood forecast. Speaking exclusively with Vanguard, the Director General, NiHSA, Arc Umar Mohammed, said the predictions were made to ensure state governments do the needful to quickly put in place measures to cushion the impact of the flood. Speaking through the Head, Geographic Information System, GIS, and Remote Sensing, Emmanuel David Tuna, said the agency’s…

Filmmaker Tunde Kelani has announced that an upcoming episode of his documentary series will be dedicated to late actor, scholar and cultural figure Gabriel Kola Oyewo. Mr Kelani made the announcement in an Instagram post on Tuesday, where he paid tribute to the actor’s contributions to Nigerian theatre and cinema. He said the episode will feature an archival interview with Mr Oyewo, allowing audiences to reflect on his life, career and influence on the creative industry. “Sometimes before we continue telling stories, we must first honour the people who made those stories possible,” Mr Kelani wrote in the post. He…

By Rosemary Iwunze As the insurance recapitalisation deadline of July 31st 2026 draws near, the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, has stated that it will not re-license any company with outstanding claims.  In a letter to all Managing Director/CEOs of insurance companies, issued yesterday, titled: “Regulatory Directive – Settlement of Discharged Claims as A Precondition for Re-Licensing Pursuant to the Ongoing Recapitalization Exercise” NAICOM noted that the move is part of  efforts to ensure that the exercise achieves its intended objectives. The letter stated: “The ongoing recapitalization exercise is aimed at strengthening the financial capacity, resilience, and overall stability of the insurance…

One of the fundamental pillars of modern cosmology may be beginning to wobble. A study published in Nature has found evidence that the universe may not behave the same way in every direction on the largest observable scales.“What we found is a network of enormous filaments and walls of galaxies that remain aligned and interconnected across billions of light-years,” says Francesco Sylos Labini, research director of physics at the Enrico Fermi Research Center in Italy and the study’s lead author.What Should the Universe Look Like?To explain the finding, Sylos uses a far simpler analogy than any mathematical equation. Imagine a…

A new policy paper argues that a future NASA base on the moon should include a specialized biocontainment facility designed to keep Earth safe from any potentially hazardous biological material brought back from space. The proposal comes as scientists and space agencies prepare for more ambitious missions that could return samples from the moon, Mars, and other destinations across the solar system. “Humanity is entering a new era of space exploration, but our planetary protection strategies have not kept pace with the risks associated with returning extraterrestrial samples to Earth,” said paper co-author Frederick I. Moxley, Director of Strategic Threat…

Seven years ago, Quadri Yusuf was just another curious 10- year-old boy in a Lagos neighbourhood when two childhood friends walked into his home carrying a squash racket. Read Also: Ronaldo says ‘won’t make rash decisions’ following last World Cup game The racket was unlike anything he had ever seen. He picked it up, examined it closely and refused to let it go. His friends, brothers Joshua and Elijah Daniel, laughed. “If you like it that much, come and join us.” Neither the boys nor Yusuf himself could have imagined that the innocent invitation would become the beginning of a…

Damián Alcázar, a lead in “Narcos” as Pablo Escobar’s successor, Cali mob boss Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, is attached to star in “Rookies,” the TV series debut as a writer-director of top Colombian film director José Luis Rugeles. Breaking out with Cannes 2015 Un Certain Regard title “Alias María,” Rugeles, one of Colombia’s most prominent film directors, has also helmed of late 2022’s “Rebellion” and “The Awakening,” a best selling title at last December’s Ventana Sur. A prize winner at May’s Conecta Magaluf-Mallorca, “Rookies” (“Oficina de Detectives”) is set up at Rhayuela Films, a top Colombian production house behind the Wild…

Malawi, Kenya and Madagascar are the first African countries to take a stand on deep-sea mining (DSM). At the 11th Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa in June, they joined 40 nations from across the world in endorsing a precautionary pause on DSM in international waters, which cover 64 per cent of the Earth’s ocean surface. The international seabed area lies beyond any country’s jurisdiction and is home to ecosystems, species, biodiversity support, nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration functions critical to Earth’s climate balance. While the ocean covers 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface, less than 30 per cent of the…

Eppendorf, a leading international life science company that develops, manufactures, and distributes instruments, consumables, and services for use in laboratories around the world, today highlights its European outreach activities dedicated to addressing persistent challenges in STEM education. Eppendorf Equipment at Hills Road Sixth Form in Cambridge. Image Credit: Eppendorf Demand for talent in strategic sectors such as digital technologies and healthcare continues to grow, whilst recent data shows that nearly 30% of EU students do not reach minimum proficiency in maths at the age of 15 yrs. The European Commission’s STEM Education Strategic Plan is intended to help reverse this…

Kasim Sumaina in Abuja  The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) have begun a 10-day Training of Trainers workshop on Climate Risk Management in Agricultural Extension (CRMAE) to help extension providers deliver climate information that supports resilient, sustainable farming across Nigeria. The workshop in Abuja, NiMet emphasised, is part of an AGRA target-countries project to strengthen digital climate advisory services and build resilient agricultural systems across Africa. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Monday, NiMet DG/CEO, Prof. Charles Anosike, said climate variability and extreme weather continue to threaten agricultural productivity, food security and rural livelihoods, making…