Author: damazah@gmail.com

Government begins advocacy campaign, plans enforcement against parents who keep children out of school By Edwin Phillip, Lafia LAFIA — The Nasarawa State Government has directed the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, to commence an advocacy campaign across the state to ensure that children of school age who are out of school return to the classroom. The government also said it was considering the establishment of mobile courts to prosecute parents whose children are found loitering on the streets during school hours. The Senior Special Assistant to Governor Abdullahi Sule on Public Affairs, Mr Peter Ahemba, disclosed this on…

•Dismisses claims of operational failure of oil firm’s equipment •Says his vessel struck debris during movement  •Describes incident as ‘small’ Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja Fresh details have emerged over the reported barge accident at the Nembe Creek facility in Bayelsa State, with the owner of the vessel involved in the incident revealing that it was caused by a minor mishap involving his barge. He explained that the incident was in no way connected to the operations of Nembe Exploration and Production Ltd., formerly Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Ltd, contrary to some media reports. Principal of Fazal Environmental Company, Mr…

Kayode Tokede  The Nigerian stock market yesterday extended its downward trend, shedding N1.67 trillion by market capitalisation days to the Initial Public Offer (IPO) of Dangote Refinery.  The All-Share Index declined by 2,579.01 basis points or 1.05 per cent to close at 242,223.10 basis points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value shed N1.67 trillion to close at N157.050 trillion. The market negative performance was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Nestle Nigeria, BUA Cement, Nigerian Breweries, Cadbury Nigeria and Oando. The decline marked a second consecutive bearish session and reduced the year-to-date (YtD) return…

All of a sudden, French entrepreneur Hèlene Huby is seemingly everywhere. This week she is serving as one of two envoys, alongside astronaut Thomas Pesquet, at a high-profile International Space Summit convened by French President Emmanuel Macron. The government’s website for the event describes her as chief executive of “the fastest-growing space company in Europe.” Also this week, that firm, The Exploration Company, announced a significant capital raise of $450 million in Series C funding. Although not spectacular by the standards of some US space businesses, this is the largest-ever Series C funding round by a Europe-based space company, and…

The financial scandal around Reform UK has deepened as police expanded their investigation into allegations of illegal foreign donations and the elections watchdog said it was considering regulatory steps.Police confirmed on Wednesday they would broaden their inquiries into Reform after Channel 4 News broadcast an undercover sting by a group called Verbatim, in which a reporter posed as a foreign donor seeking to fund Reform.The Electoral Commission also said on Wednesday that it was “considering all relevant information and regulatory steps” in parallel with the police inquiry.Two of Nigel Farage’s close advisers, Dan Jukes and James Orr, resigned last week…

It may seem like we are on the verge of discovering alien life. In 2025, a press release stated that we have the “strongest hints yet” of extraterrestrial life on the exoplanet K2-18b. And when talking about a collected sample from a rock named “Cheyava Falls” on Mars, NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said this was the “closest we have ever come” to discovering life on the red planet. Such moments capture the imagination. But they also raise an important question: what do the majority of scientists actually think? Surprisingly, we usually don’t know. When a scientific controversy or breakthrough dominates…

Team USA will meet Hungary in the quarterfinals of the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup on Thursday after the Hungarians took care of Japan on Tuesday in their quarterfinal qualification matchup. Thursday’s matchup will be an early one for American fans in the States, with tip-off in Berlin set for 5:30 a.m. ET (11:30 a.m. local time). This is the first time that the United States and Hungary will meet at the Women’s World Cup since 1986, when Team USA secured a 78-63 win in the group stage. USA Basketball published footage of that game on its YouTube page, and it’s…

Billy Joel says he is doing better after brain surgery helped relieve some of the symptoms of normal pressure hydrocephalus, a disorder he was diagnosed with in 2025. On SiriusXM’s Billy Joel channel Wednesday, the singer talked about the surgery he agreed to after noticing “my balance was not good, I had this sensation of rocking on a boat.” The 77-year-old musician revealed in May 2025 that he had been diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus, in which cerebrospinal fluid builds up inside the skull and presses on the brain. He canceled several concerts and said he had been told not…

11,374 Women accounted for the beneficiaries of credit mobilised by the National Credit Guarantee Company (NCGC) in its first year, highlighting the persistent gender gap in access to formal financing and prompting a new initiative targeting more than N100 billion in credit for female-led businesses. NCGC’s inaugural impact report, released in August 2026, showed that 67,512 end-borrowers reached through its guarantee programmes were women-owned businesses. Overall, the company provided N21.59 billion in risk cover through 19 participating financial institutions, unlocking N46.95 billion in direct loans across 25 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The credit reached businesses through 13 commercial…

Lambie furious over ‘disgusting’ One Nation video calling Hastie a ‘traitor’Jacqui Lambie, an independent senator and defence veteran, has blasted Pauline Hanson and One Nation’s cartoon video calling Andrew Hastie a traitor after he gave evidence against Ben Roberts-Smith in his failed defamation trial.Lambie doesn’t mince her words. Like Hastie, Lambie says the video is an attack on all veterans and says Hanson is showing her “true colours”.She tells RN Breakfast the cartoon should be removed immediately: double quotation markWhat she’s doing in those cartoons is absolutely disgusting. They are full of bloody violence. I mean, how people can watch…