Author: Adejuyigbe Francis

Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma will play Feyenoord in the knockout round play-offs of the UEFA Europa League. Mourinho is the only manager to have won all three of the current European trophies, having also won the Europa Conference League with Roma, and the Champions League with Inter Milan and Porto. The Portuguese manager also claimed the Europa League trophy in his first season with Manchester United in 2017. Roma are currently seventh in Serie A while Feyenoord, who sit 10 points off the top league leaders PSV, are second in the Eredivisie. Mourinho’s first club as manager, Benfica, will play…

Arsenal will play Porto in the UEFA Champions League last 16, while title holders Manchester City take on Copenhagen. City won the treble last season under Pep Guardiola when they defeated Inter Milan in the final, completing a clean sweep of the major trophies available to the team. While they have not reached the heights they did last season in the Premier League, in part due to an injury to Kevin De Bruyne, they topped Group G by winning every single one of their six matches in Europe. The draw is one that City will be heavy favourites to negotiate…

The registration cost for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination for 2024 has been raised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). According to an official release, the revised registration costs are as follows: The cost of registering for the UTME is N7,700 if a mock exam is included, and N6,200 if it is not. Prior to the most recent change, the JAMB application form cost N5,700 if it did not include a practice exam, and N6,700 if it did. The board also announced that foreign candidates would now be able to obtain application materials for $30. JAMB also disclosed…

President Bola Tinubu has accepted the resignation of the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong. The former Governor of Plateau State, following his resignation, will proceed to the National Assembly as Senator representing Plateau South Senatorial. He wonthe seat and it was affirmed by an appeal court ruling on November 7, 2023. A presidential aide, who spoke with Punch, said, “Lalong has resigned. But it was not at the FEC meeting itself. It must have been after the meeting because, if it were earlier, the President or SGF would have announced it during the meeting.” The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, is…

The vice-chancellor of the Federal University Oye Ekiti (FUOYE), Prof Abayomi Fasina, has said the exit of tertiary institutions from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) will enable them to operate efficiently. Fasina stated this while receiving an award of excellence from the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Ekiti State Council. He said exempting tertiary educational institutions would ease the administrative burden faced by the universities as well as remove the bureaucratic bottlenecks brought by the payroll platform in the area of recruitment and promotion of staff. Fasina explained that the introduction of IPPIS contributed…

President Bola Tinubu has urged Nigerians not to exploit the country’s current economic situation for abnormal profit. The National Bureau of Statistics pegged the country’s inflation rate at 28.2 per cent — Nigeria’s highest since August 2005. Tinubu in an interview with The Nation on Sunday acknowledged the “severe impact” of some of his economic policies on Nigerians urging citizens not to take advantage of the situation to accrue unfair gains. “As your president, I am deeply aware of the economic crisis’s severe impact on Nigerians, and we are part of a global challenge with the rising costs of living.…

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Sunday, unveiled a newly constructed mid-level food agro-hub at Idi-Oro in the Mushin area of the state. The Special Assistant to the Governor on New Media, Jubril Gawat, revealed this in a series of tweets on his X handle on Sunday. Gawat wrote, “The launch of a new way of food distribution in Lagos with the commissioning of the middle-level food agro-hub will see to the tackling of problems associated with post-harvest losses, inflation, carbon footprint and traffic congestion. “The food Agro-hub is sitting on 6400 square meters of land, has adequate parking (3,017sqm)…

Workers of Kwara State-owned media have vowed to commence a two-day warning strike on Tuesday and Wednesday this week following the failure of the state government to treat them and cultural workers as essential staff. The impending industrial action of the aggrieved workers is also predicated on the inability of the state government to accede to their demands for the implementation of 100 per cent essential allowances for them. Those affected include staff of Kwara State Printing and Publishing Corporation (The Herald Newspapers), Kwara State Broadcasting Corporation (Radio Kwara), Kwara State Television Authority (Kwara TV) and Kwara State Arts and…

A Nigerian woman, Dr. Olusimbo Ige has been appointed as Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), thus becoming first black female to occupy the position.  Mayor Brandon Johnson officially announced the appointment. Dr. Ige received her Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery and her Master of Science in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the University of Ibadan. She also received her Master’s in Public Health from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. Mayor Johnson said: “Dr. Ige is a tremendous addition to not just our administration, but to the City of Chicago. She is someone who understands…

In a bid to expand access to clean energy for 17.5 million Nigerians, the World Bank has approved the Nigeria Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) project, being financed by $750 million International Development Association (IDA) credit and would leverage over $1 billion of private capital and significant parallel financing from development partners. The financing from development partners include $100 million from the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet and $200 million from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Other development partners collaborating on the programme include the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the German Development Agency…

Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, has announced that it paid over N1.7 billion to customers of revoked microfinance banks (MFBs) and four primary mortgage bank (PMBs) licenses. According to NAN, Mr Bello Hassan, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NDIC, said this at the 2023 NDIC Editors’ Forum on Saturday in Lagos. Hassan said, “Recall earlier this year that the Central Bank of Nigeria revoked the licenses of 183 institutions comprising Microfinance and Primary Mortgage Banks. “We quickly advertised and told affected depositors to get the required documents and come forward for verification to pay them the insured amount. “So, in terms…

President Bola Tinubu celebrates his friend and ally, former President Muhammadu Buhari, an icon of truth, justice, and patriotism on his 81st birthday. President Tinubu extols the peerless leadership credentials and feats of the former President, recalling his meritorious service to the nation at various times as Head of State and as President. Reeling out former President Buhari’s unparalleled record of infrastructural provision, comprising several new international airports, multiple standard-gauge railway lines, new seaport development, dozens of new dams, power stations, oil and gas infrastructure, expressways and mega-bridges, in addition to establishing Nigeria’s first-ever national social investment and protection programme,…