ONE WORD

Some returnees from Libya being profiled The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says a total of 13,407 Nigerians have so far returned from Libya under the Voluntary Assisted Returnees Programme which began in April 2017. The agency said the Nigerians were assisted back from the volatile North African country by the European Union (EU) and International Organisation for Migration (IOM). The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Director General of NEMA, Alhaji Yinusa Maihajja, made the disclosure on Thursday while receiving a fresh batch of 159 Nigerians from Libya on Wednesday night. Maihajja who was represented by the Director of Special Duties, NEMA, Alhaji Nura Bappa, revealed that the IOM and EU had jointly assisted in training 6,950 returnees in various businesses aimed at reintegrating them back to the society fully. He said the new batch of returnees had arrived the Cargo Wing of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos aboard a chartered Buraq

The Kano State House of Assembly, on Wednesday, passed the Bill for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs into law, paving way for the decentralisation of the Kano Emirate council. Among others, the law will give room for the creation of four more first class emirs in the state, which include Rano, Karaye, Bichi and Gaya emirate councils. Earlier, a committee was constituted by the House to decentralise and create four more first class emirs, following a petition written by some legal practitioners. According to the petition, the establishment of the emirates would facilitate more development to the people, as well as provide security in the respective areas. Reading the joint committees’ report before the floor of the House on Tuesday, the Majority leader, Baffa Danagundi, said the report also recommended the review of the law. He said the decision to pass the bill into law followed wide consultation with stakeholders, adding that the feedback the committee received fro

An elderly partially blind voter is assisted by a relative and Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) officials to cast her vote during the sixth general elections at the Wiggins Community hall in Cato Manor in Durban, South Africa, on May 8, 2019.  PHOTO: RAJESH JANTILAL / AFP South Africans on Wednesday headed to the polls but certain to return the ruling ANC despite anger over corruption scandals, sluggish growth, and record unemployment. The election is the first measure of whether President Cyril Ramaphosa can reinvigorate support for a party whose backing rests largely on its liberation credentials, but now faces the prospect of a reduced majority. “The ANC has been in power for the past 25 years and I don’t see any change,” lamented unemployed father-of-two Jacob Maretlwa, 30, who lives in a shack in Coligny in the North West province. Ramaphosa, 66, took over last year after the ANC, which first swept to power in 1994, forced then-President Jacob Zuma to resign after

Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle have shown off their newborn baby to the world for the first time. The couple with their baby   Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have proudly revealed their newborn son to the world.   The tiny infant was gently cradled in his father’s arms as his mother tenderly touched his head The photo opportunity was set up after the royal couple declined to pose on the hospital steps with their newborn.   It is not clear at this stage if the child’s name will also be announced.   Bookmakers were offering free bets to lure in punters for a flutter on the name with Alexander the favourite, Spencer — the maiden name of Princess Diana — a shortening roughie, and James and Arthur the value bets. A few hundred metres from where the new parents were holed up, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh hosted a function at Windsor Castle with Sir David Attenborough among the guests.   But they did not venture down to Harry and Megh

Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, UI, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka has disclosed that the institution admitted about 4,000 new students for the 2018/2019 academic session which will commence in June 2019. The Vice Chancellor, who is yet to give the details of the admission, stated that the institution only admits what it could cope with. According to the VC, “In UI, our admission process is merit-driven. The National Universities Commission, NUC, allows us to admit up to 8,000 candidates but we decide to admit only about 4,000 because we are conscious of quality factor, more so we want every 100-level student and the finalists to be accommodated on campus, whereas we have just 9,000 bed spaces. The underlining factor is our culture of excellence and the need to maintain high quality standards”.

L-R Osaze Amadasun and the Bini Playing Cards (Source: IG) Nigerian artist, Osaze Amadasun, has designed ‘Bini Playing Cards’, a game aimed at promoting and preserving the Benin culture. Amadasun is popularly known for his infusion of folklore in arts and African re-imagination of popular artworks including his illustrations of music legend, Fela and other popular icons. The ‘Bini Playing Cards’, which are patterned after the standard French cards, were designed with popular Benin bronze-head figures and commemorative stories that players can learn from. In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, Amadasun said that he was inspired to make the cards while working on an Oba Esigie theme park (Oba Esigie was a king who ruled the Benin kingdom in the 16th century). He said, “While making research for my theme park, the idea hit me and I thought to myself – it would be really cool if there was a Benin themed playing card deck out there and t

Atiku Abubakar BY INWALOMHE DONALD I am appealing to Atiku server to produce the result of other 71 presidential candidates because one of them could be the winner of the presidential and not Atiku Abubakar as claimed by his server. I am confused about the server that produced only Atiku as the winner. I could not understand why Atiku Server failed to produce election results of more than 71 presidential candidates of the February election in Nigeria. Atiku’s result submitted at the tribunal was silent on the votes scored by the other 71 presidential candidates held in 119,973 polling units, collated in 8,809 wards across Nigeria, whereas INEC recorded 869, 758 votes for the candidates. Even though INEC released a list of 73 parties that contested the election, it failed to list any candidate for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) because two candidates were in court battling over the ticket. Atiku server was only designed for Buhari and Atiku results. INEC SERVER is not simply a