The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, has said Kano and Jigawa states top the list of states smoking tobacco in Nigeria.

CISLAC senior programs officer, Solomon Adoga stated this at a one-day multi-stakeholders’ engagement on tobacco taxation in Jigawa State, organized by CISLAC, with support from Tax Justice Network

He said the aim was to reduce the level of tobacco usage in the state, especially among the youth.

According to him, “it’s unfortunate that research shows Kano/Jigawa are on top the list of states in use of tobacco in Nigeria, while the majority of users are youths, some within minor age.

“To control tobacco usage, the state government must adopt and domesticate National Tobacco Control Act (2015) and Tobacco Tax Policy to save the lives of our youth who are future leaders.”

He added that the purpose of engaging and interacting with relevant stakeholders like traditional and religious leaders, youth groups, civil society organisations and the media was to help in creating awareness on the dangers of tobacco, as well to advocate to both the legislature and the executive to domesticate and adopt the laws.

The Naira has failed to appreciate against the US dollar at the foreign exchange market despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s recent additional release of $10,000 to Bureau De change operators.

FMDQ data showed that the Naira recorded another drop to N1308.52 per Dollar on Wednesday compared to N1,300.15 exchanged on Tuesday.

On a day-to-day basis, this represents an N8.37 drop from N1,300.15 per Dollar it traded on Tuesday.

In the parallel market section, the Naira was sold at between N1,250 and N1,300 on Wednesday from N1230 on Tuesday.

The development comes despite the Central Bank of Nigeria releasing 10,000 dollars each to BDC at N1,021 to a dollar with a caveat to sell at most 1.5 per cent above the bought price.

This is the third recent intervention for BDCs amid the bank’s effort to defend the Naira.

However, despite the FX rate record, the official window rate still surpassed the parallel market by N8.52.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the National President of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria, Aminu Gwadabe, blamed peer-to-peer cryptocurrency platforms like Binance for the recent depreciation of the Naira against the Dollar in the foreign exchange market.

In recent days, the Naira has slumped six times against the Dollar in the foreign exchange market.

American rapper Kanye West is set to join the adult industry.

The billionaire business mogul announced the launch of his own porn company called Yeezy Porn recently.

There have been reports that West was venturing into the adult industry. He has now confirmed his entry into the adult industry.

On his Instagram story on Wednesday, Kanye West wrote: “Yeezy Porn is cumming.”

West has been very critical of the porn industry in the past, saying it “destroyed my family but Jesus will heal everything.”

Nigerian singer David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, has revealed his top three favourite artists.

Appearing on an American podcast, Business Untitled, Davido was asked to name his favourite artists in terms of collaboration and he mentioned Chris Brown, Kizz Daniel and Zlatan Ibile.

“I love working with Chris Brown, Kizz Daniel and Zlatan [Ibile],” he said.

Davido also disclosed that he made $1.3 million from his recent concert at Madison Square Garden in New York.

He added that he made $600,000 with a single post.

The singer recalled how he made about $600,000 from his fans on his birthday in 2021 and later donated the money to charity.

The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has said he was not obsessed about replacing President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

The former Governor of Anambra State said he is only desperate to see the poor and underprivileged Nigerians being pulled out of their difficult situation daily.

Speaking during a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja, Obi stressed that he would not shy away from discussing pressing issues plaguing the country.

He said, “We live in a system where public officeholders and politicians are only seen during elections. I can tell you that it is an everyday job. I have said several times that I am not desperate to become the President of Nigeria. But I am desperate to see the poor and underprivileged Nigerians being pulled out of their difficult situation daily.

“That is what I am desperate to see. And all of us can do it as well. You can’t even be happy or fulfilled when several million (Nigerians) don’t know where the next meal will come from. When I see children suffering, it increases my pain. This is not about campaign.”

Focus On Existing Roads, Highways

The LP chieftain disclosed that if he were to become President, he would do things differently by focusing on repairing existing roads as against approving contracts for new ones.

Obi stated that some deplorable major highways, such as Lagos-Badagry and Kano-Kaduna, had become death traps and should be the priority of any serious government.

Tanzania has shut down five hydroelectric stations to reduce excess electricity in the national grid, the prime minister Kassim Majaliwa has said.

According to Majaliwa, the main plant, Mwalimu Nyerere Hydroelectric Station, has alone generated enough electricity to power major cities.

Among the cities that are being powered is Dar es Salaam, the country’s commercial hub.

“We have turned off all these stations because the demand is low and the electricity production is too much, we have no allocation now,” an official from the state-run power company, Tanesco, said.

The 2,115 MW Julius Nyerere hydropower dam is said to be almost full of water, following heavy rains that started early this year.

A current spell of extreme weather has led to at least 58 deaths in Tanzania and devastated other East African nations like Kenya.

It is the first time Tanzania, which suffers chronic power shortages, has closed hydroelectric stations as a result of excess production.

A tragic incident occurred at BrickHall Schools in the Cadastral Zone B11, Kaura, Abuja, when a four-year-old pupil, Miguel Ovoke, died during the school’s feeding hours on Wednesday.

The boy was pronounced dead upon arrival at Excel Specialist Hospital, following complications during lunch.

The medical report from Excel Specialist Hospital detailed that the young boy had aspirated on meat while eating at school.

Upon examination, doctors noted that Miguel exhibited severe symptoms, including fixed and dilated pupils, unresponsive to light, absence of peripheral pulses, unrecordable blood pressure, and no signs of cardiopulmonary activity.

Dr. Akinwande Ajayi, who signed the medical report, indicated that despite exhaustive resuscitation efforts by the medical team, Miguel was ultimately declared “Brought in Dead.”

According to Punch, the sudden and distressing nature of the death has prompted Miguel’s parents to suspect foul play.

They have enlisted the services of lawyer Deji Adeyanju to pursue legal inquiries and actions regarding the circumstances of their son’s untimely demise.

Pa Onakoya, the father of Nigerian chess master, Tunde Onakoya, has said that he never supported his son in playing Chess.

Recalls that on April 17, Onakoya commenced his attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon.

In a video making the rounds online, Pa Onakoya described the Chess master as resilient, stating that he never knew that Chess would make him popular.

According to him, when Tunde was a child, he would pack everything away whenever he saw him playing Chess because he wanted him to focus on his academics.

Pa Onakoya further advised Nigerian parents to encourage their children to follow their passion.

He said, “To me, Babatunde Onakoya is an angel because whatever he set his mind on must succeed.

“As a small child, when Tunde was playing Chess, I usually packed everything away from him because I wanted him to focus on school. I didn’t know that it was what would make him popular like this.

“My advice for parents is that they shouldn’t discourage their children from their passions. I wanted Tunde to be a doctor but I didn’t know that Chess would make him popular like this. I thank God.”

 

Onakoya broke the record of Norwegian players Hallvard Haug Flatebø and Sjur Ferkingstad, who played for 56 hours and 9 minutes in 2018.

A Nigerian lady, tired of the United Kingdom (UK), has made the decision to return to her homeland.

In a trending TikTok video, the lady with the handle nikkystar_55 shared her decision to leave the hustle and bustle of the UK behind and return to Nigeria.

In the short clip, she expressed her fatigue with the daily grind and declared her longing for a simpler life back home.

Upon her arrival in Nigeria, the woman wasted no time immersing herself in the local culture.

She treated herself to a traditional delicacy and was captured in the video engaging in farming activities, embracing the agricultural lifestyle of her homeland.

Reflecting on their departure from the UK, the lady mentioned that they had brought along a considerable amount of luggage, indicative of a decisive move to make Nigeria their new home.

In the clip, the lady shared how her husband encountered a colleague who shared similar sentiments about returning to Nigeria, suggesting a growing trend among Nigerian expatriates seeking to reconnect with their roots and embrace the opportunities available in their home country.

Leader of the Ilana Omo Oodua, Professor Banji Akintoye has disagreed with leaders of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, on restructuring saying the Yoruba Nation wants self-determination not restructuring.

He said this when he was featured on Arise television’s ‘The Morning Show’.

The professor of History who repeatedly said the goal to achieve his Yoruba Nation dreams will surely come to pass argued that if restructuring is implemented, the same Fulani herders who have allegedly killed more than 29,000 Yoruba will remain in Nigeria and continue their atrocities.

He wondered why there was so much noise about agitation for Yoruba Nation and people look away from Fulani who threatened to take over the seat of power.

While acknowledging the role of Afenifere in restructuring, he noted that the only solution to the senseless killing, maiming, raping and kidnapping of Yoruba was to get out of the country.

His words: “Our fathers in Afenifere are doing the right thing talking about restructuring so that we can go back and live our own life the way we used to live it prosperously. But we, another group of people larger than they are now saying self-determination is the answer not restructuring why because when you restructure you’re still in Nigeria and those people who are killing, maiming and raping our women and daughters remain in Nigeria.

“The only solution to that is to separate from them; to have our own country where we can make laws and determine who to admit. But if we restructure, they still have the right to come to Nigeria and still perpetrate the evils they do.”

Taking exception to the violence displayed by Onitiri-Abiola’s group, who swooped on the Oyo State Government House, he said: “The ideas of the self-determination movement and Yoruba Agitation led by Modupe Onitiri-Abiola are not the same. We started the movement for the liberation of the Yoruba Nation under the existing law of the international community. People don’t seem to recognize the rights of indigenous people that there is a law that every nation that permits any nation that wants to separate from a nation they belong to now to do so.

“The movement that I lead is intellectually sophisticated. No single member of the movement, even though we are in millions, will do what Mrs Abiola-Onitiri did. She and her people are on their own. They are not part of us and we are not part of them. Our struggle for self-determination has been pursued peacefully. We started in 2019 and this is 2024. That is roughly five years now and no single record of violence. We’ll achieve self-determination peacefully.”