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.”

The University of East Anglia, located in Norwich, UK, has announced scholarships worth £33,150 (N44.3 million) and transportation cost of £4000 (N5.3 million) to Nigerians seeking masters programmes. 

According to the information on the school website, the funding opportunity is the David Sainsbury Scholarships in Global Plant Health, which is fully funded for students planning to travel to the UK for study. 

The offer by the University of East Anglia is hugely available for Nigerians and other foreign students willing to do their masters programmes under scholarships, covering travel expenses. 

The applications from its David Sainsbury Scholarships in Global Plant Health is for candidates wishing to undertake an MSc in Plant Health at the University of East Anglia in the 2024/2025 academic year. 

Among other benefits catered for in the scholarship at the University of East Anglia are tuition fee, living stipends and transportation allowance.  

The scholarship offers funding to the tune of £33,150 (N44.3 million) and transportation costs of £4000 (N5.3 million). 

Interested candidates must first apply and be accepted into the University of East Anglia beforebeing considered for the scholarships, the school website said.

The information on UEA website reads, “Provided you meet the eligibility criteria, you will automatically be considered for the scholarship, on a competitive basis – no separate application is required. 

“You will be evaluated for the scholarship based on the same criteria used to evaluate your application to enrol on the course.  

“The criteria are: academic achievement and academic awards together with knowledge/experience/potential of molecular biology, genetics, molecular interactions, data science such as bioinformatics and statistics, laboratory skills, and independent study.” 

Addressing interested Nigerian applicants, it says, “All self-funded Nigerian students applying to a Master’s course at UEA starting in September 2024 will automatically be awarded the UEA Nigeria Award scholarship.  

“The scholarship is worth £4,000 – if you meet UEA entry requirements, £5,000 – if your final undergraduate grade is a CGPA 4.1 and above. Amounts will be deducted from your tuition fees, in line with terms and conditions.”

The applications for the scholarship are currently open and expected to close on May 31, 2024. 

The University of East Anglia (UEA) was founded in 1963 and is located in Norwich, a historic city in the east of England.

U.S. prosecutors are seeking an above-guidance sentence of 36 months for the former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance on charges of enabling money laundering, according to a sentencing memorandum out late Tuesday.

The memorandum, which was filed with the court for the western district of Washington, states that Zhao should serve a higher sentence than suggested under advisory guidelines to “reflect the gravity of his crimes.”

Under advisory guidelines, Zhao’s sentencing would come in at a range of 12 to 18 months in prison. 

“A custodial sentence of 36 months — twice the high end of the Guidelines range — would reflect the seriousness of the offense, promote respect for law, afford adequate deterrence, and be sufficient but not greater than necessary to achieve the goals of sentencing,” U.S. prosecutors said.

Zhao is accused of willfully failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering program as required by the Bank Secrecy Act, and of effectively allowing Binance to process transactions involving proceeds of unlawful activity, including transactions between Americans and individuals in sanctions jurisdictions.

Binance has separately been sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over the alleged mishandling of customer assets and the operation of an illegal, unregistered exchange in the U.S.

The U.S., which separately accuses Binance and Zhao of violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act and sanctions on Iran, ordered Binance to pay $4.3 billion in fines and forfeiture. Zhao agreed to pay a $50 million fine.

Zhao stepped down as Binance’s CEO in November last year after reaching this plea and was replaced by the former Abu Dhabi markets regulator’s chief, Richard Teng.

Zhao was not immediately available for comment when contacted via social media platform X. Binance has yet to respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Prosecutors say Zhao violated U.S. law on an “unprecedented scale,” and that he had a “deliberate disregard” for Binance’s legal responsibilities.

In the memorandum Tuesday, prosecutors said under Zhao’s control, Binance operated on a “Wild West” model.

“Zhao bet that he would not get caught, and that if he did, the consequences would not be as serious as the crime,” the memorandum stated.

“But Zhao was caught, and now the Court will decide what price Zhao should pay for his crimes.”

Zhao’s official sentencing is expected to take place April 30.

Should the proposed Executive bill be passed, politicians found guilty of tax evasion will be barred from seeking elective offices.

The plan was made known yesterday by chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee Taiwo Oyedele. 

He said an amendment to an existing tax law will be sent to the National Assembly to ensure tax compliance and prevent default by the political class.

Oyedele, who spoke at the 2024 strategic retreat for staff of the Joint Tax Board (JTB) in Abuja, outlined key reforms on tax compliance among politicians and the plan to set up a national tax amnesty programme.

He said a proposed amendment to the existing tax law would disqualify those who fail to meet their tax obligations from running for political office.

Oyedele said: “We’re moving beyond a tax clearance certificate, which can be easily obtained. Effective compliance involves a thorough examination of tax declarations, filings, and payments to determine if a candidate is genuinely fulfilling his tax responsibilities as outlined in the constitution.

“This issue arose during the last election. The argument was that the constitution doesn’t explicitly list tax compliance as a qualification criterion. We’re rectifying this oversight to ensure financial responsibility among those seeking public office.”

Oyedele unfolded plans for a tax amnesty programme later this year titled: the “Voluntary Disclosure or Declaration Program.”

Emphasising the JTB’s role in the initiative, he said: “The term ‘amnesty’ can have negative connotations. However, the core objective is to encourage tax compliance. The JTB, as the leading tax coordination body, is perfectly positioned to spearhead this programme.”

Oyedele reflected on the previously implemented Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) programme, implemented previously, saying that “VAIDS could have achieved greater success if the JTB had been placed at the forefront, rather than acting as one stakeholder among many.”

He added: “I recall a JTB meeting where I asked for a live response to the question of how many members supported VAIDS. To my surprise, over 50% indicated their disapproval. This wasn’t about a lack of desire to collect taxes from evaders; it was about disagreement with the government’s approach.”

“This time around, we’ll adopt a different strategy, ensuring not only the JTB’s involvement but also the collaboration of all stakeholders. We’ll work together to co-create a solution that addresses everyone’s concerns.”

Oyedele also highlighted the proposed reforms that will transform the JTB’s role.

He said: “We all recognise that the JTB’s mandate goes beyond personal income tax. The current reform package includes a draft law to replace the traditional tax return system. This will pave the way for the establishment of a new entity with a broader scope.

“The name will change, but the JTB’s core function will remain: to coordinate and harmonize all taxes and levies, not just personal income tax. It’s vital that you begin preparing for this new operating environment that’s just around the corner.”

JTB Secretary OlusegunAdesokan emphasized the need for adaptation, saying: “Our domestic tax ecosystem is undergoing significant reforms. The JTB, with its critical role in tax administration, needs to be positioned to seize the opportunities that this transformation presents.”

He added: “Achieving this goal requires the JTB Secretariat staff to embrace a culture of collaboration and innovation. By fully comprehending their evolving roles within this new dispensation, they will ensure the JTB’s continued success.”