Universities across the country may witness strikes in 2024 due to the small budget allotted to the education sector and poor remuneration, the Academic Staff Union of Universities has said. Similarly, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation also recommended for member states, a 26 per cent benchmark allocation for the education sector. Oshodeke, however, said that ASUU was dejected when the 2024 education budget was announced to be N2.18tr or 7.9 per cent of the budget. “With this seven per cent education budget, nothing will change in the sector, it is just as we had during Buhari’s time. Tinubu during his campaign promised to increase the education budget but nothing.

Niger State government has said it will soon phase out the use of chemical fertilisers that are harmful to human consumption which also have bad effects to the soil and rather resort to the use of organic liquid fertiliser. Bawa noted that the Ministry has been holding meetings with commodity associations to sensitise them on the importance of liquid organic fertilizer,in order to gradually phase out the inorganic fertilizers in the state. According to the Commissioner, ”it was as a result of this that Nigeria crops were rejected over the years abroad as they cannot pass through the criteria of quality assurance which also affects their market value. “The government will deploy the technology in terms of land preparation which has been the challenges confronting farmers in the state, through the provision of modern tractors and accessories tailored for African markets”. “To ensure the realisation of the policies and programmes of the government the three years outstanding counterpart funds have been paid to agencies involved in value chain initiatives Fadama and ifad, the Commissioner maintained.

The Director-General of National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Professor Abdullahi Mustapha, has said biofortification in plant breeding can fight the scourge of malnutrition and also increase incomes of smallholder farmers. Maize also offers appropriate entry point being a traditional staple crop and vital food security pillar for Nigerian smallholder farmers” Professor Mustapha said. Micronutrient-dense maize integrated into regular diets will help counter recurring Vitamin A deficiencies and protein deficiencies affecting children and mothers while raising farmers’ income. “Overall, mainstreaming such improved varieties across Nigeria’s diverse agro-ecologies can profoundly impact malnutrition if policies also enable farmers’ adoption and consumption”, he said. The NABDA boss however said the generation of micronutrient-dense crops through the use of biotechnology is more cost effective, sustainable and realistic.

Nigeria witnessed another collapse of its national grid on Monday, leading to a crash in power generation from 4,032.8 megawatts around 1pm to 43.5MW at about 2pm the same day. Nigeria’s power grid witnessed series of collapses in September this year, as power consumers lambasted the managers of the system for the incessant crash of the grid. The report had showed that power generation on the grid crashed from a peak of 3,594.60 megawatts at midnight to 42.7MW by midday of September 19, 2023. Power consumers, however, kicked against the never-ending excuses of the government as regards power generation and supply in Nigeria, despite privatising the generation and distribution arms of the sector since November 2013. But the Nigerian Power Consumers Forum condemned the spate of disturbances on the national electricity grid and the fire incidents around power transmission infrastructure.

The Lagos event was organised by the National body of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), led by its president, Mr. Chris Isiguzo. In 2002, I was one of the candidates for the election of the President of the Newspaper proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN). The other two candidates were Chief Ajibola Ogunshola and Chief Sony Odogwu who were media entrepreneurs, not journalists. He told them that they needed to go out of the state, seek employment elsewhere where there is stiff competition. But working in the Sunday Times offered me the opportunity to compete directly with the Lagos media.

Nigeria may face the wrath of the International Table Tennis Federation following its absence at the 2023 World Youth Championships in Slovenia. However, the participation of Nigeria at the AYC was made possible through the support of ITTF Executive Vice President Wahid Oshodi and Vice President of Nigeria Table Tennis Federation Adesoji Tayo and friends of table tennis, who funded the trip to Morocco after pleas from NTTF that the government would refund the money spent and also sponsor the players to the WYC. A top official of ITTF, who is angry with Nigeria’s continued absence at the WYC, which most times altered the programme of the event, stated, “Apparently, Nigeria did not show up and left other doubles partners as well without playing. It is a pity, but it frequently happens with African countries, especially Nigeria, and nobody knows why they confirm participation but don’t show up for the event.”This development has drawn the ire of ITTF as there are reportedly plans to place sanctions on Nigeria. Apart from offsetting the bills accrued from their absence, their ranking would be affected while more sanctions may be in the offing for the West African nation.

Ja Morant came up against a basketball analogy during a civil trial on Monday. Morant is getting sued over a physical altercation with a teen in a pickup basketball game at his Memphis-area home in July of 2022. 5 Grizzlies player Ja Morant, demonstrates a chest pass, while testifying in Judge Carol Chumney’s courtroom. AP5 Morant, left, demonstrates to attorney Rebecca Adelman, right, how he threw a punch during a fight. APMorant is eligible to return for next Tuesday’s Grizzlies game versus the Pelicans.

No fewer than 6,000 jobs are expected to be lost as five notable companies shut their production factories in Nigeria. Preliminary checks by The PUNCH indicate that the departure of the five companies means approximately 6,000 direct and indirect jobs may have been lost. At the top of the list of factors that have influenced the exit of international firms from Nigeria is the acute scarcity of foreign exchange. The LCCI also implores the government to create a more flexible and transparent foreign exchange policy to address scarcity issues. An economist, Alias Aliyu, in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH, has voiced serious concerns regarding the widening gap between the naira and dollar exchange rates.

The Central Elections Commission said voting in March would go ahead in Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson—regions of Ukraine over which Russia still does not have full military control. Ukraine earlier urged the international community to “resolutely condemn Russia’s intention to hold presidential elections in the occupied Ukrainian territories.”. Russia has previously held elections in occupied regions of Ukraine, with votes denounced by Kyiv and the West as null and void. Moscow held ballots for local officials in the four Ukrainian regions in September. Russia unilaterally annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and has held ballots there since.

The seven kidnapped students of the Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa State, have regained their freedom. Confirming the release of the kidnapped students to journalists in Lafia on Monday, the institution’s Head of Information and Public Relations, Abubakar Ibrahim, said the students were released around 8 pm on Sunday. “Yes, the students have regained their freedom and they have been reunited with their families after medical examination and counselling”, Abubakar said. Ibrahim added that all the students had been reunited with their families after undergoing medical examinations and counselling. Meanwhile, when contacted to get the reaction of the Nasarawa State Police Command on the matter, the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ramhan Nansel, said the command was not informed about the kidnap or release of the students.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had a "frank" conversation with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on the sidelines of the inauguration of Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday (December 10). A video on the Argentine Senate's YouTube channel showed Zelenskiy and Orban conversing for about 20 seconds as they mingled with other guests in the Argentine parliament, ahead of an EU summit on Dec. 14-15, set to decide whether to start membership talks with Ukraine. " It was as frank as possible - and obviously, it was about our European affairs," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address posted on the Telegram channel early on Monday (December 11). The meeting took place against a backdrop of Orban's threatening to block more European Union financial support to Kyiv, his opposition of Ukraine's entry to the bloc and the White House intensifying its push for Kyiv aid after Republicans blocked an emergency spending bill to fund the war. Orban's press chief Bertalan Havasi confirmed the meeting in an email that did not address whether the Hungarian leader would continue to oppose Ukraine's entry to the European Union.

Benson, who sponsored the bill, said with the signing, Nigeria might become an exporter of weapons, thereby generating foreign currency. Nigeria has been involved in the Boko Haram war for a long while and the lessons learned should not be thrown away. A lot of light weapons and things that are imported into the country will now be manufactured locally. That said, the lawmaker assured Nigerians that the 2024 defence budget would be thoroughly monitored to ensure value for money. We are fashioning out a model that will ensure thorough and efficient supervision of the defence budget for implementation.

India’s top court on Monday upheld a move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to revoke the limited autonomy of Muslim-majority Kashmir, where an insurgency has raged for decades. The 2019 declaration was “a culmination of the process of integration and as such is a valid exercise of power”, the Supreme Court said in its verdict. The move was challenged by Kashmir’s pro-India political parties, the local Bar Association and individual litigants, culminating in Monday’s verdict. The court upheld removing the region’s autonomy, but said Jammu & Kashmir should be restored to the same statehood as any other Indian state — with no separate autonomy rights — “at the earliest and as soon as possible”. The court ordered state elections to take place by September 30, 2024.

WITH the US veto of the UAE draft resolution on humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, it has become clear that the solution to the current conflict in the territory may not lie with the UN. The implication of the US veto of the UAE draft resolution is that the carnage in Gaza, which started October 7, 2023, may continue unabated. Lest we forget, the primary objective of the Israeli government in invading Gaza is the complete annihilation of Hamas. It will, at best, remain a mere façade to justify the continued destruction of innocent life and infrastructure in Gaza by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). That leaves Turkiye as a possible candidate for redeeming the increasingly desperate situation in Gaza.

As the year closes, legacy automakers as well as Tesla (TSLA.O), Rivian (RIVN.O) and other EV startups are throttling back investments and reworking product strategies. Legacy automakers are appealing to policymakers for more help to offset the high costs of the EV transition, on top of billions of dollars already pumped into EV subsidies. In China, Europe and the United States - the main EV markets - electric-vehicle demand is still growing faster than demand for vehicles overall. Global EV production is on track to triple by 2030 to 33.4 million vehicles, about a third of total production, according to AutoForecast Solutions. For most legacy automakers, that has so far proven impossible.