The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, on Saturday, said the federal government has created a N25bn youth fund as part of efforts to address the dissatisfaction of #EndSARS protesters and other youth-related restiveness in the country. The minister made this known at a stakeholders’ meeting with the Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Dr Hadiza Balarabe, in Kaduna on Saturday. According to Ahmed, the meeting was in line with the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari to ministers and governors to dialogue with stakeholders and the youths with a view to addressing their agitations. The minister, who explained that the youth fund would be increased to N75bn within a period of three years, explained that the fund aims to support youths to actualise their entreprene...
The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has ordered the immediate mobilisation of all police operational resources to bring an end to the wanton violence, killings, looting and destruction of public and private property across the country. The IGP said this according to a statement by the Force Public relations Officer, Frank Mba. According to Mr Mba, the directive by the IGP is to reclaim the public space from hoodlums who have operated almost freely in many states. Vandals have attacked public and private property, especially those belonging to politicians, since Tuesday when soldiers shot at unarmed protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos. In many states, warehouses holding food aid meant for residents during the COVID-19 lockdown have been broken into and looted. The IGP, a...
Foo Fighters will headline “I Will Vote”, a benefit concert supporting Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and other Democratic candidates running for office in 2020. “Music has the power to change the world. So does voting,” Foo Fighters wrote in a tweet announcing their participation in the event. “Join us and many other performers for a concert to support @JoeBiden, @KamalaHarris, and Democrats down the ballot.” The virtual concert takes place Sunday, October 25th at 8:00 p.m. ET. Other scheduled performers include Dave Matthews, P!NK, John Legend, Cher, Ciara, A$AP Ferg, Jennifer Hudson, and Jon Bon Jovi, among others. Additionally, the event promises a number of special guests, including Joe and Jill Biden, Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Billy Porter, the cast of Queer Eye f...
A policeman and six members of the Boko Haram terrorist group have been killed in a gunfight in Yobe State. The spokesman for the State Police Command, Dungus Abdulkarim, confirmed the incident and those killed to newsmen on Saturday, hours after it occurred. He, however, said the police were gathering more information (at the time of this report) to give a definite number of casualties. This followed an evening attack by the insurgents on Babban Gida community – the headquarters of Tarmuwa Local Government Area of Yobe State. Local sources told newsmen that the assailants drove into the community in four Toyota Hilux vehicles around 4pm and started shooting sporadically. Although the military has yet to speak about the incident, newsmen sighted the mobilisation of heavy military hardware ...
Reuters Marcus Rashford has launched an online petition calling on the United Kingdom government to provide free school meals for more children. In June, the Manchester United striker successfully lobbied the government to extend its policy of providing free school meals for underprivileged children into the summer months through the school holidays. The 22-year-old also partnered with FareShare and helped to raise £20million to help provide free meals to those in need amid the coronavirus pandemic, while he has since worked with supermarkets and food brands to create a taskforce with the aim of tackling child food poverty. Rashford’s work in helping to tackle child hunger led to the England international being awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, after which he vowed to continu...
File Photo The Christian Association of Nigeria has described as untrue, reports that its National Secretariat and National Ecumenical Centre had been set on fire by hoodlums who have hijacked the #EndSARS protests against police brutality. The General Secretary of CAN, Joseph Daramola, stated this in a chat with newsmen on Saturday night. He said, “Nothing happened. It’s not true, I’m just coming out of the office. The time now is 08:27pm. I’m just in my car driving back to my house. They said it came from AIT.” The Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council, Cornelius Omonokhua, also clarified that the report was “a false alarm.” “It’s not true, it’s a false alarm. As I speak, the General Secretary of CAN is in the office; there’s nothing like that. It’s a false alarm, th...
Today (October 24) is Vote Early Day, and MTV’s been celebrating with the Vote For Your Life Stream digital event, encouraging folks to get out there and cast their ballots. It’s a commemoration loaded with music performances and an onslaught of celeb appearances — and no civic duty-themed broadcast would be complete without Captain America himself, Chris Evans, working in partnership with actor Mark Kassen. The actors joined a video chat with students from the civic engagement program A Starting Point (ASP), run through the democracy-engaging organization Close Up, to ask an important question to young people who are getting the vote out for the very first time in 2020: “What’s the issue that inspired you guys to vote this year?” The answers, of course, were ...