United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has appealed to countries across the globe to make recovery for people, the planet, and prosperity their resolution for 2022. He made the appeal in his New Year message, stressing the need for countries to come together and make recovery for people and the planet their priority as the world continues to recuperate from the COVID-19 pandemic. “The world welcomes 2022 with our hopes for the future being tested by deepening poverty and worsening inequality … an unequal distribution of COVID vaccines … climate commitments that fall short, and by ongoing conflict, division, and misinformation,” the UN scribe lamented in an article published on Tuesday. For him, these are “not just policy tests”, but “moral and real-life tests,” describing them as exams that all of humanity can pass “if we commit to making 2022 a year of recovery for everyone. Guterres, who went further to highlight how best the recovery should be done on each front, believ...

  South African anti-apartheid icon, Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu,  has died in Cape Town. He was 90. “The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement. A tireless activist, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for combatting white minority rule in his country. Famously outspoken, even after the fall of the racist apartheid regime, Tutu never shied away from confronting South Africa’s shortcomings or injustices. It was Tutu who coined and popularised the term “Rainbow Nation” to describe South Africa when Nelson Mandela became the country’s first black president.

  The Federal Government through the Ministry of Transportation has in the spirit of Christmas declared passenger trains across the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) system free of charge during the period. According to a communique from the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), this gesture is to enable Nigerians travel and celebrate Christmas. The spokesman for the corporation, Yakub Mahmood, said passengers trains on both standard and narrow gauge lines, which include Abuja to Kaduna, Lagos to Ibadan, Warri to Itakpe, Kano to Lagos, Minna to Kaduna, Abba to Port Harcourt routes are now all free from today Friday 24th December 2021 to Tuesday 4th January 2022 inclusive. The NRC also pointed out that all valued customers must be complied with but not paid, while COVID-19 protocols also must be strictly observed on board. While wishing all Nigerians a happy Christmas and prosperous New Year, the corporation appealed to them to use the Federal Government’s kind gesture to pray for t...

  The Ooni’s Director of Media and Public Affairs, Moses Olafare, was quoted by Vanguard as saying, "This is not the first time such rumours had been peddled. There was a time it was reported that she left the palace and the next thing, she gave birth. So, the story is not true and it should not be taken seriously.” Earlier on Thursday, the wife of Ooni of Ife Olori Naomi Silekunola,  in a post on her Instagram page, said she will no longer be referred to as wife to the Ooni of Ife or as Queen of Ile-Ife but as the Queen of the people and mother of my adorable Prince.” She explained that she tried to make her marriage work and smiled through the struggle, but realised that she had just one assignment which is her son. “I bless the Lord almighty for His faithfulness in the last 3 years of my marriage. In life’s journey, it isn’t how far. Still, how well, indeed though satan should buffet if trials should come, I have this blessed assurance controlling all situations and saying ...

  President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the renewed killings by gunmen in Kaduna State. According to a statement signed by Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity on Sunday, President Buhari, particularly condemned the gruesome incidents in Kauran Fawa, Marke and Ruhiya of Idasu Ward of Giwa Local Government Area, saying he was really saddened by them. The President’s reaction came shortly after his return from Istanbul on Sunday. Bandits within the week had also killed residents in Zangon Kataf, Chikun, Birnin Gwari, Igabi and Kauru local governments of the state. He also extended his condolences to the Government of Kaduna State and the people in the affected local governments. In addition, he also sent the nation’s condolences to the people of Zonkwa Chiefdom and the family of His Highness Nuhu Bature, the Agwam Kajju on his demise. He prayed for the repose of the souls of the deceased. Speaking further, President Buhari affirmed that...

  A Georgia police department has advised families who have guns to secure their weapon  after a deadly accidental shooting.  A toddler found a loaded gun and pulled the trigger, killing a man in a Savannah residential area, according to police.  It happened Sunday, Dec. 5, and the victim was a 25-year-old man, Savannah Police Department said in a news release. “Officers responded to the 100 block of E. 64th Street around 5:30 p.m. for a shooting and discovered Dustin Walters suffering from a gunshot wound,” police said. “He was transported to Memorial Medical Center, where he died as a result of his injuries.” Details of the shooting were not released until Dec. 14, when police revealed their investigation centered around a child. “The preliminary investigation determined that Walters was wounded when a toddler, who was just under 2 years of age, found and fired the handgun, striking Walters,” police said. Investigators are calling the shooting “accidental.” Police ...

    Vincent Ayigor. A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has convicted and sentenced a dubious oil  industrialist  Dr. Vincent Ayigor, to a total number of 175 years imprisonment for duping an American, Joseph Crews, the sum of $629,287 in a crude oil supply scam. The suspect was convicted  after he was found guilty of all the 25 charges brought against him by the Port Harcourt Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). According to EFCC’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, Ayigor was arraigned, alongside his company, Vanyigor Concepts Limited, before Justice M. A. Liman of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt on December 7, 2016, on 25-count charges bordering on conspiracy, uttering, forgery and obtaining money by false pretences. Justice A. T. Mohammed, however, sentenced and convicted Ayigor on Wednesday, December 8, 2021. In his judgment, Justice Mohammed found Anyigor guilty of all the 25 charges, convi...