GENUINE REPORTER'S NEWS

By blog admin A senior lecturer in the Department of Economics, University of Abuja, Dr Ahmed Adamu, has said that the timing of the policy which places a ban on giving foreign exchange for food and fertilizer imports. While featuring as a guest on Channels Television’s  Sunrise Daily  on Friday ,  Dr Adamu said the decision is coming at a very wrong time, when the nation’s agricultural sector is not matured enough to handle such a major drift. The scholar argued that there is an already existing inflation and as such this kind of decision can trigger hyperinflation, especially if the recently removed petrol subsidy is also brought into focus. “This is happening at a time when Nigerians are not ready to boycott foreign food items because of their addiction or their attraction to foreign food items. “I think its also a wrong time because we have not built the right infrastructure and we have not supplied sufficient agricultural facilities and we have not built the entire a...

This file illustration taken on October 1, 2019 shows the logos of mobile apps Facebook and Google displayed on a tablet in Lille, France. DENIS CHARLET / AFP Facebook said Tuesday it would file a legal challenge against a Thai government order to take down a group where pro-democracy activists held discussions about the monarchy, a taboo subject in the country. A growing tide of youth-led protests has swept Thailand in recent weeks — buoyed by anger against what many regard as an illegitimate, military-aligned government and an overly powerful royal family. The private Facebook group, called “Royalist Marketplace”, was created in April and had more than a million members before it was taken down on Monday. A Facebook spokesperson told AFP the network had been “compelled” by the government to remove the group. “Requests like this are severe, contravene international human rights law, and have a chilling effect on people’s ability to express themselves,” the platform said. “We work to p...

Lebanese firefighters try to put out a fire that broke out at Beirut’s port area, on September 10, 2020. Thick black columns of smoke rose into the sky, as the army said it had engulfed a warehouse storing engine oil and vehicle tyres. ANWAR AMRO / AFP A huge fire raged in Beirut port on Thursday, sparking alarm among Lebanese still reeling from the devastating dockside explosion that disfigured the capital last month. It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze just over a month after the August 4 blast which killed more than 190 people, wounded thousands and ravaged much of the capital. Huge columns of black smoke, visible from faraway neighbourhoods, billowed above the site of the fire. Haitham, a 33-year-old worker at a company at the port, told AFP how he fled the new fire in fear. “We were working when all of a sudden they started yelling at us to get out,” he said. “There was welding going on… and a fire broke out. We don’t know what happened. A picture taken from Dbayeh,...

(FILES) In this file photo taken on February 4, 2020 United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press briefing at United Nations Headquarters in New York City. – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on May 6, 2020 called on governments around the world to specifically take into account the billions of people with disabilities in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP) The United Nations on Thursday called for an immediate “quantum leap” in funding for global programmes to combat the coronavirus and restore prosperity. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged countries to find $15 billion over the next three months to fund the ACT-Accelerator programme, a global collaboration to hunt for a vaccine and treatments led by the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO). “Either we stand together or we will be doomed,” Guterres told a virtual meeting of the ACT-Accelerator, calling the virus the “number one global security threat”. “We need...

The Premier League was put on hold since mid-March due to COVID-19 outbreak. Photo: Twitter/Premier League. The Premier League have slammed Newcastle’s claim that the organisation rejected a Saudi Arabia-backed bid to buy the troubled club. Newcastle released a statement on Wednesday that said Premier League chief executive Richard Masters had blocked the takeover and did not “act appropriately”. But the Premier League delivered a strongly worded response on Thursday that made it clear they had not pulled the plug on the deal. “The Premier League was disappointed and surprised by the Newcastle United Football Club statement regarding its potential takeover by PCP Capital Partners, the Reuben Brothers and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF),” a statement read. “The club’s assertion that the Premier League has rejected the takeover is incorrect. “The Premier League Board has, on a number of occasions, given its opinion about which entities it believes would have control over...

Serena Williams of the United States walks to her seat due to an injury in the third set during her Women’s Singles semifinal match against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus on Day Eleven of the 2020 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 10, 2020 in the Queens borough of New York City. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images/AFP Victoria Azarenka came from behind to stun Serena Williams in a three-set thriller and reach the US Open final on Thursday. The unseeded Belarusian fought back to overcome Williams, seeded third, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in 1hr 56min under the roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium. Azarenka will now play Naomi Osaka of Japan in Saturday’s final. It will be the former world number one’s first appearance in the final of a tennis major since Williams beat her in the final of the US Open in 2013. “That’s my favorite number so I guess that’s meant to be,” Azarenka said of her seven-year wait to return to a Grand Slam singles final. “I’m very grateful for this opportu...

Senate President Ahmad Lawan has assured that the National Assembly would prioritize the allocation of resources for youth development despite the present economic challenges facing Nigeria. Lawan spoke at a webinar to flag-off the training of 1000 youths in GSM phone repair, hardware, software and entrepreneurship development in Yobe State. He said the gesture of parliamentary support for youth development would be backed by further efforts to engage Nigerian youths on ways of additionally stimulating their creativity and productivity levels, so as to keep them away from getting involved in crime. “The future may however not make any meaning to them if their present is not productive. It’s why we’ll strive to surmount the challenges of limited resources to fend for this population group. This also requires creativity on how to engage them. “With a greater level of engagement for the youths, they can contribute to the economy, still in need of better productivity. Productivity is a pre...

Nigerians are complaining of the high cost of food commodities occasioned by poor purchasing power,  Daily Trust  reports. Many breadwinners interviewed on Thursday said they can no longer afford to feed their families three times a day as the prices of basic food items doubled in the past few months and their source of income dwindled. Some traders have attributed the high cost of food items to the inability of farmers to produce enough for domestic consumption while international borders remained closed. Others attributed the problem to the increase in the price of petrol and electricity tariff. The complaint came at the time President Muhammadu Buhari convoked the meeting of the National Food Security Council (NFSC) where some of the stakeholders also raised the alarm of an impending food shortage in the country and the consequences. However, some of the attendees expressed optimism of overcoming the impending danger as farmers begun to harvest their produce. Buhari at the ...

Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organisation, says the WHO will recognise and certify countries that are trans-fat-free. He said this at the virtual launch of the ‘WHO Report on Global Trans Fat Elimination 2020’. He said: “In addition to launching the second progress report today, I’m delighted to announce WHO’s plan to certify and recognize countries and their leadership for eliminating industrially produced trans-fat from their food supplies.”

he Northern Traditional Rulers’ Council has identified the absence of cordial inter-community relations in Southern Kaduna and urged the various communities to bury the hatchet to enhance peaceful co-existence in the state. This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the Executive Committee meeting of the council signed by the Emir of Gummi, Alhaji Lawal Hassan, and made available to Daily Trust yesterday in Kaduna. The communiqué identified the need for political leaders to assign special responsibilities and provide desired logistics to the traditional rulers to enable them to assist in containing the security challenges in their domains.  According to the communiqué, “The committee noted with appreciation the resolve of the state governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, to end the security challenges in Southern Kaduna and his pledge to support the Northern Traditional Rulers Council towards achieving lasting peace and stability in the state in particular and the entire North...