11 passengers missing as pirates hijack boat in Rivers (Sun)
No fewer than 11 travellers are reportedly missing, as suspected pirates hijacked a passenger boat carrying about 20 travellers along the Bonny-Okrika waterways in Rivers State on Thursday.
Out of the 20 passengers onboard, the Bonny Local Government Council said it has rescued nine of them in a frantic search to rescue others missing.
Chairman of Bonny Local Government Area, Anengi Barasua Claude-Wilcox, said the rescue was in collaboration with security agencies. Read more
Obasanjo’s ex-ADC slumps, dies in Abuja (DailyTrust)
Major General Chris Jemitola (Rtd), a former Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, has passed away.
Details of Jemitola’s death are still sketchy, but he was said to have slumped at the IBB Golf Club in Abuja on Thursday morning.
Shortly after collapsing, he was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead. Read more
Abduction of General Tsiga: Fear-stricken locals flee Katsina community (Vanguard)
Following the abduction of former Director General of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, Brigadier-General Maharazu Tsiga, from his hometown, Wednesday night by suspected bandits, fear has gripped the community causing many to desert the town.
Fear-stricken members of the communities in the area were said to have been terrified with General Tsiga’s abduction that they have deserted their homes
A credible source from the community who spoke on condition of anonymity disclosed that between Thursday and Friday, over 400 residents have deserted the area. The source said, “between yesterday and today (i.e. between Thursday and Friday), 400 people have already deserted the town. General Tsiga is a big man in the town whom we all look up to. And if a general we all look up to could be abducted like that, how much more ordinary people. So, the people are terrified and that’s why they are fleeing the community”. Read more
Tinubu orders database clean-up as FG uncovers 6,000 Nigeriens with NIN (Punch)
The National Identity Management Commission has identified over 6,000 Nigeriens registered on its database with the National Identification Number.
This was as President Bola Tinubu directed an inter-ministerial committee to ensure comprehensive data for the National Social Register for the Federal Government’s social investment programmes.
Impeccable sources in the Presidency told Saturday PUNCH that the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, briefed the Federal Executive Council on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, on the activities of NIMC, an agency under his purview. Read more
Rewane: Nigeria is morgue of abandoned projects (ThisDay)
The Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited (FDC), Mr. Bismarck Rewane, has likened Nigeria to a morgue of abandoned projects and described the Highway Development Management Initiative (HDMI) that was established by the federal government to redeem the situation as an albatross of growth.
Rewane stated these in his presentation at this month’s Lagos Business School (LBS) Breakfast Session titled “Nigeria in 2025: Breakthrough or Fall through,” in which he tasked the federal government to build a resilient economy to reverse Nigeria’s diminishing relevance in the global arena.
He also warned that delay in enthroning a resilient economy would be expensive for Nigeria while inaction and doing nothing would be debilitating and destructive. Read more
Lagos boosts medicine storage, distribution (Independent)
The Lagos State Government has reaffirmed its commitment to boosting the storage and distribution of essential medicines by commissioning two upgraded Pharmagrade warehouses at the Lagos State Medical Store (LSMS) in Oshodi, ensuring efficiency and accessibility for residents.
The state-of-the-art facilities, launched last Thursday will significantly enhance the storage and distribution of essential medicines, ensuring efficiency, safety, and accessibility for Lagos residents.
Speaking at the event, Dr. (Mrs.) Kemi Ogunyemi, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, highlighted the significance of the project, describing it as a crucial step in fortifying Lagos’ healthcare supply chain. Read more
NASFAT has promoted Islamic values, community development in 30 years of existence — Babalola (Guardian)
The National Women’s Affairs Secretary of the Nasrul-Lahi-L-Fatih Society (NASFAT), Alhaja Ganiyat Babalola, has said that NASFAT, over the past 30 years of its existence, has played a significant role in promoting Islamic values and community development.
She stated this, on Friday at a special Jumat service, at the Lagos State Central Mosque, Alausa, Ikeja, to commemorate NASFAT’s 30th anniversary.
The event was led by NASFAT’s Chief Missioner, Alhaji Abdulazeez Onike, who delivered a sermon and led the Jumat prayer.During the service, NASFAT also announced that its yearly Ramadan lecture would take place on February 21, 2025. Read more
Tinubu to extend Lagos devt model across Nigeria, says SGF Akume (Leadership)
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, has assured Nigerians of the determination of President Bola Tinubu to replicate the developmental strides achieved during his tenure as the governor of Lagos State across the country in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda.
SGF gave the assurance when a powerful delegation from the Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle, Tricycle, Repairer and Riders Association of Nigeria (ACOMORAN) led by its National President, Prince Samsudeen Adebayo Apelogun, paid him a visit in Abuja.
In a statement by the director of information in the office of SGF, Segun Imohiosen, Akume said that President Tinubu was desirous to replicate the giant strides achieved in the post-1999 Lagos State at the national level in transforming all the key sectors of the economy, and should be given another chance to complete the good work he has started. Read more
Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater awkwardly react to Chelsea Handler’s Critics Choice joke she “found love with a Munchkin’’ (People)
Chelsea Handler is taking a playful jab at Ethan Slater’s Wicked character!
During her opening monologue at the 2025 Critics Choice Awards, the comedian, 49, made a joke about the actor’s relationship with Ariana Grande.
While noting how many child stars, including Grande, Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez, were making new strides in their career, Handler quipped, “And now, Ariana has even found love with a munchkin! That’s good news, everybody!” Read more
HIV/AIDS rates are sky high for Gen Z. What you should know (Ebony)
February 7 marks National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD), an observance established in 1999 to highlight the disproportionate impact of HIV on the Black community. This year’s focus is particularly crucial, as Gen Z, a generation born largely after the holiday started, faces unique challenges in HIV prevention and awareness.
While Black Americans represent only 12% of the U.S. population, they account for a staggering 40% of those living with AIDS. Even more alarming, an estimated 21% of new HIV infections occur among teens and young adults, according to a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Because many sexually active 13 to 24-year-olds often don’t realize that they’re at risk for HIV, the Gen Z generation is susceptible like never before. These are more than just numbers; these are our brothers, our sisters, our children. So, we have to ask ourselves, why? Read more
In Mississippi, systemic failures mean Black women with cervical cancer are more likely to die (19th)
Systemic failures have led Black women in the Mississippi Delta to have disproportionately high death rates from cervical cancer, a new report concludes.
The Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative for Economic & Social Justice and Human Rights Watch collaborated on the report. It is the result of publicly available information, and interviews with 49 experts and 159 Black women from Bolivar, Washington and Humphreys counties.
Oleta Fitzgerald, the initiative’s co-founder and regional administrator, explained the significance of the issue. “It is a cancer that is preventable and highly treatable if people have access to the right kind of medical professionals and screenings and the HPV vaccination,” she said. “It is also a cancer that is rampant and particularly and indiscriminately in Black women in the rural areas where we work, and there is something we can do about it.” Read more
The Doobie Brothers, Eddie Vedder, Brandi Carlile & more honor Neil Young on ‘Heart of Gold’ tribute album (Americansongwriter)
In 1994, Borrowed Tunes, a tribute album to Neil Young was released, followed more than a decade later by Borrowed Tunes II in 2007. Nearly two decades later, Brandi Carlile, Eddie Vedder, Lumineers, Sharon Van Etton, Mumford and Sons, and more united on “Heart of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young,” out April 25.
Proceeds from the album will benefit The Bridge School in Hillsborough, California. Young and his second wife Pegi, along with Jim Forderer and speech and language pathologist, Dr. Marilyn Buzolic, founded the Bridge School in 1986, a non-profit to help children with speech and physical impediments, along with an annual benefit.
On the album, Fiona Apple takes on a cover of his Harvest classic “Heart of Gold,” while Steve Earle shares a rendition of Still-Young Band era “Long May You Run.” The Doobie Brothers, joined by Allison Russell, cover the title track of Young’s 1978 album Comes A Time with Rodney Crowell going further back into Young’s catalog, to his Buffalo Springfield days with “Mr. Soul. Read more
Oscar-nominated West Bank feature director says films “can be part of change’’ (BBC)
A Palestinian and an Israeli sit in a West Bank village at night.
They wonder aloud whether Basel will ever be able to freely visit Yuval’s home in Israel, whether Basel’s village will get building permits, and whether they will one day have stability.
For years, the friends have been filming the destruction of houses, a well and a school by the Israeli army after a court order declared Basel’s community illegal. They tell each other they hope they will change that reality. Read more
‘‘Magic: The Gathering’’ Movie and TV universe underway from Legendary, Hasbro (Variety)
“Magic: The Gathering,” the trading card game played in basements around the globe since 1993, is set for major film and TV adaptations from Legendary Entertainment and Hasbro Entertainment.
The toymaker and the Hollywood mini-major behind the Godzilla and Dune franchises will create “a live-action feature film and television universe” based on the fantasy series, with an inaugural feature film first on deck. Hasbro estimates the strategy tournament represents a $1 billion piece of intellectual property, thanks to over 50 million players engaging with its fantastic worlds. Read more
Joe Hale, Disney Animation veteran and Black Cauldron producer, dies at 99 (THR)
Joe Hale, who spent 35 years as an animator, layout artist and producer at Disney and received an Oscar nomination for his effects work on the 1979 film The Black Hole, has died. He was 99.
Hale died Jan. 29 of natural causes at his home in Atascadero, California, his wife of nearly 60 years, Beverly Hale, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Hale started out as an inbetweener on Alice in Wonderland (1951) and worked on such other classics as Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955), Sleeping Beauty (1959), One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), Mary Poppins (1964), The Jungle Book (1967), The Fox and the Hound (1981), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) and Pete’s Dragon (1977). Read more
Lookman set for Atalanta return (Nation)
Super Eagles forward Ademola Lookman has returned to light training at Atalanta after sustaining a knee injury last week, Soccernet.ng reports.
Lookman was sidelined last week, just hours before Atalanta’s crucial UEFA Champions League game against Barcelona.
The Nigerian forward was expected to play a big role for La Dea in that game, but it was confirmed that he had sustained a knee injury. Injuries to the knee are always delicate, and there were fears that the 27-year-old forward would be out of action for a significant time. Read more
Iwobi: I’m yet to learn new Nigerian National Anthem (DailyTrust)
Super Eagles and Fulham midfielder, Alex Iwobi, says he is yet to learn the reintroduced Nigerian national anthem.
The newly re-adopted anthem “Nigeria, We Hail Thee” was written by Lillian Jean Williams in 1959 and composed by Frances Berda.
It was replaced by “Arise, O Compatriots” as the national anthem of Nigeria on 1 October 1978 but was reintroduced in May 2024 after President Bola Tinubu’s endorsement. Read more
Man Utd to ‘accept significant loss’ to sell striker with Euro giants on ‘pole’ for ‘discounted’ transfer (Football365)
According to reports, Manchester United are ready to ‘accept a significant loss’ to offload big-money flop Rasmus Hojlund to Serie A giants Juventus.
The Red Devils paid around £64m plus add-ons to sign Hojlund from Serie A outfit Atalanta during the 2023 summer transfer window.
United invested heavily in Hojlund after he scored ten goals in 34 appearances for the Italian side during the 2022/23 season. Read more
Arsenal to face Real Madrid in Women’s Champions League quarter-finals (RTE)
Katie McCabe and her Arsenal team-mates will need to see off the challenge of Real Madrid in the next step of their quest for Champions League glory.
Victory over the Madrid side would put Arsenal into the semi-finals of this year’s tournament, where they would play either Bayern Munich or Lyon.
Chelsea and Manchester City have been drawn against each other in the last eight. Read more
Smith joins Root on 36 Test tons as Australia dominate (BBC)
Steve Smith hit his 36th Test century as Australia dominated Sri Lanka on day two of the second Test in Galle.
Smith was 120 not out as Australia reached 330-3 at stumps, a first-innings lead of 73.
The right-hander joins England’s Joe Root and India’s Rahul Dravid on 36 Test centuries – the fifth most in history.
The 35-year-old reached the landmark in 206 innings, the second fastest behind compatriot Ricky Ponting, who made 36 centuries in 200 innings. Read more
Zak Brown calls on FIA for key changes after ‘great job’ by Verstappen (PlanetF1)
Zak Brown had plenty to say about Max Verstappen last season.
Zak Brown called on the FIA to introduce full-time stewards and less combat rules after Max Verstappen did “a great job” of understanding them.
Brown led the criticism of Verstappen’s style in his numerous encounters with Lando Norris last season but for the most part, the Dutchman played within the rules set by the FIA.
While it did spill into penalty territory, notably at Austria and Austin, Verstappen largely did exactly what he needed to do when it came to defending against Norris in the title run-in last season. Read more