CBN, banks working to end new naira scarcity, says Buhari (Nation)
The scarcity of new naira notes will soon end, President Muhammadu Buhari assured Nigerians on Saturday.
He said the Central Bank and commercial banks were working to resolve the challenges.
“A number of initiatives by the Central Bank and all commercial banks are underway to speed up distribution of the new notes and do all that is necessary to forestall cash squeeze and chaos,” the President said in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu. Read more
PVCs: Utomi urges INEC to extend January 29 deadline (Guardian)
Prof..Pat Utomi, the Convener Big Tent Coalition for Obi-Datti at the National Flag Off of Clean Up Nigeria Project on Saturday in Lagos
The Prof. Pat Utomi-led Big Tent Coalition of political parties and civil society groups for Obi-Datti has appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to extend the Jan. 29 deadline for collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the group is rooting for the Presidential ambition of the Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Mr Peter Obi and his running mate, Dr Yusuf Datti.
Utomi made this clarion call on Saturday at the Big Tent’s grassroots engagement for the ObiDatti movement with another round of the ‘Clean-Up Nigeria Project’ in Lagos to promote a culture of cleanliness of mind, body and environment. Read more
Polls: Filmmaker calls out actresses for not supporting Funke Akindele (Leadership)
Filmmaker, Austin Faani, the spouse of popular Nollywood actress Chacha Eke-Faani has called out Nollywood actresses for not supporting their colleague Funke Akindele at the forthcoming elections.
The Jenifa Diary star, Akindele is currently vying for the position of the deputy governor of Lagos State under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Faani went a step further to state his trust that the actress will deliver on her mandate should she be win the seat to the second in command to the state. Read more
Surulere Attack: APC accuses Jandor of unleashing terror on Lagosians (Independent)
The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abdul-Azeez Adediran, popularly called Jandor if unleashing terror on innocent Lagosians.
The ruling party in a press statement signed by Hon. Seye Oladejo,Lagos State APC spokesperson noted that its attention has been drawn to the terror unleashed on innocent and law abiding citizens of Lagos State by the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP, Jandor in the course of his campaign in Surulere Local Government Area of Lagos State.
According to Oladejo the incident left several injured victims in its wake and three people reportedly died. Read more
Sanwo-Olu signs N1.76t Lagos ‘‘Budget of Continuity’’ (ThisDay)
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, yesterday signed the state’s N1.768 trillion “Budget of Continuity” into law, to consolidate the development strides of his administration and satisfy the yearnings of the residents.
The governor said the fiscal document would not only “aggressively” focus on completing ongoing capital projects, it would also expand intervention programmes and intensify social support to citizens and their means of livelihoods.
The budget was signed at a brief ceremony held at the Governor’s Office in Alausa.
Sanwo-Olu said the spendings would further demonstrate his Government’s determination to scale up good governance and quality service to the citizens through the T.H.E.M.E.S Agenda, stressing that the budget would propel the state to higher levels of fiscal growth and social development. Read more
Osun: Tribunal judgement mocks law and facts — Hon. Salam (Tribune)
The lawmaker representing Ede North, Ede South, Egbedore, Ejigbo Federal Constituency, Hon. Bamidele Salam has described the majority judgment of the judgement of the Osun State election petition tribunal as completely strange and a total deviation from established principles of electoral jurisprudence in Nigeria.
In his official reaction to the judgement via a statement made available to Nigerian Tribune, Hon. Salam said: “I have read this judgement and the dissenting one with the eyes of a Lawyer.
“The judgement is totally against the weight of evidence and facts presented in open court. It is also a clear and unfortunate departure from many decisions of superior courts of record. To say the least, this judgement mocks both the law and the facts of the case”. Read more
Cash swap: CBN deploys 200 agents in Jigawa (Guardian)
Barely three days to Jan. 31 deadline for old naira exchange, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has engaged 200 agents to fast track its cash swap policy in Jigawa.
The CBN on Monday embarked on a currency swap programme in rural communities as part of plans to phase out old naira notes and enhance collection of new bank notes.
The programme is being implemented by the CBN official monitors and Deposit Money Banks (DMBs). Read more
Lift employment embargo to address shortage of man-power, ABU urges FG (Vanguard)
Prof. Kabiru Bala, Vice Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State, has said the serious shortage of manpower in academic units is negatively impacting the excellence in teaching, research and community service.
The vice-chancellor made the remark during the institution’s 42nd convocation ceremony in Zaria on Saturday.
According to Bala, the challenge resulted from government policies and embargo on employment. “Therefore, we call on the federal government to lift the embargo on recruitment for universities to address the widening gaps. Read more
Linkin Park tease major announcement with Limewire virus-themed countdown (Metro)
Linkin Park are teasing a major announcement – and poking fun at themselves at the same time.
The influential rockers were one of the biggest bands in the world for years, with absolutely massive mainstream hits including In The End, Numb and What I’ve Done.
However things changed utterly in July 2017 when frontman Chester Bennington died suddenly; multiple foundations have since been set up in his name, including the One More Light Fund and 320 Changes Direction. Read more
Rotterdam selection Follower tackles radicalization of Indian youth (Variety)
The burning and very current topic of radicalization of Indian youth is the core subject of Harshad Nalawade’s “Follower.”
The film has its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Focus: The Shape of Things to Come? strand that asks if the institutional success of what used to be right-wing Hindu nationalist groups but are now mainstream, and the persecution of dissenting voices, is a sign of the shape of things to come.
The project was a work-in-progress lab selection at South Asia’s top film market, Film Bazaar, in 2021, and participated in the Film Bazaar Goes to Cannes initiative at the Marche du Film in 2022. Read more
Venezuela former chief justice indicted in US for money laundering (Euronews)
Venezuela’s former chief justice Maikel Moreno has been indicted on money laundering charges related to bribe payments he allegedly received in exchange for influencing court decisions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Southern District of Florida said.
Moreno allegedly took over $10 million in bribes and used the funds to purchase or renovate real estate in Tuscany, Italy, and Miami, among other places, according to a statement late on Thursday.
“During his tenure on the Supreme Court, Moreno received bribes in exchange for influencing actions in criminal cases, including dismissing criminal charges and arrest warrants or ordering home confinement for charged defendants,” according to the statement. Read more
Yes sell rights to Atlantic catalogue in deal with Warner Music Group (NME)
Yes have sold the rights to their recorded music catalogue under Atlantic Records – comprising their first 12 studio albums, as well as various live recordings and compilation albums – to Warner Music Group (WMG).
As reported by Variety, the legendary prog-rockers’ deal comprised a total of 29 albums. It spans all of their studio efforts from 1969’s self-titled debut through to 1987’s ‘Big Generator’, as well as live albums like ‘Yesterdays’ (1975) and ‘Yesstory’ (1992), and a handful of compilations like ‘Highlights: The Very Best of Yes’ (1993) and ‘Yes Remixes’ (2003).
In a statement, the band said of the occasion: “The entire Yes family came together and worked enthusiastically with Warner Music Group to secure this historic deal, ensuring that these iconic recordings will continue to be curated in the optimum manner to delight their fans across more than five decades, while also finding and developing new audiences for this timeless music.” Read more
Google’s new AI turns text into music (TheVerge)
Google researchers have made an AI that can generate minutes-long musical pieces from text prompts, and can even transform a whistled or hummed melody into other instruments, similar to how systems like DALL-E generate images from written prompts (via TechCrunch). The model is called MusicLM, and while you can’t play around with it for yourself, the company has uploaded a bunch of samples that it produced using the model.
The examples are impressive.
There are 30-second snippets of what sound like actual songs created from paragraph-long descriptions that prescribe a genre, vibe, and even specific instruments, as well as five-minute-long pieces generated from one or two words like “melodic techno.” Perhaps my favorite is a demo of “story mode,” where the model is basically given a script to morph between prompts. Read more
Sacramento R&B festival announces star-studded artist lineup for 2-day concert (SacBee)
Grammy-nominated artistes Brent Faiyaz and Kehlani are among the headliners at Sol Blume, a two-day R&B festival in Sacramento that’s expected to draw tens of thousands of people to Discovery Park this spring.
The star-studded lineup includes Teyana Taylor, Jacquees, Coco Jones, Ella Mai, Joey Bada$$, Isaiah Rashad, Jessie Reyez, Chloe Bailey of musical sister-duo Chloe x Halle, among many others.
Several Northern California artists will perform, too, such as Kehlani, LaRussell, Noodles, Thuy, Christian Kuria, Marc E Bassy, and Samaria. Read more
Dolly Parton has Elton, McCartney and Stevie Nicks on upcoming rock album. But she still wants Jagger (USAToday)
Dolly Parton doesn’t miss many opportunities.
So when the newly minted Rock & Roll Hall of Famer – who initially balked at being inducted into a shrine labeled “rock” – acquiesced and accepted the honor in November, it also sparked an idea.
If the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame wants Dolly, then Dolly will give the world some rock ‘n’ roll.
Who is singing on Dolly’s new rock album?
Her double album “Rock Star” – “a tongue in cheek title,” Parton tells USA TODAY with a giggle – is expected in late summer/early fall and the anticipated 28 tracks are stuffed with marquee names, many of them one-word recognizables (Elton, McCartney, Miley, Fogerty). Read more
Rwanda arrests 6 for insulting trailblazing female football ref (Barron’s)
Rwandan authorities on Saturday said they had arrested six people for allegedly hurling insults at a woman who made history as one of the first female referees chosen for the men’s World Cup.
Offensive slurs were repeatedly chanted at Salima Mukansanga by fans from Kiyovu Football Club as she refereed their 0-0 draw against Gasogi United on January 20 in Nyamata, south of Kigali.
Thierry Murangira, spokesman for the Rwanda Investigative Bureau (RIB), told AFP that three women and three men were arrested on Thursday.
“Those arrested are being investigated for hurling insults in public and for discrimination,” Murangira said. Read more
Nigeria ranked 5th in 2022 World transfer market (Punch)
A total of 725 Nigerian players were involved in the winter and summer transfer windows in 2022 which accounted for the fifth highest global transfer in the world, Saturday PUNCH reports.
Ghana and Ivory Coast are the other African teams (with a total of 515 players 428 movements) in the top 10.
The transfers involving these Nigerian players during that period commanded a total of $104.2m, which is the 19th highest in the world according to a document released by world governing body, FIFA. Read more
FA Cup wrap: Leeds ease through, Leicester toil at Walsall (RTE)
Leeds avoided another FA Cup upset by winning 3-1 at Accrington Stanley to reach the fifth round for just the fourth time in 20 years.
Jack Harrison’s stunning strike gave the Premier League side an interval lead and two goals in as many second-half minutes from Junior Firpo and Luis Sinisterra killed the tie.
But it was not all plain sailing for Jesse Marsch’s side and Sky Bet League One side Accrington deservedly pulled one back through teenage substitute Leslie Adekoya’s first senior goal. Read more
Mikel Arteta praises immediate impact of Leandro Trossard at Arsenal (Standard)
Mikel Arteta has praised the impact of new Arsenal signing Leandro Trossard after his impressive start to life at the club.
Trossard joined Arsenal in a £27million deal from Brighton last week and has made an immediate impact.
The 28-year-old was involved in the build-up to Eddie Nketiah’s winner in the 3-2 win over Manchester United on his debut, and he then produced an assured display on his first start in Friday’s 1-0 FA Cup defeat at Manchester City. Read more
Australian Open: Aryna Sabalenka defeats Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina to win her maiden Grand Slam title (Sky)
Aryna Sabalenka won her maiden Grand Slam title as she battled back to beat Elena Rybakina in a thrilling Australian Open final on Saturday.
Belarusian Sabalenka seized the initiative after dropping the opening set to win 4-6 6-3 6-4 and thus becomes the first singles player to win a major under a neutral flag.
After receiving the trophy from Billie Jean King, Sabalenka said: “Thank you for an amazing atmosphere. And of course my team, the craziest team on tour I would say. We’ve been through a lot of downs last year, we worked so hard. You guys deserve this trophy, it’s more about you than me. I love you guys. Read more
Max Verstappen doesn’t want Daniel Ricciardo to do his simulator work for him (PlanetF1)
Max Verstappen may be reunited with former team-mate Daniel Ricciardo but does not want to rely on the Australian’s sim work.
One of the sport’s best pairings has been reunited for 2023, even if Ricciardo is in a third driver role, but there remains speculation as to what that will entail for the Australian.
Red Bull have hinted he will be used in promotional events, similar to the role David Coulthard has played in recent years, but that he will also help the team’s F1 preparations with work in the simulator. Read more