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*For Years, The Budget Hovered Below The 15% Abuja Declaration Target Agreed By AU; It Is One Of Lowest Per Capita On Health In Africa “Nigeria remains in a polycrisis: an economic/cost of living crisis, a security crisis, a human capital development crisis, a human development crisis. All four feed on and amplify each other.” These are the words of Senior Analyst at the Lagos office of Control Risks, a risk consultancy, Joachim MacEbong, according to the Guardian UK. In February, Nigerians were shocked when the Health Minister, Muhammad Ali Pate, lamented that of the N218b (£119.6m) budget allocated for…

Today, United States (US) and Israel launched a joint preemptive military operation against Iran, deploying a vast array of advanced air, naval and missile systems. Israel's Operation Roaring Lion and the US-led Operation Epic Fury struck Iranian military and nuclear-linked sites, triggering a sweeping Iranian retaliation,tagged Operation Promise-3, across the region. The joint operation marked a major escalation in US military involvement in Iran and came amid mounting tensions over Tehran's nuclear programme and internal unrest. Iran responded with missile and drone barrages toward Israel, followed by attacks on US military facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, signalling a conflict…

By Cheta Nwanze The death from a snakebite of singer Ifunanya Nwangene in an Abuja hospital last Saturday, allegedly after a frantic and failed search for antivenom, sent a familiar shudder through Nigeria. It was a profoundly personal tragedy, yet it felt grimly systemic. Within days, it became part of a devastating triad of events framing a national crisis. A few weeks before, the country had grappled with the death of novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s young son in a premium private hospital in Lagos, amid allegations of negligence. Just before that, there were the images of boxer Anthony Joshua, after…

Donald Trump went on a massive social media spree overnight that included posting on his Truth Social an election conspiracy video that ended with a clip depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys. The racist depiction of the Obamas – the first Black President and First Lady in American history – appears at the end of a one-minute video perpetuating the false and disproven claims that ballot-counting company Dominion Voting Systems helped steal the 2020 presidential election from Trump. The company in 2023 settled for $787.5m with Fox News in a landmark defamation lawsuit.…

In a last message to her friends, Ifunanya Nwangene wrote: “Please come.” The 26-year-old singer and former contestant on The Voice Nigeria had been bitten by a snake while asleep in her flat in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, and was in hospital, anxiously awaiting treatment. Despite rushing to seek care, Nwangene died a few hours after being bitten, as her friend waited at a pharmacy to buy the antivenom she needed. As the news of her death on 31 January spread, it has sparked a fierce row over the ready availability of drugs needed to treat deadly snakebites in Nigeria’s hospitals.…

Makoko’s waterfront stilt settlements were razed with little warning amid government claims that the move was essential for sanitation and security. By Valentine Benjamin, The Guardian UK It was 12.30pm when amphibious excavators escorted by armed police roared through Makoko, crushing wooden shacks built on stilts. “It was the second time this year,” says Augustine Agpoko, 42, a fisher and father of eight whose six-bedroom bungalow was demolished on 16 January. Like many of his neighbours, Agpoko was already dismantling his home piece by piece in an attempt to save some of the materials before the machines arrived. “I was…

By Lidia Bastianich I traveled to US to highlight food. What I found was community. When I came to the United States as a young refugee, my family had very little – except for the kindness of the neighbors who welcomed us. They brought us food, helped my mother find work and reminded us, in a new and uncertain world, that we were not alone. Those early experiences shaped my life and my cooking. And memories of them came rushing back as I traveled across the country this year filming my new PBS special. In every place I visited –…

"This town is truly beautiful at night now. Kai, the sight is so eye-catching. I'm pleased with this. Look at the streetlights on this street, all working perfectly; they weren't like this before. God Almighty bless the government agency that handled this." An obviously enthralled Emeka Felix uttered these words to his colleague as both leisurely trekked to the nearest bus stop at Apo Bridge from where they hoped to catch a vehicle to Mararaba, a bustling commercial hub in neighbouring Nasarawa State,where they reside. Time: 11.50pm. Mararaba, the closest Nasarawa town to Abuja, the nation's capital, is, barring gridlocks…