THE sudden death of three members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) at different orientation camps raised fresh concerns about the safety of participants across the country. The incidents which occurred in Bayelsa, Kano and Zamfara States were illness-related. Victims were of the 2016 Batch B Stream 1. They were Chinyerum Elechi, Ifedapo Oladepo and Monday Ukene.

Since crude oil was discovered in commercial quantities in Oloibiri in today’s Bayelsa State, gas flaring has been an intractable headache in the Niger Delta.

The high prevalence of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in Nigeria originates primarily from cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) such as High Blood Pressure (HBP) or hypertension, diabetes, stroke, coronary heart diseases, and chronic obstructive airway diseases including asthma, among others.

For the eighth consecutive time, Nigeria’s national female football team, the Super Falcons, affirmed their superiority on the continent at the recently concluded African Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) where they beat Cameroon in the final. It was a record-setting victory for the team handler, Miss Florence Omagbemi, who won the trophy as a player and a coach. The coveted Cup is indeed a Christmas gift to our soccer- loving nation.

The news came like a thunderbolt, and it is almost unbelievable, at least to those who are exposed to the normal ways governments are run in other climes. Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue, Mr Babatunde Fowler, has disclosed that only 13.4 million, or about 16 per cent of an estimated population of 180 million Nigerians (out of which about 80 per cent are adults) pay their taxes.