DONALD OTITO

Pope Francis, on his return flight from Baghdad, reviewed his four-day trip to Iraq and criticised the treatment of women. The plane with the Vatican delegation that had been vaccinated against COVID-19 and more than 70 journalists landed in Rome on Monday afternoon. Speaking to journalists during the flight, the 84-year-old denounced the treatment of women on the occasion of International Women’s Day, which fell on Monday. The head of the Catholic Church said he could not believe it when he was shown lists of women offered for sale, just as the terrorist militia Islamic State had done with Yezidis. Human trafficking was taking place everywhere and also in the centre of Europe, he said. In Rome, he had met with women who had been exploited and abused. “Women are more courageous than men, that’s the way it is,” the Argentinian pontiff noted. The tight programme with journeys across Iraq had been exhausting for him, the pope said. The ruins of houses of worship in the city of Mosul, dest...

US-based Ernest Makulilo has offered sponsorship to move Charles Mbena to boarding school, pay fees and fund his parents to start an income-generating project. Legit.ng

…say Togo, Ghana, S/Africa far better … bemoan medical tourism by elites …rate infant, maternal mortality high … launch N10bn project implementation funds to improve healthcare delivery system By Levinus Nwabughiogu Harsh living conditions in Nigeria have now put life expectancy at 54 years, the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGMPN) has said. The association rated countries like Togo, Ghana and South Africa ahead of Nigeria in the expectancy. Address a press conference in Abuja yesterday, the President of the association, Dr Iyke Do said anyone who beats the age would have broken the jinx. He however said that respite was underway if the government and all the stakeholders can come together to reinvent the healthcare sector. Odo regretted the backwardness and infrastructural dilapidation in the country, saying that hitherto, Ghanaians, Saudi Arabians and Indians had Nigeria as their destination for healthcare deliveries. He said: “Anywhere you go i...

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that anyone found wielding an AK47 assault rifle be shoot at sight, a development many have compared to a similar order given by former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo during his tenure (1999-2003) as president, against the Oodua People’s Congress, OPC, members. Obasanjo’s order against the OPC was necessitated as a result of series of accusations bothering on extra-judicial killings, unlawful arrest and detention of citizens, and other vices allegedly trailing the activities of the OPC members. Recall that the OPC was established to stem the tides of robbery incidents which were prevailing at almost every nook and corners of the south-west region at that time. But unlike President Buhari’s order against a wide group of unscrupulous elements “cashing out on kidnapping, banditry and indiscriminate killings, the OPC were not into kidnapping nor ethnic war, what they did was that they took laws into their hands harassing people everywhere in the n...

Bournemouth forward Arnaut Danjuma has attracted the attention of Nigerian football chiefs as they hope to convince him to dump Dutch team for Super Eagles. Legit.ng

By Charly Agwam – Bauchi There was tension on Monday as a vehicle conveying ten members of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) in the convoy of the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed was involved in a road accident. Vanguard reports that in the accident which was witnessed by our reporter, the Hilux Toyota van somersaulted twice after losing control for lack of good visibility which was caused as a result of dust on the road which is currently under construction. Although the somersaulted vehicle was rescued by the combined effort of people in the convoy, one of the ten policemen involved in the accident was said to be unconscious and have been rushed to a nearby hospital in Bununu, the headquarters of Tafawa Balewa local government area, for medical treatment. Governor Mohammed was on an inspection tour of projects awarded by his administration across the state and was at the Tafawa Balewa local government axis when the incident occurred. No loss of life has been confirmed as of the time...

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala takes over the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Monday amid hopes that she will spur the beleaguered body into addressing its towering challenges, including the pandemic-fuelled global economic crisis. “The WTO is too important to allow it to be slowed down, paralysed and moribund,” the first woman and first African to ever lead the global trade body told AFP a day after her nomination last month. The 66-year-old Nigerian former finance minister takes the helm after the WTO was left adrift for seven months following the sudden departure of Brazilian career diplomat Roberto Azevedo last August, a year ahead of schedule. Following a lengthy selection process, development economist Okonjo-Iweala, who spent 25 years at the World Bank, was finally anointed by the WTO’s 164 members on February 15. From an initial eight candidates, she was the clear favourite among the last two standing in November. However, her appointment was delayed by former US president Donald Trump ...