U.N calls for collective action to save world’s oceans
World Oceans day is celebrated annually on June 8, and the theme for 2022 is ‘Revitalization: collective action for the ocean’. This day is a reminder of the role oceans play in everyday life. According to the UN News Service, world leaders, youth, entrepreneurs and civil society will meet in Lisbon, Portugal for the second UN Oceans Conference, co-hosted by Kenya, later in June 2022. The aim of this conference will be to mobilise action and kickstart science-based innovative solutions aimed at starting a new chapter of global ocean action. This comes as Africa battles against overfishing in countries like Kenya, where artisanal fishers battle for their livelihoods against huge foreign fishing vessels, or where oil spills in countries like Mauritius have seen livelihoods and tourism impacted.
Nigeria seals 25,000 illegal pharmacies in eight years
Elijah Mohammed, the outgoing registrar of the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) at the public presentation of his scorecard in Abuja on Tuesday announced that Nigerian authorities have sealed at least 25,000 illegal pharmacies in the past eight years. According to him, the illegal premises were sealed due to various reasons including poor hygienic environment, poor documentation, and improper regularisation of papers. The PCN, charged with the responsibility to control and regulate the pharmacy education, training and practice, has put in place a new programme; ‘Doctor of pharmacy’ which combines both clinical and non-clinical concepts of pharmacy practice. Before Mohammed’s appointment eight years ago, there were 17 pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences faculties in the country which has now increased to 30, with more ready to kick-start in the next few months.
Read also: Drug abuse among youths at alarming rate, NDLEA warns
Court dismisses Shoprite’s request to leave Nigeria
A Federal High Court in Lagos has dismissed an application seeking to discharge an ex parte order stopping one of the largest retailing stores in Nigeria, Shoprite Checker (PYT) from leaving Nigeria over alleged $47 million debt. Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa dismissed the application on Tuesday while delivering a ruling in an application filed by Shoprite Checker. Justice Liman granted the application after listening to the submissions of Osipitan, SAN on the ex parte application and affidavit in support, deposed to by one Joshua Oluwagbemiga Akinyemi. ShopRite Checker (PYT) Limited approached the court with an application to set aside and discharge the order. However, in his ruling, Justice Lewis-Allagoa described Shoprite’s application as lacking in merit, abuse of court processes and dismissed the same accordingly. The Justice also gave Shoprite Checker (PYT) Limited 14 days to comply with the previous orders made by Justice Liman. The suit was adjourned till July 14.
Nigerian women calls Government to address insecurity
Following an attack on a Catholic church in Ondo State which caused the death of scores of people and many injured, some women’s groups under the umbrella of Womanifesto, gave the Nigerian government four weeks to put an end to the incessant killings across the country. The group also called on the government to, “publish the identities of all the victims of the Ondo state tragedy – those who died and those who were injured – and to demonstrate accountability and carry out a speedy investigation that is conclusive with arrests, successful judicial prosecution, and sentencing of the killers.” Several individuals and organisations have condemned the incident, including the Pope.
How South Africa’s Amapiano is fast influencing Nigerian music
Many Nigerian artists have continued to sample the Amapiano sound in most of their hit songs in recent times. Some of Nigeria’s biggest hits of 2021 featured the Amapiano sounds, including Reekado Banks’s ‘Ozumba Mbadiwe’ Rema’s ‘Woman’ Burna Boy’s ‘Yaba Buluku’, Adekunle Gold’s ‘High’ and Davido’s ‘Champions sound’. Also, the rave of the moment artist, Kiss Daniel, is trending with yet another Amapiano and Afrobeats-inspired beat, ‘Buga’. The track has over 11 million views on YouTube and multiple streams on various online music streaming platforms in the last month since its release. According to statistics by Spotify, Amapiano has garnered over 920 million global all-time streams; it also noted that the streams on the platform would hit 1 billion in July this year. With the Afrobeats genre of music dominating recent Nigerian musical exports from the continent, Amapiano takes the second lead, as most Nigerian artists fuse Afrobeats and Amapiano into their music.
