By Ezinwanne Onwuka
- Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen gets nominated alongside Messi and Haaland for FIFA Best Player award
The stocks of Super Eagles, Nigeria’s senior national men’s team, and Napoli frontman, Victor Osimhen, have continued to rise having earned a nomination for the latest edition of FIFA ‘The Best Men’s Player of the Year’ award. He is the only African on the list that has football heavyweights like Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe competing for the prestigious title.
The nomination is the 24-year-old’s second in a week after making the 30-man shortlist for the 2023 Ballon d’Or Men’s Player award.
Osimhen had a stellar 2022–23 season with Napoli. His 26 league goals helped the club clinch the Italian Serie A title in 33 years. His ten goals also helped Nigeria seal their qualification to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament, which starts in January.
- Students lose properties as flood ravages Nigerian institution
Student hostels, lecture halls and other buildings have been submerged by water as a result of a flood which wreaked havoc on the Metallurgical Training Institute (MTI) in Onitsha, the commercial nerve center of Anambra State, South East Nigeria.
Nigeria is one of the most flood-prone countries in West Africa. Severe flooding often affects the country in the rainy season, which generally spans April to October. The rainy season in Nigeria was especially harsh in 2022, with heavy rains producing deadly, destructive floods in 34 out of the 36 states in the country. According to the federal government’s data, the 2022 floods displaced over 1.4 million people, killed over 603 people and injured more than 2,400 persons.
“As we speak now, the flood has covered the buildings in the school and the buildings are sinking,” The public relations officer of MTI, Owo Ugochukwu, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday. “The students’ hostels, school mosque, church and lecture halls are also underwater. The student beds, mattresses, learning equipment and pots of soup are swimming in the waters all over the place.”
- Nigerian singer Tems is on the TIME100 Next 2023 list
Nigerian R&B sensation, Temilade Openiyi, popularly known as Tems, made this year’s TIME’s 100 Next list which celebrates 100 young persons around the world making reputable feats and shaping the future across health, climate, business, sports, the arts, and more.
“Tems is in a class all by herself because no other artist sounds like her,” American Grammy-winning singer Mary J. Blige wrote in her commentary on Tems, “That voice is so unique and original, so much so that it reminds me of the first time I heard Nina Simone. They both sing with emotion and conviction, making you feel every word they sing. I know she will make it far because she’s a talented writer, singer, and producer—my only hope for her is that she becomes one of the biggest artists of her time.”
Tems rose to global prominence in 2020 after featuring in ‘Essence’, a collaborative mega-hit with colleague Wizkid. She is the first Nigerian female singer to earn a Grammy award after she won the 2023 Grammy Award for “Best Melodic Rap Performance” for her contributions to Future’s ‘Wait For U’.
- Tinubu appoints new CBN Governor
President Bola Tinubu has nominated Olayemi Cardoso as the new substantive governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) pending confirmation by the upper arm of the legislature, the Senate in a bid to rejig Nigeria’s dwindling economy.
Cardoso, like many government officials appointed by Tinubu, is a longtime ally of the Nigerian president. The relationship dates back to Tinubu’s tenure as governor of Lagos State (1999 – 2007) when he served as the commissioner for economic planning and budget.
Upon confirmation by the Senate, Cardoso will replace the suspended Godwin Emefiele, who since June has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), the functional equivalent of the US CIA, for investigations into allegations of corruption and mismanagement.
—————
Ezinwanne Onwuka reports for TruthNigeria from Abuja. X handle: @OnwukaEzinwanne.
