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Scientists have discovered that the odour from a live chicken could help protect against malaria. Ethiopian and Swedish scientists discovered that mosquitoes carrying the malaria parasites tend to avoid chickens and other birds. The experiments, conducted in western Ethiopia, included suspending a live chicken in a cage near a volunteer sleeping under a bed net. According to the United Nations report, malaria killed nearly 400,000 people in Africa last year alone. A Billionaire’s Advice To Poor Africans Infection and death rates are declining but health officials are continuing to look for new ways to prevent the spread of the disease. The malaria parasite initially resides in the liver of the host before replicating and then entering into the bloodstream. It is then transferred from person to person by mosquitoes when they suck infected blood.

A three-storey building under construction collapsed on Thursday evening in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi capital, with no life lost. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the building located at Nibo Street, has been under construction for over three years and had reached the roofing level. Chief Ogodo-Ali Nome , Ebonyi Commissioner for Environment, who visited the scene, noted that the owner of the building and site engineer were still at large. “They would be prosecuted because they violated the state’s building construction provisions which the government seriously frowns at. “We directed that those who want to erect buildings should contact relevant government officials with their building plans for necessary recommendations and directives,he said. The commissioner remarked that the building collapsed due to poor quality of work and materials used in erecting a building of such magnitude. “The building had even overstayed, as we discovered that 8 and 1...

The Nigerian Army said 19 soldiers and three civilian JTF members were on Thursday wounded in an ambush on troops at Guro Gongon village in Borno State. A statement issued in Abuja on Thursday night by Army spokesman Sani Usman said an undisclosed number of insurgents were killed in an exchange of fire with the troops. Usman added that other soldiers were missing in action as a result of the ambush. He said the incident occurred while the troops were returning to their defensive positions after a clearance patrol at Guro Gongon village and environs. Usman said while the wounded had been evacuated and were responding to treatment, a search and rescue party comprising Special Forces personnel had been dispatched to the area. Usman said though some of the missing soldiers were reported to have started returning to their defensive positions, the search party was making efforts to guide their missing colleagues back base. Usman said the troops had in the operation at Gongon cleared t...

Nigerian recording artiste and Empire Mates Entertainment (EME) label boss, Banky W is undoubtedly one of the most eligible bachelors in the entertainment scene. It is for this reason that Banky's marital status has been under speculation for a very long time, but the "Made For You " singer has come out to say that he won't reveal the identity of his partner until his wedding day. Also read: On the latest episode of "Da Chat " on HFTV , Banky revealed that he felt no undue pressure to be married simply because everyone else is, he also maintained that he would keep the identity of his intended hidden till the wedding day. Said Banky: " Until I walk down the aisle with somebody, I’m never going to talk about somebody that I’ve been with. I don’t think it’s fair to the person because you open that person up. Me, I can take the criticism and the comments on the internet and all of that stuff but somebody else that isn’t in that limelight doesn’t nec...

As far as eligible bachelors go in the Nigerian entertainment industry, Banky W definitely stands in the front line and this has left him open to more than a few marriage offers from women who claim he's their God-sent husband. The singer took took to his Snapchat account to share some of the messages he gets from said females claiming God revealed him as their husband. Expressing strong displeasure at the trend, Banky urged such females to desist from sending such messages, pointing out that he needs to hear from God himself. Said Banky: "If God tells you that somebody is your husband or wife, let God tell that person too. Don't be the person to speak for God, let God speak for you. Recently I've been getting of lot of people saying "You're my husband, God said I'm your wife".. It's a lie. Because God told me nothing about you. God needs to tell me himself." He also went on to advise singles to feel no pressure to settle down, adding th...

The Central Bank of Nigeria has provided a loan to Skye Bank Plc to boost its liquidity after the lender breached requirements on capital and lending. The short-term lending facility will allow new management to “ensure that some withdrawals it suffered in the wake of the undue panic of last week do not adversely affect its operations,’’ the Acting Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, said in an emailed response to questions. He said the CBN had also issued guarantees to the bank’s depositors and creditors as a demonstration of its health. The central bank replaced top managers of Skye Bank earlier this month after it breached required thresholds for liquidity and non-performing loans. While the regulator moved to calm markets, saying Skye and the industry remained healthy, the stock plunged to record lows, leading declines among other Nigerian lenders. The CBN has said it has no plan to sell Skye Bank. The CBN guarantee will not o...

The Federal Government is set to inaugurate the completed Abuja-Kaduna rail project and has fixed the boarding fees for passengers who intend to use the facility. The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who was accompanied on the final test run of the project by the National Chairman, All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; a former Governor of Ekiti State, Olusegun Oni; as well as other party chieftains in Abuja, stated that the rail line had been completed and was ready for use. Amaechi said President Muhammadu Buhari would inaugurate the project this month, adding that passengers who desired the executive and economy seats would be charged N900 and N500, respectively. On perimeter fencing, the minister said the contract had been awarded and work would soon commence at the terminals, adding that eight more coaches would be purchased to supplement the ones that were available. He said, “When we get money, we will start fencing. The contract has been awa...

children in IDP The wife of the President, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, has inaugurated an intervention programme tagged, ”Get Involved” to address malnutrition among children living in Internally Displaced Persons camps in the country. The president’s wife, who spoke at the inauguration of the project at the State House on Thursday, said a situation whereby over 2.5 million children in the country were malnourished was unacceptable. Calling for the support of well-meaning Nigerians, the Organised Private Sector and development partners, she added that their assistance would help to combat the alarming cases of malnutrition among children in IDP camps. According to her, with the support, no Nigerian child should lack a good nutritional diet

Nigeria is expected to record increase in its cashew nut production in coming years due to renewed focus by the government and increasing demand for the commodity across developed countries and Asia. The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council, Mr. Segun Awolowo, stated this during a recent workshop on cashew processing and market information system in Lagos. According to Awolowo, cashew is expected to yield 175,000 metric tonnes at the end of this year’s trading season, up from a yield of 150,000 metric tonnes in 2015. He added that recent government’s efforts in the development of additional cashew plantations, distribution of improved seedlings to farmers; enforced good agricultural practices were all going to increase output of cashew nuts in Nigeria by 30 per cent in two years. Nigeria is rated as the fourth largest producer of cashew nuts in Africa and seventh in the world, with the bulk of its raw cashew nuts and cashew kernels exported t...

children in IDP The wife of the President, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, has inaugurated an intervention programme tagged, ”Get Involved” to address malnutrition among children living in Internally Displaced Persons camps in the country. The president’s wife, who spoke at the inauguration of the project at the State House on Thursday, said a situation whereby over 2.5 million children in the country were malnourished was unacceptable. Calling for the support of well-meaning Nigerians, the Organised Private Sector and development partners, she added that their assistance would help to combat the alarming cases of malnutrition among children in IDP camps. According to her, with the support, no Nigerian child should lack a good nutritional diet

As with other areas of our health, what we eat also affects the well-being of our hair. A nutritionist, Dr. Remi Omotunde, draws attention to how hair loss can be influenced by change in the diet and lifestyle. “When you take too much of fatty or high-calorie foods, if you decrease aerobic exercise, and if your stress level increases, you are likely to have a dramatic increase in the incidence of alopecia,” he warns. Again, psychologists say, emotional pressure can cause health complications, which, in turn, can have an adverse impact on your hair health. “Serious illness or major surgery, trauma involving blood loss, and severe emotional trauma can also lead to hair loss lasting between six and eight months,” Omotunde warns. He says that omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids are vital to every cell in the body, as its benefits extend to the heart, breast, bone, brain, hair and skin. A dermatologist, Dr. Godwin Osazie, gives omega-3 fatty acid a thumb-up for its a...

The West African Examinations Council has urged all stakeholders to contribute significantly towards ending examination malpractice in the country. The council added that education was the bedrock of any society that seeks to advance in technology and economy. Its Head of National Office, Mr. Olutise Adenipekun, stated this at a stakeholders’ dialogue on examination malpractice in Lagos. The HNO, represented by the Acting Head of Division (Test Administration), Mrs. Frances Iweha-Onukwu, noted that examination malpractice was a vice every stakeholder must support to end. He said, “Examination malpractice is a cankerworm that has eaten into the fabrics of testing and examining. It is a known fact that the war against examination malpractice cannot be won by an examining body alone or any person or group of persons. “Rather, there is the need for a synergy among examining bodies, the larger society, parents, teachers, supervisors, examiners and students; in fact, ...

A professor with the Department of English, University of Ibadan, Akin Odebunmi, has advised pupils to use the Standard English to enhance their chances of excelling in academic and social other spheres of life. Odebunmi said this on Wednesday at the prize-giving ceremony of the Apostolic Church Grammar School, Ketu, Lagos. The academic also advised them to have mentors, adding that academic or career success comes with hard work and diligence. “For anyone to outperform another person, he or she has to work hard. The people who succeed most in life are those who add more hours of reading, thinking and designing to their routine lives. When I was in the undergraduate class, I had friends whose level of brilliance was at par with mine. If we spent the same amount of time reading, we would score approximately the same mark, but if anyone of us added a few extra minutes or hours, he would score higher than all of us,” he said. The school administrator, Mr. Julius Awotimiro...

School managements across the country are responding to inflation and subsequent rise in the prices of goods and services by increasing their transport and feeding fees. While officials of some schools confirmed to our correspondent that the measure was to cushion the effect of the increase in fuel price and the attendant rise in the cost of consumables and services, parents and guardians said the development would further worsen their financial standing and ability to respond to other pressing domestic issues. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the inflation rate, which rose from 15.6 per cent in May to 16.5 per cent in June, is the highest to be recorded in the country in 10 years. Referring to the poor state of the economy, many of the administrators said their schools could no longer foot the extra margin for fuelling school buses and providing meals for pupils. According to the Head, Administration and Human Resources, Mind Builders School, Lagos, Mr. Rotimi Tit...

OAU There was jubilation at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, as the Senate of the institution appointed Prof. Anthony Elujoba, as the acting Vice-Chancellor  of OAU. This was contained in a statement issued on Thursday by the Public Relations Officer of the OAU, Mr. Abiodun Olanrewaju. The new acting VC was elected after polling 201 votes to defeat Prof. Adebayo Lamikanra, who scored 10 votes. The statement partly read, “In compliance with the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari and in a spirited effort at redeeming the image of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, the Senate of the university has overwhelmingly elected Prof. Anthony Elujoba as the acting Vice-Chancellor of the university. “After more than two hours of heated debate presided over by the outgoing Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Prof. Omolayo Ajayi, the over 200 professors  who came for the meeting eventually elected Prof. Elujoba with 201 votes over his com...