With the 2025/26 football season effectively over following the conclusion of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the debate over who should win the next Ballon d’Or has taken centre stage. The race for the prestigious individual award is already shaping up as one of the most intriguing in recent years, with Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Rodri and defending champion Ousmane Dembélé among the prominent names in early rankings and discussions by football figures and major sporting outlets, according to Sports Illustrated. The 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony is scheduled to take place in London on October 26,…
Author: Abimbola Ogunaike
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The State of Health of the Nation Report 2025 has revealed that at least N 20,966 Nigerian health workers relocated abroad within one year. The official figures obtained by Saturday PUNCH also revealed that that mass exodus includes 3,919 doctors, 7,487 nurses and midwives, 6,861 medical laboratory professionals, 702 pharmacists, 658 physiotherapists and hundreds of other specialists. The growing migration came under the spotlight following the revelation that a Senior Consultant Neurosurgeon at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Dr Salamat Aliu-Ibrahim, had relocated to the United States. Aliu-Ibrahim, a foremost neurosurgeon, now works as Medical Director, Paediatrics, Freeman Children’s…
Syria State media, SANA news agency, on Saturday, 25 July, 2026 reported that the death toll from a collision between two passenger buses in central-eastern part of the country has jumped to 35. The news agency, quoting a Health Ministry official, said 30 other people were injured in the crash on the Damascus-Deir Ezzor road. Syria’s Interior Ministry said one of the buses was carrying security personnel while the other was a civilian bus, but did not specify how many of the casualties were members of the security forces. State media broadcast footage showing one of the buses on fire,…
Tragedy occurred on Friday, 24 July, 2026 as a yet-to-be-identified middle-aged man was run over by a vehicle at Orogun Bus Stop along the Ojoo/Iwo Road in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State. Eyewitnesses told The PUNCH on Saturday, 25 July, 2026 that the incident occurred around 9 p.m. on Friday, 24 July, 2026 while the victim was crossing the expressway. One of the eyewitnesses, who identified herself simply as Iya Kadijat, said the hit-and-run driver fled the scene immediately after the incident. “I was at the bus stop when the incident happened. I was waiting to board a…
The Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, Saturday, 25 July, 2026 stated that there is no restriction on movement during the monthly environmental sanitation exercise in the state, just as he also gave reasons for its re-introduction, reports thegazellenews.com. Wahab stated this in a post on X on Saturday while responding to an X user, #Faveo Autos, who had asked about the fine for movement during the exercise and alleged an arrest at the Ikeja Police Station. The X user, Faveo Autos, had asked the Commissioner, “What is the fine for movement during environmental… Ikeja police…
As parts ongoing of the administration’s commitment to re-strengthening service delivery, Adamawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, on Friday, 24 July, 2026 sacked eight special advisers and appointed nine new ones, reports thegazellenews.com. The Secretary to the Government of Nasarawa State, Shuaibu Labaran, SAN, who announced the development through a statement issued on Friday, 24 July, 2026, gave the names of sacked aides as: Lawal Karshi, Danlami Moroa, Haruna Idris, Gambo Abdullahi, Muhammadu Shege, Ibrahim Dahiru, Moses Utondo, and Elsie Monday. Labaran explained in the statement that to sustain the pace of development through informed counsel, Governor Sule has also approved the…
Nigeria’s leading professionals from the diaspora and across key sectors have called for a stronger national commitment to mentorship, artificial intelligence (AI) skills development and healthy living as essential tools for empowering young people and driving sustainable national development. The call came at the 2026 National Diaspora Day Youth Empowerment Summit organised by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) in Abuja, where speakers argued that Nigeria’s youthful population can only realise its full potential through deliberate investment in knowledge, innovation and human capital. Held under the theme, “Harnessing Global Diaspora Medical Expertise to Strengthen Local Health Systems for National Development,”…
The United Nations has called on African governments, development institutions and the private sector to dramatically scale up investments in people and strengthen strategic partnerships to reverse the continent’s slow progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) before the 2030 deadline. The appeal was made on Saturday at the Africa Social Impact Summit 2026 in Lagos, where the UN warned that Africa faces an increasingly difficult development landscape marked by economic headwinds, shrinking international aid, climate shocks and persistent conflicts. Speaking on behalf of the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator a.i. in Nigeria, Ms. Wafaa Saeed, the United…
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), has called on traditional rulers, parents and community leaders to take ownership of Nigeria’s war against drug abuse and illicit trafficking, warning that criminal drug syndicates are increasingly exploiting rural communities and forests for illegal operations. Marwa’s appeal comes amid growing concerns over the recent discovery of industrial-scale clandestine methamphetamine laboratories allegedly operated by Nigerian-Mexican drug cartels in the forests of Ogun and Oyo states. Speaking on Saturday, 25 July, 2026, at the 10th Akinale Day celebration and the first coronation anniversary of the Towulade…
Residents of Apapa Iganmu Local Council Development Area (LCDA) turned out in large numbers on Saturday to participate in the monthly environmental sanitation exercise following the strict enforcement measures introduced by the Chairman, Hon. Jimoh Olawale Saliu. The exercise witnessed widespread compliance across the council area, while several defaulters, mostly non-residents attempting to transit through the LCDA during the sanitation hours, had their movement restricted after the chairman ordered the temporary closure of roads until the exercise ended at 8:30 a.m. At the Ijora 7UP Market, which had earlier been shut on the Chairman’s directive over poor sanitary conditions, traders…