Headline

Use Money Saved From Subsidy Removal To Fund Education, UK Govt Tells Tinubu

Published

2 years ago

August 11, 2023

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, FCDO, of the UK government has asked President Bola Tinubu to use money saved from fuel subsidy removal to fund education in the country.

FCDO’s representatives, Ian Attfield, who made the call at the end of the Inclusive Education project In Nigeria, (Supporting Mainstreaming Inclusion so all can Learn Equally, SMILE), in Abuja Wednesday, said: “For the next five years or so, I’m certain we won’t be having discussions about how we can mainstream some of the inclusive education elements.

“There are many major economic changes taking place, such as the changes in fuel subsidy. It should start being deployed to support the human development of Nigeria to build education and services, among other things, that young people need.”

Also speaking at the event, Country Director of Sightsavers Nigeria, a nonprofit making organisation, Dr. Sunday Isiyaku, maintained that inclusivity in education remained the bedrock to national development.

According to him, government at all levels and communities need to ensure children with disabilities are included in the scheme of things as far as their education and future are concerned.

He explained how imperative inclusive education was to develop human capital, adding that the positive impact it had on the lives of children with disabilities and their families could not be overemphasized.

He said inclusive education was not only a basic human right, but also a powerful tool for achieving sustainable development.

In his remarks, the Technical Director, Inclusive Education, Sightsavers Global Team, Liesbeth Roolvink, said: “We have trained many people, we have so many champions now that could take this process forward in different places in Nigeria and that is our dream and our hope.”

One of the panelists at the closeout discussion, the Chief Executive Officer and Founder, TAF Africa and Convener, Disability Inclusion Nigeria, Amb Jake Epelle, pointed out that there was lack of trained teachers on inclusive education.

Epelle also spoke on the need for awareness creation, funding and holistic education policy that disabused the mindset on having special schools for persons with disability but one school premises that would impact them positively and make it easy for them to integrate into the society.

He said: “When it comes to inclusive education, there is the need to increase the awareness because it is not many people that know about it. Many parents, especially parents of persons with disability, are hiding their children at home.

”How do we go to them to ensure that they are aware that these children they are hiding in their homes need education?”

However, he pointed out that special schools do not real make the desired impact on the education of children with disabilities because they find it difficult to be integrated into the society.

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Morocco Jails French Rapper Maes For Kidnapping Bid

Published

15 hours ago

November 26, 2025

Editor

A Moroccan court has sentenced French rapper Maes to seven years in prison on charges including the formation of a criminal gang and attempted kidnapping, local reports said Wednesday.

Maes, who has roots in Morocco and whose real name is Walid Georgey, was arrested upon landing in Morocco in January after fleeing the United Arab Emirates, where he feared he could be extradited to France, the reports said.

French authorities had issued an international arrest warrant for him over a separate criminal case.

He appeared in court late Tuesday and was found guilty of “forming a criminal organisation, attempted abduction and unlawful confinement” of a rival in Morocco, news website TelQuel reported.

The rapper with over a billion views on his YouTube channel was accused of tasking a gang and hitmen with killing the rival, but the plot was foiled, TelQuel added.

Maes has denied all charges, with his lawyers calling the case “empty” and “arguing that no evidence linked him to the other defendants”, TelQuel added.

Ten other people were sentenced as part of the case, with terms ranging from one to 10 years, according to news website Media24.

AFP was unable to independently verify the reports as prosecutors were not immediately reachable for comment.

In 2020, when Maes was one of France’s most-streamed rappers, he fell victim to extortion attempts in his native Sevran, a suburb north of Paris, according to reports.

He retaliated by opening fire with weapons he had at home, leading to a shootout. He then fled to Dubai with his family, according to an interview with French YouTube channel LEGEND.

Following the killing of his manager in 2022, he was suspected of ordering reprisals against those he believed were behind the murder, according to reports.

AFP

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UK Court Clears Comedy Writer Of Harassing Transgender Woman

Published

16 hours ago

November 26, 2025

Editor

A London court on Tuesday cleared Emmy award-winning comedy writer Graham Linehan of harassing a transgender activist online but found him guilty of criminal damage to their mobile phone.

Linehan, who co-created the popular 1990s sitcom “Father Ted” but has more recently become well-known for his gender critical views, had been accused of sending Sophia Brooks “abusive and vindictive” messages on social media.

He was also charged with criminal damage after deliberately knocking a phone out of Brooks’s hand as they filmed him on the sidelines of a London conference.

Ruling on the case, District Judge Briony Clarke said she was not convinced Linehan’s conduct “was oppressive and unacceptable beyond merely unattractive, annoying or irritating”.

Clarke also concluded Brooks was not “as alarmed and distressed as they portrayed themself to be”.

But convicting Linehan of criminal damage, the judge ruled he was “angry and fed up” and did not use “reasonable force” when the phone was taken from Brooks.

Clarke fined him £500 ($655) and ordered him to pay costs of £650 and a statutory surcharge of £200.

The Irish writer, who also co-created the popular sitcoms “Black Books” and “The IT Crowd”, became embroiled in a free speech row in Britain earlier this year over his anti-transgender stance.

It followed his arrest at London’s Heathrow Airport by armed police over accusations of inciting violence with his X posts insulting transgender people.

The arrest sparked a backlash and claims of state overreach, including from US tech billionaire Elon Musk. But in October, UK prosecutors said they would take “no further action” in that case.

AFP

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Prosecutors Seek Jail For Italian Influencer Ferragni In Fraud Case

Published

16 hours ago

November 26, 2025

Editor

Italian prosecutors asked a court on Tuesday to sentence fashion influencer Chiara Ferragni to one year and eight months in prison if found guilty of alleged fraud over charity endorsement deals.

The Instagram star and businesswoman has been on trial since September for aggravated fraud over promotions of a pandoro cake — a Christmas treat similar to a panettone — and Easter eggs, which purported to raise money for charity or social causes.

The 38-year-old, who is based in Milan, told the court during the closed-door hearing on Tuesday that she denied the charges and had always acted “in good faith”, her lawyer Giuseppe Iannaccone said.

Leaving the audience, Ferragni told a throng of journalists that she felt “confident… I can’t say anymore”.

A verdict is expected in January.

Aggravated fraud carries a jail term of between one and five years.

But Ferragni has chosen a fast-track trial, which gives defendants a sentence reduction — meaning she cannot receive more than a maximum penalty of two years and three months, according to a source close to her team.

In Italy, people sentenced to prison for less than two years rarely serve jail time.

Ferragni started out with a fashion blog, The Blonde Salad, in 2009, and in 2017, Forbes magazine named her its top fashion influencer.

Chronicling her glamorous lifestyle and being paid to promote high-end brands, she built the blog into a lucrative business, then used it as a springboard to launch her own eponymous label with stores around the world.

Her trailblazing story even became a Harvard Business School example of how social media fame can be monetised.

But the fraud accusations have hit her reputation and her endorsements.

Outside court for a hearing earlier this month, Ferragni acknowledged to journalists that it was a “difficult phase of my life”.

The allegations relate in part to Ferragni’s 2022 endorsement of a pandoro cake purportedly to raise funds for children undergoing treatment at a Turin hospital.

In December 2023, Italy’s communications watchdog (AGCOM) fined two of Ferragni’s companies one million euros ($1.2 million) for unfair commercial practices for the “Pandoro Pink Christmas” promotion — around the same sum they had made in the deal.

Shoppers were led to believe that buying the special edition cake made by Balocco would benefit the hospital, but it only received a single 50,000-euro donation from the company.

Balocco was fined 420,000 euros at the same time.

AGCOM also investigated Ferragni-branded Easter eggs from 2021 and 2022, linked to a social enterprise initiative.

Ferragni and her husband, rapper and music producer Fedez, who were one of Italy’s most famous celebrity couples, split in 2024.

AFP