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World Bank To FG: You Won’t Succeed In Lifting 100m Nigerians Out Of Poverty, If…

Published

4 years ago

April 8, 2022

The World Bank says it is hopeful the Federal Government can achieve its target of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years, but warned, on Friday, that such an ambitious goal won’t succeed without the execution of policies to keep adolescent girls in school and also provide opportunities in the labour market.

The Country Director, World Bank Nigeria, Mr. Shuabham Chaudhuri, said this during the launch of the policy note on ‘Supporting Adolescent Girls to Kickstart the Stalled Demographic Transition and Harnessing the Demographic Dividend in Nigeria’ which was held in Abuja.

According to him, while it was good to be ambitious, the policy environment for human capital development and job opportunities in the labour market was more crucial.

Chaudhuri said Nigeria was sitting on a ticking demographic time-bomb because governments at both the Federal and State levels have failed to heed previous dire warnings that the country’s exponential population growth might develop into a social disaster.

He said, “At the World Bank, our mission is about helping all of our member countries eliminate poverty and make life better for the bottom half. In the case of Nigeria, that aspiration is very clearly stated by His Excellency the President in terms of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.

“But it is very clear that Nigeria will not succeed in lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty if Nigeria does not manage its demographic dividend and accelerate the transition.

“Nigeria has a demographic time bomb ticking away. Why is that so? The number of jobs Nigerian youths have access to is very small compared to the number of women giving birth to children in the country.

“The single most important thing Nigeria needs to do to manage and realise its full demographic dividend is to keep adolescent girls in school. If we keep girls in school for at least secondary school, they would have matured enough for marriage at 18.”

In a similar vein, World Bank’s Regional Director, (West and Central Africa), Ms. Dena Ringold, said investing in adolescent girls was crucial to reducing child marriages in Nigeria.

She said, “Human capital development is important because it is the foundation for productive life and prepares children to take on the future.

“It is crucial that we invest in adolescent girls in order to increase the number of girls attending school and to reduce girl child marriage. We also need to engage boys since they are critical enablers of girls’ access to quality of life.”

Also speaking, the Emir of Shonga, HRH Alhaji Haliru Yahaya, noted that poorly educated families start procreating early – some girls as early as 10 years of age.

“Patriarchy is a very nasty that keeps women out of the real scheme of things. The issue of early marriage is most nauseating because it is intertwined with culture, religion, and poverty,” he said.

The royal father, therefore, called for a paradigm shift to contain Nigeria’s untamed population growth for the country to achieve demographic transition and harness the dividends.

On her part, the Minister of Women and Social Development, Dame Pauline Tallen, said that for Nigeria to overcome its socio-economic challenges, the country’s present crop of leaders must focus attention on women and girls empowerment.

“When women are empowered, it has a multiplier effect in terms of social and economic dividends for her family and society at large,” she said.

VANGUARD

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Sweden To Charge 18-year-old Over IS Terror Plot

Published

9 hours ago

November 4, 2025

Editor

The Swedish Prosecution Authority said Tuesday it intended to charge an 18-year-old man for planning a terrorist act in Stockholm on behalf of the Islamic State group.

According to prosecutors, the planning took place between August 2024 and February 2025.

“We believe the purpose of the preparations was to induce serious fear in the population, in the name of the Islamic State. The criminal act could have seriously harmed Sweden,” Deputy Chief Prosecutor Henrik Olin said in a statement.

Prosecutors did not provide details of the plan but said the man was also suspected of “preparation for serious crimes under the act on flammable and explosive goods and training for terrorism”.

Prosecutors said they planned to file the charges on Thursday and that a press conference would be held the same day.

The young man will also be charged alongside a 17-year-old boy with attempted murder in Germany in August 2024.

Both of them are also suspected of “participation in a terrorist organisation,” according to the statement.

The man was arrested in Stockholm on February 11 and has been in custody since then.

AFP

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US Shutdown Hits 35 Days, Tying Longest In History

Published

9 hours ago

November 4, 2025

Editor

The US government shutdown entered its 35th day on Tuesday, matching a record set during President Donald Trump’s first term, as lawmakers voiced hope over progress behind the scenes to end the dispute.

The federal closure appears almost certain to become the longest in history, with no breakthroughs expected before it goes into its sixth week at midnight — although there were fragile signs in Congress that an off-ramp is closer than ever.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune set the buoyant mood music on Monday when he told reporters he felt “optimistic” that newly energised talks between warring Republicans and Democrats could end in a deal before next week.

The government has been grinding to a halt since Congress failed to pass a bill to keep federal departments and agencies funded past the end of the last financial year on September 30.

“I’ll be honest with you, I don’t think any of us expected that it would drag on this long. We didn’t believe, we couldn’t have imagined,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told a news conference arranged to mark the six-week milestone.

“It’s now tied for the longest shutdown in US history. And we didn’t think we’d have to come in here every single day — day after day after day — and repeat the obvious facts to the American people and to put on display every day what is happening here.”

Some 1.4 million federal workers — from air traffic controllers to park wardens — have been placed on enforced leave without pay or made to work for nothing, while vital welfare programs and even paychecks for active-duty troops are under threat.

Both sides remain dug in over the main sticking point — health care spending.

Democrats say they will only provide votes to end the funding lapse after a deal has been struck to extend expiring insurance subsidies that make health care affordable for millions of Americans.

But Republicans insist they will only address health care once Democrats have voted to switch the lights back on in Washington.

While both sides’ leadership have shown little appetite for compromise, there have been signs of life on the back benches, with a handful of moderate Democrats working to find an escape hatch.

A separate bipartisan group of four centrist House members unveiled a compromise framework Monday for lowering health insurance costs.

Democrats believe that millions of Americans seeing skyrocketing premiums as they enroll onto health insurance programs for next year will pressure Republicans into seeking compromise.

But Trump has held firm on refusing to negotiate, telling CBS News in an interview broadcast Sunday that he would “not be extorted.”

The president has sought to apply his own pressure to force Democrats to cave, by threatening mass layoffs of federal workers and using the shutdown to target progressive priorities.

Last week his administration threatened to cut off a vital aid programme that helps 42 million Americans pay for groceries for the first time in its more than 60-year history, before the move was blocked in court.

And the president has returned to a familiar playbook of demanding the elimination of the Senate filibuster — the 60-vote threshold for passing most legislation — so Republicans can pass government funding themselves.

“Terminate the filibuster now, end the ridiculous shutdown immediately, and then, most importantly, pass every wonderful Republican policy that we have dreamt of for years, but never gotten,” Trump fulminated in an all-caps social media post.

Preserving the filibuster — which senators say protects the voice of the minority — is one of the few issues on which Republicans are willing to defy Trump and radical reform seems highly unlikely.

“The votes aren’t there,” Thune told reporters on Monday.

AFP

Headline

China Backs Nigeria, Warns Against Foreign Interference

Published

10 hours ago

November 4, 2025

Editor

China has urged the international community to respect Nigeria’s sovereignty following a US threat of military action.

The Chinese government reiterated its support for President Bola Tinubu’s administration, commending the government for guiding the country along a development path tailored to its national conditions.

According to a report sourced from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, People’s Republic of China’s website, the Spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning, stated this at a press briefing on Tuesday in Beijing.

She said, “As Nigeria’s strategic partner, China opposes any attempt by foreign powers to use religion or human rights as a pretext to meddle in another country’s internal affairs or impose sanctions and military threats.”

Recently, the US threatened Nigeria with possible military action due to the alleged persecution of Christians in the country.

The United States President, Donald Trump, had threatened to deploy military forces in Nigeria if the alleged genocide against Christians is not stopped in the country.