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Hunger persist as cost of healthy diet records first decline

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** Health diet now cost N1,255 in a day

By Francesca Hangeior

The Cost of a Healthy Diet (CoHD) fell by 0.8 percent month-on-month (MoM) to N1,255 per adult per day in August from N1,265 per adult per day in July.

This represents the first MoM decline since January when CoHD grew to N858 and continued rising to N1,265 in July, a development attributed to increase in prices of legumes, nuts and seeds, starchy staples and vegetables.

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In its CoHD report for August 2024 released yesterday, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, explained that CoHD is the least expensive combination of locally available items that meets globally consistent food-based dietary guidelines.

This is a lower bound (or floor) of the cost per adult per day excluding the cost of transportation and meal preparation.

NBS, in the report, stated: “The national average cost of a healthy diet was N1,255 per adult per day in August 2024.

“At the state level Ogun, Lagos and Rivers States recorded the highest cost with N1,641, N1,615, and N1,572 respectively. Katsina, Kaduna and Sokoto accounted for the lowest costs with N880, N951 and N980.

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“At the zonal level, the average CoHD was highest in the South West Zone at N1,554 per day, followed by the South-South zone with N1,381 per day.

“The lowest average Cost of a Healthy diet was recorded in the North West zone with N1,041 per day.

“The CoHD has been steadily rising over the past six (6) months, since March 2024. In August 2024, the CoHD was 28 percent higher than it was in March 2024 (N982).

“The main drivers of this increase in CoHD are legumes, nuts and seeds, starchy staples and vegetables.

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“On a MoM basis, it declined by 0.8 percent compared to the cost in July 2024 (N1,265). vegetables saw a decline in price by 14.5 percent on a monthly basis.”

On cost share by food group, the bureau said: “Animal source foods were the most expensive food group recommendation to meet in August, accounting for 37 percent of the total CoHD to provide 13 percent of the total calories.

“Fruits and vegetables were the most expensive food groups in terms of price per calorie; they accounted for 11 percent and 14 percent, respectively, of total CoHD while providing only 7 percent and 5.0 percent of total calories in the Healthy Diet Basket.

“Legumes, nuts and seeds were the least-expensive food group on average, at 7.0 percent of the total cost.”

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According to the bureau, in recent months, the CoHD has risen faster than general inflation and food inflation.
It added: “However, the CoHD and the food Consumer Price Index, CPI, are not directly comparable; the CoHD includes fewer items and is measured in Naira per day, while the food CPI is a weighted index.”

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Hon Nnamchi Grants 500 Youths Scholarships To Universities

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Five hundred youths drawn from various communities in Enugu East/Isi Uzo Federal Constituency of Enugu State have benefited from Hon. Professor Paul Sunday Nnamchi’s scholarship scheme.

The scholarship scheme was instituted by the Federal lawmaker who represents Enugu East/Isi Uzo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives to cater for indigent constituents in the constituency.

The beneficiaries who are currently on admission in various universities across the country are pursuing the following disciplines; microbiology, biochemistry, human physiology, and human anatomy.

Others are studying mass Communication, Business Education, Education Chemistry, Industrial Chemistry Computer Science and Civil Engineering among others.

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Their school fees amounting to millions of naira have already been paid by Professor Nnamchi for the current academic session not withstanding the challenges some of them had encountered in their performances.

The scholarship scheme was in fulfillment of Rep Nnamchi’s campaign promises of empowering of the youths of Enugu East/Isi Uzo Federal Constituency.

The scholarship according to him was to help those desiring to study at the tertiary levels but lacked the wherewithal to further their education after secondary schools.

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Trump’s declasification of JFK, MLK assassination files opens window into US most shocking crimes

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By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

A trove of long-classified government documents concerning some of the most politically charged killings in modern American history — including the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy — could finally be made available to the public.

But that’s just the start of the latest saga surrounding the killings, which have sparked fascination, conspiracy theories, and history-changing debate for decades.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at declassifying government documents related to the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, his brother and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. The order essentially requires the nation’s security organizations to create plans to release the records.

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The full findings of the government investigations into the three killings have been hidden for decades, sparking wide-ranging speculation and preventing a sense of closure for many Americans. All three men were national and international icons whose assassinations — and the theories swirling around them — became the stuff of books, movies, controversy, and the pages of history itself.

“A lot of people were waiting for this . . . for years, for decades,” said Trump in signing the release of the documents. “Everything will be revealed.”

JFK assassination, Nov. 22, 1963
The shock of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 still echoes more than half a century later.

Kennedy, known for both his glamour and steering the country through the closest it ever came to nuclear war, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. He was shot and killed as his presidential motorcade brought him along a downtown city street and as he waved to adoring bystanders from the open-roofed car.

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Police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald less than an hour later. But Oswald himself was killed on live TV just two days later as police were transferring him to a county jail.

Oswald’s killer, Jack Ruby, acted alone on an impulse, the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known as the Warren Commission, concluded. The commission ruled that Oswald also acted alone.

The JFK assassination sent the nation into mourning and shook it to its core, as Americans searched for answers. Hundreds of books have been written and documentaries produced, with bits and pieces of information emerging to this day.

Many regard the commission’s work as a government-orchestrated coverup and doubts have been raised over who killed John F. Kennedy have persisted. Conspiracy theorists lay the blame on everyone from Cuba – at the heart of the nuclear missile crisis – to the CIA itself.

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The wide-ranging theories over Kennedy’s death – how many shooters were involved, how many bullets – became so ingrained in popular culture that they made it onto the comedy series Seinfeld.

MLK assassinated in Memphis, April 4, 1968
King, whose work furthering the Civil Rights Movement is honored with a federal holiday, was killed on the balcony outside his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee.

The Atlanta preacher was visiting the city to march alongside striking workers. On the evening of the assassination, he was preparing to leave for dinner at the home of a local minister.

He stepped outside to speak with colleagues in the parking lot below and was shot in the face by an assassin. James Earl Ray, a 40-year-old escaped fugitive, later confessed to the crime and was sentenced to a 99-year prison term.

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But Ray later tried to withdraw his confession and said he was set up by a man named Raoul. He maintained until his death in 1998 that he did not kill King.

A Memphis tavern owner and a former FBI agent both also claimed a figure named Raoul was behind the killing, according to the Department of Justice.

Loyd Jowers, a former Memphis tavern owner, claimed 25 years after the murder that he participated in a mafia-linked conspiracy to kill King. Jowers also linked Memphis police and Raoul to the assassination, the Justice Department said.

Donald Wilson, a former FBI agent, also claimed in 1998 that after King’s assassination he found some papers in Ray’s car that mentioned Raoul as well as figures linked to the Kennedy assassination.

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Wilson said the papers were stolen from him by someone who later worked in the White House, according to the Justice Department.

RFK killed in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968
Robert F. Kennedy never achieved the political heights of his older brother. But he was no less a beloved figure for his championing of civil rights.

He served as his brother’s attorney general and as a senator. He was killed in Los Angeles where he had gone for the California Democratic primary, just months after declaring his presidential candidacy.

The younger Kennedy spent the evening of the election at a suite at the Ambassador Hotel awaiting election results. He eventually went down to a hotel ballroom to thank supporters, then went through the hotel kitchen after being told it was a shortcut to a press room.

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An assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, killed him as he shook hands with a hotel busboy. Sirhan remains in prison.

But some believe the same elements behind the older Kennedy’s assassination also killed the former senator.

The presidential candidate’s son Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, has long maintained that Sirhan didn’t even shoot his father. The Trump cabinet pick believes Sirhan missed and that instead his dad was shot by a man linked to the CIA.

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Nigerian military silences 25 bandit gang members

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By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Nigerian troops have silenced at least 25 members of the gang led by notorious terrorist Bello Turji, the military said Wednesday.

Turji’s second-in-command Aminu Kanawa and about eight other commanders were killed as troops raided terrorist camps in the northwestern states of Sokoto and Zamfara from Monday to Tuesday, Edward Buba, the spokesman for the Nigerian military told a press briefing.

Buba said “the camp of Turji is in disarray” following the killing of Kanawa and dozens of others.

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“The death of Turji’s second-in-command, close allies, commanders, and combatants was a significant blow to the terrorists’ network in the northwestern part of Nigeria, as well as their fighting capabilities,” Buba said, noting this group of terrorists was responsible for numerous kidnappings and terrorist attacks across the region.

“Overall, troops are not relenting until these terrorists are destroyed,” said Buba.

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