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Nigeria Rated 11th Most Miserable Country In The World

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Hanke’s Annual Misery Index has rated Nigeria as the 11th most miserable country in 2021.

According to the report, which analyzed 156 countries by calculating their unemployment rates, inflation, prevailing lending rates, and GDP growths, Nigeria went from 15th among the most miserable countries in the world in 2020 to 11th in 2021.

The figures, published on the verified Twitter handle of Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at John Hopkins University, showed that Nigeria was the fourth most miserable country in Africa last year, only behind Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Angola.

According to the report, the five least miserable countries were Brunei, Switzerland, China, Taiwan, and Japan. The United States ranked 95th, making it the 14th least miserable nation of the 108 countries on the table.

The latest report by the economic expert once again underlines the instability of Nigeria’s economy in the last seven years, captured by two recessions between 2016 and 2019.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the consumer price index (CPI), which measures inflation, increased to 15.92 percent year on year in March 2022. Figures by the NBS also pegged Nigeria’s unemployment rate at an all-time high of 33.3 percent.

The latest figures bring Nigeria’s misery index points to 49.22, a significant uptick from the 41.12 index points recorded at the start of Buhari’s term.

In a recent report titled, “Africa Faces New Shock as War Raises Food and Fuel Costs,” the International Monetary Fund, in its Regional Economic Outlook, said that it expected Nigeria’s economic growth to slow to 3.8 percent this year from last year’s 4.5 percent.

The report said the effects of Russia’s invasion on Ukraine would be deeply consequential, eroding standards of living and aggravating macroeconomic imbalances.

“We now expect growth to slow to 3.8 percent this year from last year’s better-than-expected 4.5 percent, according to our latest Regional Economic Outlook. Though we project annual growth to average four percent over the medium term, it will be too slow to make up for ground lost to the pandemic.”

Inflation in the region is expected to remain elevated in 2022 and 2023 at 12.2 percent and 9.6 percent respectively, the first time since 2008 that regional average inflation will reach such high levels, the report said.

BIG STORY

37-Year-Old American Nicholas Giroux Jailed For Life Over Murder Of Nigerian boxer Olugbemi

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A 37-year-old man, Nicholas Giroux, has been sentenced to life imprisonment plus an additional 20 years for killing Nigerian-American boxer, Isaiah Olugbemi, in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

According to the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office, Giroux received the sentence on Friday from Judge Richard Trunnell after pleading guilty to first-degree murder and use of a firearm in a violent crime. The prison terms will run consecutively.

Olugbemi, 27, a father and highly regarded amateur boxer, was shot several times by Giroux on June 17, 2024, along Meadowmist Way in Odenton. He later died from his injuries at the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

Surveillance video revealed Giroux approaching Olugbemi, firing multiple rounds until he collapsed, and then discharging three more shots before fleeing. Police later recovered 9mm casings from the crime scene.

Investigators noted that Giroux had previously confronted Olugbemi and a neighbour at a cookout about two weeks earlier, where he displayed a firearm, though he did not fire it at that time.

Following the shooting, Giroux confessed during interrogation and directed authorities to the location of the gun he used.

Describing the murder, State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess called it “cruel and senseless,” stressing that the victim had a bright future in boxing.

“Mr. Olugbemi was a father and a rising star in amateur boxing. The callousness and lack of remorse on the part of this Defendant is really disturbing. He deserves this sentence. And to the family and friends of Mr. Olugbemi, I hope that today provides some sense of justice for this terrible ordeal,” Leitess said.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney Carolynn Grammas, with homicide detectives from the Anne Arundel County Police Department leading the investigation.

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40-Year-Old US-Based Nigerian Daniel Chima Risks 20-Year Jail Term Over ‘$405,000 Romance Scam’

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Daniel Chima Inweregbu, a 40-year-old Nigerian, has pleaded guilty to multiple fraud charges in the United States, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

US prosecutors said Inweregbu conspired to commit mail and wire fraud, while also using a false identity to carry out a romance scam that ran from July 2017 to December 2018.

The scheme, which cost victims over $405,000, involved Inweregbu and his partners contacting Americans through email and messaging platforms. They pretended to be “Larry Pham,” built online romantic relationships, and then tricked victims into sending money to bank accounts they controlled.

Once received, the funds were laundered through intermediaries to conceal their source, ownership, and movement, the DOJ added.

According to court filings:

  • Count 1 carries up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.
  • Count 12 also carries up to 20 years in prison, with a fine of up to $500,000.
  • He must also pay a mandatory $100 special assessment fee for each count.

Sentencing has been fixed for December 4, 2025, before Judge Brown.

This is not Inweregbu’s first conviction. In December 2020, a Federal High Court in Lagos sentenced him to 18 months in prison (with an option of a ₦300,000 fine) for a similar romance scam. He was also ordered to refund $15,000 to the US Consulate.

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Most Trump Tariffs Are Illegal, US Court Rules

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A US appeals court has ruled that most of former President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs are unconstitutional.

Back in April, Trump announced global tariffs on all imports into the United States, including a 14% levy on Nigerian goods. Since then, he has alternated between rolling back some measures and intensifying others.

Trump had argued that the tariffs were legally justified under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which empowers the president to act against “unusual and extraordinary” threats.

But in a 7–4 ruling, the Washington appeals court disagreed, holding that Trump exceeded his authority. The judges noted that the IEEPA “neither mentions tariffs (or any of its synonyms) nor has procedural safeguards that contain clear limits on the president’s power to impose tariffs.”

However, the panel stopped short of cancelling the tariffs outright, leaving room for a potential appeal before the US Supreme Court.

Reacting on Truth Social, Trump insisted his tariffs remain intact:
“ALL TARIFFS ARE STILL IN EFFECT!”

“If these Tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the Country. It would make us financially weak, and we have to be strong,” he wrote.

The former president also expressed confidence that the Supreme Court would eventually uphold his tariff policies.

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