President Bola Tinubu is presiding over the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Council Chamber of the State House in Abuja.
In attendance are Vice President Kashim Shettima, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume; Head of the Federal Civil Service, Didi Walson-Jack, the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, and the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.
Also, in attendance are ministers from the various federal ministries and other members of the Council.
This meeting comes exactly one week after the last one in which FEC endorsed President Tinubu’s decision to issue an Executive Order on Local Content Policy.
The policy seeks to promote local manufacturing and production by prioritising goods and services from Nigerian companies.
It also aims to discourage importation of goods and services that are available in Nigeria.
At the commencement of this week’s meeting, President Tinubu first swore in two newly appointed commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He also inaugurated two new members of the Board of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
Heart of Midlothian have opened talks with Kilmarnock as the Edinburgh club bid to secure Derek McInnes as their new team boss.
Hearts have identified the former Aberdeen and St Johnstone manager as their preferred candidate to succeed Neil Critchley.
Both Hearts and Kilmarnock have yet to reach an agreement over the 53-year-old Scot, and are due to face one another in the final game of the season on Sunday.
His Kilmarnock team beat Dundee 3-2 on Saturday to secure Premiership safety with a third straight victory in what has been an otherwise difficult season.
In the aftermath of the win, McInnes would not be drawn on the reports linking him with a move to Tynecastle, saying there had been “no contact from club to club”.
Having sacked Critchley and Steven Naismith during a season in which they failed to finish in the Premiership’s top six, Hearts have identified a candidate whose experience as a manager in Scotland started when he took St Johnstone to the top flight in 2009.
After a brief stint at Bristol City, he then had seven years with Aberdeen, with whom he never finished lower than fourth and won the League Cup in 2014.
McInnes departed Pittodrie in 2021 and took charge of Kilmarnock the following January, leading them to promotion back to the top flight and keeping them up on their return.
His spell at Rugby Park peaked last season when he guided the Ayrshire side to fourth place and European football.
Hearts themselves have had a turbulent season that started with their worst-ever beginning to a campaign and cost Naismith his job.
Critchley steered the club away from the bottom of the table but failed to get them into the top six and was dismissed, since when they have have moved up to seventh place again following two victories under caretaker Liam Fox.
A huge chart-topping singer has been rushed to the hospital. S Club singer Jo O’Meara took to social media to share a major health update with her online followers.
Posing in a hospital bed wearing a medical gown, the 46-year-old looked downcast as she explained she’d been suffering difficulties with her back again. Captioning her post, the singer penned: “Back in hospital! The back is back! I didn’t expect to be in here today!”
Just hours before this, Jo revealed that she was celebrating the 17th birthday of her son, Lenny, as she took to her Instagram to reveal she was “proud” of her “darling” child. This, however, isn’t the first time Jo has been left in pain over her back. In 2022, she explained that she had been rushed to hospital in the “worst pain”.
Jo O’Meara revealed she’d been rushed to hospital
The Don’t Stop Movin’ singer underwent emergency surgery, which she later confirmed didn’t work. At the time, Jo shared a snap of herself in her local Accident & Emergency after she was hooked up to an IV drip to deliver medication. She said: “When am I gonna get a break?? I really thought I was on the road to recovery.
“4am this morning the pain was the worst it’s been yet! So here we are again! I am devastated.” Due to her declining health, the singer was forced to cancel a string of concerts and underwent an operation to remove a disc from her back, causing her to spend eight days as a patient at Queen’s hospital in Romford. Sadly, the surgery didn’t work and Jo required another operation.
She later explained: “As you can see I’m back in bed. That is because the back is playing games again. The pain has been absolutely horrendous and today I got some MRI scan results back that wasn’t the result I wanted. I’ve actually got to go back into hospital for further surgery on my back which I’m absolutely devastated about to be honest.”
Speaking about her health in 2023 during an appearance on Loose Women, Jo said: “I’m a lot better than what I was. Yeah, it’s been a really rough few months, to be honest. It’s been very painful. I’ve had good days and bad days with it.
Despite her pain, Jo has continued to work with her S Club bandmates ( Getty Images for Bauer Media)
“I think sometimes you just got to soldier through it and then other times you just want to know how long the pain is going to last.” She’s since had four operations on her back.
The singer has been suffering from chronic back pain for decades and revealed she had issues with her back when she was in her early 20s. After going to an osteopath, she was told she had a slipped disc.
“The sciatica was horrendous. The pain was the worst,” Jo explained. Following the operations, Jo was left to take a different number of pain medications, but none – including morphine – seemed to take the edge off her unbearable pain.
When she first felt the agonising pain in 2022, she thought she was having a convulsion as her whole body went into shock. The Reach singer said she immediately rang for an ambulance and told The Sun: “I was sobbing and shaking. They came running in but I couldn’t move. Every time I tried to get off the bed I was screaming and sobbing in pain.”
Surgery left Jo facing months of physio before she could think about getting back on the stage, and she will have damage to her right leg permanently. Doctors had warned her that she may never return to her old ways. She explained how she knew something was severely wrong, as she’s often struggled with back pain.
“I knew the feeling but it was ten times worse than what I’ve had before,” she explained. “Back surgery is so complex and every time they go in, they’re just weakening my back. I was absolutely petrified.”
Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs onTikTok,Snapchat,Instagram,Twitter,Facebook,YouTubeandThreads.
Pope Leo XIV has called for the release of journalists imprisoned for doing their work while affirming free speech.
Leo, who was elected pontiff on Thursday after the death of Pope Francis, gave his first news conference at the Vatican on Monday.
Addressing some of the thousands of journalists who travelled to Rome to cover his election as the first American pontiff, he said journalists jailed “for seeking and reporting the truth” must be released.
“The church recognises in these witnesses – I am thinking of those who report on war even at the cost of their lives – the courage of those who defend dignity, justice and the right of people to be informed because only informed individuals can make free choices,” he said.
“The suffering of these imprisoned journalists challenges the conscience of nations and the international community, calling on all of us to safeguard the precious gift of free speech and of the press.”
The new pope also reiterated his message of peace that he had communicated to large crowds on Sunday as well.
“Peace begins with each one of us – in the way we look at others, listen to others and speak about others,” he told assembled journalists at the Vatican’s vast Paul VI Audience Hall.
“In this sense, the way we communicate is of fundamental importance. We must say ‘no’ to the war of words and images. We must reject the paradigm of war.”
Leo, who was active on social media before becoming pope, cautioned against “communication of all prejudice and resentment, fanaticism and even hatred”.
“Let us disarm words, and we will help to disarm the world,” he said, urging reporters to favour a path of communication for peace.
During his first Sunday blessing as pontiff, Leo advocated for genuine peace in Gaza, Ukraine and elsewhere.
German referee Felix Zwayer, who once served a ban for alleged involvement in a match-fixing plot, will take charge of next week’s all-English Europa League final between Tottenham and Manchester United.
Zwayer, now 43, was given a six-month suspension in 2006 after he was investigated for taking a £250 bribe from official Robert Hoyzer, who was subsequently handed a life ban.
It emerged that Zwayer, who has denied wrongdoing, was one of the officials to notify the authorities of Hoyzer’s match-fixing scheme and his relatively short ban was recognition of that.
Since the ban was imposed, Zwayer has become one of Europe’s leading referees and officiated in Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final second leg defeat by Paris St-Germain last Wednesday.
Zwayer also took charge of England’s European Championship semi-final victory over the Netherlands last summer.
When England and Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham played for Borussia Dortmund, the midfielder was fined 40,000 euros (£34,000) in 2021 for criticising Zwayer by making a reference to his ban.
The Europa League final will be played in Bilbao on Wednesday, 21 May.
Bosnian Irfan Peljto will referee Chelsea’s Conference League final against Real Betis on 28 May in Wroclaw, Poland.
Ben Foakes harvested a career-best unbeaten 174 for champions Surrey as their County Championship match with Warwickshire drifted to a draw at Edgbaston.
Foakes amassed 174 from 361 balls, the last 107 of them in a 10th-wicket stand of 158 in 58 overs with Matt Fisher, who made 40, as Surrey totalled 504 in reply to Warwickshire’s 665-5.
On a bowlers’ graveyard of a pitch, the game’s third innings finally began at 3.15pm on the final day. Surrey, following on, reached 15 without loss before a merciful downpour arrived to wash out a pointless last session.
This was the 172nd County Championship match between these teams and although The Oval pitch on which they completed an entire game in one day in 1953 (Warwickshire 45 and 52, Surrey 146) may have been a bit too bowler-friendly, this was way too far the other way.
Surrey resumed on the last morning on 369-9, still 147 short of the follow on figure, but Warwickshire knew they had to polish off the first innings quickly if they were to press for victory.
The excellent Foakes ensured that didn’t happen and advanced down the pitch to strike Rob Yates for successive glorious sixes; the first took him to 9,000 first class runs and the second to his 17th first class century, from 197 balls.
Foakes and Fisher batted through the morning session to add 118 in 39 overs with a degree of comfort which only increased the mystery as to how Surrey’s batters got into a tangle on the third day.
At 131, the partnership between Foakes and Fisher became a 10th-wicket record for Surrey against Warwickshire, beating the 130 by Bert Strudwick and Bill Hitch at Edgbaston in 1911.
At lunch, it stood at 141, 32 short of the county’s 10th-wicket best against anyone – 173 by Andy Ducat and Andy Sandham against Essex at Leyton in 1921.
They advanced to within 15 of the record when Fisher edged Ed Barnard to wicketkeeper Alex Davies.
Despite having just spent 178.2 overs in the field, Warwickshire enforced the follow on with a minimum of 43 overs left in the day.
Their bowlers no doubt led the sense of collective relief when, after just five of those overs, a terminal thunderstorm arrived.
Warwickshire head coach Ian Westwood:
“We turned up this morning with a lot of hope and expectation and I think if we had managed to get that wicket early, out there with fresh legs and a new ball it might have been very interesting.
“But I don’t want today to put a dampener on how well we have played on the first three days.
“Yes, it was a good batting pitch but we got stuck in and managed to get a big total and then I thought the highlight was yesterday’s performance with the ball. The effort and skill was fantastic.
“It’s been a good start to the season. We were desperate to win this game but a solid, high-scoring draw against Surrey is not the worst result by any means and puts us in a good place going into the next two games before we go into the T20.”
Surrey wicketkeeper Ben Foakes:
“We had one job to do and just had to bat as long as possible. Matt (Fisher) batted really well – it helped that he is not a number 11.
“I have felt alright so far this season. We have played on some pretty good pitches away from home and I have managed to cash in.
“It’s not easy taking wickets on these pitches so we have got to try and work out ways to get wickets. There definitely are ways to get wickets, you’ve got to be creative on pitches like that.
