The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has formalised his prior announcement that Amina Mohammed of Nigeria will continue in her role as deputy secretary-general during his second term. The UN said in a statement that in delegating development coordination to the deputy secretary-general, Guterres set in motion the most ambitious reform in the history of the organisation’s development system. It noted that Mohammed’s leadership helped advance the conceptual shift from the UN that member states called for in adopting the Sustainable Development Goals. “Over the last five years, the United Nations Sustainable Development Group was strengthened to enhance global leadership…

A former Nigerian leader, Ernest Shonekan, died of “natural causes” on Tuesday morning, his family has said. Adeboye Shonekan stated this in a statement on behalf of the family. The late Nigerian leader was 85. The family said they would release further details in due course. The Ogun-born statesman was head of the interim government that led Nigeria between the military governments of Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha. Already, condolences have been pouring in for Shonekan, who was popularly known as the Baba Sale of Egbaland. President Muhammadu Buhari described the late leader as an internationally-respected statesman with courageous wisdom.…

North Korea appeared to test-fire a ballistic missile on Tuesday that may be more advanced than a "hypersonic" one it launched less than a week ago, South Korea's military said, as Pyongyang pursues increasingly powerful weapons. Tuesday's launch, condemned by authorities in Washington and Tokyo and prompting an expression of concern from the U.N. secretary general, underscored North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's New Year's vow to bolster the military with cutting-edge technology at a time when talks with South Korea and the United States have stalled. Initial estimates found the missile travelled more than 700 km (435 miles) to…

Many commuters and students were forced to trek long distances in Kano on Monday as commercial tricycle operators withdrew their services for the first day of a planned one-week strike. The operators are protesting against government levy of N8,000 for the renewal of tricycle number plates. Tricycles, locally called ‘Adaidaita Sahu’ in Kano, are the dominant mode of intra-city transportation in the commercial nerve centre of Northern Nigeria. The protest of the operators began after the state’s Road Traffic Agency (KAROTA) announced the N8,000 renewal register aside from daily levy of N120 on each tricycle. Students who coincidentally resumed school…