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Former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi; Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki and his wife, Betsy Obaseki are expected to lead other eminent personalities to raise funds for the musical education of underprivileged children in schools across Nigeria at the maiden Viola Black Tie Christmas.

The Christmas concert series, organised by His Majesty’s Music, is slated to hold on December 19, 2021, at the Agip Recital Hall, MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos, at 6:15 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

Other personalities expected include acclaimed soloists, such as Unoma Okudo, Genevieve Ogu, Guchi Egbunine, Dele Nelson-Cole and other national treasures.

The event will feature musical genres ranging from evergreen Christmas classics to popular film music, as well as lesser-known songs. They will be backed up by Atlantis Orchestra and Choir, under the direction of award-winning composer, Chuck Okudo.

According to the organisers, the project tagged: “No Child Left Behind,” is aimed towards raising funds for the musical education of less-privileged children of primary and secondary school age living in orphanages in Nigeria.

The organisers said the goal was to ensure that every talented child in these homes gets the opportunity to obtain good musical education, adding that with the right support and mentoring, the child has the chance to become Nigeria’s next musical success and can in turn nurture other talents.

The organisers said this would ultimately have a positive multiplier effect on society as it seeks to further reduce the rate of unemployment while discovering talents.

As a way of tackling the problem of growing youth unemployment in Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday formally launched the Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme (TIES) in Abuja.

The apex bank also presented cheques of N5million each to six pioneer beneficiaries of the scheme to help boost their businesses, create employment and contribute to economic growth.

CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, said that the scheme was designed to create a paradigm shift among students and graduates of tertiary institutions in Nigeria from white-collar jobs towards entrepreneurship development.

Emefiele said that the apex bank was collaborating with polytechnics and universities in the country on the scheme.

According to him, the idea is to make Nigerian graduates job creators rather than job seekers after graduation, as is obtained in some other parts of the world.

“What we are doing today is something that is taken for granted in other climes.

“At the CBN, we are concerned about the level of unemployment within the youth population and we are taking steps to address it,’’ he said.

He urged the beneficiaries to apply for the loans well in their businesses so as to engender growth and create more jobs.

He said that academic certificates of beneficiaries were accepted as collateral, and would be returned to them when they offset the loans.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that six pioneer beneficiaries of the TIES as announced by the apex bank were Aisha Sulaiman, a graduate of Bayero University, Kano and Chukwudi Ukpabi of Federal Polytechnic, Ebonyi.

Others are Zainab Muhammed, a graduate of Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Nura Abdullahi of Kano State Polytechnic, Simeon Ojopane of Kogi State University and Adebowale Olaoye, an accounting graduate of the University of Lagos.

The CBN Governor also inaugurated an 11-man Body of Experts, chaired by Mr Abubakar Suleman, the Managing Director of Sterling Bank PLC, to steer the scheme.

In a goodwill message, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF ), Mr Boss Mustapha, commended CBN for initiating the scheme.

Mustapha, who expressed the Federal Government’s support for TIES, described it as one of the numerous laudable interventions by the CBN to empower the Nigerian youth.

He urged tertiary institutions to ensure that beneficiaries were selected strictly on merit.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Thursday announced 65 additional COVID-19 infections with one death recorded after four consecutive days of no fatality.

In an update on its website on Friday morning, the NCDC said that a death was last recorded on Nov. 21, adding the country’s fatality toll from the disease now stood at 2,975

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 65 infections recorded on Thursday represented a decrease from the 114 recorded on Wednesday.

The NCDC added that the latest figure of confirmed cases had increased Nigeria’s infection toll to 213,883, with 3,814 active cases.

According to the centre, additional infections were recorded across nine states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The NCDC stated that Lagos State, the epicentre of the disease, reported 20 fresh cases.

The FCT recorded 12 cases, followed closely by Kaduna State in the North-west with 11 cases; Oyo State, nine, while Bauchi and Kano states reported four cases each.

Edo State, the centre said reported two cases, while the trio of Ekiti, Plateau and Rivers states recorded a single case each.

It also stated that Delta, Katsina, Ogun, Osun and Sokoto states reported that they recorded no cases on Thursday.

The NCDC said that the FCT recorded 50 community discharges on Thursday, while Lagos State recorded a backlog of one discharged case for November 24, 2021.

It said that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre activated at Level 2, continued to coordinate the national response activities.

The centre recalled that the country recorded its first cases in February 2020, and 3,440,172 samples had been tested for COVID -19 so far.