In a significant victory for the Falana family, the Lagos State High Court has delivered a landmark ruling against social media critic Martin Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM).

Justice M. O. Idowu, presiding over suit no: ID/8584/GCM/2024, ordered Otse to immediately delete defamatory statements and videos targeting prominent lawyer and human rights advocate Femi Falana (SAN) and his son, musician Folarin Falana, popularly known as Falz.

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The court also slapped Otse with a N500 million fine for libel and ordered him to compensate the Falanas for damages.

The ruling stems from Otse’s September 24, 2024 posts linking the Falanas to controversial Nigerian personality Bobrisky. Justice Idowu deemed these comments “defamatory and injurious” to the Falanas’ public reputations.

Falana and Falz successfully argued that Otse’s claims were baseless and aimed at tarnishing their reputation.

The court noted that Otse knowingly published false statements to harm the Falanas.

“This judgment underscores the importance of responsible social media usage and the consequences of spreading false information,” said Dawodu, counsel for the Falanas.

The Nobel Prize season is upon us once again, with two categories already revealed and more to come in the following days.

This prestigious award, first established by the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel in 1901, continues to honour those whose contributions have profoundly impacted humanity.

Spanning six prize categories — Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economic Sciences — the Nobel Prizes are announced every October and presented in a grand ceremony on 10 December.

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The 2024 Nobel announcements began with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on 7 October, awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their groundbreaking discovery of microRNA and its role in gene regulation.

A day later, on Tuesday, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton, recognising their foundational contributions to machine learning through artificial neural networks.

Looking ahead, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry is slated to be announced today, 9 October, at 11:45 CEST.

Following that, the Nobel Prize in Literature will be revealed on Thursday, 10 October at 13:00 CEST, with the Peace Prize to be announced on Friday, 11 October at 11:00 CEST.

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel will close out the announcements on Monday, 14 October at 11:45 CEST.

The Nobel Foundation, responsible for managing Nobel’s fortune, ensures that his vision—”to reward those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind”— is realized.

Since the first awards in 1901, the Nobel Prizes and the Economic Sciences Prize have been awarded 623 times to 1,004 laureates, with a total of 969 individuals and 27 organisations having been honoured.

Each year, the selection process begins with thousands of academicians, scientists, and parliamentary members worldwide submitting nominations.

These nominations have remained confidential for 50 years, preserving the integrity and mystique of the Nobel process. Details gathered from the Nobel Prize website were revealed to PUNCH Online.

As we await the rest of the 2024 laureates, it’s worth reflecting on how this remarkable tradition, now over a century old, continues to shape global discourse and inspire future generations.

-Only Nigerian Nobel Prize winner-

As of now, only one Nigerian has won the Nobel Prize: Wole Soyinka – Nobel Prize in Literature (1986)

Wole Soyinka, a renowned playwright, poet, and essayist, became the first African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986.

He was recognised for his wide-ranging works that blended traditional African theatre with Western literary forms, often exploring themes of oppression, tyranny, and human dignity.

His Nobel citation praised him for being a writer “who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence.”

No other Nigerian has won a Nobel Prize in the various categories, making Soyinka’s achievement particularly significant for the nation and the African continent.

-Nobel Prize medal, prize amount-

The front of the gold Nobel Prize medal depicts Alfred Nobel. The image on the reverse varies according to the institution awarding the prize.

The current amount is at SEK 11 million per full Nobel Prize. A Nobel Prize can be awarded to up to three laureates who share the prize sum.

Nobel Prize in Physics
1901–2024: 118 prizes awarded to 227 laureates.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry
1901–2023: 115 prizes awarded to 194 laureates.

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
1901–2024: 115 prizes awarded to 229 laureates.

Nobel Prize in Literature
1901–2023: 116 prizes awarded to 120 laureates.

Nobel Peace Prize

1901–2023: 104 prizes awarded to 141 laureates.

Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences
1901–2023: 55 prizes awarded to 93 laureates.

Courtesy – The Punch

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) on Monday announced the elimination of middlemen from the oil and gas industry value chain, thus shortening the oil industry contracting cycle to six months.

It attributed this to the three Presidential Directives on Local Content operations issued by President Bola Tinubu in March 2024.

The Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe stated this in Lagos while speaking at a breakfast meeting with some media executives.

He confirmed that NCDMB had complied fully with the Presidential Directive on Local Content Compliance Requirements, 2024 (EO 41), which sought to ensure that only local service companies that have domiciled proven capacities and capabilities can participate in oil and gas tenders. He also indicated that NCDMB has reduced its touch points and fast-tracked projects approval processes, in compliance with the Presidential Directive on Reduction of Petroleum Sector Contracting Costs and Timelines, 2024 (EO 42).

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The Presidential Directives and the Board’s compliance are geared to attract new international and local investments, encourage speedy development of oil and gas projects and improve the Nigerian economy.

The Executive Secretary hinted on plans to launch a major initiative tagged “Back to the creeks.” This policy will take the impact and contribution of local content implementation to oil producing communities and other hinterlands across the country.

Responding to questions from journalists, the NCDMB boss dismissed insinuations that local content implementation increases the cost of producing crude oil in Nigeria.

He clarified that the major drivers of increased cost of crude oil production are downtime and disruptions in operations caused by community issues or technical problems.

Other challenges responsible for extraneous costs include the cost of providing security and the activities of briefcase contractors, he said.

On the Board’s strategies for enabling growth of the industry, Ogbe stated that NCDMB was working intently to create an enabling environment for international oil companies to take final investment decisions for new projects and was evolving policies to support indigenous oil and gas service companies.

Responding to a question on insurance, the NCDMB boss promised to revive the insurance services guidelines the Board signed in June 2022 with the National Insurance Commission (NIACOM), which would oblige the Nigerian oil and gas industry to patronize the local insurance sector.

He acknowledged that the success of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act and the Nigerian Content 10-year strategic roadmap depends largely on public communication, awareness and support from key oil and gas stakeholders.

He also appreciated the media for projecting the activities and programmes of the Board and assured that cooperation with the media would be deepened under his leadership as the Executive Secretary.

The General Manager, Corporate Communications and Zonal Coordination, Mr. Esueme Dan Kikile, indicated that the breakfast meeting was organised to introduce the Executive Secretary formally to leading media stakeholders.

Other senior management of NCDMB that attended the breakfast meeting included the Director Corporate Services and Capacity Building, Dr. Ama Ikuru; Director Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr. Abdulmalik Halilu; Director Projects Certification and Authorization, Engr. Abayomi Bamidele and Director, Legal Services, Mr. Naboth Onyesoh, Esq.

In his comments, Director Corporate Services and Capacity Building, charged media stakeholders to report Nigeria in a positive light, to attract investments in the oil and gas sector.

The Director of Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr. Abdulmalik Halilu gave an update on the performance of the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCI Fund). He rated the Fund’s performance as over 90%, judging by the percentage of access by qualified companies and repayment by the borrowers.

He equally hinted that the Executive Secretary had constituted a team to review the Community Contractors Fund, which is a poor performing product under the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCI Fund).

He expressed hope that an announcement would soon be made on the remodeling of that particular product, new partners and product papers.

The Director Projects Certification and Authorization, Engr. Abayomi Bamidele highlighted the increased number of projects approved by the Board since it started implementing the Presidential Directive on Local Content.

He added that the Board was equally supporting companies seeking to fastrack gas investments to take advantage of the Presidential Directive on Tax Incentives, Exemptions and Remissions for the Oil and Gas Companies.

Also speaking, Director, Legal Services, Mr. Naboth Onyesoh commended the media for their support to the Board over the years, which increased the visibility and public awareness of the Board’s functions and achievements.