Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL), has lost his 25-year-old daughter.

As at the time Investors King was filing this report, details of her death were sketchy.

The deceased, identified as Fatima Kyari passed away on Friday.

Vice-President Kashim Shettima has condoled with the CEO over the tragic incident.

Shettima, who prayed for the peaceful repose of the deceased, asked God to grant the family members the strength to bear the painful exit of their daughter, who was in her prime.

The Vice-President led other mourners at the funeral prayer, held at the Annur Mosque in Abuja.

Brazilian authorities have started shutting down more than 2,000 betting sites, including those that sponsor popular football team Corinthians and other first-division clubs, as part of a push to regulate online gambling.

The country has also banned minors from participating in betting in its new rules meant to sanitize the booming sector.

Latin America’s biggest economy is struggling with what Finance Minister Fernando Haddad has called a betting “pandemic,” prompting the government to tighten the screws on the sector.

Since 2018, when Brazil legalised sports betting sites, online gambling has operated in a regulatory free-for-all, subject to virtually no rules or taxes.

Some of the most popular sites take bets on sporting fixtures, but Brazilians have also become hooked on gambling games like Aviator, where players gamble on the flight of a virtual airplane, or the online casino game Fortune Tiger.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government has called time on sites that failed to sign up to new regulations due to take effect in January.

The new rules seek to combat fraud and money laundering and protect users, by for example banning minors from betting.

According to the nation, anyone who is not regularized, or in the process of being regularized, is being taken off the air.

The finance ministry disclosed it had identified 2,040 “suspicious domains” which it had asked the telecoms regulatory agency Anatel to block.

On the blacklist is Esportes da Sorte, which sponsors Corinthians, one of Brazil’s most popular football clubs, as well as Athletico Paranaense, Bahia and Gremio de Porto Alegre.

The ministry said the betting sites would be banned from advertising, “which includes, for example, sponsoring football clubs.”

More than 200 other sites will be allowed to continue to operate after agreeing to the new rules.

Brazil’s central bank estimates that 24 million out of Brazil’s 212 million inhabitants, roughly one in nine people, gamble online.

Lula warned recently that betting was causing many low-income Brazilians to get into debt.

The Borno State government has secured a donation of 1.2 million Euros from the Swiss Federation to support victims of the recent floods in the state.

The donation, handed to the Borno State Flood Disaster Relief Fund, was announced by the Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria, Nicolas Lang, who headed a delegation from the Swiss Embassy on a condolence visit to the government house in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Ambassador Lang, who was accompanied by Senior Humanitarian Advisor Nicolas Martin-Achard and Senior Political Advisor Florent Geel, noted that an earlier donation received by the Swiss government was successfully used for its intended purpose which was to aid the Borno Model and help mitigate the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the region.

He emphasized that the donations indicate Switzerland’s continued support to the Borno State government, particularly residents affected by the crisis.

He said, “The earlier contribution was successfully deployed for its intended purpose, supporting the Borno Model and helping to mitigate the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the region.”

“These donations in 2023 and 2024 demonstrate Switzerland’s continued support and solidarity with the Borno State Government and the people of Borno affected by the crises.”

Meanwhile, Governor Babagana Zulum, on behalf of the people of Borno State, thanked the Swiss government for their support describing it as generous, especially in this difficult time.

He thanked the ambassador for his visit and solidarity.

Zulu said, “On behalf of the government and the people of Borno, I extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Swiss government for their generous support during this difficult time. We also appreciate Ambassador Lang and his delegation for their visit and expressions of solidarity.”

He noted that the donation would play a crucial role in bringing the needed relief to the affected victims and pledged that the funds would be transparently and efficiently utilised.