APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that Guinness World Record has declared Nigerian chef Hilda Baci as world record holder for longest cooking marathon dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.
The Guardian reports that Nigerian chef, Hilda Baci was on Tuesday finally declared as the Guinness World Record holder for the longest cooking marathon.
The Guinness World Record in a statement on its website said Hilda now holds the record following a thorough review of all the evidence.
“Following a thorough review of all the evidence, Guinness World Records can now confirm that Hilda Effiong Bassey, better known as Hilda Baci, has officially broken the record for the longest cooking marathon (individual), with a time of 93 hours 11 minutes,” GWR wrote.
Recall that the 26-year-old Nigerian chef began on Thursday 11 May and continued through to Monday 15 May, cooking over 100 pots of food during her four-day kitchen stint.
GWR said that Hilda attempted to set a record of 100 hours, however, almost seven hours were deducted from her final total because she mistakenly took extra minutes for one of her rest breaks early on in the attempt.
According to the Guinness World Record, as with all ‘longest marathon’ records, the participant is permitted a five-minute rest break for every continuous hour of activity.
These rest breaks can be accumulated if not taken but they were the only times Hilda could use the bathroom or sleep during the attempt.
The previous record of 87 hours 45 minutes was set by Lata Tondon (India) in 2019.
Hilda, meanwhile, had said that she attempted this record to “put Nigerian cuisine on the map” and “to inspire young African women to chase their dreams.”
After reviewing all the footage, we’re delighted to announce that Hilda Baci is the new record holder for the longest cooking marathon (individual)
“I also decided to break this record to truly push my limits and test my abilities,” she added.
The newspaper says that a total of 37.91 million Nigerians registered and were issued with National Identity Numbers (NIN) from 2019 to 2021.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stated this in its National Identity Registration Statistics 2023 report.
According to NBS, the total number of registration and NIN issued in 2019 was 5.84 million, of which 42.41 per cent were females, while 57.59 per cent were males.
In 2020, the total registration and NIN issued reduced by 14.03 per cent with a total of 5.02 million recorded.
Female registration in 2020 accounted for 45.23 per cent of the figure, while male registration was 54.77 per cent.
However, in 2021, NIN issued stood at 27.05 million, indicating a rapid growth of 439.12 per cent, from the figure recorded in the previous year.
The state-by-state analysis shows that Kaduna recorded the highest number of registration and national identity number issued in 2019 with 595, 284. This was followed by Lagos and Kano with 560,757 and 485,912 respectively.
In 2020, Lagos State recorded the highest number at 523,901, followed by Kaduna (471,858) and Kano at 373,352.
“In addition, analysis by geo-political zone showed that for the three years, the North-West recorded the highest number of registration and national identity number issued with 1,786,469, 1,516,089 and 8,690,903 in 2019, 2020, and 2021 respectively, while the South-East had the lowest number of registration and
NINs issued 414,089, 360,332 and 1,601,481 in the three years respectively.
The Punch reports that Nigeria spent $3.47bn importing phones, generating sets, electrical transformers, and a host of other electrical equipment in 2022.
This is based on data culled from the International Trade Center. The ITC gets its data from the National Bureau of Statistics and the United Nations COMTRADE.
According to the multilateral agency, which has a joint mandate with the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations, Nigeria’s electrical importation bill grew by 11.90 per cent from the $3.09bn it was in 2022. Also, over the last three years, Nigeria has spent $10.26bn importing electrical equipment amid falling foreign exchange reserves.
Imports under the electrical machinery and equipment category on the ITC portal include, but are not limited to, electric motors and generators, electric generating sets, electrical transformers, vacuum cleaners, electric shavers, hair clippers, and telephone sets which include smartphones, facsimile machines for line telephony, teleprinters, and parts of telephone sets.
Total phone imports in 2022 was put at $773.56m, a 0.17 per cent year-on-year increase from $772.25m as of 2021. $468.65m worth of electric motors and electric generating, and $357.36m worth of electrical transformers were also imported.
Cumulatively, the three products constituted 46.06 per cent of total electrical equipment importation in 2022. Most of the equipment were imported from China, India, Germany, Türkiye, Sweden, United States of America, United Kingdom, Austria, Italy, Vietnam, and France.
Despite the liberalisation of its telecommunication sector over 20 years ago, Nigeria does not locally manufacture phones and most of the equipment needed in the telecom sector.
The newspaper says that the Nigeria Customs Service, on Monday, announced that it intercepted over 100 exotic vehicles, including various models of Sport Utility Vehicles, adding that 38 of them had been forfeited to the Federal Government.
It also called on stakeholders to synergise with officers and men of the Nigeria Customs Service to effectively suppress the menace of smuggling vehicles into Nigeria.
The Deputy Comptroller of Customs, who doubles as the Coordinator, Rapid Response Squad Headquarters, Jack Okpabi, disclosed this in a statement issued in Abuja while providing updates on his team’s quarterly achievements.
Commenting on the smuggled vehicles that were intercepted, he said the recent operation by the NCS, which led to the interception of over 100 Toyota Hilux, Toyota Landcruiser and other models of exotic vehicles, had saved the country from losing huge revenue that would have gone down the drain.
Okpabi was quoted as saying, “You can see that we have over 100 vehicles and 38 have been forfeited to the Federal Government. The operation will lead to the recovery of over N400m from demand notices.”
The customs officer expressed dismay over the determination of some persons to smuggle vehicles into Nigeria and wondered why some individuals were patronising the smugglers.
“It is on this note that I want to emphasise that the service will not hesitate to bring to book any offender caught smuggling vehicles into Nigeria.
GIK/APA