The National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) has approved the appointment of Emmanuel Odo as the Acting Clerk of the Senate.

Before his new appointment, Odo was the Deputy Clerk, Senate (Administration).

The appointment was ratified on Tuesday, September 16, 2025, during the Commission’s 10th meeting of its 6th session.

In a letter personally signed by the Executive Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Saviour Enyiekere, the NASC said the appointment takes effect from September 16, in line with Section 6(b) of the National Assembly Service Act, 2014.

“I write to inform you that the 6th Commission at its 10th Meeting held on Tuesday, 16th September, 2025, approved your appointment as Acting Clerk, Senate in the National Assembly w.e.f. from 16/09/2025.

This is in exercise of its powers as provided in Section 6(b) of the National Assembly Service Act, 2014,” the letter read.

Dr. Enyiekere explained that Odo’s elevation was in recognition of his diligence and administrative competence, urging him to justify the confidence reposed in him.

UBA Foundation has announced the commencement of the 15th edition of its National Essay Competition for senior secondary school students across Nigeria.

This year’s topic is: “Nigeria is characterised by diverse cultures, ethnicities, and religions. How can young Nigerians deploy diversity to build a united nation?”

The Managing Director/CEO of UBA Foundation, Bola Atta, explain that to be eligible to participate, applicants must be Nigerian senior secondary school students who are interested and are required to complete the online application form, upload a handwritten essay of no more than 750 words on the given topic, attach a recent passport photograph, and provide a valid birth certificate, National ID card, or international passport.

”For the competition, students are required to research thoroughly, get their ideas together, write their essays, and submit the scanned copies of their entries through the digital portal on or before Friday, October 17, 2025.

The topic has been carefully chosen to encourage participants to put on their thinking caps, as they examine how the country’s diversity can be utilised as a tool for nation-building, unity, and long-term development, while also rekindling the dwindling reading culture amongst the youth.

To also deepen its longstanding commitment to education and youth development, the foundation announced a significant increase in its educational grants, with the first-place winner receiving a university grant of N10 million to study at any African university of their choice.

This amount represents a rise by 33 per cent compared to the N7.5m winning prize last year, while the second-place and third-place winners will be awarded N7.5 million and N5 million grants, respectively up from N5m and N3.5m won last year.

• Image credit: buradaki/Shutterstock

Astronomers say that a large near-Earth asteroid, 2025 FA22, is set to make a close but safe flyby of Earth on Thursday, September 18.

Forbes reported that the asteroid, roughly 120–280 meters in diameter — about the length of two football fields — will pass at a distance of 523,000 miles (842,000 kilometres), more than twice the distance between Earth and the Moon.

Scientists say such a close approach by an object of this size occurs on average once every 10 years.

“While this is an absolutely safe approach, it is still remarkable: a similarly close encounter, involving an object of that size coming that close, happens on average one time every 10 years,” said astronomer Gianluca Masi at The Virtual Telescope Project.

Discovered in March 2025 by the Pan-STARRS 2 telescope, 2025 FA22 was initially listed as a potential impact risk for 2089 but was later removed from the European Space Agency (ESA) Risk List after further observations refined its orbit.