Concerns
PDP governors asks President Buhari to summon Police Council meeting
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum has unanimously has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately summon the meeting of the Nigerian Police Council to implement strategies to combat the security challenges facing the nation. The governors, who met in Ibadan, Oyo State capital on Monday to further review the State of the nation, particularly, as it concerns the worsening security situation and the country’s collapsing economy said the meeting of the Police Council which comprises Mr President and all State Governors and other critical stakeholders should be called to evolve strategies to present threats to Nigeria as a country, especially with respect to policing Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and Governor of Sokoto State, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, who read...
Manchester United linked with Getafe midfield star
Manchester United could make a shock summer move for Getafe midfield anchor man Mauro Arambarri. The Premier League side are rumoured to be in the market for midfield options ahead of the 2020/21 season and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is looking to La Liga for options. The Red Devils have also been linked with a move for Atletico Madrid star Marcos Llorente, but with Los Rojiblancos demanding a minimum of €80m for the Spanish international, Arambarri is a much cheaper alternative. The Uruguayan was linked with a move to Atletico himself at the start of the current campaign, after establishing a reputation as one of the best defensive midfielders in the Spain under Jose Bordalas. However, that interest has now cooled from their domestic rivals, and United are planning a €20m swoop according to rep...
Governor Obaseki: No record of Indian coronavirus variant in Edo
Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State on Friday said there was no record of Indian COVID-19 variant in the state, as was speculated on social media. The governor stated this in Benin at a news conference to provide an update on COVID-19 response in the state. Mr Obaseki was represented by the Permanent Secretary from the state Ministry of Health, Osamwonyi Irowa. He said the federal government had on April 26, taken precautionary steps by restricting international travel from India, Brazil and Turkey to curtail COVID-19. “We as government have reached out to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) with regards to any Indian variant in Edo and the verified information reveals that the said sample was collected in January. “There is currently no update or report suggestive of any such o...
Judge postpones trial for three ex-cops in George Floyd case – reports
A judge postponed the trial of three former Minneapolis policemen accused of taking part in the murder of George Floyd to March 2022 after they said that prosecutors leaked prejudicial information about the case, online court records showed. Tou Thao, 25, J. Alexander Kueng, 27, and Thomas Lane, 28, all fired and arrested days after Floyd was killed on May 25, have been charged with aiding and abetting the second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter of Floyd. Former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin was convicted on April 20 of murdering Floyd, 46, by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes, in a case that marked a milestone in America’s fraught racial history and a rebuke of law enforcement’s treatment of Black Americans. The death, captured on cellphone video, led to pr...
Dua Lipa wins album of the year at Brit Awards
Dua Lipa won the coveted British Album of the Year prize at the Brit Awards on Tuesday, in a ceremony that saw female artists dominate the mixed categories. Around 4,000 guests streamed into London’s O2 Arena for the biggest night in British pop music, as the ceremony welcomed guests for the first time in two years as part of the government’s pilot scheme easing coronavirus restrictions. The Brit Awards have been criticised in the past for nominations seen as skewing heavily male, but this year almost all of the main prizes went to female artists. Little Mix won best British group — becoming the first female act ever to do so. Singer and poet Arlo Parks took the Breakthrough Artist award, and best international group went to the American band HAIM. In another history-making moment, Taylor ...
Segun Adeniyi: Devolution of power alone can’t solve Nigeria’s problems
Nigerian Monitor The chairman of THISDAY editorial board, Olusegun Adeniyi, says devolution of power is not the only solution to Nigeria’s problems. Adeniyi said for it to be effective, devolution of power must come with accountability at all levels especially at the local government where administration “has been castrated”. He was speaking at ‘The Platform’, an annual programme organised by Covenant Christian Centre, which was held in Lagos on Saturday. The seasoned journalist added that from past experience, closer government does not necessarily translate to better governance. “Today, there is hardly anybody in our country who is not angry about the situation in which we find ourselves. But nobody is accepting responsibility because the other person or the other ethnic group is to blam...
Cross River agency chief calls for legislation to back labour migration
The director-general, Cross River Migration Control Agency, Prince Michael Nku Abuo, has called for enactment of a legislation to back labour migration in order to engender national development. Abuo made the call at the Cross River State Migration Summit held in Calabar, the state capital on Saturday. The DG, who also represented the state governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, at the summit, pointed out that several solutions by both federal and state governments have been given to address the issue of unemployment in order to curb the challenge, but the way forward is to tackle the menace was through labour migration. According to him, Cross River Migration Control Agency was exploring and advancing for opportunities for citizens of the State who are at home and in the Diaspora under a work study p...
Red Cross condemns ‘horrific’ sexual violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray
The Red Cross voiced alarm Thursday over “horrific” accounts of sexual violence in Ethiopia’s conflict-hit Tigray region, amid fears that rape was being used as a weapon of war. Robert Mardini, director-general of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, said the organisation’s staff in hospitals and clinics in the region were hearing first-hand of extreme sexual violence. “Those reports are extremely horrific, very shocking,” he told AFP in an interview, adding that this was a “matter of grave concern”. “I haven’t heard such terrible accounts for more than two decades in the humanitarian sector,” said Mardini, who among other things closely followed the civil wars in Syria and Yemen when he headed ICRC’s Near and Middle East division from 2012 to 2018. “Many of my humani...
European Super League shelved as more clubs withdraw
The European Super League collapsed on Wednesday as eight of the 12 founding members from England, Italy and Spain abandoned the breakaway project. The project collapsed after it came under massive pressure from fans, politicians, football officials and even the British royals. Founder and Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli told Reuters he was reluctantly calling time on the new league. This was after six English clubs withdrew on Tuesday, with Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid following suit and AC Milan indicating they would too. “The voices and the concerns of fans around the world have clearly been expressed about the Super League, and AC Milan must be sensitive to the voice of those who love this wonderful sport,” the Italian club said in a statement. Agnelli said he still believed in the...
YPP provides girls with sexual reproductive health information
Young people, especially girls and young women faced significant barriers in accessing sexual reproductive health information and services before the COVID-19 crisis. Now, due to the pandemic, there is a risk that young people accessing this life-saving information will move even further from their reach. To address this risk, a one-day Community Forum for adolescent girls and young women was organised by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Youth Participatory Platform (YPP) in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Youth in Abesan Youth Center, Alimosho, Lagos. At the event, the CDC Secretary, Mosan Okunola LCDA, Mr. Olufemo Ojo, said “We must continue to provide young girls with information that empowers them to make informed decisions regarding their health and wellbeing....
Analysts: Printing currency could hurt economy
Analysts have expressed concerns over a recent claim that the federal government resorted to printing money to augment the monthly allocation to the three tiers of government, warning that it could heighten inflationary pressure with dire consequences for the country’s exchange rate and economy. The analysts, in separate interviews with newsmen, warned that a sustained policy of printing the currency, if not well managed, would hurt the economy. The concern came on the heels of recent revelation by Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, that due to the dwindling revenue in the face of declining oil revenue arising from the growing sources of alternative sustainable energy, the federal government had to print money to augment the amount available for sharing by the federal, state and lo...
Yoruba monarchs warn Nigerians to stop making inflammatory comments
Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, and the Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba Abdul-Rasheed Akanbi, yesterday, cautioned Nigerians against making inflammatory statements that could ignite ethnoreligious crisis in the country. The monarchs gave the warning during the visit of Oba Akanbi to the Alaafin’s palace, in Oyo. Asking those stoking ethno-religious crises to have a retrospective look at the past, the monarchs advised that anything that could fan the embers of discord should be avoided. They said: “Nigerians must exercise restraints; they must bear in mind Nigeria’s long history of ethno-religious conflicts, as people use this type of deep-seated animosity in their speech precisely because of the culture of impunity which reigns in the country.” “What is more, hate speech is an agent provocateur ...