Friday
#EndSARS: Troops take over Oyigbo as fresh mob attacks hit Rivers
File Photo Troops of the Nigerian Army and the policemen have taken over the Oyigbo Local Government Area in Rivers State following fresh mob attacks in the area. The State Police Command had said members of the Indigenous People of Biafra were responsible for killing two of its operatives and burning of two police stations in the area on Wednesday. Gunshots rent the area from Thursday night till Friday morning as soldiers repel the hoodlums but there were still flashes of violence in Oyigbo. Governor Nyesom Wike had placed a 24-hour curfew on the local government but residents said they could not sleep because of the shootings. Chairman of Oyigbo LGA, Gerald Aforji, while reacting to the incident on Friday morning, said soldiers had intervened to restore calm in the area. Get more stories...
Lagos launches N5 billion support capital for low-cost schools
Lagos State Employment Trust Fund Lagos State Government in partnership with First Bank of Nigeria has launched N5 billion Post-Coronavirus (COVID-19) Recovery Support capital for the education sector to support low-cost private schools across the state in mitigating the negative impact of the pandemic. The intervention fund, which targets over 2,000 private schools, was formally launched by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Friday at a ceremony held at the Banquet Hall in the State House, Alausa, Ikeja. Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) collaborated with First Bank of Nigeria Limited to facilitate the matching fund, which will be given as a loan to schools and vocational education centres across the State. Sanwo-Olu said the intervention was part of the State Government’s sustainable...
Diamond League: Ese Brume finishes second In Doha
The reigning African women Long Jump champion, Ese Brume, recorded an impressive outing at the Doha Diamond League on Friday. The Nigerian finished second in the Women’s Long jump event after a commendable leap of 6.68m (+0.4m/s) in the final. Brume had recorded a Season’s Best (SB) of 6.71m (+0.4) in the 4th round of the competition but her final jump was used in determining her final position going by newly introduced rules. Brume who won Nigeria’s only medal at the last World Championships held also in Doha has been starved of competition due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was World Silver medallist, Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk, who won the women’s long jump event having soared to a SB of 6.91m (+0.6) in her final try. Sweden’s Khaddi Sagnia who was the top seed going into the contest, jumpe...
Nigerian government inaugurates infectious disease centre in Abuja
The Federal Government on Friday inaugurated the first Infectious Disease Centre (IDC), in the Federal Capital Territory, and handed it over to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH). Speaking at the inauguration of the 40-bed centre in Gwagwalada, Abuja, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said that the centre would improve Nigeria’s capacity to respond to all infectious diseases. “With laboratory testing and case management in one location, there is a much shorter time between sample collection and infection confirmation. ”This will ensures early initiation of treatment and thus mitigate mortality during infectious disease outbreaks. “I am very proud that today, we now have an international standard centre where we can manage highly pathogenic infectious disease cases, i...
Ondo election: Governor Akeredolu warns Nyesom Wike to steer clear
The Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, has warned his Rivers State counterpart, Nyesom Wike, to steer clear of the October 10 governorship election in the state. Wike had on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Friday declared that Eyitayo Jegede of the Peoples Democratic Party will win the Ondo Governorship election. The Rivers governor claimed that the All Progressives Congress was putting INEC under pressure to win the poll for Akeredolu, having lost in Edo State. However, Akeredolu, who spoke through the state Commissioner for Information, Mr Donald Ojogor, said there would not be any room for Wike to influence the process of the October 10 election. He said, “In all aspects, Governor Wike deserves respect not just as governor but as a critical stakeholder in the dem...
Trading remains upbeat on NSE, index up 1.28%
Activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Friday remained upbeat for the fifth consecutive day, with the All-Share Index growing by 1.28 per cent to cross 26,000 mark. The index rose by 332.20 points or 1.28 per cent to close at 26,319.34, compared with 25,987.14 recorded on Thursday. In the same vein, the market capitalisation grew by N173 billion to close at N13.754 trillion, from N13.581 trillion on Thursday. Nigerian Breweries led the gainers’ table, appreciating by N4.70 to close at N52.55 per share. Presco followed with N3.50 to close at N53, while Dangote Cement appreciated by N3.10 to close at N139 per share. Stanbic IBTC garnered N1.40 to close at N40.50, while Flour Mills gained N1.35 to close at N21.50 per share. On the other hand, Northern Nigeria Flour Mills topped the lagg...
ECOWAS likely to decide on lifting Mali sanctions Friday
The West African bloc ECOWAS will likely decide on Friday whether to lift potentially crippling sanctions imposed on Mali after last month’s coup, its mediator said. The mediator, Nigerian former president Goodluck Jonathan, called the 15-nation bloc’s sanctions “unfortunate” during a visit to Mali’s capital Bamako on Wednesday. West African leaders have heaped pressure on the ruling military junta to return power to civilians since the coup toppled president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on August 18. ECOWAS has used the sanctions, which include closing borders and restricting trade, as leverage in negotiations with the junta. Sticking points in those negotiations have included whether civilians or soldiers will run a transition government until fresh elections. The junta asked for the sanctions...
Increase in China’s warplane activity starts to unnerve Taiwanese
The increasing number of air force incursions from China is starting to fray nerves among ordinary Taiwanese, who wonder if their heavily armed political rival finally plans to attack after decades of threats, polls and analysts say. The People’s Liberation Army Air Force has increased the frequency and number of flights over a median line between the two Asian neighbors in the past four months, according to reports from Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense. Eighteen Chinese military aircraft passed through Taiwan’s airspace Friday followed by 19 on Saturday, the ministry said. Saturday the planes flew in a formation designed to attack from the front, rear and both sides. Some aircraft were sighted in Taiwanese airspace over waters about 80 kilometers from Taiwan itself, according to maps...
Manchester City name new captain after Silva departure
Getty Images Fernandinho will be Manchester City’s captain for the 2020-21 season, manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed. David Silva took the armband after the departure of long-serving skipper Vincent Kompany last season before the Spain playmaker opted to call time on his decade-long stay at the Etihad Stadium. It means the responsibility will now be passed to Fernandinho, another stalwart of City’s modern era, after the 35-year-old was voted captain by his team-mates and other members of staff. “He will be good [as a leader], as he always has been since I met him,” Guardiola said of the Brazil international who joined City from Shakhtar Donetsk for £30million in 2013 and is out of contract next June. “It doesn’t matter [whether or not Fernandinho has] the armband, he is always a guy who ...
France’s economy minister contracts coronavirus
Getty Images French economy minister Bruno Le Maire announced Friday he has tested positive for COVID-19 but said he had no symptoms and was working from home as cases soared again in France. Le Maire, who is responsible for reviving a French economy battered by the months-long pandemic, is not the first member of President Emmanuel Macron’s government to have been diagnosed with the disease. “I tested positive for Covid-19 this evening. I immediately placed myself in isolation at home in line with the health regulations issued by the government,” Le Maire said in a tweet. “I show no symptoms. I will remain in isolation for seven days. I continue to exercise my duties,” the 51-year-old minister said. On March 9, the former culture minister and current minister for external trade, Franck Ri...
Edo election: PDP Reps condemn ‘siege’ on opposition governors
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the House of Representatives has condemned alleged siege on opposition governors by security agents in Benin City, the Edo State capital, ahead of Saturday’s gubernatorial election in the state. The caucus in a statement by its leader, Kingsley Chinda, on Friday night, stated that it is unacceptable that security agencies, whose duty is to ensure safety of lives and property are the ones allegedly causing chaos. Chinda said it is shocking that while All Progressives Congress (APC) governors and a presiding officer of the National Assembly are sheltered in the home of a leader of the party in the state, PDP governors are being harassed. “The caucus find the current siege on Governors by men of the Nigeria Police force and other security officials...
Akwa Ibom announces dates for resumption of schools
Akwa Ibom State Government has fixed September 21 2020 for the commencement of processes for the resumption of academic activities in the state-owned university, college of education and public primary schools. Similarly, 28th September has been fixed for the resumption of full academic activities in secondary schools while the state-owned Polytechnic will commence academic activities on the 5th of October, 2020. The State Commissioner for Information, Comrade Ini Ememobong, announced this while briefing Government House Correspondents on the resolutions of the state Executive Council meeting of today, Friday, September 18, 2020, presided over by the state Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, at Government House, Uyo. He said that the State Executive Council has directed private schools in the stat...
