July
Anambra election: We’ve not disqualified any aspirant – PDP
File Photo The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said none of the gubernatorial aspirants on its platform has been disqualified, ahead of the November 6, Anambra State governorship election. The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, told newsmen in a telephone interview that the interest of the opposition party was to have a credible, free and fair gubernatorial primary to produce a candidate, who would win the governorship contest. Ologbondiyan, who was responding to question on the purported “technical” disqualification of some persons aspiring to contest the next Anambra governorship poll on the PDP, through alleged zoning of the party’s gubernatorial ticket, said the party is not aware of any disqualification. “Which party? Nobody is talking about disqualification. In f...
Uber ‘lays off’ 185 former Postmates workers
Uber has laid off about 185 Postmates workers, and plans to further integrate Postmates’ infrastructure within its Uber Eats segment, The New York Times reported. Uber acquired Postmates in July for $2.65 billion, following a failed attempt to buy rival food delivery service Grubhub. Meal delivery has been one bright spot for Uber amid the pandemic, as bookings in its Uber Eats division rose 135 percent year-over-year in the third quarter while its ride-hailing segment dropped 50 percent over the same time period. It’s consolidated other parts of the company in a bid to become profitable by the end of 2021, selling its autonomous vehicles segment to Aurora Innovation in December, the same month it sold its Uber Elevate flying taxi division to Joby Aviation. The latest cuts will see Postmat...
Aston Villa winger Trezeguet tests positive for coronavirus
Mahmoud Hassan ‘Trezeguet’ has tested positive for coronavirus, the Aston Villa star has confirmed. Since his head injury during an English top-flight game where the Claret and Blue Army stuttered to a 2-1 defeat by West Ham United in November 2020, the Egyptian is yet to feature for the Villa Park giants. The 26-year-old went down under the challenge of Declan Rice while trying to connect to Douglas Luiz’s flick in the 71st minute. Upon his return to first-team training at their Bodymoor Health training ground on Thursday, Trezeguet contracted the virus alongside several first-team players and staff. “After being hit in the head with six stitches, I was exposed to a tear and a hindquarter and I was not able to play for a month, then after rehabilitation and the beginning of the return to ...
Egypt court acquits TikTok stars jailed over ‘debauchery’
An Egyptian appeals court has acquitted two young women imprisoned for “attacking society’s values” over videos they published on TikTok. The women had been sentenced to two years in prison last July for “breaching public morals”. “The court of appeal accepted the appeal filed by Haneen Hossam and Mawada al-Adham against their imprisonment … on charges of incitement to debauchery and attacking society’s values,” a court official said on Tuesday, asking not to be named. Hossam, 20, was acquitted after being jailed for encouraging women among her 1.3 million subscribers to broadcast videos in exchange for money, while al-Adham’s two-year sentence for publishing indecent photos and videos was cancelled. Hossam’s lawyer Hussein El Bakar told Thomson Reuters Foundation that her client, a studen...
2021: Banks to walk a tightrope amid low revenue environment
Nigeria’s deposit money banks (DMBs) must brace up for the challenge of 2021 that might tax their resolve to remain in business. Reason: the industry is faced with a tougher operating environment that could threaten the operators’ ability to meet their stakeholders’ needs and expectations yet perform meaningful corporate social responsibility roles. Their valuable customers such as high net-worth individuals, corporate bodies and other institutions are equally challenged. In his book, Business Stripped Bare, celebrated iconic entrepreneur and founder of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson, says, “without trustworthy banks, there can be no business, no employment, no money. According to Branson, “People have got to be able to go to bed at night secure in the knowledge that the money they depo...
Kano government reaffirms commitment to minimum wage, says deductions temporary
Kano state government has reaffirmed its commitment to the continuous implementation of the N30,600.00 minimum wage for civil servants. It however said, that deduction in November/December workers’ salary was a temporary measure informed by the drop in federal allocation and dwindling internally generated revenue occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. The state commissioner for Information, Malam Muhammad Garba who stated this in a statement, Thursday, indicated that the deduction was necessary to keep the government going in the face of the prevailing economic recession facing the country. “The state government took the measure instead of contemplating on paying half salary or in batches as obtained in other states or layoffs. “Similar temporary measure was taken, including cut in the allow...
Court orders Governor Obaseki to open defence in ‘certificate forgery’ case
The All Progressives Congress, APC, on Monday, closed the forgery case it instituted against Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, after it called a total of six witnesses and tendered 17 Exhibits. Lead counsel to the APC, Chief Akin Olujimi, SAN, announced decision of the party to rest its case, shortly after the court discharged the sixth witness, PW-6, Dr. Mikano Asekome, who is an Associate Professor in Banking and Finance Department at Benson Idahosa University, Benin city, Edo state. The PW-6 told the court that he was on December 23, 2020, summoned to appear as witness in the matter. The witness went ahead and tendered in evidence, the original copy of his certificate in Agricultural-Economics, which the University of Ibadan awarded to him on July 31, 1978. Under cross-examination, ...
Kwara announces second wave of coronavirus
The Kwara Medical Advisory Sub-Committee on COVID-19 has announced that a second wave of the pandemic has hit the state. The announcement is contained in a statement issued on Sunday by the committee’s chairman, Femi Oladiji. “Now, there are two epidemiological curves of the disease in Kwara. The first curve peaked between July and August, and then plummeted between September and October, at which stage people thought COVID-19 was winding down. “It is important to state clearly that we now have the second wave of COVID-19 outbreak in Kwara just like a few other states of the country,’’ he said. Mr Oladiji stated that the second curve started early in November with sharp rise in the number of positive cases. He noted that the reasons for the second wave included increase in awareness for vo...
U.S. slams China over Jimmy Lai’s trial
U.S. State Secretary Michael Pompeo has slammed China for charging Hong Kong media mogul, Jimmy Lai, under the draconian National Security Law and demanded that charges must be dropped. Pompeo further accused the Chinese Communist Party of its authoritarian rule and said that China was making a mockery of justice in the region. “Hong Kong’s National Security Law makes a mockery of justice. @JimmyLaiApple’s only “crime” is speaking the truth about the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarianism and fear of freedom. “Charges should be dropped and he should be released immediately,” Pompeo tweeted. Jimmy is set to appear in West Kowloon Court on Saturday after being charged with colluding with foreign powers under the Beijing-imposed national security law. The offence carries a maximum penalty...
Ayo Fayose: President Buhari must account for $1 billion taken from excess crude account
Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose has queried President Muhammadu Buhari to account for the $1 billion withdrawn from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) to battle insecurity in the country. However, newsmen found that the call may be superfluous as government rendered an account on 22 July. Oblivious of this, Fayose, in series of tweets appeared to suggest that the money had been wasted, because of the rising killings and kidnappings being witnessed on daily basis. “Nigerians should recall that I took a stand openly against withdrawal of the $1bn,” he said. According to Fayose, 30 months after the $1bn was released, Nigerians, including soldiers and FG officials were complaining of no arms and ammunition to combat insecurity in the country. “When in December 2017, FG took $1bn fro...
Bible Society appoints new CEO-designate
The Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN) on has announced the appointment of Pastor Samuel Sanusi as its new General Secretary/ Chief Executive Officer-Designate. BSN Manager, Media and Public Relations, Mr Benjamin Mordi, disclosed in a statement on Saturday in Lagos. Newsmen report that Bible Society of Nigeria is a not-for-profit interdenominational Christian organisation. It translates the Bible into local languages, publishes, distributes, raises funds for the Bible work and organises life-transforming programmes. So far, it has translated the full Bible into 26 Nigerian Languages, while translation revision is on-going in 10 Nigerian Languages. According to him, Sanusi will be taking over from the incumbent General Secretary/CEO, Dr Dare Ajiboye, who will be retiring in June 2021. He said ...
U.S. warns Pacific islands about Chinese bid for undersea cable project
The United States has warned Pacific island nations about security threats posed by a Chinese company’s cut-price bid to build an undersea internet cable, two sources told Reuters, part of an international development project in the region. Huawei Marine, which was recently divested from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and is now majority-owned by another Chinese firm, submitted bids along with French-headquartered Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), part of Finland’s Nokia, and Japan’s NEC, for the $72.6 million project backed by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB), the sources with direct knowledge of the project details said. The project is designed to improve communications to the island nations of Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Kiribati. Washington sent a diploma...