Community policing takes off fully in Lagos (Nation)
The Lagos State Police Command has commenced full implementation of the community policing strategy with inauguration of three Community Policing Committees (CPC) across the Area Commands, Local Government/Council Areas (LGA/LCDA) and Divisions in the state.
These committees were inaugurated by the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone two, Ahmed Iliyasu accompanied by Police Commissioner Hakeem Odumosu and Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs).
According to a statement by spokesman Bala Elkana, the committees inaugurated were Area Command Community Policing Advisory committees, Local Government Advisory committees and Divisional Community Policing Committees. Read more
TI, CACOL knock Lagos lawmakers over wives’ N80m Dubai trip (Punch)
Anti-corruption groups, including Transparency International and the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, have condemned the Lagos State House of Assembly for sending wives of the state lawmakers to Dubai at the cost of N80m.
The Speaker of the House, Madashiru Obasa, had told a panel of inquiry set up to probe corruption allegations levelled against him that the N80m was spent on training the wives of 20 lawmakers in Dubai with a budget of N4m each, adding that he declared the event open.
Obasa had said, “We gave N4m to each of the participants for air ticket, hotels, feeding and local travel. An air ticket to Dubai alone costs about N2m. Read more
Edo: How Obaseki emerged unopposed (Vanguard)
Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state on Thursday emerged the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the September 19 election.
Ahead of the primaries which held in Benin City, the Edo state capital on Thursday, Obaseki was facing an uncertain fate as co-aspirant, Hon. Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama had approached a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt seeking the disqualification of the governor from participating in the primaries.
However, Vanguard gathered that the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party led by Prince Uche Secondus as well governors elected on the platform of the PDP succeeded in pacifying Ogbeide-Ihama who few hours to balloting dropped of the contest and urged his supporters to rally behind Obaseki. Read more
Nasarawa spends N500.15m in fighting COVID-19 (Guardian)
The Nasarawa State Government says it has so far spent N536,156,000 in fighting the novel coronavirus pandemic in the state.
Mr Emmanuel Akabe, Deputy Governor of the state and Chairman of the state COVID-19 Task Force, made the disclosure on Thursday in Lafia, while updating newsmen on the activities of the committee.
Akabe explained that the money was spent on buying palliatives, Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), security, fumigation of places, sensitisation and setting up of isolation centres, among others. Read more
Robbers kill colleague during operation (Nation)
An armed robbery suspect has been shot dead by his colleague while they were fleeing a robbery scene.
The incident happened at Oktitipupa area of Ondo State.
Witnesses said the robbers had robbed a Point of Sales operator and attempted to run away when the victim raised the alarm. Read more
Nigeria may go into severe recession – World Bank (Guardian)
The World Bank says collapse in oil prices coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to plunge the Nigerian economy into a severe economic recession, the worst since the 1980s.
The World Bank made this known in a statement in Abuja on Thursday as part of its latest Nigeria Development Update (NDU).
The bank said the report indicated that Nigeria in Times of COVID-19: Laying Foundations for a Strong Recovery, estimated that the country’s economy would likely contract by 3.2 per cent in 2020. Read more
Hushpuppi, others defrauded 1.9 million victims – Dubai Police (Nation)
The Dubai police on Thursday revealed a footage showing the details of how the arrest of Nigerian Dubai-based and Instagram celebrity, Raymond Igbalodely, popularly known as Hushpuppi, was effected.
The Nation had reported that Dubai Interpol and the FBI apprehended the Instagram celebrity in his residence in the United Arab Emirates.
The video confirmed the arrest of Hushpuppi following an extensive operation named “Fox Hunt 2”, which revealed a hidden online fraud network committing crimes outside the UAE, including money-laundering, cyber fraud, hacking, criminal impersonation, banking fraud and Identity theft. Read more
Flight resumption: Air Peace flies all its aircraft across Nigeria to demonstrate airworthiness (Vanguard)
Air Peace airline Thursday flew all its aircraft from Lagos to Abuja and Port Harcourt and finally returned to Lagos to test and demonstrate their airworthiness in preparation for flight resumption as the nation awaits flight resumption date.
The flights, tag ” Shakedown flights ,” were conducted without passengers inside the aircraft. The entire fleet of 25 aircraft which includes three wide body aircraft, the Boeing 777s.was deployed in the show of strength and airworthiness flights.
Speaking about the flight, the Spokeman of Air Peace airline, Mr Stanley Olisa said that the flights were aimed at ensuring that the aircraft are in tip-top condition, having been grounded for close to three months though they have been under very strict storage maintenance. Read more
Veteran actor, Ogun Majek, is dead (Punch)
Veteran Yoruba actor, Gbolagade Akinpelu, popularly known as Ogun Majek, is dead.
The PUNCH gathered that he died Thursday morning at his Imalefalafia, Oke-Ado, Ibadan home.
The President of Theatre Arts and Movie Practitioners Association of Nigeria, Bolaji Amusan, aka Mr Latin, confirmed his death.
It was gathered that the deceased had a few months ago appealed for financial support for heart surgery. Read more
Mary Jackson: Nasa to name HQ after first black female engineer (BBC)
Nasa is to name its headquarters in Washington DC after its first black female engineer, Mary Jackson.
Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine said Jackson had helped to break down barriers for African Americans and women in engineering and technology.
The story of Mary Jackson was told in the 2016 film Hidden Figures. Born in Hampton, Virginia, she died in 2005.
Last year, Nasa renamed the street outside its headquarters as Hidden Figures Way. Read more
Cameroon’s poor benefit, while food traders suffer from pandemic closures (VOA)
Cameroon says the temporary closure of most restaurants and border trade during the COVID-19 pandemic has dropped food prices by up to 70 per cent. While food sellers are suffering the lost income, cheaper prices have helped some of Cameroon’s poorest to cope during the economic disruption.
After the COVID-19 pandemic forced restaurants to close in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, a new way of business emerged to sell the surplus of cheap food.
Trucks that used to deliver large quantities of food to the city’s eateries and hotels now go from street to street, selling fruit, vegetables, and chicken to the general public. Read more
Obama raises $11m for Biden: I trust him “to heal this country” (Politicus)
Barack Obama and Joe Biden raised a record-breaking $11 million with a virtual fundraiser on Tuesday. It’s the largest single amount raised by a campaign event so far.
The event brought in $7.6 million from around 175,000 grassroots donors and a further $3.4 million from part of the event aimed at private donors. This makes it the former Vice President’s most successful fundraiser yet.
Former President Obama spoke glowingly of the Democratic nominee.
“I am here to say that help is on the way if we do the work, because there’s nobody that I trust more to be able to heal this country and get it back on track, than my dear friend Joe Biden,” he said. Read more
Abandoned by employers, Ethiopian domestic workers are dumped on Lebanon’s streets (France24)
The economic crisis in Lebanon, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, has sparked a distressing phenomenon of predominantly Ethiopian migrant domestic workers being fired and dumped outside their country’s consulate in Beirut. Ethiopian authorities haven’t been much help, leaving NGOs to provide as best they can.
Over the past few weeks, cars have been stopping in front of the Ethiopian consulate in Beirut and domestic workers have been offloaded on the sidewalk, abandoned by Lebanese families getting rid of their maids and nannies, thus becoming casualties of the country’s economic crisis, which has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more
‘Our time is now’: I’m running for office because of George Floyd (BBC)
The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers has sparked a movement to close racial divides worldwide.
But for Zina Fizer, who lives and works in the city where Mr Floyd was killed, the flashpoint for what is now a global movement is acutely personal. Watching Mr Floyd’s death, “I saw my 24-year-old black son under that man’s knee and my heart broke,” Ms Fizer said. “I knew I had to do something.”
Now, Ms Fizer is joined by a wave of African-American women motivated by the death of Mr Floyd to seek public office this year. If she is successful in her bid for state Senate, she will be Minnesota’s first black female state senator. Read more
DR Congo declares end to Ebola epidemic in the east of the country (France24)
DR Congo’s government on Thursday officially declared an end to an Ebola epidemic that broke out in the east of the troubled country in August 2018 and went on to claim 2,277 lives.
The outbreak was “the longest, most complex and deadliest” in the 60-year history of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Health Minister Eteni Longondo said.
It has only been surpassed by the 2013-16 Ebola epidemic in West Africa that killed 11,300 people. Read more
Hubble snaps ‘cosmic jewel’ nebula in the depths of space (Metro)
The Hubble Space Telescope has taken another glorious picture of deep space, this time showing a star gleaming like a ‘cosmic jewel’.
When stars near the end of their lives, they can start to spew clouds of hot gas out into space. In this case, the planetary nebula NGC 7027 is filled with this hot gas that was picked up by Hubble’s unique capabilities.
NGC 7027’s central star was identified in a new wavelength of light — near-ultraviolet — for the first time by the space-based telescope. Read more
Nigeria’s Leon Balogun joins Wigan from Brighton (BBC)
Wigan Athletic have handed striker Joe Garner a new one-year contract and signed Brighton & Hove Albion defender Leon Balogun on a permanent deal.
Garner, 32, has scored 10 goals in 57 appearances for the Latics since arriving from Ipswich Town in 2018.
Nigeria international Balogun, 31, initially joined Wigan on loan in January, playing six times.
He will now complete the pandemic-interrupted campaign with the Latics on a short-term deal. Read more
NPFL adopts PPG to decide 2019/2020 season (Vanguard)
The Point-Per-Game (PPG) voting system adopted by the Club Owners Association to decide placements in the 2019/2020 season, has finally been approved by the Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL.
Some clubs had cried foul over the decision of the 17 Clubs who voted for the PPG but superior argument ended the hisses yesterday in an all-embracing meeting called by the NPFL and the 20 clubs.
Clubs voted via Zoom meeting, in a third round of voting since the League was shut down due to the COVID 19 outbreak. Read more
New York City 2020 Marathon cancelled due to Covid-19 (France24)
The New York City Marathon originally scheduled to be held on Nov. 1 has been cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, race organisers said on Thursday.
The New York Road Runners (NYRR), in partnership with the mayor’s office, said the decision to cancel the world’s largest marathon was made due to novel coronavirus-related health and safety concerns for runners, spectators, volunteers and staff.
“Canceling this year’s TCS New York City Marathon is incredibly disappointing for everyone involved, but it was clearly the course we needed to follow from a health and safety perspective,” NYRR Chief Executive Michael Capiraso said in a statement. Read more
Manchester City v Liverpool to be played at Etihad Stadium (BBC)
Manchester City have been given permission to host their Premier League match with Liverpool on Thursday, 2 July at Etihad Stadium.
The game between the league’s top two sides could have taken place at a neutral venue because of safety fears over fans gathering outside.
But a Manchester City Council safety advisory group (SAG) agreed it could be played at City’s home ground. Read more
Colin Kaepernick: ‘Multiple teams’ interested in signing quarterback – report (TMZ)
Could Colin Kaepernick’s NFL return be as few as a couple weeks away?
The answer could be yes because “multiple” teams and at least one head coach have legitimate interest in signing the QB before the start of the season, according to NFL Network reporter Michael Silver.
The plugged-in journalist said on the league’s owned NFL Network on Wednesday, “I have talked to one head coach who is absolutely interested” in Kaepernick.
The holdup? Silver says it’s all about the coronavirus pandemic … and the lack of the ability for teams to physically workout Colin for a tryout at their facilities. Read more
Tyson Fury ‘not confident’ Anthony Joshua fight will happen despite agreement (Metro)
Tyson Fury has admitted he is ‘not confident’ his unification showdown with Anthony Joshua will happen. The WBC and lineal champion announced recently he and Joshua had verbally agreed terms for the highly-anticipated fight, but Fury insisted there are several hurdles each heavyweight had to jump over before the bout can happen. Fury apologised for maybe dampening fans’ excitement about the recent announcements, but the British star explained he couldn’t guarantee the fight will go ahead next year. Read more