Ikoyi Building: My 18-year-old son a victim, father cries out (Punch)
Father to one of the alleged victims of the 21-storey building that collapsed at Ikoyi, Abel Godwin, has stated that he travelled from Abuja to Lagos because his 18-year-old son was involved in the accident.
According to him, he heard of the accident on Tuesday and arrived in Lagos at 2am on Wednesday.
He said, “I came from Abuja by 2am this morning. My son is one of the victims. He’s 18 years old. I got this information around 10am yesterday. I hit the road and I got here at 2am. Ever since then, I have been here.”
He noted that he was directed to Mainland Hospital Yaba, formerly Infectious Disease Hospital, to identify his son. Read more
Death toll climbs to 22 in Lagos high-rise collapse (Guardian)
Two more bodies were pulled out early Wednesday from the debris of a collapsed Lagos high-rise building, bringing the death toll to 22 people, the emergency services said.
The 21-storey building was still under construction when it crumbled on Monday in the upscale Ikoyi neighbourhood of Nigeria’s commercial capital.
Rescuers said Wednesday they had recovered 22 dead bodies so far and rescued nine people who survived, but construction workers feared dozens of their colleagues were trapped inside.
“We recovered two male bodies early this morning, bringing the toll to 22,” Ibrahim Farinloye of the National Emergency Management Agency told AFP.
The number of survivors still stood at nine, he said, adding that search and rescue operations were still on. Read more
DBN, FC4S Lagos, NCIC to finance green SMEs projects (Sun)
The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) Plc, Financial Centre for Sustainability Lagos (FC4S Lagos), and the Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre (NCIC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to fund green projects in Nigeria, a move consistent with global action on climate change and environmental sustainability.
The event, which took place at the DBN Head Office in Lagos on Tuesday, will see DBN play the role of a funding partner for green projects across Nigeria, whilst the NCIC and FC4SL will serve as service providers. The goal of the MoU is to create a dedicated fund for green projects within the Micro, Small, and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) ecosystem. This will ensure that the MSMEs have access to finance to execute climate-resilient and green projects in support of the global drive on green and sustainability.
The MoU provides a general framework for a Project Implementation Partnership between the Service Providers and DBN in respect of the provision of finance for Green MSMEs in Nigeria. The areas of collaboration between the Service Providers and the Funding Partner include developing the ecosystems for the financing of Green MSMEs, review of MSMEs project ideation and design, capacity building and ensuring financial readiness of MSMEs, in addition to the provision of strands for Women-led MSMEs in green areas, research and data provision and project verification to ensure compliance with globally accepted taxonomy/sustainability principles and standards. Read more
Ikoyi building: Lagos govt announces identity of survivors (Punch)
The Lagos State Government has announced the name of survivors that are presently undergoing treatment at the Lagos Marina Hospital.
The state Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, read out the names while addressing the press, during his second visit to the site on Wednesday.
Sanwo-Olu stated the names and ages of the survivors that were found under the rubble of the 21-storey building that collapsed on Monday on Gerrard Road, in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State.
According to the Governor, six of the nine survivors are currently undergoing treatment while three have been discharged. Read more
Terminal operator participates in Trade Exposition onboard warship (Leadership)
APM Terminals Apapa last week participated in the UK Trade Exposition on-board HMS Trent, the warship visiting West Africa to combat piracy on the Gulf of Guinea and across Africa.
The ship which made a stopover at the Lagos Port Complex Apapa on 26th October held a Trade Exposition on-board.
HMS Trent is deploying to the Gulf of Guinea and is collaborating with the Nigerian Navy on combating piracy at sea and improving cargo flow to Nigeria.
The procurement manager of APM Terminals Apapa, Chinyere Adenaike, said “We had the opportunity to talk with exhibitors, one of which is currently contracted for LED Lightning in our terminal – Talk Ports. Read more
Bandits raid Abuja govt school, abduct vice-principal (NewTelegraph)
Gunmen suspected to be bandits have invaded a Junior Secondary School in Yebu community of the Kwali Area Council, Abuja, and abducted the Vice Principal, Mr Mohammed Nuhu.
According to reports, a teacher of the school, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said kidnappers wielding sophisticated weapons attacked the staff quarters of the school.
He said some of the criminals barricaded the quarters, while other gangs scaled the fence into the compound from where they broke into his apartment and whisked him away.
He said the kidnappers tied down the security guard manning the gate before they forced the victim’s door open. Read more
2023: Sacking PDP in Rivers, difficult task – APC chieftain (Leadership)
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has called on the party in Rivers State to redouble its efforts towards sacking the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2023.
Eze, in a statement made available to LEADERSHIP in Port Harcourt yesterday, said the state has had enough larceny from the PDP, which allegedly looted the treasury without recourse to posterity.
He wondered what would warrant the Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike-led administration to borrow to fund projects when it recently received a whopping sum of N78 billion from the federal government for federal projects executed by the immediate-past administration in the state.
The APC chieftain queried: “What need would there be to consider borrowing when the state has been kept in the dark over the N78 billion Federal Government Refund to Rivers State for FG projects executed during the administration of former Governor Chibuike Amaechi?” Read more
NDLEA seeks Nigerians’ cooperation in fighting drug abuse (Guardian)
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has solicited the cooperation of Nigerians in its fight against the menace of drug abuse.
Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Buba-Marwa (Retired), NDLEA Chairman, made the call on Wednesday in Abuja at the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Centre for Ethical Rebirth Among Nigerian Youths (CERANY), an NGO.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the anniversary also coincided with the flag-off of a nationwide campaign against drug abuse and insecurity by Maj.-Gen Ibrahim Haruna (retired), Grand Patron, CERANY.
Buba-Marwa, represented by NDLEA’s Director, Prosecution and Legal Services, Mr Joseph Sunday, said the agency alone could not fight against drug abuse without the cooperation of the public. Read more
EFCC arrests three suspects in Sokoto over alleged employment scam (Tribune)
The Sokoto Zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested three suspects for allegedly defrauding unsuspecting victims in the state.
Parading the suspects at the zonal office in Sokoto on Wednesday, the Zonal Commander, Bawa Usman Kaltungo, said the suspects specialized in defrauding unsuspecting applicants with nonexistent jobs opportunities in lucrative Federal government agencies like the Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service, and Nigeria Ports Authority.
Bawa revealed that the commission, having received a petition from one Aminu Bunko, a victim of employment scam against Ibrahim Shehu and Ibrahim Sifawa alleging that in December 2020 one Aminu Sifawa from Ministry of Youths and sports introduced him to one of the suspects as someone who can help him secure employment.
He said the suspects made the victim believe he had an offer for employment from the Nigerian Customs Service, after which the unsuspecting victim informs his friend, Bello Abubakar Wamakko of the same opportunity. (Tribune)
Anambra election: Take your destiny into your hands, Bishop Kukah charges voters (Sun)
The Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev Bishop Matthew Kukah, has challenged the people of Anambra State to take their destinies into their hands in making this weekend’s governorship election free, fair and credible poll.
Bishop Kukah, the Secretary of the National Peace Committee, spoke on the sideline at the stakeholders meeting in Awka on Wednesday, emphasising that the people of Anambra are heterogeneous culturally and religious to allow the election to divide them.
‘Anambra has no reason being divided. They are culturally homogeneous, predominantly or significantly Christians to the point of 80, 90 per cent. The issue of what God are to Anambra they ought to know better,’ Bishop Kukah said.
‘I am impressed with the coming of INEC Chairman, who is taking all the troubles with all the difficulties to be physically here just to encourage the people of Anambra. Read more
Dakota Johnson says she and Chris Martin are “Squid Game” fans (People)
Though their relationship is kept mostly under wraps, Dakota Johnson and Chris Martin have been doing what nearly all couples do: binging Netflix.
The 32-year-old actress revealed during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that she and the 44-year-old singer are fans of Squid Game, the Korean survival thriller that became Netflix’s “biggest series launch ever” with 111 million viewers — surpassing Shonda Rhimes’ Bridgerton — last month.
“It is so intense,” Johnson said. “It’s confusingly f— up because it’s joyful at moments and then it’s horrifying. And that’s a really interesting combo.”
She told the outlet that she’s spent a lot of time with Martin throughout the pandemic and it’s been “great.” The couple has been living together since October 2020 when the Coldplay frontman purchased a $12.5 million mansion in Malibu. Read more
Professor Jonathan Van-Tam refuses to rule out Christmas lockdown over UK rising infections (DailyMail)
Jonathan Van-Tam today warned Britons that another Christmas lockdown could be on the cards if people act like the Covid crisis is over.
England’s deputy chief medical officer said there were ‘hard months to come’ and the country’s infection rate was ‘running hot’ already heading into what is expected to be a tough winter for the NHS.
In one of his now-famous analogies, he added: ‘The final whistle on Covid hasn’t blown yet.’
He urged the nation to behave responsibly and emphasised the importance of face masks — but did not outright call for their enforced return in public spaces. Read more
Boris Johnson news – live: Tories vote to rip up standards rules after Rayner says party ‘wallowing in sleaze’ (Independent)
Conservative MPs have voted to approve an amendment to rewrite Commons sleaze rules and to prevent the immediate suspension of former Tory former Owen Paterson, who was recently found to have breached a ban on paid lobbying.
As soon as the result was announce in the chamber this evening – with MPs voting 250 to 232 – cries of “shame” and “what have you done to this place?” could be heard.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner described the result as a “disgrace”. Taking to Twitter, she said: “[The Tories] just voted to over-rule an independent cross-party committee which found that a Conservative MP repeatedly breached the rules by pocketing over £100,000 a year to lobby ministers on behalf of his paymasters.
“An absolute disgrace. Rotten to the core.”
It comes after she earlier accused Boris Johnson’s government of “wallowing in sleaze” after the PM made it clear he would support the move to rip up current standards procedures. Read more
Sunak – Public investment alone cannot beat climate change (ES)
More public money is needed to fund the global fight against climate change but the private sector also needs to step up, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said.
The Chancellor said governments of developed nations are going to meet their six-year-old promise to send 100 billion US dollars (£73 billion) to developing countries in 2023, three years behind target.
“While we know we are not yet meeting it soon enough, we will work closely with developing countries to do more and to reach the target soon,” he told the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow.
But he added: “Public investment alone isn’t enough, so our second action is to mobilise private finance.” Read more
Israeli spyware company NSO Group placed on US blacklist (Guardian)
NSO Group has been placed on a US blacklist by the Biden administration after it determined the Israeli spyware maker has acted “contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests of the US”.
The finding by the commerce department represents a blow to the Israeli company and reveals a deep undercurrent of concern by the US about the impact of spyware on national security interests.
It comes three months after a consortium of journalists working with the French non-profit group Forbidden Stories, including the Guardian, revealed multiple cases of journalists and activists who were hacked by foreign governments using the spyware.
The Guardian and others also revealed that the mobile numbers of Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and nearly his entire cabinet were contained on a leaked list of individuals who were selected as possible targets of surveillance. Read more
Labour Party members ‘hacked’ in another cyber-attack (Metro)
The Labour Party has been the victim of another cyber attack, with members being warned their data may have been breached.
Supporters have been emailed this afternoon to warn them information being stored by a third party may have been compromised.
The scope of the hack is not yet clear but Labour said the breach has likely affected members, affiliated supporters and others who provided them with information.
The message said the party had been informed of the breach on October 29 by an IT firm, which it has not named. Read more
Dancing On Ice’s Liberty Poole smashes into the ice in horror fall during training (Mirror)
Love Island’s Liberty Poole has been seen suffering a dramatic fall while training for Dancing On Ice.
The star was practicing on the ice to prepare for her 2022 appearance on the show but was seen laying on the ice after taking a tumble.
She seems to be a natural on the ice as she has posted clips to her Instagram page of her in training but still managed to fall while skating with her trainer Duncan.
However, it didn’t seem to knock her confidence as she was seen giggling when she was still laying on the ice. Read more
England fan jailed for “vile” Euro 2020 final racial abuse (Guardian)
A football fan who racially abused England’s Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after the Euro 2020 final has been sentenced to 10 weeks in jail.
Jonathon Best, 52, posted an 18-second video on Facebook in which he made a “grossly offensive” rant about the players following England’s penalty shootout loss to Italy in July’s match at Wembley.
He was sentenced at Willesden Magistrates’ Court in London on Tuesday after previously pleading guilty to “sending by public communication network a grossly offensive or indecent or obscene or menacing message or matter”.
Rashford, Sancho and Saka, who are all black, received a torrent of online abuse after failing to score their penalties as England failed to win their first trophy since the 1966 World Cup.
The judge, Denis Brennan, said he had considered a suspended sentence but decided to impose a custodial one to deter others. Read more
Unai Emery turns down chance to be next Newcastle United manager (National)
Unai Emery has turned down the chance to be the next manager of Newcastle United and said he is ‘100 per cent committed’ to his current job at Villarreal.
The Spaniard had been lined up by Newcastle to replace Steve Bruce at St James’ Park following his exit from the Tyneside club last month.
Emery, who previously managed in the Premier League with Arsenal in 2018-19, confirmed after Villarreal’s Champions League victory over Young Boys on Tuesday that there had been interest from the English outfit.
But in a statement released on Instagram on Wednesday, Emery said: “For all the noise there was yesterday in another country, within the club there has been transparency and loyalty with the Roig family, that for me is most important. Read more
Antonio Conte ‘to receive extra €2m in severance fees from Inter Milan for not joining another team in Italy before 2022’ (DailyMail)
Antonio Conte will receive an extra €2million (£1.7m) from Inter Milan in severance pay, on top of the £13m he will be getting in his new Tottenham contract, according to reports.
The Italian manager was announced as Spurs’ new boss on Tuesday, just four months after he rejected the chance to join the north Londoners in the summer, with Tottenham opting for Nuno Espirito Santo instead, who was sacked earlier this week.
Conte has been appointed as Spurs boss until the summer of 2023, with the option to renew and has agreed a contract with a pro-rata salary of around £13million.
And according to several reports, including Corriere della Sera, Conte will also receive a €2m fee from former side Inter, who he quit in May, as part of a clause in his contract for not joining another Italian team. Read more
Oklahoma State Cowboys banned from 2022 basketball postseason as NCAA rejects appeal (ABC)
The NCAA has rejected Oklahoma State’s appeal and banned the Cowboys from the 2022 men’s basketball postseason, the organization announced Wednesday.
Oklahoma State was originally given a postseason ban in the summer of 2020, but the Cowboys appealed the decision and were allowed to play while under appeal. Led by No. 1 NBA draft pick Cade Cunningham, Oklahoma State went 21-9 and received a 4-seed in last season’s NCAA tournament.
The NCAA also placed Oklahoma State on three years’ probation and reduced the Cowboys’ scholarship limit by three, as well as several recruiting restrictions — all of which were upheld by the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee.
The penalty stems from the 2017 FBI investigation into college basketball corruption. Oklahoma State was given a Level 1 violation involving former associate head coach Lamont Evans, who accepted between $18,150 and $22,000 in bribes to steer players from Oklahoma State and South Carolina, where he also spent time as an assistant coach, to certain agents and financial advisers. Evans was sentenced in June 2019 to three months in prison. Read more
Ex-Australia Test star ‘set to play county cricket as an Englishman’ (Mirror)
Former Australia fast bowler James Pattinson has reportedly been offered a three-year deal by Nottinghamshire, following his retirement from international cricket.
Pattinson had been hoping to feature in the upcoming Ashes series but a combination of injuries and covid mean he has not played a game since March, leading to his decision to step away from the international stage.
In a statement, Pattinson said he would continue to play domestic cricket in Australia and hinted at a return to the County Championship, having previously played for Nottinghamshire as an overseas player.
He said: “Leading into pre-season I really wanted to give the Ashes a crack, but in the end I haven’t had the preparation I would have liked heading into the coming season. Read more
Racing remembers Boreen Prince trainer Andrew McNamara following his death at 76 (RacingPost)
The Irish racing community came together on Wednesday to pay tribute to Cheltenham festival-winning trainer Andrew McNamara, who has died at the age of 76.
Enda Bolger, Niall ‘Boots’ Madden, Michael Hourigan, Ted Walsh, John Murphy and Eric McNamara all spoke warmly of McNamara, who is best remembered for winning the 1985 Arkle at Cheltenham with Boreen Prince.
Remarkably, Boreen Prince ran in the Gold Cup at the same festival. Madden, who rode the horse to his greatest triumph along with partnering countless other winners for McNamara, described the trainer as being “a magnet for people”.
Madden said: “We had so many great days and obviously winning the Arkle with Boreen Prince was the best of them. If it wasn’t for Andrew, I wouldn’t have turned professional so I owe him a lot. Read more
Fritz upsets Rublev in straight sets at Paris Masters (TSN)
Taylor Fritz saved the only break point he faced and converted the only break point he earned Wednesday to upset fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev 7-5, 7-6 (2) in the second round of the Paris Masters.
Fritz broke his Russian opponent in the final game of the first set and then saved a break point at 1-1 in the second.
The American, ranked 26th in the world, has been playing well in recent weeks. He beat Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals at Indian Wells last month and reached the final of the St. Petersburg Open last week. Rublev defeated Fritz 6-3, 6-1 in Dubai earlier this year.
Felix Auger-Aliassime and Pablo Carreno Busta both dropped out of contention for the ATP Finals by losing in the second round. Read more