Lagos BRT fares hike unnecessary, wicked – Commuters (Punch)
Some commuters in Lagos State on Friday expressed dissatisfaction over the hike in fares by the Primero Transport Services Limited, operators of the Bus Rapid Transit in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the BRT operator on Thursday announced an upward review of transport fares across all routes with effect from Friday to meet up with current challenges.
The Managing Director of the firm, Mr Fola Tinubu, had told NAN that a trip that cost commuters N200 had been increased to N300, and that of N300 had risen to N500. Read more
Sanwo-Olu declares frontline health workers as face of his 1st year anniversary (Nation)
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Friday said the frontline health workers are the heroes of the states’ battle against the COVID-19 pandemic and thus declared them as the “face of our 1st Year Anniversary celebration”.
Sanwo-Olu stated this in a speech he delivered in honor of frontline health workers in commemoration of his administration’s one year in office held at the Lagos House, Marina.
Sanwo-Olu said the gesture is to personally demonstrate his gratitude to the health workers and to boost their morale because “they are the real “heroes” of our battle against the pandemic and have contributed immensely to the success of his administration in the past one year. Read more
1 dead, 8 injured in Lagos-Ibadan expressway auto-crash (Guardian)
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Ogun on Friday said that one person died while eight others sustained injuries in a multiple accident on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway on Thursday.
The State Sector Commander of FRSC, Mr Clement Oladele, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ota that the accident occured at about 10.25 am.
Oladele explained that a DAF tanker without registration number heading toward Ibadan from Lagos lost control at Ishara Bridge, near Ogere, and rammed into two Madza buses marked BGD 229 XW and RUW 504 XA. Read more
10,000 farmers to benefit from World Bank-assisted project in Lagos (Vanguard)
No fewer than 10,000 farmers in Lagos State are to benefit from the World Bank-assisted agricultural scheme, under the Agro-processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support, APPEALS, project.
APPEALS, which revolves round training, is designed to build capacities of actors in the rice, aquaculture and poultry value chains.
The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Gbolahan Lawal, disclosed this on Thursday, during a ministerial briefing to commemorate first anniversary of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in office. Read more
Sanwo-Olu repairs 354 roads in 1 year (DailyTrust)
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu The Lagos State government on Wednesday said it has completed and commissioned 37 roads projects, while repair and sectional rehabilitation works have been carried out on 354 others in various parts of the state in the last one year.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Works and Infrastructure, Engineer Aramide Adeyoye, disclosed this at Alausa, during a ministerial press briefing to commemorate Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s one year in office.
Adeyoye said construction of the Pen Cinema road flyover and access roads in Agege, is currently at over 50 per cent completion stage, and that the flyover would be completed in September 2020. Read more
Sanwo-Olu, Abiodun, Makinde account for stewardship in 365 days (Guardian)
With the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has negatively impacted socio-political and economic activities across the world in the last three to five months, it may not be possible to pass a critical assessment of the performances of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, his colleagues on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State, Governor Dapo Abiodun and their Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart in Oyo State, Governor Seyi Makinde.
As they celebrate their first year anniversary in office today, there have been divergent opinions on their performances based on the promises they made in their inaugural speeches on May 29, 2019. So far, the performance indices, as pointed out in their scorecards, seem to have placed them on the side of the people with opportunities to make adjustments and improvements as they forge ahead in fulfilling their electoral promises to the people. Read more
Interstate Lockdown: Driver abandons vehicle, 21 passengers as FCTA arrests 74, impounds 3 buses (Vanguard)
The Federal Capital Territory FCT Ministerial Task-team on the Enforcement of COVID-19 Restrictions has arrested 74 persons travelling through the city to other parts of the country.
While the team impounded three buses, Presiding Magistrate at the Mobile Court in Zuba, Ebiwari Damini who convicted both the drivers and passengers also punished a driver who had been previously convicted for violating the rules.
The Magistrate also ruled that two other buses be impounded in the FCT until the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
Chairman of the Taskteam, Ikharo Attah disclosed that his team had earlier arrested the bus driver, James Adegbe while travelling from Kaduna to Kogi state. Read more
Pastor to die by hanging for murder (Nation)
An Ondo State based Pastor, Kolawole Samson, has been sentenced to death by hanging for killing one Ayo Olaniyi at a village near Okeigbo area of the state.
The late Olaniyi was said to have in March 2016, gone to hunt frogs alongside three others at a fish pond owned by Pastor Kolawole.
Pastor Kolawole was sentenced to death by an Ondo state High Court sitting in Akure presided over by Justice Ademola Bola.
Kolawole was found guilty of inflicting injury on the deceased’s head with a cutlass. Read more
Bobrisky arrested in Lagos (Nation)
Operatives of the Inspector General Police (IG) Monitoring Unit on Thursday arrested popular cross-dresser, Idris Okuneye alias Bobrisky.
Okuneye was arrested around Lekki by a team of policemen from Abuja over alleged money issues with a woman.
The Nation reports that this arrest is coming months after the cross-dresser was detained by the police over his disagreement with an Abuja public official. Read more
Around 2b people may lose their jobs in the next couple of months due to pandemic (RT)
More than half of the world’s workforce (nearly two billion people) risk losing their jobs or moving to part-time work in 2020 as a result of the economic fallout from coronavirus outbreak.
That’s according to a study by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), seen by RIA Novosti.
“It’s hard to overestimate the radical changes in the global workforce due to the crisis caused by the outbreak of COVID-19,” said the report, citing estimates by the International Labor Organization that global labor income losses will reach $3.4 trillion this year. Read more
Taiwan decriminalises adultery in landmark ruling (NYPost)
Taiwan’s constitutional court on Friday decriminalized adultery in a landmark judgment aimed at upholding personal rights and privacy, scrapping a law that activists said discriminated against women.
The democratic island became the latest place in Asia to strike down a ban on marital infidelity following South Korea in 2015 and India in 2018.
The constitutional court struck down the adultery law that meant those who had sex with a married person, or with a person outside marriage, could face up to a year in jail. Read more
Donald Trump responds to Twitter blocking his ‘shooting and looting’ tweet (Metro)
Donald Trump was raging this morning as he woke up to find Twitter had hidden one of his tweets which they say glorifies violence. The message is still available to the public but users have to click a ‘view’ icon and it cannot be replied to or liked. Voicing his anger today, the US President tweeted: ‘Twitter is doing nothing about all of the lies & propaganda being put out by China or the Radical Left Democrat Party. They have targeted Republicans, Conservatives & the President of the United States. Section 230 should be revoked by Congress. Until then, it will be regulated!’ Read more
CNN crew arrested on live TV amid George Floyd protests in Minneapolis (NYPost)
A CNN crew was arrested on live TV as they covered protests in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd.
Correspondent Omar Jimenez, and the crew with him, were handcuffed and detained by Minnesota State Police just after 5 a.m. local time, according to the network.
The crew was informed they were being detained because they were told to move and did not, one member said.
Officers in body armor and riot gear moved toward the crew after they first arrested a protester behind them, the live feed shows. Read more
Renault workers protest automaker’s plan to axe nearly 15,000 jobs (RT)
Workers have gathered outside the Renault plant in the suburbs of Paris after the company revealed plans to lay off 15,000 employees worldwide, with around a third of the cuts in France, as part of its €2 billion cost-saving plan.
The rally was held outside one of the company’s plants in Choisy-le-Roi on Friday. It comes just one day after people burned tires outside a Nissan facility in Barcelona to protest the plant’s closure. The two automakers are part of a longstanding alliance which also includes Mitsubishi Motors.
The Choisy-le-Roi plant, which reportedly employs about 250 people, turned out to be the only site Renault plans to close. Read more
Borderlands movie lands Cate Blanchett as leading lady Lilith (Metro)
The first Borderlands’ Lilith looks to be the star of the upcoming movie and Cate Blanchett has taken the role. After bringing on Eli Roth to direct, the Borderlands movie now has its main star cast, and it’s someone who’s already worked with Roth in the past. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cate Blanchett, who starred in Roth’s The House With A Clock In Its Walls in 2018, will be taking the role of Lilith, who has been confirmed to be the film’s main character. Borderlands fans will be already familiar with Lilith, as she was one of the first game’s playable characters and has gone on to make appearances in every mainline entry since. It’s not clear whether the Borderlands movie is an adaptation of the first game though, where she was a playable character, or if she’ll be taking on more of a mentor role, as she did in Borderlands 3. Read more
Kenya’s star athlete Rudisha ruled out for months after surgery (Vanguard)
Two-time Olympic 800-meter champion David Rudisha underwent surgery on his left ankle on Thursday after fracturing it while walking on uneven ground at his home in Kilgoris in rural Narok County, Kenya, last week.
“The surgery was carried out by Kenyan team doctor and orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Victor Bargoria,” reported Rudisha’s manager, Michel Boeting of one4one Sports in the Netherlands.
He continued: “During a walk on the compound the 31-year-old stepped on uneven ground, and initially believed it was not a serious injury. Read more
Spain striker Diego Costa ‘facing new trial and 6-month sentence over tax fraud (RT)
Prosecutors in Madrid are reportedly pursuing Atletico Madrid forward Diego Costa over an alleged tax fraud of more than $1.1 million relating to undeclared image rights payments from his time with Premier League Chelsea in 2014.
Costa was reported to have agreed to plead guilty to tax evasion and repay the vast sum during an income tax case last year, as well as accepting a fine of around $658,000 instead of a jail sentence.
Now the Brazil-born striker is facing trial in Madrid next week over the allegations that he used shell companies based in the British Virgin Islands or Ireland to hide his true tax bill, according to Cadena Sar. Read more
Odion Ighalo ready to risk £75m Shanghai Shenhua deal to complete Manchester United move (Metro)
Nigerian forward Odion Ighalo is willing to put a £480,000-a-week deal at Shanghai Shenhua at risk in order to prolong his stay at Manchester United. The 30-year-old’s loan spell is due to expire in a matter of days and as it stands he will return to China to play for parent club Shanghai Shenhua. However, Ighalo is desperate to extend his stay at Old Trafford and has made it clear to the Red Devils that it’s his dream to do so. Shanghai are willing to accept a bid of around £20m for the striker but do not want to extend his loan any further, which is at odds with United’s desire. Read more
Lazio president Lotito hails Serie A return as ‘victory for Italian football’ (Vanguard)
Lazio president Claudio Lotito said the Serie A’s proposed return following the coronavirus crisis is a victory for all of Italian football.
The Serie A season is set to resume from June 20, Italy’s sports minister confirmed on Thursday.
The 2019-20 campaign was suspended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but clubs were permitted to return to contact training this month. Read more
Kompany turns down offer to be Guardiola’s assistant (DailyTrust) Vincent Kompany has turned down an offer from Manchester City to become Pep Guardiola’s assistant coach, according to various Belgian media reports on Friday. The former City captain is under contract as player-manager of Anderlecht until 2022, having left the Etihad Stadium last year following a trophy-laden 11-year spell in England. Kompany, who has never concealed his desire to one day be City manager, said he wanted to stay at Anderlecht. On Thursday, Belgium’s most successful club responded to recent financial difficulties as Wouter Vandenhaute took over from Marc Coucke as president. Read more
‘Tokyo 2020 teams still open to eligible Nigerians’ (Guardian)
Ministry of health to determine basketball league fixtures
The Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) has revealed that the doors of the senior men and women national teams, which are billed to play at next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, are still open to eligible Nigerians irrespective of where they are based.
NBBF Vice President, Babs Ogunade told The Guardian on Tuesday that the body was working closely with the teams’ coaches to raise formidable squads for the championship, adding that the body was striving to ensure the teams are among the best in the world.
One of the strategies adopted to strengthen the teams, according to Ogunade, is ensuring the teams get quality preparations ahead of the Olympics. Read more