Lagos generated N25bn during lockdown, leveraging on technology – Head ICT-LIRS (Guardian)
The Lagos Inland Revenue Service (LIRS) says it generated a whooping N25 billion through taxation in April when there was total lockdown.
Mr Rasheed Olu-Ajayi, Head, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) of LIRS disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) via an exclusive virtual conference on Zoom on Saturday.
Olu-Ajayi said the service was able to achieve the fit by leveraging on technology. Read more
Police arrest two robbery suspects at Lagos checkpoint (Punch)
The police in Lagos have arrested two armed robbery suspects, Sule Karimu and Joseph Celestine, who claimed to be dispatch riders.
A reliable source told the News Agency of Nigeria that the suspects were arrested in a Uber car around 9.30pm on Thursday by men of the Anthony Police Division on a stop-and-search operation led by the Divisional Police Officer, SP Patricia Amadin.
It was gathered that the vehicle was stopped in front of a commercial bank on Anthony Village Road. Read more
FAAN holds simulation exercise at Abuja airport (Vanguard)
Ahead of the imminent lifting of restriction on air travel in the country, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, yesterday, conducted a simulation exercise at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja. This was done to test safety protocols designed to contain the spread of COVID-19 at the airports.
The simulation exercise which began in the morning saw passengers go through all the protocols before boarding the Aero Contractor flight at about 11:20am. The flight was operated on a B737 marked NG110 with 51 passengers on board. Read more
APC crisis: Oshiomhole accepts NEC’s decision (Punch)
The immediate-past National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole, has accepted the decision of the party’s National Executive Committee that dissolved the National Working Committee which he chaired, The PUNCH has learnt.
The former Edo State governor, who spoke at an ongoing media briefing in Abuja, said he is happy with what he achieved during his time in office.
The former chairman said the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), invited him to reposition the APC noting that since the president in his wisdom has agreed to the dissolution of the NWC, he was duty-bound to obey him as the leader of the party. Read more
Edo: I’ll live up to ideals of PDP, Obaseki assures (Vanguard)
Edo state governor, Godwin Obaseki has promised to live up to the ideals of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, following his emergence as the party’s candidate in the state governorship election slated for September this year.
Obaseki stated this yesterday shortly after he was presented with the Certificate of Return by the leadership of the party in Abuja.
Accompanied by the deputy governor, Philip Shaibu, Kenneth Imasuangbon and Gideon Ikhine, two aspirants who stepped down for him in the race for the ticket, Obaseki lamented his ordeal and the treatment meted out to him and Shaibu in the past few years. Read more
Tinubu speaks on alleged rift with Buhari, APC interim committee (Guardian)
The national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu on Saturday showed support for the formation of an interim committee for the party as recommended by Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The President [Muhammadu Buhari] has spoken and his decision has been accepted. It is now beholden on all of us, as members of the APC, to recommit ourselves to the ideals and principles on which our party was founded,” Tinubu said in a statement.
“President Muhammadu Buhari is much more than a mere beneficiary of the [APC] party.” Read more
Okowa writes from isolation, says COVID-19 is not hoax (Vanguard)
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, on Saturday, wrote from where he was isolated from his family, deploring the increasing cases of COVID-19 in the state.
He said it had become obvious that community transmission of the virus had reached an alarming and frightening proportion in the State.
Okowa in a statement he personally signed, lamented that many persons still think that the Coronavirus disease was a hoax, saying: “It cannot be a hoax when over 20 persons have died including some prominent citizens. Read more
Domestic flights to resume first week in July (DailyTrust)
There are indications that domestic flights will resume in the first week of July. The Nigerian airports have been shutdown for more than three months to avert spread of the COVID-19 pandemic but the aviation sector is set to reopen. Despite flight restrictions, Lagos Airport records spike in drug trafficking Before airports, schools re-open Our correspondent gathered from aviation sources that domestic flights might resume first week in July 2020. Read more
Europe should brace for a reality in which US is no longer a world power – Merkel (RT)
The US may voluntarily relinquish its status as a world power and Europeans must brace themselves for such a contingency, including by boosting their militaries, the German chancellor has warned.
European nations need “to carry more of the burden than during the cold war” in terms of defense spending, Merkel said, because they cannot assume that the US will be there to protect them.
“We grew up in the certain knowledge that the United States wanted to be a world power. Should the US now wish to withdraw from that role of its own free will, we would have to reflect on that very deeply,” she said, in an interview published in six European newspapers. Read more
Malawi’s ruling party seeks annulment of election rerun (AlJazeera)
Malawi’s governing party is pushing for a third presidential election, citing irregularities and intimidation in a vote rerun where unofficial tallies show the opposition leader poised to beat incumbent President Peter Mutharika.
On Friday, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) called on the electoral commission to annul results collated so far and declare a third poll as it questioned the credibility of the vote rerun.
Unofficial tallies compiled by public broadcaster MBC gave opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera a dominant 60-percent lead, with the incumbent Mutharika trailing with 39 percent. Read more
India tops 500,000 coronavirus cases with record one-day tally (France24)
India now has more than 500,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, according to government figures released Saturday that showed a record daily leap of 18,500 new infections.
Authorities said a total of 15,685 people had died after another 385 fatalities were added to the toll in 24 hours.
The pandemic is not expected to peak in India for several more weeks and experts say the number of cases could pass one million before the end of July. Read more
Coca-Cola suspends social media advertising despite Facebook changes (BBC)
Coca-Cola will suspend advertising on social media globally for at least 30 days, as pressure builds on platforms to crack down on hate speech.
“There is no place for racism in the world and there is no place for racism on social media,” the drinks maker’s chairman and CEO James Quincey said.
He demanded “greater accountability and transparency” from social media firms. Read more
L’Oreal to drop words like ‘whitening’ from its skincare products (France24)
L’Oreal, the world’s biggest cosmetics company, will remove words referencing “white”, “fair” and “light” from its skincare products, a spokeswoman said on Friday, a day after Unilever made a similar announcement in the face of growing social media criticism.
Unilever and L’Oreal are two big players in the global market for skin whitening creams used in many Asian, African and Caribbean countries where fair skin is often considered desirable.
Unilever, in particular, came under fire for its “Fair & Lovely” brand at a time of worldwide focus on racial injustice following weeks of protests sparked by the May death of George Floyd in police custody in the United States. Read more
Milton Glaser: Graphic designer behind ‘I ♥ NY’ logo dies aged 91 (BBC)
Milton Glaser, the influential American graphic designer who created the “I ♥ NY” logo, has died aged 91.
Made for a 1977 tourism campaign, the logo rapidly gained recognition across the world and has been described as the most frequently imitated in history.
Glaser later said he was “flabbergasted by what happened to this little, simple nothing of an idea”. Read more
Margot Robbie ‘signs on for female-led Pirates of the Caribbean movie with Disney’ (Metro)
Margot Robbie has reportedly teamed up with Birds of Prey’s writer Christina Hodson to lead a female-fronted cast for a new Pirates of the Caribbean movie for Disney. The project was revealed by The Hollywood Reporter, and is separate from the franchise reboot being developed by the writer of the Pirates movies, Ted Elliott and Craig Mazin of Chernobyl.
Following the success of Birds Of Prey, Christina had reportedly been eyed to work on the project, with Margot set to star in it. Read more
Coaching wears you out, I won’t do it for 20 years – Zidane (Punch)
Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane says being a coach is exhausting and insists he has no intention of doing it for 20 years.
Zidane took charge of Real Madrid in 2016 before resigning two years later, explaining he felt the club needed a change. In his goodbye press conference, Zidane said he had not forgotten “the hard moments” of the job.
But he returned towards the end of last season and has revitalised a struggling team, with Madrid beating Real Mallorca on Wednesday to go top of La Liga with seven games left. Read more
Lewis Hamilton says Bernie Ecclestone’s comments explain F1’s lack of action against racism (RT)
Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton responded to Bernie Ecclestone’s comments about racism, labelling the former F1 owner “ignorant” and saying it was no surprise F1 hadn’t reacted to improve racial issues during his tenure.
Ecclestone had told CNN that, “in lots of cases, Black people are more racist than what white people are.”
The comments generated headlines across the world, and sparked a swift response from the current ownership of Formula 1, Liberty Media, with an official statement slamming Ecclestone for his remarks. Read more
Tom Werner: Liverpool chairman wants title to bring ‘sustained success’ (BBC)
Liverpool fans celebrate winning the Premier League for the first time
Liverpool chairman Tom Werner hopes the club’s first Premier League title will ensure “another period of sustained success”.
The Reds won their first league title in 30 years on Thursday, when Manchester City lost 2-1 at Chelsea.
Jurgen Klopp’s side, who have also won the Champions League, Super Cup and Club World Cup, are 23 points clear with seven games remaining. Read more
Wolves boost top-four charge with win at struggling Villa (BBC)
It is “nice to dream” of a top-four finish, said midfielder Leander Dendoncker after his goal gave Wolves victory over Aston Villa, but he added that his side face a difficult task.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are now fifth in the Premier League and only two points behind fourth-place Chelsea after their third win on the spin since the restart, although the Blues have a game in hand.
“Everyone dreams, but we also have to be realistic,” said Dendoncker. “We have some tough games coming up, but it is good – we took nine points from nine. We just have to do our best game by game.” Read more
No inquiries received for Jadon Sancho, says Dortmund’s Kehl (Vanguard)
Borussia Dortmund have received no inquiries about the availability of Jadon Sancho, according to Sebastian Kehl.
Former Manchester City forward Sancho has been heavily linked with a return to the Premier League after another impressive season with Bundesliga runners-up Dortmund.
The England international will reportedly demand a fee in excess of €100million, a figure the coronavirus pandemic has made it seem unlikely any club will be willing, or able, to match.
Sancho has a contract at Signal Iduna Park until June 2022 and Kehl, the head of Dortmund’s licensed player division, is not expecting him to leave this year. Read more
Fresh crisis rocks NPFL over use of controversial PPG to end season (DailyTrust)
Without any doubt, the most topical issue in Nigerian Football at the moment is the raging crisis over attempts by the League Management Company, LMC, organisers of the Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL, to end the 2019/2020 season using the highly contentious Points Per Game, PPG formula. Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a team per game over the course of a series of games. It is calculated by dividing the total number of points by the number of games played. It is also important to know that the terminology is often used in basketball and ice hockey as well as many other sports where individual players are to be seeded or rated during championships. Read more
