Lagos Govt sets up panel to investigate Ita-Faji building collapse (Punch)
The Lagos State Government on Tuesday set up an investigative and advisory committee on the building that collapsed at No. 53, Massey Street, Ita-Faaji, Lagos Island. The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Rotimi Ogunleye, during the inauguration in Alausa, said members were carefully chosen to provide government with informed advice on the steps to take in respect of the collapsed building. The three-storey building with a penthouse collapsed on March 13, leaving some 20 persons dead and many others injured. One of the floors of the building housed a nursery/primary school. Read more
Senate approves N30,000 minimum wage for workers (Guardian)
The Nigerian Senate has endorsed N30, 000 as the new minimum wage for Federal and State workers in the country. The minimum wage was approved during the Tuesday plenary after the National Minimum Wage Bill was passed by the Lawmakers. “I hope that with this minimum wage our workers will double their efforts to increase their productivity, so that we can also improve the general productivity of the country. It is my hope that the implementation of this will start immediately,” the Senate President Bukola Saraki said during Tuesday pleanary. Read more
INEC resumes Bauchi guber poll collation (Guardian)
The Independent National Electoral Commission will resume the Bauchi State governorship election result collation today. The state poll had been declared inconclusive by INEC returning officer in the state, Mohammed Kyari. He explained that the margin of 4,059 votes between the two leading parties, All Progressives Congress and People’s Democratic Party, was less than 45,312, which was leeser than the number of cancelled votes after results from 19 local government were collated. Read more
Kwara owes N30.2bn, not N50.2bn says commissioner (Punch)
The Kwara Government on Tuesday said the state’s debt currently stands at N30.2bn with a monthly repayment of N496m. The Commissioner for Finance, Demola Banu, told newsmen in Ilorin that this was contrary to some speculations. According to him, the debt was N31.4bn in 2017 and N30.7bn at the end of 2018, contrary to social media speculation of N50.2bn. Giving a breakdown of the current indebtedness, Banu explained that the loan included N15.3bn balance of the Federal Government restructured loan, N4bn salary bailout, excess crude account loan outstanding of N9.3bn and vehicle loan balance of N128m. Read more
Teenager loses sight in Oyo after alleged SARS torture (Punch)
Two years after being allegedly tortured by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad personnel in Saki, Oyo State, an 18-year-old hotel attendant, Samuel Ogundeji, has lost his sight. Ogundeji, told PUNCH Metro that all efforts made by his parents for him to regain his sight had proved abortive, adding that three different hospitals in Saki; Ilorin, Kwara State; and a border town in Benin Republic, had confirmed that his eyes had become defective and that he would need to be operated upon abroad in order to regain his sight. Recounting his ordeal, he said, “On January 10, 2017, I applied for the job of a bar attendant at the Neagle Club and Resort, Saki, and was offered the job on a salary of N10,000 monthly. I was in the bar till February when a girl, Oyin, who was working in the hotel, resigned; so, I was transferred to the hotel section. Read more
Rescuers race to save marooned after killer Mozambique storm (Guardian)
Rescue workers in Mozambique were racing against time to pluck people off trees and rooftops Tuesday after a monster storm reaped a feared harvest of more than 1,000 lives before smashing into Zimbabwe. Four days after Tropical Cyclone Idai made landfall, torrential rains and powerful winds, combined with flash floods that have swept away roads and bridges, inflicted further pain on the two impoverished countries. More than a thousand people are feared to have died in Mozambique alone while scores have been killed and more than 200 are missing in neighbouring Zimbabwe. Read more
Brexit: Cabinet row over Theresa May delay request to EU (BBC)
Theresa May is writing to the EU to ask for Brexit to be postponed until 30 June with the option of a longer delay, cabinet sources say. One minister told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg there was “no agreement” around the cabinet table. Another source expressed frustration that the prime minister did not make a clear indication of the option she would actually argue for. Under current law the UK will leave the EU with or without a deal in 10 days. The prime minister says the UK will need a short extension to get the necessary legislation through Parliament, if MPs back her withdrawal deal. Read more
Resigned Brussels expects Britain to vote in EU poll (Guardian)
Frustrated EU officials may insist London cannot postpone Brexit indefinitely without a plan, but they are resigned to Britain taking part in the European election in May and are making preparations. Prime Minister Theresa May will likely come to Thursday’s summit in Brussels to plead for more time for her parliament to agree the terms of an orderly divorce. After some grumbling, EU leaders will probably agree, and then — in what European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker calls an “irony of history” — election planning begins. Read more
US-backed Syrian fighters ‘overrun IS encampment’ (BBC)
US-backed Syrian fighters are reported to have overrun an encampment that made up most of the last patch of territory held by the Islamic State (IS) group. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance said militants refusing to surrender and their families had pulled back to a sliver of land on the bank of the River Euphrates, south of Baghuz. Clashes are continuing and the SDF warned the battle was not over yet. Baghuz’s fall would bring an end to the “caliphate” proclaimed by IS in 2014. Read more
Paris ties Singapore, Hong Kong as world’s priciest cities (Guardian)
Paris has climbed to the top of the world’s priciest city for expatriates, tied first with Singapore and Hong Kong according to a survey Tuesday that named the capital of strife-torn Venezuela as the cheapest. The French capital was the only eurozone city in the top 10, rising from second most expensive last year and from seventh position two years ago. Paris is “extremely expensive to live in”, with an average two-piece business suit for men setting buyers back around $2,000 and a typical women’s haircut costing $120, it found. Read more
Girl sexually abused by bus driver from the age of six tried to kill herself (Metro)
A woman who was sexually abused from the age of six by a bus driver has said she can now ‘really live her life’ after seeing him jailed for 16 years. Martin Willcocks, 50, subjected the girl to a campaign of sexual abuse over a number of years and led her to trying to kill herself. He remained defiant in the dock, shaking his head as the victim described refusing to let him get away with what he did and how she summoned the courage to report him. Read more
Hong Kong to build $79bn artificial island (Guardian)
Hong Kong plans to build one of the world’s largest artificial islands with an eye-watering $79 billion price tag, city officials announced Tuesday. The government’s HK$624 billion proposal to reclaim 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres) of land around the territory’s largest island, Lantau, has been touted as a solution to the pressing housing shortage in the city, which is notorious as one of the least affordable markets on the planet. Authorities said they hope to start work on reclaiming land in 2025, with an eye on allowing residents to move to the island in 2032. Read more
Arsenal star Denis Saurez reacts to speculation Unai Emery will send him back to Barcelona (Metro)
Denis Saurez appears to have hit back at reports Unai Emery will send him back to Barcelona at the end of the season. The Spaniard joined Arsenal on loan until the end of the season in January but has struggled to make an impression and is still waiting to make his first start. Suarez has made just six substitute appearances and has struggled to oust the likes of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alex Iwobi, having been recruited to give his manager another option in wide areas. Read more
Sanchez wants to bring ‘joy’ to Manchester United fans (Guardian)
Manchester United forward Alexis Sanchez is determined to succeed at the club and says he still believes in himself despite a disappointing first year at Old Trafford. The Chile international, who is likely to be sidelined for another month with a knee injury, has endured a frustrating time since his move from Arsenal in January 2018. He has managed just five goals in 41 appearances for the club, with only two in 23 in this current injury-troubled season. Read more
Nemanja Vidic urges Manchester United to prioritise midfield signing ahead of Toby Alderweireld
Nemanja Vidic has told Manchester United to prioritise the signing of a box-to-box midfielder ahead of Tottenham defender Toby Alderweireld. The Belgium international has been heavily linked with a move to Old Trafford and will be available for £25 million this summer due to a release clause in his contract. But Vidic believes United need to strengthen their options in midfield in order to challenge for the Premier League title next season. Read more
‘Dortmund can’t afford any mistakes’ says Bayern star Mueller (Guardian)
Bayern Munich forward Thomas Mueller has warned title rivals Borussia Dortmund that they cannot afford to slip up as a nail-biting Bundesliga title race enters the final stretch. “They know they can’t afford to make any mistakes, because we are in really good shape,” Mueller told Germany’s top-selling newspaper Bild on Tuesday. Having been six points behind Dortmund at the beginning of the year, Bayern are now level on 60 points with eight games to play, but the defending champions top the table with a superior goal difference. Read more
Giggs hits back after Zlatan’s criticism of Man United ‘Class of 92’ (Punch)
Ryan Giggs has responded to Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s criticism of the “Class of 92” by insisting players with “over 2,000 games between us” are entitled to have an opinion about Manchester United. Former United striker Ibrahimovic claimed in a newspaper interview that the ongoing loyalty of Giggs and other pundits such as Gary Neville and Paul Scholes to Alex Ferguson has fuelled criticism of Paul Pogba. Ibrahimovic told the Daily Mirror that the criticism of Pogba dated back to his decision to walk away from Old Trafford and sign for Juventus in 2012 when Ferguson was still United manager. Read more
Casillas plans to play until 40 at Porto (Guardian)
Former Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas wants to end his career at Porto and continue playing until he’s 40, he told Spanish television. “This week I think I’ll extend my contract until I’m 40. I’ll be 38 soon and I’ll most likely finish my career with FC Porto,” the 37-year-old Spaniard said on the El Dia Despues programme. On Tuesday the 2010 World Cup winner added the Portuguese side’s president, Antonio Pinto da Costa, had told him: “I don’t want you to stay for another year, I want you stay until you’re 40.” Read more
Deschamps keen to lead France into 2022 World Cup (Punch)
France’s World Cup-winning coach Didier Deschamps has told AFP he would like to remain in his job until the 2022 finals in Qatar. The 50-year-old Deschamps, who took charge of France in 2012, guided Les Bleus to a second World Cup title in Russia, two decades after lifting the trophy as captain on home soil. “For me to be able to carry on until the next World Cup is obviously something I would not be unhappy about, but we’ll see,” Deschamps said on Tuesday. Read more