THISISLAGOS MIDDAY NEWS UPDATE JULY 25, 2018
Lagos safest city in Africa, says Ambode (Nation)
Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode yesterday said the state has become one of the safest cities in Africa. The governor spoke as the guest speaker at this year’s Executive Intelligence Management Course participants of the Institute for Security Studies in Abuja, the nation’s capital. The event, with the theme: Cultural Values, National Security and Challenges of Contemporary Governance: Perspectives from Lagos State Experience, was attended by participants from across the country. Ambode said the greatest achievement of his administration in the past three years is the protection of life and property of the residents. The state, the governor said, had invested over N20 billion on security in the past three years. With the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corp (LNSC) his administration set up, he said crimes had reduced across the state. Read more
Lagos Police ban policemen from patrolling in mufti, commercial buses (Punch)
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, on Tuesday, banned men of the force from operating in mufti and the use of commercial buses while on patrol in the state. In a press statement on their Facebook page, the police said, the measure was to ensure professionalism. The statement signed by Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Chike Oti read in part, “to ensure that policemen in Lagos are at their professional best always, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Edgal Imohimi has banned police operatives in the state from operating in mufti and commercial vehicles such as the yellow buses popularly known as Danfo or other commercial buses. Unmarked vehicles will only be used occasionally for covert operations targeted at a specific individual or group based on credible intelligence.” Read more
Lagos pays N240m to families of deceased public servants (Nation)
The Lagos State Government in conjunction with Lagos State Assurance Company (LASACO) Insurance Plc, has issued cheques worth N240,000.000: 00 to beneficiaries, as Insurance death benefit to families of deceased public servants in Lagos State on Friday. Head of Service Mrs Folasade Adesoye, who presented the cheques noted that a total of N240 Million was given to 80 beneficiaries as a way of providing succour to the people left behind by public servants who died in active service of the state. She said the gesture was the State Government’s effort at providing some succour in form of material support and assistance for the families left behind. She added that it is a periodic exercise and an obligation which demonstrate the responsiveness of the state government to the need of the staffs. Read more
Akinwumi Ambode: Visionary midwife of an emergent smart city (BusinessDay)
Exactly 16 days after the commemoration of the 3rd year in office of his innovative and aggressively modernizing administration on May 29, 2018, the Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode celebrated his 55th birthday on June 14. As expected, there was widespread commendation and approbation from within and beyond Lagos State of the remarkable strides his administration had taken in three short years to make indelible imprints on the developmental landscape of Lagos. Stepping into the shoes of his illustrious predecessors since 1999, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who envisioned and laid the foundation for the resurgence of the new Lagos and Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) who actualized the consolidation of the vision, Ambode hasraised the pedestal of governance in the Centre of Excellence to unanticipated heights by accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of the state’s infrastructural modernization and service delivery programmes. Read more
Court remands Lagos PDP chair, Salvador, others over murder (Vanguard)
The chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in Lagos, Mr. Moshood Salvador and 10 others have been remanded in prison custody over alleged murder of the party chairman in Apapa council area, Mr. Adeniyi Aborishade, last Saturday. Salvador, who was ordered to be remanded in custody by Magistrate A. Komolafe after he was arraigned at the Yaba Magistrate Court, was charged on the two-count information of conspiracy and unlawful killing punishable under sections 233 and 223 of the criminal law of Lagos State 2015. The accused persons have since pleaded not guilty to the offences preferred against them by the police. Read more
Measurable and sustainable change in Lagos (SUN)
The use of the word, ‘change’ as a political slogan or mantra has been extensive and, in the 2015 general election in Nigeria, we had a fair share of it. The concern however is that mantras and slogans are not easily converted into concrete actions. As Tim Blixseth noted, “many great ideas go unexecuted, and many great executioners are without ideas. One without the other is worthless.” In Lagos State, we have been mindful of avoiding that pitfall. Thus, since the assumption of office in 2015, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has led and supported the Ministry of Establishments, Training and Pensions to design and deploy a series of trainings and workshops designed to concretise and convert our change mantra into meaningful, measurable, consequential and sustainable change in the Lagos State Civil Service. Read more
LASG seeks growth of SMEs (Punch)
The Lagos State Government has restated its commitment to providing an inclusive economic model that would engender productivity. Speaking at a two-day ‘Strategic Workshop,’ organised by the Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment in collaboration with Hudson Group in Ikeja, the Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf, said achieving a higher level of productivity in the state economy required an approach that aligned with the potential of its citizens. The commissioner stated that the state government was deliberately focusing on optimising the productivity of the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises for the attainment of employment opportunities for Lagosians. Read more
Lagos senators oppose Banire’s nomination as AMCON chair (Nation)
Three senators from Lagos State yesterday opposed the nomination of Muiz Banire as Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) Chairman. President Muhammadu Buhari had submitted a letter to the Senate seeking the confirmation of Banire as AMCON boss. But Senate, at its sitting yesterday, received a petition endorsed by the three senators from Lagos State, which opposed the nomination of Banire. Senator Solomon Adeola (APC-Lagos West), who laid the petition, noted that it emanated from their constituents. Read more
NIMASA seals 3 jetties in Lagos over security (DailyTrust)
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) yesterday sealed up three petroleum jetties in Lagos and Delta states over security breach at the different facilities. The affected jetties are Heyden Petroleum Jetty, Index Petroleum Oil Jetty, Waziri Jetty operated by Hemsmor Nigeria Limited, NIPCO in Lagos, while Pinnacle Oil and Gas, Warri, Delta State was also affected by the action. It said the action was in continuation of its quest to ensure total compliance with the provisions of the International Ships and Ports Facility Security (ISPS) code and the NIMASA regulations . Read more
Decentralizing port operations and ending the chaos in Lagos (Vanguard)
Last week, I was trapped for hours on the Isolo-Apapa Expressway in an unprecedented traffic gridlock. Many lanes of the so-called expressway were seized by articulated vehicles especially trailers carrying containers and fuel tankers, forcing other vehicles to drive against the traffic, in an effort to move forward since most of the articulated vehicles seemed stationary. Nigerian road users were sweating and cursing. A friend of mine who was riding with me in exasperation asked” When will this war end?” I turned to look at him wondering what war he was talking about and what the situation we were in had to do with a war. “Which war are you talking about?” I asked him. Read more
‘We’II extend Lagos – Ibadan Railway to Apapa Seaport’ (Leadership)
The minister of transportation, Chibuike Amaechi has said that the federal government will extend the Lagos – Ibadan railway project to the Apapa seaport for the effective movement of goods through the rail line. Amaechi, who stated this while inspecting the project in Lagos, said this would require the demolition and expansion of the existing station in order to accommodate activities at the Apapa Seaport. He explained that the idea is to pull down the existing structures, expand the station towards the seaport so that there would be easy access to ferry goods from the sea to the rail line and then to the town. Read more
Delta cancels Lagos-Atlanta flight twice over poor weather (Punch)
United States carrier, Delta Air Lines, has had to cancel its Atlanta-Lagos flight in the past two days due to poor weather in that country. As a ripple effect of the cancellation, the airline’s Lagos passengers are said to be stranded due to the inability of the carrier to airlift them to their destination. It was gathered that over 500 passengers were affected by the development. The airline operates four weekly flights to Lagos from its base in Atlanta, Georgia, with another three weekly flights to Lagos from New York. Read more
SoftTalk, Nigeria owned messaging app for unveiling in Lagos (Guardian)
SoftTalk, a social media messaging app, developed by a Japan-based Nigerian developer, is set to be unveiled in Lagos. The app, which is in the likes of WhatsApp, would help to solve local problems and create job opportunities in the country. Softtalk is an indigenous messaging application, which enables users to chat, make audio and video calls, unrestricted numbers of group chats as well shop for affordable and genuine products. With the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) putting mobile subscriptions as at June, at 163 million, which have heavily relied on foreign messaging app that serve no local content as it were, Softtalk is positioned to bridge that gap. Read more
Edmark launches mobile app for payment services in Lagos (Nation)
A health wellness and lifestyle company, EDMARK International Group of Companies on Monday in Lagos unveiled the future of digital payment in Nigeria. It launched EDpoints, a mobile application designed to connect customers to distributors through a cashless mobile payment platform that embarks Matrix QR code technology for customers’ seamless transactions. The new mobile app, which allows customers to do transactions digitally, is similar to mobile wallet where users securely keep their money and pay for shopping and utility bills in any of the company’s partnered distributors. Read more
Tanker explosion: Lagos identifies 32 SUVs, 7 buses, 3 trucks (NewTelegraph)
The atmosphere was moody yesterday at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Lagos State Secretariat as a father, whose wife and seven-year-old daughter got severely burnt at the Otedola bridge tanker explosion appealed to the government to assist him renew the international passport of her little daughter to enable him fly her and her mother abroad for adequate treatment. Speaking at a closed-door meeting with the officials of the Ministry of Transportation, the middle-aged father, who refused to give his name or have his photograph taken because, said he had spent over N4 million so far for their treatment. Amidst tears, he said he would not want the life of the girl to be jeopardized, relying on the treatment in Nigeria. Read more
‘100 mentally challenged inmates, 71 juveniles in Lagos prisons’ (DailyTrust)
A total of 100 mentally challenged inmates and 71 juveniles are currently in different prisons across Lagos State, the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Adeniji Kazeem has said. He said this yesterday at the presentation of the Lagos State Criminal Information System (LCIS), in Alausa, Lagos. “This information essentially, is to aid the implementation of reforms in the justice system. Consequently, the project has become pivotal in the administration of Criminal justice in Lagos, as exhibited, especially in recent discoveries and revelations from the data capturing exercise at the prisons. A major dynamics is its capacity to assist in planning and statistics purposes. Read more
Driver allegedly robs his former boss (Nation)
A dismissed driver, Solomon James, has been arrested by the police in Lagos for allegedly robbing his former boss, Utchay Odims. The incident occurred, about 8 pm, on July 21, at 382, Ademola Ajasa Street, Omole Estate. James claimed he only wanted to inform Odims’ wife about his extra-marital affairs. The police said the suspect had the intention of defiling the victim’s wife, who, fortunately, was not at home. A source said last Saturday, the suspect reportedly scaled the fence of the victim’s house, entered, tied the maid and the man before robbing him. James said: “I ordered the maid to tie her boss. Then I tied her. I asked my former boss who else was in the house, he said no one, as his wife had gone to church. I said I would have loved her to be around so that she would witness what I was doing. Read more
Kidnap suspect disguises as mad man to abduct 4-yr-old girl from Lagos church (Vanguard)
Attempt by a suspected kidnapper, who disguised as a mad man to abduct a four-year-old girl from Christ Anointed Church, in Ayobo area of Lagos, during church service, has been foiled leading to his arrest. The suspect, identified simply Jacob Dare (28), according to the father of the girl, Mr Ebhoboghe Rufus, attempted to lure his child with N50. He said: “He wanted to lure her to follow him with N50. When the alarm was raised by some members of the church, he attempted to flee the scene but was apprehended.” Read more
3 die in Lagos cult war (Nation)
Three suspected cultists have been killed at Somolu, Lagos Mainland after rival cult groups went berserk. Those killed include leader of Eiye cult group in the area, Tunde Awokoya, 36, alias Chop-Up, one Gabriel and another unnamed man. It was gathered that members of the Eiye and Aye cult groups had spoiled for war earlier on Tuesday but were dispersed by policemen, who got information about it. However, the Aye group, it was gathered, targeted Chop-Up, who had gone to a beer-parlour on Abiodun Street to cool off and they murdered him there. Read more