Lagos to deploy new platform, PayVIS to track, fine traffic offenders (Guardian)
The Lagos State government has launched a number plate detection platform, PayVIS, which will capture vehicle offenders whenever they violate traffic laws and then bill them.
PayVIS is an initiative of the Lagos State Vehicle Inspection Service. Traffic cameras located beside traffic lights will capture traffic offenders without the presence of traffic officials on the roads.
According to the information contained in the website of PayVis, the platform, ‘PlateDetect,’ is a traffic analytics and access control application developed for Lagos State’s Vehicle Inspection Service to track, monitor, and book traffic offenders.
The VIS’s PlateDetect ensures that all vehicle documentation (vehicle license, insurance policy, roadworthiness certificate, driver’s license, hackney permit (commercial vehicles only), and Lagos State Drivers’ Institute card (commercial vehicles) can be verified and tickets raised for violators. Read more
Lagos landlords accuse police of protecting hoodlums while demolishing buildings (Punch)
Landlords and allottees of the Alma Beach Estate in the Lekki area of Lagos State have accused policemen of conniving with hoodlums allegedly hired by trespassers to demolish their houses in a bid to take over the land.
PUNCH Metro gathered that armed policemen allegedly deployed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police were protecting the land-grabbers said to be disturbing the peace of the area and sacking residents from their homes.
Perplexed by the development, the landlords and allottees allegedly threatened a breakdown of law and order in order to protect their homes as the police were said to have stood firm in protecting the land-grabbers.
It was learnt that the problem started when NICON Trustees allegedly laid claim to 150 plots of land in the estate without showing any authentic survey or registered title to back up the claim. Read more
EFCC seeks to upturn Lagos’ ‘pardon’ to three convicts (Guardian)
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has described the ‘pardon’ granted an Indian businessman, Ashok Israni, and two officials of Keystone Bank, Anayo Nwosu and Olajide Oshodi, by the Lagos State Government, as unlawful and urged the Court of Appeal, Lagos, to set it aside.
Justice Kudirat Jose of the Lagos State High Court in Igbosere had in December 2019 jailed Israni, Nwosu, and Oshodi on an amended 15-count charge bordering on conspiracy and obtaining N855 million by false pretense, and sentenced them to five years each.
In her judgment, she had also convicted Keystone Bank and NULEC Industries Limited belonging to Israni. The companies were ordered to pay a fine of N20 million to the Federal Government.
She also ordered the convicts to restitute N395 million to the victim of the fraud. Read more
FG fixes December for completion of Apapa-Oworonshoki Expressway (ThisDay)
The federal government at the weekend pledged to complete work by December on the Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki Expressway, which was officially kicked off in November 2018 by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Speaking during an inspection of the four sections of the project, the Federal Director of Highway Construction and Rehabilitation in the Ministry of Works, Mr. Funso Adebiyi, said the road had achieved varying levels of work on all the sections.
“Overall, 61 per cent has been achieved as of today, in the first phase covering 27km of this ever-busy road project,” a statement by the Director, Press, at the Ministry of Works, Mr. Boade Akinola, said. Read more
Sanwo-Olu reopens COVID-19 isolation centre (Guardian)
Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has ordered the re-opening of Ajao Estate Isolation Centre at Indo-Eye Care Foundation following the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Sanyukt Bhartiva Association (SABHA), the centre was closed down on December 1, 2020, when new cases of the pandemic were at a very low level.
The 50-beds Isolation centre, built by Indian community living in Nigeria and corporate bodies with the medical equipment worth N250 million, was established to assist victims of COVID-19 in the country.
The centre, situated at No. 9, Murtala Mohammed Airport Road, near ERM Diagnostic, Ajao Estate, fully equipped with modern medical equipment, water, electricity, lift, entertainment equipment and standby power supply, was reopened by the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Emmanual Akinola Abayomi. Read more
Outdated NIMC facilities stalling NIN-SIM linkage (Guardian)
With about 22 days to the February 9 deadline for the enrolment, verification and linking of the National Identification Numbers (NIN) to Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards, telecoms operators have raised the alarm over the challenge they have with the backend integration of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
The Guardian gathered that one of the reasons many subscribers had not received any confirmation from their network operators, after submitting their NINs is because there has been no seamless confirmation from the backend of the NIMC.
In other words, for every NIN registered by Nigerians and sent to telecoms operators, the service providers are expected to confirm the authenticity (verification) of the owner from the backend of NIMC, but, according to one of the technical officials of MTN, this has remained very challenging.
“We are having challenges with the backend integration with the NIMC database because of the ancient backend support at the Commission. Some subscribers have sent their NINs to their network providers, and you will be told that it has been acknowledged, but it will not go through finally until we are able to check at the backend of NIMC to confirm the authenticity of the subscriber’s identity because we don’t have any way of knowing, except NIMC confirms. Read more
7 suspects nabbed over gang rape, murder of 11-year-old girl (Vanguard)
Seven persons, among them a woman, have been arrested in connection with the 11-year-old girl who was gang-raped to death in Ejigbo area of Lagos, three months ago.
Recall that the deceased, Favour Okechukwu, a Junior Secondary School 3 student, was sent on an errand by her mother, at about 3 p.m. that fateful day but never returned.
Her lifeless body was later recovered in a building on Olarewaju street, not too far from her home, naked and with blood-stained, by policemen attached to Ejigbo Division.
Perpetrators of the crime fled, including occupants of the building.
However, Vanguard reliably gathered that two of the suspects were traced to Ogun State. The suspects were said to have been involved in a botched robbery operation. Read more
Concerns mount as schools reopen today amid rising COVID-19 cases (ThisDay)
As learning institutions reopen today, concerns continue to rise following an insistence by teachers that necessary measures have not been put in place in compliance with the COVID-19 protocols established by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Consequently, the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education and Services has called on the federal government to postpone the reopening of schools by three months due to the increasing number of deaths attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more
Checkpoint policemen watched as herdsmen attacked us – Oyo farmer (Punch)
One of the farmers attacked at Igangan in the Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State on Friday, Seun Isaiah, has said Fulani herdsmen living in the community attacked him and three others in the presence of some policemen.
Isaiah, who was reported to be one of the two persons who died following the attack allegedly carried out by herdsmen, survived the onslaught despite the injury inflicted on his head.
He spoke on Saturday in a video made available to our correspondent in Ibadan. Read more
Harris to be sworn in as U.S. vice-president by Justice Sotomayor (CBC)
Vice-president-elect Kamala Harris will be sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Wednesday, a history-making event in which the first Black, South Asian and female U.S. vice-president will take her oath of office from the first Latina justice.
Harris chose Sotomayor for the task, according to a person familiar with the decision. She’ll also use two Bibles for the swearing-in, one of which belonged to Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice.
ABC News first reported the latest details of Harris’s inauguration plans.
Harris has expressed admiration for both Sotomayor and Marshall. She and Sotomayor share experience as prosecutors, and she once called Marshall — like Harris, a graduate of Howard University — one of her “greatest heroes.” Read more
Branson’s Virgin rocket takes satellites to orbit (BBC)
Sir Richard Branson’s rocket company Virgin Orbit has succeeded in putting its first satellites in space.
Ten payloads in total were lofted on the same rocket, which was launched from under the wing of one of the entrepreneur’s old 747 jumbos.
Sir Richard is hoping to tap into what is a growing market for small, lower-cost satellites.
By using a jet plane as the launch platform, he can theoretically send up spacecraft from anywhere in the world. Read more
Scores killed in Sudan’s Darfur clashes (AlJazeera)
Tribal clashes in Sudan’s Darfur region have killed at least 83 people in the latest bout of violence, according to a tally by the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors (CCSD).
“The death toll from the bloody events taking place in the city of al-Geneina … has increased since Saturday morning … [to] 84,” CCSD, a local branch of the country’s doctors’ union, said in a statement on Twitter.
The statement added that the clashes left 160 wounded, including members of the armed forces.
Saturday’s clashes initially pitted the Massalit tribe against Arab nomads in al-Geneina, about two weeks after the United Nations and African Union ended a 13-year peacekeeping mission in Darfur. Read more
Prison service said he was detained for multiple parole violations (CBC)
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was arrested Sunday at a Moscow airport as he tried to enter the country from Germany, where he had spent five months recovering from nerve agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin.
Navalny’s detention at passport control in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport was widely expected because Russia’s prisons service said he had violated parole terms from a suspended sentence on a 2014 embezzlement conviction.
The prisons service said he would be held in custody until a court rules on his case. No date for a court appearance was immediately announced. The service earlier said that it would seek to have Navalny serve his 3 1/2-year sentence behind bars. Read more
DRC honours Patrice Lumumba 60 years after his assassination (AlJazeera)
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has honoured independence hero Patrice Lumumba, marking 60 years since his assassination in a plot linked to the fledgeling country’s colonial master, Belgium.
President Felix Tshisekedi on Sunday paid tribute to the charismatic political leader at a site in the capital, Kinshasa, where a memorial is to be installed in his honour.
Lumumba became the country’s first democratically elected prime minister after independence from Belgium in 1960. His government lasted just three months before he was overthrown and assassinated by firing squad. Read more
Bow Wow defends performing at Houston nightclub with packed audience despite coronavirus spike (Metro)
Bow Wow has come under fire for performing at a jam-packed nightclub this weekend despite coronavirus cases increasing across the US. The 33-year-old rapper, real name Shad Moss, hosted an event at Cle nightclub in Houston, Texas on Friday to celebrate club promoter Larry Morrow’s All Black Birthday Weekend. Photos and footage from the performance show Bow Wow performing on-stage with a full crowd in front of him with little social distancing and many not wearing face masks. As critics began slamming the rapper for hosting the event, the rapper reportedly defended himself in now-deleted tweets. Read more
RCMP found the vessel more than 60 metres below the surface (CBC)
The fishing vessel that went missing off the coast of Delaps Cove in southwest Nova Scotia in December has been found. Five of the six crew members who were aboard the boat are still missing.
The Chief William Saulis, a scallop dragger that was based out of Yarmouth, was last heard from early on the morning of Dec. 15, when it was heading toward Digby after a week-long fishing expedition.
Nova Scotia and British Columbia RCMP underwater recovery teams, assisted by the Canadian Coast Guard and Transportation Safety Board, found the vessel upright 60 metres below the surface, more than two kilometres off the shore of Delaps Cove, on Saturday morning. Read more
Lionel Messi sent off as Barcelona lose Spanish Super Cup to Athletic Bilbao (BBC)
Lionel Messi was shown the first red card of his Barcelona career as they lost to Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup final.
Messi, in his 753rd appearance for Barca, swung at Asier Villalibre in the final seconds of extra time – an incident spotted by the VAR.
Barca led twice through Antoine Griezmann but Oscar de Marcos and Villalibre, in the final minute, scored as Athletic replied each time.
Inaki Williams scored a fine winner.
The game in Seville was set to be remembered as an entertaining encounter and for Athletic’s second trophy since 1985, until the late drama. Read more
Mesut Ozil confirms leaving Arsenal for Turkey’s Fenerbahce (AlJazeera)
Mesut Ozil has confirmed he is leaving Arsenal for Turkish side Fenerbahce, saying he was “very excited” to join a team he always supported and that he was in good physical condition despite missing nearly a year of football.
The German World Cup winner has been frozen out of the London club for months and was left out of its English Premier League and Europa League squads at the start of the season.
The 32-year-old, who is of Turkish origin, has long been linked with a move to Fenerbahce, one of Istanbul’s three big clubs.
Speaking to Turkish broadcaster NTV on Sunday, Ozil said he would arrive in the Turkish city early on Monday to seal his move. Read more
Metz end Lyon’s unbeaten run as PSG take Ligue 1 lead (Punch)
Lyon slumped to a shock 1-0 home defeat to Metz on Sunday that ended a long unbeaten run and allowed Paris Saint-Germain to stay top of Ligue 1.
Rudi Garcia’s side had come into Sunday’s late match on the back of 16 league games without defeat, knowing that a win would have put them back in the lead of France’s top flight.
However Aaron Leya Iseka struck in the final minute to snatch the points for resilient Metz, who had to withstand a second-half onslaught before finally prevailing and moving ninth. Read more
Man City put four past Palace to move up to second (NewTelegraph)
John Stones scored twice for Manchester City as Pep Guardiola’s resurgent title challengers cruised past Crystal Palace to go second in the Premier League.
Hours after Liverpool and leaders Manchester United shared a goalless draw, City capitalised to move within two points of top spot with their fifth successive league victory.
Stones opened the scoring with a header from Kevin de Bruyne’s delightful cross as the Belgian made it 100 assists in all competitions since joining the club in 2015.
The hosts were already in complete control when Ilkay Gundogan added a superb second from the edge of the box shortly after the break.
Stones, having previously never scored in the Premier League for City, then smashed in his second from a corner before Raheem Sterling curled in a free-kick for City’s fourth.
Guardiola’s side can go top if they win their game in hand, while defeat means Crystal Palace remain 13th. Read more
Man Utd ‘missed an opportunity’ to beat Liverpool, says Solskjaer (BBC)
Manchester United “missed an opportunity” to beat Liverpool, said boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after his side stayed top of the Premier League with a goalless draw against the champions.
It was a game that failed to justify the pre-match anticipation and Solskjaer will know his side had the better chances to claim a statement victory at Anfield.
Liverpool, without a recognised centre-back and with midfielders Jordan Henderson and Fabinho in defence, dominated possession in the first half but it was United who came closest when Bruno Fernandes’ 20-yard free-kick curled inches wide.
Fernandes was then thwarted after the break by the outstretched leg of Liverpool keeper Alisson before Thiago’s long-range effort finally brought the previously unemployed David de Gea into action. Read more
Dana White names five opponents Khabib Nurmagomedov could face in next UFC fight (Metro)
Khabib Nurmagomedov is considering a return to the UFC and it appears that five men are in contention to be his next opponent. The Eagle remains the UFC lightweight champion, despite announcing his retirement from competition after beating Justin Gaethje in October. UFC president Dana White has made no secret of the fact that he wants to tempt the Russian into one more bout and the pair met to discuss the situation in Abu Dhabi this week. Nothing was decided at that meeting, with Khabib saying he will watch UFC 257 on 23 January and then come to a conclusion on his future. Read more