LAWMA worker falls, dies on duty (Punch)
An official of the Lagos Waste Management Authority, Mr. Nasiru Saheed, on Saturday, fell from the machine he was operating and died on the spot.
The PUNCH gathered that the LAWMA employee died accidentally on duty on Alexander Road in Ikoyi, Lagos State.
A video showing Saheed in a pool of his blood had surfaced on social media before LAWMA confirmed the incident.
The waste management agency in a series of tweets lamented its worker’s death, saying, “LAWMA with a deep sense of regret, announces the death in an accident of one of our waste handlers (Mr. Nasiru Saheed) this morning.
“The Authority is in touch with the family and will stand by them in this difficult time.Read more
Sanwo-Olu commissions four-floor 110-bed MCC, others In Badagry (Independent)
To ensure that the people of Badagry in Lagos State
and the adjoining communities have increased access to quality and safe healthcare, reduction or even complete eradication of maternal and infant mortality, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has commissioned the newly constructed and equipped Four-Floor 110-bed Maternal and Child Center (MCC) and the School of Anaesthetic Studies, Badagry.
Speaking at the inauguration of the projects on Saturday in Lagos, Sanwo-Olu noted that the eradication of maternal and infant mortality, as well as general improvement in all maternal and child health indices in the state, remain his administration’s priorities.
He noted the benefits of the projects will have a positive ripple effect on the development and socio-economic indices of Badagry.
The School of Anaesthetic Studies, which has already trained 133 doctors and 65 nurses, the governor said, “validates the administration’s dedication to capacity building and the professional empowerment of medical workers while the MCC is a critical indicator of our commitment to eradicating maternal and child mortality in Lagos State, as well as our determination to consolidate our achievements in the improvement of maternal and child health outcomes.” Read more
Man dies on wheels in Lagos (Nation)
A middle-age man on Friday slumped and died while driving in Lagos.
The incident occurred around 6 pm on CMD Road, Magodo, Lagos.
He was found unconscious inside his Honda Accord with number plate EKY 55 CM by some motorists and passers-by.
The unidentified victim wore a black T-shirt and a light colour pair of shorts.
Eyewitnesses said no phone was found on him to reach his relatives or identity card to identify him. Read more
Uproar over price of ‘awara’ in Kano (DailyTrust)
There is a silent but outrageous protest as the price of awara (soya bean cake) shoots up in some parts of Kano State.
Customers blame sellers’ unhealthy obsession with profit maximization for the increase, while the sellers cite the increase in the price of white oil as the reason behind the new pricing.
Findings have shown that in different parts of the state the price has increased by five or ten percent depending on the location.
Some arawa sellers have floated a N50-per-three policy to navigate the market forces, citing an increase in the prices of the ingredients.
Others have resorted to slicing the size of the cake or being moderate in adding spices to the mixture. Read more
FRSC sets to clamp down on wanted traffic offenders (Guardian)
The Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, has said that the organisation is set to clamp down on wanted traffic offenders who have yet to effect payment of fines.
In a statement issued by the Corps Public Education Officer (CPEO), Assistant Corps Marshal (ACM) Bisi Kazeem, Oyeyemi said that the corps would go after wanted offenders as from Monday, Jan. 25.
NAN reports that Oyeyemi had on Friday Jan. 22 held the year’s first “Strategy Session of Zonal Commanding Officers and Sector Commanders on Zero Tolerance to Crashes in 2021’’.
The FRSC boss said that the offenders, who were already declared wanted after exceeding the days of grace period from the dates of arrests and issuance of Notice of Offence tickets, were now being looked for by the corps operatives. Read more
National Assembly postpones resumption of plenary to February 9 (ThisDay)
Members of the National Assembly who were initially billed to resume plenary on Tuesday, January 26th after a five-week Christmas holiday, will now resume on Tuesday, February 9.
The notice of postponement was contained in a statement issued on Saturday by the Clerk to the National Assembly, Ojo Amos Olatunde, who regretted any inconvenience caused by the new resumption date.
He explained that the reason for the postponement was to enable members of the All Progressive Congress (APC) participate in the registration and revalidation of the party’s membership, scheduled to commence on Monday, 25th January, 2021.
The notice reads, ”This is to inform all distinguished senators and honourable members of the National Assembly that the resumption of plenary sessions earlier scheduled for Tuesday, 26the January, 2021 is hereby rescheduled for Tuesday 9th February, 2021. Read more
Sexual harassment: Victim’s result still withheld by OAU after lecturer’s jail term (Nation)
Monica Osagie, the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife post-graduate student, who was sexually harassed by one of her lecturers, is still seeking justice three years after.
Although the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) successfully prosecuted the lecturer, Prof. Richard Akindele, at a Federal High Court, Osogbo and got him sentenced to two years imprisonment, the university authorities have refused to release Osagie’s result.
The ICPC is currently probing the institution’s position on the complainant’s result.
The Nation gathered that in the course of ICPC’s initial investigation of the matter, the OAU Vice Chancellor and other lecturers admitted that Osagie passed the disputed course for which Akindele demanded sex.Read more
How we escaped being burnt to death in our vehicles – Ogun tanker fire survivors (Punch)
Thirty-year-old Ayoade Adetola whose Sports Utility Vehicle was damaged in the Tuesday tanker explosion in Abeokuta, Ogun State, which killed three persons and injured six others, waved her hands in adoration to God for her narrow escape.
She thereafter narrated her experience to somebody on the phone when our correspondent met her after the accident. Adetola was one of the persons who could have been burnt to death in the explosion that occurred early morning on the presidential Boulevard, Kuto, Abeokuta.
The accident occurred close to both a commercial bank and a school.
Our correspondent gathered that the 33,000 fuel-laden tanker reportedly caught fire shortly after it had a partial head-on collision with Adetola’s car. But miraculously the vehicle’s four occupants were unhurt while the SUV was badly damaged. Read more
Cross River demolishes hotel harbouring suspected kidnappers (Sun)
The Cross River Government security outfit, “Operation Akpakwu”, has demolished the “Save side hotel” at 8miles area in Calabar for harbouring suspected kidnappers that have been terrorising the state.
Speaking after the exercise, Mr Henry Okokon, the Security Adviser, South, to Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday that most recorded kidnap cases in Calabar were planned and coordinated from the hotel.
According to Okokon, the Homeland Security bill which was signed into law by Ayade clearly stated that “anybody who aid, abet and harbour a criminal is also guilty of the crime. Read more
Zimbabwe loses two more ministers to COVID-19 (Punch)
Two ministers serving in the Zimbabwean government died of the Coronavirus within a matter of days, prompting the country to announce on Saturday plans to further tighten lockdown measures.
Late on Friday, the government announced that Transport Minister Joel Matiza had died after falling ill with COVID-19, less than two days after the country lost Foreign minister Sibusiso Moyo to the same disease.
Four government ministers have succumbed to the coronavirus in Zimbabwe so far. Read more
Thousands across Russia rally for jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny (France24)
Police on Saturday aggressively detained protesters in Moscow and other cities as thousands of supporters of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny took to the streets following his call to protest against President Vladimir Putin’s rule.
In the Russian capital, which usually mobilises the largest rallies, protesters planned to meet on the central Pushkin Square at 2pm (1100 GMT) and march towards the Kremlin.
But more than an hour before the planned rally police began detaining people, AFP journalists reported.
Putin’s most vocal domestic critic put out the mass rally call after surviving a near-fatal poisoning with a Novichok nerve agent and returning to Moscow last weekend following months of treatment in Germany. He was arrested at Sheremetyevo Airport and jailed. Read more
EU nations announce new restrictions on nonessential travel (DW)
Belgium, France and several other states are tightening entry rules, mandating further tests and extending quarantines to prevent the spread of mutant COVID-19 variants.
Several European Union nations, including Belgium, France, Portugal and Finland, announced new travel or entry regulations on Friday.
It followed discussions among EU leaders about restricting nonessential trips across the bloc’s internal borders to contain the spread of the coronavirus, particularly the mutant strains emerging from the UK, South Africa and Brazil.
Though travel into the EU is already severely restricted, beginning Sunday January 24, anybody arriving from outside the EU — possible only for those with essential reasons — would have to have a test for COVID-19 before departure. Read more
Cardi B steps out in entirely see-through dress to go shopping with Offset (Metro)
Cardi B’s never shy of making a statement with her clothes but the outfit she wore to go shopping with husband Offset in Beverly Hills is something only she could pull off. The WAP rapper, 28, left little to the imagination as she stepped out in a dress that was entirely sheer at the front and back, with white material at the sides and shoulders. Cardi revealed her killer curves as well as her famous thigh tattoo, and Offset, 29, was of course the perfect Instagram husband as he snapped photos of Cardi as she walked arounf the shops. The Pierre-Louis Auvray dress was paired with studded stiletto heels, sunglasses and a red face mask to go with the colour of the sheer material at the front of her dress. Read more
Hong Kong orders thousands to stay home for two days in city’s first Covid-19 lockdown (France24)
Thousands of Hong Kongers were ordered to stay in their homes on Saturday for the city’s first coronavirus lockdown as authorities battle an outbreak in one of its poorest and most densely packed districts.
The order bans about 10,000 people living inside multiple housing blocks within the neighbourhood of Jordan from leaving their apartment unless they can show a negative test.
Officials said they planned to test everyone inside the designated zone within 48 hours “in order to achieve the goal of zero cases in the district”. Read more
Italy targets TikTok after death of child in ‘blackout’ challenge (DW)
Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the death of a young girl who participated in a “choking game” on the video-sharing platform. Her death has triggered outrage across Italy.
Italian authorities have opened an investigation into the accidental death of a 10-year-old girl in Sicily who allegedly took part in a so-called “blackout” challenge while using the video-sharing network TikTok.
Following a ruling that the girl died of asphyxiation, Italy’s data protection authority said it was imposing an immediate temporary block on TikTok’s access to data for any user whose age could not be verified.
The social media platform, popular particularly among teenagers worldwide, is owned by Chinese company ByteDance. According to TikTok’s terms and conditions, users must be at least 13 years old.
The block will remain in place until February 15 as Sicilian prosecutors continue to investigate the case. Read more
Isla Fisher on how she mastered a posh English accent for “Blithe Spirit” (Metro)
‘Bride of Borat’. That’s how US Talk show Jimmy Kimmel recently introduced Isla Fisher in a TV interview that was then dominated by questions about her comedian/ actor husband, Sacha Baron Cohen.
As a successful comic actress in her own right, doesn’t that ever nark her off? ‘It sort of depends what’s going on,’ the Wedding Crashers star admits. ‘At that time, Borat 2 was like the biggest streaming movie ever on Amazon, so I don’t begrudge a journalist asking about it.’
It’s hard to imagine Fisher begrudging much. She’s called me today to chat about Blithe Spirit, a new Sky Cinema remake of Noel Coward’s sparkling comedy that she calls ‘a bit of fun’ and ‘just the tonic we need right now’. Read more
Togolese clubs worried about cost of COVID-19 testing as league set to resume (BBC)
As soon as the Togo government announced on 15 January that sport could be played once again the country’s football federation said the top two leagues would resume on 30 March.
Like most of the world sport had been put on hold in Togo due to the coronavirus pandemic, with football suspended on 17 March and eventually the 2019-20 season was abandoned on 27 May.
In order to continue the fight against the spread of the virus the Togo Football Federation (FTF) said that all players and club staff must undergo tests before training can resume.
While the clubs are keen to get the delayed 2020-21 season underway they say they simply could not afford it if the FTF insists on regular PCR tests, which according to health authorities cost $50 per person. Read more
Rafa Benitez leaves China’s Dalian Pro, blames virus (Guardian)
Rafa Benitez abruptly left as coach of Chinese Super League side Dalian Pro on Saturday, saying it was for family reasons in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
The 60-year-old Spaniard, who took Liverpool to Champions League glory in 2005, had been in charge of Dalian since July 2019.
“Unfortunately, like so many things in the last year, Covid-19 has changed our lives and our projects,” the former Liverpool, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Napoli and Chelsea boss wrote on his blog.
“From today, both my coaching staff and I will sadly no longer be coaching the Dalian Professional F. C. Read more
Jerome Boateng: From family outcast to serial champion (Nation)
You don’t get anywhere without hard work. The earlier you understand that, the better.” Bayern Munich centre-back Jerome Boateng certainly grasped the concept at an early age, and the mantra has served him well throughout his career.
Look past his trophies, glitz, glamour and growing cult of celebrity and you find a humble, determined man who plays the game in the same way today as he did on the gritty streets of Berlin as a child.
It is an attitude and worldview that has taken Boateng to the landmark of 300 Bundesliga appearances in the Matchday 17 fixture in Augsburg, 215 of which have come across 10 silverware-laden seasons at Bayern Munich. Read more
Barty to end year-long absence in Adelaide (DailyTrust)
World number one Ashleigh Barty will make her first top-level tennis appearance in nearly a year when she joins a star-studded exhibition in Adelaide this month, organisers have said.
Australia’s Barty, who has remained top of the rankings despite not playing since last February, joins a field which also includes major-winners Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Simona Halep.
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Men’s Grand Slam champions Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem, along with Jannik Sinner, the highly rated world number 36 from Italy, will also play the event on January 29.
“I am looking forward to playing my first match for the 2021 season in Adelaide,” Barty said in a Tennis Australia statement. Read more
Manchester United make Donny Van De Beek transfer decision (Independent)
Manchester United have rebuffed approaches for Donny van de Beek, according to reports. The Netherlands international is currently behind Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes in the pecking order and, with the European Championships creeping closer, has been linked with a move away. However, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer supposedly plans to deploy the midfielder more often in the coming weeks and months ahead.
United initially hoped to sign Jack Grealish during the summer transfer window, with Solskjaer earmarking the Aston Villa star as a priority target.
But, after they were quoted a massive £75million to sign the England star, the Red Devils opted to snap up Van de Beek instead.
So far, however, things for the Netherlands international are yet to work out. Read more
Southampton dump holders Arsenal out of FA Cup (Guardian)
Southampton dumped FA Cup holders Arsenal out of the competition on Saturday, winning 1-0 courtesy of a Gabriel own goal to set up a fifth-round meeting with Wolves.
The much-changed Gunners, who have won the competition a record 14 times, fell behind midway through the first half and could not find a way back.
Ralph Hasenhuttl fielded a strong side at St Mary’s, with Danny Ings returning after a hamstring injury and a positive coronavirus test alongside former Arsenal forward Theo Walcott. Read more