Low turnout as schools resume in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Benue after COVID-19 break (Guardian)
Schools in Lagos, Oyo, Ogun and Benue states yesterday resumed for the 2020/2021 academic session for primary and secondary schools after six months of forced closure since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In the schools monitored, students adhered strictly to the revised COVID-19 guidelines set by government for resumption. Students were mandated to wear their facemasks, while necessary provisions for hand-washing and temperature checks on entry were made available by school authorities.
A few of the schools observed the regular morning assembly and the number of students in classes were reduced to prevent close contacts among pupils. Read more
Sanwo-Olu asks judges to be fair, just (Punch)
The Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has urged judges in the state judiciary to ensure fairness in the adjudication of cases before them, pointing out that justice and fairness are the bedrock of societal development.
Sanwo-Olu made the call on Monday at a church service to herald the 2020/2021 Legal Year of the Lagos State Judiciary.
This was as the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba, at a special Muslim service at the Central Mosque, Marina, pledged the commitment of the judiciary to effective justice administration that would boost public confidence.
The governor was represented by his wife, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, at the church service, which held at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, Lagos. Read more
Police boss declares war on traffic offenders, cultists in Lagos (Guardian)
The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Hakeem Odumosu, has re-echoed his zero-tolerance for violation of traffic rules and readiness to constantly prosecute traffic offenders who drive or ride against traffic.
He also warned those riding motorcycles on restricted areas and using the BRT lanes to stop doing so.
The police boss, who condemned the act as criminal and unacceptable, directed the area commanders, divisional police officers, and heads of operational and tactical units in Lagos yesterday during a routine briefing with the officers at the Conference Hall, State Headquarters, GRA, Ikeja, to arrest offenders. Read more
35 students get first class as UNIOSUN graduates 1,946 (Nation)
Thirty-five students of Osun State University on Monday got first class, as the school graduated 1,946 virtually.
The Nation reports that the management of the school sent convocation kits to graduates through courier service. Ninety-five per cent of the graduating students registered to be part of the ceremony.
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Labode Popoola, expressed satisfaction about the virtual convocation, noting that it was part of the management decision to adapt to new normal. Read more
Minimum wage: Labour lists offending states, plans street protests, talks (Punch)
Negotiations on the N30,000 minimum wage, which were suspended in some states in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak in March, would resume this week.
The PUNCH gathered on Monday that workers in no fewer than eight states had yet to be paid the minimum wage nine months after the deadline the Nigeria Labour Congress gave state governments.
Labour leaders told The PUNCH that Osun, Kwara, Ekiti, Imo, Gombe, Kogi, Zamfara and Ebonyi state governments had not started the minimum wage implementation.
Findings indicated in states, where minimum wage negotiations had been concluded, workers were demanding fresh talks in view of the hikes in the fuel price and electricity tariff. Read more
FG worried over lack of COVID-19 data in nine states (Nation)
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has described as worrisome low COVID-19 tests in nine states.
It said it would be erroneous to take the decline in infections rate as a flattening of the curve in the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Centre listed Taraba, Adamawa, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Kebbi, Zamfara, Jigawa and Yobe as the states that are performing below expectation on samples collection testing. Read more
Angry youths protest as cop shoots Rivers musician dead (Punch)
Angry youths have taken to the streets to protest the death of a musician, Daniel Chibuike, aka Sleek, who was allegedly shot dead by a policeman in the Elelenwo area of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
PUNCH Metro gathered that Daniel and his friend, identified simply as Reuben, were waiting outside a hotel for the driver of a car-hailing company to convey them to a destination in the state when they suddenly sighted men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad advancing in their direction.
Out of fear of being arrested, it was learnt that Daniel and Reuben took to their heels but in a bid to apprehend them, the SARS operatives labelled the duo as thieves. Read more
Woman leads robbery operation with local pistol, knife in Benue (Guardian)
A woman in Benue State, Mary Jeremiah, has been arraigned for robbing a provision store with a locally-made pistol and knife.
She has been remanded in prison on the order of a magistrates’ court in Makurdi.
The police charged Jeremiah, who lives in Ofoke Ojope, Apa Local Government Area of Benue, with criminal conspiracy and robbery.
Magistrate Erdoo Ter, who did not take the plea of Jeremiah for want of jurisdiction, ordered that she be remanded in the Makurdi Correctional Centre. Read more
Governors, Obasanjo, senators, monarchs mourn Emir of Zazzau (Nation)
Governors, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, senators and monarchs on Monday mourned the Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, who died on Sunday aged 84.
The late Idris spent 45 years on the throne, having ascended the position in 1975 after the death of Muhammadu Aminu, the 17th emir since the 1804 Fulani Jihad.
Obasanjo commiserated with the emirate council of Zaria in Kaduna State, saying the late emir fought or unity. Read more
Airbus looks to the future with hydrogen planes (BBC)
Aerospace giant Airbus has unveiled plans for what it hailed as the first commercial zero-emission aircraft.
It said its hydrogen-fuelled passenger planes could be in service by 2035.
Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury said the three ZEROe concept designs marked “a historic moment” for commercial aviation sector”.
The use of hydrogen had “the potential to significantly reduce aviation’s climate impact”, he added. Read more
Rivalries challenge UN as it marks 75 years since founding (Aljazeera)
World leaders came together, virtually, on Monday to mark the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, as the coronavirus pandemic and economic disruption challenge the effectiveness and solidarity of the organisation that was set up after the horrors of World War II.
Millions of people were forced into lockdown and economies were devastated as COVID-19 began to spread around the globe earlier this year. Now, some countries find themselves facing a second wave and the 193-member UN has struggled to assert itself in the face of a distrustful United States, an assertive China and a growing rivalry between the two.
On its own website to mark the anniversary, the UN said the event was taking place at a “time of great disruption for the world, compounded by an unprecedented global health crisis with severe economic and social impacts”. Read more
Italy votes to slash size of parliament by a third (BBC)
Italy has voted to cut the size of the country’s parliament by more than a third, exit polls suggest.
More than 67% of people voted in favour of the change, according to a projection from state broadcaster RAI.
The number of MPs in the lower house will be reduced from 634 to 400. The senate will also be downsized.
The referendum was pushed by the Five Star Movement, part of the governing coalition, which argued that the move would reduce costs.
The move, which cuts the total number of MPs and senators from 945 to 600, had already been pushed through parliament. Read more
Indian man slits open pregnant wife’s belly to check baby’s gender (Punch)
A 43- year-old father of five girls sliced open his pregnant wife’s stomach hoping to confirm she was having a boy in India.
Pannalal attacked his wife Anita Devi on Saturday night at their home in UP’s Budaun district, leaving her in a pool of blood.
Anita’s family told investigators that the husband attacked and cut open her stomach to “know the gender” of the child.
Though the baby in the womb was unhurt, Anita’s condition deteriorated due to severe damage to her insides and excessive bleeding. Read more
Iranians remember sacrifices on Iran-Iraq war anniversary (Aljazeera)
Tehran, Iran – From many friends perishing in front of his eyes to gruesome physical injuries, some might think he has lost too much to the horrors of war.
But 60-year-old Asghar Bakhtiari, who spent 48 gruelling months on a variety of battlefields in the Iran-Iraq War, says now his only regret is “not being able to be in that atmosphere more and learn more from it”.
“There was a love in my body that made me go back again and again. I had a duty to my country and a duty to transfer my hard-earned knowledge of combat to young warriors,” he told Al Jazeera. Read more
“WandaVision” trailer features appearance from Captain Marvel’s Monica Rambeau (Metro)
The new WandaVision trailer featured an appearance from Captain Marvel’s Monica Rambeau. Marvel Studio’s intriguing new series stars Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany and follows their superhero characters Wanda Maximoff (aka Scarlett Witch) and Vision living strange suburban lives. The super couple then begin realising nothing is as it seems in the series which blends black-and-white 50s sitcoms with surrealism. It’s only a short trailer, but we get a quick glimpse of Monica – looking majestic – lying on the ground and looking into the distance. We also see her flying through the sky in daytime, and landing at night in front of government agents. Read more
Ellen DeGeneres apologises on air over toxic workplace allegations, vows ‘new chapter’ (CBC)
Ellen DeGeneres used her opening monologue of the new season of her daytime talk show to address allegations of a toxic work environment, apologizing for things “that never should have happened.”
“I know that I’m in a position of privilege and power, and I realize that with that comes responsibility. And I take responsibility for what happens at my show,” she said in a video posted Monday. Read more
Nigeria’s Amaju Pinnick refuses to rule out Caf presidency bid (BBC)
The head of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick seems to be considering a bid to stand in next year’s Confederation of African Football (Caf) presidential elections.
Applications to stand in March’s elections are already open and close on 12 November but Pinnick says there are a lot of factors for him to consider before committing to being on the ballot paper.
The 49-year-old Nigerian admitted he had wanted Ahmad to stay on for at least a second term but he now seems to have changed his mind. Read more
Akpoguma has accepted to play for Nigeria, says Rohr (Nation)
Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr has revealed the decision of Kevin Akpoguma to switch his allegiance to the West Africans.
The centre-back was born to a German mother and a Nigerian father and represented the Germany U16, U17, U18, U19, U20 and U20 teams, featuring in more than 60 games.
Akpoguma is, however, still eligible to play for the Super Eagles since he has not represented the European country at senior level.
The centre-back has been with Bundesliga side Hoffenheim since 2015 and made 18 league appearances for the Kraichgauer last season, helping them to finish sixth in the campaign.
The defender played a prominent role in his side’s opening league game of the 2020-21 season against Koln on Saturday. Read more
Owolabi advises Rohr to build Eagles around ‘world class’ Osimhen (Guardian)
Former international, Felix Owolabi, has described Super Eagles’ striker, Victor Osimhen, as the best thing that has happened to the country’s football in recent time, following on the exploits of Rashidi Yekini, Victor Ikpeba, Emmanuel Amuneke, Kanu Nwankwo, who were at different times Africa’s Footballer of the Year.
Osimhen on Sunday began his career with Napoli on a good note, helping his new club to a 2-0 away victory over hosts, Parma at the Stadio Ennio Tardini Stadium.
A second half substitute, Osimhen’s introduction in the 61st minute for Diego Demme gave Napoli the needed bite in the attack and eventually resulted in goals in their opening game of the 2020/21 Serie A season. Read more
Manchester City hold off Wolves fightback to make winning start (BBC)
Manchester City held off a second-half Wolves fightback to begin their quest to regain the Premier League title with a win at Molineux.
City did the damage in a superb first half as Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year Kevin de Bruyne and Phil Foden, playing for the first time since being sent home from England duty in disgrace, both found the net.
At that stage it seemed a case of how many the visitors would get, with Foden and Raheem Sterling both going close and Wolves keeper Rui Patricio making two decent saves.
However, City ran out of steam after the break. Read more
Serie A: Ibrahimovic scores twice as AC Milan beat Bologna (Punch)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice as AC Milan got their Serie A campaign up and running with a 2-0 win over Bologna on Monday.
Ibrahimovic, who turns 39 next month, showed he has lost none of his goal-scoring skills having also netted last week against Irish side Shamrock Rovers in the Europa League.
“If I had been 20 years old I would have scored two more goals,” said the Swede of his display.
“I’m like Benjamin Button, born old, but I’ll die young. Seriously, the team has worked well: you can see we’re not at 100 percent yet, but it was important to start well.” Read more
Novak Djokovic wins Italian Open with victory over Diego Schwartzman (BBC)
World number one Novak Djokovic won a record 36th Masters title by beating Diego Schwartzman in the Italian Open.
The Serb, playing in his first tournament since being disqualified from this month’s US Open, won 7-5 6-3 in the final to ensure he goes into next week’s French Open on a high.
Djokovic, 33, drew level with Rafael Nadal last month on the all-time list of Masters winners with his Western & Southern Open title.
“I’m super pleased,” Djokovic said. Read more
Mikel Arteta and Edu react as Arsenal complete Alex Runarsson transfer (Metro)
Mikel Arteta insists he wants Alex Runarsson to create ‘healthy competition’ at Arsenal after the Gunners signed the Iceland goalkeeper on a four-year contract from Dijon. Runarsson, 25, made 13 appearances for French outfit Dijon last season and has five caps for his country. He will wear the number 13 shirt at Arsenal and joins Brazilian duo Willian and Gabriel in joining the Gunners this summer. Read more