NIWA, LASWA issue new guidelines to boat operators (Punch)
The National Inland Waterways Authority and the Lagos State Waterways Authority and have jointly issued an operational standing order to commercial boat operators in Lagos.
In a statement signed by the General Manager of LASWA, Oluwadamilola Emmanuel and the Lagos Area Manager of NIWA, Sarat Braimah and issued on Friday, the operators were urged to adhere to the new guidelines to guarantee the safety of passengers on the inland waterways.
The statement was entitled “Post COVID-19 operational standing order for commercial boats operators on Lagos Island waterways.”
It said, “All double engine (four-stroke engine) driven boat are to revert to pre-COVID-19 full capacity as approved based on inspection, while all two-stroke single engine driven boat are to maintain maximum of 75 per cent passenger capacity as approved based on inspection. Read more
Lagos fixes alternative routes ahead Third Mainland Bridge closure (Nation)
The Lagos State Government has confirmed that the palliative works on the alternative routes highlighted for traffic management during the proposed 3rd Mainland Bridge rehabilitation, are rounding up in readiness for the partial closure scheduled to commence Friday, 24th July, 2020.
According to a Statement from the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, the six months repair works to be embarked on by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing is targeted at fixing the worn out expansion joints on the structure of the bridge.
The Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Frederic Oladeinde, while responding to questions raised concerning some failed sections of the alternative routes confirmed that Iddo inwards Carter Bridge, Market road inward Herbert Macaulay road, Herbert Macaulay road by Abeokuta street, Herbert Macaulay by Cemetery and Apapa inward Oyingbo have all been fixed. Read more
Arotile to be buried in Abuja next week with full military honours (Guardian)
The remains of late Flying Officer, Tolulope Arotile, the Nigerian Air Force’s (NAF’s) first female combat helicopter pilot, who died on 14 July 2020, will be laid to rest with full military honors at the National Military Cemetery in Abuja on Thursday, 23rd of July 2020.
Meanwhile, Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has received some members of the Federal Executive Council as well as members of the National Assembly who visited him at Headquarters NAF at various times yesterday, to condole with him over the unfortunate demise of the young pilot.
Among them were the Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen and the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. Read more
My life in ruins, says man who lost wife, 3 kids in auto crash (Nation)
It has been nine odd months since Tarveshima Jebe lost his entire family of a wife and three children in an auto crash, but he is still far from getting over the disaster.
Tragedy had befallen the indigene of Tse Jebe in Mbagba, Mbahine, Ushongo Local Government Area, Benue State on September 14, 2019 when a vehicle his 32-year-old wife, Comfort, and children (David,10; Beauty, 7 and Favour, 2) were traveling in from Abuja to Makurdi crashed on Eggon-Lafia Road.
Since then, he has been grappling with an experience his fragile posture can hardly bear. Every new day, his mind is crowded with thoughts of his lost loved ones who were committed to mother earth on September 18 last year. Read more
FG gives school operators 12 days to meet COVID-19 guidelines (Nation)
The Federal Government has given school owners till July, 29 to meet specific guidelines for safe reopening of schools.
It said schools are expected to undertake self-assessment and send feedback to State Ministries of Education, not later than 29th July, 2020.
The government said an official date for safe reopening of schools will be announced once these guidelines are in place. Read more
Factory worker kills mate over N13m, steals N2.2m from account (Punch)
Wisdom Nwachukwu and Moses Moses were not only colleagues at a bottle water factory in Auchi, Edo State, they were close friends before money severed their ties. It was Moses who allegedly pulled a fast one on Nwachukwu and cruelly ended the relationship over N13m.
City Round learnt that Nwachukwu showed Moses a credit alert of N13m that his brother based in South Africa sent to him to execute a building project at their hometown in Imo State on his behalf.
While they were both on a night shift, Moses reportedly lured Nwachukwu to a deserted location around the company knifed him to death and fled with his phone and Automated Teller Machine card. Read more
Outrage over fraud, rot in NDDC, Niger Delta (Guardian)
The long-running saga of sleaze in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has set off outrage in the Niger Delta region.The palpable frustration in the region is because since the establishment of the NDDC in 2000 as an interventionist agency to reduce poverty and foster development by providing access to health services, safe water, roads, tackle environmental degradation, among others, there is not much on ground to justify the trillions of naira it has received till date.
Efforts to tackle its peculiar developmental challenges date back to 1950, when the Niger Delta Development Board (NDDB) was set up primarily to develop the region and funded with a 15 per cent revenue contribution from the federal government. Read more
Nigeria’s inflation rate hits 12.56% – NBS (Vanguard)
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Consumer Price Index, (CPI) which measures inflation increased to 12.56 per cent year-on-year in June 2020.
The NBS made this known in its CPI and Inflation Report for June released on Friday.
It stated that the report showed that June inflation was 0.16 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in May which was 12.40 per cent.
It, however, disclosed that the increases were recorded in all
Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose. Read more
Superheroes praise US 6-year-old who saved sister from dog attack (France24)
Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Spiderman… superheroes have lined up in recent days to praise the courage of a six-year-old boy who was mauled while saving his little sister from a dog attack.
“You’re a hero, what you did was so brave, so selfless, your sister is so lucky to have you as a big brother,” said Chris Evans, the actor who played Captain America in the Avengers movies, of which the little boy is a big fan.
“Your parents must be so proud of you,” said Evans.
Bridger Walker, who lives in the western US state of Wyoming, put himself between a German Shepherd mix and his little sister on July 9 as the dog was about to attack the four-year-old girl. Read more
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan: Indian actress taken to hospital with COVID-19 (BBC)
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been taken to hospital after testing positive for Covid-19 earlier this week.
The Indian actress, a former Miss World and one of Bollywood’s most famous faces, is being treated at Mumbai’s Nanavati Hospital, ANI agency reports.
Her daughter Aaradhya has also been taken to hospital, PTI agency reports.
Aishwarya’s husband Abhishek and father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan, both also famous actors, have been in hospital since Saturday with the virus. Read more
Mali opposition insists President Keita must quit (Aljazeera)
Mali’s protest movement has pressed on with a demand for embattled President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to quit, as international mediators tried to defuse the crisis in the conflict-riven country.
At a news conference in the capital Bamako on Friday, the June 5 Movement also insisted that the West African state’s parliament be dissolved, and called for a “republican transition” from the current government.
The move came during soaring political tensions in Mali, which a delegation from the 15-nation West African regional bloc ECOWAS is trying to calm. Read more
Kenyan prison warden arrested for raping patient In COVID-19 quarantine (Independent)
Kenyan police arrested a prison warden accused of raping a female patient in a Covid-19 isolation facility he was meant to be guarding, Reuters has learnt from a police report.
A police report said the incident occurred at a centre in the western border town of Busia that was guarded by both police and prison officers, according to the police report seen by Reuters. It said a colleague had noticed the prison officer talking to a patient, felt uncomfortable and left to alert other officers.
“They heard noise and commotion coming from the women’s ward,” the report said. “They (officers) rushed there and found all the patients outside and complaining that the prison officer was raping the said lady patient. Read more
Sudan protesters reject anti-Islamist reforms (BBC)
“Khartoum is not New York” is reportedly one of the slogans protesters were chantingImage caption: “Khartoum is not New York” is reportedly one of the slogans protesters were chanting
Dozens of pro-Sharia supporters have protested in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, over recent government reforms that allow non-Muslims to drink alcohol, and scrap the apostasy law and public flogging.
The reforms come after long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir was ousted last year following massive street protests. Read more
EU leaders open tortuous talks on controversial COVID-19 rescue plan (France24)
European leaders hunkered down on Friday for two days of tortuous negotiations to thrash out the terms of a huge post-coronavirus economic rescue plan.
Europe is in the depths of its deepest recession since World War II and the 27 leaders are seeking common ground on the terms of a 750-billion-euro stimulus package that would help lift those hardest hit by the pandemic.
There is stern resistance from a group of richer and smaller nations led by the Netherlands and Austria that are loath to hand out cash to countries such as Spain or Italy they see as too lax with public spending. Read more
Be wary of this Amazon Prime phishing scam (Metro)
A scam where fraudsters pose as Amazon customer service staff to steal personal information has been flagged by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI).
It warns that people are being contacted with emails and phone calls claiming they have opened an Amazon Prime account.
The scammers then inform the recipient that the account was opened fraudulently through a security flaw on their computer and, posing as Amazon customer service representatives, ask to be given remote access to a user’s computer to fix the breach – enabling them to then steal personal information including passwords and bank details. Read more
Making the rest of 2020 year of football field (Guardian)
The best football stadium in Nigeria today is probably the new, state-of-the-art, magnificent edifice at the Uyo Township Stadium in Akwa Ibom State. It may also have the best football-playing surface of lush, flat and green grass.
I have actually watched a few matches of the Super Eagles in the stadium and think that the field of grass is quite good.
At the same time, I also think it is still not good enough compared to playing surfaces in most clubs in Europe that we see week-in, week out on television, and some that some of us have had the good fortune of playing on even during our days in football, decades ago. Read more
Tiger Woods makes Memorial Tournament cut as Bryson DeChambeau hits a 10 (BBC)
Tiger Woods’ record of never missing the cut at the Memorial Tournament was extended on Friday despite shooting a four-over-par 76 to drop to three over.
However, he is 12 shots behind joint leaders Ryan Palmer (68) and Tony Finau (69), who improved to nine under par.
Spain’s Jon Rahm had just one bogey in a 67 and is third on eight under.
World number one Rory McIlroy carded a level-par 72 to stay two under, but big-hitting Bryson DeChambeau had a 10 at the par-five 15th to miss the cut. Read more
Leeds United promoted and return to the Premier League after 16-year absence (Metro)
Leeds United have been promoted to the Premier League after a 16-year absence. Second-placed West Brom’s 2-1 defeat at Huddersfield on Friday night means Championship leaders Leeds are assured of a top-two finish with two games remaining. Leeds moved on to 87 points on Thursday following their 1-0 home win against Barnsley. West Brom, who remain on 82 points, have one game remaining and will drop out of the automatic promotion places if Brentford avoid defeat at Stoke on Saturday. Read more
FIFA fines a club in Mauritius for not using its Transfer Matching System (BBC)
Mauritian club Cercle de Joachim have fallen foul of Fifa’s regulations governing international transfers
Football’s world governing body Fifa has sanctioned a club in Mauritius for failing to use its Transfer Matching System (TMS).
Cercle de Joachim, has been fined more that $10,000 for failing to comply with Fifa’s regulations governing the recruitment of foreign players.
In December 2019 the club recruited five footballers from teams in Madagascar however it failed to use the TMS for four of those players. Read more
West Ham almost safe after beating struggling Watford (BBC)
West Ham “deserve to be in the Premier League” says captain Mark Noble, after his side’s blistering first-half performance ensured a victory that virtually secures their top-flight status but leaves Watford in major trouble.
David Moyes’ men picked up a crucial win to move six points clear of the relegation zone with two games remaining and, with a goal difference that is also significantly better than their rivals’, the Hammers’ place in the top flight seems assured.
Noble, who came through the club’s academy and made his 500th appearance in the match, said: “It’s an amazing day for me, my family – this club deserves to be in the Premier League and tonight went a long way to achieving that. Read more
Frank Lampard takes subtle dig at Bruno Fernandes (Metro)
Frank Lampard has warned his defenders to be wary of the likes of Bruno Fernandes following a spate of controversial VAR decisions that have gone in favour of Manchester United in recent weeks.
The Chelsea legend will hope to take a significant step towards winning his first piece of major silverware as the club’s manager by advancing to the FA Cup final at the expense of an Ole Gunnar Solskjaer coached side, who extended their unbeaten run to 19 matches in all competitions following Thursday’s victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
While the improvement United have made in recent weeks is indisputable, it has not escaped Lampard that their rivals for a top four place in the Premier League have benefited from several highly controversial decisions. Read more