December 26, 2018
It was a black Christmas Day for the family of Boluwatife Oyeleye, a final year student of Urban and Regional Planning, Olabisi Onabanjo University, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver in the Ajah area of Lagos State.
Our correspondent learnt that the victim had just alighted from a vehicle and was about to cross the Lekki-Ajah Expressway at the Ilaje end when she was hit.
It was gathered that she was dropped by the roadside by a motorcycle rider after no motorist volunteered to take her to a hospital. Read more
IMF: Lagos to Grow $136bn GDP by 4% in 2019 (ThisDay)
With its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) currently standing at $136 billion, Lagos economy will record four per cent growth in 2019 while the national economy will grow by 2.8 per cent, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted.
The prediction is contained in an address the state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, delivered at different meetings of the state’s foremost social clubs – Yoruba Tennis Club and Island – organised precisely on Tuesday. Read more
How Kirikiri Prison helped us become coy owners – Ex-Inmates (Independent)
Two ex-inmates of Kirikiri Prison, Lagos, James Etuk and Olawale Dada, say the carpentry skills they acquired during their incarceration resulted in their becoming joint-owners of a furniture company.
The duo, who spoke on vocational skill acquisition for youths, said that prisons across the country should be rehabilitated to meet contemporary demands. Read more
Atiku to Buhari: You are the problem, not Nigerian system (DailyTrust)
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to stop blaming “his failures” in anti-graft war on the Nigerian system as he claimed on Tuesday.
In a statement to newsmen on Wednesday, Atiku said Buhari should focus on delivering good governance and stop the blame-game.
Atiku, a former Vice President said Buhari’s excuse was deceptive, arguing that if the Nigerian system was the problem, the President would have accepted restructuring in order to provide good governance to Nigerians. Read more
Herdsmen sack Benue community, kill father of seven (Punch)
Herdsmen reportedly attacked Ukemberagya, Gaambe-Tiev community in Logo Local Government Area of Benue State on the eve of Christmas Day leading to the death of one Ioewuese Myaga, a father of seven children.
A community leader in the area, Anawah Joseph, told our correspondent that the whole community had been deserted.
Anawah said, “Some herdsmen on the eve of Christmas murdered Mr Iorwuese Myaga, a father of seven children, a resident of a settlement in Ukemberagya Gaambe-Tiev.
“He was murdered by Fulani herdsmen terrorists on his farm where he went to harvest corn. Read more
Xmas day tragedy: Man, wife, baby die in inferno (Nation)
It was a tragic Christmas day for residents of No 27 Mabel Street, off Etete road Benin City as their belongings were razed by fire.
A family of three died in the fire incident that began at about 2am on Christmas day.
Witnesses said the family was consumed by the fire before help could get to them.
Landlord of the house, Mr. Egberamwen Nosakhare said the fire started at 2am after he saw smoke emitting from one of the tenant’s room.
“I forced the door opened and saw flames of fire from the gas cooker and there was nothing I could do. I was helpless and could not go in. The family died in the inferno.” Read more
Lawmakers Who Booed Buhari Behaved Like Animals – Sagay (Independent)
Professor Itse Sagay SAN, Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), on Wednesday said senators and members of the House of Representatives, who booed President Muhammadu Buhari when he presented the estimates of the 2019 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja behaved like animals.
Speaking in an interview with INDEPENDENT, Sagay said the action of the lawmakers did not come to him as a surprise as they only demonstrated their true conduct to the Nigerians and the international community. Read more
Six homeless people die in fire outbreak (Punch)
Six homelesss people died in Warsaw on Christmas Day after the wooden cabin in which they were sheltering caught fire, the emergency services said Wednesday.
The fire broke out Tuesday evening in an abandoned wooden cabin on the outskirts of the Polish capital and firefighters found gas cannisters inside the wreckage.
Emergency workers had not been able to identify the bodies because of the extent of the damage, said a spokesman from the prosecutors office quoted by Polish media. Read more
Site manager steals client’s money, claims he was defrauded (Punch)
Officers of the Lagos State Police Command have arrested a site manager, Rasaq Yusuf, for allegedly stealing money belonging to his client.
Punch Metro gathered that Yusuf’s client, Sharafa Oyeniyi, paid him the sum of N430,000 to construct a gate and get other materials for his house.
It was learnt that Yusuf failed to render the service for which he was paid and he could not produce the money.
Oyeniyi said efforts to get a refund had proved abortive. Read more
CAN takes el-Rufai to task, urges him to find killers of Agom Adara, others (Punch)
The Christian Association of Nigeria has taken to task the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, asking him to find and apprehend those who killed prominent people and other citizens of the state.
The body also lamented that it has become very difficult to determine what constitutes hate speech, decrying the alleged attempt by the Kaduna State Government to arraign Senior Pastor of Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Dr. Paul Enenche, in court over alleged hate speech. Read more
Woman rescued 32 years after kidnap (Punch)
An Argentine woman (2-L) who was abducted 32 years ago and her nine-year-old son (2-R) being escorted by police officers into a car in Oran, Salta Province, Argentina (AFP Photo/HO)
An Argentine woman kidnapped 32 years ago as a teenager has been found alive and well in Bolivia following a joint investigation between the two countries, Argentine police said Wednesday.
Now 45, the woman was the victim of human trafficking at just 13 years old, police said.
Bolivian officers had been gathering evidence on the woman’s whereabouts for several months at the behest of their Argentine counterparts, before localizing her in a small town in the south of the country. Read more
Thailand approves medical marijuana in New Year’s ‘gift’ (CNBC)
Thailand approved marijuana for medical use and research on Tuesday, the first legalisation of the drug in a region with some of the world’s strictest drug laws.
The junta-appointed parliament in Thailand, a country which until the 1930s had a tradition of using marijuana to relieve pain and fatigue, voted to amend the Narcotic Act of 1979 in an extra parliamentary session handling a rush of bills before the New Year’s holidays.
“This is a New Year’s gift from the National Legislative Assembly to the government and the Thai people,” said Somchai Sawangkarn, chairman of the drafting committee, in a televised parliamentary session. Read more
Mariah Carey’s 24-year-old song ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ breaks Spotify single day record (Hiphopnmore)
Mariah Carey’s iconic Christmas anthem ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ has broken the Spotify record for most most streams in a single day.
According to Spotiy’s official charts, Mariah’s holiday song scored 10,819,009 streams on Christmas eve (December 24th), breaking the earlier record held by XXXTentacion’s ‘SAD!’ — it earned 10.4 million Spotify streams on June 19th, 2018, one day after his death. If you have a look at the most streamed songs on Dec. 24th in the screenshot below, each one of them is Christmas themed. Read more
How the world got better in 2018, in 15 charts (QZ)
A lot went wrong in 2018, so much that it was easy to lose sight of global improvements in the midst of incessant bad news. But while it may be hard to believe, 2018 was in many ways the best year yet to be a human living on Earth.
Environment
One of the worst pieces of global news this year came from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s October report, which showed that carbon emissions are set to rise this year over last. We need a steep decline in greenhouse-gas emissions to avoid catastrophic climate change, so the fact that we’ve yet to even flatline is more than troubling. On the other hand, there has been some good news. Read more
How I became a gold medalist —ECOWAS Region II champion, Cyprian Oyedele (Punch)
A high jump gold medalist at the 2018 ECOWAS region II championships, Cyprian Oyedele, says his journey into the event began from his parents’ backyard.
Oyedele told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos that he had always loved high jump from childhood, saying that while growing up, he enjoyed watching his elder brothers jump at their leisure.
“I have always loved high jump since I was a kid, till I entered primary school. Besides, my elder brothers did it for leisure. It was fun jumping along with them then,’’ he said. Read more
LeBron James leaves game with strained left groin (BusinessInsider)
The Los Angeles Lakers lost LeBron James in the third quarter to a strained left groin then went out and beat the two-time defending champions without him Tuesday night, getting King James’ 17 points, 13 rebounds and five assists before the injury in a surprising 127-101 rout of the Golden State Warriors.
James grabbed at his left groin area with 7:51 left in the third after slipping under the Warriors’ basket while trying for a loose ball. He tried to stretch it out, awkwardly walked toward the Lakers bench trying to loosen up before leaving on his own though gingerly out the tunnel for the locker room. Read more
The surprisingly modest lifestyle of one of the world’s wealthiest actors (QZ)
Is there anything as thrillingly curious as ignored wealth?
The popularity of a news story about Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star Chow Yun-fat suggests not.
The Hong Kong-based film star revealed in a recent interview with South Korea’s Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation that he plans to donate his fortune of HK$5.6 billion (approximately $700 million) to charity after his death, the Guardian reports. In fact, he has announced the same intention in other recent interviews in Asia. Read more
Onazi Undergoes Successful Surgery (Leadership)
Super Eagles midfielder, Ogenyi Eddy Onazi has undergone successful surgery to his ruptured Achilles at a hospital in Istanbul after he picked up the season ending injury in a Turkish Lig game against Rizespor on Sunday.
The combative midfielder was stretchered off on 32 minutes and was replaced by Juraj Kucka. The 26-year-old faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines and is also in danger of missing the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. Read more
Neymar is desperate for a return to Barcelona (SportBible)
Neymar might have forced his way out of Barcelona to join PSG, helped by their world record transfer bid for him, but the Brazilian is so desperate to return he regularly calls the club.
The world record transfer fee has been broken 47 times, although that’s including the first official fee paid so broken 46 I guess, but only a handful of times have those records changed the history of football.
A player signing for a fee, the first £1000 move, first £100k, transfer, first £1 million signing, first £10 million signing, those generally tend to be the landmarks that people really look at. Read more