Primary, secondary schools in Lagos to resume on Tuesday – Govt (Channels)
All public and private schools below the tertiary level in Lagos State are to resume for the second term 2021/2022 academic session on Tuesday, the government has announced.
The Director-General of the Office of Education Quality Assurance, Mrs Abiola Seriki-Ayeni, made the announcement in a statement on Friday by the spokesman for the office, Olaniran Emmanuel.
According to her, all learners are expected back in school as academic activities start the same day.
Seriki-Ayeni wished the students and teachers a happy resumption and appealed to all school leaders to enforce strict compliance with all existing COVID-19 safety protocols in the state. Read more
LASG, Del-York graduate 100 creative talents to boost entertainment industry (ThisDay)
To upgrade the skills of African filmmakers and the growth of the African film industry, Del-York Creative Academy (DCA) in collaboration with the Lagos State government has graduated 100 best talents from the Academy.
The state government under the auspices of the Lagos Creative Industry Initiative (LACI) said their quest is to brace your talents with the right tools and skills for better storytelling.
The Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Pharm. Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf, expressed that creativity can proffer solutions to problems, adding that without the creative industry, there is no state.
“There is so much that can be done with creativity. That is what the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had seen and invested in seriously.” Read more
Weeks after wife’s death, Pastor Odukoya loses twin sister (Leadership)
The Senior Pastor of the Fountain of Life Church, Lagos, Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, has lost his twin sister, Kehinde.
She was confirmed dead on Thursday, December 30, 2021.
The death of his twin sister is coming weeks after the popular cleric lost his wife, Pastor Nomthi Odukoya, to cancer on November 9, 2021.
Pastor Taiwo Odukoya’s sister’s death was confirmed by his daughter, Tolu Odukoya Ijogun, via her verified Facebook page late Thursday night. Read more
Lions Club installs Rukevwe Origho-Nwoye as new president (ThisDay)
Lion Rukevwe Origho–Nwoye was recently installed as the 4th president of Lagos Mainland Legacy Lions Club, District 404B-2. She is taking up the mantle of leadership for 2021/ 2022.
Speaking during the Investiture/Fund Raising ceremony held at St. Peter Clover Catholic Church Hall, Ajao Estate, Lagos, the guest speaker, Lion Adetope Tychus, a past council chairperson and past area leader and also an International Director Endorsee, said the beauty of service only radiates when one serves from the heart with small and continuous acts of love and kindness.
Represented by Lions Clubs International District 404B2 Nigeria, Media and Public Relations Chairperson, Lion Blessing Umebali, the speaker, who noted that one can serve humanity from any position of leadership and from any economic standpoint, used the opportunity to call on guests and Lions present to support Lagos Mainland Legacy Lions Club to enable them to do more charitable work for nation building.
Delivering her acceptance speech, the new president, Lion Rukevwe Origho–Nwoye said the mantle of leadership was given to her on a silver platter, noting that as one of the youngest, she did not expect she would be given the opportunity to serve. Read more
Defence Chief tasks newly decorated officers on dedication (VON)
The Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor has charged the twenty–one newly promoted and decorated Senior Officers of the Nigerian Navy who distinguished themselves in the line of duties to see their new positions as a call for more dedication to their duties.
General Irabor gave the charge during the Shipping of Stripes for Newly Promoted Rear Admirals in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
He said, “this year’s promotion is unique because of the rigorous process passed through before the promotion which means they are the very best of the Navy”.
According to him, the year 2021 is challenging but their confidence is that they have officers and men of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and Navy in particular that will meet up with the challenges that are faced with defence believing that the promotion will spur them to perform better in the daunting security challenges confronting the country. Read more
2022: Stop borrowings, engage innovative youths, Minority Reps tell Buhari (Independent)
The Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives has called on the Buhari administration to stop its unending borrowing in the new fiscal year, so as to look inward by engaging innovative young Nigerians capable of turning the country’s socioeconomic fortune around for the better.
This is as the Caucus felicitates with Nigerians on the occasion of the New Year, urging them to put behind the gloom of the past and approach the year 2022 with greater optimism and faith for a better Nigeria.
The caucus further charges Nigerians to “come into 2022 with thanksgiving to God and reinforced zeal as the year brings us nearer to the end of the calamitous era of an incompetent, suppressive and anti-people administration in our country.”
In a statement signed by the House Minority Leader, Hon. Ndudi Godwin Elumelu (PDP, Delta) the Caucus says: “Indeed, the New Year presents us with the occasion to triumph over all divisive tendencies, overcome our fears and rekindle the bond of unity, love, tolerance, mutual respect and understanding towards one another as we prepare for the task ahead.” Read more
Buhari appoints Karebo as Fire Service acting comptroller general (DailyTrust)
President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Deputy Controller General (DCG) Karebo Samson as the new Acting Comptroller General of the Federal Fire Service (FFS).
The spokesperson for the FFS, DF Ugo Huan, disclosed this in a statement made available to our correspondent on Thursday evening.
According to the statement, Acting CG Karebo, while speaking at a handover event at the FFS headquarter, thanked the President for the opportunity to serve.
Acting CG Karebo promised to ensure that personnel of the operation department are motivated to be at their best in the discharge of their duty. Read more
Kano-Kaduna rail project to be ready by December 2022, says Amaechi (Nation)
Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi has said commercial activities will begin on the Kano-Kaduna rail line in December 2022.
The minister spoke in Kano while inspecting the project.
The Federal Government, the minister, said, has pumped over $400million into the three-year project. The minister stated that it would be inaugurated before President Muhammadu Buhari leaves office.
The minister also revealed that the Federal Executive Council suggested that the contractors construct double tracks instead of the recommended single track. Read more
No 571MW drop in power generation – GenCos (Leadership)
Electricity Generation Companies (GENCOs) in Nigeria have refuted reports that generation had dropped thereby reducing load allocation to some DISCOs by 571 megawatts (MW), describing them as misleading and unfounded.
Executive Secretary, Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), Dr (Mrs) Joy Ogaji, who countered the allegation on Wednesday described the report as misleading, noting that the comparison only took into account the transient occurrence at specific point in time instead of the average for the whole day.
Reports had it on Wednesday morning that there was a reduction in electricity load allocation to some distribution companies on Tuesday as power generation on the grip dropped by 571.5 megawatts when compared to what was generated the preceding day.
According to the report, industry figures seen on the 24-hour Grid Performance Dashboard showed that the peak power generation on Monday, December 27, 2021, was 4,761.70MW, but this plunged to 4,190.2MW as at 6am on Tuesday. Read more
Dionne Warwick jokingly drags ESPN hosts for Dunking Oreos in Mayonnaise (People)
Dionne Warwick is continuing her crusade against odd food trends on Twitter.
The legendary R&B singer, 81, reposted a clip from TSN/ESPN on Thursday, showing sportscasters Anish Shroff and Mike Golic Jr. experimenting by dunking cream-filled cookies into mayonnaise at the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Thursday.
“I need both of these young men to take a paid leave and really think about what is going on here,” Warwick wrote alongside the clip, tagging ESPN and adding a sick-face emoji at the top for good measure.
The snippet showed the two commentators at the 20th annual Mayo Bowl — sponsored by Duke’s mayonnaise brand — in Charlotte, North Carolina, each armed with their own cookie and jar of mayo. (This year’s bowl saw the South Carolina Gamecocks beat the North Carolina Tar Heels with a score of 38 to 21.) Read more
Amy Shark announces a major change to her New Year’s Eve concert due to Covid border issues (DailyMail)
Amy Shark has had to make abrupt changes to her tour due to the Covid pandemic.
The 35-year-old singer was due to play at the Darwin Waterfront with her band for a special New Year’s Eve event but will now perform solo at the venue instead.
Amy revealed on Instagram the reason for this was because her band and crew hadn’t been able to cross state lines due to border closures and rising case numbers.
‘Hey Darwin!’ Amy wrote. ‘I intended to play my normal show tonight but some of my interstate band and crew have been withheld due to Covid.’ Read more
New writing fellow aims to make literature accessible to children (Standard)
An award-winning artist who collaborated this year with Joe Wicks on his first children’s book is to become Northern Ireland’s new children’s writing fellow.
Paul Howard, who has accepted the position based at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast said he wants to use his experience to make literature accessible to young people across Northern Ireland.
Howard, who lives in Belfast, is best known for illustrating Jill Tomlinson’s classic The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark and, more recently, The Burpee Bears, a new picture book series from fitness guru Joe Wicks.
Howard said: “As an illustrator, primarily, I aim to bring a new dimension to the role through promoting visual literacy as an alternative, accessible gateway for students and children of all literacy levels to engage in, building enough confidence in them to read and create their own stories. Read more
Rupert Grint reveals he wore fat suit in one Harry Potter scene (UNILAD)
Rupert Grint has spoken out about how he had to wear a fat suit in one of the scenes in the Harry Potter films.
In the highly anticipated reunion to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Harry Potter franchise, the 33-year-old discussed some of the costume cupboard choices that were made for him for his role as Ron Weasley.
Joined by Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, the iconic trio are set to reminisce on their time filming, including growing up on set, wacky hairstyles, and Grint’s costume requiring that he wear a fat suit for one of the film’s final scenes.
In the epilogue to the series, which shows Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ron all grown-up, and sending their own children off to school on the Hogwarts Express, Grint explained how he was made to wear a fat suit.
Radcliffe joked how Grint really ‘went for it’, with Watson agreeing that he indeed ‘went all in’ and her being ‘so proud’ of him for it. Read more
Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson doesn’t “really get” Drake (NME)
Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson has admitted he doesn’t “really get” Drake after going head-to-head with the rapper in a chart battle earlier this year.
Iron Maiden’s seventeenth album, ‘Senjutsu’, went up against Drake’s ‘Certified Lover Boy’ in a chart battle in September, with the metal icons narrowly missing out on getting another UK Number One album.
Despite Maiden leading in the midweeks, ‘Certified Lover Boy’ ended up racked up 46,000 chart sales in the UK, giving him a lead over Maiden by only 1,200 units.
In a new Interview with Yahoo, Dickinson spoke about Drake and said: “I don’t really get what he does.”
“Going head-to-head with him felt like, ‘No this is real music played by a bunch of old geezers who make no concessions to the times in which we live’,” he added. “People say, ‘You’re dinosaurs.’ This is who we are, it’s what we do.” Read more
Government LIFTS curfew ahead of New Year’s (TheSouthAfrican)
Finally some good news for South Africans who were hoping to usher in the New Year without limited movement: Government has announced that Cabinet gave the green light for the current lockdown curfew to be lifted with immediate effect.
In a statement released on Thursday evening, 30 December, government announced some changes to the current lockdown restrictions, which include amendments to gatherings.The lifting of the curfew means there will be no restrictions on the hours of movement of people.
“Gatherings are restricted to no more than 1 000 people indoors and no more than 2 000 people outdoors. Where the venue is too small to accommodate these numbers with appropriate social distancing, then no more than 50 per cent of the capacity of the venue may be used. All other restrictions remain in place,” government said.
The National Coronavirus Command Council had imposed a midnight to 04:00 curfew – perhaps the most contentious of the restrictions because many, including political parties in Parliament as well as health experts, had questioned the rationale behind its enforcement. Since the country first went into lockdown in March 2020, the curfew has consistently remained in place, regardless of lockdown level. Read more
US: Colorado wildfires force tens of thousands to flee (DW)
Tens of thousands of people in two towns in Colorado on Thursday have been evacuated as wildfires tore through the area, officials said.
In a briefing, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said there were “two significant fires, fueled by dry conditions and very high winds.”
Pelle said that thousands of people from the towns of Louisville and Superior had to be evacuated from their homes.
“We know that there are structures, both homes and businesses that have been burned and lost. I’m speaking about hundreds of structures,” Pelle said. Read more
Joel Embiid scores 34 points as Philadelphia 76ers beat Brooklyn Nets (BBC)
Joel Embiid scored 34 points as the Philadelphia 76ers recorded a third successive win with a 110-102 victory against the Brooklyn Nets in New York.
Tyrese Maxey added 25 points and Seth Curry made 17 for the 76ers, led by assistant Dan Burke in the absence of head coach Doc Rivers because of Covid.
Kevin Durant responded with 33 points for the Nets as he made his return after missing three games.
It was a second defeat in eight games for the Eastern Conference leaders.
Nets’ James Harden produced his second triple-double in three games since returning from the NBA’s health and safety protocol as he ran up 33 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists. Read more
Manchester City ‘shocked and appalled’ after ‘4 cowards’ assault Joao Cancelo during burglary (Metro)
Manchester City say they are ‘shocked and appalled’ after Joao Cancelo was allegedly assaulted by four attackers in a burglary at his home.
The Portugal international revealed injuries to his face in an Instagram story on Thursday evening after being the victim of an alleged robbery.
Cancelo, 27, said the intruders also tried to hurt his family before stealing ‘all of his jewellery’.
‘Unfortunately today I was assaulted by four cowards who hurt me and tried to hurt my family,’ he said. Read more
Romelu Lukaku: Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel ‘does not like’ striker’s comments (BBC)
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel says Romelu Lukaku’s comments during an interview in which the striker said he was unhappy with his role at the club “brings noise that we don’t need”.
In an interview recorded several weeks ago but aired on Thursday, Lukaku said he would like to return to Inter Milan in the near future.
“I don’t like it,” Tuchel said.
“But I don’t want to make more out of it than it actually is. It is very easy to take lines out of context.”
The German added: “To be honest I don’t like it because it’s noise we don’t need. We need a calm environment and focus and it does not help.
“I don’t feel him unhappy. I feel the exact opposite. If you asked me yesterday morning I would say that he is absolutely fine. That’s why it’s a surprise but I am the wrong person to ask. Read more
Orlando Pirates rising star reacts to earning roster spot for AFCON 2021 (AllNigeriaSoccer)
Orlando Pirates center-back Olisa Ndah has revealed that he’s honoured to earn a roster spot for the Super Eagles at the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations.
It was a decision by interim boss Augustine Eguavoen that few people saw coming as Ndah was not in the plans of dismissed coach Gernot Rohr for the tournament in Cameroon.
Eguavoen was able to name two new players not initially included by Rohr on Nigeria’s provisional squad after getting the green light from the Confederation of African Football; SD Huesca midfielder Kelechi Nwakali being the other player added to the finalized roster.
Ndah was a member of the Dream Team VII squad that failed to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games. Read more
Tottenham join race for Sam Johnstone as Antonio Conte gives transfer update ahead of January (FootballLondon)
Tottenham have joined Newcastle, Southampton and West Ham in a transfer battle for Sam Johnstone, reports TalkSport.
The 28-year-old is out-of-contract at West Brom at the end of the season, with the England international currently playing in the Championship.
Spurs have been linked with a number of goalkeepers, with current club captain Hugo Lloris’ deal expiring next summer.
The head coach will be hoping to add his own stamp to the squad in his first transfer window since getting the job. Read more
Stefanos Tsitsipas speaks on possibility of Big 3 all missing Australian Open (TennisWorld)
World No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas suggested that tennis fans should get accustomed to not haivng the Big Three at Grand Slams as that will be the reality in a couple of years. Roger Federer, 40, is set to miss the Australian Open, while 34-year-old Novak Djokovic is refusing to reveal his vaccination status.
Rafael Nadal, 35, didn’t want to confirm in Abu Dhabi that 100 percent he would play at the Australian Open. “I guess that’s how it is going to be generally in few years’ time. Let’s see how tennis works out without the top three.
I really want to see which players are going to prevail at this point,” Tsitsipas said, per Lorenzo Ercoli.
With or without the Big Three, Tsitsipas will be determined to win his maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. Read more
Rangers’ Gerard Gallant recalls Lightning’s rise during Florida days (NYPost)
With a home-and-home series on deck against the two-time reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Lightning, Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant reflected on the state of Tampa Bay when he was the bench boss of the team on the other side of the state, the Panthers.
In Gallant’s first season in Florida, 2014-15, the Lightning lost to the Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Final. The next year, Tampa Bay fell short in a seven-game conference final series against the Penguins. The Lightning then didn’t even qualify for the postseason during the 2016-17 season.
“They were still a good team then, they were learning how to win, I guess,” Gallant said after the Rangers practiced at Amalie Arena on Thursday. “They were one of the top teams, they had a couple disappointments in the playoffs that made them a better and stronger team. And now, they’re at the top.
“So they had two or three tough years there, where they were a good team and they lost. They got there, they learned from the playoffs and then they came back the next two years, and they win the Stanley Cup. They knew they had the grit and they added guys like [Barclay] Goodrow and [Blake] Coleman and those types of players, and that made the difference for them.” Read more