Sylvester Oromoni: Student died while Dowen was investigating bullying allegations – Principal (Channels)
The Principal of Dowen College, Lagos, Adebisi Layiwola, has told a coroner’s inquest that the school was in the process of investigating an allegation that Sylvester Oromoni Jnr was bullied when it got the news of his death.
The principal gave this testimony on Tuesday at the proceedings to unravel the circumstances behind the controversial death of the 12 year old student.
Mrs Layiwola who was testifying as the 10th witness in the proceedings said she has been the principal of the school for the last four years.
According to her, “When the uncle of the deceased came to the school, we were still in the process of the investigation. He received a call from the sister of the deceased in my presence, that the deceased’s case had taken a bad turn. It was not long after, he received another call that the boy had passed on,” she said. Read more
MTN customers will get free access to Davido’s 02 Arena concert’ (ThisDay)
Leading technology company, MTN Nigeria, has secured exclusive global rights to stream Davido live at the O2 to its customers on Saturday, March 5, 2022. Through its partnership with the subscription-based music store and streaming service platform, uduX, MTN will be making history once again as the company with its pulse on technology and entertainment.
Following a brief hiatus, Davido has been gearing up to give his UK fans the ultimate Afrobeats experience. The concert comes as part of an elaborate prelude to the megastar’s upcoming album ‘We Rise By Lifting Others’ – a celebration of a decade-long run in the music industry, from the early days of ‘Dami Duro’ in Lagos to the recent release of ‘Champion Sound’ globally.
With MTN facilitating Davido’s live-in concert experience to his global audience through UduX, fans can look forward to a seamless and immersive event. MTN Nigeria customers can tune into the action on Saturday, March 5, 2022 by subscribing to their favourite streaming data bundles, and logging on to wrblo2.udux.com to join the fun.
Commenting on the partnership, the Chief Marketing Officer, MTN Nigeria, Adia Sowho, said, “We are proud of this partnership with UduX and Davido, two stellar Nigerian brands that have become global ambassadors promoting Nigerian culture and music. In delivering this unparalleled experience to our customers across the country, we reiterate MTN Nigeria’s commitment to continue to lead the delivery of a bold, new digital world.” Read more
2023: Separate politics from security, LCCI warns FG (Punch)
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has warned the Federal Government to separate politics from the security concerns that will characteristically trail the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
President of the Chamber, Asiwaju Michael Olawale-Cole stated this in Lagos on Tuesday during the security meets business dialogue organised by the LCCI.
Addressing the gathering, which had in attendance the Secretary to the Federation, Boss Mustapha and security experts across the country’s length and breadth, Olawale-Cole said improvements in peace are indispensable to considerable economic improvement in GDP growth, inflation, and employment.
He said: “Without security, the business community cannot thrive. This is the point of confluence where security meets business. And that is the reason for this conference today.” Read more
VIN: Customs, agents meeting ends in deadlock (Nation)
A stakeholders meeting called yesterday by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) failed to persuade the striking clearing agents to call off the ongoing strike, despite the special appeal made to them by the top Customs officials.
The agents claimed that the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) Valuation system introduced by the Customs for imported vehicles is fraudulent because they were not briefed before the policy was introduced.
The clearing agents and motor vehicle importers said that was the first meeting between them and officers of the service before and after the VIN policy was slammed on them.
The meeting, which was held yesterday, at the Customs office in Ikeja, Lagos ended in a deadlock despite the efforts of the service to explain the position of the Federal Government to them and with a promise to get back to the agents this Friday. Read more
FG loses out, NASS affirms states’ power to collect VAT (Punch)
The Federal Government’s plan to retain the collection of Value Added Tax despite a Federal High Court ruling, hit a brick wall on Tuesday as the National Assembly rejected a proposal seeking to shift the collection of VAT from the concurrent to the exclusive legislative list, effectively leaving the decision to the Supreme Court which is hearing the matter.
A Federal High Court had last year ruled that states had the powers to collect VAT. However, the Federal Government opposed the ruling and continued to collect VAT while it projected that it will collect N2.2tn in 2022 through the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
The regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), also incorporated VAT collection in its Finance Act 2021 and included it in its 2022 budget, a move that put the government on a collision course with the Southern Governors’ Forum.
Also, the Federal Inland Revenue Service was reported to have lobbied the National Assembly by sending a proposal to the House of Representatives seeking to move VAT collection to the exclusive list. Although the tax agency denied this claim, the National Assembly accepted the proposal and sent it to its constitutional amendment committee. Read more
Nigeria needs governance dialogue for progress, says ex – Timor Leste president, Ramos-Horta (Leadership)
Former President of the Republic of East Timor Leste, José Ramos-Horta has tasked policy makers in Nigerians to evolve means of a sustained dialogue with all her ethnic nationals in order for the country to attain national cohesion and social integration that are essential for political stability and national development.
Ramos-Horta gave the charge yesterday while addressing participants at the virtual public presentation of a book authored by a Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Babafemi Badejo held yesterday at the Chrisland University, Abeokuta, Ogun State capital.
The former president of the Asian country, who is a Nobel Laureate in Peace and Conflict Management asserted that only a sustained dialogue for mutual and progressive compromise will be in the interest of the people and government of Nigeria whom he noted are a leading “bunch on the African continent”.
Speaking at the public book presentation titled: “Nigerians’ Views On National Turmoil: A Situational Quadruple Nexus Analysis”, Ramos-Horta emphasized that the country possesses all it takes to achieve significant progress and development. Read more
Knowledge-based skills critical for economic growth, says VC (ThisDay)
The Chancellor, Southwestern University, Okun Owa, Ogun State, Babatunde Odufuwa, has stated that knowledge-based skills are important to the development of the nation and education growth.
Speaking during the recent second convocation ceremony of the university, he said knowledge and advanced skills were critical determinants of a country’s economic growth and sustainability.
According to him, the capacity for countries to adopt, disseminate, and maximise rapid technological advances depends on adequate tertiary education systems.
Odufuwa called for more focused investment in education, pointing out that Nigeria will remain dormant unless its human resources are adequately developed and utilised to exploit and fabricate the non-human resources into consumable articles. Read more
Bandits destroy Niger SSG’s hometown (DailyTrust)
Bandits have wreaked havoc in Matane, hometown of the Secretary to the Niger State Government, Ahmed Ibrahim Matane.
The village is in Mashegu Local Government Area of Niger State, which has recorded multiple attacks in recent times.
Daily Trust gathered that bandits invaded the village on Tuesday, setting shops, houses and other valuables ablaze.
The attackers also invaded the Bamba-Lamba community, a few kilometers Eastern Kontagora. Read more
Madonna announces collaboration with Fireboy DML (Nation)
Legendary Madonna has officially named Fireboy DML as the artiste that would be featured on the remix of her classic song “Frozen.”
Pictures of the two musical acts surfaced online and even though most people knew if they were shots from the set of the ‘Frozen’ remix; it was however uncertain if the YBNL artiste featured on it.
Putting paid to every doubt, the 63-year-old Michigan-born music icon took to her Instagram page on Tuesday to share photos with Fireboy DML while confirming their collaboration.
The “Queen of Pop” revealed the “Peru” crooner will feature in the song and video of “Frozen” remix alongside its release date. Read more
New music from Sigrid is on the way next week (NME)
Sigrid has announced that she will be sharing some new music next week.
The Norwegian pop star first teased new song ‘It Gets Dark’ back in December last year. On social media yesterday (February 28), she revealed that the song will be arriving on March 9.
“It Gets Dark, my new single, is finally coming out next week on March 9th! I’m truly proud of this one, and I hope you like it,” Sigrid wrote.
Speaking to NME about her next musical chapter recently, the singer explained: “I’m a huge fan of rock music and I think you can hear that in the new music I’ve been making too. You’ll definitely see that live energy from me again, I’ve missed it.” Read more
Apple to halt sales and limit services in Russia (BBC)
Apple has become the latest major firm to halt all product sales in Russia, in a widening corporate backlash to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
The iPhone giant said it was “deeply concerned” about the Russian invasion and stands with those “suffering as a result of the violence”.
Apple Pay and other services such as Apple Maps have also been limited.
Google has also removed Russian state-funded publishers such as RT from its features. Read more
‘Flee’ wins top prize at Cinema Eye honours for documentaries (TheWrap)
Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary “Flee” has been named the best nonfiction film of 2021 at the 15th annual Cinema Eye Honors, which were presented on Tuesday night in New York City. “The Rescue,” about the efforts to retrieve a Thai youth soccer team from a flooded cave, won the Audience Choice Prize.
The Neon release “Flee,” which uses animation to give anonymity to a young gay man who escaped Afghanistan as a teenager and made his way to Denmark, also won the award for graphic design and animation. It is nominated for Oscars in the documentary, animated-feature and international-feature categories.
Robert Greene won the directing award for “Procession,” while Matthew Heineman, Jenna Millman and Leslie Norville took the producing prize for “The First Wave.”
Jessica Kingdon’s “Ascension” won the most Cinema Eye awards, three, taking the prizes for debut feature, cinematography and score. Read more
Oscars music governor blasts ‘shocking’ decision to push original score off live telecast (Variety)
It isn’t often that an Academy governor publicly criticizes the Academy itself, but that happened today when music-branch governor Laura Karpman issued a statement condemning the Academy’s plan to drop the music-score Oscar presentation from the live telecast on March 27.
She was sharply critical of both the decision and the process. Her statement, issued this morning on all her social media accounts, reads: “I am shocked that the officers of the Academy denied the Board of Governors the opportunity to vote and participate in the decision to exclude the music branch in the live broadcast.
“This is literally a wound in the heart of the music community,” she continued. “Thank you to the many members of the music branch who have spoken out. I hear you loud and clear. I stand with you.”
Karpman, a governor of the 402-member music branch since 2016, declined any further comment. But her stance is widely supported within, and outside, the music branch (which consists of composers, songwriters and music editors). Read more
I had always been Black Sherif’s manager, Snap Chavis Wayne was a financier – Madona (MyJoy)
Rumour was rife that one of Ghana’s new sensational artistes, Black Sherif, has abandoned his manager, Snap Chavis Wayne, to sign a contract with EMPIRE Entertainment, a foreign based record label located in the U.S. This allegation was made by one DJ Slim who accused Black Sherif of being an ingrate. DJ Slim alleged that the artiste had abandoned a 7-bedroom house, a car and other personal items his manager had made available to him for his personal use.
In a rather bizarre turn of events, another gentleman known as Madona has diffused this allegation made by DJ Slim, stating emphatically that he has always been the manager of Black Sherif before he became famous.
In an interview with Prince “Da Don” Tsegah on U Say Weytin on Hitz FM, Madonna was asked to clear the air on the position Snap assumed in Black Sherif’s team and the role Madonna played in the same establishment.
In his response, Madona averred that the rapper had not abandoned his management as peddled about in the media. He declared that he has been Blacko‘s manager from day one and has taken all business decisions on behalf of the artiste till date, and the media knows.
“Da Don, if you know me very well… and you listen to Black Sherif very well, you would know. The media knows. Ghana knows how Black Sherif shot to fame. Every media house that has spoken to me; every business deal goes through me. I am the one who always answers the call. Blacko getting to the top has been my handiwork and the boys working it out to see how far it has gotten,” he said. Read more
Avicii fans touched by ‘emotional’ museum in Stockholm (BBC)
Avicii’s musical legacy is being celebrated at an interactive museum in Stockholm, which also raises awareness of mental health in the music industry.
The DJ – real name Tim Bergling – grew up in the Swedish capital before becoming one of the world’s biggest dance music stars.
He was 28 when he took his own life in 2018, at a hotel in Muscat in Oman.
The entrance to the new Avicii Experience feels a bit like a posh club, with a red carpet by the door and pink and green fluorescent lighting. Then, concrete stairs take you down to the basement, where the exhibits are.
There’s a reconstruction of the tiny studio in Stockholm where Tim mixed his hit Levels in 2011, as well as the mansion in Los Angeles where he used to play his grand piano looking over the city’s skyscrapers. Read more
Indian production company Yash Raj films names CEO (Deadline)
Yash Raj Films, a key production house and distributor in India, has named Akshaye Widhani to the new role of Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.
Widhani has been with the company for 17 years and most recently served as the Senior VP, Finance and Business Affairs, and the Head of Operations at YRF Studios. The exec is a graduate from the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University and also spearheads initiatives for the charitable Yash Chopra Foundation.
Aditya Chopra continues in the role of MD and chairman.
Yash Raj Films was founded by Yash Chopra in 1970. Its film credits include the box office successes Ek Tha Tiger (2012) and its 2017 sequel, Dhoom 3 (2013), the sports drama Sultan (2016) and the action thriller War (2019). Read more
Grealish helps Man City beat Peterborough (BBC)
Jack Grealish says the first FA Cup goal of his career was inspired by watching footage of Lionel Messi before Manchester City’s hard-earned win over Peterborough United.
Riyad Mahrez put the Premier League leaders ahead with their first attempt on target before Grealish – the most expensive British player of all time – sealed City’s place in the quarter-finals.
The England midfielder produced a quality first touch to bring Phil Foden’s sweeping pass from inside his own half under control before rolling it beyond the keeper and into the net.
“What’s funny is that before the game, while we were on the coach on the way to the game, I was sat next to Phil and we were scrolling through videos of Messi,” Grealish told ITV.
“After scoring [Foden] came up to me and said it was just like we were watching.”
City were made to work hard for their fifth-round win. Read more
Transfers: Gwagwalada club owners holds seminar (Nation)
In a bid to arm club owners with transfer regulations as they relate with grassroots clubs and modern officiating rules, the Gwagwalada Football Club Owners Association have slated a seminar for Saturday at University of Abuja Teaching Hospital Conference Hall.
According to Chairman of the association, Patrick Bassey, this will help stem capital flight from the grassroots clubs while reducing protests over referees’ calls in the Gwagwalada Area Council of Abuja.
He said: “It has been observed that these clubs don’t know how to protect their economic rights over players and end up getting little or nothing when the players they discovered and nurtured finally sign lucrative professional contracts. This seminar will address that issue.
“Similarly, many of them are not abreast of the modern officiating rules resulting in constant protests over referees’ decisions. Knowledge is power. This is why we have organised this seminar.” Read more
Ange Postecoglou excited about ‘homecoming’ as Celtic confirms Australian tournament (ABC)
Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou says he is looking forward to a “homecoming” when the Scottish Premiership side travels to Australia in November for a four-team tournament.
Celtic will join fellow Scottish side Rangers as well as and A-League Men clubs Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers in the Sydney Super Cup, which is set to take place during the domestic football break for the World Cup in Qatar.
The tournament will host the first match played between the Old Firm rivals outside of Scotland.
Postecoglou guided the Socceroos to their Asian Cup triumph in 2015 and was at the helm when they qualified for the 2014 and 2018 World Cups. Read more
Arsene Wenger returns to play huge role in Arsenal blockbuster Champions League transfer attempt (FootballLondon)
Mikel Arteta is using his strong admiration for Arsene Wenger as a big reason to pursue one of the best strikers in world football currently.
According to FourFourTwo, Arsenal are one of a number of clubs who may pursue a move for Bayern superstar Robert Lewandowski this summer, after an impasse in contract negotiations with the Bundesliga giants.
The Gunners have been linked with Lewandowski in the past after his successful exploits at Borussia Dortmund, but he decided to join Bayern Munich instead.
However, his concerning contract situation at Bayern gives Arteta the chance to complete a deal that went past Wenger a few years before he ended his 22-year tenure at the club. Read more
Indiza set sights on elusive Magical Kenya Open title (TheStar)
The 2021/22 Safari Tour champion Dismas Indiza hopes to carry his success in the recently-concluded tournament to the Magical Kenya Open, which starts at the Par 71 on Thursday.
Having failed to make the cut in last year’s back-to-back European Tour events — Savannah Classic and Kenya Open — the country’s oldest pro believes he is in great shape ahead of the tough week at the “Home of Golf” in Muthaiga.
“The last two Safari Tour events at Karen and Muthaiga witnessed great scores and this is a clear indication that things are beginning to look up for the Kenyan pros. I have had a good Safari Tour and the plan will be to go into the Kenya Open in similar spirit and fashion,” the 53-year-old said.
No Kenyan has won the Kenya Open since its inception in 1967 but Indiza thinks the five-month preparatory campaign in the Safari Tour Series will come in handy. Read more
Ukrainian TF president wants Daniil Medvedev banned from playing Grand Slams (TennisWorld)
Ukrainian Tennis Federation president Seva Kewlysh wants world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev banned from playing the Grand Slams amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Medvedev, who became the No. 1 for the first time in his career this Monday, is one of the leading Russian athletes and the Ukrainian Tennis Federations wants him banned from playing the biggest tennis tournaments.
In the early hours of Thursday, Russia started their invasion of Ukraine. “Let (Medvedev) play on the ATP Tour but Grand Slams are ITF events and if you lose the possibility to play in Grand Slams he could never be world number one,” Kevlych said in a letter read by Reuters.
“He shouldn’t play in the French Open, US Open and Wimbledon. “I don’t care that Russia is the holder of the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup. It would shame them when the holders are kicked out of these events.
“For Daniil to not represent the (Russian team) it’s not a big penalty for him but it’s a big shame for him. To represent a team with no flag, no anthem and no history in a team event, probably it would make him do the right thing.” Read more
Schumacher’s epic 1998 Hungarian GP-winning Ferrari for sale (Motorsport)
The Ferrari with which Michael Schumacher scored one of his greatest Formula 1 wins, but ultimately lost the 1998 F1 World Championship in the Suzuka showdown to McLaren’s Mika Hakkinen, is up for private sale with an asking price of USD 4.9 million.
The chassis is the 1998 Hungarian Grand Prix winner, a victory that was viewed as a strategic masterstroke by Ross Brawn as well as proof of Schumacher’s genius behind the wheel.
McLaren looked set to dominate the race, with championship leader Mika Hakkinen qualifying on pole ahead of teammate David Coulthard at a track on which it’s notoriously difficult to overtake. Schumacher, who started third, was stuck behind Coulthard – who’d slowed his pace to protect Hakkinen’s lead, as Mika’s car developed a shock absorber problem. Read more
