Why investing in Lagos offers a great return, by Sanwo-Olu (Guardian)
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has enumerated reasons why investing in Lagos will yield great returns.
The Governor spoke as a keynote speaker at the virtual investment forum hosted by the Institute of Directors (IoD) for the United Kingdom business community in Nigeria.
According to the organisers, Sanwo-Olu is the first elected black leader to address the United Kingdom Institute of Directors (IOD-UK) in it’s over 100 years of existence.
The virtual summit which was sponsored by Nigerian tech entrepreneur and creator of the ‘Rate Your Leader’ app, Joel Popoola, also had in attendance business leaders, policymakers and some public sector leaders on investment opportunities in Nigeria, including Helena Drake, IOD branch manager for Yorkshire and North East. Read more
COVID-19 spike: Lagos oxygen demand of 360 per day to hit 750 by January 31 – Sanwo-Olu (Vanguard)
Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu has raised the alarm over rising COVID-19 positive cases saying, the oxygen demand by patients has risen from 70 to 360 per day and projected to hit 750/by February 2021.
Sanwo-Olu, also said in the second wave of the pandemic any malaria-like symptoms by the patient should be considered as COVID-19 and go for the test unless proven otherwise.
The governor, made the remarks on Tuesday, while briefing newsmen on the update of COVID-19 situation in the state, held at Lagos House. Alausa, Ikeja.
Oxygen strategy
According to Sanwo-Olu, “The increase in the positivity of cases has necessitated the provision of greater amounts of concentrated oxygen for the moderate to severe cases on admission in our isolation centres. Read more
NIN deadline: ALTON allays telecom subscribers fears (Punch)
As the deadline for telephone subscribers with National Identity Numbers to register their SIM cards with the identity numbers elapsed on Tuesday, mobile operators have said that SIMs with unlinked but submitted NINs would not be blocked.
The Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, spoke on behalf of the telecommunications companies including Airtel, MTN, Globacom, and 9Mobile.
He said, “If you already have your NIN and you have delivered the number to your service provider and it has been acknowledged and forwarded to NIMC, I don’t think the penalty will be there for you as from tomorrow (Tuesday) if your SIM has not been registered with the NIN.
“This is because as far as you are concerned as a subscriber, you have uploaded that number to your operator and forwarded to NIMC.
“Now the further interrogation of that means that you are not supposed to be penalised because you have done what you are required to do to your service provider and to NIMC.” Read more
FIRS rakes N4.9t in 2020 – official (DailyTrust)
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) says it collected N4,952,243,711,728.37 as tax revenue in the 2020 fiscal year.
Mr Abdullahi Ahmad, Director of Communications and Liaison of the service made this known in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday.
Ahmad explained that this achievement represented about 98 per cent of the national tax target of N5.076 trillion set for the FIRS by the Federal Government.
The director quoted the Executive Chairman of the Service, Mr Muhammad Nami, as saying that this performance was remarkable, considering the debilitating effects of COVID-19 on the Nigerian economy. Read more
Fire guts Sokoto new market (Guardian)
Parts of Shehu Shagari Modern Market in Sokoto, popularly called New Market, was on Tuesday destroyed by early morning fire, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
NAN reports that the inferno started around 6 a.m. and continued to ravage shops at the market till midday, as some yet to be affected traders trooped to evacuate their goods before the raging fire reached their shops.
The combined team of Sokoto State Fire Service, Federal Fire Service, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) were battling to put out the fire as at midday on Tuesday. Read more
NPHCDA: Nigeria has enough storage capacity for COVID-19 vaccines (ThisDay)
The Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib has said that the federal government has developed a comprehensive vaccine deployment plan with adequate storage capacity to the keep covid-19 vaccines.
Shuaib who stated this at the yesterday’s briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja said reports of lack of storage capacity for the vaccine were false.
“We have developed a comprehensive vaccine deployment and vaccination plan for the country. We have also developed an operational manual to roll out the vaccine when it arrives,” he said.
While druming support for the importance of the deployment of vaccines in the campaign against spread of covid-19 in the country, Shuaib said that from available scientific evidence the vaccines being procured by government is have guaranteed efficacy. Read more
Police arrest jealous housewife for allegedly killing husband’s fiancée (Guardian)
The Police Command in Kano State has arrested a 20-year-old housewife, Suwaiba Shuaibu, in Doguwa Local Government Area (LGA) for allegedly stabbing to death her husband’s 17-year-old fiancée.
The command spokesman, DSP Abdullahi Haruna, confirmed the arrest in a statement in Kano on Tuesday.
The statement showed that the incident occurred on Jan. 1, at Gimawa village of the LGA.
It announced that investigation revealed the deceased and the suspect’s husband had been having an affair for more than six years and were due to wed on Jan. 9. Read more
Kano cleric backs pronouncement on Kannywood divorce scenes (DailyTrust)
A renowned Islamic scholar in Kano State, Sheikh Dr Umar Sani Fagge has backed the pronouncement made by Sheikh Dr Aliyu Umar about divorce scenes in movies most especially the Kannywood films.
Shaykh Umar had stated that when a man in a movie points at another actress projected to be his wife and pronounced her divorced, the pronouncement falls on his real wife.
Since then, some outspoken Kannywood producers, among others, condemned the cleric, saying they don’t know the basis the scholar placed his pronouncement.
However, in an audio clip that has gone viral on social media, Sheikh Fagge backed Sheikh Umar’s pronouncement, saying “it is in accordance with the injunction of the religion of Islam. Read more
Seven arrested for cloning pre-paid metres in Kaduna (Punch)
The Northwest zonal office of the Special Investigation and Prosecution Taskforce on Electricity Offences have announced the arrest of seven suspects in connection with pre-paid metre cloning, theft, metre vandalism and other related offences in Kaduna State and its environs.
The Zonal Head of the Task Force, ASP Aliyu Bamalli, who paraded the suspects in Kaduna, also disclosed that two other suspects were still at large and that they were being trailed by his men.
Bamalli noted that the arrests followed consistent reports by Kaduna Electric of energy theft, vandalism which had over the years hampered effective service delivery to electricity consumers in the state. Read more
Kenyan scientists discover new coronavirus mutation (VOA)
Kenyan scientists have raised an alarm on a coronavirus variant they say differs from the one spreading in South Africa and Britain.
About 10 investigators from the Kenya Medical Research Institute, or KEMRI, discovered the mutation of the virus responsible for the COVID-19 disease.
Charles Agoti, a principal investigator and researcher, says that the variant unique to Kenya was detected in a batch of samples taken from Taita Taveta county, located in the southeastern part of the country.
“Our interpretation is that because in this one place in Kenya we were seeing, it represents the majority of the sequenced samples; it does imply that actually, it could if it has intrinsic properties, be more transmissible,” Agoti said. “It could result in an increase in the number of cases locally.” Read more
NASA test for ‘most powerful rocket in the world’ has component failure (NYPost)
NASA conducted a hot fire of the core stage of the Space Launch System, but the stage’s four main engines shut down just over 1 minute into a test designed to last 8 minutes.
The trial was a vital step for NASA’s long-delayed space launch system. The SLS will play a key role in the agency’s Artemis program to return US astronauts to the moon before 2024.
The core stage ignited its four RS-25 engines at 5:27 pm at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
It was not immediately clear why the engines shut down. At a briefing last week NASA officials and officials from Boeing, the SLS prime contractor, said they needed the static fire test to go at least 250 seconds to collect the data needed. Read more
Biden to propose 8-year path to citizenship for immigrants (VOA)
President-elect Joe Biden plans to unveil a sweeping immigration bill on the first day of his administration, hoping to provide an eight-year path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. without legal status, a massive reversal from the Trump administration’s harsh immigration policies.
The legislation puts Biden on track to deliver on a major campaign promise important to Latino voters and other immigrant communities after four years of President Donald Trump’s restrictive policies and mass deportations. It provides one of the fastest pathways to citizenship for those living without legal status of any measure in recent years, but it fails to include the traditional trade-off of enhanced border security favored by many Republicans, making passage in a narrowly divided Congress in doubt.
Expected to run hundreds of pages, the bill is set to be introduced after Biden takes the oath of office Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the legislation and granted anonymity to discuss it. Read more
1 dead as snowstorm causes 130-car pile-up in Japan (BBC)
A huge snowstorm has struck a highway in north Japan, causing a 130-car pile-up, killing one person and injuring 10.
The storm blanketed a stretch of the Tohoku Expressway in Miyagi prefecture at around noon (03:00 GMT) on Tuesday.
Some 200 people have been caught up in the pile-up and rescuers are currently at the scene, officials said.
Japan has been hit by severe snow storms in recent weeks with some parts of the country seeing double the average expected snowfall. Read more
Central African Republic president’s election win confirmed (VOA)
Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera is officially beginning his second term Tuesday, a day after the Constitutional Court confirmed his election victory last month.
The country’s highest court said the turnout was suppressed by armed groups, which impacted voters’ ability to cast their ballots.
Following the court’s announcement, President Touadera said he is willing to have talks with those wishing to work toward peace and the development of the impoverished country, but not with those who want to drag Central African Republic into blind violence, adding justice will deal with them. Read more
Stolen 500-year-old painting found in Naples cupboard (BBC)
A 500-year-old painting has been discovered in a flat in Italy and returned to a museum – where staff were unaware it had even been stolen.
The copy of Salvator Mundi, which is believed to have been painted by Leonardo da Vinci, was found in a bedroom cupboard in Naples on Saturday.
This copy is thought to have been painted by one of da Vinci’s students.
The 36-year-old owner of the flat was arrested on suspicion of receiving stolen goods, police said. Read more
Lil Wayne ‘expected to be pardoned by Donald Trump’ as he faces 10-year prison sentence on gun charge (Metro)
Lil Wayne might catch a massive stroke of good luck as he’s reportedly one of the people Donald Trump will pardon before leaving the White House today. The Lollipop rapper is currently facing a 10-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to a federal gun charge. In November, Lil Wayne sparked controversy after he was pictured meeting Mr Trump at the White House which many took as him endorsing the divisive president over Joe Biden, just days before the US presidential election. Read more
No decision yet on Alaba’s Madrid move – Agent (Punch)
David Alaba’s father and agent on Tuesday denied press reports claming the Bayern Munich defender had signed a contract with Real Madrid.
On Monday, Spanish newspaper Marca said Austria centre-back Alaba had agreed a four-year deal with the La Liga giants starting next season and had passed a medical.
“No decision has been taken yet and David hasn’t signed with Real,” George Alaba told Sport1.
“There are other clubs also interested,” he added. Read more
Former Sports Minister Ka’oje dies at 60 (Nation)
Former Minister of Sports, Bala Bawa Ka’oje, has died at 60.
In a statement titled ‘Former Sports Minister Ka’oje dies at 60, buried in Abuja’ on Tuesday, Nigeria Football Federation’s spokesperson, Ademola Olajire, said the country’s sporting fraternity was thrown into grief with Ka’oje’s death.
His remains were interred in Abuja on Tuesday afternoon.
The NFF was represented by the General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi and Head of Member Associations, Ali Abubakar Muhammed. Read more
Mets fire GM Jared Porter over sexting scandal (NYPost)
The Mets fired GM Jared Porter on Tuesday morning after a sexting scandal was brought to light.
“We have terminated Jared Porter this morning,” owner Steve Cohen tweeted. “In my initial press conference I spoke about the importance of integrity and I meant it. There should be zero tolerance for this type of behaviour.”
Porter, who was hired by Mets team president Sandy Alderson this offseason, sent the texts to a foreign female reporter in 2016 when he was running the Cubs scouting department.
The texts included a photo of a bulge in Porter’s pants while he was laying in bed and an erect penis. At one point Porter sent 62 consecutive texts to the reporter without a response. Read more
2 more Australian Open players ‘test positive’ (BBC)
Two more Australian Open tennis players have tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving in Melbourne, state health officials said on Tuesday.
It comes after a player was believed to have tested positive on Sunday, amid growing controversy over the event.
One more “non-playing participant” also has Covid, bringing the overall total linked to the Open to seven, including a flight attendant.
Some 1,200 people have flown in for the tournament, which begins on 8 February. Read more
Why Conor McGregor came out of retirement (PageSix)
Ahead of Conor McGregor’s much-anticipated return to the ring, the UFC legend tells Page Six that he had been feeling so good that he couldn’t help but come out of retirement.
The Irishman, 32, announced his retirement in June but will climb between the ropes once again to fight Dustin Poirier on January 23 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
McGregor told us that when he started to get in shape again after his exit from MMA, his body wasn’t ready to be done with the sport.
“I started feeling more explosive, stronger, and I knew I had to get back in the ring,” he said. Read more
Edu reveals Arsenal are considering ending Lucas Torreira’s loan with Atletico Madrid (Metro)
Arsenal’s technical director Edu has warned Atletico Madrid that Lucas Torreira’s loan deal could be terminated if the midfielder indicates that he is unhappy. The Uruguay international has started just two games for Atletico in La Liga this season and has struggled to secure a regular role under Diego Simeone. The Gunners are now considering ending Torreira’s loan, with reports claiming that they are unhappy with Atletico over their handling of the midfielder. Valencia are understood to have opened talks with Arsenal over a potential loan deal for the 24-year-old for the remainder of the season. And Edu admits Arsenal will look for Torreira to change clubs if he is not happy with his current situation at Atletico. Read more