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lightning kills eight-year-old boy in Bayelsa
An eight-year-old boy has been reportedly killed by lightning in the oil-rich Imiringi community in Ogbia local government area, Bayelsa State. The victim, identified as Stephen Akanam, a native of the nearby Kolo community, according to sources, was residing with his aunty at Imiringi. He was reportedly struck by lightning Wednesday evening during rainfall while playing football with his mates in an open field behind a popular bar in the area. A source who spoke anonymously said such an incident had never happened before in the community. The deceased, according to a source, was indoors all through the afternoon until the evening when he went out to play. ”A woman rushed to the house to tell us that our brother is dead. I could not believe it and rushed to the scene. “Upon sighting him on...
Damasak attack: EU calls for safe passage of people caught in web of violence
The European Union (EU) has called on all parties in the ongoing North-east crisis to allow people caught in violence to move freely to safe places and facilitate unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need. A statement issued on Thursday by the EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Mr. Janez Lenarčič, on the latest terror attacks on Damasak, Borno State, said: “The EU is following with deep concern the recurrent violent attacks by non-state armed groups against the people of the town of Damasak, Northeast Nigeria.” The statement lamented that the life and security of civilians is in danger and that humanitarian premises have been destroyed with humanitarian workers deliberately targeted. It said because of the recent increase of violence in North-east Nigeria, hundreds...
Ex-President Obasanjo urges Ogun government to partner stakeholders on waste management
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged Ogun government to partner stakeholders in the waste management sector to enable the state to achieve a cleaner environment. Obasanjo stated this when the Ogun State Waste Management Authority (OGWAMA) team visited him at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), on Thursday in Abeokuta. He commended Gov. Dapo Abiodun for establishing the agency for proper sanitation, saying that this was a demonstration of his determination to ensure a cleaner environment in the state. “I am advising the governor and his administration to partner with the various stakeholders in the waste management sector. “This will help the state to reap its efforts at making the environment clean, which is the main reason for establishing the agency,” Obasanjo said...
CSOs threaten to occupy National Assembly over Electoral Act amendment
A coalition of Civil Society Organisations has threatened to occupy the National Assembly after Ramadan fasting, if the lawmakers fail to pass the Bill for an amendment of the Electoral Act. The CSOs which include Center For Liberty, Concerned Nigeria, The Electoral Hub, and Raising New Voices Initiative, issued the threat at a joint news conference on Thursday in Abuja. The Co-convener, Centre for Liberty, Mr Dare Ariyo-Atoye, who read the joint speech of the CSOs, said they were worried that the 9th National Assembly was yet to pass the bill. According to him the passage of the bill could have given them lasting legacies and written their names in gold. Ariyo-Atoye said that in the last 15 months, CSOs had consistently engaged lawmakers and appealed to the NASS to make the passage of a n...
Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei’s 2020 Pay Rises to $47.1 Million
The bulk of his overall compensation last year continued to come from option awards, stock awards and a non-equity incentive plan. Maffei’s 2019 compensation had jumped thanks to a new employment contract that boosted his option awards from $8.8 million to $27.8 million. His option awards dipped to $24.98 million in 2020. Liberty Media in its regulatory filing also disclosed the annual pay for chairman Malone, which amounted to $1.09 million. He had made $1.4 million in 2019, $1.1 million in 2018, $797,082 in 2017 and $747,156 in 2016. Liberty recently reported 2020 revenue of $9.4 billion, down from $10.3 billion, and a loss of $1.4 billion, compared with 2019 earnings of $106 million. Maffei recently suggested that streaming giant Amazon would drive an accelerated push by Big Tech ...
Joy McKean, Australia’s ‘Queen of Country,’ to Receive Ted Albert Award at 2021 APRAs
Now aged 91, McKean composed “The Biggest Disappointment, “Ringer from the Top End,” “Walk a Country Mile” and “Indian Pacific,” and did so while touring regional and remote Australia at a time when the perceived role of women was that of home maker. McKean will be in the room for the presentation during the 2021 APRA Awards, set to take place April 28 in Sydney. Her contribution to Australian country music “as a pioneering songwriter, bush balladeer, touring performer and artist manager is unparalleled,” reads a statement from APRA. The Ted Albert honor “was most unexpected,” she admits in a statement, “and I thank those who must have nominated me for such consideration by APRA.” It’s not the first time McKean been honored for her art and advocacy. In 1991, McKean was awarded th...
Ike Shorunmu applauds Ahmed Musa’s courage to return to local league
Former Super Eagles assistant coach Ike Shorunmu has lauded Ahmed Musa’s decision to return to the Nigeria professional football league after 18 years. Musa joined four-time Nigerian champions, Kano Pillars, ahead of the second stanza of the 2020-2021 Nigeria professional football league campaign. The Super Eagles Captain is expected to remain with the Sai Masu Gida until the end of the current campaign and will allow a move should he receive an offer from Europe. Reacting to the transfer, Shorunmu who also made name for himself in the domestic league before going to Europe, applauded Musa’s courage to return home and sign for a team. “His return to the league is a welcome development and it’s a great one for our football and Musa himself,” he told brila.net “We have to applaud his courage...
Osun FC lifts suspension on Bright Omokaro, others
Management of Osun United Football Club of Osogbo has lifted the suspension placed on the team’s Head Coach, Bright Omokaro. The club also said the suspension of the two assistant coaches, Bayo Adesina and Wole Animasahun, as well as a player, Olusola Akilapa, had also been lifted. Osun United Media Officer, Tajudeen Amodu, on Thursday, made it known that the decision to lift the suspension was taken on Wednesday. Amodu explained further that the decision to lift the suspension was taken after the management’s meeting to review the club’s performance, after the mid-season break declared by the Nigeria National League (NNL). He said the management, while lifting the suspension, charged the reinstated coaches to be up and doing and take the club back to its winning form, when the league resu...
Minister: Nigerian government worried about rising unemployment rate
Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has said the federal government is worried over the rising unemployment rate in the country. Speaking at the 2nd Shakeholders’ Meeting on Expatriate Quota Administration organized by the Citizenship and Business Department of the Ministry of Interior, the Minister said: “Anyone that is not worried about the unemployment rate in the country is not a patriot.” He lamented that the unemployment rate of 33 per cent released by the National Bureau of Statistics was indeed worrisome and a wake up call that something urgently needed to be done to keep Nigerians employed and drastically reduce the unemployment rate. The Minister, who called on all stakeholders at the meeting to ensure quality inputs were brought to the table that will lead to the produ...
Reservoir Leading Music Publishing Funds Onto the US Stock Market
Ross CH Acquisition II is bringing $115 million to Reservoir’s public offering as part of the deal. Some institutional investors including Caledonia have been lined up as anchor shareholders, which will bring in $150 million in gross proceeds. In the end, after investment banking, legal fees and other expenses, Reservoir will be left with $246 million in gross proceeds from the transaction. The company’s current shareholders, including the Khosrowshahi family, will roll over all their Reservoir equity into the new company, giving it an enterprise value of $788 million. That means that the Reservoir shareholders will likely have a lock-up period — maybe 180 days — before they can cash in any of their shares. In the meantime, the company has an implied pro-forma equity value of $...
Federal government okays N20.1 billion for Nigerian customs equipment
The federal government has approved a total of N20,114,002871 for the acquisition of various operational equipment for the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS). The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this to State House Correspondents after the federal executive council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo at the presidential villa on Wednesday. The Minister said further that Council also approved the sum of N539,277,673 for the construction of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) building at the Ilupeju Medium and Small Taxpayers’ office in Lagos. On the breakdown of contracts approved for Customs, the Minister said a total of 427 operational vehicles, worth N14.55 billion and nine assorted gunboats worth N5,564,002,871 were a...
OPC berates ex-COAS for equating group with Boko Haram
The Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) yesterday berated a former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, for comparing the group with the terrorist organisation, Boko Haram. In a statement, the group’s newly-elected President, Mr. Wasiu Afolabi, said the former army chief displayed a dangerous level of mischief, prejudice and narrow-mindedness by equating what it termed a pro-democracy group like the OPC with a world-acclaimed terrorist organisation. Afolabi maintained that the comments by Dambazzau were an attempt to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it, insisting that the move will not work. “We shall not succumb to this cheap attempt at blackmail and negative profiling. OPC is not, has never been and will never be a terrorist organisation. Nobody should link us or lik...