Lagos
Virgin Atlantic resumes Lagos-London flights August 24
Virgin Atlantic has announced its intention to resume flights from Lagos to London Heathrow from August 24, 2020 saying the international flight will be operated on its new A350-1000 aircraft and will provide connections to a range of US destinations. The Chief Commercial Officer of Virgin Atlantic, Juha Jarvinen, made this known as the airline promised to resume flying to 16 additional destinations around the world. “As countries around the world begin to relax travel restrictions, we look forward to welcoming our customers back onboard and flying them safely to many destinations across our network. “From 20th July we will resume services to New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong; then from 1st August onwards, we will resume passenger flying to 17 additional destinations around the world inc...
Aviation stakeholders decry use of foreign airlines to evacuate Nigerians
Stakeholders in the aviation industry on Monday kicked against the continuous use of foreign airlines by the Federal Government for the evacuation of Nigerians in spite of domestic capacity to carry out the exercise. They expressed their displeasure in a chat with the Aviation Correspondents in Lagos, saying the situation was creating wrong impression about Nigeria and safety of its carriers. Speaking, Capt. Nogie Meggison, Executive Chairman, Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), said the continuous use of foreign airlines to evacuate Nigerians by the government was contrary to its own directive that only indigenous carriers should be used. Meggison said that the onus still lies on the government to do the right thing by protecting its own carriers, as COVID-19 fears had forced government t...
NSE upgrades data portal to improve market access
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday announced the upgrade of its Data Portal (X-DataPortal) to revamp and improve market accessibility for subscribers. Mr Oscar Onyema, Chief Executive Officer of the exchange, said in a statement in Lagos that the portal upgrade was to explore digital technologies to provide top notch accessibility. Onyema said: “The upgrade of the X-DataPortal is in line with the desire of the NSE to continue providing an exchange that is easily accessible, leveraging digital technology. “The newly enhanced X-DataPortal has, therefore, been equipped with market-focussed features that will complement the NSE website and other NSE portals in response to stakeholders’ increased demands for easy access to data. “Given the importance of Market Data in investment decisi...
Nigerian government completes plan to start work on Lagos-Badagry expressway
The lawmaker representing Badagry Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Rep. Babatunde Hunpe, on Sunday assured residents of the town that palliative work would soon start on the bad section of Lagos-Badagry Expressway. Hunpe made this known in an interview with newsmen in Badagry. He said that the Federal Government had completed plan to start another palliative work on the affected portions of the expressway. “It gladdens my heart to inform members of my constituency that plan is already in a very top gear to commence another palliative work on the affected portions. “This is to ease movement of our people who use this road on daily basis. “With the present deplorable state of the road, especially from Agbara-Okoafo-Mowo-Ibereko-Badagry Roundabout and some parts of Gbaji ...
Court acquits man over prosecution’s inability to prove case of rape
Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye of an Igbosere High Court in Lagos on Friday discharged and acquitted one Niyi Oyelami charged with defiling a nine-year-old daughter of his neighbour. Oyelami was charged by Lagos State on a count charge of defiling a minor, to which he pleaded not guilty. Delivering the judgment during a virtual court proceedings, the judge found the defendant not guilty as charged. Justice Ipaye said that the testimony of the two prosecution witnesses failed to establish that the accused actually committed the offence. She said the prosecution failed to prove the case beyond every reasonable doubt. Ipaye said that the failure of the prosecution to provide eyewitnesses even the victim to give evidence as whether it was the defendant who actually ruptured the hymen was fatal to it...
Lagos seals 56 illegal structures in Ikoyi, Banana Island
The Lagos State Government has asked 56 property owners sealed in Ikoyi and on the Banana Island axis to produce their building plan permits and evidence of stage certification. The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr. Idris Salako, said this in a statement released to newsmen by Mr. Mukaila Sanusi, the spokesman of the ministry on Sunday. Salako had during an ongoing Special Enforcement Operations, said that the government was alarmed at the rate of unapproved and illegal structures springing up in Ikoyi and on Banana Island of the state. “The exercise continues to send strong signals of government’s determination to guard the State Operative Development Plans. “Also, it is meant to curb illegal physical developments as the buildings/building construction sites se...
ASCAB: President Buhari’s speech underestimate Sani Abacha’s $5 billion loot
Alliance for Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond, (ASCAB), a group led by prominent Nigerian human rights lawyer, Femi Falana has said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s claim that late dictator, Sani Abacha, stole $1 billion contradicts the figures earlier released by his own officials. The group described as inconsistent the President’s statement contained in an article he wrote for the international magazine, Newsweek adding that the $1bn quoted by Buhari is barely one fifth of the total amount top officials of the same government claimed to have recovered from the late military henchman. In a statement signed by ASCAB Secretary for Publicity, Adewale Adeoye and made available to newsmen on Monday said that the President’s article falls short of reflecting the stark realities of corrupti...
Medical council validates four coronavirus test kits – registrar
The Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) says it has validated four Rapid Test Kits to determine their suitability for testing SAR-COV-2 infection popularly known as COVID-19 in the country. The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of MLSCN, Dr Tosan Erhabor, disclosed this in a video posted on the official twitter account of the council @MedLabNigeria. Erhabor said the council placed an advert in four National Daily Newspapers on March, 30, requesting for submission of COVID-19 test kits by manufactures of their sales representatives in the country. “A total of eleven 11 in-vitro Diagnostics; one Polymerase Chain Reaction based kit, nine Rapid Test Kits (RTKs) two Antigen based seven Antibody based kits and one Viral Transport Medium (VTM) were received. “They were recei...
Nigerian government receives coaches, locomotives for Lagos-Ibadan, Abuja-Kaduna railways
The Federal Government on Monday announced that it had received some coaches and locomotives to be deployed on key rail lines in Nigeria. It said the coaches were the last set which were ordered in March. It was also gathered that the locomotives and coaches, which arrived Nigeria from China, would be deployed once operations begin. The government disclosed this via a tweet by the Nigerian Railway Corporation through its official Twitter handle, which was also confirmed to our correspondent by the NRC’s spokesperson, Yakub Mahmood. The corporation said, “Some days ago, Nigeria took delivery of the last dozens of train coaches ordered in the month of March. “The coaches have been transported to Nigerian train base in Papalanto, Ogun State and will be used on the Lagos-Ibadan railway when op...
President Buhari meets Governor Obaseki at Villa
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday met with the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The Personal Assistant on New Media to the President, Bashir Ahmad, announced this via his Twitter handle. He said, “President Muhammadu Buhari meets with Governor of Edo State, His Excellency, Godwin Obaseki this afternoon, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.” Newsmen reports that eight governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, on Sunday, held a meeting with the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, at the State House Marina, Lagos State to make a case for Obaseki. It was gathered that the governors were at the closed-door meeting to seek Tinubu’s intervention in the search for a truce in the political conflict between Obaseki and h...
Lagos records 21 more coronavirus recoveries, three fatalities
Lagos State has discharged 21 coronavirus patients. The state also recorded three more COVID-19 fatalities, according to the state Health Ministry on Saturday. It said in a statement that 15 of the discharged patients were males while six were females, noting that they tested negative twice for the virus upon treatment at the state isolation centres. “21 COVID-19 patients; 6 females and 15 males including a foreign national have been discharged from our Isolation facilities to reunite with the society. “The patients; 6 from Mainland Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba; 11 from Onikan; 3 from Agidingbi and 1 from Gbagada Isolation Centres were discharged having fully recovered and tested negative for COVID-19. “This brings to 875, the number of COVID-19 discharged cases in Lagos now. “3 addit...
Lagos to decamp pipeline explosion victims from relief camp
The Lagos State Government says it set to decamp the Abule-Egba pipeline explosion victims from the Igando Relief camp on June 30. Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, the Director-General of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Lagos on Saturday. Oke-Osanyintolu said the state government had been supporting the rehabilitation of victims since January when the explosion occurred. He said that the government would be closing the camp effective June 30. According to him, LASEMA had worked with multiple agencies to ensure the safety and security of the 300 victims, including 40 infants and 30 children in many ways. He said the government has been feeding and accommodating victims and providing transport and educational support for school-...
