Statement
Why Wilfried Zaha is no longer taking the knee
Wilfried Zaha became the first Premier League player not to kneel before kick-off on Saturday since top-flight footballers started using the gesture to protest racial injustice last summer. The Crystal Palace winger instead chose to “stand tall” ahead of the match with West Brom, something he had said in February he was going to do but hadn’t started a game since then due to injury. Zaha released a statement ahead of kick-off outlining his intention to do so and his reasons for it. What he said “My decision to stand at kick-off has been public knowledge for a couple of weeks now,” the Ivorian international said. “There is no right or wrong decision, but for me personally I feel kneeling has just become a part of the pre-match routine and at the moment it doesn’t matter whether we kneel or ...
EU defends vaccine distribution as nations complain it is uneven
The European Commission on Saturday defended its policy of distributing COVID-19 vaccines evenly in the bloc after Austria and five other member states complained that doses were not allocated equally. In a joint letter to the Commission and the European Council, leaders of six European countries, including Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Latvia, and later Croatia, called for discussions on vaccine distribution. The Commission responded that doses have been distributed in proportion with the population of each country and taking into account epidemiological data, adding that was up to member state governments to decide how to share them. A flexible policy agreed by EU governments meant countries facing a more acute phase of the epidemic could access more doses, if some governments opte...
Lagos governor restructures works and infrastructure ministry
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has approved the restructuring of the State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure by re-establishing the Office of Works and Office of Infrastructure. In a statement released late Friday night, Lagos State Head of Service, Mr Hakeem Muri-Okunola, explained that the restructuring of the ministry was necessitated by the volume of work ahead of the present administration in the state led by Sanwo-Olu and the need to implement relevant structural reviews that would facilitate faster attainment of government’s policy objectives. The governor also approved the appointment of two new Permanent Secretaries in the Lagos State Public Service. They are; Arc. Adebayo Ayodeji Odusanya, who would serve as Permanent Secretary Office of Works, and Engr. Rotimi Idowu ...
PDP advises federal government against increasing pump price of petrol
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday advised the Federal Government against increasing pump price of petrol. The party in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja said any contemplation to increase pump price of petrol to N212 would worsen the economic and social situations of Nigerians. This was in reaction to a debunk report that the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulation Agency (PPPRA) on Thursday night released a template that a litre of fuel would now be sold for prices ranging from N209 to N212 per litre for March. Ologbondiyan said that the N212 per liter reportedly contemplated in the March pricing template was not in the best interest of Nigerians. “It is a barefaced fact that there is no way that Nigerians can survive such hike in fue...
Official: 39 students missing from forestry mechanization college
Kaduna state government has said further checks in the wake of the attack by armed bandits on the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, Igabi LGA indicated that 39 students are currently unaccounted for. In a statement issued by Samuel Aruwan, Commissioner, Internal Security and Home Affairs, said the missing students included males and females. The statement said: “In an earlier update, citizens were informed that troops rescued 180 persons following an attack by armed bandits on the College late Thursday night, with about 30 still missing. The number of missing students is now confirmed to be 39, comprising 23 females and 16 males. Aruwan said the state government, “is maintaining close communication with the management of the College as efforts are sustained by security agen...
NIRSAL partners NASENI to create 110,000 jobs in agric sector
The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL Plc) has entered into partnership with the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) with a view to creating over 110,000 jobs in the nation’s agricultural value chain. NIRSAL said in a statement in Abuja Friday that the move is in “continuation of its mandate of providing end-to-end solutions aimed at fixing breakages along the Agricultural Value Chains (AVC) in Nigeria”. According to the statement, NIRSAL has engaged NASENI as its technical collaborative partner for the conceptualization, design, development, deployment, implementation and execution of various schemes/projects under the NIRSAL-NASENI Comprehensive Tractor Recovery Scheme, the NIRSAL Climate-Smart Modular Geo-Coopera...
Sports minister hails NFF president on FIFA election
Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, has congratulated NFF president, Amaju Pinnick, on his election into the FIFA council. Dare said this in a statement by his Special Adviser (Media), John Joshua-Akanji, on Friday in Abuja. Pinnick was elected into the FIFA council on Friday at the CAF 43rd general meeting in Rabat, Morocco, winning by 43 votes to his opponent’s eight votes. Dare described the victory as an opportunity for Nigeria and indeed Africa to contribute to the administration of world football. The minister charged Pinnick to use his position to reposition Nigerian and African football. “This is an opportunity to use your new position to make Nigerian, African and World football great again and make it better than you met it. “This is the reward of hard work and...
US state bans transgender athletes from women’s sports
Mississippi became the first US state on Thursday to ban transgender athletes from competing on girls or women’s sports teams, a move denounced as discriminatory by LGBTQ groups and likely to face legal challenges. Governor Tate Reeves said the “Mississippi Fairness Act” would “ensure young girls are not forced to compete against biological males.” The bill requires public schools in the conservative southern state to designate sports teams based on biological sex as for “Males,” “Females” or “Coed.” “Athletic teams or sports designated for ‘females,’ ‘women,’ or ‘girls,’ shall not be open to students of the male sex,” it states. Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a group which defends LGBTQ rights, described the bill as “discriminatory anti-transgender legislation” and said it would be challeng...
Nigerian Army appoints new NDA commandant
Major-General Sagir Yaro has been appointed as the commandant of the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA). The NDA is a military university based in Kaduna. Bashir Jagira, the academy’s spokesperson, in a statement on Wednesday said Yaro is taking over from Jamil Sarham, also a major-general who is now to proceed on a senior research course at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) Kuru, Plateau state. Jaguar described Yaro as a seasoned military officer of the Nigerian Army Corps of Engineers, and member of the 36th regular course of the NDA, who has held several appointments cutting across command, staff and instructional. Until his appointment, Yaro was the general managing director, Nigerian Army Welfare Limited by Guarantee (NAWLG). While addressing principal staff o...
Eko DisCo explains outage in Badagry
The management of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) has attributed the outage in Badagry and its environs to early downpour, which destroyed over 20 electric poles along Agbara-Badagry expressway. The General Manager, Corporate Communications, EKEDC, Mr Godwin Idemudia, said on Thursday in Lagos that the March 8 morning rainfall caused serious damage, which damaged the company’s installation in the area. Idemudia said fallen poles had been removed and the company’s technical team was already working hard resolve the problem. The general manager assured residents that electricity supply would be restored to the affected communities after the repair. According to him, the affected areas in Badagry town, Ajara communities, Vrekete, Cele Keta, Poshukor, Zogbakame, Finayon, Vetho, Iy...
Borno governor extends service years of tertiary institution staff to 65
Governor Babagana Umara Zulum has approved the service elongation of academic staff of tertiary institutions in Borno State. Zulum has assented to the bill passed by the Borno State House of Assembly on the service elongation. A statement from the Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Governor, Baba Sheikh Haruna, indicates that, the tenure of service year of the academic staff is now 65 years of retirement age and 40 years of service. ” The approval followed a bill sent to the legislature by the Executive for the elongation of service year of academic Staff of tertiary institutions in the country. ” The Nine tertiary institutions in Borno to benefit include the Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri, Kashim Ibrahim College of Education Maiduguri, Umar Ibn Ibrahim College of Education Science and ...
Delta government heads to Supreme Court to reclaim £4.2 million James Ibori loot
The Delta State Government says it will challenge federal government’s plan to deploy the recently returned £4.2 million (around N2.2 billion) recovered from former governor, James Ibori, at the Supreme Court. The Commissioner for Information, Ehiedu Aniagwu, disclosed this on Tuesday while reacting to news of the repatriation of the funds, which the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), said would be used to complete the ongoing work on Second Niger Bridge, Abuja-Kano Road and the Lagos-Ibadan road. “We would try to get take advantage of the legal system to make the federal government correct the injustice they are about to visit on us as a state,” he said. “If they are quite sure that the funds they are about to repatriate left Delta State on ...
