The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Boat mishaps: Niger bans operation of old boats

    Aftermath of the drowning of 44 persons due to boat mishaps within six days, Niger state governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu has  banned the operation of old boats to ferry passengers across Niger River.

    He also mandated operators of marine transport service on waterways in the state to provide life jackets for their passengers or quit the sector.

    The banning came on the heels of two boat mishaps within six days along River Niger in Borgu local government area that claimed lives lost due to none availability of life jackets and usage of old boats to ferry people in that axis.

    Penultimate Friday 26 persons were confirmed dead when an overcrowded boat capsized on River Niger when conveying traders from Malale village to Tunga Illo. Another 18 were drown last Thursday at kokoli village, both in Borgu Kingdom.

    The governor’s directives made to prevent further loss of valuable lives and properties of those living in riverine areas in the state, were contained in a statement issued in Minna on Sunday and signed by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Malam Dalandi Ndayebo.

    According to the statement, “The action is intended to ensure that old and rickety boats do not continue to kill valuable lives in the riverine communities”.

    The statement also said the Ministry of Transportation has already been directed to ensure full compliance with all safety standards, including the use of life vests by all passengers.

    Meanwhile about 100 households have been displaced by flood in old Awuru and Fakun communities of Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State.

    The flood submerged about 38 houses, two mosques, farm lands and the market leaving the affected people homeless.

    The displaced persons are been camped in the community primary school serving the two communities.

    Addressing the displaced persons the Special Assistant to the Niger State Governor on Disaster and Emergency Management, Alhaji Mohammed Saba sympathised with the flood victims but blamed them for their refusal to be relocated out of the flood prone areas.

  • Mother sentenced for starving son to death

    Mother sentenced for starving son to death

    An alcoholic British mother who let her 4-year-old son starve to death and left his body in a cot for almost two years was sentenced Friday to 15 years in jail.

    Judge Roger Thomas said Amanda Hutton had failed “to fulfill the most basic responsibilities that you, as a mother, should have fulfilled.”

    The mummified body of Hutton’s son, Hamzah Khan, was found by police at the family’s home in Bradford, northern England, in September 2011. He had died in December 2009.

    The judge said the boy was wearing clothing made for a 6- to 9-month-old child.

    “Although it beggars belief that such a thing can happen, it has, of course, happened here,” the judge said.

    He told Hutton: “It has done so through your purposeful, persistent and gross conduct in failing in that most basic and fundamental requirement that is upon every parent, to feed her child adequately.”

    Hutton was convicted of manslaughter Thursday at Bradford Crown Court.

    The judge said the 43-year-old mother of eight had an alcohol problem and that “you placed your own selfish addiction to drink well before your responsibilities to your many children.”

    The judge said Hamzah’s body was only discovered after a rookie police support officer visited the house following complaints from neighbors about dirty diapers being thrown into their yard. The officer became concerned that something was seriously wrong.

    Source: Huffingtonpost

  • Akpala debuts for Turkish club

    Joseph Akpala finally debuted for Turkish side Karabukspor Saturday in a game the team lost 1-0 at home to Taye Taiwo’s Bursaspor, MTNFootball.com reports.

    Akpala, who made a switch this summer on a loan deal from German side Werder Bremen started the game and lasted for 43 minutes before he was replaced by Yigit Incedemir.

    Akpala was a hero while in Belgium, where he played for Charleroi and Club Brugge.

    However, the story was not the same for the Nigeria striker since he moved to Werder Bremen in Germany.

    He suffered a long-term knee injury and failed to establish himself in the Bremen first team.

     

  • One dies in Ogun auto crash

    The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has said that one person was found dead while 22 others sustained various degrees of injuries in a lone accident on the Abeokuta-Lagos expressway on Saturday.

    The FRSC Unit Commander in Ogun, Mr. Fatai Bakare, told journalists in Ewekoro that the accident occurred at about 11am around Awowo village in Ewekoro Local Government Area of the state.

    Bakare said the accident involved a white Toyota Hiace passenger bus marked (Lagos) BDG 307 AG.

    He said the occupants of the bus were family members and friends who were heading for a wedding at Ojota in Lagos State.

    The commander, who attributed the cause of the auto crash to over-speeding, explained that the driver lost control and it somersaulted.

    ”One female occupant died while 14 other females and eight male occupants sustained varying degrees of injuries,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the FRSC commander as saying on the accident.

    Bakare said the corpse of the female victim had been deposited at the morgue of the General Hospital in Ifo , while the injured persons were also receiving treatment at the hospital.

     

     

  • Egypt frees detained Canadians

    Egypt’s military-backed authorities have released two Canadians held without charge for seven weeks, the Canadian government says.

    BBC reports that Dr .Tarek Loubani and film-maker John Greyson were accused of taking part in deadly political clashes in Cairo.

    The men insisted Dr. Loubani was just helping injured protesters, while Mr. Greyson filmed the violence.

    The releases come hours before fresh demonstrations are expected in central Cairo.

    Supporters and opponents of ousted President Mohammed Morsi have said they will take to the streets.

    No details were immediately available about the reasons for the release of the Canadians. They were detained on the streets of Cairo during the night of a huge crackdown in which hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters were killed and arrested.

    Dr. Loubani’s brother Mohammed told the Toronto Star that the pair had not known they were about to be freed.

    “They just came to their cell and said, ‘Come with us,’ ” Mohammed Loubani said.

    “They had no idea what was happening until they arrived at the police station. They were stunned.”

    The pair spent three weeks on hunger strike to protest their innocence.

    They also said they were treated with brutality while in prison.

     

  • Crash: I have lost my replacement in politics, says Falae

    More sympathizers have continued to pay condolence visits to the residence of the former Secretary to the Government of Federation (SGF), Chief Olu Falae who lost his second son, Deji, in  the Associated aircraft  crash in Lagos last Thursday.

    Deji Falae, a Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, led Ondo State Government officials to Lagos State to convey the remains of former Governor Olusegun Agagu to Akure for Lying-In-State in Akure, the State Capital.

    Falae sat close to his wife, Rachael wept  profusely, while he was being consoled by sympathizers who besieged his residence.

    The prominent politician who only uttered few words said  he had gotten to his own peak of political life, explaining  that he saw Deji as his replacement.

    “I have lost my replacement in politics. I thought he would take over from me. It is very sad and a great lost to my family.

    “I never influenced  his appointment in Mimiko’s cabinet despite my relationship with the government. I can swear, Deji has passion for Nigeria politics, development of Ondo State and Nigeria. It is a great loss”

    Akure South/North federal constituency representative at the Lower Chamber, Hon. Ifedayo Abegunde a.k.a, Abena who commiserated with Falae, said he was not there as a Lawmaker but a member of the family.

    He described the late Deji as an illustrious son of Akure who has a great passion for the community.

    Abegunde who also wept, while consoling Baba Falae, urged the people of Akure to embark on prayers, adding that the Liaison officer of the State in Lagos State, Mrs. E. Alabi who lost her life in the crash was an Akure indigene.

  • PPMC pipeline on fire in Delta

    At least four persons were critically injured when a pipeline of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company exploded around Adeje town in Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State on Saturday evening.
    It was gathered that victims of the explosion were carrying out repair work on the vandalised  facility of PPMC, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporations, when it exploded and went up in flame.
    Security source said the incident occurred near a Mobile Police base in the area.
    The victims were deployed to the scene to clamp the pipeline after the facility,  which conveys petroleum products to Benin City depot of PPMC and other parts of the country, was attacked by suspected illegal bunkerers.
    The fate  of the wounded oil workers could not be immediately ascertained.
    Sources told our reporter that they were rushed to the Delta State University Teaching Hospital in nearby Oghara, Ethiope West LGA.
    The facility was still on on fire at the time of this report last night
    It could not be ascertained if PPMC or its parent company had made any effort to out off the fire.
    Motorists on the Benin/Warri ‎highway said huge bellow of smoke enveloped the road from the fire scene.
    “The fire was raging, and there was no sign of a firefighting team when we passed there about 30minutes ago,” a commercial bus driver told our reporter on telephone.

  • Another boat mishap claims 18 lives in Niger

    Barely six days after  a boat mishap on River Niger claimed 26 lives in Malali village in Borgu Local Government Area in Niger State, another marine disaster occurred on Thursday leaving no fewer than 18 persons feared dead.

    Just like the Malali disaster, the Thursday mishap occurred at about 4pm when a commercial boat conveying about 80 traders back from the weekly Thursday market in Kokoli to Ulakami split into two and capsized on River Niger.

    The boat which was alleged to be very old and rickety was said to have split into two midway of the 10 kilometre journey leading to the drown and subsequent death of 18 passengers.

    The captain and the owner of the boat are said to have gone into hiding following protest in the village by some youths.

    An eye witness who was on another boat near the ill-fated one said it was the cry for help by the passengers in the capsized boat that drew the attention of other boats for rescue.

    62 persons were rescued while 13 bodies were picked dead and five persons missing are feared dead 48 hours after the accident.

    A survivor Umar Ibrahim said he was at a loss for the cause of the accident. He noted that the old rickety boat just split into two mid-way into their trip and passengers were thrown into confusion and people struggling to swim to safety.

    Ibrahim said his mastery of swimming saw him through the harrowing period as he quickly joined other rescue team and was able to rescue about 10 people all who were women and children.

    He attributed the low rate of casualty to the timely intervention of other boat captains and their passengers who could swim.

    According to him, “but for the prompt response by other boats around it would have been a disaster. No one would have  survived, because the bank of the river is far away. Other boat captains and their passengers launched a rescue party and used their boats to carry the rescued to safety”.

    Youths in the village went wild looking for the driver and the owner of the boat, as the duo took to their heels for fear of attack because the the poor state of the boat was blamed for  the accident.

    As soon as the disaster was broken in Minna the Niger State capital, government dispatched a rescue team led by the Special Adviser to the governor on Disaster and Emergency management Malam Mohammed Saba to Kokoli for on the spot assessment.

    Confirming the incident to the government delegation, the village head of Kokoli, Alhaji Mohammed  Garba said he went round after the mishap and gathered that 13 bodies were picked and five persons were missing as at Saturday morning.

    Addressing the survivors, families of the victims and some aggrieved youth who blamed the accident on the rickety state of the boat, the governor’s aide appealed for calm. He assured them that government was set to overhaul marine transport service in the state.

  • Airtel ranked ninth Africa’s most admired global brand

    Airtel ranked ninth Africa’s most admired global brand

    Bharti Airtel, a leading telecommunications service provider with operations in South Asia and Africa, has emerged as one of Africa’s top ten most admired global brands.

    A new survey conducted by the African Business magazine indicates that despite only a three year presence in Africa, Airtel was ninth on the list of the top ten most admired global brands on the continent.

    Except for Samsung which grew its brand value year-on-year by 121 per cent, Airtel’s 30 percent brand value increase was better than any of the others in the top ten, including that of leader Coca Cola, which grew just 27 percent.

    Its 30 per cent brand value growth indicates that the telecommunications company is connecting with communities in Africa.

    Commenting on the achievement, Andre Beyers, Chief Marketing Officer at Airtel Africa, said: “When we launched the Airtel brand in 2010, our overall vision was to be the most loved brand in Africa by 2015. This recognition from the African Business Awards is proof that we are on the right track. ”

    “During the past three years, we have invested resources to provide customers with value added services and have reached out to the communities that we serve. We expect even better results over the coming years,” he said.

    Airtel Africa now has the largest 3G country footprint in sub Saharan Africa. The telecommunications company, which has launched 3G services in 14 African countries, recently hit the 15 million data user landmark in Africa.

  • Three crew members survived crash – NCAA

    Three crew members survived crash – NCAA

    … Feyi  Agagu responding to treatment

    The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority said on Friday that three crew members of the ill-fated air craft that crashed in Lagos on Thursday were among the victims the survived the crash and are currently receiving treatment at various hospitals in the state.

    They are – two cabin crew members and a flight engineer.

    The Head of Aero Medical Directorate of the NCAA, Dr. Theresa Bassey, who made this disclosure, also said the son of the late Ondo State governor, Feyi is doing well at the hospital.

    According to her, Feyi has started talking with friends and family members.

    Speaking at the crisis centre opened for victims of the crash at the NCAA Annex at the Lagos Airport, Dr. Bassey, said one of the female survivors had a successful surgery and is responding to treatment.

    She said two survivors are in the intensive care unit of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) because of the intense burns and fracture.

    She said, “Seven of the survivors are doing well at the hospital. There are three crew members – two cabin crew members and a flight technician.

    “One of the crew members has undergone a surgery and she is doing well. Two other passengers that survived have been sent to the intensive care unit of LASUTH.

    “I can confirm to you that Feyi Agagu is alive and kicking. He is responding to treatment and has started talking to friends and family members.

    “The two survivors at the intensive care unit have severe burns and fracture. I cannot tell when they will be released, but they are doing well at the hospital.”