The Nation Newspaper

Category: City Beats

  • Lagos trains 440 Maths teachers

    Lagos trains 440 Maths teachers

    Lagos State Government has trained 440 secondary school teachers.

    No fewer than 15 teachers had earlier benefited from the Mathematics Clinic.

    The training, the Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, was aimed at improving students performance in Mathematics.

    In an interaction with reporters in Lagos, Mrs Oladunjoye said the objective was “to update the knowledge of mathematics teachers in the state public secondary schools and equally improve the teaching and learning of the subject for improved performance”.

    She added: “The objective of the clinic is to improve the teaching skills and competence of the mathematics teachers and expose them to some new topics in the subject. The move will also be complemented by the provision of needed instructional materials in schools for enhanced performance.

    The training focused on different strategies including active learning, effective teaching, use of resource materials, such as, teaching modules and kits to simplify the teaching of identified difficult concepts in Mathematics, alongside practical steps for overall effective teaching of the subject among others.

    Other aims included “enhancing students’ interest in Mathematics, offering effective counselling, setting up mathematics laboratories in schools, use of games and computer for teaching, assessment and grading for effective evaluation procedure, content mastering and innovative teaching and learning skills”.

    The Commissioner expressed hope that the training would support expected improvement in the teaching and learning of the subject; cause discoveries of new ways and methodologies in its teaching.

  • SpiritOfLagos fetes the needy

    SpiritOfLagos fetes the needy

    For their support for the “Good Neighbourliness” arm of the SpiritOfLagos,  Lagosians have received the thumbs up.

    SpiritOfLagos Project Director Olaniyi Omotoso championed “Good Neighbourliness” to encourage Lagosians to show love to one another by donating items to the Gbagada-based Child Life Line, a non-profit, charitable association committed to supporting the needy.

    Omotoso praised those who donated items, such as, perishable food items, educational materials, clothes and sporting gears, saying their response, was encouraging and showed that the SpiritOfGood neighbourliness truly resides in Lagos.

    He said: “We are overwhelmed by what we are seeing today. Even with a short notice, Lagosians have expressed love even to these young children who are products of circumstances beyond them. Good neighbourliness is one of the four pillars that the SpiritOfLagos stands on. It is through good neighbourliness that our community can truly develop. And with the donation of these items today, these vulnerable children in Child Life Line will from today begin to enjoy a new lease of life”.

    The SpiritOfLagos,  he said, would continue to support the Child Life Line as it seeks to empower children, mostly between ages 10 and 18, through formal and vocational education and reconnect them with their families.

    In the spirit of the Yuletide, members of the SpiritOfLagos also had a Christmas party for the children.

    Mrs. Sally Udoma, President, Child Life Line, thanked members of SpiritOfLagos for championing “a worthy cause”, urging the organisation to continue to support the group to make its vision a reality.

    Child Life Line, according to her, had been able to reunite some children with their families in the last 20 years. Some of the children, she said, had been nurtured to be self reliant, self supporting and independent through the provision of formal and informal education.

  • How man lost leg, daughter same day

    How man lost leg, daughter same day

    •’I’ve accepted my fate, but the pains won’t go’

    Usually, on his birthday, his home is a beehive, with family members and friends coming to rejoice with him.

    But this December 12 was different. Kaseem Ayinla, 64, was not in a celebration mood because of his condition.

    He looked at his amputated right leg on his wheel chair in front of his Ogunlesi Street, Palmgrove, Lagos home and shook his head. A few sympathisers, mostly his tenants, watched as he struggled to suppress his emotion. Breaking his silence after a deep sigh, he cleared his throat, saying: “Al-hamdu-lillahi (To Allah be the glory).

    “I can’t but accept my fate, but I don’t know what I have done to deserve this; and the pains have refused to go,” he said.  

    Ayinla, popularly addressed as Oluaye by admirers, is the younger brother of former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Jubril Ayinla.

    How did it happen? He recalled that it happened shortly after last year’s  Eid-il-Kabir celebration. Ayinla said his first daughter, Bidemi, who was on admission at a Lagos hospital, died from shock minutes after his leg was amputated at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi (NOHI) in Yaba, Lagos Mainland.

    He said: “Everyone around me knows that sickness is alien to me. The day this trouble began, it was like a bad dream. About 5pm, I took a stroll to a friend’s shop just a stone’s throw to my home to take a bottle of drink. Before settling down there, I headed for the toilet to ease myself. To my dismay, my legs suddenly went stiff and lifeless. I could not move the legs. All I could ask myself was: ‘what is this?’ I had to wait for whoever would come there to urinate. Not quite five minutes later, a man came around and I pleaded with him to assist me. He was the one that promptly alerted others who came to carry me home.”

    After sometime, he regained the use of his left leg, but the right “unbearable pains.” “It was as if the bones in the leg were being smashed by an invisible hammer,” he said.

    From then, he became a regular caller at the NOHI, the Navy Hospital and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja in his search hospitals for treatment.

    NOHI eventually became his second home. “I spent weeks there; I lost count of how many patients gave up the ghost while I was there, which is why I feel I have cause to thank Allah for this gift of life. Before I was rushed there, I was sitting in front of my house when strangely, my right foot dropped off. As one of my children was packing it inside a poly bag, maggots were dropping from the rotting portion. Like everyone around me, I was alarmed. So, my journey to Igbobi (NOHI) began,” he said.

    He went on: “If I had thought that I had a brother in Vice Admiral (Jubril), I knew better that I have a father in him. He is a rare one that any family would pray fervently to have. When he was not with me at my sickbed, he is on phone asking for my condition. He made sure I lacked nothing throughout my dark moments. Ah …… (Virtually lost in spontaneous effusive prayers). He rushed in from abroad, met with the doctors around and dropped more than the money I would need pending when he would return. He did not leave without assuring me that Allah was with me.”

    Ayinla said his doctor cracked jokes with him to get his back off the surgery.

    “I was made to fix my gaze on a moving object on an electronic board in my front after giving me some injections minutes earlier. I only got to know that I had lost my right leg some minutes later when the pains began. It was traumatic,” Kazeem said.

    While he was awaiting surgery, the late Bidemi was in pains in another hospital. A relation, who got wind of her father’s predicament, broke the news of his amputated leg to her during a visit her.

    “Hearing that his father’s leg had been amputated, Bidemi was said to have screamed on her sickbed and that was how she died instantly. But the news of her death was not broken to me until later on my birthday – December 12, last year,” Kazeem said, explaining: “I was at home here when my brother (Jubril) came with all sorts of gifts as it was my birthday. Some of my children and relations were around too. Shortly after settling down, my brother moved closer and held me by my shoulder. I was moved by the display of brotherly love. He reminded me that I was no longer a kid and that at my age and life experience, nothing should move me badly. So, he dropped the bombshell: ‘Take heart and be a man; Bidemi is no more!’ I was shattered. I wept like a baby. It was a day I would never forget in my life.”

    AVM Ayinla then got him a wheel-chair to aid his movements in his compound. Not long after, the ex-naval officer returned from abroad with a motorized wheel-chair which, according to Kazeem, costs between N1.5million and N2million. With the wheelchair, he can visit friends in the neighbourhood with ease.

    Weeks after, another a medical test revealed that the problem in his amputated right leg was about affecting the other. Then, he had to undergo another surgery on his stomach.

    Pulling off his shirt to show the reporter the affected part of his stomach, Kazeem said: “You can see the stitched portion. It was done in Abuja. My brother flew in experts from abroad to do it. It cost him about N5million. You can only join me in daily prayers for him (Jubril); he is my human saviour. Even after the surgeries, he has been taking adequate care of my upkeep and that of his other siblings among others in and outside the family.”

    On Saturday, the reporter saw him cruising around in his motorised wheel-chair. He was in a flowing agbada with cap to match. He told the reporter: “What has happened has happened; we have to move on with Allah behind us.”

    After a  exchange of pleasantries, he rode off, beaming with smiles.

  • Tricycle snatching gang smatched in Lagos

    Tricycle snatching gang smatched in Lagos

    A four-man armed robbery gang that specialised in snatching tricycles and robbing both the rider and the passengers in Lagos and nearby states has been smashed by the operative of the special Anti-Robbery squad (SARS) Lagos state police command.

    The suspects are Akazue Nwakonuche a.k.a. Akachkwu aged 26, Okeke Christian a.ka. Chris aged 29, Paul Igwe a.k.a wiper and gang leader aged 20, the forth member Monday Nwankpa is still at large.  The incident occuredonDecember  11at about 9.30pm at Ikotun, a suburb of Lagos.

    According to police sources,  tricycle snatching came as a surprise because most robbers go for car snatching because they have standby buyers whereas it is not easy to remove tricycle from park without being caught. As the news of the arrest of the tricycle snacher  got to the Commissioner of Police Kayode Aderanti, he instructed the  officer in charge of SARS,  Superintendent Abba Kyari to fish out the remaining members of the gang

    This led to the arrest of two more members of the gang namely Okeke and Igwe while efforts have been intensified to track down Monday who is now in hiding.

    Narrating how it happened the first suspect Akazue said, “I was the first person to be arrested because I was not able to escape with my colleagues when the mob was pursuing us that fateful day.

    He said further:”I am from Anam Community in Anambra State. I am a musician. I sing hip pop and gospel music. I wanted to wax one of my songs, How I suffered before I realised that the world is a school and every experience is a teacher. I could not complete senior secondary three (SS3) because of financial problem. I am the first son of my parent’s eight children.

    “ I later became a an apprentice to my uncle, Mr. Nonso Nwankwo, in Onitsha head bridge market where he trades in building materials for five years. When he could not help me in the year 2010, I came  to Lagos to live with another uncle called Anayo who sells clothes in Ikotun. I have two brothers in Lagos. One travelled to India an left his shop for me”.

     On how he joined the gang he said, “ Paul introduced me into snatching tricycle and I told him that the job was the best . The next day he came with Nwankpa and asked me to join them and I joined.

    “The next day being Thursday they called me to follow them to do the job which put me in this trouble. Paul gave me a toy gun and was holding cutlass while Okeke was not holding anything.

    Continuing his story, he said” We went to Ikotun roundabout and chattered a tricycle for N300  to take us to Austino hotel. As we were approaching the building, Paul gave me a sign to bring out my gun. I pointed the toy gun at the head of the rider but when on realising that it was a toy gun, be refused to comply. He forciblymoved   his tricycle, fought me and ran to alert people calling us thieves, thieves. As I tried to escape I fell down and they arrested me and handed me over to Ikotun Police while others escaped. They later transferred me to SARS and used me to arrest Okeke and later Paul while Nwankpa is still at large.

    The second suspect okeke said, “I am from Umunze, Anambra State. I sell ladies wears in Ikotun. It is our gang leader Paul that informed me of the job. My role was to search the tricycle rider and passengers to collect their money, handsets and any other valuables I could lay hands on.

    The third suspect Paul said: “My alias name is Wiper. I am their gang leader. The idea to rob and snatch tricycle came when I was smoking Indian Hemp with Nwankpa and one gang member called rough man who is a receiver of stolen goods.

    “Roughman promised to buy each TVS tricycle we snatch N150,000, I am the one that called all of them

    The owner of the tricycle, one Chukwudi Ebirim, was beaten up by Akazue when he was struggling  with him to take over the  tricycle.

  • Fashola urges more young people in decision making position

    Fashola urges more young people in decision making position

    Lagos State Governor  Babatunde Fashola SAN, has  flagged off the 2014 Countdown at the popular Lagos Bar Beach in Victoria Island advocating more participation of young people in leadership and decision-making as a means to fast track the development of the country.

    Addressing the quality crowd comprising of representatives of sponsors, artistes and residents that witnessed the colourful yearly event, Governor Fashola said the sustenance and continued improvement in the standard of the ceremony by the Lagos State Signage and Advertising Agency (LASAA), an outfit run by young people, has shown what young people could do when given the chance and with the right government in place.

    The governor said LASAA has become an example of what the Nigerian young people were capable of achieving when given the chance to lead, adding that governments at all levels in the country should challenge them with policies and programmes that are capable of bringing the best out of them.

    “LASAA is, perhaps, one of the many outfits that we have in Lagos now led and run by young people. It is an example of what is possible. If the right governments and the right people allow Nigerian young people to lead, policies and programmes that challenge young people will bring out the best in them”, he said.

    Noting that the nation is too blessed with resourceful and talented young people to be dealing with the challenges that she is currently facing, Governor Fashola said the state has shown, through many of its agencies, that things could be fixed if young people  are entrusted to take decisions.

    He said:“Lagos has shown through LASAA, through Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), through its Electricity Board and through Public Works Corporation, among others, that things can be fixed if we entrust young people to take decisions. They know what they are doing with the right supports and with the right answers”.

    Going down memory lane on how the countdown began, Governor Fashola recalled that it commenced sometimes between 2004 and 2005 at a small space close to the road which was the only place left of the Beach by Sea erosion, adding that it took the courage of his predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to say the erosion must be  stopped.

    “We had lost the road, all of the properties on this shore line had disappeared and all that the Federal Government of Nigeria was doing was pumping sand here every two years only for it to be washed away. It was that courage thatgave birth to   the partnership with South Energy and today not only that we reclaimed the road, businesses are back”, the Governor said.

    He expressed joy that more businesses are now emerging at the small and micro levels where, according to him, “people can come here and say to themselves when they leave home, those three important words, “I am going to work”.

    Governor Fashola, who emphasised the importance of job creation added, “But what did we do with that dream; we built on it, we developed it and after we had saved the beach, the next challenge was how to turn nature’s assets, an Atlantic coastline, into an opportunity for tourism, for economic development and for daily prosperity”.

    “The countdown started as a last few days event, it has become a last one month event. But for me, the work is not finished. What we have done here for the last month of the year must now happen every month and from there on to every day; that is when the story will be complete”, he said.

    According to him, the dream was to turn the Beach into a place where there would be commerce, sports, cycling, buying and selling and where the whole world would fly into the country and into the state and say “we are going to the Lagos Bar Beach waterfront the way they go to many other waterfronts across the world; that is the dream”.

    Governor Fashola, however, told his audience, “But it would not happen by accidents, it will happen only if people who know howto continue to maintain and run the affairs of Lagos State. This has not happened by accident, it has happened because a government and a party that  know what they are doing to  run the affairs of Lagos”.

    To sustain the tradition of Excellence, therefore, the APC Candidate remains the best bet for Lagosians, the Governor said adding, “The time to make our choices come upon us in the next few weeks”.

  • Prison authority plans yuletide celebration for prison inmates in Lagos

    The Lagos State Command of the Nigerian Prison Service on Wednesday said that it would give inmates kind treatments during yuletide.

     The command’s spokesman,Mr Biyi Jeje, told reporters that the inmates would be made to feel at  home.

    He said that they would be given adequate food  for the yuletide.

    “The way everyone is celebrating Christmas in his house is exactly the way it would be celebrated in the prisons too.

    “The only thing is that they are denied their rights.

    “Each prison will get two cows to celebrate the yuletide,’’ he said.

    The spokesman further said that all prisons in the state had held carol services.

    “Every prison held carol service during which family and friends of the inmates came to celebrate with them.

    “Food and drinks were allowed, but alcohol was not served.

    “All the food and drinks were in plastics, no canned or bottled drink was allowed into the prisons,’’ he said.

    Jeje appealed to corporate organisations to imbibe the habit of celebrating yuletide with inmates for them to feel appreciated.

    He also said that the ban on the use of mobile phones was still in force in the command.

    According to him, there is a call centre in each prison where inmates could go and make calls.

    “The ban on use of personal phones is in full force as directed by the Federal Government.

    “All prisons have call centres with designated phones in the welfare office, so it is unlawful for any inmates to have a personal phone,’’ he said.

    Jeje said that the centres were meant for inmates to communicate with their families.

  • 2014 end of year party: Fashola urges children to work hard in their studies

    2014 end of year party: Fashola urges children to work hard in their studies

    Lagos State Governor  Babatunde Fashola, SAN and his wife, Dame Emmanuella Abimbola Fashola on Tuesday hosted the 2014 Lagos State Annual Children’s Party with the Governor urging the children to continue to work hard in their studies and obey their parents.

    The Governor, who spoke during the party which was held at the Open field of the Lagos House, Ikeja added that by studying hard, the students can achieve all the desired greatness in life.

    He added that the children should learn to be safe during the holiday periods by refraining from talking to strangers or collecting items from them in addition to ensuring that they report such strange faces to their parents.

    He said the children should also be appreciative of the efforts of the teachers who have been instrumental to the successes they have recorded in their academic pursuits and should also do the same to their parents whose taxes has ensured the sustenance of the children’s party.

    “It is because of those taxes that your Daddy and Mummy pay that has ensured that you can also go to School. So when you grow up and become Mummy and Daddy, are you going to pay your own taxes too?”, he sought to know.

    He prayed that next year everyone would be alive to witness another children’s party celebration but that by then, he would no more be the Governor of the State just as his wife would no longer be the First Lady of Lagos State.

  • NDLEA arrests four suspected drug traffickers

    NDLEA arrests four suspected drug traffickers

    The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested four suspected drug traffickers at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja, Lagos.

    The suspects are: Omidiya Taiwo (44), who works at a foreign automobile company; Anikwe Chukwudi Charles (25), a hotel attendant in Lagos; Igwe Nelson Chidi (24), a student, and Agomuo Ekwutosi Basil (44), an Imo State-based farmer. About 6.135 kilogrammes of narcotics were seized from them.

    NDLEA Lagos Airport Commander, Mr. Hamza Umar gave the breakdown of the drug as 4.290 kilogrammes of heroin; 570 grammes of methamphetamine and 1.275 kilogrammes of cocaine.

    “Omidiya Taiwo was found in possession of 525 grammes of cocaine and 1.540 kilogrammes of heroin. He ingested 87 wraps and concealed others in his pants on his way to Spain. Anikwe Chukwudi Charles was intercepted with 570 grammes of methamphetamine concealed in the handles of his luggage on his way to Malaysia. Igwe Nelson Chidi was found with 750 grammes of cocaine hidden under his luggage and Agomuo Ekwutosi Basil was caught with 2.750 kilogrammes of heroin hidden inside his luggage while returning from Pakistan. They are cooperating with our team of investigators and will be charged to court soon,” Umar said.

    Taiwo, who works in Spain, said he was introduced into drug trafficking by a friend. “I have been living in Spain for the past 14 years where I work with an automobile company. My friend in Barcelona called me and requested that I should bring drugs to Spain. He even contacted somebody who gave me the drugs in Lagos. After swallowing 87 wraps, I hid the remaining in my pants because the wraps were many. I was sad when the drug was detected at the airport because I would have made a fortune from it,” Omidiya, who hails from Ogun State, said.

    Charles said he was on his way to Malaysia for studies when he was caught with the drugs. “I was working as a hotel attendant in Lagos when a customer asked me if I am a graduate. I told him that I have five credits but could not go further in my education because of lack of finance. He promised to help me and he used to give me money any time he came around. He called me that he had completed my admission for further studies in Malaysia. That was how he paid my travel expenses and gave me a bag to take to Malaysia. He said his friend would collect the bag from me and assist me secure my admission. Unfortunately, drug was found inside the handle of the bag he gave me.”

    Chidi, who hails from Imo State, said: “I got admission two months ago to study Tourism and Hotel Management in Cyprus. While in Nigeria, a friend in Cyprus called me to bring narcotics for a fee of E5,000. That was how I got involved in drug trafficking. I wanted to use the money to settle my fees and buy books for my study. This is a big setback for my career.”

    Basil, a farmer, said he was suffering in the village when his friend asked him to go to Pakistan. “I am a farmer in Imo State. It was difficult for me to feed my wife with one child because of hardship. A friend invited me to Pakistan and promised to sponsor my trip and help me secure a good job. When I got to Pakistan, he told me there was no job but that I should take drugs to Nigeria. He promised to give me N500, 000 to start up my business if I succeeded in taking the drugs to Nigeria. Since life was becoming unbearable, I decided to take the risk. I was, however, not lucky as I was arrested at the airport in Lagos.”

    NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Ahmadu Giade warned drug trafficking syndicates that the agency would continue to intercept narcotics, arrest traffickers and prosecute them.

    “We have put in place measures to intercept narcotics this end-of-year season. Drug traffickers planning to smuggle drugs through the country shall be apprehended and prosecuted. I am happy with the arrests, particularly that of 25-year-old Anikwe Chukwudi Charles, a hotel attendant, who was taking drugs to Malaysia where drug trafficking attracts capital punishment, “he said.

  • Muslim professionals, Dubai scholar for convention

    Muslim professionals, Dubai scholar for convention

    The Guild of Muslim Professionals for Peace and Development (GMP) will hold its 2014 Convention at the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) Chalets in Badagry, Lagos  tomorrow and on Sunday.

    Tagged Professionals Beyond Borders, the four-day leadership training and networking programme will have Director of Studies, School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dr Assem Al-Hajj as key speaker.

    The event will feature keynote sessions, panel discussions, valuable networking and brainstorming hours.

    Mr. Faheed Olajide, one of the conveners, said Al-Hajj has 20 years of industry consultancy services and academic experience.

    Olajide, the General Project Manager, Alcatel-Lucent, said the convention is aimed at providing an ideal platform for networking and learning.

    “It will provide first-hand information on the corporate world, finding new business contacts on all business opportunities and upgrading career strategies for the upcoming years,” he said.

    The GMP, Olajide explained, is dedicated to building professional leaders, creating opportunities for growth and enhancing peaceful coexistence in the workforce and in everyday life.

  • Synagogue: Rescue agencies not prevented, says witness

    Synagogue: Rescue agencies not prevented, says witness

    The Lagos coroner heard yesterday that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) were not barred from carrying out rescue work at the site of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) collapsed guest house.

    SCOAN’s Chief Security Officer (CSO), Sunday Okogie, told the coroner, Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe, that no member of the church prevented NEMA and LASEMA officials from rescuing people trapped under the collapsed building.

    The CSO, who tendered the unedited Close Circuit Television (CCTV) footages of the incident from September 12 to September 16, told the court that the recordings contradicted the claims of the agencies that members of the church were hostile and prevented them from accessing the scene of the incident.

    Okogie pointed out that both agencies arrived at the church about an hour after the building collapsed and gained access to the scene in less than a minute.

    “My Lord, on the first day of the incident, as you can see, nobody prevented them from entering into the compound. But as you can see from the video, LASEMA came with only one bus and no heavy-duty equipment as they claimed before this court. It was the same for NEMA. They came ill-equipped for the job of digging out those who were trapped under the rubble,” he said.

    The witness said NEMA and LASEMA officials left the church about 5.45 pm when several persons were still trapped.

    “For the first three days, that was how they were operating. They would resume at about 8 am and leave in the evening as though they were on duty in the office,” he added.

    Also testifying, National Executive Coordinator of Life Savers Foundation (LSF) Mrs. Fola Shoetan said youths from SCOAN played a major role in the rescue work compared to the agencies’ officials.

    She said under the statute, responders were not supposed to move away from a disaster site.

    Shoetan said: “I don’t know when NEMA officials left the scene on the first day. But LASEMA officials left at 10.30 pm on the second day. As at the time LASEMA officials left on the second day, some persons were still trapped at the collapsed site.

    “The LASEMA General Manager (GM), Dr Femi Osanyintolu, did not cooperate very well with other responders and I kept telling him that. Although he is very hard working and always around at the site, what he did most of the time he was around was to hold meetings with his team from the state.”

    She added: “The police, I can confirm were present all through the period of the rescue operation and no security agent ever stopped us from working and to the best of my knowledge nobody was assaulted.”

    She said from her observations, NEMA and LASEMA were not well equipped to manage disasters.

    The witness urged the Federal and Lagos State governments to ensure that adequate equipment are provided for the agencies to effectively contain emergencies.

    Testifying on the role played by her agency and others, she said more Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) should be allowed in rescue operations.