The Nation Newspaper

Tag: lagos

  • Peace returns to Lagos NURTW

    Peace returns to Lagos NURTW

    WARRING factions of Lagos State Council of the National Union of  Road Transport Workers (NURTW) have resolved their rift.
    The parties held hands and hugged at a reconciliation meeting at the Council’s office.
    The meeting was at the instance of the union’s National President, Alhaji Najeem Usman Yasin.
    While the dispute lasted, the Council was factionalised, with one faction loyal to former Chairman, Alhaji Rafiu Akanni Olohunwa and the other to the former Treasurer, Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya (MC Oluomo).
    The crisis led to violent clashes between members.
     Elated by the success of the reconciliation effort, state Chairman Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede,  promised to accommodate all.
    He warned members to desist from rumour mongering, because it was the peddling of unsubstantiated information in the past that caused the Council’s initial problem.
    Olohunwa urged members to forgive each other of past infractions.
    He added:: “I want you people to forgive me of any atrocity I might have committed while in office. To err is human, to forgive is divine” Olohunwa pledged his loyalty to the new administration under the leadership of Agbede.”
    He implored the new Chairman to accommodate everybody.
     Akinsanya also thanked everybody for the role they played in ensuring that peace returned to the Council.

  • Rotary donates incubator

    •The cenotaph inaugurated

    Rotary Culb of Oke-Afa, District 9110 has donated an incubator to the Pediatric Department of Isolo General Hospital, Isolo, Lagos.The club also inaugurated a new cenotaph at Isolo-Pako roundabout.

    It was a happy moment for the president of the club, Rotarian Chiejina Chinedu as he and his members expressed joy at the success of the event.

    “There is always a need to affect the lives of most especially children who are sick. Children are our future and there is the need to lift them. This makes the club to donate the incubator to the hospital,” he said.

    The president and his members were happy to host the Distric Governor, Mr Kamoru Omotosho and his entourage,saying: “We have a focus and a goal for the community which must be fulfilled”.

    He said he had interacted with other Rotarians, most especially those in Oke-Afa to support the less-privileged within the community. “This is a club that cares for the needy and the public is encouraged to join us,”he said.

    The medical director of the hospital , Dr. R. O. Aromire, thanked the club, the district governor and members for donating the equipment. He promised to always keep the tool in good shape.

    The district governor advised the club and their friends to focus on their goal. “Oke-Afa club is among one of the smallest groups in rotary and they are seeing the impact to the public, most especially the old and new cenotaph at Isolo-Pako roundabout.
    He urged the club to change their way of doing things and strategise more to attract more public participation

  • ‘We are not losing the battle’ – Inspector-General of Police

    NOTWITHSTANDING the killing of three of his men by bandits in Lagos on Sunday, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, said the police are on top of the game.

    The IGP spoke in Lagos yesterday at the Military Hospital, Yaba, where he visited five police officers, who are being treated for injuries sustained on peace-keeping mission in Darfur, Sudan.

    He said the raid by robbers was not enough to conclude his men are losing the anti-crime war.

    According to him, what happened on Sunday were parts of the hazards of the job that would not deter the police.

    The IGP said: “When policemen are chasing criminals, criminals will also be chasing them.

    So, the tendency of policemen been attacked is there.”

    “We are not losing the battle. What happened yesterday (Sunday) is one of the hazards of the job. We will remain focused.”

    Noting that violent crimes and other crimes were on the rise when he took the saddle, Abubakar said the has changed.

    He said: “We assure Nigerians to do our best in terms of protection of life and property, security management and control, law and order.

    The patrol vehicle you see on the road is the beginning. I am promising that more are on the way.

    “What we need is the support of Nigerians, the government of the day and the provision of the much-needed equipment and the rest will be done by the police.”

  • Lagos ACN slams debasement of national honours

    The Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has slammed the federal government for awarding national honours to Nigerians with questionable integrity.

    The party said that the latest list of awardees shows that the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration is not listening to Nigerians on how to redeem a process that has been allegedly abused.

    In a statement in Lagos, the State Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, said that the names released for national honours shows that it is a pot pouri of businessmen who have no scruples, friends and associates of those in government, discredited contractors and acolytes of those in power, especially at the federal level and mainly Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members who have done absolutely nothing than live off the state.

    It regrets that what was instituted as a badge of honour has been bastardized such that Nigerians see it as badge of dishonour.

    The statement reads: “Going through the names of the newest awardees of various categories of national honours, one notices that those that compiled the names see the honour as reward for their friends, associates, business fronts, party men and nothing more.

    We see the awards still as a whimsical ritual that further erodes the entire concept when Nigerians desire an enrichment of the nation’s moral codes.

    It is regrettable that the government did not take into consideration recent expressions of disappointment of Nigerians with the award and make necessary amends in the current list.

    “Rather, what we see is a mix of names of people whom Nigerians cannot place in the events that have shaped this country for good.

    We are shocked that the same tardy way and manner this regime has been known to handle critical issues was on display in this latest list as there is no binding code of honour that unites these latest lists of awardees, as it should be.

    We only see a combination of people, most of whom have played negative roles in the evolution of Nigeria till the present where we have a wrecked country in our hands.

    “We would have expected that the massive public outcry against the list of awardees last year would have forced this regime to ensure the adoption of strict guidelines in arriving at subsequent lists of awardees, but our hope for improvement has been dashed again by the current list.

    We do not feel that we should continue this way as such honours stand to be consigned to the dustbin in the very nearest future if nothing is done to sanitize them.

    “We feel that this nation is making itself a laughing stock in the comity of nations when we continue to reward thousands of people every year with national honours when the country is regressing badly.

    We feel there is nothing wrong in suspending the awards for some years while the country grapples with the enormous problems starring it in the face.”

  • Lagos builds three housing estates

    The effort of the Lagos State Government to provide decent housing for its teeming population is yielding fruits as three new projects will be handed over to subscribers soon.
    They are a block of luxury flats at Parkview Ikoyi, Maisonette duplex at Ikeja and Gbagada Housing schemes, expressed satisfaction with the rate of completion of the luxury flats at Parkview, Ikoyi.
    He praised the contractors for a job well done and for striving to deliver within the time frame.
    The six units of three-bedroom flats sit on 2,100 square metres in the highbrow area. Its facilities include swimming pool, lawn tennis court, adequate parking space, water treatment plant and others.
    Gbagada has 11 blocks of 88 units of three and four-bedroom maisonettes on a 3.262 hectares of land.
    Ikeja has 76 units of four-bedroom maisonettes in the GRA. The estate has the accompaniment of paved roads with parking lots; mini-water works and independent power supply.
    Jeje expressed satisfaction at the pace of work done and promised that the project will be delivered as at when due.

  • Lagos to rehabilitate monuments, tourism sites

    TO boost tourism, the Lagos State Government is to rehabilitate monuments and landmarks in the state, the Ministry of Tourism and Intergovernmental Relations has said.
    Speaking during a tour of some sites over the weekend, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Tourism and Intergovernmental Relations, Mrs. MorounRanti Alebiosu, said the inspection would enable the ministry make appropriate recommendations on ways of restoring their lost glory.

    The sites visited included: the Tinubu Square, Glover Hall, Daily Times of Nigeria (DTN) office at Kakawa Street, the first Mosque in the state, the site where pipe borne water was first inaugurated in Nigeria at Enu-Owa, the first public toilet in Nigeria, situated at Isale Eko, and the Freedom Park among others.

    Mrs. Alebiosu promised that the originality and content of the monuments and sites would be retained despite their planned rehabilitation.

    A comprehensive report and data on all abandoned and uncompleted buildings would be made to the government with a view of making them useful, she added.

    The rehabilitation, she said, would boost tourism, adding that the Babatunde Fashola’s administration is determined to preserve the rich cultural heritage of the state.

    The Commissioner for Tourism and Intergovernmental Relations, Mr. Oladisun Holloway and some officials of the Ministry also visited the Gbemisola Street, Ikeja, residence of the late Afrobeat icon.

    Holloway said government’s plan to rehabilitate Fela’s shrine and turn it into a museum, was part of the way government intends to immortalise the late Afrobeat legend. He expressed satisfaction with the work so far done on the house.

    Pledging government’s readiness to immortalise other deserving Nigerians, Holloway said the Fashola administration would continue to partner stakeholders in tourism to move the sector forward.