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Tag: lagos

  • Lagos to pay 426 retirees N1.62b

    Lagos to pay 426 retirees N1.62b

    Lagos State is set to pay another batch of 426 retirees their Retirement Bond Certificate worth N1.62 billion being their accrued rights for past services to the state prior to the commencement of the Contributory Pension Scheme in April, 2007, Director-General, Lagos State Pension Commission (LASPEC), Rotimi Hussain, has said.

    According to him, the retirees are those who retired from the state public service under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

    He said the retirees would receive their retirement bond tomorrow at the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) Hall, Ikeja.

    The LASPEC chief said the ceremony, which is the first tranche of the 11th Retirement Bond Certificate presentation ceremony is a means of appreciating the retirees for showing great commitment and resourcefulness to the state government during their service years.

    He said majority of the beneficiaries of this first tranche were drawn from local government areas and State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).

    He said: “The ceremony is another confirmation of the commitment of the administration of Governor BabatundeRajiFashola (SAN) to make life worthy and remarkable for all its employees in retirement.

    “The achievement so far made by LASPEC in the administration of the CPS is also a result of the commitment the state government placed on the scheme.

    “The state has so far paid a total accrued rights of N22.7billion to 4,199 retirees who retired from the public service from the inception of the scheme till date, thus making it the only state in Nigeria to have attained this status.”

  • Lagos to unveil new parking policy

    A POLICY aimed at addressing the dearth of parking spaces in many parts of Lagos State, may soon be unveiled by the government.

    The policy, it was learnt, is the outcome of a study which revealed that a major cause of traffic jam was insufficient parking spaces.

    Sources said the study showed that no fewer than 10 vehicles vied for parking spaces every 10 seconds at every street corner in the state.

    “This has often left all streets clogged with motor vehicles, with many being parked at the roadside, or on the walkways, while others had to make do with double parking, blocking on-coming vehicles leading to traffic jams especially at the peak hours,” the source added.

    The policy, which would be in line with global best practices it was further learnt would make it mandatory for developers and property owners especially in the area of commercial premises to address the issue of parking. “Providing adequate parking spaces, especially for all commercial buildings may henceforth be one of the conditions for a building approval,” the source said.

    The source said the policy is seen as a continuation of the transformation of the state’s public sector transportation management system and would among others, include parking management, parking design standard, parking control, traffic management for land-use and land development as well as enforcement of edict and by-laws by statutory agencies.

    The Commissioner for Transportation Comrade Kayode Opeifa, could not be reached for his comment on the policy as all calls to his telephone number went unanswered.

    It was, however, learnt that the policy would be formally presented to the motoring public in the state once the policy get the governor’s consent.

  • Lagos Water Regatta for Easter Sunday

    Lagos Water Regatta for Easter Sunday

    Lagosians home and abroad will once again converge on the waterfront pier on Oyinkan Abayomi Drive, Ikoyi, Lagos on Easter Sunday, April 20 for the 5th edition of the Lagos Water Regatta 2014, a fun-filled water-based cultural sporting and recreational activity put together to showcase the aquatic splendour of the state.

    Sticking to its yearly theme: Lagos: Splash the Excitement, in the celebration of the Lagos aquatic splendour, Lagos Water Regatta is a cultural festival of indigenous communities for the sustainable development of the tourism potential of the state.

    According to a statement by the organisers, signed by its Chairman, Engr. Olusegun Jawando, the Lagos Water Regatta is an annual water-based cultural sporting and recreational activity put together to showcase what the various coastal communities have to offer in terms of water sport, cultural beauty and aquatic splendour.

    The event, planned to coincide with the Easter, is meant to energize the tranquil nature of the Lagos Island waterfront during the festival and transform it into meeting point of colour, excitement and beauty.

    According to the Chairman, Lagos Water Regatta is part of the activities lined up to celebrate the 2014 edition of the Lagos Black Heritage Festival. “The regatta is a private sector led initiative with support from other corporate bodies and the state government to promote the tourism potential of the state,” said Engr. Jawando.

    He said: “The Regatta will consist of large fishing boats, ferries, barges and other marine vessels adorned with colours and decorations depicting the social, cultural, traditional folklores and occupational aspects of the Lagos people.

    “There will be a parade of floats and canoes with traditional, cultural and social troupes from 20 communities of the five divisions that make up the state.”

    Engr. Jawando added that boats branded by sponsoring corporate organisations and jet skis from members of the Aquamarine Boat Club would participate in water racing and perform stunts to the delight of fun seekers.

    He then called on private organizations to support the good initiative of the Lagos State Government by sponsoring boat branding and exhibitions to showcase their brand to the millions of people home and abroad.

    Mr. Jawando said prizes would be presented to winners in boat racing, swimming contest and colourful boat presentation.

    He said, “In terms of security, adequate provision has been made with the navy, police and ambulance boats. We are going to have participation from LASWA, All Boat Clubs in Lagos, Boat & Ferry operators in Lagos and representatives of riverside communities in Lagos.

    “We are expecting over 50,000 fun seekers to visit the Regatta Village on Oyinkan Abayomi Drive in Ikoyi, Lagos”.

  • Lagos to improve health delivery

    Lagos to improve health delivery

    LAGOS State Commissioner for Health Jide Idris has assured residents of improved health service delivery.

    He said the Ministry is set to attain excellence and quality service in the health sector.

    Idris spoke at the opening of a two-day training for private and public laboratory scientists by the State Blood Transfusion Committee (LSBTC).

    The commissioner, who was represented by Taiwo Oyeleye, said: “We want to develop the skills of our stakeholders, improve service delivery and build capacity so that what they deliver to clients will be better and satisfactory.”

    Also speaking, LSBTC chairman Adetoun Agbe-Davies said the training will ensure the quality and safety of blood transfusion in the state.

    LSBTC Executive Secretary Modupe Olaiya said the workshop will improve the skills of the trainees to provide quality service.

    She said blood transfusion is a matter of life and death and those handling it must have the right skills.

    Country Director, Safe Blood for Africa, Idris Saliu called on government to pass blood transfusion into law.

    “There is no statistics on voluntary blood donors in the state but the blood we have is low in relation to the need for blood,” he said.

  • Food vendor inserts cocaine in private part

    Food vendor inserts cocaine in private part

    cocaine exhibits recovered from chinelo okorom
    Cocaine exhibits recovered from the suspect

    The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has prevented a food vendor in Lagos, Chinelo Okorom Lynnette, 36, from smuggling 685 grammes of cocaine inserted in her vaginal.

    Anti-narcotic operatives apprehended her at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos during inward screening of passengers on an Ethiopian airline flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
    NDLEA commander at the airport, Mr. Hamza Umar said that the suspect ingested few wraps and inserted others in her vaginal.
    “The suspect tested positive for drug ingestion and vaginal insertion. She however expelled a total of 685 grammes of substance that tested positive for cocaine while under observation at the airport” Hamza stated.
    In her statement, the suspect disclosed that she was deceived into drug trafficking under the guise of importing female bags.
     “I am a food vendor at Ajangbadi, Lagos and have never been involved in crime. I am a victim of man’s cruelty to man. My husband abandoned me with four children two years ago.
    I work hard to pay their fees and ensure their proper upkeep. The last straw that devastated me was when the landlord forcefully ejected me. I had nowhere to turn to for solace.
    I was crying like a baby when a man came to console me. I have never met him in my life. He asked me to wipe my tears and promised to introduce me to importation business.

    I felt he was God sent until he sponsored my trip to Addis Ababa. When I got to Ethiopia, he told me to take cocaine to Nigeria. Initially I disagreed but he threatened to recover his investment at all cost” the suspect stated.

    Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade said that drug traffickers always change routes and tactics.

     “Going to Addis Ababa to smuggle cocaine into Nigeria is one of the tricks employed by drug trafficking syndicates. Cocaine is not known to come from Addis but we were able to detect it because of our vigilance.
    We are prepared to counter the activities of drug kingpins and bring them to justice. We look forward to fruitful progress in our investigation” Giade stated.
    The NDLEA boss urged members of the public to be cautious of the tricks employed by drug syndicates adding that the suspect’s action is shameful.
    The suspect will soon be charged to court.

  • Ehingbeti 2014: Lagos lists priority areas for agriculture

    Lagos State government has identified some key agriculture value chains it hopes to leverage to achieve food sufficiency for the residents of the state as power again occupies the front burner at the seventh edition of the biennial Lagos Economic Summit, popularly called Ehingbeti.

    Speaking on how the state government intends to harness power for the development of the agriculture sector, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, said the agriculture value chains being focused are poultry, rice production, cassava cultivation, aquaculture, vegetable, post-harvest as well as abattoir and lairage.

    Speaking on the theme of this year summit: “Powering the Lagos Economy: Real Opportunities, Endless Possibilities” which takes place at the Eko Hotel and Suites from April 8 to10, the commissioner said like every other sector of the economy, inadequacy of electric power has impacted negatively on the agriculture value chains; a development he noted was a threat to food sufficiency in the country as well as the African continent as a whole.

    The commissioner said for instance, absence of or inadequate power supply has been a major setback for farmers who engage in hatchery production, poultry processing, layer birds and broiler production as a result of high mortality of birds, increase in the cost of production and feed as well as post processing loss.

    He stated, however, that by attracting investors into the power sector of the state economy, the government was poised to reverse the ugly trend. ‘‘Electricity is very crucial in the hatchery sub sector of the poultry industry in Lagos State. It will reduce the cost of production of day-old chicks by about 50% which will invariably reduce the cost of producing broilers, cockerel as a result of economies of scale due to expansion of operations. The attendant market prices of these products will also reduce substantially’’, he declared.

    Lawal said that with improved power, there would be significant increase in capacity utilization and output, revealing that the state poultry facilities alone were expected to increase by 30% in the first year and over 75% in the third year aside the multiplier effect on farmers in the private sector.

    According to him, operations like feather plucking, digital scale weighing, chilling and cooling were 100% dependent on electricity but inadequate power has made most processing facilities in the state to be operating at less than 15% capacity due to high cost of diesel.

    On rice cultivation which requires irrigation, he informed that the high cost of powering irrigation facilities with generating sets has adversely affected the cost of production and milling thereby resulting in high cost of locally-produced rice in the market.

    He said the availability of power would not only enhance rice production twice in the year, it would also result in almost 100% yield and a further increase in production from the present two to three metric tonnes per hectare to between four and five metric tonnes per hectare in the first year of intervention.

    In the same vein, the commissioner added that electricity was a key factor for rice parboiling, drying, de-stoning, milling, processing and packaging, hence adequate power was capable of guaranteeing all-year availability of quality locally-produced rice. ‘‘It will trigger the cultivation of rice from the present figure of about 1000 Ha to over 3000 Ha in the next few years of intervention. More jobs will be also created’’, he stressed.

  • Lekki-Ikoyi bridge: Lagos files appeal against court judgment

    The Lagos State Government has formally appealed against the judgment of a Federal High Court, which barred the state government from collecting tolls on the new Lekki-Ikoyi link bridge.

    The court presided by Justice  Saliu Saidu had on March 27, 2014  held that there was no law to cover the toll being collected by Lagos State Government.

    Lagos lawyer Ebun Adegboruwa had sued the Lagos state over its decision to collect tolls on the bridge.

    Adegboruwa had sought an order of the court declaring collection of tolls on the bridge illegal.

    In the notice of appeal dated Friday, March 28, 2014 and filed on the same date, Lagos State Government is challenging the decision arrived at by the Federal High Court to the effect that the payment by its contractors to National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) was an admission by the State that the Federal Government had constitutional or legislative authority to regulate inland waterways throughout the country.

    The appeal was filed by the Solicitor General, Mr. Lawal Pedro (SAN).

    In its appeal, the State Government urged the Court of Appeal to reverse the decision of the Federal High Court which declared that there was no law enacted by the Lagos State House of Assembly authorising the State to impose tolls on public infrastructure in the State.

    It argued that the Lagos State Public Private Partnership Law No. 2 of 2011 clearly empowers the Government to specify the service charges, user fees or tolls which are payable in respect of designated public infrastructure or public assets.
    In addition to the Notice of Appeal, the State Government by an application dated and filed on Mach 28, 2014 in the Federal High Court, is praying for an order to stay the execution of the judgment delivered in the suit.

    It urged the court   to restrain the Respondents from giving effect to the judgment delivered by Justice Saidu of the Federal High Court pending the determination of the appeal filed against the said judgment.

    Pedro said the processes have been served on all the parties to the suit and Thursday, April 3, 2014 has been fixed by the Appeal Section of the Federal High Court for settlement of record of proceedings.

    He however said that no date has been fixed for the hearing of its application for stay of execution.

  • Easter break for Lagos judge

    Easter break for Lagos judge

    Lagos State Chief Judge Justice Ayotunde Phillips has approved April 18 and April 25 as Easter holiday for judges.

    A statement signed by the Chief Registrar, Mrs. I.O. Akinkugbe said the chief judge approved the holidays pursuant to Order 45, Rule 44 (A) & (B) of the High Court of Lagos State Civil Procedure Rules.

    The statement said the judges would resume from vacation on April 28.

    The chief judge,  however, has made arrangements for  dealing with cases that may come up  during the period of the vacation.

    Justice Phillips directed that each judge would deal with all urgent applications related to any substantive cause already assigned him/her.  “Any urgent application, the substantive cause of which has not already been assigned, will be  dealt with by the judge to whom the application is specifically assigned.

    “Notwithstanding the provisions of Order 45 Rule 4, any cause or matter may be heard by a judge during the period of the easter vacation where such a case is urgent and provided that the condition prescribed by Order 45 Rule 5 shall be observed and complied with,” it added

  • Artisans, Lagos partner on water management

    The Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Housing, Land, and Urban Development, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, has praised West African Ceramics Limited on its production of high quality ceramic and vitrified tiles to meet the needs of the construction industry.

    He spoke at the Building Construction and Mining Mart expo in Lagos, during a tour of the firm’s stand. He expressed satisfaction with the company’s production of tiles of international standards and quality. West African Ceramics is the manufacturer of Royal Ceramics and VIT Porcelain tiles.

    The firm’s Marketing Representative for Southwest Operations, Tosin Elatoroti,who conducted Ashafa round the stand, said the production of vitrified tiles was a demonstration of the firm’s commitment to serving the building industry, particularly in floor, wall, and roofing tiles.

    He explained the production process to the lawmaker. “Unlike the production process of ceramic tiles, vitrified tile is made by baking fine minerals like various clay at extreme high temperature where the individual grains or particles melt and fuse to make a glass-like surface, thus creating a mass making them extremely hard with low porosity, and resistant to stain,” he said, adding that the firm is preparing towards production of digital tiles which is the next phase in tile production in Nigeria.

    Hinging on the theme of the expo: Construction stand: Knowing the equipment for the job, Elatoroti further said the firm provides advice and assistance to builders and architects at their showrooms in Lagos, Abuja and Suleja.

  • Lagos DPP absolves Pastor of murder

    Lagos DPP absolves Pastor of murder

    The Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) has absolved the General Overseer of Perfect Christianity Mission, Pastor Sign Fireman, of the murder of a 12-year-old girl, Bose Ogoja on December 30, last year.

    While the DPP could not establish a case of murder against Pastor Fireman, it however, found Ikechukwu Friday Egbo culpable of Ogoja’s murder.

    This was contained  in a legal advice by the DPP to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), M.A.K. Smith.

    The February 27 advice was signed by the DPP’s Director, Ms Olayide Eboda for the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Ade Ipaye.

    Peter Oboyi, counsel to Fireman told reporters that 18-year-old Ikechukwu Friday Egbo was discovered to have allegedly strangled the girl to obtain her faeces for ritual purposes.

    He said Egbo admitted that he had wanted to become rich like his peers and had approached his pastor after years in his church without breakthrough.

    He claimed that Fireman told him the way to achieve  his financial breakthrough was to get him the faeces of a virgin. Ikechukwu claimed that he (Fireman) promised to give him N100,000 if he achieved the task.

    Fireman’s counsel, Oboyi, however, said the claims of Egbo against his clients were all lies.

    Reprieve, however, came the way of Fireman when the DPP absolved him of the murder on conclusion of police investigations into the incident while Egbo was found culpable.

    The legal advice to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, SCID, Yaba said: “I am directed to refer to your letter with Ref. No: CB:3514/LSX/D4/VOL.01/32 dated January 27, 2014 together with the duplicate file forwarded to this office for the issuance of Legal Advice.

    “After a careful consideration of the facts contained in the duplicate file, this office is of the opinion that a prima facie case of murder is established against B1-Ikechukwu Friday Egbo only”.

    Citing authorities, the DPP said the ingredients of murder was clearly stated.

    The DPP listed the ingredient to include the fact that: ”The deceased had died; the death of the deceased was caused by the accused and the act or omission of the accused person caused the death of the deceased, which was intentional with the knowledge that death or grievous bodily harm is its probable consequence”.

    The DPP said the facts in the file revealed that the suspect tricked the deceased 12-year-old to the uncompleted building and strangled her.

    “The suspect claimed he was asked to strangle a young girl and bring her excreta. He intended to kill the girl and he carried out his intention, but luck ran out on him when he was apprehended by the securitymen of the building where the incident occurred.

    “In view of the foregoing, this office shall prosecute the suspect, Ikechukwu Friday Egbo at the state High Court for the offence of murder. On the other hand, the second suspect is to be released forthwith if still in custody as no case is disclosed against him,” the DPP said.

    According to Oboyi, it was discovered in the course of investigations that  the suspect, Egbo, was not close to Fireman and does not know him as he claimed.

    He said the suspect   does not  know the street, number and colour of the house of the pastor that he claimed to be working and familiar with.

    Oboyi further said the mother of the suspect  confessed that some people were using her boy to lie against the pastor.

    He said the DPP, based on police investigation, found Egbo culpable of the offence of killing Bose.

    Fireman, in his reaction, said the advice of the DPP to the police was not unexpected “because I knew I was innocent”.

    He ruled out sueing the police over his arrest since he was not accused of murder.