Author: Chief Editor

To ensure the robust implementation of gender-based violence (GBV) laws in Ekiti State, government and a civil society organisation (CSO), Gender Relevance Promotion Initiative (GRIP), have advised contractors handling projects in the state to warn their workers against sexual exploitation. They said available statistics globally confirmed that there were high incidences of sexual harassments and exploitative tendencies in areas where projects are being undertaken, adding that this calls for a proactive action to avert such in Ekiti owing to a series of contracts being currently executed in the state. This came as Governor Kayode Fayemi has ordered the deployment of…

Lionel Messi’s body language said it all as Barcelona were sent into full-blown meltdown in their historic Champions League quarter-final humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich on Friday. He could only look on helplessly as the club to which he has brought so much glory succumbed to a record 8-2 defeat in Lisbon. By the end, even with the ball he could not make anything happen — he was robbed of possession in his own half to start the move which brought Bayern’s seventh goal at the Estadio da Luz. Earlier, in a photo taken through the door of…

Jurgen Klopp has been named Premier League manager of the season after guiding the club to their first league title in three decades. The 53-year-old German beat Chelsea’s Frank Lampard, Leicester City’s Brendan Rodgers, who Klopp replaced at Liverpool in 2015, and Sheffield United’s Chris Wilder. Liverpool coasted to the title, they narrowly lost out on to Manchester City in the previous campaign. They garnered 99 points, winning 32 of their 38 league games, to finish 18 points clear of Manchester City. Klopp who coached Liverpool to the Champions League trophy in the 2018/19 season picked up in July the…

The Ministers of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed are on inspection tour of the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail projects. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the tracks for the 156km modern rail project has been completed. Before departing for Ibadan in a modern train on the rail line, the ministers inspected the Ebute Metta station buildings and yards under construction. The team also inspected the new Apapa dockyard station and bulk terminal at the Apapa port in Lagos. NAN reports that the Government is linking the Apapa and Tincan ports with the rail project…

It has become critical for the Federal Government to stop paying lip service to the problem of high cost of governance in the country and confront it squarely, writes ONYEDIKA AGBEDO The call for a drastic reduction in the cost of governance by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, last Thursday, did not come as a surprise to many Nigerians. The outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has had a huge negative impact on the country’s revenue, leaving the government in dire need of cutting costs and stabilising the economy. It could be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari,…

Veteran Barcelona defender Gerard Pique described Friday’s 8-2 Champions League humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich as a “disgrace” and claimed the storied club had “hit rock bottom”. Thomas Mueller and Philippe Coutinho both scored twice as the German double winners blew Barca away in a merciless display that will prompt serious questions over Lionel Messi’s future in Spain. Ivan Perisic, Serge Gnabry, Joshua Kimmich and Robert Lewandowski were also on target for Bayern, with Barca’s goals coming via a David Alaba own goal and a second-half strike from Luis Suarez. “We have hit rock bottom. This is not…

• Majority Of Patients Between Ages 31 And 40 The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has warned that the recent decline in number of cases and deaths from COVID-19 does not translate to end of the pandemic. Director General of NCDC and a Consultant Epidemiologist, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, said the low Case Fatality Ratio (CFR) or rather death rate of COVID-19 patients in Nigeria is because majority of those infected in the country are between the ages of 31 and 40. Ihekweazu said experience has shown gaps in legislation for health security in Nigeria, explaining that Nigeria is not…

Soyombo Opeyemi China cannot live while the world dies. If maximum compensation is not exacted from China for corona virus pandemic, it’s only a matter of time! In the next one or two decades, another infectious disease will break out from China and bring the world to its knees once again! It’s high time the China’s blight was removed from humanity. There is so little to choose between World War II and corona virus plague. The distinction is of no moment. Whether the lethal weapon was deployed through machine guns, armoured tanks, scud missiles, intercontinental ballistic missiles or the bomb…

David Iyofor Overwhelmed with disbelief, I chuckled multiple times as I read the ‘monumental’ Reuben Abati’s THISDAY back page column of August 4, 2020 titled: Nigeria and Chinese Loans. Unfortunately, the piece was a monumental misadventure in dissecting the trending issue of Nigeria and Chinese loans and the terms of the loans. More tragic was Abati’s inglorious, uncalled for, cut and join attempt to portray the minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi as the shady villain that has plunged Nigeria into his imaginary intractable apocalyptic debt mess with China. Why Abati decides to tow this insidious path in…

•Former CBN deputy gov apologises, says he got information from Fulani traders The Department of State Security (DSS) yesterday accused former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, of attempting to breach the peace with his claim that a northern governor was one of the commanders of the terrorist group, Boko Haram. This is coming on the heels of the interview Mailafia granted the BBC Hausa late on Thursday, where he said he got the information about the alleged involvement of the said governor from “some Fulani traders” and did not know that his statement…