President condemns terrorist attacks at Kano College and Potiskum

 
Another bombing, another condemnation. Find the State House press release below...

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan deplores the continuing terrorist assault on Kano and the heinous bombing of the Aminu Kano College of Islamic and Legal Studies today.

He similarly deplores the attacks on two mosques in Potiskum, Yobe State yesterday.

President Jonathan condemns the repeated targeting of worshippers, and   innocent students who are the nation’s future by depraved terrorists.

He believes that the callous attacks on soft targets fully affirm that the terrorists are nothing but bloodthirsty adherents of a warped and retrogressive ideology.

No amount of intimidation and violence would stampede the government into abandoning its goal of giving education a new lease of life and opening up access to all young Nigerians who wish to improve themselves.

President Jonathan has therefore directed the Armed Forces, Police and other national security agencies to further enhance security around educational facilities in states prone to terrorist attacks.

Liberian man infected with Ebola Virus in Lagos has reportedly died

Yesterday the Lagos State Ministry of Health said a Liberian man is being tested for the deadly Ebola virus in Lagos . The man, Patrick Sawyer, (pictured above) has reportedly died.

According to reports, Patrick died yesterday night at the First Consultant Medical Centre, Obalende, Lagos where he'd been receiving treatment. His condition was said to have worsened.

Sawyer, who was an official of the Liberian Ministry of Finance, arrived in Nigeria on Sunday July 20th for a conference.

Deadly Ebola virus in Lagos.

The Lagos State Ministry of Health today July 24th said a Liberian man in his 40s is being tested for the deadly Ebola virus in Lagos. 

On July 14th, the Lagos state government issued an alert to residents of the state over the deadly virus currently sweeping through some west African countries, including Liberia.

 

Briefing newsmen today, Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Public Health, Dr Yewande Adeshina said the Liberian man being tested for the Ebola Virus is currently at a private hospital in Obalende, Lagos. She said the man has been isolated and the hospital vicinity cordoned off and that 30 other people are also being tested for possible contact with the deadly virus.

Dr Adeshina warned residents to;

“keep personal and environmental hygiene” and urged those who notice “strange feeling or symptoms similar to those of Ebola virus, which ranges from fever, headache, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, sore throat and joint pains, which are all symptoms of other ailments, to visit competent health facilities”.

In the absence of such facilities, she said residents should call the following numbers - 08023169485, 08033086660, 08033065303, 08055281442, 08055329229.

Algerian plane with 116 on board crashed near the capital of Niger

Another day, another air disaster. This is beginning to get scary. An Air Algerie flight flying from Burkina Faso to Algeria with 116 people on board has dropped off radar.

Swift Air, the operators of the aircraft, say they lost contact with the flight 50 minutes after it took off this morning from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. It was supposed to have arrived at Algiers' Houari Boumediene Airport about four hours later but the plane has just disappeared.

"We have lost contact with the plane. At this moment, emergency services and our staff are working on finding out more on this situation." Swiftair said.

The plane, an MD-83, has 110 passengers on-board with 2 pilots and four crew members. Air Algerie is Algeria's national airline. Update: The plane crashed in Niger...continue for details...

Nigeria's youngest pilot at 19

According to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Daniel Adeyileka (pictured above) is the youngest pilot in Nigeria.

He was born in 1995 in Newcastle, England and had his primary and secondary education in Scotland then came back to Nigeria to do his A-levels. At 17, he proceeded to Delta Flight school in Texas, USA, where he obtained his Private Pilot License (PPL) and his International General Certificate of Secondary Education. He is currently a First Officer.

#Beinspired. You're never too young to pursue your dreams. Read more about Daniel after the cut...

Asari Dokubo's take on yesterday's attack on General Buhari

Ex-Niger-Delta militant Asari Dokubo has shared his opinion on yesterday's attack on Gen. Buhari. He believes the former Head of State was attacked to cause calamity in Nigeria to push the military to take over from President Jonathan. See more tweets after the cut...

President Jonathan and Sanusi meet in Abuja

President Jonathan and former CBN Governor and newly installed Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi met today July 23rd for the first time since Sanusi's installation as Emir.

They met at the Presidential Villa in Abuja where Sanusi had gone to break the Ramadan fast with the President. The reconciliation meeting was brokered by the Sultan of Sokoto, Saa’ad Abubakar. See more photos after the cut...

Gen. Buhari releases statement on yesterday's attack, says it was an assassination attempt

General Buhari has released a statement on today's attack on his convoy in Kaduna, describing it as a clear assassination attempt. Find the statement he signed himself below....

Bodies of MH17 crash victims taken to morgue train after 3 days laying in field

Bodies of about 200 victims of the Malaysian Airlines flight that was shut down on Thursday July 17th were left in heat in fields for over three days before they were finally piled up in bags and tossed into rubbish trucks then transported to refrigerated train carriages where they are said to be decaying. 

The train with the dead bodies, which observers says is stinking of decay, is stationed in the town of Torez where rebels who are in charge say they will let it leave this afternoon but didn't indicate where or whether the bodies would be handed over.

There's an international outrage that the rebels are holding the bodies unnecessarily as families beg for their loved ones to be returned to them so they could bury them properly.

The bizarre part is that Holland, who lost more citizens than any other country, isn't showing as much outrage as other countries like Britain that have threatened to seize Russian's billions. See more pics after the cut...

 

Lagos state approves six-month maternity leave, 10 days for fathers

Lagos state government has introduced a new leave regime for all male and female civil servants in the state. Henceforth, all male civil servants whose wives give birth are entitled to a 10-day paternity leave while female civil servants had their maternity leave extended from 3 months to 6 months.

The new leave regime was announced today by the Lagos State Head of Service, Mrs Josephine Williams at a press conference held at the Baguada Kaltho Press Centre, in Alausa, Ikeja.

"A female officer shall be entitled to 24-weeks maternity leave with full pay in case of her first two deliveries. The said leave shall commence, at least two weeks before the expected delivery date; a male officer, to who a new baby (or babies in case of multiple births) is born shall be entitled to 10 working days" she said.

She added that subsequent deliveries after the second baby by any employee will only get 12 weeks maternity leave for a female officer while the men will not be entitled to the 10-day leave.

Special adviser to the Lagos state Governor on public health, Dr Yewande Adeshina, said the 6 months leave will enable women complete the mandatory months required for breastfeeding new born babies

Malaysian passenger plane shot down in Ukraine, 295 dead

A Malaysian Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur has crashed in eastern Ukraine. There were 280 passengers and 15 crew members on board.

Ukrainian Interior Minister said all on board are dead and that the plane was shot down by Russian ground-to-air anti-aircraft missiles at 32,000 feet and at 500mph.

The plane, a Boeing 777, came down near the city of Donetsk, which is a border between Russia and Ukraine where a Ukrainian transport plane was shot down at 21,000 feet on Monday July 13th and a military jet shot down last week from the Russian side of the border.

The Interior Minister said pro-Russian separatists have been hunting down their planes for weeks. 6 Ukrainian military jets have been shot down in the last few months by the Russians. There's been military conflict between Ukraine and Russia for a while. And now they are shooting down passenger planes? The plane departed Amsterdam at 12.30pm and went down around 4.30pm. See photos from the crash after the cut...

Luis agreement reached,

12:35

Here are the tweets from Atletico Madrid and Chelsea confirming the Filipe Luis transfer agreement. The 28-year-old Brazilian will now have to agree personal terms with the Blues.