Oyo State Government on Wednesday 8, 2019 applauded Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for donating 231 classrooms to 30 selected primary schools in the state, saying the move has increased the educational facilities in the state.
The Chairman, Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board, Dr. Nureni Adeniran, said this in his office, while receiving JICA representatives.
He commended JICA and by extension, the Japanese Government for their unalloyed commitment and provision of facilities, which has contributed to the overhauling and improvement of the state’s Basic Education.
He said, “Your intervention projects are timely because they came at the time the Basic Education system was in need of them. We are very happy to receive you in Oyo state. On behalf of the State Government, we express our appreciation to JICA for considering Oyo State worthy of those projects, at the time they gave us.
“We believe government is a continuum and most importantly, the projects you gave us were for the good people of Oyo State. We thank you so much for your immense contribution”.
Pledging the state government’s commitment to maintain the facilities, he also assured them of the Board’s readiness to assist the team on its post-construction evaluation of the projects in the state, without any hesitation.
A plane that crashed in Iran with 176 people on board was trying to the return to the airport when it crashed, Iranian investigators have said.
The Boeing 737-800 went down just minutes after taking off from Tehran's airport, leaving no survivors.
An initial probe found the aircraft experienced a problem as it was leaving the airport zone, and was "on fire".
Earlier, Iran said it would not hand over the recovered black box flight recorders to Boeing or to the US.
Under global aviation rules Iran has the right to lead the investigation, but manufacturers are typically involved.
The crash came at a time of high tensions between Iran and the US - just hours after Iran carried out missile strikes on two air bases housing US forces in Iraq. However there is no evidence the two events are linked.
Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation (CAOI) chief Ali Abedzadeh said: "The plane, which was initially headed west to leave the airport zone, turned right following a problem and was headed back to the airport at the moment of the crash."
Kenya has imposed a curfew in Lamu three days after fighters from the Islamist militant group al-Shabab stormed into a military base, killing three Americans.
The curfew will begin daily at 22:00 until 04:00 local time (19:00-01:00 GMT) for an indefinite period.
It is intended to help security agencies to monitor suspicious activity.
The coastal region Lamu is close to the Somali border where al-Shabab has been fighting the UN-backed government.
County police Muchangi Kioi is quoted in the Star as saying no vehicles will be allowed to operate during the curfew period, and that police will conduct security searches on vehicles during the day.
Sunday's attack on the military base saw vehicles and aircraft destroyed.
Residents are reported to have fled villages that are located near the base out of fear of more attacks.
Last week, three passengers were killed in the area when heavily armed men stopped a bus and sprayed it with bullets. Two others were injured and were rushed to local clinics.
The United States has imposed financial sanctions on one of the vice presidents of South Sudan for his involvement in human rights abuses.
A statement from the US treasury says Taban Deng Gai arranged the disappearance and deaths of the human rights lawyer, Samuel Dong Luak, and an opposition politician, Aggrey Idry.
It said he did this in order to strengthen his position within the opposition party, the SPLM-IO.
In 2018 President Salva Kiir and the rebel leader Riek Machar signed a peace deal aimed at ending a civil war that displaced almost four million people.
There is however growing international concern that the deal could still unravel as a unity government has still not been formed.
Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa has taken three weeks holiday and handed power to his two vice-presidents.
Zimbabwe media has published articles on the president's leave highlighting how he will be on vacation within the country.
Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga will be the acting president for the first half of the president's leave, then his counterpart Kembo Mohadi will take over.
A statement by President Mnangagwa's secretary George Charamba said the president will be on annual leave till end of January. "The President will spend his vacation in the country," he wrote.
Outraged Somalis are urging Australians to stop culling camels, and to instead send the animals to the Horn of Africa so that they can look after them.
Snipers have been shooting camels in South Australia from the air since Wednesday following concerns that extreme heat and drought were forcing the animals to encroach on human settlements in search of water. Thousands are expected to be killed.
Somalis have a deep love for camels, which they call "geel". They measure wealth and status by the number of camels that people own, not the amount of cash they have.
They also believe that after the British colonised what is now the self-declared republic of Somaliland in the 19th Century, they seized herds of camels and sent them to Australia, which was also a British colony at the time.
Others say that camels were first taken to Australia by British settlers from India, Afghanistan and the Middle East.
Nevertheless, the chairman of the Somaliland Camel Herders Association, Mustafe Cali Deeq, said the animals were "very precious" to Somalis and "second" only to human beings.
He said Australia should spare the lives of the camels by sending them to where they "originally" came from.
While others said on Twitter that they could be accommodated in the whole of Mena, an acronym for the Middle East and Africa.
The Peoples Democratic Party has described as an acceptance of failure and lack of capacity, the Presidency’s continuous reference to a presidential successor, less than a year into the second term of the President.
The PDP also alleged that the Buhari regime had no capacity to manage the affairs of a nation as complex as Nigeria.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, stated this in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday.
He said Buhari’s apprehension that his party, the All Progressives Congress, could fizzle out before 2023 was also a weighty forewarning to Nigerians not to put any hope in the ruling party.
Ologbondiyan urged the Presidency to immediately apologise to the nation over its comment to “hand Nigeria over,” insisting that it was a direct affront on Nigerians and a huge insult on their sensibility and sense of sovereignty to freely choose their leader.
He advised Nigerians to note that such continued allusion to a successor by the Presidency showed that the President and the APC had no agenda for the nation for the next three years.
He said it further underscored the hopelessness of the administration and the sorry situation Nigeria was faced with under Buhari and the APC.
He said, “The PDP laments that such underlined the pathetic drift in Buhari’s New Year speech as well as his failure to articulate a clear-cut agenda in critical sectors.
“It also exposes the reason behind the APC’s resort to blackmail, fabricate and attack on well-meaning Nigerians instead of enunciating a direction for its incompetent administration.
“Our party, standing with millions of Nigerians, counsels the Buhari Presidency to bury its confessed interests in the 2023 Presidency and desist from making unsolicited allusions and references to a successor, as failed leaders can only bequeath failure successor on a people.
“The PDP, therefore, charges the Buhari’s Presidency to immediately withdraw the offensive and provocative remark to “hand Nigeria over,” in its response to Rev. Tunde Bakare’s comment on the 2023 Presidency.
“Our party cautions the Buhari Presidency to note that Nigeria is a sovereign nation, governed by rules and that nobody, no matter how highly placed, has the power to hand her over to anybody.
“By insisting that Buhari has interest in his successor, the Presidency is in direct aggression against the will of the people to freely elect a president as guaranteed by the constitution.”
Ologbondiyan said the 1999 Constitution (as amended) did not confer the right to install the President of Nigeria on any individual, but on the people of Nigeria through a free, fair and credible election conducted without interference from anybody.
He advised Buhari to end his interest in the 2023 Presidency and use the remaining years of his tenure to get competent hands to assist him to manage the affairs of the nation.
He also urged Buhari to concentrate on his retirement plans, as according to him, Nigerians expect no solutions from him and his party.
Piers Morgan wasted no time in sharing his thought on Harry and Meghan’s decision to step down as senior royals.
He has been one of the royal couple’s most high profile critics, and quickly took to Twitter to say he ‘saw this coming’.
The Good Morning Britain presenter wrote: ‘People say I’m too critical of Meghan Markle – but she ditched her family, ditched her Dad, ditched most of her old friends, split Harry from William & has now split him from the Royal Family. ‘I rest my case.’
He then posted ‘What Meghan wants.. Meghan gets’ – a reference to a line Harry is alleged to have told aides during preparations for the royal wedding.
After news broke that the couple had allegedly not consulted with other members of the family before issuing their statement, he added: ‘Wow. What a disgraceful way to treat The Queen. Shame on Harry & Meghan.’
People say I'm too critical of Meghan Markle - but she ditched her family, ditched her Dad, ditched most of her old friends, split Harry from William & has now split him from the Royal Family.
I rest my case. pic.twitter.com/xgKLTt2Y0Z
Three British victims killed in the Ukrainian Airlines crash in Iran have been pictured for the first time.
Father-of-one Mohammad Reza Kadkhoda-Zadeh, 40, is believed to have been travelling back to the UK via Ukraine when his flight crashed minutes after taking off.
The businessman, who lived in Brighton, East Sussex, had been visiting family in Iran over the Christmas period.
He was the owner of Smarty’s dry cleaner’s, Hassocks, West Sussex, and was described as a ‘lovely man’ by a student who lived in his house.
Today his father told reporters he had ‘no words’ after hearing about Mohammad’s death this morning.
A family friend told the Mail Online: ‘He was his parents’ only son. It is so dreadful. We only heard about it in the morning. It is so, so bad at the moment.’
A second British victim of the plane crash has been named as engineer Saeed Tahmasebi, 35, who worked for Laing O’Rouke.
He lived in Brentwood, Essex, and had previously been a research PhD candidate at Imperial College London.
A third victim has been named as Sam Zokaei, 42, who worked for BP as a senior reservoir engineer and lived in London.
He graduated from Heriot-Watt University, in Edinburgh, in 2004 with a masters in petroleum engineering and was believed to be in Iran on holiday.
Senior members of the Royal Family are said to be disappointed and hurt at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's decision to step back from their current roles.
Prince Harry and Meghan did not inform the Queen or any other royal before their announcement on Wednesday, said BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond.
Buckingham Palace was "blindsided", he said, as talks about their future had begun but were in very early stages.
The Palace said there were "complicated issues" to work through.
Former BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt told BBC Newsnight: "I'm always very wary of using the word 'unprecedented' but I cannot think of a previous example where they [the Royal Family] have washed their dirty linen in public."
In their statement, Harry and Meghan said they made the decision "after many months of reflection and internal discussions".
They plan to split their time between the UK and North America, while "continuing to honour our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages".
"This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter," the couple said.
US President Donald Trump has said Iran "appears to be standing down" after it fired missiles at air bases housing US forces in Iraq.
Mr Trump, in a televised address from the White House, said no US or Iraqi lives were lost in the attacks and the bases suffered only minimal damage.
The Irbil and Al Asad bases were attacked early on Wednesday local time.
Iran said it acted in retaliation after the assassination of top Iranian General Qasem Soleimani last week.
The US drone strike targeting him and Iran-backed militia figures in the Iraqi capital Baghdad was a major escalation amid already deteriorating relations between Iran and the US.
On Wednesday evening at least two rockets fell in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, where the US embassy is located. There were no reports of any damage or casualties.
The US attack on Soleimani killed members of pro-Iranian Iraqi militias, who have also said they would seek revenge.
A suspected vandal, Ibrahim Ojo, has been arrested while attempting to steal components of a transformer in the Araromi area of Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State.
The Osun State Police Command confirmed the arrest on Wednesday.
Armed with a pair of pliers, it was learnt that Ojo was already deep in the act when power supply was suddenly restored to the transformer.
The suspect was electrocuted and sustained injuries in the hands, chest and buttocks, and was apprehended by the police.
The state Commissioner of Police, Johnson Kokumo, said the suspect had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Bureau for further investigation into the matter.
Kokumo, who spoke through the command’s spokesperson, Folasade Odoro, said the suspect was arrested following a tip-off on the activities of vandals in the area.
He warned that the command would ensure that those involved in vandalism of public utilities as well as those receiving stolen items from the vandals were dealt with to serve as a deterrent to others.
Kokumo stated, “We have been monitoring the area following complaints from the residents about the activities of vandals.
“On that particular day, Ibrahim Ojo was arrested in the Araromi area; as he was attempting to vandalise a transformer, power was suddenly restored.
“He sustained injuries all over of his body and we will take him to court upon the conclusion of investigation into the matter. We want to ensure that the vandals and those receiving the stolen items from them are made to face justice to serve as a deterrent to others.”
Well, the mom of one just started the pose. Her fans have been asking for the meaning and if that's how she intends to start taking photos henceforth, but she hasn't deemed it fit to respond. A look at all her recent photos, shows her posing like this. So what question are people asking again. lol. You know Madam T is full of drama, lol.
A suspected military man is said to be on the run after he allegedly slit the throat of a man in the Itire area of Lagos State.
Punch Metro gathered that the fleeing suspect perpetrated the crime during an argument with the deceased on Wednesday.
Efforts to rescue the victim, who was taken to an emergency centre for treatment, were said to have proved abortive.
One Samuel Agbolajo, who posted details of the incident on his Facebook page, said policemen from the Itire Police Division arrested the suspect.
Agbolajo, however, said the yet-to-be-identified military man was later released in an alleged bid to cover up the crime.
“Man slaughtered by a force man all because of argument. The Itire Police Station released the suspect all because he is a force man. We need the support of fellow Nigerians; they want to sweep this case under the carpet. Justice must be served. #PCRC #NIGERIAPOLICE,” he wrote.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, said, “We have no such case. I spoke with the Itire Divisional Police Officer and he said no such case was reported. Maybe it happened in another location, but not Itire.”
Nare Mphela, who won a landmark transgender discrimination case against her Limpopo high school in 2017, has been murdered in her home.
It was learned that Mphela’s body was discovered with numerous stab wounds this week in her rented house in the Makopane area. It’s understood that the home was also set on fire.
No arrests have been made. While additional details are unclear, news of Mphela’s death has been met with shock.
The 27-year-old made LGBTIQ+ history when she took her former high school principal and the Limpopo Department of Education to the Equality Court. She claimed she suffered ongoing discrimination from 2013 to 2014 because of her gender identity.
The principal of Raselete Secondary School was accused of encouraging learners to physically harass and humiliate Mphela, including asking them to “check” her genitals in the bathrooms. The abuse was so severe that it led to her failing matric at the end of 2014.
Represented by the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), she won the case in 2017 and was awarded R60,000 for pain and suffering and R40,000 for education and counselling costs. The principal was also ordered to attend sensitisation training.
“When people read about my story they will understand how much pain I went through,” Mphela told Iranti.org in a video (see below). “They will learn that if they have children like me, they mustn’t hide but be visible. We have the right to live our lives how we see fit.”
SAHRC Provincial Manager Victor Mavhidula told MambaOnline that he and his office were deeply saddened by the news of Mphela’s murder.
He praised her for having stood her ground and “defending the rights of LGBTIQ people,” especially those of LGBTIQ learners. He described Mphela as “a strong soul and strong personality; somebody who would not be pushed around.”
The group Capricorn Ignited LGBTI wrote on Facebook that Mphela’s death was “a painful loss to the Limpopo LGBTIQ+ community and society as a whole.”
Lorraine Klaas, a close school friend, has been devastated by Mphela’s death. “She was selfless. She would go all out to make others happy. She loved gospel and when she set a goal for herself, she always saw it through. She never backed out of a challenge,” Klaas said.
She added: “I can’t even imagine being murdered like that. She didn’t go down without a fight – that I know for a fact. She saved me from trouble over the past years but she couldn’t save herself.”
Nare Mphela will be laid to rest on Saturday 11 January at Prospect Village in Ga-Matlala.
The Ondo State Police Command said it had arrested a man identified as Nsem Godwin for allegedly kidnapping two kids in Okitipupa town, Okitipupa Local Government Area of the state.
The suspect was arrested after he was caught with a nine-year-old and a four-month-old kids on Monday.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, CSP Femi Joseph, who confirmed the incident to Punch correspondent on Wednesday, said Godwin was arrested by the Highway Savers Policemen of the command, while attempting to escape with the victims.
Joseph said, “Godwin was arrested while trying to run away with the children. We have commenced investigation into the matter and the suspect will be charged as soon as the investigation is concluded.
“That is why we want to appeal to parents and guardians to take proper care of their children and wards.”
An eyewitness said the suspect allegedly abducted the four-month-old baby, while he was playing outside with his brother.
The eyewitness narrated, “The suspect carried the baby and was trying to escape through a shortcut to the Onaopemipo Street in Okitipupa and some people accosted him and questioned him, but he could not give any answer on how he came about the baby.
“At a point, he started acting like he was mentally retarded. He also declined to speak to anyone until he was taken away by the police.”
Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) yesterday banned night grazing nationwide as part of measures to curb the perennial clashes between herders and Farmers.
The National Secretary of the MACBAN Mr. Baba Uthman told journalists after its Annual General Meeting yesterday in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital that the decision would become an instruction that would be communicated to every member of the group, including those at the grassroots.
“This is a decision that has been taken by the highest decision-making body of the association. As it is taken here, it will go down the ladder down to our members at the grassroots. “They will be informed and sensitised concerning it,” Uthman said.
A woman claims her ex-boyfriend bit off her nose and either ate it or flushed it down the toilet.
Allyson Danylko, 24, alleges her former partner Nick Grewal set upon her in a bathroom at his property in Toronto, Canada.
The pair were arguing in a nightclub on New Year's Eve and things became even more heated when they returned home, it is said.
Ms Danylko claims Grewal, 30, was jealous over her plans to travel to Costa Rica without him.
The victim was allegedly assaulted by Grewal in the past and berated herself for taking him back, calling herself a 'stupid f***ing girl' in an interview.
She told the Toronto Sun: "He didn’t want me to go on the trip. He was looking at me with a crazy look in his eyes.
"I was cornered in the bathroom and he was holding me against the wall and I was screaming but he wouldn’t let me go and he bit off my nose.
"I was bleeding and got past him and ran out to a neighbour’s and started banging on their sliding door. It seemed like an eternity, but the police came and put me in an ambulance.”
The victim believes her ex-boyfriend either ate her nose or flushed it down the loo as police dogs were unable to find it.
Officers were called to a property where a woman's nose had been bitten off at 6.22am on New Year's Day.
Ms Danylko is set to undergo reconstructive surgery on her nose using part of her ear in March.
She said she got a restraining order against Grewal after he bit her on the shoulder a few months ago, although she took him back.
Her mum has started a GoFundMe page to help her daughter cover her bills as she cannot work again until May.
Grewal has been charged with aggravated assault, forcible confinement and failing to comply with probation - and will appear in court on January 28.
