Residents of an Ondo community in the Ondo West Local Government Area of Ondo State are counting their losses after heavy flooding swept through the area last Friday following a torrential rain. Hundreds of residents affected by the flood disaster have begun to tally their losses as many properties were destroyed by the flood, which accompanied four hours of downpour. She reported that many houses and structures were submerged, and several residents who drowned were rescued by individuals, with no lives lost in the flood. If you look at the volume of water coming from the other side of the culvert to Jordan Street, it is substantial. I want to appeal to our people to block any areas where they believe water can flow into their homes.

The United Kingdom has witnessed a dramatic 35 per cent drop in visa applications over the past year, following the introduction of stricter immigration policies aimed at reducing the country’s intake of foreign nationals. Between January and July 2024, study visa applications dropped by 16 per cent compared to the same period in 2023. More significantly, there was an 81 per cent decline in visa applications from the dependants of students, reflecting the sharp effect of the new rules. This followed a surge in applications aftercare workers were added to the skilled worker visa category in 2022. “Monthly numbers of Health and Care Worker visa applications from main applicants increased from 4,100 to 18,300 between February 2022 and August 2023, following the addition of care workers to the skilled worker visa.

Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has said that the state government will soon make a pronouncement on a new retirement age for nurses in the state from 60 years to 65 years. He said that the government had already extended the retirement age of teachers from 60 years to 65 years. Also, the governor said that the government had concluded arrangements to set up a state-of-the-art medical city. He said that the government would collaborate with two groups of international medical missions, namely: Extended Hands and Lifted Hands organisations to realise the project. The governor thanked the residents of the state for their support and urged them to sustain it toward building a new Abia.

Claim: Last Tuesday, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, during a press briefing, stated that the police, military, and other agencies managing the #EndBadGovernance protest did not use live ammunition. All that we have used is teargas and nothing more.”Findings:The #EndBadGovernance protest began nationwide last Thursday, with many Nigerians demonstrating against prevailing economic hardship. It noted that a man, Abdulkadir Labaran, was killed by security operatives at Kofar Nassarawa, Kano. A professor of Criminology & Crime Control/Security Studies at the Adekunle Ajasin University, Sigismund Akinbulumo, said while it was unprofessional for the IG to admit that security operatives fired live ammunition, the use of tear gas depicted police brutality. He said, “In Nigeria, the phrase ‘stray bullet’ is used to cover the exuberance of security operatives.

As the Nigerian passport continues to decline in global ranking compared to those of neighbouring countries such as Ghana and Benin, former envoys have explained why the situation persists. The latest index places Nigeria significantly lower than Ghana and Benin, which have shown notable improvements in their passport rankings. The Nigerian passport is ranked as the least powerful among the 15 countries in the Economic Community of West African States. The strength of a passport shows the countries you can visit. So, Nigeria has to do a lot of housekeeping.”Also speaking, a former Nigerian Ambassador to the Philippines, Yemi Farounbi, said, “The Nigerian passport ought to be one of the tops in Africa based on the size of our economy, military, population and so on.

A tragic plane crash in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state claimed the lives of all 57 passengers and four crew members on board. The city government of Valinhos, which participated in the rescue and recovery efforts, confirmed in a statement that there were no survivors. Vinhedo, a city with around 76,000 residents, is situated approximately 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo. Firefighters, military police, and state civil defense teams were quickly deployed to the Capela neighborhood in Vinhedo. The ill-fated plane had first flown in April 2010, according to the website planespotters.net.

The Take It Back Movement (TIB), a key organiser of the EndBadGovernance nationwide protests, in collaboration with other protest organisers, has announced a massive one-million-man protest scheduled to take place across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, on Saturday, August 10, 2024. According to Mr. Sanyaolu Juwon, the National Coordinator of the movement, this protest marks a pivotal moment in their ongoing nationwide campaign, which began on August 1, 2024. “The Take It Back Movement (TIB), side-by-side with other organizers and organizations, will on August 10, lead a monumental one-million-man protest in each of the 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja. “This event will mark a critical juncture in our nationwide EndBadGovernanceInNigeria campaign, which began on August 1, 2024,” Juwon stated. Initially planned as a 10-day protest, the campaign has now evolved into a sustained and widespread movement, attracting participants from every part of Nigeria and even from the diaspora.

The English Premier League has announced new rules for the upcoming 2024/25 football season. As the domestic league games begin on Friday, August 16, 2024, with an opening match between Manchester United and Fulham, there will be a significant difference in the rules guiding the games, a statement on the EPL website read on Thursday. “There will be a difference this campaign in how match officials will be applying the rules of the game,” the statement partly read. Subs warming upThe number of substitutes in a single match is five players which started in the previous season. “Given that there were 3.28 goals scored per match last season on average, this change may result in a significant drop in stoppage time this season,” the statement noted.

PUNCH Online reports that ongoing speculations and debates continue regarding whether the Federal government removed the subsidy on PMS as announced by President Bola Tinubu in May 2023. One day, we’re told there’s a subsidy, and the next day, it’s gone—Nigerians deserve the truth. He also criticised the Federal Government’s decision to sell crude oil to Dangote’s refinery in naira, calling it disastrous for the country’s already volatile economy. He said, “This decision to sell crude in naira is a ticking time bomb. Crude oil is our major income generator, bringing in foreign currency that bolsters our external reserves.”“But now, our reserves are already depleted, and this policy could be the final nail in the coffin.”

If he is not poor and does not feel the hardship, why should he then protest on the streets? In the southeast, the silence of the southeasters was a protest to their continuous victimization and marginalization in Nigeria. All these happened despite federal government’s mobilization of resources to a few privileged elitegroups to distance themselves from the protest. To him, therefore, it was inconceivable for anyone to think that he would protest in Nigeria, being a rich person. (gba wire, ma lo sun tyre o, to bagba wire o ma ra four tyres).

The Police Service Commission (PSC) announced on Thursday that the successful candidates from the recently concluded 2022 Police Recruitment exercise are expected to begin training this Saturday, August 10th, at various Police colleges across the country. According to the statement, “The candidates expected to report for training are those who have confirmed their status on the Police Recruitment Portal: https://apply.policerecruitment.gov.ng. “The names of the candidates are already with the management of the colleges and only those whose names are on the list will be admitted. “Only candidates whose names appeared on the agreed portal or who received official messages inviting them to report at the colleges will be allowed for training. Dr. Argungu stated that Commission staff would be sent to the colleges to monitor the candidates’ conduct and disposition during training.

The Pan Yoruba Socio-Political Group, Afenifere, has called on the Federal Government to investigate and expose the sponsors of protesters who were flying Russian flags during the recent nationwide hunger protests, which included calls for a military takeover. Afenifere urged President Tinubu to view the nationwide protests, the diversity of participation, and the outcomes in different regions as a clear mandate for restructuring the Nigerian Federation. On the demand to lower food prices, Afenifere suggested this should be addressed by increasing food production, not importation. Finally, the group urged the President to not only accelerate the implementation of the Orosanye Report but also to curtail wasteful, profligate, and self-serving expenditures by public officers. “The waste of our commonwealth on expensive cars, official jets, humongous allowances, and renovations of official residences must stop,” Afenifere said.

Mahindra Scorpio - 5th​The Scorpio, one of the best-selling models for Mahindra in India, registered the sales of 12,237 units, up by 16 percent, as compared to the 10,522 units sold in the corresponding month last year. As a result, the Scorpio brand ranked as the fifth best-selling SUV in India last month.​

Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Osogbo, the vendors and sales representatives said that online media had reduced sales of hard copies. Oladayo Salau, a newspaper vendor at Old Garage, Osogbo, said there was little to no sales due to online media. Another newspaper vendor, Shola Akiolu, said that people have not bothered to buy newspapers again since the advent of online media. Deborah Akinloye, a newspaper vendor at Iyana Offa in Osogbo, said that the newspaper business was no longer the way it used to be. Akinloye, who said that she trained two of her children with the profits from the sales of newspapers, said that the online media was making things difficult for her.

After many aborted deadlines, the NIN-SIM linkage issue provoked outrage again last week as telcos blocked SIMs not linked with the owners’ NINs just before the July 31 deadline mandated by the NCC. Introduced in December 2022, the NIN-SIM linkage policy was part of the government’s effort to enshrine a Know-Your-Customer regime, to ensure that no mobile phone user is anonymous in Nigeria. MTN Nigeria had, in its first-quarter 2024 financial report, said 8.6 million lines had been barred. The NCC and NIMC need to collaborate more, while telcos should be ordered to ensure data NIN-SIM linkage becomes more seamless. No subscriber deserves to be told about an unsuccessful NIN-SIM linkage after going through the rigour of capturing at the NIMC centres and linking the same with their SIMs.