LAGOS STATE ASSEMBLY TO STOP TRANSPORTATION OF WORKERS IN TRAILERS

Lagos State House of Assembly, on Tuesday, resolved to amend the state’s Transportation Law 2000, to forbid any company from using an articulated vehicle to ferry its workers.

Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji directed a joint committee examine the issue and submit its report in January.
The joint committee included the assembly’s Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Public Petitions, and that of Transportation, Commerce and Industry.
The proposed amendment resulted from a motion by Mr Abiodun Tobun, of Epe I Constituency.
Mr Tobun highlighted the use of articulated vehicles by some construction companies to convey their workers to sites.

MILITARY BEEFS UP OFFENSIVE AGAINST INSURGENTS IN BORNO

Foreign media reports say a military offensive in Borno State that killed more than 50 insurgents, destroyed four villages and left corpses scattered in bushes.

The defence ministry had said the operation was launched in response to last Friday’s attack by Boko Haram on military barracks in Bama, Borno.

Defence spokesman Chris Olukolade identified those killed as “terrorists.”

But residents told AFP that an unknown number of civilians also lost their lives as the military bombarded the fleeing rebels.

The Nigerian army said the Insurgents had tried to escape across the border with Cameroon but that they were pursued through the weekend by ground troops with the support of fighter jets deployed from an air force base in Maiduguri.

NIGERIA: ANGLICAN PRIMATE RECOUNTS ORDEAL WITH KIDNAPPERS

 Former Primate of the Church of Nigeria and former President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Most Reverend Peter Jasper Akinola, has relieved his ordeal in the hands of kidnappers.

The clergyman, to the congregation at a Christmas service in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, that his kidnappers requested for Dollars from him.
Speaking at a special thanksgiving service today, to mark his freedom at the St. Saviour Anglican Church, Presidential Hilltop, Abeokuta, Akinola commended the Nigerian police, saying for the first time in his life, he doffed his hat for the nation’s police.
He equally thanked the Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun; the state Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye; and others who were a part of his rescue.
Akinola also thanked the congregation for their love and prayers.
HIS SPEECH

“What happened yesterday (Tuesday) was what I used to think is drama, thing that we used to see on the television, until much more later that I realised it was real.
“I left the house about 11am to go to our site where we are building structure to train young people in Nigeria that are unemployed.
“The irony of it is that as I was coming out of the place where I had gone to give food to our workers for Christmas, as I was stepping out, these two young men came out of their car from nowhere.
“They asked me to open the door and knocking the glass with their guns.
“I instructed my driver, Jonah, to open the door for them.
“They sandwiched us at the back of the car and they drove off.
“They told us to put our head down and that they will blow off our head if we look up.
“They drove for about an hour, where we don’t know until we discovered that we are in the midst of a thick forest.
“Then I requested to talk and informed them that there was no enough fuel in the car.
“They queried us for not having enough fuel in the car and my driver responded that we just returned from a journey.
“In the bush there, I was surprised at how they were able to locate a filling station, bought N3,000 fuel and continued with the journey.
“That was about 3 in the afternoon.
“They started asking question about dollars, which I said there was none.
“I told them I was a village pastor that has just retired and that the car was given to me by the church.
“They asked about the security of the car and I told them there was none.
“They searched for it for almost two hours but couldn’t find anything.
“I was just praying that God of mercy come to our rescue.
“I was just remembering how God saved some believers in the Bible and I concluded that if I must die, how can it be in the hands of these people.
“Unknown to us, the news had started circulating around and people started praying.
“Meanwhile, they had taken everything from us.
“They had taken my shirt, my shoe.
“I was left with my singlet and trouser but my driver was not so lucky.
“His cloth, trouser and shoe were taken.
“He was left with boxer.
“They said I should walk on.
“When we moved about 100 meters from the car, I was asked to take the left while my driver was asked to take the right inside the bush.
“I was hearing how they were threatening my driver.
“After a while, we started hearing gunshots, apparently the police were around.
“Later, we learnt that the Governor himself with the commissioner of police, the Secretary to the State Government led the rescue team.
“When we couldn’t hear any gunshot, I trekked back to the footpath shouting for my driver.
“Not quite long, I saw a vehicle coming.
“They approached me, I raised up my hands and told them it was my car they took and that I’m looking for my driver.
“They said they were police and they said I should come into the car.
“The leader of the police team, the state anti-robbery squad, they called him TJ, was a wonderful man.
“For the first time in my life, I doff my hat for the police for their performance.
“This same man, a Muslim, approached me and said they have heard about what I’m doing that I should not stop, saying God has preserved my life for this purpose.”

TRAGEDY IN LAGOS AS CONTAINER FALLS ON COMMERCIAL BUS

At least 10 persons were feared on Wednesday after a container fell on a commercial bus along the Alaba-Suru area of Lagos State.

Eyewitnesses accounts claimed that the accident occurred at about 9am.
The accident was caused by a mad man sleeping on the road, which a commercial bus was trying to avoid.

A mother, her four children, an old woman and four others were said to have been killed in the accident, with many other people injured.
One of the victims, a woman, who survived, scaled through with two shattered legs.
An eyewitness said: “The accident was caused by mad man sleeping on the road.
“The commercial bus was trying to avoid crushing the mad man while the container was trying to avoid crushing the commercial bus.
“It all happened this morning at about 9am.
“There was a commercial bus going to Okoko-Iyana Oba, calling for passengers, and there was a trailer laden with a container filled with vehicle engines.
“There was a mad man lying on the road and a commercial bus was coming from Orile axis.
The bus swerved to the left to avoid the mad man on the road and the container swerved also to the left to avoid the commercial bus.
“The container was about to scale the culvert, but the container fell to the right and fell on the bus picking passengers.
“Those sitting on the ground died.
“A woman with four children were killed.
“An old woman and four others died.
“A woman who survived had her two legs cut off in the accident.”
It was gathered that a Lagos State Emergency Management bus rushed to the scene to take the wounded to hospital and the dead to the mortuary. (THE EAGLE ONLINE)

18 HAITIAN MIGRANTS DROWN OFF TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS

A boat has capsized off the Turks and Caicos Islands leaving 18 migrants dead, authorities there say.

The overloaded boat had been intercepted by police and was being escorted to shore when it sank abruptly just 150m (500ft) off the coast of Providenciales.

Thirty-two people were rescued.

FILE PHOTO

While officials did not reveal their nationality, local media reported the victims were from Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Those rescued are being held on suspicion of trying to enter the British territory illegally.

Accidents involving overloaded boats carrying migrants from Haiti are not uncommon in the Caribbean.

In November, about 30 people died when their vessel sank off the Bahamas.

And in 2009, US Coast Guard officials called off their search for about 70 migrants from Haiti whose boat also capsized off the Turks and Caicos. (BBC)

CHINESE SMUGGLERS DIG TUNNEL TO HONG KONG

Chinese authorities have uncovered a tunnel from the mainland to Hong Kong, apparently built by smugglers.

The tunnel, with concrete walls and interior lighting, started under a garage near the city of Shenzhen and stretched for 40m (130ft) under a river and into reed-beds in Hong Kong.

The authorities believe gangs intended to use it to import mobile phones and other electrical goods into Hong Kong.

The semi-autonomous zone has different tariffs to the mainland.

The smugglers could make huge profits by avoiding border fees and taxes.

The tunnel was discovered last week in Changling village on the outskirts of Shenzhen.

Local media reported that a resident had complained about drilling noises that she assumed were part of a renovation project.

Officials described the tunnel as a professional job, estimated to have cost almost $500,000 (£300,000) to build.

It is believed the tunnel was about 20m short of its intended destination, a village on the Hong Kong side of the frontier.

The authorities destroyed the tunnel on Tuesday and a man has been arrested. (BBC)

PRESIDENT JONATHAN's CHRISTMAS MESSAGE TO NIGERIANS

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE TO THE NATION FROM PRESIDENT GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN, GCFR

Dear Compatriots,

I greet and felicitate with you all as we celebrate Christmas once again.

I join our Christian compatriots and all other Nigerians in giving thanks to God Almighty whose Grace and Benevolence has helped our nation to overcome the many challenges it has had since we celebrated Christmas last year.

The annual commemoration of the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ is a most auspicious time for us, as individuals and as a nation, to rededicate ourselves to the virtues and ideals which the Messiah preached and exemplified during his earthly ministry.

Let us all therefore resolve this Christmas to make the ideals of peace, harmony, tolerance, love and goodwill to all even more manifest in our interactions with others.

It remains my sincere belief that no height of human accomplishment is beyond us as a nation, if we can overcome our differences, such as they are, and forge a binding national consensus to put the progress and well-being of the country above all other considerations.

My administration will do all within its powers and abilities to ensure that when representatives of our people assemble for the forthcoming national conference next year, they will have every opportunity and encouragement to make very significant contributions towards forging the required consensus for sustained national peace, unity and progress.

It is also my expectation that the national conference will contribute in no small measure towards the urgent resolution of contentious issues which currently hinder our progress as a nation.

With God Almighty as our Guide, Strength and Enabler, My Administration will continue to implement its Agenda for National Transformation in furtherance of its avowed commitment to improving the living conditions of all Nigerians.

We will continue to count on the prayers, support and cooperation of all patriotic Nigerians in the coming year as we consolidate and build on our achievements in several sectors including national security, power supply, communications, transportation, health and education.

As we commemorate the birth of the Prince of Peace, let us all strive to honour Him more by living our lives as He taught; by making personal sacrifices for the good of others, by showing greater love for others, by being fairer and more honest in our dealings with others, by being ever-willing to forgive those who offend us and by always extending goodwill towards others.

On behalf of myself, my family and the Federal Government, I wish you all very joyful Christmas celebrations, and a peaceful and prosperous 2014.

Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

President,

Federal Republic of Nigeria

December 24, 2013