Month: October 2020

Banks downgrade Nigeria’s downstream oil sector’s credit ratings, flag N269bn debts

ADEOLA YUSUF

  N268.79 billion of the loans advanced by banks to the indigenous oil firms in Nigeria have been rated as non-performing. This poor rating, a report by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) sighted by Platforms Africa showed, was recorded as of June, 2020. The report added that the nation’s oil and gas sector saw its contribution to the economy tumble in Q2 to 8.93 per cent from 9.50 per cent in Q1 as it recorded negative growth. The NBS said in August that the sector, which grew by 5.06…

Read More

Nigeria’s North stages Pro-SARS rally as #ENDSARS protests spread in South + PHOTOS

ADEOLA YUSUF

  Civil society organisations and trade unions in Borno State, Northeast Nigeria, are currently on a street rally to express their displeasure over the disbanding of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian police by the federal government. This came as anti-SARS rage spread across the Southern part of the country. The protesters in the North said that they wanted SARS to continue operating in Borno State. The chairman of a coalition of CSOs in Borno, Ahmed Shehu, said though they are not happy with happenings in other parts…

Read More

Football Legend Cristiano Ronaldo Tests Positive For COVID-19

ADEOLA YUSUF

Five-time World Player of the Year and Portuguese forward, Cristiano Ronaldo, has tested positive for Covid-19, Portugal’s Football Federation said in a statement on its website on Tuesday (Oct 13). The 35-year-old Juventus striker will miss Wednesday’s UEFA Nations League game against Sweden but is “well, has no symptoms and is in isolation”, the federation said. The federation added that the rest of the Portugal squad had undergone tests as a result of Ronaldo’s positive, but that they had all tested negative and would be available for the Sweden match,…

Read More

Nigeria’s Presidential Panel Okays 5-Point Demand of #EndSARS Protesters

ADEOLA YUSUF

  The Presidential Panel on Police Reforms has approved immediate implementation of five-point demand of the protesters demanding end to police brutality by operatives of disbanded FSARS. A meeting conveyed by the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu and attended by stakeholders discussed the need to restore public confidence and trust in the police and resoved that following steps be taken immediately: An order by the Inspector General of Police to all State Commands to halt the use of force against protesters; Unconditional release of arrested protesters and citizens; Open…

Read More

Man shatters COVID-19 infection record, gets Virus Twice With Second Hit ‘More Severe’

ADEOLA YUSUF

  A man in the United States has caught Covid twice, with the second infection becoming far more dangerous than the first, doctors report. The 25-year-old needed hospital treatment after his lungs could not get enough oxygen into his body, reports the BBC. Reinfections remain rare and he has now recovered. But the study in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, raises questions about how much immunity can be built up to the virus. The man from Nevada had no known health problems or immune defects that would make him particularly vulnerable to…

Read More

Scores burnt to death in Osun fuel tanker multiple accidents, explosion + PHOTOS

ADEOLA YUSUF

Scores of persons have been reportedly burnt to death in an accident involving a truck carrying diesel along Illesha-Akure at Igbelajewa Village in Osun State. It was gathered that the truck driver lost control and spilled its content on the road which resulted in a fire outbreak. The incident happened on Monday afternoon killing unknown number of persons. No fewer than seven vehicles including an 18-seater commercial bus with passengers were reportedly gutted by the inferno. “A lot of the corpses of those who lost their lives in this unfortunate…

Read More

Chinese City To Test 9m For COVID-19 In Five Days

ADEOLA YUSUF

  The Chinese city of Qingdao is testing its entire population of nine million people for Covid-19 over a period of five days. It comes after a dozen cases were confirmed linked to a local hospital which treats imported patients, reports Sky News. China had in May tested the entire city of Wuhan – a population of 11 million and the epicentre of the global outbreak. The country has largely brought the virus under control. That’s in stark contrast to other parts of the world where there are still high…

Read More

Death toll in Lagos three-storey building collapse hits Seven + PHOTOS

ADEOLA YUSUF

  The death toll in the Lagos three-storey building collapse has hit seven. Director General /Chief Executive Officer (DG/CEO), Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu, who declared this in an update sent to Platforms Africa, noted that the seven fatalities in the collapsed Building at No, 60 Odo Street, Obalende Eti-Osa, included 6 men, 1 woman. “Additional Update on Collapsed Building at No, 60 Odo Street, Obalende Eti-Osa. Update on Collapsed Building at 2000hrs. “The operation on the above is ongoing,” LASEMA boss said. “Initial findings…

Read More

Three-storey Mansion collapses in Lagos, kills four, injures eight + EXACT LOCATION

ADEOLA YUSUF

  Four yet-to-be-identified persons lost their lives on Sunday when a three-storey building collapsed in the Obalende area of Lagos Island, Lagos State. It was gathered that eight other persons were injured. The General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, confirmed the incident. Oke-Osanyintolu noted that the affected three-storey building, located at 62, Odo Street, Obalende, Lagos Island, was under construction when it collapsed. He said: “Upon arrival at the incident scene, a three-storey building under construction was discovered to have self-collapsed. “The cause of the collapse is…

Read More

Nigerian Police Chief bows to Pressure, Disbands SARS Nationwide

ADEOLA YUSUF

The Nigerian Police Chief known in the country as Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has announced the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police Force. Adamu announced this in a live broadcast on Sunday as growing protest against the special force unit us heightened across the world. The announcement came after days of online and offline protests against the brutality and extra-judicial killings by SARS operatives nationwide. Platforms Africa gathered that Adamu who hitherto was reluctant to take a decisive action on the issue was on the…

Read More