admin, Author at platformsafrica

How Fire gutted $1bn World Trade Centre Skyscraper Abuja + PICTURES

July 13, 2020 Aliyu Aliyu

Fire on Monday gutted the 24-storey skyscraper of the World Trade Centre in Nigeria, located in the country’s Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan had in September 2011 launched the project said to cost over $1 billion with an estimated completion date initially slated for 2013. An eyewitness account showed that the fire started from the top of the 24-storey skyscraper which dots the skyline of Central Business District, Abuja. Smoke, as at the time of this report, was seeing billowing from the pinnacle of the…

Ruins, death, rescues as three-storey building collapses in Lagos + PICTURES

July 11, 2020 Damilola Olonade

Six adults have, so far, being rescued in a three-storey building-collpase in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, which killed a male underage. The incident was said to have occurred about 3:00 am at 20, Freeman Street, Lagos Island. Platforms Africa reports that emergency responders have since arrived on the scene and are helping with rescue and recovery efforts.

EKEDC goes tough on saboteurs, prosecutes three for fraud, impersonation

July 10, 2020 Damola Oyede

Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), one of the leading power utility firms in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has gone tough on saboteurs as it began the prosecution of three persons over offenses bothering on fraud, conspiracy and impersonation. The three persons were arraigned before Magistrate A. A. ADESANYA of the Ojo Magistrate Court on Thursday 9th July 2020 on a four-count charge of conspiracy to commit fraud, impersonation, forgery and tampering with electricity installations within the Ojo District of EKEDC. The three, identified as Magnus Obinali a cleaner within the Ojo District;…

South Africa prepares 1.5m gravesites as COVID-19 cases, deaths surge

July 10, 2020 Tim Bauer

South African official has said a single province in the country is preparing 1.5 million gravesites as COVID-19 cases and deaths surged in late Nelson Mandela’s country. A report by The Associated Press reads that just a day after confirmed virus cases across Africa surpassed the half-million milestone the total was over 522,000 and climbing, with more than 12,000 deaths. “With testing levels low, the real numbers are unknown,” the report read. South Africa has the most confirmed cases with over 224,000, and for the first time Gauteng province…

Prepare to bear petrol price burden, Oil Minister Tells Nigerians

July 10, 2020July 10, 2020 Aliyu Aliyu

Nigerian Minister of state for petroleum resources says President Buhari never promised to keep petrol price low The Government of Nigeria, Africa’s biggest crude oil exporter, has bluntly told millions of Nigerians that they would henceforth bear the burden of higher prices of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol. The country’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, who declared this in a statement published on the ministry’s Instagram page siģhted by Platforms Africa, declared that at no time did the Federal Government promise to…

Kenyan school pupils to repeat classes as nation embargoes resumption until 2021

July 10, 2020 Aoko Benjamin

All Kenyan primary and secondary schools will remain shut until January 2021 The country’s education ministry, which declares this, noted that it would explore how to make online learning accessible to all students All schools in Kenya will remain closed until next January because of the coronavirus pandemic, the ministry said. Final year exams, usually taken in October and November, have also been cancelled. Education Minister George Magoha said students would repeat a year as schools had closed in mid-March, three months after the school calendar had begun. But…

US firm battles Nigeria over $80m Yacht linked to Diezani, Aluko

July 10, 2020 Tim Bauer

Enron Nigeria Power Holding rejects Nigeria’s power deal suspension, demands $22 million from sale of seized Galactica Star A former unit of Enron Corporation, the United States energy-trading giant, Enron Nigeria Power Holding Limited, has began a legal battle with Nigerian authorities over suspended power deals. The company has also joined the country and the United States (U.S.) authorities in serious bickering over the proceeds of the sale of a luxury yacht, Galactica. The U.S. authorities seized the Galactica in 2018 after filing a lawsuit to recover assets…

NNPC: Remittances to Nigeria’s Coffers hit N1.7trn In One Year

July 9, 2020July 10, 2020 Efe Wellington

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) paid a whooping N1.7 trillion to the country’s Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), between February 2019 and February 2020. The national oil company, which said this in its Monthly Financial and Operational Report (MFOR) for April, 2020 obtained by Platforms Africa, revealed that it recorded a total export of $370.69 million in February, a decrease of 14.75 per cent compared to the previous month. It added in a statement by its spokesperson, Dr. Kennie Obateru, that crude oil export sales contributed $281.14 million…

Why Nigerian Schools May Remain Shut till 2021 – Minister

July 9, 2020 Tim Bauer

Africa’s Most Populous Country Makes U-Turn on participation in 2020 West Africa Exams as COVID-19 Cases Exceed 30,000 mark Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, has given a hint on possibilities of keeping doors of its schools under lock and key till 2021. Kenya, a leading economy in East Africa, has earlier come out clear on this: No Schools’ resumption until next year. Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, who conveyed opinion of the government while briefing State House Correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held at…

Why 600 firms jostled for Nigeria’s 57 marginal oilfields – DPR

July 8, 2020 Efe Wellington

More companies owned or managed by women joined the race in an unprecedented gender-balance participation in Nigeria’s bid round history. The Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Auwalu Sarki, has said that investors’ belief in tranparent process put in place by his agency for the 57 oilfields’ bid round was partly responsible for the spike in number of firms who have joined the race for the oil acreages. Over 600 companies have, as at the last count, applied to be prequalified for the ongoing bid rounds in Nigeria’s 57 Marginal Fields, the first in…