Category: News

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

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…

Read More

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

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.

Read More

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

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;…

Read More

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

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…

Read More

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

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…

Read More

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

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…

Read More

Why Nigerian Schools May Remain Shut till 2021 – Minister

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…

Read More

Nigerian Court remands Mother, Daughter in Prison over Energy theft on Ikeja Electric Network

Damola Oyede

  A Nigerian Court has remanded a mother and her daughter in prison pending the perfection of their bail conditions over alleged energy theft on the network of Ikeja Electric, one of the two utility companies that connect Lagos – Nigeria’s commercial capital – to the grid. The two, who, according to a statement made available to Platforms Africa by Ikeja Electric, are residents of Fatokun Street in Abule Taylor, Off Abeokuta Expressway, Lagos, were arraigned before Ogba Magistrate Court. The duo of Latefat Shofidiya, 65 and Ekundayo Taiwo, 40…

Read More

Panic in Ghana’s Girls School as 6 pupils test positive for Covid-19

Aoko Benjamin

  Barely a week after the government of Ghana reopened schools, heavy security presence buoyed by panic rocked the Accra Girls Senior High School after parents began trooping there to withdraw their wards. This, according to a report by Accra-based news medium, JoyNews follows reports that the school has recorded some cases of coronavirus nearly a week after the school reopened for final year students. Some parents successfully withdrew their wards from the institution over the weekend. Speaking on Beyond the Lockdown, JoyNews reporter Maxwell Agbaba stated that one parent said their ward was…

Read More

Confusion as Madagascar Imposes Fresh Lockdown, COVID-19 cases surge

Tim Bauer

Madagascar has placed its capital Antananarivo under a fresh lockdown following a new spike in coronavirus infections which has surged confirmed cases to 2,728, including 29 deaths. The new lockdown was imposed barely two months after the restrictions were eased, the presidency announced in a statement obtained by Platforms Africa. “The Analamanga region (under which the capital is situated) is returning to full lockdown,” the presidency said in the statement issued on Sunday, July 5, 2020. “No traffic will be allowed in or out of the region starting Monday until…

Read More