Society & Lifestyle Archives - Page 35 of 41

Gory Pictures: Bloody Thursday as Alleged “Alado” Boys Unleashed Mayhem in Amuwo Orofin Community

It was a bloody Thursday for the family members of Kuje Amuwo Orofin a community at Whitesand, between Festac and Amuwo Odofin as popular Mushin elder statesman who has since relocated to Isheri-Oshun, Alhaji Taoreed Farounbi popularly known as Alado has been fingered in breach of public peace.

It was a big shock to many people when investigated and discovered that the whole attack was masterminded by Alado, a Chieftain of APC in Mushin and who always preach against violence each time there is election.

The whole saga started on Thursday March 19, 2020, investigation revealed that over 50 hoodlums attacked members of Kuje Amuwo Orofin’s family, the members are: Monsuru Akande, Surveyor Bayo Benson (Whose security details was seriously wounded and attacked) , Alhaji Akande’s Vehicles windscreen was broken and vandalised, his Techno LA 7 Phone was forcefully taken and confiscated by the hoodlums who are said to be from Alado.

The sad part of the scenario or what can be termed as Alado’s boys reign of terror is that they killed two of the boys working for Kuje’s family on the land, the boys are Oluwoyo Debo (a labourer) his dead body was taken to Festac Police station, we gathered that he had multiple deep machete cuts.

The other person who was unlucky in the hands of death was Daniel Chibuzor, a recharge card seller , he was severally stabbed, taken to Ikoyi hospital where he later gave up the ghost.

This menace was properly monitored by Alhaji Taoreed Farounbi ‘Alado’ , Segun Akinde (A.k.a Segun Echo), Ayokunle Fakiyesi, Ikechukwu (a.ka Ik), a police officer Inspector Nureni Agoro, Musiliu Idowu, Inspector Adewale Olopa from SARS among others.

According to investigation conducted in the neighborhood they confirmed to us that they have to run for cover because the attack was much on the Kuje’s family.

Who is Taoreed Farounbi on the land ?

According to our investigation, we gathered that Fagbile Isheri-Oshun employed the service Alhaji Taoreed Farombi also known as Alado as their agent on the land.

It will be worthy or constructive to also mention that there had in the past been misgivings and allegation of trespass unto the land between Kuje Amuwo royal family and Fagbile Isheri-Oshun.

Cause of Attack

According to investigation and a report by Vanguard Crime Guard, The Cable and Daily Independent, we gathered that the attack was as a result of a misunderstanding between two families from Amuwo Odofin and Isheri –Oshun, over land boundary.

We also learned that those attacked were invited to Whitesand on the pretext of a peace meeting on the disputed boundary, only to meet the unexpected.

Narrating what transpired that fateful day, head of the Kuje Amuwo Royal family, Chief Ligali Suabu Hassan, said, “For some time now, we have been having issues with the Fagbile family in Isheri Oshun over boundary issues on our land but we have never experienced anything like what happened on Thursday.

“We have our surveyor and they have their surveyor too but they hired an agent to be selling the land for them.

“The two families met and agreed to invite a neutral surveyor, who has a vast knowledge of the boundaries of all the communities in Amuwo-Odofin, Isheri Oshun and other parts.

“Before the agreed date for the boundary resolution, we wrote a letter to the police at FESTAC division to give us policemen who would serve as witnesses.

“When our people got there, they saw policemen and soldiers around and they felt assured that there wouldn’t be any problem.”

“But to our surprise, there were hoodlums there too and before our people could think of what to do, the hoodlums descended on them and began to use different weapons on them, right in the presence of the policeman who accompanied our surveyor to the site.

“A member of the family who escaped death by the whiskers, Alhaji Monsuru Akande, said ‘despite the fact that I told them that I had come to buy land there, they kept attacking me with charms and machetes’.

“There were over 50 hoodlums, soldiers and policemen around, who watched them unleash mayhem on us.

“We went there in two vehicles and were expecting policemen whom we had earlier written letter to, to join us when the hoodlums approached our vehicles and ordered us to come down.

“I told the driver to wind up all the glasses in the vehicle but they showed us guns which were carefully tucked under their shirts. Others came out from where they were hiding and there was nothing we could do.

“I told the driver to escape but they caught up with us and descended on us. We ran into different directions but they still caught up with us.”

Police delay

“To my surprise, the same policemen who were watching us from a distance still came to pick those of us who were injured, to Isheri Oshun police station, instead of taking us to the hospital. Policemen from Alagbon came to pick us from Isheri Oshun, to their command.

“It was when they saw the degree of injuries on Daniel and Debo, that they allowed them to be taken to the hospital. But first, they took them to FESTAC police station for medical report before they were taken to the hospital.

“Unfortunately, Debo died later that day while Daniel died on Saturday”.

Call on IGP

Determined to get justice for those killed, Counsel to the Kuje Amuwo family, Bayo Omoniyi in a petition to the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Mohammed, dated March 19, 2020 demanded an investigation to be carried out to know why there was no response from the Police in spite of previous report on the attack.

Part of the letter read: “Recall that we had recently cried out over the menace of armed bandit attacks, which had become a recurring decimal in the area and sought the deployment of armed personnel to ensure safety of lives and property in the area in respect of which your office has graciously approved the deployment of mobile policemen to secure the area”.

Some alleged principal actors in the attack were mentioned in the letter, with a call to the IGP to investigate their culpability.

We are not responsible

But a member of the Fagbile clan who spoke to Crime Guard on the condition of anonymity, said his party did not have a hand in the attack.

Though he admitted there was supposed to be a meeting between both parties that day, he maintained that “we were preparing to come when we heard that some hoodlums were attacking some persons there. Perhaps we were their targets”.

All the letters written shown below;

Police arrest two

Meanwhile, Lagos State Police Command said it had begun investigation into the attack with a view to bringing the perpetrators to book.

Already, two persons, according to the command spokesman, DSP Elkana Bala, had been arrested in connection with the attack.

He said, “There was an attack on some people but the police at FESTAC division was only contacted when there was an issue and they quickly deployed officers to the scene.

“Two injured persons were rescued and were rushed to the hospital by the police. One of them died that day and the other died later. Two persons have been arrested in connection with the attack and investigations are ongoing.

Two persons, whose names the police in Lagos would not disclose yet, are being detained at the Homicide section of the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department (SCIID), Yaba, over the murder of two persons in a land dispute between two families in Amuwo-Odofin and Isheri Oshun communities in the state. The slain men, Oluwoyo Debo and Daniel Chibuzor, were hacked to death penultimate Friday by some thugs allegedly contracted by some unknown persons during a peace meeting said to have been called to settle the dispute. It was gathered that five other persons sustained injuries during the meeting. SCIID detectives were understood to have begun a manhunt for other fleeing members of the gang of hoodlums that invaded the venue of the meeting.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, confirmed the incident and the death of the two persons. Elkana said policemen at the FESTAC Town Division responded to a distress call that hoodlums were invading the venue of a peace meeting. “The Division quickly deployed officers to the scene. The officers rescued two injured persons, who they rushed to the hospital. One of them died that day and the other died later. “Two persons have been arrested in connection with the attack and investigations are ongoing,” he said.

See more pictures of those attacked below:

CHINESE RESIDENTS CONFIRM TB JOSHUA’S CORONAVIRUS PROPHECY

Emmanuel TV has released a video to YouTube showing citizens and residents of China confirming the ‘controversial prophecy’ from Prophet TB Joshua that the coronavirus outbreak would end in Wuhan, China by 27th March 2020.

“I had been hearing about TB Joshua since I was a kid but I never believed in him,” one of the residents explained.

However, he heard the prophecy on social media where Joshua declared “rain would fall to wipe away all fears of the unknown”, specifying it would fall in Wuhan, China – the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak and mentioning the date of March 27th 2020.

He immediately dismissed it as a “fake prophecy” but became perplexed when heavy rain fell across the region from 23rd to 26th March 2020.

Within that time-frame, Wuhan declared it had no new confirmed cases of the disease, leading the resident to change his perception of Joshua’s authenticity.

“On March 27th 2020, the government declared China free of coronavirus; everything has since gone back to normal,” a Chinese citizen went on to confirm, adding that the few cases being managed now arose from foreign travelers but domestic cases had completely ceased.

“March 27th was the last day for the virus to finish in the epicenter,” a Chinese doctor further corroborated, explaining that the heavy ‘lockdown’ imposed by the Chinese government has now been lifted.

“We started working on March 27th,” a Chinese citizen in Shanghai equally stated. “95% of our offices are now working.”

Joshua came under scrutiny on social media after clips of his prophecy regarding coronavirus were taken out of context, isolated soundbites shared and quotes wrongly attributed to the cleric publicised.

However, the full clip of the prophecy clearly shows Joshua’s message on March 1st and 2nd was directed specifically towards Wuhan, China.

In his prophecy for 2020, Joshua had declared it “the year of humility”, specifying that “God would use challenges such as affliction to humble us’ – leading many of his supporters to link such terminology with the ongoing outbreak and its extraordinary ramifications.

VIDEO – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EESZVfYIks

https://youtu.be/-EESZVfYIks

G&G Oil And Gas Boss, Alhaji Akeem Adelaja Turns 40

Like it has been for the last forty years, on the 12th of April 2020 will yet again mark a mile stone in the life Lagos big boy and one of Nigeria’s Oil and Gas big players, CEO G&G Oil And Gas as he turns 40.

The grass to grace life story of Alhaji Akeem Adelaja is that of a young man who grew up knowing about the struggles of life. As a Mushin born and bred, young Akeem toiled very hard and sometimes in the dreaded hustling and jostling which is synonymous with Mushin in particular and Lagos State in general. In the midst of these tough challenges and seemingly insurmountable rocks of Gibraltar, the hard working Akeem kept on doing his legal duties as a Petrol attendant at a gas station in his Mushin, Lagos domain.

Gradually, young Akeem started learning the rudiments of business, most especially in the oil and gas sector and as time went on, he was able to develop solid interest in the business and worked assiduously towards achieving his set goals and objectives.

After going through the necessary educational attainment needed to forge ahead in his life’s pursuits, Akeem Adelaja ventured into the lucrative but challenging and hotly contesting oil and gas industry and pronto, the Almighty God was with him and he gradually built for himself, an inspirational image in that sector. Today, Alhaji Akeem Adelaja, a devout Muslim who never joked with all the rules and regulations guiding the Islamic religion is a vast investor in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

Online shopping, the way out of COVID-19 restrictions

The advent of the novel coronavirus disease, also known as COVID-19, into the country seems to have destabilized our social norms and behaviour. Nigeria, like all other countries of the world where this pandemic has visited, has responded by both treating the people who have contracted the disease and putting some preventive measures in place to minimize the rate to which her citizens get infected.

Some of the measures the government has put in place to forestall transmission of the virus include the restriction on movement, closure of schools, ordering some cadres of the employees to stay home for some time, closure of markets and enacting laws limiting the number of people permitted at social gatherings, religious worships, markets, etc. to a specific number at a go among others.

While no measure taken to forestall the transmission of this pandemic could be said to be excessive, some of these rules, especially that of market closure, would pose the greatest difficulty to the Nigerian people, given our physical shopping culture, where one must personally go to the market, select and pay for his or her goods and take them home by themselves. This shopping culture has served us well in the past, albeit it cost us a little more, both financially and physically.

Given the prevailing circumstances, occasioned by the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this shopping culture is no longer tenable, or at least cumbersome and needs to be changed if one would meet his or her recurrent shopping needs. This is the time for Nigerians to switch fully to the e-commerce platform and become online shoppers.

Let us take the experience of Lagosians, for example. When the state governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, announced the closure of the markets on Tuesday, 24 March 2020, residents of the state immediately besieged the various markets and supermarkets in the state to stock up their homes with their prospective needs to beat the deadline that was slated for Thursday. The traders were overwhelmed by this upsurge in patronage that some even restricted the number of customers they allowed into their shops at a time in order to have full control of their sales.

On Wednesday, despite the fact that the governor exempted the markets and stores that sell food, medicines, water, and other essential commodities from the ban – which again was for seven days – most of the racks, especially in the food/groceries section became virtually empty as people, in panic-buying, have bought almost the products they thought they could need, even beyond the period the closure is supposed to subsist, thereby creating artificial scarcity and causing price increases for most of these food items.

While panic buying, with its attendant consequences of scarcity and price increases, is a natural fallout of such restrictions as was seen in some other countries that have experienced or are experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic, it is quite unnecessary, especially in Nigeria, where the restrictions do not affect traders of food items and all other necessary products. It is further unnecessary, given the presence of the various e-commerce platforms that people could log on to and purchase all their needs in Nigeria. Shoppers could do their purchases – from food/groceries, medications, water, and other essential needs to even personal electronics and gadgets – and have them delivered to their doorsteps even without going to the physical stores.

What is more is that these deliveries are done in absolute compliance with the social distance requirements, as prescribed by the federal government and the National Centre for Diseases Control (NCDC). Jumia Nigeria, in its bid to further curtail the transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic, has begun what it calls contactless deliveries to its customers. In contactless deliveries, the delivery men drop customers’ orders at their doorsteps, move three meters back and call the customers to come and pick up their orders.

The advantages of switching over to the online platforms for shopping now, and the folly of physical shopping, are that online shopping is more convenient, cheaper and has the products more readily available at all points in time than in physical shopping. Above all, with Jumia’s contactless delivery, online shopping has become more COVID-19 compliant than traditional shopping.

Since the year 2012 that e-commerce platforms debuted and remained in business in Nigeria, there has been a reluctance on our part to change our shopping culture to the modern online platforms due to our attachment to the old ways. This is in spite of the increased number of merchants and goods and services available on these platforms, the increased ease, convenience and safety that come with the platforms, as well as the various incentives like price slashes, sales promotions, free deliveries, etc. offered by the e-commerce platforms.

With the presence of the coronavirus disease in Nigeria and the announced restrictions that are in place as a response to the pandemic, this seems to be the best time for Nigerians to switch over to the e-commerce platforms for a COVID-19-compliant lifestyle as well as enjoy safer and better shopping experience.

COVID-19: Heritage Bank joins WHO to celebrate health workers globally

Heritage Bank Plc has joined the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the celebration of “World Health Workers Week” and pay tribute to health workers globally for their selfless sacrifice and bravery in the fight against the novel Coronavirus pandemic causing countless mortality rates.

The event is an annual commemoration of health workers but this year’s is scheduled to honour and advocate for health workers during the 8th annual World Health Worker Week slated for April 6 – 11, 2020.

The theme for this year’s celebration is titled, “Leaders on the Line,” which according to WHO highlights the need to provide greater leadership opportunities for frontline health workers—particularly women health workers, who make up more than 70% of the global health workforce. It further explained, “At the same time, this theme emphasizes how health workers often put themselves on the line, often at great personal risk to themselves and their families, to save and improve lives.”

Commending the health practitioners worldwide, the MD/CEO of Heritage Bank Plc, Ifie Sekibo stated that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the world the heroic efforts health workers on the front lines make every day to keep their respective communities and the world safe and healthy.

“Despite the havoc caused by the of coronavirus pandemic on individuals and the medical personnel who are not spared by the disease, they continue to play significant roles to contain the spread of the disease, carter for the affected patients and embark on research to attain robust understand of COVID-19. They also take steps further to proffer recommendation on how to remain safe, hale and hearty, whilst we all embrace the warmth and safety of our home. This is a calling for every individual within and outside to honor and support the brave healthcare workers doing life-saving work on the front lines,” he stated.

He, however, assured that as a bank “We are proud to join forces with health workers and agencies to help suppress the transmission of the virus, minimize social-economic impacts on the global community and work together to boost the nation economic growth,”

Also, as part of effort to support and attain a more robust health system in the country, Sekibo has further called and encouraged government at all levels, key stakeholders, including the private sector to strengthen financial and technical support for health workers, as part of efforts to create a safer environment for them.

According him, it calls for our collective joint action to combat COVID-19 since we are in this together and we will get through this together.

Meanwhile, Heritage Bank has assured customers of uninterrupted access to the various services, which they have been enjoying before now.

This has been made possible with the activation of the bank’s business continuity management emanating from Heritage Bank’s corporate strategy to guarantee seamless service delivery to the various stakeholders.

The bank also adopted a crisis response measures in place to minimise and manage the risk arising from COVID-19 and ensure that the payment infrastructure and logistics to maintain operations going as various State governments continue to observe lockdown to contain the pandemic.

To ensure seamless banking transactions, the bank explained that customers are constantly communicated to, to adopt its available 24/7 alternate electronic channels.

“We have encouraged our customers to adopt the self-service platforms by using the *745#. We are available via email info@hbng.com and social media (insert social media icons) to render the following services: Debit Card Hotlist, Post No Debit Request (PND Placement), HB Padie unlock/ username request/ Password reset, Statement of Account (individual accounts) and general inquiries on products and services

“We have setup a COVID-19 Support Centre to offer COVID-19 safety tips to all our customers during this period, in support of the efforts of the Government and relevant bodies. Please send any information relating to the COVID-19 pandemic via these channels: E-mail: HeritageBankCovid19Support@hbng.com and contact number: 01-2369099,” the bank explained.

Prudential Zenith Life Insurance Unveils Additional Benefits for Customers Affected by COVID-19 Pandemic

Following the launch of its Coronavirus (COVID-19) initiative, Prudential Zenith Life Insurance has announced some additional benefits designed to address the negative impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has claimed thousands of lives globally.

According to a statement released by the company, the benefits which apply for a period of 45 days – from April 3^rd to May 18^th 2020 – will ensure that customers who have purchased or who intend to purchase any of the following Prudential Zenith Life products: My Family Protection Plan, My Family Protection Plan Premier, My School Fees Protection plan, PZL Term Assurance, PZL Hospital Plan and My Savings Plan-Premier will enjoy a ‘Diagnosis Benefit’, which entitles the insured who has been diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus by the State to a cash amount of thirty-eight thousand and a ‘Treatment Benefit’ of nine thousand daily for a maximum period of 25 days to cater for losses or incidental expenses.

The statement further noted that the company has reduced the normal waiting period from 6 months to 14 days for these benefits to apply to any new customer, while for existing customers, these additional benefits apply immediately.

Also, for any customer who has bought a policy from the company and who is diagnosed with COVID-19 or who is formally retrenched as a result of a business having to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it will provide a three-month premium holiday. This means that the policy will not lapse and the customer will still enjoy the protection benefits of their policy even if they are unable to pay their regular premiums during this period. This is in addition to any ‘Death Benefits’ that are payable when due, as the company does not exclude death caused by COVID-19 under any of its policies.

To avoid any ambiguity, the company stated that it is important to note there are policy exclusions to this offering as listed below:

We are not liable to pay claims if:

Treatment is for any reason other than the contraction of the COVID-19 virus.
On or after the start of the policy, the Covered Person travelled to any country or area included in the list of “countries/ areas with active community transmission of COVID-19” as announced by the Nigerian Ministry of Health or World Health Organisation at the time of his/her travel.
The covered person is in self-isolation or hospitalised but has not been officially diagnosed and hospitalised by the State.

The following shall apply to new clients only:

The Covered Person(s) has already officially been diagnosed with or already has signs or symptoms of COVID-19 at the time of signing on to the Plan
The Covered Person(s) was under mandatory self-isolation in the past 14 days from the time of registration due to close contact with an infected person or having demonstrated COVID-19 symptoms.

Other Important Points to Note

The benefits will be provided for all clients that qualify with active policies.
Benefit are also available to ALL of our customers who’s employer has taken out a Critical Illness policy with Prudential Zenith Life” to “Group Life policy with Critical Illness rider
A claim can only be made once in respect of each Insured Life.
Covered Lives refers to all lives covered under the policyholder’s active existing insurance policy (ies) and includes all named individuals covered under a Group Critical Illness policy taken out by an employer of those individuals.
An Active Policy is a Prudential Zenith Policy which has not lapsed, been cancelled or terminated and on which premiums are received as stipulated in the contract of that policy.
All claim substantiating documents, should be duly stamped and signed by the issuing authority.

Live life fully covered with Prudential Zenith.

FIRSTBANK SALUTES MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS TACKLING COVID-19

First Bank of Nigeria Limited has saluted medical professionals tackling the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria and the world..

The Bank in series of tweets on its Twitter page on Friday, acknowledged the role medical experts are playing to fight the virus.

Some of the messages read: “No capes, just heroes. To all the health professionals at the frontline of efforts to tackle COVID-19, we say thank you. Your timeless efforts are much appreciated. The world called and they responded.”

“No cape, just lab-coats. No superhuman capability, just dedication, strength, and compassion. As we play our parts of staying at home, we thank our medical professionals for being our ‘Avengers’.”

“The world called and they responded. We salute our frontline warriors.”

FirstBank has been in the forefront of supporting the drive to flatten the curve with promoting public enlightenment being among its many measures to check the rising spread of Coronavirus since the outbreak of the disease in Nigeria.

Recall, the lender, as part of a robust effort to combat the deadly virus, recently announced a donation of N1 billion to the federal government of Nigeria for the expansion of health facilities, purchase of relief materials, critical care facilities, protective gears to contain the spread of the virus and treating individuals diagnosed with the disease.

The donation is in addition to the Bank’s drive to move one million children to e-learning, together with an early partner – Roducate – as recommended by the Lagos State Ministry of Education.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, the e-learning initiative is a complementary effort in education to support students and minimise the disruption to their education resulting from closure of schools.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Friday night confirmed 20 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.

Eleven cases were confirmed in Lagos, three cases confirmed in the FCT, 3 in Edo, two in Osun and one in Ondo

“Two new deaths have been recorded in Lagos and Edo States, with 25 cases discharged. This brings the total number of confirmed cases in Nigeria to 210,” the centre said.

Repackaged Abuja Begging Profession that put Beggars’ Earning above Civil Servants’

By Felix Victor

Canadian writer Marty Rubin once said, “Giving alms to the rich is a luxury no beggar can afford”. This assertion is not looking like a saying for Nigeria if the strategy employed by some skilled Abuja beggars is put into consideration, it is a fact that that the recently celebrated increased minimum wage is nothing but stipend compares to how much these set of professional beggars are making just for collecting stipends from unsuspecting Nigerians.

It is no new thing to an average Nigerian who steps out at the early hours of the morning and comes back at late evenings to get approached by tattered looking children or elders, who sings chorus trying to evoke sympathy and attract currencies. Over the years, the strategies of these beggars seem to have evolved from seating at road sides with plates, to looking tattered and singing, down to dressing properly and standing at the road side and now making moves like they are commuters and those the ones that are making the real cash out of bus passengers.

These beggars stand at bus stops where there targets are the buses on queue loading passengers in turns, looking all flashy as though they were headed to an office, they get into busses and ensure they are noticed by those in the vehicle, the sometime put pressure on the drivers to move fast, (probably because they’ve got clients in other busses they have to catch up with), immediately the bus starts moving, they smile at the person seating next to them and say “sorry please can you assist me with 100 naira?” Of cause as easy as that seems, the person gives to them, after a while they highlight with an excuse that they changed their mind as to where they are headed and move on to the next bus.

Findings shows they usually works on vehicle with a daily target of 40 and above, putting it into perspectives a free gift of N100 per or more vehicle with above 40 vehicles (always moving in the direction that is having high movement of commuters) per day, will be looking at an amount around N4,000 per day and N24,000 per week excluding Sundays because commuters are usually not much that day, monthly they will be going home with and average amount of N96,000 an amount that makes the civil servant salary with the new minimum wage looks more like beggars.

Corporate begging it was gathered is a new found occupation that is not restricted only to Abuja it has its root in Lagos and the actors are even said to have formed an association. With the employment situation in the country professional begging seems to be a new employment opportunity for jobless Nigerian since the government haven’t granted them any and the workers varies from the young to the old.

Unpalatable Tales trails the distribution of Lagos COVID-19 Emergency Food Response

Wickedness will be the right word to describe the actions of some people involved in the distribution of relief material made available by the Lagos State Government for the people when a lockdown of every activities were announced by both the State and the Federal governments. The aim of the package is to help put food on the table of poor Lagosians whose livelihood will be affected by the lockdown, but information reaching us from different areas is sad.

It was brought to our notice that the people are not actually getting what was reported to be in the pack, while Lagos government made it known through different media that a pack of Covid-19 Emergency Food Response pack will contain a sizeable amount of rice, beans, garri and what can be used to cook it like sachet tomatoes and some other items which of course includes water, we gathered that the people are only getting outrageous stuffs that falls far below what the government announced.

Findings revealed that packages getting to the people are so poor and unlike what was publicly displayed by the State government, though it varies we were informed that the Local Governments (LG) or Local Council Development Area (LCDA) were saddled with the responsibility of distributing the relief packages based on Community Development Association (CDA), it was revealed that some CDAs were only able to get three (3) packs of the Emergency Food Response while some gets like five (5) not forgetting the fact that the law of Lagos State governing CDA formation made it clear that it will take minimum of 20 persons to form a CDA.

What this means is that each house may not get up to one measuring tin of only one of the item in the package, one case was that of Igando-Ikotun LCDA where a street of more that twelve (12) house were given a few cups of beans, in the video made available to us by some of the residents the package brought for the street more than 20 families living on the street is just the beans and a sachet of tomato paste. Another street were also receive few cups of rice while some could only get garri.

This is unpalatable news to many of the residents who had high hopes of feeding their families during this trying period that has exposed most of them to untold hardship in catering for the feeding of their family due to the government imposed lockdown. What is however unknown is if the rationing is from the State government (which sources said is not likely) or the fact that the LG and LCDA officials has decided to short-change the poor like the culture in Nigeria.

Video

https://www.societygazetteng.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/WhatsApp-Video-2020-04-02-at-2.13.13-PM.mp4?_=1

MTN Respond to Minister of Labour’s Plea, Gives free 300 SMS to Nigerians

The clarion call by the Minister of State, Labour, Mr. Festus Keyamo SAN FCIArb (UK) to telecommunication companies and Pay-TVs in Nigeria to come up with a social safety net programme for the masses to ease the Covid-19 pains has began to yield results with a swift response from one of the telecommunication giants.

Concerned with the plights of the masses amidst the federal government’s compulsory stay home order on the Covid-19 plague, the Minister had released torrents of messages from his Twitter handle urging Pay-TVs and telecommunication companies to gift free data, call credits and at least 1-month subscription for their numerous customers. This is in order to allow them stay in touch with the world and their relatives.

And in a swift reaction, the management of MTN, one of Nigeria’s telecommunication companies has responded to the Minister’s tweets by promising its subscribers free 300 sms to all networks of their choice.

“We understand how important it is to keep in touch with loved ones during this period. Now you can with 300 SMS to all networks. #staysafe#connected”, MTN’s response on its Twitter handle, @MTNNG.

As a way of appreciating their reaction to his tweets, the Minister thanked MTN management but not without begging for more, Thank you@MTNNG for responding to my plea, especially for the hard-hit workers this time. We really appreciate. But I believe you can still do more. Specifically, we politely ask for some token data and airtime. Nothing is too small. Other networks should kindly follow suit. The Minister pleaded.