Tare Magbei
Top Nigerian newspaper headlines and breaking news in Nigeria today, Monday, April 24, 2023.
FG to Evacuate 5,500 Stranded Nigerians in Sudan by Road
The Federal government has revealed plans to evacuated stranded Nigerians in Sudan by road.
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Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, disclosed that arrangements have been concluded to evacuate over 5,500 Nigerians stranded in Sudan by road.
The disclosure is coming on the heels of intense fighting between rival forces in the North Eastern African country.
Sudan shares border with seven other countries including Libya, Egypt, Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea.
As of Sunday, Saudi Arabia has evacuated 91 of its citizens along with 66 nationals from 12 other countries which included Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan, India, Bulgaria, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Canada, and Burkina Faso from Sudan.
READ ALSO: 2023: Stranded Nigerians Lament, Seek Extension of Voters Registration
Onyeama, who spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Sunday, said the ministry received information that an estimated 5,500 citizens made up students, workers and others were ready to be evacuated.
On the option to evacuate the stranded Nigerians by road, the Minister said the plan became imperative following the attack on the flight of the French rescue team in Sudan.
He said, “We have been given the cost estimate and all the details. They gave us a figure of 5,500 who are ready for evacuation. Obviously, what you need in a situation like this is a place where everybody can congregate before you start moving them out.
“Because the airports, as you pointed out in your report, is out of commission. The only viable way out is by road. Of course, it’s totally safe. So we want to require the government to provide some security and a safe corridor out.
“Our situation is particularly challenging because the numbers are so great. Some of the countries like the US and European countries have started evacuating. But what they’ve been evacuating were actually their diplomatic staff.
“They haven’t been able to start evacuating their citizens there. We can’t evacuate all our diplomatic staff at the moment because they need to also coordinate the evacuation of all those students that we’re talking about.
“So essentially, where we are at the moment is trying to get the authorization from the Sudanese government to undertake this long journey and for them to provide some security. Now we don’t want to take any risk or risk the lives of any Nigerian.
“Because from what we saw yesterday, for instance, how the French in trying to evacuate their citizens came under fire. We don’t want to expose our brothers and sisters to that danger as well.
“We are doing everything we can to get the requisite approval for the Sudanese government at the very highest level. I was in touch today with somebody in the Office of the President and made a formal request to have a safe corridor only to evacuate our people. And they confirmed that they had received it and would be giving us attention.
“The three options available to us include the Egyptian border, Port Sudan and Ethiopian border,” he stated.
JAMB Postpones Direct Entry Registration Over 2023 Census
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has postponed its Direct Entry registration over the 2023 census.
Daily Report Nigeria reports that the JAMB Direct Entry registration exercise was earlier scheduled to close on Thursday, April 20, 2023.
The latest postponement is coming less than a week after JAMB announced a similar decision on Tuesday.
According to the board, the exercise will continue on Saturday, May 6, 2023, upon the conclusion of the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME and the 2023 national census.
JAMB, in a statement by its spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, also advised prospective candidates to purchase their direct entry registration PINS before April 30th.
The statement read in part;
”The development is to accommodate the conduct of the Board’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) billed to start on Tuesday, 25th April, 2023, and end on Wednesday, 3rd May, 2023, while the National Census is scheduled to start on Wednesday, 3rd May, 2023, and end on Friday, 5th May, 2023.
”Candidates desiring to register for the DE exercise are, therefore, directed to ensure that they obtain their DE ePINs from designated vending outlets on or before 30th April, 2023, when ePIN vending would be closed.
“Candidates are then expected to proceed to the Board’s offices from Saturday, 6th April, 2023, to Saturday, 13th May, 2023, to complete their registration procedure.
“The board assures all candidates desirous of DE registration that none would be denied the opportunity to register provided they comply with the Board’s directives and within the stipulated time frame.
“In the same vein, the board solicits the understanding of candidates as it puts in place some innovative measures aimed at checking incidence of falsification of results, data and other infractions.”
Lagos Listed Among World’s Wealthiest Cities 2023
Lagos has been listed among the list of world’s wealthiest cities in 2023.
The City of Excellence was ranked 72nd in a list that saw New York, Tokyo, and Silicon Valley’s Bay Area occupy first, second, and third spots.
The world’s wealthiest cities 2023 list was compiled by London-based consultancy firm, Henley & Partners.
The firm ranked cities across the world by taking the number of resident millionaires (rounded off to the neared 100) as of December 31, 2022.
The list was dominated by cities in America and China with Lagos was the only Nigerian city to be ranked.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s Johannesburg was ranked as the wealthiest city in Africa.
The World’s Wealthiest Cities Report 2023 covered 97 cities across the world, using data from wealth intelligence firm, New World Wealth, which tracks the movements and spending habits of high-net-worth individuals with the work titles like Founder, Chairperson, CEO, and Director.
It also considered the number of highly-priced homes in the area, said Henley & Partners, on their website.
Seven Burnt to Death, 14 Others Injured in Lagos-Ibadan Expressway Crash
No fewer than Seven persons including two children were on Sunday burnt to death when a bus crashed and went up in flames on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
It was gathered that 14 other passengers sustained varying degrees of injury in the accident which occurred at the OPIC area of the highway.
The spokesman for the Federal Road Safety Corps, Florence Okpe, confirmed the incident in Abeokuta.
According to Okpe, the lone crash which involved a Mazda bus marked BDG993YG occurred at about 10:45 am on Sunday.
She added that a total number of 22 persons, comprising of seven male and eight female adults, four male children and three female children, were involved in the crash, out of which seven died while 14 others were injured.
She blamed the crash on “excessive speed and brake failure which led to loss of control.”
Okpe explained that the vehicle went up in flames after it crashed and burnt some of the occupants to death.
She said, “The injured victims have been taken to Lagos State Accident Emergency Center, Ojota while the corpses were deposited at Olabisi Onabajo University Teaching Hospital morgue Sagamu.”
Okpe said the Sector Commander, Ahmed Umar, commiserates with the family of the victims and advised motorists “to shun speeding and always conduct a routine vehicle check for good maintenance and replacement of any defect.”
Another 5-Story Building Collapses in Lagos
A 5-story building on Sunday collapsed at Ladipo Oluwole Street, GRA, in the Apapa area of Lagos State.
The incident is coming barely 24 hours after Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu ordered for the demolition of some buildings in Banana Island over defective structures and an unapproved plan.
The latest building is said to have caved in following a thunder strike during an early morning downpour.
As of press time, men of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, and other emergency responders were at the scene for rescue activities.
The incident was confirmed by the Director Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Magret Adeseye, noting that no causality was recorded in the incident.
Workers at the site of the building were said to be on Sallah break as of when the structure collapsed.
The development is coming less than 24-hours after a building collapsed inside the Sango Barracks in Oyo.
