Nigeria has continued its push into the world of motor sports in 2020. The country's annual car drifting competition is getting bigger. And the organisers are targeting to turn this event into an official sport for local competitions and export.CGTN's Kelechi Emekalam reports.
Jamaica yesterday welcomed its first flight from Lagos, Nigeria to the Sangster International Airport in St James.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith was on hand to greet Nigeria's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffery Onyeama, along with other delegates who arrived on the flight carrying just under 150 persons.
The minister said that she was “truly delighted that after 400 years of shared history, Jamaica and Nigeria could celebrate this historic direct charter flight from Lagos to Montego Bay.
''The context of this flight is significant as both countries are celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relations this year."
“The fact that we have been able to make the flight happen against the backdrop of the major global challenges that defined 2020, make it that much more significant," she added.
Johnson Smith said that the pandemic has deepened the need to connect “and this makes this coming home of family even more special.
The foreign affairs minister also expressed hope that the Air Peace charter flight will "represent the start of a new era of robust cooperation between Jamaica and Nigeria and ultimately the rest of Africa and the wider Caribbean."
At the same time, she noted that "the flights hold considerable promise for increased people to people contact through tourism and increased trade and investment opportunities."
Johnson Smith praised the ministers of tourism and transport and mining for their support of the flight arrangements and expressed confidence in the programme in place.
She also shared that with collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Ministry of National Security and other critical stakeholders, all protocols are in place to safely welcome air crew and passengers to the Resilient Corridor.
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At least 11 people were injured after a tanker loaded with diesel exploded in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub on Saturday, local police said.
The explosion occurred when the tanker rolled and collided with another articulated truck carrying goods and a salon car along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Olusegun Ogungbemide, head of the Federal Road Safety Corps in Lagos, said in a statement on Saturday evening.
He said about 11 passengers were involved in the crash but no death was reported, and rescue teams from various agencies were quickly mobilized to the scene for first aid.
“The rescue team of Lagos Fire service and other emergency responders are making frantic efforts to extinguish the fire,” said Ogungbemide.
The commander also urged the public to be more vigilant while driving on the road, especially during this festive period.
Deadly road accidents are frequently reported in Nigeria due to overloading, poor road conditions and reckless driving.
Gunmen in Nigeria abducted more than 80 Islamic school students in northwestern Katsina state Saturday night, but the pupils were quickly rescued by security forces after a fierce gun battle, police announced Sunday.
The foiled abduction comes less than two days after the release of 344 schoolboys who were kidnapped in the same area on Dec. 11. The incidents have highlighted the insecurity in northern Nigeria.
Saturday night's attempted kidnapping took place in Dandume, about 64 kilometres (40 miles) from Kankara, the town where the earlier kidnapping of schoolboys occurred.
The bandits had already abducted four people and stolen a dozen cows when they ran into the schoolchildren who were on their way home from a celebration, Katsina state police spokesman, Gambo Isa, said early Sunday morning. Police and a local community self-defence group rescued the children from the bandits after a gunfight, he said.
"The teams succeeded in dislodging the bandits and rescued all the 84 kidnapped victims and recovered all the 12 rustled cows." said Isa in a statement. "Search parties are still combing the area with a view of arresting the injured bandits and/or the recovery of their dead bodies."
Dandume, an area bordering the northern part of Kaduna state, is one of the region's hotspots for banditry and kidnapping, according to residents.
"Dandume is a no-go-area for many of us because of the high level of crimes and insecurity being perpetrated by armed bandits," said Saidu Lawal, an official of a local civic group in Katsina, told The Associated Press.
"Despite government efforts to open up the area by constructing roads leading from the metropolitan locations to the hinterlands of Dandume ... the banditry still persists," said Lawal. "On many occasions, the bandits block the Dandume-Sabuwa highways to attack travellers. It was based on that reason that many people have abandoned the new route."
By Haruna Umar
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More than 300 schoolboys who were kidnapped in northwestern Nigeria a week ago have arrived in Katsina city where they will be reunited with their families. They will first be checked by doctors. The boys were taken on Friday last week by gunmen, thought to be linked to Boko Haram, who raided a school. Al Jazeera's Ahmed Idris reports live outside the government house of Katsina state.
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