Connect with us

News

Five-year-old pupil undergoing swimming lesson drowns in Lagos

Published

on

Chidera Eze, a five-year-old pupil of the Redeemers Nursery and Primary School in Ogba, Lagos state, has died during a swimming session.

The pupil was said to have drowned during a swimming lesson organised by the school at the Ivory Health Club in the Ikeja axis of the state.

Eze and his colleagues were said to have been playing close to the pool during the training when he suddenly slipped into it.

Speaking with PUNCH, Anthony, the pupil’s father, alleged that the school’s officials neglected his son, resulting in his death.

According to him, he had dropped Eze in school on Monday morning and left for work.

Anthony said Adeola Oladipo, the school’s headteacher, later called to inform him that his son was involved in an accident and rushed to the Ikeja Medical Centre.

“I dropped my children at the Redeemers Nursery and Primary School on Acme Road, Ogba, on Monday morning, and I went to work. At 10.52am, I got a call from their headteacher, Mrs Adeola Oladipo, and she told me that my son was involved in an accident and that he had been rushed to the Ikeja Medical Centre,” he said.

“I rushed down there, but what I saw was the lifeless body of my son. I asked the headteacher what happened and she said she did not know. I asked the doctor what happened and he said he was brought in dead. I asked the teachers, caregivers and workers at the club what happened and they gave no explanation.

“As I was crying, my wife came in; I was trying to manage the information, but the headteacher also informed her and as she ran into the hospital, I became totally confused. I went to the Area F Police Station and after the policemen took pictures of my son’s corpse, we went to the club.

“When we got there, we discovered that it was the adult swimming pool section that they took the pupils to. I was alarmed and while the policemen were investigating, we realised that CCTV was installed at the club. So, we demanded to check the CCTV footage and it revealed everything.”

Citing CCTV footage of the facility, Anthony also claimed his son was not attended to in the pool for over 30 minutes before he died.

He further alleged that his son’s corpse was discovered by someone who came to swim in the pool.

“In the footage, we saw that the school brought more than 15 children, took them to the adult side of the swimming pool and made them sit at the tip with their legs in the water and without wearing any kits. We saw only one caregiver in the video and she was just going in and coming out, leaving the children unmanned,” he added.

“My son was at the tail end of the line when he slipped into the pool the first time but he was able to bring himself out of the pool. But the second time he slipped into the water, he could not come out. All these happened and none of the teachers, caregivers, and lifeguards took notice of what was happening.

“My son was under the water for over 30 minutes and we were all shouting as we watched the video. Another pupil also fell into the water, but her colleagues raised the alarm and they pulled her out and while this was going on, nobody noticed my son was inside the water.

“My son died because of the recklessness of these people who were supposed to take care of him. I want justice to forestall this kind of thing from happening again. The caregivers, lifeguards, school management and the Ivory Health Club can’t go unpunished. My son’s corpse has been deposited in the morgue.”

The school has not reacted to the incident as of the time of this report.

News

Abike Dabiri returns to Twitter after nearly a year offline – with numerous awards

Published

on

By

The Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa is back on Twitter almost a year after her account was hacked.

The broadcast journalist-turned-politician announced her return to the social media platform on Thursday, May 16, 2024.

It would be recalled that on June 15, 2023, the NiDCOM chairman informed Nigerians that her X account formerly known as Twitter, had been “hacked by some unscrupulous elements.”

She said the “obvious aim of the hackers is to spread falsehood and fake news in her name.”

In a statement by Abdur-Rahman Balogun, the commission’s Head of Media, Public Relations, and Protocols Unit, Dabiri-Erewa advised Nigerians to disregard any message from the account.

“Members of the public are hereby advised to ignore any message from the Twitter handle @Abike Dabiri-Erewa until normalcy is hopefully restored,” the statement read in part.

Announcing her return in a short video showing numerous award plaques, the three-term member of the House of Representatives said she looks forward to meaningful engagement on the social media platform.

She said, “Hi everyone, Abike-Dabiri-Erewa here. I’m back on Twitter. After my account was hacked, I did my very best to get my account back. I mean, it’s not easy to lose over a million followers, but hey, that’s life but I’m back on X. I am looking forward to meaningful engagements on the X platform. It’s nice to be back.”

Meanwhile, Dabiri-Erewa’s hacked account is still active on X. The account which is being used to propagate Islamic content has over 800,000 followers.

Continue Reading

News

Some youth trading crypto are unaware they’re being used to fund terrorism, says Olukoyede

Published

on

By

Ola Olukoyede, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says some youths who trade in cryptocurrencies do not know that they are being used to fund terrorism in Nigeria.

Olukoyede spoke on Wednesday during a multi-stakeholders’ national dialogue on preventing terrorism financing and violent extremism.

The EFCC chair said some of the people who receive money to trade in cryptocurrencies do not know that their financiers are sponsors of terrorism.

He added that some of the 1,146 bank accounts recently frozen by the anti-graft agency were conduits for terrorism funding.

“Some of you are aware of our activities in the area of investigating virtual currency trading and the likes of cryptocurrencies,” he said.

“They are potential platforms to fund terrorism. A lot of us don’t understand that. Some of our discoveries during investigation of some of these platforms were mind boggling.

“We thought Binance was a major one. Yes, it was. We are prosecuting them. But there are other platforms we have discovered.

“They used some of these young men. Some of them don’t know that the people who gave them money to trade are people who fund terrorism.”

The EFCC boss said there is a need to adopt technology in tracking money used to fund terrorism in the country.

Olukoyede narrated how he was informed by a friend in the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that dollar bills across the world can be tracked with technology.

“It is important for us to adopt the use of technology,” he said.

“I was comparing notes with an assistant director in the FBI — a friend of mine. He said: ‘My brother, from our systems in the US, we can track every printed dollar anywhere in the world’.”

The EFCC boss added that Nigeria must get to that stage where technology can be deployed to track naira notes used for terrorism financing.

Continue Reading

News

FCCPC seals warehouse with mislabelled, expired products in Ekiti

Published

on

By

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) says a warehouse selling harmful products in Ekiti state was raided and sealed on Wednesday.

In a post on X, FCCPC said the raid was carried out after receiving intelligence reports that there were unsafe and expired products in the warehouse located in Ado-Ekiti.

After confirming the reports, FCCPC said the place was sealed.

“Following intelligence reports, our operatives raided a warehouse suspected of selling harmful products, including vegetable oils, cereals and other fast-moving consumer goods,” the commission said.

“During the raid, the FCCPC found evidence of expired goods still on the shelves, deceptive labels on products, fake barcodes, and repackaged, potentially unsafe products.

“The warehouse is now sealed, and the owners along with a supplier are being investigated. Appropriate enforcement actions will follow.”

The commission said it would remain vigilant in protecting consumers and ensuring a fair marketplace in Nigeria.

On April 18, FCCPC raided two 4U Signature supermarkets in the Wuse area of Abuja.

The supermarkets were accused of overcharging customers by implementing prices different from those listed on the shelf tags.

Four days after the supermarket was sealed, FCCPC summoned the owners of Royal Choice, a Chinese supermarket in Abuja, for allegedly refusing to sell to Nigerians.

Continue Reading

Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.

She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others

Most Read...