Connect with us

Headline

Sanwo-Olu Releases N1bn Science, Research Innovation Take Off Grant

Published

on

The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has inaugurated the newly constituted State Science, Research and Innovation Council, LASRIC, and Cybersecurity Advisory Board in its quest to advance scientific innovations with the sum of N1 billion take off grant.

How my mum’s arthritis made me study Wood Therapy — Dr. Ebubedike, Process Therapist-1

The event that took place at the Lagos House, Ikeja, at the weekend, was presided over by Sanwo-Olu, represented by his Deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, who announced the take-off grant of N1Billion, for the effective commencement of the activities by the board.

Sanwo-Olu stated that his administration was committed to increasing the success metrics with the provision of LASRIC Seed fund.

Advertisement

READ ALSO: FULL LIST: Akande, Olanipekun Others Get Varsity Governing Council Appointments

According t him, “With the provision of LASRIC Seed fund to the tune of N1,000,000,000 in the first tranche payment to the council.  

“We believe this fund would continue to catalyze development in our dear State.”

Advertisement

The Governor noted that the sustenance of the development of the State is the central focus of the present administration’s THEMES Plus Agenda, adding that to drive deeper positive economic outcomes, it was essential to establish an innovation, science, and technology body to manage and propel Lagos State’s engagement with the science and technology ecosystem.

Sanwo-Olu noted that within the research and development, LASRIC has supported more than 70 initiatives, ranging from projects in biomass and biodiesel to artificial intelligence for medical imaging, adding that “their efforts have increased innovation activity within the state by over 250 per cent.”

READ ALSO: Court Sentences Native Doctor To Death For Kidnapping In Akwa Ibom

Advertisement

The Governor, enumerated the key areas of responsibilities of the government to the newly recommissioned LASRIC board, which includes: Increased funding and support, collaboration and partnerships, capacity building, focus on local challenges, promotion of a culture of innovation, and LASRIC SEED FUND, adding that “all these areas will increase the ecosystem science, innovation, and technology of the state.” 

Sanwo-Olu noted that the board is composed of experts from industry, academia, and the public sector, with the mission to deepen and expand innovation activities in Lagos.

While congratulating the newly constituted council, the governor stated that “It is my expectation that the new LASRIC being inaugurated today will work assiduously towards ensuring the realization of our collective goal and aspiration congratulate the Chairman and members of the Board for heeding the call to serve. 

Advertisement

“I have no doubt in my mind that you will bring to bear on your new assignment your experience and expertise which informed your selection to serve the government and the people of Lagos State.”

READ ALSO: JUST IN: Police Reject PSC’s Recruitment List, Demand Review

In an earlier event, Sanwo-Olu inaugurated the state cybersecurity council, charging them with the mandate to establish a robust protection ecosystem that will ultimately safeguard the quality of life for all its citizens, stating that the inauguration of the State’s Cybersecurity Advisory Board marks a significant step in its commitment to enhancing digital security and advancing the development agenda in the state.

Advertisement

 “Given these escalating threats, it is imperative for Lagos to implement a comprehensive cybersecurity protection strategy.

The growing use of digital tools offers both opportunities and real-world risks to our development. Today’s inauguration aligns with our goal of transforming Lagos into a smart, livable, and cyber-protected city,”the Governor said.

Earlier, Commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology, Mr. Tobosun Alake, stressed that Sanwo-Olu administration has continued to enhance technology and digital solutions which will increase the quality of livelihood of its citizens.

Advertisement

READ ALSO: Binance Reacts As FG Drops Tax Charges Against Executives

The commissioner stated that the inauguration of both LASRIC Board and the State’s Cybersecurity Advisory Board was a testament to Sanwo-Olu/Hamzat administration’s commitment to innovation science and technology and protecting the state ecosystem.

Also, both Chairmen of the newly inaugurated boards, LASRIC, Professor Olumuyiwa Odusanya and Cybersecurity, Dr. Osakwe Fene, assured the government of their commitments to the mandate of the council, to protect and promote cybersecurity, science and technology towards the development of the ecosystem of the state and its citizens.

Advertisement

The duo added that technology and cybersecurity are pivotal to the development of any country, especially in achieving the making Lagos a 21st-century economy goal, stressing that “the present administration is open to different innovative ideas that will continue to enhance the economy of the state and as the 5th largest economy in Africa.” 

Headline

UK Police Hunt Asylum Seeker Mistakenly Freed For Sex Offence

Published

on

UK police were still hunting Saturday for an Ethiopian asylum seeker and convicted sex offender whose crimes sparked a wave of anti-immigration protests and who was accidentally released from prison.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “appalled” by Friday’s “totally unacceptable” error that saw 38-year-old Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu freed rather than sent to an immigration detention centre.

This man must be caught and deported for his crimes,” the UK leader added.

Advertisement

Kebatu had served the first month of a one-year sentence for sexually assaulting a teenage girl and a woman, but was reportedly due to be deported when the Prison Service mistake occurred.

READ ALSO:UK Is A Home, Not Hotel, Kemi Badenoch Tells Immigrants, Starmer’s Govt

Kebatu’s high-profile case earlier this year in Epping, northeast of London, sparked demonstrations in various English towns and cities where asylum seekers were believed to be housed, as well as counter-protests.

Advertisement

Justice Secretary David Lammy said late Friday night that Kebatu was “at large in London” after he was seen boarding a train to the capital in Chelmsford, eastern England.

Essex Police, which is leading the search with the help of London’s Metropolitan Police, said Saturday that “inquiries are continuing at pace this morning to locate and arrest” him.

Officers worked throughout the night to track his movements, including scouring hours of CCTV footage,” the force added, noting “it is not lost on us that this situation is concerning to people”.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:UK Cuts Post-study Work Period For Foreign Students

The Telegraph reported he was wrongly categorised as a prisoner due to be released on licence and handed a £76 ($101) discharge grant.

The father of Kebatu’s anonymous teenage victim told Sky News that “the justice system has let us down”.

Advertisement

Police arrested the asylum seeker in July after he repeatedly tried to kiss a 14-year-old girl and touch her legs, and made sexually explicit comments to her.

He also sexually assaulted an adult woman, placing a hand on her thigh, when she intervened to stop his interactions with the girl.

At the time, Kebatu was staying at Epping’s Bell Hotel, where scores of other asylum seekers have been accommodated, and which became the target of repeated protests.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Headline

UK Is A Home, Not Hotel, Kemi Badenoch Tells Immigrants, Starmer’s Govt

Published

on

UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has slammed Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government over its immigration policy, declaring that Britain is “a home, not a hotel.”

Badenoch accused Labour of weakening the country’s borders and enabling mass automatic citizenship.

In a 1:11-minute video posted on her official X account on Friday, Badenoch claimed Labour’s proposed reforms could allow up to two million immigrants to automatically qualify for British citizenship starting next year.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:Badenoch Unveils Strict UK Immigration Plan, Targets 150,000 Yearly Deportations

“From next year, two million immigrants can automatically claim British citizenship. Two million people! That’s nearly twice the population of Birmingham. That’s massive,” Badenoch said in the video.

Badenoch noted that the Conservative Party has introduced a deportation bill to bring immigration down.

Advertisement

NDLEA intercepts drugs hidden in snails, others meant for UK, US, DRC
Among the measures she endorsed in the video were deporting all foreign criminals, mandatory age checks, no more pretending to be kids, tougher visa rules and salary thresholds, disapplying the Human Rights Act to immigration cases, and no more abusing human rights laws to judge deportations. Make asylum support repayable, and no permanent right to stay in the UK if you’ve relied on benefits.

READ ALSO:Badenoch Slams UK’s Palestine Recognition Decision As ‘Absolutely Disastrous’

Until that’s law, we won’t fix this. Labour should adopt it now. It’s time to get tough. That’s what the Conservatives’ Deportation Bill delivers, and we’re going to go further. Our country is a home, not a hotel. And if we don’t defend it, no one else will.”

Advertisement

In the caption that came with the video, she tweeted, “Labour has blocked every single measure we’ve put forward to cut immigration and stop abuse of the system.

“Now they’re pushing one half-arsed proposal — it’s weak; it won’t work. It’s time they stopped playing games and backed our Deportation Bill.”

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Headline

King Charles To Pray With Pope Leo In Historic Vatican Visit

Published

on

King Charles III will on Thursday meet Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican and make history as the first head of the Church of England to pray publicly with the pontiff for five centuries.

The 76-year-old monarch, who is the supreme governor of the Church of England, arrived in Rome on Wednesday evening with his wife, Queen Camilla, for what Buckingham Palace described as a “historic” state visit.

It will be Charles’s first meeting with Leo since the US-born pope took over as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics in May, following the death of Pope Francis.

Advertisement

The royals will arrive at the Apostolic Palace at 10.45am (0845 GMT) for private talks with the pope.

READ ALSO:King Charles III To Visit Vatican Next Week

The king and queen will then join an ecumenical service at midday (1000 GMT) in the Sistine Chapel led by Pope Leo and the archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, currently the senior cleric of the Church of England.

Advertisement

Broadcast live by Vatican media, it will be the first time a reigning English or British monarch has prayed publicly with a pope since English king Henry VIII broke with Rome in 1534.

Triggered by the pope’s refusal to annul the king’s marriage so he could marry another woman, the schism made the monarch head of the separate Church of England.

Thursday’s service, held beneath Michelangelo’s spectacular ceiling frescoes, will be centred on conservation and protecting the environment, a cause championed by Charles.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:King Charles To Knight David Beckham For Football, Charity Work

It will bring together Catholic and Anglican traditions, with the choir from the Sistine Chapel joined by that from Saint George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, one of the king’s residences.

– Schism –

Advertisement

The religious break between London and Rome remains, even if there has been a significant rapprochement in recent decades.

In 1961, the late Queen Elizabeth II, Charles’s mother, became the first British monarch to visit the Holy See since the split.

The law was changed in 2013 so that marrying a Catholic would no longer disqualify someone from becoming monarch — although they still have to be a Protestant themselves.

Advertisement

The rapprochement is important because “Anglicanism was born in reaction to the Catholic Church, and therefore in opposition,” said Hyacinthe Destivelle, a French priest and member of the Vatican’s dicastery (department) for promoting Christian unity.

READ ALSO:King Charles III To Visit Vatican Next Week

This is no longer the case, despite “theological differences in recent decades”, he told AFP.

Advertisement

Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England — the mother church of the world’s 85-million-strong Anglican community — ordains women and allows priests to marry.

Sarah Mullally was recently named the first female archbishop of Canterbury, the Church’s top cleric, although she has yet to officially take up her post.

– Royal Confrater –

Advertisement

Charles and Queen Camilla are also set to take part in a service at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, one of four major papal basilicas, which has historic links with the English crown.

READ ALSO:Police Bust Child Trafficking Syndicate In Rivers, Rescue Babies

The king will be made a “Royal Confrater” of the basilica and presented with a specially designed seat for use by him and future British monarchs.

Advertisement

Charles has visited the Vatican several times and met privately with Pope Francis on April 9, just days before the pontiff’s death.

The king sent his son and heir, William, to the funeral and his brother, Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, to Leo’s inauguration mass.

The visit comes as the Catholic Church celebrates the Jubilee, a year-long event held every 25 years, which has drawn millions of pilgrims to the Vatican.

Advertisement

It also comes at a delicate time for Charles, following new revelations about his brother Prince Andrew, who is mired in a scandal surrounding late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew announced on Friday that he would relinquish his title as Duke of York, reportedly under pressure from Charles. He had already stepped back from royal duties in 2019.

AFP

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending