Facts just emerged on how an aircraft belonging to the Kaduna-based Dornier AIEP Airline skidded off the runway at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos on Sunday evening. Though information received about the incident was scanty as of the time of this report, the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) investigators have already commenced investigation into the incident. Confirming the incident to the Tribune Online, the spokesperson for AIB said accident investigators from the Bureau had visited the scene of the accident. Details later…

Burna Boy, Nigerian singer, has won the ‘Best Global Music Album’ at the 2021 Grammy Awards for ‘Twice As Tall’, his 2020 project. His album saw off competition from Antibalas’ ‘The Fu Chronicles’, Bebel Gilberto’s ‘Agora’, Anoushka Shankar’s ‘Love Letters’ and Tinariwen’s ‘Amadjar’ to clinch the much-coveted gong at the award ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday night. Burna Boy is winning the Grammy for the first time. This is also the second time the ‘Ye’ crooner will be nominated for the prestigious awards. Burna Boy was nominated in the ‘Best World Music Album’ category for his ‘African Giant‘ album last year but lost to Angelique Kidjo, Beninese singer-songwriter. This year’s edition of the awards was earlier scheduled for January but was postponed amid concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. More to follow…..

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has threatened to resume its suspended strike over non- payment of salaries and alleged victimisation of members . The chairman , University of Ibadan branch of ASUU, Prof. Ayo Akinwole , in a statement on Sunday asked Nigerians to blame the Federal Government if universities are shut down again . Akinwole decried that despite agreeing to ASUU’ s condition before the strike was suspended on December 24, 2020, many lecturers are still being owed salaries of between two and 10 months . ASUU had called off its nine -month strike after the FG agreed to its conditions . However, within two weeks of the conditional suspension of the nine- month strike embarked upon by ASUU, the Federal Government reportedly flouted the agreements . It was learnt that as of December 31, 2020, the Federal Government had failed to fulfil three agreements reached with the union . Among the agreements , FG failed to fulfil was the payment of the lecturers six months salaries, including December 2020 salaries, owed lecturers. While over 100 lecturers were said not to receive payments for the two months at the University of Ibadan, lecturers in some universities received nothing since February 2020. The ASUU chairman said , “ While ASUU as a union , and her members as individuals in various branches have remained faithful to this agreement by returning to classes and performing their respective duties , the Federal Government , true to type , has reneged on its part. “ Contrary to FGN affirmation of its commitment to pay all withheld salaries of ASUU members who have not enrolled in the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information system ( IPPIS ) , three months after the suspension of Strike , thousands of ASUU members across various branch are still being owed salaries. “ Instead of deploying the University Transparency and Accountability Solution ( UTAS) software developed by ASUU , which has been adjudged effective for payment of salaries, some of our members are still being denied their salaries and others are being coerced by agents of the government to register on the repressive IPPIS for payment of salaries. “ The Union ASUU and her members are made to suffer from all the aforementioned attacks by the federal government while the public expects our members , some of who now live on the charity of family members and colleagues for survival to use their personal resources to discharge their duties diligently in the universities. “ These harsh conditions would have terrible consequences on public tertiary education in Nigeria and when push eventually comes to shove, as it definitely will in no distant future, the Nigerian public should accordingly blame the Federal Government for its insincerity. “ Blame the federal government of Nigeria if the universities are shut down again . ”

Wizkid, Nigerian singer, has won his first-ever Grammy award for his role in ‘Brown Skin Girl’, a 2019 song by Beyonce, American singer. The project won the ‘Best Music Video’ at the awards held in Los Angeles on Sunday. More to follow…

A 43-year-old housewife and mother of five, Bisola Awodele has been arrested in Sango Ota area of Ogun State for pouring hot water on her husband thereby causing him first-degree burns. According to a press statement by the police public relations officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, the suspect was arrested following a report by the husband, Peter Phillips. “The victim reported that his wife, a mother of five accused him of getting drunk always as a result of which she picked a pot containing already boiled water, and poured it on his body,” the police spokesperson said. “Upon the strength of the report, the area commander Assistant Commissioner of Police, Muhideen Obe quickly directed his men to effect the arrest of the suspect. “The team swiftly moved to the scene where the suspect was promptly apprehended”. Upon interrogation, the suspect explained to the police how her husband was fond of coming home drunk always without contributing anything to the welfare of her and the children. “She stated that on that fateful day, the husband came home drunk as usual, and while she was complaining about the husband’s act of drunkenness, the man started insulting her and her parents which infuriated her, the consequence of which she poured the hot water on his body.” The public relations officer said the preliminary investigation also revealed that the suspect gave birth to a baby about eight months ago, but she killed and secretly buried the baby out of frustration “The investigating team has since followed her to the secret grave of the killed baby, where the carcass was exhumed,” the police communique disclosed. While the victim has been taken to the General Hospital Ota where he is presently recuperating, the state Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun has ordered the immediate transfer of the case to state criminal investigation and intelligence department for further investigation and prosecution.

There are allegations of corruption, ineptitude and negligence by Nigerians abroad against the country’s officials in foreign missions, which they believe are unnecessarily causing a delay in the issuance and renewal of the Nigerian international passport. They are thus calling on the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the relevant ministry, to look into matter, which is being made worse by the coronavirus pandemic, for proper redress. Of late, the footage of a distressed Nigerian lady, Oluwakemi Ola, lamenting her frustration at getting the Nigerian passport renewed at the Nigeria High Commission in Canada, has gone viral. The lady, a resident of London Ontario, had gone to the Nigeria High Commission in Ottawa to renew her Nigerian passport, only to find out on arrival that the Commission did not open for business that day without a prior notice. By implication, she would have to make a return trip for the same purpose which had cost her about $300, and which according to her, was much higher than what her father realises monthly back home in Nigeria. Out of frustration, Ms Ola had said, “I am not Canadian yet, but the moment I become Canadian, I am burning this [Nigerian] passport. I will burn it and I will never, never in my life get a Nigerian passport.” Another footage that has gone viral is that of an unnamed Nigerian of the Igbo extraction who had visited the Nigerian embassy in Bern, Switzerland, in relation to his effort at procuring a new Nigerian passport. The man says he had to drive for two hours from his base in Schaffhausen to the Swiss capital after officials at the Nigerian embassy had failed to acknowledge all his correspondence. At the Nigerian embassy, the doors were locked with no one to attend to the man, despite his claim that some officials were within, going by the fact that the cars on the premises were neat, clean and uncovered by the falling snow. “Nigerian government, bikonu [please], I use God to beg you, it’s better we close the embassy here because the embassy has no simple feeling about Nigerians in Switzerland. You would book an appoint at the embassy, call them, register for the passport. Calling embassy from Day One, nobody will pick your call. Write an email to the embassy, the embassy will never reply your email.” Olalekan Osoleye’s case is similar. To get his passport renewed, Ohio-based Osoleye had to drive to Washington DC, which is six hours away. “On getting there, I had a lot of nasty experience. They told me the embassy didn’t open for business and it was stated on the website that they were open for business that day. So that means I had to travel back home for another six hours. The website is not functional, no adequate information. You call them, nobody to pick the call. I wish the Nigerian government will do something about it urgently.” Cecilia Edore is currently at her wits’ end over her hanging plans to visit Nigeria, as she says she has not heard from the Nigeria House in the UK, to which she has applied for passport renewal. She had submitted her documents in November 2020 and paid the required £90 fee for passport renewal, with her plan being to travel to Nigeria in January 2021. When it was obvious that the January date might not be feasible, Edore changed it to April, but till now she says she has not received any “information from the Nigeria House about passport renewal or alternative options.” Calls put to the House, according to her, were not answered. However, Sunday Tribune gathered on the website of the Nigeria High Commission that all Immigration and Consular Services at the High Commission would be suspended to the general public from December 22, 2020, until further notice. Part of the statement on the website reads: “This proactive measure is to protect and limit exposure of both applicants and staff of the Mission to the COVID-19 outbreak which is in line with the new Health advisory (Tier 4) issued by the UK Government.” The High Commission, however, left some telephone numbers on its website, in case of emergencies, for immigration and consular services. Stories of allegations of corruption against Nigerian officials in foreign missions in matters of passport renewal also abound. When Omodolapo Akindele needed to renew her passport in December 2020, she engaged an official at the Nigeria Consulate in New York who promised to get the passport renewed for $400. The official price for passport renewal is $130, but she was ready to part with $400 having considered that going to New York from Indianapolis where she is resident would cost more. At any rate she still had to travel to New York for data capturing. Eventually, the bubble burst and the deal collapsed when it was time for Akindele to collect her passport. At this stage she said the man told him she had to come back to New York for data capturing again because there was a mix-up in the first one done. “When I discovered that he was trying to play some pranks on me, I told him he should refund my money or I will expose all his shady deals. I got my money back from him anyway. Now I have decided to do it myself by going online to fill the forms and obtain an interview appointment date,” Akindele said. Babajide Olusola, a resident of Brooklyn, New York, recounts his story of frustration while trying to renew his passport in 2020. He had applied online just before the coronavirus lockdown a year ago, but before the appointment date given him, the lockdown order had come into effect. A rescheduled appointment met with chaotic situation at the consulate. As a result, he had to repeat visit to the consulate about three times before he found favour from an unlikely person – a security guard – “who smuggled me into the waiting room.” “I