The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said he will compensate the families of policemen killed during the hijacked #EndSARS protests that erupted in Lagos and pledge to rebuild destroyed police stations.

This was announced in a statement by the Lagos State Government on Wednesday.

What you should know

Recall Nairametrics reported last week that a police station in the Orile-Iganmu area was set on fire by suspected thugs in Lagos, amid other vandalized police stations across the state.

In his latest statement, the Governor directed the Lagos State Scholarship Board to award scholarship to the children of the slain officers, up to the university level.

“The State Police Command bore huge loss in personnel, armory, and properties in the violence.”

“Twenty-nine Divisional Police Stations and 17 Police Posts were razed by hoodlums disguising as protesters. Also, six police officers were lynched, 36 critically injured, while 71 police operational vehicles were torched.”

The Governor said the state will address the issues to improve the morale of the officers after their stations were burnt down. He announced the launch of a Trust, replacing equipment and scholarships for killed Policemen.

“Commissioner of Police has come forward with a number of requests, which we will need to address to boost the morale of officers, after the last week’s event. As your Governor, I have come here to take full responsibility for the loss you have suffered in terms of logistics. From tomorrow (Thursday), we will start implementing these requests.

“Through the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), we will be replacing the police operational vehicles burnt in the violence. We have a bigger plan for all the police stations burnt down. We will look for the funds and build befitting stations that will set the standard of what police stations should be.

“The most important request is to offer scholarships to the children of officers that died. I have directed the Lagos State Scholarship Board under the Special Adviser on Education to immediately award scholarships to the children of the slain officers.”

The Governor added that the State will upgrade the Police Cottage Hospital in Ikeja, directing the Commissioner for Health to inspect the facility for the required upgrade and also donate two 150KVA generating set to the police, and the facility will be connected to the State’s Independent Power Project (IPP) for constant power supply.

Bottomline

With reports on social media that there has been reduced Police presence in the state, the attacks on their facilities by hoodlums may have contributed in hurting the “morale” of the Policemen.

The donation of a Trust Fund could also be a boost in Police Reforms, as Protesters demanded better welfare packages for Policemen.

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is once again delaying plans to list Nigeria’s second most capitalized company on the London Stock Exchange, rather choosing other options like boosting exports and the Nigerian company’s foreign-exchange reserves in a report credited to Bloomberg.

Dangote Cement Plc, Africa’s biggest producer of building material isn’t expected to attempt a U.K. initial public offering until at least 2023, Temilade Aduroja, Head of Investor Relations, at the Lagos-based company, said by email.

READ: Dangote Cement’s faltering pan-African operations is taking its toll 

READ: Access Bank N15bn green bond set to be the first cross listing ensuing from NSE-LuxSE partnership

“The London listing is not something which will happen in the short to medium term. We are focused on our export strategy and increasing our foreign-currency revenue,” he said.

Dangote, a major shareholder of Dangote Cement, with a net worth of more than $14 billion has longed for the company to have a secondary London Stock Exchange listing to diversify its holding and gain more leverage to cheaper funds on international markets.

READ: Rocket Internet sells stake in Jumia, as eCommerce firm struggles with post-IPO scandal

READ: Afreximbank forced to postpone IPO plan in London; here’s why 

Aliko Dangote said in 2018 that the listing would happen the following year (2019), only for Brian Egan, former Chief Financial Officer, to state that 2020 was more likely.

More detail later as the story is developing…

The spread of novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria continues to record significant increases as the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reveal Nigeria now has 62,371 confirmed cases.

On the 28th of October 2020, 147 new confirmed cases and 4 deaths were recorded in Nigeria, having carried out a total daily test of 3,270 samples across the country.

To date, 62,371 cases have been confirmed, 58,095 cases have been discharged and 1,139 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. A total of 617,750 tests have been carried out as of October 28th, 2020 compared to 614,480 tests a day earlier.

COVID-19 Case Updates- 28th October 2020,

• Total Number of Cases – 62,371
• Total Number Discharged – 58,095
• Total Deaths – 1,1139
• Total Tests Carried out – 617,750

According to the NCDC, the 147 new cases were reported from 12 states- Lagos (82), FCT (20), Rivers (9), Kaduna (8), Plateau (8), Benue (5), Edo (3), Kano (3), Nasarawa (3), Taraba (3), Ogun (2), Bauchi (1).

Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 21,017, followed by Abuja (6,028), Plateau (3,622), Oyo (3,433), Rivers (2,790), Edo (2,657), Kaduna (2,633), Ogun (2,016), Delta (1,813), Kano (1,746), Ondo (1,666), Enugu (1,314),  Kwara (1,069), Ebonyi (1,049), Katsina (952), Osun (923), Abia (898), Gombe (883).  Borno (745), and Bauchi (711).

Imo State has recorded 616 cases, Benue (491), Nasarawa (482), Bayelsa (403),  Ekiti (332), Jigawa (325), Akwa Ibom (295), Anambra (277), Niger (274), Adamawa (257), Sokoto (165), Taraba (143), Kebbi (93), Cross River (87), Yobe (82), Zamfara (79), while Kogi state has recorded 5 cases only.

READ ALSO: COVID-19: Western diplomats warn of disease explosion, poor handling by government

Lock Down and Curfew

In a move to combat the spread of the pandemic disease, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days, which took effect from 11 pm on Monday, 30th March 2020.

The movement restriction, which was extended by another two-weeks period, has been partially put on hold with some businesses commencing operations from May 4. On April 27th, 2020, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari declared an overnight curfew from 8 pm to 6 am across the country, as part of new measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19. This comes along with the phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos, and Ogun States, which took effect from Saturday, 2nd May 2020, at 9 am.

On Monday, 29th June 2020 the federal government extended the second phase of the eased lockdown by 4 weeks and approved interstate movement outside curfew hours with effect from July 1, 2020. Also, on Monday 27th July 2020, the federal government extended the second phase of eased lockdown by an additional one week.

On Thursday, 6th August 2020 the federal government through the secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 announced the extension of the second phase of eased lockdown by another four (4) weeks.

READ ALSO: Bill Gates says Trump’s WHO funding suspension is dangerous