Kano-Bound IRS Airlines Plane Collides With Truck At Lagos Airport

A Kano-bound IRS Airlines plane departing the Lagos airport on Wednesday morning collided with an abandoned truck beside the taxiway, forcing the pilot to cancel the flight. The wing of the Fokker-100 aircraft, it was learnt, collided with the truck which fell into a drainage on Tuesday. The truck belongs to a Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria contractor. The 91 passengers on board the flight were later disembarked and put in another plane which left for Kano three hours later. A statement by the Managing Director of IRS, Mr. Yemi Dada, confirmed the incident.The statement quoted Dada as saying 

“This morning our flight LVB 3306 taxied out on a Lagos to Kano flight with a transit stop at Abuja. The aircraft taxied out at 7:48am with 91 passengers. While taxing on the taxi way the Captain observed a FAAN truck in a ditch. There were no marshals around it neither was there any marking to indicate that it encroached into the taxi way. There was no Notice To Air Men (NOTAM) issued to that effect as well.”He added, “The captain continued on his taxi and the wing tip hit a protrusion from the truck towards the rear of the truck. This made the captain request a return to ramp from the tower and also notify the tower of the incident and the danger posed by the truck.“The passengers were disembarked and accommodated in another aircraft which departed Lagos at 10:15am. The incident has been reported to Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and we await the clearance of the NCAA to effect repairs and return the aircraft to service.”

Jonathan approves N17.6bn for flood victims

President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday announced the release of N17.6 billion direct financial assistance to flood-ravaged states. The President, in a nationwide broadcast, categorised the affected states into four groups, A to D, which would get N500, N400, N300, N250 million respectively. “Category A states include: Oyo, Kogi, Benue, Plateau, Adamawa, Delta, Bayelsa and Anambra. Category B: Jigawa, Kano, Bauchi, Kaduna, Niger, Nasarawa, Taraba, Cross River, Edo, Lagos and Imo States while category C had Kwara, Katsina, Gombe, Ogun, Ondo, Ebonyi, Abia and Rivers States. The last category has Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Yobe, Enugu, Ekiti, Osun, Akwa-Ibom Borno States and the FCT,’’ the president said. In addition, two key ministries, Works and Environment, as well as two key agencies, National Emergency Managment Agency (NEMA), National Commission for Refugees (NCR) and the Presidential Technical Committee on Floods Assessment got about N5 billion to assist in mitigating the adverse effects of the flooding. The Ministry of Works got N2.6 billion, NEMA, N1.1 billion, Ministry of Environment, N350 million, National Commission for Refugees, N150 million and the Presidential Technical Committee on Flood Impact Assessment, N100 million. 

In a nationwide broadcast, President Jonathan also announced the setting up of a National Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation, to be co-chaired by Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Mr. Olisa Agbakoba with Dr. Mike Adenuga Jnr. as the chief fund mobiliser. The committee is to assist the Federal Government to raise funds to mitigate the pains and ensure the effective post-impact of rehabilitation of victims.

I sincerely hope this money is chanelled towards the right direction, to the right people and for the right causes.

Biden comes out swinging at debate, clashes with Ryan

Vice President Joe Biden leaped to the attack against Republican challenger Paul Ryan in a lively debate on Thursday, aggressively defending the administration's economic and foreign policies in a bid to regain momentum in the White House race. Biden was looking for a Democratic rebound after President Barack Obama's poor debate performance last week. But the younger and less experienced Ryan held his own in a series of testy exchanges. "With all due respect, that is a bunch of malarkey," Biden said when Ryan accused the White House of projecting an image of American weakness to the world. First estimates of who prevailed at the debate in Kentucky were split. A CBS News survey of undecided voters showed Biden as the winner by a margin of 50 percent to 31 percent, while a CNN poll of debate watchers scored Ryan as the victor by 48 percent to 44 percent.

The vice presidential candidates in the November 6 election frequently interrupted each other, talking at the same time and sometimes staring at each other in disbelief.