Lagos - Royal Dutch Airlines, KLM, has officially apologized to the 290 Nigerians whose flights were delayed for two days at the Murtala Muhammed Airport. In a statement issued by the airline’s General Manager, Ramon Delima, the Airline apologized for the communication breakdown between the airline management and the passengers.
Delima, who attributed the flight delay to a technical failure, recorded on a brand new Boeing 777-200 meant to be used for the flight, expressed his sincere apologies for the flight cancellation of flight KL588 from Lagos to Amsterdam on the 5th and 6th of June. His words, “During a routine check in Lagos of the brand new Boeing 777-200 aircraft, a technical failure was discovered. Because a spare part had to be flown in from Amsterdam , KLM had no other choice than to delay the flight to the next day. All 290 passengers were accommodated in hotels.”
Malabo - The Super Eagles of Nigeria yesterday in Malabo, improved their chances of qualifying from Group Four for the 2010 African Cup of Nations, after winning 1-0 against Equatorial Guinea, to stay firmly rooted on top of the table after three matches.
The coach Shuaibu Amodu-trained Eagles have skipper Joseph Yobo to thank for the lone goal, which came in the fifth minute, capping up another memorable appearance for the Everton central defender, who was responsible for scoring the only goal in the 1-0 defeat of Sierra Leone a week back.
FIFA - World Soccer ruling body, Fifa has given Nigeria’s preparations for next year’s under-17 soccer World Cup, a very high mark, on its just concluded inspection of the facilities in Calabar, Cross River State and Ijebu Ode, Ogun State.
The football governing body said it is encouraged by reforms undertaken by the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) in Nigeria ahead of the 2009 tournament. Back in February a Fifa delegation that inspected designated stadias had warned Nigeria that it must improve the state of facilities for the tournament.
Abuja - Nigerians have been issued a warning to desist from traveling to any foreign country without the requisite papers.
Making the disclosure at an evening briefing in Abuja, Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, also said efforts to make convicted Nigerians serve their jail terms in Nigeria had so far proved abortive.
The warning came against the backdrop of a revelation that about 20,000 Nigerians are languishing in foreign jails worldwide. Worse still, over 60 of these are on the death roll in countries like Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.
Abuja - The World Bank has approved a credit grant totaling $390 million (about N45 billion) to assist in the development of Nigeria’s road transport sector.
World Bank’s financial support came in the wake of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s approval for the take-off of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) next month.
The Country Director of World Bank in Nigeria, Mr. Onno Ruhi, at a stakeholders’ workshop on the road sector reform held in Abuja, said the bank’s offer is a demonstration of its commitment towards the development of the country’s transport sector. “I am happy to announce that as a demonstration of our continued commitment towards Nigeria’s transport sector this quarter, the bank approved a credit totalling $390m (equivalent to over N45bn),” he said.