General News
Philips Inaugurates Africa’s First Community Life
Royal Philips has opened its first Community Life Center in Kenya, an integrated solution for primary health care and service facilities that provides community development from a health care, lighting and healthy living perspective.
Developed by the Philips Africa Innovation Hub and introduced in collaboration with the County Government of Kiambu in Kenya, the Community Life Center (located at the Githurai Lang’ata Health Center in Kiambu County) is a proof of concept that provides access to health care and at the same time enables social, educational and commercial activities after dusk and enhances safety and security of the neighborhood.
An important focus of the Community Life Centers is to address infant mortality and improve maternal health, linked to the current UN Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 (MDGs), a cause to which Philips remains consistently committed.
Improving access to primary health care is a key challenge across Africa. Primary health facilities in most parts of the continent are not able to offer basic quality services to local communities for a combination of reasons ranging from unavailability of qualified health care workers to lack of electricity, water and basic health care technology.
As a consequence, many people do not have access to adequate health care near their homes and are compelled to bypass the primary and secondary levels of care, confronting hospitals with more patients than they can handle.
The Philips Community Life Center goes beyond health care by turning a health facility into a community hub where technology is bundled with services.
The technology package includes solar power (for a reliable and clean energy supply), efficient and durable indoor and outdoor LED-lighting (enabling extended opening hours and providing security to patients and staff), health care equipment (to enable patient monitoring, diagnosis and triage), laboratory equipment (especially for antenatal care tests), refrigeration (preventing spoiling of vaccines), IT-solutions (storage of patient data) and water supply and purification (preventing waterborne diseases).
Philips involves community members in the assessment and design of the Community Life Center in order to create ownership.
The solution is tailored to the needs of the facility and the community.
Philips trains the staff and mobilizes the community to make use of the improved services of the facility.
The Community Life Center serves as a community hub where, in addition to health services, the local community members can buy clean water and sustainable products like Philips’ smokeless cookstoves and home solar lighting products, and benefit from the Philips solar-powered LED outdoor lighting that illuminates the area at night.
“Philips is a leading technology company in health and well-being and our vision is to improve people’s lives through meaningful innovation”, said JJ van Dongen, CEO Philips Africa.
“Today the population growth is highest in emerging markets like Africa and innovation can help drive sustainable solutions that bridge the divide between the privileged and lesser privileged sections of society and improve the quality of life at all levels. With the first Community Life Center, we have introduced a new value delivery model and our ambition is to introduce this solution across Africa to drastically improve access to primary health care,” he added.
Philips implemented the first phase of the Community Life Center solution in June 2014.
A new maternity building was inaugurated containing a Philips ClearVue 650 Ultrasound and monitoring equipment, enabling women to deliver their babies safely.
Today the facility delivers an average of two babies per day and this number is expected to grow exponentially in the coming months.
Health care workers at the site were empowered through clinical coaching and education.
“Our partnership with Philips comes at a time when the County has a high incidence of infant and maternal mortality resulting from preventable causes and lack of medical facilities”, states H.E William Kabogo, Governor of Kiambu County. “With Philips contributing towards solar energy solutions and state-of-the-art equipment, the County Government was able to focus on the construction of the infrastructure and hiring new staff. This co-operation is reflective of the kind of partnerships we seek to participate in with the private sector that results in uplifting the lives of our communities.”
Royal Philips is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people’s lives through meaningful innovation in the areas of Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle and Lighting.
Chinonso Akujobi, former staff of Access Bank in Lagos, has been remanded in Ikoyi prison after she was arraigned on a five-count charge bordering on stealing to the tune of N294.5m.
Akujobi who is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was arraigned before Justice I.O. Ijelu of the State High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.
EFCC alleged that Akujobi stole the money between January and December 2025 while under the employment of Access Bank Plc.
As stated in one the charges, the defendant stole the money through unauthorized payments from the general ledger of Access Bank to her account number 0036668871 with the name Chinonso A., Uchechi A. and Florence A., thereby committing an offence of stealing, contrary to Section 280 and punishable under Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The defendant pleaded “not guilty“ to the charges when they were read to her.
In view of this, S.M.Yabo, prosecution counsel, asked the court for a trial date and also prayed for the remand of the defendant in a Correctional centre.
Justice Ijelu, thereafter, adjourned the case till October 8, 2026, for the hearing of the bail application and the commencement of trial.
The Judge also ordered that the defendant be remanded in the Ikoyi correctional Centre.
The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) says the flight captain of the VMO Aero aircraft that landed on a roadway near Asaba Airport in Delta State told investigators that the observer pilot mistakenly identified the paved road as the runway before touchdown.
The bureau disclosed this in a preliminary report released on Thursday on the June 10 incident, which prompted the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to ground the private jet.
The aircraft had seven people on board, including the pilot-in-command (PIC), second-in-command (SIC), an observer pilot, a cabin crew member and three passengers.
According to the report, the aircraft was cleared by Air Traffic Control (ATC) to approach Runway 11 at Asaba Airport after the crew requested a right orbit.
The crew initially discontinued the approach, executed a missed approach and repositioned for a second landing attempt.
NSIB said the crew reported that the aircraft’s navigation systems indicated it was correctly established on the published RNAV Runway 11 approach.
“The PIC and SIC reported that the observer pilot identified the paved surface ahead as the runway,” the report stated.
However, the observer pilot gave investigators a different version of events.
According to NSIB, he said the aircraft remained inside cloud until late in the approach and that the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) repeatedly issued “TERRAIN, TERRAIN, PULL UP” alerts.
He also said he observed a telecommunications mast directly ahead and instructed the flight captain to abandon the approach and climb immediately.
The bureau further disclosed that a cabin crew member reported that one of the passengers became concerned after overhearing discussions among the pilots and asked whether one of them was undergoing training. The passenger was reportedly reassured that all three pilots on board were experienced captains.
NSIB said no abnormal events were reported in the cabin before touchdown.
The aircraft eventually landed at about 8:57 a.m. on an under-construction paved roadway near Asaba Airport instead of the designated runway.
The bureau said its investigation into the incident is ongoing, while the preliminary report highlights conflicting accounts among the cockpit crew over the circumstances that led to the erroneous landing.
Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned the Federal Government’s alleged tax evasion case against Binance Holdings Ltd. cryptocurrency exchange, until September 24, 2026, to allow both parties more time to pursue an out-of-court settlement.
Justice Emeka Nwite fixed the new date on Thursday after Moses Ideho, counsel to the Federal Government, informed the court that discussions aimed at resolving the dispute amicably were still ongoing.
Ideho, a deputy director of Legal and Prosecution at the Nigeria Revenue Service (formerly the Federal Inland Revenue Service), told the court that the matter, which had been scheduled for a report on settlement or continuation of trial, could not proceed.
According to him, one reason for the delay was the reported elevation of Justice Nwite to the Court of Appeal, while the second was the continued reconciliation efforts between the parties.
“The parties are still exploring settlement in the charge that led to this case,” Ideho told the court.
Sunday Agaji, counsel to Binance, did not oppose the application for adjournment, following which Justice Nwite postponed proceedings until September 24 for either a report on the settlement discussions or continuation of trial.
The case was previously adjourned on May 12 after both the Federal Government and Binance informed the court that negotiations were underway to settle the matter outside the courtroom.
Binance had first indicated its willingness to pursue an amicable resolution on March 24.
The cryptocurrency company was re-arraigned on July 12, 2024, on a four-count charge bordering on alleged tax evasion.
Ayodele Omotilewa, Nigerian representative, pleaded not guilty on behalf of the company.
The re-arraignment followed the removal of Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan and his colleague, Nadeem Anjarwalla, from the charge after the Federal Government amended the case to make Binance Holdings Ltd the sole defendant.
Justice Nwite had, on June 14, 2024, discharged and struck out the names of Gambaryan and Anjarwalla after the prosecution filed the amended charge.
Binance is also facing a separate criminal prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which accuses the company of laundering about $35.4m.
In addition, the Nigeria Revenue Service is pursuing a separate civil suit against Binance before another judge of the Federal High Court, seeking approximately $79.5bn in alleged economic losses linked to the company’s operations in Nigeria.
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