General News
Airtel Conducts Free Eye Tests in Adopted Schools
Airtel Nigeria, leading telecommunication services provide, has announced the commencement of a free eye screening exercise for pupils and teachers in three of its adopted schools, in line with its corporate vision of becoming the most loved brand in the daily lives of Nigerians.
The Eye Screening Programme in the company’s adopted schools will involve conducting free eye tests and glasses for hundreds of pupils and teachers in three states of the federation between the 17th and 25th of March, 2014.
The beneficiary schools are Community Primary School, Amumara in Imo State; St. John`s Primary School, Ijebu-Igbo in Ogun State and Presbyterian Primary School, Ediba, Cross River State.
According to the Telco, the eye screening test will offer real-time Medicare to underprivileged children and will help to detect and treat conditions that may lead to amblyopia; which are refractive errors causing visual impairment and strabismus.
Nigeria currently has over four million people suffering from eye problems 80% of which are from avoidable causes.
Of this figure which was obtained from the Federal Ministry of Health in 2011, one million are blind while three million are virtually impaired.
It is feared that about 50% of children who become blind before age five may not leave to see their sixth birthday.
Speaking about the eye screening exercise flagged off on Monday, in Community Primary School, Amumara, Imo State, Segun Ogunsanya, chief executive officer and managing director of Airtel Nigeria, said the exercise is critical considering the value a healthy eye brings to a man or woman and to his or her world.
He noted that the initiative was borne out of the company’s desire to help in building a stronger, healthier generation of achievers as enshrined in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and VISION 2020 the global right to sight initiative.
“One of the priorities of VISION 2020 program is controlling blindness in children. What this means is that we have to invest in eye health, and this is something Airtel is proud to be involved in across our adopted schools.
“We have seen from reports that we can actually prevent eye diseases thereby preventing a systemic and tragic situation of raising a future generation with eye defects. We believe the right thing for us to do is to arrest the causes of this medical situation by offering free test and treatment to underprivileged children,” Ogunsanya said
The eye screening programme will be implemented by a team of medical doctors with specialization in eye health from Ultimate Eye Clinic, an accredited renowned eye care provider to major Health Management Organisations in Nigeria.
The Clinic will provide glasses and eye treatment where necessary to pupils and teachers on a need basis without any financial implications for the beneficiaries.
The team is expected to hold similar exercise for pupils and teachers of Presbyterian Primary School, Ediba in Cross River State between March 20 and 21 before rounding off the campaign at St. John`s Primary School, Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State on March 24th and 25th.
Airtel’s Adopt-a-School programme is a robust initiative that offers underprivileged children access to quality education in environments conducive for learning whilst also providing them with all the materials for learning and study. In addition to these, Airtel also trains teachers of its adopted schools to ensure that high teaching quality is always maintained.
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.
European Union has warned Meta Platforms Inc. that it could face a significant financial penalty unless it changes what regulators describe as the “addictive design” features of Facebook and Instagram.
The European Commission issued the warning in preliminary findings released on Friday, saying Meta had failed to sufficiently address risks posed by its platforms, particularly to children and vulnerable users.
The Commission said features such as infinite scrolling, personalised content recommendations and automatic video playback were designed in ways that encouraged excessive engagement with the platforms.
EU Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, said protecting the physical and mental well-being of European citizens should be a priority for social media companies.
The Commission said Meta should consider introducing design changes, including disabling autoplay and infinite scrolling by default, providing effective screen-time reminders and adjusting recommendation systems to reduce the focus on maximising user engagement.
The findings were issued under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which sets obligations for major online platforms to address risks associated with their services.
Meta, however, rejected the Commission’s conclusions, saying it disagreed with the findings but would continue engaging with European regulators.
The company said it had already implemented measures aimed at protecting younger users, including Teen Accounts that allow parents to manage screen time limits and restrict access during night hours.
The EU said its investigation, which began in 2024, found that existing time-management tools on Facebook and Instagram could easily be bypassed, while parental controls required technical knowledge that limited their effectiveness.
Regulators also expressed concerns over children’s nighttime use of the platforms and the possibility that features such as Reels and Stories could encourage compulsive behaviour.
If the Commission’s preliminary findings are confirmed, Meta could face a fine of up to six per cent of its annual global revenue under the DSA.
The warning comes as the EU steps up efforts to strengthen online safety measures for children, with an expert panel established by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expected to present recommendations on protecting minors online.
Several EU member states, including France, have also supported discussions on restricting social media access for children, following Australia’s decision to ban users under 16 from accessing social media platforms.
Meanwhile, the Commission is continuing a separate investigation into whether Meta’s recommendation algorithms create “rabbit hole” effects by directing users towards increasingly extreme content.
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