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UN encourages Africa to invest on digital transformation
The UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has encouraged African countries to make right investments toward developing a digitally transformed economy. Mr Jean-Paul Adam, Director, Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resources at UNECA, made the call on Tuesday during a webinar monitored in Abuja. The webinar was organised by Africa Information and Communication Technology Alliance (AfICTA) in collaboration with UNECA with the theme “Unlocking Africa’s Digital Potential Amid COVID-19”. Adam said that the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic had caused a disruption in activities, hence the need for a paradigm shift. “Africa needs to address issues that have limited their digital growth. There are issues of gender imbalance, speed of bandwidth, poor internet access. “When we get some of the...
Kano clarifies on ongoing work at Sani Abatcha isolation centre
Kano State Government on Tuesday said the delay in the early completion of the Sani Abacha Stadium (SAS) Isolation Centre was necessitated by the review of the project initial plan. Malam Muhammad Garba, the state Commissioner of Information, made the clarification in a statement in Kano. Garba, who was reacting to a viral social media video clip on the project, dismissed the footage as a “mischievous attempt to misrepresent facts on the ongoing installation works at the isolation centre, donated by the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID). The project, which was initiated in April, was designed with a 500-bed capacity for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the three and a half minutes video clip, showed ongoing installation works at the isolation c...
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer counts on Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford for EPL restart
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said on Tuesday he is confident of having Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford fit should the Premier League season restart next month. Pogba has missed the majority of the campaign with an ongoing ankle injury, while Rashford seemed set to miss the rest of the season when he suffered a double stress fracture in his back in January. United returned to training in small groups last week and preparations are expected to be ramped up further for a return to action when Premier League clubs vote on resuming contact training on Wednesday. “Hopefully now we’ve proved we can do this safely and we can move to the next step. It’s been really enjoyable being on the training ground again,” said Solskjaer. “They (Pogba and Rashford) are looking good, they’ve jo...
Bayelsa sends 25 samples daily to UPTH for coronavirus testing – official
Chairman, Bayelsa COVID-19 Task Force, Inodu Apoku, on Tuesday announced that an average of 25 samples are sent on a daily basis to University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), for testing. Mr Apoku, who is also the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, made this known to newsmen in a statement in Yenagoa, the state capital. “Our surveillance is gathering momentum by the day and we are testing more cases daily. “We now use the UPTH COVID-19 Laboratory. In the past weeks, we have been sending an average of 25 samples daily to this facility. Most of these samples are contacts of confirmed cases,” he announced. On the confirmed new case in the state by the NCDC on Monday, the chairman said it had brought the total number of cases in Bayelsa to 12. “This new case is a 48-year...
Five jihadists, two soldiers killed in Cameroon clash
Five rebels and two soldiers were killed early Tuesday when jihadists crossing from Nigeria attacked a military position in northern Cameroon, sources said. The overnight attack took place at Soueram, a village close to the Nigerian border in Cameroon’s Far North region, an army colonel and a local official told AFP. “Two Cameroonian soldiers were killed” in the assault, while five jihadists died in the counter-attack, the colonel said. He attributed the attack to Islamic State West Africa Province, a splinter group of Nigeria’s Boko Haram, which has led a bloody 11-year campaign against perceived western influence. An army vehicle was destroyed and the jihadists made off with a piece of heavy weaponry, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. A local leader, who also asked not to be i...
House of Reps panel insists on NDDC probe of alleged misuse of over N40 billion
The House of Representatives has reiterated its resolve to probe into the allegation of mismanagement of over N40 billion by the interim management committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta development commission (NDDC). The chairman of the House Committee on NDDC, Mr Olubunmi Ojo made this known to reporters at the National Assembly complex in Abuja. The lawmaker denied the allegation from a member of the NDDC IMC that his committee , alongside that of the Senate benefited from a contract to the tune of about N3 trillion from the NDDC. Ojo who claimed that he, alongside members of his committee had received threat to their lives by militants maintained that no amount of blackmail will deter his committee from probing into the allegation of wrongdoings in the NDDC. According to him: “It’s unfortu...
Inside Bombino’s Ambitious Plans For a Professional Studio In Niger
Nearly a decade ago, singer-songwriter-guitarist Bombino told his longtime manager, Eric Herman, that he wanted to open a recording studio in his home country of Niger. “It is materially a very poor country,” says Herman. “It’s rare to find studios that would be up to world-standard in Africa in general.” Plus, since Bombino — who champions his Tuareg identity and culture in his lyrics — usually spends eight months of the year touring, Herman felt “it needed some sort of outside push to get going.” That push came in 2019 when Welsh producer-engineer-musician David Wrench (who mixed Bombino’s 2016 album, Azel) approached the artist about working together again. Only this time, he wanted to produce Bombino’s next album — and he wanted to do it in Niger. “That reignited the spark,” says Herma...
Kudlow: Trump admin ‘may well’ support back-to-work bonus
“It’s something we’re looking at very carefully. Senator Portman has a good idea. He understands incentives and disincentives,” said Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, on Fox News. “The trouble with the $600 plus-up, and maybe we needed it in that emergency period, but frankly it’s a major disincentive to go back to work and we don’t want that. We want people to go back to work.” Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, has also been promoting the idea of return-to-work bonuses to help jumpstart the economy, including in conversations with Kudlow. Kudlow also said the administration is still keen on a payroll tax holiday — an idea that has drawn a lukewarm reception from members of both parties. It’s still relatively early days fo...
Bayern coach bemoans lack of fans at ‘special’ Dortmund clash
Bayern Munich head coach Hansi Flick says the absence of spectators for Tuesday’s top-of-the-table Bundesliga clash at Borussia Dortmund will be a “missing factor”. Reigning champions Bayern thrashed second-placed Dortmund 4-0 last November in front of 75,000 fans at the Allianz Arena. But the teams will meet again in Dortmund with the stands at Signal Iduna Park — usually packed with 82,000 people — empty after the Bundesliga became the first top European league to return, behind closed doors, following the coronavirus lockdown. “It is a very special game,” Flick said on Monday, with Bayern heading to Dortmund with a four-point lead. “As a coach, there is no question that the fans are a missing factor.” Ten of the 18 league games since the restart have been won by the away team. “The atmo...
Lagos partners Microsoft to train 18, 000 teachers – commissioner
Mrs Folashade Adefisayo, Commissioner for Education, Lagos State, said the state government had partnered Microsoft to train 18, 000 teachers to enhance computer literacy towards achieving a world best teaching and learning practices. Adefisayo said this while discussing plans of the Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration for education on an online show, Covinspiration, moderated by Special Representative to the United Nations, and British Council Global Change-maker, Mr Dayo Israel. Newsmen report that the event was to keep the public abreast of the activities of administration in the last one year. The commissioner said: “This COVID-19 lockdown period avails us the opportunity to improve our teachers. For instance, we partnered with Microsoft and they are teaching 18,000 of our teachers ...
Confusion in APC as CROSIEC fixes May 30 for council polls
The intractable crisis rocking the Cross River All Progressives Congress (APC) appears to be gathering momentum as the two factions have issued conflicting statements on the pending May 30th local government election. While a faction led by Sir John Ochala had dissociated the party from the pending local election, describing it as a “charade”, the other faction led by Mr John Etim said it is fully prepared to take part in the council poll. Since 2014, the Cross River State APC has been engaged in a leadership tussle, leading to the factionalisation of the party, even as the national leadership has made spirited efforts to settle the supremacy battle. In spite of this, the chairman of Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission (CROSIEC), Dr Mike Ushie, has fixed Saturday, May 30th f...
UEFA gives Romania another week to submit restart plan
European soccer’s governing body, UEFA has given the Romanian football federation (FRF) until June 1, to submit plans on how it intends to complete the domestic season, the FRF has said. UEFA last month gave European leagues an initial May 25 deadline to submit plans but the FRF requested an extension after the Romanian government said it was assessing the COVID-19 situation every two weeks. “UEFA has approved FRF’s request – the deadline for announcing the resumption plan has been extended until June 1,” the FRF said. The federation added that the extension would allow them to analyse how current medical protocols would impact team training, etc. The FRF hoped to resume the domestic top-flight on June 13 but the decision needed government approval. The FRF suspended all football competiti...
