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Nigerian government begs residents not to reject coronavirus vaccines
Federal authorities have appealed to Nigerians not to be hesitant to take the COVID-19 vaccine when it gets to Nigeria. Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, and head of Nigeria’s primary healthcare agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, made the appeal at the PTF briefing on Thursday in Abuja. Nigeria intends to get 42 million COVID-19 vaccines to cover one fifth of its population through the global COVAX scheme, the PTF had earlier announced. The initial vaccines would come as part of Nigeria’s plan to inoculate 40 percent of the population in 2021 and another 30 per cent in 2022, with 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine arriving by the end of January 2021. The COVAX scheme was set up to provide vaccines to poorer countries including Nigeria whose 200 million people and poor ...
Morgan Wallen’s ‘Dangerous: The Double Album’ Is Here: Stream It Now
Morgan Wallen is starting off 2021 with a bang. The country star released his highly anticipated sophomore project, Dangerous: The Double Album, on Friday (Jan. 8). “The ‘double album’ idea started off as just a joke between me and my manager because we had accumulated so many songs over the past couple of years,” Wallen said in a statement announcing the record in November. “Then quarantine hit, and we realized it might actually be possible to have enough time to make it happen. I also ended up writing quite a few more songs during the quarantine with some of my good buddies.” “I also wanted the songs to speak to multiple phases of life and have multiple different sounds based on my influences and based on what I enjoy,” he a...
Kano government reaffirms commitment to minimum wage, says deductions temporary
Kano state government has reaffirmed its commitment to the continuous implementation of the N30,600.00 minimum wage for civil servants. It however said, that deduction in November/December workers’ salary was a temporary measure informed by the drop in federal allocation and dwindling internally generated revenue occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. The state commissioner for Information, Malam Muhammad Garba who stated this in a statement, Thursday, indicated that the deduction was necessary to keep the government going in the face of the prevailing economic recession facing the country. “The state government took the measure instead of contemplating on paying half salary or in batches as obtained in other states or layoffs. “Similar temporary measure was taken, including cut in the allow...
NANS: Nigerian government’s 2021 budget for education worst in 10 years
The President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Com. Sunday Asefon, has frowned at the 2021 budgetary provision for education under President Muhammadu Buhari, describing it as the worst in the last ten years in the country. Disturbed by the neglect of the education sector, which was apportioned with a paltry of 5.6 percent in the 2021 budget and the high level of insecurity in the country, NANS has planned to organise a Security and Education Summit to partner stakeholders on how to arrest the drift in the two critical sectors Asefon said this in Ado-Ekiti, on Thursday, during a courtesy visit to the office of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Correspondents’ Chapel, Ekiti chapter. He said: “I condemn totally, the federal government’s 2021 budgetary provision to edu...
Russian coronavirus vaccine trials begin in UAE as cases rise
Abu Dhabi has started Phase III clinical trials of Russia’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine, known as Sputnik V, amid a surge in infections in the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi’s media office said on Thursday. The human trial, announced in October before the recent rise in cases, is initially seeking up to 500 volunteers to be vaccinated at a hospital in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Two doses of the vaccine will be given, 20 days apart, to volunteers, the statement said. Participants will have to be 18 years or older, have not previously been infected with COVID-19 or participated in other COVID-19 vaccine trials, it said. The UAE is also conducting Phase III trials of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm). The UAE has approved the vaccine and it is a...
Minister: Nigeria expecting vaccine from China
The Federal Government has opened talks with the Peoples Republic of China to have access to COVID-19 vaccines for the citizens, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said on Tuesday. This is as both countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on establishment of inter-governmental committee to coordinate aspects of cooperation between both countries. The MOU was signed by Onyeama and the Chinese State Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi in Abuja on Tuesday. The Chinese Foreign Minister is on a two-day working visit to Abuja. Briefing reporters after their bilateral meeting, Onyeama said at this point when countries were discovering vaccines and China being one of them, Nigeria was engaging the country in the area of access to the vaccine. “We have...
OPC slams President Buhari over increase in electricity tariff
File Photo The Oodua Peoples Congress has accused President Buhari of being insensitive to the plights of Nigerians, saying the sudden increase in the electricity tarrif is brutish and inhuman, describing it as an attempt to fuel national crisis. The group also restated its support and commitment to true federalism on the basis of regionalism, adding that Nigeria cannot make any meaningful progress with the 1999 Constitution, which it described as a democratic albatross. At a marathon meeting of the leadership and National Coordinating Council of the group in Lagos, the OPC, led by its National Coordinator and Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Abiodun Ige Adams, in a statement signed by the National General Secretary and Publicity Secretary, Babajide Tanimoowo and Yinka Oguntimehin,...
Ohaneaze chief Nnia Nwodo named SMBLF coordinator
YouTube The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) has appointed the outgoing President General of Ohaneaze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, as its coordinator. According to a statement issued by Chief Edwin Clark and confirmed by Nwodo’s Special Adviser on Media, Chief Emeka Attamah, the appointment was in recognition of his superlative leadership of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation in the past four years and the role he has played in the affairs of SMBLF. Chief Clark said that Chief Nwodo gave the Igbo unqualified and purposeful leadership which resonated throughout the country and expressed optimism that he would do the same for the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum, especially at this troubled time in the country. The elder statesman urged Chief Nwodo to bring his wealth...
Sokoto border communities warned against aiding smuggling
Border communities in Sokoto State have been warned against aiding the smuggling of illicit items into the country. The Area Comptroller of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Abdulhamid Ma’aji, gave the warning at Illela during a sensitisation meeting held Tuesday with youths and community leaders at Illela town, a border community in the northern state. The border post was among four major international borders announced for reopening by the Federal Government in late December 2020. Ma’aji, while officially reopening the border’s gate, described the event as a remarkable day, urging the people to observe all the guidelines layout by the Ibrahin l Government. According to him, ‘now that these borders have been reopened, I want you to note that those illicit items that have been prohibited rema...
FCT chief judge bows out service
The Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Justice Ishaq Usman Bello, on Tuesday bowed out of service on the attainment of 65 years of age. This is even as he declared in his speech at a valedictory court session held in his honour that the greatest strength of the judiciary remained the trust, reliance and faith of the people in it. Bello, who became the FCT CJ on May 28, 2015, said that in a democratic set up like Nigeria’s, the judiciary had to be impartiality. “I solemnly accept as true the saying that the greatest strength of the judiciary is the trust, reliance and faith of the people in it. “In several cases, I have seen the court take decisions against the state as well for the achievement of the ends of justice. I know this well because I have delivered some myself,” ...
#EndSARS: Lagos hires forensic team to investigate Lekki toll gate shooting
The Lagos State government has hired a team to conduct an independent forensic examination of the Lekki toll gate. Nigerian soldiers attacked peaceful #EndSARS protesters at the toll gate on October 20, 2020 after weeks of demonstrations against police brutality. Soldiers fired on the protesters after the declaration of a curfew, leading to a yet-to-be-determined number of fatalities disputed by the government. A judicial panel of inquiry investigating the incident revealed during a sitting on Tuesday, January 5, 2021 that the Lagos government has paid a forensic team to aid the investigation. Chairperson of the panel, Justice Doris Okuwobi, announced this after the Lekki Concession Company (LCC) repeated a request that it be allowed to retake control of the toll gate which was vandalised ...
Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon questions Celtic’s Dubai trip
Agence France-Presse Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has questioned Celtic’s decision to jet off for a mid-season training camp in Dubai as the country struggles with tough coronavirus restrictions. The Premiership club insisted on Monday that they had received Scottish government approval for the trip. However, Sturgeon indicated the go-ahead was given in November, before tougher Covid-19 measures were put in place. “The rules have been — and they may need to change given the changing nature of the pandemic — that elite sports can go overseas for training camps if that’s important in the context of their training for competitions,” Sturgeon said at a media briefing on Tuesday. “I’ve seen a comment from the club that said it’s more for R (rest) and R (relaxation) than it is for tra...
