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Rivers government seeks relocation of NIMASA cabotage department
The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has appealed to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to return its Cabotage Services Department to Port Harcourt. Wike made the appeal when the Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, visited him in Port Harcourt, recently. Wike said operations of the Cabotage Services Department of NIMASA used to be in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, but it was relocated to Lagos. The governor said in spite of his administration’s procurement of gunboats for security agencies, especially the Police and Navy to assist in the fight against piracy and ensure safety on the waterways for NIMASA’s businesses to thrive, the state did not get anything in return. He commended Jamoh for the initiative aimed at harnessing ocean resources as an ...
WTO chief: Patent waiver not enough to close vaccine gap
World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said that intellectual property waiver alone will not be enough to narrow the huge COVID-19 vaccine supply gap between rich and poor countries. She told the European Parliament that it was clear that discussions around vaccine patents alone would not suffice, saying that global leaders should do more to ensure that there is equitable production and distribution of the jabs. Okonjo-Iweala said developing countries had complained that the licensing process was cumbersome and should be improved upon. She added that while it makes sense to protect research and innovation, it is also important to expand access to the vaccines. According to her, manufacturers should work to expand production, pointing to idle capacity ...
Nigeria records 49 new coronavirus infections
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has registered 49 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), bringing the total number of infections in the country to 165,901. The NCDC disclosed this on its official Twitter handle on Wednesday. According to the centre, no new death linked to COVID-19 was recorded in the past 24 hours. The public health agency noted that the newly recorded infections raised the country’s tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 165,901 and the death toll from the disease to 2,067. It disclosed that additional four people have been successfully treated and have been discharged from its isolation centre, bringing the active caseload across the country to more than 7,300. The NCDC noted that additional recoveries reported on Wednesday increased the country’s numbe...
House speaker welcomes Governor Ayade’s defection
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, has expressed joy over the defection of the Governor of Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade, to the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying the party is opened to all. Gbajabiamila in a statement on Thursday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Lanre Lasisi, said Ayade’s action has once again shown that “APC was the party to beat in the country.” The Speaker said the Cross River State governor has taken the right decision and shown a good example for others to follow. He said the ruling party remains open to all, calling on well-meaning Nigerians to join the APC to move the country forward. The Speaker noted that APC will continue to be just and fair to all its members. Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PD...
Ebonyi governor: Some people in South-east think 2023 elections won’t hold
David Umahi, governor of Ebonyi state, says some people in the south-east region are convinced that the 2023 elections will not hold. Umahi said those with such a mindset believe that if elections do not take place, the national assembly will declare a state of emergency in the region. In recent times, the south-east has witnessed a spate of attacks on police stations and government facilities including offices belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Speaking at the presidential ministerial press briefing on Thursday, Umahi said the country will remain together under the 1999 Nigerian constitution (as amended), noting that “until it is changed, nobody can do anything about it”. “A lot of people have been brainwashed in the south-east about Biafra. The Biafra I des...
GSAC: 500 Nigerian nationals languishing in Togolese prisons
The Global Society for Anti-Corruption (GSAC) yesterday alerted that no fewer than 500 Nigerian citizens were languishing in various prisons in Togo. Consequently, it has called on the federal government to intervene on behalf her citizens and ensure that they get justice. GSAC’s President, Mr Frankline Ezeona who briefed newsmen in Enugu on a recent fact-finding visit his organisation made to Togolese prisons, disclosed that a good number of the Nigerians in the said Togo prisons had spent more than 10 years awaiting trial. Ezeona who decried the inhuman treatment being meted to the Nigerians by officials of the Togolese prisons, stressed that their situation had been compounded by the fact that they no longer have access to certain relief materials due to the ravaging COVID-19. Federal g...
Zimbabwe reports first cases of Indian coronavirus variant
Zimbabwe has detected the first cases of the new coronavirus variant that emerged in India, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga said on Wednesday, adding that all travellers from the Asian nation would be required to undergo mandatory quarantine. Chiwenga, who also doubles as Zimbabwe’s health minister, said in a statement the cases had been detected among a group of people in the central town of Kwekwe after a student returned from India on 29 April. “People travelling from or transiting from India will be subject to mandatory quarantine at a designated quarantine centre and at their own cost,” Chiwenga said. Travellers from India would be subjected to a Covid-19 test on arrival even if they have been tested in their country of origin. Zimbabwe has recorded 38 595 Covid-19 cases and 1 583...
Nigerian government determined to eradicate poverty, unemployment – minister
The federal government has reiterated its determination to eradicate poverty as well as tackling unemployment in the country to the barest minimum, saying its many programmes designed to tackle the issues have had tremendous success. The government said the alarming rate of out-of-school children witnessed some years ago had considerably reduced due mainly to some of its initiatives, among which it said, was the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme. The government’s position came as it inaugurated an expanded committee on National Home Grown School Feeding Programme with a task on members to make meaningful contributions to stamp the problems out of the country. Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, speaking at the event i...
Nigerian anti-graft agencies urged to beam searchlight on professional bodies
Human rights activist, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), members of civil society groups and others have called on anti-graft agencies to beam their searchlight on professional bodies in the country if the fight against corruption must be successful. Falana and others are of the opinion that until members of professional bodies who are found to have aided crimes and criminality are sanctioned, corruption will continue to be on the rise. Falana, Chairman, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Olarenwaju Suraj, and Executive Secretary, Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC), Mr Sadiq Radda, argued that professionals such as lawyers, accountants, bankers etc should be made to face the same punishment alongside their criminal clients. They made the suggestions on Wednesday...
House asks FCT councils to suspend illegal taxes on businesses
The House of Representatives has declared illegal, levies being imposed on businesses by area councils in the Federal Capital Territory, ordering the task forces to suspend their activities. A member of the House from Kogi State, Mr Tajudeen Yusuf, had moved a motion calling for the suspension at the plenary on Tuesday. It was titled ‘Investigation of Alleged illegal Levies by the Federal Capital Territory Area Councils on Business Outlets and Premises in the Area Councils.’ Yusuf said, “Business outlets and private enterprises have been under threats, intimidation, and coercion by task forces operating in the Federal Capital Territory area councils under different guises, forcing business owners to pay illegal levies which are not remitted into the government coffers but private pockets o...
Elle King Now Getting Team Support From RCA and Sony Music Nashville
King and Lambert collaborated with Maren Morris, Ashley McBryde, Tenille Townes and Caylee Hammack on a remake of Elvin Bishop’s “Fooled Around and Fell in Love,” which snagged an ACM Award last year as music event of the year. Additionally, King’s 2016 duet with Dierks Bentley, “Different For Girls,” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart and also won a CMA Award for musical event of the year. “I’ve met some of the most badass songwriters and artists and had some of the most rock & roll experiences of my life in country. So I think we’re gonna get along just fine,” said King in a statement. “Plus, I’m always trying to prove to my PaPaw in Ohio that I haven’t forgotten my roots or where I came from, so this helps a lot.” King, who is managed by Nashville-based Mary Hilliar...
IGP set to launch new police operation in South-South
The Acting Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali, is expected to launch a new tactical unit of the Nigeria Police Force in the South-South, Wednesday. The new tactical unit christened Operation Restore Peace in the South-South region would tackle issues of insecurity in the oil-rich region. It would be recalled that the Federal Government had announced that it was coming up with a new security formation for the South-South and South-East in order to end the wave of attacks on security formations in the areas. National Publicity Secretary of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, Hon Ken Robinson, had condemned the move and urged the FG not to be selective in its programs and policies However, the Acting IGP, Alkali, on Tuesday inaugurated the said outfit in the South-Eastern part of the countr...
