COVID-19
Ekiti governor suspends ongoing recruitment of teachers
Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State has suspended the ongoing teachers recruitment exercise over economic crisis posed by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The governor directed immediate refund of money paid by successful candidates in the recruitment exercise conducted by the State Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM). Mr Babatunde Abegunde, Chairman of TESCOM, who made this known in Ado Ekiti on Thursday said the directive was due to the commitment of the governor to the general welfare of the people in the state and the need not to make new entrants into the public service suffer unduly. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that about 100 candidates may have been affected by the directive. Abegunde explained that monies to be refunded covered those paid by the candidates for the p...
Ogun government sets up coronavirus vaccination centre for journalists
The Ogun State Government on Thursday said it will begin to vaccinate journalists against COVID-19 on Friday, which it said was part of efforts aimed at ensuring that the Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine is brought nearer to the people The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Dapo Abiodun, Kunle Somorin, disclosed this in a statement, adding that the facilitation centre was set up to main-stream journalists into the vaccination process because they are frontline workers. “Journalists are frontline workers and deserve to be treated specially because their profession exposes them so much to the ravaging virus. They, like health workers and security people, were on the road when everyone else stayed at home at the height of the pandemic,” the statement said. ‘Therefore from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Frid...
Pasquale Rotella Says “Nothing Has Changed” With EDC Las Vegas 2021 Dates
Insomniac founder Pasquale Rotella took to social media to allay concerns regarding the potential postponement of EDC Las Vegas due to the impact of COVID-19. In a tweet, Rotella said that “nothing has changed” at this time and also promised a more comprehensive update in the near future. “Full EDC LV update coming soon. But as of now, nothing has changed,” he tweeted. “If we can have a safe show in May, then we’re going to make it happen.” At the time of this article’s publication, the dates of the 2021 edition of EDC Las Vegas are May 21st to 23rd. However, considering the extensive planning it takes to organize a music festival of this scale, a postponement seems like the most logical move for Insomniac amid the uncertainty of the...
Sources: Coachella is Moving to April 2022
It looks like the 2021 edition of Coachella has been dealt its final death blow. According to Variety, who spoke with two industry sources, the fabled Indio music and arts festival is planning to abandon its October 2021 dates and move to April 2022. The move would mark the music festival’s fourth postponement due to the impact of COVID-19. Citing the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sources noted that Coachella could present an issue concerning the spread of the virus due to its sheer size. “There’s a big difference between having two weekend [sic] of Coachella in California and throwing a country festival in Florida,” one source told Variety. Sources say the 2021 edition of Indio’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival will mo...
Tomorrowland 2021 Officially Rescheduled to August and September
Tomorrowland has officially been rescheduled due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both weekends of the iconic Belgian music festival’s 2021 edition have been moved. Weekend 1 will now take place August 27-29 and Weekend 2is scheduled for September 3-5. According to an announcement shared on Tomorrowland’s website, organizers cautioned fans that the fest could be cancelled if safety concerns persist as the dates near. “We want to stay positive and hopeful towards an unforgettable end of summer of 2021, but realize that there is also a chance the 16th edition of Tomorrowland could take place in 2022,” the statement reads. Tomorrowland 2021 has been postponed to August and September due to the impact of COVID-19. Tomorrowland In an email, Tomorrow...
National Assembly members agreed not to be hostile to Prudent Buhari’s government – Senate spokesman
The current 9th National Assembly members all agreed that they will not have an acrimonious relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, unlike the 8th Assembly under Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara. Spokesman of the senate, Senator Ajibola Bashiru, who represents Osun Central disclosed this in an interview published in newsmen on Wednesday while responding to claims that the current national assembly is a rubber-stamp that is always quick to do the bidding of the executive. He said “I don’t know the basis for your question, but what I do know is that at the inception, there was an agreement among the lawmakers that we do not want an acrimonious relationship between the Executive and the Legislature”. “All of us witnessed how such a relationship worked against the interest of...
UN: Around $1 billion needed for Nigeria humanitarian crisis
The United Nations estimated Tuesday that around $1 billion were needed to respond to the humanitarian crisis in northeast, where 5.1 million people are at risk of acute hunger. Despite ongoing military operations to end a decade-long jihadist insurgency, the conflict continues to kill and force people from their homes. “As many as 5.1 million people are threatened by acute hunger during the upcoming lean season – the worst outlook in four years,” the UN’s office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs said in a statement. Nigeria’s humanitarian community, in partnership with the government, launched its Humanitarian Response Plan for 2021, requesting $1.0 billion to provide humanitarian assistance, up from $839 million last year. In 2020, funding was severely affected by the Covid-19...
Senate president receives first dose of coronavirus vaccine, calls for more sensitisation
The President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, took the lead at the National Assembly on Tuesday when he received the first jab of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine was administered on him in his fourth floor office by his personal physician, Dr Muhammad Usman, while the vaccination card was presented to him by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health (Secondary and Tertiary), Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe. Speaking shortly after receiving the jab, Lawan called for more advocacy and sensitization on the vaccine, appealing to Nigerians to make themselves available for the vaccination. He congratulated the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 for working so hard to ensure that the vaccine is available for Nigerians. While urging the PTF to get more of the vaccine and variety of it in ...
The Stone Roses’ Ian Brown Claims Spotify Took Down His Anti-Lockdown Song
Former Stone Roses singer Ian Brown has been outspoken about COVID-19 “plandemic” conspiracy theories, which he says had made him a target of Spotify. On Friday, the British musician accused the streaming service of taking down his anti-lockdown anthem, “Little Seed Big Tree”, as an act of censorship. “SPOTiFY stream the streams and censor artists like they have with my last song TOOK IT DOWN just put it down the memory hole!” he wrote on Twitter. “FREE EXPRESSiON AS REVOLUTiON” Consequence of Sound verified “Little Seed Big Tree” is no longer playable on Spotify, but the conspiracy-spewing track remains up on Apple Music, TIDAL, and YouTube. Stream it below to open your third eye. For the uninitiated, the song features lyrics about forced vaccines and microchips. “A forced vaccine, l...
FCTA assures of equitable distribution of coronavirus vaccines
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has assured of fair and equitable distribution of its 227,480 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines, stressing that every strata of the society will be adequately captured in the vaccination roll out. FCT Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, who gave the assurance on Monday at the official flagged off of the vaccination at the Asokoro District Hospital Abuja, harped on the safety of the vaccine. The minister noted that the launching was the single largest vaccination programme ever in the FCT, to herald decisive victory over the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that Abuja being the seat of the Federal Government and melting pot of the nation has been challenged by the pandemic. “The FCTA will resolutely enforce all the National Guidelines and e...
Italian priest recalls coronavirus ‘nightmare’ of coffin-filled church
On the wall of St. Joseph’s Church hangs a black-and-white photograph with a caption remembering when the Italian parish of Seriate gave 270 people emergency “hospitality” last year – coffins of the dead from COVID-19, sometimes up to 40 at a time. The hosts were Father Mario Carminati, 65, and Marcello Crotti, 46, who opened up the church to give the deceased a dignified temporary place of rest so they would not have to wait in a warehouse for burial or cremation. “For me it was a nightmare, but I didn’t have the opportunity to think about it a lot because when you find yourself in the middle of an emergency you have to rush and act according to your instinct,” Carminati, the senior priest in Seriate, said. A year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic in northern Italy was spiralling and the provinc...
EU defends vaccine distribution as nations complain it is uneven
The European Commission on Saturday defended its policy of distributing COVID-19 vaccines evenly in the bloc after Austria and five other member states complained that doses were not allocated equally. In a joint letter to the Commission and the European Council, leaders of six European countries, including Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Latvia, and later Croatia, called for discussions on vaccine distribution. The Commission responded that doses have been distributed in proportion with the population of each country and taking into account epidemiological data, adding that was up to member state governments to decide how to share them. A flexible policy agreed by EU governments meant countries facing a more acute phase of the epidemic could access more doses, if some governments opte...
