Funding
Minister: Nigeria needs N1.89 trillion to eradicate malaria
The federal government has said that it will require N1.89 trillion to successfully implement the new five-year strategic plan aimed at eradicating malaria in Nigeria. It said that about N352 billion out of the amount is required for the year 2021 programme implementation. In his address to mark this year’s World Malaria Day, the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, said the target set out in the National Malaria Strategic Plan of 2021 to 2025 is to achieve less than 10 per cent parasite prevalence and reduction in mortality attributable to malaria to less than 50 deaths per 1,000 live births by 2025. He said: “The implementation of the New Strategic Plan will cost N1.89 trillion. About 63.1% of the total amount will be used to support Chemoprevention, diagnosis and treatment, while 35....
Premier League clubs excluded from Super League set meeting to discuss path forward
The 14 Premier League clubs excluded from Super League plans are set for a meeting on Tuesday, according to a report. Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham were not invited to the meeting, with the remaining teams set to discuss a path forward. The aforementioned six teams were among the 12 clubs confirmed for the new competition, which was announced on Sunday. Though six of its biggest clubs have announced their involvement, the Premier League released a strong statement on Sunday condemning the proposal. “The Premier League condemns any proposal that attacks the principles of open competition and sporting merit which are at the heart of the domestic and European football pyramid,” the statement read. “Fans of any club in England and across Europe c...
Minister: Rail transportation awakening giant to help run government
Nairaland Mr Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation, on Tuesday described the rail mode of transportation as the awakening giant that would run government. He made the disclosure at the virtual National African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) Implementation Engagement Series for the Rail sub-sector of Transportation. Amaechi, who was represented by Mr Ibrahim Mohammed, a Deputy Director at the Federal Ministry of Transportation (FMOT), noted that the Federal Government had invested heavily on the rail sub-sector of transportation to help facilitate trade. “The rail sub-sector needs consistent opening for the country to further tap into the agreement that AfCFTA creates. “This is why government has embarked on many projects, developing the narrow gauges and establishing standa...
Speaker Gbajabiamila: Nigerians deserve a Police Force they can trust
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, has said a trusted Police Force working within the limits of the law is what Nigerians deserve. He assured Nigerians that the 9th House under his leadership would bequeath such a Police Force to them, and is working assiduously to achieve the goal. Gbajabiamila, who spoke at the National Assembly on Thursday during the opening of a public hearing on two bills by the House Committee on Police Affairs, said the House would meet these expectations as one of the key items on its Legislative Agenda. The bills are: “A Bill for an Act to Repeal the Police Service Commission Act and Enact the Police Service Commission Bill, 2020, to strengthen the Commission to be more Functional in its Operations and for Related Matters,” and: “...
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...
AfDB approves $1.3 million grant for female financial inclusion research in Africa
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved two grants worth $1.3 million for research aimed at increasing women’s access to a range of digital financial services on the continent. In a statement on Monday, AfDB said the grants will be disbursed by Africa digital financial inclusion facility (ADFI), a blended finance vehicle supported by the bank. The grants will be disbursed to two fintech firms, Pula Advisors Kenya and M-KOPA Kenya. AfDB said Pula Advisors will use the $1 million for research of social and economic factors that impact women farmers’ access to microinsurance in Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia while M-KOPA will use the $300,000 funding for research involving 500 women and men in Kenya’s Kisumu, Eldoret and Machakos counties. It said findings from the research will inform th...
Lobbyist says Myanmar junta wants to improve relations with the West, spurn China
An Israeli-Canadian lobbyist hired by Myanmar’s junta said on Saturday that the generals are keen to leave politics after their coup and seek to improve relations with the United States and distance themselves from China. Ari Ben-Menashe, a former Israeli military intelligence official who has previously represented Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Sudan’s military rulers, said Myanmar’s generals also want to repatriate Rohingya Muslims who fled to neighboring Bangladesh. The United Nations says more than 50 demonstrators have been killed since the Feb. 1 coup when the military overthrew and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won polls in November by a landslide. On Friday, a U.N. special envoy urged the Security Council to take action against t...
Kano set to design metro transport master plan
The Kano state Executive Council has approved the constitution of a committee, to design a Strategic Metropolitan Transport Master Plan, in order to regulate the transport system in the metropolis. This is contained in a statement signed by the State Commissioner for Information, Mr Muhammad Garba, made available to newsmen on Friday. It said the development of a Transport Master Plan for the state would strengthen economic growth and development, in line with the megacity goal of the Ganduje administration. Garba, in the statement, noted that the terms of reference of the committee, included a comprehensive mass transit system, to address the current transportation challenges. “It will also identify facilities and services to manage the dynamics of Kano as an emerging Megacity.” the state...
Nigerian university staff to embark on indefinite strike
File Photo The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) have disclosed that they will be embarking on “an indefinite, comprehensive and total strike” from February 5th. The Joint Action Committee of both unions, disclosed this while addressing reporters in a press conference on Friday. The committee explained that it is giving the Government two weeks till February 5th to address its demands, else the industrial action will commence. The unions had embarked on a fourteen day warning strike between 5th and 19th of October 2020 in protest of a number of issues bordering on the welfare of their members. The warning strike culminated the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the 20t...
Thousands of US-bound Honduran migrants cross border into Guatemala
<img width="696" height="391" class="entry-thumb" src="https://www.today.ng/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/16201205-696×391.jpg" srcset="https://www.today.ng/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/16201205-696×391.jpg 696w, https://www.today.ng/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/16201205-300×169.jpg 300w, https://www.today.ng/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/16201205.jpg 699w" sizes="(max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px" alt="Thousands of Honduran migrants push through the police fence as they attempt to cross the border at El Florido in Guatemala forming the first migrant caravan of the year on it’s way to the United States on January 15, 2021. – Some 3,000 people left Honduras on foot January 15 in the latest migrant caravan hoping to find ...
Coronavirus takes toll on federal roads’ construction in Lagos
The ravaging effect of Coronavirus (COVID-19) was, perhaps, the biggest challenge faced by stakeholders in the road sub sector of the construction industry in 2020. As the virus gained ground, several contractors soon abandoned work and shut their operations, consequently, many hitherto gainfully employed Nigerians were thrown into the labour market. Even when the government later introduced partial lockdown measures, the number of workers on site was scaled down by many contractors in line with COVID-19 protocols, which slowed down progress of work. Virtually all road projects in Lagos State suffered the effect of the pandemic, with every project having its own peculiar challenge. The reconstruction of 46km Agbara-Seme section of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway project awarded to CGC Nigeria...
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...
