government
Uganda election: Will Bobi Wine derail Yoweri Museveni’s sixth term bid?
As millions of Ugandans prepare to pick the country’s president this week, the stakes could not be higher. The run-up to Thursday’s vote has been marred by restrictions on campaigning, arrests of opposition figures and deadly violence. At least 54 people were killed in November as security forces put down protests by opposition supporters. Longtime President Yoweri Museveni, 76, is facing a strong challenge from popular musician-turned-politician Bobi Wine in his bid to secure a sixth, five-year term in office. Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, was just four years old when Museveni, a former rebel leader, came to power in 1986. In 2005, Uganda’s ruling-party-dominated parliament removed presidential term limits. And in 2017, lawmakers scrapped the age limit of 75 fo...
Ex-Benue MILAD Isa Kontagora passes on at 65
A former military administrator of Benue, Retired Col. Aminu Isa Kontagora, has passed on. Gov. Samuel Ortom, while announcing his death on Monday in Makurdi, said the retired colonel died on Sunday, Jan. 10, at the age of 65. Ortom declared Tuesday, Jan. 12 as work-free day in the state to enable the people mourn the former military administrator. He further directed that all flags be flown at half mast in honour of the deceased. Ortom in his tribute, described the death of Kontagora as a great loss to Nigeria and Benue in particular, adding that his footprints in the state remained indelible. The governor described Benue as second home of the deceased, having remained in touch with the state during happy and trying moments. He sympathised with the government and people of Niger over the ...
2021: Banks to walk a tightrope amid low revenue environment
Nigeria’s deposit money banks (DMBs) must brace up for the challenge of 2021 that might tax their resolve to remain in business. Reason: the industry is faced with a tougher operating environment that could threaten the operators’ ability to meet their stakeholders’ needs and expectations yet perform meaningful corporate social responsibility roles. Their valuable customers such as high net-worth individuals, corporate bodies and other institutions are equally challenged. In his book, Business Stripped Bare, celebrated iconic entrepreneur and founder of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson, says, “without trustworthy banks, there can be no business, no employment, no money. According to Branson, “People have got to be able to go to bed at night secure in the knowledge that the money they depo...
Republican senator: Donald Trump must ‘go away as soon as possible’
A second Republican senator in the United States has called on Donald Trump to step down after some of the president’s supporters overran the Capitol building in Washington, DC this week in a deadly riot. In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press news programme on Sunday, Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey said Trump should resign for the good of the country. “I think the best way for our country is for the president to resign and go away as soon as possible,” he said. Toomey said president’s resignation is the “best path forward, the best way to get this person in the rear-view mirror for us”, but added that he did not believe Trump would step down before his term ends on January 20. He also said the president’s role encouraging the riot was an “impeachable offence”. Momentum has been buildi...
PHED: Why blackout persists in Rivers communities
File Photo The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company said five power towers were damaged by suspected vandals at the Elelenwo transmission substation in Obio/Apkor Local Government Area, plunging several communities in Rivers State into darkness. Acting Head, Corporate Communications, PHED, Ngozi Koroye, who disclosed this to newsmen in Port Harcourt, said the installation belongs to the Transmission Company of Nigeria. Koroye explained that the action of the hoodlums caused extensive damage to the facility, noting that the company felt the pains of residents in the affected areas who have been in darkness for over one month. “The outage though regrettable is as a result of extensive damage caused by the activities of electricity vandals to towers 51, 52, 53, 54, and 55. Five towe...
Ekiti imposes curfew, bans public gathering of more than twenty
In a bid time curtail the spread of the second wave of Covid-19 in Ekiti, the state Government on Sunday imposed a curfew from 8.00 pm to 6.00 am. The Government also banned all gatherings of more than twenty people in the state until further notice. The Commissioner for Information and Values Orientation, Hon Akinbowale Omole, who announced these new guidelines in Ado-Ekiti on Sunday, said the restrictions take effect Monday at 6 am January 11, 2021. Omole cited the alarming rate at which the deadly pandemic is spreading in Nigeria and elsewhere as the reason for these drastic steps. He said there is a need for the government to be proactive and take decisive steps to secure the citizens from falling prey to the second wave of the pandemic that has claimed thousands of lives all over the ...
Nigerian government lists conditions for states to access coronavirus vaccines
The Federal Government has listed conditions for states to meet before the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine being expected wt the end of January would be released to them. The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), during a webinar tagged “Sensitisation Meeting with Media Gatekeepers on COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction”, at the weekend, said no vaccine will be release to states until facilities such as cold chains are in place. According to Director, Logistics and Health Commodities, NHPCDA, Kubura Daradara, the vaccine must be administered within five days of receipt for it to remain potent, and only the states that show commitment would receive the doses when available. She added that the 100,000 doses would be administered to 50,000 people, because each person has to take a secon...
Lagos governor: Coronavirus not a hoax, cases rising
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has cautioned Nigerians against the belief that the existence of coronavirus is a hoax. Instead, he said that COVID-19 cases are rising in Lagos State in a social media post on Sunday. The governor said the Lagos government has activated a new oxygen plant to ensure that more patients recover from the virus. Sanwo-Olu said, “Lagosians, #COVID19 is not a glamorous disease, neither is it a hoax. You need to follow the safety guidelines to safeguard your friends and loved ones. “In the midst of increasing #COVID19 cases, we have some good news from our Infectious Diseases Hospital. “We have activated a new oxygen plant which will help by providing much-needed oxygen to patients. The plant will supplement oxygen supply to about 300 cylinders per day an...
Coronavirus: Prof. Maurice Iwu restates efficacy of herbal medicine
Bioresources Development Group (BDG) chairman, Prof. Maurice Iwu has restated the efficacy of herbal medicine in the treatment of the COVID-19 cases as the virus enters variant stage globally. The former chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and eminent Professor of Pharmacognosy, Iwu, in a chat with Vanguard said that the effectiveness of special herbal drugs produced in the country, stands the chance of combating the disease at an early stage, but noted that the slow pace in acceptance and approval hinders its feasibility. Iwu also pointed that herbal extracts from a plant, “Andrographis Paniculata”, commonly known as green chiretta, already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Thailand is on its way to serve as an alternative treatment to the seve...
Rivers governor threatens to shut jetty over criminal activities
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has threatened to shut down the Bonny-Bille-Nembe Jetty in Port Harcourt which conveys travelers to various riverine communities in the state if cases of criminality or physical violence in the area continued. The governor said the zeal to provide an enabling environment for sea travelers and boost the marine economy of the state spurred his administration to remodel the once dilapidated jetty first built in the 1950s. Wike stated this at the commissioning of the remodeled Bonny-Bille-Nembe Jetty by the Governor of Sokoto State, Rt. Hon Aminu Tambuwal on Saturday. The governor in a statement by his media aide, Kelvin Ebiri Wike, said he decided to remodel the once filthy and disused jetty because he firmly believes that the people of the state deserve t...
Kaduna debunks rumour of helicopter supplying arms to criminals
The Kaduna State Government on Friday described as false, the news in circulation that helicopters supplied gunmen with arms at Ungwan Dankali and Tsallaken Dogo in Zaria Council Wednesday. The State’s Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said the security stakeholders in the state conducted checks and discovered that the report was fake. While urging residents of Kaduna to always provide useful information to fight banditry, cattle rustling and kidnapping, Aruwan in a statement also assured the residents that the state government, together with security operatives are working round the clock to maintain peace security in the state. According to Aruwan, “the attention of the Kaduna State government has been drawn to a story that is being circulated by certain...
Igbo group writes Nigerian government to request extradition of Nnamdi Kanu for ‘treasonable felony
YouTube An Igbo professional group, Coalition of South East Professionals’ Network in Nigeria and Diaspora (CSEPNND), has written an open letter to the Federal Government of Nigeria, urging it to immediately write the Government of the United Kingdom and Israel, requesting for extradition of leader of Indigenous People of Biafra,Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,to face the law over his involvement in alleged treasonable felony. The group whose request was contained in the open letter dated January 8th, 2021, and addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, explained that its action was predicated on Kanu’s ceaseless treasonable activities in the country. Noting that Kanu possessed citizenship of the two foreign nations, the coalition, according to the letter signed by its National President, Prof. Madumere Ch...
