government
UK needs tighter coronavirus rules to avert catastrophe – epidemiologist
Britain’s government needs to bring in tighter coronavirus lockdown rules to avert a fresh wave of deaths from a new strain of the disease, a leading epidemiologist and government adviser warns. Britain reported 41,385 new COVID cases on Monday, the highest number since testing became widely available in the middle of 2020, and English hospitals say they have more COVID patients than during the first wave of the pandemic in April. “We are entering a very dangerous new phase of the pandemic, and we’re going to need decisive early national action to prevent a catastrophe in January and February,” said Andrew Hayward, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at University College London, on Tuesday. More than 71,000 people in Britain have died within 28 days of a positive test for the dis...
Yobe governor calls for caution to combat fire incidents during harmattan
Yobe State Governor, Alhaji Mai-Mala Buni, has called for extra vigilance during the harmattan season to combat incidents of fire disaster. The governor made this call in a statement yesterday while commiserating with victims of a fire outbreak that occurred at Potiskum Market. The fire had broken up in the early hours of yesterday, razing six traditional medicine shops. The governor in a statement, said he received the news of the incident with sadness, while directing the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to provide the victims with all necessary support and to take stock of damages caused by the inferno. He also directed the state’s Fire Service to be proactive, especially in the current harmattan season. He said, “I wish to express my deep sympathy to victims who lost their valu...
Ondo tertiary institution workers suspend strike
Workers of Ondo State-owned tertiary institutions, on Monday, suspended their 14-day warning strike. The workers under the auspices of the Joint Action Committee of the Ondo State Tertiary Institutions had embarked on the strike following non-payment of their salaries and allowances by the state government. The members of the JAC include the Joint Action Committee of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, the Non-Academic Staff Union, the Nigeria Association of Academic Technologists, and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics. The workers announced their decision in a statement issued by the Chairman of JAC, ODSTI, Peter Akindehinde on Monday evening. The statement was titled ‘Suspension of 14-day warning strike’. According to the statement, the suspension of th...
Nigeria fines UK, South African airlines for breach of coronavirus protocol
The Nigerian government has rolled out punitive measures against foreign airline operators flying into Nigeria, particularly those from the United Kingdom and South Africa whose passengers allegedly violated the reviewed travel protocols announced by Nigeria’s regulatory body for aviation NCAA. The agency, in a circular issued on December 26 by its director-general Musa Nuhu, disclosed that airlines from the affected countries shall be fined $3,500 for each passenger that flouts the guidelines, which were reviewed to prevent an outbreak of the new variant of the coronavirus recently reported in the UK and South Africa. The circular stated that repeated non-compliance by any carrier would result in the suspension of the airline’s permit to fly into Nigeria, as defaulting passengers are boun...
CBN: Naira to fall further in January
Barely five days to the end of the year 2020, the Central Bank of Nigeria has disclosed that a survey carried out by its Statistics Department revealed that the naira is expected to depreciate further in January 2021. The report, titled, ‘December 2020 Business Expectations Survey Report’ added that there might also be a steady rise in interest rate from December till the next six months. The naira witnessed a sharp fall in recent weeks, reaching its lowest on November 30, 2020, when it exchanged for N500/$1. Since then, the dollar has been hovering between N460 and N470. As of Friday, however, one dollar exchanged for 465 in the parallel market. Also, the Nigerian economy had on November 21 slid into its second recession in five years when the economy shrank again in the third quarter. Th...
Kebbi governor empowers 205 women vegetable sellers with N6.15 million
The Kebbi Governor, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu, on Sunday, donated N6.15 million to 205 women vegetables sellers in the state as part of efforts to encourage them to be self-reliant. Newsmen report that each of the 205 women received N30,000 from the donation, in order to boost their vegetable businesses. Gov. Bagudu, who announced the donation at the graduation of the benefitting women in Birnin Kebbi, said that all the women who benefitted from the program had received training in preservation of perishable items. “The comprehensive training of the women traders was conducted by the state chapter of the Kebbi State Vegetables Sellers Association,” he said, lauding the association for the unparalleled gesture that was worthy of emulation by other groups. “The association needs to be commended fo...
Bandits kill kidnapped Niger village head
The village head of Madaka, Alhaji Zakari Yau, in Niger State who was kidnapped last week has reportedly been murdered by bandits. Yau who was first kidnapped three months ago before being released and again taken into the custody of bandits was reportedly killed on Christmas day. The murder of the traditional ruler brings the number of people killed by bandits in Madaka to four. The bandits during the December 20 raid first killed the local head of the vigilante in the town, Ishyaku Alhassan, his son Abdulhamid Ishyaku and one other person. Reports from freed victims said that the village head was killed after being tortured by bandits who sometimes sat on him while smoking Indian hemp. It was gathered that the monarch was even forced by the bandits to smoke the weeds. The Chief of Staff ...
George Moghalu: Igbo presidency not by mouth
YouTube The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of National Inland Water Ways (NIWA), Chief George Moghalu has told the Igbo to widen their horizon to convince other ethnic nationalities, if a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction must be realized. The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant for Anambra 2021 election, Chief Moghalu said this during an interactive session with journalists in Nnewi on Saturday. He noted that the Igbo known for work hard should apply same and traverse the width and breadth of Nigeria to garner support for the 2023 presidency project and not to sit down at one place nursing self-pity. He declared that power could only be taken, not given. “Since it’s a democratic dispensation where number matters, there is need for Ndigbo to sit down an...
Millions of Americans risk losing jobless benefits as Donald Trump refuses to sign aid bill
Millions of Americans are about to see their jobless benefits expire on Saturday as U.S. President Donald Trump has so far refused to sign into law a $2.3 trillion pandemic aid and spending package, insisting that it did not do enough to help everyday people. Trump stunned Republicans and Democrats alike when he said this week he was unhappy with the massive bill, which provides $892 billion in badly needed coronavirus relief, including extending special unemployment benefits expiring on Dec. 26, and $1.4 trillion for normal government spending. Without Trump’s signature, about 14 million people could lose those extra benefits, according to Labor Department data. A partial government shutdown will begin on Tuesday unless Congress can agree a stop-gap government funding bill before then. Af...
Senator Sani visits survivors of 2012 Kaduna church bombing
CNN Ex-Senator from Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, on Saturday visited survivors of a 2012 Boko Haram bomb blast at St Monica Catholic Church, in Malali, Kaduna. In 2012, about eight worshippers had died at the explosion, with several others sustaining injuries. Those who survived the attack lamented that they have since been abandoned to cater for themselves. The survivors used the former lawmaker’s visit to call on the government and citizens for aid to be able to get back their life. A survivor, Polycarp Lawrence, who lost an eye in the attack, said that he has been paying for his medical bills with the little support from the church, which has not been enough. ‘Since the bomb blast of 2012, I have not found my rhythm back in life. Life has been so difficult for me and my family. There has...
India arrests 75 in Kashmir after local elections
The Indian government has arrested at least 75 Kashmiri political leaders and activists to forestall political unrest after an alliance of Kashmir’s regional political parties won local elections, leaders and a police official said on Saturday. The District Development Council elections, concluded early this week, were the first local polls since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government revoked the special status of the Muslim-majority region last year. New Delhi then cracked down on the opposition and rounded up hundreds of people to preempt protests and violence. The latest detentions, which include separatist leaders and members of the banned Jamat-e-Islami group, were for preventive custody, said a senior police official, who asked not to be identified. But Imran Nabi Dar, spokesman f...
Nigerian National Assembly spends billions of naira on constitution review
The perennial constitution amendment exercise by the National Assembly is characterised by proposals that keep resurfacing despite gulping billions of naira yearly, an analysis has shown. The federal parliament had from the 5th to the current 9th National Assembly made several attempts to amend some provisions of the 1999 Constitution to no avail. At every session, the parliament officially spends N1 billion shared equally between the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are reports that the lawmakers spend more than what is appropriated for the exercise. While some amendments were successful, several others suffered serial failures but kept appearing in new proposals. Considering the huge spending, lawyers and civil society groups have pointed out that no significant amendments ...