Coronavirus Pandemic
Tanzania summons US official over coronavirus warning
Tanzania said on Tuesday it had summoned the top official at the US embassy to object to an advisory that warned of “exponential growth” of Covid-19 cases in the east African nation. The embassy’s “health advisory” published earlier this month contained inaccurate information, the foreign ministry said in a statement. The advisory reported, for instance, that “many hospitals” in Dar es Salaam, the economic capital, “have been overwhelmed in recent weeks”. This claim “is not true and could cause panic among Tanzanians and foreigners”, the foreign ministry’s statement said. The US embassy’s charge d’affaires, Inmi Patterson, met with Wilbert Ibuge, permanent secretary at the foreign ministry, who reminded Patterson about the two countries’ “historical cooperation”, the foreign ministry said....
Nigeria’s president urges farmers to increase food production
President Muhammadu Buhari has advised Nigerian farmers to increase their food production as Nigeria has ‘no money’ for food importation. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Nigeria has restricted food importation as the country strived to produce a lot of the food it consumes. The country also shut its borders with neighbouring countries, largely to prevent the importation and smuggling of items such as rice, poultry and petrol. The borders are still shut but were also closed to human traffic following the coronavirus pandemic, although smuggling and other illegal activities still go on with the connivance of corrupt security officials. Buhari gave his advice to the farmers while addressing journalists after observing this year’s ‘Eid’ prayer at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, on Sunda...
Ayo Adebanjo: President Buhari not sincere about keeping Nigeria together
President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, John Nwodo, elder statesman and Afenifere leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, and former Governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, have described Nigeria’s constitution as illegal. They spoke in a video conference organized by Governance Index titled: “Coronavirus Pandemic: Is it time to reevaluate the political structure of the country?” Opening the session, Nwodo said the constitution was given to Nigerians by a military government which was not elected, adding that in 1999, politicians went into the election without knowing the parameter that will guide the democratic process. He said the military wrote the constitution and abandoned regionalism. At the video conference which was the fifth edition of the weekly conference series: Covid-19: Turning a crisi...
Eid-el-Fitr: PFN congratulates Sultan, Muslims
File Photo The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria on Sunday congratulated the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III and all Muslims in Nigeria on the occasion of this year’s Eid-al-Fitr. The organisation prayed that the celebration would usher in healing and greater peace in the country. A statement by the Spokesperson of PFN, Simbo Olorunfemi, on behalf of its National President, Felix Omobude, also congratulated all Muslims on the completion of the Ramadan season despite the Coronavirus global pandemic. He prayed that the celebration would usher in healing and greater peace in the country. The PFN enjoined all Nigerians to “deepen the spirit of mutual tolerance and embrace understanding in their conduct, irrespective of faith, ethnicity, or gender so that the country might be abl...
Kogi: Coronavirus has further exposed the rot in the health sector
Kogi state government has said that the Coronavirus pandemic has further exposed the rot in the nation’s health sector, but however, noted that the state government would continue to invest in the sector for effective service delivery The Commissioner for Health in the State, Dr Saka Haruna Audu made this known in a press statement issued on Saturday, adding that the state government is steadily improving the health sector in the state. He noted that despite the pandemic and dwindling fortunes of all States in the Country, construction and equipping of Health facilities worth Billions of Naira are ongoing across Kogi state in the three Senatorial Districts, adding that this was a pointer to the fact that they intend to revamp the health sector. He stressed that the state government was com...
Goodluck Jonathan: Coronavirus could give rise to dictators
YouTube Former President Goodluck Jonathan, Friday advised Africans to be careful the way they handle coronavirus pandemic, noting that the virus could give rise to dictators. Disclosing this while speaking during a webinar organised by the Kofi Annan Foundation, Jonathan said: “This is the time that many continental bodies must come up with their own minimum standards for any country going into election to operate. “Otherwise people who ordinarily would have loved to be dictators will now exploit the problem of the COVID-19 pandemic and do what is not in line with the laws of the land.” Speaking further, Jonathan mentioned one positive thing’ in Nigeria’s COVID-19 response. According to him, “In Nigeria, I have seen one thing about the management of the COVID-19 which is also positive,” h...
Anambra intensifies community searching for coronavirus
The Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr Don Adinuba said the state government had decided to establish a COVID-19 task force in each of the 21 local government areas. According to him, each task force would be headed by the chairman of the local government Transition Committee, while members would compromise the Health Officer, the Information Officer, the Disease and Surveillance Officer, as well as the Ministry of Health Covid-19 Liaison Officer in the LGA. Adinuba also the government had also decided to set up a COVID-19 task force in each of the 326 wards in the state, with membership to be drawn from the Ministry of Health, the officer in charge of the Primary Healthcare in the ward, the youth leader in the ward, the woman leader in the ward, the development ward...
Kelechi Iheanacho returns to training slightly overweight
Kelechi Iheanacho is happy to be back in training after six weeks without football, no thanks to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Super Eagles player shared the picture of himself arriving Leicester City training ground on Wednesday to training. “Good to be back missed everything,” stated the player upon arriving at training, as portrayed by the picture above taken beside his car. Meanwhile the former Manchester City forward could find himself in coach Brenda Roger’s hot water as he appeared overweight with a robust cheek. Iheanacho who has featured in 12 league matches for the Foxes this season must harder in order to be ready for a premier league game in June. Iheanacho has scored 28 goals in 81 appearances for the Foxes since he joined them from Manchester City in 2017. Get more st...
How Technology Can Help Youth Unemployment in Nigeria
Sourced from Entrepreneur Platform. In the second quarter of 2018, youth unemployment peaked at 38% in Nigeria. Although there are no recent statistics, experts in the labour sector say the figure has surged year-on-year. Now with the worldwide reaching effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation has become direr as various sectors of the economy and industries stand greatly threatened including the financial and technology industry in Nigeria. Recently, companies like Andela, a software engineering talent company, laid off 135 of its staff across four locations in Africa including Nigeria. The Vanguard Nigeria reports that some financial institutions and commercial banks have had to also take measures like salary cuts to thwart mass layoffs. Another financial institution, Ren Money, r...
ICC recommends rule to ban use of saliva on balls
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has recommended rules to ban the use of saliva to shine cricket balls in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. A statement on ICC website on Tuesday said that the age-old trick of using saliva to shine a cricket ball could be a thing of the past when the sport resumed due to the recommendation by ICC executive committee. The committee, chaired by Anil Kumble, a former Indian spinner unanimously agreed to recommend a ban on saliva while, allowing players to use their own sweat to try and achieve the fabled ‘reverse swing’. Cricketers have for long used saliva and sweat to shine one side of the ball while allowing the other to become increasingly scuffed over the course of an innings. The technique alters the aerodynamics of the ball, allowing pace bow...
Chelsea star arrested on suspicion of rape
Chelsea star Callum Hudson-Odoi was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of rape following an alleged incident at his west London apartment. The Metropolitan Police said in a statement that both they and the London Ambulance Service were called in the early hours of Sunday, May 17 to a report of an unwell woman. The statement added: “When emergency services attended, a woman reported that she was raped. She was taken to hospital.“A man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of rape. He was released from custody and bailed to return on a date in mid-June. Enquiries continue.” Sunday’s alleged incident comes just weeks after Hudson-Odoi battled the coronavirus, which he was diagnosed with on March 12 . The teenager was the first Premier League player to be diagnosed with the illness, coming short...
Emirates plans to cut about 30,000 jobs amid virus outbreak
Emirates Group is planning to cut about 30,000 jobs to reduce costs amid the coronavirus outbreak, which will bring down its number of employees by about 30 per cent from more than 105,000. A media reported on Sunday that the company was also considering speeding up the planned retirement of its A380 fleet. An Emirates spokeswoman said that no public announcement has been made yet by the company regarding “redundancies at the airline”, but that the company is conducting a review of “costs and resourcing against business projections”. “Any such decision will be communicated in an appropriate fashion. Like any responsible business would do, our executive team has directed all departments to conduct a thorough review of costs and resourcing against business projections,” the spokeswoman said....
