COVID-19 Pandemic
Air passengers decry upsurge in fares, seek urgent attention to roads, railway
Nigerians, who travel by air, have decried the “sudden” upsurge in air fares and urged the Federal Government to intervene to avoid poor patronage that could dwindle the fortunes of the aviation industry. Newsmen report that the air fares shot up by about 100 per cent in the last one week, with some airline operators even raising their fares by as much as 120 per cent or more. At Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, the fare from Abuja to Lagos, which was N35,300 (Economy Class), rose to between N70,000 and N75,000. Newsmen found that Business Class travellers were charged between N100,000 and N120,000, depending on the airline. Our correspondents, who visited other airports across the country, found that the rise in airfares was the same, a situation that forced some passengers to...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris jointly named TIME’s ‘Person of the Year’
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris were jointly named Time magazine’s 2020 “Person of the Year” on Thursday, chosen from a list of finalists that included the man Biden vanquished at the polls – President Donald Trump. The Democratic former vice president and his running mate, a California senator whose election broke gender and racial barriers, together “offered restoration and renewal in a single ticket,” Time said in a profile of the pair, published online with its announcement. Following the most tumultuous U.S. presidential campaign in modern times, waged in the throes of a deadly pandemic, economic devastation and a strife-torn national reckoning with racism, Biden and Harris prevailed in an election that drew the highest voter turnout in a century....
Minister: Industry, trade, investment key to economic diversification
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, says the sector is crucial in the drive toward diversification of the nation’s economy, away from being oil dominated. Adebayo spoke in Abuja at the Physical/Virtual 12th National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment meeting, with the theme “Revitalisation of the Industry, Trade and Investment Sector in Nigeria in the Post-COVID-19 pandemic era”. He explained the pivotal role of the ministry as a key actor in the economy with the mandate to stimulate domestic investment and attract foreign direct investment into all sectors. The minister said it was committed in facilitating trade in goods and services and maximising benefits of international trade through functional bilateral and multilateral trade relations. Acc...
How COVID-19 is Shaping Financial Inclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic had forced companies and individuals to rapidly adapt to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) to remedy the unprecedented socioeconomic challenges faced by consumers. A key facet of 4IR is a shift towards digitisation, and the vulnerable communities across the globe find themselves trailing even further behind in their endeavour for financial equity as a result. Migrants and foreign nationals trapped in the cash economy, who utilise analog means of transacting funds, are the hardest hit as lack of access to cash means that they are rendered unable to support their families both locally and abroad to make ends meet. The festive season in particular is a capital intensive time for consumers. To provide for their families, many find themselves using informal meth...
African environment ministers support green recovery plan
Ministers of Environment from Africa on Friday agreed to support a comprehensive green recovery plan to boost economies and social systems aimed at building back better from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This is contained in a ministerial statement issued at the end of the eighth special session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) in Nairobi, Kenya. Representatives of the 54 African governments re-affirmed their commitment to enhance environmental resilience as well as protect and sustainably use natural resources for the region’s development. The high-level ministerial regional conference held virtually under the theme “Enhancing Environmental Action for Effective Post-COVID Recovery in Africa”, further called to accelerate the protection and restoratio...
Qatar supports Nigerian Armed Forces, Police with $1 billion
Reuters The Republic of Qatar has released $1billion to provide scientific equipment and build an ultra-mordern hospital for officers and men of the Armed Forces including the transformation of Nigerian Police training schools and colleges. The oil rich nation released the funds through a Non-governmental Organisation (NGO), Africa Global Empowerment and Development Network (AGED-Network). The organisation, AGED-Network, which signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Rear Admiral Mackson Kadiri-led National Defence College through its Center for Strategic Research and Studies for the advancement of security sector reforms, said it also received a grant of $500 million from its partners, G20 and ASHTROM to build an ultra-modern hospital for officers and men of the armed forces. S...
Firm restates commitment to enhance financial inclusion
Nigeria-based fintech solution, NowNow, has said that it will continue to upgrade its services to attune to current realities, such that will drive economic and social growth. Founder of NowNow, Sahir Berry, while speaking on how COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the financial space recently, mentioned that Nigeria needs to strengthen its fintech space more than before. Berry stated that it was important for Nigeria to tap into the trends and prospects of fintech given the country’s large unbanked or underbanked. He added the company recognised this gap in Nigeria, which informed its investment in the space. “In 2017 we identified that one of the two big problems in Nigeria was lack of youth empowerment and financial inclusion. With a population of almost 100 million youths, we found that ac...
Nigerian government seeks new Eurobond
The federal government yesterday disclosed that it would approach the Eurobond market next year in its effort to shore up the economy, amidst cocktails of measures being put in place to douse the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy. On the same day, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, while speaking at the 55th Annual Bankers Dinner organised by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in Lagos, predicted a two per cent growth in the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2021. Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, who disclosed the Eurobond plan while speaking on Bloomberg TV, explained that the decision would depend on the prevailing interest rates. She, however, did not specify the amount to be accessed from the Eurobond. The Eurobond option is ...
Unpacking 3 Healthcare Innovation Trends for 2021
A significant part of 2020 has been riddled with the COVID-19 pandemic, thus negatively affecting the healthcare sector. To combat some of these challenges, there are several healthcare innovations to look out for in the upcoming year. According to WHO Health Innovation Group (WHIG), sister group of the World Health Organization (WHO) whose premise is to endorse and pursue health innovation within the organization, “health innovation is to develop new or improved health policies, systems, products and technologies, and services and delivery methods that improve people’s health, with a special focus on the needs of vulnerable populations.” Following an article published by McKinsey & Company in November 2020, there are two key healthcare innovations to look out for in treating COVID- 19...
NAFEST: Nigeria will lead the world – Senator Okorocha
Sen. Rochas Okorocha, Chairman, Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism, has expressed greater hope that Nigeria will definitely lead the world with the vast culture and tourism potential. Okorocha said this at opening ceremony of the 33rd National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST) held at Rwang Pam Township Stadium, Jos, Plateau on Monday. The theme of the event was “COVID-19 and Cultural Dynamism”. The lawmaker advised Nigerians generally to keep hope alive as the COVID-19 pandemic and the ENDSARS protests which had caused lots of havoc to the nation would be forgotten issues with time. He said Nigeria was only going through a phase that would lead to greatness as some other countries had experienced in the past. He noted that the two incidences had aggravated the nation’s problems o...
Speaker: Lagos Assembly to pass 2021 budget before December 31
The Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, says the 2021 Appropriation Bill currently before the house will be passed before Dec. 31. The post Speaker: Lagos Assembly to pass 2021 budget before December 31 appeared first on TODAY. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet revenue.
UNICEF: 348,000 Libyan children need humanitarian aid
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said that more than 348,000 children out of 1.2 million people, need humanitarian assistance in Libya, due to the impact of the prolonged armed conflict, political and economic crises and the COVID-19 pandemic. The post UNICEF: 348,000 Libyan children need humanitarian aid appeared first on TODAY. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet revenue.
