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Africa CDC warns of possible second wave of virus infection
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Friday urged the African continent to brace itself for possible second wave COVID-19 infections. According to Africa CDC, the number of confirmed cases in the African continent has reached 1,759,794. The continental disease control and prevention agency said in a statement that the death toll related to the pandemic stood at 42,336 as of Friday afternoon. A total of 1,438,841 people infected with COVID-19 have recovered across the continent so far, the Africa CDC said. The most COVID-19 affected African countries in terms of the number of positive cases include South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia and Nigeria. The Southern Africa region is the most COVID-19 affected region both in terms of the number of confirmed posit...
Gold rises on renewed US stimulus hope, dollar falls
Spot gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,910.56 an ounce at 3:37pm, New York time, after falling as much as 0.5 percent. Gold rose on renewed optimism for a preelection aid package in the U.S., while the dollar fell to a one-week low. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said a bill for a compromise stimulus package is being written as she awaits a key phone call with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said his chamber would take up a comprehensive coronavirus package if an accord is struck. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index headed for the third straight decline. Pelosi said in a Bloomberg Television interview that while there are areas where more work is required to get a compromise, she was pleased with the Trump administration’s latest position on coronavirus testing ...
Minister, others shun senate over 2020 budget performance
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, Thursday shunned the Senate when summoned to brief lawmakers of 2020 Budget Performance. The Minister’s refusal to appear before the Senator Barau Jibrin, All Progressives Congress, APC, Kano North led Senate Committee on Appropriations was the second time in two weeks. Also invited but shunned the meeting with the Senate were the Accountant-General of the Federation, Idris Ahmed, and the Director-General of the Budget Office, Ben Akabueze. Briefing Journalists in Abuja Thursday, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Jibrin expressed disappointment at the absence of Nigeria’s key economic and budget planners at the crucial meeting. The Senator who noted that the meeting was originally scheduled to ho...
Google, UNWTO partner to boost tourism in Nigeria, others
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and Google on Wednesday hosted the first UNWTO & Google Tourism Acceleration Program which focused on insights from Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. The programme was put together ahead of World Tourism Day, Google said in a statement. The organisations said they partnered to create and host an online Acceleration Program for UNWTO member states’ tourism ministers, top travel associations and tourism boards. The initiative is put together to further develop innovation and digital transformation skills across the Africa and beyond. The COVID-19 crisis has disproportionately affected tourism, a sector that accounts for millions of jobs around the globe, a statement by Google said Wednesday. “While no one can say with certainty when th...
Nigerian doctor named one of TIME’s Most Influential People in the world
TIME named Nigerian physician Tunji Funsho to the 2020 TIME100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The full list and related tributes are available now at time.com/time100, and Mr Funsho’s TIME100 profile is available here. The list, now in its seventeenth year, recognizes the activism, innovation and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals. Mr Funsho, a cardiologist based in Lagos, Nigeria, is the first Rotary member to receive this honour for the organisation’s work to eradicate polio, having played an essential role in ensuring Africa’s certification as wild polio-free in August of 2020. “I’m honored to be recognized by TIME for my part in ensuring that no child in Africa will ever again be paralyzed by wild polio, a disease that once disabl...
EFCC docks polytechnic lecturer for N27 million fraud
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, today docked for fraud Pius Ugochukwu Ezeokafor, a former Director of Physical Planning, and now Senior Lecturer in the Department of Architecture, Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State. Ezeokafor, who is an architect faces a three count charge of obtaining money by false pretence and gratification to the tune of N27 million. He is facing trial before Justice O. A Ezeoke of the State High Court sitting in Ekwulobia, Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State. One of the charges read,”that you, Arc. Pius Ugochukwu Ezeokafor sometime between the year 2011 and 2012 at Oko, Aguata Local Government Area within the jurisdiction of the High Court of Anambra State, did commit felony to wit: with intent to defraud, obtained by false pretense ...
NCC mulls new pricing regime for mobile international termination rate
Fix Africa News Magazine The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has embarked on a cost-based study to set the new pricing regime for mobile international termination rate (ITR) for inbound international voice calls in the country. The ITR is the rate paid to local operators by international operators to terminate calls in Nigeria. As part of the process for the rate determination, the Commission has organised a virtual stakeholder engagement forum with relevant industry stakeholders to intimate them with the ongoing cost-based study and the need to cooperate with Messrs Payday Advance and Support Services Limited, the consultants engaged to carry out the study. Addressing the stakeholders in Abuja recently, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said the study has b...
Edo election: Votes sold for N1,000 to N15,000 – CDD
The Centre for Democracy and Development on Saturday condemned the high incidence of vote-trading recorded in the Edo State governorship election. The organisation said reports from its observers on the field showed that politicians, in an attempt to circumvent the electoral process, used young girls as their contact with the voters for the trading. It lamented that votes were traded for cash gifts from N1,000 to N15,000. The Director of CDD, Idayat Hassan, who said these during a press briefing on the preliminary report on the election said it was quite worrisome that “young girls were used for indirect vote-buying during the election.” She said, “We saw largely vote-buying in the Edo election, the most worrisome trend in this election is the level of sophistication at which politicians e...
NBS solicits Nigerians’ support on survey on children, women
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has appealed to the general public to support its survey on the situation of women and children it is conducting, is brought to “ a successful end”. Mr Sunday Ichedi, the Head, Public Affairs and International Relations Unit, NBS made the appeal on Wednesday in a statement. Ichedi said that Nigeria had formally started the process of conducting the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS6)/National Immunisation Coverage Survey (NICS) with a virtual inaugural meeting of the National Steering Committee. The global MICS programme was developed by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the 1990s as an international household survey programme. The programme was developed to support countries in the collection of internationally comparable data on a wi...
MURIC urges Nigerian government to deploy security task force in Southern Kaduna
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), an NGO, has called for the deployment of joint security task force to stop the incessant killings in Southern Kaduna. The Director of the group, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, gave the advice on Monday in a statement. Akintola said, the measures will go along way in curtailing the ethno-religious killings and other forms of criminality been perpetuated in the area. The group however condemned the recent killings of some youths in Zangon Kataf, which according to him violated the peace agreement initiated by the Agwa Atyap, Sir Dominic Yahaya between the Atyap and Hausa/Fulani. “MURIC strongly condemns these killings and attacks on law-abiding Muslims. We call for stronger presence of security agents. ”It is high time soldiers are drafted to Southern Kaduna to enfo...
Nearly 300 Rohingya migrants reach Indonesia ‘after seven months at sea’
Nearly 300 Rohingya migrants reached Indonesia early Monday claiming to have been at sea for seven months, United Nations officials said, in one of the biggest landings by the persecuted Myanmar minority in years. The migrants — including more than a dozen children — were spotted at sea on a wooden boat by locals who helped them land near Lhokseumawe city on Sumatra’s northern coast, officials said. “From their testimonies, they said that they were seven months adrift,” said UN refugee agency coordinator Oktina, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. “We have seen their condition is very weak at the moment,” she added. Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project — an NGO that focuses on the Rohingya crisis — said the migrants may have been held at sea while traffickers extorted money f...
President Buhari approves 5,000mts of maize to support poultry industry
Following hardship faced by poultry farmers, President Muhammadu Buhari, Thursday, approved the release of 5,000 metric tonnes of maize from the National Strategic Grains Reserve, NSGR, to support the Poultry Association of Nigeria, PAN, in order to mitigate the challenge of affordability of feed. This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Director, Information, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Theodore Ogaziechi, where it was also made know that the 5,000 metric tonnes of maize is subsidized at the rate of N90, 000 as against the current market price of N170, 000. The statement reads in part, “President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the release of 5,000 Metric Tonnes of maize from the National Strategic Grains Reserve to support the Poultry Association of Nigeri...
