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WHO: End to pandemic not likely in 2021
The World Health Organisation (WHO) believes it is unlikely the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19）will come to an end by the end of 2021. “I think it will be very premature and unrealistic to think that we are going to finish with this virus by the end of the year,” Michael Ryan, director of the WHO’s health emergencies programme, said at a briefing on Tuesday. “What we can, if we are smart, finish with is the hospitalisations and the deaths and the tragedy associated with this pandemic,” Ryan added. The WHO’s focus at present was to keep transmissions as low as possible and vaccinate more and more people. The situation regarding the delivery of vaccine doses had already improved compared to 10 weeks ago, Ryan said, although there were “huge challenges” in distributing them and the virus stil...
Bayelsa governor: 2.5% revenue for host communities ‘unacceptable’ to Niger Delta
Gov. Douye Diri of Bayelsa on Tuesday proposed that 10 per cent of derived oil revenue be provided in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) for the host communities. Mr Diri, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Alabrah, said this on Tuesday during a townhall meeting on the bill with members of the National Assembly in Yenagoa. The governor said the 2.5 per cent revenue proposed for the host communities in the PIB was grossly inadequate and unacceptable to the people of the Niger Delta. He argued that if the National Assembly members saw firsthand the level of environmental degradation and its attendant effects on the people, they would not hesitate to increase it from 10 per cent. Mr Diri stressed that the PIB was critical in addressing issues such as unemployment, lack of tran...
Barcelona, Atletico Madrid ordered to further tighten belts by La Liga
FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid will have to cut down the costs of their squads by more than 35 million euros ($42.14 million) following new salary limits imposed by La Liga on Tuesday to cope with the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The figures, published twice annually following each transfer window, dictate how much teams can spend on players, coaches, support staff and their youth teams. They are calculated in line with revenues, which have been obliterated by coronavirus restrictions preventing fans from attending matches for 12 months while depressing the transfer market and reducing income from merchandising. Barcelona are the club most acutely affected by the new limits and will be forced to reduce their costs by an additional 35.7 million euros, to 347 million. League ...
President Buhari directs security chiefs to recover areas being occupied by criminals
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the nation’s security chiefs to recover all areas being occupied by insurgents, bandits and kidnappers across the country. The National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno, told State House correspondents that the president gave the order during the just concluded meeting of the National Security Council. The meeting was presided by Buhari at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday. According to him, no sovereign nation will allow a group of non-state actors to bring it down to its knees and render the state in state of panic, apprehension, mistrust and disorder. “Therefore, both the defence and intelligence organisations have been charged that while we look forward to having a peaceful, non-kinetic reso...
Energy firms’ bank debts rise to N5.94 trillion
The debts owed to Nigerian banks by oil and gas operators as well as power companies in the country rose to N5.94tn at the end of 2020 from N5.25tn in December 2019. The N5.94tn represents 29.16 per cent of the N20.37tn loans advanced to the private sector by the banks as of December, according to the sectoral analysis of banks’ credit by the Central Bank of Nigeria. Oil and gas firms, which received the biggest share of the credit from the banks, increased their debt by N600bn to N5.18tn in December 2020 from N4.58tn in December 2019. The debt owed by power firms to the banks rose to N763.22bn in December 2020 from N671.45bn in December 2019, the CBN data showed. Oil firms operating in the downstream, natural gas and crude oil refining subsectors owed N393tn as of December, up from N3.42t...
Osun governor condemns ethnic colouration in fight against terrorism
Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State has condemned the ethnic coloration in which the fight against terrorism and insurgency is taking in Nigeria. Oyetola, however, called on Nigerians to form a collective synergy with the aim of bringing an end to the worrisome security situation bedevilling the nation. Oyetola, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prince Oluwole Oyebamiji, on Saturday at an international colloquium organised in honour of Prof. Siyan Oyeweso’s 60th birthday and Book Launch held at Western Sun International Ede, Osun State, flayed the ethnic coloration the issue of security is taking in the country. The governor called on security operatives to go after criminals devoid of any kind of sentiment. According to him, the menace of terrorism and insur...
Wolves boss ‘confident’ Raul Jimenez will return this season
Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo is “totally confident” Mexico striker Raul Jimenez will be back from his fractured skull before the end of this season. Jimenez has been out of action since he suffered the horrific injury in a clash of heads with Arsenal’s David Luiz during Wolves’ Premier League win at the Emirates Stadium in November. The 29-year-old has now returned to light training and Nuno expects his star forward to feature before the season ends on May 23. “Totally confident, for sure,” Nuno said on Friday when asked about a likely return for the player this season. Jimenez scored 27 goals in all competitions for Wolves last season and has netted seven times in 15 appearances for club and country during the current campaign. Following Jimenez’s injury, Wolves won only one of thei...
Northern governors condemn Zamfara schoolgirls abduction
The Northern States Governors Forum on Friday condemned another attack on Government Secondary School, Jangebe, in Zamfara State where hundreds of schoolgirls were abducted, saying enough is enough. Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, in a statement, said this trend is unacceptable and that strong measures must be taken to put an end to it before it escalated into a monster that would consume educational pursuit and national aspirations. Lalong said this development, which is coming on the heels of the abduction of school children in Kagara, Niger State still being addressed, called for serious concerns among all Nigerians. He said “as Northern Governors, we are deeply saddened by this embarrassing and unfortunate attack on our children who are in schools to ...
SSANU, NASU suspends strike after three weeks
File Photo The Joint Action Committee, JAC, of non-teaching staff unions of universities has announced the suspension of its three weeks old strike with effect from midnight of February 26. The national leadership of JAC non-teaching staff comprises of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of the Universities (NASU). The union which conveyed its decision during media briefing it held after the conciliatory meeting with the federal government, explained that it agreed to suspend the national strike after extracting some concessions from the government. Speaking through NASU General Secretary, Peters Adeyemi, the union said its demands have been harmonized to the satisfaction of both parties, just as he stressed that they will continue to ...
Cameroon police arrest ‘suspected homosexuals’ at AIDS centre
Police in Cameroon have arrested nine people on suspicion of homosexuality, most of them at an HIV/AIDS care centre, an LGBT rights lawyer said on Thursday. A police officer in the western town of Bafoussam, where the nine were detained on Tuesday and remained in custody two days later, said “we arrested them to verify whether they were homosexuals”. “By the end of the day, we will see, based on the evidence, whether some may be released and others referred to the prosecutor’s office,” which will decide whether to charge them, told AFP on condition of anonymity. Seven of those arrested were picked up at the headquarters of the Colibri association, whose main mission is the care of people infected with HIV/AIDS, according to lawyer Alice Nkom of the Association for the Defence of Homosexual...
Oyo governor to declare Hijrah holiday from next year
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, on Wednesday, declared that starting from next year, the government would declare Hijrah holiday in line with the yearnings of the Muslim community in the state. Makinde, who made the declaration during the celebration of 2021 Mawlud Nabiyy, held at the Remembrance Arcade of the Government House, Agodi, Ibadan, stressed the need for the Muslim faithful and non-Muslims as well to continue to peacefully coexist. A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, indicated that the governor equally declared that the state will always rise above the antics of perpetrators of evil, whom he said had tried all they could to plunge the state into chaos. According to Governor Makinde, only peaceful and harmonious coexistence would lead the...
Victor Osimhen likens his unconscious 30 minutes to a brain reset
Super Eagles and Napoli forward Victor Osimhen has said his 30 minutes of unconsciousness Sunday, ‘felt like a brain reset’ Osimhen was discharged to return to Naples on Monday after spending the night under observation at a hospital in Bergamo following an alarming collapse towards the end of the club’s 4-2 Serie A defeat by Atalanta on Sunday. Osimhen was knocked unconscious in a scary incident during the final minutes of the game after a challenge with Cristian Romero; he was stretchered off the pitch and taken directly to hospital. A close adviser to the player told ESPN that a disoriented Osimhen was shocked when he saw the video of the incident. “He could not believe it when they showed him the video from the incident,” the adviser said. “He said it felt like a brain reset.” Multiple...
