Executive Director
NPHCDA: States yet to meet conditions won’t get coronavirus vaccines
National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, said, yesterday, that states yet to meet the criteria for COVID-19 vaccines would not get a share of the 3.92 million AstraZeneca vaccines received by the country on Tuesday. Executive Director of the agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib, who disclosed this at a State House briefing in Abuja, also said President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would be vaccinated publicly tomorrow, while members of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, would have theirs on Monday. He said: “After we are able to get our strategic leaders to publicly demonstrate that these vaccines are safe, the plan is to now go to the state level to start the launch at the treatment centres of the states and also get strategic leaders, such as governors, to publi...
NIHORT trains 25 tomato farmers in Niger to reduce post-harvest losses, unemployment
The National Institute of Horticultural Research (NIHORT), Ibadan, Oyo State, has commenced a 2-day training for unemployed youths and women, on value addition for tomato farmers. The training is taking place at the headquarters of The National Cereals Research Institute (NCRI), Badeggi, in Niger state. Speaking at the opening ceremony on Wednesday, the Chairman of the Governing Board of the Institute, Maj.-Gen. Mohammed Abdullahi-Garba (rtd), said that the training was organized to build the capacity of the people. He described tomato as an important economic and food security crop consumed around the world. “Tomato is undoubtedly one of the most important vegetables grown in Nigeria and the commodity is capable of impacting positively on Nigeria’s agricultural economic development. “The ...
Tokyo 2021: Japan, medical experts disagree over safe Olympics
Japanese infectious disease specialist Atsuo Hamada wants to see the Olympics happen in Tokyo this summer, but admits if they were being held anywhere else, he’d probably support a cancellation. “Even without the coronavirus pandemic, the Olympics as a mass gathering fosters all sorts of infectious diseases,” Hamada, a professor at Tokyo Medical University, told AFP. With less than six months until the pandemic-postponed Games, organisers say they’re confident the event will be safe. But some medical experts aren’t so sure, and think cancellation is safer. “I do understand the athletes’ sentiments,” said Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at Britain’s University of Southampton. “But I think from… the global public health point of view, there’s nothing about the Olympic...
Nigerian government lists conditions for states to access coronavirus vaccines
The Federal Government has listed conditions for states to meet before the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine being expected wt the end of January would be released to them. The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), during a webinar tagged “Sensitisation Meeting with Media Gatekeepers on COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction”, at the weekend, said no vaccine will be release to states until facilities such as cold chains are in place. According to Director, Logistics and Health Commodities, NHPCDA, Kubura Daradara, the vaccine must be administered within five days of receipt for it to remain potent, and only the states that show commitment would receive the doses when available. She added that the 100,000 doses would be administered to 50,000 people, because each person has to take a secon...
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 ...
Moderna, McKesson, U.S. Army general begin rolling out new coronavirus vaccine
Distribution of Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine to more than 3,700 locations in the United States has begun, vastly widening the rollout started last week by Pfizer Inc, U.S Army General Gustave Perna said on Saturday. Moderna has already moved vaccines from its manufacturing plants to warehouses operated by distributor McKesson Corp where they are being packed into containers and loaded on to trucks on Saturday, Perna said during a news conference. Trucks will set out on Sunday and shipments will start reaching healthcare providers as soon as Monday, he said. The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved an emergency use authorization for Moderna’s vaccine, the second COVID-19 vaccine to be approved. The jab developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech SE was approved Dec. 11....
CIBN urges banks to strengthen cyber-security
The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has urged the banks to strengthen their cyber-security architecture in order to prevent attacks by fraudsters. President/Chairman of Council of the institute, Mr. Bayo Olugbemi, made the call while delivering his remarks at the 2020 CIBN Fellowship Investiture in Lagos, at the weekend. The CIBN at its investiture formally conferred its honorary fellowship awards on 19 distinguished bankers in recognition of their contributions to the banking industry and the economy; 77 associates as elected Fellows while 105 senior management staff of banks and the academia became Honorary Senior Members of the institute at the event with the theme: ‘Financial Services in a post COVID 19 Environment: Strategic Imperative’. Some that were conferred with ...
Egyptian rights group head hopes release will help other prisoners
The head of a leading Egyptian human rights group who was held for two weeks on terrorism charges said Saturday he hoped the campaign to secure his release would help others still jailed on similar Allegations. Activists saw the detention last month of Gasser Abdel Razek, executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), and two of the group’s other staff, as the latest escalation of a broad crackdown on political dissent under President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. Egypt’s foreign ministry had said EIPR was operating illegally, an accusation the group denies. There has been no official statement from public prosecutors since Abdel Razek’s release, and officials could not be reached for comment. The arrests, which came after EIPR hosted a briefing on human rights for 13 s...
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...
CAPPA launches #SmokeFreeNollywood campaign
The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has called for adult rating for films with smoking scenes, anti-smoking adverts, anti-smoking health warnings, certified no pay-offs, stop identification of tobacco brands and a total ban on tobacco products placement in the Nigerian movie industry — Nollywood. The rights group made the call at its launch of the #SmokeFreeNollywood campaign in Lagos, last Saturday, noting that tobacco kills as many as six million people annually, and is projected to kill as much as eight million people by the year 2030, if nothing is done. In his keynote address at the launch, the Executive Director of CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said the tobacco industry had a track record of giving misleading impressions of tobacco use, enticing young pe...
Tokunbo Abiru proposes antidote for national challenges
Mr Tokunbo Abiru, APC’s candidate for the Lagos East bye-election, has said that quality representation at the National Assembly is an antidote to diverse national development and security challenges. The post Tokunbo Abiru proposes antidote for national challenges 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.
Armed herdsmen: Group calls on President Buhari to caution Bauchi governor
An Edo State-based civil society organisation, the Foundation for Good Governance and Social Change (FGGSC), has called on the Presidency to caution the governor of Bauchi State, Bala Muhammed, over a statement credited to him justifying bearing of arms by Fulani herdsmen to protect their cows. The group, faulting the comments of the governor, described it as ‘reckless, provocative, divisive and unbecoming of the status of a governor in a pluralistic society like Nigeria.’ Addressing journalists in Benin City, the Executive Director of FGGSC, Austin Osakue, said the situation in Nigeria was similar to what led to the 30 months civil war in the late 1960s that resulted in wanton destruction of lives and properties. ‘The statement opens the floodgates of self-help for Nigerians of other ethn...