March
Journalist suspended for requesting salary on social media
A journalist with the Imo State government has been suspended indefinitely from her job for taking to Facebook to request her three months unpaid salary and the wages of her co-workers. Officials said the Facebook post was an “embarrassment” to the Imo State government. The suspended journalist, Vivian Ottih, is a lawyer and a senior editor with the government-owned IBC Orient FM radio station. She is the chairperson of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), in Imo State. Mrs Ottih, on May 4, posted a message on Facebook, appealing to Governor Hope Uzodinma’s media aide, Modestus Nwamkpa, to make a case to the governor on behalf of the workers in the government-owned radio and television stations who were yet to get their February, March, and April salaries. Ottih described ...
Mojisola Adeyeye: NAFDAC committed to supporting coronavirus treatment initiatives
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says it is committed to supporting any intervention aimed at facilitating the treatment of the COVID-19. The Director General of the agency, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said this in a statement in Abuja on Thursday. According to Adeyeye, part of the efforts to advance herbal products development for the treatment of COVID-19 informed the setting up of the Nigerian Herbal Medicine Product Committee (HMPC). She said that the platform had brought together manufacturers, academics, researchers and relevant stakeholders by bridging the gap created between traditional medicine practitioners and drug manufacturers. “This collaboration brokered by the agency aims at translating research of herbs into products of commerce with pr...
Naomi Osaka using lockdown to conquer inner demons
Two-times Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka is using the novel coronavirus shutdown as one of self reflection to try and overcome her crippling shyness. The tennis season was suspended in early March due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and the hiatus will continue until at least mid-July with many countries in lockdown to contain the virus. Japan’s Osaka, who trains in the United States, the country worst affected by the flu-like virus with over 1.4 million infections and more than 83,000 deaths, is taking advantage of the extended break to do some soul searching. “I think people know me as being really shy… I want to take the quarantine time to just think about everything, and for me, I have a lot of regrets before I go to sleep,” Osaka told CNN Sport. Petra Kvitova said last year Osaka would hav...
Toyota predicts 79.5% drop in profit
Agence France-Presse Toyota on Tuesday said it expected a 79.5 percent drop in its annual operating profit this fiscal year as it suffers “significant” fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The Japanese auto giant declined to give a net profit forecast for the fiscal year to March 2021 but noted that the impact of the crisis on its business was “wide-ranging, significant and serious”. The company now expects an annual operating profit of 500 billion yen ($4.6 billion), down 79.5 percent from the 2.44 trillion yen logged in the past year to March. Toyota forecast a near-20 percent drop in annual sales to 24 trillion yen, compared with 29.93 trillion yen achieved in the past fiscal year. The company’s net profit for the past year to March came to 2.076 trillion yen, up 10.3 percent on the y...
President Buhari appoints new RMAFC scribe, CMD chief
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Mohammad Bello Shehu as Secretary, Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) for initial first term of five(5) years with effect from 19th March 2020. He also has approved the appointment of Mr Bitrus Danharbi Chinoko as the Substantive Director General of the Centre for Management Development (CMD) Lagos, with effect from 27th April 2020. Until this appointment, Mr Chinoko was in an acting capacity at the CMD. According to a statement by Director, Information Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey, the President congratulated the new appointees and urge them to bring their wealth of experience to bear on their appointments. Get more stories like this on Twitter
Another Premier League player tests positive for novel coronavirus
A third first-team player from Brighton & Hove Albion tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, the Premier League club’s chief executive Paul Barber has confirmed. Two Brighton players had contracted the novel coronavirus in March and April and the latest positive result could cast doubts on the Premier League’s plans to resume the season that has been suspended due to the pandemic. Clubs are due to meet on Monday to further discuss “Project Restart” which envisages a return to play in June once given the green light from government, with the remaining 92 matches held behind closed doors at neutral venues. “It is a concern. Unfortunately we’ve had a third player test positive yesterday,” Barber told Sky Sports on Sunday. “So despite all of the measures that we’ve been taking over the ...
Kylian Mbappe wants to share Ligue 1 golden boot with Wissam Yedder
Ligue 1 Golden Boot winner Kylian Mbappe has said the award should be shared between him and Monaco’s Wissam Ben Yedder as both finished on 18 goals this season. The Paris Saint Germain striker was deemed the sole top scorer on Thursday after the league was ended prematurely as he had more goals from open play. Three of Ben Yedder’s goals came from penalties. Taking to Twitter, Mbappe thanked fans for their messages of support but said that his international teammate should also have received an award. “Thank you for all your messages. I think that Wissam also deserves a trophy, like the Premier League did last season, to reward his year,” he tweeted. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane were all awarded the 2018-19 Golden Boot in the Premier League for finishing the sea...
Arsenal’s Bernd Leno names Alisson Becker as Premier League’s best goalkeeper
Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno says his Liverpool counterpart Alisson Becker is the best in the Premier League. The Brazilian has made a huge impression at Anfield since his record-breaking £65 million ($85m) move from Roma two years ago. Taking over from Loris Karius following his disastrous performance in the 2018 Champions League final, Alisson has helped transform Liverpool’s back line. Jurgen Klopp’s side have only conceded 21 goals in 29 league games this season, with Leicester and Sheffield United the only other sides to manage fewer than 30. Asked by Soccer AM who was the best keeper in the Premier League, Leno had no doubt. “For me it’s clear, it’s Alisson,” the German said. “He’s good at everything and his stats are also very good. “He’s played a number of big games for Liverpool ...
South African Airways to continue honouring flight obligations
South African Airways has announced that it will continue to honour its flight obligations to cargo and evacuation flight customers all through this month. This is despite the clash in the expectations of the way forward for the ailing airlines which is already under business rescue. In a statement, the airline says while the disputes are being ironed out ,evacuee passenger and cargo flights will continue all through May on a charter basis. A meeting between public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan and the business rescue practitioners are meeting today to chart the way forward. Earlier it was announced that May 8 (today) will be the last day of operations for the airline. South Africa Airways which was last run profitably in 2011, has been under business rescue since early this year aft...
South Sudan rivals face fresh feud over control of states
South Sudan’s main rivals were at loggerheads Friday over who will control the country’s 10 internal states, an issue that analysts and diplomats worried could jeopardise a power-sharing deal reached earlier this year. President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar, old foes whose fallout in 2013 sparked a civil war, agreed on February to form a new government after intense international pressure to deliver lasting peace to the conflict-torn country. But while they managed to name a cabinet in March, they have yet to strike a deal on who can appoint governors to the states. On Thursday night Kiir announced a breakthrough on the state’s issue, saying his party would appoint six governors while Machar’s would appoint three. The remaining state would be governed by the South Sudan Oppositi...
Zimbabwe street vendors sell cloth masks to make ends meet
Zimbabwe market stall owner Aaron Makaya saw a new business opportunity when President Emmerson Mnangagwa made face masks mandatory in public places to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The 21-year old had been stuck at home in the capital Harare and living off meagre savings since the start of a nationwide lockdown at the end of March. Confinement measures were extended by two weeks on May 1 – another month without income for informal workers like Makaya. Meanwhile, factory-made face masks turned out to be unaffordable for most in a country crippled by poverty and hyperinflation. Makaya and other informal workers jumped on the opportunity to make money by sewing and selling cheaper cloth masks at intersections. “We started selling these masks on Monday when we noticed that people intendi...
Enugu lifts ban on religious gatherings
The Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN), Enugu State chapter, has said that normal services will resume in churches in the state on May 10. The council said that this was part of the agreements reached with the state government on Thursday. A statement issued in Enugu by Most. Rev. Christopher Ede, the state Chairman of CCN, said that church worship services would resume in all churches across the state on that day. Ede, who is the Archbishop of Enugu Methodist Church Nigeria, said that each denomination must observe all the safety protocols on public gatherings, as recommended by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and other government guidelines. Newsmen report that the state government had, on March 31, suspended all religious and social gatherings, after announcing a partial l...
