Nigeria
Nigerian government warns civil servants against flouting coronavirus guidelines
The Federal Government has warned federal civil servants against flouting the workplace guidelines put in place to flatten the curve of coronavirus pandemic in the country. The Head of Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, in a circular she personally signed and titled “Need for Strict Compliance with the Directives and Advice on the COVID-19 Pandemic Preventive Measures”, reminded the workers of two previous circulars in March and April 2020, issued on the measures to guide against further spread of the current COVID-19, which included limiting the number of visitors to offices. “The attention of the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation has been drawn to the fact that these guidelines are not being complied with. Specifically, it has been noticed that, the flow of ...
NCF not a political party yet – spokesman
File Photo The newly formed National Consultative Front (NCF) has said it was yet to metamorphosed into a political party but remains a meeting of like minds to chart a way of getting the country out of the wood. Spokesman of the Steering Committee of the group, Mallam Tanko Yunusa, told newsmen that discussions by the group on the way forward and whether to transform into a political party will be concluded by January 2021. He said: “The National Secretariat of the emergent National Consultative Front of National Leaders of Conscience, currently mobilising to save Nigeria from imminent political collapse and civil strife, wishes to clarify that the body is essentially still a consultative forum for popular political intervention in Nigeria, which is yet to transform into a political party...
Former LASIMRA chief dies of coronavirus in Lagos
Immediate past General Manager of the Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency, LASIMRA, Chief Jide Odekunle, during the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode in Lagos State is dead. He was said to have died at age 53 of COVID-19 complications. A top government official who confirmed this to Vanguard said late Odekunle died of COVID-19 complications at the Onikan isolation centre. The source also stated that his death came as a rude shock to his family and friends in the state. Odekunle was a 1989 computer science graduate of the University of Ibadan. He had a distinguished career in sales and marketing and held senior management positions in several multinationals including Schlumberger Omnes, GS Telecom, Suburban Telecom, Nera Microwave and Ceragon Networks. He ...
FCTA suspends issuance of building plan approvals for Lugbe district
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has suspended the processing and issuance of building plan approvals for Lugbe and all on-going developments in the district. The Director, Department of Development Control, Mukhtar Galadima, made the disclosure in a statement issued to journalists on Sunday in Abuja. Galadima explained that the suspension had become necessary due to the ongoing harmonisation of developments in the district with the Abuja Master Plan. He decried the current state of illegal developments in Lugbe, saying that there was a myriad of contraventions, including arbitrary change of land use, among others, which must be corrected. “This is to inform the general public that the Department of Development Control, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council, is not grant...
BUA donates N200 million, ambulances to Rivers, Kwara
BUA Group, through its philanthropic arm, BUA Foundation, has donated six ambulances, food supplies and N100 million each to Rivers and Kwara states. In March, BUA’s chairperson, AbdulSamad Rabiu, announced N1 billion donation to the private sector basket being coordinated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in response to the pandemic. A month later, the group announced a fresh donation of N3.3 billion to help the most hit states of Lagos and Kano respond to the rising figures in their states. Speaking while presenting the ambulances to Nyesome Wike, the Rivers State governor, in Port Harcourt, and to his Kwara State counterpart, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, in Ilorin, representatives of BUA Foundation said the donations are intended to assist both governments in fighting the pandemic. Govern...
FCE Osiele shuts down after a health worker dies of coronavirus
The management of the Federal College of Education, Osiele, Abeokuta has shut down the institution for two weeks after a medical personnel at the school’s health centre died as a result of complications arising from coronavirus. According to a report, two other workers of the institution’s Medical Centre have also tested positive for the virus. While announcing the closure of the school in a statement on Friday, July 3, 2020, the institution’s Registrar, Adedayo Adebayo, said, a report carried out “attributed the cause of death of one of the medical personnel that transited to immortality lately to complications that arose from COVID-19. “Regrettably, the two other staff of the medical centre similarly tested positive to the viral infection and have been placed on isolation and undergoing ...
FBI: Hushpuppi attempted to dupe Premier League club of £100 million
Alleged international fraudster, Ramon Abbas aka Ray Hushpuppi, on Friday made his first court appearance in an American court where the Federal Bureau of Investigation alleged that he attempted to dupe an English Premier League football club of £100m (N48.4bn). The allegation is contained in an affidavit deposed to by FBI Special Agent, Andre Innocenti, who is assigned to the Los Angeles Filed Office High-tech Organise Crime Squad. According to the FBI, the suspect is facing charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering among others. The affidavit read in part, “Abbas and others further conspired to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from other fraudulent schemes and computer intrusions, including one scheme to steal £100 million (approximately $124 million) from an English Premie...
Kwara college speaks on discovery of 2,000 fake certificates
The Kwara College of Education, Ilorin, says the college is yet to uncover how more than 2,000 fake certificates of the school were used to secure employment with various government agencies in the state. Prof. Abdulraheem Yusuf, the Provost of the college, said in a statement made available to newsmen on Thursday in Ilorin that recent reports had twisted his response in the interview he granted. The statement asserted that he never made mention of fake Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) in the interview, but statement of results. NAN recalls that there was a media report recently disclosing that the college had so far uncovered about 2,000 fake certificates of the institution used to secure teaching jobs with the state. “The attention of the management of Kwara State College of Educa...
PTF: Schools to reopen only for graduating pupils
The Federal Government on Thursday insisted that schools have not reopened in the country. The Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, stated this in Abuja during a briefing. He maintained that President Muhammadu Buhari only approved the resumption of schools for graduating pupils to take revision classes and write their examinations. Mustapha, who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, explained, “The Presidential Task Force similarly announced some limited measures for the educational sector. Specifically, we pointed out that it was still not safe to reopen schools. “However, in order not to truncate the progression of pupils and students not in critical classes, the President approved that arrangement be made for those who need revision b...
Nigerian government activates all FCT public hospitals for coronavirus sample collection
The Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), has said that all government hospitals in FCT would become COVID-19 sample collection sites so that walk-in cases could have samples taken for testing. The Minister of Health, Mr Osagie Ehanire, who announced this during the PTF briefing on Thursday in Abuja, said that the move was geared towards scaling up the number of daily tests conducted in the country daily. “This assures users and caregivers of reduced bottlenecks and improved efficiency in our response. We intend to scale this up to other states of the federation,” he said. Ehanire said that all health workers would be trained and retrained on Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) and issued PPEs and materials required for discharge of their duties. The minister also directed the deployment a...
Google Launches Nonprofits Initiative in Nigeria
Sourced from IOL. Google has launched the “Google for Nonprofits” in Nigeria, aiming to empower NPOs across the country by providing them with free premium services. Google for Nonprofits will give access to a collection of premium apps to organisations that qualify for the program. These will be the same tools used by large enterprises. NPOs will be given the rights to use the tools at no cost. Once qualifying, NPOs can use tools such as Google Ad Grants, G-Suite for Nonprofits, YouTube’s nonprofit programs and more. These premium apps are to assist nonprofits to work more quickly and efficiently. They are to spur more supporters into action, and for them to tell their stories in more compelling ways. Nonprofits can qualify for a grant of up to $10,000 a month that is available for six mo...
Christians, Muslims declare fasting, prayer against coronavirus
File Photo President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Samson Ayokunle, in conjunction with the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar Mohammadu III, have called for a three-day fasting and prayer (tagged NINEVEH) from July 3 to 5 throughout the country. The prayer is to seek total defeat of COVID-19 in Nigeria and all over the world. The Nigerian Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) has been calling on all Christians and Muslims to take part in the national weekly prayer conducted online every Thursday in collaboration with the Office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation (OSGF) and other stakeholders. According to a statement issued by the General Secretary of CAN, Mr. Joseph Daramola: “The NIREC leadership appreciates the efforts of the Presidential Task Force on COVID...
