response
AstraZeneca: ‘No evidence’ of higher blood clots risk from coronavirus vaccine
UK-based pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca insisted on Friday its coronavirus vaccine was safe after some countries suspended its use in response to concerns about a potential link to blood clots. “An analysis of our safety data of more than 10 million records has shown no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis in any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country” from the jab, a company spokesperson said. “In fact, the observed number of these types of events are significantly lower in those vaccinated than would be expected among the general population.” The AstraZeneca jab, developed with Oxford University, forms the mainstay of Britain’s vaccination programme, and of many developing economies. It is relatively cheap and easier to st...
Nigerian Army appoints new NDA commandant
Major-General Sagir Yaro has been appointed as the commandant of the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA). The NDA is a military university based in Kaduna. Bashir Jagira, the academy’s spokesperson, in a statement on Wednesday said Yaro is taking over from Jamil Sarham, also a major-general who is now to proceed on a senior research course at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) Kuru, Plateau state. Jaguar described Yaro as a seasoned military officer of the Nigerian Army Corps of Engineers, and member of the 36th regular course of the NDA, who has held several appointments cutting across command, staff and instructional. Until his appointment, Yaro was the general managing director, Nigerian Army Welfare Limited by Guarantee (NAWLG). While addressing principal staff o...
Bandits kill three people in attack on Kaduna village
Bandits have attacked Ganji village in Igabi local Government Area of Kaduna State on Tuesday evening killing three people and leaving at least five people with gunshot wounds. Locals told newsmen that the bandits stormed Ganji, a village close to Albasu which was attacked also attacked last year on motorcycles and set ablaze homes and a vehicle. Lado Ibrahim, a resident said the bandits invaded the community around 5:30pm in over 30 motorcycles two on each and shot at residents before jamming them with the motorcycles. He said five people have been taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds while a military helicopter has been hovering the area to scare the bandits away. Another resident, Hamza Shafiu said the attack on Ganji may be connected to the abduction of residents close to the comm...
Minister: PIB will address production sharing contracts issues on gas
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, says the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) currently before the National Assembly will resolve the issues under the Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) on gas. Sylva made this known at a National Assembly Public Hearing organised by the Joint Committee on Gas Resources, Petroleum Resources, Upstream and Downstream, on Monday, in Abuja. The hearing was on the topic: “Inclusion of Gas Terms in Production Sharing Contracts by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).” He said that issues on gas terms was not captured under the PSC especially with the commercial aspect. “Issues on gas terms was not captured in the PSC because at the time, the offshore was just a frontier territory, today, it is no longer frontier, it is a...
Osun governor seeks government-citizens parley on security
Osun State governor Adegboyega Oyetola has urged the citizens to rally support for the government to protect the state against any form of security challenge. This was made known today while the Special Adviser to the Governor on civic engagement, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, visited Isale – Agbe community in continuation of the community engagement tour organized by the government. Speaking on behalf of the Governor, Oyintiloye reiterated that the only way by which insecurity could be defeated is through collective efforts of all communities in the state. “It’s generally believed that insecurity has become a topical issue in the national discourse, hence the need to pursue it as a common cause and work towards a society that is free of threat and violence. “As we are all aware, Osun remains on...
West African health ministers in joint fight against Ebola
Ministers of Health from Guinea – which is combating a new Ebola outbreak – and neighbouring countries have agreed on a unified front to combat the virus that re-emerged about three weeks ago. A UN statement on Wednesday said this was at a meeting held in Guinea’s capital, Conakry, on 2 March. Ministers and government representatives from Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Senegal and Sierra Leone attended the inter-ministerial meeting. “If in 2014 Guinea and the neighbouring countries were victims of Ebola, this time around Guinea and the region are resolutely facing up to Ebola,” said the Guinean Prime Minister, Dr. Ibrahima Kassory Fofana. The statement said the ministers agreed in a final declaration to set up a coordination mechanism, enhance cross-border collaboration, incl...
Air Peace resumes Accra flights March 15, set for Ilorin services
Air Peace has said it would resume daily flight operations into Accra from its Lagos hub on March 15, 2021. In the same vein, the airline said it was ready to kick off scheduled flights into Ilorin from Abuja and Lagos. Newsmen report that the airline had suspended the Accra flights early last year in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The spokesperson of the airline, Stanley Olisa, who disclosed this, stated that the Lagos-Accra flight will depart daily at 07:00hrs while the Accra-Lagos flight will depart at 07:40hrs. Olisa stressed that the resumption of Accra flights was a response to popular demand from members of the flying public. He said: “You would recall that we suspended our Accra flights consequent upon the pandemic lockdown last year. “But we have some exciting news for our est...
Minister: When Nigeria receives coronavirus vaccines doesn’t lie in our hands
Since the beginning of January 2021, Nigeria has been expecting the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, but nothing has happened to date. The World Health Organisation, WHO and GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, CEPI, came up with the COVAX initiative to ensure that low and middle-income countries have access to vaccines. But COVAX has not given a precise date for when it will begin distributing the vaccines. Nigeria has put all its hopes on the COVAX Facility. The federal government is also expecting some vaccines from the Africa Union arrangement, expected to deploy from March. This development has attracted criticisms about the government’s readiness and commitment towards ensuring the timely vaccination of Nigerians against the dreaded pande...
Minister: When Nigeria receives coronavirus vaccines doesn’t lie in our hands
Since the beginning of January 2021, Nigeria has been expecting the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, but nothing has happened to date. The World Health Organisation, WHO and GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, CEPI, came up with the COVAX initiative to ensure that low and middle-income countries have access to vaccines. But COVAX has not given a precise date for when it will begin distributing the vaccines. Nigeria has put all its hopes on the COVAX Facility. The federal government is also expecting some vaccines from the Africa Union arrangement, expected to deploy from March. This development has attracted criticisms about the government’s readiness and commitment towards ensuring the timely vaccination of Nigerians against the dreaded pande...
Official: Why Imo government invited soldiers to Orlu
The Imo State Government has declared its support for the “ongoing military operation” in Orlu Local Government Area of the state. There were apprehensions in Orlu a few days ago when a military helicopter flew at low level in the area. Channels TV quoted the Attorney General of Imo State, Cyprian Akaolisa, as saying the operation, which was conducted jointly with the police, was aimed at “clearing camps” said to have been built by the Eastern Security Network, a security arm of the pro-Biafra group, IPOB. Akaolisa, who briefed reporters on Friday in Owerri, said the Nigerian Army was invited to Orlu by the Imo State Government. He said “the state government got intelligence that IPOB was planning an attack against the Orlu people and the government, under the pretext of looking for herder...
How ICPC is combating corruption in MDAs, stopped diversion of N189 billion personnel cost
File Photo In the past few years, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other-Related Offences Commission, as part of its statutory mandate, has been conducting systems study and review of ministries and organisations in the federal public service. The overall objective of a system review is reform of the systems and procedures of public agencies with a view to identifying and eliminating, preventing, blocking and obstructing opportunities for corruption. To achieve this, the exercise targets detecting areas of vulnerabilities, actual weaknesses, leakages and corruption risks and to recommend ways of strengthening these systems and removing the discretionary gaps and such opportunities for both individual and institutional malfeasance on public resources. In addition, the review also targe...
How ICPC is combating corruption in MDAs, stopped diversion of N189 billion personnel cost
File Photo In the past few years, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other-Related Offences Commission, as part of its statutory mandate, has been conducting systems study and review of ministries and organisations in the federal public service. The overall objective of a system review is reform of the systems and procedures of public agencies with a view to identifying and eliminating, preventing, blocking and obstructing opportunities for corruption. To achieve this, the exercise targets detecting areas of vulnerabilities, actual weaknesses, leakages and corruption risks and to recommend ways of strengthening these systems and removing the discretionary gaps and such opportunities for both individual and institutional malfeasance on public resources. In addition, the review also targe...
