State
Lagos conducts 16,000 coronavirus tests
The Lagos State Government says it has conducted about 16, 000 COVID-19 tests at a cost of N40, 000 to N50, 000 per test. Prof. Akin Abayomi, the state Commissioner for Health, made this known at the Lagos COVID-19 update on Thursday. Abayomi said that there were plans to ramp up testing capacity to about one thousand tests on a daily basis. He said that Lagos had conducted the highest number of COVID-19 tests in Nigeria, with four testing laboratories, and planned to increase the testing sites in the coming weeks. According to him, as the state ramps up its testing capacity, there will be need to subside the cost of the test, either through insurance or donor funds. “For now, the Lagos State Government is providing COVID-19 tests free of charge,” he said. The commissioner said that the st...
Senator Lawan distributes palliatives to thousands in Damaturu, Yobe North
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has distributed food palliatives to thousands of residents in Damaturu and the six local government areas in Yobe North Senatorial District of Yobe State. The local governments are: Bade, Nguru, Jakusko, Yusufari, Karasuwa, and Machina, respectively. The gesture by Senator Lawan was aimed at providing relief to residents in Damaturu, the State Capital and his Constituency, who are affected by the lockdown policy following the spread of the COVID-19 disease. The distribution of palliatives was accompanied with the provision of infrared thermometers, chemicals for disinfection, spraying machines, hand sanitizers, face masks, hand gloves and boots. Also to be provided are Personal Protective Equipments (PPE) to some hospitals across the various local gove...
Anambra intensifies community searching for coronavirus
The Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr Don Adinuba said the state government had decided to establish a COVID-19 task force in each of the 21 local government areas. According to him, each task force would be headed by the chairman of the local government Transition Committee, while members would compromise the Health Officer, the Information Officer, the Disease and Surveillance Officer, as well as the Ministry of Health Covid-19 Liaison Officer in the LGA. Adinuba also the government had also decided to set up a COVID-19 task force in each of the 326 wards in the state, with membership to be drawn from the Ministry of Health, the officer in charge of the Primary Healthcare in the ward, the youth leader in the ward, the woman leader in the ward, the development ward...
Oyo governor appoints retired general as Amotekun chairman
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has appointed retired general Ajibola Kunle Togun as the Chairman of the Oyo State Security Network, code-named Amotekun. A statement signed by Moses Alao, Special Assistant to Makinde on Print Media, also indicated that a retired colonel, Olayanju Olayinka, was appointed as the commandant of the security outfit. According to the statement, the two retired military officers will oversee the state security network which was put in place to check insecurity in the state. Newsmen recall that Makinde on March 10, signed the State Security Network Agency (Amotekun) Bill, 2020 into law. The governor remarked that the initiative was purely to complement the existing security agencies in tackling security challenges and not a replacement for the existing ones. Ve...
Presidency: No discrimination against any state
File Photo The Presidency says no state will suffer any such discrimination in dealing with security and all other matters on account of their political differences with the government at the centre. Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, said this in a statement issued to announce a massive plan by the Ministry of Defence to launch “Operation Accord” in the North West and North Central States. Shehu said the plan, whose arrangements had been concluded, was a major military exercise aimed at flushing out insurgents from the contiguous states of Kaduna, Niger, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto and parts of Kebbi State. He said while Tuesday’s Senate resolution was “perfectly in order”, it was important to state that, in his duty as Commander-in-Chief, President Muhammadu Buhari had already approved th...
PDP warns against plot to foist emergency rule in Rivers
File Photo The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned against the exposed plots by certain unpatriotic and disgruntled individuals, allegedly working for the All Progressives Congress (APC), to orchestrate a security situation and push for imposition of a state of emergency in Rivers State. The party said it has been informed of plots by such power hungry politicians to sponsor their misguided youth to unleash violence and unrest in certain parts of the state to create an impression of security breakdown so as to validate their plot for imposition of emergency rule in the state. The PDP said such anti-people elements include some individuals who were rejected by the people of Rivers state in the 2019 governorship election, as well as their godfathers, who believe they have the backing o...
Ogun confirms 25 new coronavirus cases
The Ogun State government has confirmed 25 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 178. A statement on the official Twitter page of the state government on Wednesday said the 25 patients have been quarantined across the treatment and isolation centres in the state, as contact tracing continues. “As at 20th May, 2020, the NCDC announced that 25 COVID-19 cases had been confirmed in Ogun State, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 178.” “The 25 patients have been quarantined across the Treatment and Isolation Centres in the State, as contact tracing continues. “The State has now discharged a total of 69 patients who tested negative to the virus and are now back with their families. According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC...
Nigerian government approves N2 billion for building federal university medical school
The Federal Government has approved N2 billion for the establishment of a medical school at the Federal University, Dutsin-ma (FUDMA), Katsina State. The Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Amarya’u Bichi, disclosed this to newsmen shortly after assuming office. Bichi said that the building of the medical school had commenced and would be completed within four months. According to him, the university will admit candidates for medicine and other medical courses in 2021. He appealed to the federal government to provide additional funds for the institution to build its teaching hospital, where the students would do practical and internships. The vice chancellor said that plans were under way to establish Faculties of Engineering, Law and Agriculture in the institution. Bichi, who acted a...
31 coronavirus carriers on the run in Gombe
At least, 31 people who tested positive for Coronavirus in Gombe State are on the run, the state’s Taskforce on COVID-19 said on Wednesday. According to the task force, the 31 people have refused to show up once they knew they were positive. Chairman of the task force, Prof. Idris Mohammed, who spoke while giving update of Coronavirus in the State, said the 31 positive individuals who were yet to be identified and evacuated. The 31 positive cases were among people intercepted at the state entry points, whose samples were taken for tests after being isolated. However, by the time their results came out, which tested positive, they had found their ways back into their communities, refusing to be evacuated to the isolation centres. Mohammed, however, appealed to them to cooperate with the tas...
Governor Wike: Oil workers constitute 60 percent of coronavirus cases in Rivers
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has stated that 60 per cent of coronavirus cases recorded in the state are oil workers returning from rigs. Wike disclosed this Wednesday when the management team of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited paid him a courtesy visit at Government House, Port Harcourt. He stated that it was for that reason the state government insisted that oil workers coming into the state must be tested to confirm their coronavirus status, noting that oil remains the mainstay of the economy and that government actions are not targeted at anybody or organisation. He recalled that recently the Nigeria Airforce Base, Port Harcourt, also quarantined 14 oil workers out which three tested positive. “It is not in anybody’s interest to deny people to carry out their official duties. Oil...
Kogi: We bought 5,000 coronavirus test kits
Kogi State government has dismissed the notion that it’s not testing enough to justify the claim that the state is free of Covid-19. It claimed that it has bought 5,000 test kits to show its committment to the fight against Covid-19. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, in it’s situation report on Covid-19 response across states published on Tuesday said Kogi had submitted only one sample, since the outbreak of the virus in Nigeria. The sample returned negative. The NCDC’s report comes few days after the state government said it tested 111 persons without the supervision of the health agency. Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, had claimed that the testing kits procured by the state were used to conduct the tests and that those tested were picked randomly. In a statement...
NCDC: Only one coronavirus test conducted in Kogi
No more than one test has been carried out in Kogi State since the outbreak of the coronavirus in Nigeria on February 27. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reports that, as of May 18, 35,983 tests have been carried out across the country, while 5,959 have been confirmed positive for the virus. According to the NCDC update on the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, which was made available on its website, Kogi recorded the lowest number of tests with no confirmed case. This was followed by Cross River State with seven COVID-19 tests conducted but no positive case. Lagos State, which had the highest number of tests at 14,886, also topped the list of confirmed cases at 2,550. Similarly, the Federal Capital Territory was reported to have conducted 4,688 tests and confirmed 418 cases, while ...
