Taraba
Babagana Zulum: Bauchi governor will soon join APC
Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, will join the All Progressives Congress soon, the Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, has stated. Zulum spoke when he led the North-East Governors to perform the groundbreaking ceremony for the reconstruction and upgrading of the Bauchi State Government House on Thursday. He, however, did not give further details on his statement about Mohammed joining the APC. Zulum who is the Chairman of the North-East Governors’ Forum said, “I want to express my appreciation to my colleague, the Governor of Bauchi State, and my other colleagues for giving me the support to take the North-East Governors’ Forum to a greater height and indeed to the next level. “The only quarrel that I am having with my colleague, the Governor of Bauchi State is his refusal to ...
Nigerian government announces additional economic zones for agric, textile
The federal government has approved the expansion of the existing Free Trade Zones (FTZs), as well as the activation of existing ones to respond to the demands of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Managing Director, Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, who disclosed this Wednesday, further identified the new economic zones to include Funtua FTZ Katsina for textile and cotton, Lagos FTZ for medical, as well as Kwara for agriculture. Speaking while receiving the leadership of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA), led by Hajiya Saratu Iya Aliyu in his office, Adesugba said the move seeks to boost the industrialisation agenda of the present admi...
Coronavirus: Nigeria records 18 more deaths, 645 new infections
A total of 1,831 deaths have now been recorded from COVID-19 in Nigeria after 18 more people died on Saturday, health authorities have said. The 18 deaths on Saturday indicated a significant increase from the eight fatalities recorded on Friday. Nigeria also reported 645 new infections on Saturday, increasing the total number of known cases in the country to 151,553. This is according to an update by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Saturday night. Low testing figures in many states has limited Nigeria’s ability to determine the true extent of the spread of COVID-19. A recent general fact sheet published by the NCDC showed that Kogi, Cross River and some other states were not conducting enough tests. More than two-third of the over 151,000 people infected by COVID-19 in Nigeri...
Nigeria records 1,883 new coronavirus infections
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 1,883 new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) infections, bringing the total number of infected people in the country to 130,557. The NCDC disclosed this on its official website late Saturday. Newsmen report that the country has so far tested 1,270,523 people since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was recorded in Nigeria on Feb. 27, 2020. The health agency also confirmed one coronavirus-related death in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 1,578 in Nigeria. NCDC noted that the 1,883 new COVID-19 infections occurred in 22 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). It stated that Lagos State registered the highest number with 1,040 infections, taking the total number of infected people in the state to 48,919. The NCDC ...
Official: Gombe records 200 rape, 37 sodomy cases in 2020
Gombe State Commissioner for internal security and Ethical Orientation, Dauda Zambuk, on Saturday said the state recorded 200 rape, 37 sodomy and 10 kidnap cases in 2020 with five recorded in January of the new year 2021 alone. Addressing a group of journalists in his office in Gombe Zambuk said 61 persons were also arrested for an act of gross indecency while three children were reported abandoned. “In all the total number of 314 suspects were arrested and all were charged to court,” he said. The commissioner said the state government after the investigation was a shock to find out that all kidnappings were perpetrated by criminals from the neighbouring Adamawa and Taraba States. According to Zambuk, 40 rape cases were lodged in Gombe alone while 39 attempted rape were reported in the ent...
Taraba: Striking resident doctors demand beyond hazard allowance
iStock As resident doctors strike in Taraba state enters week three, the state government, Tuesday said the demands of the aggrieved doctors were beyond the payment of COVID-19 hazard and inducement allowance. The state commissioner for health, Dr Innocent Vakkai speaking at a press parley, also disclosed that a committee has been constituted to compile the total cost of the COVID-19 hazard allowances due for health workers. He listed the demands of the striking doctors to include, “increase in doctors wages, training, and retraining of doctors on residency programs, improved working conditions and for the state to commence training of horsemanship officers. On the payment of the COVID-19 hazard allowance to health workers, Vakkai said the compilation of the total cost has reached the last...
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...
Senator lauds President Buhari for signing Modibbo Adama University bill into law
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Sustainable Development Goals, Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed (Binani), on Friday commended President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the Modibbo Adama University bill into law. Binani, who initiated the bill in the 7th National Assembly, said the university can now run all approved academic programmes like any other conventional University. She said the bill will also create more placements for youths seeking admission into the university. Binani, who made her feelings known in a statement in Abuja, said the assent of the President was heart-warming. She said: “It is heartwarming to note the gracious assent by Mr. President to this bill. Precisely on the 6th of January, 2021, Mr. President assented to the bill converting MAUTECH to a Conventional Univers...
Air passengers decry upsurge in fares, seek urgent attention to roads, railway
Nigerians, who travel by air, have decried the “sudden” upsurge in air fares and urged the Federal Government to intervene to avoid poor patronage that could dwindle the fortunes of the aviation industry. Newsmen report that the air fares shot up by about 100 per cent in the last one week, with some airline operators even raising their fares by as much as 120 per cent or more. At Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, the fare from Abuja to Lagos, which was N35,300 (Economy Class), rose to between N70,000 and N75,000. Newsmen found that Business Class travellers were charged between N100,000 and N120,000, depending on the airline. Our correspondents, who visited other airports across the country, found that the rise in airfares was the same, a situation that forced some passengers to...
Nigeria records 180 new virus infections
Nigeria recorded 180 COVID-19 cases on Thursday, taking the total number of infections in the nation to 63,508. Meanwhile, no death was recorded from the disease in the last 24 hours, meaning that the fatality stays at 1, 155. This is according to the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, on Thursday night. Of the 63,508 cases, 59,748 have been discharged across the country and the Federal Capital Territory. A total of 673,183 tests have been carried out across Nigeria. The 180 new cases were reported from 14 states. Thy are: Lagos (87), Oyo (51), FCT (12), Plateau (10), Edo (4), Ekiti (3), Ogun (3), Bauchi (2), Kaduna (2), Niger (2), Kano (1), Ondo (1), Osun (1), Rivers (1) With the latest figures, Lagos still leads in the number of confirmed cases wi...
NAF reaffirms commitment to safeguarding nation’s territorial integrity
Wikipedia The Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has reaffirmed the commitment of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) to safeguarding the territorial integrity of the country. Abubakar made the commitment in Gombe on Monday, at the ground breaking ceremony of 203 Combat Reconnaissance Group of the NAF, Sanni Abacha International Airport, Gombe. According to hm, the newly established group is strategically located in Gombe State to enable NAF to carry out its responsibilities more effectively, especially in the North-East. He said the group was also expected to add more value to organisational operations in the fight against insurgency and other security challenges in the zone and the country at large. “The group also marks another milestone in the service efforts to mark its ...
Nigeria records lowest daily virus cases in three months
The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced 221 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak in the country. The NCDC made this known on its official twitter handle on Wednesday. Newsmen report that the 221 new cases was the lowest number of cases recorded in the country in about three months. It recalls that on Aug. 4, Nigeria reported 288 COVID-19 new cases and 290 one week later, while another low figure of 252 was recorded on Aug. 25. NCDC said that there were more persons who died of COVID-19 related complications in the country in the last 24 hours with the national death toll rising to 1,010. The NCDC said that the number of recovery crossed the 40,000 mark after 317 more people were treated and discharged from isolation centres across the country. The agenc...
