Weeks
Presidency: Aso Rock clinic now self-sufficient
The Presidency has said that the Aso Rock Clinic is now fully self-sufficient, saying medical service delivery has improved at the facility. The Permanent Secretary, State House, Mr Tijjani Umar, disclosed this at a presentation of the Revised State House Service Delivery Charter by the national coordinator of SERVICOM, Mrs Nnenna Akajemeli, in Abuja on Friday. The Permanent Secretary, therefore, commended medical workers for the visibly improved service delivery at the clinic. ‘‘The new Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) wing has been completed and fully functional. State House Clinic was designated as a vaccination centre for COVID-19 and we have finalised arrangements for the Clinic to serve as a testing centre for COVID-19. ‘‘As a result of the pandemic, we built a Special Care Centre within 1...
Rebels attack Myanmar army near border, junta knocks back ASEAN plan
Ethnic minority Karen insurgents attacked a Myanmar army outpost near the Thai border on Tuesday in some of the most intense clashes since a military coup nearly three months ago threw the country into crisis. The Karen National Union (KNU), Myanmar’s oldest rebel force, said it had captured the army camp on the west bank of the Salween river, which forms the border with Thailand. The Myanmar military later hit back against the insurgents with air strikes, an aid worker in the area said. The fighting took place as the junta, in a setback for diplomatic efforts by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said it would “positively” consider the bloc’s suggestions to end the turmoil in Mynamar but only when stability was restored. The ASEAN leaders said after meeting at the weekend...
Cross River monarch, three others nabbed for kidnapping
The Cross River State joint military outfit code-named, Operation Akpakwu on Monday arrested a traditional ruler along with his two wives and son for alleged kidnapping. The royal father named Etiyin Akamba Eyo is the Clan Head of Ikot Atambi in Akpabuyo Local Government Area and was arrested for using his houses as base for kidnapping activities. His shrine and two houses where kidnappers and militants are fortified with juju were demolished by the security outfit The operation was led by the State Security Adviser, Mr Leo Nyambi, where the chief confessed that his son was involved in kidnapping. Also on Monday, a building at the Eta Agbo Satellite Town was demolished after kidnappers who abducted a medical consultant in the University of Calabar were kept some weeks back. Get more storie...
Florentino Perez: Cristiano Ronaldo will not come back to Real Madrid
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has ruled out a return to Santiago Bernabeu for Cristiano Ronaldo and claims to have had no contact with Paris Saint-Germain regarding a move for Kylian Mbappe. Movement in the Spanish capital is being mooted ahead of the summer transfer window, with Perez – who is famed for his ‘Galactico’ recruitment model – being re-elected to remain at the helm of the Liga giants. It has been suggested that efforts will be made to re-sign a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, with Ronaldo having left Real for Juventus as the club’s all-time leading scorer in 2018, but no bid is being lined up to land the 36-year-old Portuguese. Perez has told El Chiringuito: “Cristiano Ronaldo will not come back to Real Madrid. “It does not make sense, he has a contract with Juventus. I...
Strike: Minister to hold fresh meeting with governors, NBA, JUSUN, others
Labour minister, Chris Ngige, has rescheduled a fresh meeting with the leaderships of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), and the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), over the lingering strike that has crippled court activities across the country for two weeks. Representatives of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) are also expected to be at the meeting scheduled to hold in Abuja on Tuesday. Members of JUSUN had on April 6 embarked on the indefinite nationwide strike to press home their demand for judiciary’s financial autonomy. The labour minister had on Thursday announced a last-minute postponement of the meeting he was scheduled to hold with the NBA, JUSUN and other stakeholders over the lingering crisis. The abrupt postponement of the meeting infuriated the leaderships of the body ...
Paris Saint-Germain wait for Neymar to sign contract extension
Paris Saint-Germain were revelling in the joy of knocking holders Bayern Munich out of the Champions League in midweek when Neymar offered more cause for celebration. In an interview with Brazilian broadcaster TNT Sports following PSG’s away-goals victory in the quarter-finals, Neymar dropped a clear hint that he would be staying at PSG beyond the end of his current contract. “For me there is no debate, it is obvious that I feel very comfortable here and at home at Paris Saint-Germain. I feel happier than I did before,” the world’s most expensive player said. His current contract, signed following his arrival from Barcelona for 222 million euros ($264m) in 2017, runs out at the end of next season, at the same time as Kylian Mbappe’s deal. It has been reported in France since the Bayern gam...
Federal government okays N20.1 billion for Nigerian customs equipment
The federal government has approved a total of N20,114,002871 for the acquisition of various operational equipment for the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS). The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this to State House Correspondents after the federal executive council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo at the presidential villa on Wednesday. The Minister said further that Council also approved the sum of N539,277,673 for the construction of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) building at the Ilupeju Medium and Small Taxpayers’ office in Lagos. On the breakdown of contracts approved for Customs, the Minister said a total of 427 operational vehicles, worth N14.55 billion and nine assorted gunboats worth N5,564,002,871 were a...
Pastor Adeboye: Victory over insecurity is around the corner
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has said that Nigeria’s victory in its battle against insecurity is around the corner. Pastor Adeboye, who made the declaration when he paid a courtesy call on Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai at Sir Kashim Ibrahim House on Tuesday, told the governor that he is praying for him, Kaduna State and the country at large. The General Overseer was in Kaduna to pray for the security and peace in the state following abduction of some of his church members and their eventual release by bandits a few weeks ago. The clergyman, who said that he has known the governor for many years, described him as a tender-hearted man. ‘We know that you have a problem that only God can solve. The problem is far beyond the ...
National Assembly legislative aides protest non-payment of arrears
The National Assembly Legislative Aides Forum on Tuesday in Abuja protested the non-payment of their 20 months’ salary arrears. Zebis Prince, who spoke on behalf of the protesting Aides, said that since the inauguration of the 9th Assembly, their salary arrears were withheld by the management. He said that the matter was referred to the House Services Committee with the mandate to among other things investigate the irregularities in the payment of legislative Aides. He however said that the Clerk of the National Assembly (CNA) insisted on getting directives from the chairman of National Assembly Service Commission before payment of the arrears. “We are disturbed that despite an express legislative resolution mandating the CNA to ensure payment three weeks after, the Chief Accounting Office...
Israeli study: South African coronavirus variant may evade protection from Pfizer vaccine
The coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa may evade the protection provided by Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine to some extent, a real-world data study in Israel found, though its prevalence in the country is very low and the research has not been peer reviewed. The study, released on Saturday, compared almost 400 people who had tested positive for COVID-19, 14 days or more after they received one or two doses of the vaccine, against the same number of unvaccinated patients with the disease. It matched age and gender, among other characteristics. The South African variant, B.1.351, was found to make up about 1% of all the COVID-19 cases across all the people studied, according to the study by Tel Aviv University and Israel’s largest healthcare provider, Clalit. But among patient...
Missing Nigerian student found dead in UK pond
A Nigerian student at Oxford Brookes University, Richard Okorogheye, has been found dead after two weeks of searching. According to his mum, Evidence Joel, the 19-year-old left home on March 22 and was reported missing two days after. Mrs Joel had repeatedly pleaded for information on her son’s whereabouts. “All he said to me was ‘mummy, I’m going to see my friend’. I trusted him, I had no doubt or no reason to ask him further questions. “It’s my baby, it’s my treasure. He’s my oxygen, he’s my crown. He’s everything to me, he’s the reason I live, the reason I exist. Right now I’m empty, there is nothing to look forward to. He’s taken my breath away from me,” she told Sky News. But on Wednesday, the Metropolitan police, in a statement, confirmed that a corpse found in a pond Monday has been...
Clubhouse’s new direct payments let users pay creators
Social audio app Clubhouse will let all users pay other creators starting Monday. It’s the first monetization tool built right into the app. Clubhouse says it won’t take a cut of payments, meaning that creators get the entirety of what somebody sends them. Not everyone will be able to receive payments just yet, though; that will be rolling out in waves, “starting with a small test group,” Clubhouse says. To pay a Clubhouse creator who can receive payments, tap on their profile, then tap on the “Send Money” button, and then choose how much you send them. You’ll also have to pay a “small card processing fee” that goes to Stripe, which is Clubhouse’s payments processing partner. The first time to try to pay someone, Clubhouse will ask you to add a credit or debit card. The news of direct paym...
