President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed concern that the spread of COVID-19 will worsen the already bad economic standing of poor families globally. He spoke in a recorded video message to a virtual high-level UN meeting on trends, options and strategies in poverty eradication across the world. The event, which took place at UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday, also served as the official inauguration of the Alliance for Poverty Reduction, an initiative of the President of the General Assembly, Prof. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande. Buhari, in a statement Wednesday by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, also expressed concern that 10 percent of…
Author: YemieFash
Youths in the South West, Wednesday, expressed reservation over the involvement of traditional rulers in partisan politics. The youths, under the umbrella of South West Youth Forum (Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Ekiti and Ondo states) spoke following the recent endorsement of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo for a second term by monarchs in the state. The National Chairman of the forum, Folusho Ajimuda, and Secretary, Adeola Akinjeji, told newsmen in Lagos that the action of the obas in endorsing a candidate for an election was “strange”. Our correspondent reports that traditional rulers in the 18 local government ares of Ondo…
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will hold a screening for aspirants today in Abuja, ahead of the Ondo State governorship race, an official has confirmed. The leadership of the party has also named former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, as chairman of a five-member screening committee. Others in the committee are Bunmi Jenyo (secretary), Zainab Kure, Fred Agbedi, and Ndubuisi Agwuama. According to a statement signed by Kola Ologbondiyan, national publicity secretary of the party, “the screening is scheduled to hold on Thursday, July 2, 2020 at the NWC Hall at the PDP National Secretariat, Abuja at 10 a.m.”…
The Independent National Electoral Commission on Wednesday said it had suspended registration of new voters ahead of the governorship election in Ondo State. The commission said a total of 372,888 Permanent Voter Cards had yet to be collected in the state. The Resident Electoral Commission in the state, Dr Rufus Akeju stated this during a stakeholders’ meeting in Akure. Akeju said there would be no continuous voter registration and distribution of PVCs in the state again before the poll. The REC said, “The number of registered voters in the state is 1,822 346, while a total of 1,478,460 of PVCs…
Over 30 prominent Nigerian activists, academics, and other professionals, have launched a new political movement ahead of the 2023 general elections. The movement called National Consultative Front was made public on Wednesday in a communique made available to journalists at the new group’s national secretariat, in Abuja. They group reportedly had a month-long nationwide consultation and virtual meetings. Members of the group include former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’abba; former deputy governor of the Central Bank, Obadiah Mailafia; Olisa Agbakoba; Femi Falana; Abubakar Umar; Oby Ezekwesili; Jibo Ibrahim; Yabagi Sanni; Nkoyo Toyo, Isa Aremu, Chidi Odinkalu, and Shehu…
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), on Wednesday, announced that the country has recorded 790 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19), bringing the total number of infections in Nigeria to 26,484. The NCDC disclosed this on its verified Twitter handle on Wednesday night. “790 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria; Delta-166, Lagos-120, Enugu-66, FCT-65, Edo-60, Ogun-43, Kano-41, Kaduna-39, Ondo-33, Rivers-32, Bayelsa-29, Katsina-21, Imo-20, Kwara-18, Oyo-11, Abia-10, Benue-6, Gombe-4, Yobe-2, Bauchi-2, Kebbi-2.” https://twitter.com/NCDCgov/status/1278461895461175298?s=20
Nigerian Army and the University of Ilorin have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the development of composite materials for the production of military hardwares. The Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) and the University of Ilorin signed the MoU on Wednesday, July 1, 2020. The agreement is centered on the development of composite materials for armour plating to be used in the production of military hardware for the nation’s military needs. While speaking before the agreement signing ceremony, the Director of Nigerian Army Systems Development Centre, Brigadier General B.O Oshunsan revealed that efforts leading to the agreement signing…
The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, has kicked against any move by politicians to reconcile with the bandits, stressing that, “the Army will not reconcile with them”. Addressing Zamfara journalists in Faskari town of Katsina State very close to Zamfara State on Wednesday, Buratai said, the Army would squarely face and kill the notorious bandits if they failed to surrender but ruled out the possibility of negotiating with them. “We will make sure that we fight against banditry and other forms of criminal activities in all parts of the country but no reconciliation, as such I am…
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, says there are over 400,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Africa. The UN health agency gave the update on its regional official Twitter account @WHOAFRO on Wednesday. It noted that “there are over 400,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent with more than 190,000 recoveries and 10,000 deaths.” The regional office stated that South Africa has 151,209 cases and 2,657 deaths, followed by Nigeria with 25,694 confirmed cases and 590 deaths, while Ghana has 17,741 confirmed cases and 112 deaths. It added that Lesotho, Gambia and Seychelles…
The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has said there was no plan yet to reopen tertiary institutions in the country. Dr. Sani Aliyu, the National Coordinator of PTF, stated this when he appeared on Raypower FM on Tuesday. He pointed out that at the moment, the PTF was concerned with measures to contain community transmission of the Coronavirus. Aliyu said the government realized that reopening of tertiary institutions, bars, restaurants and other social activities”could encourage community transmission of COVID-19. “However, we have taken pragmatic measures to ensure we do not lose a whole year in terms of primary to…