On Wednesday, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s former minister of finance, posted a picture of food packages on her social media handles, claiming they were palliatives being distributed by the Rwandan government to poor households to mitigate the effect of the lockdown in the country over the COVID-19 pandemic. The picture, which shows bags of grains, kegs of oil and other food items [...]
Jamilah Nasir
ON THE GO
Caverton Helicopters has asked the federal government to prevail on the Rivers state government to release two of its pilots detained over alleged illegal flight operations. According to a statement by the aircraft, two of its pilots were arrested and charged to court on Tuesday on the orders of Nyesom Wike, the governor. It explained that while the federal government banned flight [...]
Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo state, says the conditional cash transfer initiative of the federal government is fraught with faults. Sadiya Farouk, minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development, had said that the ministry had commenced cash transfer to the poorest households in the country to cushion the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. But in an interview with Fresh FM [...]
Fareed Zakaria, CNN anchor, says the world cannot afford to let Nigeria explode over the coronavirus pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic started in December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei province of China. The disease has spread to over 200 countries, infected over a million people and led to at least 60,000 deaths. On a positive side, over 20 percent of confirmed cases worldwide have recovered [...]
Hadiza Balarabe, deputy governor of Kaduna, says the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has promised that the state will soon have a COVID-19 testing centre. Balarabe spoke on Friday while giving an update on the activities of Kaduna COVID-19 task force. Nasir el-Rufai, the state governor, had announced that Balarabe would take over the state's task force after he tested positive [...]
Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, says there is no hidden agenda behind some countries evacuating their citizens from Nigeria. At least, 637 Europeans were evacuated from Nigeria and Benin Republic on Thursday. The move had left many wondering if there is a cause for alarm. During the press briefing of the presidential task force on COVID-19 in Abuja on Friday, a journalist had [...]
Water Corridor International (WCI), a non-governmental organisation, has commenced sensitisation of rural communities in Ogun and Ondo states on the practice of handwashing. The organisation said the move is part of efforts to see to the control and end of COVID-19 in Nigeria. In a statement, Olumide Omolade, coordinator of the project, said "the case for clean water as a major element [...]
The Islamic Forum of Nigeria has asked government at all levels to ensure that donations made towards tackling COVID-19 are spent optimally. The forum, in a statement by Ahmad Daku, its national chairman, lauded the intervention and donations of the government and individuals which it described as "strategic moves to cushion the pains of Nigerians". Describing the situation as a matter of [...]
Dani, son of Alfa Sa'adu, UK-based Nigerian doctor who died of complications from COVID-19, says his father was a "living legend". He said the family suggested he should go to hospital but he insisted he did not want to take up a hospital bed because others would need it. "He was a very passionate man, who cared about saving people," he said [...]
Tope Akinyode, a human rights lawyer, says the military has no right to enforce the movement restrictions imposed by the federal government. In a memo, Lamidi Adeosun, chief of policy and plans of the Nigerian Army, had said Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff, had approved the activation of “Op-Second-Eleven”, a special operation to see to the enforcement of the restriction [...]
Some prisoners at the Kaduna correctional centre, Kaduna state, on Tuesday attempted a jailbreak over fears of contracting COVID-19. Nathaniel Gagas, public relations officer of the Kaduna state command of Nigerian correctional service, confirmed the incident which he said happened around 1pm on Tuesday. The inmates were said to have panicked and attempted to escape when they heard rumours that an infected [...]
On March 18, 2020, at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) mega rally held in Ibadan, Oyo state, Seyi Makinde, the state governor, said there was no coronavirus in the party. Twelve days later, he tested positive for the virus that has put most of the world on lockdown. Addressing the crowd, Makinde had said: "They said we should not do this rally [...]
Alfa Sa'adu, a doctor of Nigerian origin who lives in the United Kingdom, has died of the coronavirus. Sa'adu, 68, who is also the galadima of Pategi in Kwara state, died of complications from the disease on Tuesday. Aisha Ahman-Pategi, Kwara state commissioner for chieftaincy affairs, confirmed his demise to TheCable. Until his demise, Sa'adu worked at Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust. He is the [...]
A coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to clarify his "stay at home" order. The group, under the aegis of Civil Society Alliance Against COVID19 (CSAA-COVID19), also asked the federal government to take full advantage of the lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja order to boost its efforts in curtailing coronavirus. The groups said while they [...]
Chikwe Ihekweazu, director-general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), says at least 6,000 people are being traced in Lagos and Abuja over their contacts with coronavirus patients. Ihekweazu disclosed this on Monday during an interview on Channels Television. He also said not less than 2,000 people have been tested across the country, explaining that since there is no known vaccine for [...]
Chikwe Ihekweazu, director-general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), says he expects the number of coronavirus cases in Nigeria to rise. There were 111 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country as of Sunday. Speaking when he featured on Sunrise Daily, a programme on Channels Television, Ihekweazu said the increase in the number of tests carried out will lead to an [...]
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