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Post Date : September 6, 2021

Buhari appoints Ifedayo Adetifa new NCDC Director-General

The President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Dr Ifedayo Morayo Adetifa as the new Director-General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. Adetifa will replace Chikwe Ihekweazu who was recently appointed an assistant director-general of the global health body – World Health Organisation. A statement issued by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity) on Monday also said the president approved the setting up of a Health Sector Reform Committee. The committee, headed by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, as chairman, is expected to commence the development and implementation of a programme for Nigeria in collaboration with the state governments and the FCT administration. “President Buhari has approved the appointment of Dr Ifedayo Morayo Adetifa as the new Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control,” part of the statement read. About Adetifa Adetifa obtained his medical degree at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State and trained in Paediatrics and Child Health at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. He also received the Fellowship of the West Africa College of Physicians in Paediatrics in 2005. The NCDC new boss studied Epidemiology at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where he bagged his MSC and PhD. Until his appointment, Dr Ifedayo Morayo Adetifa was an Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Adetifa’s research interests are in vaccine impact/effectiveness studies, innovative approaches/surveillance tools for monitoring vaccination, Tuberculosis Epidemiology, and evidence synthesis including systematic reviews. In 2018 he was awarded the MRC/DFID African Research Leader Fellowship. He also a member of the Kenyan National Immunisation Coordinating Committee and a member of the World Health Organisation, Africa Region’s (WHO-AFRO) Regional Immunisation Technical Advisory Group. Adetifa served overseas as a Clinical Epidemiologist at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kiliufi, Kenya. His vaccine policy advisory roles include membership of the Kenyan National Immunisation Coordination Committee, the WHO AFRO Regional Immunisation Technical Advisory Group (RITAG), the Advisory Group of the WHO Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme, and the WHO Technical Advisory Group on RSV vaccines.

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Post Date : September 6, 2021

IPOB sit-at-home order threatens economy of South East — Umahi

Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi state, Monday said that the sit-at-home order declared by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, was the worst thing to happen to the economy of the area. This is as the governor has told those holding federal positions from the zone to always visit their states and identify with their people in a bid to know the level of marginalization of the area. Speaking with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Governor Umahi said that the leaders of the zone in collaboration with Ohaneze Ndigbo are working together on the grievances of the youths of the area in order to take it to the President. The governor commended President Buhari on what he described as “megaprojects” in the area especially the Second Niger Bridge which he said is becoming a reality, the award of the eastern corridor of the railway line which he said would fast track commercial activities in the area. He said that his prayer was that God will give Nigeria a President with a kind heart in 2023.

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Post Date : September 6, 2021

Miyetti Allah urges NASS to stop enactment of anti-open grazing laws

The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Fulani Socio-Cultural Association has called on the National Assembly to intervene and stop attempt by some states governors to enact anti-open grazing laws targeted at Fulani pastoralists. The National Secretary of the association, Mr Saleh Alhassan, made the call a National Peace Summit and Investiture of Queen Mother Amina Temitope Ajayi as the Miyetti Allah Brand Ambassador, held at Uke, Karu Local Government, Nasarawa State. Alhassan said that the law would undermine the relative peace and stability currently enjoyed in the local communities, threaten social order and exacerbated cattle rustling. He said that the anti-open grazing laws would destroy livestock production and send into poverty millions of people that depend on the livestock value chain. Alhassan appealed to the national assembly to come to the rescue of the pastoralists by resuscitating and passing the Grazing Reserves Commission Bill and other livestock management bills that were initiated by the previous assembly. The secretary, therefore, called on the Federal Government to create a Federal Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries as obtainable in many African countries. He stressed the need for the government to take an inventory of all the existing grazing reserves, traditional grazing areas, transhumance corridors, major stock routes and fully develop at least one grazing reserve in each Senatorial District. “This is in line with the recommendation of the Inter-ministerial Committee on Livestock Development in Nigeria 2015, the Report of the President Committee on Pastoralists and Insecurity 2014 and National Livestock Transformation Programme.” He said that the review of the Land Use Act was long overdue to accommodate the interest of all land resources users, including pastoralists. He said that ranching as envisaged by many required capital investment and was difficult to sustain, not economical “and it is not small livestock holder-centred. Alhassan, therefore, called for the proper funding of the National Commission for Nomadic Education and expansion of its mandate. “Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore totally condemns the continuous extortion and profiling of the Fulani pastoralists by Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue and we call on him to offer apology to the Fulani race. “We commend the courageous efforts of the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari for listening to our consistent call to restore the existing grazing reserves, routes and create new ones. “Because it is the only sustainable solution to the farmers and herders conflicts in the country,” he said. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the highpoint of the events was the investiture of Queen Mother Amina Temitope Ajayi as the Miyetti Allah Brand Ambassador, held at Uke, Karu Local Government, Nasarawa State. Responding, Ajayi said she joined the association with a view to engender peace, unity and development as well as chart a new course of action for the Fulani pastoralists. “I have developed a blueprint for the total transformation of the cattle rearing and farming business that will change the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria. “If we are able to implement half of my development agenda for the Fulani pastoralists, the lingering clash of Fulani versus farmers will be a thing of the past,” she said.

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Post Date : September 6, 2021

Anambra: No electronic authentication, no voting, INEC warns

Ahead of the November 6 Governorship Election in Anambra State, the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has declared that no one will be allowed to vote except such person has undergone an electronic authentication of his identity using its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS. INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this Monday in Abuja during the commission’s third quarterly meeting with political parties. Yakubu again lamented the growing number of conflicting court orders and judgments which are usually procured by politicians seeking to outmaneuver one another. On the Anambra Governorship Election, Yakubu said the Commission will use the next few weeks to compile the register of voters for claims and objections, clean up the data, print the Permanent Voter Cards PVCs for collection by registrants and compile the register for each of the 5,720 polling units in the State. “I want to assure every newly registered voter in Anambra State, including those who applied to transfer from within and outside the State or for the replacement of damaged or lost PVCs that their cards will be printed and made available to them for collection before the election. Each political party fielding candidates in the election will be given a copy of the voters’ register on 7th October 2021 as published in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the elections”, he stated. He said the Commission has also been continuously innovating on how to strengthen the credibility of voter accreditation and result management during elections in Nigeria. According to him, many stakeholders, including leaders of political parties, had called on the Commission to strengthen the voter accreditation process during elections, especially with reference to the use of incident form where the Smart Card Reader SCR fails to authenticate the fingerprints of a voter. “Such concern is legitimate given the fact that the SCR successfully verifies any card that belongs to the polling unit for which it is configured irrespective of who presents it. Their apprehension, therefore, is that using the incident form to cover those whose fingerprints are not authenticated by the SCR, a voter may be able to use another person’s PVC to vote during an election. “To address this concern, the Commission attempted to introduce the facial biometric authentication during accreditation of the voters using the Z-Pad tablet to complement the fingerprint process through the Card Reader before the Edo Governorship election in September 2020. However, the Commission was not entirely satisfied with the pilot held in the Nasarawa Central State Constituency bye-election a month earlier in August 2020. We, therefore, suspended the idea to enable us to do some more work. Over the last one year, we reviewed the situation and we think we have found the appropriate technology to address it. The Z-pad was therefore only used to upload Polling Unit results to the IReV portal during elections. “The functionality of the Z-pad has now been integrated into the IVED currently used for voter registration. On Election Day, the same device will be used for the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for fingerprint authentication during accreditation and where it fails for facial authentication. We believe that this multi-layer process will eliminate the possibility of voting by identity theft using another person’s PVC. Where the voter fails both the fingerprint and facial authentication, he/she will not be allowed to vote. In other words, no electronic authentication, no voting. “We are convinced that the new machine is robust enough to further guarantee the credibility of voter authentication and transparent management of results during elections. Accordingly, the Commission intends to carry out a pilot exercise using the new device in Delta State during the Isoko South 1 State Assembly constituency bye-election holding this weekend (Saturday 11th September 2021). The BVAS will now perform the functions of both the SCR and Z-Pad in the bye-election. Thereafter, it will be deployed in the Anambra Governorship election in November”, he added.

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Post Date : September 6, 2021

We Will Withdraw Court Case If You Go Back To Work, FG Tells Striking Doctors

The Federal Government is ready to withdraw the case instituted against the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) if striking doctors return to work. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, said this on Sunday after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. “I have briefed Mr President, we have agreed that they should come back to work and if they come back to work, we can take other things from there. We will withdraw the case in court,” Ngige said. “So, this is where we are with them and we are saying that even if anybody cares to put it in any agreement, that clause will be void ab initio because it’s against the law of the land and we will not, as a government, succumb to undue arm twisting and then go and sign that.” The Minister explained that some workers had lost their pay during previous strikes (under the “no work, no pay” rule) and the same punishment will be meted out to the striking doctors if they refuse to resume. “Other workers have lost their pay during strikes; the Joint Health Systems Union (JOHESU), they lost their pay in 2018 when they went on four months strike; they lost about two or three months’ pay when the no-work, no-pay rule was invoked,” the minister said, adding that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) suffered the same fate last year. “Nobody paid them (ASUU) anything for six months and it was during COVID-19. So, we can handle things administratively, but nobody should arm-twist,” he said. The Minister also revealed that a list of 8,000 doctors to benefit from the Medical Residency Training Fund is being considered by the government. FG Vs NARD: Lingering Tussle The lingering tussle between the Nigerian government and NARD has been on since July 31 when the doctors went on strike to press home their demands. Despite a series of meetings between the Federal Government and the striking doctors, no resolution has been reached. While the Federal Government insists that the demands of the doctors have been met, the doctors insist otherwise. Some of the issues raised by the medical practitioners include the immediate payment of all salaries owed to all house officers, including March salaries (regardless of quota system) before the end of business on March 31. They are also asking for an upward review of the hazard allowance to 50 per cent of consolidated basic salaries of all health workers and payment of the outstanding COVID-19 inducement allowance, especially in state-owned-tertiary institutions. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, had in the wake of the disagreements threatened to invoke the “no-work, no pay” rule on NARD. But the NMA has thrown its weight behind the striking doctors and other health workers.

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Post Date : September 6, 2021

Hard times as prices of beans, pepper soar by 122% in 12 months

NIGERIANS are in for a hard time as prices of food items and other products have continued to soar excessively in the last one year under the guise of dollar shortages and naira depreciation. Except the prices of a 50-kilogramme (kg) bag of garri and rice each that have remained stable at N15,000 and N28,000 respectively during this period, findings by Nigerian Tribune show that the price of a 50-kg bag of beans soared by 122.22 per cent to N40,000 in August 2021 from N18,000 in August 2020. Apart from beans, the price of a bag of pepper also rose by 100 per cent in August 2021 to N30,000 from N15,000 last year. ‌While the price of a 10kg bag of Semovita also increased by 47.06 per cent to N5,000 in August 2021 from N3,400 last year; the cost of a 25-litre keg of Palm oil jumped by 52 per cent to N19,000 from N12,500. Findings also show that prices of other items/products such as flour, sugar, yam and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), popularly known as cooking gas, soared during this period. According to a market survey, price of 50kg of flour rose by 61 per cent to N21,000 from N13,000 in August 2020; cost of 50kgbag of sugar climbed by 31.14 per cent to N22,950 from N17,500; and price of five tubers of average size yam rose to N7,500 from N4,500 last year. A source of concern to the average Nigerian is the latest LPG – cooking gas’ price hike from N3, 200 per 12.5kg in August 2020 to N6,000 in 2021, representing 87.5 per cent increase in one year. Speaking with Nigerian Tribune, a yam trader in Ketu-Alapere Market in Lagos, who identified herself as Mama Perpetual, said it was not retailers’ fault that prices of food items soared, blaming commodities price increase on economic and security challenges in the country. She pointed out that due to security challenges, farmers in Benue, Kebbi, Zamfara, Nasarawa states and other northern parts of the country were unable to farm extensively in the last one year. Besides, she added that it was even difficult to transport products such as yam, beans, onions, pepper and tomatoes to the South due to the risks of kidnappings and various extortions on the roads. According to her, demand for a few commodities that eventually got to the markets was more than supply. The trader blamed the Federal Government for the current hike in the price of cooking gas. If this trend continues, the woman said, it would compel most Nigerians to return to the era of charcoal and firewood for cooking. Another person, Mrs. Bose Badmus, a plantain seller, said the product has been so scarce that a bunch of plantain she bought for N1,200 last year now cost N2,000 naira. In his analysis in September’s LBS Executive Breakfast Session last week, the Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr Bismarck Rewane, pointed out that commodity prices rose by an average of 52.78 per cent last year. He also noted a major hike in the price of a loaf of bread presently. Giving analysis about what goes into a loaf of bread, Rewane pointed out that prices of flour have been up by 61.54 per cent, baking powder and fortifier – 25 per cent, yeast -15.0 per cent, sugar -31.14 per cent, margarine – 55 per cent. According to him, imported commodity prices have been rising on dollar shortages (flour), adding that wheat and sugar are now being considered for forex restrictions list. He said that a cooking gas import tax of 7.5 per cent is currently being implemented. Despite the fact that domestic inflation has been down, Rewane said that food prices have gone up. According to Rewane, the divergence between official inflation data and market reality was due to outside lag (time lag between policy implementation and impact on the market); consumer price resistance as 50 per cent of Nigerians reduced food consumption; and cross elasticity of demand, explaining that manufacturers now resorting to local substitutes while reducing supply to retail markets.

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Post Date : September 6, 2021

Gunmen Kidnap Katsina Deputy Speaker’s Sister

Gunmen have kidnapped the younger sister of the Deputy Speaker of the Katsina State House of Assembly, Shehu Dalhatu Tafoki. The victim, identified as Asma’u Dalhatu, was kidnapped in the early hours of Sunday. The gunmen took her away after they attacked Tafoki village in Faskari Local Government Council of the State. The Deputy Speaker, who confirmed the abduction to Channels Television on Monday, explained that the gunmen suspected to be bandits stormed the village around 1 am on Sunday and moved straight to the village head’s residence, which is his family house, and kidnapped two of his sisters. He said while trying to make their way into the forest, the hoodlums encountered some members of the vigilante group who engaged them in gunfire. In the process, one of the kidnapped sisters escaped and returned home safely. The Deputy Speaker said the incident has been reported to the security agencies. The police authorities in the state have yet to comment on the incident. The Police spokesperson in the state, Gambo Isah, could not be immediately reached for comment. No ransom has been demanded by the kidnappers. The attack comes less than 48 hours after gunmen stormed Kurami village in Bakori Local Government Area of the State and abducted the wife and two children of the member representing Bakori constituency in the state House of Assembly, Dr. Ibrahim Kurami. Bakori LGA is about 42 kilometres from Faskari LGA where the latest abduction took place. Katsina State has within the week witnessed a different pattern of abductions where the trend seems to have been shifted to kidnapping relatives of political office holders in the state.

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Post Date : September 6, 2021

Zamfara abduction: Parents in limbo as telecoms shutdown restricts communication

Parents of the students kidnapped from Government Day Secondary School in Kaya, Maradun LGA of Zamfara state, have lamented their inability to communicate with the captors and the authorities. The police said 73 students were abducted when gunmen invaded the school around 11am on Wednesday. Five students, all girls, escaped from captivity on Thursday. On Friday, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) ordered telecommunications companies to suspend their services in Zamfara — and this has resulted in a communication blackout in the state. Speaking with TheCable on Saturday, Idris Magaji, a parent of one of the abducted students, said he’s in the dark regarding the measures being taken to rescue the abducted children. “I’m really not happy about this. I do not know if the government is doing anything about it because I have not heard or seen anything,” Magaji said. “If the government is doing something about it, they should tell us (parents) that ‘this is the measures we have taken’ to ensure that our children are rescued. “There is no contact between us parents, and the government. Government has not told us anything. On the side of the bandits, they have not reached us to negotiate ransom. Government should do the needful to rescue our children.” On his part, Bello Liman, a parent whose two children are also in captivity, corroborated what Magaji said and expressed hope that the authorities will rescue the abductees. “I am very pained. When the kidnapping happened I was in Gusau. I think the government is trying its best to rescue my children. I have that belief that by God’s grace, they will be rescued,” Liman said. Mohammed, one of the students who escaped, had earlier told TheCable that the gunmen gave them food in their palms and provided just a bottle of water for all the students. Samaila Dahiru, a student who was able to evade abduction, narrated his experience after he was discharged from the hospital where he was treated for a gunshot injury. When TheCable visited the school, most of the buildings were found to be in a state of dilapidation and the school was also bereft of perimeter fencing.

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Post Date : September 6, 2021

FG Condemns ‘Coup’ In Guinea

The Nigerian Government has condemned what it describes as an apparent coup d’état in the Republic of Guinea. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mrs Esther Sunsuwa, made the position of the government known in a statement on Sunday. According to the statement, the takeover of power by the military is in clear violation of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance. “The Government of Nigeria strongly condemns and rejects any unconstitutional change of government and therefore calls on those behind this coup to restore constitutional order without delay and protect all lives and property,” it said. The statement was issued following reports that special forces in Guinea have taken over power in what appears to be a new twist in the political unrest in the West African country. As a result, incumbent President Alpha Conde who has been in office since December 2010, was said to have been arrested by the soldiers. “We have decided, after having taken the president, to dissolve the constitution,” a uniformed officer flanked by soldiers wielding assault rifles was quoted as saying in a video sent to AFP. The soldier announced that Guinea’s land and air borders have been shut and that the government had been dissolved. Thereafter, the head of Guinea’s military special forces, Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, was said to have appeared on public television. Wrapped in the country’s flag, Doumbouya revealed that his action was triggered by “mismanagement” by the government. “We are no longer going to entrust politics to one man, we are going to entrust politics to the people,” the coup leader said. “Guinea is beautiful. We don’t need to rape Guinea anymore; we just need to make love to her.” There has been lingering political tension in Guinea, first spurred by the bid for a third term by President Conde’s in 2020. Another video sent to AFP showed a rumpled-looking President Conde sitting on a sofa, surrounded by troops. The 83-year-old who survived an assassination attempt in 2011 refused to answer a question from a soldier about whether he was being mistreated while in their custody. Sunday’s incident in Guinea has continued to attract condemnation and criticism, one of which was the reaction of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who asked the putschists to release Conde. “I am personally following the situation in Guinea very closely,” he said in a social media post. “I strongly condemn any takeover of the government by force of the gun and call for the immediate release of President Alpha Conde.”

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Post Date : September 6, 2021

Taliban Claim Total Control Over Afghanistan

The Taliban on Monday claimed total control over Afghanistan, saying they had won the key battle for the Panjshir Valley, the last remaining holdout of resistance against their rule. Following their lightning-fast victory in mid-August over the former Afghan government’s security forces and the withdrawal of US troops after 20 years of war, the Taliban turned to fighting the forces defending the mountainous Panjshir Valley. As the Islamist hardliners claimed victory, their chief spokesman warned against any further attempts to rise up against their rule while urging former members of the security forces to join their regime’s ranks. “With this victory, our country is completely taken out of the quagmire of war,” chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. “Anyone who tries to start an insurgency will be hit hard. We will not allow another,” he later added at a press conference in Kabul. The Taliban published a video of their flag being raised over the governor’s house in Panjshir — underscoring a historic win that has seen the anti-Taliban bastion defeated for the first time during 40 years of conflict. It remained in the hands of resistance fighters during Soviet rule, a subsequent civil war, and the Taliban’s first regime of the late 1990s. The National Resistance Front (NRF) in Panjshir — made up of anti-Taliban militia and former Afghan security forces — on Sunday acknowledged suffering major battlefield losses and called for a ceasefire. But on Monday the group said in a tweet that its fighters were still present in “strategic positions” in the valley. The NRF includes local fighters loyal to Ahmad Massoud — the son of the famous anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud — as well as remnants of the Afghan military that retreated to the Panjshir Valley. As Taliban fighters amassed in the valley, Massoud on Monday called on Afghans in and out of the country to “rise up in resistance”. The Taliban are yet to finalise their new regime after rolling into the capital Kabul three weeks ago at a speed that analysts say likely surprised even the hardline Islamists themselves. As they undertake a mammoth transition into overseeing key institutions and cities of hundreds of thousands of people, Mujahid said an interim government would first be announced, allowing for later changes. “Final decisions have been taken, we are now working on the technical issues,” he said at a press conference. Afghanistan’s new rulers have pledged to be more “inclusive” than during their first stint in power, with a government that represents Afghanistan’s complex ethnic makeup — though women are unlikely to be included at the top levels. Women’s freedoms in Afghanistan were sharply curtailed under the Taliban’s 1996-2001 rule. This time, women will be allowed to attend university as long as classes are segregated by sex or at least divided by a curtain, the Taliban’s education authority said in a lengthy document issued on Sunday. But female students must wear an abaya (robe) and niqab (face-veil), as opposed to the even more conservative burqa mandatory under the previous Taliban regime. However, some universities in Kabul remained closed on Monday and those that did open saw a drastic fall in the number of students — some who complied with the new rules, and others who resisted. Afghans are also facing a host of other challenges, including looming financial and humanitarian crises. “The authorities pledged that the safety and security of humanitarian staff, and humanitarian access to people in need, will be guaranteed and that humanitarian workers — both men and women — will be guaranteed freedom of movement,” a statement from UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The Taliban spokesman said the group had assured a visiting UN team of cooperation. The international community is coming to terms with the new Taliban regime with a flurry of diplomacy. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due Monday in Qatar, a key player in the Afghan saga. Qatar, which hosts a major US military base, has been the gateway for 55,000 people airlifted out of Afghanistan, nearly half the total evacuated by US-led forces after the Taliban takeover on August 15. Blinken will also speak to the Qataris about efforts alongside Turkey to reopen Kabul’s airport, which is necessary for flying in badly needed humanitarian aid and evacuating remaining Afghans. Blinken will then head Wednesday to the US airbase in Ramstein, Germany, a temporary home for thousands of Afghans moving to the United States, from which he will hold a virtual 20-nation ministerial meeting on the crisis alongside German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. -AFP

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