By Abujah Racheal The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says Lagos topped the COVID-19 chart with 599 new cases out of the 1,051 cases recorded in Nigeria on Thursday. The NCDC made this known via its Website on Friday morning. It added that Nigeria now has 221,071 COVID-19 cases. Lagos topped chart with 483 out of the 612 new infections on December 11. The centre said that no fatalities were recorded in the country. The NCDC noted that the pandemic has claimed 2,983 lives across the country since the outbreak in 2020. The centre said the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) recorded…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
Today, I am recycling my article on jollof rice published in August 2015. The occasion is the announcement by UNESCO yesterday that they have enlisted Senegalese jollof rice, called ceebu jen in Wolof on the world heritage list. Ghana and Nigeria have been involved for decades in a fratricidal war of who has the best jollof and Senegal went quietly and got the international accolade. I hold the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, personally liable for this disaster. In April 2017, he was interviewed by CNN journalist Richard Quest on who has the best jollof rice in the world. He…
The Nigerian government says it will restrict airlines from Canada, United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia into Nigeria from Tuesday, 14 December 2021. Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika who made the announcement on Sunday in Lagos, explained that it was to reciprocate restricted flights from Nigeria into those countries over the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron. Sirika said President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration would also place the United Kingdom, Canada and Saudi Arabia on a red list over the outbreak and spread of the Omicron variant. The minister noted that if those countries placed Nigeria on a red list, they lacked a moral…
By Justina Auta A 16-year-old female student and survivor of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) on Tuesday, called on parents and the federal government to pay more attention on prosecution of female violators. The student made the call in an interview on the sideline of a sensitisation on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) for selected students across FCT public schools organised by the National Centre for Women Development (NCWD) in Abuja. She narrated that she was sexually violated and introduced to lesbianism at four-years old when her mother died and she relocated to stay with some relatives. She explained that the…
Local vigilantes in Shiroro local government area of Niger state on Thursday, raided terrorists camps in some communities of the area, killing scores of bandits. According to a source, the vigilantes killed three terrorists around Chukuba axis, in Kwaki/Chukuba ward of Shiroro local government and 10 others at Sarari area in the same Kwaki/Chukuba ward of Shiroro local government, while a large number of others escaped with various gunshots injuries. The source also said that while dangerous weapons were recovered from the criminals during the deadly encounter, many kidnap victims were rescued unhurt. Meanwhile, the Concerned Shiroro Youths of Niger…
The Coalition of Shiroro Associations, COSA, has alleged that only 50 per cent of members of the communities, whose farmlands and economic trees were taken over by the federal government for the construction of Zungeru Dam, have actually been compensated. Addressing a press conference in Kuta on Friday, the Coalition also disclosed that even as the federal government plans to commission the Dam in December 2021, no community affected by the Dam construction, has been resettled. The Coalition warned that until the issues were resolved and communities adequately resettled to avoid cases of sack by flood and other threats associated…
This week, I was in Niamey for a conference structured around a series of conversations about crisis management and seeking for a positive future for this tough part of the world. The meeting was organised by Club du Sahel and my favourite research centre in Niger, LASDEL. The facilitators were Mahaman Tidjani Alou, Niagele Bagayoko and Gilles Yabi, all excellent researchers on the Sahel and its troubles. My strongest memories are about the discussions on the side-lines – over lunch or dinner on the terrace of the Grand Hotel, overlooking the River Niger. As the crisis deepens in Burkina Faso,…
The African Development Bank (AfDB), has earmarked $110 million for projects under the Special Agricultural Processing Zone in Kano State. The Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, Abba Anwar stated this in a statement issued in Kano on Sunday. Anwar quoted the AfDB President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, as making the disclosure when he paid a condolence visit to the governor on the death of Sani Dangote, the younger brother of billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote. In the statement, Adesina said, “In all, we are having about $563 million dedicated for our projects in various states in…
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari started his weekly activities with an interview with Bloomberg TV in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Kyari said in the interview that Nigeria would ramp up oil production to 1.8 million barrels per day by the end of 2021, as against the 1.45 million BOPD in September. He noted that in spite of this projection, Nigeria could easily attain its maximum crude oil production capacity of 2.5 million barrels per day with the combined production of crude and condensates. Kyari said: “It is obvious that…
Nigeria’s vice president Yemi Osinbajo has said that the recently approved 2021 – 2025 National Development Plan will usher a new season of accelerate growth in Nigeria because of its focus on value addition as major pivot to boost productivity in all sectors. Prof. Osinbajo stated this on Saturday at the graduation ceremony of participants of the Senior Executive Course 43 (2021) of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) In Kuru, Jos. “If we are to inaugurate a new age of accelerated growth then we must adopt a new strategic direction and policy orientation. This is precisely…