The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘B’, says it has seized smuggled goods with Duty Paid Value of N268.37 million since the beginning of 2021. The Comptroller, Mr Al-Bashir Hamisu, made the disclosure in an interview in Kaduna on Thursday. According to him, the unit has made 111 seizures in January, 38 in February and 90 seizures as at March 20. He disclosed that 2,514 bags of foreign per boiled rice,1,107 kegs of vegetable oil, 293 bales of second hand clothing and 43 vehicles were seized from smugglers within the period. Hamisu explained that the duty paid…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
The Islamist terrorist group al-Shabaab has killed at least three civilians, including a mother, her infant, during an attack on the United Nations and African Union headquarters in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. The police said on Thursday. At least five others were injured during the mortar attack on the heavily fortified camp Halane, which houses foreign diplomats, western embassies and is also the military base for peacekeeping forces, police officer Ali Hassan told dpa. Earlier on Thursday, al-Shabaab insurgents killed a senior military official with a roadside bomb and seriously wounded two of his bodyguards, Hassan said. Al-Shabaab, which has links…
Dr Emmanuel Agogo, the country representative of Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL) initiative, says the media, as providers of information, has a vital role in the addressing COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy. Agogo made this known while participating in a Webinar with journalists in Africa organised by the Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in partnership with public strategy firm, Gatefield and the Global Health Advocacy Incubator. The CDC released a Response to COVID-19 (PERC) survey conducted across the continent. In the survey, the CDC, said two-thirds of citizens interviewed expressed willingness to accept the COVID-19 vaccines. Agogo outlined the reasons for…
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) says it is working to ensure that each country in the continent vaccinates at least 60 per cent of its population against COVID-19. Dr Raji Tajudeen, the Head of Public Health Institutes and Research, Africa CDC, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, stated this at the Pre-Conference Webinar of the Medical Women’s International Association, Near East and African Regional Congress on Wednesday. Speaking on the theme “COVID-19 in the African Region”, Tajudeen said that the African CDC was working to ensure equitable and affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines by African countries. He said…
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has rejected the assessment of Bubari administration by Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC). Reacting to the current rating by CISLAC, Mohammed described it as unfair and unacceptable. CISLAC, a non-governmental organisation, had on March 23 in Abuja addressed a press briefing where it allegedly accused the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration of lack of transparency in the recovery of stolen assets. However, fielding questions from State House correspondents in Abuja on Wednesday, the minister dismissed CISLAC’s accusation, saying the assessment is not truly a reflection of the realities on ground. He…
Brazil has registered more than 300,000 deaths in connection with Covid-19 since the pandemic started, behind the United States with 545,000 deaths in the same period. The Health Ministry, which said this on Thursday, put the exact number of deaths at 300,685 people at 8 pm (2300 GMT) tally, including over 2,000 deaths in the previous 24 hours. A day earlier, Brazil recorded 3,000 deaths in a day for the first time. In the largest country in Latin America, more than 12.2 million coronavirus infections have been recorded so far. Intensive care units are working at maximum capacity in most…
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved N82 billion for the completion of infrastructure projects in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Rehabilitation of the Federal Secretariat, Abuja is also included in the project. The Minister of the FCT, Malam Muhammed Bello, made the announcement while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the council meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Wednesday. Bello said that about N8.1 billion of the amount was approved for the rehabilitation of the Federal Secretariat. “I presented six memos and all have to do with infrastructure and infrastructure-related projects. “The first…
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced 96 new cases of COVID-19 late on Wednesday, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 162,178. The NCDC, which made the announcement on its official Twitter handle made no mention of any death from the disease within the past 24 hours. “On the 24th of March, 96 new confirmed cases were recorded in Nigeria. “Till date, 162,178 cases have been confirmed, 148,726 cases have been discharged and 2,031 deaths have been recorded in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. “The 96 new cases are reported from 15…
The British-Swedish pharmaceuticals company AstraZeneca has provided new data which it says proves that its COVID-19 vaccine is highly effective. The vaccine has a 76 per cent efficacy rating against symptomatic COVID-19; AstraZeneca said in a statement on Thursday morning, citing further data from its phase III study with around 32,500 test subjects. For people over 65, the efficacy rating is 85 per cent, the company added. This means that among the older subjects in a vaccinated group, 85 per cent fewer cases of illness occurred than among those in a control group. AstraZeneca spoke of 100 per cent efficacy…
Governor Abubakar Sani-Bello of Niger state has said that only people of impeccable character could be in positions of leadership to fix Nigeria for the better. Governor Sani Bello stated this while declaring open a three-day training for youths, a collaborative programme between the state government and Lead Generation Initiative (LGI), held at Idris Legbo Kutigi International Conference Centre, Minna. “The quality of leadership, integrity and the character of whoever we vote for is what will fix this country”, he said. He said, for Nigeria to get the desired change, people must actively participate in the political process because no…