The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Friday, granted an application by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to destroy forfeited narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances, weighing 15.660kg and worth N150 million. Delivering a ruling, Justice Inyang Ekwo, gave the order for forfeiture and leave to destroy the drugs sought by the NDLEA in an ex-parte application argued by a senior lawyer to the agency, Mike Kassa. In the application marked: FJC/ABJ/CS/1142021, the NDLEA prayed for “an order for forfeiture and leave to destroy, by burning in a public place, all narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances tendered in cases already…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
Germany could see a new spike in coronavirus infections in the coming weeks, warned Lothar Wieler, president of the country’s disease control agency, Robert Koch Institute (RKI), at a press conference on Friday. “We may once again be at a turning point. The downward trend of the last few weeks is apparently no longer continuing,’’ Wieler said. The RKI registered 9,113 new COVID-19 cases in a 24-hour period on Friday, which was still slightly below the previous week’s level. To date, about 2.37 million COVID-19 infections have been officially registered in Germany since the outbreak of the pandemic. Also in…
The Federal government, on Friday, said it had signed a 25 megawatt Independent Power Project (IPP) agreement, to enhance electricity supply to industries in the Kano Free Trade Zone (KFTZ). Mr Richard Adeniyi-Adebayo, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, who stated this during a facility tour of the KFTZ, in Kano, explained that the agreement was signed with a reputable firm and that the project was expected to be completed within 11 months. He said the government also initiated viable programmes to fast track infrastructure development and provision of other facilities to encourage investment in the KFTZ. “We are…
Gombe state ogvernment has imposed a 24-hour curfew with immediate effect on Billiri local government area of the state, following the eruption of violence in the area. Prof. Abubakar Njodi, Secretary to the State Government made this known at a news conference in Gombe on Friday. Njodi said that imposing the curfew became necessary to contain the violence which erupted in the area; as this could threaten lives and property. “What we want to establish is peace so that we can reach out to the people and conclude issues with regard to the appointment of the new Mai Tangle,” he…
The number of COVID-19-inflicted deaths in Africa has reached 100,294 on Friday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent also stood at 3,796,354, according to the continental disease control and prevention agency’s Africa COVID-19 dashboard. South Africa has reported the highest number of deaths related to COVID-19 in Africa, at 48,708, followed by Egypt, at 10,201, and Morocco, at 8,524. The southern Africa region is the area most affected by COVID-19 in terms of the number of confirmed cases, followed by the northern Africa region.…
Poland on Friday confirmed that the South African variant of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has been reported in the country. Poland’s Health Minister Adam Niedzielski disclosed this at a news conference. The first case of the South African variant was reported outside the Polish city of Suwalki, near the border with Lithuania. The share of the British variant of the virus recently estimated by Health Ministry officials at some 10 per cent of new infections is also rising in the country, with both variants speeding up pandemic processes, Niedzielski said. On Friday, Poland reported nearly 8,800 new coronavirus infections and 241 fatalities,…
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson kicked off the online G7 meeting on Friday with a call for a joint effort to defeat the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). “We’ve got to make sure the whole world is vaccinated because this is a global pandemic and it’s of no use one country being far ahead of another. “We’ve got to move together,’’ he said, according to the Press Association news agency. Vaccines must be distributed `at cost around the world, he said. dpa
Some wildlife experts on Friday expressed concern over the illegal poaching of Pangolins and called for enforcement of laws and stringent measures against those found guilty of trading them. They spoke at a virtual event organised by the U.S. Mission in Nigeria, to honour the 2021 World Pangolin Day and discuss the importance of ending wildlife trafficking. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Pangolins are unique mammals with large scales covering their skin and are mostly trafficked for their supposed medicinal properties. According to the experts, wildlife is a vital component of natural heritage and should not be harmed…
President Muhammadu Buhari has lauded the Republic of Chad for what he calls the effective “security back-up” given to Nigeria in fighting against insurgency. Mr Femi Adesina, the President’s spokesman in a statement, said Buhari made the commendation when he received in audience Mr Ahmat Oumar Ahmat, a Special Envoy of President Idriss Deby Itno, at the State House, Abuja, on Friday. The Nigerian leader said the need for security collaboration with neighbours was why his first trips on assuming office in 2015 were to Nigeria’s immediate neighbours. “I went round because we needed to work together. The peoples are…
Some women and girls, supported by Connected Development (CODE), an NGO, on Friday developed checklists for monitoring government’s COVID-19 response, actions and policies in Kaduna State. The checklists were developed at the end of two-day training for the women and girls, on COVID-19 response and peace building process in the state. The training, which held in Kaduna, and attended by more than 40 women and girls, was organised by CODE, with funding from UN Women under its Strengthening State Capacities and Women’s Participation in COVID-19 Response project. The checklists covered Kaduna State COVID-19 responses, such as the lock-down actions and…