The continued spread of COVID-19 and the scorch of climate change in Africa have caused economies to contract substantially. Lives and livelihoods are put at risk, as COVID-19 and the associated economic challenges continue to spill into an African food crisis. Before COVID-19, half of Africans faced food insecurity (https://mck.co/3mty5rQ) due to climate change and other factors, of which 50% are severely food insecure. And the number of people who are hungry might likely double in 2021. Land is a vital resource. It is essential to agriculture on which 70% of Africans rely for their livelihoods. People-centred land governance is…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
The Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, in Lagos has announced that it will begin “Operation Show Your Driver’s Licence and Vehicle Papers” on Monday (today). The Lagos State Sector Commander, Olusegun Ogungbemide disclosed this in a statement made available on Sunday, saying that the operation is to checkmate the spate of accidents, especially truck-related crashes and fatalities. “With the recent increase in the accidents involving articulated vehicles, there is the need for all drivers to be handy with their driver’s licence and valid vehicle papers as the command begins Operation Show Your Driver’s Licence and Vehicle Licence. …
The Nigerian Muslim rights group, Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has condemned the alleged killing of Muslims and Fulanis in Zangon Kataf. MURIC in a statement issued by its Director, Professor Ishaq Akinola and made available to Ashenewsonline on Monday, also stated that the alleged killings, reported to have occurred on 8th and 9th September, 2020, violated the peace pact of 22nd August, 2020. Read the statement below: “Christian youths of Zangon Kataf have violated the 22nd August, 2020 peace pact initiated by the Agwa Atyap, Sir Dominic Gambo Yahaya between the Atyap and Hausa/Fulani. The breach occurred on Tuesday 8th September, 2020 when they launched guerrilla-like…
The National Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, says 79 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded. The Centre via its official Twitter handle, @NCDCgov Sunday night also said that total infections now stands at 56,256. According to it, there were four COVID-19-related fatalities in Nigeria in the last 24 hours, bringing the national death toll to 1,082. The public health agency said that the 79 cases were reported from 13 states with Lagos posting the highest figure of 30 cases, Kaduna, 17, Ogun, seven, while Anambra reported five cases. Other states with new cases include Kano with four, while Katsina, FCT and…
Human Rights Layer, Femi Falana has petitioned the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in The Gambia over the death sentence passed on Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, a musician in Kano state, for committing blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad, in a song Ashenewsonline recalls that Sharif-Aminu was sentenced to death in August 2020, after a Shari’a court found him guilty. However, Falana in a the petition dated September 8, asked the African Commission to appeal to Nigerian government “to stop the irreparable damage that would be caused to the petitioner and his charter rights”. He observed that Nigeria, having been party to…
Federal Government agencies in the Presidency on Saturday in Abuja held consultations on the 2021 budget toward meeting the September deadline for the submission of the document to the National Assembly. Mr Attah Esa, Deputy Director (Information), State House, who confirmed this in a statement on Sunday, said the Permanent Secretary, State House, Mr Tijjani Umar, led the 2021 budget bilateral meeting. He said the virtual meeting was between government agencies under the Presidency and officials of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning. He quoted Umar as saying that the preparation of the 2021 budget estimates takes…
Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Sunday expressed belief that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, would conduct free, fair and credible elections in Edo. Obaseki stated this when he played host to the Senate Committee on INEC, on a courtesy visit to the government house in Benin. According to him, as government we have made all the resources at our disposal available to all agencies of government that are going to handle the conduct of the election weather INEC or the security agencies. “We want to believe that INEC, the umpire,…
Drugmaker AstraZeneca announced Saturday that its COVID-19 vaccine studies have resumed in the United Kingdom, though not yet in the United States. The vaccine trials had been placed on hold around the world earlier in the week after a U.K. participant in one of the studies developed a neurological illness. The candidate vaccine was developed by the University of Oxford along with AstraZeneca. The goal of the large studies is to see whether the vaccine is capable of preventing COVID-19 and whether it is safe. Although initial studies didn’t reveal serious side effects from the vaccine, rare complications of any vaccine, if…
To state that we live in challenging times is perhaps an understatement and does very little justice in accurately capturing our current realities. Those realities include a world faced with a pandemic the scale of which hasn’t been seen in 100 years. The crisis has crippled economies, destroyed global supply chains and obliterated once productive and viable sectors of the economy. Our dear nation has not been spared in this difficult period and, indeed, has felt the impact of the global crisis. But as a responsive government, the Buhari administration has within limited resources designed responses that are targeted at…
At least 33 people have been killed by fires raging in California, Oregon and Washington since the start of a record-breaking wave of fires in mid-August, according to the latest figures. Wildfires this year have burnt a staggering 1.3 million hectares in California and killed 22 people there since Aug. 15, according to the state’s CalFire agency. Another 10 people have died in Oregon and a child died in Washington. While cooler weather conditions and calmer winds are helping authorities battle the blazes over the weekend, many of the fires in Oregon and California remain largely uncontained, forcing tens of…