Some Customs officers serving at the Federal Operations Unit Zone “A’’ of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) have been attacked by hoodlums working with smugglers. Deputy Comptroller, Usman Yahaya, made the disclosure in a statement by Mr Theophilus Duniya, Public Relations Officer of Federal Operations Unit Zone A of NCS, in Lagos on Tuesday. According to Yahaya, at about 800 hours on Dec. 22, 2020, the officers who were carrying out their statutory duty of enforcing anti-smuggling laws acted on intelligence. “They intercepted six Ford buses laden with foreign parboiled rice at Kikelomo area of Ayetoro, Ogun State. “Upon interception, some…
Author: Editor
The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution that will end the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Sudan’s Darfur (UNAMID) on Dec. 31, South African Ambassador to the United Nations Jerry Matjila said. “The result of the voting is as follows; the draft resolution received 15 votes in favour. “The draft resolution has been adopted unanimously,” Matjila, who presides with the UN Security Council during the month of December, said on Tuesday. The draft resolution, sponsored by the United Kingdom and Germany, will terminate the mission’s mandate after its was renewed by the UN Security Council on June 3.…
The European Commission on has banned the export of hazardous plastic waste from the European Union (EU) to countries that are not members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Also banned are plastic waste hard to recycle. “This is an important milestone in fighting plastic pollution,” said EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevicius in a news announcement. The ban is among a set of new EU rules on importing and exporting plastic waste. According to the rules that will enter into effect on Jan. 1, 2021, exporting plastic waste from the EU to OECD countries…
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday rejected the $900 billion (N349.2 trillion) Coronavirus (COVID-19) relief bill passed by Congress, describing it as a disgrace. In a video message posted on Twitter, Trump alleged that the bill contained “wasteful and unnecessary items”, adding that there was almost nothing about COVID-19 in it. According to him, the bill contains $85.5 million (N33 billion) for assistance to Cambodia and $134 million (N51,9 billion) to Burma. The president stated that there was also a provision of $1.3 billion (N504 billion) for Egypt and the Egyptian military. He said the Egyptian military would use the…
Pregnant women with COVID-19 during the third trimester are unlikely to pass the virus to their newborns, according to a research conducted in the U.S. The study, led by Dr Andrea Edlow of Harvard Medical School, and funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), is published in the journal, JAMA Network Open. According to the publication, the study followed 127 pregnant women admitted to Boston hospitals during the spring of 2020. Among the 64 pregnant women who contracted SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, no newborns tested positive, the study said. The researchers examined the occurrence of SARS-CoV-2…
Most Nigerian consumers are not likely to purchase expensive or luxury items in the next 12 months. The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, made this known in its Consumer Expectations Survey (CES) Report for December 2020, released by the Statistics Department of the apex bank on Tuesday in Abuja. According to the report, most consumers believed that the next one year would not be ideal for the purchase of high-costing items like vehicles and houses. CBN said that most respondents to the survey expected the naira to appreciate, while inflation rate would rise and increase in borrowing rate in the…
President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration will embark on a comprehensive health sector reform aimed at providing a world class 21st century health care system, capable of responding effectively to future pandemics. The president made the pledge when he received the End-of-Year Report of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday. He said: “For Nigeria to enjoy a lasting legacy from the huge investment in the health sector, a comprehensive Health Sector Reform that will achieve the following, amongst others, must be instituted. The objectives include to: Build the human and institutional capacity to provide a…
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has updated President Muhammadu Buhari with the political situation in The Gambia. The country’s President, Adama Barrow, is seeking re-election amid political tension and uncertainties. Barrow had on December 3 met with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where the two leaders engaged in bilateral talks. The 53-year old Gambian leader later told State House correspondents that his country still needed Nigeria’s stabilising support. “Things would have been very difficult for us without the invaluable support you gave,” Barrow said. Meanwhile, in a brief interview at the end of the closed door meeting, Jonathan said he…
A ghastly motor accident on Tuesday claimed lives of 17 people at Irepeni on Okene- Lokoja – Abuja highway in Kogi State. The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Sector Commander in Kogi, Mr Solomon Aghure, confirmed this to newsmen in Lokoja. He said that the accident, which occurred at about 5am, involved two vehicles in a collision. Aghure said that the two vehicles ; a luxury bus and a Toyota Hiace were both conveying a total of 55 passengers to different destinations. He said that 15 passengers died on the spot while two others died in hospital, bringing the total…
Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, has called on trained community defenders against Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) to be good advocates for the elimination of all forms of violence in the society. Abubakar made the call at the end of a four-day training of 160 community defenders against Gender Based Violence (GBV) and Harmful Practices (HP) organized by the Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development, an NGO, on Tuesday, in Sokoto. The Sultan, who was represented by the Emir of Argungu, Alhaji Sama’ila Mera, called on participants to spread the good understanding of the issues acquired from…