It has been a difficult two weeks for me as I travelled to Niger Republic for a conference on “Conversations on the Sahel” and on my return was diagnosed with Covid-19. It is difficult to know where and how the infection occurred. Everyone on the flights had their face masks on, except when refreshments were served and people remove them to eat and drink. Gone are the days when direct flights from Abuja to Niamey on Arik, existed. Now it’s ASky with a difficult trajectory from Abuja-Lome-Ouagadougou-Niamey. During the conference itself, it is facemask always, except when making a speech.…
Author: Newsdesk
The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), has named five persons to serve as members of the interim management team for the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) Plc. In a statement issued on Thursday in Abuja by Amina Othman, Head, Public Communications, BPE said that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the power sector regulator, has approved the appointment of the interim management team. It also said that the team would be headed by Bada Akinwumi as Interim Managing Director, Sani Usman as Interim Chief Business Officer, and Babajide Ibironke as Interim Chief Finance Officer. Others are Donald Etim as Interim…
By Justina Auta The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) Business Women Group (NAWORG) has advocated the mainstreaming of laws, policies to challenge and eradicate violence against women and girls (VAWG). NAWORG also stressed the need for regulations in the Nigerian political, business and government domains to address VAWG in the country. The group made the call in a statement on Thursday, signed by Aisha Abubakar, Chairperson, NAWORG in commemoration of the 2021 “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence” (GBV) in Abuja. Abubakar said that the report shows that 1 in 3 women aged…
By Justina Auta A non governmental organisation, Talitha Cumi Foundation (TCF), has created 30 safe spaces and engaged 750 marginalised girls on Gender Based Violence (GBV) under its Flashlight Action on Girl Safety (FLAGS) project. Ms Adetayo Erinle, Executive Director of the Tabitha Cumi Foundation (TCF), at the FLAGS project launch in Abuja, said the three-year project is to support girls in FCT, Nassarawa and Niger states on GBV. Erinle said the project was funded by the UN Trust Fund and implemented by TCF to support girls between 10-19 years in 10 communities across the three states. According to her,…
Katsina state government has ordered the restoration of telecom services in the 13 local government areas hitherto affected by banditry. Special Adviser to Gov. Aminu Masari on Security Matters, Ibrahim Katsina, confirmed this in Katsina Thursday. He said that the directive was sequel to the relative peace being recorded in the affected council areas. The state government had, in September, ordered the removal of the network in the 13 council areas mostly affected by banditry. The local government areas are: Jibia, Batsari, Safana, Kurfi, Danmusa, Dutsin-Ma, Kankara, Matazu, Musawa, Funtua, Faskari, Sabuwa, Dandume, Bakori, Danja and Malumfashi.
Sokoto state governor, Aminu Tambuwal on Thursday visited to condole the families of the 23 victims who got burnt in bandits attack Sabin Birni local government area of the state. The governor also made a personal donation of N250,000 to each of the 23 families whose members were affected by the attack and pledged that the state government will foot the bills of those receiving treatment in the hospitals. The bandits on Monday, attacked and burnt 32-seater bus at Gidan Bawa village on Monday. Addressing the families in Sabon Birni town, Tambuwal expressed dismay over the attack and promised to…
To ensure food security for the rapidly increasing population of Nigeria, it is important to increase food production through the adoption and utilization of indigenous engineering innovation in agriculture. Olawale Olukunle, a Professor of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, stated this while delivering the 140th inaugural lecture of the Federal University of Technology, Akure. The lecture titled, “Tackling Insecurity and Food Crisis Head-On: Riding on the Wings of Engineering Innovations,” held on Tuesday 7th December, at the Obafemi Awolowo Auditorium of the institution. Olukunle, who has invented and fabricated a number of machines, including Cassava Peeler and water hyacinth harvester said “innovative capabilities are…
The World Health Organisation (WHO) continues to oppose making booster shots against COVID-19 universally available in the interests of making first jabs more accessible worldwide. Alejandro Cravioto, Chairperson of the Independent Advisory Council on Immunisation (SAGE) said on Thursday that it is a matter of fair vaccine distribution. He said the situation was different for those who had compromised immune systems for whom the council had already recommended a third dose. He said as long as not enough vaccines were available, the priority must remain to offer everyone in the world a basic one or two dose vaccination against COVID-19.…
Nasarawa governor, Abdullahi Sule on Thursday presented a N109.80 billion 2022 budget to the state House of Assembly for approval. This is below the 2021 budget of N112.9 billion. Presenting the budget tagged “Budget of Sustainable Transformation”, Sule said that it was made up of N70.89 billion recurrent expenditure, representing 64.56 per cent and N38.01 billion capital expenditure, representing 35.44 per cent. “The sectorial breakdown of the budget include – Administrative sector, Government House- 8.94 billion, Secretary to the State Government office- N9.40 billion, Legislative- N1.76 billion and pension and gratuity- N4.8 billion. “Others are Works, Housing and Transport- 14.05…
The Serum Institute of India, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, let Africa down by pulling out of talks to supply Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines, according to John Nkengasong, Head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control (ACDC). Nkengasong said on Thursday that the institute created distrust that affected the demand for the vaccines. He denounced recent comments from Serum that uptake of its COVID-19 shots had slowed because of low demand from Africa and vaccine hesitancy. He said the real problem was that Serum had acted unprofessionally. Serum did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Nkengasong said Serum…