Senators on Monday expressed reservation over the preparedness of the Federal Government to manage the COVID-19 vaccination in the country.

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and his colleagues spoke at a meeting with the Minister of Health Osagie Ehanire and Finance Minister, Mrs Zainab Ahmed.

The ministers were in the Senate to brief the leadership of the Red Chamber on the Federal Government’s plans to procure COVID-19 vaccines worth about N400bn.

Lawan said it was a good bargain to spend N400 billion to protect Nigerians from the deadly virus but expressed reservations over the availability of facilities and manpower to manage the vaccine.

“I have not been convinced with your presentation that we are ready to bring in the vaccines.

“You have to do much more to convince me that we are ready. This is a matter of life and death. I am not only a doubting Thomas, I am also doubting Ahmad”

The Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege, also joined in expressing doubt in the ability of the health officials to guarantee the safety of the vaccines.

He said, “I am a doubting Omo-Agege also.”

He expressed worry that the government so far had made preparations for only four cold chains for the vaccines, in Abuja, Kano, Enugu and Lagos and asked why the entire South South region was not included in the plan.

The DSP also expressed worry that the vaccines may lose its efficacy on transit to the South South if no facility was provided.

Other senators also expressed doubts over the presentations of the officials from the Ministry of Health on the facilities that had been put in place to ensure adequate storage protection for the vaccines.

“We are Ready”

But the health minister insisted that the government was substantially ready for a successful COVID-19 vaccination exercise for its citizens.

He maintained that the country, which has successfully fought polio, would use the same storage facilities (cold chains) to store the COVID-19 vaccines.

He explained that the federal government was in talks with manufacturers and had trained staff as well as put the right cooling infrastructure in place to store the vaccines when they are acquired.

The minister said about N400bn would be required to vaccinate 70 per cent of Nigerians 211 million population, at $8 person.

He said N156bn would be needed in 2021 while N200bn in 2022.

Worried about the mutated strain of COVID-19 manifesting itself in the United Kingdom, the Federal Government says it may impose a travel ban to and from certain parts of the world.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at a Special Forum of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Mohammed, a member of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, said while the government appreciates the negative economic impact of another lockdown, it would not rule out restriction on movement to and from certain parts of the world.

“We are more concerned about the new strain of COVID-19 which is manifesting itself in the UK; that is the mutated strain.

“It is difficult to detect, it spreads faster and people have been known to die of it within a very short period of its detection.

“This is a major concern to us as a country.

“While I do not want to pre-empt the PTF because we are meeting this afternoon, it is going to be top on the agenda of our discussions.

“I will not be surprised if that will be the recommendation of the committee which is meeting later today,’’ he said.

The minister added: “This season, many students are coming from the UK in particular, to come and join their families in Nigeria.

“Besides, many of our people, because of the traditional link we have with UK, may want to go there for business or family re-union.

“It is a very testy time and it might be another dangerous period to transmit this new variant of COVID-19.”

The minister noted that many European countries had banned flights to and from the UK.

According to Mohammed, the Federal Government will not hesitate in giving the directive if it is the only way Nigerians can be protected from the agony of the new variant of COVID-19.

Besides measures to prevent the importation of the new strain of COVID-19, the minister said government was worried about the spike in infections in the last couple of days.

He enjoined Nigerians to comply with the advisory being regularly issued by the PTF, including the use of face mask, compliance with social distancing protocols and regular washing of hands with soap and water.

The minister also urged Nigerians to refrain from local or international travels except if absolutely necessary.

The New Strain

The United Kingdom has recorded 2.04 million cases of COVID-19 and 67,401 deaths.

There have been reports of a new strain of the virus in the United Kingdom and this has necessitated the suspension of flights from the country to France, Germany, Ireland and other countries in Europe.

Canada, India, Argentina, Chile and Colombia have all joined the list of non European countries to suspend direct flights to and from the UK.

Nigeria’s former vice President, Atiku Abubakar has also urged the Federal government to consider imposing temporary suspension of flights from the UK.

“The reason Nigeria took a harder than necessary hit during the first wave of the #COVID19 virus is that the Federal Government failed to heed the warnings of well-meaning Nigerians, like myself and others, to shut down our borders once the virus became a pandemic,” Atiku said in a statement on Sunday.

“Hindsight is 20/20. Nevertheless, we must learn from history, or we stand the risk of repeating it.

“The new strain of COVID19 that has erupted in the United Kingdom, and specifically, London, can add to Nigeria’s health emergency if we do not act with an abundance of caution and temporarily halt all flights to and from the UK until this new strain is brought under control.

“Already, prudent nations are taking prompt action, and Nigeria must take necessary precautions due to the volume of air traffic between Nigerian airports and London, where this new strain has erupted.

“We must face the reality that our health sector is not sufficiently prepared to handle a sudden and unpredictable surge of this pandemic. We have already lost lives needlessly. We need not lose more.

“In the case of this virus, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” he said.

Former Abia State Governor and Chief Whip of the Senate, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, has said going to prison has made him a better person.

According to him, the prison experience was an eye-opener and something that revealed many secrets to him.

Kalu spoke in Lagos during a Thanksgiving session at the Love World Incorporated, otherwise known as Christ Embassy, Ikeja where he revealed that his incarceration was prophesied by the General Overseer of the Church, Pastor Chris Oyekhilome.

It would be recalled that Senator Kalu was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment in December 2019 on corruption charges but he was released from Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja in June 2020 after the Federal High Court in Lagos presided by Justice Muhammed Liman ordered his release, following a Supreme Court judgment nullifying his trial and conviction.

The Supreme Court had, in May, ruled that the trial and judgment delivered in 2019 was null and void and ordered for a fresh trial while Kalu was subsequently released from prison.

Kalu however stressed that his experience in prison helped him to discover many things he never thought could ‘possibly happen in our clime.’

He said: “I am happy that I went to prison. I went to prison and I am out. I am happy because, going to prison has made me a refined, better and more forward looking man.

“I went to prison and discovered many secrets that I never believed that could happen.”

He said as a Catholic, he never believed in prophesy but he was surprised that Pastor Oyakhilome’s prophecy came to pass.

“Pastor Chris told me that I will go to prison but I didn’t believe that can happen. I remember that I visited him; and after praying here in this church, I was about to go to the airport to catch my flight to Abuja. He told me that he has something to tell me, but that unfortunately it is bad news. ‘You will go to prison,’ the pastor said.

“I said it is impossible. Pastor Chris told me that nothing can change it; but added that God will bring me out and that he will keep praying for me,” the former governor narrated.

Kalu explained that he had known Oyakhilome for 28 years, adding that he had on several occasions disagreed with the cleric each time he made predictions concerning him but at the end of the day, the Pastor’s predictions would come to pass.

“When this prophesy came to pass, I didn’t want to give this testimony. I am a chore Catholic and I don’t believe anything prophesy. I didn’t want to give testimony; but because this one concerns me I decided to testify. I think from now, I will begin to agree with his predictions,” the Senate Chief Whip added.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) will decide on which part of the country will produce its presidential candidate for 2023 in June next year, sources in the party told Daily Trust on Tuesday.

One of the sources said if the North gets the slot of the national chairman of the party during the national convention of the party, the South will produce the presidential candidate and vice versa.

An emergency virtual National Executive Committee (NEC) yesterday extended the lifespan of the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led 13-member APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) by six months. The timeline given the caretaker committee will expire on December 25, but the NEC extended it for another six months period that would terminate on June 30, 2021.

Among other issues, the reason given by the party was for the committee to complete membership revalidation and registration of new members, but competent sources said the window will most importantly afford the party opportunity to resolve contentious issues zoning inclusive.

“This is partly why President Muhammadu Buhari in his remarks at the NEC meeting harped on healing wounds, mending fences and respecting the free-merger agreement reached by those behind the formation of the APC,” another source said.

He said the issue of which part of the country should produce the APC’s flag bearer was threatening the existence of the party as the second tenure of Buhari eats deep into the second year.

“While there are sources that believe APC leaders from the North can use the numerical strength of the region to hold on to power, those in the South feel it would amount to a betrayal of trust if the North did not reciprocate what was done to them in 2015.

“The extension of time for the Buni-led committee is honestly beyond membership registration…The major issue is the sharing formula without causing an unnecessary distraction.

“And even if the North agrees to hands-off, we have to agree on which part of the South should have the presidential candidate.

“There are those who believe it should go to the South West.

“There are those who believe it should go to the South East, and some people are saying the South-South should be given a chance, but it all depends on the disposition of the Villa,” the source said.



‘We must respect pre-2015 agreements’

In his remarks during the NEC meeting, President Buhari said the Buni-led caretaker committee had succeeded in bringing the new atmosphere of hope to the party and urged party members to collectively work towards the sustenance of peace.

“Healthy debates are now taking place and the potential for organs of the party to affirm the majority positions as the decision of the party is now possible,” Buhari said.

“What is required now is for all of us as leaders of the party to maintain discipline and ensure that this new momentum is protected, sustained and the decisions of party organs are respected by every member.

“May I use this opportunity to remind all of us of the need to recreate our negotiation the secret of 2012, 2013 under our legacy parties, what guided our success to achieve the merger that produced the APC was the respect we were able to have for each other.

“In those times, decisions reached both formal and informal consultations were respected.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is conducting recruitment examinations for about 191,000 candidates who applied for jobs in the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

Speaking with Journalists during the exercise for candidates into the NIS on Monday in Abuja, the Secretary of the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board, Yakmut Alhassan Saleh, said the computer-based exam was taking place at the same time in 126 centres across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He said: “All over the country, we have almost 190,000 candidates out of which 113,000 are Civil Defence, and for Immigration.

“We have 78,000 candidates across 126 centres in Nigeria.

“The examination is broken into three phases; we have the one for graduates and HND, NCE and OND and the third one for secondary school (leavers).”

The examination, according to him, was being conducted by JAMB to ensure transparency and avoid rancour and confusion that trailed a similar exercise a few years ago.

Yakmut said: “We need to go through a transparent method of a recruitment exercise and it has to start from the word go.

“This is just one component of the exercise, after this, we go into physical and medical as well as psychometric exercise.”

He said the Interior ministry was into partnership with JAMB to ensure that every candidate is given a fair opportunity to prove that he has the merit and requirement that we need.

On the number of vacancies that are expected to be filled by the applicants, the Board’s secretary said 9,460 jobs are up for grabs by successful candidates, adding that the results from the JAMB recruitment exam would be released immediately after the exercise.

“Immediately we get the results, we will shortlist for physical and medical checkups before 15 December (2020) IPP and capturing will commence, and they will now go for six months training for specialisation.”

“In both organisations, we are recruiting 9,460. 5,000 for civil defence and 4,460 for immigration,” Yakmut said.

The National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) has warned the federal government against accepting a salary payment platform designed by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) called University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).

It said the government must not allow itself to be blackmailed by any union to accept the lecturers’ platform, adding that NAAT had also worked assiduously to produce its own platform called Tertiary Institutions Integrity Payroll System (TIIPS).

It would be recalled that the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU), had recently notified the government about their separate platform that will serve as an alternative to the controversial Integrated Payroll and Payment Information System (IPPIS) introduced by the Federal Government.

The new platform introduced by SSANU and NASU was University General Peculiar Payroll Payment System (UGPPPS).

Addressing newsmen after its 44th National Executive Council (NEC) meeting during the weekend, President of NAAT, Ibeji Nwokoma, vowed that the association would also resist any attempt where the sharing of the recently approved N40bn Earned Allowance released by the federal government is skewed to favour a particular union to the detriment of its members.

He explained that its members were being owed the sum of N71 billion in arrears as part of the 2009 agreement with the federal government.

According to him, NAAT is also demanding that the sum of N100 billion be made available immediately and N5 billion annually for the next five years to equip laboratories, workshops & studios in the nation’s universities to bring them to international standard in the interest of students, production of quality graduates and National development.

The union leader also criticised the Chairman of the Federal Government Renegotiation Committee, Prof. Munzali Jibrin, over his comment on the sharing of the earned allowance, noting that the former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission has made himself the mouthpiece of ASUU.

He explained that “members of NAAT (Technologists) are trained professionally to impact practical knowledge, but the right atmosphere is not provided, it becomes difficult for Technologists to perform their duties properly.”

He, therefore, called for the immediate auditing of equipment in the University Laboratories, insisting that their position against UTAS does not mean they accepted the controversial IPPIS.

“The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) organized series of meetings to educate unions on the workings of the IPPIS where the Consultant, Infinix demonstrated and produced copies of payslips in which all allowances were said to have been captured with assurances that NAAT peculiarities would be taken care of. Unfortunately, this was not the case as all our allowance contained in the 2009 FGN/NAAT agreement was removed,” he added.

The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has said that the presidency’s responses to the recent killings of scores of farmers in Zabarmari, Borno State has exposed the deceptions of the federal g in its fight against the Boko Haram insurgency in the country.

Spokesman of the organisation, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, who stated this yesterday in Abuja, condemned what he called “the most insensitive responses by presidential aides, top cabinet members and the Army leadership to the renewed national concern around insecurity in the country”.

He said that “President Buhari’s implied endorsement of such insensitive responses suggests that the federal government is not humbled by the enormity of the Borno killings and affirms the fears that the concerns from many Nigerians on how the security infrastructure could be improved and leadership of the military could be made more effective, shall make no impression on the presidency.

The group raise concerns that the heightened security problems and attacks on farmers would jeopardize the country’s food security and sufficiency.

He said the CNG has resolved to convoke an all-Northern Nigeria security review in Kaduna on December 14 and 15 to address the growing security challenges in the north.

Traders at Unguwar Rimi Market in Kaduna North LGA have pleaded for extension of the deadline of the state government to enable them to evacuate their goods.

A 7-day notice given to the traders by Kaduna State Urban Development Properties Authority (KASUPDA) will end tomorrow, Dec 1, 2020.

The chairman of the Market Association, Alhaji Musa Hassan, said about 6,000 traders would be affected by the demolition and pleaded with the authorities to give them more time to relocate.

He said the temporary site allocated to the traders on Ramat Road, Unguwar Rimi, had not been developed, and “We have no place to move our wares.”

When Daily Trust visited the market, it was observed that traders had embarked on self-demolition of their shops in an attempt to salvage roofing sheets, doors, windows and other valuables.

A meat seller in the market, Alhaji Ya’u, said they were shocked by the impromptu notice but that as law-abiding citizens, they had no choice but to pray it was for the best.

The traders pleaded with the state government to develop and expand the temporary site which can only accommodate 300 shop owners.

Daily Trust reports that the quit notice, signed by KASUPDA’s Director, Development Control, Bello Musa Ibrahim, partly read: “In line with the Kaduna Urban Renewal Programme by the state government, you are hereby given 7-day notice from the date of receipt to vacate/remove all your valuables from the site.”

It warned that failure to comply with the directives would leave the authority with no option than to remove or demolish the said structures.

The Kwankwasiyya Movement and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano State have threatened to embark on a public protest against the alleged land grabbing and destruction of historical monuments by the Governor Abdullahi Ganduje-led administration.

The movement, led by a former governor of the state, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, insisted that the selling of public properties to “individuals for personal gains through non-transparent and unconstitutional means that are hitherto being used for the benefit of all” will also be challenged before the court of law if the government does not reverse its decisions.

The deputy governorship candidate of the PDP during the 2019 election, Comrade Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo, who is also the spokesman of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, made the position of the movement and the party known yesterday while addressing a press conference in Kano.

Gwarzo listed some of the properties to include Daula Hotel, Triumph Publishing Company, Eid Ground at Kofar Mata, Panshekara Modern Abbatoir; some part of Fagge Juma’at Mosque, Hajj Camp and Shahuci Motor Park.

Similarly, the movement questioned the non constitution of a panel of enquiry on police brutality in the state as directed by the federal governments in the wake of the EndSARS protests that rocked the nation, Kano inclusive.

In his reaction, Governor Ganduje said all the decisions on the relocation and/or sale of the properties in question were properly debated by the state Executive Council and had the best interest of the state at heart.

Speaking through his Special Adviser on Media, Salihu Tanko Yakasai, the governor noted that members of the Kwankwasiyya movement and the PDP are fellow citizens of the state and are at liberty to challenge the decision of his administration before the court of law.

“There haven’t been any of these issues that hasn’t been discussed and looked into by the Kano State Executive Council; sometimes with the inputs of professionals before a final decision is taken… So as far these decisions are concern, they are not illegal, and they have been done with due consultations with relevant stakeholders,” he said.

He also said they will have to get the approval of the police for them to embark on any protest in the state, insisting that with what transpired in the aftermath of ENDSARS protest across the country, the state would not allow anyone to hide behind any political ideology to foment troubles in the state.