₦airaland Forum

The NCDC has released its daily updates on Coronavirus in the country on its official website but something what taken note of is that there have been no increase in the samples tested for a second consecutive day. This ought to cause anxiety among Nigerians about the reliability of this figures, since suspected patients need to be tested before confirming their status.

So far Nigeria has been so backward, right from her preparedness to combat the deadly pandemic at its onset up till date. The WHO and other medical bodies have long stressed the importance of carrying out mass tests inorder to quarantine the infected populace from others.

The Federal government imposed a 14 day lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and the FCT on march 29, which was extended for another 21 days. Also the the FG earmarked N500bn to boost the countries health infrastructure and allocated a meagre N10bn to the NCDC. Despite the funds poured from governmental bodies, donations from individuals and organisations to combat the disease, Nigerians have not seen any great preparedness to combat the disease, such as construction of field hospitals, procurement of medical equipments or even conducting substantial amount of tests.

With the current test sample figures updated by the NCDC, it becomes a reality that either the organisation is not well funded or its simply underperforming. Nigeria has one of the least tests carried out per million of its population in the world. Also our fatalities has been increasing tremendously, taking comparison with Ghana with similar confirmed cases but just over 22 deaths as to ours of 143 as of May 11. These fatality rate is a direct result of the system not being able to test and confirm Covid patients at mild conditions inorder to be properly taken cared of, than being brought at a later precarious stage when all symptoms has surfaced.

A screenshot of the Today and Previous daily updates by the NCDC

According to Worldometers which has been tracking the coronavirus, Nigeria is among countries with least tests per million of its populace. As of 1 May 2020 the NCDC has carried out only 15,759 tests at a ratio of 76 persons per million been tested. The NCDC Director-General Chikwe Ihekweazu had defended the the nation's slow pace in the virus testing at a briefing with World Health Organisation on 23rd April 2020. He was quoted saying "Authorities have adopted a strategy of managed acceleration and won’t pool samples to multiply testing capacity as is currently being done in Ghana, which has rolled out one of the largest testing programs in the region, I would rather go a little bit slower and get it right than speed into a situation that we will end up regretting"

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has emphasised the crucial importance of testing. Speed is of the essence, and three things are crucial: tracking down cases with symptoms; identifying their household cluster and tracing people they’ve contacted; and quarantining them until they are no longer infectious. Testing is the basis of public health detective work to shut down an epidemic. “You can’t fight a virus if you don’t know where it is,” said the WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, recently. “Find, isolate, test and treat every case, to break the chains of transmission. Every case we find and treat limits the expansion of the disease.

A chart by Worldometers tracking Covid 19

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has emphasised the crucial importance of testing. Speed is of the essence, and three things are crucial: tracking down cases with symptoms; identifying their household cluster and tracing people they’ve contacted; and quarantining them until they are no longer infectious. Testing is the basis of public health detective work to shut down an epidemic. “You can’t fight a virus if you don’t know where it is,” said the WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, recently. “Find, isolate, test and treat every case, to break the chains of transmission. Every case we find and treat limits the expansion of the disease.”

Physical distancing is another strategy, but it’s less effective than testing. In the early stages of an epidemic, when clusters are few and far between, one needs a huge population distancing effort to stop their spread. At that point, most people won’t grasp the scale of the threat and will resist restrictive orders. So testing, contact tracing and quarantining people with symptoms is crucial.

The NCDC Director-General Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu had initially blamed the lack of health infrastructure across the country as a major problem hampering the organisation ability to carry out mass testing, but recently shifted the blame on shortage of testing kits globally. At the early stage of the outbreak the NCDC made public that it was tracing thousands of persons suspected to have made contact with diagnosed Covid 19 patients which at the time numbered a few dozens. As of 30 April 2020 total test carried out are just 12828 compared to Ghana, South Africa and Egypt with 106,090, 197,127 and 90,000 respectively.

Top Ten Countries With Least Covid 19 Tests

Total Total Total Tests/
Cases Deaths Tests 1m pop

1. Yemen 6 2 120 4
2. Burundi 11 1 284 24
3. Senegal 882 9 466 28
4. Malawi 36 3 744 39
5. MZ 76 0 1896 61
6. Nigeria 1728 51 12828 62
7. Haiti 76 7 776 68
8. PN Guinea 8 0 604 68
9. Sao Tome 14 0 19 87
10. Mali 482 25 2172 107

How much has these guy donated to charity, I can bet in his hometown there are a lot of children out of school..., demmm Nigerian celebs

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday
warned local communities in Katsina State not to mete out
capital punishment on any suspected bandits they catch,
rather they should hand them over to the law enforcement
authorities.

The President said that meting out capital punishment on
the bandits could lead to cycle of revenge and counter
revenge.

While condemning the latest round of attacks on farmers by
bandits in Damkal and Tsanwa villages in Batsari local
government area of Katsina state, President Buhari said that
killing people in the name of revenge was not acceptable.

According to the statement issued by the Senior Special
Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam
Garba Shehu, the President gave the warning in his reaction
to the incident in which many homesteads were razed by
fire with many people killed at weekend.

President Buhari in the statement warned that “no one in
the country has a right to take laws into his hands by the
way of self-help or revenge.

“Local communities that catch bandits should hand over
the suspects to law enforcement authorities instead of
meting out capital punishment, leading to a cycle of
revenge and counter revenge.”

He urged community leaders and the local authorities to
continue their efforts in partnership with law enforcement
agencies that bring the surrender of bandits, leading to
peace between farmers and herders.

“The authorities must be allowed to investigate and deal
with any breach that occurs. There is no place for violence
in a decent society,” said the President.
He prayed that God will comfort families that have lost
loved ones in the attacks and repose the souls of the
victims.

Freshers in Michael Okpara University Of Agriculture will have to pay as high as N61000 for school fees and a non refundable N50000 acceptance fee. A look at the fee schedule below

[quote author=sarrki post=85898613]The arrogance of the north is becoming unbearable

[/quote

Please let's be careful the way we say the word North, we have the North west, east, central. One North policy has been purported to enslave other ethnicities in the North by fulani. Fulani are the cos of these issue and should be identified properly not saying the NORTH.., PLEASE

07063729947

Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has reacted to the appointment of Mike Phelan as the new Assistant Manager of the club.
Man United on Friday appointed Phelan as Red Devils’ new Assistant Coach.

“Manchester United is delighted to announce that Mike Phelan has been appointed Assistant Manager on a three-year contract,” Man United said in a statement.
But reacting, Solskjaer described Phelan as a great person to have around, adding that 56-year-old has been invaluable him since last year December.

“Mike is a great person to have around and has been invaluable to me since we returned in December,” Solskjaer told Man United’s official website.
“He brings a wealth of experience to this role with a long established connection to the club.
“We have a good group of coaching staff and we are already working on the challenges that lie ahead as we plan for the new season and the future beyond.”

Kidnappers in Nigeria have shot dead a British
woman and a Nigerian man, and abducted three
others, officials have said.

Police and the British High Commission have
named the woman as Faye Mooney, 29, and said
they were aware of an incident which took place at
a holiday resort on Friday but would not speculate
on a motive.

The Briton was working in Nigeria as a
communications specialist for aid group Mercy
Corps and was one of 12 tourists travelling to the
northern city of Kaduna from Lagos, police said.
Police said Ms Mooney, who worked in the west
African nation for nearly two years, had been
attending a party before the incident.

In a statement, Mercy Corps said it was "utterly
heartbroken" by the killing. "Faye was a dedicated and passionate communications and learning specialist who
had worked with Mercy Corps for almost two years,
devoting her time to making a difference in Nigeria,
supporting our teams and the communities we
work with to tell their stories of impact, and leading
efforts to counter hate speech and violence.
"A graduate of University College London and the
London School of Economics who had taught in
Iraq and worked in Kosovo to combat human
trafficking, Faye was deeply committed to fostering
cross-cultural collaboration and was an inspiration
to us all.

"We extend our deepest sympathy to those who
have been affected by this senseless tragedy,
including her family, friends and all of our team
members in Nigeria who knew her and loved her."
A Kaduna state police spokesman said: "Some
suspected kidnappers armed with dangerous
weapons gained entry into a recreational resort
called Kajuru Castle in Kajuru local government
area shooting sporadically and in the process shot
dead two persons, including an expatriate lady, and
took away three others."

Officers have not yet named the other person killed
in the incident.No individuals or groups have said they
are behind the killing and police are yet to identify the
kidnappers.Northern Nigeria has been dealing with a
Boko Haram and Islamic State insurgency and clashes
between farmers and herders, in which hundreds
have died. Kaduna has seen a spate of kidnappings by armed men in recent months.

In a statement, the British High Commission said:
"We are aware of the tragic incident involving the
death of a British national in Kaduna State on
Friday. "The next-of-kin has been notified.
"The British High Commission offers our most
profound sympathies and condolences to the
families and friends at this difficult time."

On Friday , the Christian Association of Nigeria
visited President Muhammadu Buhari to
congratulate him on his re - election . During
their visit , they urged the President to observe
religious balance in the composition of his
cabinet in his second term . They also requested
that , for the 9 th National Assembly , either the
Senate President or Speaker of the House of
Representatives should be a Christian . They
reasoned that since the President is a Muslim
and the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria also
professes the Islamic faith, the country needs a
Christian in the legislative arm of government
to give everyone a sense of fairness and
belonging.

CAN ’ s brazenness in making such demands is ,
perhaps, informed by a similar assault recently
against reason by the advocacy group, Muslim
Rights Concern. MURIC had asked Buhari to
appoint Muslim ministers from five of the states
in the South - West when he puts the cabinet
together . The group claimed that it was the
only way to redress the imbalance of having
only one Muslim governor in the geopolitical
zone.

Now , when confronted with this kind of an
impasse, there is a tendency to resort to the
predictable response that the overriding
determinant in making these appointments
should be merit and not religion . We should
move past that level already since the logic is
too basic to penetrate the minds of those who
need it . Those of us who have a liberal mindset
towards religious identity politics need to take
those who advocate religion as qualification
seriously . We should treat their demands with
the same gravity as politicians do. Just last
year , Vice President Yemi Osinbajo , while
responding to charges of nepotism in Buhari’ s
government , claimed that Christians outnumber
Muslims in Federal Government appointments .
He pointed out that although the cabinet had
18 Christians and 18 Muslims , the former still
upend the latter since both the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation and the Head of
Service are Christians.

The preciseness of Osinbajo ’ s response shows
that they do not toy with the optics of religious
politics . It is a reality of our political situation
that religion has become an idea of merit and
we should deal with it on those terms . As a
society , we have long arrived at a point where
our politics have been reduced to the worship
of the twin Baal of geopolitics and religious
partisanship . In the last election , the tribes of
the electoral candidates and their religion
featured more in our discourses than their
leadership capability . There is almost a
consensus that all the candidates are equally
meritocratic — or incompetent — and so
nobody wastes time weighing their
administrative abilities. They only need to get
into office and things will sort themselves out
somehow. Following CAN ’ s suggestion that Buhari should
observe “ ethnic and religious ” balance in future
appointments , I suggest that slots should be
reserved for atheists as well . They too deserve
representation .

I know that such a suggestion immediately puts
us in a messy terrain. Who is a “ Christian ” or
“ Muslim ” in Nigerian politics anyway ? The
Nigerian political class is mostly composed of
moral nihilists , or at best , agnostics . The others
mix their putative religion with patronising
Babalawos in their shrines at night . During the
day , they all claim a Muslim or Christian
religious identity because they have no choice.
All political appointments are distributed
between both sides; there is nothing ever set
aside for those who fall outside the religious
boxes .

I acknowledge that there are many religious
movements outside the Christian /Muslim
dichotomy and they also deserve to be
represented in government . However , we have
to be mindful of the fact that too many faiths
will stall appointments . In 2015 , it took six
months to select 18 Christians and 18 Muslims .
We do not need that kind of slow motion this
time . Besides , the Babalawos are already
represented through proxies — the politicians
who go to shrines to optimise their access to
supernatural power by mixing and matching
the Abrahamic God with Africanist beliefs.
Atheists are the only ones who have been
consciously left out of the party and there are
many good reasons they deserve a seat at the
table.

One , atheists do not have a smokescreen that
enables them to falsely propagate virtues they
do not have. If an atheist in a political office
turns out to be as corrupt as their religious
counterparts , it is easier to take them down .
We will not have to blow their religious decoy
to reveal their hypocrisy. They are not
superstitious. So they are not going to blame a
money - eating snake ; nor are they going to
attribute their susceptibility to temptation to
Satan . They will admit they did it because they
too want to enjoy the good life . Simple .

Two , since they will not be going to church or
mosque for any reason , they are not likely to
loot public funds as much as those who wear
their religion with their agbada robes . They do
not have any religious leader to “ settle , ” and
nobody is going to ask them to donate a
building to their church or mosque. Think of
how much money Nigeria will save if the
corruption pipeline that runs from public
offices to religious houses were cut off .

Three , if an atheist rigs an election , he will
keep the illegitimate victory to himself , at least.
He will not go to church to share a “ God did it ”
testimony . Nigerian politicians attribute their
victory at the polls to God , even when they rob
the collective wealth to fund those elections . By
going to church or mosque to register their
gratitude , they are legitimising a lie and
manipulating people . Atheists will not do that .

Four , atheists will approach their work with far
more clear- headedness since they do not
believe that any God is guiding their affairs .
They will not ape a minister whose chief
requirement before appointments is “ fear of
God . ” Also, because they know they do not
have a godfather, there is the marginal
possibility they would be better behaved in
government .

Five , there are not enough atheists in the world
at present to form a religious movement . For
the most part, they walk alone . The upside is
that there will not be organisations like either
CAN or MURIC to canvass for anything on their
behalf .

The 10 most expensive cities:

1=Singapore
1=Paris
1=Hong Kong
4 Zurich
5=Geneva
5=Osaka
7=Seoul
7=Copenhagen
7=New York
10=Tel Aviv
10=Los Angeles

The 10 cheapest cities:

1 Caracas
2 Damascus
3 Tashkent
4 Almaty
5 Bangalore
6= Karachi
6= Lagos
8= Buenos Aires
8= Chennai
10 New Delhi

Now that's why a bill should had passed the first reading against child molestation in the NASS.

The Governor of Kano State , Abdullahi Ganduje , on Tuesday ordered the immediate closure of two major stadiums in the state for renovation. The Cable reported that the governor ’ s action was coming five days to the campaign rally of Atiku Abubakar , presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party . Atiku ’ s rally is scheduled for February 10 while the renovation is expected to end on February 18 . The proposed general renovation reportedly included the installation of the new scoreboard , the running track and provision of sources for steady water supply to all parts of the stadiums . A government official , who spoke off the record told The Cable that the shutdown of the two stadiums – Sani Abacha Stadium situated at Kofar Mata and Kano Pillars Stadium at Sabon Gari – was intended to frustrate the campaign rally of the PDP. But Abbati Sabo , spokesman of the Kano State Sports Commission , said the closure was not targeted at the presidential rally of the PDP presidential candidate. He added that the renovation was as a result of the 2019 - 2020 Nigeria Premier League season . “ As far as I am concerned , this directive doesn’ t have a political undertone . The state government was advised to renovate the stadium, ahead of the NPL season , ” he said . “ The government had now heeded to the advice and ordered for the commencement of the project in order to have smooth conduct of the league. As you can see , the facility is in need of repair and the government has now answered the call for its renovation. ” President Muhammadu Buhari used the Sani Abacha Stadium for his reelection campaign last week .

Shahid has elephantiasis - a tropical disease caused by parasitic worms
A dad is slowly turning to stone after a rare condition has caused his legs to swell to twice their normal size.
Shahid Hussain, 38, suffers from elephantiasis - a painful parasitic infection that's made his limbs grow abnormally large.
It's left him virtually bedridden, with his legs alone weighing more than 7st 8lbs.

It's caused his legs to swell and crust like elephant's skin
The father-of-five, from Pakistan, said: "I was living my life quite normally but five years ago my legs started swelling.
"Initially, I thought everything will be fine but now the disease has left me virtually bedridden and I can hardly walk.
"I never imagined that my condition will be like this - I will be literally paralysed."

He can now barely see his feet and he's virtually bed-bound
Shahid was working at a car garage to support his family but since he's been unable to work, they're all having to rely on the charity of other family members.
His wife Fatima said that all of their savings have been spent - including the money they had saved for their daughters' weddings.
"I sold my jewellery as well and we are dependent on our relatives now," she said.
"We don't understand what to do."
Shahid's family took him to several doctors in Karachi but they were unable to offer any help - telling him that he'd be better off heading to a bigger hospital in the capital Islamabad instead.

He's tried to get treatment in Pakistan but local doctors can't treat him
Due to their financial situation, however, there's no way that Shahid can make that happen.
Fatima added: "Doctors told us we should go to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad for a surgery but we can't afford the treatment there.
"We didn't even have money to travel to Karachi, so how can we go to Islamabad which is a costly city and we don't know anyone there who can help us?
"We are hopeful that people take notice of Shahid's condition and come forward for our help."

Its quite an important observation you've tendered here. I for one, detests the attitude of regular Nigerians towards the naira. In Enugu where i'm domiciled, once a bill suffers some dent or tear, that piece is deemed as lost; nobody wants to possess it anymore.

Marcelo290:
I just weak. I'm tired of even insulting these fools.

i feel your pain

Irate soldiers yesterday invaded and ransacked a police station in Port Harcourt following the killing of their colleague by policemen . Soldiers who laid siege at the police station located along Aba George Road for several hours , caused pandemonium and traffic gridlock in the area. The Guardian gathered from an eyewitness that yesterday morning, the slain soldier who lodged in a hotel at Elioparanwo area of Port Harcourt was said to have stepped out of the hotel on mufti with his rifle . Just as he attempted to board a tricycle , some policemen in a patrol van accosted him and opened fire , allegedly mistaking him to be a miscreant. The policemen then carried the deceased soldier into their van and drove to the station. Shortly after the shooting of the soldier , his colleagues who were still in the hotel were notified and they quickly alerted others in Port Harcourt . Within a few minutes, scores of soldiers stormed the Ada George Police Station and barricaded the area to demand for the particularly trigger happy policeman who slain their colleague . Some policemen who may have anticipated a reprisal attack were said to have absconded from the station before the arrival of the teeming soldiers. On arrival , the irate soldiers demanded that the policemen on duty should produce the policeman responsible for the cold - blooded murder , but to no avail. Not satisfied, the soldiers then went on rampage , beating the policemen and allegedly forced the police cell open and released all the detainees .

Noura Hussein, a 19-year-old Sudanese woman, was sentenced to death by a court for stabbing to death a man she was forced to marry after he raped her. The death penalty for Hussein was confirmed by a judge on Thursday after her husband's family rejected financial compensation and insisted on retribution. "The husband's family received the verdict with claps of joy and cheering," said Amal Habani, a Sudanese journalist and women's rights activist who attended the hearing in Omdurman, Sudan's second-largest city. "But for Hussein's supporters at the courtroom, the news was very distressing.
Hussein's legal team has 15 days to appeal the death sentence. According to another human rights activist who also attended the hearing, large crowds of supporters for Hussein gathered outside the court to protest the verdict, but police violently dispersed them. "People protested carrying signs and posters to show their disapproval of the verdict," said Rasha Abualayla. "But the police snatched the posters out of their hands and even started beating some of them." Rights activists have campaigned on behalf of Hussein on social media and a #JusticeForNoura hashtag has trended on Twitter.
Underage, forced marriage At 16, Hussein was forced by her parents to marry her cousin, according to activists. According to members of the #JusticeForNoura campaign, Hussein was forced to sign the marriage contract in 2014. She then fled to a relative's house in eastern Sudan before the wedding ceremony was completed. Her father allegedly tricked her into returning to her husband. After six days of Hussein refusing his advances, he raped her with the help of family members who held her down, supporters say. "She would not have sex with the man," Sarah ElHasan, a rights activist, told Al Jazeera. "He recruited some of his cousins and brought them [to his] home where they held her down while her husband raped her." When Hussein's husband attempted to rape her again, she stabbed him to death before returning to her family, who then handed her over to police. "We will try to appeal the decision in the next 15 days ... We are hopeful that it will be possible," said a member of Hussein's legal team, who asked not to be named because of the case's sensitivity. "Noura had lots of problems in her life and marriage, which should be taken into consideration ... We are working on getting the judge to see those sides of the case."
According to Habani, forced and child marriages in Sudan are an ongoing issue women's rights activists have been trying to address. "Like Noura, who was only a child when she got married, there are many child marriages and forced marriages in Sudan. The law doesn't see that as illegal and neither does it consider marital rape so," explained Habani. "Noura faced a lot of violence from her family to marry a man she rejected from the start. Then, she was beaten into submission by his family to consummate the marriage. Noura was a victim before she became a criminal. She shouldn't have been handed down a death penalty."

If he gets shot now, some fools will tag it rascist

This country is in total chaos, going to form mine

biacan:
I hope the solders where among the dead

let's pray that they are the only ones killed

Mind u if that happens, u will never be the asshole

Disturbing ass

R.I.P to the dead

So no traditionalist or humanist, so the shithole country is just split by the two slave religion

pls is just owned by cazy oshoimole

I thought they have been employed in the agric sector, then why this

It's an universal law--
intolerance is the first sign of
an inadequate education. An
ill-educated person behaves
with arrogant impatience,
whereas truly profound
education breeds humility.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

just wish Nigerian institutions can tolerate peoples views

Days after the name of Nigerian actress Funke Akindele miraculously appeared on the cast list of upcoming international film Avengers: Infinity War . Nigerians had taken to social media in excitement to congratulate Funke for her alleged role in the film before checks revealed that the story was a hoax and that a hacker put her name on the list. While many were still reacting to the report, it was discovered that another actress Genevieve Nnaji’s name had suddenly appeared on the cast list. In fact, her name replaced that of Funke Akindele.
A few hours’ later checks by NAIJ.com revealed that Genevieve’s name has also disappeared from the cast list posted on movie site IMDb.com as the screenshot below shows. There has been no ‘official explanation’ as to why the names of these Nigerian stars appeared on the actors list of the much anticipated film.

Two women who dressed as nuns have
been arrested as they robbed a bank .
The two women had entered a Citizens
Bank branch in Pennsylvania , United
States of America, pretending to want
to transact business.
However, genuine customers and bank
officials were surprised when the
supposed nuns went ahead to rob the
bank .
One of the women was later identified
as a 23- year - old immigrant from
Dominican Republic , Melisa Aquino
Arias ; and her accomplice , 19- year- old
Swahilys Pedraza - Rodriguez, is from
New Haven .
The police are on their case , online
medium, Inside Edition, reports .
See the photos of the real women
behind the veils: