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 Health › South Korean Firm Develops Kit To Diagnose Coronavirus In 10 Minutes by prof2007(op): 11:39pm On Mar 22, 2020 |
A South Korean company has developed a faster test kit to diagnose cases of coronavirus. PCL, the company which provides diagnostic products, named the tester COVID-19 Ag GICA Rapid. Kim So-yeon, the company’s chief executive officer, was quoted as saying that the kit was developed using antibodies from China. He said the test can check nasal discharge for the presence of the virus within 10 minutes with an accuracy rate of around 85%. So-yeon said the antigen diagnostic kit would be a complementary measure for a quick test. “People infected with COVID 19 can spread the virus even at its earliest stage and at very mild symptoms, so the kit is a complementary test,” he said. The company said the test kit can be used at home to reduce trauma and stress. Globally, over 315,000 coronavirus cases have been recorded. The death toll has surpassed 14,000. SOURCE (Updated): https://www.thecable.ng/south-korean-firm-develops-kit-that-can-diagnose-coronavirus-in-10-minutes |
| Health › ‘it’s Not My Portion’, Leading Cause Of Cancer Death In Africa – Physician by prof2007(op): 11:35am On Mar 22, 2020 |
A Public Health Physician, Dr Chioma Nwakanma has attributed the general belief and saying ‘it is not my portion’ to leading cause of cancer death in Africa. Nwakanma, who is also the Executive Director of Smile With Me Foundation (SWMF), spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka on Saturday. She said that many people refused to go for screening and imbibe healthy behaviours because they believed they could not have cancer. According to her, cancer screening and early detection makes it easier to treat cancer and it reduces the chances of dying from cancer. Nwakanma said the most common types of cancer were breast, cervical, prostate, colon, rectal, lung, liver, pancreatic and brain cancers. “The Nigeria National Cancer Prevention and Control Plan (2018-2022), states that cancer is responsible for 72,000 deaths in Nigeria every year with an estimated 102,000 new cases of cancer annually. “No one wants to hear the word cancer, as it is one of the most dreaded words in the English language. “The reality is that children can have cancer. men and women can have cancer. The rich and the poor can have cancer. The religious and non-religious can have cancer, Blacks can have cancer and Whites can too. Cancer is killing more people worldwide than HIV/AIDs, Tuberculosis and Malaria put together but most people will keep saying ‘It’s not my portion’. “They will refuse to go for screening for early detection and treatment. By the time symptoms starts to appear cancer may have spread and by the time they come to the hospital, it will be too late to treat,’’ she said. Nwakanma said cancer prevention and early detection was key to reducing the high rate of cancer deaths. “Wearing sunscreen can save you from skin cancer, drinking plenty of water can protect your kidneys, not smoking can save you from lung and cervical cancer and limiting or stopping alcohol reduces risk of liver cancer. “It is really the little things that keep us safe,’’ Nwakanma said. SOURCE: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/03/its-not-my-portion-leading-cause-of-cancer-death-in-africa-physician/ |
| Health › Coronavirus: Thread For Daily Global Updates by prof2007(op): 3:57am On Mar 22, 2020*. Modified: 12:17pm On Mar 27, 2020 |
As at: 10:30am Mar 27, 2020: GLOBAL TOTAL 542,385 confirmed cases 24,368 reported deaths 125,490 recovered. Global dynamic mortality rate: 4.49% Global dynamic recovery rate: 23.14% B. NIGERIA 65 confirmed cases, 1 death, 3 recovered. Nigeria's dynamic mortality rate: 1.54% ============================================================= As at: 1:05pm Mar 26, 2020 A. GLOBAL TOTAL 489,547 confirmed cases 22,150 reported deaths 117,608 recovered. Global dynamic mortality rate: 4.53% Global dynamic recovery rate: 24.02% B. NIGERIA 51 confirmed cases, 1 death, 2 recovered. Nigeria's dynamic mortality rate: 1.96% prof2007: |
| Business › Cbn Unifies Fx Rates As FAAC Shares Allocation At N360/$ by prof2007(op): 2:20pm On Mar 21, 2020 |
Allocations to the three tiers of government in naira will increase, as the federation account allocation committee (FAAC) has adopted a new exchange rate rate of N360/$. This is as a result of the unification of exchange rates by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The committee, which disburses revenue to the three tiers of government, had normally used the CBN rate of N307/$. But with dwindling oil revenue, which constitutes about 60% of the disbursements, the rise in exchange rate will boost the federation allocations. The CBN rate of N307/$ is now history, while concessionary rates such as N325 and N330 have also been abolished. TheCable also understands that all international oil companies will now sell their FX incomes to CBN at N360/$, as against the N325/$ they used to sell to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The bank had earlier said market fundamentals do not support devaluation of the naira. This was to calm the market after panic in the BDC segment made the naira exchange go as high as N410/$. It said this in response to panic in the market after crude oil prices dropped to $30 on the back of a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. Nigeria has operated different exchange rate since the 2016 recession, with the official rate set at N307/$ and BDC rate at N360/$. TheCable also gathered that the slash in the price of petrol could not go lower as speculated because of the anticipated change in exchange rate. The federal government had slashed the pump price of petrol from N145 per litre to N125 to reflect a drop in crude oil prices. There has been no official statement from the CBN on the development. TheCable had earlier reported on Friday that the Nigeria traded at N380/$ on the Investors and Exporters window on Friday. This is the highest since the window was created in 2017 to ensure forex availability to businesses. The OMO auction conducted by the CBN on Thursday did not record any sales as investors adopted a wait-and-see approach on the back of reduced oil prices and the coronavirus outbreak. “Dear all, kindly be informed that the CBN has moved the rate of FX sales to FPIs from N366.70 to N380.20/$. We will advise as developments unfold,” a notice on the Bloomberg terminal read on Friday. The CBN has summoned an emergency bankers committee meeting for Saturday and the monetary policy committee meeting is scheduled to hold on Monday and Tuesday. SOURCE (abridged): https://www.thecable.ng/exclusive-cbn-unifies-fx-rates-as-faac-shares-allocation-at-n360 |
| Health › 26% Nigerians Believe Coronavirus Can't Infect ‘children Of God’, Study Claims by prof2007(op): 9:32am On Mar 21, 2020 |
26% of Nigerians believe they can’t be infected with coronavirus because they are “children of God”, a study has claimed. According to the study carried out by NOIPolls, they also believe they cannot contract the killer virus because of other factors including strong genes, the country’s weather, intake of herbs and the belief that the virus is “unAfrican”. NOIPolls is a country-specific polling service in the West African region, with support from Gallup (USA) to develop opinion research in Nigeria. It is named after Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (NOI), its creator who happens to be an ex-VP of world bank. “With the incorrect news of immunity being spread it is alarming to note that the poll revealed that 26% of Nigerians nationwide held the perception that they are immune to the virus,” said the study. “Further probing showed that Nigerians who held this belief have based it on their faith and religious beliefs (40%) and the perception that they have a strong genetic make-up (30%) that is resistant to the virus. “Additionally, other opinions on immunity to the virus includes, that the Nigerian weather is too hot for the virus to survive i n(17%), and that their personal herbal remedy will protect them from the virus (8%), while others have the idea that the COVID-19 is not an African disease rather a western disease (5%).” The study, however, revealed that there was increased awareness among Nigerians as regards the pandemic, with 84% of the country’s population said to know about the outbreak. The increased awareness had little impact on the prevention of the virus spread though with 50% of Nigerians lacking knowledge of basic preventive measures, the study said. “Furthermore, the poll revealed that 50% of Nigerians do not have information on preventive measure against the coronavirus disease. This implies that about 100 million Nigerians are at risk of being infected with the disease,” the study added. It also found that there is growing panic level over the virus in the country with 63% of Nigerians afraid that they may contract the virus. In spite of the panic, the study showed 97% of Nigerians are willing to report cases and submit themselves to be tested for the virus. The study comes on the heels of a recent claim by Enoch Adeboye, the general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), that the virus won’t come near those who serve God. Adeboye’s claim also comes days after Mike Bamiloye, founder of Mount Zion Faith Ministries International, had said the low spread of COVID-19 in Africa is due to fasting and prayers in the continent. Nigeria recorded four new cases of the COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 12. SOURCE: https://lifestyle.thecable.ng/26-of-nigerians-believe-coronavirus-cant-infect-children-of-god-study-claims/ |
| Career › Where Are Your Pension Funds Invested? by prof2007(op): 8:54am On Mar 21, 2020*. Modified: 9:14am On Mar 21, 2020 |
Are you a contributor to a pension fund? This chart shows how your money is invested... SOURCE: National Pension Commission.
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| Health › Coronavirus: Makinde Apologises For Holding PDP Rally by prof2007(op): 12:43am On Mar 21, 2020 |
Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, on Thursday, apologised for allowing a Peoples Democratic Party ‘mega rally’ in the state even in the face of an emerging threat and fast spreading coronavirus disease in Nigeria. No fewer than a thousand persons were present at the PDP rally, which had other governors of the party in attendance including Governor Duoye Diri of Bayelsa State. Many Nigerians have described the party’s action as ‘irresponsible’, ‘insensitive’ and ‘disappointing’. Makinde, who has been under scathing criticisms since the rally held Wednesday in Ibadan, the state capital, said he regretted his action which “should not have happened”. The governor said, “I have received your complaints about the rally that was held yesterday, and I feel obligated to state in clear terms that we acted based on the information we had at that time. In retrospect, it should not have happened and I take responsibility for that lapse in judgement. We do not currently have any confirmed case of coronavirus in Oyo State; (yet,) we still all need to be more proactive.” Makinde said the state government would set up the Oyo State COVID-19 Task Force led by himself and it would hold its first meeting on Friday, March 20, 2020. “Immediately after the meeting, I will hold a press conference and update you on all decisions reached and so far, implemented,” he added. As of Friday morning, Nigeria has 12 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and a few suspected cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. Social distancing has been recommended by the World Health Organisation to prevent community transmission of the virus that has infected over 200,000 lives globally with over 8,000 attendant deaths. The governments in Nigeria at both federal and state levels as well as religious institutions have banned gatherings of more than 50 persons per time as part of measures to prevent community transmission of the infection. SOURCE: https://punchng.com/makinde-apologises-for-holding-pdp-rally-amid-coronavirus-crisis/ |
| Health › How Does The New Coronavirus Compare With The Flu? by prof2007(op): 11:30am On Mar 20, 2020 |
WHICH ONE IS MORE WORRISOME? The new coronavirus outbreak has made headlines in recent weeks, but there's another viral epidemic hitting countries around the world: flu season. But how do these viruses compare, and which one is really more worrisome? So far, the new coronavirus has led to more than 220,000 illnesses and more than 9,300 deaths worldwide. But that's nothing compared with the flu, also called influenza. In the U.S. alone, the flu has caused an estimated 36 million illnesses, 370,000 hospitalizations and 22,000 deaths this season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That said, scientists have studied seasonal flu for decades. So, despite the danger of it, we know a lot about flu viruses and what to expect each season. In contrast, very little is known about the new coronavirus and the disease it causes, dubbed COVID-19, because it's so new. This means COVID-19 is something of a wild card in terms of how far it will spread and how many deaths it will cause. ALL ABOUT CORONAVIRUS "Despite the morbidity and mortality with influenza, there's a certainty … of seasonal flu," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a White House press conference on Jan. 31. "I can tell you all, guaranteed, that as we get into March and April, the flu cases are going to go down. You could predict pretty accurately what the range of the mortality is and the hospitalizations [will be]," Fauci said. "The issue now with [COVID-19] is that there's a lot of unknowns." Scientists are racing to find out more about COVID-19, and our understanding of the virus that causes it and the threat it poses may change as new information becomes available. Based on what we know so far, here's how it compares with the flu. SYMPTOMS AND SEVERITY Both seasonal flu viruses (which include influenza A and influenza B viruses) and COVID-19 are contagious viruses that cause respiratory illness. Typical flu symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, headaches, runny or stuffy nose, fatigue and, sometimes, vomiting and diarrhea, according to the CDC. Flu symptoms often come on suddenly. Most people who get the flu will recover in less than 2 weeks. But in some people, the flu causes complications, including pneumonia. So far this flu season, about 1% of people in the United States have developed symptoms severe enough to be hospitalized. And the overall hospitalization rate in the U.S. this season is 61 hospitalizations per 100,000 people. With COVID-19, doctors are still trying to understand the full picture of disease symptoms and severity. Reported symptoms in patients have varied from mild to severe, and can include fever, cough and shortness of breath, according to the CDC. In general, studies of hospitalized patients have found that about 83% to 98% of patients develop a fever, 76% to 82% develop a dry cough and 11% to 44% develop fatigue or muscle aches, according to a review study on COVID-19 published Feb. 28 in the journal JAMA. Other symptoms, including headache, sore throat, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, have been reported, but are less common. Another recent study, considered the largest on COVID-19 cases to date, researchers from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Protection, analyzed 44,672 confirmed cases in China between Dec. 31, 2019 and Feb. 11, 2020. Of those cases, 80.9% (or 36,160 cases) were considered mild, 13.8% (6,168 cases) severe and 4.7% (2,087) critical. "Critical cases were those that exhibited respiratory failure, septic shock, and/or multiple organ dysfunction/failure," the researchers wrote in the paper published in China CDC Weekly. A recent study of COVID-19 cases in the United States found that, among 4,226 reported cases , at least 508 people, or 12% were hospitalized. However, the study, published March 18 in the CDC journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) is preliminary, and the researchers note that data on hospitalizations were missing for a substantial number of patients. It's important to note that, because respiratory viruses cause similar symptoms, it can be difficult to distinguish different respiratory viruses based on symptoms alone, according to WHO. DEATH RATE The death rate from seasonal flu is typically around 0.1% in the U.S., according to The New York Times. Though the death rate for COVID-19 is unclear, most research suggests it is higher than that of the seasonal flu. In the study published Feb. 18 in the China CDC Weekly, researchers found a death rate from COVID-19 to be around 2.3% in mainland China. Another study of about 1,100 hospitalized patients in China, published Feb. 28 in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that the overall death rate was slightly lower, around 1.4%. Still, the death rate for COVID-19 appears to vary by location and an individual's age, among other factors. For instance, in Hubei Province, the epicenter of the outbreak, the death rate reached 2.9%; in other provinces of China, that rate was just 0.4%, according to the China CDC Weekly study. In addition, older adults have been hit the hardest. The death rate soars to 14.8% in those 80 and older; among those ages 70 to 79, the COVID-19 death rate in China seems to be about 8%; it’s 3.6% for those ages 60 to 69; 1.3% for 50 to 59; 0.4% for the age group 40 to 49; and just 0.2% for people ages 10 to 39. No deaths in children under 9 have been reported. A report published March 13 in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases adjusted for the potential time delay between hospitalization and death among cases in China. The authors estimated that, as of Feb. 11, the death rate from COVID-19 was as high as 12% in Wuhan, 4% in Hubei Province and 0.9% in the rest of China. In the CDC's MMWR study, 45% of hospitalizations, 53% of admissions to the intensive care unit (ICU), and 80% of deaths associated with COVID-19 were among adults aged 65 years and older. VIRUS TRANSMISSION The measure scientists use to determine how easily a virus spreads is known as the "basic reproduction number," or R0 (pronounced R-nought). This is an estimate of the average number of people who catch the virus from a single infected person, Live science previously reported. The flu has an R0 value of about 1.3, according to The New York Times. Researchers are still working to determine the R0 for COVID-19. Preliminary studies have estimated an R0 value for the new coronavirus to be between 2 and 3, according to the JAMA review study published Feb. 28. This means each infected person has spread the virus to an average of 2 to 3 people. It's important to note that R0 is not necessarily a constant number. Estimates can vary by location, depending on such factors as how often people come into contact with each other and the efforts taken to reduce viral spread, Live Science previously reported. RISK OF INFECTION The CDC estimates that, on average, about 8% of the U.S. population gets sick with the flu each season. As of March 19, there are 9,415 cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. Some parts of the country have higher levels of activity than others, but cases have been reported in all 50 states, according to the CDC. The immediate risk of being exposed to COVID-19 is still low for most Americans; however, as the outbreak expands, that risk will increase, the CDC said. People who live in areas where there is ongoing community spread are at higher risk of exposure, as are healthcare workers who care for COVID-19 patients, the agency said. The CDC expects that widespread transmission of the new coronavirus will occur, and in the coming months, most of the U.S. population will be exposed to the virus. PANDEMICS It's important to note that seasonal flu, which causes outbreaks every year, should not be confused with pandemic flu, or a global outbreak of a new flu virus that is very different from the strains that typically circulate. This happened in 2009 with the swine flu pandemic, which is estimated to have killed between 151,000 and 575,000 people worldwide, according to the CDC. There is no flu pandemic happening currently. On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a pandemic. This is the first time WHO has declared a pandemic over a coronavirus. PREVENTION Unlike seasonal flu, for which there is a vaccine to protect against infection, there is no vaccine for COVID-19. But researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health are in the early stages of developing one. Officials have already launched a phase 1 clinical trial of a potential vaccine for COVID-19. In general, the CDC recommends the following to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, which include both coronaviruses and flu viruses: -- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds; -- Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands; -- Avoid close contact with people who are sick; -- Stay home when you are sick; and -- Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces. Originally published on Live Science. SOURCE: https://www.livescience.com/new-coronavirus-compare-with-flu.html |
| Health › Coronavirus: Ogun State Bans Cinemas, Night Clubs, Restaurants, Others For 30 Da by prof2007(op): 11:15pm On Mar 19, 2020 |
Cinemas, night clubs, restaurants, cafes and many other businesses that involve large gathering have been banned from operating in Ogun State, as the government announces stricter measures after the new confirmed cases of coronavirus in Nigeria. The state government took the decision after fresh cases of coronavirus were recorded in Lagos and Ekiti. Note that the first confirmed case of coronavirus in Nigeria was discovered in Ogun State after arriving in Nigeria for a short business trip at Lafarge facility in the state. Aside from the mentioned businesses, which were banned from operating to limit exposure to coronavirus, social clubs, halls and sports arenas were also placed on the ban list. Businesses that record 50 or more people during operating hours were directed to stop operation for the next 30 days. This shutdown of businesses is part of stricter measures being employed by countries with high cases of coronavirus, but with the figure rising in Nigeria, the state government said the directive was a precaution needed to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Ogun State. Commenting on the decision taken by his government, Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun said in a press statement, “The safety of our people and their welfare are priorities that cannot be toyed with. Further to measures so far taken to ramp up its efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the Ogun State Government has found it expedient to announce the following additional measures: Immediate ban of all high-density gatherings that would bring together 50 or more persons in the same place, such as social clubs, halls, cinemas, night clubs, restaurants, cafes, and sports arenas.” According to Governor Abiodun, “This measure will be in effect for the next 30 days in the first instance. The government will continue the surveillance initiatives and intensify sensitization on COVID-19. This is more so given the peculiarity of its location as the Nation’s Gateway State and its industrial capital. “Our epidemiologists and other health workers are working round the clock with Federal agencies and international development agencies to stop the spread of coronavirus.” SOURCE: https://nairametrics.com/2020/03/19/coronavirus-ogun-state-bans-cinemas-night-clubs-restaurants-other-businesses-from-operating/ |
| Health › Coronavirus: Govt Discharges 179 Patients Quarantined In Lagos/ogun by prof2007(op): 3:18pm On Mar 15, 2020 |
The Federal Government, on Friday, discharged the Nigerian man who tested positive to Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) after he tested negative twice. The 179 people who came in contact with an Italian man who brought the virus to Nigeria, were also dischared having completed their 14 days isolation without any sign of the virus in them. Giving an update to newsmen in Lagos, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said the Nigerian who had very close contact with the Italian tested positive to COVID-19 twice. He said the test subsequently turned negative and he does not have any symptoms at the moment and he is now clear of the virus. “After two consecutive negative tests, we took the decision that he should be discharged, he is now discharged,” he said. Regarding the 179 contacts of the index case, he said: Quote “179 contacts were traced, out of which 40 were in Ogun and the rest of the 139 were in Lagos and other states. Some travelled out of Lagos. All of them are being followed up because we were able to identify them all. All the 179 were in isolation for 14 days and they have exceeded it already. They have been allowed to go as none of them developed any symptom of the disease.” The commissioner added that all suspected patients at the IDH in Lagos had been discharged and there won’t be any follow up on any contact in Lagos. He said the index case would soon be discharged too, though, he said the last test carried out on him showed he was still secreting small amounts of the virus, which is why he is still being kept at the infectious disease hospital in Yaba. Quote “He is potentially still contagious. Our tests indicated that any moment from now, his immune system will clear the infection and then we will look for a second negative. If his test shows negative after 48 hours, we will repeat the test to confirm if he’s still negative. If that happens, it means he is consistently being non-contagious and cannot transmit the virus or pose any danger to the community. At that point, we will discharge him. “We are getting close to discharging the index case because we believe he is no longer contagious to any significant degree but we want to make sure that once he is out of our jurisdiction, he poses no danger to the community here in Nigeria, on the airline he will use back to Europe or to his community in Europe.” Meanwhile, the 40 people quarantined in Ogun State over their contact with the Italian were released yesterday after being in the isolation centre since February 28. SOURCE: https://www.gist mania.com/talk/topic,457927.0.html |
| Travel › Canada Invites 3,900 New Permanent Residency Candidates by prof2007(op): 6:08pm On Mar 13, 2020 |
Canada invites 3,900 new PR candidates, introduces new programme to attract Nigerians The Canadian Government has invited 3,900 Express Entry candidates to apply for Permanent Residency (PR) in its latest draw, with a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 471, a point over the previous draw held in February, which had a minimum score of 470. Meanwhile, as the number of Nigerian International students studying in Canada increases every year, the Canadian Government has introduced a new pilot program intended to help expedite the study permit application process for Nigerians. The program, known as “The Nigerian Student Express (NSE)” pilot, is for Nigerians who have been accepted to a Canadian post-secondary institution. This means that eligible candidates need to have been accepted to a bachelor’s, master’s or doctorate degree program, or a post-graduate diploma course in Canada. This initiative is aimed at shortening the process involved in acquiring study permits for Nigerians from an average of eight weeks to 20 days. In order to reach this year’s 85,800 ITS target, the Canadian Government has started issuing larger numbers of invitations in every draw. This round brings the total number of ITAs issued this year to 18,700, indicating a 21.79% achievement so far. A tie break of March 4 was applied, indicating that all candidates with CRS scores of 471 and above who entered their profiles in the Express Entry before the date received invitations to apply. HOW CRS SCORE WORKS The Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) is a score awarded to applicants, considering factors such as age, education, skilled work experience and language ability in English or French. A set number of the highest-ranked candidates receive invitation for Canadian permanent residence through frequent draws from the pool of applicants. Canada’s Express Entry system manages the profiles of candidates for three of Canada’s main economic-class immigration programmes, which are the: -- Federal Skilled Worker Class, -- Federal Skilled Trades Class and -- Canadian Experience Class. WHY NIGERIANS TRAVEL ABROAD Nigerian immigration to Canada has been booming in recent years, being the 4th most represented nationality among new permanent residents in 2019, many of which are young people in search of academic pursuits that give study-work opportunity to immigrants. The educational system in Nigeria is on a steady decline, characterized by lack of an enabling learning environment and recurring strike actions. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is currently embarking on a two-week warning strike, which has over the years been a thorn on the flesh of Nigerian students, increasing the duration of a program that would have been completed in 4 to 5 years to 6 years or more. SOURCE (abridged): https://nairametrics.com/2020/03/13/canada-invites-3900-new-pr-candidates-introduces-new-programme-to-attract-nigerians/ 1 Like |
| Investment › Oil/coronavirus Panic! Stock Market Investors Lose N656bn In One Day by prof2007(op): 10:47am On Mar 13, 2020 |
Investors suffered a loss of N656bn on Tuesday 10 March 2020, as the Nigerian equity market saw its biggest daily decline in more than 8 years. The market reacted to the impact of the oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia and the coronavirus panic on the Nigeria economy. The All-Share Index of the Nigerian Stock Exchange dipped by 591 basis points or 4.91% to close at 24,388.66 bps as against 25,647.54 bps on Monday. Market capitalisation of equities depreciated by N656bn from N13.365tn on Monday to N12.709tn on Tuesday as market sentiment remained negative. Investors traded 594.5 mn shares in 4,010 deals on Tuesday. The premium board was the most active, with 368.6 mn shares traded by investors in 1,804 deals. The volume was largely driven by activities in the shares of the United Bank for Africa Plc and FBN Holdings Plc. The banking sector was boosted by activities in the shares of Fidelity Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, with a turnover of 106.5 mn shares in 693 deals. Neimeth Pharmaceuticals Plc topped the gainers’ table on Tuesday with 10% to close at 44 kobo per share while Honeywell Flour Mills Nigeria Plc gained 3.45% to close at 90 kobo per share. NEM Insurance Plc appreciated by 1.16% to close at N1.75 per share. On the flip side, Dangote Sugar Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Nascon Plc and Stanbic IBTC Plc led the losers’ with a drop of 10% each to close at N9.90, N1.62, N11.70 and N28.35 per share respectively. SOURCE (abridged): https://punchng.com/stock-market-investors-lose-n656bn-in-one-day/ |
| Politics › For Sanusi, Dethronement Is Freedom by prof2007(op): 12:07am On Mar 13, 2020 |
Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, was finally dethroned for insubordination to the political authorities in Kano State. It was not an altogether surprising development. Sanusi has both been outspoken and arrogant. He could not have survived the ultra-conservative ideology of the northern aristocracy nor conform to their willful blindness, even as their leadership shortcomings turned their region into a wasteland. Sanusi has been that lone voice in the wilderness of northern Nigeria crying out against the many social problems drowning the region and dragging all of us down with it. He has spoken against the many issues of multidimensional poverty, banditry, terrorism, early marriage, domestic violence, child abandonment, drug abuse, and so on. When his radicalism began to unsettle the northern political establishment, his daughter, Shahida, said at an event in Abuja in 2017 that although the emirate was important to her father, but if the position ever stood in the way of his conscience, he “would happily give up the throne.” It is difficult to say how “happy” Sanusi could have been on Monday when he was dethroned, but going by his daughter’s assertion, he must be relieved to be a free man. He has been freed from the neutering chains of conservative traditions and its allied conspiratorial force of religious ideology. He can now pursue his truth as he chooses. The Ganduje-Sanusi episode is not the first incident to bring the problems of traditional authority and governors’ legislating authority to the fore. In Oyo State, we saw how former governor Abiola Ajimobi easily created 21 new Obas. Now, if a governor used his constituted authority to draw up territories and appoint new Obas to govern an urban district without recourse to the organic realities of the people they will supposedly rule over, do such kings still get to call themselves a “traditional ruler”? Which, or whose traditions, legitimises the authority of such Obas? In the brief period that those 21 Obas existed before they were swiped away along with the change in state government, what purpose did they serve beyond accompanying Ajimobi to public functions? Such erratic modes of Obaship creation and subsequent dethronement has so politicised traditional stools that Obas are beholden to politicians. Forget about all those Yoruba politicians that make a grandiloquent show of prostrating before a traditional ruler in public. In private, those roles are switched. Traditional kingship is archaic and it should have long been expunged from modern life. However, as long as they exist, the constitutional arrangement that places traditional rulers at the behest of governors is improper. In this instance, why should Ganduje be able to unilaterally remove an emir to supposedly “safeguard the sanctity, culture, tradition, religion and prestige of the Kano emirate”? By which authority, moral and otherwise, could Ganduje determine which actions safeguard the honour of traditional institutions or not? Let us set aside the travesty of Ganduje investigating anyone-as he did to Sanusi-for corruption for a minute and ask why a governor that occupies a temporary position should be able to remove an Oba that is tenured? There ought to be another level of oversight to arbitrate these decisions. Whatever the incoherence encountered in maintaining these traditional institutions in modern times, Sanusi at least knew exactly what he was walking into when he started hankering for the job. It still beats me how an uncontainable person like Sanusi could have taken up an emir position, knowing quite well he would be at the mercy of petty politicians who will use his notoriety and media popularity to demonstrate the extent of their powers. Positions like the emirate subsist on the willingness of the officeholders to subject themselves to the disciplining customs of the powers-that-be. Sanusi, on the other hand, has a temperament that could never fit into the norms of self-comportment expected of an emir. His campaigns against the dysfunctionality of northern Nigeria were bound to provoke uneasiness in the VIPs, the Very Important Parasites, who have long turned the collective feeding trough into their personal feeding bottles. Sanusi’s provocative crusades must have been a social threat. Since there is just too much at stake for them to lose, they could not have stood aside and let him become a hero at their expense. Since Sanusi’s dethronement on Monday, a section of his fans started clamouring for him to join active politics in 2023. They think he should enter into active politics because of his propensity to “speak truth to power.” While their passion in the heat of the moment is understandable, I do not think they should be getting ahead of themselves. By now, we should have learned to be more circumspect and not be in a haste to canonise Sanusi. The people throwing around words like “progressive” and “reformer” to describe him must have been carried away by his attention-seeking performances. Sanusi loves the limelight like a fish loves oxygen. Not even the emirate could temper his obsession with being under the klieg lights all the time. The cynical part of me thinks that Sanusi’s reformist campaign was not just “speaking truth to power,” but also actively soliciting media attention. He said the things that every southerner wants to be told to the northern ruling class and that is why he seems to be more popular in the south than among northerners. The southern-Nigeria dominated media seems to be rather eager to shape the myth of hero or a progressive reformer for Sanusi. He has not earned those stripes yet. I admit it takes conviction to lecture your fellow aristocrats on their failings as religious and political leaders, but as long as Sanusi himself embodied power and aristocratic privileges, he could not have been “speaking truth to power.” HE IS/WAS THE POWER When I have to think through Sanusi’s actions, I refer to two things. One, an article he wrote in 2015 justifying his marriage to 18-year old Sa’adatu Barkindo-Musdafa. In that piece, he stridently defended the farces of kingdoms, blue-bloodism and noble birth. I do not understand how he manages to reconcile his belief in the myth of royal lineage and the necessity of its preservation with his criticisms of culture/tradition as an impediment to the development of northern Nigeria. In my book, a reformer and a true progressive would have abjured all those retrogressive cultural ideas altogether. Two, according to the news report of his panel probe, when he was asked how he could afford the expensive Rolls Royce cars he drove around, he claimed they were gifted to him by friends. Again, I fail to understand how he did not connect his riding such expensive luxury vehicles in the poverty-ridden Kano as contradictory to the principles he preached. If he could not link those ridiculously (and needless) expensive gifts, the poverty in northern Nigeria and the social mechanisms of corruption that siphons money from public purses into the hands of rent-seeking “friends” who could afford to give away such gifts, then what really did he see? Anyway, now that he has been dethroned, he is free. Free from the constricting expectations of the monarchy. Free from the illusion of self-labeling as “imperial majesty” or “royal highness.” Free of the delusion that he is anything more than a public servant chosen to preside over vestiges of precolonial grandeur of power, and our nostalgia for a world that is gone forever. Unlike his counterparts elsewhere who still have to attend meetings with their governor, and where someone like Nyesom Wike of Rivers State could berate their “royal majesties” and none could dare to assert their dignity, Sanusi is freed from such indignities. Now he can climb every soapbox to speak the truth to the principalities and powers in northern Nigeria about the carnage unfolding in their dwindling fiefdoms. He can even write a book where he can pour himself out freely, and yes, I shall buy it. He can freely put his brilliance to more productive use. If he wants to be a hero and shape his legacy as a man that spoke truth to power, now is his chance. SOURCE: https://punchng.com/for-sanusi-dethronement-is-freedom/ |
| Health › Breaking! WHO Declares Coronavirus Outbreak A Global Pandemic by prof2007(op): 10:40am On Mar 12, 2020 |
The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on Wednesday as the new coronavirus, which was unknown to world health officials just three months ago, has rapidly spread to more than 121,000 people from Asia to the Middle East, Europe and the United States. “In the past two weeks the number of cases outside China has increased thirteenfold and the number of affected countries has tripled,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference at the organization’s headquarters in Geneva. “In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths and the number of affected countries to climb even higher.” Tedros said several countries have been able to suppress and control the outbreak, but he scolded other world leaders for failing to act quickly enough or drastically enough to contain the spread. “We’re deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction,” he said, just before declaring the pandemic. “We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear.” Cases in China and South Korea have significantly declined, he said, adding that 81 countries don’t have any confirmed cases and 57 countries have 10 or fewer cases. LACK OF RESOLVE “We can not say this loudly enough or clearly enough or often enough: All countries can still change the course of this pandemic,” he said. “Some countries are struggling with a lack of capacity. Some countries are struggling with a lack of resources. Some countries are struggling with a lack of resolve.” Declaring a pandemic is charged with major political and economic ramifications, global health experts say. It can further rattle already fragile world markets and lead to more stringent travel and trade restrictions. WHO officials had been reluctant to declare a global pandemic, which is generally defined as an illness that spreads far and wide throughout the world. WHO officials needed to “make it clear” that the world was in the midst of a pandemic, said Lawrence Gostin, a professor and faculty director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University. It “is clear” the new coronavirus has been a pandemic and WHO was “behind the curve,” Gostin told CNBC on Tuesday. CHANGES BY THE HOUR The number of cases and deaths changes by the hour, topping 121,564 with at least 4,373 deaths across the world as of Wednesday morning, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Outside China, 32,778 cases across at least 109 countries had been confirmed as of 3 a.m. ET Tuesday — up from 282 cases in four countries on Jan. 21, according to the most recent data confirmed by WHO, which tallies the official count. While the virus is slowing in China where it originated in December, it’s picking up pace across other parts of the world. Italy has the most cases outside China with roughly 10,149 infections, followed closely by Iran with 9,000 infections and South Korea with 7,775, according to Johns Hopkins University data. In the U.S., cases erupted over the last week to more than 1,050 spread across at least 36 states, according to Hopkins. H1N1 The last time WHO declared a pandemic was during the 2009 H1N1 swine flu outbreak. Tedros said COVID-19 is the first time a coronavirus has caused a pandemic. The 2002-2003 outbreak of SARS, which is also a coronavirus, was contained enough to avoid that classification. Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said health officials take the characterization “very seriously,” adding “we understand the implication of the word.” “The fact is right now in countries, we have front-line health workers who need our help,” Ryan said. “We have hospitals who need our support. We have people who need our care and we need to focus on getting our front-line health workers the equipment, supplies and the training they need to do a good job. All countries need to reveal their strategies right now,” he added. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE When asked which countries aren’t doing enough to combat the virus, Ryan said he wouldn’t call out individual countries by name, but added: “you know who you are.” Some countries are still using a stringent testing criteria, requiring people to show full symptoms, be over a certain age or somehow linked to travel to China, he said. Some countries haven’t been able to stop the virus from spreading within their health-care system or have given up on tracing cases back to their original source, he said. “Some countries have not been communicating well with their populations and creating some confusions in the minds of the populations and risk communication,” he said, adding that “trust between governments and their citizens really does need to come to the center.” WAKE UP. GET READY Epidemics stress every component of a nation, he said. “They stress governance, they stress trust between government and the citizen, they stress the hospital system, they stress public health systems, they stress the economic systems,” he said. “In many cases what we’re witnessing across society is a lack of resilience.” The organization raised its risk assessment level on the virus to its highest level of alert last month. “This is a reality check for every government on the planet: Wake up. Get ready. This virus may be on its way and you need to be ready. You have a duty to your citizens, you have a duty to the world to be ready,” Ryan said on Feb. 28. SOURCE: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/11/who-declares-the-coronavirus-outbreak-a-global-pandemic.html |
| Business › Nigeria’s Fuel Import Drops By 42% To N1.7trn In 2019 by prof2007(op): 4:53am On Mar 11, 2020 |
Nigeria spent N1.713 trillion on importation of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, in 2019, representing 42% decline from N2.95 trn spent in 2018. National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, disclosed this in its Foreign Trade Statistics for the 4th Quarter of 2019. According to the NBS data, fuel import accounted for 10.1% of Nigeria’s total import in 2019, compared to 22.4% recorded in 2018. In addition, the report noted that PMS import accounted for 66.9% of the total of N2.56 trn spent on fuels and lubricants. The report noted that total imports of goods stood at N16.96 trn, about 28.8% increase from N13.17 trn recorded in 2018. The NBS disclosed that Europe remained Nigeria’s major trading partner in 2019, with N7.62 trn, followed by Asia and Africa, with N5.42 trn and N3.92 trn, while Nigeria’s trading with Oceania stood at N183 billion. India emerged Nigeria’s highest trading partner in 2019 with N2.96 trn; followed by the ECOWAS sub-region with N2.24 trn; Spain N1.9 trn and United States N1.01 trn. The NBS added that, “On an annual basis, the value of total trade in 2019 was recorded at N36.152 trn, representing a 14.05% increase over 2018. However, this was lower than 36.86% increase recorded in 2018 over 2017. “The level of imports stood at N16.959 trn while exports were valued at N19.192 trn, resulting in a trade balance of N2.232 trn. Imports rose by 28.8% in 2019 over 2018, exports rose by only 3.6%, while the trade balance was 58.4% less than in 2018.” Specifically, for Q4-2019, the NBS stated that “The value of Nigeria’s total trade stood at N10.12 trn in 4th quarter 2019, representing a 10.15% increase over the value recorded in Q3-2019 and 25.9% increase relative to Q4-2018. SOURCE: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/03/nigerias-fuel-import-drops-by-42-to-n1-7trn-in-2019/ |
| Education › UNILORIN Withholds Geologist’s Certificate 24 Years After Graduation by prof2007(op): 4:01am On Mar 10, 2020 |
An Ogun State-based geologist, Ayo Adeniran, has decried the refusal of the University of Ilorin to issue him his original BSc certificate 24 years after he graduated from the school. Adeniran said the refusal of the institution to release his certificate due to administrative lapses had made him to lose some major contracts and his job was now being threatened as his employers had been asking for his certificate. The 48-year-old man, who told our correspondent that he and his mates were given their statements of result after they graduated from the institution in 1996, stated that efforts to get his certificate after completing the National Youth Service Corps mandatory one year service had proved abortive. Adeniran said during one of his efforts to get the certificate from the school, he was told that he failed a course at the 300-level, which did not enable the institution to process his certificate. The geologist, however, told PUNCH Metro that he resat the course while he was in 400-level and passed it, but his department had not been able to produce the result for the Exams and Records Department of the school. Adeniran, who urged the institution to produce his certificate, explained that he had suffered huge losses due to UNILORIN’s refusal to issue it. He said, “I got the hint about the school’s refusal to issue my certificate in 2010 when a high-profile job was to be given to me, which I lost. I contacted one of the workers at the university to help me to process the certificate and he got back to me that I had issues with my result and I had to come to the school. “I went to the school’s archives and my class record was brought out and it was discovered that I did not pass a course, GNS 311. Although when I was in 300-level, some of my course mates and I failed the course, but we resat the paper at 400-level and I passed it; so, I went back to the department to search for the paper that the school claimed that I failed and I found out that I passed it. “I begged the attendant at the department to allow me to make a copy of the result, but he refused. We searched for my other results at the department but I could not see any of my scripts. I was given admission that year at the School of Postgraduate Studies, University of Ibadan, but the admission was forfeited and the job I was about to secure too was forfeited. I was so disappointed. After so many attempts in 2018, I went to see the school registrar when my promotion was under serious threat. “I explained my plight to the deputy registrar, who requested my statement of result, which I showed him, and he called a staff member at the certificates section to search for my certificate but they could not get it and I was given a ‘to whom it may concern’ by the deputy registrar to give to my employers with a promise that I would get my certificate soon, but since then, it has been one story after another. “I have suffered huge losses because I cannot secure some contracts and jobs as I don’t have my certificate and I have been left at a disadvantage. It has affected me emotionally and financially.” However, when PUNCH Metro contacted the Public Relations Officer of the institution, Kunle Akogun, he said the certificate would be ready soon. “The certificate will be ready soon. His transcripts have been found and we are processing the certificate. It was the department that had a problem getting the transcripts, but the certificate will be ready soon and he will be contacted,” he stated. SOURCE: https://punchng.com/unilorin-withholds-geologists-certificate-24-years-after-graduation/ |
| Investment › Over $26 Billion Wiped Off Cryptocurrency Market In 24 Hours by prof2007(op): 12:34am On Mar 10, 2020 |
Over $26 billion wiped off cryptocurrency market in 24 hours after massive oil price plunge -- The value of the entire cryptocurrency market fell over $26 billion on Monday. -- Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency by value, fell 10% in 24 hours. -- Other big digital coins ethereum, XRP and bitcoin cash, posted double-digit losses. -- The sell-off in digital coins followed a plummet in oil prices. Cryptocurrency markets have plunged following a plummet in oil prices and further sell-off in stocks. The market capitalization or entire value of cryptocurrencies was down $26.43 billion from a day earlier at around 1:17 p.m. Singapore time, according to data from Coinmarketcap.com. The sell-off worsened as the day went on. Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency by value, fell over 10% in 24 hours at around the same time. The violent sell-off in the cryptocurrency market comes after international oil benchmark Brent crude futures plummeted 30% to $31.02 per barrel, its lowest level since Feb. 2016. That was sparked by Saudi Arabia slashing its official selling prices for oil after OPEC failed to agree a deal on production cuts. This has led to fears of an oil price war. Brent has since pared some of its losses. Meanwhile, stock markets in Japan and Hong Kong fell sharply while U.S. stocks are set for a steep drop at start of trading on Monday. The other big digital coins ethereum, XRP and bitcoin cash, posted double-digit percentage point losses. Despite the losses posted Monday, bitcoin is up around 9% year-to-date. Huge moves in cryptocurrency prices are not unusual and these digital coins are known for their volatility. Market players however said this could be an opportunity to buy some bitcoin. “For those who have long term investment horizons, bitcoin is absolutely a buy during these dips,” Jehan Chu, co-founder of Kenetic Capital, an investor in blockchain start-ups told CNBC. “We can expect more of this volatility sparked by macro health and financial shocks, but ultimately long term investments in the digital future and it’s key asset Bitcoin will be a winning strategy” SOURCE: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/09/bitcoin-btc-and-other-cryptocurrency-prices-plunge-after-oil-drop.html 1 Like |
| Investment › Rates To Slightly Fall As CBN Sells N72bn T-bills Wednesday by prof2007(op): 12:17am On Mar 10, 2020 |
On Wednesday, March 11, 2020, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will on behalf of the Debt Management Office (DMO) auction treasury bill worth N72.3bn to investors through the primary market. The bills will be sold to both local and offshore retail and institutional investors across two maturities, but analysts are of the opinion that the stop rates will marginally decline. According to the calendar released by the apex bank, N1.80bn worth of the 91-day bill would be auctioned, while N70.50bn worth 364-day bill would be offered for subscription. According to analysts at Cowry Asset, the N72bn worth of TBills to be sold at the PMA should be soaked by the N127.04bn worth of maturing bills at both the primary and secondary markets during the week. Consequently, there should be an ease in liquidity in the financial system. Last week, the CBN sold OMO bills worth N110.51bn to partly mop up OMO repayments worth N323.26bn. Additional N16.72bn was sold via repo agreements. Hence, due to the net inflows, NIBOR declined for overnight funds, to 12.19% from 16.56%, while it increased for other tenor buckets like the 1M, 3M and 6M tenor to 9.95% from 6.69%, 10.08% from 6.63% and 10.80% from 6.96% respectively. Elsewhere, NITTY moved in mixed directions across maturities tracked as yields on 1M and 12M maturities moderated to 3.06% from 3.13% and 5.22% from 5.25% respectively. However, yields on 3M and 6M maturities rose to 3.41% from 3.04% and 3.75% from 3.45% respectively. SOURCE (abridged): https://businesspost.ng/economy/rates-to-slightly-fall-as-cbn-sells-n72bn-t-bills-wednesday/amp/
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| Politics › Governors Shop For Oshiomhole’s Replacement by prof2007(op): 3:46pm On Mar 08, 2020 |
The crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress took a new twist on Saturday as the governors opposed to the embattled National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, began the search for his replacement. It was learnt that consultations had been going on in the states, with meetings scheduled to take place next week on how to pick his successor.SOURCE: https://punchng.com/governors-shop-for-oshiomholes-replacement/
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| TV/Movies › Netflix Naija Officially Launches In Nigeria! by prof2007(op): 12:07pm On Mar 08, 2020 |
Over the past few years, streaming services have become the most popular way for us to consume video content apart from YouTube. We use streaming services to watch our favourite movies and TV or to discover new and best-selling titles. That is why the launch of Netflix Naija generated so much buzz. Here is everything we know so far! 1. NETFLIX IN NIGERIA Ever since we learned how many great titles are available on Netflix, we have been looking for a way to enjoy all that great content. Some Nigerians even resorted to using VPNs to convince the service that they live in the USA or another country where Netflix is officially available. Luckily, those days are over. Despite Netflix Naija making the news this week, Netflix has been already present in Nigeria for a while. Since 2018, Nigerians have been able to subscribe to Netflix without any extra steps for $7.99 per month and more, depending on the broadcast plan. However, even though numerous Nigerians have already experienced the joy of Netflix, the service didn’t have too much content to satisfy its Nigerian viewers looking for something authentic. There was a Nollywood movie here and there on Netflix, most famously, the 2018 Nollywood film Lionheart, but that wasn’t enough for most Nigerian viewers. 2. NETFLIX NAIJA Last week, Netflix launched an official Twitter account called Netflix Naija. In the first tweet, the service posted a statement that, despite being somewhat vague, clearly stated the service’s plans to expand into the Nigerian streaming market. The tweet not only told the Twitter audience about the ambitions of Netflix to get even more Nigerians to use their service, but also featured a photo of several Netflix officials with some of the best-known names in Nollywood, including Kemi Adetiba, Banky W, Adesua Etomi, Omoni Oboli, and veteran actors such as Ramsey Nouah and Richard Mofe-Damijo. Even though the official Netflix Naija account did not share any more details about the potential collaborations, it is easy to guess that we should look forward to more original Nollywood content developed in a partnership with Netflix. Nollywood’s creativity plus Netflix’s budget should equal some memorable TV series and movies! "N is for Naija. N is for Nollywood. N is the 14th alphabet. 14 is also how many great talents you’re looking at. N is for Netflix. But most importantly…hello, Nigeria! pic.twitter.com/js8z3LIyM3" — Netflix Naija (@NetflixNaija) February 25, 2020 3. THE FUTURE Shortly after announcing the plans to expand its Nigerian content, Netflix shared the news that two Nigerian TV series are currently being developed at Netflix. The first show, which is expected to premiere later this week, was created by Akin Omotosho and consists of six episodes. The series, which is currently untitled, takes place in modern-day Lagos and follows the story of Kemi, a goddess who returned to Earth as a human to avenge her sister’s untimely death. The new Nigerian Netflix series will star Joke Silva, Kate Henshaw and Bimbo Akintola, and will undoubtedly become one of the most interesting releases of 2020. Culled from Jiji Blog SOURCE: https://brandspurng.com/2020/03/08/netflix-naija-officially-launches-in-nigeria/ |
| Investment › How Dangote Restored ANAMMCO, Created Jobs In S’east by prof2007(op): 5:42am On Mar 08, 2020 |
Dangote’s patronage of Shacman trucks being assembled at Enugu-based ANAMMCO has created jobs for many people in the South-East and South-South, RASHEED BISIRIYU reports The Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company Limited has returned to full operation, thanks to the Dangote Group. That was the takeaway from a recent tour of the massive auto assembly plant at Emene Industrial Layout near Enugu by some motoring journalists including our correspondent. Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Africa, did not dole out money as a show of generosity to revive the assembly plant which had been moribund for about three decades; neither did he buy shares in the company. The new lease of life at ANAMMCO came through his continued patronage of Shacman trucks now being assembled at the company. A prominent commercial vehicle manufacturing firm established in Nigeria in 1977 as a joint venture between the Federal Government of Nigeria and Daimler-Mercedes Benz AG of Germany, ANAMMCO was inaugurated in 1980 with a production capacity of 7,500 trucks and 1,000 buses per annum. After many years of producing vehicles to oil the nation’s economy, the auto factory was forced to shut down due to lack of patronage, economic instability and unavailability of forex. Before it became moribund, the plant located on a 300,000 square metre site had reportedly produced over 30,000 units of commercial vehicles for the Nigerian and West African markets. The foundation for its resuscitation was, however, laid in 2014 with the introduction of a new auto policy by the Federal Government that placed premium on local manufacture of vehicles and discouraged the importation of fully-built (used) vehicles. The policy also aimed at massive job creation, stimulating auto value chain and diversifying the Nigerian economy. Thus, the government slammed heavy import duties on all fully-built automobiles. Currently, the Transit Support Services Limited, a subsidiary of ABC Transport Plc, rolls out 10 vehicles daily from the ANAMMCO’s truck line, which are largely purchased by the Dangote Group. Managing Director of the ABC/TSS, Mr Frank Nneji, confirmed the number in an interview after taking journalists round the facility, showing workers on duty at different production stages. Already, he said the group had purchased about 3,500 trucks from the automaker worth N63bn. The supplies, according to him, amount to over 90% of all Shackman trucks so far assembled at the factory since the revival of the plant. “About 90% of trucks produced here are for Dangote. Right now at the dump, we have about 300 units. Since last year, we have done 800 units. Dangote Group since inception has bought about 3,500 units from us. It also patronises the Shackman trucks for its refinery currently being built in Lagos,” Nneji said. Dangote first embraced the Shacman brand in 2016, about one year after the partnership between the TSS and ANAMMCO was sealed. Then, the auto firm had offered the group 49 Shacman trucks for a test drive to assess the quality of the brand. Apparently satisfied with the performance of the trucks, the group reportedly placed an order for 350 units and has sustained the patronage. This prompted the auto firm to recall many of the former ANAMMCO workers that were disengaged when operation became crippled, in addition to new set of employees and young school leavers engaged for industrial attachment/technical training. He said, “This has been of tremendous benefit for the people in the South-East. For many years, this place was shut down. There was no activity until Shacman came and we made an agreement with the Shacman Group and we started skeletally. “We were only able to start full production of trucks when we offered logistics solutions to the Dangote Group. That was in 2016 when we started the first agreement for 500 trucks. With this, many workers of ANAMMCO who had been at home had to come back to work; some local suppliers of lubricants, electrolyte and the rest had to return to business.” It did not take long for people to notice the profound impact of the Dangote/TSS-Shacman deal on the Onne port in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. According to Nneji, “because we are in Enugu, we use the Onne port to bring in vehicle components. From 2016, the Onne port has handled more than 3,000 containers of truck components for the ANAMMCO plant. This is courtesy of Dangote Group’s patronage of Shacman trucks being assembled at the Enugu plant.” He also noted that the area around the assembly plant was fast becoming an automobile cluster making Enugu a motor city. “This has provided training on how to produce the trucks with the well-experienced staff we have recruited. The company produces over 200 trucks monthly comprising three different models, with local content of about 22%. It is capable of increasing its production if there is a demand for such,” he said. The plant is also said to be producing the chassis numbers, which are locally generated and printed on the truck engine. Nneji said, “There is also a training school here that produces young technicians. This place is busy producing quality trucks with Dangote as the largest single patron.” Interestingly, the Dangote Group has a truck assembly plant in Lagos, Dangote Sinotruk West Africa Ltd, also supplying some of its vehicle needs to its various companies. The General Manager, Corporate Communications, Dangote Group, Mr Sunday Esan, explained that the Dangote/TSS-Shacman is a long-term relationship. “Dangote Group is expanding. Apart from the cement, sugar and salt factories, among others, we’re starting a petroleum refinery, the biggest in Africa. All these will require a high number of trucks. It is a long-term relationship,” he said. SOURCE: https://punchng.com/how-dangote-restored-anammco-created-jobs-in-seast/ 2 Likes |
| Health › Why Kidney Failure Is Increasing In Nigeria —pathologist by prof2007(op): 1:55am On Mar 08, 2020 |
A Consultant Pathologist, Dr. Wale Ajala, has condemned ‘indiscriminate’ consumption of herbal alcoholic drinks among Nigerians, saying it increasingly leads to rise in kidney failure. Ajala, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Help Diagnostics and Checkup Services, Lagos, said regulatory agencies must check the safety of herbal alcoholic drinks, especially those distributed in sachets, describing them as “concoctions.” “Checking the influx and safety of those herbal alcoholic drinks has become imperative; otherwise, many Nigerian youths risk chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease, because they consume these products the more,” he said. Ajala spoke during a medical outreach to over 2,000 Mushin, Lagos, residents, organised by the Bunmi and Ajibola Healthcare Foundation, a non-governmental organization, in collaboration with the Help Diagnostics and Checkup Services. The residents were screened for malaria, hypertension, diabetes, and hepatitis B, while free drugs were offered to those who tested positive to any of the ailments. Advising participants to be mindful of their lifestyle particularly what they consume, Ajala said, “It is horrible the way we are seeing the markers of kidney diseases these days. The youths are largely affected, based on what we are seeing. “Kidney failure is increasing by the day in Nigeria and renal dialysis is so expensive. The increase is coming from indiscriminate consumption of alcoholic drinks, mixed with different herbs that are produced in various forms and sachets. Early in the morning, in different corners of the state, you see youths gather in groups to gulp those concoctions all in the name of getting high. “Some of them consume the drinks more on weekends to generate strong erection. Some of the artisans who also consume those concoctions feel it will give them power. And, so far, I have not seen any benefit from their claim, except the destruction of their liver, kidneys and heart.” He urged the government to check the manufacturing of those drinks and sanction erring companies. The World Health Organisation warns that harmful use of alcohol kills more than 3 million people each year, most of them men. Chairman of the foundation, Pastor Ajibola Olulola, said the NGO was established to bridge the gap in healthcare deliveryin Nigeria through awareness creation on proper health seeking behaviour, free medical outreaches and provision of free drugs to sick, indigent Nigerians. Project Coordinator, Olabisi Olubunmi-Fabulola, identified poverty and ignorance as factors fueling disease burden inNigeria. She noted, “Poverty, ignorance and wrong way of seeking medical treatment are killing many Nigerians. “In fact, most of the sudden deaths that we are hearing about in the country today are as a result of undiagnosed ailments such as hypertension and diabetes, which are traceable to ignorance and poor health seeking behaviour on the part of the people.” SOURCE: https://healthwise.punchng.com/why-kidney-failure-is-increasing-in-nigeria-pathologist/ |
| Politics › Nigeria Re-Elected UN Peacekeeping Committee Chair by prof2007(op): 11:12pm On Mar 07, 2020 |
Nigeria has been re-elected to chair the United Nations Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, known to be “UN most strategic committee” on the record 48th time. According to a statement on Friday by Amb. Samson Itegboje, the Charge d’Affaires and Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the UN, Nigeria re-emerged the committee’s Chair by election.https://punchng.com/nigeria-re-elected-un-peacekeeping-committee-chair/ 5 Likes 1 Share
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| Health › Journalist Just Returned From Europe, Says Nigeria Handling Coronavirus Better by prof2007(op): 2:00pm On Mar 07, 2020 |
Journalist narrates how Nigeria appears more serious about containing the Coronavirus than some parts of Europe. Chuks Nwanne is a journalist with the Guardian. In the paragraphs that follow, he says Nigeria is definitely handling the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak currently ravaging the planet, differently. His piece is reproduced below, unedited: ==================== When Nigeria's Minister of Health tells you the country is ready to fight Coronavirus, it's not a joke. Indeed, Nigeria is ready. If there's anywhere I have fears, it's not Nigeria, not even China, which is still battling the virus head-on; I fear for Europe. I left Berlin, Germany yesterday, had a stopover at Istanbul Airport, before connecting to Lagos. All through that journey of about 11 hours altogether, nobody stopped anybody to check for anything; people freely moved in and out of airports, in and out of flights; individuals only cared for themselves by wearing masks. In fact, the Turkish Airlines staff that boarded us to Lagos had his mask on, but no one checked anybody! However, most flights going to Italy and other cities were cancelled for fear of the deadly virus. Yet, people were allowed to move in and out freely. As soon as the plane got to cruise level, the cabin crew handed all passengers a form from the Federal Ministry of Health, which mandates every passenger to give their health info. In fact, a certain Nigerian lady, who happens to be a health worker, took time to explain the virus to passengers and how to take precautionary measures. In the end, she handed sanitisers to those who needed them. Upon arrival at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, the health officers picked the forms one after another, asked few questions and screened every passenger; it doesn't matter who you are. In some cases, few were not allowed in, like the lady puts it, "oga, your temperature is too high, we can't allow you to go in, just have your seat there." For those who were allowed in, your hands must be sanitised for free. I felt so proud about Nigeria, particularly the Environmental Health Office, who went through the pains of screening every single passenger that landed in Lagos this night. Among them were Igbos, Hausas, Yoruba... People from different ethic groups, working in harmony to save their nation. These are some of the things that make me believe this country will rise again, if only we can put aside hate and tribalism. Nigeria, I hail thee. Meanwhile, I'm back. SOURCE: https://www.pulse.ng/news/local/coronavirus-journalist-just-back-from-europe-says-nigeria-is-handling-virus-better/r404bfn 1 Like 1 Share |
| Health › Coronavirus: Facebook Closes Its London Offices Till Monday 09 March 2020 by prof2007(op): 12:18am On Mar 07, 2020 |
Facebook closed its London offices until Monday for deep cleaning after a Singapore-based employee, who previously visited their London bureau, tested positive for the coronavirus. “An employee based in our Singapore office who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 visited our London offices 24-26 February 2020,” a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement on Friday. “We are therefore closing our London offices until Monday for deep cleaning and employees are working from home until then". SOURCE: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-06/facebook-says-singapore-employee-diagonised-with-coronavirus |
| Gaming › Chess Heights Tournament Holds In 5 Locations On 7 March 2020 by prof2007(op): 11:28am On Mar 04, 2020 |
Chess Heights, a leisure community for professional and semi-professional chess players, has said that it would hold its monthly tournament in four Nigerian states; Lagos, Kwara, Ogun, Ondo and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. This was contained in a statement signed by the management of the club on Tuesday. Established in January 2010 with the aim of cultivating thinking culture in Nigeria, thereby developing people’s ability to proffer solutions to the day-to-day challenges that confront them while providing healthy fun, Chess Heights management said more states would join the hosting soon to avail more Nigerians the opportunities the club provides. It said, “Chess Heights Abuja Monthly will hold at Zalika Gardens, Area 2, Abuja, Saturday 7 March by 9:00am. Chess Heights Lagos Monthly will hold at Maxton Suites, 50 Ajose Str, Mende, Maryland 7 March by 9:30am. Chess Heights Kwara Monthly will hold at Ilorin Sports Stadium, Taiwo Rd, 7 March by 9:00am. Chess Heights Ogun Monthly will hold at FUNAAB Sports Centre, Alabata Rd, Off Abeokuta Ibadan ExpressWay by 9:00am also this Saturday March 7. Chess Heights Ondo Monthly will hold at Solton International Hotel, Ijapo Estate, Akure also Saturday March 7 but by 10:00am.” The club said this month’s tournament promises memorable fun as top players including Oluwadara Adegbayi, Michael Ijish, Obioma Onuoha, Udeme Edet, Dapo Adeoti, Lanre Olotu, Tosin Ajayi, Siji Ositelu, Akinkunmi Afolabi, and God’spower Esurhobo have confirmed attendance. “It is a fantastic tournament for casual chess player who wants to have fun. Even I, a scrabble devotee, when I want to enjoy chess, I play Chess Heights Monthly,” said Wellington Jighere, World Scrabble Champion, 2015. SOURCE: https://punchng.com/chess-heights-holds-tournament-in-five-locations/
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| Agriculture › Wondrous World! Locusts - Incredible Little Terrors by prof2007(op): 2:15am On Mar 02, 2020 |
LOCUSTS A plague of locusts is a devastating natural disaster. These infestations have been feared and revered throughout history. Unfortunately, they still wreak havoc today. Locusts are related to grasshoppers and the two insects look similar. However, locust behavior can be something else entirely. Locusts are sometimes solitary insects with lifestyles much like grasshoppers. But locusts have another behavioral phase called the gregarious phase. When environmental conditions produce many green plants and promote breeding, locusts can congregate into thick, mobile, ravenous swarms. IMPACT ON AGRICULTURE Locust swarms devastate crops and cause major agricultural damage and attendant human misery—famine and starvation. They occur in many parts of the world, but today locusts are most destructive in sustenance farming regions of Africa. The desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) is notorious. Found in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, they inhabit some 60 countries and can cover one-fifth of Earth's land surface. Desert locust plagues may threaten the economic livelihood of one-tenth of the world's humans. A desert locust swarm can be 460 square miles in size and pack between 40 and 80 million locusts into less than half a square mile. Each locust can eat its weight in plants each day, so a swarm of such size would eat 423 million pounds of plants every day. DISTANCES TRAVELED Like the individual animals within them, locust swarms are typically in motion and can cover vast distances. In 1954, a swarm flew from northwest Africa to Great Britain. In 1988, another made the lengthy trek from West Africa to the Caribbean. DID YOU KNOW? -- There can be as many as 80 million locusts in a swarm. -- Locust swarms devour every crop in their path. -- When food runs out, locusts turn cannibal. -- Locusts are depicted in ancient Egyptian tombs. -- Locusts have serrated jaws that move from side to side. -- Heavy rains prompt locust eggs to hatch. ABOUT LOCUSTS Common Name: Locusts Scientific Name: Acrididae Type: Invertebrates Diet: Herbivore Group Name: Swarm Average life span: Several months Size: 0.5 to 3 inches Weight: 0.07 ounces SOURCE: www.nationalgeographic.com IN CURRENT NEWS China deploys army of 100,000 ducks to fight locust invasion in neighbouring Pakistan: https://www.nairaland.com/5713579/china-deploys-army-ducks-fight https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/china-deploys-army-ducks-fight-21593068
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| Health › Coronavirus: Website For Global Live Infographic Updates by prof2007(op): 1:05am On Mar 01, 2020 |
CHECK IT OUT (scroll through the map to view the areas you are interested in): https://infographics.channelnewsasia.com/covid-19/map.html |
| Politics › Time For Igbo Presidency Is 2023 by prof2007(op): 8:45pm On Feb 29, 2020 |
“Justice is a machine that, when someone has given it a push, rolls on by itself” – John Galsworthy, 1867-1933, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, p 111. Perhaps in the midst of the multitudes of issues dividing this nation, especially religion, politics, ethnicity, regionalism, economic inequality etc, it might appear audacious to bring another contentious issue up for debate — particularly, when it is at the moment not a popular view across Nigeria. However, the question of Igbo presidency pre-dated all of our current problems and will probably outlast all of them – if it is allowed to linger. Most of us seem to have forgotten that Boko Haram started in 2009; herdsmen were harmless individuals moving around with their cattle without threatening even the smallest girl alone in a farm until about 2015. Bandits were seen only in American films as those nasty people committing atrocities and being hounded by security forces on horseback. Kidnapping was limited to occasional snatching of small kids (that was why it was called kid-napping) instead of district heads and ministers’ wives and medical doctors. Go and open any newspaper you want up till 2010 and you will find almost no stories about all the social maladies which have become front page news since 2012 till now. But, the recurrent issue of Igbo presidency remains on the national agenda – and will remain there until we address it frontally and end it once and for all. The year 2023 is, to me, as good as any to aim for it. Permit me to defer the answer to why 2023 until later in the narrative. Incidentally, most of us seem to also forget that we almost solved the problem without violence, rancour or animosity during the transition to civil rule in 1998-9. Let me briefly remind all of us. A great deal of what follows is taken from my book, PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED, mainly from pages 93 to 108: “For the sake of those under the age of thirty, who might not have heard of them, I want to introduce thirty four gallant men – called the G-34 – who risked everything (everything included life) to confront the deadliest dictator Nigeria has known – General Sani Abacha. 1. Dr Alex Ekwueme, 2. Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, 3. Chief Bola Ige, 4. Chief Ayo Adebanjo, 5. Chief Sunday Awoniyi, 6. Alhaji Sule Lamido, 7. Chief Solomon Lar, 8. Malam Adamu Ciroma, 9. Dr Tunji Otegbeye, 10. Professor Jerry Gana, 11. Alhaji Balarabe Musa, 12. Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, 13. Dr Iyorcha Ayu, 14. Alhaji Lawal Kaita, 15. Col Abubakar Umar, 16. Professor Ango Abdullahi, 17. Alhaji Mohammed Arzika, 18. Alhaji Suleiman Komo, 19. Alhaji Lawal Dambanzu, 20, Malam Iro Dan Musa, 21. Alhaji Farouk Abdulazeez, 22. Alhaji Musa Yakubu, 23. Mr Steve Achema. 24. Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, 25. Chief Onyeabo Obi, 26. Chief Francis Ellah, 27. Chief Emeka Echeruo, 28. Major General Zamani Lekwot, 29. Mr Basil Ukaegbu, 30. Mr Isaac Sha’ahu, 31. Malam Mahmud Waziri, 32. Mr Dangana Nfayako, 33. Dr Usman Bugaje, 34. Obong Victor Attah. (Of course Attah has to be there in every roll of honour. That is why I always adore him). “The G-34 had several things in common. First, one of my friends and classmate in the university in the US described them as ‘men who must have packed iron balls instead of scrotum to have had the courage to openly confront Abacha at a time when everybody else was afraid to even whisper the dictator’s name in their bedrooms’. “Second, they were evenly divided between Muslims (18) and Christians (18). Third, although the military Head of State was a northerner, 21 of them were from the North and only 15 from the South. Yet, they all accepted the late Dr Alex Ekwueme, the Second Republic Vice President and Igbo man, as their leader. Fourth, Ekwueme was well on his way to becoming the elected President in 1999 until unkind fate took over and prevented Nigeria from healing the wounds of the 1967-70 Civil War once and for all. “For most of the details about how the nation missed the chance and instead of Ekwueme we got Obasanjo – we exchanged gold for dross – readers will have to get a copy of the book from someone who has one. “The important thing is that we once got so close to getting an Igbo President when 34 truly patriotic Nigerians first got together to form the nucleus of a great all-inclusive political party and then scouted for more like-minded individuals. Unfortunately, they were not too careful about their selection of members. They got foxes mixed with chicken in the same cage”. On 21 February 1999, in an article published in SUNDAY VANGUARD, I had warned Ekwueme and by extension the PDP with these prophetic words: “Many of us have assumed that the military revolution, which ended up as all revolutions in the hands of madmen, would have cautioned all Nigerians about the dangers of continuing military influence on our lives, and in that regard your emergence as the leader of the PDP and presidential aspirant raised hopes of deliverance. “Even the entry of General Obasanjo was not seen as a threat to that aspiration. Not because people had anything against Obasanjo. Personally, I don’t, but because of the need for the clean break with regimented governance, with orders issued to be obeyed ‘with immediate effect’, irrespective of the soundness of the decision, could not be achieved by looking backwards [to Obasanjo] instead of moving forward. At least so we thought. “But, as events unfolded, as N130 million [a colossal amount in those days] was first donated by faceless manipulators and billions more weighed in on the side of continuation of military rule by other means, it became increasingly clear that the party you once called ‘my baby’ would be snatched from you by powerful groups hell-bent on ensuring that the clean break with the past does not occur.” ‘TO MY BROTHER ALEX EKWUEME’ in PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED, p 99: “Granted Ekwueme and the Founding Fathers of the PDP ignored the warning and set the ball rolling for the predicaments in which we find Nigeria today, there is a ray of hope even in that story. A party known to be led by an Igbo man was overwhelmingly accepted across all the zones. The question is: Have we run out of Ekwuemes in Nigeria? I would not be writing this article if the answer is NO! I sincerely believe there are at least half a dozen ‘Ekwuemes’ even now. None of them is a former VP or leader of a party he started. But, there are Igbo men and women with the requisite leadership qualities who can serve the nation meritoriously. We must find them or some of them must start taking the risk of coming out NOW! That statement immediately would raise a complex question: why must we find them and why are they not coming out on their own? Let me attempt to answer them as best as possible. First, we must find them because it is not the first time some individuals or group have found some of our past leaders for us – Gowon (1967-1976), Obasanjo (1976-1979, 1999-2007), Shagari (1979-1983), Buhari (1984-1985), Yar’Adua (2007-2010). If we are honest with ourselves we must admit that for most of our history since 1966 our national leaders have been found for us – one way or another. There is absolutely no reason why we cannot adopt the same method for getting our Igbo President. To be quite candid we are being discriminatory when we refrain from undertaking the task of searching for and bringing our Igbo President. The question “why are they not coming out on their own?” is just a shade less dishonest than the first one. If the truth must be told, the rest of us in Nigeria intimidate the prospective Igbo candidates. We set up political hurdles higher than those established for others for them to scale and we make it almost impossible for them to scale them – even with super-human efforts”. Just read the book PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED, especially the areas pertaining to how Obasanjo emerged as the party’s presidential candidate and you will understand why Ekwueme failed after building the party right from prison. One would have thought Obasanjo, self-esteemed as a statesman and having the power at the time to impose his successor, would have used that clout to impose an Igbo president and end the Civil War once and for all time. Even he could not think that deeply. He went for the easy choice which required no courage at all. “If we do not find our way to peace, whatever else we do will not make much difference” -Charles Keller, President, Rotary International 1988-9, VBQ, p184. IPOB as well as all the other radical Igbo organisations will continue to have relevance as long as we don’t address this issue, and peace will continue to elude us and cost the nation billions required for development. Nigeria’s security forces were placed on high alert because Kanu’s parents were being buried. An event which should not have merited more than mere mention in the papers had the entire world focused on it and wasting time and resources. We are paying dearly already for this self-inflicted damage to our country. No external enemy could have done worse to us. In 2023 we have a chance to at least put this one conflict behind us – if we can summon the courage once and for all time. NO HIDDEN AGENDA Almost invariably when such a call is made in Nigeria small minded individuals assume there must be a hidden agenda. The promoter must have a candidate in mind. I was confronted with the same sort of scepticism when the call for a Christian governor in Lagos State was made on these pages in 2010-11. Apart from being dismissed as a day-dreamer who had not consulted the “god” of Lagos politics, there was the fear that I was fronting for a candidate. Time proved my critics wrong on the two counts. We had Ambode who I never met in my life as governor and I did not prostrate before any human being in Lagos. Igbo presidency in 2023 is also possible because all power belongs to God Almighty. I have no candidate in mind. There are some possibilities; but, none that I ever met in my life – a former senator, a businessman and, thinking out of the box, there is the Chairman of Air Peace who selflessly provided aircraft to lift fellow Nigerians out of South Africa. That is the sort of heroism which separates the men from the boys. I am compiling a dossier on Allen Onyema and others – just in case we need him again….. THE YOUNG SHALL GROW; THE OLD SHALL GO “The old order changeth; yielding way to the new…” Many responses have been received in connection with Obong Victor Attah’s Life Time Achievement Award on March 20, 2020. They are being processed. As Obong moves further up into the ranks of elder statesmen in Nigeria, the baton of leadership in Akwa Ibom State must be passed to somebody. Show your face in Lagos; honour the current Father of Akwa Ibom State. JUST ASK ME HOW. SOURCE: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/02/time-for-igbo-presidency-is-2023/ |
| Politics › The North Will Destroy Itself If It Doesn’t Change – Emir Of Kano by prof2007(op): 4:34am On Feb 28, 2020 |
The Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido has said that the north will destroy itself if it doesn’t change. He clamored for change in the way things are done since the pattern used is not benefiting the north. The north contributes about 87% of poor people in the country and that is affecting the economy of the country. He also stated that a day will come when there will be a constitutional amendment that addresses issues of quota system and federal character, because the rest of the country cannot continue educating their children who will remain unemployed because they come from the wrong state. Emir Sanusi also commended Governor El-Rufai for addressing the main issue in his state which is education. According to him millions of northerners are out of school. His speech says ; “It is almost correct now to say that, you are seen as normal, if you are a governor in the north or a leader in the north, and you continue to do what your predecessors have been doing. Doing the same thing, which has been normalised, then, there is something wrong with you. You are part of the problem. The real change in the north will come from those who are considered mad people, because you look around and say if this is the way we have been doing things, and this is where we have ended up, maybe we need to do things differently. “If the north does not change, the north will destroy itself. The country is moving on… If we don’t listen, there would be a day when there would be a constitutional amendment that addresses the issues of quota system and federal character. The rest of the country cannot be investing, educating its children, producing graduates and then they watch us, they can’t get jobs because they come from the wrong state; when we have not invested in the future of our own children.” He also added; “Nobody who is a leader in northern Nigeria today can afford to be happy,” Sanusi said. You cannot be happy about 87% of poverty in Nigeria being in the north. You can’t be happy with millions of northern out-of-school children. You can’t be happy with 9 states in the north contributing almost 50% of the entire malnutrition burden in the country. “You can’t be happy with the Boko Haram problem. You can’t be happy with all the issues. “So, we wish Nasir a happy birthday, but we do not want him to be happy as a leader. Because you are happy when you think you have reached a state of delivering and taking your people to where you want them to be.” SOURCE: https://allure.vanguardngr.com/2020/02/the-north-will-destroy-itself-if-it-doesnt-change-emir-of-kano/ |
| Politics › Ba’a Idirisa Killed! Muhammed Yusuf's Son's Death Divides Boko Haram by prof2007(op): 1:24am On Feb 28, 2020 |
There is currently crisis in the camp of the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP), a faction of the Boko Haram sect.https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thecable.ng/crisis-breaks-out-in-boko-haram-camp-founders-son-killed/amp 17 Likes 5 Shares
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| Crime › Join Us Or Die! The Birth Of Boko Haram by prof2007(op): 12:26am On Feb 28, 2020 |
How tattered remnants of an Islamist sect transformed into a relentless terrorist army that Nigeria cannot defeat. -- Andrew Walker In February 2009, Nigerian Police tightened laws requiring drivers and passengers of motorcycles to wear helmets. Something strange happened. As hardly anyone had helmets to wear, achaba drivers took to the streets in all manner of improvised headgear. There were pictures in the press of people wearing paint cans and buckets; but best of all were riders wearing hollowed-out watermelons and calabash bowls. In one part of the country, however, this cat-and-mouse game between police and Nigerian motorists would have much more serious consequences. In Maiduguri, capital of the north-eastern Borno state, enforcement of the helmet law caused an incident that would spark violent conflict between police and members of a radical Islamist sect then unknown to the world. This, in turn, would pitch Nigeria into war. Two years later, I watched a man named Mohammed Zakariyya enter the office of Maiduguri’s Special Armed Robbery Squad. He'd been arrested a few days before, after the car he was driving was stopped at a police checkpoint. He looked barely more than a teenager. “They discovered weapons we hid underneath the seat,” Zakariyya told me and my fellow BBC journalist, Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar. When his companion was ordered out of the vehicle to let the police search it, he tried to drive off. The Police Mobile Force officers opened fire, killing him. Zakariyya said he'd been on 3 arms smuggling missions. Each time, he and his accomplices drove 120km out of Maiduguri to meet a man who ferried weapons in a canoe downriver from the mountainous border with Cameroon. Each time, he brought six AK-47s and a handful of boxes of ammunition. They loaded the car, then Zakariyya drove through Maiduguri to a large house in the suburbs of Damaturu, capital of neighbouring Yobe state. The men he was working for had approached Zakariyya at the end of 2010 while he was selling shoes and phone chargers. They were members of the hardline Islamist sect that had established itself between 2005 and 2009 at a compound in Maiduguri’s Railway district. Known as "Boko Haram", which translates as “Western education is forbidden”, the group gradually brought more and more people under its influence. On 20 February 2009, members of the sect were travelling to a funeral in a large group. The convoy was made up of many motorbikes, and police stopped them. The police were part of a state-wide task force, named Operation Flush, set up in 2005 to combat political thugs who ran amok in elections 2 years before. Dispute between the group and police about refusal to wear helmets became heated. Some reports say the police shot first, others that a member of the group disarmed a policeman and tried to use his weapon on other officers. In any case, the police opened fire, and several people in the travelling funeral party were killed and wounded. This was not the first time Operation Flush crossed paths with Boko Haram, and the group’s leaders had already concluded that the purpose of the Joint Task Force was to harass them directly. In weeks following this encounter, Yusuf made a series of speeches, circulated widely on tapes and DVDs and over Bluetooth connections, calling on Muslims to prepare to “come to Jihad”. This, he said, included “material preparation such as learning shooting, buying rifles and bombs, as well as training Islamic Soldiers to fight infidels. You should sacrifice your souls, your homes, your cars and your motorcycles for the sake of Allah.” Yusuf also had a large farm in Bauchi state, which he used as a base. The state government responded to these speeches by ordering police to raid the farm, capturing hundreds of Boko Haram members and killing several more. Police laid siege to the sect’s headquarters in the Ibn Taymiyyah mosque compound in Maiduguri. When they saw the state’s forces had pulled back and commenced shooting at them from a distance, the men inside armed themselves and broke out. Dujana said they split into groups – he led one detachment, which roamed the city looking for military and police units to attack. For 4 days Boko Haram rampaged through Maiduguri. As well as killing police and soldiers, they slaughtered scores of civilians who were caught out in the open, slitting their throats like animals. As authorities re-established control of the town, Mohammed Yusuf was captured by the military. He was interrogated in front of journalists who filmed it with their phones. He was then handed over to the police. Within minutes, Yusuf was dead – shot, police said, while trying to escape. Nobody believed this. Yusuf’s bullet-ridden body was then displayed to journalists, who took pictures. This was just the beginning of a tide of violence that has left thousands dead and at least 1.5m displaced. Years after Yusuf’s killing, the war between Boko Haram and the Nigerian state has changed and developed. From late 2014 to early 2015, the sect controlled an estimated 70% of Borno state. Authorities, meanwhile, seemed incapable of dislodging it. After his election in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari tried to reinvigorate military leadership by replacing a number of top generals. This, he hoped, would bolster the state’s response to Boko Haram. By August 2015, the military had reversed many of the group’s gains and pushed it back to more remote areas. But the war was by no means finished. In November 2015, during attacks 48 hours apart, suicide bombers killed scores in the eastern city of Yola and Kano in the north, hundreds of miles apart. These attacks show the extent of the group’s reach, even outside the area it once controlled. There have been continual, under-reported, skirmishes in the north-east border regions. On 29 January 2016, the group launched an attack on Dalori, a small town close to Maiduguri. Up to 80 people were killed. Witnesses said they heard screams of dying children as their houses burned down around them. These attacks are in spite of Buhari’s announcement in December 2015 that the war was “technically over”. Yusuf’s group did not appear out of nowhere. Even before the open war between Boko Haram and the state, it had been growing. Among its ranks were people from all levels of society, from street kids and traders, to disaffected students and wealthy businessmen. Many of the young men and women came from the University of Maiduguri, where the elite of the 1990s sent their children to be educated. Disaffected students and university dropouts gravitated towards the youth wing of a Salafi group at a mosque in Maiduguri. Among them were the nephew of the governor of Yobe state, the son of the state secretary of Borno and 5 sons of a prominent businessman who made his money through state contracts. These young men were drawn to the Salafists, who preached that such spiritual corruption was the cause of Borno’s ills. Many of them burned their university certificates when they joined. One man saw the potential of these young radicals, born into privilege. His name was Mohammed Yusuf. He had been travelling around the north-east, preaching, making contacts and winning a following since the mid-1990s. He was a charismatic speaker who had no trouble attracting an audience. His radical ideas about the infidel state of Nigeria resonated with many people. He gave fiery orations at mosques and debated with other Islamic scholars on local television and radio. According to his supporters, Yusuf was one of thousands of Almajiri children – religious students who beg on the streets for a living. But by the early 2000s he had found a place as a leader of the youth wing of a Salafist group at Maiduguri’s popular Alhaji Muhammadu Ndimi mosque. Yusuf told his followers that Muslims who participated in any form of democratic system were apostates and should be killed by the faithful. The wellspring of corruption, he concluded, was the education system put in place during and after colonial rule by Christian Britain. He preached in busy towns on market days (rather than on Fridays, a breach of tradition that angered Islamic authorities), where he picked up many followers. In the years before the 2009 uprising, observers were shocked at the extent of Yusuf’s influence, which spread deep into the border regions. From the very beginning, Yusuf was preparing his followers for conflict. Among the first generation of supporters were many ideologues willing to unleash violence on the state, innocent civilians, the Muslim establishment and anyone they declared to be unbelievers. They formed a “counter elite”, united by resentment of years of secular rule in Nigeria. These men dreamed of a sharia wonderland, and believed it would come to Nigeria through unremitting bloodshed. Before the 2009 uprising, the Salafists associated with Ndimi mosque had already made one disastrous attempt at creating an Islamic state. In 2003, a man named Muhammad Ali, who had tired of Yusuf’s slow approach to building a movement, led a band of 200 young men and women out into the wilderness to start society anew. They ended up in the borderlands of Yobe state, near the dry river bed between Nigeria and the Republic of Niger, at a place called Kanamma. They were determined to shun the corrupt world and create a new land of Islamic purity. This group of aggressive, iconoclastic city-dwellers soon came into conflict with the people who already lived in the place they tried to settle. Indeed, conflict was what they sought. They dug defensive preparations in a wooded grove near a water source. They raided local police stations and government buildings to get weapons, and to provoke a reaction, which duly came. After a brief siege, the military overran and destroyed the camp. The group’s members were mostly wiped out. A few survivors escaped north, over the border to Niger, where some can still be found. Others slunk back to Maiduguri. The military crackdown attracted international attention because the group dubbed itself the “Nigerian Taliban”. But, at the time, the US embassy concluded it had no links to al-Qaida. Yusuf did not join the Kanamma uprising. Still, after the group was crushed, he went into self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia to escape accusations he had anything to do with it. It is thought that, while he was there, he made links with like-minded Salafi preachers and secured their support. But after a year, he was back in Maiduguri. On his return, in 2005, Yusuf began to rebuild his own community, establishing Ibn Taymiyyah mosque and compound in the Railway district of Maiduguri on land bought with the help of his father-in-law. This location, in the heart of the state capital, was key to the group’s new incarnation. By embedding themselves in the town rather than the wilderness, the group had many more avenues for recruitment and funding. The population of Maiduguri had risen dramatically. Desertification across the north of Borno state over a decade, destroyed farmland and sparked an exodus to the city. Academic Mohammed Kabir Isa of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria says: “When they come to the city in search of a livelihood, the bubble bursts, and they realise there’s nothing there. That’s when they become easy prey for militant organisations.” By end of 2008, the group was operating like a state within a state; it had its own institutions, including a shura council to make decisions and a religious police force to enforce discipline. It had a rudimentary welfare system, offered jobs working land it acquired in Bauchi and even gave microfinance loans to members to start their own business. Many used the money to buy motorcycles and worked as achaba drivers. The group also arranged marriages between members, which many of the poorest could not afford in normal life. Rather than sticking out as rebels, Yusuf and his followers could blend in with ordinary people. Yusuf was also comfortable moving between different layers of Maiduguri society. The city has always been an important trading post for dealers in goods of all kinds – legal and otherwise. Its proximity to the borders of three countries – Cameroon, Chad, Niger – makes it an ideal hub for speculation in commodities such as fertiliser, kerosene, diesel and petrol. Maiduguri’s trading elite have made a lot of money. Some of them gravitated to Yusuf’s Salafist group in the belief they should atone for their prosperity. Ibn Taymiyyah mosque had been allowed to function thanks to a deal Yusuf struck with the government. The agreement between the state deputy governor and Yusuf wa brokered in Saudi Arabia by a leading Salafist sheikh. Yusuf pledged he had nothing to do with the Kanamma separatist group and would never again preach violent jihad. But in the following years, he ignored this pledge and was picked up by the security services several times, only to be swiftly released. The journalist who first reported on Yusuf’s sect believes that – at least at this early stage – its leader enjoyed high-level backing from the governor of Borno, Ali Modu Sherif. Ahmed Salkida, a reporter for Daily Trust, one of the few Nigerian papers that focus on the north, wrote extensively about the group in the years before 2009. He says that despite his professed loathing of politics, Yusuf made alliances and found common ground with Sherif. Both men had much to gain from cooperation. Yusuf wanted guarantees of a stronger sharia, a commitment to a strict line on God’s divine law; Sherif wanted to be re-elected. Sherif denies any such arrangement or involvement with the sect. In public, the two men had an antagonistic relationship. Yusuf had called Sherif an “infidel” and demanded his death. Sherif, however, knew it would have been unwise to fight Yusuf. Instead, he courted him, providing a lucrative position in the state religious affairs ministry to one of Boko Haram’s most zealous members, a man named Buji Foi. Salkida told me that until the final days before the uprising, Yusuf still believed a deal could be done with the state, and that Sherif would come around to Boko Haram’s uncompromising position. But by that stage Sherif had been backed into a corner. He could no longer protect Yusuf, who was handed over to the police and quickly executed. Questions still hang over the speed with which Yusuf was dispatched, and who exactly was served by his silencing. After Yusuf’s death, his lieutenants went into hiding, but were sustained by their loyalty to his vision. Under leadership of Abubakar Shekau, who had been Yusuf’s second-in-command, Boko Haram’s priority was revenge. The first targets were police, who were attacked at their own checkpoints and robbed of weapons. Higher-ranking officers were assassinated in their homes, as were local politicians and traditional rulers. After the uprising, authorities had demanded traditional leaders help them identify members of Boko Haram, who were then summarily executed, and their property given to the informants as reward. Now the group came back to murder those who betrayed them. In June 2011, under cover of darkness, Mohammed Manga, a 35-year-old commercial driver, set out from a camp near Maiduguri for the capital. In his car was an explosive device prepared by either al-Qaida in the Islamic Mahgreb, which was then in camps in the Sahara, or al-Shabaab in Somalia. He drove into the police headquarters, past the sentries and up to the front door, in the middle of a crowd. When he detonated the bomb, 5 were killed and more than 100 injured. A spokesman for Boko Haram said Manga left his widow and 5 children a considerable inheritance. A photograph sent to journalists showed him smiling and waving as he got into the car, holding an AK-47. “He was calm and never showed fear,” the group’s spokesman told Salkida. He added that everyone was envious of Manga, “wishing it was their chance to act and gain entry into paradise”. Boko Haram followed up this mission a few weeks later, in August 2011, by detonating a car packed with explosives in the driveway of the United Nations building in Abuja. At least 21 people were killed and scores wounded. The group unleashed a bombing campaign in Maiduguri, Jos, Kaduna and the capital, and devastating coordinated strikes against the security services in Kano. It attacked churches, universities and schools, bus stations and markets, killing thousands. Within a few years, between 2011 and 2014, Boko Haram had gone from the tattered remnants of a radical sect, to a full fledged terrorist group. As it grew in power, subsuming whole towns by force, the group attracted more and more followers. Bands of armed robbers joined to exploit the chaos it left behind. Others joined to settle ancient scores against rival ethnic religious groups, mostly over land. Others were grabbed off the streets and forced into service. Zakariyya, the young prisoner I met in 2011, had been coerced into joining Boko Haram. In the office of the Special Armed Robbery Squad in Maiduguri, my colleague, Abdullahi Kaura, and I listened as he finished his account. Selling shoes and phone accessories, he was able to take home between N2,000 or N3,000 a week (£10). Now 22, he said he had two wives and two children. He was struggling to feed his family when the men from Boko Haram offered to pay him to smuggle weapons. “They promised me N200,000” he said, “but on the 1st trip they only paid me 70,000 and on the 2nd trip they gave me only 40,000. I was never in favour of their ideology. They threatened me and said now I knew who they were, I either did what they wanted or they would kill me. You cannot know their secret and just go. I was afraid for my life.” When he was caught by the police, he told officers what they wanted to know. “And, now the security forces have arrested me, I have pledged to assist them. Even as it is now, I’m in trouble. If they get me, I’m a dead man.” Zakariyya’s voice was very faint. He looked very small. Boko Haram’s violent network across Borno, Adamawa and Yobe went largely unchecked by the military. The group became bolder and began attacking towns in large fighting groups, travelling in convoys of stolen Toyota Hiluxes. In March 2014 Boko Haram attacked Giwa barracks in Maiduguri. When they broke in, they freed 800 people from the cells. Among the prisoners were people who were not members of Boko Haram before they had been picked by the military. The fate that met those who did not go with Boko Haram was discovered by Amnesty International: 645 people who refused join the militants were rounded up and executed, then dumped in a mass grave. For many, like Zakariyya, it must have seemed that their destiny was to join Boko Haram or die. After our encounter with Zakariyya, my colleague and I stood outside the police station. We were both badly shaken. “They’re going to kill that boy aren’t they?” I asked. Kaura nodded. • This article is adapted from Andrew Walker’s new book, Eat the Heart of the Infidel (Hurst). SOURCE (abridged): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/04/join-us-or-die-birth-of-boko-haram
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