Author: Khadija Abubakar

A SURGING mpox outbreak in Africa was declared an emergency by the World Health Organisation this week and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), an EU agency, on Friday said more imported cases to Europe were “highly likely”. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) declared its first-ever Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS) for the deadly disease. It is the second time the WHO has issued its public health emergency warning since the epidemic first spread around the world in 2022. Now the virus has crossed from its epicentre in the Democratic…

THE Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday said Nigeria had recorded a total of 39 confirmed cases of mpox and zero deaths across 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory from the beginning of 2024. The NCDC Director General, Dr Jide Idris, who disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja, also said the country had so far recorded a total of 5,951 suspected cholera cases and 176 deaths have been recorded across 36 states, and the FCT as of August 11, 2024. The Africa Centre for Disease Control on Tuesday declared a public health emergency over…

THE Federal Government on Monday, approved the new National Policy on Health Workforce Migration. The 56-page document approved by President Bola Tinubu will tackle the exodus of health workers from Nigeria in a phenomenon colloquially known as ‘Japa’. See Full Document Below: NATIONAL-POLICY-ON-HWF-MIGRATION_FINALCOPY_PDF

THE National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has denied directing corps members to upgrade their accounts for the payment of N70,000 as their monthly allowance. Recall that the nation’s official minimum wage for public servants had been the benchmark for the Corps members’ monthly allowances for some years now. This newspaper reports that President Bola Tinubu had last month signed the National Minimum Wage Bill 2024 into law, which provides for N70,000 minimum wage for workers in both public and private sectors. NYSC Director of Information and Public Relations, Mr. Eddy Megwa, in a press statement on Sunday, said the misleading…

THE Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, has disrupted an event tagged, “Unveiling the Power of Women and Food Security,” which was held without the ministry’s approval. Kennedy-Ohanenye disclosed this in Abuja on Thursday, saying the organiser has been taken into custody by the Department of State Services (DSS) for alleged impersonation of the ministry. “It got to my notice earlier today that some group of people where using the name of the ministry for some unscrupulous activities.Upon getting this information ,I stormed the alleged fraudulent event conducted in the Ministry’s name. The Perpetrator’s of this crime has been. “There…

THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has successfully auctioned $876.26 million to 26 deposit money banks (DMBs) in the latest Retail Dutch Auction System (RDAS) held on Tuesday, August 6, 2024. The auction was part of the apex bank’s efforts to enhance foreign exchange liquidity in the market, alleviate demand pressure, and support price discovery, in line with its objectives. The CBN disclosed this development in a statement released on its website on Wednesday, signed by its Director of the Financial Markets Department, Omolara Omofunde Duke. According to the statement, the auction attracted total bids worth $1.18 billion from 32…

NIGERIA’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, says the Federal Government (FG) won’t accept any foreign interference in the aftermath of the violence that trailed the #EndBadGovernance protests in the country. He stated this on Wednesday when he met with members of the diplomatic corps in Abuja, warning that the government will not spare anyone funding the protests both from within and outside Nigeria. Tuggar said, “While the government continues to work hard through the various reform programs and measures to address the challenges facing Nigeria and Nigerians, it is pertinent to remind us that no nation tolerates foreign interference…

THE management of Bayero University Kano (BUK) has suspended lectures pending the return of normalcy in the state. In a statement issued on Monday by Deputy Registrar, Public Affairs, Lamara Garba, the Management of BUK said the decision to suspend activities was necessitated by its consideration of safety of lives and property and, therefore, enjoins the members of the University community to continue to be cautious about their movements See full statement below: SUSPENSION OF LECTURES The Management of Bayero University, Kano wishes to commend members of the University community for their support and cooperation of maintaining a peaceful atmosphere…

THE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has given all tertiary institutions in the country one month to disclose all admissions conducted outside its Central Admissions Processing System before 2017. The Public Communication Advisor for JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin, who disclosed this at a press briefing in Abuja, on behalf of the board’s registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, on Sunday, said the directive was aimed at enhancing transparency and fairness in the admissions process. “The attention of the board has been drawn to the predilection of some institutions to admit candidates outside the approved Central Admissions Processing System platform and process such…

AS the planned national protest against hardship looms, Amnesty International is asking Nigerian authorities to respect the rights of demonstrators. In a statement on Wednesday, Amnesty International’s Nigeria Director Isa Sanusi called on government and security agencies to allow protesters to exercise their rights. “The Nigerian authorities must ensure that security agencies respect and facilitate the right to peaceful protest, as guaranteed by both the country’s own constitution and human rights treaties including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Nigeria is a state party. Government officials must…

THE Managing Director of Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund), Mr Akintunde Sawyerr, has disclosed that over N1.1 billion has been disbursed as fees for 20,000 students who applied for the loans. Speaking in a briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, Sawyerr said the Fund would also disburse N850 million before the end of the day (Wednesday), adding that disbursement will henceforth be done daily. He said the Fund would also disburse loans to 260 students for upkeep with each being entitled to N250,000 yearly. “The payment of upkeep stipends will be conducted in the coming week with the utmost transparency and…

TELECOMMS firm MTN has closed its offices nationwide. MTN, however, directed its customers to use their “digital channels” for support. While it did not indicate the reason for the closure, the move came barely 24 hours after aggrieved customers vandalised MTN’s office in the Festac area of Lagos. The aggrieved customers whose lines were disconnected for defaulting in the NIN-SIM linkage policy had stormed the office to complain over the move. But in viral videos spotted by Channels Television, some of them were seen pulling the office’s fence. It took the intervention of police authorities in Lagos State to restore…

NO fewer than 30 Nigerians died during the just-concluded hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, the Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, Mallam Jalal Arabi, has said. Arabi, who disclosed this at a post-hajj press briefing in Abuja, on Monday, explained that about four victims passed away as a result of the heat wave recorded during the hajj exercise. He said, “It is very true that the 2024 hajj experienced one of the harshest weathers that had ever been experienced in the past. But the good thing about we were informed well in advance. “It was included in the…

THE Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) and Muslim Public Affairs Centre (MPAC) have demanded punitive actions, including the banning of an upcoming film in Nigeria showing women in niqab brandishing weapons, robbing banks and committing other crimes. This is contained in separate statements issued on Thursday signed by the Executive Director of MURIC, Prof. Ishaq Akintola and the Executive Chairman of MPAC, Disu Kamor, respectively. Nollywood actress Nancy Isime recently shared behind-the-scene photos from an upcoming, yet-to-be-announced film on her social media handles. The images, posted earlier this week, show her in a sleeveless top and trousers, holding a gun, with…

NIGERIANS will now be paying N7,000 per month, as video streaming platform, Netflix, has once again increased its subscription prices with its Premium Plan going up by 40 per cent to N7,000 from N5,000 per month. Recall that Netflix has been raising the rates of its Basic and Premium plans starting in October 2023 in several major areas across the world, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. The streaming platform stated earlier in April that the price of its Premium Plan in Nigeria would increase to N5,000 from N4,400. Simultaneously, the Basic Plan stayed at N2,900,…

THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has again raised the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), which measures interest rates by 50 basis points, from 26.25% to 26.75% amid soaring inflation and skyrocketing food prices. CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, announced this after the apex bank’s 296th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday. The MPC adjusted the asymmetric corridor around the MPR from +100 to -300 to +500 to -100 basis points. The MPC also retained the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) of deposit money banks at 45% and merchant banks at 14% and retained the Liquidity Ratio at 30%. Cardoso…

JOURNALIST, author, and columnist Azu Ishiekwene will read his latest book, Writing for Media and Monetising It in the nation‘s capital city, Abuja, on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. According to a statement personally signed by Ishiekwene, the senior vice chairman and editor-in-chief of LEADERSHIP Group Limited, on Monday, he will give the reading at Rovingheights Bookstore, Area 11, Garki, Abuja, at 5pm, at an event that Channels TV’s top anchor, Maupe Ogun-Yusuf, will moderate. He said the reading session will allow him to deepen his engagement with readers, autograph copies, and reflect on how content creators, especially journalists, can get…

THE University of Abuja (UniAbuja) chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has announced the suspension of its 82-day-old strike action with immediate effect. Chairperson of the union, Dr. Sylvanus Ugoh announced the suspension of the strike while briefing journalists in Abuja on Monday at the end of its congress. He said the strike was suspended following the union’s engagement with the new Governing Council of the University, which promised to review all their demands with the hope of proffering solution to them. It would be recalled that the Union, on May 2, 2024, had embarked on an…

THE Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has dismissed an action filed by the Incorporated Trustees of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) challenging the legality of the presidential directive for the barring of SIM cards not linked with the National Identification Number (NIN). Justice Yelim Bogoro held that the policy of the Federal Government requiring the linkage of SIMs with NIN is reasonably justifiable and that the interest of the country as one indivisible and indissoluble country is greater than the right of any individual in the country. In the action filed against the President of the Federal…

THE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has pegged 140 as a cut-off mark for admission into the university. The board also fixed 100 as the minimum cut-off point mark for admission into polytechnics and colleges of education. JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede announced this on Thursday in Abuja at the 2024 Policy meeting of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). The meeting had in attendance the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, vice-chancellors, rectors and registrars of higher institutions and other stakeholders. At the meeting, the minister directed that admission to tertiary institutions should not be given to candidates…