King Abdul Rahman Ado Ibrahim, the Ohinoyi of Ebira land in Kogi State, yesterday, February 7, 2022, formally received the first ever Standard Ebira-English Dictionary at his Azad Palace Okene, during the celebration of his 93rd birthday. The book was presented by the chairman of the production committee, Prince Emma Omadivi (backing the camera right), and the Author of the book, Yusuf Ozi Usman (backing the camera left), supporting him.
The first class Ohinoyi (King) of Ebira land in Kogi State turned 93 years old, celebrating it with unusual birthday cake.
Hundreds of Ebira people both at home and in Diaspora, including the Chief Imam of Ebira land, Sheikh Abere, thronged his Azad Palace, adjudged the best in Africa, in Okene, capital of Okene Local Government today, February 7, to pray, sing and dance for the longevity of the King.
– the birthday cake –
The birthday cake was designed by a young lady, Miss Ni’imat, in the shape of his wonderful palace.
Editor-In-Chief/CEO of the Greenbarge Media and Communications Ltd, publisher of Greenbarge Reporters online newspaper and hardcopy magazine, Yusuf Ozi Usman, reports that the Queen was so impressed with the birthday cake design that she gave N250,000 to the young lady.
According to the Greenbarge Reporters online boss, all the traditional rulers around the local governments in Ebira land, including the ones from neighbouring states attended the ceremony.
– from right: Chief Imam Abere, Dr. Godwin and Yusuf Ozi Usman at the occasion-
The Ohinoyi, who is the acting chairman of the Council of Traditional Rulers in Kogi State, used the occasion to receive the first ever Standard Ebira-English Dictionary, which was authored by Yusuf Ozi Usman.
The President of the Ebira sociocultural group across the world; Ebira Peoples Association (EPA), Dr. Oyibo Godwin, coordinator of Ebira studies at the Federal College of Education (FCE), Okene, Pastor Lawal Ozovehe; chairman and secretary of the production committee, Prince Emma Omadivi and Abdulrahman Salawu Adavize witnessed the formal presentation of the Dictionary to Ohinoyi.
Ohinoyi Ado Ibrahim, whose father, King Atta Ibrahim Onoruioza was the first officially recognised central ruler of Ebira land, has been on the throne since June 2, 1997. He will be celebrating a silver jubilee this year.
FCT MInister, Muhammad Musa Bello
Yahaya Bello | Photo Credit: Premium Times
PRESIDENT BUHARI BILATERAL WITH PALESTINE PM H.E MOHAMMED SHTAYYEH. 0A. L-R; President Muhammadu Buhari and The State of Palestine, Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh during a Bilateral meeting on the sideline of the 35th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads and Government of African Union held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE 5TH 2022“Please continue to stay well and healthy, because we need your wisdom.”
This was the appeal by the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, in a sideline meeting today, February 5, with President Muhammadu Buhari at the ongoing African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia.
Prime Minister Shtayyeh, who expressed appreciation to President Buhari for his leadership role in the continent, said: “your Excellency, we thank you for your wisdom. We need it more now.”
The Palestinian leader told Buhari that the situation in the Middle East, particularly relations with Israel, had deteriorated over the years.
Responding, President Buhari assured that Nigeria will continue to pursue peace and progress in Africa and other parts of the world, by consistently pushing for justice, fairness and inclusiveness in global affairs.
Buhari said the country remains unwavering in supporting democracy, development and good governance, particularly in ensuring the rights of individuals and institutions.
“As a country we are doing our best, and we will continue doing our best to ensure justice and fairness.”
The President assured the Palestinian leader that Nigeria will be consistent in pushing for peace and progress, while upholding the tenets of justice.
Nigeria has won election to retain its seat in the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) for another three-year mandate (2022-2025).
Nigeria, which polled 44 votes in the first round to secure the statutory two-third votes required to win the election, will continue to represent the West African region.
The election of the 15-member Council was held on 3rd February, 2022 during the 40th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union (Ministers of Foreign Affairs) in Addis Ababa.
Also elected for a three-year mandate alongside Nigeria, were Cameroon, Djibouti, Morocco, and Namibia. Elected for a two year mandate were Burundi, Congo, Uganda, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ghana, Senegal, and Gambia.
Nigeria is the only country that has sustained the membership of the PSC since the inception of the Organ in 2004, following the decision of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government dedicating a Seat of three-year term to Nigeria at every PSC election.
This is in recognition of Nigeria’s sterling contributions to the maintenance of peace and security in Africa and beyond. It is in consonance with the AUPSC Protocol and without prejudice to the two-third votes standard requirement.
The PSC is a standing decision-making organ of the African Union charged with responsibilities of: conducting early warning and preventive diplomacy; facilitating peace-making; establish peace-support operations; and, in certain circumstances recommend intervention in Member States to promote peace, security and stability.
The PSC works in support of peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction as well as humanitarian action and disaster management. It is mandated to institute sanctions; and implement the AU’s common defense policy.
The PSC also ensures the implementation of key conventions and instruments to combat international terrorism; promote coordination between regional mechanisms and the AU with respect to peace, security and stability in Africa.
Going forward, Nigeria’s objectives in the AU-PSC will remain guided by the renewed commitment of the Administration of President Muhammed Buhari, towards accelerating the ongoing implementation of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and the African Governance Architecture (AGA) in-line with the core objectives of the AU Agenda 2063 and the UN 2030 Agenda. As Africa continues to respond to old and emerging conflicts on the continent, particularly that of unconstitutional change of government, Nigeria targets collaborative efforts towards improving on gains made in proffering African Solutions to African problems premised on the overall objective of African ownership and leadership to durable peace in the continent.
The Nigerian Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union, Victor A. Adeleke will represent Nigeria in this important Council at the Permanent Representatives level.
Four drug Firms in America and Britain have made a combined profits of more than $14 billion in COVID-19 treatments in 2021.
The tally, according to findings, includes full-year sales of Eli Lilly & Co.’s monoclonal antibodies ($2.2 billion), Gilead Sciences Inc.’s COVID-19 antiviral Veklury ($5.5 x billion).
The profits were made according to year-end earnings from those companies.
It’s learnt that omicron, a variant of COVID19, surge that began in the final month of the year fuelled better-than-expected utilisation of these COVID-19 therapies as millions of people tested positive for the virus and hundreds of thousands were hospitalised.
It’s confirmed that the fast reduction in omicron wave, has created very different landscape for COVID-19 treatments in 2022.
Several new therapies were authorized last year, including two much awaited antiviral pills Paxlovid and molnupiravir) that some people with mild and moderate forms of the disease can take at home.
This is a big change from the first two years of the pandemic, when most of the available treatments like Veklury and the steroid dexamethasone were reserved for severely ill COVID-19 patients. They were only proven to work in that patient population.
“We expect COVID treatment to evolve to oral direct antivirals, particularly once Paxlovid and molnupiravir become more broadly available in the coming months, which alongside waning case numbers should decrease the need for GILD’s Veklury,” RBC Capital Markets analyst, Brian Abrahams told investors on February 1, 2022. Veklury is also an antiviral, though it’s primarily been used as an in-hospital treatment. That is changing now that the Food and Drug Administration said the treatment can be administered in outpatient settings to people with mild or moderate COVID-19 who are at high risk of disease progression.
The drug brought in $5.5 billion in sales in 2021; however, Gilead said it expects half of that $2 billion in 2022, based on an expected “step-down in hospitalization rates.” Gilead CFO Andrew Dickinson told investors this week that figure applies if omicron is the “only major surge” of the year.
For the new antivirals, there’s no step-down in sight. Molnupiravir, which was developed with the privately held Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, generated $952 million in global sales in the fourth quarter—an impressive feat considering it received FDA authorization in the final two weeks of the year. As for 2022, the legacy drug maker said it expects sales of $5 billion to $6 billion, against a FactSet consensus of $6.3 billion. Expect middling Paxlovid sales of $99 million for 2021 and then a colossal $22.0 billion in 2022, according to the FactSet consensus.
The market for monoclonal antibodies likely won’t fare as well, now that it’s evident that variants can impact the therapies’ effectiveness and Wall Street is focused on what else these drug makers have to offer investors.
The FDA last month revised the authorisations of Lilly’s bamlanivimab and etesevimab and Regeneron’s casirivimab and imdevimab, saying both monoclonal antibodies can’t be used for people infected or exposed to omicron because they’re not effective.
Lilly told investors on Thursday that its monoclonal antibodies generated $2.2 billion in sales in 2021, half of which ($1.0 billion) arrived in the fourth quarter. However, the FactSet consensus for 2022 sales indicates a sharp drop in revenue, to $396 million.
The company said that it already has another monoclonal in development, called bebtelovimab, which it submitted to the FDA for authorisation in January. But Wall Street still isn’t putting its long-term bets on monoclonals as a revenue source.
Mizuho Securities analyst Vamil Divan told investors that while the monoclonals and Lilly’s rheumatoid arthritis drug Olumiant may have helped drive sales for the company in the final quarter of the year, “those products are less important from a longer-term perspective.” Regeneron reported $5.8 billion in sales of its monoclonal antibody, Regen-Cov, in 2021—beating the FactSet consensus of $5.4 billion. Similar to Lilly, about 40% of that revenue $2.3billion came in during the final quarter of the year.
However, the same FactSet consensus predicts a much quieter year ahead for Regen-Cov revenue, estimating only $1.4 billion in sales in 2022. Also up is Vir Biotechnology Inc., which developed another monoclonal antibody with GlaxoSmithKline, although it won’t report its results until March 31.
ICPC: Fighting Corruption In All Fronts (Takeaways 2), By Yusuf Ozi Usman
For two days, on January 25 and 26 at the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria in Keffi, Nasarawa State, seven experts from within and without the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related matters Commission (ICPC) took turn to dwell on different topics at the capacity building for the media on reporting anti corruption issues as they relate to ICPC Initiatives.
The experts/resource persons include Akeem Lawal, the ICPC Director of Operations, who spoke on Understanding Anti-Corruption Issues and Investigations: Overview of the ICPC Act and ICPC Mandate; Mohammed Ashiru Baba, the ICPC Director of Public Enlightenment and Education who treated the issue of ICPC Initiatives: Overview of the Public Enlightenment and Education Mandate.
Others were Abbira Udofa, the ICPC Director of the System Study and Review, who spoke on Understanding ICPC Preventive Mandate: Adenekan Ebenezer Shogunle, the ICPC Deputy Director in the Legal department, who spoke on Effective Media Reportage of the Investigation and Prosecution of Cases of Sexual Harassment and Abuse of Office Under ICPC Act.
Yusuf Ali, Managing Editor (Northern Operations) of The Nation newspaper was also on hand to speak on The Roles of the Media in the Fight Against Corruption, even as Dayo Aiyetan, Director of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) treated the topic: Investigative Journalism and the Challenges of Reporting Corruption.
The topic: A Review of Nigeria’s Ranking on Corruption Perception of Transparency International was handled by Oluyinka Akintunde while Adebayo A. Kayode, ICPC Director, spoke on Asset Tracing, Recovery and Management.
The drafters of the ICPC Act 2000 must be very crafty and foresighted, though it looks overloaded. So also are the implementers or operators of the content of the Act are thorough in the way they do it as well as understanding what clearly, on the whole, is a difficult terrain they must tread to get things done.
When the Commission, through the legal frame work that set it up, is expected to fight not only financial corruption but OTHER related matters (emphasis mine), you would understand the seemingly unlimited power it wields.
The list of cases of corruption and related other matters which the Commission handles are mouthwatering. They include but not limited to the following:
Cheating, not keeping to promise, abuse of office, including using official position for the benefit of self, nepotism, cronyism, bribery, receiving and or giving kickback, trade in influence, theft, looting, extortion, misuse of entrusted power for private gain, embezzlement, fraud, misappropriation of public fund, favouritism, flaunting influence, lying, using coercion, cheating, diversion of funds meant for execution of public project, possessing properties above one’s earning, rape and so on. As a matter of fact, ICPC appears to combine the functions and responsibilities of almost all the other anti corruption and anti criminal agents, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), etc.
The Bill for the Act which seeks to prohibit all forms of corruption and prescribe punishment for corrupt practices and other related offences, was passed and came into effect on 13th June, 2000. The Act was enacted pursuant to section 15 (5)chapter 2 of the 1999 Constitution, empowering the State to abolish corrupt practice and abuse of power AND National Assembly’s power to make laws for peace, order and good government in section 4 (2), chapter 1 of the 1999 Constitution.
Section 3 (14) of the ICPC Act says that while discharging its powers and responsibilities, it (ICPC) is not subject to direction or control of any person or authority.
The Act specifies the mandate of the Commission, with section 12 prohibiting the use of office by public officer to acquire direct or indirect interest in contract, agreement or investment emanating from his office.
Section 16 prohibits making of false statement or returns by any person charged with receipt, custody or management of public revenue or property while section 19 prohibits public officer from using his office/position to confer corrupt or an unfair advantage on himself, or relation, associate or another public officer.
In the process of operation, the Commission discovered at various times, irregular recruitments and abuse of the Federal Character Principles, abuse of procurement processes and fraud, none remittance of tax and other statutory deductions to appropriate authorities, diversion of revenue through staff loan.
It further discovered cash transactions against electronic transactions, even as, over the years, it closed down 115 illegal institutions. It works with Universities, using the draft code of ethics, to eradicate all forms of corruption, including harassment and sex-for-marks and grades.
The ICPC describes corruption as ubiquitous that is prevalent and predatory, believing that prevention is a crucial element to reduce, and possibly eliminate corruption.
It also believes that it is better and imperative to secure the treasuries (from being plundered) “than running after the thieves.”
In the total of 15-hour discourse with the experts in their fields, minus of course, 3-hour tea and lunch breaks, issue on how journalists could join forces to fight corruption came up prominently. And the major decimal in the discourse around this issue, is the need for Investigative Journalism.
Luckily, the three resource persons that treated the topic are journalists: one, Yusuf Ali who is still in active service and the other two, Ashiru Baba and Dayo Aiyetan that are now at the periphery of journalism profession – ICPC and International Center for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) respectively.
While Ashiru Baba and Dayo Aiyetan seemed to be more on the side of appeal to journalists, Yusuf Ali was pungent and forceful in his presentation, giving a plethora of personal examples of his exploits in investigative reporting. He concluded that investigative journalism does not harm, despite the risks involved.
My argument however, is that in the environment in which journalists operate in Nigeria, investigative reporting may appear harmless, lucrative and a sort of kill-joy, but when the chips are down, there is a fact that you are hurting a person and or institutions thereby directly and indirectly creating a market of enemies. It can also snowball into loss of business patronages (for media organizations) and above all, leading the investigative reporter to stand lonely.
For, when trouble arises for the investigative reporter, no one would be around and be ready to stand by him and go through the trouble, even litigation with him. If anything, as it happened to me many times when I ventured into that terrain years ago, you will even receive insults and innuendos from the unusual quarters: people that ordinarily should be your source of strength, including colleagues.
That Yusuf Ali went into Investigative reporting all this while and nothing bad crosses his path, to me, is more of divine luck (for him), and not a yardstick for general assessment.
What I had expected to hear from the advocates of investigative reporting to suggest, was a kind of support-base for those who want to venture into Investigative reporting, which is a world on its own. It can be ICPC or a subcommittee under it that will register courageous reporters for the purpose of involving them in its operations or be a total support-base for the investigative reporters. Interest of the media organizations in which such investigative reporter work can also be factored into the new arrangement.
Above all, Special Fund can be created, through the instrumentality of amendment to relevant provision of the ICPC Act for the purpose of tidying up the package for effective function of the system, for Investigative reporting.
If talks should be matched with actions, this is the way to go!
Yusuf Ozi Usman
End of the Takeaways.