Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, has inaugurated a Technical Working Group (TWG) on Macroeconomic Framework and Growth Diagnostics for the Development of Nigeria Agenda 2050 and the Medium Term National Development Plan (MTNDP 2021-2025).
Nigerian Farmers and stakeholders in the agro-sector, have warned that the country is in danger of food shortage as coronavirus pandemic hits hard on farmers and the agricultural sector, even as stimulus and palliatives to cushion the effects from government remains grossly inadequate.
Emir of Kaura-Namoda in Zamfara StateThe Emir of Kaura-Namoda in Zamfara State, Alhaji Mohammed Asha, is dead. He was believed to have died of complications from coronavirus.
The Zamfara State Publicity Secretary for the Control and Prevention of COVID-19, Alhaji Mustafa Jafaru Kaura, said today, May 3, that the deceased had been in isolation at the Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital, Gusau for three days.
An expert in the Presidential Task Force (PTF) Committee on Covid-19 has attributed recent multiple strange deaths in Kano state to coronavirus.
A member of the Nasarawa State House Of Assembly, Adamu Suleiman, has died of coronavirus complications.
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has directed all banks operating in Nigeria not to sack or retrench their workers under the guise of coronavirus financial crisis.At the special meeting of the Bankers’ Committee yesterday, May 2, it was resolved that “in order to help minimize and mitigate the negative impact of coronavirus pandemic on families and livelihoods, “no bank in Nigeria shall retrench or lay-off any staff of any cadre (including full-time and part-time).”It was however resolved that CBN approval must be sought and obtained in a situation it becomes absolutely necessary to lay-off any such staff.In a statement today, May 3, the CBN’s Director of Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor said that the apex bank is soliciting the support of all in the collective effort to weather through the economic challenges occasioned by coronavirus pandemic. The Bankers’ Committee meeting was held to further review the implications of coronavirus pandemic on the Nigerian banking industry. The Committee particularly deliberated on the issue of the operating costs of banks in view of the disruptions emanating from the global economic difficulties.
Remain of late CoS, Abba Kyari being laid to rest
All journalists, top government officials and sympathisers who attended the burial of late Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, have been declared free of coronavirus infection.
The Health and Human Services Secretariat of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration, which rounded all the attendees at an Abuja cemetery immediately after the burial, announced today, May 3 that “the individuals exposed during the burial of late Chief of staff to the President, Malam Abba Kyari, have completed their 14 days of isolation. “Tests were conducted on them and they have all tested negative to COVID 19.”
A statement by the Acting Secretary in the Secretariat, Dr. M. B Kawu, said that the affected people have been reunited with their families.
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British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has described his survival of the deadly coronavirus and final discharge from Intensive Care Unit (ICU) as a miracle.
“It was a tough old moment, I won’t deny it. I kept asking myself, how am I going to get out of this?”
Boris Johnson, in an interview with the Sun on Sunday, said that he was given “litres and litres of oxygen” to keep him alive.
The prime minister explained how he was wired up to monitors and found the “indicators kept going in the wrong direction.”
He said that his week in London’s St Thomas’ Hospital left him driven by a desire to both stop others suffering and to get the UK “back on its feet.
“It was hard to believe that in just a few days my health had deteriorated to this extent,” the prime minister told the Sun on Sunday.
“The doctors had all sorts of arrangements for what to do if things went badly wrong.”
He said that his recovery was down to “wonderful, wonderful nursing.”
Boris Johnson said that he felt “lucky” given that so many others were still suffering.
“And so if you ask me, ‘Am I driven by a desire to stop other people suffering?’ Yes, I absolutely am.
“But I am also driven by an overwhelming desire to get our country as a whole back on its feet, healthy again, going forward in a way that we can and I’m very confident we’ll get there.”
Boris Johnson was diagnosed with coronavirus on March 26 and was admitted to hospital 10 days later. The following day, he was moved to intensive care.
The total number of reported coronavirus-related deaths in the UK now stands at 28,131 – an increase of 621 on Friday’s figure.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello is not happy with the way enforcement of lockdown policy of the government, especially the one on interstate movement is being carried out by the relevant enforcement agencies. “We realized that one weak area that has confronted us is the fact that enforcement of the inter-state movement has not been very successful and that’s an area where if we are not very careful, will make it very difficult for us to prevent infection by people who are visiting the FCT from other parts of the country. “By the same token also, if the enforcement is not very strong, infected people from the FCT will also move out to other states. At the end of the day, nationally, we all lose.”
The minister, who spoke at a reconvened security committee meeting of the FCT in his office, stressed: “I must caution and warn that anybody who, for any reason, flouts the directives of government and is arrested, the full wrath of the law will fall on that person, because we will not allow a few citizens who are not conscious of the wellbeing of the majority of other citizens to put all of us at risk.”Musa Bello confirmed that the security agencies have reviewed their strategies on enforcing the ban on interstate travel and have adopted new ones to ensure its complete compliance.
He insisted that the ban on interstate travel is essential in order to prevent the spread of the virus either by infected persons coming into the FCT, or infected persons from the FCT spreading the virus to other parts of the country.
The Minister said that the security agencies will deploy additional personnel and resources to all the entry points using coordinated joint teams to be headed by very senior officers, to ensure that the enforcement of the directive is carried out totally while being conscious of those that are permitted to move around.
“The ultimate objective of the FCTA and the security agencies is to safeguard the lives of the citizens of the FCT and by extension, the citizens of the surrounding states as well as Nigerians in general.”
He reminded residents of the FCT on the guidelines regulating the easing of the lockdown released earlier, even as he advised residents to comply with the guidelines as that is the only way to ensure that the pandemic is controlled and contained.
“The directives are very clear. Offices are open for specific categories of staff on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and within a specific time range of 8.00am to 2.00pm. So, my advice is anybody who has no reason to come out based on these directives should just stay at home. We have been at home for about four weeks now, another few weeks would do us good because if we are able to maintain the level of the virus in the FCT the way it has been maintained during the last few weeks, then by the grace of God Almighty, we will get over this.”
Death of high profile personalities in Kano State continued as a senior Counsellor in Kano Emirate Council, Professor Isa Hashim died today, May 3.Professor Isa Hashim was until his death at the age of 86, after what was described a brief illness, the Jarman Kano.A family source, Ibrahim Aliyu told our reporter that the top traditional title holder died after his health deteriorated following the deaths of some of his childhood friends in quick succession.Isa Hashim, a Professor of Political Science, was a senior lecturer with Bayero University Kano (BUK) where he taught for many years before his retirement.
