Television Nigerian

ABUJA- THE thirty- six State Governors under the aegis of Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF have vowed to use all relevant data available to target palliatives to the most vulnerable persons in the most effective and efficient manner in this period of Coronavirus, COVID- 19 that is presently ravaging the world.

Rising from the 4th teleconference meeting in Abuja yesterday, the governors after receiving an update from the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, on the response of his ministry to the COVID- 19, commended the Minister for taking a functional role in the COVID-19 response.

The Minister briefed the Governors on the response of his ministry to the COVID-19 pandemic, including support to State Governments to help them identify vulnerable persons through a data mining study coordinated by the Nigerian Communications Commission with the support of telecommunications providers in the country.

In a Communique issued and signed by NGF Chairman and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the Governors said that they were taking necessary measures to strengthen operations in their Emergency Communication Centres (ECCs) to improve the communication response between distressed citizens and Emergency Response Agencies (ERAs) including the State Emergency Agency, ambulances, police, Fire Service and the Federal Road safety Corps. Operations will be resident in the ECCs to process distress calls and contact relevant ERAs.

The Communique read, “We, member of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) at our meeting held today deliberated on the COVID-19 pandemic in he country and resolved as follows:

“The NGF Chairman briefed State Governors on ongoing COVID-19 coordination efforts between the Forum and various organisations including the Presidential Task Force to the COVID-19 Coalition Against COVID (CACOVID) and MTN.

“The Forum received update from the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, on

“The Forum commended the Minister for taking a functional role in the COVID-19 response and assured him of their resolve to use all relevant data available to target palliatives to the most vulnerable persons in the most effective and efficient manner.

“Governors are taking necessary measures to strengthen operations in their Emergency Communication Centres (ECCs) to improve the communication response between distressed citizens and Emergency Response Agencies (ERAs) including the State Emergency Agency, ambulances, police, Fire Service and the Federal Road safety Corps. Operations will be resident in the ECCs to process distress calls and contact relevant ERAs.

“Finally, following an update from Olubayo Adekanmi, Chief Transformation Officer, MTN Nigeria on ongoing work with the NGF Secretariat to estimate the vulnerability profile of all States based on their populations, age risk, international travel profile, population density and state contiguity, epidemiological metrics and spending patterns. Governors resolved to adopt the new data to strengthen the distribution of palliatives put in place and support from various organisations and persons.”

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday prolonged by a further 14 days a national lockdown aimed at stemming coronavirus, saying the struggle was “far from over” as infections rose to 1,934.

“After careful consideration of the available evidence, the national coronavirus command council has decided to extend the nationwide lockdown by a further two weeks beyond the initial 21 days,” Ramaphosa announced in a televised address.

The president added that while it was too early to make a “definitive analysis” of the pandemic in South Africa, there was evidence to suggest the measures had been effective.

“In the two weeks before the lockdown, the average daily increase in new cases was around 42 percent,” Ramaphosa said.

“Since the start of the lockdown, the average daily increase has been around four percent.”

But he warned against complacency and said it was not the time to “relax”.

South Africa is the worst-affected country on the continent, followed by Algeria with 1,666 cases confirmed so far.

The number of deaths remains relatively low, with 18 fatalities recorded to date.

Ramaphosa said he recognised the “great sacrifices” made by citizens and vowed to adjust lockdown measures so as to enable “a phased recovery of the economy”.

Despite a recession and huge public debt, Africa’s most advanced economy has set aside millions of rands for businesses and workers affected by the shutdown.

The president and all his ministers will now also take a one-third salary cut for three months and donate the money to the country’s virus solidarity fund.

– ‘Matter of survival’ –

“If we end the lockdown too soon or too abruptly, we risk a massive and uncontrollable resurgence of the disease,” Ramaphosa warned.

The main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party called for a “gradual phasing out” of the lockdown to prevent a “complete economic collapse”.

“We must ensure that in our attempt to protect our country from the coronavirus outbreak, we also protect the livelihoods of our citizens who will be… unemployed as a result,” said the party in a statement after Ramaphosa’s address.

South Africa embarked on a mass door-to-door screening and testing campaign last week, with thousands of field workers deployed across the country of 57 million people.

Mobile phones will be used to track people who may have come into contact with infected citizens.

But the president said testing would only provide a “better picture” of the infection rate and that only behavioural changes would stop the respiratory disease from spreading.

“The struggle against coronavirus is far from over,” Ramaphosa added. “But we know that this is a matter of survival, and we dare not fail.”

Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State on Thursday swore in the new Commissioner for Health, Dr Emmanuel Obi.

It would be recalled that the former Health commissioner in the state, Prof. Anthony Ugochukwu died on April 3 following a kidney disease.

Ugwuanyi said that the choice of Obi followed the need to re-engineer the healthcare system in the state.

The governor said that the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease had made such move and the urgent replacement of a health commissioner more compelling.

He said that the State Assembly had earlier confirmed the appointment of Obi in view of the prevailing circumstance.

Ugwuanyi charged the health commissioner to bring his expertise to bear on his new job.

Responding, Obi thanked the governor for the honour to serve the state as a commissioner.

He assured the governor of his willingness to discharge his duties with diligence.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Obi, an associate professor, was until the appointment a Consultant and Public Health Physician at University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu.

He was also a lecturer at College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Ituku Ozalla, Enugu.

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The Chadian army said Thursday it had wound up an offensive against Boko Haram jihadists in the Lake Chad border region in which 52 troops and 1,000 jihadists were killed.

Army spokesman Colonel Azem Bermendoa Agouna told AFP that the operation, launched after nearly 100 soldiers were killed last month, ended Wednesday after the Nigerian jihadists were forced out of the country.

“A thousand terrorists have been killed, 50 motorised canoes have been destroyed,” he said, referring to a large boat also called a pirogue.

It is the first official snapshot of the outcome of Operation Bohoma Anger, launched after Chad’s armed forces suffered their biggest one-day loss in their history.

Lake Chad is a vast, marshy body of water dotted with islets where the borders of Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon meet.

The western shores of the lake have been hit by jihadists crossing from northeastern Nigeria, where Boko Haram launched a bloody campaign of violence in 2009.

On March 23, jihadists mounted a deadly seven-hour assault on a Chadian army base at Bohoma, killing at least 98 troops, according to an official toll.

Keen to defend the reputation of his forces — among the best in the Sahel region — President Idriss Deby Itno headed to the front line, from where he said on national television Saturday that there was no longer “a single jihadist anywhere in the island area” — referring to the Chadian part of Lake Chad.

Chad had declared departments near the lake “a war zone” in order to give the military free rein for the offensive.

The Chadian troops chased the Boko Haram fighters “deep into Niger and Nigeria, until their armies took over the fight,” Agouna said.

Two Nigerian security sources confirmed that the Boko Haram fighters were forced to retreat.

“On Wednesday, the troops entered the Nigerian island of Duguri… (where) Nigerian troops have not set foot for three years,” one of the sources said, requesting anonymity.

– Four-nation joint army –

The four countries bordering the lake on 2015 set up a formation called the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), also including Benin, to fight Boko Haram.

But Chad has shown frustration with the MNJTF following the Bohoma losses.

“Chad is alone in shouldering all the burden of the war against Boko Haram,” Idriss complained last weekend.

“I met the commander of the MNJTF and asked him to take over.”

Boko Haram’s 11-year-old campaign has claimed tens of thousands of lives in northeast Nigeria and driven nearly two million people from their homes.

Separately, in Niger, the defence ministry in Niamey said its armed forces, in a joint operation with Chad, had inflicted “heavy losses” on Boko Haram in the lake region.

“Arms caches, logistical points and several boats were destroyed” and islands used as rear bases in the lake’s marshland were “bombarded from the air,” it said.

Landlocked and poor, Niger is facing jihadist attacks in opposite ends of the country — an insurgency that has spilled over from neighbouring Mali, and raids in the Lake Chad region by Boko Haram fighters.

In Burkina Faso, meanwhile, five soldiers were killed and three were wounded on Thursday when their unit came under attack from jihadists in Solle, in the northern province of Loroum, an army official said.

Around 4,000 people lost their lives last year in jihadist- or community-related violence in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, according to UN figures.

Moved by the need to support the spirited efforts of all in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, one of the most popularly churches in the world, Deeper Christian Life Ministry, has donated the sum of N50million to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Our correspondent gathered that the donation was made recently by the church, as a way of lending support to the Private Sector Coalition Against Covid-19 (CA Covid-19).

In a statement signed by the General Superintendent of the church, Pastor Williams Kumuyi, the revered clergyman, however, noted that the donation was aimed at ameliorating the sufferings occasioned by the scourge.

“The deeper Christian Life Ministry is delighted at and challenged by the massive efforts of the Federal Government and her agencies in curtailing the spread of Covid-19 and bringing relief to sufferers.

“The introduction of the private sector coalition against Covid-19 (CA Covid-19) to harness resources in combatting this global health crisis is also highly commendable.

“We wish to identify with this noble initiative and consequently have made a donation of N50,000,000 (fifty million naira) into your Central Bank account, in support of your campaign.

“We have a firm belief in God that He will answer our prayers and bring an end to the pandemic, sooner than expected. May God bless all your efforts,” Kumuyi said.

Recall that, only recently, the church donated relief materials in food items worth several millions of naira to the Ogun and Lagos State governments, in support of the food bank initiative by the state, in the face of the lockdown.

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) will in a few days make available a total of 600-bed spaces for isolation and treatment of Coronavirus (COVID-19) patients.

The FCT Minister, Muhammad Bello, made this known while addressing a news conference organised by the FCT Abuja Ministerial Expert Advisory Committee on COVID-19, under the Chairmanship of Dr. Aliyu Modibbo, on Thursday in Abuja.

Bello assured the public of the preparedness of the FCT Administration to provide adequate facilities for the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic in the nation’s capital.

He also disclosed that the FCT Administration had received financial donations amounting to about N1billon from various organisations including the United Bank for Africa (UBA), Bank of Industry, Danata Construction Company, Gilmore Construction Company among others.

He also said the Zenith Bank has promised to set up Isolation Centre in Abuja, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) was connecting the Idu Isolation Centre to the National Grid and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) has provided facilities at the Centre.

” While MTN and Mikano both donated 350 KV generators installed at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital as well the Karu General Hospital facilities.”

Earlier, the Acting Secretary, FCT Health Secretariat, Dr. Mohammed Kawu, disclosed the administration was paying N50,000 daily hazard allowance to all Medical Doctors providing various services in the fight against COVID-19 in Abuja.

Kawu, however, said that Nurses and Laboratory technicians involved in the process are paid N30,000 daily while Drivers and Cleaners are paid N20, 000 daily.

On her part, the Director, FCT Public Health, Josephine Okechukwu announced that the health authority would begin pilot testing for COVID-19 on Friday.

The FCT Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Aliyu disclosed that no fewer than 600,000 households across six Are Councils in the FCT would be given palliative in the territory.

She explained that at least 100,000 poorest of the poor in each of the area council would benefits from the palliatives.

Aliyu said that adequate security arrangements for the safety of the personnel that would coordinate the distribution of the palliatives had been made with the FCT Police Command.

She said that during the distribution of the palliatives across the six area councils, there would be total shutdown of movement in the areas.

Aliyu noted that the security would not molest anybody but insisted that nobody would be allow to go out during the period.

” The Commissioner of Police, FCT Command and the Director of DSS are making adequate arrangement to deployed their personnel to ensure safety of the staff that are going to handle the distribution.”

The Lagos State Police command on Thursday, March 9th arrested two police officers for extortion in Ikorodu area of Lagos.

The officers identified as Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Adebayo Ojo and Sergeant Adeleke Mojisola were arrested after a video went viral on social media in which a Lady alleged that her vehicles were impounded by the Divisional Traffic Officer (DTO) Agbowa Division and a female sergeant.

She equally accused the officers of extorting money from her.

It was learned that after the Command analysed the video, the officers mentioned were identified as Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Adebayo Ojo and Sergeant Adeleke Mojisola and were immediately arrested.

Confirming the arrest DSP Bala Elkana Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State said that the Commissioner of Police Lagos State, Hakeem Odumosu has ordered an in-depth investigation into the case. While appreciating the courage of the complainant and other well-meaning citizens who forwarded the video to our social media page.

The Command urged the complainant to take a further step by reporting at the Command Headquarters Ikeja to enable the Command to conclude the investigation. The Commissioner of Police has reaffirmed his stance against corrupt practices and impunity. Members of the public will be updated on the outcome of the investigation.

The United States Mission in Nigeria has evacuated 997 Americans home to be reunited with their families and friends following the outbreak of coronavirus in the country.

The US Consul General in Nigeria, Claire Pierangelo, who disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, said from April 6 to April 8, the US Consulate-organised chartered flights operated by Delta Air Lines and Ethiopian Airlines and repatriated 850 Americans from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, to the US.

According to her, the figure included the 147 US citizens who departed Abuja on April 4.

Pierangelo said: “These repatriation flights were made possible by the tremendous efforts of the US Consulate team and great cooperation from its Nigerian partners.

“This includes the Ministry of Aviation, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, the Nigeria Immigration Service, and the Lagos State Government.

“The State Department’s effort to bring Americans home during the COVID-19 pandemic has required a remarkable diplomatic and logistical effort.

“As of April 8, 2020, the Department of State had coordinated the repatriation of 50,339 Americans from 94 countries since January 29, 2020.

“In times of emergency, the United States’ Department of State has no greater priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas. This has been three weeks in the making.

“We have more than 50 people working on this on a daily basis to make sure that we can find the Americans, get the planes, secure flight clearances for the planes to land here and also ensure the safe passage of the Americans traveling to the airport since the city is on lockdown.

“It was an enormous effort and I am incredibly proud of my team. We appreciate all the help from our Nigerian partners. We couldn’t have done this without them.”

She noted that the US Mission would remain committed to working closely with the Government of Nigeria and the various health authorities to keep everyone healthy and safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic.