Month: August 2020

West African leaders meet Mali Coup Plotters, Fail to get ousted President Keita reinstated

Aoko Benjamin

  West African leaders who arrived in Mali on Saturday, have failed to get the ousted President Ibrahim Keita reinstated. Instead thay are now trying to push for a speedy return to civilian rule after a military coup in the troubled nation. The delegation, headed by former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, planning to meet members of the new junta as well as ousted president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. Rebel soldiers seized Keita and other leaders after a mutiny on Tuesday, dealing another deep blow to a country already struggling with a…

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Aisha, Nigerian President’s wife Returns From Dubai hospital, Preaches Against Medical Tourism

Aliyu Aliyu

  Wife of Nigerian President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, who just returned from a medical trip from Dubai has preacehed against heavy spending on medical tourism, urging healthcare providers to take advantage of the N100 billion credit support the African country has provided for the sector. There is an urgent need to develop the health sector in order to reduce medical tourism, she declared. Mr. Buhari was flown to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), for medical treatment during the Sallah break. She reportedly suffered persistent neck pains after returning from a…

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Fear of COVID-19 is the Real Killer –  Nigerian Nationalist’s Grandson, Segun Awolowo Relives Experience

Segun Awolowo

Segun Awolowo, grandson of one of Nigeria’s foremost Nationalists, Socialists and statesmen, late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, relieves his COVID-19 experience in this unedited piece. Awolowo Junior is presently the Executive Director, Nigerian Export Promotion Council. It all started on a ‪Saturday morning‬ when I woke up to go for my usual walk, I got dressed and went downstairs and was consumed by extreme fatigue. I sat down, drank some water and watched TV wondering what was wrong with me. Then I ate a banana and drank more water trying to…

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Why S’Africa’s COVID-19 Infections Surged Pass 600,000

Aoko Benjamin

  South Africa’s confirmed COVID-19 cases have surpassed 600,000, the health ministry said although the number of new cases has been declining since a peak in July. Despite imposing one of the world’s toughest lockdowns at the end of March when the country had only a few hundred cases, South Africa saw a surge in coronavirus infections that has left it the hardest hit on the continent. The ministry said in a statement that more testing has made the cases to surge. South Africa now had a total of 603,338…

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Chevron parleys union, contractor as 175 Nigerian oil workers lose jobs

Efe Wellington

  United States oil supermajor, Chevron, has declared that it has started engaging the oil workers’ union and its independent contractor company who sacked 175 staff hitherto working for it on Chevron’s platform in Nigeria. The union known as National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG) issued a seven-day warning strike threat over the sack of the staff and in a reaction to enquiry made by Platforms Africa on the 7-day strike, General Manager- Policy, Government and Public Affairs, Chevron Nigeria Limited, ESIMAJE BRIKINN, insisted that the Contractor…

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How Nigerian Police Located, Rearrested Fleeing Ibadan Serial Killer

Okanlawon Adisa

  Fleeing serial killer in Nigeria’s Ibadan, largeat city in West Africa, Sunday Shodipe, has been rearrested at his grandmother home in Ojoo area of the city. Shodipe, 19, escaped from police custody on August 11, after confessing to killing no fewer than five persons in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State. He was believed to have killed the persons, mainly women, for ritual purposes. The spokesman of the Oyo State Police Command, Gbenga Fadeyi, confirmed the rearrest of Shodipe on Sunday. He was rearrested in the home of…

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Nigeria rakes in $4.60bn crude oil revenues in one Year

Efe Wellington

The crude oil exports and sale by the Nigeria, Africa biggest exporter of the commodity, has hit $4.60 billion in one Year. The Nigerian  National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which confirmed this in its Monthly Financial and Operational Report (MFOR) for the month June released on Sunday, also announced a total crude oil and gas export receipt of $378.42million in June 2020. This is against $133.16 million it posted in May 2020, signaling a marked improvement in revenue earnings apparently following the ease of the COVID-19 pandemic global lockdown and the…

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Experts make case for successful energy transition in Africa

Ayobami Adedini

  In Africa, energy’s role in driving development outcomes has been recognized for decades. Despite this appreciation of the linkages between energy and other development outcomes, significant gaps remain in coordinating the energy and development sectors around mutual outcomes. Although it has 8 per cent of global population – a huge potential market for energy, as a region it ranks the lowest in terms of per capita electricity access making progress towards the United Nations’ goal of ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all remain slow.…

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Nigeria blocks N13.3bn Community Policing funds’ possible diversion, forms Monitoring panel

Aliyu Aliyu

  The Nigerian Government has constituted a committee to monitor the disbursement and utilisation of the sum of N13.3 billion community policing take off fund to its 36 states to guard against possible diversion of the funds. The government approved the fund for states for the takeoff of the community police initiative, according to a a statement on Thursday, August 20, 2020, by a Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity (Office of the Vice President), Mr. Laolu Akande, after a virtual National Economic Council (NEC) meeting…

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Prolonged Schools’ closure harmful, WHO, Unicef task Africa on safe reopening for learning

Aoko Benjamin

  The World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations children’s agency have tasked African governments to promote the safe reopening of schools during the coronavirus pandemic. They say prolonged closure of schools is harmful to students and want governments to invest in sanitation facilities to prevent the spread of coronavirus in learning institutions. The two organisations said students are being exposed to poor nutrition, teenage pregnancies and violence during this extended stay-at-home period, reports the BBC. Schools in Africa are a “safe haven” for children, according to the WHO Regional…

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