Home Blog Page 1138

COVID-19 resurgence: FCT minister says he could impose a second lockdown if…

Following the spike in the number of COVID-19 infections amid the second wave of the pandemic in Abuja, he Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Mohammed Bello has threatened to impose a second lockdown within the Territory.

Bello said that the FCT Administration might not have any other option than to declare another round of lockdown in the territory if residents continued to ignore safety guidelines and protocols as second wave of COVID-19 fully hits the FCT.

The FCT minister stated this on Monday at the FCT Emergency Stakeholders’ Review Meeting on the 2nd wave of COVID-19 pandemic.

The FCT Emergency Stakeholders’ Review Meeting came on the heels of the death of Leadership Newspaper publisher, Sam Nda Isaiah, who died from complications from COVID-19.

While decrying non-compliance of residents to COVID-19 safety protocols, Bello noted that the second wave of the pandemic had become deadlier as lives were already being lost to in the FCT.

The minister called on FCT residents to adhere to all protocols stipulated to prevent the the spread of COVID-19 virus by maintaining social distancing, washing their hands and wearing of face masks.

El-rufai orders closure of all public, private schools in Kaduna

Kaduna State government has ordered the closure of all public and private schools in the state with effect from Wednesday 16th December, over what it described as “rising cases of COVID-19 infections”.

State commissioner of Education, Dr Shehu Usman-Mohammed, disclosed this in a public notice on Monday evening.

According to the commissioner, the state ministry of health had further confirmed that new wave of COVID-19 had affected residents of the States who were between the age of 10 and 35 and formed a majority of the populace in the education sector in the state.

The notice ordered the schools to conclude examinations before Tuesday, 15th December, 2020.

The notice read in part: “…. physical classes in the University and other Institutions of higher learning will not be held during the period of closure. Institutions can make arrangements for teaching and learning and other activities in line with their continuity and contingency plans…..”

“…. In order to minimise the impact on teaching and learning, all schools will continue to plan lessons and where possible provide online resources for students or online lessons where schools are equipped to so….”

COVID-19 Updates: NCDC confirms 201 new cases

The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), on Monday night, announced 201 new cases of COVID-19 infections in the country.

The health agency disclosed that Kaduna had the highest record of the new cases with-74, Lagos-53, Katsina-40, Rivers-11, Plateau-9, Kwara-6, Bauchi-2, Ogun-2, Taraba-2, Edo-1 and Sokoto-1.

The agency said no new deaths occurred in the country in the last 24 hours, as the fatality figure stood at 1,197.

The data from the agency disclosed that 224 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours as the figure of discharged cases stood at 66,314 while 5,863 cases were still active in the country.

NCDC explained that the discharges on Monday included 123 community recoveries in Lagos State managed in line with guidelines.

Total confirmed cases in Nigeria – 73,374.
Total discharged cases – 66,314.
Total deaths -1,197.

Breakdown of total cases by state is as follows:

Prof Sarah Gilbert: The woman who designed the Oxford vaccine

If Prof Sarah Gilbert had gone with her instincts, the latest coronavirus vaccine to show highly promising results might never have been.

Years ago, studying for her PhD, she considered packing in science altogether. As a young student in biological sciences at the University of East Anglia, she was energised by the diversity of thought and experience in the department.

But when she progressed to her doctorate, at the University of Hull, she found the tunnel-like focus was not to her liking.

“There are some scientists who will happily work more or less on their own on one subject for a very long time… That’s not the way I like to work. I like to try to take into account ideas from lots of different areas,” she told BBC Radio 4’s The Life Scientific, earlier this year.

“I did consider leaving science at that point and doing something different.”

Eventually though she decided to have “one more go at a scientific career… I needed the income”.

It was a decision that led us to the announcement on Tuesday morning that, according to the results of late stage trials, the University of Oxford’s coronavirus vaccine is highly effective at stopping people developing Covid-19 symptoms. Interim data suggests it affords 70% protection, but researchers say the figure may be as high as 90% by tweaking the dose.

Malaria research

Born in Kettering, Northamptonshire in April 1962, Sarah Gilbert’s father worked in the shoe business while her mother was an English teacher and member of the local amateur operatic society.

Speaking to Radio 4’s Profile, one school friend recalled Sarah’s silent steeliness – a trait which perhaps explains her decision, years later, to stick with her PhD despite her doubts.

Having completed her doctorate, she got a job with a brewing research centre, looking at how to manipulate brewing yeast, before moving on to work in human health. She had never meant to be a vaccine specialist. Yet by the mid-1990s, she was in an academic job at the University of Oxford, looking at the genetics of malaria. And that led to work on malaria vaccines.

Her life became a little more complicated when she gave birth to triplets. Raising them is an experience which one friend suggested explains her “no nonsense approach”.

Her son Freddie describes his mother as always being supportive and having the children’s best interests at heart. All three children chose to follow their own path, he says – although all ended up choosing to study biochemistry at university.

Quick off the mark

Meanwhile, at Oxford, Dr Gilbert rose through the ranks, becoming a professor at the university’s prestigious Jenner Institute. She set up her own research group in a bid to create a universal flu vaccine, meaning a vaccine which would be effective against all the different strains.

In 2014, she led the first trial of an Ebola vaccine. And when the Mers – Middle East respiratory syndrome – virus struck, she travelled to Saudi Arabia to try to develop a vaccine for this form of coronavirus.

The second trial of that vaccine was just beginning when, in early 2020, Covid-19 emerged in China. Prof Gilbert quickly realised she might be able to use the same approach.

“We were quick,” says her colleague at Oxford, Prof Teresa Lambe. As Chinese scientists published the genetic structure of the new virus “over the weekend, the vaccine was pretty much designed. We went pretty fast with it.”

Her urgency, in the face of Covid’s death march around the world, might explain some of her more unorthodox working practices. Emails come in as early as 4am, says Prof Lambe, who, explains that Prof Gilbert tends to work from very early in the morning until the late evening.

Teresa Lambe, Prof Gilbert's colleague at the Jenner Institute, is working on the new COVID-19 vaccine
image captionProf Teresa Lambe, Prof Gilbert’s colleague at the Jenner Institute, is working on the new COVID-19 vaccine

It took a few weeks to create a vaccine that worked against Covid in the lab. Then the first batch went into manufacture by early April, as the rigorous testing regime expanded. Prof Gilbert described the process as a series of small steps – rather than there being a big breakthrough moment.

“From the beginning, we’re seeing it as a race against the virus, not a race against other vaccine developers,” she said earlier this year. “We’re a university and we’re not in this to make money.”

School, university friends and colleagues describe a conscientious, quiet and determined person and someone with “true grit”.

“Sometimes I think she can be quite shy and reserved to people,” one of her PhD students, told Profile. “Some colleagues I had at the Jenner Institute always were a little bit intimidated by Sarah. But when you get to know her and you spend time with her, that’s not the case at all.”

The gaze of the world is now on Prof Gilbert and the world’s handful of other Covid vaccine architects, as they race against the clock.

“She’s gonna hate it, absolutely hate it,” says her friend, biochemist Dr Anne Moore. “I mean, Sarah is the person in the room who does not want to be in the limelight.”

BBC

How News Headlines Cover Up Buhari’s Dementia

If Nigerian journalists do their job & properly attribute stories about what Buhari putatively does and says to his spokesmen—and to ministers and heads of gov’t agencies—Buhari’s dementia-inspired physical and symbolic absence from governance would be dramatized, and perhaps Nigerians can appreciate the depth of his disaffiliation from the country.

Buhari NEVER says or does most of the things that are often attributed to him. He doesn’t even know about the deaths he is always quoted as condemning or being shocked about—or about the appointments he is often alleged to make or terminate.

Headline casters should adopt the universal journalistic practice of news attribution by attributing stories to people who actually originate them.Examples: “Spokesman says Buhari condemned killings in Zamfara,” “Minister says Buhari fired NDDC board,” “Spokesman says Buhari shocked by kidnap of schoolchildren,” “Buhari’s Twitter handle says Nigeria will rebound,” etc.

Don’t attribute anything to Buhari unless you actually see him saying or doing it. Maybe a memo with his signature can be attributed to him. Although his signature is often manipulated or forced by dodgy aides (because he has lost his sentience), at least you can justify attributing information from signed memos to him. That’s the only way to dramatize the absurdity of a “president” who never talks directly to citizens, who never grants interviews to journalists, who never addresses news conferences, who never gives live broadcasts even in momentous moments, who is perpetually babysat & mollycoddled like a toddler, and who physically & metaphorically picks his teeth while the country he supposedly presides over burns and falls apart.

Farooq Kperogi, Ph.D
@farooqkperogi
Dec 13 2020

BIC Ijomah: Tribute to a colossus, By Emmah Ijomah

•The late Prof BIC Ijomah

That is what he was: a colossus. Professor B. Imeagwu Chukwumah Ijomah, professor of political sociology, author, scholar, academician, and institutional administrator. Ijomah graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1963, and after three years as administrative officer and assistant registrar at the same University of Nigeria, he proceeded to Northwestern University, Evanston, where he obtained a master’s degree in 1967 and a doctorate in sociology in 1969.

He was perhaps one of the few scholars who combined academics with administrative work. His mentor, Prof. V. Chukwuemeka Ike led in this respect. Professor Ijomah had followed his mentor almost in every move he made – a registrar who transferred to become a professor. 

He was for several years, the Head of the Department of Sociology, from Nsukka to Ambrose Alli University, where he spent many years. He was Dean of Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences from 1985 – 1989. 

He returned to the substantive position of Head of Department of Sociology, a position he held until he retired in 2002.

 Ijomah was a member of many professional bodies: A member of the Institute of Administration and Management; member of the Institute of Sociological Association; Fellow of Inter University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society; member of Nigerian Sociological and Anthropological Society, member of American Statistical Association; member of American Sociological Association; member of International Sociological Association; and Editor of African Journal of Behavioural Sciences. Prof. Ijomah published many articles and books; until his death on March 13, 2020, he was actively writing.

As an activist, Ijomah was the first president of Students Union at University of Nigeria Nsukka from 1960 – 1961; he was the first national vice president of the National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS). He was the first President of the University of Nigeria Alumni Association.

Prof. Ijomah was an incurable quantitative researcher in sociology, and had carried out a number of field work. In 1986 – 1993, he carried out a national and international research on coastal erosion in Nigeria, and successfully predicted the instability of the ocean in Victoria Island, Lagos. He was the national chairman of Coastal Erosion Research which involved four universities, the Nigerian Navy and Deustch Hydraulics.

He served on a number of Federal Government committees and commissions. He was a member of the Federal Government Advisory Committee on Social Development in 1982; member of the Board of Directors, Midwest Mass Communications in 1975; Principal Officer, Arts and Culture in 1977; was Bendel State  Commissioner for Education in 1983. He was a member of the 1995 Constitutional Conference Commission, and a member of the Transitional Implementation Committee. He was chairman of Governing Council, Institute of Continuing Education, Bendel State; member of Governing Council, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; Governing Council, Federal University of Technology, Owerri; Governing Council, University of Benin.

In 1998, Prof. Ijomah obtained permission from General Dani Abacha, the then Head of State, to pioneer the South South People’s Conference (SSOPEC) which later translated into the South South People’s Assembly. Prof. Ijomah has published over 10 books and over 100 articles.

 He is an ardent lover of the Blessed Virgin Mary and has published several articles in her honour. He has received several awards to his credit and was installed as a national patron of the World Apostolate of Fatima in 2010. 

In 2005 he commenced work on the establishment of the Madonna International College which successfully took off in 2006. 

Today, Madonna International College has recorded many awards and he felt satisfied that the school emerged to be among the best, if not the best college in Delta State. It is striking that on most of his birthday celebrations, Prof. Ijomah would present a publication to the country, most particularly his prodigious work on Nigerian Nationalism and the Problems of Socio-Political Integration, a work based on research. 

Welcome to the archives of this researcher, academician, politician, author, orator, and a man of the people, who will be laid to rest tomorrow, Wednesday, 16 December 2020.

An iroko has fallen!

•Emmah Ijomah, a pastor and son of the late Professor BIC Ijomah, writes from Lagos

Last Word by Sam Nda-Isaiah

No one was given a chance to prepare for the bad piece of news that broke after 11pm on Friday, December 11, 2020. It spread from Garki General Hospital, Abuja, by word of mouth, phone calls and short messages. Then it crept onto social media just after midnight – and then aborted the sleep of many netizens. By dawn or 6am a confirmation came, and all the mainstream media in Nigeria were abuzz with the passing of Sam Nda-Isaiah throughout Saturday.

Disbelief soon gave way to uncertainty. But the author of “Last Word” column for almost 20 years until 2014 had indeed spoken his last word and breathed his last. “I will not die,” he reportedly repeated during his very last struggle for life.

What killed Nda-Isaiah at age 58 came as a 24-hour wonder. He was hale and hearty throughout the previous week and was in Lagos for the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) executive council meeting held at the weekend, in Lagos, where he was elected ex-officio member. He was okay up until Thursday when he chaired a long meeting of his managers and some editors at his office. At the end of that meeting he told them he was not feeling fine, and he went home. The following day, Friday, at around midday, he asked to be taken to hospital. He was taken to the General Hospital in Garki.

A heart attack was the likely culprit. But rumour-mongers turned medics by announcing that coronavirus had claimed another “big man” in Nigeria. That is not how Covid-19 kills. In 99% of cases the victim is hospitalised for weeks or even months (after the symptoms have eventually manifested) before they give up the ghost if they are not cured.

Sam Nda-Isaiah was best known as the publisher of LEADERSHIP newspapers.  But he was a serial entrepreneur who sat atop about a dozen other companies. He founded LEADERSHIP as a weekly on October 1, 2004, and it became a daily on February 1, 2006. But the newspaper was preceded by an influential subscription-only newsletter, Leadership Confidential, much earlier.

Nda-Isaiah was not popular among journalists whom he owed arrears of salary. But things were not so at LEADERSHIP up until 2014. Every private media house had started having difficulties by then. And it was about the time he ran for president of Nigeria under the APC, a conglomeration of parties he co-founded early in 2013. He did not win the party’s presidential primary held in December 2014.

A 1983 graduate of Pharmacy from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Nda-Isaiah was a journalist’s son who took to writing and publishing as his father did.

Sam Nda-Isaiah (1962—2020) leaves behind his wife Zainab and their four kids, two or three grown up. He leaves behind his mother and many siblings. He leaves his many friends in trauma. Unless his businesses are rescued, he leaves them in ruins also.

Tributes have been pouring in from far and near. The nation mourns the man with “big ideas” who founded a paper dedicated “for God and country”.

BREAKING: Electoral College Elects Biden As Next President Of USA

…US Attorney General William Barr Resigns

By Augustine Akhilomen


55 Electoral College votes for Democratic Party candidate, Joe Biden took his tally to 302 and officially elected him as the President of the United States of America.

Donald Trump finished with 232 Electoral College votes, same as when the election was called for Biden.

Electoral college representatives from the 50 states across the United States took turns on Monday to reaffirm Biden’s convincing win of the November 3rd election, despite President Donald Trump insistent that the exercise was riddled by alleged fraud.

On January 6, the Congress, to be headed by Vice President, Mike Pence, will be expected to open the electoral college votes and affirm them ahead of the January 20 swearing-in of the President-elect and the Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris.

Meanwhile, US Attorney General William Barr, who of late had publicly differed with President Donald Trump on allegations of voter fraud in the November 3 presidential elections, has resigned.

Trump has appointed his deputy Jeff Rosen as the Acting Attorney General.

Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr at the White House. Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job! As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family…, Trump announced on twitter Monday night.

Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, an outstanding person, will become Acting Attorney General. Highly respected Richard Donoghue will be taking over the duties of Deputy Attorney General. Thank you to all! Trump said as he tweeted the two-page resignation letter of Barr.

Barr, in his letter, said, As discussed, I will spend the next week wrapping up a few remaining matters important to the administration, and depart on December 23.

I am greatly honored that you called on me to serve your administration and the American people once again as Attorney General. I am proud to have played a role in the many successes and unprecedented achievements you have delivered for the American people. Your record is all the more historic because you accomplished it in the face of relentless implacable resistance, he added.

Democratic Congressman David Cicilline alleged that Barr aided and abetted Trump’s attacks on the US elections.

He has done incalculable damage to our democracy. He will not be missed, Cicilline tweeted.

Congressman Adam Schiff, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, alleged that Barr lied to cover for Trump.

Launched political investigations. Subverted justice and the rule of law. And violently cracked down on protestors. So good riddance. Now, the work of restoring a credible and independent justice system must begin.

‘We were 520 when they counted’ — Katsina student who escaped from bandits narrates experience

One of  the abducted students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina state, who later escaped, says 520 of them were led to the bush by the gunmen. 

On Friday night, gunmen invaded the school, shooting into the air to scare away people in the area.

Aminu Masari, governor of Katsina state, on Sunday, said over 300 students were confirmed missing.

“Based on the available records, we are still searching for 333 students through either the forest or their parents to ascertain the actual number that have been kidnapped,” the governor had said.

However, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, said some of the abducted students who escaped told the military that 10 of them were taken away by the gunmen.

Shehu, however, added that the figure had not been verified.

Speaking with BBC Hausa on Monday, the 17-year-old student whose father did not want his name published, said the incident happened on Friday around 9:30pm.

“Everyone came out and we ran up the wall. After we climbed the wall, they used torchlights and told us to come back,” he said.

“After we were taken into the forest, one of them ordered us to stop and count before continuing our journey. They asked one of us to count and there were 520 students.

“We kept walking in the bush. We were pushed and beaten. We spent the night walking. Thirty minutes before dawn, we were told to rest.

“After they sat us down, I leaned back a little. I found the side of a tree and I turned my back on them. I laid down and straightened my legs.

“After everyone left, I came out crawling and looking until I entered the city.”

The student added that his escape was the result of divine intervention.

Monarchs To Military: Why Can’t You Occupy Sambisa Forest, Lake Chad?

Nigerian monarchs have asked the military why is it impossible for them to occupy Sambisa Forest and Lake Chad region still occupied by Boko Haram insurgents.

The Sultan of Sokoto and Co-Chairman of National Council of Traditional Rulers, Sa’ad Abubakar who led other top monarchs to Maiduguri yesterday to condole with the government and people of Borno State on the recent killing of farmers by Boko Haram at a rice field in Zabarmari, said the military should occupy the Lake Chad region and the Sambisa forest.

Sultan Abubakar, who retired as Army General, said: “I read the comment the governor made some few weeks ago, challenging the military to take the fight to the Lake Chad to clear that place.

“Your Excellency, while I was a Lieutenant, I was at Lake Chad in Baga for six months, my battalion in Bama used to rotate with the battalion in Monguno and Maiduguri every six months.

“We occupied the Lake Chad part of Nigeria for six months. I was a Lieutenant, I was the operation officer and I have my maps. In Lake Chad that time, we had 36 islands under Nigeria, we occupied 16 of them, the biggest was King Nasara, we controlled that part of Nigeria effectively well as a battalion.

“Now, I don’t know why we can’t occupy the whole of Lake Chad and why we can’t occupy the whole of Sambisa forest. If we want peace, we have to dominate these areas. If we want peace, we have to do away with those terrorists who occupy that place and see nothing good in other people except those that believe in their own negative ideas.”

Sultan Abubakar, who said they were in Maiduguri not only to commiserate with the governor but to make a strong statement with regards to the insecurity affecting the entire nation, said: “This afternoon, we are at the seat of power of Borno State in front of the governor on this special visit, I said special because this is the first time the national council of traditional rulers of Nigeria has ventured out to any state or any town specifically to discuss or talk about the happenings in that particular place as regards insecurity and mass killings of innocent people.

“The National Council of Traditional Rulers in Nigeria deems it fit to put a small team to come round to Borno State, Maiduguri, in particular, to make this very strong statement.

“It is not just a condolence visit, it is a statement that all of us are fed up with the shedding of innocent blood under whatever guise across this country.

“So many lives have been lost in the past, we can’t even compute how many lives we have lost. It becomes like a daily occurrence, a daily event. A new normal, it becomes a story when in a day, nobody was killed in a particular place of this country.

“We had various fora with our political leaders, mentioned these things out, how to take care of our security in various communities. We have written papers, sent our governors, we have discussed with all our leaders, all the way forward.

“But we see things getting worse and worse. It used to be Boko Haram alone in Borno and Yobe, now, in all over the north in particular and generally all over the country. You have bandits and terrorists all over the north, you can’t even move freely. In the south, it is the same thing. The killings have taken new dimensions and we really don’t know what are the causes of these mass killings of innocent people.

“We decided to come together as the council of traditional rulers to make this statement to all and sundry, not only to the governor of Borno State but to all our governors. Let’s rise up to the occasion and see how we can come together to fight this menace of shedding innocent people’s blood.

“When I came to Maiduguri last time to commission the central mosque, the governor was a candidate, this is my first time of coming here since he took over. Alhamdulillah, we have been following with keen interest what is happening in Borno State.

“Like I always discussed with the Shehu, from day one, even when you were not even sworn in, he told me the type of person you are, and we are not disappointed when you started doing what you are doing. We have seen the very big stride you have delivered just within one year, but you are just starting, you have a lot to do.

“I have known Maiduguri since when I was a small kid, we have grown up here. I served in Bama, I lived in Bama for over two and a half years in the barracks. The same barracks I served as Lieutenant was the same barracks vandalised and bombed.”

Earlier, the Shehu of Borno had, while introducing the traditional rulers to Governor Babagana Zulum, assured that the traditional rulers would give all the maximum cooperation to security agencies in the fight against insurgency.

The Shehu also called on the people of Borno to continue to provide credible intelligence reports to the military, noting that the fight against insurgency is a collective responsibility.

Responding, the governor thanked the royal fathers for the special visit. He decried the continuous dependence on donations to feed the internally displaced persons as the main source of livelihood.

He said in order to address the cause of the insecurity, there was the need to provide sources of livelihoods to the IDPs and those resettled in rebuilt communities.

With the Sultan on the visit are the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemaka Alfred Ugochukwu; Oore of Otun-Ekiti, Oba Adekunle Adebayo; the Emir of Hadeja, Dr. Adamu Abubakar Maje; the Emir of Fika, Mohammed Abale Ibn Mohammed Idrissa and Amanyanabo of Opobo Kingdom, King Dandasen Douglas Jaja.

1...1,1371,1381,139...1,461Page 1,138 of 1,461

TIPS

Load more