The Federal Character Commission (FCC) said it has plans to commence the auditing of the nominal rolls of federal Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) to be sure that they comply with the principles of federal character as enshrined in the constitution.

The New Executive Chairman of the Commission, Dr Muheeba Dankaka, during a news conference on Wednesday in Abuja, said the aim was to ensure enforcement of the principles of federal character without sacrificing its Merits.

Dankaka said public concerns have been expressed and she and the new Federal Commissioners have been confronted even before their assumptions of office with seeming unethical practice.

“It is of great concern that our laid down procedures and operations standard have been compromised.

“We have resolved to change these narratives. To enhance the power of prosecution for any erring agency, the Commission shall review the laws and seek amendments from the National Assembly where necessary.

“The Commission shall not hesitate to impose disciplinary measures on any erring staff or agency. It shall not be business as usual. We all must strive to live above board.

“All government MDAs must ensure adherence to the principle of federal character.

“To this end, the Commission shall soon embark on audit of the nominal rolls of all government MDAs with the view to enforcing the principles of federal character without sacrificing its merit,” she said.

The FCC boss said findings revealed that the second mandate of the Commission which dwelled on equitable distribution of infrastructural facilities had been seemingly neglected.

She noted that the Commission shall implement this critical mandate which impacted directly on the dividends of democracy and the well being of the people.

“We shall ensure that all implementing MDAs adhere to the principles of fairness and equitable distribution of social amenities.

“However, very soon, the Commission will organise an induction session for Honourable Members so as to acquaint them with the processes and workings of the Commission.

“As the world is experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic, I implore everyone to adhere strictly to the guidelines issued by NCDC and other health institution in the country,” she said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that Npom and 37 new Federal Character Commissioners were inaugurated on July 2 by President Mohammadu Buhari after being cleared by the National Assembly.

Credit: https://thenigerialawyer.com

By Sangmi Cha and Miyoung Kim

China is forging ahead in the race to develop a vaccine to help control the COVID-19 pandemic, with Sinovac Biotech’s experimental vaccine set to become the country’s second and the world’s third to enter final stage testing later this month.

While a laggard in the global vaccine industry, China, where the new coronavirus is thought to have originated, has brought state, military and private sectors together in a quest to combat a disease that has killed over 500,000 people worldwide.

Many other countries, including the United States, are coordinating closely with the private sector to try to win the vaccine development race, and China faces many challenges.

Its success in driving down COVID-19 infections makes it harder to conduct large-scale vaccine trials, and so far only a few other countries have agreed to work with it. After past vaccine scandals, Beijing will also have to convince the world it has met all safety and quality requirements.

But China’s use of command economy-type tools is so far yielding results.

A state-controlled entity, for example, completed two vaccine plants at what it called the “war time speed” of a couple of months, while state-owned enterprises and the military have allowed experimental shots to be used on staff.

The People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) medical research unit, which has been a driving force in China’s efforts to fight infectious diseases, is also working with private firms including CanSino to develop COVID-19 vaccines.

Challenging the West’s traditional dominance of the industry, China is behind eight of the 19 vaccine candidates in human trials, with Sinovac’s experimental shot and one jointly developed by the military and CanSino among the front runners.

It is also focused mainly on inactivated vaccine technology – a technology that is well known and has been used to make vaccines against diseases such as influenza and measles – something which could raise the chances of success.

By contrast, several Western rivals such as U.S.-based Moderna and Germany’s CureVac and BioNTech are using a new technology called messenger RNA that has never before yielded a product approved by regulators.

‘TRIED AND TRUE’

“It’s a tried and true strategy,” said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, about inactivated vaccine technology.

“If I had to pick a vaccine that I think would be the most likely to be safe and effective, it would be that one,” he said. Offit is also co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, manufactured by Merck & Co Inc.

Four of the Chinese candidates in human trials are inactivated vaccines, including Sinovac’s and two vaccines from China National Biotec Group (CNBG), a unit of state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm).

There are currently only two experimental COVID-19 vaccines in final Phase III trials – one from Sinopharm and another from AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. Sinovac’s is set to become the third later this month.

To speed up the process, China allowed Sinopharm and Sinovac to combine Phase I and Phase II trials for their vaccine candidates.

For CanSino’s experimental vaccine, the PLA research institute played a key role, with the two working on a method using an adenovirus – a similar approach to AstraZeneca’s.

The PLA has its own approval process for “military specifically-needed drugs”, and approved the military use of the candidate developed by its research unit and CanSino last month.

PLA lead scientist Chen Wei, who has been the face of its vaccine development effort, was among the first to take the experimental COVID-19 shot developed by her team, as well as its potential SARS treatment years before, according to state media.

CHALLENGES

China has challenges, though, as the epidemic has petered out in the country, hampering efforts to conduct large trials.

It has since shifted its focus overseas, but only a handful of countries have shown willingness to collaborate – UAE, Canada, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico. Neither major European countries nor the United States have shown interest in China’s COVID-19 vaccines as they focus on their own projects.

China must also address concerns over its vaccine quality and safety issues following several https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-vaccines/chinas-changsheng-bio-technology-hit-by-heavy-penalties-in-vaccine-scandal-idUSKCN1MQ1KL scandals https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-vaccines/china-sacks-top-official-over-vaccine-scandal-firm-may-de-list-idUSKBN1L11BQ over substandard vaccines in recent years.

“The Chinese national regulatory authority has been improving its oversight,” said Jerome Kim, head of the International Vaccine Institute, a non-profit agency established as an initiative of the U.N. Development Programme.

China introduced a law last year to regulate the vaccine industry, with heavier penalties for selling and making fake or low-quality vaccines than other drug products.

REUTERS

PHOTOS: cgtn,com

Sen. Ifeanyi Ubah, on Monday, told the Federal High Court, Abuja, how he received the news of alleged court judgment that purportedly ordered his dismissal as a senator representing Anambra South Senatorial District.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Obinna Uzoh, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, and his lawyer, Eziafa Enwedo, along three others, were arraigned by the Federal Government (FG) for allegedly using a forged originating summons and court processes to obtain a forged judgement from a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory to unseat Sen. Ubah.

The three other defendants, who are presently at large in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/78/2020, are Anani Anacletus Chuka, Aroh Ifunanya and Faith Samuel.

Ubah, while giving his evidence-in-chief as 1st prosecution witness (PW1) in the case, told Justice Okon Abang that while he was about to get settled for the legislative work, he received the shocking news.

Although the forged judgment had since been set aside by the Supreme Court, Uzoh and Enwedo were docked, on July 2, on a six-count criminal charge.

The FG told the court that the defendants, by their action, committed an offence contrary to Section 3(b) of the miscellaneous offences Act Cap M17 Law’s Of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 and punishable under Section 1(2) of the same Act.

The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Testifying before the court on Monday, the lawmaker said he was elected as senator to represent his senatorial district in the 9th Senate in the 2019 General Election.

“My lord, I was the candidate of my party, the Young Progressive Party (YPP) in the election.

“I had my primary election witnessed by INEC and have my documents to back this up. I contested the election and won.

“I scored over 87, 000 votes against the candidate of PDP, Chief Chris Ubah, who scored 52, 000 votes and the 3rd candidate who was APGA candidate, Nicolas Ukachukwu, who scored 51, 000.

“Dr Andy Ubah, the candidate of APC, scored 14, 000 votes.

“My lord, I may not be accurate with the exact figures but it was within the range of my quotations,” he said.

Ubah said the name of Uzoh, the 2nd defendant in the suit, was neither mentioned in the election results declared by the electoral umpire as a candidate representing a party nor was any of his poster seeing in the senatorial district.

He said though the election victory was challenged by Chris Ubah of PDP before the High Court in Awka up to the Supreme Court, he won the case.

Besides, the lawmaker said his election victory was also challenged by Chris Ubah of PDP and Andy Ubah of APC at the election tribunal sitting in Akwa and at the Appeal Court but he won the suits.

“It is important for the court to know that these two people are brothers from the same family,” he added.

According to him, by the constitution and electoral act, this ended all legal battle.

“As I parked my luggage from court to assume my office, I met another legal ambush perpetrated by the 1st, 2nd defendants and others at large.

“I was faced with an application before INEC in Nov 2019 to issue a Certificate of Return to the 2nd defendant based on a judgment allegedly gotten before FCT High Court by one Hon Justice Kawu.

“It was the biggest surprise of my entire life as I had no iota of contest with the 2nd defendant,” he narrated.

Ubah said Uzoh did not participate in the senatorial political activities and the electoral process in Anambra South as a candidate.

“I was shocked to my marrow,” he said.

He said he consulted his legal team for defence.

“Eventually, we found ourselves appealed to the same judge, Hon Justice Kawu, for fair hearing.

“We notified the judge that we were not served the processes that culminated into the judgment of April 11, 2019, which was the purported judgment date.

“We looked at the court processes and discovered that the other defendants and some who ought to be defendants were also not in court e.g INEC, NECO, YPP and my good self.

“Even when we discovered in the court papers that there was a service on INEC and YPP, there was nothing to show that I was served.

Ironically, all the processes that were served on INEC during the alleged pendency of the suit were only acknowledged by same person in INEC, one Sule,” he remarked.

The lawmaker also said that all processes served on his parry, YPP, were acknowledged by unknown person with a fake stamp of the party.

“Nevertheless, we were prepared to proceed on the case but unfortunately, the court refused our application to give us a fair hearing.

“We had no option than to move to Court of Appeal.

“It was in Court of Appeal that we met justice through the grace of God almighty,” he said.

Ubah told the judge that Uzoh, Enwedo and other defendants in the suit had close ties.

Although counsel to 2nd defendant, B. C. Igwilo, SAN, prayed the court to stop the senator from continued his statement, arguing that the witness was precluded from given evidence on previous court proceedings, Afam Osigwe, counsel to the FG, disagreed with him.

Abang then overruled Igwilo describing his objection as “misconceived,” adding that going by Section 130(1) of the Evidence Act, Igwilo’s objection could only be applied in a civil matter where previous court proceedings can only be tendered in evidence and not in a criminal trial.

“In a criminal trial, a witness can say anything concerning what he heard, saw or observe,” he ruled.

NAN also observes that the bail application hearing for Uzoh was also taken by the judge.

Credit: https://thenigerialawyer.com

Founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) has accused that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been actively obstructive to the re-opening of universities in the country.

Babalola expressed displeasure over the Federal Government’s decision on non-resumption of final year students of tertiary institutions like those in Primary Six, JSSIII and SSSIII, attributing the decision to the likely objection from the “Almighty” ASUU.

The legal icon, in a statement made available to journalists on Monday in Ado-Ekiti by Tunde Olofintila, Head, Corporate Affairs, said the government’s directives should have been excluded private universities from the directives.

“I was not disappointed on the non-resumption of final year students of tertiary institutions, because I knew the reason why the government left out the final year students of University. And I believe the Federal Government was aware that if it directed final year students of public universities to resume, the almighty ASUU would object and in this case, ASUU has objected.

Drawing from his seven-year experience as Pro Chancellor and Chairman of Council at the University of Lagos, UNILAG, Babalola said about the “Almightiness” of ASUU: “Before I took over as Pro Chancellor and Chairman of Council at the University of Lagos, UNILAG, even Council meetings could not take place unless ASUU and other Unions had been appeased or else such Council meetings would not be allowed to hold. It was a serious matter at that time, but I successfully managed that”.

Delving into how he got the news of return of final year Primary pupils, JSS III and SSS III students to school, the legal giant said: “Interestingly, it was a parent who alerted me that the Federal Government has directed final year students in secondary schools to resume and take their final year examinations. He told me that he was shocked and disappointed that the final year students in Universities were left out”.

The former Pro-Chancellor, University of Lagos tasked the Federal Government to, as matter of urgency, insulate private universities from the public ones, saying that “the future of this country in terms of functional and quality education lies with private universities.

“Most private universities are reputed for their moral and physical discipline, quality and functional education, hygienic and safe environment, predictable academic calendar, absence of trade unionism, committed teachers, modern teaching equipment and laboratories, and adequate preparation to prevent COVID-19.

“Indeed, no private university teacher would object to resumption of schools. Already, in the private universities of Nigeria, an Ivy League similar to that in America is emerging, to me, the top ranking private universities should be the mirror or the template for resumption of students because of the hygienic, safe environment and the undoubted discipline amongst students and teachers,” he said.

Credid: https://thenigerialawyer.com

The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has warned that the high rate of the virus infection among government officials is capable of adversely affecting governance and security in the country.

Speaking at the Monday briefing of the task force, its Chairman and Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, who made the assertion, affirmed that the virus does not discriminate.

He, therefore, called for vigilance among Nigerians irrespective of status.

He said: “Of recent, we have witnessed a high rate of positive cases especially among people in authority. This has a direct impact on the governance and security of our nation.

“We urge that vigilance and care should be exhibited by all Nigerians irrespective of status. This virus does not discriminate and the PTF shall keep sustaining its sensitization messaging.”

Mustapa revealed that the PTF met with the heads of security and defence agencies to review and chart a refined course “in view of the fact that COVID-19 is global health, and socio-economic and security issue and Nigeria must continue to evolve new strategies peculiar to her environment, even while working within global prescriptions.”

He said as the nation progresses into the second phase of the eased lockdown, the National Response continues to escalate its level of vigilance and monitoring, “especially as we ease restrictions in more sectors, including those with potentials for large gatherings and/or interactions between groups of people. We are conscious of the fact that this could be misinterpreted to mean that the war against COVID 19 is over.”

He emphasized that the decision for further relaxation was cautiously taken by the government to balance lives and livelihood.

While noting that rising global and domestic statistics of cases and fatalities have shown that COVID-19 has not given any relaxation, the PTF boss said citizens cannot, therefore, afford to slow down “and we must never compromise.”

He added: “Let us continue to learn from the history of pandemics by avoiding the mistakes of 1918. Having laid that foundation, the PTF calls on all Nigerians to also remain vigilant and this call is underscored by global and national developments in the last week, especially throughout the weekend.

“In the last week, we have witnessed a resurgence in countries that were noted as having successfully contained or containing the spread of the virus. The situation in Beijing and the United States of America should inform our individual and collective actions. Of course, such resurgence has led to the reintroduction of precision/location-specific lockdown in some areas such as parts of Galicia region, Catalonia, Spain.”

Mustapha noted that over the last weekend, the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council organized national prayers for both Muslims and Christians to seek divine intervention on COVID-19 and several other problems confronting our nation and humanity.

While thanking the leadership of the groups who organized the prayers, he added: “Some additional benefits derivable from the intervention of NIREC include awareness on the evils of gender violence, benefits of peaceful co-existence, religious tolerance and deepening the impact of Community Engagement and Risk Communication programmes of the PTF.”

Mustapha informed that on Thursday and Friday this week, the PTF will be carrying out its mid-term review having crossed the three months/ half time threshold of its life span.

He said this will involve a comprehensive examination of the steps taken, the challenges and charting the way forward.

Mustapha reiterated that COVID-19 is not a death sentence, “but it becomes dangerous when we fail to detect, test isolate and treat. We can avoid contracting it by complying with non-pharmaceutical interventions of wearing a face mask, maintaining social distancing, hand-washing, staying and working from home if practicable. Similarly, we can achieve more if we stop stigmatization.”

He further said: “Capacity and opportunities for testing have been expanded, with the opening of 40 laboratories and creation of more testing centres including some certified private sector medical facilities. I, therefore encourage all Nigerians to get tested to enable us to fight this pandemic.

“We have done it before and we shall do it again. The handling of the EBOLA virus, Lassa Fever, our becoming a polio-free country and successful exit from other communicable diseases over the years should give us comfort that COVID-19 would also be put behind us.”

Mustapha noted that the PTF has continued to receive support from kind-hearted Nigerians, development partners and other interest groups, saying that the Nigerians in Diaspora COVID-19 support group donated Personal Protective Equipment worth N48million which Mustapa said are already being distributed to all States of the Federation as prescribed by the donors.

Credit: https://thenigerialawyer.com

The last cabin row of aircraft would be designated as isolation centre for air travellers that exhibit symptoms of coronavirus, the Federal Government has declared.

Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, disclosed this on Monday during the Presidential Task Force (PFT) briefing on COVID-19.

Siriki said this was part of the safety measures taken against coronavirus as the nation prepares for resumption of domestic flights.

He explained that cabin staffers have been trained to carry out necessary precautions and protocols in case of any emergency.

Also, passengers would no longer be served refreshment to reduce the level of contact with cabin staff.

The Minister also said Governors, Ministers, National Assembly members, military men and judiciary men will not be allowed into the terminal building with their aides who are no travelling.

Following the loss made due to the closure of the airports for about three months, the Minister also said all businesses in charge of air economy in the country would be given opportunity to access a two-fold palliative from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the ministry of finance and national planning.

On how the sector will comply with COVID-19 protocols, he said: “We are complying with international standards and many countries have resumed. In Africa, more than five countries have resumed domestic flight and around the world, about 100 countries have commenced domestic operations.

“We delayed in commencing in Nigeria because we wanted to get it right and we didn’t want to risk anybody’s life.

“We will allow the last row in the cabin of the aircraft free so that we can isolate just in case we see something that looks like symptoms within the cabin so that we don’t create panic.

“We will carry you behind and isolate you there. Our cabin staff are well trained to look out for this. I told you that cabin crew are not just trained to serve teas.”

On whether refreshment would be served or not, he said: “For the domestic operations, there will be no food so that we reduce the level of contamination.”

On the seating arrangement, he said: “To maintain safe flight, civil aviation has ensured that the air within the cabin is filtered and circulated.

“Once you are in the aircraft, if there is space, we will space it and if there is no space, we will sit normally.

“Because the wearing of masks and other protocols are all backed by science to ensure that we are safe, so also, our decision is backed by science and findings.

“Risk of contamination is highly reduced when you are in the cabin. As the cabin air is coming down into the cabin, it washes from up, down to the bottom and we are mostly facing front while sitting.

“Because we are all facing one direction and the airflow is from up to down and because of that, the chances of the viruses and bacteria gaining way to you are reduced.

“The air will be circulated about 30 to 35 times within one hour. So, it is safe to say that no matter how we sit, from the scientific viewpoint, we are safe in the aircraft cabin.

He also noted that flights will be sequenced to avoid overcrowding. “We will also sequence our arrival and departure flights to avoid the terminal buildings being flooded. We will ensure that flights are sequenced in order for us to know the number of people we are emptying into our building per time and ensure that the physical distance is respected.”

Credit: https://thenigerialawyer.com