News

Monday, 30 March 2020 05:25

FG tightens offshore oil rules after vessel workers get coronavirus

Nigeria’s petroleum regulator has ordered oil and gas companies to reduce their offshore workforce and move to 28-day staff rotations as part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus, according to a circular seen by Reuters. The restrictions came after Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) said that six workers on board an offshore rig support vessel tested positive for coronavirus late last week. Health experts are concerned about the potential for a widespread outbreak in Africa’s most populous country, which has about 200 million inhabitants. Nigeria has 111 confirmed coronavirus cases and one death from the virus. The country…

Monday, 30 March 2020 05:23

Israel charters Air Peace aircraft to evacuate citizens from Nigeria

The State or Israel yesterday began evacuation of its citizens from Nigeria following the rising level of coronavirus cases. Our correspondent gathered the Israeli Government evacuated its citizens using a charted Air Peace Aircraft. It was learnt that the aircraft first picked some Israelis at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, before stopping over at Abuja to pick more citizens. The aircraft departed at about 1pm yesterday to Israel. General Manager, Public Affairs, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Henrietta Yakubu confirmed the development. Daily Trust

Monday, 30 March 2020 05:22

Immigration boss, UI College of Medicine Provost, dep test positive

Provost and Deputy Provost of University of Ibadan, UI, College of Medicine, Ezekiel Olapade-Olaopa and Obafunke Denloye, both professors, have tested positive for coronavirus. Also, Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service, Mr Muhammad Babandede, has tested positive for coronavirus days after he returned from the United Kingdom. Olapade-Olaopa, who made this known in a Whatsapp group message, yesterday, said: “Dear colleagues, I wish to inform you that the Deputy Provost and I tested positive for COVID-19, following the tests done on Friday. “Although we are both asymptomatic, we have gone into self-isolation for 14 days, while our contacts are being…

Monday, 30 March 2020 05:21

Buhari’s Chief of Staff breaks silence, says he’s moving to Lagos for Coronavirus treatment

Six days after testing positive for coronavirus, Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr Abba Kyari, has spoken from his sickbed over his status. He disclosed this in a personal statement signed by him and made available to journalists on Sunday evening. Kyari said he would be transferred from Abuja to Lagos on Sunday for further tests. “I am writing to let you know that on medical advice, I will transfer to Lagos later today for additional tests and observation. This is a precautionary measure: I feel well, but last week, I tested positive for coronavirus, the pandemic that…

Sunday, 29 March 2020 05:48

DMO issues N968bn Promissory Notes as Nigeria’s debts rise above N26trn

Debt Management Office (DMO) as at February 29, 2020 had issued a total of N968.092 billion promissory notes to oil marketers, states, federal agencies and exporters on behalf of Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN). DMO, a federal agency set up to centrally coordinate management of Nigeria’s debt, released the data on its official website yesterday, detailing promissory notes it had issued up to February 2020. By definition, a promissory note is a financial instrument that contains a written promise by one party to pay another party a definite sum of money, either on demand or at a specified future date.…

Sunday, 29 March 2020 05:47

Kaduna gov tests positive for coronavirus

Kaduna state governor, Mr Nasir El-Rufai has confirmed that he tested positive for coronavirus. El-Rufai disclosed this in a video shared on the official Account of Governor of Kaduna State, @GovKaduna. He added that he is in self-isolation as required by the case management guidelines of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC for someone not showing symptoms. The number of officially confirmed deaths around the world from the novel coronavirus passed 30,000 on Saturday, according to a tally compiled by AFP at 1900 GMT from official sources. Two-thirds of the 30,003 deaths from coronavirus have now been recorded in Europe.…

Sunday, 29 March 2020 05:46

Buildings destroyed, 20 wounded as explosion rocks Akure

There was tension in Akure, Ondo State capital, yesterday as no fewer than 20 persons sustained varying degrees of injuries in an explosion that rocked the town. This came 13 days after a devastating explosion also rocked Abule Ado area of Lagos in which scores lost their lives and several property destroyed. The Akure explosion saw several buildings, including residential houses, churches, shops and schools, destroyed. The incident also rendered about 70 persons homeless as their houses and personal belongings were destroyed. The explosion, which occurred at Eleyowo-Iluabo along Owo-Akure road in Akure North Local Government Area of the state…

Saturday, 28 March 2020 04:47

Nigeria’s private sector leads fundraising efforts to combat coronavirus

Nigeria has appealed to private companies to make voluntary contributions towards the 120 billion naira (£264.76 million) the government says it needs to fight the coronavirus epidemic. “So far, the federal government has made giant strides in the fight but it is clear that the private sector needs to step in and support efforts already being made,” Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele said. The crash in oil prices, which have fallen by nearly two- thirds this year due in large part to a coronavirus-induced demand collapse, has seriously battered Nigeria’s finances. Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed this week pledged 6.5 billion…

Saturday, 28 March 2020 04:44

Boisterous Lagos adjusts to coronavirus lockdown

Fear of the coronavirus has induced an extraordinary calm in Lagos, Nigeria’s famously boisterous mega-city where streets known for miles of gridlock have emptied of traffic and eateries serving takeaways are almost the only shops open. The largest city in sub-Saharan Africa, with an estimated 20 million population, has been transformed by a week-long shutdown of public life imposed as part of efforts to stem the spread of the highly infectious disease in Nigeria. The lockdown order by Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu applies to all non-essential shops - those not selling food, water or medicine - in the sprawling…

Friday, 27 March 2020 11:32

UK PM Boris Johnson tests positive for coronavirus

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus, he confirmed on Twitter. “Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus. I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government’s response via video-conference as we fight this virus. Together we will beat this,” Johnson said on Twitter. CNN

More...

Friday, 27 March 2020 05:43

Buhari announces stricter measures to combat Coronavirus

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered immediate closure of international airports and land borders for four weeks. This is just as he directed that all Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) staff and experts who are away on training or international assignments are to return immediately. In a long thread on via his verified Twitter handle Thursday evening, Mr Buhari said: “Over the last few days I have received extensive briefings on the state of the nation as it relates to the Covid-19 pandemic, from the relevant Federal Government agencies as well as the Lagos State Government. Accordingly, I approved the…

Friday, 27 March 2020 05:42

Fuel scarcity looms as tanker drivers withdraw services today

Fuel scarcity may likely hit the country next week as fuel tanker drivers have resolved to keep away from the depots from Friday because of the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the world. The umbrella body of the tanker drivers, Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), which disclosed this in a statement signed by its national president, Mr Yusuf Othman, on Wednesday, threatened that its members’ services would be suspended until the COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control. He stated: “This action is necessitated by the fact that our loading depots across the country are places of beehive of activities containing more…

Friday, 27 March 2020 05:41

Coronavirus: US overtakes China with most cases

The US now has more confirmed cases of coronavirus than any other country with more than 83,500 positive tests. According to the latest figures collated by Johns Hopkins University, the US has overtaken China (81,782 cases) and Italy (80,589). But with 1,200 Covid-19-related fatalities, the US death toll lags behind China (3,291) and Italy (8,215). The grim milestone came as President Donald Trump predicted the nation would get back to work "pretty quickly". How did the White House react? Asked about the latest figures at a White House briefing on Thursday afternoon, President Trump said it was "a tribute to…

Thursday, 26 March 2020 05:40

Nigerian army prepares for coronavirus lockdown, mass burials

Nigerian Army is preparing to forcibly transfer the sick to hospital and enforce curbs on movement to try to shield the country from the coronavirus, and is leasing equipment for “possible mass burial”, according to an army memo seen by Reuters. The memo from Army headquarters also outlines plans to protect government food storage from looters as Africa’s most populous nation braces for the illness to spread further in the country. “Following the rise and continuous spread in cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria, (Chief of Army Staff) has deemed it necessary for all to take protective measures…

Page 445 of 832

News

More...

Search

Most Read

Editorial

News

Business

Politics

Opinion

Features

Strangely

Crime

Wars

SCIENCE & TECH

SPECIAL REPORTS

Sports

VIDEOS