Covid 19 Restrictions: FOUR ARRESTED IN ABEOKUTA FOR RIDING BIKE FROM MINNA

Operatives of the NIgerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), have arrested four Northern Youths who sneaked into the State from Niger State despite inter-state travel ban by the Federal Government.
Parading the youths in Abeokuta, the State Commandant of the Corps, Mr. Hammed Abodurin, said they were intercepted at Oke-Ilewo, Abeokuta at about 10:30 Tuesday for violating the State lockdown rules and for being in the public without using face masks and riding unregistered motorcycles.
Abodurin said, "further interrogation showed that the youths who are from Niger State with their motorcycles. They claimed to have boarded a truck conveying foodstuff from Kotangora to Lagos, alighted at Ogere and continued the journey with their motorbikes to Abeokuta where they were arrested".
The Commandant condemned drivers for using their trucks meant to convey food items to bring in people who do not have fixed addresses and means of livelihood to State.
He added that they would be handed over to the State Mobile Court for violating the lockdown and ban on inter-state travel for appropriate sanctions.
He decried the non-challant attitude of the people for not obeying the sit-at-home order, but still move within the State, calling on his men to be vigilant and arrest violators as part of their efforts to curb the pandemic in the State.
Also speaking, the Special Adviser to the Goverrnor on Security, Retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, Sola Subair, reiterated the commitment of the government to protect the people at all times as well flatten the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He warned that any person or group of people who enter the State, especially during this period of inter-state travel ban, would be returned back to their State.
Also, Mr Kunle Somorin, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Dapo Abiodun said no matter where they hide or the means: air, road or through subterfuge, like in this case, by which these lawless people try to enter Ogun State, our law enforcement agencies would fish them out.
Responding to questions from newsmen, one of the youth, Ayuba Musa, aged 27, denied knowledge of the lockdown in the State and the ban on inter-state travel, saying they came from Niger State as a result of hunger to Abeokuta to make a living.
Others arrested are, Luda Joshua, 26, Amos Ibrahim, 25 and Samuel John, 30.

Tanko Yakassai — Buhari is incompetent, can’t fix Nigeria

A former Presidential Adviser, Tanko Yakassai, has insisted that President Muhammadu Buhari is incompetent.

The elder statesman explained that his long-held conviction that Buhari can’t fix Nigeria’s problems was responsible for his refusal to support all his presidential campaigns.

He stressed that the president has failed in the area of electricity, creation of jobs for Nigerians.

The former presidential aide said the issues affecting Nigerians which Buhari met are still there five years after assuming power.

“When President Muhammadu Buhari was elected, I was hoping that at least, we will get stable power all over the country. This is his fifth year. He has only two more active years because the last one year will be for election.

“I don’t know what are his plans, when will Kano get electricity to restore its industrial might, so that every man in Kano will be gainfully employed as a result of provision in Kano, likewise Enugu and Lagos among others? Those were the key issues from the time Buhari was elected and they are still the issues of today.”

Interior Minister: Visas of 15 Chinese Doctors Invited To Nigeria Have Expired

The minister of interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has disclosed the expiration of the visas for the Chinese nationals invited to Nigeria in April. Mr Aregbesola made this known at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 on Tuesday.

The Interior Minister, while responding to questions from journalists, said the 15 nationals came on a 30-day Visa from Beijing, the capital state of China.

According to him, the experts, whose visit was sponsored by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), have been stuck in Nigeria because of the travel restrictions.

“They are here on the bill of CCECC, a Chinese company working in Nigeria and doing some projects.”

“They came on a 30-day Visa issued in Beijing and I don’t think I need to tell you why they are here. They are still here not because they have not completed their job but because there is a restriction on travels in Nigeria occasioned by the protocol of COVID-19 team,” Mr Aregbesola said.

The Chinese experts, who arrived on April 8, 2020, have been one of the subjects of controversies among Nigerians because the COVID-19 pandemic was first discovered in Wuhan, a small city in China.

POLITICS NIGERIA reported how the Health Minister, Osagie Ehanire, instructed journalists to stop asking him about their whereabouts. Also, recently, Mr Ehanire claimed that the health team have benefitted from online engagements with foreign nationals.

PTF Asks Businesses, Schools, Worship Places Andothers, To Prepare For Reopening

The Presidential Task Force on Coronavirus response has asked businesses, offices, professional bodies, places of worship and educational institutions, awaiting reopening to use the additional two weeks to plan and adopt new strategies under a COVID-19 era in line with the guidelines, for the new life ahead.

Chairman of the PTF COVID-19 and Secretary to the government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, speaking at the daily briefing on Tuesday, also urged Nigerians to prepare for “behavioral change” which he said ” is a must for every citizen because COVID-19 has changed the world completely”

Mustapha who assured that the PTF COVID-19 is committed and determined to continue to provide the required leadership for this national response, added that in the coming days, intense consultations will be deepened with different segments of the society including the state governments, security agencies, religious and community leaders to ensure a coordinated implementation of the measures.

He reiterated that specific directives have been issued to security agencies to strictly enforce the measures, and admonish Nigerians to please observe the restrictions in full.

He also assured essential workers such as the frontline medical personnel, the media, the environmental health workers, farmers and agro-related service providers, oil and gas services, aviation, the power sector, amongst others that they will be adequately protected.

“Your obligation is to always carry a valid means of identification.

“I am happy to inform you that our risk communication strategy has been enhanced by the Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria (PRCAN).

“The professional body has offered the services of its members pro bono to the PTF, in order to strategically and effectively communicate with more Nigerians on the pandemic.

Mustapha said the PTF will leverage on existing community structures and assets right down to the ward level to push through a massive public awareness campaign aimed at ensuring voluntary community engagement and ownership of the fight, consistent with its community engagement strategy,

He reminded all Nigerians that the ravaging force of the virus does not discriminate on the basis of status, creed, political persuasion, profession or where you come from.

“Now is the time to avoid any distraction from whatever quarters and all hands must be and remain on deck. On our part, we assure Nigerians of our commitment to accountability, diligence and probity.”

Premier League record Six positive COVID-19 tests across three clubs

There were six positive tests for coronavirus across three Premier League clubs on Sunday and Monday, as the top flight prepares to resume next month.

This could affect preparations for Premier League return next month after clubs have been granted the permission to resume training.

According to reports in BBC, the players or staff who have tested positive from the 748 total tests conducted identities have been hidden but they will now self-isolate for the next seven days.

An official statement was released by the League management but still fail to give full information about the players or staff.

"The Premier League is providing this aggregated information for the purposes of competition integrity and transparency," the statement reads.

"No specific details as to clubs or individuals will be provided by the league and results will be made public in this way after each round of testing."

The Premier League fixture schedule is yet to be decided but the aim is for Arsenal to return to playing matches in mid-June

Bukayo Saka, Pablo Mari and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang walk out for the 2nd half against West Ham

Arsenal could find themselves at an early disadvantage when the Premier League season resumes as the league makes plans for rearranged fixtures in the schedule.

The Gunners are one of four teams to have played one match fewer than the rest of the division following Manchester City's victory in the Carabao Cup final.

Arsenal's rearranged fixture against City was the first to be postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak and the timeframe for slotting that match into the schedule is tight.

Premier League clubs are returning to training this week after agreeing to the protocols put in place but full team training with contact sessions is not yet in place.

The restart still has a number of hurdles to overcome over the course of the coming weeks ahead of the proposed restart date of mid-June, which could then see matches played until the end of August and the start of the 2020/21 season delayed.

Full plans for the schedule are yet to be approved and confirmed but Arsenal may find themselves at an early disadvantage as Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has suggested that postponed matches should be played from the earliest date, meaning Arsenal's fixture against City could be played sooner rather than later.

"It is a relatively normal occurrence for, at this stage of the season, there to be displaced matches that have to be played," he Said. "But I think it is a good idea to prioritise games that have to be played first relatively early in the schedule."

The Premier League has renewed confidence around their resumption plans following the successful return of Germany's Bundesliga at the weekend, which was the first of Europe's top leagues to return.


Lagos State Governor List Conditions Churches And Mosques Must Meet To Reopen

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu

Lagos State government has revealed that businesses and worship centres will soon reopen if they meet certain conditions.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, raised the hope on Sunday. Sanwo-Olu said pending when those conditions are met, “the status quo will remain.”

The state, which is the epicenter of the virus in the country, has been under lockdown and lately restrictions and curfew, to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.

The governor spoke at the Government House in Marina during an update on the state of affairs with the management of COVID-19.

He said: “We are reviewing and considering how the phased unlocking will happen. If we see huge level of compliance, then it can happen in the next two to three weeks. If not, it could take a month or two months. It is until we are sure all of these players are ready to conform to our guidelines,” the governor said

From this week, he added, work would proceed fast towards reopening of the state’s economy adding that the government would embark on what he described as “Register to open.”

As the government is weighing the options, on the next line of action, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries, (LCCI), unveiled the report of a survey it conducted on the effect of the lockdown on the economy of the state.

The report indicates that 81per cent of businesses have been “severely affected” by the COVID-19 lockdown with a mere 17 per cent indicating moderate impact on their business.

Sanwo-Olu, who announced that the 10 Government House workers who tested positive for Coronavirus had all been discharged and back at their duty posts, further explained how the reopening process would be.

“We are at a level where we are reviewing the other arms of the economy. In the coming days, we will be starting what we call Register-to-Open, which means all players in the restaurant business, event centres, entertaiment, malls and cinemas will go through a form of re-registration and space management.

“There is a regulation that will be introduced to supervise this move. We will be coming to their facilities to assess their level of readiness for a future opening. I don’t know when that opening will happen in the weeks ahead, but we want these businesses to begin to tune themselves to the reality of COVID-19 with respect to how their work spaces need to look like.

“For us, it is not to say they should re-open fully tomorrow or any time; there has been a process guiding the re-opening. We will be mandating Lagos State Safety Commission (LSSC) and Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) to begin the enumeration process and the agencies will be communicating with all relevant businesses and houses in the days ahead. I must, however, caution that this should not be misinterpreted as a licence for full opening; it is certainly not. The State’s economy is not ready for that now.

“Similarly, places of worship we would be going and working with them as much as possible to see their level of preparedness ensuring that we keep as much space, in the event that we will be unlocking them in future”

Although the governor did not give specific time for the lifting of the lockdown, he however said it could be two, three weeks to one month time.

He said there would be a gradual phasing off of the lockdown because the economy of the state cannot be shut down for too long; but that “there has to be a process towards unlocking the whole place.”

Business hitherto excluded from the easing of the lockdown in the past one week, like hospitality, events, entertainment, malls etc, will re-register to open, a process that will enable the government to ascertain their level of preparedness for reopening in a few weeks.

The government, he said, will visit religious houses to determine their level of preparedness and compliance with social distancing regulation and use of facemask and other precautionary measures as the lockdown is being gradually phased out.

Sanwo-Olu said officials from the LSSCLASEPA will be visiting restaurants, companies, religious houses to assess their level of readiness.

“There is a regulation that will be introduced to supervise this move. We will be coming to their facilities to assess their level of readiness for a future opening. I don’t know when that opening will happen in the weeks ahead, but we want these businesses to begin to tune themselves to the reality of COVID-19 with respect to how their work spaces need to look like. “For us, it is not to say they should re-open fully tomorrow or any time; there has been a process guiding the re-opening.

According to him, the government had seen some encouraging levels of compliance at the open and food markets which needs to be improved upon while the contrary is the case with the yellow buses and interstate movements which he said the government would be looking into.

Sanwo-Olu said his government has approved special preference for the elderly of 60 years and above, beginning from this week, to be attended to in the banking halls, shopping malls and open shop between the hours of 9am to 10.30am before others will be allowed in to transact their businesses.

Businesses and worship centres must:

  • A register to open must be filled
  • Inspection of business facilities
  • Visitation to religious centres to determine compliance
  • Hospitality, Events, Entertainment, Malls to re-register
  • LASEPA and LSSC to communicate with all businesses

COVID-19 UPDATE: Nigeria Confirmed 226 New Cases Of COVID-19, Total 6,401

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The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced the COVID-19 numbers for Tuesday, May 18, 2020.

According to the figures there are 226 new cases Of COVID-19 in Nigeria taking the total number of infections since the pandemic hit Nigeria to 6,401.

COVID-19: Minister Of Health Tells Nigerians To “Prepare For The Worst”

The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, has told Nigerians to prepare for the worst, even as the Federal Government works to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The Minister urged health workers and citizens to do their best to learn more about coronavirus, even as President Muhammadu Buhari extends the easing of restrictions in Lagos, Ogun and FCT.

“It is of great importance that we – members of the health sector and citizens, endeavour to use this period to dedicate efforts to strive for the best, but also prepare for the worst.

“As we learn more about coronavirus every day, we must be ready to adjust our strategy, based on knowledge and evidence,” Ehanire said.

Reps Speaker, Gbajabiamila To Face Impeachment Over ‘Infectious Disease Control Bill’

Nigerian Pilot reliably gathered that the recent face-off between the leadership of the House led by Gbajabiamila, the state governors and former Speaker of the House and now governor of Sokoto state, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal may cause Gbajabiamila his seat if not properly handled.

According to the source, the governors who are allegedly not happy with the way the House of Representatives responded to their advice that the Infectious Disease Control Bill be “stepped down” until proper consultations are made, are mobilising against the Speaker who is the lead sponsor of the Bill.

The source further disclosed that the governors at a recent meeting in Abuja had “secretly” agreed to push for the Speaker’s impeachment through their various representatives at the green chamber.

He said some of the governors openly accused the Speaker of being “arrogant” in his approach to “national issues” a development they said should be checked to maintain the cordial relationship between the Legislature and the Executive.

Speaking further, the source stated the governor of Sokoto state, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal’s loyalists who felt slighted that the governor was accused of misleading and misguiding other members of the Governors Forum are also “spoiling for war”.

He said some members of the House already have grudges against the Speaker over allegation of overbearing especially in handling the donation to the fight against the coronavirus also known as COVID-19.

It was also alleged that the Speaker has been making frantic efforts to get his political godfather to rally the governors to shelve their plans and create an avenue for dialogue.

It would be recalled that the governors operating under the aegis of Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF had recently urged the National Assembly to step down the proposed Infectious Disease Control Bill, 2020 introduced by the House of Representatives until an appropriate consultative process is held.

Chairman of the Forum, Dr. Kayode Fayemi who is also the Governor of Ekiti state had in Communiqué at the end of the Forum’s eight teleconference meeting added that the consultation must include a public hearing to gather public opinion and concerns on the proposed Bill.

However, responding to the advice by the Governor’s Forum, the House of Representatives said it does not legislate for the states and therefore should not be “cowed” from doing its Constitutional responsibility.

The spokesman of the House, Hon. Benjamin Kalu in a statement regretted that Hon. Aminu Tambuwal who is a former Speaker of the House stood a better position to rightly inform the Governors Forum but failed to do so.

Hon. Kalu went ahead to call for the disqualification of Tambuwal who is also the Governor of Sokoto state from a proposed consultative meeting with the Nigeria Governors Forum accusing him of being biased towards the Infectious Disease Control Bill insisting that Tambuwal misled and misguided the Forum into asking the House to step down the Bill.

“We assume that his position was informed by his well-known personal and partisan opposition to the emergence of the current leadership of House led by Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila considering his obvious stance in 2015 and 2019,” he stated.


COVID-19: Governor Yahaya Seek FG Support, asks FG, NCDC to count Gombe out of total lock-down

Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe state has called on the Federal Government, National Center for Decease Control (NCDC), and other authorities in the country to count Gombe out of total lock-down.

The governor stated this during a courtesy visit by the ministerial team on COVID-19 pandemic which was in the state to access situation around the COVID-19 and the mass death incident in some northern states.

According to him, Gombe cannot go hundred percent lockdown: “Because we are ordinary people 70-80% of our people are innocently living in our villages. We would not have gotten into this if our borders were controlled and properly manage.

So, totally lock-down is not an option for us, because a large percentage of the people are local farmers, who must go to farm especially now that the rainy season has set in. He further disclosed that it is almost impossible: “From day one, personally, I objected to the idea of total lock-down because of the situation of our people”.

While seeking for financial and other support in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Gombe, Governor Yahaya said: “We will align with you (NCDC), financially, give us the support, tell the Ministry of Health to come to our aid. Tell the Ministry of Finance, I know through the Governor’s Forum and the NNPC, there is a lot that is coming.

I hope it will come as soon as possible so that we will join hands. So far, not even one kobo came from the Federal Government in order to support Gombe State out of this pandemic,” the governor added.

He further stated that: “By my observation, we may be in this pandemic for a long time before halt, because this thing has no date of ending, so, we must learn to put people to manage the situation and live with it and do the correct thing as a government and in order to give whatever is required”.

According to the leader of the delegation Dr. Nasiru Sani Gwarzo who had earlier commended Gombe state for setting up what he called a well-assembled team on the fight against COVID-19 even before the onset of the epidemic in the state, there is a potential risk attached to the relaxing of a partial lockdown placed by the state government.

He said: “There is the potential risk of a second wave for relaxing the lockdown, which the Gombe State Government was gradually easing because of the progress being made in the number of infections. Consequently, there is a need to prepare for it, as well as ensure it does not reoccur