Author: Chief Editor

Mason Mount fired Chelsea into fourth place in the Premier League as the midfielder’s superb strike clinched a 1-0 win against troubled Liverpool, while Everton boosted their top four bid with a 1-0 victory at West Brom on Thursday. Mount’s first half goal was enough to see off lacklustre Liverpool and extended Chelsea’s impressive renaissance under new boss Thomas Tuchel. Chelsea are unbeaten in 10 games in all competitions since Tuchel replaced the sacked Frank Lampard in January. The Blues sit one point clear of fifth placed Everton, who have a game in hand on the west Londoners. “It was…

State governors and their deputies are to take the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday (March 10). Dr Kayode Fayemi, the Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Governor of Ekiti, disclosed this at a virtual news conference on Thursday. Fayemi said that the vaccination was part of resolutions made by the governors during an emergency virtual meeting held on Thursday. The NGF chairman read a communique issued by the governors at the end of the meeting. He said that the vaccination would be done publicly. Fayemi said the governors would enlighten more Nigerians on the need to take the vaccine,…

To remove the scepticism about the vaccines recently brought into the country for the treatment of the disease, President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo will on Saturday receive the COVID-19 vaccine publicly. This was disclosed by the executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, at the second edition of State House weekly briefing at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The second edition focused on how Nigeria has handled the response to the Covid-19 pandemic generally in Nigeria, in the last one year, and especially the National Vaccination Response. Shuaib said President Buhari and Prof…

On January 23, a truck belonging to Dangote Group rammed into a shopping complex in Akungba Akoko, around Adekunle Ajasin University. Media reports state that the truck’s brakes failed as it descended a hilly approach and used the complex as a stopgap. In one fell swoop, eight persons were dead. The scale of the disaster roiled further when information filtered out that three members of a family were amongst the dead. Then, the Student Union Government of the university announced on Saturday that the Dangote Group had compensated the victims’ families with N500,000 each. The SUG president who announced the…

Nigerians on social media have called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, for money laundering. The monarch had said $2 million and N17 million were stolen when youths attacked his palace on October 21, 2020 in the violence that erupted after the #EndSARS protests. Oba Akiolu, whose staff of office known as the ‘Opa Ase’, was also taken away by hoodlums who broke into his palace during the riot, spoke on Wednesday in Lagos. He said, “I will support anything that will move Lagos forward. I have appealed to the Federal…

Plateau State Government is set to domesticate the National Livestock Transformation Programme, as it approved a bill for the establishment of the Plateau State Livestock Transformation, which when passed into law, will promote livestock business anchored on ranching. This was disclosed yesterday by the Director of Press to the state Governor, Simon Lalong, Dr. Makut Macham. He said the State Executive Council (SEC) at its weekly meeting approved the transmission of the bill to the state House of Assembly for consideration by the legislature. Also speaking on the bill, the state Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr. Dan Manjang, said…

The federal government has further extended the work-from-home directive to all public workers on Salary Grade Levels 12 and below until March 31 as a measure to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The directive was contained in a circular issued yesterday by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan. In the circular titled ‘Stay-At – Home Directive continues,’ with reference number: HCSF/3065/VOL.I/83, Yemi-Esan, noted that the latest directive was in adherence to the advice of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19. “Further to the circular No: HCSF/3065/Vol.1/68 dated January 26, 2021, and following the advice…

The Governor of Oyo State, Mr. Seyi Makinde, yesterday clarified that the state government will not make land available for ranching, insisting that ranching is a private business. The governor made the clarification in a tweet in which he revealed that Oyo State will adopt the National Livestock Transformation Plan which is already being implemented in Kwara State. Makinde, had after a meeting with his Kwara State counterpart, Governor, Mr. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, said on Twitter, that “We also agreed that the National Livestock Transformation Plan which is already being implemented in Kwara State would be implemented in Oyo State leading…

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has uncovered how the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) paid N443 billion without appropriation. The Chairman of the Senate, Senator Mathew Urhoghide who frowned at the development, summoned the corporation to explain the expenditure. The invitation of the Committee was a result of the report of the Auditor General of Federation, 2016 report which was being considered by the Committee. The audit query reads, “During the examination of Subsidy records provided by FAAC, it was observed that total subsidy paid during the year 2016 was N443,940,559,974.80. Oil Marketers- Arrears for 2014 Paid in 2015…

At last, the much-awaited COVID-19 vaccines are now in the country and President Muhammadu Buhari and other top leaders are expected to be vaccinated publicly on Saturday. But there are still questions regarding the state of the health sector. For instance, on the lips of most Nigerians are: What would Nigeria have done without the free donation of vaccines by the COVAX facility? Nigeria took delivery of COVID-19 vaccines made in India. What does that say of Nigeria’s health sector and capacity to play in global health platforms? If India, which used to be at the same level as Nigeria…