Author: Chief Editor

The Presidency says President Muhammadu Buhari will make a New Year broadcast to the nation on Jan. 1, 2021 at 7.00a.m. Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, confirmed this in a statement in Abuja on Thursday. He said: “Television, radio and other electronic media outlets are enjoined to join the network services of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) respectively, for the broadcast.’’ [GuardianNG]

With COVID-19 pandemic taking a toll on Nigeria practically all through 2020, Martins Ifijeh reviews with timelines, the performance of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC); the agency responsible for the country’s health security through disease preparedness, detection and response The year 2020 has been unprecedented. It has been dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with many countries now experiencing a second wave of the outbreak. Nigeria, in addition to the pandemic has recorded other outbreaks, including yellow fever, weekly cases of Lassa fever, monkeypox, cholera, measles and other epidemic prone diseases. This has indeed been a critical year for…

Coronavirus vaccines deployment, fight against climate change, ambitious agenda for space science to continue in 2021 The year 2020 cannot be mentioned without the impact of COVID-19. In fact, 2020 is synonymous with COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic exposed the shortcomings of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the global community as well as Nigeria’s fragile and under funded health care delivery system. Also, the Federal Government for the umpteenth time, in 2020, failed to meet the Abuja Declaration by African leaders in 2001 and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to allocate, at least, 15 per cent of yearly national budgets…

As the Anambra state governorship election approaches, the Soludo Solution for 2021 Governor, has urged the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, to join the gubernatorial race. National Patron of the group, Anayo Nneama, stated this yesterday at Nibo Civic Centre, Awka South Council during national solidarity rally and inauguration of its national women leader, Chief Mrs. Nkiruka Nwekike. He said they were committed to the actualisation of Soludo’s governorship project 2021 due to his records in academics and as governor of the apex bank. Nneama said the group wanted Soludo to contest…

• Southeast APC seeks unity All hopes that leaders of Southeast geopolitical zone would play as united team towards the 2023 general election cycle were shattered yesterday, when stakeholders from the zone met in Owerri. Apart from the most recent joiner to the party, Ebonyi State Governor Dave Umahi, who was represented by Senator Anthony Agbo, most aboriginal members like immediate past Imo State governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha, Senate Chief Whip, Orji Uzor Kalu, Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, were conspicuously absent from the grand meeting. Prominent APC stalwarts, including the host, Governor Hope Uzodimma, members of…

• As stakeholders demand action on Senate probes • NNPC spends N116m on biro, paper, ink • Over N4.1b, $21b in one month • NASS under attack for oversights failure • Investigate, prosecute ministry officials involved in contract splitting, lawyers urge Lawyers have urged the Federal Government to investigate and prosecute Ministry of Petroleum Resources officials involved in contract splitting as disclosed by the Senate. This, they said, would serve as deterrent to others. The Senate recently uncovered how the ministry, which is headed by President Muhammadu Buhari, spent N14 million for biros and N46 million for letterhead papers and…

Niran Adedokun niranadedokun@gmail.com Even I laugh at the cheekiness and audacity of this headline. At this juncture, many Nigerians, including a lot of actively prayerful ones, are disillusioned with the idea of what role prayers could play in the development of the country. It is the tradition of many worship centres to lift their voices in supplication for the country, and yours truly have seen many quiet protestations when such calls are made in recent years. Even those who govern us may not hold different views. For instance, there’s a promo that plays repeatedly on Channels Television. In it,…

gregodogwu@yahoo.com 08063601665 Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, the vocal Catholic priest from Sokoto, has come under attack for his Christmas comment on the state of the nation. Some people went to the extent of publishing the percentage of regional spread in appointments by this regime, as a way of showing that Kukah’s assertion that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), favours the North, is without basis. In their statistics, the South-West enjoys more appointments than every other geopolitical zone. Therefore, with the weight of the South-Western appointees, the South, taken as a region, has more political appointments from this present regime.…

Abimbola Adelakun aadelakun@punchng.com On Christmas Day, Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Rev. Fr. Hassan Matthew Kukah, shared a homily in which he criticised the regime of Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). In the message, Fr. Kukah summed Nigeria’s anomie from insecurity, the rising rate of poverty, and despondency enveloping the country. He concluded his message on a note of hope, but you would not know that if you listened to those bent on chewing his flesh raw for that message. Father Kukah has been – expectedly, of course – criticised by the Chief Aturota of Nigeria, aka Information Minister…

Many Nigerians are not in the habit of checking products’ expiry dates. For those who do, they do only for consumables (mostly food and drugs). In fact, when it comes to cosmetics, toiletries, insecticides, disinfectants, body spray and other personal care products, the checking of the expiry dates on the product label is not taken seriously, yet the consequences of consuming or using any expired product can result in serious complications. When expired edibles are consumed, the consequential effect may not instantly manifest but it certainly does with time. No doubt, we are what we consume! We are a reflection…