Author: Chief Editor

Watford captain Troy Deeney will not return to training this week over fears he could pass coronavirus on to his five-month-old son. Deeney has consistently voiced his concerns over the speed with which the Premier League hopes to return to playing matches despite the United Kingdom having the second-highest death toll in the world. England’s top-flight clubs are due to return to training in small, socially distanced groups on Tuesday. Training will then be stepped up to full contact with the aim of resuming the season by the middle of next month. “We’re due back in this week. I’ve said…

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), says it will collaborate with global partners to tackle bottlenecks to its target on testing for the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the country. The Director General of NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN), on Tuesday in Abuja. Ihekwazu said that the centre was working very hard to equip its network of laboratories to be able to achieve the target in the country. The DG said that the centre so far had 26 testing laboratories in its network for COVID-19. NAN reports that the…

Iran on Tuesday reported no new coronavirus deaths in nearly a third of its provinces for 24 hours but said there were more than another 2,100 cases of infection nationwide. The virus spread rapidly to all 31 of Iran’s provinces soon after the country’s first cases — two deaths in the holy city of Qom — were announced three months ago. “Ten provinces have reported zero deaths in the past 24 hours and six others only one,” said health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour. The southwestern province of Khuzestan was still classified as “red” — the highest level on the country’s…

The European Union backed the World Health Organisation and multilateral efforts to fight the coronavirus on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump threatened to quit the global agency. “This is the time for solidarity, not the time for finger pointing or for undermining multilateral cooperation,” European foreign affairs spokeswoman Virginie Battu-Henriksson told reporters. The EU has sponsored a motion at Tuesday’s session of the WHO’s annual assembly to urge an “impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” of the international response to the pandemic. And the spokeswoman said: “The European Union backs the WHO in its efforts to contain and mitigate the…

Concerned stakeholders in Nigeria have raised the alarm over the danger of politicising the country’s management of COVID-19 pandemic currently affecting the globe. In separate interactions recently, these concerned Nigerians said there was need for a more seriousness approach to managing the dreaded coronavirus, adding that adequate measures should be put in place to confront the pandemic. A member of Social Democratic Party (SDP) and former Minister of Defence, Dr. Olu Agunloye, Coordinator for the Africa Health Budget Network, Dr. Aminu Magashi Garba, former Deputy National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, former National Legal Adviser of…

• Federation mandates committee to meet on resumption of football activities The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has begun moves to finalise Super Eagles Manager, Gernot Rohr’s new contract within one week, with a view to getting the German ready to continue working on getting the senior national team to the top of the world game. The NFF’s new deal proposal for the former Bordeaux defender has some clauses, which the coach must agree to if he desired to continue managing the Super Eagles. Among the conditions is that he must reside in Nigeria to monitor the Nigerian Professional Football League…

• Findings suggest world’s malaria-endemic regions fare better • Health experts stress effects of diet, climatic, social factors The predictions were sombre and the statistics scary. A calamity of immense proportion would hit the continent, leaving it worse off than other regions of the world. But months since COVID-19 struck, Africa with its notorious poor health infrastructure has recorded the least deaths. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) had in April predicted: “Anywhere between 300,000 and 3.3 million African people could lose their lives as a direct result of COVID-19.” The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned African countries…

Celtic were crowned champions for a record-equalling ninth consecutive season as the Scottish Premiership campaign was declared over on Monday. Neil Lennon’s men were 13 points clear at the top of the table when the season was stopped due to the coronavirus pandemic in March with eight games remaining for the majority of clubs. Second-placed Rangers had a game in hand to try and cut that gap and were due to face Celtic twice more before the end of the season. A points-per-game method for determining final league placings also sees bottom club Hearts relegated unless there is any progress…

Facts have emerged that the lead Italian prosecutor in the criminal case involving Shell and ENI over the OPL 245 affair, Dr. Fabio De Pasquale, concealed a significant material fact from the Milanese court concerning the former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, THISDAY has learnt. In the transcripts of the hearing with Criminal Proceeding No. 54772/13 RGNR, the prosecution witness, Ferri Alessandro, had told the court that Adoke owned the property at No. 271, Cadastral Zone A06 Maitama, Abuja, for which he had collected a mortgage of N300 million from Unity Bank…

Eze Onyekpere A common Nigerian adage indicates that dance steps change as the drumbeats change and move from one tempo to another. Otherwise, the dancer will not be dancing to the beats. He would be dancing to imaginary beats playing in his head which have no semblance with reality. This is the exact scenario of Nigeria’s response to the fiscal challenges it faces as it amends extant medium-term expenditure framework and the 2020 federal budget. But the question is, is this the way to win a dance competition? This column today seeks to show that the decision of the Federal…