Author: Chief Editor

•Madagascar claims 55 patients recovered after treatment with COVID-Organics •242 new cases bring tally to 4,641 with 902 discharged, 150 dead •FG begins WHO clinical trial in FCT, Lagos, four other states •THISDAY Dome COVID-19 Testing, Tracing, Treatment Centre to be inaugurated today Madagascar’s touted herbal cure for COVID-19 is on its way to Nigeria for clinical analysis of its efficacy by the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Mr. Boss Mustapha, has said. He spoke yesterday…

Four members of staff of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have tested positive for the coronavirus pandemic. THISDAY gathered that the four members of staff are of Grade Level 6, 7 and 8 and have been moved to isolation centre. A reliable source told THISDAY that the affected staff are living in one of the safe houses of the anti-graft agencies in Mabushi. EFCC safe houses are those property seized by the agency from alleged corrupt public officials. The source said: “Some of our staff already have Covid-19. Four of our staff living around Mabushi, in one of…

Obadiah Mailafia Last week, a Citizen Dialogue event was hosted by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Budget to examine the fallout from COVID-19 and the implications for the budget and management of the economy. The outcomes from that exercise seem to have passed largely unnoticed by the informed public. I have always taken the view that the social and economic consequences of the global pandemic far outweigh its real epidemiological impact. The novel coronavirus pandemic has thrown the world economy out of kilter. How nations survive the economic meltdown will decide their fate in the coming years and with…

Tunde Odesola  Like an arrow shot from the bowel of hell, a silver-colour car zoomed past, vroom! A merchant of death was behind the wheel. Like a lion on the heels of its prey, about 10 police vehicles followed in close hunt. It was the American law in pursuit of justice. There was no accidental discharge. No hysteria. No shrieking roadside hawkers. The interconnectivity between life and death is as fleeting as the blink of an eye. Life is the mysterious metaphor that carries honey in its right hand; bile in its left. Last week, these realities unfurled swiftly before…

Liberian President George Weah has said he will partially lift restrictions on praying in mosques and churches aimed at curbing coronavirus, while extending a lockdown in the capital Monrovia. In a statement on Friday, the former international footballer said emergency measures announced in April would be extended for two weeks in the West African nation. These include a ban on all movement between the country’s 15 counties, the closure of non-essential businesses, and stay-at-home orders for Monrovia’s roughly one million inhabitants. But Weah said he would allow churches to resume services from May 17, and mosques from May 15, provided…

The US women’s national team on Friday filed an appeal against a legal setback in their equal pay lawsuit, saying they are being paid less than the men even though they win twice as much. In dismissing their equal pay claim last Friday, Judge Gary Klausner said the case was unwarranted because they had previously turned down an offer in the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations to be paid along the lines of the US men’s team. “The argument that women gave up a right to equal pay by accepting the best collective bargaining agreement possible in response to the Federation’s…

•Cases rise to 3,912, with 117 deaths •Lagos, Kano, Zamfara struggle with places for patients •Lagos fears patients may increase to 120,000, begins hydro-Chloroquine trial •FG moves to resolve NCDC, Kogi row •Fact finding mission lands in Jigawa State •253 Nigerians back in Lagos from UK •Buhari commends THISDAY, Dangote, BUA, GTBank, others •WHO: 190,000 may die in Africa The federal government yesterday raised the alarm that many states in the country may soon run out of bed spaces for COVID-19 patients at their isolation centres due to the increasing number of Nigerians testing positive to Coronavirus. The desperate situation…

Senior lawyers in the country on Friday applauded the decision of the Supreme Court which set aside the conviction of former governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Kalu, for corruption A Federal High Court in Lagos had last December sentenced the former governor and his former Finance Director to 12 and 10 years prison terms respectively for embezzling funds belonging to Abia State between 1999 to 2007 when Senator Kalu was governor. The trial judge who is currently a Justice of the Court of Appeal, following a fiat by the then President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa,…

Ex-governor celebrates, lawyers disagree The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday described the Supreme Court judgement that quashed the conviction of the former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor-Kalu for corruption and the order for his retrial, as a technical ambush of his trial. Justice Mohammed Idris of Federal High Court, Lagos, had last December sentenced the ex-governor to 12 years imprisonment for fraud he allegedly perpetrated during his tenure as Abia State governor. The Court of Appeal also concurred. But in a unanimous judgment of the Supreme Court delivered by Justice Ejembi Eko yesterday, the apex court nullified…

Leganes coach Javier Aguirre said Thursday that Spain’s La Liga will resume on June 20 and end on July 26 despite league bosses refusing to confirm his claim. Aguirre told Marca Claro that he had been told officially of the plan to restart the championship which has been in cold storage since March due to the coronavirus. “We already have a start date for the league — on June 20 we will start La Liga and after five weeks we officially finish, on July 26,” said Mexican coach Aguirre whose side were second bottom of the table when action was…