Author: Chief Editor

Azuka Onwuka Last week, with Nigeria recording about 2,000 cases of COVID-19, the Director-General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, lamented that they might start treating COVID-19 patients at home because of shortage of bed spaces at isolation centres. Ihekweazu, who made the disclosure on Thursday when the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 was briefing the press, explained that there was a shortage of bed spaces especially in Lagos, and partially in Abuja and Kano where cases were high. “Across the country, we have about 3,500 bed spaces identified and available for COVID-19. But in Lagos, we…

Cristiano Ronaldo has been recalled from Portugal as Serie A clubs get back to individual training on Monday after a two-month coronavirus lockdown, but doubts remain over whether the championship can return. The interior ministry’s go-ahead for players to return to club training facilities two weeks ahead of schedule has offered fans hope that the 2019-20 season might yet be saved. The government was responding after regions that had avoided the worst of the pandemic took matters into their own hands and gave permission to clubs to open their facilities for players to train on their own. But sports minister…

Nigerian government on Monday announced the repatriation of $311,797,866.11 recovered assets of Late General Sani Abacha. The money was repatriated from the United States and the Bailiwick of Jersey, the Attorney-General of Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, said in a statement. The statement, signed by Malami’s spokesman Umar Gwandu, added that the litigation process for the return of the assets titled ‘Abacha III’ commenced in 2014 while the diplomatic process that culminated in the signing of the Asset Return Agreement commenced in 2018. The agreement was signed on February 3 by the governments of Nigeria, the United States,…

Eze Onyekpere The coronavirus pandemic has negatively impacted on Nigeria’s revenues and exports to the extent that revenue from oil and gas exports, which accounts for 84 per cent of our exports, is expected to decline by about $26.5bn while the Gross Domestic Product will reduce by 3.5 per cent. A fiscal crisis is setting in and there is panic in the land. Before the pandemic and the oil revenue shock, revenue shortfall in 2019 was 58 per cent of the federal budget target; debt service to revenue stood at 58 per cent while debt to GDP stood at 29…

Paris Saint-Germain have reportedly expressed their interest in signing Leicester City midfielder Wilfred Ndidi, reports africanfootball.com. According to ESPN, the Nigeria international is top of their transfer wish list, while Ghana’s Thomas Partey remains a backup option. PSG are reportedly willing to bid around £45-50 million for the 23-year-old, who is contracted to the Foxes until 2024. The French champions signed Senegal international Idrissa Gana Gueye just last year, but are keen on a more dominant force in the defensive midfield position and Ndidi ticks all those boxes. Ndidi arrived in Leicester from KRC Genk in January 2017 and has…

President Donald Trump on Sunday said the United States will have a coronavirus vaccine by the end of this year. “We are very confident that we’re going to have a vaccine at the end of the year, by the end of the year,” Trump said in a Fox News “town hall” show broadcast from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. He also said he would urge the reopening of schools and universities in September, saying “I want them to go back.” The vaccine prediction moves up the timeline that has been discussed as the United States and other countries race…

• PDP Reps caucus urges Buhari to reverse decision Doctors and pharmacists are divided over the implications of easing the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)-induced lockdown from today nationwide. While the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has warned that the relaxation could prompt 100 per cent increase in casualties, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has stated that it is the best decision at the moment. NMA president, Dr. Francis Adedayo Faduyile, told The Guardian: “I have heard people talk about the economic implications of continuing the lockdown. Well, I am not an economist but a medical doctor. My advice and position are…

Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne believes the Premier League season will be finished despite the coronavirus pandemic “because the financial aspect is far too important”. “My feeling is that we may be able to train again within two weeks. The government wants to restart football as soon as possible to give people something. I think this season will be finished,” De Bruyne told Belgian daily Het Laatste Nieuws. “The financial aspect is far too important in the Premier League. If the season is not finished, it will cause serious problems,” he added. Clubs were presented with the league’s “Project Restart” plans…

Italy offered Serie A clubs a glimmer of hope on Sunday after it said footballers could take part in individual training sessions as the strictest coronavirus lockdown measures begin to ease. The interior ministry’s go-ahead for players to attend their club’s training facilities offered fans in the football mad country the first sign that the 2019-20 season might yet be saved. Matches were abandoned on March 9 in the face of a health crisis that has now officially claimed nearly 29,000 lives in Italy and 245,000 worldwide. Some of the bigger clubs with title aspirations from the less affected regions…

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that there was “enormous evidence” that the coronavirus pandemic originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China. “There is enormous evidence that this is where it began,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.” But while highly critical of China’s handling of the matter, Pompeo declined to say whether he thought the virus had been intentionally released. President Donald Trump has been increasingly critical of China’s role in the pandemic, which has infected nearly 3.5 million people and killed more than 240,000 around the world. He has insisted that Beijing recklessly concealed important information…