NEWS REVIEW
Military arrests suspected suicide bomber handlers.
Security operatives have arrested a suspected handler of female
insurgents believed to have mastermind the recent suicide bombing in Kano city
. Captured alongside the suspect, were 16 girls believed to have been
groomed for another round of suicide mission. Security sources revealed that
the suspect identified as Ibrahim Ibrahim was arrested in his hideout confirmed
to be his training ground in Dala quarters, Dala Council, Kano.
Confirming the development, spokesperson of the 3 Bridge, Nigerian
Army in Kano, Captain Okechukwu Eze, disclosed that investigation was on
over development. It could not be confirmed at press time whether or not the
girls were part of the abducted Chibok school girls. There were speculations
that the recent suicide bombings in crippled Kano were perpetrated by the
kidnapped Chibok girls. The Kano State Federation of Muslims Women of
Nigeria (FOMWAN) therefore urged the Federal Government to find an enduring
solution to the current security challenges in the country.
Guardian Newspaper
Another nurse contracts Ebola
Twenty two days after the Federal Government confirmed
the presence of Ebola in the country, another nurse has contracted the disease.
The nurse, who was one of those who treated the late Patrick Sawyer, had been
under surveillance in her husband’s place. She has now been quarantined,
while the husband has been placed under surveillance. She lives alone with her
husband. They have just been newly married. The nurse is now among the list of
10 cases so far confirmed in Nigeria, while her husband who was living in the
same house with her, has joined a list of 177 persons under surveillance for
different levels of contact with Sawyer (through direct, primary or tertiary
contacts). The confirmed cases of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease ( EVD) seem to
be growing by the day. All the confirmed cases so far are those who
participated in treating Sawyer who brought the disease to Nigeria. And
following well-established World Health Organisation (WHO) protocols some of
the individuals receiving treatment in Lagos are getting better from the Ebola
disease, officials confirmed yesterday. The Minister of Health, Onyebuchi
Chukwu, briefed reporters alongside his colleagues from the Ministries of
Information, Environment, Youth and Interior in Abuja where the latest updates
were given.
Meanwhile, Spain has imported a United States-made experimental
Ebola drug to treat a Spanish missionary priest evacuated from Liberia last
week after testing positive for the killer virus.
Guardian Newspaper
Hope rises for cheaper brand new cars
An indication that the new auto policy of the Federal Government
will lead to a drastic reduction in the prices of vehicles has emerged with Hyundai
Motors Nigeria Limited rolling out the first set of low-cost locally assembled
vehicles. The Stallion Group, the parent company of Hyundai Motors Nigeria, has
directed the immediate sale of its locally assembled 1.1-litre engine Hyundai
i10 car at N1.5m, and the 1.2-litre engine Hyundai Grand at N1.9m. The Hyundai
i10, under the old regime of importation, was being sold at N1.9m. The Grand is
a new vehicle, but most vehicles in its segment are going for between N2.2m and
N2.7m. The drop in prices of locally assembled vehicles is, however, contrary
to the initial fear that the new auto policy will lead to a sharp rise in the
cost of imported new and used vehicles. Many car dealers had projected about 60
per cent increase in the prices of such vehicles following the introduction of
the new auto policy in September last year.
As part of the new policy aimed at encouraging local manufacturing
of vehicles, the import duty on new and used cars was increased from 22 per
cent to 70 per cent; while a zero per cent duty was placed on imported
Completely Knocked Down (vehicles). Apart from the two Hyundai models, the
Stallion Group gave other vehicles locally produced as the Elantra and iX35
sport utility vehicle.
Punch Newspaper
98% of PHCN workers paid severance, gratuities – BPE
The Bureau of Public Enterprises on Monday said 98 per cent of
workers of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria had received their
severance and gratuity entitlements. It disclosed this at the inaugural
National Council on Power conference in Abuja. The Director-General, BPE, Mr.
Benjamin Dikki, said labour issues would have stalled the privatisation process
if the government had not reached an agreement with the workers. The Federal
Government was locked in negotiations with the organised labour for over 14
months before an agreement was reached on how the workers were to be settled.
Dikki said, “So far, 98 per cent of the 47,913 workers of the PHCN have been
paid their severance and pension gratuities. Out of the 47,900, who were
identified as staff, 46,326 were validated; 45,750 have had their forms
submitted to the accountant-general’s office and have been paid. Out of that
number, 365 have retired and were handled with the retirees. So, we have only
201 outstanding payments that have been validated and they are in the process
of being effected. We have yet to validate 656 members of staff and 722
unidentified faces.
Punch Newspaper
Confab: Crisis looms as northern delegates plans to frustrate
Amendment of 1999 Constitution
As delegates at the on- going National Conference resumed plenary
yesterday to debate on the final report of the Conference as produced by the
Secretariat after one month of recess, strong indications have emerged that crisis
looms as some northern delegates may have concluded plans to frustrate moves to
amend some sections of the 1999 Constitution. Preparatory to carry out some
alterations in the Constitution as contained in the report as recommended
during Committee sitting and proposed amendments to be made on the proposed
constitution as approved by delegates, the Conference Secretariat has prepared
a draft Constitution to be sent to the National Assembly. Yesterday the
Conference Secretatiat distributed the draft copy and a bill to give the
Amendment teeth to all the delegates, just as some northern delegates were not
comfortable with the draft with plans to ensure that it did not sail through.
The body language of the north to jettison the idea came up yesterday when a
northern delegate from Jigawa State and representing the Nigeria Union of
Journalists, NUJ, Mallam Sani Zoro raised the issue that a new constitution was
being prepared by the Secretariat and described the document as a strange one.
Vanguard Newspaper
Nigeria loses $2bn to foreign satellites — Onuh
The Director and Chief Executive of Centre for Satellite
Technology Development, CSTD, Dr. Spencer Onuh says Nigeria loses
about $2 billion to capital flight annually because of importation of foreign
satellite by Nigerians. Onuh, who disclosed this in an exclusive interview to
Vanguard warned that such omen if not checked would impact negatively not only
on the Nigerian space agency, but the economy at large. He said it was
regrettable that Nigerians prefer to import foreign satellites services even
when they can source same from NASRDA with the Nigeria Sat 1. He said
that the Nigerian Sat 1 was used in mapping the whole country at no cost, a
service the country spent $300 million to get for the first time in 1956. He
boasted that CSTD had got the capacity to offer most of the services that are
being sourced from foreign satellites, stressing that the country will continue
to lose more resources to capital flight if the trend is not addressed. Nigeria
loses about $2 billion to capital flight annually because of importation of
foreign satellite services to Nigeria. If we source the services in Nigeria,
that sum will stay in Nigeria. After all, our Nigeria Sat 1 was used for land
cover map for the whole country just with the communication satellite alone.
This was what was done first in 1956 and it caused Nigeria $300 million. But
the Nigerian Sat 1 did it free for the whole country. That alone has covered
the cost of the satellite.
Vanguard Newspaper
Nigerian passenger slumps, dies at Lagos airport
A Nigerian passenger, who was about boarding an Arik Air flight back
to Accra, Ghana slumped and died yesterday, moments after undergoing a
screening to detect his Ebola virus status at the international wing of the
Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA) in Ikeja, Lagos. The result later showed he was
Ebola negative.The death of the passenger, identified as Akunne Osei, at the
section of the airport where port healthcare workers were busy carrying out
inspection on outbound passengers to determine their Ebola virus status created
panic among other passengers and workers that another Ebola virus victim had
died at the airport and might have infected a few persons that had come in
contact with him. Yakubu Dati, spokesperson for the Federal Airport Authority
of Nigeria (FAAN), however, debunked the rumour, which had spread around the
airport environment. Osie, according to Dati, had died from other sicknesses
and not the Ebola virus. Dati said investigations carried out by agencies at
the airport on the passenger revealed that he had been sick since last Saturday
when he arrived in the country, a situation that informed his decision to fly
back to Ghana on the orders of his Ghanaian-based doctors for further medical
examination. Dati said the initial screening done on him at the airport to
ascertain his Ebola virus status had proved negative.
Sun Newspaper
Ebola: FG, Canada, China, Italy to Collaborate on Production of
Antibodies
The federal government, through the National Biotechnology
Development Agency (NABDA), an agency under the Federal Ministry of
Science and Technology, yesterday in Abuja, disclosed that it had concluded
arrangements with Canada, China, Korea and Italy to produce antibodies against
the killer Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), using a biotechnological device.
According to government, this appears to be the immediate antidote to
curtailing the spread of the disease, pending when a permanent solution will be
found. The Director General, NABDA, Prof. Lucy Ogbadu, spoke with THISDAY at
the sidelines of a workshop on Theoretical and Practical Course on Plant Tissue
Culture, organised by the agency in conjunction with an Italian based donor
agriculture agency: the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and
Biotechnology (ICGEB) . She said diagnostic kits for the disease developed by
Korea, for Nigeria would arrive the country today. She said: As matter of fact,
when Ebola first broke out this time in other parts of Africa, the Western
world sequenced the Ebola and immediately this was sequenced, we got the
information and got our counterpart in Korea to develop diagnostic kits for
NABDA, the kits will arrive Nigeria tomorrow. The NABDA CEO stated that NABDA
was working with the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (CDC) to mount
sensitization workshops on the prevention of the deadly disease across the
country. Our attention will also be to screen the border posts for all entrants
into the country. Ogbadu said.
Thisday Newspaper
Oil spills: KWASU VC advocates stiffer sanctions for oil firms
Vice-Chancellor of Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete,
Professor Abdulrasheed Na’allah has advocated heavier sanctions against oil
companies operating in the country with indifference to environmental laws.
In his speech at a lecture and conferment of awards at the 2014
Press Week of Correspondents’ Chapel of Kwara State Council of the Nigeria
Union of Journalists (NUJ) held at Kingstone Suites, Na’allah said the nation
could not continue to bear the threats posed to citizens by the oil spills in
the Niger Delta region. The vice-chancellor challenged the government to be proactive
by adopting a sustainable policy that would contain the excesses of the
companies. He also tasked the media to help check incessant gas flaring in the
region.
The KWASU boss, who chaired the event, urged the media to step up
efforts at enlightening the public on some activities of oil firms that
constituted threats to a safe environment. According to him: You will agree
with me that changing rainfall patterns resulting in flooding and erosion have
continued to pose great problems to Nigerian farmers and deepen rural poverty.
It is a common knowledge that government at all levels commits huge resources
to emergency and relief services each year owing to these natural disasters.
Sun Newspaper
Fashola: Ebola Victims Now Stable, Five Showing Signs of Recovery
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, Monday said all the
patients who had tested positive to the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) and currently
undergoing treatment at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba, were in “stable
condition”. The governor also explained that while the health status of the
victims of the deadly virus had not deteriorated, five of them were “really
improving,” adding, “Ebola is not an automatic death sentence.” However, the
governor’s positive news on the Ebola patients coincided with the confirmation
by the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, that another Nigerian, a
nurse, had tested positive for the virus, while 177 primary and secondary
contacts of the index case had been placed under surveillance or isolation.
Even as the minister gave the update on the efforts by government
to contain the virus, it was revealed yesterday that a letter written by the
Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) had asked the health ministry to
take timely and proactive measures against the deadly disease but it failed to
do so. This is just as President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday described the
actions of Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian national who escaped quarantine after
contracting the Ebola virus in his home country and travelled to Lagos, as
“pure madness and craziness”.
Thisday Newspaper
