World Bank

The international lender, in a statement, issued late on Friday said 2.5 million learners will directly benefit from the Uganda Secondary Education Expansion Project.

A total of 116 new lower secondary schools will be constructed and 61 schools will benefit from additional classrooms in underserved districts in the country.

This will create 70,300 new spaces for learners, including 30,000 in areas hosting refugees.

The project, according to the statement, will provide textbooks and teacher guides, support continuous teacher professional development and implement an accelerated education programme for children who are not currently attending school.

Uganda needs to expand access to secondary education to enhance its human capital.

This is essential if Uganda is to improve the future wellbeing of its citizens while also enable the economy to grow through their increased productivity, said Tony Thompson, World Bank Country Manager for Uganda.

This project aims to provide new school spaces while at the same time creating a conducive learning environment, which is safe, promotes students personal growth and self-esteem.

It will also increase retention for both boys and girls, Thompson was quoted as saying in the statement.

The bank said while Uganda is a pioneer in sub-Saharan Africa in implementing policies to achieve universal access to primary and secondary education, funding to the sector is among the lowest in the region.

During the last five years, education expenditure as a share of the national budget declined to 10 per cent in 2019/20 while the average for sub-Saharan Africa is 16 per cent and has been steadily increasing over the same period.

While Ugandas enrolment at the Universal Secondary Education level has increased at an average of six per cent annually, the rate of growth remains low compared to 25 per cent in Kenya and 16 per cent in Rwanda. (Xinhua/NAN)

Source: NAN News

This is coming a day after China ordered it to close in response to a U.S. order for China to shut its consulate in Houston.

The tit-for-tat consulate closures have brought a sharp deterioration in relations between the worlds two largest economies.

A consulate emblem inside the compound was removed as staff could be seen pushing trolleys and several consulate vehicles came and went.

Police, including many plain clothes officers, gathered outside and closed off the street to traffic.

Neither the consulate in the southwestern Chinese city nor the U.S. embassy in Beijing have responded to requests from Reuters for comment on the closure.

The Chinese order to close it was retaliation after the Trump administration gave China until 4.00 p.m. last Friday to vacate its consulate in the Texas City.

U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said the consulate had been a hub of spying and intellectual property theft.

The U.S. consulate in Chengdu was also given 72 hours to close, or until 10.00 a.m. on Monday, the editor of Chinas Global Times tabloid said on Twitter.

The consulate opened in 1985 and has almost 200 employees, including about 150 locally hired staff, according to its website.

It was not immediately clear how many are there now after U.S. diplomats were evacuated from China because of the pandemic.

A steady stream of people walked along the street opposite the entrance throughout the day, many stopping to take photos or videos before the Police moved them on.

At the Houston consulate, staff packed up belongings watched by jeering protesters.

Shortly after the closure order took effect a group of men who appeared to be U.S. officials were seen forcing open a back door to the facility.

Residents in Chengdu expressed mixed views on the closure of the U.S. consulate in the city.

What I fear the most is the U.S. wont just stop there, it might get uglier, said 19-year-old university student, Zhang Chuhan.

I approve. The U.S. closed our consulate, I think we should shut theirs too, said a man who identified himself as Jiang, 29.

Relations between Washington and Beijing have deteriorated this year to what experts say is their lowest level in decades over issues ranging from trade and technology to the novel coronavirus, Chinas territorial claims in the South China Sea and its clampdown on Hong Kong.

Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, has said some personnel at the Chengdu consulate were conducting activities not in line with their identities and had interfered in Chinas affairs and harmed its security interests.(Reuters/NAN)

Source: NAN News

Coronavirus

In total, more than 2.3 million infections have been registered in the largest and most populous country in Latin America.

At least 85,238 people have died in connection with COVID-19, the lung disease caused by the virus.

Brazil is currently one of the focal points of the international coronavirus pandemic.

The real figures are believed to be far higher due to insufficient testing in the South American country, which has 210 million inhabitants.

Brazils far-right populist president, Jair Bolsonaro, had initially downplayed the novel coronavirus as a little flu, causing confusion among the population about the seriousness of the disease.

He also did not want to take any containment measures for economic reasons and refused protective measures.

Bolsonaro has tested positive for the virus at least three times.

The mayor of Sao Paulo on Friday announced the citys major carnival celebrations in February next year would be postponed, without giving a new date. (dpa/NAN)

Source: NAN News

Gov. Babagana Zulum of Borno has approved the payment of N202.6 million to offset monthly allowances of serving and outgone corps members.

The Desk Officer of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in the state, Mr Christopher Godwin-Akaba, gave the hint in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri on Saturday.

Godwin-Akaba said that corps members received a monthly stipend of N10,000 each, while the medical corps doctors and paramedics received N100,000 and N50,000 respectively.

Hesaid that N75.4 million was released by the governor within the last one year to pay allowances of 454 medical doctors and paramedics corps members serving in the state.

N127.2 million was equally released to offset allowances of other categories of corps members, numbering 3,133 in the state, he said.

The desk officer said that the provision of good welfare packages to the serving corps members in the state was part of the state governments drive in motivating them to contribute their quotas to the development of the state.

He said that the government had provided befitting and secured accommodation toall categories of the corps member as incentives by the state government.

He explained that due to challenges occasioned by the insecurity in parts of the state, no corps member was posted to serve in volatile areas.

According to him, the government has been collaborating with security agencies with a view to ensuring the safety, the security of lives and properties of corps members.

Godwin-Akaba said thatarrangement has reached advanced stage to resume orientation exercise at the new orientation camp with state of the art facilities by the state government in Maiduguri.

This came in line with Gov. Zulums request when the Director-General of the scheme, Brig.-Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim paid him a visit in 2019.

The camp has been completed and we are ready for the take-off of the exercise if necessary security clearance is received, he said.

Also speaking to NAN, theState Coordinator of the NYSC, Mr Nura Umar, commended Gov. Zulum foroffsetting the outstanding allowances of corps members serving in the state.

Umar said that the governor is giving priority attention to the safety and welfare of the corps members by providing befitting accommodation to them.

The coordinator told NAN that the corps members, serving in the state, would not relent in contributing to the socio-economic development of the state, mostespecially, in the areas of healthcaredelivery, education and wellbeing of persons affected by theinsurgency.

Source: NAN News

Beneficiaries of the Cardinal Onaiyakan Foundation for Peace Programme for Youths Living Above Drug Addiction and Abuse (YOLDA) in Abuja.

By Okeoghene Akubuike

The Cardinal Onaiyekan Foundation for Peace (COFP) on Friday graduated 36 youths from its Youths Living Above Drug Addiction and Abuse (YOLDA) Programme.

Rev. Sister Agatha Chikelue, the Executive Director, COFP disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) on the sidelines of the Graduation and Empowerment ceremony of the graduates in Abuja.

Chikelue said the youths after their rehabilitation were trained on skills acquisition such as tailoring, photography, ICT, videography, driving, hairdressing and hair cutting, pastery making, catering, cobbling, makeup, among others.

She said the YOLDA programme, which started in 2018, graduated 30youths in 2019 bringing the total number of graduates to 66.

Chikelue said the aim of the programme was to ensure that youths were put on the right track to live more dignifiedlives in the future.

A lot of young people are into addiction many because of poverty and unemployment, and we all know the damage it can cause to them and even the society.

We as a peace organisation, saw it was not enough to bring people together to come and talk and dialogue.

We needed to go an extra mile to bring these youths together to nurture them and help them recover and recover fully from drug addiction and help them live useful lives.

She said the one year programme was in three phases which are counselling and peace building, medical and empowerment stages.

Chikelue said the beneficiaries went through series of tests such as heart, liver, kidney, SDTs, malaria, typhoid, hepatitis and HIV to determine if they had been affected by the drugs, while those with issues started treatment.

She said the empowerment stage afforded the participants the opportunity to identify skills they had a passion for and the organisation paid for their training and gave them start up kits.

At the beginning, there were about 60 of them but today we are graduating 36 because some people dropped out along the way.

We do not end by giving them a certificate, we give them the sum of 50,000 to help them start up their business.

We call them to follow up and monitor them, sometimes they so not even know we are monitoring them and we bring some of them to be the motivators for the next set of beneficiaries.

She said the beneficiaries were made up of 26 males and 10 females drawn from the FCT and its environs.

One of the beneficiaries, who spoke with NAN, Mr Abednigo Amos, 32 years, said he was addicted to alcohol because he worked in a hotel and was influenced negatively by the lifestyle he was exposed to.

As I was introduced to the COFP, after two to three months, I started seeing changes, and my body started getting strong. Things I could not do before I am doing them now.

They foundation has really helped me, they enrolled me in driving school which lasted three months and I have quit my job at the hotel.

At some point it was not easy getting over the addiction but they kept encouraging us about our peer group and I had to put some friends away so I can fully recover.

Amos advised youths who were addicted to one from of substance or the other to stay away from them in order to live long and healthy lives.

According to him, any substance you take in order to get you out of problem will never solve the problem; If you want to live a sound healthy life, stay away from drug and people will appreciate you for who you are.

Another beneficiary, 27 years old Pamela Adubasim, thanked the foundation for helping her overcome her two year addiction to alcohol.

She said the one year programme had changed her life, adding that she was now a caterer, as she called on the youths to stop addiction because of the harm it caused to the health and its effects on the family members and the society. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Al-Sadd coach and former FC Barcelona and Spain midfielder, Xavi Hernandez

Al-Sadd coach Xavi Hernandez, the former FC Barcelona and Spain midfielder, said on Saturday he had tested positive for COVID-19 but was asymptomatic.

Xavi, who renewed his contract with the Qatari club on July 5, said he would go on to self-isolate as his team prepare for their first match on Saturday.

The Qatar Stars League (QSL) would be restarting after it was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today I wont be able to join my team on their comeback to the official competition, Xavi said in a statement.

David Prats, coach to the Al-Sadd reserves, will be there on my behalf as head of the technical staff.

A few days ago, following the QSL protocol, I tested positive in the last COVID-19 test. Fortunately, Im feeling OK. But I will be isolated until I am given the all-clear.

When the health services allow it, I will be very eager to return to my daily routine and to work.

The QSL resumed on Friday after being suspended since March due to the new coronavirus pandemic.

Al-Sadd, who are third in the table, play Al-Khor on Saturday with five rounds remaining. (Reuters/NAN)

Source: NAN News

Nigerias Super Tucano fighter planes

By Sumaila Ogbaje

The Defence Headquarters says the Air Component of Operation Hadarin Daji, has overran a bandits camp, headed by one of their leaders, known as Dangote in the Doumborou Forest of Zamfara.

The Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday.

Enenche said the air interdiction missions, which was conducted on Thursday, also resulted in the killing of several armed bandits.

He said the operation was based on intelligence that revealed the relocation of the bandits in the new camp, around a rocky high ground within the forest.

The coordinator added that the bandits moved along with logistics, including motorcycles and hundreds of rustled livestock to the location.

He said the Air Component dispatched an enhanced force package of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), fighter jets and helicopter gunships to attack the location.

The attack aircraft engaged the target area, scoring accurate hits and taking out some of the bandits.

Many others, who were seen trying to flee the location in disarray, were mopped-up in follow-on attacks.

The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, commended the Air Component of Operation Hadarin Daji, for their professionalism.

He urged them to remain resolute in the conduct of air strikes, whilst continuing to provide close air support for ongoing ground operations, in order to eradicate all armed bandits.

This is geared towards accomplishing directives of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), to restore normalcy in the North West and North Central zones of the country, Enenche said in the statement. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

NSE

Trading on the nations bourse returned to the negative territory on Friday with key market indices declining by 0.35 per cent.

Specifically, the All-Share Index (ASI) dipped 85.04 points to close at 24,427.73 compared with 24,512.77 achieved on Thursday.

In the same vein, the market capitalisation of listed equities lost N45 billion or 0.35 per cent to close at N12.742 trillion from N12.787 trillion reported on Thursday.

Seplat topped the laggards chart, dropping by N38.60 to close at N347.40 per share.

BUA Cement trailed with N1 to close at N39, while Unilever dipped 60k to close at N12.25 per share.

United Bank for Africa lost 10k to close at N6, while FBN Holdings inched lower by 5k to close at N4.75 per share.

Conversely, Julius Berger dominated the gainers table, appreciating by N1.55 to close at N17.05 per share.

Stanbic IBTC came second with N1 to close at N30, while Custodian investment added 50k to close at N5.50 per share.

Dangote Sugar Refinery increased by 20k to close at N11.90, while NAHCO gained 17k to close at N2.20 per share.

However, the volume of shares traded increased marginally by 6.03 per cent with an exchange of 174.19 million shares worth N2.38 billion in 3,723 deals.

This was against a turnover of 164.29 million shares valued at N2.13 billion recorded in 2,986 deals on Thursday.

The banking stocks drove the activity chart with Zenith Bank emerging the most active, trading 34.57 million shares worth N537.55 million.

FBN Holdings sold 28.13 million shares valued at N140.12 million, while United Bank for Africa traded 14.49 million shares worth N87.93 million.

Access Bank sold a total of 9.76 million shares worth N60.35 million, while Nigerian Breweries traded 9.72 million shares valued at N301.31 million.

Source: NAN News

Mrs Julie Okah-Donli NAPTIP D-G

Mr Shehu Umar, the Zonal Commander in charge of Kano Zone, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Friday in Kano.

Umar said that the NAPTIP Joint Board Task Force (JBTF) gathered intelligence on the movement of the victims and suspects.

On receiving information the agency conducted three operations between July 15 and 19, which led to the arrest of the suspects and rescued of the victims.

We apprehended three suspects comprising one Nigerian and two Cameroonians who are between the age bracket of 21 and 36.

The victims and suspects were apprehended enroute Algeria, Morocco and Libya. he said.

Umar explained that 18 out of the 71 rescued victims were Cameroonian nationale, comprising 14 Males and 4 females, while19 Nigerians comprised of 11 males and 8 females.

He added that the Cameroonians would be handed over to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) for further investigations and repatriation.

While 19 Nigerian rescued victims aged between 15 and 28-years-old hailed from Kano State.

The commander revealed that the Agency had on July 19, received transfer of 34 victims of human trafficking from the NIS, Katsina State Command, comprising of 24 females and 10 males.

The victims think they can move out of the country freely without documents, without clear understanding of what they are going to do outside the country.

The traffickers promised greener pasture to deceived the victims, he added.

The Commander cautioned Nigerians against embarking on a overseas journey without specific reasons for doing so.

Source: NAN News

Gov. Nasir El-Rufai

By Philip Yatai and Stella Kabruk

Kaduna State Government says it has upgraded 226 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) out of the 255 functional PHCs in the state.

The health project were executed in each of the political ward of the state.

The Kaduna State Government says it has completed the renovation and upgrading of 226 Primary Healthcare Centres, out of the planned 255 functional PHCs, one in each political ward of the state.

The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Amina Baloni stated this in Kaduna on Friday, while providing updates on health status, budget performance, COVID-19 intervention and renovation of 255 PHCs in the state.

She spoke at the Open Kaduna Health Quarterly Interactive Forum, organised by Kaduna State Maternal New-born and Child Accountability Mechanism (KADMAM).

The meeting was organised in collaboration with the state Ministry of Health and other Development Partners with the theme, #Open Kaduna Health in the Midst of COVID-19 Pandemic.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state government began the renovation and upgrade of the 255 PHCs in 2017, to increase access to quality healthcare services.

The commissioner said that so far, 226 have been fully completed, while 28 were at over 50 per cent completion and one below 50 per cent completion.

She said that out of the 226 completed PHCs, 81 were in Zone 1, 71 in Zone 2, and 74 in Zone 3, while five of the uncompleted PHCs were in Zone 1, 10 in Zone 2 and 14 in Zone 3.

On budget performance, the commissioner said that N1.5 billion was released out of the N7.9 billion allocated for the ministry and its departments and agencies for capital expenditure in first and second quarter.

She said the released fund was for the ministry, Primary Health Care Development Agency, state Contributory Health Management Authority, and the Health Supplies Management Agency.

Others include the State College of Nursing and Midwifery and Shehu Idris College of Health Science and Technology.

On maternal health, we have recorded a decline in antenatal care attendance between January and June 2020, while uptake of contraceptive services had increased within the period.

The practice of exclusive breastfeeding had also increased, including uptake of Vitamin A supplement due to the six months maternity leave declared by the state government and availability of Vitamin A.

A significant number of children under five years have been fully immunised, but the children were not receiving long lasting insecticide nets due to stock out.

Malaria treatment and prevention is a priority area of the government, she said.

On COVID-19 intervention, Baloni said that the government approved N1.2 billion for the control of the disease while the World Bank donated N100 million.

According to her, other donations were received from philanthropists to combat COVID-19, in form of personal protective equipment, drugs, and consumables.

Earlier, the Co-Chair of KADMAM, Mr Mustapha Jumare pointed out that low-cash backing of budget releases is undermining performance of the health sector in the state.

Jumare acknowledged a reasonable budgetary allocation to the health sector by the state government, in line with the Abuja Declaration of a minimum of 15 per cent budgetary allocation to the sector.

He, however, pointed out that in spite the reasonable budgetary allocations, the health indices in the state had remained very disturbing.

Jumare said that the interactive forum was organised with support from DFID-funded Partnership to Engage Reform and Learn (PERL), Lafiya-UK support for health in Nigeria Programme, and SuNMaP2 support to the National Malaria Programme.

Source: NAN News

who

World Health Organisation (WHO) says there is a 23 per cent increase in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Africa in the past week.

WHO disclosed this in a weekly COVID-19 Situation update for WHO Africa Region, External Situation Report 21, posted on WHO Africa twitter account @WHOAFRO.

According to the report, COVID-19 outbreak has continued to evolve in the WHO African Region since it was first detected in Algeria on Feb. 25, 2020.

The report indicated that since our last External Situation Report 20 issued on July 15, 2020, a total of 117,267 new confirmed COVID-19 cases (a 23 per cent increase) was reported from 45 countries.

Of the 117,267 reported new cases, the majority, 71 per cent (83, 506), were recorded in South Africa, which remains the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak in the region.

South Africa (381,798) is now ranked fifth in the world, with only the United States of America (3, 748, 248) and Brazil (2,098,389).

India has 1,155,191 cases and the Russian Federation (783,328), ahead in terms of case numbers, although reported deaths are comparatively low.

During this period, it stated that six countries in the region observed the highest percentage increase in incidence cases.

Equatorial Guinea recorded 125 per cent (from 1, 043 to 2,350 cases), Gambia 106 per cent (from 64 to 132 cases), Zimbabwe 71 per cent from 1,064 to 1,820 cases.

Namibia recorded 58 per cent (from 864 to 1,366 cases), Zambia 46 per cent (from 2,283 to 3,326 cases) and Angola 44 per cent from 541 to 779 cases.

Angola and Namibia have been among the top five countries recording the highest percentage increase for the past three reporting periods.

Mauritius and United Republic of Tanzania did not officially submit reports indicating any confirmed case.

The WHO African Region and South Africa recorded their highest daily number of deaths at 264 and 216, respectively, on July 16, 2020.

No new country reported any health worker infection for the first time in this reporting period.

As of July 21, 2020, the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases in the region surpassed the 600,000 mark, now at 620,389 cases, including 620,388 confirmed with one probable case reported in Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The report stated that the 320 probable cases from Sao Tome and Principe were reclassified as confirmed.

Meanwhile, it stated that South Africa registered more than half of all reported confirmed cases in the region, with 381,798, representing 62 per cent.

Other countries that reported large numbers of cases are Nigeria with 37,801 confirmed cases, followed by Ghana with 28,989 cases, Algeria with 24,278 and Cameroon with 16,522 cases.

Cte dIvoire has 14,531, Kenya has 14,168, Ethiopia (11,072), Senegal (8,985) and Democratic Republic of Congo recorded 8,534 cases.

These 10 countries collectively accounted for 88 per cent (546, 678) of all reported cases.

The total number of deaths exceeded 10,000 and is now at 10,116, reported in 44 countries, giving an overall Case Fatality Ratio (CFR) of 1.6 per cent.

According to the report, three countries, namely Eritrea, Seychelles and Uganda have not registered any COVID-19 related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

Source: NAN News

Medical Workers

By Cecilia Ologunagba

World Health Organisation (WHO) says no fewer than 10,000 health workers in the 40 countries battling the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Africa are infected.

The organisations Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, stated this in a statement posted on its website on Friday.

The UN health agency, which warned of the threat posed by COVID-19 to health workers across Africa, added that this is a huge challenge medical staff on the frontlines of the outbreak face.

More than 10,000 health workers in the 40 countries which have reported on such infections have been infected with COVID-19 so far.

This comes as COVID-19 cases in Africa appear to be gathering pace. There are now more than 750,000 cases, with over 15,000 deaths.

Some countries are approaching a critical number of infections that can place stress on health systems and South Africa is now among the worst-hit countries in the world.

The statement quoted Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, as saying: the growth we are seeing in COVID-19 cases in Africa is placing an ever-greater strain on health services across the continent.

This has very real consequences for the individuals who work in them, and there is no more sobering example of this than the rising number of health worker infections.

According to the statement, about 10 per cent of all cases globally are among health workers, though there is a wide range between individual countries.

In Africa, information on health worker infections is still limited, but preliminary data finds that they make up more than five per cent of cases in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa alone.

In four of these, health workers make up more than 10 per cent of all infections.

Inadequate access to personal Protective Equipment or weak infection prevention and control measures raise the risk of health worker infection.

Surging global demand for protective equipment, as well as global restrictions on travel have triggered supply shortages.

In addition, it the statement noted, health workers could also be exposed to patients who do not show signs of the disease and were in the health facilities for a range of other services.

Risks may also arise when health personnel are repurposed for COVID-19 response without adequate briefing, or because of heavy workloads which result in fatigue, burnout and possibly not fully applying the standard operating procedures.

In many African countries, control measures aimed at preventing infections in health facilities are still not fully implemented.

When WHO assessed clinics and hospitals across the continent for these measures, only 16 per cent of the nearly 30,000 facilities surveyed had assessment scores above 75 per cent.

Many health centres were found to lack the infrastructure necessary to implement key infection prevention measures, or to prevent overcrowding.

Only 7.8 per cent (2,213) had isolation capacities and just a third had the capacity to triage patients.

The statement further quoted Moeti as saying infection among health workers is one too many.

Doctors, nurses and other health professionals are our mothers, brothers and sisters. They are helping to save lives endangered by COVID-19.

She said we must make sure that they have PPE, skills and information they need to keep themselves, their patients and colleagues safe.

WHO had been working with health ministries to reduce infections since the outbreak begun.

The Organisation has trained more than 50,000 health workers in Africa in infection prevention and control, with plans to train 200, 000 more.

It plans to provide guidance documents and guidelines on best care practices and the most up-to-date treatment regime for health workers.

WHO has been helping to fill gaps in the supply of PPE. Currently, 41 million PPE are ready from China to cover the needs of 47 African countries.

Shipment for an initial set of 23 African countries are planned to start this weekend.

She explained that as a result of efforts by WHO and partners, some African countries managed to reduce health worker infections considerably.

For example, two months ago, over 16 per cent of COVID-19 infections in Sierra Leone were among health workers.

The figure has now dropped to nine per cent. Cote dIvoire has reduced the proportion of infection among health workers from 6.1 per cent to 1.4 per cent.

Scaling up prevention and control measures can further reduce infections among health workers.

Source: NAN News

The Defence Headquarters says the troops of the Nigerian Armed Forces in different theatres of operation across North East, North West and North Central have eliminated several terrorists and bandits in the last one week.

The Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche, disclosed this at a news conference on the operations of the Armed Forces of Nigeria from July 17 to July 23 on Friday in Abuja.

In the North-west zone, Enenche said the troops of Operation Hadarin Daji and Sahel Sanity have continued with the aggressive clearance operation against the armed bandits.

He said that troops of Operation Sahel Sanity in Shimfida village of Jibia LGA of Katsina State neutralized 17 armed bandits within the week under review.

According to him, troops recovered five AK 47 rifles and 152 rounds of 7.62mm Special ammunition during the operation, adding that the troops suffered three casualties.

He said that the Air Component of Operation Hadarin Daji had on July 20 neutralised several armed bandits in Kagara Forest of Zamfara after receipt of credible intelligence.

Also, within the week under review, troops of Operation Sahel Sanity arrested eight bandits in Sokoto, Katsina and Zamfara states.

In the North-Central zone, troops conducted several ambushes, raids, clearance and air operations at various locations which resulted in appreciable successes for the period under review.

Notably, troops of Sectors 2 and 4 of Operation Whirl Stroke, on July 16, carried out a raid operation on a suspected kidnappers hideout at Tomayin village in Logo Local Government Area of Benue State.

Troops had contact with the bandits and neutralized the ring leader, one Zwa Ikyegh while others escaped with various degrees of gun shots wounds.

Troops also rescued 32 kidnapped victims, some of whom had been in captivity for over a month.

Accordingly, all the rescued kidnapped victims were reunited with their families in different communities in Logo, he said.

Enenche stated that the troops also recovered one AK 47 rifle, one AK 47 magazine, six locally made rifles, one locally made pistol, one magazine, 22 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition, amongst other items while the hideout was also destroyed.

He added that several Civil Military Cooperation (CIMIC) projects under Defence Headquarters led operations were inaugurated in Operations Whirl Stroke and Safe Corridor areas of responsibility.

The projects, according to him, include boles in Guma Local Government Area of Benue.

He added that one block of five classrooms renovated in Kpasho village and a borehole each at Nkindero village in Irigwe and Gagaule village a Fulani community, all in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau were also provided.

In the North-East, Enenche said the troops of Operation Lafiya Dole destroyed Boko Haram/ISWAP camp and killed their commanders/leaders and other fighters within the week.

He added that the Air Task Force launched coordinated air offensives on terrorists camp at Ngwuri Gana Village, along Gulumba Gana Kumshe axis in the Northern part of Borno.

According to him, the massive air strikes led to the destruction of the terrorists camp while several terrorists were neutralized.

Between July 17 and 20, the Land Component of Operation Lafiya Dole successfully conducted intelligence-based clearance operations that dealt devastating blows on the BHT/ISWAP terrorist elements in some parts of the North East.

The operations led to the neutralization of six BHT members attempting to cross from the Cameroon Border towards Sambisa Axis in Borno.

Caches of arms and ammunition and other items were recovered, while several insurgents surrendered.

Recall that earlier this month 8 BHT/ISWAP commanders/leaders were killed by our gallant troops at Damasak.

Furthermore, on July 20, troops of Army Super Camp 1 while on routine patrol along Maiduguri-Damboa were attacked by Boko Haram Terrorists.

However the gallant troops, supported by ATF platforms providing Close Air Support, neutralized several terrorists and destroyed four of their gun trucks, he said.

Enenche said the Military High Command had commended all the gallant troops of the Armed Forces and personnel of other security agencies involved in various operations across the country for their doggedness and commitment.

They are hereby encouraged to remain resolute and decisive in curtailing the activities of all criminal elements in the country.

Members of the general public are equally reassured that the Nigerian Military will continue to tackle the security challenges to ensure that normalcy is attained in all the geo-political zones of the country, he said.

Source: NAN News

By Adebola Adegoke
The Lagos State Law Enforcement Training Institute (LETI), has sensitised the Water Guards Corps of Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), on new and strategic ways to optimise and ensure quality service delivery.

The Director-General of LETI, Prince Ifalade Oyekan, said the sensitisation programme was in fulfilment of Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olus mandate to reposition and reorientate law enforcement officers, according to the THEMES agenda.

They are: Traffic Management and Transportation; Health and Environment; Education and Technology; Making Lagos a 21st Century state; Security and Governance.

Oyekan said that for law enforcement officers to live up to expectations, there was the need to train and retrain officers on global best practices.

He said LETI was adopting new training techniques tailored to the specific needs and duties of each law enforcement agency.

Oyekan urged the guards to be ready for the task ahead, as more people would ply the waterways as an alternative route, thereby placing more responsibilities on them.

He said it was, therefore, pertinent for LASWA water guards, to learn new ways to ensure efficient delivery of service.

If we must decongest and ease our roads, we have to move to water transportation because that is where we are headed.

Also, due to the closure of the third mainland bridge, more people would make use of the waterways and your services will be needed more than ever.

You have a lot of roles to play in terms of monitoring, pollution and regulations on the waterways.

It is therefore important to enroll at the institute for your training needs and update your skills because you stand to gain a lot, he said.

He said one of the new strategies to enhance their operations was the use of body worn cameras, which was one of the achievements of the institute.

Stressing the benefits of the body-worn camera, he said: The idea is to change the way our security field officers operate.

Every field officer will be assigned a camera and they will be able to capture offenders and violators, which will help the ministry of justice to prosecute their cases in courts based on the evidence produced from the body camera.

It is also suitable for use at night and underwater.

Also, everything captured will be transmitted to the central database of the enforcement agency and officers will not be able to tamper with the device.

With this, there will be more transparency and officers will carry out their duties as expected.

He also urged the officers to uphold integrity, professionalism and ethics in the discharge of their duties.

The General Manager LASWA, Mr Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, expressed enthusiasm towards the possibility of enrolling the Water Guards Corps at the institute for training.

We need constant sensitisation and education, hence the importance of todays sensitisation for the Water Guards Corps, LASWA.

They have been taught the basic enforcement strategies to adopt to ensure efficient delivery of water transport services.

The use of body worn cameras would also improve our operations because there are always accounts of incidents without evidence to defend or back up our case, but with this, we will be able to defend our integrity, he said.

Source: NAN News

MNJTF has received 47 members of Boko Haram/Islamic States West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorist groups who surrendered to its troops in the Lake Chad region.

The Chief of Military Public Information MNJTF NDjamena Chad, Col. Timothy Antigha, in a statement on Friday, said the terrorists surrendered with their families recently in Sector 1 of the MNJTF.

Antigha said that the recent incessant power tussle in the top echelon of the terrorist groups, ethnic tension and failure to actualise the establishment of a caliphate in the Sahel contributed to the surrender.

He said a member of the group, who admitted to have participated in various attacks on Banki, Fotokol, Gambarou Ngala, New Marte, Chikun Gudu, among others, had expressed frustration with the lack of progress in the jihad.

Antigha quoted the surrendered terrorist as saying, they could not make progress due to the preoccupation of the leadership in the pursuit of material things.

They told us that we were being lied to and cheated by apostate governments, but I have not seen any difference between Shekau and those he has been condemning.He may even be worse. I am having it a lot better here because since we came out of the bush, we have been fed and catered for.

Antigha further disclosed that another surrendered terrorist claimed that he was misled to kill innocent people, for which he might face physical and spiritual condemnation.

He said that the terrorist also added that there was ethnic rivalry among members of Boko Haram and ISWAP.

He quoted him as saying, If you do not speak a particular language, you can not be appointed a commander or made a guard in the bush and you can not even be allowed to also go for tax collection.

This discriminatory attitude has made some of us feel that we are not trusted and good enough to be given responsibilities.

The spokesperson also disclosed that a female member of the group lamented the severe abuse of women in the camps and prayed that no woman should find herself in the situation she recently escaped from.

He quoted her as saying, those people are ungodly, so they can not tell the world that they are doing the will of Allah.

Antigha said that the MNJTF has been consistent in its observation that Boko Haram and ISWAP are transnational criminal enterprises which have been sustained by grand deception, appeal to religious sentiments and violence.

The force is therefore vindicated by the testimonies of the surrendered terrorists who spoke on their own volition.

Consequently, the MNJTF renews the call on other misled fighters in the bush to come out. It is important to add that MNJTF Troop Contributing Countries have structures and programmes in place to receive all those who surrender.

Similarly, the MNJTF urges communities to accept repented terrorists back after their rehabilitation, even though some of them had perpetrated heinous crimes.

The MNJTF shares in the understanding that such a gesture by communities will go a long way in the continuing efforts to defeat terrorism and build peace in the Lake Chad Basin, he said.

Source: NAN News

ECOWAS

Senegalese President Macky Sall, President Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast, Nigers President Mahamadou Issoufou, Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari, and President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana led the mediation together with former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan in the capital Bamako.

Jonathan was recently appointed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as a special envoy to head its mediation mission in Mali.

The group first met with Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, followed by talks with a coalition of opposition groups, who are calling for Keitas resignation.

But late on Thursday, none of the parties were willing to make concessions, bringing the mediation to a standstill.

The coalition led by popular cleric Mahmoud Dicko accused Keitas administration of bad governance and non-governance, at the end of the talks, while a spokesman for Keitas camp described the calls for the presidents resignation as unconstitutional.

The mediation effortscome after several weeks of violent protests, during which dozens of people were killed.

Tens of thousands of opposition supporters have accused Keita of gross intimidation and buying votes during a controversial parliamentary election in April, which gave Keitas administration a firm majority.

Political instability in Mali is seen as a dangerous development for the entire Sahel region, which already faces ongoing threats from numerous terrorist and separatist groups.

Source: NAN News

Minister of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu

By Tosin Kolade
The Federal Government has officially inaugurated the implementation of the second phase of the Partnership for Expanded Water Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) programme to improve access to safe water supply and sanitation in 10 states.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the PEWASH programme started in two pilot states of Kano and Ogun, while the new partnership and intervention with the states would take into consideration steps to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

The 10 states that met the criteria for the immediate intervention are; Katsina, Plateau, Bauchi, Jigawa, Sokoto, Zamfara, Ondo, Osun, Imo and Delta.

The Minister of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu, noted that it was important for communities in the 10 states to take ownership of the programme to enable them benefit from the overall gains.

According to the minister, 33 states have signed the PEWASH protocol, expressing interest to partner with the ministry and expressed hope that remaining states of Anambra, Rivers and Borno and the FCT would also show interest.

Adamu said a total of 119 contractors were selected, with strict compliance to Procurement Act, saying 56 local government areas have been selected as beneficiaries.

We have recently awarded contracts for the construction, rehabilitation and upgrading of 895 water supply facilities at the cost of N2 billion in the 28 local governments areas under the federal government components.

Upon completion, it will improve access to water supply to about one million people living in the areas, that is what we are flagging off today.

While congratulating all the contractors, I will like to stress the high premium this ministry places on Qualitative and timely delivery and therefore charge them to execute these projects with utmost diligence, standard and strict compliance to contract specifications.

The minister said for the full gains of the PEWASH programme to be realised, it was important for the states to have equal commitment in line with the covenant of the joint protocol signed.

He added that it was the desire of the Federal Government to see that access to water and sanitation was improved so as to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, and the National Open-Defecation Free target by 2025.

On intervention towards COVID-19 pandemic, Adamu said the ministry had developed a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Sector Emergency Response Intervention Fund of N9.8 billion, approved by the National Assembly under the 2020 Revised Appropriation Act.

He added that a WASH sector COVID-19 National response team was already in place, which has all state commissioners of water resources as members, meeting regularly to share ideas to move the water and sanitation sector forward.

Earlier, Dr Benson Ajisegiri, Director, Water Supply and Public Private Partnership in the ministry, said the implementation of the second phase of the PEWASH programme considered effective monitoring arrangement with the state rural water agencies.

According to him, some members of staff of the ministry have been selected to visit project sites to ensure strict adherence to guided specifications and to avoid vandalism and outright theft of the infrastructure.

He added that all water schemes would be approved when it has gone through quality assessment in the National Water Quality laboratories.

Mr Emmanuel Onimisi, who spoke on behalf of the contractors, thanked the minister for the opportunity to contribute to development, and pledged commitment to adhere to contract agreement and specifications.

Source: NAN News

First Bank Logo

By Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma

Mr Bankole Adediran, Head of Transaction Banking Products, FirstBank, revealed this at the banks SMEConnect webinar titled Managing Your School through the Pandemic: Engagement and Retention Strategies.

Adediran said that the bank was ready to partner with SMEs in the education sector through this period of coronavirus pandemic to sustain their businesses.

FirstBank as an institution is very passionate about education and will continue to support the sector, he said.

He noted that the bank would continue to reinforce its leading role at enabling the growth of the educational sector in the country.

Adediran stated that the bank had an array of financial products that could be accessed by SMEs in the educational sector in this period of COVID-19.

He said SMEs in the sector could key into FirstEdu Loan, targeted at private nursery, primary and secondary schools to assist the schools in achieving their desired growth in the medium and ling-term.

According to him, the product provides funding advancement of up to N20 million for schools with a minimum of 100 students with school fees collection domiciled at FirstBank.

Adediran explained that with the product, school owners/proprietors can stay ahead to make learning easy and conducive for students.

He said the bank had launched various intervention and initiatives to support the sector to navigate challenges occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic.

He stated that FirstBank recently launched an e-learning initiative aimed at reaching out to one million students across the country to ensure they stay academically engaged while at home.

Adediran added that the bank supported 10 universities and three secondary schools across the country with major infrastructural projects.

He disclosed that the bank donated 20,000 e-learning devices to the Lagos State government to promote online learning for students in the public schools.

According to Adediran, schools must learn from the lessons of COVID-19 by embracing automation to plug leakages in the sector.

Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, the Commissioner for Education, Lagos State; one of the panelists, commended the bank for 20,000 devices with six months data donated to the state for e-learning.

Adefisayo said the state reached out to many companies for support at the wake of the pandemic but only FirstBank came to its aid.

She disclosed that all the schools were not ready for this kind of situation, noting that most children in public schools did not have device and data for online learning.

This pandemic has been a terrible thing and one lesson from it is that we have not invested enough in solutions we can deplore at this time, Adefisayo said.

She stated that the pandemic had forced Nigerians to be more creative and innovation, adding that schooling would no longer be the same again.

Adefisayo called on teachers to change their teaching and learning strategies, stressing that COVID-19 changed learning.

Also, Dr Yomi Otubela, President,(NAPPS), said the association had responded greatly by interfacing between government and its agencies since the advent of the pandemic.

Otubela said the Central Bank of Nigeria was working out modalities for palliatives for schools and teachers who had not been receiving salaries since the pandemic started.

He said further that there had been an increase in rape, kidnapping and robbery as a result of COVID-19.

Mr Wale Abioye, Team Lead, Customer Practice in Management Consulting (KPMG), said the pandemic had impacted on many sectors of the economy, especially the education sector.

Abioye highlighted some of the negative impacts of the pandemic to include financial/economic, structural challenge, social challenge and policy challenge.

He said many SMEs in the educational sector would be out of business due to the pandemic, thereby increasing unemployment rate.

Mr Babatunde Vaughan, Education Lead, Modern Classroom, Microsoft Nigeria, said the company had introduced a lot of products to make online learning easy and fun.

Source: NAN News

By Naomi Sharang
The Director-General National Research Institute for Chemical Technology, Zaria (NARICT) Prof. Jeffrey Barminas, said that Nigeria lost 1.4 billion dollars to the importation of chemicals in 2019.

He made the disclosure at an interactive session in Abuja with the Senate Committee on Science and Technology chaired by Sen. Uche Ekwunife.

While noting that the institute had the core mandate of undertaking research in industrial chemicals, biochemicals, petrochemicals among others, Barminas said that the country was losing a lot every year.

We are highly dependent on importation of chemicals and chemical products into this country.

Just in 2019 alone, this country has lost over 1.4 billion dollars on the importation of chemicals.

And how can we handle this. We as a nation can produce chemicals and chemical products based on the natural resources that God has endowed us with.

Because of our dependence on petroleum for a long time, we left our indigenous chemical technology and thats why today we are losing a lot in terms of importation.

He said that if the country got its research and infrastructure in chemical technology right, it would cover up the gap in importation of chemicals.

The director-general further said that part of the institutes achievements was the production of fertilizer.

The fertilizer we have is not chemical fertilizer that affects the soil when applied over a long period. Rather it is an organic fertilizer; it is neem-based.

He said that the country needed over two million metric tonnes of fertilizer annually, noting that the agency had produced nine trailers of fertilizer so far in 2020 with a trailer containing about 1,250 bags.

The chairperson of the committee, Ekwunife said that the era of importation of chemicals would be a thing of the past once science and technology was improved.

Science and technology is the only ministry that cuts across all other ministries.

We know the lot of challenges the agency faces in terms of funding, in terms of government investment in science and technology but there are also areas you need to sit up to attract government intervention, she said.

She assured the institute of the committees support to enable it sustain its activities.

We will also do everything possible to come up with an act to give the agency a legal backing to legalise your operation because as it is, you are still operating on decrees that formed this agency, she said.

Source: NAN News

Nigerian Youths

By Ebere Agozie

The Nigerian Youth Congress (NYC) has commended the Federal Government for approving the N75 billion Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) to fund and support innovative ideas of the Nigerian Youth.

Mr Blessing Akinlosotu, the president of NYC gave the commendation while addressing newsmen in Abuja on Friday.

The fund is the very first of its kind by any Nigerian government. The fund will go a long way to curb all forms of crimes engaged by youths.

We appreciate this noble gesture of the Federal government, for acknowledging the challenges that have greatly affected the youths in the country which has resulted in a high rise in crimes, political thuggery, banditry, social vices, cyber-crimes among the youth.

He called on the youths to take advantage of the opportunity already at their doorsteps.

Youths should be on the lookout and as well get equipped with innovative ideas and achievable business proposals and plans that will help them access the fund, he advised.

NAN reports that on July 22, the federal government approved the establishment of a Nigerian youth investment fund for N75 billion.

Minister of youths and sports, Sunday Dare explained that the youth bank is created to support youth enterprise among Nigerias 68 million youth between ages of 18 and 35.

According to him, youth within this age group with genuine business ideas are to pitch their ideas in any of the 125 micro credit banks across the country and qualified candidates will have access to the funds.

Dare assured that just as the N-power programme, the process is digital and will be fair to all youth aged 18 to 35 regardless of their ethnicity or social status.

The fund, he said, is meant to create a special window for accessing credit facilities and financing on the part of our youths that will help to fund their ideas, innovations and also support their enterprise. (NAN)

Source: NAN News