By Douglas Okoro

The Nigerian Army are yet to confirm the alleged shooting by unknown gunmen of two soldiers at a military checkpoint located at popular Timber Shade junction in Amasiri, Afikpo North local government area of Ebonyi.

Meanwhile, a top security source, who confirmed the incident on Tuesday at Amasiri on condition of anonymity, said that the shooting occurred on Monday night around 9.pm.

The source stated that the gunmen made away with the riffles of the two dead soldiers.

Also, a source in the community, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and pleaded not to be mentioned said the gunmen arrived the checkpoint in a white bus and as the military men stopped them for a stop-and-search, they opened fire on them.

According to the source, the situation jolted the two busy towns of Amasiri and Afikpo into pandemonium, as residents, especially traders and shop owners hurriedly closed down shops and went home.

Its a very sad situation here. They said it was people suspected to be gunmen, who came to the checkpoint at Timber Shade (boundary Ehugbo and Amasiri) in white bus, the source said.

All efforts to speak with military officials at the Nkwegu military cantonment proved abortive.

An officer told NAN on condition of anonymity that the army Headquarters would release a statement at the appropriate time.

Also, an army assistant Public Relations Officer simply identified as Tayo when contacted on his mobile phone (08038432656) said that he would get back to NAN.

Also contacted, Mrs Loveth Odah, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) declined to speak on the incident saying that she was not spokesperson for the army.

I am not the military spokesperson, please contact the military public relations officer so that he can answer that, Odah said. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Jacinta Nwachukwu

The Victims Support Fund (VSF), Emergency Support Programme Task Force on COVID-19, has donated 60, 000 rapid test kits to the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

Presenting the kits in Abuja, the Chairperson of the task force, Mrs Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji, said it was part of the organisations contribution to the national response to the pandemic.

Akerele-Ogunsiji said the organisation was concerned about the safety of the corps members, hence the need for the support.

She noted that NYSC was one of the most crucial components in terms of high density population across the country.

According to her, the organisation has been supporting the Federal Governments efforts under the instructions of the Chairman of VSF, Gen. TY Danjuma (rtd.), through its intervention projects.

VSF has made a donation of 54 boreholes and 216 hand-washing stations to schools in 18 states across the six geopolitical zones, including FCT, estimated at N210 million, among other interventions.

We want to see how we can contribute to the containment of the virus through these interventions to reduce the community transmission of COVID-19 across the country.

The Task Force on COVID-19 is an emergency response team inaugurated by Chairman of the Fund, Gen. TY Danjuma (rtd.), she said.

Ogunsiji explained that the donation was to provide palliatives to displaced persons and the vulnerable including institutional support to agencies supporting the national efforts to fight COVID-19.

VSF will continue to provide succour to vulnerable Nigerians as well as institutional support to agencies involved in the fight against Covid 19, she added.

The Director-General of NYSC, Brig.Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, commended VSF for the kind gesture, saying that the donation was highest so far. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Ismaila Chafe

President Muhammadu Buhari has met separately behind closed doors with Gov. Babagana Zulum of Borno and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, at his official residence, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Presidents Personal Assistant on Photography, Mr Sunday Aghaeze, confirmed the two meetings in pictorial reports on Tuesday.

NAN gathered Zulum used the opportunity of the meeting to update the president on security developments in Borno while Tinubu thanked the president for his support during the 12Asiwaju Bola Tinubu Colloquium held in Kano on March.

Buhari, who participated virtually in the event to mark the 69th birthday of the former two-term Governor of Lagos State, commended the celebrant for always being an advocate of unity and cohesion in Nigeria.

NAN reports that no official statement on the outcome of the two meetings held on Monday night as at the time of filing this report. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Nicholas Obisike

Potters Wheel Foundation in collaboration with the Enugu State Ministry of Youths and Sports has announced availability of 54 vocational skills for youths.

The President of the Foundation, Mr GodOwn Onuzulike made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Tuesday.

The skills we offer include how to produce household, office and industrial products and others.

We trained 150 persons at our corporate office before we approached government and our dialogue with the state government was fruitful.

Enugu State Government through its Ministry of Youths and Sports gave us the media centre at Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium as a platform, Onuzulike said.

According to him, since the Foundation moved to the stadium, 400 persons participated in the first batch of training in Oct. 2020 and it comprised the youth and women.

After our training in the first batch, Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State gave start up materials to 240 youths that were trained.

Our second batch came in Nov. 2020 with about 500 participants.

Currently we are going into batch D which will last for 7 weeks, our graduation is slated to for June 11, Onuzulike said.

He said that the programme was aimed at reducing unemployment, crime, poverty and insecurity in the state and the country at large.

We believe that this is one of the tools to attack the challenges that have bedevilled the society, Onuzulike said. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Chijioke Okoronkwo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has expressed confidence that Nigeria will overcome her current security challenges.

Osinbajos spokesman, Laolu Akande, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, said that the vice president made this known when he received a traditional ruler from Nasarawa State, Alhaji Ahmed Hassan, the Yankanje Uke.

Osinbajo assured that the present challenges would prepare Nigeria for a greater and prosperous future and urged the traditional institution to support the re-engineering process.

There is no question at all that we are facing security challenges, but we are able to overcome them; the role of the leadership is to sit down to think through the problems.

This is a big country; so policing is very difficult; there is a need for us to reorganize our security architecture, which is what is going on now.

I believe strongly that the reason why we are experiencing what we are going through today is because we are being prepared for the future.

A future where we will take into account all of the problems because if we havent gone through the problems we are going through now, it will be difficult for us to appreciate the importance of fairness and justice, the importance of giving people a voice and a representation.

I am very pleased to hear about what you are doing.

The vice president said that one of the reasons why there were divisions and conflicts in the parts of the country was because people did not feel included in the management of affairs in their localities.

He commended the traditional ruler for his leadership style.

I think you have created an opportunity where the options are available for bringing appeals to a center of fairness and justice for people from across the country, and it is one that is to be emulated.

And I think that this is the way Nigeria should be; we should be able to say that no matter where you are from, if you have the talent; if you work hard, you will succeed wherever you are. You will not be constrained by your political, ethnic or religious affiliations.

Every great society that has succeeded in the world is multi-ethnic and they succeeded because they brought in talents from all over the place.

Osinbajo urged traditional rulers to leverage the influence they had over communities to effect positive change for the good of the entire society.

On his part, the traditional ruler commended the vice president for his ability to bring people of different ethnic groups in the country together.

He said in his kingdom in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa, Osinbajo was being emulated in terms of bringing ethnic groups in Nigeria together as one.

Hassan appealed to the Federal Government to integrate the traditional institution in the implementation of some of its intervention schemes for small businesses and the less privileged.

Also present at the meeting were the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Alhassan Doguwa and the heir apparent to the throne, Prince Nurudeen Abdullahi.

Members of the Yakanaje Emirate Council and Kingdom and the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Sen. Babafemi Ojudu, among others were at the meeting.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Ifeanyi Nwoko

Kano State Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Konexa, a foreign investor, for the generation, storage, and distribution of electricity.

The MoU will see Konexa investing 100 million dollars to, among other things, provide cutting-edge technology in deploying renewable energy.

Pradeep Pursnani, Chief Executive Officer of Konexa who said this at the British High Commission in Abuja where the MoU was signed, added that the agreement is backed by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and would produce and distribute 10 megawatts of electricity to 30,000 consumers in Kano.

In this partnership, Konexa will bring investment, provide better service for the customers and help bring the discos to financial health.

This is important given the situation of the power sector in Nigeria where a lot of the discos are struggling financially even to pay for the power that is provided to them.

So Konexa we believe will significantly help in addressing the power sector in Nigeria, he said.

In improving generation capacity, he said that Konexa would deploy solar power, hydropower, and biopower technologies.

According to him, it is important to complete the project by 2022 and be successful in order to quickly replicate the same in other states of the federation.

I hope that after we deliver in these states we can look at other states across Nigeria.

Our business model is very replicable and scalable and provides a win-win for all.

In Kaduna, we will deliver before the end of the year, the investment is around 90 million dollars.

It is quite small but it is important to start small to prove things before we can scale up.

In Kano we are estimating the project cost to be well over 100 million dollars, he said.

He said that the company was partnering with Nigerian distribution companies to rehabilitate the distribution network in Nigeria, meter every consumer, and add more generation capacity in order to connect rural areas as well.

The UK Minister for Africa, James Duddridge who was also at the ceremony commended the move, stressing that the time had come for Africa to deploy alternative but pollution-free sources of energy.

It is really good to see Africa coming up with innovative ways of producing, distributing, and storing energy for industrial, commercial, and residential use, using innovative financial structures, he said.

Giving insights into the funding and partnership, Aisha Abba-Kyari, Associate Vice President at the NSIA said the Kano project was at first a presidential initiative that coincided with the Konexa project.

She said the project was designed to benefit both communities and industrial clusters, adding that NSIA was acting as the funds and project manager.

We are actually funds and project managers for the 10 megawatts solar power plants in Kano State, it is a presidential initiative which coincided with KONEXA and KEDCOs franchise model that they are developing in the same area.

We are treating this as a pilot project and upon completion, the plan is to redeploy similar projects across the country, she said.

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the Managing Director of the Kano Electricity Distribution Company Dr Jamil Gwamna described the MoU signing as a great opportunity for KEDCO.

He said the MoU would contribute immensely in addressing one of the biggest challenges of distribution companies just as it would 0attract capital investment to improve the quality of electricity supply to customers.

What this partnership is bringing in the investment to increase the reliability and also the quality of supply to our customers.

We have both the on-grid and off-grid solutions.

The solar is an off-grid solution, and there are other solutions that Konexa is bringing, he said.

The signing of the MoU is coming barely three years after Konexa signed an MoU with the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KAEDCO) in 2018 for 10,000 energy connections worth 90 million dollars.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Konexa received a UKAid grant during its early stages and has also been supported by other partners including the U.S., Shell Foundation, and Rockefeller Foundation.

Source: NAN News

By Angela Atabo

A coalition of 14 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has expressed concern over delay in the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, urging the National Assembly to fast track its passage.

Director of Programmes, Yiaga Africa, Ms Cynthia Mbamalu, said on Tuesday in Abuja at a news conference on Electoral Reform.

Mbamalu, also Programmes Director, Yiaga Africa, said that reforming the electoral legal framework for credible elections was a top priority, urging the National Assembly to ensure that the bill was passed in the shortest possible time.

She said that in December 2020, the National Assembly held a public hearing on the Bill which provided an opportunity for citizens and stakeholders to participate and make their inputes to the electoral reform process.

The urgent need for reforming the Electoral Legal Framework is founded on the broad-based consensus by Nigerian citizens and electoral stakeholders on the need for a more credible and improved electoral process.

A process that will encourage active citizens participation and guarantee their rights in electing leaders and representatives that will provide good governance by addressing gaps in the current electoral legal framework.

The Senate President at that time promised Nigerians a new Electoral Act by March 2021. That timeline has come and gone!!!

Election remain the fulcrum and constant cardinal feature in a democracy; It is important to protect all conditions and instruments required to conduct free, fair and credible election to ensure that the sovereign will of the people prevail always, Mbamalu said.

She said that the seeming lack of progress at the National Assembly on the Electoral Act Amendment bill was worrisome.

She said that Nigerians demanded that their elected representatives responded to the urgent need for an electoral legal framework that would genuinely strengthened the electoral processes and procedures, promoting inclusivity and addressing impunity.

She added that the continued delay in the process was reminiscent of the failed process in 2018 and attendant impact on the 2019 general election.

Chief Executive Officer ,The Albino Foundation, Jack Epelle said that in considering the Bill, the National Assembly should undertake an in-depth consideration of the citizens priority issues, to address identified gaps in the current electoral legal framework.

Epelle said that the priority issues included strengthening the financial and operational independence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He said that they also included publication of polling unit level results by INEC to promote transparency in the result collation and transmission process and protecting the voting rights of the blind and visually impaired voters.

He added that they included reducing the cost of nomination of candidates to promote a level playing field for all contestants and promoting the inclusion of women, youth, and persons with disability in politics.

Epelle said that other priority issues included legitimising the use of technology in the electoral process with particular emphasis on the biometric voter register, biometric accreditation of voters; electronic voting, electronic collation and transmission of results.

He said that others included ending impunity for electoral offences by the establishment of the Electoral Offences Commission and Tribunal.

He added that improving election security and promote professionalisation and non-partisanship in the conduct and behaviour of security personnel on election duty and introduction of early/special voting for Nigerians on essential election duty was part of it.

Epelle said that eliminating the impact of judicial actions on citizens will and choices in elections was the final priority issue.

Mr Ezenwa Nwagwu , Executive Director, Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA)said that the demands of the group were germane aspirations of Nigerians.

Together with Nigerians, we firmly believe that if the current electoral legal framework is not reviewed and reformed, it will have negative impact and consequences for democratic consolidation.

The NASS must recognise that passing the Electoral Bill in good time will engender expeditious action by the executive, he said.

Nwagwu said that the speedy passage of the Bill would give INEC the legal clarity to adequately plan and efficiently conduct future elections, particularly the Nov. 6 Anambra governorship election.

Consequently, we join our voices with millions of Nigerians to call on the National Assembly to speed up the process for the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

In the same vein, we call on the President to speedily assent to the bill and deliver a brand-new Electoral Act 2021 to Nigerians ahead of the 2021 democracy day celebration on June 12, he said.

Nwagwu said that the group remained hopeful that its collective commitment and partnership would further translate to the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill that would work for all Nigerians.

We remain resolute in our demand to the leadership of the 9th Assembly to ensure it writes its name in gold by delivering to Nigerians a new Electoral Act that prioritises citizens demands. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

![Nigeria to receive 29.8m doses of J

By Edith Ike-Eboh

The Secretary General of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Dr Mohammad Barkindo has urged member countries to monitor Market development to sustain positive trajectory in the global oil market.

Barkindo disclosed this at the 51st Virtual Meeting of the Joint Technical Committee (JTC), on Monday.

Let us patiently continue our work of carefully monitoring the market, providing insightful analysis for the Ministers, and in this way, we can continue on the positive trajectory we have experienced so far, he said .

He said that the world could mitigate the worst impact of COVID-19 with the right policies in place to boost global economy.

The consensus view among most economists and forecasting agencies is that with the right policies in place, the world can mitigate the worst impacts of this dreadful virus.

The cheques for 1,400 dollars per individual under the US stimulus package are beginning to have an impact with retail sales up 10 per cent in the US in March.

US unemployment fell to six per cent, the lowest level since the pandemic struck.

The change in sentiment in the US banking sector is indicative of this reversal of fortunes for the US economy, he said.

According to him, a year ago, the major banks in America were anticipating economic catastrophe, setting aside billions to accommodate mammoth losses, as small businesses were pummelled and office space emptied.

He noted that on April 14, executives at Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo delivered bullish forecasts, adding that the recoverys transition from Wall Street to Main Street would not be straightforward.

The OPEC scribe said that the pandemic had led to consumers stockpiling an extra 5.4 trillion dollars in savings and consumer confidence was beginning to rally.

For the first quarter of this year, the Conference Board global consumer confidence index hit the highest level since its records began sixteen years ago.

According to the credit rating agency, Moodys, if consumers were to spend just a third of these excess savings, global output could be boosted by 2 percentage points.

At 18.3 per cent, Chinas first quarter economic growth in 2021 has simply been staggering.

The contrast with the 6.8 per cent contraction in the first quarter of 2020 reflects a remarkable post-pandemic surge.

Big infrastructure projects are fueling this growth he added.

This, he further said, had generated positive momentum with regard to oil demand.

In our most recent MOMR, world oil demand growth, 2021 is expected to increase by about 6.0 mb/d y-o-y, representing an upward revision of about 0.1 mb/d from last months report.

We also received very good news regarding the inventory glut that amassed during the pandemic.

Commercial oil inventories in the OECD stood just 77 million barrels above their 2015-2019 average as of March, down from a peak of 249 million in July.

This is a remarkable turnaround from that fateful Monday last April, when the world was fretting about running out of storage.

The revival of fortunes for the health of the economy and our industry is due, in no small part, to the efforts of the Declaration of Cooperation partners.

What has been particularly apparent about this group over the last year is how responsive we have been to the fast-changing environment.

For all involved in this great enterprise, it has been extremely reassuring to know that the decision-making process has been informed by the quality analysis and data provided by this esteemed Committee, supported by the OPEC Secretariat, he said .

Barkindo noted that in spite the positive developments, the world was far from putting the pandemic behind.

He said that one of the saddest pieces of news over the last month was the fact that the world crossed another gut-wrenching milestone.

The global death count from COVID-19 exceeded three million people.
This is a heart breaking reminder, lest we needed it, that this pandemic is first and foremost a human tragedy of an unimaginable scale.

The pace it took to reach this number is extremely concerning. It took nine months for the world to see one million fatalities; another four months for a second million to succumb; and just three more months for the three million milestone to be reached.

New regions are emerging or re-emerging as hotspots,with eight consecutive weekly rises in the total number of new COVID-19 cases globally. The deteriorating situation is particularly grim in India.

In just three days, India recorded over a million new infections. For four successive days, the country saw record numbers of daily numbers of COVID-19 infections, exceeding 300,000 new cases per day.

The health system has been overwhelmed due to a Variant of Interest, a double mutation known as B.1.167. It seems a matter of time before this mutation is classified as a Variant of Concern, he said (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Abujah Racheal

The Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 said 1,173,869 or 58.3 persons have been vaccinated with the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine in the current phase.

Mr Boss Mustapha, the Chairman of the committee, disclosed this on Monday Abuja while speaking at the national briefing of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC).

Mustapha, who is also the Secretary of the Government of the Federation, said: The vaccination programme is still progressing but we still have reasons to intensify our campaign against hesitancy.

As at date, records show that we have vaccinated 1,173,869, representing 58.3 persons of the eligible persons targeted in the current phase who have received the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine. This is low in our estimation.

Speaking on the activities of the committee the chairman said the PSC held its first meeting today (Monday) during which it deliberated on the modalities for its operations.

During its deliberations, the PSC remained conscious of the need to focus seriously on the areas identified and underscored by the president; sustain the tempo of the national response especially in the multisectoral approach to issues;

Build the capacity of MDAs to manage their mandates; need to communicate; and consolidate the vaccine strategy for effectiveness.

Going forward, the PSC has agreed to meet twice a month to deal with cross-cutting policy, leadership and technical issues; plan to hold emergency meetings should the need arise; brief the president on the national situation regularly;

Escalate the management of the vaccine access and acquisition to the highest political level; brief the nation at least twice a month on the days of the PSC meetings; escalate Risk Communication and Community engagement;

And allow ministers to utilise various available platforms to communicate with Nigerians on areas concerning their mandates/portfolios.

The technical secretariat shall remain the core coordinating office on a day-to-day basis and it shall be its responsibility to escalate the issues to the PSC.

On the situation between Nigeria and the UAE over travel requirements, the SGF said we have reached a comfortable position acceptable to both parties.

On aviation, Mustapha said: You will recall that we also informed Nigerians that three international points of entry (Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu) would be reopened.

Kano has reopened while Port Harcourt and Enugu are almost ready. The key concern of the PSC is the availability of infrastructure for Port Health Services.

The significance of the preceding measures is underscored by the facts that several variants of concern are emerging from different jurisdictions and are capable of being imported into Nigeria.

We continue to deploy science and data to address these cases. (NAN)

Source: NAN News