By Abujah Racheal

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced 96 new cases of COVID-19 late on Wednesday, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 162,178.

The NCDC, which made the announcement on its official Twitter handle made no mention of any death from the disease within the past 24 hours.

On the 24th of March, 96 new confirmed cases were recorded in Nigeria.

Till date, 162,178 cases have been confirmed, 148,726 cases have been discharged and 2,031 deaths have been recorded in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

The 96 new cases are reported from 15 states: Lagos (28), Yobe (20), Akwa Ibom (10), Cross River (9), Kaduna State (6), Kano State (5) and Edo (4).

Others are Oyo State (3), Plateau (3), Jigawa (2), Osun (2), Borno (1), Nasarawa (1), Rivers (1) and Sokoto State (1).

NCDC said that a multi-sectoral national emergency operations centre, activated at level 3 had continued to coordinate national response activities in the country.

It noted that there were 11,421 active cases in Nigeria in the past 24 hours.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigerias daily fresh COVID-19 cases have continued to follow a downward trend from an all-time high of 2,314 on Jan. 22.

Daily new positive cases have come down to 86 as at March 21.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has tested1,727, 467people since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was announced on Feb. 27, 2020.

Source: NAN News

By Ismaila Chafe

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved N82 billion for the completion of infrastructure projects in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Rehabilitation of the Federal Secretariat, Abuja is also included in the project.

The Minister of the FCT, Malam Muhammed Bello, made the announcement while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the council meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Wednesday.

Bello said that about N8.1 billion of the amount was approved for the rehabilitation of the Federal Secretariat.

I presented six memos and all have to do with infrastructure and infrastructure-related projects.

The first one is for the revision of the contracts for the rehabilitation and expansion of the outer Southern Expressway to Ring Road I in the Federal Capital City.

That contract was approved at a varied contract amount of N15, 125, 122, 967. It is expected that this contract would be completed within 24 months.

The second project, which was also approved, is for the revised estimated cost of the contract for the construction of a 15-kilometre left hand service carriage way of the outer surface of the outer Southern Expressway stage II.

The augmentation of this particular project is in the sum of N11, 476, 476, 424, 350.

The third memo is for the rehabilitation of phase I of the Federal Secretariat, which involves electro-mechanical systems, water system as well as other general rehabilitation.

This is a secretariat that was inaugurated in 1993, quite a long time ago so we are doing massive rehabilitation of that at a total sum of N8, 110, 665, 676.76 and the completion period is 24 months.

The minister disclosed that the other projects include those for the total overhaul of a 1500 KVA generating plant for the Abuja Environmental Protection Board at a cost of N110 million.

Bello said that approval was also granted for an upward review of the contract sum for the extension of the inner Southern Expressway at N47.6 billion.

He said that N131.4 million of the N82 billion was meant for the review of consultancy provision for the Independence and Constitution Avenue Road project in the Abuja Central Business District.

Source: NAN News

By Cecilia Ologunagba

The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to provide enabling environment to ensure successful implementation of the National Integrated Specimen Referral Network (NiSRN) Policy.

The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire made the pledge on Thursday in Abuja at the inauguration of NiSRN and Operational Manual.

The manual was developed by the Medical Laboratory Service Division under the leadership of the National Laboratory Technical Group.

The minister said for sustainability of the referral network, programmes, partners and all relevant implementers were encouraged to pull and integrate resources for an organised implementation.

We also encourage counterparts from the sub-National (State and local government) and even the private sector to key-in and leverage on the NiSRN initiative as it holds great benefits.

It is pertinent to acknowledge the commitment and input from numerous partners toward the development of this document and also thank the leadership of National laboratory technical working group for providing guidance.

It is my sincere hope that the implementation of this NiSRN policy will contribute to achieving the goal of the government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari to make quality healthcare accessible to Nigerians, he said

According to him, the Nigerian Laboratory sub-sector has experienced some gains in recent times, such as the improvement of in-country capacity for molecular testing leveraging on COVID-19 response and interventions.

The sector has also experienced some gains in the optimisation of Gene Xpert platforms for molecular testing and improved finance for health, especially within the laboratory sub-sector.

In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), Mr Abdulaziz Abdullahi said the development of the manual began with the step-by-step conceptualisation of the NiSRN strategy.

The manual began with conceptualisation of NiSRN strategy by the Health Supply Chain Procurement Supply Management (GHSC-PSM).

Involvement of the United State Government (USG) Team culminated into United State Agency for International Development (USAID) funded workshops which brought stakeholders and experts together to deliberate and produce the content of this manual.

Since specimen referral is relatively underdeveloped in Nigeria, there is the need for capacity building of the operators and managers of the NISRN.

Hence the need to disseminate the content of this operational manual at national and subnational levels, he said.

Mrs Alice Emeka, Deputy Director, Medical Laboratory Service, FMoH, gave a presentation on NiSRN policy and operational manual to the policy.

Emeka said laboratory investigation played a key role in health care delivery and that some limitations were observed within the Nigeria laboratory sub-sector.

Some of the limitations are that we have large land mass with dispersed clinical and diagnostic laboratory capacity and capability.

Limited linkages between existing in-country laboratories providing resources for clinical and diagnosis investigation.

Also, limited-service integration across disease areas as a result of vertical programme planning, design and implementation.

With these limitations, a smart way of getting the best of the investment in the laboratory sub-sector (equipment and human resources) in Nigeria is the harmonised and integrated specimen referral system.

The best of investment in sub-sector is the harmonised and integrated specimen referral system to ensure optimised supply chain through lean operation of doing more with less, she said.

The director said the ministry would be responsible for referral network (as part of its healthcare delivery obligations), operated by private logistics companies.

She said international health organisations and other stakeholders, specifically those of medical laboratory services were expected to participate in accordance to the provisions of this manual.

Since specimen referral is relatively underdeveloped in Nigeria, much training needs to be done for operators and managers of NiSRN, hence the need to disseminate the content of this operational manual at national and subnational levels, Emeka said.

The New Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the highlight of the event was the unveiling of the dissemination of NiSRN Policy by Ehanire. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Cecilia Ologunagba

World Health Organisation (WHO) says confirmed cases of COVID-19 have continued to rise around the world for the fourth consecutive week, with around 3.3 million new cases reported in the past seven-day period.

The UN health agency stated this in its Weekly Epidemiological Update posted on its website.

According to WHO, the number of new deaths from the coronavirus levelled off after a six-week decrease, with just over 60,000 new deaths reported.

It noted that Europe and the Americas continued to account for nearly eight in 10 of all cases and deaths.

The only region with report of decline in fatalities was the Western Pacific, down nearly a third, compared to the previous week.

Infections rose notably in South East Asia, Europe and Eastern Mediterranean.

In the African region and the Americas, it stated that infection remained stable in recent weeks, with concerning trends in some countries within the regions.

These include Brazil, where the highest numbers of new cases were reported (508,010 new cases in a week, representing a three per cent increase).

The United States saw 374,369 new cases a 19 per cent decrease while India saw 240,082 new cases, a 62 per cent increase.

France saw 204,840 new cases (up 27 per cent) and Italy saw little change, with a recorded 154,493 new cases.

WHO, however, said that latest data on coronavirus variants indicated that the so-called UK strain was present in 125 countries, across all six global regions.

It stated that the variant VOC202012/01 might be associated with increased risk of hospitalisation, severity and mortality.

WHO pointed to a study involving 55,000 COVID-19 patients between last October and January, where deaths from the UK variant stood at 4.1 per 1,000 compared with 2.5 per 1,000 among those infected with the previously circulating coronavirus.

It stated that in a more positive note, data from vaccine tests conducted in England from December 2020 to February 2021 when VOC202012/01 was very prevalent.

Also, the so-called South African variant 501Y.V2 is now present in 75 countries across all regions, in over 90 per cent of sequenced specimens in some settings.

Globally, there were 123,419,065 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 2,719,163 deaths reported to WHO as at March 23.

As of March 22, 2021, a total of 403,269,879 vaccine doses had also been administered. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Fabian Ekeruche

The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) on Wednesday took its war against vulture extinction to another level with the launch of the Save Vultures Documentary screening in Lagos State.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the campaign, Our Plight to Survive , chronicles the challenges faced by vultures in the hands of poachers, traditional medicine practitioners, illicit traffickers of the creature, and others.

These activities are gradually making the vulture an endangered specie.

Dr Muhktari Aminu-Kano, Director-General /Chief Executive Officer, NCF, while delivering his welcome address, expressed gratitude to fellows of the foundation and partners for making the documentary a success.

Aminu-Kano said that NCF had been known globally for its campaign for the conservation of vultures.

According to him, a campaign for the survival of vultures translates to the survival of the eco-system and other species alike.

Also, Dr Joseph Onoja, a Director in NCF, said the foundation began its campaign for the protection of vultures since 2016.

Onoja noted that belief-based views were driving the extinction of vultures in Africa.

He said that the NCF had collaborated with market women, traditional medicine practitioners and law enforcement agencies in its campaign to save vultures from extinction.

NAN reports that some of the Save Vultures Ambassadors also showcased their involvement in the campaign for the survival of vultures.

Uduak Peters, a song writer and musician, popularly known as Tito Da Fire, recounted seeing huge population of vultures as a young child growing up in Liberia.

Tito Da Fire, however, noted that as an adult, such fantastic sight of vultures had become history.

Being a vulture ambassador has made me to understand the workings of the specie.

I have been engaging traditionalists on finding alternatives to vultures in traditional medicine, the musician said.

He said that killing vultures prevented the vultures from playing their roles as environmental sanitation officers.

Another vulture ambassador, Nigerian Comedian, Kunle Idowu , a.k.a Frank Donga, said that he first saw vultures as a student in Ago-Iwoye, in Ogun.

According to him, many Nigerians do not know much about the creature.

When you deprive vultures the opportunity to feed, you are killing vultures, Donga said.

He said that with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people had become very careful of unnecessary contact with wildlife.

NAN reports that the documentary shows that traditionalists use vultures in the preparation of eye and sickle cell medication and for spiritual cleansing for people suspected to be possessed by evil spirit.

It urged traditional medicine practitioners to look for alternatives to vultures for the treatment of ailments.

The campaign also appealed to illicit traffickers of wildlife to desist from the trade because of its negative impact on the environment. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Cecilia Ijuo

Some participants at the end of first phase of a four-day capacity building workshop, organised by Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), have commended the Funds commitment to effective service delivery.

They gave the commendation in a separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) in Abuja.

The participants who were drawn from all public universities, polytechnics and colleges of education from the North Central, North East and North West, said TETFunds commitment to achieving its mandate was highly commendable.

One of the participants, Dr Onu David, Director Quality Assurance, Federal College of Education, Zaria, Kaduna State, said that the Fund had performed excellently, particularly in its intervention in tertiary institutions

David, who commended the Fund for organising the workshop to further enlighten stakeholders on their roles, described it as very educative with stimulating discussions.

My work had essentially been centered on curriculum implementation, organisation, accreditation, teaching and learning as the case may be.

With the workshop however, I have been exposed to how project is an integral part of my job, he said.

He, however, urged the Fund to work on having an automated system where it could rank tertiary institutions without being necessarily present.

They can profile institutions and know the research output of academics without necessarily visiting the institutions.

All these things are done online now, so I think TETFund should scale up in that direction and institutions also need to be very visible online to make that easy, he said.

Mr Enyinnaya Akueshi, Head of Projects, Directorate of Physical Development, Works and Services, Open University, commended the Fund for intervening in various areas in the university.

We have a lot to take back to our various schools. We may also need to train others in the area of research, projects and many more, he said.

He, however, advised that the Fund to consider training for non-academic members of staff because there are also some needs that are non-academic.

Mrs Hadiza Suleiman, Acting Director, Quality Assurance, Adamu Tafawa Balewa College of Education, Bauchi State, aid the workshop was very enriching.

This is first of its kind and it has put us through on how to access TETFund interventions.

We were trained on the guidelines to follow, time management and service delivery among others, she said.

She, however, called on the Fund to assist in the area of academic training and development.

She said, the college was established in 2015 and because we were not trained on how to apply for interventions,we submitted our application late and missed out of a particular intervention.

The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, had in his opening address at the workshop, tasked benefiting institutions on adhering strictly to the guidelines to be able to access funds for projects.

Bagoro, who was represented by Mr Unchendu Wogu, a Director in the Office of the Executive Secretary, TETFund, said the theme of the workshop, Building Skills Effective Service Delivery was apt.

He noted that for any institution of higher learning to benefit from any form of intervention, it was important to adhere to all necessary guidelines, adding that this years theme is crafted on the premise to nurture and deliver more appropriately on building skills.

He added that, we want to achieve result as TETFund in line with our mandate. However, this could be jeopardised if there are dysfunctional services in our benefiting Institutions.

The workshop will cover quality assurance methods and enforcement in infrastructure and content based interventions in beneficiary institutions, strategic planning , corporate objectives and call analysis.

Others are, time and self management in service delivery, effective communication and efficient and efficient service delivery in the era of Information Communication Technology(ICT).

There will also be a rundown of TETFund intervention guidelines encompassing education support services, physical infrastructure, research and development, monitoring and evaluation.

NAN further reports that the second phase of the workshop which will also last for two days, will accommodate participants from South East, South West and South South.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Gami Tadanyigbe

Prof. Bissallah Ekele, the Chief Medical Director, University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH) Gwagwalada, has urged Nigerians and all targeted ages to embrace the COVID-19 vaccination as directed.

Ekele gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gwagwalada, shortly after one year anniversary for managing COVID-19 in the hospital.

The CMD urged the entire population to shun the notion that there is no COVID-19 in Nigeria, adding that there was need to be very careful of ones health status to help prevent the spread of the virus.

According to him, no health worker has been lost ever since the facility was turned into an isolation and treatment centre for the COVID-19 pandemic in the hospital.

We are not out of the woods yet, so it is reasonable to add whatever that needs to be added to preventan individual from contacting this disease.

The vaccination is one of such measures apart from wearing of face masks, maintaining hygiene and social distancing.

Fortunately for Nigeria, the highest political will has been shown, the President, the Vice President and ministers have taken the vaccine all we need to do is emulate our leaders because the disease is real.

I mean once in a while people will complain of pain in the arm but I say who will not have pains even if it is mosquito bites, he stressed.

According to him, stories in the social media that people who received the vaccine are collapsing and dying is not real, that is to say that the number of our health workers that took the vaccine increases daily.

Fortunately for us again in our hospital we have a thousand doses and almost 60 per cent of our health workers have received the vaccine without any effects.

I will advise that after health workers, it is time for the vaccination to be rolled out to members of the public.

The public should take advantage of it so that we can all be protected, live to cater for our children and develop the country, he said.

He said that the anniversary was aimed at celebrating the frontline health workers including doctors, nurses, hygienists, and other staffs of the hospital, who volunteered to be part of the COVID-19 treatment team.

Against speculations on social media that the COVID-19 vaccine has negative effects, he reassured of its safety, stressing that there was need for all to adhere to safety measures in order to effectively control spread of the virus.

I am impressed with the performance of our health workers, who came from different units of the hospital and all of them are senior health workers comprising, doctors, nurses, Lab scientists, hygienists among others.

The outcome of patients we have managed have given us consolation that the sacrifice is worth it because most of the patients came out in good health, he said.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Philip Yatai

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) says it is working to ensure that each country in the continent vaccinates at least 60 per cent of its population against COVID-19.

Dr Raji Tajudeen, the Head of Public Health Institutes and Research, Africa CDC, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, stated this at the Pre-Conference Webinar of the Medical Womens International Association, Near East and African Regional Congress on Wednesday.

Speaking on the theme COVID-19 in the African Region, Tajudeen said that the African CDC was working to ensure equitable and affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines by African countries.

He said that the Africa CDC had helped in securing 270 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for African countries and currently working to secure additional 300 million doses.

According to him, the effort is to ensure that each country has 60 per cent of the vaccine it needs, adding that failure to do so will make it very difficult to manage the pandemic in the continent.

He pointed out that COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the need for a new public health order and increased investment in the National Health Institute of each member state of the African Union.

We need to start thinking of how to build an adaptive public health workforce capacity to meet the needs of the growing population in the continent.

For example, in epidemiology alone, we have a short fall of 4,000. We need to start thinking of how to bridge this gap.

It is also time we begin to think of renewed partnership that will synchronise global health in the spirit of global solidarity to ensure effective response to global pandemic, he said.

Tajudeen also pointed out that there was no way Africa can attain health security without having local manufacturing capacity in terms of therapeutics and diagnostics, among others.

He explained that Africas population was currently estimated at 1.3 billion but with local health manufacturing capacity nowhere near where it was supposed to be.

Also speaking, Dr Abdulaziz Mohammed, the Head of Disease Control and Prevention, Africa CDC, said that as of 2017, India produced 94 per cent of its pharmaceutical needs.

Mohammed said that within the same period, Unganda imports 90 per cent of its pharmaceutical needs while Nigeria imports 75 per cent, indicating a huge manufacturing gap in medical manufacturing capacity in the continent.

He said that to address this gap, the African Medical Supplies Platform was established as a single online marketplace to enable the supply of COVID-19-realted critical medical equipment including laboratory consumables.

He said that the Africa CDC Regional Collaborating Centres and Regional Integrated Surveillance and Laboratory Network was also established to bring public health assets together in a functional network.

This includes laboratory, surveillance, workforce and partnerships.

The network is also accelerating regional disease detection and response through innovative data and experience sharing platforms.

It provides a platform for a cross border specimen referral system, strengthening laboratory centres of excellence to support other member states and use of partnerships to ensure unified response to outbreaks, he said.

On the topic Epidemiology, Gender Differentials and Lessons Learnt, Mohammed said that women and girls suffered the negative impact of the pandemic more than the men.

He said that since the pandemic, access to essential health services like child and maternal health care appears to be declining.

According to him, this gender gap could widen during and after the pandemic, expressing fear that the gains in womens and girls empowerment and voice built over the years could be reversed. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Emmanuel Oloniruha

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it plans to begin conversion of existing voting points to full fledged Polling Units (PUs) in a few weeks time.

Mr Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee said this when he spoke with newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said one of the elaborate programmes INEC had mapped out leading to the 2023 general elections was expanding voter access to polling units.

Okoye said that INEC conducted the 2019 general election with over 57,000 voting points, tied to the mother voting units, due to inadequate polling units.

He said that INEC had been working towards converting those voting points into full fledged polling units and to take them to underserved areas.

Okoye said the commission had consulted a broad spectrum of Nigerians who endorsed the proposal.

He said that in implementing the conversion process, INEC would also consulted stakeholders at the grassroots, especially at local governments and wards levels, where the exercise would take place.

He listed some of the stakeholders to include, the media, political parties, civil society groups and organisations, professional groups, labour unions as well as socio cultural groups and organisations.

We have also consulted with the National Economic Council, under the leadership of the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, made up of the various state governors and they have endorsed it.

We have also made presentation to the Federal Executive Council, which has also endorsed what we intend to do.

So, we have almost concluded with the consultations. The moment we are done with the consultation in the next weeks or so, we will move to implementation.

This implementation will take place at the level of the local government areas and states levels, because that is where this conversion will take place.

So at the local government areas and at the states levels, we will also consult with key stakeholders in those areas in relation to how many of the voting points will become polling units, those that will be moved and where they will be moved to.

So we are using our Geographic Information System (GIS) Laboratory to produce the map of all the local government areas in Nigeria, based on where the polling units are located.

Where the voting points are located and where we have underserved and unserved areas, where we have either schools or public facilities where we can locate some of these voting point that will be converted to polling units, he said.

Okoye said the moment the commission was done with the implementation of PUs expansion, it would resume the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) using a new enrolment device.

We are confident that young men and women who have attained the age of 18, will have an opportunity of having their names on the voters register.

They will also have new polling units that are closer to them so that some of them dont have to travel 10 kilometers on election day and at a period where there is restriction of movement, he said.

On the amendment of the Electoral Act 2010, Okoye said the commission was working with the National Assembly with the hope that it would be concluded before June.

He said that when finally amended and put into use, the act would take care of some of the challenges the commission was facing with smart card readers and the use of technology in the electoral process.

The new framework will also solve some of the problems of political parties refusing to render accounts after every election.

It will also solve some other challenging problems in the electoral process, he said.

Okoye expressed hope that the amendment process would be concluded before June so that INEC could apply some of the provisions to the Nov. 6 Anambra governorship election.

However, we are not waiting for the national assembly before we proceed with plans and preparations for the Anambra governorship election because it is also constitutionally circumscribed.

As of today, we are preparing for the Anambra governorship election with the existing electoral legal framework in Nigeria, he said. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday recounted experiences of one year of remote trading occasioned by the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NSE in a statement said it activated business continuity plan which saw the transition to remote trading in support of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exactly 365 days later, the Exchange continues to maintain seamless trading and business operations recording no down time, and delivering exceptional value to stakeholders.

The Exchange has remained an attractive platform for issuers and investors to meet their investment objectives, thanks to its steady and consistent capacity building in technology, automation and digitisation of its operations over the years.

It is, therefore, no surprise that the Exchange has recorded several notable achievements since it began remote trading, said the statement.

Listing some of the achievements recorded during the period, the local bourse said it made giant strides in its aspiration to demutualise in the past year of working from home and remote trading.

Following regulatory approvals from the Securities and Exchange Commission and Corporate Affairs Commission, NSE announced its demutualisation earlier this month and has now embarked on its transition as Nigerian Exchange Group Plc to the NGX era, it said

On market performance, the Exchange said that it would display remarkable resilience in providing stakeholders with a platform to raise capital and invest.

The statement said that in 2020, the market capitalisation of all securities listed on The Exchange increased to N38.5 trillion, representing a 49 per cent increase from 2019.

In the equities market, the NSE All-Share Index delivered a return of 50 per cent closing the year as the best performing stock exchange in the world according to Bloomberg.

The Exchange Traded Funds market also experienced its best year with a 272.30 per cent increase in market capitalisation; and the bond market capitalisation rose by 35.52 per cent.

In addition, over N4.03 trillion was raised in on the NSE in 2020 and over N722 billion has been raised already in 2021 by governments and corporates across asset classes, it said. (NAN )

Source: NAN News