Lt.-Gen Tukur Buratai

By Sumaila Ogbaje
The Defence Headquarters says the military has eliminated no fewer than 108 bandits in North West and scores of terrorists in North East in the last one week.

The Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche, disclosed this while giving weekly update of military operations across the country between Nov. 19 and Nov. 25 on Thursday in Abuja.

In the North West zone, Enenche said that troops of Operation Hadarin Daji and other subsidiary operations have sustained various aggressive operations with tremendous successes within the week.

He said the troops carried out series of raids, aerial ambushes, clearance operations and confidence building patrols leading to killing of several bandits and arrest of some of their collaborators.

Enenche disclosed that the troops had on Nov. 24, eliminated 82 bandits in air interdiction missions at Birnin Kogo Forest in Katsina State and Ajjah Forest in Zamfara.

He said that 17 bandits were also neutralised at Dunya Forest area of Katsina State through air strikes during the period.

He said the raids were sequel to credible intelligence and confirmatory surveillance missions indicating that dozens of Ansaru terrorist group-linked bandits had established a camp at the location where scores of rustled cattle were also kept.

He also said that a total of 11 illegal miners as well as a number of bandits collaborators and gun runners were also apprehended during the period.

According to him, troops continue to dominate the general area kinetically in order to deny bandits freedom of action.

Thus, the locals are requested to continue to cooperate with the security agencies and provide necessary information that will be useful to our collective objective of eradicating criminality from the zone, he said.

In the North East, Enenche said the troops of Operation Lafiya Dole maintained aggressive and responsive postures throughout the North East theatre killing scores of terrorists and rescue of kidnapped victims.

He said the troops had on Nov. 19 intercepted terrorists who were on the verge of receiving a N2 million ransoms from relatives of their kidnapped victims and rescued two women and three children.

According to him, troops neutralised one terrorist, while others escaped with gunshot wounds as well as recovered one AK-47 rifle and a motorcycle from the terrorists during the encounter.

He also disclosed that the Air Task Force had on Nov. 22 knocked out an ISWAP logistics base and neutralised several of their fighters at Tumbun Rego in Borno.

In North Central, the Coordinator said the troops of Operations Safe Haven and Whirl Stroke had continued to conduct raids operations on identified criminals hideouts in the zone with maximum results.

He said the troops had on Nov. 19 raided a hideout of militias at Tor Donga in KatsinaAla Local Government Area of Benue killing three bandits with several others fatally injured.

Enenche also disclosed that the troops arrest of 36 suspected cultists, illegal miners in Jos and recovered arms and substances suspected to be Cannabis Sativa, among other items.

Source: NAN News

ECOWAS Secretariat

By Lizzy Okoji
Algeria says it is seeking to strengthen economic, trade, political, diplomatic, and security relations with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Algerias Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Sabri Boukadoun, disclosed this at a meeting with President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Brou in Abuja.

According to Boukadoun, Algerias quest for close cooperation with ECOWAS is aimed at tackling the challenges facing the continent.

He identified such challenges as Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, economic downturn, trade imbalances, and insecurity, among others.

He said that as a fully-fledged African country, Algeria would remain committed to being an active player in the new African trade zone, which is opening soon.

We follow and respect the work that ECOWAS is doing on so many fields and I am here to pay my respects. We are neighbours to ECOWAS members. We share a long border with them.

I have come to see you, to talk together to see what we can do together. We need to cooperate and exchange views and Algeria is ready for that.

We are open and want to come in all transparency and frankness. We want to work with you on so many challenges COVID, economy, and trade.

We are about to open the new African Free trade Zone. We are part of it. We are fully Africans and what concerns Africans concerns us directly; security, trade and economy, Boukadoun said.

Responding, Brou acknowledged the existing close relations between Algeria and ECOWAS members.

According to him, the ECOWAS Commission is looking forward to strengthening relations between Algeria and Member States.

He described Boukadouns visit to Nigeria as a good development in view of Nigerias position as a very strategic country in the community.

Algeria is a very important country in the continent and like I said, a neighbour of ECOWAS members.

We do appreciate at a high level the very close relations you have with practically each member of ECOWAS.

You have very good diplomatic, political, economic, commercial relations with each of the member states. As such, we value those relationships that really last for years.

And we do want to work on the basis of those relations, to reinforce and see how we can contribute more at the ECOWAS Commission, to strengthen what you have already with each of the members of ECOWAS.

Your visit here today to the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a good and very strong example of this relationship that you have with each of the member countries.

Nigeria is a very important member of our community. It is one of the key members of our community and the fact that you are here today on this visit, testifies to the quality relationship that we have been discussing.

So, we at the commission are really looking forward to working to reinforce the overall relations at the community level with ECOWAS, Brou said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Boukadoun is on a two-day working visit to Nigeria and is expected to meet with his Nigerian counterpart, Geoffrey Onyeama on Thursday to discuss bilateral relations.

Source: NAN News

Pope Francis and Diego Maradona

Pope Francis remembers soccer legend and fellow Argentine Diego Maradona with affection and is keeping him in his prayers, the Vatican said on Wednesday.

Maradona, who died on Wednesday at his home in Argentina following a heart attack, met the pope several times at the Vatican after Francis was elected in 2013 as Latin Americas first pope.

The pope was informed about the death of Diego Maradona, he recalls the times he met him in these past years with affection, and he is remembering him in his prayers, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.

Francis is a lifelong fan of the Buenos Aires San Lorenzo soccer team.

The official Vatican News website ran a story of Maradonas death on its front page with a headline calling him soccers poet.

It called Maradona an extraordinary player but a fragile man, a reference to his struggle with drugs.

Maradona travelled to Rome several times to take part in several benefit games called Matches for Peace, whose proceeds went to a papal charity for education in developing countries.

The proceeds were also for victims of the 2016 earthquake in central Italy.

Maradona also gave the pope a signed jersey with a dedication that read in Spanish: To Pope Francis, with all my affection and (wishes for) much peace in the world.

Before one match he told Vatican Radio: I think we all feel something in our hearts when we see wars, when we see the dead.

I think this match will put to rest the notion that we soccer players dont do anything for peace a soccer ball is worth more than 100 rifles. (Reuters/NAN)

Source: NAN News

TETFund

By Funmilayo Adeyemi

Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), on Thursday presented allocation letters to the Vice-Chancellors of 12 universities for the take-off of their TETFund Centre of Excellence (TCOE).

Bogoro, while presenting the letters in Abuja at an event, charged the institutions on implementation of its own approved TCOE to address specific national development challenges by preparing professionals.

He also disclosed that the board would fund the centres with a grant of N1 billion each for five years to enable them attain national aspirations.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Muhammadu Buhari in March approved the first set of TCOE to take up research in their respective regions for national development.

He said two universities were selected from each geopolitical zone of the country to bridge the gap between researchers and users, as well as stimulating and strengthening triple-helix relationships.

He listed the universities to include: in North Central,University of Abuja which would host TCOE in Public Governance and Leadership and University of Jos to host TCOE in Food Security.

North East has Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, to host TCOE in Food Security and University of Maiduguri will host TCOE in Arid Zone Research and Development.

He added that in North West,Usman Dan-Fodio University, Sokoto will host TCOE in Urology and Nephrology, while Bayero University, Kano will host TCOE in Renewable Energy.

Others are: South East,Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike to host TCOE in Root Crop Research and Development and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka to host TCOE in Agricultural and Engineering Translational Studies.

Bogoro also named the University of Benin to host TCOE in Aquaculture and Food Technology, while University of Uyo will host TCOE in Computational Intelligence in South South region.

In the South West, the University of Ibadan to host TCOE in Multi-Disciplinary Studies and the University of Lagos on TCOE in Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Management.

According to him, the relevance of COEs for capacity building in developing countries cannot be overemphasised.

He said COEs were potent instruments for nation building as far as they have the potential to realise human resource development.

He said The conceptual framework for Centres of Excellence is unlikely to be unfamiliar, alien or even novel to most of you here. Nevertheless, a Strategic Framework and Establishment Guidelines for TETFund Centres of Excellence, as approved by the TETFund Board of Trustees will be made available to all of you.

Each selected institution is expected to implement its own approved TCOE, with the objective to address a specific national development challenge through preparation of professionals, applied research and associated outreach activities to partner, especially community services.

Within that prism, institutions will have autonomy to implement their own institution-specific proposals to enhance capacity to deliver national high-quality training to address development challenges.

He said the major objective of establishing the Centres was among others, to support strategic and applications-oriented research and expertise with potential industrial application.

Also, the chairman, TETFund Board of Trustees, Alhaji Kashim Ibrahim-Imam said the funds BOT was committed to advancing the tertiary education in all ramifications.

Ibrahim-Iman promised thatthe fund would continue to sustain the process of research in the country, noting that an additional 12 universitieswould be established by 2021.

He said We want you to invest at least 70 per cent of the research grant in safe and high-yielding financial investment.

Responding on behalf of Vice-Chancellors of the benefiting universities, Prof. Lilian Salami, Vice Chancellor, University of Benin promised to live to expectations in delivering the task accorded to them. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Minks

Polands agriculture minister denied reports on Thursday that cases of the SARS-Cov-2 coronavirus have been detected in the countrys mink population.

Mink are dark-colored, semi aquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera Neovison and Mustela, and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters and ferrets.

On Wednesday, a team of researchers from Gdansk Medical University reported that the presence of the coronavirus was confirmed among eight out of 91 minks tested at a mink farm in northern Poland.

However, tests conducted by the state veterinary institute, in response to these reports, did not confirm the presence of the pathogen, Agriculture Minister Grzegorz Puda said, in comments reported by the PAP agency.

At present there are no confirmed cases of the coronavirus at mink farms in Poland, but the business will be closely monitored, the head of the state veterinary institute Krzysztof Niemczuk said on Thursday.

Since May, 280 fur farms have been examined with no coronavirus cases confirmed, according to the countrys chief veterinarian Bogdan Konopka, there are 840 fur farms in Poland, including 340 mink farms.

At the same time, Poland is preparing legislation which would regulate the potential culling of animals and compensation for farmers, the agriculture minister said.

Infections among minks had earlier been confirmed in other European countries, including Sweden or Denmark. (dpa/NAN)

Source: NAN News

AfCFTA

By Joshua Olomu

The African Union Commission (AUC) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) have urged African leaders to embrace and harness economic opportunities offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

They made the call in a joint statement to felicitate with African countries in commemoration of the 2020 African Industrialisation Day (AID).

The statement was issued in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD and the Afrochampions Initiative.

Mr Jean Bakole, UNIDO Representative and Regional Director,presented the joint goodwill statement during the commemoration of the 2020 AID on Tuesday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) recalls that the United Nations in 1989, declared Nov. 20 every year as Africa Industrialisation Day.

The theme for this years edition is Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialisation in the AfCFTA and COVID 19 Era.

It is organised by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investments (FMITI) andthe Organised Labour

According to the multilateral organisations, the AfCFTA opens up opportunities for African countries to diversify away from commodity dependency toward increased intra-Africa trade in manufactured goods.

They said the AfCTTA era had the potential to facilitate quicker recoveries of African economies, most of whom were currently undergoing a recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

They therefore urged AU-member countries to consolidate the continents vision of building a self-resilient and self-reliant Africa, using the platform of continental economic integration.

The AUC, AUDA-NEPAD, UNECA, Afrochampions Initiative and UNIDO are, therefore, through the organisationof this Africa Industrialisation Day and Week speaking with one voice.

We are calling on all stakeholders to upscale support for sustainable and inclusive industrialisation of the continent as we enter the AfCFTA era.

As the AfCFTA comes into operation, lurking on the horizon is the challenge for African governments and entrepreneurs to create decent jobs for the 170 million African youths.

The youths are set to enter the job market between 2020 and 2030, industrial skills development becomes critical in this regard.

Africa has to take a more prominent role in the 4th industrial revolution as digitisation is opening up new business frontiers and e-based approaches of organisingand directing industrial production and commercial transactions, they said.

According to them, the AfCFTA is the greatest prospect for Africas accelerated pace to industrialise and rest on the development of regional value chains to inform cross border investment decisions.

They therefore urged African leaders to advance the AfCFTA and Africa-industrialisation side-by-side.

NAN reports that the AfCFTA with its secretariat in Accra, Ghana, is a free trade area created by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement among 54 of the 55 African Union (AU) nations.

The free-trade area is reputed to be the largest in the world in terms of the number of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organisation.

The main objectives of the AfCFTA are to create a continental market for goods and services with free movement of people and capital and pave the way for creating a Customs Union.

It will also grow intra-African trade through better harmonisation and coordination of trade liberalisation across the continent.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

S/South leaders engage FG delegation, demand restructuring

By Ifeanyi Olannye

South-South Governors and leaders on Tuesday, insisted that Nigeria needs to be restructured along the lines of true federalism and devolution of powers to the federating units.

According to a statement from Delta Government House, Asaba, which was made available to newsmen on Tuesday, the leaders and people from the region made the demand at a consultative meeting with a Federal Government delegation of ministers and other stakeholders from the region at Government House, Port Harcourt, Rivers.

The Chairman of the South-South Governors Forum and Governor of Delta, Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa, who presented the regions demand, said that the nation is not at peace because the country has failed to practice true federalism.

He said now is the time to restore the country back to a true federation with all the attributes and nuances of a federal state.

For us in the South-South, the #ENDSARS protest is a metaphor of almost all that is wrong with us, our refusal to properly understand issues, and imbibe and entrench the virtues of justice, fairness and equity.

The previous system of true federalism was jettisoned and it created a powerful center controlling and distributing all the resources unevenly.

There is now a strong desire to restructure the country in order to guarantee peace, security, stability and progress of the nation.

The region demands true federalism and devolution of powers to the states, including creating and managing their own police and security architecture, true fiscal federalism guided by the principle of derivation, revenue sharing and control of resources by each state, he said.

Okowa decried the deliberate lack of understanding, empathy and uncompromising attitudes of some Nigerians, who refused to understand the peculiar challenges of the South-South region, especially the degradation of the environment and the pollution of its waters.

All we demand and ask for is fairness and equity and as we await actions to restructure the country, we hereby renew our demands for: The relocation of the headquarters of major oil companies in Nigeria to the region; relocation of several NNPC subsidiaries from Lagos and Abuja to the region.

The region further requests the completion without delay of the East-West Road and all federal roads in the region; Construction of the Lagos-Calabar railway, reconstruction and rehabilitation of the regions major seaports notably the Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri, he said.

The leaders also demanded the privatisation of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries after several failed turnaround maintenance attempts.

The region called for the release of all funds owed Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and for the amendment of the NDDC Act to place the commission on a first-line charge.

They decried annual flooding challenges in the region and called for the establishment of buffer dams to control flood waters in the region.

They also called for the completion of the abandoned Gas Revolution Industrial Park at Ogidigben and the stepping down of electricity at the Okpai and Utorogu gas plants.

The Leader of the Presidential delegation and Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, thanked the people of the South-South for their co-operation, and assured that all issues raised at the meeting will be communicated to the President.

Gambari apologised for the failure of the meeting to hold as earlier slated on Nov. 17.

He said: we are here on behalf of the President as part of the ongoing and continuing conversation on how to make our nation better and I must thank the Governor of Delta, Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa, for his tireless effort in ensuring that this meeting was held.

Our youths took to the streets to express their bitterness on ill-treatment meted out to them by the police and the President, recognising the importance of the demands made by the protesters, agreed to implement the five-point demands.

All over the world, people have right to protest but in doing so, respect for law and order must be adhered to and they must also respect the rights of others.

The president commends governors, traditional rulers and other stakeholders for their role in handling the protesters, he said

On his part, Deputy President of the Senate, Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege, commended the youths of South-South for their peaceful disposition during the protests.

He assured that all constitutional issues canvassed would be addressed by the Constitution Review Committee and urged the governors to prevail on their Houses of Assemblies to give the necessary concurrence at the appropriate time.

In his remarks, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, said that aside the massive economic effects of the protests, 243 public facilities were burnt, 71 warehouses looted, 610 vehicles destroyed, 134 police stations burnt, 164 police vehicles destroyed and 136 firearms carted away.

He added that 65 civilians were killed during the protests and 37 policemen gruesomely murdered while 196 persons were seriously injured.

Also, the Director-General, Department of State Services (DSS), Mr Yusuf Magaji-Bichi, said the unity of the country, in spite of the diversity, remains the strength of the nation, adding that all hands must be on deck to ensure that peace returns to the country.

Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers, in a vote of thanks, commended the federal government delegation and stakeholders of the region for attending the meeting and urged the federal authorities to ensure the implementation of the regions demands.

Source: NAN News

Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche

By Sumaila Ogbaje
The Defence Headquarters says the Air Component of Operation Hadarin Daji has killed no fewer than 82 bandits in Katsina and Zamfara states.

The two air interdictions were carried out at Birnin Kogo Forest in Katsina State and Ajjah Forest in Zamfara on Monday.

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

Enenche said that the bandits were armed with very high calibre weapons, including Anti-Aircraft (AA) Guns.

He said that while about 67 bandits were neutralised and several others injured in the air attack on Birnin Kogo forest, 15 others were killed at Ajjah forest.

Enenche said that both air strikes were executed sequel to credible intelligence and aerial surveillance missions that led to the identification of the two forest hideouts.

He disclosed that the two hideouts housed scores of the armed bandits along with hundreds of rustled cattle.

According to him, the Nigerian Air Force fighter jets and helicopter gunships were dispatched to attack the two locations.

They took turns in engaging the target areas, scoring accurate hits on the caves, which are used by the armed bandits to shield themselves from air strikes.

The Military High Command commends the troops and other security agencies operating in the North West zone for their professionalism and urges them to remain resolute in order to eradicate all armed bandits.

Members of the public within the affected areas are please requested to promptly report any person with suspicious injuries to the nearest security or law enforcement agency post, he said.

Source: NAN News

Chinese seniors

China will help the elderly solve problems in using smart technologies and reserve traditional way of services for them, according to a plan issued by the General Office of the State Council.

The plan sets objectives for work in the 2020-2022 period focusing on seven types of services and scenarios most frequently used by or facing the elderly, such as day-to-day traveling, medical treatment, recreational activities and civic services.

Improvements will include securing elderly services in emergencies, including optimising the health screening procedure that requires QR codes produced with mobile applications before entering public places and offering basic services to senior citizens staying at home.

The plan urged efforts to help the elderly make medical treatment appointments by providing diversified channels and improving the way online appointments are made.

It also underscored the importance of retaining traditional financial service modes while making online consumption more convenient for this group.

To improve the competence of the elderly in terms of technology, measures will be taken to increase the supply of senior-friendly products, redesign internet applications and enhance technology training for them.

The country will introduce a string of measures effectively addressing the most pressing problems of the elderly in using smart technologies by the end of the year to meet their basic needs.

The plan also stipulates benefitting more senior citizens with smart services while improving traditional elderly services next year.

By the end of 2022, the level and convenience of smart services for the elderly will be significantly improved.

Online and offline services will be better coordinated and long-term mechanisms bridging the digital divide will be established, according to the plan. (Xinhua/NAN)

Source: NAN News

COlVID-19 vaccine

Spains Health Minister Salvador Illa on Tuesday explained the governments plans to vaccinate the population against COVID-19 in 2021.

Speaking at a press conference after the cabinet approved the plan, Illa said the vaccination would be completed in three stages.

During the first stage between January and March, around 2.5 million people would receive the vaccine, starting with the elderly people and residential care workers, followed by other health workers and dependent people.

The minister said that during this period, the supply of vaccines would be very limited, but supply would increase progressively in the second stage between March and June, with a significant increase foreseen for the third stage.

The governments vaccination strategy divides the population into 18 groups.

People would be vaccinated progressively and in strict order. Illa did not elaborate, saying only that details will be announced in a timely manner.

Spain will have enough doses to vaccine around 80 million people even though the countrys total population is just below 47 million.

Madrid has concluded agreements on the purchase of vaccines from AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Johnson