Aliko Dangote

By Solomon Asowata

The Dangote Group says its two billion-dollar granulated urea fertiliser plant located at Ibeju Lekki, Lagos will begin operation before the end of December.

Mr Anthony Chiejina, Group Head, Corporate Communications, Dangote Group, confirmed the development to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.

Chiejina said: The project will be ready for take-off before the end of December.

The pre-testing has already been done and the delay in starting operations was due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

NAN reports that Mr Aliko Dangote, Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Group, had in February projected that the plant would begin operations in July.

Dangote had said that the project would be the largest fertiliser plant in the world with its three million tonnes per annum capacity.

He said it would make Nigeria the only urea exporting country in Sub-Saharan Africa, adding that the fertiliser and petrochemicals plants were capable of generatingbillion annually.

According to him, the amount is almost 10 per cent of what Nigeria is getting from home remittances, which is one of the highest in the world. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Gov. Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa

By Muhammad Adam

Gov. Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa has warned principals of Secondary Schools in the state against extorting parents over examination and school fees.

Fintiri gave the warning on Wednesday in Yola while addressing religious, traditional and community leaders from Adamawa South Senatorial Zone who paid him a sympathy visit over the recent ENDSARS protests that led to vandalism in the state.

Fintiri said his administration had already paid for WAEC and NECO examinations for students of public schools that sat for the 2020 examinations and therefore no Principal should demand for such payment.

I received a report that WAEC on Monday 2, October, 2020 has released the 2020 examination results, but Adamawa state results were withheld for alleged non payment of 2017 Supervisors allowances.

He said that there was no justification for WAEC to punish the students who sat for the 2020 examination for the offence committed in 2017, adding that government had already released money to settle the alleged supervisors allowances for WAEC to release the results.

I want to make it categorically clear that no Parent or guardian whose children are in public schools across the state should pay a dime to any school principal.

Government had already paid NECO and WAEC Examination fees for all students and our administration has declared free education in the state, Fintiri said.

Commenting on the ongoing selling of Teachers recruitment forms, the governor directed that all the forms should be given free and anybody found selling the forms would be dealt with accordingly.

On the ongoing Teachers recruitment, we are going to give equal opportunity and treatment to every local government area, he said, addingI have directed that the teachers recruitment forms be given free of charge to all interested applicants across the state.

Speaking on behalf of the communities, Mr Ganggurun Gesselembe, from Ganye Local Government Area , said that the visit was to sympathize with the governor over the recent violent youth protests.

Gesslembe expressed shock over the level of devastation recorded in the state as a result of ENDSARS protest, while assuring the governor of maximum support from the people of the states Southern Senatorial district. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Mining site

Seventeen miners at a coal mine in southern Zambia survived gas suffocation while working underground, a mining official said on Tuesday.

The accident happened in the early hours of Monday at Collum Coal Mine situated in Sinazongwe district, at shaft 6 underground when suspected carbon monoxide gas filled the underground passage as the miners were working.

Acting Mine Manager Oliver Kabango said the incident resulted in some of the miners fainting although there were no fatalities, according to the state-run news agency, the Zambia News and Information Service.

He said the miners were taken to a local hospital where they were treated for gas suffocation and later discharged.

Safety officers have since been dispatched to the accident scene to ascertain the source of the carbon monoxide, he added.

District Commissioner Sheena Muleya, who visited the mine, expressed concern over the accident and urged management to ensure maximum safety in the operations. (Xinhua/NAN)

Source: NAN News

AEDC effects revised service tariff on Nov. 1

By Desmond Ejibas

The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) on Tuesday commenced the implementation of the new electricity tariff regime earlier suspended by the Federal Government.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal Government had suspended the initial take-off of the new tariff following the outcry that greeted its earlier launch on Sept. 1.

Mrs Chioma Aninwe, an official in the Corporate Communications Unit of PHED announced the launch of the new tariff regime in a statement in Port Harcourt.

PHED notifies its customers and members of the public in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River and Rivers states that it has commenced the implementation of the revised service-based tariff.

PHED implemented the revised service based tariff as approved by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) which took effect from Nov. 1.

The revision stems from the consultative review meetings held among the Federal Government, labour unions and other stakeholders, following concerns raised by customers on the MYTO 2020 SRT tariffs.

Due to concerns by customers, the tariff which was earlier implemented on Sept. 1 was later suspended on Sept. 28, Aninwe said.

She explained that the new tariff classification was based strictly on service parameters, including quality of service measured by the average availability of power supply in a month.

Others are interruptions, frequency and duration of electricity supply as well as voltage levels that are not limited to infrastructural investments.

Aninwe also disclosed that PHED had decided to maintain the already categorised billing system that is structured on five bands on hours of availability of power supply.

To this end, customers on Band A category on a minimum of 20 hours power supply per day are expected to pay N53.02 per kilowatt.

Category B with a minimum of 16 hours power daily supply will now pay 52.59 per kilowatt, while Band C customers on minimum 12 hours power supply daily will pay 46.15 per kilowatt.

In addition, customers on Band D and E categories receiving a minimum of eight and four hours power supply per day respectively, will maintain the old tariff structure.

Consequently, Pre-paid metered customers on Band A to C and Post-paid metered customers bill for November billing cycle in their band categories will charge the new tariff from Nov. 1, Aninwe said.

Aninwe appealed to customers in the PHED coverage states to ensure prompt payment of their electricity bill to enable the company to expand its networks. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

The capsized boat in Indonesia

Three people were killed and four missing after a boat carrying candidates for a local district election sank off Indonesias Sulawesi island, a search official said on Tuesday.

The boat was said to have capsizednear Banggai island on Monday after it was engulfed by big waves,said Haris Sapardi, the head of the local search and rescue agency.

It was carrying 11people, including acandidate for Banggai Laut district chief,Rusly Banun andhis running mate Asgar Badalia, who were on a campaign trip to the nearby Masoni island, he said.

Rusly was among the four people rescued but his running mate was found dead, Haris said.

A search operation for the missing four has continued, he said. (dpa/NAN)

Source: NAN News

Facebook and twitter

Social media companies Twitter Inc and Facebook Inc on Monday outlined plans for placing warning labels on posts from U.S. election candidates and campaigns that claim victory in advance of official results.

The moves come as social network platforms brace for what has been an unusual election cycle due to a high number of mail-in ballots that may cause a delay in final results.

Beginning on election night through the inauguration, Twitter said it would place warning labels such as official sources called this election differently, or official sources may not have called the race when this was tweeted.

Facebook will add specific information in news feed notifications in its apps and in the labels on posts if a candidate or a party declares premature victory, and will continue to show latest results in its Voting Information Centre, it said in a separate statement.

Facebook said it will also monitor a range of issues in real time on Election Day, including reports of voter suppression content, and will remove any attempts to suppress participation or intimidate voters.

U.S.-based accounts with over 100,000 followers and a significant engagement will also be considered for labeling, Twitter said.

Social media companies are under pressure to combat election-related misinformation and prepare for the possibility of violence or poll place intimidation around the November vote.

In an updated blog, Twitter said it would consider state election officials and national news outlets such as ABC News, Associated Press, CNN and Fox News that have independent election decision desks as official sources for results.

Their official Twitter accounts will be exempted from labeling, the company said. (Reuters/NAN)

Source: NAN News

Cancer awareness creation by members of Project PINK BLUE

Dr Isreal Kolawole, a Consultant Anesthetic and Palliative Care Clinician, on Tuesday commended the Federal Governments review of the National Palliative Care and Chemosafe Policies.

Kolawale, a consultant at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, that the review would eliminate cancer patients challenges in Nigeria.

NAN recalls that the Federal Ministry of Health and stakeholders in the health sector reviewed the policies during the Cancer week, which held from Oct. 26 to Oct. 30.

Palliative Care Policy has to do with cancer patients in critical conditions, while Chemosafe Policy has to do with the safe administration of medicine to cancer patients.

The consultant described the review of the palliative care policy as a welcome development that would aid the growth of palliative care in the country.

Without the Palliative Care policy, there will be no strong government backing and support for the service but once there is a policy, it will give the government direction on the cause of action.

Before now, the growth of palliative care in Nigeria has been very slow because there has not been strong government support, especially in the area of budgetary allocation.

We hope that once the policy is in place, government will see the need in making budgetary provision for the service because palliative care policy is all encompassing.

It is very important, it is holistic; it addresses challenges for those in life threatening diseases; both cancer and non-communicable life threatening diseases, he said.

According to him, the palliative care policy will address challenges of cancer patients that have been neglected in the current medical care in Nigeria.

Kolawole also commended the Federal Government for addressing the problem of inadequate supply of morphine, adding that the medicine was core in managing pains in cancer patients.

Morphine is a drug used to treat moderate to severe pain; it binds to opioid receptors in the central nervous system and some other tissues.

We used to have inadequate supply of Morphine but the problem is being addressed because there is now a budgetary allocation for it.

When there is no Morphine, you can hardly practice palliative care; it is core because pain is the core problem of cancer.

Morphine is the strongest analgesic known today that can take care of the pain. When there is no morphine, patients suffer unduly, he said.

Kolawole added that the Chemosafe policy would address the issue of availability and affordability of cancer drugs and also its genuineness.

According to him, the Chemosafe policy will ensure that chemotherapy drugs that are used for chemosafe as well as make the chemotherapy drugs available at a cheaper rate.

Right now, the drugs are very expensive. The policy harmonises the drugs commonly used for cancer and purchase them in bulk.

Once it is purchased in bulk, the final price to patients is reduced. It could be reduced to 50 per cent of the original price.

It also ensures that the drugs that are being purchased are from the original manufacturers, because there are lot of fake drugs in the market, he said.

Source: NAN News

French Police make arrests in Nice

Four people were arrested north of Paris on Tuesday in connection with last weeks deadly knife attack in a church in Nice, a judicial source said.

One of the people arrested, a 29-year-old from Tunisia, was suspected of having been in contact with the attacker, the source said.

The other three were in his home when police came to arrest him.

Three people were killed in the attack on Friday, which President Emmanuel Macron described as an act of terrorism.

The main suspect, a 21-year-old Tunisian who had recently arrived in France via Italy, was shot 14 times by police and hospitalised in a critical condition.

It was the second deadly attack in a month, after the beheading in a Paris suburb of a schoolteacher, who had used controversial cartoons of the prophet Mohammed in a class on the freedom of expression.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Monday that he would be visiting Tunisia and Algeria later this week.

The according to him is to persuade those countries to accept the return of citizens with extremist views that France wanted to expel.

France has also intensified a planned crackdown on militants activists after the attacks, with a big mosque in a Paris suburb and a prominent Islamic charity both closed down. (dpa/NAN)

Source: NAN News

Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire.

By Abujah Racheal

Mr Steve Adepoju, a Public Health Expert, has appealed to the Federal Government and other stakeholders not to neglect Tuberculosis (TB) sufferers as more attention and funding had been given to COVID-19patients in the country.

He made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.

He added that too much attention was being given to
COVID-19, forgetting about TB and other Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).

He expressed worry that temporary disruptions of TB treatment could cause long-term increase in TB incidence and mortality.

He added that patients who do not consistently take the full dose of medication can spread drug-resistant tuberculosis, which is resistant to common medication.

Routine services for TB are being disrupted by stringent lockdown at the heat of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Nigeria should seek to estimate the potential long-term epidemiological impact of such disruptions on TB burden in high-burden states, and how this negative impact could be mitigated.

According to the expert, COVID-19 pandemic threatens to reverse recent progress in reducing the global burden of TB disease in the country.

He explained that TB starts with a mild fever and malaise, followed by a painful cough and shortness of breath.

The infection spread to people in close reach. Containing an outbreak requires contact tracing, as well as isolation and treatment of the sick for weeks or months.

This disease has touched every part of the globe. It claims 1.5 million lives each year.

As COVID-19 spreads around the world, consuming global health resources, perennially neglected adversaries are making a comeback.

The public health expert noted thatthe ideal estimate of the seriousness of infection were in its fatality risk.

He added that before we claim that HIV/AIDS and TB are worse than COVID-19, we must prove that their case fatality ratios are higher.

He stressed that COVID-19 and TB posed a deadly and dual threat.

He suggested that tremendous catch-up work, advocacy, and funding be done to get back on track, even as the COVID-19 pandemic was pushing millions of people into extreme poverty.

This is not good for TB because poverty and TB are inter-related. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Polio

By Cecilia Ologunagba

Nigeria has stepped up efforts to sustain its polio-free certification status certified by Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) for Polio Eradication, says WHO.

According to a statement posted on the WHO Regional Office website, the attainment of polio free status had not debar Nigeria from increasing its efforts on polio vaccination.

Nigeria in collaboration with other partners is leaving no stones unturned in making sure that all forms of poliovirus are no longer circulating in the country.

According to the statement, the last case of wild poliovirus (WPV) in the country was reported in Borno state in Aug. 2016.

On Aug. 25, 2020, Nigeria, through the sustained and concerted efforts of the government, WHO and other partners, joined the leagues of countries certified wild polio-free which culminated in a wild polio-free African Region.

However, the UN health agency said the battle against all forms of polioviruses in the country was yet to be over.

It is not over as Nigeria is still battling with the circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus type 2 (cVDPV2) and there is need to sustain the immunisation coverage all over the country to halt transmission.

To sustain the gains of polio eradication in the country, WHO has been working with Borno State Government in implementing vaccination and surveillance activities in hard to access, security-compromised areas of the state.

The effort is to sustain the momentum gained from the polio eradication programme.

Also to maintain vaccine availability to the children in the area as vaccination and surveillance accessibility was the main issue in 2016 when the wild polio cases were detected in the state.

In Borno state, especially during the COVID-19 lockdown, the teams comprising personnel from WHO as well as State and Community Informants in Inaccessible Areas continued immunisation and surveillance activities in the hard to access settlements in the state.

Through these efforts, the teams have been able to ensure that AFP cases are identified and children vaccinated against polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases.

Although there have been cases of AFP reported from insecure areas in the state, they were, however, classified as negative for wild polio and cVDPV2 after investigations and processing of stool samples by the WHO accredited national laboratories.

The epidemiological report showed that at the end of week 42, 2020, a total of 117 Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) cases have been notified and investigated from 64 security compromised wards of 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs).

According to WHO, the inability to access some settlements in Borno state due to the conflict had presented a challenge to the immunisation programme.

However, it stated that based on the new grounds covered in the past few months, there had been increase in surveillance and vaccine reach in the insecure areas.

The surveillance report from the state shows that Community Informants from Inaccessible Areas (CIIAs) have reached 6,123 security compromised geo locations with valid geo evidence.

1,212 of these geo-locations were previously unreached for surveillance and by any other intervention.

Also, 1,009 of the 1,212 previously unreached locations were reached with polio vaccines in addition to polio surveillance through vaccination activities by CIIA.

Among the newly reached areas in the last three months (July-September 2020), 72 of the settlements are in Bama LGA.

Commenting on the improvement in surveillance and vaccination reach in the state, the WHO State Coordinator in Borno, Dr Musa Audu, says: Bearing in mind that Borno was the last sanctuary of wild polio transmission in Africa.

They are leaving no stone unturned to ensure the state and Nigeria at large remains polio-free.

This is being done by consolidating on all innovations that were implemented that led to the eventual eradication of polio.

According to Audu, they have been able to gain access to new grounds through the efforts of the informant network in insecure areas.

We have made progress in establishing sustained surveillance in insecure areas.

As at 16th October, 387 (36 per cent) settlements out of the previously unreached 1,083 settlements as at the time of ARCC visit to the state in March 2020 have been accessed by the programme with valid geo evidence.

This is a testament that we are not relenting in our efforts in spite of being certified polio-free, he said.(NAN)

Source: NAN News