Oyo state has recorded it first COVID-19 patient delivery at the Olodo Infectious Disease Centre in Ibadan, Gov. Seyi Makinde said.

Makinde made this known via his official Twitter, @seyiamakinde on Saturday.

Makinde, however, said the state recorded two additional deaths from the dreaded coronavirus, increasing the total death toll in the state to 14.

We had our first COVID-19 patient delivery at the Infectious Disease Centre, Olodo, mother and baby are doing well.

The COVID-19 confirmation tests for 19 suspected cases came back positive.

The cases based on Local Government Areas are from Ibadan South East (3), Ibadan North (3), Akinyele (3), Lagelu (2), Oluyole (2), Ibadan North West (2), Egbeda (1), Ido (1), Ona Ara (1), and Oyo East (1) Local Government Areas.

So, the total number of confirmed cases in Oyo State now is 1, 451.

Sadly, we had two COVID-19-related deaths. So, the total number of deaths in Oyo state is 14.

Please call the Emergency Operations Centre on 08095394000 | 08095863000 | 08078288999 | 08078288800, if you have any COVID-19 symptoms: cough, fever, tiredness, body ache, loss of smell/taste and shortness of breath, he said.

Source: NAN News

Pharmacy

The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) has shut a drug market along Douglas Road in Owerri for violating the regulations guiding handling of pharmaceutical products and the sales of medicines.

The council also sealed 19 pharmacies and 434 Patent and Proprietary Medicines Vendors (PPMV) also known as patent medicine shops in the state.

Anthonia Aruya,the Councils Director of Inspection and Monitoring, said at a press conference in Owerri that some arrests were made during the enforcement .

Despite the Federal Governments explicit policy direction and the PCNs guidance to stakeholders on relocation of markets into regulated centres (Coordinated Wholesale Centres), a new drug market , was recently set up was discovered in this state.

The PCN has sealed the market preparatory for evacuation, he said.

According to her, the council visited 557 premises that comprised 68 pharmacies as well as 489 patent medicine shops during the exercise.

Aruya added that 10 pharmacies and one patent medicine shop were also faulted for poor handling of controlled drugs, selling and dispensing of ethical drugs without the supervision of pharmacists.

She advised the public to always look out for the Pharmacists Annual License to Practice and the Premises Certificate to avoid patronising quacks.

Aruya said that medicines sold in unregistered outlets were not guaranteed to have efficacy, quality and safety as those sold in regulated facilities.

Source: NAN News

The Police Service Commission (PSC) has approved the promotion of 6,618 senior officers, one Assistant Inspector General (AIG), four Commissioners and three Deputy Commissioners.

The Head, Press and Public Relations of the Commission, Mr Ikechukwu Ani, disclosed this in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

He said that the approval was one of the highpoints of the 8th Plenary meeting of the commission that ended on Wednesday, after three weeks of deliberations.

Ani noted that the officer promoted from AIG toDeputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), MrOlushola Oyebade, currently atthe National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies,was to represent the Southwest Geopolitical Zone.

He said the four Commissioners of Police (CPs), including one specialist, promoted to the rank of AIG are Aisha Abubakar, Asuquo Amba, Nekereuwem Akpan and Olafihan Adeoye.

The official stated that the commission also approved the promotion of three Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCP),Jonathan Towuru, Abiodun Alabi and Akande Kayodeto the rank of substantive CPs.

Ani said that three Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACP), Adenola Oluwole, Valentine Olumese and Isa Grema were promoted to the rank of DCP.

He said that eight Superintendents of Police were also promoted to the rank of Chief Superintendents while 607 Deputy Superintendents were elevated to Superintendents.

Ani stated that 206 Assistant Superintendents of Police were promoted to the rank of Deputy Superintendents while 5,786 Inspectors were elevated to the rank of Assistant Superintendents.

He noted that the Chairman of PSC, Alhaji Musiliu Smith, congratulated the promoted officers and urged them to reciprocate the gesture by rededicating themselves to the service of the country.

Smith said that merit and seniority would guide the promotion of officers of the Police Force. (NAN)
IMC/FLP/ISMA

Source: NAN News

Nigerians in Diaspora Support Group has donated Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) worth N48 million to the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 (PTF).

Amb. Zubairu Dada, the Minister of State Foreign Affairs, alongside Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, CEO/Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), presented the items on behalf of the group to the task force in Abuja.

Receiving the PPE, the PTF Chairman, Mr Boss Mustapha, who was represented by Mr Olusegun Adeyemi, the Permanent Secretary, General Services, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, applauded NiDCOM Chief for spearheading the galvanisation of the donation.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the PPE included re-useable coveralls with shoe cover, face masks, face shields, hand glovers, gowns, N95 masks, aprons and masks.

Dada said that the donation was made to support the Federal Government efforts by the Nigerians Diaspora COVID-19 Support Group.

He added that the group was made up of well-meaning Nigerians living abroad from Africa, Europe, United States, Canada and Asia.

He acknowledged the contributions made by the Nigerians in Diaspora, urging them never to forget home.

According to him, the aim of the group is to provide a platform for Nigerians in Diaspora, irrespective of their diaspora affiliation in order to develop appropriate strategic areas of diaspora interventions, during pandemic or human crises in Nigeria.

They, therefore, decided to come together to mobilise funds to procure PPE for frontline medical and paramedical staff at the Federal Teaching Hospitals across the 36 States and FCT.

Also in a state where there is no federal teaching hospital to donate to the federal medical centr in the state will get the donation.

The most exciting aspect of the donations made by the support group is that all items are of world class high quality, durable, re-usable and are all made in Nigeria.

The items donated are: 1,036 Re-usable Coveralls with Shoe Cover, 3,700 Face Masks, 3,700 Face Shields, 18,500 Hand Gloves, he said.

He also said that PPEs donated by The Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas are: Gowns 3,600, N95 Masks 3,500, Aprons 5,000, Masks 3,000, Face Shields 1,000 and Gloves 3,000.

The PPE donated by Nigerians in Diaspora Organisations -Americas (NIDOA) are 2,000 face masks and 1,500 hand sanitisers.

He added that 5,000 hand sanitisers were donated by NIDO China, of which 4,000 have been delivered to Lagos State Government to support frontline health workers in the fight against COVID-19.

He said that the 53,036 items donated were valued at N48 million.

Also speaking, Dabiri-Erewa said that all 36 states including the FCT were captured in the distribution of the PPE for frontline health workers and para-medical staff in teaching hospitals.

The PTF National Coordinator, Dr Sani Aliyu, said that the donation would escalate areas of coverage especially for the frontline workers, adding that more Nigerians needed to be involved in the fight against the pandemic.

Source: NAN News

By Doris Esa

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has taken delivery of reactivated aircraft, an ATR-42 (NAF 930) for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) in its fight against insurgency.

Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, NAF Director of Relations and Information, who made this known in a statement in Abuja, said that NAF took delivery of the aircraft on Friday.

Daramola said that the effort was in furtherance of NAFs sustained efforts at ensuring the availability of more serviceable ISR platforms for the prosecution of war against insurgency and other forms of criminality in the country.

He said the aircraft was received at the flight line of 307 Executive Airlift Group, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

The aircraft was received by the Chief of Policy and Plans, AVM Oladayo Amao on behalf of the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, currently in the North Eastto oversee the ongoing subsidiary Operation Long Reach II.

The reactivation of the aircraft, which was successfully executed at the Rheinland Air Services (RAS) Facilities, Monchengladbach, Germany after clocking 5,000 hours of operation.

It was earlier scheduled to be completed within six months.

However, due to the effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the completion date was extended by three months, he said.

Daramola recalled that over the last five years, NAF in collaboration with its technical partners has successfully reactivated some of its platforms in the country.

The platforms include the conduct of periodic depot maintenance (PDM) on 2 C-130H aircraft as well as the PDM/Avionics upgrade of three Alpha Jets.

However, being the first PDM on the ATR-42 aircraft (NAF 930) after 10 years of operation, it is expedient to conduct this major maintenance activity abroad to take advantage of the facilities and expertise of RAS.

According to him, it also helps to build the capacity of the NAF engineers and technicians that participated in the reactivation process in Germany.

Source: NAN News

Gov. AbulRahaman AbdulRazaq

By Abiodun Esan

Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara has announced the receipt of N243 million as donations from private individuals and corporate bodies.

The donations were received from March 27 till date.

The Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, made this known on Friday in a statement issued in Ilorin.

Ajakaye, who is also the spokesman of the state COVID-19 committee, said that the donations were meant to assist the government in respect of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state government is most grateful for these gestures from distinguished philanthropists and organisations, including citizens whose contributions were borne out of patriotism than the size of their pockets, he added.

Ajakaye also said that a total of N1,569,107,944.70 had been expended on the pandemic between April 1 and June 29.

The breakdowns are running (cost) of the activities of the technical committee, N132,931,510 and medical supplies and equipment, N713,480,100.90.

Others were palliatives, N525,277,030; COVID-19-related renovation works, N149,928,753.80 and security, health workers allowances and logistics, N47,490,550.

These expenses covered the purchase of Toyota Land Cruiser ambulances, automated ventilators and several other Intensive Care Unit (ICU) gadgets/equipment.

Others were production of hand sanitiser and the cost of running the activities of the technical committee and its subcommittees, he stated.

Ajakaye added that the expenses also included the cost of the palliatives distributed during the lockdown as well as the renovation of the Sobi Specialist Hospital and the Hajj Camp.

Others, he said, were mass production of face masks, purchase of surgical masks, digital thermometers, N95 and respirator-sperien 5311, personal protective equipment (PPE) as well as medical supplies and consumables.

The rest were security expenses, trainings, allowances for medical personnel and other supportive staff in charge of the pandemic, partial renovation of the Offa General Hospital as an isolation centre and patients management, among others.

It is important to add that government has not spent a kobo from these donations, as the funds have not been appropriated by the House of Assembly.

However, the materials including the foodstuffs donated, have been distributed accordingly, he added.

Source: NAN News

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) recorded a Total Comprehensive Income (TCI) of N36.15 billion in 2019, Ms Stella Ojekwe-Onyejeli, said on Friday.

Ojekwe-Onyejeli, the Executive Director and Chief Risk Officer at NSIA disclosed this at a virtual news conference in Abuja.

Ojekwe-Onyejeli said the 2019 income was less when compared to the TCI for 2018 which was N44.34 billion.

She explained that the total comprehensive income for 2019 included foreign exchange gains put at N1.26 billion as against N18.05 billion in foreign exchange gains for the previous year

She said that the foreign exchange gains arose due to changes in the currency translation rate from N305 per dollar to N325 per dollar as approved by government.

According to her, NSIA recorded a five per cent growth in total assets in the sum of N32.15 billion, bringing total assets to N649.84 billion at the end of the financial year.

Ojekwe-Onyejeli said that the companys total assets in 2018 closed at N617.70 billion.

The Authority continues to manage 3rd party funds on behalf of some government institutions. We currently manage funds for the Debt Management Office (DMO) and the Ministry of Finance.

For DMO, the current value of Assets under Management (AuM) is 124.03 million dollars. For 2018, this fund stood at 122.60 million dollars in AuM.

For the Nigeria Stabilisation Fund, managed on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, the Fund Balance was N33.365 billion. As of 2018, this balance increased to N20.814 billion.

As of year-end 2019, NSIAs core capital remained at 1.5 billion dollars.

However, the National Economic Council voted for an additional capital contribution of 250 million dollars in 2019, which was received on April 8, she explained.

Speaking on the Stabilisation Fund (SF), the director said the period under review saw policy alignments across major economies which provided clear forward guidance to markets and reducing levels of volatility.

She further said that as such, the authoritys strategy of investing in diversified products across the yield curve provided returns.

According to her, at year-end 2019, the SF has been fully invested, in terms of return on investments.

He sdid the Stabilisation Fund returned 5.81 per cent, out performing its benchmark by a 381 basis points.

On the Future Generations Fund (FGF), the Authority maintained its strategy of a systematic deployment of the FGF across global equities, private equity, hedge Funds and other diversifiers.

In the year under review, the FGF strategically gained more market exposure by investing in global equities and passive funds. In addition, we started making venture capital investments.

As of year-end 2019, we had deployed over 90 per cent of the capital in the Future Generations Fund.

The fund returned 6.45 per cent as of year-end, outperforming its benchmark of 6.43 per cent.

Source: NAN News

By Gabriel Agbeja

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted cloudy, thundery activities across the country from Saturday to Monday, according to its weather outlook.

NiMets morning hours.

There are prospects of a few thunderstorms over Sokoto, Katsina, Kano, Bauchi, Borno and Adamawa in the afternoon and evening hours.

The Central cities are expected to be in cloudy condition with chances of thunderstorms over Niger, Kwara, Abuja and Plateau in the morning hours. Isolated thunderstorms are anticipated over the central cities during the afternoon/evening period.

Inland of south should predominantly be cloudy with prospects of thunderstorms and rains over Abeokuta, Akure, Ibadan, Enugu, Awka and coastal cities. Thunderstorms are also expected over inland and coastal cities during afternoon/evening period, it said.

The agency forecast cloudy skies with intervals of sunshine over the northern region in the morning of Sunday with prospects of thunderstorms over parts of southern Taraba.

It further forecast northwest to still be in cloudy condition in the afternoon, while the northeastern states of Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, southern Borno, Adamawa and Kaduna in the northwest are expected to experience pockets of thunderstorms.

Cloudy morning is expected over the central region with possibilities of pockets of thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening hours.

Cloudy conditions are anticipated over southwest inland while residents of southeast inland and coastal cities are expected to experience morning thunderstorms.

Isolated thunderstorms are also anticipated over inland and coast during the afternoon/evening hours, it said.

According to NiMet, cloudy condition should prevail over the northwest with pockets of thunderstorms to affect Nguru, Yobe and Borno in the morning hours of Monday.

The agency envisaged a few thunderstorms over the north during the afternoon and evening hours.

The central cities are expected to be cloudy in the morning hours while light thunderstorms are envisaged over the region during the afternoon/evening period.

Cloudiness is anticipated over the inland and coastal cities in the morning with prospects of thunderstorms over the southeast coast especially over Calabar and Eket axis in the morning hours.

There are better prospects of isolated thunderstorms over the inland and coastal cities in the afternoon and evening period, it said.

Source: NAN News

Gov.Godwin Obaseki of Edo State

Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo said on Friday in Benin that 80 more COVID-19 patients had recovered and discharged to reunite with their families after testing negative to the virus.

The governor said in a statement that the death toll in the state had, however, risen to 43 with the elderly accounting for a large number of the fatalities.

He therefore urged residents to observe precautionary measures to stay safe and healthy as well as protect the aged.

Obaseki said: We have discharged 80 more COVID-19 patients from our isolation centres. The number of discharges now stands at 498.

We lost one more person to the virus, bringing the number of fatalities to 43.Stay safe and protect our aged parents who are most endangered.

Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Patrick Okundia, has said the state recorded a total of 1,203 confirmed cases and 6,046 suspected cases.

He added that 2,532 others were exited, including 2,185 line-listed contacts and 347 persons-of-interest (POI) who had completed the compulsory 14-day follow-up and tested negative.

Okundia gave the breakdown of confirmed cases as Oredo (391), Esan West (117), Egor (223), OviaNorth East (86), Ikpoba-Okha (160), Uhunmwode (14), Etsako Central (2) and Esan South East (7).

Others included Akoko-Edo (1), Esan Central (107),Ovia South West (19), Owan East (1), Esan North East (43), Etsako West (20),Etsako East (9),Orhionmwon (2),Owan West (1).

The commissioner, who assured residents that the state government would continue to intensify efforts to contain the pandemic, said the state had tested over 6,371 residents.

He added that the committee was contact-tracing2,794others and had visited over 1,035 rural and urban communities for Active Case Search (ACS) activities.

While the state government intensifies efforts to protect Edo people from this deadly disease, we urge all citizens to stay at home and observe all precautionary measures against the spread of the infectious disease.

These include regular handwashing with soap under running water and the use of alcohol-based hand sanitisers. Cover your mouth and nose properly when sneezing and/or coughing, he said.

Source: NAN News

More than 400 brands have pulled advertising on Facebook in response to the Stop Hate for Profit campaign, begun after the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25.

Canadian lenders Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Montreal, National Bank of Canada and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce all said they will pause advertising on Facebook platforms in July.

Desjardins Group, Canadas largest federation of credit unions, also said on its website on Thursday it will pause advertising on Facebook and Instagram for the month barring any exceptional situations where we need to communicate with our members or clients.

Most cited their commitments to inclusion and diversity.

Facebook has opened itself up to a civil rights audit and has banned 250 white supremacist organisations from Facebook and Instagram, a spokesman said by email.

Its investments in artificial intelligence mean it finds nearly 90 per cent of hate speech it takes action on before users report it, he added.

BMO said it is continuing its ongoing dialogue with Facebook on changes they can make to their platforms to reduce the spread of hate speech.

RBC said one way to help clients and communities is to stand against misinformation and hate speech, which only make systemic racism more pervasive. (Reuters/NAN)

Source: NAN News