The World Bank said its board of executive directors has approved $48 million to help Uganda fight a desert locust invasion threatening livelihoods. The funds, under the Emergency Locust Response Programme, will help Uganda monitor and manage locust swarms to limit the growth of existing and new desert locust populations, the bank said in a statement. The funds will also provide livelihood protection and restoration to the affected households, communities and vulnerable groups. “The project...
A housewife, Salma Hassan, 18, who allegedly stabbed her husband to death, has said that she did that because she didn’t know that sex was part of marital obligations. Salma, who is being detained by the Police Command in Bauchi, told newsmen that she killed her husband, Mohammed Mustafa, because she thought he was “just trying to defile me”. “I didn’t know that sex is a marital obligation. On that day, when he approached me...
Facebook’s founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, says he expects the coronavirus pandemic will have a long-lasting impact on working practices. Zuckerberg expects that in ten years, about half of the social network company’s employees will be working remotely, he said in an interview with technology news site The Verge. He emphasised that the 50 per cent figure was his estimate and not an official announcement. According to a survey of Facebook employees, one in...
The country has blazed a trail in Africa with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) successfully validating the first phase of the viral Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) extraction which should enable local production of cheap testing kits for coronavirus. The validation took place on Thursday in the laboratory of the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) in Abuja. The Director-General of NABDA, Prof. Alex Akpa, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) after the exercise that...
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday approved a new policy framework known as Policy on Conducting Elections in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic. The commission, in a statement issued by Mr Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, in Abuja said the policy document would be released on May 25. Okoye said that the provisions would be applied to the conduct of governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States scheduled for Sept. 19...
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Thursday confirmed 339 new cases of COVID-19 in the country, bringing the total number of infections to 7,016. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that nine new patients have been confirmed dead to the virus, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to 211. The health agency explained that most of the fatalities recorded from COVID-19 were cases with other underlying illnesses known as...
Gov. Simon Lalong of Plateau has banned the operation of commercial tricycles in the state with effect from Saturday, May 23, as part of efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Lalong made the disclosure during a press briefing on update of COVID-19 in the state, on Thursday in Jos. The governor who was represented by the Secretary of the state Task Force on COVID-19, Prof. Danladi Atu, expressed concern over the...
The Police Command in Bauchi has arrested a 19-year-old suspected leader of a kidnap gang, Mohammed Jibrin alias Al-amin, with three others for kidnapping a 15-year-old school boy. Mr Philip Maku, the Commissioner of Police in the state, disclosed this while parading the suspects on Thursday in Bauchi. He said the gang of four kidnappers were arrested for criminal conspiracy, kidnapping and culpable homicide. Maku said that the leader of suspects, Jibrin, was arrested with...
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Ogun Command, has arrested 14 Togolese and 10 Nigerians at Ajilete and Ilase border posts in the state. The NIS Spokesman, Mr Sunday James, disclosed this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja. The Comptroller, Ogun State Command, Mr Kunle Osisanya, said that the arrest were made by NIS operatives in line with Federal Government directives. According to Osisanya, the 14...
The Enugu State Boxers Association (ESBA) on Thursday distributed food items to boxers in the state as palliative to cushion the effect of COVID-19. The items including bags of rice, Garri, salt, cartons of tomato paste, spices and cash, were donated by Mr Chales Ike, a board member of the association. Ike, board, a businessman, had in time past, donated a boxing ring to boxers in the state. Mr Ebere Amaraizu, ESBA Vice-Chairman, while distributing the...
