Author: straightnewsng.com

By Akanimo Sampson Senior Technical Specialist, Gender Equality, Diversity and ILOAIDS, Afsar Syed Mohammad, says people living with HIV are not just being left behind they are being pushed further back. “The disruption to antiretroviral treatment (ART), the loss of jobs, the lack of access to unemployment benefits and health insurance are very real fears for those living with HIV during this pandemic,’’ says the ILO chief. Writing on Work in Progress, Mohammad says “what I have heard from those I spoke to in Africa and Asia is alarming,’’ adding that the main global objective currently remains the fight against…

Twenty-two Nigerian states have recorded 245 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections to 7,261 in the country. Of the number, Akwa Ibom has notched three new coronavirus cases, bringing the total in the state to 21. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control which stated this on Friday said 10 more patients died of coronavirus-related complications in the country. NCDC said, “On the 22nd of May 2020, 245 new confirmed cases and 10 deaths were recorded in Nigeria. “No new state has reported a case in the last 24 hours. “Till date, 7261 cases have been confirmed,…

In a desperate attempt to find a cure to coronavirus, the United States government has pumped in more than $2 billion to develop a vaccine for the pandemic. In his Twitter handle on Friday, Bernie Sanders, the defeated US Democratic Party presidential aspirant, said the government sent $1.2 billion to AstraZeneca, $483 million to Moderna, $500 million to Johnson & Johnson and $30 million to Sanofi. “This is what our government is paying to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. Once a vaccine is approved by the FDA, it must be available to all for free. No profiteering,” Sanders hoped. AstraZeneca has…

The Coronavirus caused economic recession in the US might cause Donald Trump’s “historic defeat” in November this year, a new national election model has predicted. The economy has been Trump’s biggest talking point since he assumed office and many election analysts saw it as the major tool for Trump in his re-election bid. But with the ravaging effect of Coronavirus on the US economy, an unprecedented unemployment rate, vanishing consumer spending and a collapsing GDP, the election model released by Oxford Economics favours Joe Biden as the winner of the forthcoming US Presidential elections. The model, which uses unemployment, disposable income…

The inflation leapt by 0.08 per cent points higher than 12.26 per cent rate recorded in March 2020, National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, indicated in a monthly data report released on Thursday. On a month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 1.02 percent in April 2020. This is a 0.18 percent rate higher than the rate recorded in March 2020 (0.84 percent). The increases, according to the report, were recorded in all COICOP divisions that yielded the Headline index. The corresponding 12th-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index is 12.26 percent in April 2020. This is higher than…

The Lagos State Government has spent at least N800 million to conduct 16,000 COVID-19 tests in the state. The state’s Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi said this on Thursday, on Thursday, while briefing newsmen on COVID-19 weekly situation report, held in Press Centre, Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja. Abayomi, while responding to questions from the newsmen, said each COVID-19 test cost between N40,000 to N50,000, while 16,000 tests have been conducted so far fully all expenses paid by the state government. According to him, “We have so far performed 16,000 COVID-19 tests in Lagos, which is much higher than anywhere else…

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Thursday hopped to 339 new cases of COVID-19 in the country, bringing the total number of infections to 7,016 in the country. The NCDC stated this on its twitter handle on Thursday night. “339 new cases of #COVID19; 139-Lagos 28-Kano 28-Oyo 25-Edo 22-Katsina 18-Kaduna 14-Jigawa 13-Yobe 13-Plateau 11-FCT 8-Gombe 5-Ogun 4-Bauchi 4-Nasarawa 3-Delta 2-Ondo 1-Rivers 1-Adamawa. “7016 total cases of #COVID19 in Nigeria “Discharged: 1907 “Deaths: 211” NCDC also announced that to limit transmission of the virus, the centre is training healthcare workers to practise standard care precautions at all times.” The…

The Super Eagles’ German manager has signed a new deal with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). Rohr’s current contract runs out at the end of June and both parties are keen to continue their working relationship. Gernot Rohr, 66, has been in charge of three-time African champions Nigeria since 2016. The former Niger and Gabon coach qualified the country for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2019 AFCON in Egypt. “The executive committee mandated the general secretary to liaise with Super Eagles technical adviser, Gernot Rohr, with a view to concluding all matters around his new contract within…

The Federal Government has declared Monday and Tuesday – May 25 and 26, 2020 – as public holidays to mark Eid-el-Fitri celebration. The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, made the announcement on behalf of the Federal Government. This was contained in a press statement by the Director of Press in the Ministry, Mohammed Manga, on Thursday. Aregbesola expressed concern over the spate of ethnic conflicts that have resurfaced in some parts of Northern Nigeria in recent times. He advised, “Nigerians to see themselves as a single entity and learn to tolerate one another despite their ethnic and religious differences”.…

By: Akanimo Sampson The combative Rivers State Government under the watch of Nyesom Wike, a seeming vociferous Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor on Wednesday ignited a political fire in the state without substantiating its claims with credible security reports. Unarguably, Rivers is the capital of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry and very strategic to the petroleum-led economy of the country. But, in spite of its economic status, the state has been suffering a worrisome bloodletting politics of the contending political gladiators. The political heat in the state is coming from the Ikwerre axis of the big oil and gas state…