Author: straightnewsng.com

By Akanimo Sampson The lesson Sierra Leone learned from the Ebola outbreak is helping her to tackle the menace of COVID-19 pandemic. Sierra Leone was one of the hardest hit countries by the 2014 – 2016 Ebola crisis with more than 14,000 cases and nearly 4,000 deaths. Ebola overwhelmed the country’s fragile public health system, which was still rebuilding after a brutal civil war, and struggling to meet demands for additional healthcare practitioners. Now, Sierra Leone is facing COVID-19. As of May 7, there were 225 confirmed cases and 14 deaths related to the rampaging virus in the country. Actually,…

Nigeria has recorded 239 new cases of COVID-19, bringing a total to 4,151. Announcing this via its Twitter handle on Saturday night, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said, “97-Lagos 44-Bauchi 29-Kano 19-Katsina 17-Borno 7-FCT 6-Kwara 5-Oyo 3-Kaduna 3-Sokoto 2-Adamawa 2-Kebbi 2-Plateau 2-Ogun 1-Ekiti.” NCDC tweeted “Till date, 4151 cases have been confirmed, 745 cases have been discharged and 128 deaths have been recorded in 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory.” While advising Nigerians on the preventive measures for the coronavirus disease, NCDC stressed the importance of physical distancing, frequent handwashing, and the wearing of face mask in the public.…

Contrary to the figures bandied by some Facebook writers on the number of deaths caused by COVID-19, Akwa Ibom State has drastically flattened the death rate curve within the first four months of 2020. Akwa Ibom Governor Udom Emmanuel who stated this during a live radio and television in a question-and-answer interview on Saturday dismissed the allegations in some social media that COVID-19 pandemic has silently killed some people in the state. Emmanuel said official reports from the 42 hospitals and health institutions in the state indicate that 238 deaths were recorded in 2018, 176 in 2019, and 109 in…

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Akwa Ibom state has enforced a ban on interstate travel of people by deporting 13 suspected Almajiri youths who sneaked into the state. The youths who came from one of the Northern states in the country were said to have accompanied a truck that brought a herd of cows to Eket local government area of the state during the ban on inter-state movement order imposed by the Federal Government. Akwa Ibom Governor Udom Emmanuel who stated this on Saturday during a live radio and television in a question-and-answer interview said the government ordered and escorted the…

By Akanimo Sampson Some 200,000 seafarers and fishers around the world are stranded due to the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic. Director of International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) International Labour Standards Department, Corinne Vargha, and Director of Sectoral Policies Department, Alette van Leur, say around 90,000 seafarers are currently stuck onboard cruise ships without passengers and sometimes even without pay due to the pandemic. They are not allowed to disembark because of restrictions due to the pandemic. A similar number have been forced to stay on-board commercial ships for much longer than their planned period of service. According to claims received by the…

By Akanimo Sampson Is the Benue State Government, a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) controlled state under the watch of Governor Samuel Ortom, blackmailing President Muhammadu Buhari with the controversial COVID-19 index case in the state? A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, who is also a former National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), one of the coalition political groups that formed the APC, tends to be seeing the matter so. Eze is calling on President Buhari to intervene on the continued detention and dehumanisation Mrs. Suzan Lawani Okpe, the alleged index case of…

Nigeria’s confirmed new cases of coronavirus stand at 386, bringing the total to 3,912. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control made this known on Friday said, “On the 8th of May 2020, 386 new confirmed cases and 10 deaths were recorded in Nigeria. “No new state has reported a case in the last 24 hours. “Till date, 3912 cases have been confirmed, 679 cases have been discharged and 117 deaths have been recorded in 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory “The 386 new cases are reported from 20 states- Lagos (176), Kano (65), Katsina (31), FCT (20), Borno (17),…

In this interview, Tijah Bolton-Akpan, a consultant on public policy analysis and an Executive Director of Policy Alert explains in detail why Akwa Ibom and 11 other states in the country missed out on the recent disbursement of N43.42 billion as grant from the World Bank to 24 states and advises the states on what they need to do to qualify for the next round of the grant. Excerpts: SN: What is the N43.42B World Bank SFTAS grant all about? In 2018, Nigeria entered a concessional loan agreement with the World Bank for a $750 million facility to improve governance…

The sacked Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure in Kano State, who mocked the death of Mallam Abba Kyari, the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, has tested positive for COVID-19. Kano Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje had on April 18 sacked Muazu Magaji as a result of his unguarded utterances over the demise of Kyari. In a Facebook post Thursday, Magaji said: “Dear all, I do truly apologise to you not getting across to me on phone or messages. I have been indisposed due to ongoing health challenges some of us are going through in Kano. In Sha Allah, it…

Nigeria has recorded 381 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 3,526. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control made this known via its verified Twitter handle on Tuesday. It tweeted, “On the 7th of May 2020, 381 new confirmed cases and four deaths were recorded in Nigeria. “No new state has reported a case in the last 24 hours. “Till date, 3,526 cases have been confirmed, 601 cases have been discharged and 107 deaths have been recorded in 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory. “The 381 new cases are reported from 17…