WHO Declares Coronavirus A Global Health Emergency [LEADERSHIP]
For a collective global assault on the dreaded the novel coronavirus outbreak, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared it a public health emergency of international concern.
WHO’s position came yesterday when its emergency committee reconvened in Geneva.
“The main reason for this declaration is not because of what is happening in China, but because of what is happening in other countries,” WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said yesterday.
“Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems, and which are ill-prepared to deal with it,” Ghebreyesus said.
WHO defines a public health emergency of international concern as “an extraordinary event” that constitutes a “public health risk to other states through the international spread of disease” and “to potentially require a coordinated international response.”
Collaboration, Key To Ending Insecurity – NSA [LEADERSHIP]
To enable the armed forces and other security agencies tackle the debilitating security challenges facing the country, the national security adviser (NSA), Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd), has called for more collaboration from Nigerians with the military, the police and other para-military organisations.
Monguno made the appeal yesterday after the first National Security Council (NSC) for the year 2020 summoned by President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja
He dismissed speculations in some quarters that the meeting discussed the fate of the country’s service chiefs, who the National Assembly asked the president to sack on Wednesday for alleged poor performance.
The parley was presided by Buhari with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, and the security chiefs in attendance.
$1.2bn Malabu Oil Deal: Adoke, Others Get N50m Bail [LEADERSHIP]
Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice and two others standing trial over alleged fraud in the $1.2billion Malabu Oil deal have been granted bail by Justice Abubukar Idris Kutigi of the High Court of Justice of the Federal Capital Territory sitting in Gwagwalada.
The court in its ruling yesterday, granted Adoke and the 2nd defendant, A. Abubakar, bail in the sum of N50million each. Also, the court admitted the 3rd defendant, Rasky Gbinijie, bail in the sum of N10million.
Adoke and his co-defendants are being prosecuted by the federal government over their involvement in the alleged Malabu oil deal fraud amounting to $1.2billion.
Charged alongside Adoke, Rasky Gbinigie, and A. Abubakar are Malabu Oil Gas Limited, Nigeria Agip Exploration Limited, Shell Ultra Deep Limited and Shell Nigeria Exploration Production Limited.
The defendants all pleaded not guilty to the 42-count charge preferred against them by the federal government.
$1.09bn Malabu Scam: Court Issues Arrest Warrant Against Ex-Oil Minister, Etete, 2 Others [SUN]
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court sitting in Gwagwalada, Abuja has ordered the arrest of former Minister of Petroleum, Dauzia Loyal Etete, better known as Dan Etete, in connection with alleged Malabu Oil scam.
Also to be arrested along with Etete by the order of Justice Abubakar Kutigi are Munamuna Seidougha, and Jospeph Amaran.
This order was sequel to an ex parte application made by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which had accused them of complicity in the alleged fraudulent allocation of the lucrative Oil Processing Licence 245 to Malabu Oil and Gas Limited in 1998.
They were said to be the owners of Malabu Oil and Gas Limited to which Etete, as then Minister of Petroleum under the regime of General Sani Abacha, facilitated the fraudulent allocation of the oil block.
We’ll Hold Obaseki, IGP Responsible If Oshiomhole Is Killed –Lawmakers-Elect [SUN]
. APC national chair want to make state ungovernable –Edo gov
The 14 estranged Edo State lawmakers-elect have told Nigerians to hold Governor Godwin Obaseki and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, responsible if the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, is killed.
Briefing newsmen in Abuja, yesterday, spokesperson of the group, who represents Esan Central, Victor Edoror, pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari, party’s National Leader, Bola Tinubu, and the Progressives Governors’ Forum not to fold their hands and allow Governor Obaseki killer-squad kill the APC chairman.
The group further accused the Edo governor of fuelling the crisis in the state and frustrating all the peace efforts
“There have been series of attacks on members of APC across the state on different occasions just because they bear opposing views from that of Governor Obaseki and the government of the day in Edo. Homes of most leaders of the APC in Edo State have been marked for demolition by Governor Obaseki.
FG Seeks States, LGs’ Cooperation To Fight Insecurity [SUN]
- Keeps mum on fate of service chiefs
The Federal Government, yesterday, resolved to seek the cooperation of states and local government areas in a bid to find a solution to insecurity in the country.
National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno, made the disclosure when he briefed State House correspondents at the end of the National Security Council in Abuja.
The meeting of the highest security body in the country chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari came a day after the Senate and the House of Representatives, at separate plenaries, decried the parlous situation amid calls for the removal of the service chiefs due to the ongoing security challenges across Nigeria.
Asked to give a general assessment of security situation and judge whether it was stable or critical, the NSA replied: “The security situation is like a graph, sometimes it goes up, sometimes it comes down, and that is why we have to assess it periodically. It will never remain on the same level till we bring the whole situation to an end.
Coronavirus: Senate Advocates Self-Isolation For Travellers From China, Others [SUN]
The Senate has called on the Federal Ministry of Aviation to immediately take steps to ensure all persons arriving from China, especially Chinese citizens from Nigeria that travelled for the Chinese Lunar New Year festivities, self-isolate by staying indoors in their homes for at least two weeks before mixing with Nigerian public.
It also extended the call for self-isolation to travellers from other countries that are on record to be affected by outbreak of the deadly disease.
The Senate, accordingly, advised the Nigerian public desirous of traveling to Asia to put all arrangements on hold until the Coronavirus outbreak is eliminated.
These formed part of resolutions reached sequel to the consideration of a motion titled: “Coronavirus Outbreak and Preventive Response Towards Stemming it’s Spread in Nigeria.”
Sponsored by Senator Chukwuka Utazi (PDP, Enugu North), the lawmaker in his presentation explained that the virus is spread through the air by coughing or sneezing, close personal contact, touching a contaminated object or surface, and rarely by fecal contamination.
Smuggled Arms Aid Nigeria’s Farmer-Herder Conflict –Report [SUN]
Weapons that have been used in intercommunal violence that has killed thousands of people in northern Nigeria have been trafficked from Ivory Coast, Libya and Turkey, according to a new report by the Conflict Armament Research group.
Fighting between farmers and semi-nomadic herders over land has gone on for decades in Nigeria´s central belt and north. Attacks on civilians by armed groups aligned with the communities have killed more than 3,600 people and displaced 300,000 since 2014, according to the study.
Armed groups involved in the fighting in Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara states possessed “significant numbers of factory-produced small arms manufactured in Europe, East Asia, the Middle East and North America,” according to the three-year study.
Some of the weapons were from Turkey and were linked to a major organized trafficking network, the group said. Assault rifles from Iraq and similar to ones used by Islamic extremist groups in Mali and Niger also were found.
However, the organization said that while weapons may have come from the same illicit source, that did not demonstrate a connection between the conflict in Nigeria and Islamic extremist groups.
Senate Probes $396m Refineries Maintenance Expenditure [NATION]
THE Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources on Thursday got a mandate of the Red Chamber to investigate the disbursement of over $396 million by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the four refineries between 2013 and 2015.
It was given the mandate following a motion titled: “The moribund refineries in the country” sponsored by Senator Yusuf Abubakar Yusuf.
Yusuf, representing Taraba Central Senatorial District, in his lead debate, noted that the country has four refineries with two located in Port Harcourt and one each in Kaduna and Warri.
He noted that the refineries were established to adequately supply Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK), Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO), High Pour Fuel Oil (HPFO) and Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) for local consumption and exports.
Presidency, PDP Clash Over Rising Insecurity, Governance [NATION]
– Buhari meets Service chiefs after lawmakers’ protest
THE Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday clashed over the heightened insecurity in the country, for which President Muhammadu Buhari said he was “taken aback”.
The main opposition party said the President’s comment showed a defeatist posture, stressing that Senate Minority Leader Enyinnaya Abaribe was right to have called for his resignation.
PDP National Chairman Uche Secondus attributed the insecurity to the absence of good governance, which, he said had led to the collapse of the economy.
But, presidential spokesman Femi Adesina described as “mischievous twisting of President’s comments on insecurity’’ by some traditional and social media outfits.
Adesina said in a statement that it was wrong for anyone to postulate that President Buhari was unaware of the security challenges.
The statement reads in part: “It has become compelling to react to a mischievous slant being given by both the traditional and social media to the comments of President Muhammadu Buhari on the security challenges in some parts of the country.
“On Monday, while hosting Eminent and Respected Citizens of Niger State at State House, Abuja, the President said: ‘I was taken aback by what is happening in the Northwest and other parts of the country. During our campaigns, we knew about the Boko Haram. What is coming now is surprising. It is not ethnicity or religion; rather it is one evil plan against the country.
“We have to be harder on them. One of the responsibilities of government is to provide security. If we don’t secure the country, we will not be able to manage the economy properly.”
Court Orders Arrest Of Ex-Minister Etette, Two Others Over $1.2b Malabu Oil Deal [SUN]
A HIGH Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Gwagwalada, Abuja, has ordered the arrest of a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dauzia Loya (Dan) Etete, and two others.
Also to be arrested are Munamuna Seidougha and Amaran Joseph.
Justice Abubakar Kutigi gave the orders on Thursday in a ruling on an ex-parte motion by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice Kutigi said: “I have carefully gone through the application…The application has merit and is granted as prayed.”
Employment: EFCC Bars Married Applicants, NECA Kicks [PUNCH]
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which is currently recruiting, has said only unmarried persons can apply to work in the agency.
The decision has, however, been criticised by the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, an affiliate of the Nigeria Labour Congress.
In a document, which went viral, titled, ‘Recruitment of Detective Assistants, Detective Inspectors and Detective Superintendents, which is dated January 15, 2020,’ the EFCC stated that all applicants “must be single.”
For detective assistants, the EFCC stated that an applicant must not be more than 21 years old, must have Senior Secondary School Certificate and must be single; for those applying to be detective inspectors, the commission stated that an applicant must not be more than 25, must have an NCE or a National Diploma and must be single.
For detective superintendent applicants, an applicant must not be more than 27, must have a first degree, must have completed the National Youth Service Corps programme and must be single.
Incidentally, the EFCC’s sister agency, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission is also recruiting.
However, the ICPC did not bar married persons from applying.
The ICPC simply states on its website that applicants must be Nigerian citizens not below 18 years or above 50; must have first degree with minimum of Second Class Lower, while HND/ND holders should have minimum of lower credit.
Buhari, Security Council Shun Calls To Fire Service Chiefs [PUNCH]
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and other members of the National Security Council on Thursday met 24 hours after Senators and members of the House of Representatives called for the sack of service chiefs.
The National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno (retd.), who briefed journalists on behalf of the council after the meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the NSC did not discuss the call by the lawmakers.
Both chambers of the National Assembly had on Wednesday lamented the rising insecurity in the country and called on the President to sack the service chiefs on the grounds that the security heads, who were appointed in 2015, had outlived their usefulness.
Besides calls for the sack of the service chiefs, the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, on Wednesday had demanded the President’s resignation.
Abaribe had condemned Buhari who, on Tuesday, said he was surprised by heightened banditry in the North-West and other forms of insecurity in other parts of the country.
