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President Buhari presides over 27th virtual FEC meeting

Zainab Sa'id
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President Muhammadu Buhari is currently presiding over the 27th virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Council Chamber of the State House, Abuja.

Before the commencement of the meeting, a minute silence was held for former Chief of Defence Staff and member, Supreme Military Council, the late General Domkat Bali, who also served the country as Minister of Defence.

Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, Chief of Staff, Ibrahim Gambari are physically present.

Eleven Ministers are physically attending the meeting. They are Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, Aviation, Hadi Sirika, Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouk, and Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Bello.

Others are Ministers of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, Mines and Steel Development, Uche Ogah and Housing, Abubakar Aliyu.

The Head of Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan and other Ministers are participating in the weekly council meeting from their various offices in Abuja.

INEC Chairman sworn-in for second term of office

Zainab Sa'id
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The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu has been sworn-in for a second term of office.

President Muhammadu Buhari performed the swearing-in on Wednesday at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting.

In an interview with State House Correspondents soon after taking his oath, the INEC boss pledged to discharge his duties to the best of his ability.

Yakubu also promised to conduct credible elections for Nigeria, as demonstrated recently in the conduct of governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States.

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu

“I am privileged to be Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission twice and it is a responsibility I am going to discharge consistent with the oath of office I took and in allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

 “We have clearly demonstrated in recent elections that elections are getting better and they will continue to get better,” he said.

The INEC Chairman also advocated the speedy amendment of the country’s electoral act, to enhance efficiency and conduct of more credible elections.

He said: “By coincidence today, the National Assembly is holding a public hearing on the amendment of the electoral legal framework. This is important and this time around, working with the National Assembly, we’ll ensure a speedy passage of the amendment bill and once it is assented to, it will help us enormously in confronting the challenges ahead.

 “The preparations for 2023 general elections have proceeded in earnest, we need certainty and therefore the electoral legal framework is fundamental, without which we cannot formulate our regulations and guidelines.

 “Without our regulations and guidelines, we cannot conclude work on the manual for the training of ad-hoc staff for the elections. So, from here, I am going to proceed to the National Assembly, so work begins in earnest and we have already started.”

Boris Johnson heads for Brussels as fears of chaotic Brexit surfaces

Nnenna Okoronkwo
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson heads to Brussels on Wednesday for talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a push to avoid a tumultuous Brexit without a trade deal in three weeks’ time.

With growing fears of a chaotic no-deal finale to the five-year Brexit crisis when the United Kingdom finally leaves the EU’s orbit on Dec. 31, the meeting over dinner is being cast as a chance to unlock the stalled trade talks.

A British government source said a deal may not be possible, as did EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. Ireland also signalled it was pessimistic about the prospects.

“The EU has to move,” Michael Gove, a senior minister in Johnson’s government dealing with Brexit issues, told Times Radio.

While Gove refused to give odds on a deal, he said that often a one-on-one meeting between leaders could result in a breakthrough. He said a compromise could be possible on fishing in British waters – one of the toughest issues so far.

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe’s most powerful leader, said there was still a chance of a deal but that the integrity of the EU’s market had to be preserved.

Failure to secure a deal would snarl borders, shock financial markets and sow chaos through supply chains across Europe and beyond as the world faces the vast economic cost of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A measure of expected price swings in the pounds known as overnight implied volatility jumped 25% to the highest since late March.

EU chief negotiator Barnier said on Tuesday he believed a ‘no-deal’ split in ties with Britain at the end of the year was now more likely than agreement on a trade pact, EU sources said.

A diplomat and an official in Brussels, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Barnier made the remark at a meeting with the European affairs ministers from the 27 EU states. Barnier added that it was time for the bloc to update its no-deal contingency plans, they said.

Britain said on Tuesday it had clinched a deal with the EU over how to manage the Ireland-Northern Ireland border, and would now drop clauses in draft domestic legislation that would have breached a Brexit withdrawal agreement signed in January.

Gove said the deal on Northern Ireland opened up “a smoother glide path” towards a possible deal. He added that if a deal was not done finance minister Rishi Sunak would take steps to ensure British businesses were competitive.

 

Gove confirmed he was helping to coordinate the government’s attempt to prepare for the scenario of Brexit without a trade deal during a surge in winter COVID-19 cases.

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said he is “on the pessimistic side” about the chances that Britain and the European Union will reach a consensus in the coming days on a free-trade agreement, the Irish Times reported on Wednesday.

Kano multi-billion naira cancer centre set to begin operation

Zainab Sa'id
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The Kano State multi-billion naira world-class cancer treatment centre will commence operation by mid-2021 with the capacity to treat between 60 to 100 patients daily.

The centre, when completed, will have the highest capacity to treat cancer patients per day in Nigeria. The development was disclosed to newsmen during a tour of the project in Kano state northwestern Nigeria.

Mr Mario Stella, the Programme Manager of TEAM Nigeria Company Limited, a consulting firm for BICO Nigeria Limited handling the project said the redesigned project which is at 50 percent would be completed and ready for commissioning by June or July 2021.

“The project, planned to take off earlier, had been delayed due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in the state and the further redesigning of the project, which now includes creating a third floor with additional compartments, pedestrian bridge, more electrical and mechanical works.

“The redesigning of the project has increased the cost from the initial N2.3 billion to over N5 billion,” Mr Stella said.

The Executive Secretary, Kano State Health Trust Fund, Dr Nura Idris, who represented the state Commissioner for health, said the centre alongside a testing laboratory, will be equipped with Halcyon, True Beam and Brachy radiotherapy machines for the treatment of all kind of cancer in the human body.

“The Halcyon and True Beam, which are external beam radiotherapy machines, are used to kill the cells of the tumour, making it flatten gradually.

“The Brachy is used to emit its radiation internally without beam to treat cancer by killing the cells of the tumour internally,” Dr Idris said.

Dr Idris said the cutting edge technology-based Cancer centre with the capacity to treat between 60 to 100 patients per day, is the only one owned by a state government in Nigeria as the other three conventional cancer treatment centres in the country owned by the Federal Government only have the capacities to treat between 10 to 15 patients per day.

“Currently, Doctors and Nurses are being trained on how to manage the centre. The centre will also be open to treat cancer patients from neighbouring states as well as patients from  other African countries.”  Dr Idris said.

According to data, Nigeria recorded cancer burden cases of over 115,000 in 2018 with over 70,000 deaths, representing more than 60 percent of the cases. This, along with other scary statistics from previous years, has put governments and individual on their toes in the fight against the dreaded disease.

Kano being the most populous state in Nigeria has chosen to be at the forefront of the fight by building a world-class cancer centre, modelled after the renowned Melbourne Cancer Center in Australia, after a visit by Kano State Governor Dr Umar Ganduje.

 

NCC begins audit of Subscriber Registration Database

Zainab Sa'id
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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has commenced an audit of the Subscriber Registration Database in the country.

The objective of the audit exercise is to ensure compliance with set quality standards and requirements by mobile network operators (MNOs).

The Commission made this known in a statement signed by its Director, Public Affairs, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde.

The NCC said the audit is in line with the Federal Government desire to consolidate the achievement of the SIM Card registration exercise and the directive of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy to the Commission on the audit of the Subscriber Registration Database.

The Commission noted that the directive became necessary against the background of the preponderance of pre-registered SIMs with the attendant security implications associated with the use of the same to facilitate criminal activities.

“Mobile Network Operators are hereby directed to immediately suspend the sale and activation of new SIM Cards until the audit exercise is concluded.

“However, when it is absolutely necessary, exemption may be granted following approval from the Federal Government through the Commission.

“MNOs are to please note that non-compliance with this directive will be met with strict sanctions, including the possibility of withdrawal of operating license.”  the Commission said.

 

UCL: PSG, Istanbul Basaksehir match abandoned over racist comment

Nnenna Okoronkwo
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Romanian referee Sebastian Colțescu has been accused of racism during the PSG-Istanbul Bașakșehir football match in the H group of the UEFA Champions League, after calling an assistant coach of the Turkish team as “the black one over there”.

The Champions League game between Paris Saint-Germain and Basaksehir was postponed when players walked off the field on Tuesday after alleging that fourth official Sebastian Coltescu of Romania used the racial term.

Players from the Turkish team were furious after assistant coach Pierre Webo was shown a red card by central referee Ovidiu Hategan of Romania at Parc des Princes, saying Coltescu had used a racial term to describe Webo, who is from Cameroon, before he was sent off.

According to AFP, Coltescu asked Ovidiu Hategan at minute 16 to intervene to clam down Webo, who had been too vehement to one of his decisions. Coltescu identified the assistant coach Pierre Webo  as “that Black guy”.

Basaksehir substitute Demba Ba demanded that the fourth official explain himself, while PSG players Neymar and Kylian Mbappe also demanded an explanation. Basaksehir coach Okan Buruk said “you are racist” to Coltescu.

Television footage captured the exchange between the fourth official and the referee, with Coltescu telling Hategan that Webo should be reprimanded for his behavior on the sidelines:

“Go and give it (the red card) to the Black one, this is not possible (tolerable), go and identify him, go verify, the Black one over there,” Coltescu allegedly said, in Romanian, about Webo.

Webo was enraged and was heard to repeat at least six times “Why you say negro?” as he sought an explanation from Coltescu. “He can’t say negro, he can’t say negro.”

UEFA said the match would resume on Wednesday evening with new officials.

“Following an incident at tonight’s UEFA Champions League match between Paris Saint-Germain FC and Istanbul Basaksehir FK, UEFA has — after discussion with both clubs — decided on an exceptional basis to have the remaining minutes of the match played tomorrow with a new team of match officials,” UEFA said late Tuesday.

“A thorough investigation on the incident that took place will be opened immediately,” it added.

In its turn, the Romanian Football Federation (FRF) announced it expected the report of the UEFA to find out “exactly what happened in order to act accordingly”. “The Romanian Football Federation is strongly separating itself of any racist of xenophobic statement or action”, says a FRF statement.

 

The incident stirred fierce political and diplomatic reactions, with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan taking stance on Twitter right after the match.

“I strongly condemn the racist remarks against Pierre Webo, one of the members of the technical staff of Başakşehir team and I think that UEFA will take all the necessary actions. We unconditionally are against racism and discrimination in sport and in all fields. #Notoracism”, Erdgoan twitted.

SGBV: Nigeria to outlaw workplace harassment against women

Zainab Sa'id
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The Nigerian Senate says a bill to outlaw workplace harassment against women will soon be passed into law in the country.

Deputy Senate President, Omo Agege stated this at a two-day workshop on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and Human Rights Defenders organised by the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, in Abuja, Nigeria’s Capital.

According to him, the move is a demonstration of the senate to support and ensure the rights of women are protected through legislation in the country.

“If the right of workplace harassment is legislated, we are going to see success because  if you meet ten women and talk to them,  eight of them will say these are their encounters every day.’’  Omo Agege said.

The Deputy Senate President, who was represented by Mr Daniel Bwaya at the event, also said that another bill that will ensure the rights of women to have Indigeneship by marriage. This, according to him would ensure that a woman who is married for five years is qualified to run for any political office in the country.

According to the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission in Nigeria, Mr Tony Ojukwu, the workshop, with support of the UN-EU Spotlight Initiative is intended to bring together key human rights defenders across sectors of the society to, among others;

Discuss and agree on a way forward on how best to assist victims of sexual and gender-based violence, SGBV, identify and discuss new and emerging protection and referral pathways for effective accountability for violence against women, girls and others.

“It is our hope that after this workshop there would be a more coordinated approach regarding issues of SGBV amongst stakeholders’’ Mr Tony Ojukwu said.

Mr Ojukwu noted that some of the approaches include, harmonizing policies of stakeholders on SGBV, carrying out advocacy to bring about changes in behaviours and attitudes of the society on SGBV.

Nasarawa State Assembly, Auditor-General meet on COVID-19 funding

Zainab Sa'id
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The Nasarawa State House of Assembly Ad-hock committee on COVID-19 has held a closed-door meeting with the state Auditor General Rayanu Lamus at the Assembly complex in Lafia.

The meeting was a follow-up to the invitation of the committee to the state Auditor General to make some clarification on the funding and expenditures for the coronavirus pandemic in the state.

Briefing newsmen shortly after the meeting, the chairman of the committee and member Dahiru Angibi said they had a fruitful deliberation with the Auditor General.

“He has honoured our invitation, he makes some clarification on areas we asked questions, we are satisfied with his presentation and he also presented documents we requested for.

“We are also meant to understand that the state received lots of donations from foreign agencies as a result of the efforts put in place by the task force in the fight against COVID 19.for now I will say so far so good,” Angibi added.

President Buhari sacks NDE boss

Zainab Sa'id
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President Muhammadu Buhari has relieved Dr Nasiru Mohammed Ladan from the position of the Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement, said the directive which was given on Friday, the 4th of December, 2020, is to be effective from Monday, December 7th, 2020.

Meanwhile, the Supervising Minister of the Agency, Minister of State, Labour and Employment, has been directed to nominate an Acting DG from amongst the most Senior Directors based on competencies and seniority to take over from Dr Kadan until a substantive holder of the post is appointed by the President.

FGM: Oyo State government trains stakeholders

Zainab Sa'id
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The Oyo State Government has embarked on a three-day capacity building workshop for stakeholders in the campaign against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the State.

According to the government, the essence of the training, organised by the State government in collaboration with Hacey Health Initiative, is to sensitise people against the practice of FGM, as a way of ensuring its stoppage across the nooks and crannies of the State.

Speaking at the opening of the capacity building workshop which held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, the Executive Secretary, Oyo State Primary Health Care Board, Dr Muideen Olatunji, said the workshop was aimed at increasing the knowledge of members of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, on relevant government policies against the practice of FGM, while also advocating against the practice.

Olatunji said, “What we are seeing here today involves many other stakeholders, and in life, you cannot give what you don’t have. So, if you are not well informed, there is no way you can do the cycle of the campaign against Female Genital Mutilation. This is like the first step towards reaching out to many other people to key into the campaign and help reverse the trend.”

He gave assurances that the State government would continue to sensitize the public on the consequences of FGM on fathers, mothers and the children and the dangers inherent in it, urging traditional circumcisers to desist from the ungodly practice.

The Executive Secretary noted, “We are trying to get it to many people across local government areas and as many LCDAs as possible. We want to get close to the grassroots and from there, people can build the culture. Not only that, we try to educate the younger ones, so that when they become mothers, they already know and they will reverse the trend.”

Earlier, the Executive Director of Hacey Health Initiative, Rhoda Robinson, said the workshop was organized to educate stakeholders on how to participate in the crusade on the need to end FGM in the State, saying that the risks and consequences associated with it are too numerous and grievous.

She maintained that the major focus of the stop cut project, which is being funded by the United Nations Trust Fund, was to end violence against women and to ensure existing policies in the State are being effectively implemented to protect women and their wards from FGM.

Robinson stated that the project would also increase the report of FGM at the community level, explaining that a similar workshop was going on in Osun and Ekiti states in order to sensitise the citizens and residents of the states on the dangers embedded in Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

She appreciated the Oyo State MDAs for supporting the Hacey Health Initiative in trying to find a lasting solution to Female Genital Mutilation in the State.

“We have had partnerships of organisations and institutions that are jointly working towards ending FGM in the states. This activity serves as the foundation of building more capacities that can join in the fight to end FGM within the different communities where FGM still exists today.” Robinson concluded.

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