Federal Government has commended the Nigerian media for their support in the ongoing fight against the corona-virus disease (COVID-19).

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed

FG hails media for COVID-19 fight, seeks more support in the ongoing fight against the corona-virus disease (COVID-19).

Making the call yesterday at a virtual meeting with the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, appealed for more media support for the Federal Government’s efforts to tackle the pandemic.

“The government is very grateful to the media. You have done a lot to bring our message (on the pandemic) to Nigerians,” he said, quoting a poll showing that 99 per cent of Nigerians were aware of the pandemic while 95 per cent said they had received information on how to protect themselves.





The Federal Government has commended the Nigerian media for their support in the ongoing fight against the corona-virus disease (COVID-19).
Making the call yesterday at a virtual meeting with the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, appealed for more media support for the Federal Government’s efforts to tackle the pandemic.

“The government is very grateful to the media. You have done a lot to bring our message (on the pandemic) to Nigerians,” he said, quoting a poll showing that 99 per cent of Nigerians were aware of the pandemic while 95 per cent said they had received information on how to protect themselves.


In the absence of any known drug or vaccine against the virus, the only option is Non-Pharmaceutical Intervention (NPI), which includes social distancing, wearing of face mask, avoiding mass gathering and ensuring personal hygiene, Mohammed noted.

According to him, NPI is hinged on getting the necessary information to members of the public, and this could only be done with the support of the media.

“Yes, we are going to spend more on research and ventilators; but we will spend less money on ventilators and isolation centres if we invest just a fraction of what we are spending on ventilators in the media,” the minister said.Chairman of NPAN, Chief Nduka Obaigbena, said the media had continued to sensitise Nigerians on COVID-19 on all platforms, even in the face of a drastic reduction in revenue.

He called on the minister to enact a policy that would ensure that some online platforms pay for the original content they generate from the various media outlets in Nigeria.

“In Australia, the government has intervened in ensuring that Facebook, Google and Twitter pay for original content by journalists and media practitioners as a matter of policy,” he said, urging the minister to do the same for the Nigerian media.

NPAN’s request for mitigating the effect of the pandemic on the media include soft loan, tax relief and other fiscal incentives as well as increased patronage by the government.

Credit : The guardian News

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New electricity tariffs to take effect in July- Minister of Power, Sale Mamma

The Minister of Power, Sale Mamma, has said that the proposed electricity tariff increase by the Federal government will kick off in July.



In January, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had announced an upward review of electricity tariff across the country from April 1. It later suspended the proposed tariff increase in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.



However, while speaking at the investigative public hearing on the power sector recovery plan and the impact on COVID-19 pandemic at the Senate on Tuesday, June 16, the Minister said the subsidy incurred in order to maintain the current tariff level is unsustainable.

“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has also affected our laid-out plan for the repositioning of the electricity market towards financial sustainability under the power sector recovery programme (PSRP).

Initially, the regulator, following the completion of public consultation on tariff review, planned on conducting a tariff review in April 2020. However, due to COVID-19 and customer apathy, the proposed tariff review was delayed by three months.

The impact of this means the subsidy being incurred in maintaining the current tariff level had to be maintained until July 2020 when the proposed tariff review will be implemented. The current situation in the Nigerian power sector is that a lot of capital investment is being made, most of which is dependent on donor funding, loans and budgetary allocation.

For projects that we have already secured their funding, we do not expect any adverse effect.” Sale said



Credit: Lindaikejiblog













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Worship centers in Lagos remain closed till further notice – Sanwo-Olu Babajide

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Lagos state governor has suspended reopening of worship centers in the state till further notice.








This is coming few days before reopening slated for June 19th.


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Sanwo-Olu suspends reopening of worship centers in Lagos



On June 4th, Sanwo-Olu approved the reopening of religious enters in Lagos for June 19th.

He said mosques are to reopen from June 19 while churches are to begin services from June 21, with crowd not more 40% of their original capacity.

However, the permission has now been revoked due to rising cases of corona-virus in Lagos state.

As at Monday, Lagos recorded 7,319 confirmed cases, with 1,137 recoveries and 82 casualties.




















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Chioma Rowland, fiance to singer Davido, reacted to the rumors of domestic violence going round on social media

Chioma reacts to domestic violence issues with Davido





In a post shared via her Instagram, the celebrity chef debunked all the alleged domestic violence rumors, stating that the singer has never touched her.

Davido and his fiancee, Chioma [Instagram/DavidoOfficial]
Chioma reacts to domestic violence issues with Davido



She wrote:

“I know you guys absolutely love to spread all sorts of rumors and stories for your entertainment and I’ve known from Day 1 what to expect from blogs and the internet especially with myself and family being in the public space,’

“I have never once come out to respond to any blogger or react to any rumor mongers before as quite frankly it has never been my nature to engage in online battles or pay too much mind to social media.”But I must say I have found quite disturbing the stories of domestic abuse between myself and David and for once feel a need to speak up.

Domestic violence and abuse is NO JOKE and not something to ever take lightly. Never has there ever been an incident of abuse in my home. He has never in his life lifted a finger to touch me and I have never so much as even pushed him.

“I believe with everything we peddle as human beings whether offline or online, we should have a bit of fear of God more so when speaking on things we know absolutely nothing of. I’m not sure where in the world such stories have started from, but I want to ensure everyone showing concern whether fake or real, that such has never and will never happen.”



She went to announce that if the rumors of domestic violence in their relationship continues to spread, the necessary legal actions will be taken against the sponsors of such news.

“Further, we do not take such allegations of abuse lightly at all and if such persists then we will be jointly taking up action against the perpetrators of these disgusting rumors.”

“To the beautiful young ones out there, never ever allow a man to lay his hands on you while you keep quiet. If you were ever to suffer such, ensure you SPEAK UP! With all that is going on in the world right now, we most certainly can not sit around and condone or encourage women to condone such!”















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Covid 19: FG suspends aviation company Naira Marley flew to Abuja for his drive-in concert (video)

The Federal Government has suspended Executive Jet services, the aviation company that owns the private jet used to fly Naira Marley from Lagos to Abuja for his drive-in concert on Saturday, June 13.

 

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, who announced this at the daily briefing of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 today June 15, said the aviation company violated the Federal government's approval.



According to him, an approval was given to the company to fly Justice Adefope Okoji from Lagos to Abuja and back to Lagos on an official assignment. However, they used the approval to fly in NairaMarley.

Well, we approved a flight but certainly not for any musician. The flight, from the application, was to convey Honorable Justice Adefope Okojie from Lagos to Abuja and back to Lagos for an official assignment.
“In this challenging time, in our wisdom, we considered the judiciary to be part of the essential service to be delivered. Having to move the Hon. Justice from Lagos to Abuja was in order. The approval was given for the 14th of June, 2020, however, we do give them a leeway of 24 hours sometimes due to operational reasons.

They can operate the flight slightly earlier or slightly forward within 24 hours. In this case, the operator choose to fly on the 13th at about 6:00 pm. So, that itself is not a violation to operate earlier because we gave him the leeway.

The operator is Executive Jets Services and the approval was very clear and I will read part of it. This is the letter from the ministry of Aviation to the Chairman of the Executive Jets Services and it was signed by the Director of Air Transport Management on my behalf.”



Announcing the sanctions on the company, Sirika said 



“The operation is a clear violation of our approvals which we take seriously, it seems this is becoming a norm, it’s the second time.

Execute services are hereby suspended indefinitely. We’ll also fine them maximally according to the law. The captain of the flight will be sanctioned for giving wrong information to the control tower''.



On Sunday, June 14, the Federal Capital Territory Administration sealed off Jabi Lake Mall on Sunday for two weeks over Naira Marley’s concert which violated the government’s ban on public gathering.

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Former Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi is reportedly in a critical condition over Corona-virus complications.

Former Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi reportedly in critical condition due to Coronavirus complications



Abiola Ajimobi is reportedly battling the novel virus in a hospital in Lagos, according to Sahara Reporters. The publication adds that he's in critical condition.



Ajimobi was rushed to a hospital weeks ago after his health condition deteriorated and has since remained in Intensive Care.


via : lindaikeji blog





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Obstacle mount for Obaseki in PDP

Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki

The Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo, Mr Tony Aziegbemi, has vowed not to grant Gov. Godwin Obaseki an automatic ticket of the party to contest for re-election.

Since Obaseki was disqualified by the All Progressives Congress screening committee, he has reportedly been making moves to join the PDP.

He has visited two governors in the South South, Nyesom Wike in Rivers and Emmanuel Udom in Akwa Ibom.

Aziegbemi told NAN: “I can confirm to you that the governor, his deputy and the entire APC structure in the state will be joining PDP soon.

“We have been in touch in the last few days; by tomorrow, I will be able to confirm the exact date he will be joining, along with his team.

“However, I am not yet aware that the governor has obtained our party’s membership card. I can also say that there is no automatic ticket in the offing for him at all,” he said.

Similarly, a governorship aspirant of the PDP, Mr Ken Imasuagbon, has said he is prepared for open contest, provided his opponents will be ready to subject themselves to the party’s rules and regulations.

Imasuagbon said he was not averse to Obaseki’s planned move to join the party, but added that he would resist any attempt to hand over the party’s ticket to him, preparatory to the governorship election slated for Sept. 19.

According to him, Obaseki will have to join the queue, just like other aspirants, and go through the party’s primaries, billed for June 19 and June 20.

“Any attempt to hand the party’s ticket to him will be met with serious resistance. In fact, there will be no PDP primaries or whatever if the party’s leadership tries it.

“This is neither a military coup nor military rule; the governor must subject himself to the party’s primaries.

“He will need to queue with the other aspirants, if he wishes to join the race. But we will certainly resist handing him over the ticket automatically.

“Have you heard before that somebody will join a party and within three days, he will be given the ticket? Did he buy the party’s nomination form? Was he screened?” he queried.








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