23 involved in auto accident on Ile-Ife-Gbogan highway

 Twenty-three persons were involved in a motor accident on the Ile-Ife-Gbogan highway on Tuesday.

The Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Osun, Mrs. Kudirat Ibrahim, who confirmed the incident, said two persons lost their lives in the incident.

Ibrahim noted that the accident occurred due to a collision between two vehicles, which involved 23 people at about 3:00 a.m, with only two people injured while two others lost their lives.

“A Toyota Camry, with registration number FKJ746DU, collided with a white Hiace bus with registration number FKJ634XW on Ife -Gbogan highway today at about 3:00 a.m.

“Two persons lost their lives in the process while some injured persons were taken to the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital in Ile-Ife.

“The items recovered have been taken to Ipetu Police Station by officers of the Nigerian Army who also arrived at the scene,” she said.

According to her, the accident occurred due to a violation of road traffic rules by motorists.

The sector commander called on road users to be safety conscious and to obey traffic regulations to avoid any unwanted situations on the highway.

Ibrahim advised motorists to comply with the road safety act in order to avoid being made to face the wrath of the law.

- PM NEWS

17-year-old boy dies in Ondo after smoking ‘colorado’

 

A 17-year-old boy has died in Ondo State after taking a psychotropic substance popularly known on the streets as ‘colorado’.

The boy identified as Joshua, who took the hard drug over the weekend, gave up the ghost after being in coma for two days.

According to sources, the deceased who was residing in Oba-Ile, Akure South Local Government Area if the State where the incident happened, took some portion of the substance from his friends who were already in the habit of taking hard drugs.

Following his weird behaviour within minutes of taking ‘colorado’, his friends were said to have called his siblings who rushed him to the hospital where he later gave up the ghost.

According to one of the sources, “when few moment after Joshua took a puff of colorado, his friends said he had difficulty in breathing and later he began to hallucinate.

“His friends were scared of his reactions and they quickly called on his people.”

‘Colorado’ is one of the banned psychotropic substances that is currently prevalent among youths. The hard drug is said to be made from synthetic plant.

- DAILY POST

TheCable reporter threatened for exposing rot in Akwa Ibom hospitals

 

Chinedu Asadu, a journalist with TheCable, has been receiving threatening messages over his investigative story on quackery in Akwa Ibom hospitals.

Asadu had gone undercover to expose how in different hospitals in Akwa Ibom train and employ unqualified nurses, under the guise of an auxiliary nursing programme.

He found that hospitals often allow the trainees to directly manage and administer drugs to unsuspecting patients, thereby endangering their lives.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) told TheCable such practices amount to quackery and vowed to shut down such hospitals.

But since the first part of the investigative project was published on Thursday last week, two of the hospitals have been repeatedly calling the reporter’s phone line.

“Sometimes I receive calls more than 30 times a day from one of the hospitals,” Asadu said.

“One of the hospitals,  Our Lady of Lourdes’ Infirmary, located in Uyo, the state capital, went as far as telling me that the will find me in any part of the world I go to.

“The direct phone line of Daniel Ngang, the hospital manager, has contacted me directly, with at least five other lines calling at the same time.”

Checks revealed that among those calling are Edikan Olof, a current student enrolled in the hospital’s programme, as well as some members of staff.

Messaging via his line – 0817 624 4831 – Ngang once told the reporter: “Black animal, fraudster, we will search for you in any part of the globe spiritually.”

In another instance, he sent a message which read, “Early 6 feet await you soon.”

Some of his other messages read: “The gods of the land will soon locate you, wait for spiritual slap; It wouldn’t be well with you in this life”, “Your cup will soon full.”

TheCable had contacted all indicted hospitals for their response, but none of them responded except Milestone Specialist Hospital whose founder who denied running such a programme, claiming instead that “we do six weeks online Strengthening Community Health Workers Programme.”

- THECABLE

Apple Inc self driving iCar may be out 2024

 

Apple Inc is moving forward with self-driving car technology and is targeting 2024 to produce a passenger vehicle.

The vehicle, that may be called iCar or Titan could include Apple’s own breakthrough battery technology, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Economic Daily News has even predicted the iCar will launch in September 2021, full two years ahead of schedule.

The iPhone maker’s automotive efforts, known as Project Titan, have proceeded unevenly since 2014 when it first started to design its own vehicle from scratch.

At one point, Apple drew back the effort to focus on software and reassessed its goals.

Doug Field, an Apple veteran who had worked at Tesla Inc, returned to oversee the project in 2018 and laid off 190 people from the team in 2019.

Since then, Apple has progressed enough that it now aims to build a vehicle for consumers, two people familiar with the effort said, asking not to be named because Apple’s plans are not public.

Apple’s goal of building a personal vehicle for the mass market contrasts with rivals such as Alphabet Inc’s Waymo, which has built robo-taxis to carry passengers for a driverless ride-hailing service.

Central to Apple’s strategy is a new battery design that could “radically” reduce the cost of batteries and increase the vehicle’s range, according to a third person who has seen Apple’s battery design.

Apple declined to comment on its plans or future products.

It remains unclear who would assemble an Apple-branded car, but sources have said they expect the company to rely on a manufacturing partner to build vehicles.

And there is still a chance Apple will decide to reduce the scope of its efforts to an autonomous driving system that would be integrated with a car made by a traditional automaker, rather than the iPhone maker selling an Apple-branded car, one of the people added.

Two people with knowledge of Apple’s plans warned pandemic-related delays could push the start of production into 2025 or beyond.

Reported by Reuters

Security Network’ll operate without you – Nnamdi Kanu fires back at Southeast govs

 

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has declared that the Eastern Security Network, ESN, would operate without the approval of Southeast governors.

Kanu made the declaration in response to remark by Dave Umahi, Governor of Ebonyi State despising ESN.

Umahi, who is Chairman of the Southeast Governors’ Forum, had said the ESN was a laughable distraction.

The governor urged people of the region to ignore ESN because governors were doing their best to secure the Southeast.

However, Kanu said Southeast governors should stop terrorism first before tempting to stop ESN.

The IPOB leader spoke through the group’s Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful.

A statement by Powerful reads partly: “We the global family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) under the command and leadership of our great leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, condemn in very strong terms, the recent shameful statement credited to Gov. Dave Umahi on behalf of his fellow lilly-liverd and coward governors of South East against the newly established Eastern Security Network, ESN.

“They only further exposed their emptiness and detachment from the people.

“But our message to the treacherous South East Governors and their South South counterparts is that ‘the train has since left the station’ and can’t reverse it’s course.

“May we remind the traitors that the Eastern region cannot be sacrificed at the altar of their political interest. It’s either they key in or shape out! The East can exist without them. They should steer clear because they can’t withstand the force behind ESN.”

- DAILY POST

COVID-19: FG bans large gatherings, asks some civil servants to work from home

 

The federal government has banned large gatherings, restricting the crowd at wedding, seminars, conferences and other programmes to a maximum of 50.

Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation, announced at the briefing of the presidential task force on COVID-19.

Mustapha, who is also the head of the task force, directed civil servants below grade 12 to work from home.

He said the measures were taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari approved all the actions of the PTF.

“​Over the past four briefings, the PTF has been raising the alert flag on the rising number of infections in the country and the possibility of a second wave arriving at our shores. ​Recent Epidemiology records confirm to the PTF that Nigeria is now facing a rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases nationwide which is similar to the second wave of infections occurring in other countries across the world. Particularly, Lagos, Kaduna and the FCT have emerged as the new epicentres during this period, with over 70% of all confirmed cases,” he said.

“​From our assessment, the current situation are clearly the consequences of certain occurrences and events of the last few weeks. These include: Sudden increase in social gatherings involving large congregations from different parts of the country, and the world, at events such as weddings, religious activities, political rallies, conferences and end of year celebrations;

“ii. These events, classified globally as ‘supers-spreader events’, make the risk of a single infection causing a large outbreak among attendees significantly higher;

“​The PTF has surveyed developments and actions taken by governments around the world, assessed our domestic environment and has accordingly submitted its recommendations to Mr. President on immediate measures to be taken.

“​In line with the authorisation, the PTF wishes to issue the following advisories to sub-national entities for implementation over the next five weeks because these activities are considered super spreader events:
“Close All bars, night clubs, pubs and event centres, and recreational venues;
“Close all restaurants except those providing services to hotel residents; takeaways, home deliveries and drive-ins shall remain closed;
“Restrict all informal and formal festivity events including weddings, conferences, congresses, office parties, concerts, seminars, sporting activities, end of year events shall be restricted to not more than 50 persons;
“Limit All gatherings linked to religious events to less than 50% capacity of the facility of use during which physical distancing; mandatory use of face masks shall be strictly enforced.”

- THECABLE

Senate doubts Nigeria’s capacity to store N378bn COVID-19 vaccines

 

The Senate has made it clear that it has no confidence in the Federal Ministry of Health to effectively store and distribute COVID-19 vaccines worth N378bn when they arrive in Nigeria.

The N378bn would be required to vaccinate 70 percent of Nigerians, at $8 per person.

N156bn would be needed in 2021 and N220bn in 2022.

This was made known as the Senate leadership on Monday met with representatives of the Executive arm of Government in a move that would see to the purchase of the COVID-19 vaccines next year by the Federal Government.

The meeting lasted about two hours thirty minutes and was presided over by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan.

The representatives of the Federal Government were led by Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, and Minister of Finance and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed.

Others at the meeting include Sen. Dr. Olorunimbe Mamora; Director-General, Budget and National Planning, Ben Akabueze; Director-General, National Centre for Disease Control, Chikwe Ihekweazu; and Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

However, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, in his welcome address said that the meeting which was summoned at the instance of the Senate leadership was scheduled to ascertain the level of preparedness by the Federal Government towards the purchase of the COVID-19 vaccine.

According to him, an engagement between the legislature and executive would evaluate and appraise the government’s readiness to acquire the vaccine for administration to Nigerians across the country.

“Essentially, we want you to tell us how we are going to be able to provide the vaccines in such a manner that the vaccines are not only acquired but remain efficacious and effective that they are not invalidated because of any challenge in the area of storage or during transportation. And we know ours is a very difficult and sometimes impossible environment.

“Other countries have already started receiving the vaccines, even though I’m not sure if there’s any African country that has received. But if any African country should receive first, it should be Nigeria.

“Alongside these, you should also give us an idea on how we are going to start the vaccination.

“We need to have the strategy of how we intend to do it so that we don’t run into any chaos.

“That means we need to continue to campaign for our people to continue to use face-masks and hand sanitizers as well as keep to social distancing.

“Because if we have the vaccine, it would take quite sometime before everybody gets it. And before then, we should insist on the protocols because this is a matter of life and death,” Lawan said.

Briefing the Senate leadership, the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, said four holding points had been identified by the agency for storage of the vaccine.

According to him, the locations are Abuja, Lagos, Enugu and Kano.

He disclosed that an ultra-cool system will be provided by GAVI – a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunisation in poor countries – at the various locations as part of an initial 20 percent agreement.

He added that “the vaccine distribution plan has been developed and will be further updated with the micro-planning process as the need arises.”

On the cost implication for purchase of the vaccine, Shuaib said that additional vaccines over the 20 percent supply agreement to poor countries will be purchased by the Federal Government.

“In terms of the cost of the vaccines, we plan to reach 70 percent as earlier mentioned by the end of 2022.

“For 2021, GAVI-eligible countries like Nigeria will be supported through the COVAX AMC facility in the procurement of 20 percent for the total population.

“Any additional vaccine required that is above 20 percent of the COVAX facility will be funded by Nigeria at an average price of $4 per dose, given that the vaccines that we have now require 2 doses; that will be $8USD per person.

“This additional 20 percent requirement in 2021 will have to be funded by the government of Nigeria.

“In 2022, we are trying to access a further 30 percent of the vaccines. The Federal Government will have to, in addition to buying these vaccines, pay for the operational cost which is estimated to be about $1.6USD per person.

“We have to budget for this in 2021 and 2022. In 2021, the cost of vaccines on operations will be N156.7 billion; In 2022, it will be N220.9 billion,” Shuaib said.

However, the leadership of the Senate were not convinced by the level of preparedness by the Federal Government towards the purchase of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Lawan said the National Assembly was ready to support but must be convinced by the efforts of the Federal Government to ensure effective storage and distribution of the vaccines.

“I have not been convinced with your presentation that we are ready to bring in the vaccines. You have to do much more to convince me that we are ready. This is a matter of life and death. I am not only a doubting Thomas; I’m also a doubting Ahmad.”

The Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege, also added his concerns by saying “I am a doubting Omo Agege also.”

However, the Health minister, Ehanire, insisted that the country had successfully fought polio and would use the same storage facilities (cold chains) to store the COVID-19 vaccines.

Ehanire urged the Senate to have confidence in the plan for the COVID-19 vaccine campaign.

- PM NEWS