COVID-19 Lockdown Likely To Scale Up Poverty In Lagos

Yemi Kale, the statistician general of the federation, says the number of people living in poverty in Lagos is likely to have increased due to the movement restrictions imposed by the federal government to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Kale, who is the director-general of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said some Lagosians escaped the poverty line because they lived on daily income.

“So now that we are unable to go out on a daily basis to make that income, the implication is that all of a sudden they will fall below that poverty line,” he said on Saturday during a colloquium to mark the 63rd birthday of Rauf Aregbesola, the minister of interior and former Osun state governor.

“If we should conduct a poverty survey now, the result is that Lagos poverty rates may be much higher because a large proportion of their population live on a day-to-day basis.

The colloquium was themed ‘Government Unusual: Innovative Economic Solutions to Unlock Mass Prosperity’.

Referencing the 2019 national living standards survey and poverty report, Kale said Lagos has the largest number of micro-businesses and the largest number of people that live on a day-to-day basis.

He explained that in 2019, why people in Lagos were above the poverty line is because they were able to generate income on a daily basis.

Outlining solutions for states who are currently battling with poverty, Kale advised governors to address employment, increase formalisation of the informal sector and design appropriate tax systems to extract revenue from economic activities.

According to Kale, Nigerians spent three more times on food than other non-food items.

Just-In:21 COVID-19 Patients Discharged In Oyo

Twenty-one COVID-19 patients have been discharged from isolation centre in Oyo State.

Governor Seyi Makinde announced this through his official Twitter handle on Saturday night.

Makinde said the figure raised the number of discharged cases so far to 96 in the state.

Twenty-one confirmed COVID-19 patients have received their second negative test results and have been discharged in the past three days. This brings the number of discharged cases in Oyo State to ninety-six.

“So, the total number of confirmed cases in Oyo State is 282

Just In: Buhari loses nephew

Ibrahim Dauda, President Muhammadu Buhari’s nephew, is dead.

In a statement on Saturday, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, said Dauda died in Daura, Katsina state, following a prolonged illness.

In a condolence message, Buhari said the death has robbed the family and the Daura community of one of its finest gentlemen.

“I am deeply touched and devastated by the passing of yet another family member, a man who had demonstrated amazing kindness and honesty in all his dealings,” the president said.

He prayed God to forgive the soul of the deceased and reward his great and noble deeds with paradise.

The deceased is survived by a number of children, including Ibrahim, a chief administrative officer in state house, Abuja,

In February, 2018, Buhari lost Halima Dauda, his niece and mother of Mohammed Sabi’u Tunde, his personal assistant.

• She was the younger sister of Mamman Daura, a nephew of the president.

Just-In:All COVID-19 Patients In Zamfara Discharged

Zamfara has discharged its last five COVID-19 patients, leaving the state with no new active cases as of May 29, 2020.

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the state confirmed its first two cases on April 24, 2020, and at the time, Nigeria had recorded 1,095 cases in 27 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

Two weeks later, the figure had risen to 65 confirmed cases, with no recovery and three deaths.

On May 11, the first recovery was recorded, with two more deaths on the same day, bringing the state’s total number of fatalities to five.

One week after May 11, NCDC said the state had confirmed 84 cases with 45 recoveries, but the state countered the figure. The agency later apologised to the state for the error of eight new confirmed cases.

NCDC reflected the correction in its May 20 situation report, and confirmed that the figure for the state was still 76. On the same day, the state discharged a total of 63 patients.

The state recorded no new cases till it discharged all its active cases on May 29.

The NCDC situation report for May 29 showed that the state recorded a total of 71 recoveries and five deaths.

Before the state discharged its last five patients, it had the 17th highest figure of confirmed cases, coming after Kwara with 87 cases and before Nasarawa with 62 cases.

Zamfara is the second state after Kebbi to have no active COVID-19 case as of May 29, 2020; Kebbi discharged its last 12 patients on May 28.

As of May 29, a total of 9,302 cases have been confirmed in 35 states and the FCT.

Group Ask Buhari To Sack Minister Of Humanitarian Affairs Over Unpaid Stipend

Independent monitors of the National Social Investment Programme have called for the sack of Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq.

The team made the demand on Saturday while expressing their grievances following the refusal of the minister to pay their accumulated monthly stipends.

Findings by SaharaReporters showed that the NSIP provides young Nigerians with job training and education while also allowing them to receive monthly stipends of N30, 000 from the Nigerian Government.

The independent monitors supervise various programmes of government under the Social Investment Program including N-power, Home Grown School Feeding, Tradermoni, Marketmoni and the Conditional Cash Transfer in the 36 states of the country.

Some of them disclosed that despite pleas and letters to the minister, she had refused to offset their March and April stipends while that of May had also not been paid.

Titus Omotayo, one of the beneficiaries of the programme, told our correspondent that the NSIP was his full time job as a graduate and that he had been having difficulties paying his bills since his stipend stopped coming regularly.

Omotayo said he and other monitors had been preforming their responsibilities yet 70 per cent have not been paid their accumulated stipend by the minister.

Another beneficiary, Godwin Lerve, said the team members had been in the dark concerning their payment and had resolved on calling out the minister over her refusal to pay their stipends.

He said, “A lot of us have not been paid and that is why they are calling for her removal or redeployment from that office.

“I heard that she is planning to streamline the programme probably to remove some persons from payment and I feel this is not the best.”

Abiodun Ogunleye, another monitor, said they had appealed to the minister several times for the prompt payment of their stipend but she had failed to heed their appeals.

“We are left with no other choice than to passionately appeal to the President to send Mrs Sadiya Umar Farouq back to where he picked her from before she ruins the scheme."

Salisu Na’inna Danbatta, Special Adviser on Media to the minister, could not be reached for comments. 

However, an official of the ministry revealed that the matter was already being addressed.

According to reports issues concerning payment of stipend for the independent monitors began after the Social Investment Programme was moved outside the office of Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, by President Buhari last October to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development

Melaye: "I Know A Patient," COVID-19 In Kogi Is Real

Dino Melaye, former senator representing Kogi west, says the report of COVID-19 in Kogi state is “real and authentic”.

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On Wednesday, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced 389 new COVID-19 cases in the country and two were in Kogi.

But the state rejected the results, insisting it is COVID-19 free.

Kingsley Fanwo, Kogi commissioner for information, in an interview on Channel Television’s Politics Today, described the cases reported in the state as “beautiful fraud”.

But in a statement, Tai Ejibunu, obatebise of Oweland, had said the index patient identified as Ahmad Ejibunu, chief imam of Kabba, may have been infected from within the state.

Melaye in a statement on Saturday said he knows one of the COVID-19 patients from Kabba.

“I want to announce that the Covid-19 case in Kogi is real and authentic and cannot understand why any responsible government will want to deny and invariably kill her citizens,” he said.

One of the cases is from Kabba and the victim is personally known to me. I cannot be part of those who will play politics with the lives of my people.

"COVID-19 is real but not a death sentence. If handled early enough. Family members of the Kabba victim who got a referral to Abuja from federal medical centre in Lokoja and all those who had contact with him shoild please surrender themselves to test so as to curtail the spread.

“Kogi State government must come down from her imaginary high horse and start contact tracing to help curtail the spread. It is illogical to think we will be free with our proximity to affected states.

“God will hear our cry and heal our land. God bless Okun land! God bless Kogi west! God bless Kogi State.”

COVID-19: Like Atiku, Tinubu, Obasanjo's Presidential Library Sacks Workers

Like Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Vice President Atiku Abubkar did with their companies, former President Olusegun Obasanjo through hos company, has followed their footsteps by throwing his workers to the labour market.

His workers at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) received the shock of their lives on Friday as their appointment were temporarily suspended by the Library’s management.

The decision was contained in a letter signed by the head of human resources, administration and procurement, Olanike Ogunleye.

She stated that the temporary cessation is effective from 31st May, 2020 adding that the workers will be recalled when business picks up; the workers, she said  are not eligible for any payment during the period of cessation.

After Index Cases Anxiety Mounts Over COVID-19 Spread In Kogi

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced two cases of coronavirus in Kogi on Wednesday.

Although those were the state’s index cases, there are fears the infection rate might already be high.

One of the index cases had reported at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Lokoja, the state capital, when he started having symptoms of the disease but he was later sent to the National Hospital, Abuja, where he was diagnosed.

This website gathered that the man who is from Kabba Bunu local government area, is believed to have infected his close aide, who is the second case confirmed by the NCDC.

There is a high possibility that the duo came in contact with a lot of people in the state before they were transferred to Abuja on May 24.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Nigeria, Kogi has laid claim to a clean sheet until Wednesday when NCDC confirmed the two cases.

But the state government rejected the results, accusing the health agency of perpetrating fraud. According to reports Austin Ojotule, the state epidemiologist, was immediately informed after the index cases tested positive.

A senior medical doctor at FMC told our correspondent  that health workers in the state are apprehensive and have been having marathon meetings since the cases were confirmed.

“Everybody is apprehensive; the tension is higher than it was before the cases were confirmed. We are meeting again this morning… we have been meeting since then,” the doctor, who pleaded anonymity for the fear of being punished, told TheCable on Friday morning.

“The doctors that exposed themselves have also gone into self isolation. The state authorities ought to have started contact tracing but with the way they are denying, they are not ready to do anything. It seems they are not taking the lives of the people as seriously as they ought to.”

Speaking during an NTA programme on Thursday, Mohammed Kawu, acting secretary, health and human services secretariat in the federal capital territory (FCT), said with the nature of the two cases from Kogi, it is believed that the infection is spreading.

He said the state was immediately contacted “to ensure that they do contact tracing carry out tests so that all those found positive would be removed from the communities in order not to infect other people.”

“The issue is that there is infection going on somehow and I think it is the response of the state to search the area and do a lot of testing so that whoever they find infected should be isolated and treated, otherwise it is not going to be good,” he said.

Doctors are also worried that not much has been done on the part of government to curb the spread of the virus.

TheCable had reported how Kogi, which shares a boundary with FCT, has been turning a blind eye to patients with COVID-19 symptoms.

Despite over 500 cases in the nation’s capital, there is seamless flow of movement between the two places, with little or no measure in place to prevent transmission of the virus as many do not wear masks, maintain social distancing, or observe other safety protocols recommended by health authorities.

Both the state epidemiologist and Haruna Saka, commissioner for health, could not be reached for comments as of the time of filing this report. They neither answered calls nor replied text messages.

Just In:Keyamo Speaks On How 774,000 Nigerians Will Benefit From FGs Employment Scheme

Festus Keyamo, minister of state for labour and employment, says up to 10 percent of the federal government’s 774,000 temporary employment slots will be allotted to political office holders across the country.

On April 6, 2020, Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, announced that President Muhammadu Buhari approved the engagement of 774,000 Nigerians on the special public works programme implemented by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE).

Giving a breakdown of the figure, Ahmed said the programme will cover 1,000 people from the 774 local government areas of the country.

At a press briefing, Keyamo gave details of how the programme would be implemented, as it is scheduled to begin in October 2020.

He said a 20-member committee will be constituted in each state, and will comprise representatives of local communities, traditional institutions, religious organisations, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), civil society organisations, among others.

“I wish to quickly note at this point that this is a distinct and separate committee from the state advisory committee under section5(2) of the N.D.E Act whose functions are different,” he said.

“Let me state clearly that all members of the state selection committees would not be persons holding any official position in any of the registered political parties. If any of those listed also doubles as an official of any political party, then the state chairman of the selection committee of the SPW shall fill that position with another person representing that interest. We have stated this in order to make this process as apolitical as possible.

“However, we are not unmindful of the fact that political office holders are also representatives of the people. We cannot also totally ignore them in the selection process. We are only trying to guard against some of us hijacking the process solely to service our political interests.

“As a result and because of the need to be honest before Nigerians, the state selection committees would be instructed to allot to political office holders like our distinguished senators, honourable members, ministers and governors, a number in total not exceeding ten percent of the total beneficiaries in that state.

“This is to ensure that majority of Nigerians who do not belong to any of the political divide actually benefit substantially from this programme.”

Keyamo also added that the president has “approved the use of select banks to register and collate data of the beneficiaries.”

“The banks will open accounts for all beneficiaries and in the process obtain BVN for those without accounts. Consequently, all payments would be made from the CBN directly to the accounts of the beneficiaries,” the minister said.

Just-In:82-Year-Old Hypertensive Covid-19 Patient In Osun Recovers

An 82-year-old woman in Osun state has recovered from coronavirus.

Rafiu Isamotu, commissioner for health in the state, broke the news on Friday evening.

Isamotu said the woman recovered after receiving nine-day treatment at the isolation centre in Asubiaro, Osogbo, the state capital.

The commissioner said the Octogenerian recovered despite being hypertensive.

He said she beat the odd of infected elderly people with chronic diseases not surviving COVID-19.

He said the patient, who contracted the disease after coming in contact with an infected person, showed no symptoms of the virus before her sample was collected.

“The story of the 82-year-old widow who recovered from the dreaded coronavirus provides a glimmer of hope, considering that she is a hypertensive patient on medication,” he said.

“Although when she arrived at our Isolation centre on the 13th of May, she had no cough, difficulty in breathing, sore throat, fever or anosmia associated with the virus except for diarrhoea and we successfully treated her for it and she was stable all through the period of hospitalisation.

“On her 9th day on admission, we carried out a follow-up Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on her and the result came back negative and she was subsequently discharged on the 24th of May, 2020.

“Furthermore, a follow-up at her home after her discharge revealed that she was stable.”

This is the second oldest survivor in Nigeria. Last month, a 98-year-old COVID-19 patient was discharged in Lagos.

Nigeria has a total of 8,915 COVID-19 cases. Out of which 2,592 have recovered and 259 have died.

Just In: Ogun Lifts Lockdown From June 1

Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has lifted the lock down in the state.

By this new arrangement,there will be free movement from Monday to Friday while only Saturday and Sunday will have total lockdown.

Besides, the free period will be from 6am to 8pm while curfew will be between 8pm and 6am.

Kogi Rejects NCDC Results Says State Is COVID-19 Free

The Kogi government says the state is COVID-19 free.

In a statement on Wednesday, Saka Haruna Audu, Kogi health commissioner, said the state government has developed “full testing capacity” and “conducted hundreds of tests” which have come back negative.

This position is contrary to that of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). The centre said two people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the state.

In the statement, Audu said the state would not be a party “to any fictitious COVID-19 claims”.

“Kogi State till this very moment is Covid-19 free. We have developed full testing capacity and have conducted hundreds of tests so far which have come back negative,” he said.

“We have also continued to insist that we will not be a party to any fictitious COVID-19 claims which is why we do not recognise any COVID-19 test conducted by any Kogite outside the boundaries of the State except those initiated by us.

“Any attempt to force us to announce a case of COVID-19 will be vehemently rejected.”

The commissioner asked residents of the state to continue to take all necessary precautions to prevent a spread of the disease.

“We are more than prepared to secure the life of our people and have no interest in playing politics with their health concerns,” he said.

There was a controversy after the first visit of NCDC officials to the state. Yahaya Bello, the governor, had ordered the officials to leave the state or be quarantined for 14 days.

The centre said Kogi had only conducted one test, but the state claimed it had done 111 tests that turned out negative.

Osagie Ehanire, minister of health, said a second trip by NCDC officials would be successful.

South Africa To Reopen Places Of Worship June 1

Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, says places of worship will reopen as from June 1, but under stern restrictions to prevent the further spread of the novel coronavirus.

This is despite the fact that South Africa is the continent’s worst-hit by the COVID-19 outbreak with 24,264 confirmed cases of the disease and 524 deaths, according to worldometer.

But in a statement on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said churches, mosques, temples and other recognised places of worship would also be mandated to ensure their worshipers keep social distance while they also wear masks and sanitise their hands.

“Churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and other recognized places of worship may resume services, but these will be limited in size to 50 people or less depending on the space available,” BBC quoted him to have said.

The president explained that the development became necessary given the effect of the pandemic on the religious well-being of the people.

Noting that religious religious leaders play vital role in the community, Ramaphosa also said that the country would observe a national day of prayer on May 31

He added that the move was part of his government’s “three level of easing lockdown restrictions.”

South Africa has been under lockdown since March 27, in an effort to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Ramaphosa’s directives come amid calls from several Nigerian clergymen that President Muhammadu Buhari should reopen places of worship.

So far, Nigeria has 8,344 cases of the virus with 249 deaths.