By Salisu Sani-Idris

Mobile Court in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has ordered that four parks and gardens in the territory be sealed off for two weeks for violating the COVID-19 protocols.

Mr Ikharo Atta, Head of Media and Enlightenment of the Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) COVID-19 Protocols Enforcement Taskforce, disclosed this at a news conference on Monday in Abuja

Attah said that the affected gardens were Eden Park and Garden in Utako, Byuan Resources Ltd., Skychef Park and Garden as well as 7th Option Park and Leisure Services, all in Garki 2, Abuja.

He also disclosed that 12 persons arrested at the gardens “very late in the night’’, would be arraigned after the two weeks.

“What we observe is that most of them (gardens) operate beyond the period (allowed).

“The persons who were in the shops didn’t comply with physical distancing. Face mask wasn’t there at all and no hand washing points.

“They were totally in breach of the COVID-19 protocol and the judge in his wisdom, Magistrate Egbe Arafe, issued the seal off order for two weeks.

“After the two weeks, we will now come back to the court and continue the trial,’’ Attah said.
Attah, who said that the task force would focus on night clubs, advised gardens and parks operators `to do the needful’.

He also said that the authority would not yield to undue demands by kids and parents for FCTA to reopen Millennium Park, Jabi Lake and other parks shut down due to COVID-19

He said that the measure was to save the lives of the people. (NAN)

By Philomena Attah

Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service Muhammad Babandede has directed relevant formations to enforce temporary travel restriction by the federal government on 100 COVID-19 safety protocol defaulting passengers.

According to a statement issued in Abuja on Monday by the service Public Relations Officer Sunday James, the defaulting passengers have been restricted for a period of six months — from Jan.1 to June 30.

He noted that the passengers were restricted “due to non-compliance with the mandatory Day 7 post-arrival COVID-19 Polymerise Chain Reaction (PCR) test by all in-bound travelers.

“All the affected passengers have been notified and will be prevented from travelling passport re-issuance and travelling outside the country during this period.

“The Nigeria Immigration Service hereby warns all affected passengers to comply to avoid breaching public health protocols and refusal of departure’’.

The federal government had earlier announced that the details of the passports of the first 100 passengers who failed to undergo COVID-19 testing after returning to the country will be revealed publicly and the passports will also be suspended.

The move came as the country is witnessing a second wave of the virus in recent weeks which has caused a spike in cases across the country.(NAN)

By Ismaila Chafe

President Muhammadu Buhari has commiserated with the academia over the passing of former Vice Chancellor of University of Lagos and Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of First Technical University, Ibadan, Prof Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe.

In a condolence message by his spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina, in Abuja on Monday, Buhari condoled with family members and friends.

The president affirmed that the scholar and administrator would be sorely missed by the academia, government and the country.

According to him, the sudden transition of Ibidapo-Obe has left a gap that will be difficult to fill, considering his contribution to the development of education, with a rich pedigree of being President of the Nigeria Academy of Science.

Late Ibidapo-Obe was also onetime Chairman of the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities and upwardly rising over the years with a  distinguished career.

Buhari condoled with students and staff of the University of Lagos, First Technical University and the Nigeria Universities Commission over the loss, as well as the government and people of Osun.

The president prayed for the repose of the soul of the scholar, and God’s comfort for his family.(NAN)

By Maureen Ojinaka

Commercial activities have resumed in earnest in Enugu after the Yuletide, with markets, banks and other business activities operating normally, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

A Correspondent of NAN who went round Enugu metropolis on Monday, reports that there were normal vehicular and human movements on major roads, while some traders, said they had fully returned to commence their regular businesses for the year.

Mr Uche Nnamdi, a trader, who deals on women’s wears at Ogbete Main Market, explained that he decided to open his shop for business on time due to COVID-19 second lockdown rumour.

“I returned early this year to open my shop for business due to the second COVID-19 lockdown that I am hearing,” Nnamdi said.

Mrs Eugenia Ani, another trader at Garki Market, said she had to opened for business earlier, following her inability to make much profit from her cosmetics’ business as a result of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Ani added that she started early because she also needed to pay for her children’s school fees in this month.

“I opened early this year because of COVID-19 pandemic which made many traders to remain indoors for several months last year and my children’s school fees will be paid this January.

“In fact, every expenditure I make in my family is from this my shop,” she said.

Also, a bank customer in one of the commercial banks, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she came to pay for her children’s school fees to avoid rush when schools resume.

“This is the best time to pay for children’s fees because customers are not many in banks now, when compared to the population of customers expected by next week,” she said.

Similarly, most shopping malls in the metropolis were seen opened for businesses. (NAN)

By Rotimi Ijikanmi

From just two National Reference Laboratories, Nigeria now has over 100 public and private laboratories across all the states for the testing of COVID-19.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who disclosed this at a media briefing on Monday in Lagos, said centres were also built in collaboration with states and the private sector to isolate and treat cases of COVID-19.

He said the Federal Government, through the Sustainable Production Pillar of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, had been encouraging local manufacturing companies to embark on the production of consumables.

The minister said local manufacturing companies were specifically encouraged to embark on production of face masks, ventilators, hand sanitisers and face shields.

To mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy across all levels, the minister said the government unveiled the Economic Sustainability Plan to support families, small and medium enterprises and the manufacturing sector among others.

He said with the resurgence of the pandemic, President Muhammadu Buhari had extended the mandate of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 until the end of March, 2021.

He said the extension of the PTF mandate was as a result of the new surge in the number of cases of infected persons and the bid for vaccines.

The minister, who is also a member of PTF, gave an assurance of the administration’s untiring efforts to tame the pandemic and
protect Nigerians.

Mohammed recalled that the Federal Government had launched an onslaught against the novel coronavirus which was imported into the country in February 2020.

He said the government mobilised all sectors and segments of the country for a sectoral approach to interrupt the transmission of the virus and curtail mortality.

Mohammed said the approach included expanding health infrastructure, building the capacity of health workers and mounting aggressive public sensitisation and community mobilisation against the spread of the virus.

To mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, the minister said the Federal Government unveiled the Economic Sustainability Plan to support families, small and medium enterprises and the manufacturing sector among others.

He said the country had so far performed creditably well in the fight against COVID-19 through the deployment of resources, mobilisation and training of manpower and expansion of health infrastructure.

Mohammed enjoined Nigerians to strictly abide by all COVID-19 protocols to prevent spread of the pandemic.

He said the media briefing, earlier scheduled for Dec. 29, 2020, was shifted in order for him not to breach the COVID-19 protocols.

“Many of you may not be aware that I represented Mr President at the inauguration of President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré of Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou on Dec. 28, 2020.

“I returned to Nigeria the same day, but had to observe the mandatory seven-day quarantine which expired yesterday, Jan. 3, 2021,” he said.

He reiterated that while the Federal Government was not contemplating another lockdown because of possible effects on the economy, Nigerians should take responsibility in preventing the second wave of the pandemic. (NAN)

By Rotimi Ijikanmi
The Federal Government says contrary to the position of some “jaundiced analysts and their lapdogs,’’ Nigeria is not a failing or failed state.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, at a New Year media briefing in Lagos said the analysts were wrong in seeking to portray the country as a failing state due to its security challenges.

Mohammed, who stressed that the gloomy prediction would not come to pass, added that the country would rise to become a more respected member of the comity of nations.

“You would remember that for the past two decades or so, some pseudo-analysts have been predicting the country’s implosion.

“That has not happened, hence they have found a new watchword – failing or failed state!

” It’s all a ruse aimed at depicting Nigeria as being in a constant state of anarchy so they can achieve their nefarious objectives for the country,’’ he said.

Mohammed said notwithstanding the antics of the analysts who he said had constituted themselves into another ‘fighting force,’ the country had made tremendous progress in tackling bandits and Boko Haram terrorists.

He said: “If Nigeria was not a ‘failing’ state when a large slice of its territory equivalent to the size of Belgium was under the occupation of Boko Haram, which collected taxes, installed and deposed emirs, is it now that no territory is under the terrorists that Nigeria will be a failing state?

“If Nigeria was not a failed state when bombs were raining on towns and cities in Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Borno, Yobe, FCT and other states, is it now that such bombings have stopped that Nigeria will be described as a ‘failing’ state?

“If Nigeria was not a ‘failing’ state in those years that Christian and Muslim worshippers needed to be screened to even enter their places of worship, is it now that the siege on places of worship has ceased that Nigeria will be described as a ‘failing’ state?’’

Mohammed said it was sad that many people had forgotten where the country was in terms of the state of insecurity just a few years back.

The minister, however, thanked the security agencies for ensuring that Nigerians celebrated another Christmas and the new year without bombings.

He recalled that in 2010, 2011 and 2012, Christmas eve or Christmas Day attacks left hundreds dead or injured.

Mohammed also recalled the attack on the UN Complex in Abuja in August 2011, the bombing of media houses in Abuja and Kaduna in April 2012 and the killing of about 40 students in Mubi, Adamawa, in October 2012.

He said the analysts had forgotten that over 80 towns and villages were attacked and razed, with casualties, by Boko Haram in Borno alone

“Have we forgotten the constant attacks on military and security formations like Giwa Barracks (Maiduguri), Mohammed Kur Barracks (Bama), Monguno Barracks (Monguno), Airforce Base (Maiduguri), New Prison (Maiduguri) and numerous police stations?

“The fact that these attacks and bombings have stopped is a testimony to the progress we have made in tackling terrorism which, by the way, is not like conventional warfare.

“The stoppage of the attacks didn’t happen by accident. It is therefore mischievous for anyone to discountenance the progress we have made in tackling insecurity, in building and upgrading infrastructure and in diversifying the economy, among others.

“The Federal Government rejects this characterisation of Nigeria as a ‘failing’ state, which is a combination of the wishful thinking of naysayers and the evil machinations of those who don’t wish Nigeria well,’’ he said.

Mohammed said the government had sustained the fight against terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and other criminal elements across the country, especially in the North East and the North West regions.

He said the recent swift response and rescue of the 344 kidnapped Kankara school boys in Katsina State from bandits attested to the claim.

Mohammed said the president has continued to provide all the necessary platforms on land, air and sea to support the fight against criminals and terrorists in the country.

The minister said besides tackling insecurity headlong, the country had continued to make steady progress in many areas, including infrastructural development, agriculture and power.