Day: May 6, 2020

Niger state COVID 19 taskforce intercepts 59 persons en-route to Kano, Lagos

Emporium Reporters

Niger State Government Taskforce committee on Covid-19 has intercepted no fewer than 59 person en-route to Kano from Lagos and vice versa. Commissioner for Health, Dr. Muhammad Makusidi disclosed this, in Minna.Niger state capital. Dr. Makusidi said that 40 of the intercepted persons were from Kano going to Lagos while 19 others were coming from Lagos and going to Kano. “Despite the interstate lockdown, people are still moving under any small opportunity they got. I can’t imagine people travelling under the cover of trampol and sack of rice”, he said.…

Makinde kicks off distribution of palliatives in Ibarapa …inspects PHCs designated as isolation centres

Emporium Reporters

Oyo State governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, on Wednesday, kick started the distribution of relief materials to 90,000 households identified as the poorest of the poor, to cushion the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The governor kicked off the distribution of the palliatives in Igboora, Ibarapa North Local Government Area and commended the people of Ibarapa Zone for their consistency in supporting him since he started his political journey in 2007. He maintained that the state government decided to distribute palliatives to assist people “whose means of income have been…

How Nigerian media can survive COVID -19 economic impact

Emporium Reporters

The Nigerian media must tweak their operational templates and self-innovate to cope with the economic impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic on the industry across the world. Some senior media practitioners gave the advice during a tweet chat organised by the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism on May 3 to commemorate the World Press Freedom Day. Held under the theme “The Economic Impact of COVID-19 on the Media Industry,” the event featured three contributors from different media houses in Nigeria. In her contribution, Ejiro Umukoro, the pioneer General Manager of MEGA…

EVACUATION: Nigerian woman delivers baby aboard Emirate airline

Emporium Reporters

A Nigerian lady, Mrs Kafayat Amusan, one of the stranded Nigeria travellers, returning from Dubai, UAE, has been delivered of a baby boy on board Emirates airline departing to Lagos on Wednesday. She put to bed, on board the plane,30 minutes after departure, which resulted in the plane returning back to Dubai after take off . She is currently on admission at a Hospital, in Dubai. The Nigerian Ambassador in Dubai, Ambassador Rimi and staff of the Embassy are in touch with the mother and child who are in good…

Sunday Dare donates Ramadan gifts to late Rashidi Yekini’s mother …..as Sports Ministry places her on monthly stipend

Emporium Reporters

The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, has placed the mother of late Super Eagles striker, Rashidi Yekini, Alhaja Sikiratu, on a monthly stipend. The Representative of the Minister at the donation ceremony, Olaitan Shittu, disclosed this in Ijagbo, near Offa in Kwara on Wednesday, when he donated Ramadan gifts on behalf of the Minister to the aged mother. The Sports Minister, Mr Sunday Dare, also donated the sum of N50,000 as part of the Ramadan gifts to the aged matriarch on Wednesday. Shittu explained that it was not…

COVID-19: FG grants 2-Month licence fee waiver to broadcast stations

Emporium Reporters

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has announced the granting of a two-month licence-fee waiver for terrestrial broadcast stations in the country by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), as part of efforts to ease the negative effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the broadcast industry The Minister, who stated this at a meeting with the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) in Abuja on Wednesday, also announced the setting up of a committee of Creative Industry stakeholders to look into and advise the Federal Government on the best…

Sahara Reporters: Of Concocted Fallacies, Reign Of Mischief

Emporium Reporters

The attention of the media office of Alhaji Muhammed Sani Musa, a Senator representing Niger -East in the National Assembly has been drawn to a fallacious material by the Sahara Reporters where it erroneously reported that expired rice was donated by the Senator to his constituents as palliatives and Ramadan package. No fabrication of this magnitude has made it to the public domain since the time of history than what this online outlet peddled in this case. For the avoidance of doubt, no product donated by the Senator to his…

COVID-19: Can Africa Afford Lockdowns?, By Charles Soludo

Emporium Reporters

Can Africa really afford lockdowns, and can they be effective? Put differently, given the social and economic circumstances of Africa and the impending ‘economic pandemic’, can Africa successfully and sustainably defeat COVID-19 by copying the conventional trial-and-error template of the Western nations? From Johannesburg to Lagos, Cairo to Dakar, Kinshasa to Kigali, Nairobi to Accra, etc., the debate on how Africa should respond to the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is raging. At an African regional policy platform, I had expressed some of these (personal) views some weeks ago but I…