News / Security

Akeredolu ignores Miyetti Allah, signs anti-open grazing bill into law

Less than 24 hours after Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu suspended all activities in Ondo State forest reserves, he, yesterday, signed into law the Anti-Grazing Bill passed by the State House of Assembly.

According to a statement made available to journalists in Akure yesterday by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo, “the move is in line with the resolution of the Southern Governors’ Forum at its last meeting in Lagos where September 1 was set as the deadline for governors in Southern Nigeria to sign the Anti-Open Grazing Bill into law.

“This is worthwhile and a very laudable development aimed at stemming needless instances of skirmishes, conflicts as well as infractions on the enviably peaceful disposition of the good people of Ondo State,” the statement said.

Explaining the import of the new law across the 18 local councils of the state, Akeredolu, who is also the Chairman of the Southwest Governors’ Forum, said: “For emphasis, no particular group of persons is the target. While it is the hope of government that all residents would take an ample advantage of this law to enhance our socio-economic well being in Ondo, compliance of same shall be given the utmost attention.…

EndSARS / News

Eight states submit EndSARS judicial panel report to NEC

All 28 states that established judicial panels following the EndSARS protests last year have now completed the assignment, except Lagos State which will conclude later this year in October. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, made the disclosure on Thursday at the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, saying that eight states had turned in their reports and that NEC looks forward to discussing them in full at its next meeting as more states are expected to make their submissions as well.

This was among resolutions reached at the end of the council’s 119th meeting (eighth in 2021), held virtually and presided over by the Vice President, with state governors, federal ministers, and other senior government officials in attendance. Speaking on the consideration of the panel reports, Professor Osinbajo listed the eight states that had submitted their reports as: Abia, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Kwara, Nasarawa, Ondo, and Rivers.

Other highlights of the meeting include the presentation of financial updates of the ministries, departments and agencies.

Excess Crude Account (ECA) balance as at 13th July 2021 stood at $60,855,153.31; Stabilisation Account balance, N30,757,901,458.81; and Development of Natural Resources Account balance, N33,891,412,441.85. The governor of Lagos State, Babjide Sanwo-Olu, made a presentation on the progress report of the NEC ad hoc committee interfacing with the Presidential Taskforce  on COVID-19 to ease the lockdown on the economy.…

Covid 19 / News

COVID-19: Nigeria registers 8,197 infections in 15 days

Nigeria has registered 8,179 COVID-19 infections in 15 days, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said on its website on Tuesday.

It said the country confirmed 584 additional infections on Monday, from the 541 recorded on Sunday, bringing the total cases to 183,087.

The public health agency added that the number of known active cases stood at 13,554, an increase from 13,152 reported on Sunday.

Again the agency did not state the percentage of variants of concern made up of the known active cases across the country.

The NCDC reported four COVID-19 related fatality within the last 24 hours.

It noted that the country, in 15 days, had also reported 72 fatalities, noting that the figure was more than double the 31 deaths its registered in July.

The agency added that about 2,648,684 samples had been tested for COVID-19 in Nigeria, a country with an estimated 200 million population.

The NCDC stated that the 584 confirmed cases were from 14 states and the FCT.

Lagos (201), Rivers (149), FCT (82), Ondo (73), Ekiti (17), Cross River (13), Oyo (11), Ogun (9), Delta (8), Osun (8), Bayelsa (4), Kaduna (4), Kano (2), Kwara (2) and Sokoto (1).

It said a multi-sectoral national emergency operations center, activated at Level 2, continued to coordinate the national response activities.

The NCDC said a total of 178 people had recovered and were discharged from various isolation centers in the country on Monday, with total recoveries nationwide since the onset of the pandemic clocking 167,310.…

Health / News

Lassa fever update, Measles in Borno, Gastroenteritis in Bauchi

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reported five additional confirmed Lassa fever cases, all from Edo State the week ending May 30.

This brings the number of confirmed cases to 286 since the beginning of the year.

Of all the confirmed cases,79% are from Edo (44%), Ondo (29%) and Taraba (6%) States.

The death toll among confirmed cases remains at 58.

Measles in Borno

Health officials in Borno State reported an additional 600 suspected measles cases the week ending May 24, bringing the total to 6,253.

Six more fatalities were reported, bringing the death toll to 78–from Bayo (1), Konduga (2), Magumeri
(24) and MMC (51) LGAs.

Gastroenteritis in Bauchi

Health officials in Bauchi State report an outbreak of gastroenteritis that has affected 13 LGAs. 732 cases have been reported in the outbreak, including 28 deaths.

Rilwanu Mohammed, chairman of BSPHDA said Bauchi and Toro LGAs had recorded the highest number of cases with 507 and 73, respectively.

He said out of the cases, 21 samples of gastroenteritis were confirmed to be positive of vibrio cholera.

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