Buhari Asked To Lockdown Abuja Again

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Youth Task Force on COVID-19 has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to lock Abuja again.

It said this followed the number of coronavirus cases and deaths so far recorded.

Ango Suleiman, Chairman of the Task Force, spoke at a news conference on Wednesday.

Suleiman told the federal government not to mind public opinion on the ease of the measures earlier put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19.

“The same people demanding the ease of lockdown may come back to criticize and condemn the action of the government when things go wrong.

Therefore, the only option is doing whatever is best for the people”, NAN quoted him as saying.

Suleiman warned that law enforcement agencies were becoming overwhelmed and gradually losing control of the people since the lockdown was lifted.

He cited the massive gathering at banks, checkpoints as well as public disobedience in observing safety measures to buttress his point.

Suleiman insisted that the repercussions of the early lifting of the lockdown around the world were a lesson to learn “as our peculiarity can never be an excuse for our carelessness.”

The spokesperson of the FCT Natives, Inusa Yusuf, urged banks to open all their branches so that people won’t need to clog at the few ones opening.

Yusuf observed that the development had encouraged public gatherings and discouraged social distancing.

Man Hits His New Born Baby On The Floor Because It’s Not A Boy

The wife of a 49-year old man was delivered of a new born baby, the issue of gender in families played out in Imo State after he found out the 5th child was female .

Out of rage, he smashed the new born on the floor and the baby died instantly.

Ezekiel Anorue, has been arrested by the Imo State Police Command for killing a new born child and is now facing charge for murder which attracts life imprisonment if he is tried and found guilty before the Court.

Police source said that the dastardly act was exposed after the wife raised alarm when the child stopped breathing immediately the father hit her on the floor.

It was gathered that the suspect, Anorue, was angry that his wife had lied to him that the new baby will be a male child, which was what he had longed for in the family.

The wife, who spoke in tears, disclosed that she had to lie to her husband that she will be delivered of a male child because she was threatened so badly after her 3rd and 4th female children.

She said, “I had to lie to him so I could have peace of mind”.

The suspect, Anorue, confessed to the crime: “I really don’t know what came over me; I was so angry that I threw the baby on the floor.

What my wife told me was different from the result of the scan she claimed revealed we would have a baby boy.

I had to give her money to do the test at two different laboratories but she always came home with a result showing we would have a boy.

I had already renovated our house, bought lot of things but when I got home it was a baby girl”.

“We already had four girls and I was so happy when she told me we will have a male child but it turned to be female.

”Speaking on the strength of the report, the Imo State Public Relations Officer said the suspect will be charged to Court as soon as investigations are concluded

Top Ten News Items On Health, 24th April 2020

40 health workers have tested positive for COVID-19 – Health Minister. COVID-19: U.S. funding assistance to Nigeria hits $21.4 million – Embassy. Malnutrition amidst COVID-19: Thousands of children suffer damage, death In Sokoto. COVID-19: WHO demands action to prevent malaria, other diseases setback. Sanwo-Olu approves increment of hazard allowance for all health workers In Lagos. COVID-19: 4,200 frontline health workers get special allowances, life insurance in Edo. COVID-19: Nigeria has only 300 critical care doctors, NMA raises the alarm. Halting immunisation coverage will trigger resurgence of diseases – WHO. Unpacking experience of men during the COVID-19 lockdown. Nigerian doctors condemn use of private hospitals for coronavirus management.

Final Communique: EXTRAORDINARY SESSION OF THE ECOWAS AUTHORITY OF HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT

  1. With a view to coordinating and strengthening the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019, otherwise known as COVID-19 in West Africa, the Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), under the chairmanship of H.E. Mr. Issoufou MAHAMADOU, President of the Republic of Niger, and current Chair of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, held on 23 April 2020 a videoconference Summit on the situation and impact of the coronavirus.
  2. The following Heads of State and Government or their duly mandated representatives participated in the Summit:

H.E. Patrice Guillaume Athanase Talon, President of the Republic of Benin

H.E. Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, President of Burkina Faso

H.E. Jorge Carlos Fonseca, President of Cabo Verde

H.E. Alassane Ouattara, President of the Republic of Cote d’lvoire

H.E. Adama Barrow, President of the Republic of The Gambia

H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana

H.E. Alpha Condé, President of the Republic of Guinea

H.E. Umaro Sissoco Embaló, President of the Republic of Guinea Bissau

H.E. George Manneh Weah, President of the Republic of Liberia

H.E. Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, President of the Republic of Mali

H.E. lssoufou Mahamadou, President of the Republic of Niger

H.E. Muhammadu Buhari, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

H.E. Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal

H.E. Julius Maada Bio, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone;

H.E. Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, President of the Togolese Republic

  1. The President of the ECOWAS Commission, H.E. Jean Claude Kassi Brou, also participated in the Extraordinary Summit. In addition, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, and the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for West Africa, H.E. Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas took part in the Summit as observers.
  2. The Heads of State and Government commended the Chairperson of the Authority and the President of the Commission for convening this Extraordinary Summit. They took note

WatchCOVID-19 Response In Sub-Saharan Africa: A Hybrid Approach Is Needed

The 2014 Ebola Virus outbreak in West Africa wreaked havoc on a number of already fragile states — Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. At the peak, people were lying dead in the streets and in their homes. It felt like the end of the world. No country wants a repeat of that sort of horror. The justifiable haste to avert that sort of scenario has led many Sub-Saharan Africa states to copy the lockdown approach in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There have been debates about the workability of the lockdown on the largely informal economies of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The concern is that the majority of the population in these countries are informal sector workers who essentially live from hand-to-mouth. Furthermore, the absence of reliable databases of individual and family incomes, traceable home and business addresses make it nearly impossible to effectively deploy government palliatives to those who really need them. Added to the debates is the weak capacity of health systems in SSA countries.

It does appear that the virus is not as transmissible in Sub-Saharan Africa as it is in North America and Europe. Experts have sought to explain why this is so. However, it is not only because of inadequate testing. As of April 27, 2020, Ghana has conducted 100,622 tests, 1,550 of which are positive. Ghana has recorded 11 deaths so far. We would be seeing an upsurge in unexplained Ebola outbreak-style deaths in communities if the low numbers of cases and low case fatality ratio could be explained by low test numbers alone.

So, what should these countries do? Do they relax movement restrictions and risk unrestrained spread of the virus, or do they maintain lockdowns and risk civil unrest? I propose a different approach that combines containment (COVID-19 control measures with minimal disruption of economic activity) and suppression (a total lockdown, driven by local context at the state level and governed by appropriate authorities).

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