Many Nigerian artistes use Fela as an excuse to smoke and woman- Seun Kuti
Seun Kuti made this revelation while on Talks With Ubi hosted by TripleMG boss Ubi Franklin. The show host said that lots of Nigerian artistes usually refer to Fela Kuti as their inspiration.
Seun Kuti cleared the impression that some Nigerian artistes only adopt Fela as a role model because they want to pick up smoking and womanising in the name of being inspired by the late Afrobeat legend.
He added further that there was more to his father Fela Kuti than smoking marijuana and womanising.
The Federal Government says all persons – whether citizens or foreigners – coming into the country will be required to leave their passports with the Nigeria Immigration Service for two weeks pending the verification of their COVID – 19 status. The Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs said this in a circular addressed to all diplomatic , consular and international organisations accredited to Nigeria . In the circular dated June 10, 2020, with reference number BW /20/CIR . LET/III /2020, the government said the only category of persons that would be exempted from this new rule are those who possess a diplomatic passport. It read in part, “ Persons who have arrived in Nigeria are advised to self – isolate for 14 days and to remain in the city /state where the point of entry is located ( i . e Lagos or Abuja ) throughout the duration of self -quarantine. “ If not resident in Lagos , passengers shall make arrangements for accommodation at their own cost . Please note that the Federal Government will not be responsible for providing accommodation or transportation to the place of abode. “ Passengers will be cleared through the Nigeria Immigration Service System ’ s Migrant Identification and Data Analysis System and their passports retained until after successful completion of 14 days self -quarantine except diplomatic passport holders . ” It said after all the COVID – 19 protocols had been followed , instructions would be given to the NIS to release the passports to their owners . According to the circular , alternative arrangements could be made to collect passports via special delivery. The government said persons who are unable to remain in Lagos or Abuja throughout the period of self -quarantine may return to their states of residence only after their samples have been collected and have tested negative for COVID -19. Such persons must also make their full contact details available.
Would Our Brothers And Sisters In Borno Ever sleep With Their Eyes Closed? – Seyi Oyetunbi
Nigeria will never stop preferring the previous government, until we have a government who takes responsibility. In other words, governance will keep getting worse, as far as we keep recycling incompetence.
Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, Buhari’s predecessor watched insurgency grow so vast that we thought a president with a military background would be the elixir. His failure to run a working government inspired us (over 15million Nigerians) to opt for a tired man who apparently wouldn’t have become a general if not for quota system. For making Buhari marketable, I believe Jonathan needs to apologise to Nigerians. And embrace the fact that he’s the most clueless president Nigeria ever had, despite his impressive academic qualification.
I can’t imagine the kind of frustration that made Nigerians consider a man whose Waec result is housed in controversy. No! Jonathan must have really failed on every part.
Emperor Buhari, we no longer ask for any life supporting amenity. The money is there. Spend and spread it around your men in power. Borrow as much as you want. Leave corruption for God.
What we are concerned about right now is security.
We just want to live!
Asking to live should be the least of what we can get from a government that manages our affairs. The basic reason why a state is formed is for security of lives and properties. Security is one of those things which we cannot do for ourselves. The northeastern part of the country is ravaged by insurgency, and it can’t be clearer than it is, that the Buhari led administration is not ready to hold the bull by the horn. In a single day we lost more Nigerians to deficiencies in our security formation than the number of Nigerians lost to COVID-19. Everything is wrong with this government, if in 5years, religious extremists still walk into a village to kill anyone at sight. Our silence is as terrible as the situation we find ourselves in Nigeria.
First Bank donates 20,000 digital devices to public schools in Lagos
In a bid to curtail the pandemic, first Bank of Nigeria has donated 20,000 digital devices to Lagos State government. This is made known through the Lagos State governor’s Facebook page.
“Our vision to reform public education got a boost today with the donation of 20,000 digital devices by First Bank Nigeria. The data enabled devices have preinstalled applications that allow users learn from approved curricula. When we set out our vision to change the face of education in Lagos, we knew from the onset that we could not achieve much progress in improving the quality of learning if we don’t use technology as a strong enabler. This intervention by First Bank has come at a good time. It feels great when organisations share in our vision and work with us to realise it. I’m glad to say that we have found a real development partner in First Bank. Nobody foresaw # COVID19 coming along and disrupting our ways of life. These devices will be useful to our pupils in the current circumstances we have found ourselves.”
The Federal Government may lift the ban placed on interstate movements on June 21, 2020. This was disclosed by special adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on new media, Bashir Ahmad on Thursday via his Twitter handle. He stated, “Interstate movement may resume on June 21, the National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Dr Dani Aliyu, gave the hint recently, as domestic flights expected to resume on June 21.”
Meanwhile, the FG last Monday, June 1, 2020, announced a cautious advance into the second phase of the national response to COVID-19. As part of the measure in the new phase, the FG has announced the full reopening of the financial sector. This was announced by the national coordinator of the presidential task force on COVID-19, Dr Aliyu Sani. He said that the banks will now be allowed to operate at normal working hours five days a week as against the restricted time of 2 or 3 pm that was announced during the first phase of the easing of lockdown.
The Presidential Task Force also gave the green light to hotels to reopen but must do so based on the guidelines rolled out by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). They are to maintain non-pharmaceuticals intervention. However, gyms, cinemas, parks, nightclubs and bars are to still remain closed until further evaluation.
The restaurants, other than those in hotels must remain closed to eat-ins but are allowed to prioritize and continue to practice the takeaway measure that has been in place since the first phase.
At least 81 people were killed in an attack on a village by suspected Boko Haram militants in northeast Nigeria, the Borno state government said in a statement released to CNN Wednesday.Residents said the men attacked the village in armored tanks and trucks filled with guns, according to the government’s statement.Seven people, including the village head, children and women, were abducted from the Faduma Kolomdi community, described as a nomadic town in northern Borno.Residents reported that the men gathered the villagers on Tuesday morning and started shooting in the incident which lasted several hours.
One of the villagers who survived the onslaught told the authorities that the attackers came under the cover of being Islamic teachers.”They gathered us and said they wanted to deliver religious sermon to us. They asked us to submit whatever arm we had. Some villagers gave up their … guns, bow, and arrows.”Suddenly, they started shooting at will. Even children and women were not spared, Many were shot at close range,” the man, who was not named, said in the statement.”We have buried 49 corpses here while another 32 corpses were taken away by families from the villages around us.
Covid19: Cross River public schools to resume June 16
Cross River State Governor, Sir Ben Ayade (4th R), flanked by models on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), the commissioner for Industry, Mr. Peter Egba (3rd L) Technical Consultant, Cross River Garment factory, Mr. Atul Kakkar (2nd L) and Ex Big Brother Housemate/ Special Adviser to Cross River State Governor on Branding, Mr. Gedoni Ekpata, with some management staff of the factory shortly after the Governor’s inspection of PPEs produced at the State Garment factory in Calabar – Tuesday Photo : Cross River government house.
All public schools in Cross River State will resume June 16 as the State government plans a special protective measures for children and others.
So far the state remains the only state in the county without the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and poised to maintain that standard, the State government is braising the trail again as it has commenced the mass production of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for trial resumption of public schools
The State governor, Senator Ben Ayade announced this in a statement made available to some newsmen in Calabar yesterday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Christian Ita as he (Ayade) unveiled the PPE made at the state owned garment factory.
The protective gears, which include face shields and PPE overalls, according to Ayade will be deployed to schools free of charge for the use of students and medical personnel in the state.
Ayade said, “perhaps, we have to adopt a new lifestyle that will integrate coronavirus as part of our lifestyle. And so for Cross River State, we have a strong commitment that our children cannot continue to stay at home, the more they stay, the more the moral decadence, the more indiscipline, the more they become lazy of getting back to school and getting started because for every stage in life there is time where you have to be in class and once the children miss that delicate phase, it becomes very difficult.
“I think it is wise for the kids to go back to school and I have seen this happen in China where kids are back to schools with their nosemasks and shields. So you wear your nose mask and you wear your face shield when you get to school you drop the mask and wear only your shield to allow for more ventilation and more breathing.”
He said, “we believe it is time for the federal government to also show love and support to Cross River State. We have always led from the front and we think the mass production of PPE is an added advantage for which all health practitioners from nurses to radiographers must be equipped with PPE for them to work.
“Because we care, we want to support our public schools with free distribution of PPE. But our PPE for schools is limited only to the nose masks and face shield. But for the health workers in Cross River State, they will be provided at no cost because the government has to borne the cost.
“ We have invested massively in the mass production of nose mask and face masks but in the course of time, it became obvious that the PPE is even far more critical because we realize that without the PPE our health workers, our front line workers are at risk and so there is a need for the production of PPE.
“Recently, doctors in Nigeria issued strike notice and their major reason was that their colleagues are dying in their numbers occasioned by the lack of PPE as they have direct contact with patients with confirmed cases” .
In view of this, he said “Cross River State had to invest seriously into the production of PPE. And we have gone out of our way to get the best quality of materials and brought in people who specialize in mass production from India. They are here with us today and they’ are working very hard producing thousands of face shields. These face shields will be the first and major shield production here in Nigeria”.
The governor used the occasion to appeal for federal government for patronage, saying that the production of the protective gear was part of his administration’s effort to fight the global pandemic.
He said, “I think that the federal government will be excited to encourage the resumption of schools because obviously the coronavirus has come to stay with us and the reality is that countries that have attempted to resume schools have had to contend with the increase prevalence of the virus but obviously how long can we wait as a country”?
On his part, the State Commissioner for Education, Mr. Godwin Amanke said a trial resumption of schools will commence on June 16th of June, 2020 and ” students will wear face masks and face shield to school. Once at the school gate the children will wash their hands and legs. Hand sanitizers will also be used. When the children enter the class room, they will remove the face mask and use only the face shield so as to get enough ventilation.
“Upon closure, they will wear back their masks and wear the shields and go back home. Teachers will wear same and under go the same coronavirus protocols in the class room.”
If this special strategy works, the state will be the first state in the county to resume since the pandemic and forced closure of schools in March.
African revolutionary groups writes to ICC and world government demanding for justice
The African revolutionary groups comprising: Pan-Afrikan Consciousness Renaissance, Nigeria; Ebukhosini Solutions, South Africa; Naija Resistance Movement, Nigeria; All-African Peoples’ Revolutionary Party, Ghana; Revolutionary Socialist Vanguard, Nigeria; Movement for African Emancipation, Nigeria; and Global Afrikan Congress, United Kingdom writes a global petition to the international criminal court demanding justice for George Floyd and other victims of police brutality in the globe.
Below is the content of the petition
“TO: The International Criminal Court – President Chile Eboe-Osuji International Court of Justice – President Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf United Nations Human Rights Council – Chairperson Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger Council of the European Union – Secretary General Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen African Union – Chairperson Cyril Ramaphosa Federal Government of the United States – President Donald Trump Federal Government of Brazil – President Jair Bolsonaro Government of Colombia – President Ivan Duque Marquez Government of Indonesia – President Joko Widodo Federal Government of Mexico – President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Government of the United Kingdom – Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Afrikan Greetings,
GLOBAL PETITION: WE DEMAND JUSTICE FOR GEORGE FLOYD AND OTHER VICTIMS OF POLICE BRUTALITY IN THE GLOBE. WE DEMAND AN END TO SYSTEMIC RACISM IN THE GLOBAL AFRIKAN COMMUNITY.
We the undersigned are organizations of the ordinary Afrikan masses that cut across the Afrikan continent and the diaspora. We are pained by the continuing physical and psychological violence against the mass of people of Afrikan descent in the United States of America. Because the U.S.A prides itself as the upholder of freedom built on the American dream, we challenge that events over the centuries have proven this to be a serious myth. The mass of Afrikan people in that country collectively agrees that “There is no American Dream but American Nightmare” for them.
We the undersigned are convinced that there is indeed the unfinished business of slavery in the United States of America. In spite of the firing Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the American state had successively proven itself unwilling to integrate people of Afrikan descent into its social system. While we do not share any illusion in this, it exposes American democracy for what it is – hypocrisy. The over 400 years slave labour of the ancestors of the people of Afrikan descent in the U.S.A. built the wealth the country flaunts around today. In return, the mass of Afrikan Americans have had to endure, and still endure, inferiority complexity and systemic racism. Despite an overall 13% of the Afrikan Americans in the total population of the U.S.A., they are the most killed and molested by racist police officers.
We the undersigned are equally convinced that Afrikan Americans are disproportionately a major targets for the American racist capitalist system. Sequel to the inglorious history of slavery, people of Afrikan descent in that country suffers double-exploitation. Between 2013 and 2019 alone, 42 per million Afrikan Americans were killed by the police. In addition to this, the U.S.A. prison system for decades have been generating massive revenues for the American state on the backs of the privatized labour of millions of imprisoned Afrikan Americans. People of Afrikan descent in the U.S.A. are currently the main victims of Covid-19 deaths because of the absence of quality healthcare facilities in their communities.
We the undersigned have no doubt that it was this trajectory that propelled the death of Mr. George Floyd on the 25th of May, 2020 in the hands of four racist police officers led by Mr. Derek Chauvin. Beyond the vicious circumstances that led to the death of late Mr. Floyd, the global Afrikan community is still at shock because the 25th of May symbolizes an annual rite, the Afrikan Liberation Day, wherein we remind ourselves of the history of our past struggles and get organized for recent struggles.
We the undersigned in lieu of this affront to our human dignity, and inspired by the consistent victory of truth over lies, have no doubt that in standing up and reasserting our human rights, we have more to achieve. We therefore make the following demands;
We demand that the four police officers involved in the killing of Mr. Floyd; and those involved in the separate case of the assassination of Mrs. Breonna Taylor on the 13th of March, 2020; should be charged with murder and be tried openly and not behind closed doors. We will struggle for this demand because it has been reported that in more than 98% similar cases in the past, officers were neither suspended nor charged. We demand that all governments and global institutions, especially those in Afrika, who over the years have been indifferent, should act immediately by asserting the United Nations (UN) Charter on the “laws by which all people may live in dignity and rights to self-determination” in the U.S.A. We demand that the systemic racism that prevails in the United States, in the prison system, educational system, entertainment industry, sport, healthcare system, social services system, etc. be exposed and radically rehabilitated. We demand that the government of the United States of America should immediately avail the necessary resources for Afrikan Americans to begin the process of erecting the Greatest Holocaust – Slavery Memorial Monuments in that country. We have no doubt that this will serve as a rememberer to the enormity of the crimes of the European Slavery against the Afrikan people. We send our massive solidarity to every person, in respective of colour, organization, who are globally involve in the ongoing uprising against police brutality in the U.S.A. We however wish to state that under no circumstance should the slogan of Black Lives Matters be replaced with All Lives Matters. An attempt at this betrays a humanely comprehension of “What it is to be Black in America” and indeed globally. We ask that the ongoing uprising should incorporate the demand for structural reparations for slavery. Since the Jewish community was recompensed, enormously, for the grave crimes of the German soldiers under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, we see no reason why that of the global Afrikan community should be different. We ask the UN to immediately begin the process of concretizing an Afrikan Holocaust Memorial Day across the globe. We demand that the fascist, neoliberal government of Mr. Donald Trump be charged with “Incitement” for not only calling protesters “Thugs” but popularizing a very racist phrase – “When the looting starts, the shooting starts”. We ask that all American embassies across the world should be occupied by the working people until Trump is charged. We demand the repatriation of all stolen Afrikan artifacts that adorns Europe ASAP. We demand a total closure of all American military bases in Afrika. We totally condemn the subversive activities of the US-Africom on the Afrikan continent since 2007. Because we do not share any illusion whatsoever in the hegemony of the global finance capital institutions, which politically and culturally includes the UN, we are calling on all radical movements in the United States and indeed beyond, to mobilize all their forces and fight for the collapse of all components of the capitalist mode of production. We also call on all the Afrikan working people on the continent to rise up and defeat all fragments of systemic racism in their educational curriculum, economic policies, legal system, religious institutions, etc. Ultimately, only the birth of a Socialist Afrika, and the world at large, can fundamentally propel systems and institutions that will restore the human dignity of the Afrikan people. We lastly demand that the killings and repression of the human rights of people of Afrikan descent in places like Brazil, Mexico, West Papua, Colombia, under the watch of respective governments, must be exposed. We ask all members of the global Afrikan community to link their struggles against systemic racism with the overthrown of all neoliberal and capitalist governments.
Signed: Pan-Afrikan Consciousness Renaissance, Nigeria Ebukhosini Solutions, South Africa Naija Resistance Movement, Nigeria All-African Peoples’ Revolutionary Party, Ghana Revolutionary Socialist Vanguard, Nigeria Movement for African Emancipation, Nigeria Global Afrikan Congress, United Kingdom”
NYSC submit proposal in preparation to reopen camp
As efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the National Youth Service Corps is strategizing for safe and efficient conduct of its operations ahead of further lifting of restrictions on socio-economic activities in the country.
The Director-General, Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim stated this during a courtesy visit to his counterpart of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, in Abuja.
He informed the NCDC Chief Executive that NYSC suspended the 2020 Batch ‘A’ Stream One Orientation Course just one week into the exercise as a proactive measure to avert the spread of COVID-19 to any of the Orientation Camps.
Ibrahim said other operations of the Scheme were scaled down in line with the Federal Government’s restrictions order, adding that the Passing-out of the 2019 Batch ‘B’ Stream One Corps members was low-keyed with full adherence to the COVID-19 prevention protocols.
He said conscious of the possibility of further or complete lifting of lockdown, the strategies mapped out by the NYSC Management had taken care of various scenarios, and would be presented to the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 through the NCDC for guidance.
The Director-General said the suspended 2020 Batch ‘A’ Stream One Orientation Course would be completed, when the Scheme received the green light from the PTF.
He also briefed his host on the various COVID-19 interventions made by NYSC, especially through Corps members’ activities all over the country, including sensitization; production and distribution of face masks, liquid soaps, hand sanitizers, automated disinfection chambers; as well as automated and foot-operated liquid soap, hand sanitizer and water dispenser.
Ibrahim solicited the PTF’s support in the funding of mass production of the automated disinfection chambers for use in all the NYSC Orientation Camps.
He commended the NCDC for its role in the overall national efforts at containing the COVID-19.
In his response, the NCDC Director-General, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, commended NYSC for its support to the fight against the coronavirus through Corps member’s activities. He particularly expressed delight at the fabrication of hand washing machines and production of disinfectants amongst other interventions.
Ihekweazu, who praised the contributions of the Scheme to the unity and development of the country, stressed that it deserved every form of support to enable it succeed.
He said the proposals presented by the Director-General would be studied and recommendations made to the appropriate authorities.
PurpleWorld 