Boko Haram: Again, Buhari issues order to Nigerian military

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Nigerian military to sustain operations against Boko Haram around Lake Chad and North East.

His spokesman, Femi Adesina, in a statement on Thursday, said the president gave the directive after receiving Yobe Governor, Mai Mala Buni at the State House, Abuja.

Buhari hailed the giant strides being recorded by the Armed Forces and urged them not to relent in the discharge of their mandate.

He warned against complacency in the task of ensuring that the nation’s territory is no longer habitable for the terrorists.

The Nigerian leader expressed the belief that “health and well-being of the nation depends largely on its ability to feed itself and agricultural production is key.”

Buhari charged tasked the Yobe governor to continuously mobilise community support for the military operations.

Buni thanked the federal government for the decisive and proactive measures in the renewed onslaught against Boko Haram.

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Russian Prime Minister Reveals He Has COVID-19

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Thursday said he tested positive for coronavirus and will self-isolate to protect other cabinet members.

“I have just learned that the test on the coronavirus I took was positive,” Mishustin said in a video meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

“I have to observe self-isolation and follow orders of doctors. This is necessary to protect my colleagues,” he said, promising to be in constant contact “on all the main issues.”

He suggested that First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov takes his place as an “acting” prime minister.

“What is happening to you now can happen to anyone,” Putin reassured him in the televised meeting.

“I hope that you stay able to work and will actively participate” in government decision-making, he said.

“Without your opinions and your participation these decisions will not be made,” Putin told Mishustin, wishing him a quick recovery.

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UK ‘past peak’ of coronavirus outbreak - Boris Johnson

Britain is “past the peak” of its coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on  Thursday, despite recording another 674 deaths in the last 24 hours.

The coronavirus death is now 26,711, the world’s third-most highest behind the United States and Italy, after changing its reporting to include community as well as hospital deaths on Wednesday.

The UK’s number of confirmed cases rose by 6,032 to 171,253 on Thursday.

But Johnson, making his first appearance at a daily government briefing since his own battle with COVID-19, said there were reasons for optimism.

“For the first time, we are past the peak of this disease… and we are on the downward slope,” he told reporters.

“We are coming through the peak or rather we are coming over what could have been a vast peak, as though we have been going through some huge Alpine tunnel.

“And we can now see the sunlight and the pastures ahead of us. So it’s vital that we don’t now lose control and run slap into a second and even bigger mountain.”

– Pressure to ease lockdown –

The government’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance said the rate of transmission was now below one, with fewer hospital admissions and people in intensive care.

That was having an effect on overall deaths, he said.

“The R (rate of transmission) is below 1.0. We think it’s between 0.6 and 0.9 across the nation. Maybe a little lower in some places, a little higher in others but it’s below 1.0 across the country,” he added, referring to the number of people infected by one person with COVID-19.

Johnson’s return to work has coincided with increased pressure to lift a lockdown that was imposed in late March to cut close contact transmission of the coronavirus.

A review is due on May 7 and he said a “roadmap” would be published next week about the government’s plan to ease restrictions, after concerns about the economic effect of the social distancing measures.

The government has also been criticised for imposing a lockdown later than most other European countries.

An opinion poll by Ipsos Mori found that 66 percent of those surveyed believed the government was too slow to introduce restrictions.

Keir Starmer, the new leader of the opposition Labour Party, told Sky News he feared the UK was on track to have one of the worst death rates in Europe.

– Charity hero turns 100 –

“What you’re going to get next week is really a roadmap, a menu of options, the dates and times of each individual measure will be very much driven by where we are in the epidemic,” Johnson said.

“We’ve got to get your business going again,” he added.

“But it’s actually vital, if we’re to bounce back as strongly as I think we can, that we don’t have a second bout of this… because that would really do economic damage.”

Experts were looking to develop “ingenious ways” of suppressing the disease that would take into account local conditions, he said, adding that masks could form part of the solution.

“I do think that face coverings will be useful both for epidemiological reasons, but also for giving people confidence that they can go back to work,” he said.

Britain saw a sharp spike in its death toll on Wednesday after including out-of-hospital deaths for the first time, though Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty advised against drawing international comparisons until the pandemic was over.

Johnson spent three days in intensive care with the coronavirus, saying his situation could have gone “either way”.

“Let’s be frank, tragically, thousands of people have been less fortunate than I was,” he said on Thursday.

He said he had a “much happier” hospital visit on Wedneday for the birth of his baby boy with partner Carrie Symonds.

Vallance said that results of a US trial of the drug remdesivir were a “promising first step”, although warned it would not be a “magic bullet” in treating the disease.

Earlier in the day, Britain celebrated the 100th birthday of a World War II veteran whose staggering fundraising efforts have inspired the country in the depths of the outbreak.

“Captain Tom” Moore, who raised more than £30 million ($37 million) for health service charities by doing laps of his garden, was honoured with a Royal Air Force flypast and 140,000 birthday cards.

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196 New Cases of COVID-19 Reported

87-Lagos

24-Kano

18-Gombe

17-Kaduna

16-FCT

10-Katsina

8-Sokoto

7-Edo

6-Borno

1-Yobe

1-Ebonyi

1-Adamawa

As at 11:55pm 29th April, 1728 confirmed cases of #COVID19 reported in Nigeria, 307 discharged and 51 dead.

 Visit covid19.ncdc.gov.ng for a detailed report.

#TakeResponsibility

#StayAtHome 

#FlattenTheCurve

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Kwara State Governor, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq attended flag off ceremony of Ilorin Emirate palliatives distribution to 10,000 Beneficiaries

The Kwara state Governor, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq earlier today attended the flag off ceremony of Ilorin Emirate palliatives distribution to 10,000 beneficiaries to assuage the hardship occasioned by the lockdown with a view to containing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Governor whose father is the Mutawali of Ilorin since assuming office last May has actively participated in all the functions of Ilorin Emirate Descendants’ Progressive Union (IEDPU) with all sense of responsibility and pride as a proud son of the soil.

AbdulRazaq, who recently commended the action of the Offa community for their own efforts, encouraged other community-based organisations to take a cue from IEDPU to consolidate the efforts of the government to help the vulnerable members of the society during this period.

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Nigeria needs comprehensive action plan – Dr. Ajileye

The Nigeria government has been advised to come up with a comprehensive action plan with proper coordination, sincerity and adequate funding to tackle the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the country before it gets out of hand.

The action plan must encourage local production of standardised medical needs, improved Public-Private Partnership and increased testing.

A United Kingdom-based Nigerian medical doctor and a member of the New Generation Leadership, NGL, Dr Ajileye Omoniyi, gave this advice while speaking on the theme, “the decay, the exodus and now the pandemic” on the forum of the NGL, aimed at discussing and creating solutions to Nigeria’s health challenges at this time.

The medical expert who observed that the decay in the Nigerian health care sector had been festering for decades, said it was a reflection of the larger society where poor planning, corruption, incompetence, nepotism and an inefficient system has clogged the wheels of progress.

Dr Omoniyi said, “no progressive nation would take its healthcare system for granted, stressing that all serious nations, need a healthy citizenry to ensure that productivity is maximized and the future generations are guaranteed a solid future”.

He, however, noted that Nigeria had not always been in such a precarious ledge in terms of decay in its health care delivery system, because before independence, the nation already had formidable hospitals like the University College Hospital, Ibadan in the late ’50s with several other colleges of medicine from the University of Lagos, Ahmadu Bello University, University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), and the University of Benin which were already established by 1975, with progressive health Ministers like the late Prof Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, who strived to make qualitative healthcare available to every Nigerian.

Dr Omoniyi said it was disheartening to note that by the year 2020, “Nigeria is rated 187th out of 191 nations in terms of health care delivery worldwide and ranked in the bottom 5 in terms of worst infant mortality and maternal mortality”.

According to him, the World Health Organisation, WHO, the recommendation is for nations to spend at least 5% of its GDP on health care, but with of little priority in the Nigeria budget allocations, the decay has sunk to an all-time low, leading to crumbling infrastructure, outdated medical equipment and healthcare personnel exodus, with an estimated N358 billion spent on medical tourism by Nigerians last year.

These Dr Omoniyi said has led healthcare professionals to take matters in their own hands and seek socio-economic fulfilment elsewhere, creating a brain drain which is having its toll on the Nation which has not been able to match the Global benchmark which recommends a doctor to patient ratio of 1:1000.

He said, it was time for government at all tiers to address the decay in the health sector, with the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic which has further exposed the inadequacies, saying “in less than one month, the number of confirmed positive cases has jumped from 20 to over 1000 thereby highlighting the large deficit in our health delivery system”.

“Our leaders need to wake up to the realisation that coronavirus isn’t going anywhere, we cannot be doing things the same way and expect a different result. While Private hospitals are shutting their doors due to lack of adequate PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), diagnostic centres are also shutting their doors to even cater to non-covid-19 emergencies”.

“While I would give high praise to the Lagos state government for their proactive stance and efforts done so far in the state, more needs to be done, If and when patients with the more severe respiratory compromise start to come, it will only be a matter of time before our fragile healthcare system is totally overwhelmed”

Dr Omoniyi thereby called on the Nigerian government to ensure proper coordination among all tiers of government while liaising with the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC and the federal ministry of health to provide guidelines and a comprehensive action plan which would include Community heads, religious leaders, NGO’s and other stakeholders with adequate funding which must be made available in a quick and transparent manner with accountability and keys area targeted for maximal impact.

He enjoined the government to work on key areas like infrastructure (mobile and hospital testing), training, publicity, provision of standardized PPE and also social welfare with improved and increased Testing.

Dr Omoniyi also advised that local industries must be encouraged to produce standardized equipment and disposable PPE (facemask, scrubs, gloves, apron, goggles, etc), hand sanitizers and cleaning agents while Public and private partnership must be looked into saying “Private hospitals are normally the first port of call for most people in the country when they become unwell, so the involvement of private hospitals cannot be overemphasised”.

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Bethann Hardison on Observing Ramadan in the Age of Social Distancing

Although I grew up in an muslim household from the age of 12, I don’t consider myself to be a practicing muslim. That said, Ramadan is the one thing I do observe now. Many people think of it only as a time of fasting, but it’s much more than that. As the most sacred month on the Islamic calendar, Ramadan is supposed to be about kindness and giving back, a moment to share with others. Our own sense of conscious enlightenment comes into play as well. It’s not just about generosity towards others, it’s about being generous with oneself. In these uncertain times, that’s something we can all relate to.

Typically, muslim families come together to celebrate during Ramadan, which began on Thursday, though sadly many will be celebrating at a distance this year. It’s something that I’ve personally tended to observe in a solitary way, at least as an adult. I will likely spend the duration of the holy month here in my home in upstate New York where I’ve been since March 13. I made the journey to Saugerties with my friend Iman, who has a house close by.

The first day is always a big adjustment. Most people get up and eat before sunrise, but I’d rather sleep anytime than eat, though sometimes I do get up to have a glass of water.

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