News Headlines for the 12th of April 2021.

COVID-19 not over, don’t let down your guards – MDCAN

The National President, Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria, Prof. Kenneth Ozoilo, has urged Nigerians including health workers not to let down their guards against COVID-19, saying the pandemic is still very much around.
Ozoilo, who lauded the government’s effort in providing COVID-19 vaccines for the citizens, however, urged Nigerians to avail themselves the opportunity to get vaccinated as the benefits of doing so far outweigh the risks.
This was contained in a message by the MDCAN president in Ado Ekiti. He encouraged all members of the MDCAN to make themselves available for vaccination and to continue to uphold the non-pharmaceutical measures of prevention.
The MDCAN president sympathised with families in Nigeria and worldwide, who have lost loved members to COVID-19.

THE Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra has attacked a former Chief of Army Staff and Minister of Interior, Lt.Gen. Abdulraham Dambazau (retd.), for comparing the Indigenous People of Biafra, O’odua People’s Congress and other pro-Biafra agitators with a terrorist group, Boko Haram.
MASSOB described the statement as unguided and reckless the utterances of the former minister, maintaining that such comments were also debasing and unprofessional.
Dambazau, speaking on Friday in Abuja at the inauguration of Army War College Nigeria, said the proscribed IPOB and the OPC shared similarities with the terrorist group, Boko Haram.
He added that both the OPC and IPOB were making attempts to plunge the nation into an ethnic war.

THE National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control has advised Nigerians against using chemicals and additives for food and drinks to enhance taste, warning that such practices could result in severe illness and even death.
The agency issued the warning against the backdrop of the recent incident in Kano where three persons reportedly died after the consumption of dangerous chemicals used as additives.
A statement issued on Sunday by the Resident Media Consultant of NAFDAC, Sayo Akintola, on behalf of its Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said “preliminary result of the agency’s investigation was submitted to the Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje.”
She regretted that three fatalities were recorded with many people having their health compromised,
Adeyeye confirmed that, all the merchants of the deadly chemicals and additives have been apprehended while further investigation continues.
Adeyeye said NAFDAC was working assiduously in partnership with the Kano State Government with a view to preventing the recurrence of the March 11, 2021 incident.
According to her, the agency will work with Kano State Task Force under the Federal Task Force on Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods, which is domiciled in NAFDAC, and the Nigeria Consumers Protection Agency in Kano.

The Kwara State Government on Sunday recalled students of the 10 mission schools affected by the hijab crisis in the state since February from the second term holiday, directing them to start third term academic programme from today, Monday April 12,2021.
A statement by Mrs Kemi Adeosun, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, said the 10 affected schools should resume from the ongoing vacation to cover the academic activities lost during the period of the crisis.
She said that other schools not involved in the crisis would reopen on Monday, April 26, 2021.
All primary and secondary schools in the state started the second term holiday on Thursday, March 25, 2021.
Recall that the state government shut down the 10 schools in the state on February 19, 2021 as a result of the refusal of the school owners, who are Christian missionaries, to allow the wearing of hijab in their schools.

Nigeria’s debt profile has been on the increase because of the impact of revenue crash and the crises trailing the coronavirus pandemic on the economy, the Debt Management Office has said.
However, some economists and experts have warned of the dangers of continued borrowing from the Central Bank of Nigeria by the Federal Government.
Both the DMO and experts were responding to questions posed by our correspondents following the claim by the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, that the country printed N60bn to augment what the three tiers of government shared in March.
Obaseki reportedly stated on Thursday that Nigeria was in huge financial trouble, alleging that the Federal Government printed N60bn in March as part of federal allocation last month.

In a reply to an enquiry from one of our correspondents, the Director-General of DMO, Patience Oniha, blamed crashed revenue and COVID-19 for increased borrowing.
She said the rate of borrowing had started to come down until COVID-19 forced Nigeria, like many other nations, to increase its borrowing in order to buoy the economy.