News Headlines for the 22nd of April 2021.

Buhari-led FEC ignores public outcry on Pantami 

•  The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on Wednesday said the Federal Executive Council did not discuss the issue of the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, during its meeting presided over by the President, Muhammadu Buhari 
• There is currently ongoing call for Pantami’s resignation or sacking over his past controversial comments seen as supporting terrorist groups, including Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
• The Presidency has, however, so far remained silent on the matter.
• The embattled minister participated virtually in the weekly meeting of FEC.
• When asked by State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, Mohammed said the issue was not discussed.
• He however parried a question on whether the Federal Government feels comfortable with Pantami’s continued presence in the cabinet.

IPOB/MASSOB asylum offer to protect those who need it, UK replies Federal Govt

• The United Kingdom has said that all asylum and human rights claims from Nigerian nationals are considered on their individual merits in accordance with its international obligations.
• The British government states that it has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it, in accordance with its international obligations under the Refugee Convention and European Convention on Human Rights.
• The British High Commission stated this on Wednesday, in response to inquiries on the Federal Government’s allegations that the UK’s asylum offer for persecuted members of the Indigenous People of Biafra and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra undermined Nigeria’s security.
• The UK Visas and Immigration had released new guidelines to its decision makers on how to consider and grant asylum applications to IPOB members whose founder, Nnamdi Kanu, is operating from London.

Lagos to begin second dose of COVID-19 vaccination in May

• The Lagos State Government on Wednesday said it has concluded the first half of phase one COVID-19 vaccination in line with the directive of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency.
• The state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, in a statement said the exercise which began on March 12 was done for 20 days.
• Abayomi said the second phase of the exercise would commence in May, saying about 257,756 persons had been inoculated as of April 15.
• The conclusion of the first phase, which took an average of 20 days, followed the Federal Government’s directive to stop vaccination once half of the consignment has been administered so that those who received the first dose will have an opportunity for the second dose.
•  This will ensure that at least one per cent of Lagos residents receive the full complement of doses required to enable the protection of the vaccine promises. 
• The target to achieve effective herd immunity is vaccination of at least 60 per cent of the Lagos State population. The exercise lapsed on April 13. Consequently, the government has shut down all its vaccination centers.

Soldiers tackle police as Kaduna varsity students’ abductors demand N800m

• THE kidnappers of students of Greenfield University, Kasarami, in the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, have established contact with some parents of their victims, demanding for N800m for the release of the kidnapped students.
• The students and a matron were abducted on Tuesday around about 8.45pm, claimed the life of a porter with the institution; the only privately-owned university in the state.
• Our correspondent, who was in the university community after the incident, gathered that but for the timely intervention of the operatives of the Operation Thunder Strike, the bandits, said to be between ages 17 and 20 years old, would have taken away more students.
• The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammed Jalige, confirmed the attack
• One of the parents of the kidnapped students, who spoke on condition of anonymity on Monday, told our correspondent that the bandits asked for the said amount for the release of the unspecified number of students abducted on Tuesday night.

• An official of the school told our correspondent that no fewer than 19 students were still unaccounted for.

Petrol sells for N175/litre as queues reduce in Abuja

•  Filling stations, particularly those in some satellite towns of Abuja dispensed petrol at rates higher than the approved N165/litre price on Wednesday, as queues in the Federal Capital Territory gradually reduced.
• Thousands of commuters had been left stranded for hours at various bus stops in Abuja and neighboring states of Nasarawa and Niger on Tuesday following widespread petrol scarcity that hit the areas on Tuesday.
• The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Nigeria’s sole importer of petrol, had to intervene by releasing over a thousand trucks of petrol to help ameliorate the situation.
• The petrol supply situation improved on Wednesday as the scarcity dropped, leading to a reduction in the number of motorists queueing at filling stations.
• It was, however, observed that while filling stations in the city centre and those along major expressways in Abuja dispensed petrol at the regulated price, their counterparts in remote locations in satellite towns sold the commodity at higher rates.
• An unnamed filling station on the Village Market Road in Kubwa, a popular suburb in Abuja, dispensed petrol at N175/litre on Wednesday afternoon.
• Attendants at the outlet stated that it was still not certain that petrol price would not be hiked in May despite the assurance given by NNPC.