The Kwara and Kogi State Government have directed all civil servants to work from home following the outbreak of coronavirus in the country.
In a statement released by Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, all civil servants apart from the Ministry of Health and essential workers, are to work from home beginning on Monday, March 23 until further notice.
The Kwara State Governor who ordered the closure of all public and private nurseries, primary, secondary and state-owned Tertiary institutions, also placed a ban on public gatherings of more than 25 people.
Governor Abdulrazaq revealed plans of building additional and well-equipped 12-bed intensive care unit at the General Hospital, Ilorin. It was further gathered that a “COVID-19 Technical Committee” comprising of healthcare professionals and officials whose primary responsibility is to assist our administration in combating COVID-19 in Kwara State, have been constituted. The committee is headed by the Deputy Governor of the state.
The statement reads in parts;
As individuals, we are all responsible for the general well-being of fellow Kwarans and should work together to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by:
1) washing our hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds as much as possible daily;
2)avoiding touching our eyes, mouths, and noses;
3) covering our mouths and noses with our bent elbow or tissue when we cough or sneeze;
4) staying more than 1 meter (3 feet) away from a person who is sick and coughing, and wearing a mask if you are ill (especially if coughing) or looking after someone who is ill and coughing;
5) abstaining from handshaking until the threat of this COVID-19 is zero; and
6) avoiding crowded area and minimising any gathering to a maximum of 25.
As a community, we must do everything possible to prevent any transmission of COVID-19 by embracing the concept of social distancing and self-isolation. These measures are to prevent anyone that may be infected with COVID-19 from spreading the disease to others.
An exponential spread of COVID-19 in our community might be catastrophic because we could have thousands of our citizens sick at the same time.
Given the aforementioned and the global health emergency situation, our administration has taken the following difficult but important decisions to protect Kwarans:
1) Closure of all public and private nurseries, primary, secondary and state-owned Tertiary institutions.
2) Aside from Ministry of health and essential workers, all civil servants are to work from home.
3) All gatherings of more than 25 people are hereby discouraged until further notice.
In the same vein, Kogi State Government has directed civil servants on Grade Level 1 – 13 to stay off offices for 14 days as from Monday, March 23 as part of efforts to prevent the spread of Coronavirus to the state.
The state Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr Kingsley Fanwo, made the announcement in a statement on Monday in Lokoja.
Fanwo said: “Only workers from GL 1 to 13 are affected by the directive to stay at home while GL 14 and above are to report at their offices.
Kogi State Government has directed civil servants on Grade Level 1 – 13 to stay off offices for 14 days as from Monday, March 23 as part of efforts to prevent the spread of Coronavirus to the state.
The state Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr Kingsley Fanwo, made the announcement in a statement on Monday in Lokoja.
Fanwo said: “Only workers from GL 1 to 13 are affected by the directive to stay at home while GL 14 and above are to report at their offices.
“Those rendering essential services are to continue to go to their work places as they are not affected by the work from the home directive,” Fanwo said.
According to Fanwo, the decision, a preventive measure is subject to review after the first week beginning from March 23.
The state is yet to record a single case of the deadly disease.
The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has selected the former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, as his running mate for the upcoming election.
The development was confirmed on Saturday.
The immediate past Chairman of the ADC in Rivers State, Leader Sampson, confirmed the development on Saturday.
When asked directly whether Amaechi had accepted the nomination to serve as vice-presidential candidate, Sampson simply replied, “Yes,” according to a Daily Post report.
The selection follows the recent ADC presidential primary election, a direct primary involving over 2.5 million votes cast from the party’s 3.1 million registered members. In that contest, Atiku emerged as the standard-bearer after securing a landslide victory with 1,855,787 votes, defeating Amaechi, who polled 509,397 votes, and businessman Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, who garnered 180,903 votes.
Prior to the primary election, Amaechi had publicly stated that he did not purchase the ADC presidential expression of interest and nomination forms with the intention of becoming a vice-presidential candidate.
Following the conclusion of the voting process, Amaechi and Hayatu-Deen challenged the transparency of the exercise, alleging that the internal process had been manipulated in favour of Atiku.
However, a political breakthrough reportedly crystallized following a recent reconciliation visit by Atiku to Amaechi’s residence shortly after the primaries.
During the meeting at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja, Atiku allegedly appealed for party unity and explicitly urged Amaechi and Hayatu-Deen to join him in building a formidable front to save Nigeria’s democracy, emphasizing that the primary was a collective effort rather than a battle of winners and losers. Nigerian travel guide
With Amaechi’s reported acceptance of the position, the ADC leadership is expected to make an official joint announcement to the public soon.
The Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, has said it is focused on taking over Aso Rock in 2027.
The party made the assertion in a statement posted on its verified X handle on Friday.
The statement insisted that there is no crisis in the party as widely reported.
This is coming after the national leader of the party, Seriake Dickson, on Friday held a closed-door meeting with the presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
“There are no issues in the NDC. We are focused on taking Aso Rock,” the statement said.
Speaking on the meeting with Obi, Dickson said they reviewed activities of party and discussed recent issues that have been a source of concern to all sides.
He said all the issues were amicably resolved.
According to him, the party’s members would continue to consult and engage with one another to address and resolve all concerns and strengthen their unity
The National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joash Amupitan, has declared the readiness of the Commission for the Ekiti State governorship election.
He assured voters, political parties and other stakeholders that all necessary arrangements have been concluded to ensure a peaceful, transparent and credible exercise.
Amupitan gave the assurance on Friday in Ado-Ekiti during an interactive session with media executives, held eight days ahead of the governorship poll.
The INEC chairman, who had earlier led a high-powered delegation comprising National Commissioners, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), and other and senior officials of the Commission on an inspection of the ongoing mock accreditation exercise across selected polling units in the state, said the exercise confirmed the the agency’s preparedness for the election.
According to him, the mock accreditation was designed as a quality assurance mechanism to test the Commission’s technological infrastructure and operational capacity under real field conditions before the election day.
Amupitan disclosed that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) performed efficiently during the exercise, with fingerprint and facial authentication taking an average of between five and seven seconds per voter.
He added that INEC had deployed additional backup BVAS devices and technical support personnel across all registration areas to ensure that any equipment malfunction is promptly addressed.
“We did not want to speak from an air-conditioned boardroom in Abuja or rely solely on paperwork. We went to the theatre of operations to see for ourselves how our systems are performing.
“The mock accreditation is essentially to test our facilities, especially our technology, and ensure that everything required for the election is functioning optimally.
“What we observed today confirms that our technological defence against identity theft and result manipulation is robust and fully operational. We have provided upgraded backup BVAS devices and deployed technical engineers across the state. Any malfunctioning device can be replaced within minutes,” he said.
“Our goal remains the simultaneous opening of polls in all 2,445 polling units at exactly 8:30 a.m. on election day. We have directed electoral officers to ensure that polling units are activated on time and that logistics are fully in place before election day.
“The greatest threat we face is not technical failure but misinformation and disinformation. Fake news, manufactured election-day panic and unauthorized declaration of results are direct assaults on public peace and democratic stability,” Amupitan added.
