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FG To Extends Lockdown In FCT, Lagos Ogun states For 7days

Published

2 years ago

April 11, 2020

FG To Extends Lockdown In FCT, Lagos Ogun states For 7days

Joel Ajayi

There is an indication that the Federal Government may announce some days extension for the lockdown for Lagos, Abuja and Ogun to curb the spread of Coronavirus in the country.

It will be recalled that, President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered a 14-day lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and the federal capital territory to contain the spread of coronavirus.

In a statement on Saturday, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, quoted Buhari as saying the lockdown is a major attempt to tackle the spread of COVID-19.

“We realize that today, there will be sons and daughters unable to visit their parents, and elders that are isolated from young ones. And there will be those who live day-to-day, eating as they earn, who face real and present suffering,” he said.

“No elected government could ask more of the citizens of the country that elected them than today we ask of you. But we must ask you – once more – to observe restrictions on movement where they are in place, and follow the instructions of our scientists and medical advisers: stay home, wash your hands, save lives.

“The freedoms we ask you to willingly forsake today will only last as long as our scientific advisers declare they are necessary. But they are essential – world over – to halt and defeat the spread of this virus.

“Instead, the defeat of the virus in our country will be in our hands, alone. We cannot wait for others. We can only depend on ourselves now. And so we must – and we will – end this outbreak ourselves as Nigerians, together”.

Also, on Saturday in Abuja, the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Mr Boss Mustapha said stay at home may extend for some days.

According to Bos Mustapha, President Buhari will direct the announcement of the extension as only the President has the power to do. He revealed that the extension may not exceed 7 days. ” The President will be briefed today and if there is any need for the extension Mr President will not hesitate to give the announcement later today.

“In his (Buhari) address to the nation, he did say 14 days in the first instance. So, it is open. It is based on what has happened within these 14 days. Have the objectives been met, have they satisfied the objectives, has it gone in the direction we wanted it to go?

“If that has been achieved, he will look at all the information available to him as the President of Nigeria and I can assure you that he will make a decision that is in the best interest of the people of Nigeria.”

“We will have the responsibility of reporting back to Mr President who did say the declaration was on the advice of the minister of health and experts that informed his decision in signing the Quarantine Declaration 2020.

“At the end of our evaluation, our advice and recommendation will be presented to Mr President and at that point, he and he alone can take that decision whether the lockdown would either be extended or it will stop at the expiration of 14 days.”

Lagosians, FCT Resident are already complaining about the 14 days lockdown, the hunger virus has set in and boredom also killing many people silently. People are also defying the order of lockdown as many people in Abuja and Lagos trooped outside to go to their various place of work.

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House Committee Satisfied With FMYSD’s Submission Over Athletes Ineligibility in Tokyo, Summons NBBF Over D’Tigress

Published

13 hours ago

October 21, 2021

The Gleamer

The Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare alongside his Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Ismail Abubakar and the Ministry’s Anti-Doping Committee appeared before the House Committee on Sports led by its chairman, Honourable Olumide Osoba.

It was a meeting that provided the Minister with an opportunity to also shed more light on allowances of the women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, payments made to the NBBF and the doping allegations against some Team Nigeria athletes to the Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

In his report about the doping allegations, The Minister corrected an erroneous impression that many had by clearing the notion that the athletes were not guilty of doping or taking any form of illegal, performance enhancing substance.

“The Athletes were required to take three out of competition tests at 3 weeks intervals which of course they did but took it a week earlier, and that was why they were not allowed to participate in the Olympics. It should also be noted that, these ten athletes were not banned from participating in the Olympics but were ineligible to compete due to their missing the mandatory out-of-competition tests at the appropriate times,” Dare said.

On the allowances of D’Tigress, it was through the adopt-an-athlete initiative of the Minister that the sum of Two Hundred and Thirty Thousand Dollars($230,000) was raised from a group of Banks for the D’Tigress and D’Tigers. This money came in during the Olympics and was deposited into the NBBF’s CBN account.

According to the Minister, “we issued a statement regarding the $230,000 and on return from Olympics the players of both teams were asked to submit their account details so the CBN could process the payment at once, as we speak, we have only details of the female team; D’Tigress and none of D’Tigers obliged to this.

“Prior to now, the CBN have been instructed to process payment of the 12 female team members as first trench payment.

“The Process for the payment for D’Tigress is in place and near completion, the money is intact in the CBN account as CBN has provided statement of account to prove that the $230,000 NBBF fund was not misappropriated.”

According to one of the Honourable members of the Committee, Honourable Dachung Musa, representing Jos South/ Jos East Federal consistency, “We are satisfied now that you have provided the right information, especially the fact that our athletes were not banned or found guilty of taking illegal substances. I will dare to say, information is key in portraying the good image of our dear country.”

The Committee thereafter summoned the former NBBF President, Engineer Musa Kida to appear before it within two weeks.

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