Vital Concept

Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has tested positive for COVID-19, his office confirmed Tuesday. The governor had announced his decision to self-isolate on his suspicion he may have contracted the virus. Mr Mohammed said he boarded the same flight and shook hands with Muhammed Atiku Abubakar, the son of Nigeria’s former vice president who has tested positive for COVID-19. According to a statement by his spokesperson, Mukhtar Gidado, on Tuesday, only the governor tested positive out of the six samples collected by the NCDC. “This is to inform the general public that the results of the six initial tests carried out by the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) on his excellency, Sen Bala Mohammed, his family and aides that accompanied him to Lagos is out,” the statement said. “Of the six initial tests carried out, one sample was confirmed positive of COVID-19. The positive result happens to be that of his Excellency, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, the Executive G...

The President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government has approved a new pump price for premium motto spirit, otherwise known as petrol. The reduction is from the initial price of N145 to N130 per litre. The Nation reports that the approval was as a result of the presentation by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, to the Federal Executive Council, FEC, on Wednesday on the need to reduce the pump price. The call to reduce the pump price of fuel became necessary following the fall in global oil prices. The Federal Government also promised to allow the international price of crude oil to determine the prices of petroleum products in the country. The outbreak of Coronavirus disease, also known as COVID-19 has also crashed international crude oil price from $60 per barrel to $30 per barrel. The Minister currently in a meeting with members of the organized Labour in the oil and gas sector.

The US signed a peace agreement with the Taliban on Saturday in an effort to end 18 years of war in Afghanistan and allow US troops to return home. Under the terms of the agreement, the US would decrease forces to 8,600 from 13,000 in the next 3 to 4 months,  The Associated Press   reports. The remaining US forces would pull out within 14 months. The complete withdrawal of troops would depend on the Taliban meeting their obligations to prevent terrorism. The Washington Post   reports the deal indicates that the Taliban will agree to enter into negotiations with the Afghan government and will not support terrorist groups that intend on attacking the West. After the agreement is signed, the Afghan government must put together a negotiation group and move forward with a prisoner exchange. The Taliban gave US negotiators the names of 5,000 Taliban prisoners currently detained by the Afghan government. And the soldiers announced 1,000 members of the Afghan secur...

King Paul Akpan Udoh, Italian-Nigerian player, has become the first footballer to be infected with coronavirus. King Paul currently plies his trade with Pianese, an Italian Serie C side. The Pianese forward was diagnosed of the disease on February 27, and he has been quarantined. The 22-year-old started his career with Reggiana before moving to Juventus in 2011 where he was loaned back for a year. After progressing through the youth ranks of Juventus, Udoh secured a loan move to Virtus Lanciano, a Serie B side in 2016 with an option to buy at the end of the season. Failing to impress, he was returned to Juve, and then loaned to Lega Pro side Pontedera later the same year. He had a loan stint with Pontedera, Fernana, Fano and Viareggio before joining Pianese on July 14, 2019. Coronavirus has spread from China to countries in Europe, the Middle East, the Americas and Africa. Italy is the country in Europe with the highest number of reported cases. Some Italian Serie A matches were pos...

Rt. Hon. Eta Mboro, a member House of Representatives representing Calarbar Municipal/Odukpani Federal Constituency of Cross rivers state, has moved a motion for the amendment of the NYSC act to enable the military, paramilitary agencies and other special services to recruit graduates who are willing to join their service immediately after the service year. The amendment bill has so far scaled first reading at the green chamber yesterday, Thursday. This however is important because the current act of the NYSC scheme has not given a chance for automatic employment of the youth corpers immediately. The member said if the bill is passed into law, it would help graduates who are desirous to join the military and paramilitary agencies and other special services to be employed provided they meet the requirements for the jobs. "At the end of their service year, they should be able to get enrolled into the military, paramilitary and other special services if they are qualified...

The Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, has ordered the immediate withdrawal of top army officers attached to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Babagana Monguno, after battles with Abba Kyari, the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari. It was gathered that seven Colonels and three Army Generals serving at the NSA were ordered to leave without being replaced on February 4; the remaining team of 13 Army officers serving at the NSA were notified to report elsewhere on February 10, leaving the fortified ONSA facility without any army protection. Recall that, the Nigeria’s national security adviser,  Babagana Monguno,  accused President Mohammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, of undue and dangerous interference on matters bordering on national security. According to Premium Times who reported that Monguno has fired a warning memo to all service chiefs to desist from taking further directives from Mr Kyari. Monguno said Mr Ky...

Borno State lawmaker Senator Ali Ndume has rejected the  newly introduced bill  set to create an agency for repentant Boko Haram insurgents. Naija News learnt that the Federal Lawmaker, who is also the Chairman Senate Committee on Army, made this known while speaking during an interview with Channels Television and monitored by our correspondent. In his reaction, Ndume said further that the bill is out rightly unacceptable and his colleagues know his position on this. “I personally disagree with that. The war is not over and some criminals that have been killing people you say that you are doing Operation Safe Corridor for them.“I am completely against that idea. They know my position on that, you can’t do that.“It is when you win the war and some people surrender that you think about something like that,”  Ndume said. Meanwhile, Reno Omkiri, the aide to the ex-president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, has slammed the proposed Boko Haram Agency’ Bill. Acco...