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Timipre Sylva, Minister for State for Petroleum (left) and Mele Kyari, GMD, NNPC. By Tajudeen Suleiman Timipre Sylva and Mele Kyari are two of a kind changing the oil & gas industry. The two are from diverse backgrounds but seem driven by the same passion- the desire to make things better. Timipre Sylva, Minister for State for Petroleum and Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) are two of a kind. The two were appointed to their respective offices by President Muhammadu Buhari almost at the same time. Kyari came in July 2019 while Sylva came on board in August of the same year. But the two have been able to forge a rare collaboration that has brought synergy to operations in the oil and gas industry and ensured calm in the highly combustible Niger Delta. This is an extraordinary accomplishment in view of recent history where rivalries and insubordination have defined relationships between the minister of state petroleum...

By Victor Young The International Labour Organisation, ILO, on Wednesday, in Geneva, Switzerland, warned that no fewer than 1.6 billion jobs in the informal economy are at risk, following the continued sharp decline in working hours globally due to the coronavirus, COVID-19 outbreak. ILO noted that the number was nearly half of the global workforce. According to “ILO Monitor third edition: COVID-19 and the world of work”, the drop in working hours in the current (second) quarter of 2020 was expected to be significantly worse than previously estimated. The global body informed that “compared to pre-crisis levels (Q4 2019), a 10.5 percent deterioration is now expected, equivalent to 305 million full-time jobs (assuming a 48-hour working week). “The previous estimate was for a 6.7 percent drop, equivalent to 195 million full-time workers. This is due to the prolongation and extension of lockdown measures. “Regionally, the situation has worsened for all major regional groups. Estima...

Garba Shehu The Presidency has again warned that attempts are being made to politicise the mysterious disease claiming lives in Kano State, saying there is no time for wasting energy on political point-scoring by current or former political officeholders. Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, gave the warning in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday. He advised, however, that all concerned citizens should be prepared to accept the medical and scientific result of the autopsies being carried out by experts in Kano and work together to confront the common enemy. ”Nigeria is only weeks into our fight against the invisible COVID-19 that earlier this year, was unknown to almost every nation in the world. ”Only earlier this month Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, made clear that ‘We are at the beginning in Africa’. READ ALSO: Mysterious deaths: Toll rises, as more citizens die in Kano ”There is muc...

Osita Chidoka *Asks Senate to reject northern nominee for FCC chairman By Clifford Ndujihe & Henry Umoru A chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Osita Chidoka, has called on the  Senate to reject the nomination of candidates from northern states of Kwara and Taraba as chairman, and secretary, respectively, of Federal Character Commission, FCC. Chidoka said the nomination violated Section 4 of the subsidiary legislation which states that the distribution of position shall be across the zones. He said that it had always been the tradition that Chairman and Secretary are from the North and South, respectively, for the same reason past governments, including that of Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, had appointed northerners as chairmen and southerners as secretaries. According to Chidoka, “where the number of positions available cannot go round the states of the federation or the Federal Capital, the distribution shall be on zonal basis, but in the case...

Delta Government on Wednesday inaugurated a testing center for COVID-19 in Asaba, to enhance the fight against the spread of the disease in the state. Mr. Chiedu Ebie, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), while inaugurating the laboratory at Asaba Specialist Hospital, said the center would enable the government to control the disease and scale-up diagnosis in the state. Ebie thanked the management of Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH) and PANDORA Group for deploying the laboratory to the state. He called on other organisations to partner the state government in the fight against the dreaded virus. READ ALSO:  Delta state borders remain shut to all road users ― Otuaro According to him, the facility came at the right time as it would enable suspected cases of COVID-19 to be tested in the state, and the result received on time. “We have just had a brief tour of the test centre which is a partnership between PANDORA ID NET and Delta State Government and facilitat...

By Evelyn Usman Sixty fun-seekers were arrested Wednesday, at a party held at 84 Parks and Graden, in Abule-Egba area of Lagos for violating the lockdown and social distancing orders. The arrest was effected by the Lagos State Task Force on COVID-19, comprising operatives of the Task Force of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, LASEPA) Lagos State Safety Commission and the Rapid Response Squad, RRS . According to the team leader/ Director Enforcement and Monitoring LASEPA Mr. Kayode Bello, the Taskforce stormed the birthday party following a tip off from concerned citizens of the state. The facility was immediately sealed. READ ALSO: Lockdown: CSO supports 1.5m Mpape residents with 5000L of water, foodstuff   The GM LASEPA, Dolapo Fasawe, said, “ it is no longer business as usual in the State, this pandemic has united us all and encourages citizen participation in terms of information sharing. “We responded at exactly 3:10 pm after receiving the informat...

To sell $100m per week By Elizabeth Adegbesan,  with agency report CBN The Central Bank of Nigeria  (CBN) yesterday said it has resumed the sale of foreign exchange (Forex) to commercial banks in view of the gradual easing of Corona Virus Disease (COVID 19)  lock down. Director, Corporate Communication Department, CBN, Isaac Okoroafor disclosed this in a statement  titled, “CBN resumes dollar sales for SMEs, school fees”. Okoroafor said: “In view of the gradual easing of the COVID-19 lockdown both globally and in  Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has resumed provision of foreign  exchange to all commercial banks for onward sales to parents wishing to pay  schools fees and SMEs wishing to make essential imports needed to revamp  economic activities across the country. READ ALSO: COVID-19: Outlook for foreign investments in Treasury Bills dims “In particular, the CBN is resuming the  provision of over  $100 million per ...