By Bolaji Ogundele and Augustine Okezie

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday arrived his home town of Daura, Katsina State, to start a four-day official visit.

While in town, Buhari will participate in the All Progressives’ Congress (APC) membership registration and revalidation exercise.

He was welcomed on arrival at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua International Airport, Katsina by Governor Aminu Bello Masari, the Deputy Governor, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly and the Chief Judge.

Read Also: What Buhari told new Service Chiefs – Adesina

From there, he was flown by helicopter to Daura and was received by the Emir of Daura, Alhaji Faruk Umar Faruk, and District Heads.

The President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said Buhari “considers this exercise as a very important one for the nation’s democracy and its yearning for good leadership as a requirement of the process of nation building.”

The President is expected to return to Abuja on Tuesday.

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

More than half of the world’s airline pilots, including those in Nigeria, are no longer flying airplanes, according to the first worldwide survey of the profession since the outbreak of the COVID – 19 pandemic.

The pandemic, according to the survey, has pushed pilots to consider other ways and means of earning a living.

The Pilot Survey 2021 – carried out by specialist aviation and pilot recruitment agency, GOOSE, with aviation publisher FlightGlobal, captured the devastating effect COVID-19 has had on airline pilots, with 30 per cent describing themselves as currently unemployed, and a further 17 per cent furloughed.

Six per cent of the affected pilots said they are employed in aviation in non-flying roles.

Another four per cent said they are working, but in different industries, leaving just 43 per cent of pilots doing the job they trained for.

The poll of almost 2,600 flight crew painted a picture of a community devastated economically and psychologically by the pandemic.

Of those who identify as unemployed, two thirds said they are actively looking for new positions as pilots. In normal times, a high number of job-seekers might indicate a buoyant jobs market. However, the opposite is the case.

Read Also: NDLEA intercepts 21.9kg of cocaine at Abuja airport

Only three per cent are currently in an interview process, and more than eight in 10 said they would happily take a pay cut for a new cockpit opportunity.

The online report comes 12 months after a previous survey by GOOSE and FlightGlobal revealed that pilots, though admitting occasional challenges of stress and achieving a better work-life balance, were enjoying a strong global demand for their services.

The latest survey, carried out during October 2020, polled pilots flying in every region of the world.

Our Reporter

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, said on Friday that it was wrong to label all Fulani criminals because of the misdeeds of some  of them.

“I am a Fulani and I am not a bad man. I am also not a criminal,” the Sultan said at a meeting in Abuja with the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association (MACBAN).

Abubakar who is the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the MACBAN, added: “Those who engage in one form of crime or another are across the country. It is not proper to refer to any tribe by the crime perpetrated by individuals.”

He acknowledged that although seven out of every 10 kidnappers arrested in the country turn out to be Fulani, they always act in collaboration with people from other ethnic groups.

Read Also: No place is safe in Nigeria now, Sultan laments

He said: “For example when they collected N10m, where and how do you spend this amount in the bush? The money is back in the city.

“I have told the Inspector General of Police to check this. We are not saying Fulani are not part of the kidnappings as mentioned by the Secretary of Miyetti Allah.

“Seven to eight kidnappers arrested are Fulani, but that doesn’t mean every Fulani is a criminal. No, they are not.

“We must put hands together to bring an end to this problem. We are going to approach the President to talk to our West African neighbours where we have Fulani like Senegal, Niger Republic Guinea and Mali, to help us, because most of these bandits cross from neighbouring countries to conduct their criminal acts and run back.”

The meeting came on the heels of the recent meeting in Akure between South West State governors and MACBAN following the quit notice served on crinals hiding in government reserved forests in Ondo State by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.

Our Reporter

The immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai (rtd), has said that he left the Nigerian Army better than he met it.

Buratai stated this in his valedictory speech during the pulling out parade by the Nigerian Army in Abuja on Friday.

He said that the army under his watch attained tremendous feat in the fight against insurgency and other security threats in the country.

He added that he ensured adequate training of personnel and enhancement of warfare capabilities of the army as well as prioritization of personnel welfare.

“Today is a day of appreciation and not a stock-taking. But let me put on record that I left Nigerian Army better than I met it.

“The Nigerian Army under my leadership was able to achieve great feat in the fight against insurgency in the country.

“We have been experiencing pockets of threats here and there, but I can confidently say that no part of Nigeria is ceded to any terrorist group or criminals.

“The counter insurgency operation is a warfare new to the Nigerian Army, but over time, we have continued to device means of tackling the ever evolving dynamic nature of the threats in the country.

“The Nigerian Army has remained resolute in the discharge of its roles as enshrined in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“I urge you all to continue to rise to the occasion,” he said.

Buratai said that while it was always necessary to say goodbye at a point in life, it was not easy to find the right word to say goodbye to the courageous and dedicated team that worked with him.

He said that the Nigerian Army also made giant strides in infrastructure development across the country.

Read Also: Buratai lauds troops over Marte success

Buratai commended the officers and soldiers of Nigerian Army for their dedication and loyalty, which he said helped him to achieve so much in office.

The former COAS also thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for the opportunity to serve the country as well as providing an enabling environment for him to succeed.

He also commended the effort of the government of Borno State in the war against insurgency, assuring that the war would soon become a thing of the past.

“Let me thank my governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum. He has been supportive to me and, of course, the Nigerian Army, especially in the fight against insurgency,” Buratai who also hails from Borno State noted during the pulling out parade held in his honour at the Mogadishu Cantonment in Abuja.

“He came with a unique leadership and I assure you, collectively, the Nigerian Army and the Borno State Government will end this insurgency within the shortest possible time.”

Buratai also hailed the Nigerian Army for major victories in the fight against insurgency in the northeastern part of the country, saying: “I want to urge the COAS to maintain the momentum and the pressure to rid these last vestiges of the terrorists in the northeast.”

On Thursday, Buratai had handed over the mantle of leadership of the Nigerian Army to the new Chief of Army Staff, Major General Ibrahim Attahiru.

Agency Reporter

Novavax vaccine, a new coronavirus vaccine has been shown to be 89 percent effective in large-scale UK trials.

The Novavax jab is the first to show in trials that it is effective against the new virus variant found in the UK, the BBC’s medical editor, Fergus Walsh, said.

The UK has secured 60 million doses of the jab, which will be made in Stockton-on-Tees in North-east England.

Meanwhile, a single-dose vaccine developed by Janssen is 66 percent effective, trial results have shown.

Janssen, a company owned by Johnson & Johnson, is also investigating whether giving two doses will give either stronger or longer-lasting protection.

The company said its initial findings showed one dose prevented 85 percent of severe cases.

Both the Novavax and Janssen jabs will need to be reviewed by regulators before they can be used.

The PM welcomed the “good news”, with doses of the Novavax jab expected to be delivered in the second half of this year if approved for use by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the government said.

The UK has so far approved three coronavirus vaccines for emergency use – one from Oxford University and AstraZeneca, another by Pfizer and BioNTech, and a third from drug firm, Moderna.

The Novavax jab, which is given in two doses, was shown to be 89.3 percent effective at preventing COVID-19 in participants in its Phase 3 clinical trial in the UK, and around 86 percent effective at protecting against the new UK variant. The jab’s efficacy against the original COVID-19 strain was calculated to be 95.6 per cent.

The Phase 3 trials, the final stage before a vaccine is looked at by a regulator, enrolled more than 15,000 people, aged between 18-84, of whom 27 percent were older than 65, US firm Novavax said.

In the South African part of the trial, where most of the cases were, the South African variant of the virus, the vaccine was 60 percent effective among those without HIV.

Read Also: North’s governors agree to get vaccine

Stan Erck, Chief Executive of Novavax, said the results from the UK trial were “spectacular” and “as good as we could have hoped”, while the efficacy in South Africa was “above people’s expectations”.

He told the BBC the manufacturing plant in Stockton-on-Tees should be up and running by March or April, with the company hoping to get approval for the vaccine from the MHRA around the same time.

But Minister Lucy Frazer told BBC Breakfast the government could not put an exact timeframe on when the Novavax jab might be approved as the regulation process is “out of our control”.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the new vaccine would be “another weapon in our arsenal to beat this awful virus”, if approved.

By Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

A fresh lockdown could be on the way in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna and other major cities in the country on account of the rising number of Covid-19 cases, the National Incident Manager of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Dr Mukhtar Muhammad, hinted on Friday.

Muhammad, who spoke on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, described the current situation as alarming.

Simultaneously, the Delta State Government imposed a fresh curfew across the state to check the spread of the infection.

The Secretary to the State Government, Mr Chiedu Ebie, said the curfew runs from 10 pm to 4 am daily.

Muhammad said on Friday that the federal government would target the urban areas for lockdown because “they are the most affected and that is why we have these super spreaders.”

He added: “We have analyzed that and we are advising the states based on the data that these are the focused areas where these transmissions are more than the others.”

But the PTF National Incident Manager said that unlike the previous lockdown, the next one will not be total.

The Federal Government, according to him, wants economic activities to continue although in a regulated fashion.

His words: “Certainly, even if we are going to have a lockdown, it is not going to be a total lockdown. A couple of weeks back, we analysed the data and we identified the hotspot local government areas.

“Mostly, the areas affected are the urban local governments in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna, Plateau.

“Even in most other states, it is the urban areas that are involved. So, if we are going to have any restrictions, it will be in these areas.”

The PTF National Incident Manager also said the federal government is working round the clock to ensure that the COVID-19 vaccines are in the country by not later than the end of March.

It also plans to get between 70 and 80 per cent of the population vaccinated.

He said government is worried by the level of non-compliance with COVID-19 regulations across the country.

Bayelsa to sanction schools violating COVID-19 protocols

The Bayelsa State Government on Friday warned it would no longer condone the violation of the COVID-19 protocols amidst the second wave of the virus.

Education Commissioner Gentle Emelah told reporters in Yenagoa that that inspectors would soon be visiting schools and warned that any school found violating the protocols would be sanctioned.

Delta imposes fresh curfew to check resurgence

Reacting to the rising wave of Covid-19, the Delta State Government on Friday imposed a 10pm to 4am curfew across the state.

The curfew took immediate effect.

Secretary to the State Government, Mr Chiedu Ebie, in a statement in Asaba, asked residents to comply with the restriction in the interest of public health.

He said security agencies had been directed to fully enforce the directives

He said the guidelines earlier issued on the closure of night clubs across the state “still subsists and should be complied with.”

He added: “In the same vein, the government wishes to restate the standard COVID-19 protocols for the guidance of all and these include: “Wearing of face masks in public places; avoiding crowded places; physical distancing; regular hand washing with soap and water or use of alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

“Deltans, residents and owners/operators of public places and establishments are strongly advised to comply with these directives as there shall be strict enforcement by security agencies in line with the Federal Government Coronavirus (COVID-19) Health Protection Regulations 2021 signed into effect by the President Muhammadu Buhari on 26th January 2021.”

Under the new dispensation, any person that contravenes the regulations commits an offence and  is liable, upon conviction, to a fine or a term of six months imprisonment or both in accordance with Section 5 of the Quarantine Act.

The Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Federal Road Safety Corps, Nigeria Immigration Service, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, and other relevant local government, state and Federal governments’ agencies are mandated to  enforce the regulations.

It reads in part: “At all gatherings, a physical distance of at least two metres shall be maintained at all times between persons.

“Notwithstanding the provision of Regulation 1, no gathering of more than 50 persons shall hold in an enclosed space, except for religious purposes, in which case the gathering shall not exceed 50% capacity of the space.

“All persons in public gatherings, whether in enclosed or open spaces, shall adhere to the provisions of Part 2 of these Regulations.

“The provisions of these Regulations may be varied by Guidelines and Protocols as may be issued, from time to time, by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 on the recommendation of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

“ No person shall be allowed within the premises of a market, mall, supermarket, shop, restaurants, hotels, event centres, gardens, leisure parks, recreation centres, motor parks, fitness centre or any other similar establishment (hereinafter collectively referred to as “establishments”) except: a. he is wearing a face covering that covers the nose and mouth; b. he washes his hands or cleaned the hands using hand sanitiser approved by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC); and c. his body temperature has been checked. Any person found to have a body temperature above 38 degrees Celsius shall be denied entry and advised to immediately seek medical attention.

“Every establishment occupier shall make provision for regular hand hygiene for any person coming into the premises during opening hours. This includes a handwashing station with soap and running water, or hand sanitiser approved by NAFDAC.

“Each establishment occupier is responsible for cleaning and disinfecting his premises.

“It is the responsibility of the occupier of the establishment to: a. Enforce the proper use of face covering; b. Make provision for safe hygiene facilities; c. Enforce provision of temperature checks prior to entry into the establishment; d. Enforce provisions and use of face covering within the establishment; e. Ensure that their customers queue up and are attended to serially while complying with physical distancing measures and avoiding overcrowding; and f. Generally, ensure compliance with the provisions of these Regulations.

“Occupiers of establishments are liable for any observed non-compliance by any persons within the premises.

“All worshippers and users of places of worship shall comply with the provisions of Parts 1 and 2 of these Regulations.

“Worshippers shall, where and whenever possible, avoid sharing worship items such as mats, bottles, hymnals, etc.

“It is the responsibility of the person in charge of a place of worship to ensure compliance with the provisions of these regulations within the worship centre.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in its Thursday update on the pandemic put the total confirmed cases in the country at 127,560.

A total of 10,151 cases have been discharged with 1,550 deaths recorded.