Author: The Nation

Israel moved to crush the Palestinian resistance yesterday as it launched a “law and order” campaign with the arrest of hundreds of leading figures involved in the latest uprising.

Police announced their intention to arrest more than 500 Palestinian citizens of Israel over the next 48 hours under the guise of security measures.

This is coming as U.S. President Joe Biden announced yesterday he is sending his top diplomat to the Middle East to meet with top regional officials following last week’s ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken “will meet with Israeli leaders about our ironclad commitment to Israel’s security,” and will seek “to rebuild ties to, and support for, the Palestinian people and leaders, after years of neglect,” Biden said in a statement.

Blinken will also “engage other key partners in the region, including on the coordinated international effort to ensure immediate assistance reaches Gaza in a way that benefits the people there and not Hamas, and on reducing the risk of further conflict in the coming months,” added Biden.

Blinken will travel to Jerusalem, Ramallah, Cairo, and Amman beginning yesterday, and ending on Thursday, according to the State Department.

But academic, Dr. Yara Hawari, said Tel Aviv had “declared war against Palestinians who dare to resist its colonial project and demand freedom”.

Israeli forces swooped to arrest and jail a number of Palestinians in Jerusalem on Sunday who were attacked by settlers for defending themselves. They were sentenced to 18 months in Israeli prison, while the settlers remain free.

“This is not just an attempt to intimidate and discipline those who participated in the Unity Uprising for justice and liberation.

“This is a declaration of war. It is the settler colonial project’s way of attempting to crush our people’s spirit, resistance and resilience,” Dr. Hawari said.

“Over 1,400 have already been arrested since May 9. At least 200 people will be charged. Israel’s arrest campaigns have primarily targeted minors and working-class kids,” she said.

Israeli forces are targeting those who mobilised in the past few weeks in resistance to a deadly war that left scores of Palestinians dead, with missiles destroying civilian infrastructure and health facilities.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, the number of arrests in all parts of Palestine reached more than 2,400 cases, including women, children and the wounded.

Hawari called on the international community to keep up the pressure on the Israeli government which has found itself increasingly isolated on the world stage.

“Do not remain silent. Speak up and make it a priority for your solidarity campaign,” she said, stressing the importance of the protest movement.

“We have to get back on the streets. Tweeting and posting on social media cannot replace real work on the ground.”

Some 120 Israeli setters stormed the compound of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem yesterday accompanied by Israeli police, local reports said.

The situation remains tense despite a fragile ceasefire continuing to hold at the time the Morning Star went to print.

China has dismissed as false a United States (U.S.) media report that three scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalised in November 2019.

“This is a complete lie’’, Chinese state newspaper Global Times quoted the head of the Wuhan institute, Yuan Zhiming, as saying yesterday.

Three researchers at the lab became ill enough to seek hospital care in November 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing a U.S. intelligence report.

The previously undisclosed report could fuel calls for a deeper probe into the theory that the coronavirus escaped from the Chinese lab, though a World Health Organisation (WHO) group of experts said earlier this year it was “extremely unlikely”.

The WSJ report came on the eve of a WHO meeting expected to address the next phase of investigation into the pandemic’s origins.

A U.S. State Department fact sheet issued during Donald Trump’s final days in office in January said several researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology became ill in autumn 2019 with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses.

The intelligence document went further in disclosing the number of researchers, the timing of their illness and their hospital visits.

One official cited by the WSJ said the intelligence was in need of further investigation and corroboration, while another said the information was very precise but did not explain why the researchers became ill.

Trump’s administration pushed the theory that the virus originated in a Wuhan lab, while the administration of President Joe Biden has called for more evidence before concluding an origin of the virus.

Repeated tremors shook the Congolese city of Goma yesterday, unnerving families still reeling from a volcano eruption at the weekend that destroyed nearby villages, displaced thousands and killed at least 15 people.

But, UNICEF said around 170 children were among the missing.

Mount Nyiragongo, one of the world’s most active and dangerous volcanoes, erupted on Saturday evening, sending a smouldering wall of lava half a mile wide downhill towards the city of 2 million people.

The death toll is likely to rise considerably. Residents told Reuters about relatives lying dead in the wreckage or missing.

The lava flow stopped a few hundred metres short of the city limits, but wrecked 17 villages on the way, cut the principal electricity supply and blocked a major road, disrupting aid deliveries.

A string of small earthquakes has since struck the city, the surrounding region in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and across the border into Rwanda.

One reached a 5.1 magnitude at 10:37 a.m. (0837 GMT) yesterday, according to the Rwanda Seismic Monitor, which is managed by the Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board.

Shops briefly reopened in Goma yesterday but many closed again as the tremors grew more severe and residents worried that these could trigger another eruption.

Tremors struck every 30 minutes in the city from midday on Sunday. In Rwanda, a Reuters reporter saw several buildings damaged by the tremors.

Dario Tedesco, a volcanologist based in Goma, told Reuters the earthquakes were caused by tectonic plates realigning after the eruption, and that the risk of a second eruption was small.

“It’s exactly what we saw in 2002 where we felt many earthquakes in the aftermath,” he said referring to the volcano’s last eruption.

But authorities in Goma urged caution.

“In view of the earthquake, which is becoming more severe, parents are asked not to send their children to school until further notice,” army spokesman Guillaume Ndjike said.

About 1,000 houses were destroyed and more than 5,000 people displaced by the eruption, the United Nations aid coordinator in Congo, Diego Zorrilla, told Reuters yesterday.

Goma is a hub for humanitarian aid in Congo’s east, but delivery efforts have been hindered by the closure of Goma’s airport, Zorrilla said, and it could be days before the main road from Goma to the north reopens, he added.

No fewer than 20,000 poor and vulnerable households spread across seven local government areas in Lagos State would benefit from the COVID-19 Rapid Response Register (RRR) Cash Transfer, the Coordinator of the Lagos State Operations Coordinating Unit (LASOCU) of the National Social Safety Nets Register (NSR), Mrs. Oluwakemi Adedeji, has said.

In a statement issued yesterday, Mrs. Adedeji said the beneficiaries would receive the benefit through their respective bank account for a period of six months.

She explained that the RRR is a Federal Government’s social intervention programme under Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development in partnership with the World Bank.

She said: “The selection is based on an earlier data gathered around some of the local governments in the state, where poor and very vulnerable households have been collated using the global standard of poverty index and availability of resources.

“They are from Ijede ward 1 in Ikorodu Local Government, Abomiti ward in Epe Local Government, Irewe and Tafi wards in Ojo Local Government and Ajido, Ikoga and Iya Afin wards in Badagry Local Government.”

The disbursements to beneficiaries in the seven wards, she added, is coming on the heels of a pilot disbursements earlier carried out in two wards – Ijede II and Agura/Iponmi in Ikorodu Local Government, bringing to nine, the total number of wards in five local governments touched by the programme.

People on the pilot scheme, according to her, are already receiving N5,000 monthly.

Mrs. Adedeji, who said the process is continuing, said qualified households from the benefitting council areas would start receiving short message services (SMS) for enrolment into the programme.

The LASOCU chief implored applicants to be quick to respond to the SMS as they come to enable enumerators to meet them at their homes for proper identification and documentations.

Minister of Foreign Affairs   Geoffrey Onyeama has urged officials of the ministry on diplomatic posting to change the narratives about Nigeria in the countries of their assignment.

Onyeama gave the advice yesterday in Abuja during the opening of a three-day induction programme for the 350 officers posted to Nigerian missions abroad.

He enjoined them to carry out their duties diligently and change whatever negative narratives about Nigeria and the ministry in other countries.

“I am here to rejoice and to express my love for you all and to say that we have to keep hope alive, we have to maintain solidarity.

“We are in this thing together and by God’s grace, we will all be an asset for our country, Nigeria. That is what it is really all about, about Nigeria, not about us, not about our individual aspiration.

“So, I do thank God for today, I do thank God because at the end of the day, this is what you are all here for, this is why you all joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to serve as diplomats.

“To serve your country around the world, to show what Nigeria has to offer, to bring the best for your country in engaging with other countries.

“You are going to represent this country. A lot of the narratives are not always positive about our country, and very often, about our ministry. So, you have huge responsibility on your shoulders.

“You are going out to represent Nigeria during very difficult days. These are very difficult days for our country. And sometimes, I worry for your generation because you are faced with huge challenges within the country and outside the country.

“And as the best brains that we have, it will now rest on your shoulders to transform the narratives, to transform the narratives about Nigeria, to transform the narratives about our ministry, to transform the narratives about our missions.

“Every day, you go on social media, these days, I am afraid even to go on social media. If it is not one video clip or the other about the mission or the ministry or one thing or the other. So, let’s try and turn this around,” Onyeama said.

He said around the world, Nigerian embassies and Nigerian diplomats were highly regarded in the multilateral sectors, particularly at the United Nations and others as evident in the positions Nigerians were getting.

He recalled the recent appointment of a Nigerian as the Deputy Director-General of the International Organisation for Migration, saying that the appointment showed the calibre of people Nigeria had.

The minister also disclosed that a lot of the resolutions that the United Nations are making were sponsored by Nigeria in Geneva, in New York and in Vienna.

“Our ambassador to Vienna was just recruited to become the representative in New York of the International Atomic Energy Agency. So, we have everything it takes.

“And contrary to the often negative narratives about you, about me, about us, the reality that people forget is that very often, you are working in very difficult conditions.

“Very difficult conditions that very often, funding is not always there, you have power challenges and you will still have to churn out and produce documents at very short notice,” Onyeama also reminded them.”

He, however, acknowledged the diplomats for their hard work and for putting in efforts in difficult conditions to ensure efficient service delivery in the ministry.

Besides, the minister reminded the diplomats of the current economic hardship in the country, however assuring that the government is working out to make it easier for them to operate outside the country.

By Tony Akowe, Abuja

The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has claimed it spent about N484.75 to buy one disposable face mask and about N4,847.50 to buy one 500ml of hand sanitiser during the COVID 19 lockdown in 2020.

In all, the agency said it spent about N152,487,900 on the procurement of face/nose masks, hand sanitisers, protective wears and hand gloves during COVID-19 lockdown.

These details came to the fore yesterday at a public hearing organised by the House Committee on Finance to interface with Ministries, Department and Agencies on remittances made into government coffers.

Details of the expenditures contained in a document submitted to the committee showed that on April 17, 2020, the scheme was supplied 5000 pieces of disposable face mask at the cost of N2,423,750.00 (N484.75  per mask) and 500 bottles of hand sanitiser (500ml) for N2,423,750.00 (N4,847.50 per bottle)

Also, on May 20, 2020,it also took delivery of 500 packs of N95 face mask and 500 packs of disposable face and nose mask at N37,186,825 as well as 1000 sets of disposables coverall protective suit and 1000 disposable latex hand gloves at N37,186,825.

On the same date, the agency said it took delivery of 250 pieces of decontamination spray pump at N9,075,000.

Similarly, on June 26, 2020, the NHIS said it got supply of hand sanitiser with customised logo on label for N47,970,000. It took another delivery of disposable face/nose masks for N30,724,200 and another supply of disposable face/nose masks for N15,951,000.

On March 3, 2020, the NHIS claimed in the document to have taken delivery of supply of 8,000 litres of diesel at its head office at the cost of N2, 480,000.00 (N310 per litre as against market price of about N260 per litre) and another supply of the same quantity of diesel to the Wuse 2 branch of the NHIS at the cost of N2,400,000.

The agency also claimed to have spent N49,200,000 on March 24, 2020, on vital contributors programme for hosting support of the online websites and functionalities. Also on February 26, 2020, it took delivery of calculators and stationeries at the cost of N2,473,537.50.

Some members of the committee, including Nicholas Ossai and Manu Soho raised questions about the expenditures, requesting a response from the NHIS Executive Secretary, Prof.  Mohammed Sambo.

But in his defence, Sambo said the agency also provided more items under its social corporate responsibility for some social workers on the frontline.

He said: “On the huge expenditure to tunes of millions with respect to the COVID-19 items, we are National Health Insurance Scheme. We are supposed to be a strategic purchasing agency by mandate.

“During COVID-19, there was a plan by the ministry of health on sectoral response to COVID-19 and because we are dealing with healthcare facilities, we all know that at the beginning of COVID-19, most of the healthcare workers abandoned their duty post because they don’t have items for their protection.

“As part of our corporate social responsibility, we identified first line organisations like police and so on. We gave them those items and we also recognised hospitals that have huge enrollment of NHIS enrollees and we supplied them with these items.

“All the documents are available if the lawmakers need them. So, this expenditure is not restrictive to NHIS. We have been directed to ensure the protection of our people.

“On electricity, we all know last year, there was erratic supply of electricity. We have a big office in Utako and in Wuse. In our office in Wuse, we had to maintain a cooling system. We have huge infrastructure that requires cooling.

“As we are improving our infrastructure now, we are talking about the level of electricity that are being consumed in future. All the expenditure in respect to COVID-19, some of the MDAs wrote to PTF that they need these items and they wrote to us.”

The Chairman of Oto-Awori Local Council Development Area (LCDA) in Lagos State, Prince Musibau Adekunle Ashafa has distributed 100 JAMB forms to indigent students for free.

The beneficiaries have excelled in their WAEC and were selected across the five Wards that make up the LCDA.

Ashafa dwelled on the tremendous gains of his administration to enhance the value of education in Oto-Awori.

He highlighted amongst others the construction of seven schools with modern facilities within the LCDA and promised more in education sector when re-elected.

He urged the beneficiaries to remain focus and steadfast as their being nominated was as a result of their traits towards their studies.

“I urge you all to remain focus and guide against complacency and distractions capable of undermining your success in life” Ashafa said.

By Tajudeen Adebanjo

Community leaders in Iba Local Council Development Area, Lagos, have appealed to the leaders and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to field a former Sole Administrator of the council, Abiola Yisa as the party’s candidate in the forthcoming council poll.

According to them, Yisa’s short stint as the council chief, attracted development to the LCDA.

The Onu Igala of Iba, Zekeriyau Ata Odoma, said Abila as Yisa is fondly called, performed creditably and was detribalised during his reign at the council.

“He helped the less privileged people a lot. That is why I can vouch for support from all Igala sons and daughters residing in Iba for him. I’m appealing to the APC to make him their candidate,” he said.

An Igbo leader, Emeka Akparaegbum, said Abila brought Igbo together under one body when he was the council chief.

Secretary of League of Chief Imams in Iba, Imam Najimudeen Aminullah, urged APC to give him the ticket.

“People are saying many good things about him. He is gentle, God-fearing and that’s why I support him.

Christian Association of Nigerian (CAN) Chairman in Iba, Reverend Esther Michael (JP), described Abila as a humble person.

“Ever since I knew him, he doesn’t look down on anyone. He’s not a proud person. I urge all the Christians in Iba LCDA to support Abila. He will develop Iba when he gets there. I will advise the APC members in Iba to give him the mandate because he can do it and he will not disgrace APC,” she said.

Secretary to Iba LCDA Alhaji Niyi Alape said Abila doesn’t discriminate against anybody.

“I want to implore all party members to vote for Abila during primary. He’s a person we can trust. He performed well as a Sole Administrator. His doors are wide open for everybody. Iba will witness more development if Abila is eventually elected as the council chairman,” he said.

Outpost Health, a Canadian digital health provider, has partnered with HealthPlus to deliver its award-winning telemedicine platform to the largest pharmacy chain in Nigeria

The agreement will allow HealthPlus to utilise the Outpost platform, a proprietary secure HIPAA-compliant digital health and payments solution.

The Outpost platform connects providers, patients, payors, pharmacies, labs and health facilities globally and serves to provide seamless access and enhanced quality of care to all.

Outpost Co-founders Dr. Didi Emokpare and Dr. Jude Emokpare said, “Having grown up in Nigeria, we are all too familiar with the challenges of healthcare access and industry fragmentation.  To address these challenges, we need partners with the highest ethical standards and a commitment to providing innovative quality healthcare such as HealthPlus.”

Outpost Health, they said, is committed to bridge gaps in care delivery.

Chief Transformation Officer of HealthPlus, Chidi Okoro, said: “We are excited to continue in our quest to provide the Nigerians with high-quality and affordable products. We will continue to make lasting impact by contributing to the achievement of universal healthcare coverage and increasing life expectancy for Nigerians.

By Folakemi Olaoni

TVS King has won the Tricycle Brand of the Year award at the eighth Annual Nigeria Transport Awards, organised by Transport Day.

Also known as Keke, the brand of tricycles is manufactured by TVS Motor Company in India and assembled, distributed and serviced by Wandel International – part of the Simba Group of Companies in Nigeria.

TVS tricycles and TVS Motor Company had won other global awards, including being the only tricycle manufacturer to have received the Deming Prize – the highest award for Total Quality Management in the world.

Automotive Business Head at Simba, Mahendra Prata, said: “This award has been possible thanks to the trust our valued customers have in our product as well as the efforts of all our employees and our esteemed channel partners.

“It inspires us to keep providing Nigeria with the ideal solutions for last-mile transport.”

Simba Group Head of Marketing, Karthik Govindarajan, added: “When customers choose to purchase a tricycle, they look above all for reliability and dependability. That’s why for over 10 years now, TVS King has been their number one choice.

“When they buy their first, they are drawn to the quality and features – matters intrinsic to TVS Motors – but when they choose TVS again after years of reliable service, they make that choice because they trust in the brand, and the huge emphasis Simba and TVS put into after-sales service and the availability of spare parts nationwide.”

The company said it has one of the widest networks of tricycle service centres in the country and has also trained thousands of riders and mechanics in maintenance.