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World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General, Dr Tedos Ghebreyesus, says smokers have up to a 50 per cent higher risk of developing severe diseases and death from COVID-19. Ghebreyesus said this in a message to commemorate World No Tobacco Day, globally marked on May 31 annually, to highlight the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocate effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption. According to him, quitting is best thing smokers can do to lower their risk from coronavirus as well as the risk of developing cancers, heart disease and respiratory illnesses. “We urge all countries to play their part by joining the WHO campaign and creating tobacco-free environments that give people the information, support and tools they need to quit, and quit for good.” The director-general announced that WHO was taking advantage of digital tools to help tobacco users and had released the Quit Challenge chatbot and the Artificial Intelligence digital health worker Florence. “T

Dr Walter Mulombo, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative to Nigeria, says the world body is set to scale up programmes in 22 countries to help people to quit tobacco use. He made this known on Monday in Abuja at a news conference to mark the 2021 World No Tobacco Day with the theme “Commit to Quit”. The representative, who said “the World No Tobacco Day is to remind everyone that tobacco kills half of its users”, added that Nigeria was selected as one of the 22 countries for the WHO scale-up programmes, especially at the primary health care and community levels. He explained that “the programme will include the setting up of a toll-free quitline and the pilot of a WHO supported mobile cessation (cessation) programme for a period of 9 – 12 months. READ ALSO:  Smoking one cigarette a day harms smoker’s health — WHO “This will be through the use of pre-designed WhatsApp toolkit and Facebook Messenger in different languages.” Mulombo said millions of people were motiva

Bauchi Governor, Bala Mohammed Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state has pleaded with the House of Representatives committee on the Zonal public hearing on the review of the 1999 Constitution to consider the agitations for the creation of Katagum state, out of the present Bauchi state. Speaking on Monday when he received the committee, who paid him a courtesy visit, the governor described the area as the biggest second town in any part of Northern Nigeria after the state capital. “In Katagum now, you can see there is a sprawling metropolis in Azare that is the biggest second town in any part of Northern Nigeria, after the state capital. “We are urging you to please look at our agitation for the creation of Katagum state because it will bring development closer to the people,” said the governor. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the committee paid the governor a visit ahead of the public hearing exercise slated to hold from June 1 to June 3. The zonal public hearings a

By Ubong Essien Small and medium scale enterprises, SMEs, constitute the foundation on which any economy rests. In fact, they are the engine room that powers economies around the world, including the developed economies. A country that seeks to have a strong economic base must have a thriving SMEs sector. This understanding has been playing out in Akwa Ibom State where, in the last six years, Governor Udom Emmanuel has been busy developing the SMEs sector by empowering small businesses and encouraging the setting up of new ones through various interventions that are aimed at supporting the state’s industrialisation efforts. His administration has been encouraging the people of the state, especially the youths, to demonstrate the Dakkada spirit by taking their destiny in their hands to chart the course that would change their socio-economic circumstances and, in so doing, contribute to the economic development of the state and Nigeria as a whole. In fact, the SMEs sector is one are

The Police Command in Rivers has confirmed an explosion at the popular Mile 3 Market in the early hours of Monday in Port Harcourt. SP Nnamdi Omoni, the Police Public Relations Officer in Rivers, said in a statement that no casualty was recorded in the attack on the market. He said the Commissioner of Police in the state, CP Eboka Friday, had ordered the command’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit to sweep the market. “The command confirms that locally fabricated dynamite exploded when one Mrs Ifemia Aloke, popularly known as ‘Mama Joy’ opened her fish shop on Monday morning. READ ALSO:  Artisanal refineries in Niger Delta ‘ll soon take off – FG “The explosion inflicted injuries on her son and one other young lady. “Those injured are currently receiving medical attention while no life was lost in the incident. “The EOD unit was immediately dispatched to the scene to sweep and render the market safe,” Omoni stated. The police spokesman said that normal trading activities h

…List achievements in the office on the 6th anniversary …Explains why the electorate must be cautious on the choice of successor Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, has urged the people to shun blackmail as such vices is inimical and counterproductive to economic growth and development with huge undesirable consequences. The Governor gave this charge when he led top government functionaries to a special Inter-Denominational Thanksgiving Service held to mark the 6th anniversary of his administration on Sunday at Believers Assembly of Nigeria, Uyo. Governor Emmanuel who reflected on the mercies of God which he acknowledged gave him the wisdom to lead the state through a turbulent economic time occasioned by the outbreak of Covid-19, appreciated the support of the Akwa Ibom people, and described them as partners in the success story of the state. “We are standing here to give God all the glory, the psalmists will tell you, ‘O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good for His

By Chiedu Uche Okoye I s the Lugardian contraption and geographical expression called Nigeria not an immensely endowed country? It is blessed with both material and human resources. Nigeria, a heterogeneous country, is a nation of nations. A multi-ethnic country, it has more than 250 ethnic and linguistic groups with the Igbo, Yoruba, and the Hausa/Fulani being the largest ethnic groups in the country. The Ijaw people, who are found in the South-South region and Ondo State, are the fourth largest ethnic in Nigeria. In addition to being a heterogonous country, its people(s) are practitioners and adherents of such religions as Islam, Christianity, and African Traditional Religion. But, then, a multi-ethnic country whose people(s) practise diverse religions is predisposed to having problems traceable to ethnic hatred and religious differences. For example, on the African continent, countries such as Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Liberia and Somalia were embroiled in bloody political conflic

By Bashir Bello, Kano Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State says the state government has revised the state Master Plan, which was last retouched 35 years ago, as part of a deliberate attempt to accelerate industrial growth and development of the state. Ganduje in a statement by his Director-General, Media and Publicity, Ameen K. Yassar said in this regard, areas of potential hold-ups were identified, leading to the construction of interchanges, in addition to investment in roads construction, to ease transportation and reduce the time and cost of doing business. The Governor said his administration has adopted a multi-sectoral approach to fast-track industrial development including huge investment in security management, water supply, roads, light rail, and the health sector, pointing out that the vision was to take Kano to the center of developmental activities. According to him, “this is part of the measures we have to take to encourage investment in industrial developm

Vietnam has discovered a new coronavirus variant that’s a hybrid of strains first found in India and the U.K., the Vietnamese health minister said Saturday. Nguyen Thanh Long said scientists examined the genetic makeup of the virus that had infected some recent patients, and found the new version of the virus. He said lab tests suggested it might spread more easily than other versions of the virus. Viruses often develop small genetic changes as they reproduce, and new variants of the coronavirus have been seen almost since it was first detected in China in late 2019. The World Health Organization has listed four global “variants of concern” – the two first found in the U.K. and India, plus ones identified in South Africa and Brazil. Long says the new variant could be responsible for a recent surge in Vietnam, which has spread to 30 of the country’s 63 municipalities and provinces. Vietnam was initially a standout success in battling the virus — in early May, it had recorded just

File The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) says 90 per cent of trucks in the country are over 30 years. The FRSC Corps Marshal, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, disclosed this in an interactive session between the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), the FRSC and Haulage operators on Monday in Lagos. Oyeyemi called for an improvement on the maintenance and standardization schemes for vehicles as most of them lacked safety measures like lighting, reflectors and other parts. He stressed the need for an intervention from the Federal Government to ensure truckers had fleet renewal as vehicles that had been on the road for 30-years should be scrapped. Oyeyemi pointed out that “due to the age of the trucks, they frequently breakdown on the road prolonging the days goods spend on the road before getting to its destination.” “While coming to this place, I went through the third mainland bridge and I saw trucks lining up on the bridge going toward Apapa and this is not good. “Bridges are not meant to c

Japan’s Naomi Osaka returns the ball to Romania’s Patricia Maria Tig during their first round match of the French open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium Sunday, May 30, 2021 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) Naomi Osaka tweeted the following statement announcing her withdrawal from the French Open on Monday: “Hey everyone, this isn’t a situation I ever imagined or intended when I posted a few days ago. I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris. ”I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not idea and my message could have been clearer. ”More importantly I would never trivialize mental health or use the term lightly. The truth is that I have suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018 and I have had a really hard time coping with that. Anyone that knows me knows I’m introverted, and anyone tha

By Emmanuel Elebeke The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has cautioned Nigerians against a new email-based attack from Solarwindhackers. According to NITDA, Microsoft, a world-renown multinational technology company uncovered a widespread malicious email campaign undertaken by the hacking group- NOBELIUM and warned Nigerians not to fall for it. According to NITDA, the cybercriminals leverage the legitimate mass-mailing service to masquerade as a US-based development organisation and distribute malicious URLs to a wide variety of organisations especially government organisations, non-government organisations (NGOs), think-tanks, military, IT service providers, health technology, and research, and telecommunications providers. ALSO READ:  UPDATED: Property worth millions of naira destroy as fire guts Ladipo spare parts market, building in Lagos “Their antics involve the use of emails claiming to be an alert from USAID about new documents published by form

By Sodiq Alabi THE Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, has wandered its way through the National Assembly for two decades, like an ancient Sufi mystic in search of the Truth. It has faced several disappointments and metamorphoses on its way to becoming a law. Initially a single Bill, it was broken down into different bills with one of it – The Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, PIGB, passed by lawmakers in 2017 only to fail to get the much-needed presidential assent. Now it is back to the National Assembly as one single Bill. The Bill has long been presented as a credible solution to the myriad of problems facing the petroleum industry and the country, but its current version before the National Assembly is far from being a perfect Bill. If passed and signed into law as it is, it could represent a major missed opportunity for the country. The drafters of previous versions of the PIB understood the need for harmonising the different regulatory structures that exist in the petroleum indu

More than one-third of the world’s heat deaths each year are due directly to global warming, according to the latest study to calculate the human cost of climate change. But scientists say that’s only a sliver of climate’s overall toll — even more people die from other extreme weather amplified by global warming such as storms, flooding and drought — and the heat death numbers will grow exponentially with rising temperatures. Dozens of researchers who looked at heat deaths in 732 cities around the globe from 1991 to 2018 calculated that 37% were caused by higher temperatures from human-caused warming, according to a study Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change. That amounts to about 9,700 people a year from just those cities, but it is much more worldwide, the study’s lead author said. “These are deaths related to heat that actually can be prevented. It is something we directly cause,” said Ana Vicedo-Cabrera, an epidemiologist at the Institute of Social and Preventative Med

Gulak The Imo chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has described the murder of Mr Ahmed Gulak, a former presidential aide, as unconscionable and despicable. This is contained in a statement on Monday in Owerri signed by the state APC chairman, Mr Marcillinus Nlemigbo. Condemning the act, Nlemigbo said that the party received the news withdeep sense of sorrow and grief, adding that the APC had lost a loyal stalwart. He described Gulak as a great party leader adding that it was rather unfortunate that he was assassinated. Nlemigbo condoled with the national leadership of the APC, the presidency and the people and government of Adamawa over his death. “The unconscionable assassination of Ahmed Gulak, a party faithful is a provocative affront to the generality of Imo people who are not known to be this unmindful, callous, barbaric and heartless. “His death, certainly, is a huge loss to APC as a party, his family, close friends, the good people of Adamawa and Nigeria as a cou

Gover Dapo Abiodun Says Governor Abiodun good enough for another term James Ogunnaike – Abeokuta A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State, Adeola Sosanwo has commended the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, over his ability to espouse good governance and deliver landmark projects across the state in the last two years. Sosanwo, who described Abiodun as “God’s special gift” to Ogun, stated this in a chat with newsmen, in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital. According to him, “the sterling performance of the governor in the last two years is already a good basis to allow him to continue in office till 2027”. He declared that the turnaround Ogun State has witnessed since Abiodun assumed office in 2019, has made him become a model to his contemporaries. READ ALSO:  We’ll continue to deploy state resource judiciously ― Gov. Abiodun “In the last two years, every part of Ogun State has been objecting of his focus for development. The education sector wit

By Chioma Obinna On this year’s World No Tobacco Day, the World Health Organisation, WHO has warned that smoking one cigarette a day can seriously harm a person’s health even as it disclosed that no fewer than 1.2 million non-smokers die from exposure to tobacco smoke. In a message to mark the day, WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti noted that tobacco kills half of its users as it harms nearly every organ in the human body. She said: “Tobacco use can lead to lung, mouth, throat, oesophagus, stomach, bowel and other cancers. It increases the risk of chest and lung infections, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and other conditions. There is no safe form of tobacco. Noting that the theme for this year was “Commit to quit” as the choice to stop tobacco was in individual’s hands, she said: “ Millions of people have been motivated to quit tobacco during the COVID-19 pandemic because of evidence showing tobacco smoking impairs lung function, making it harder for the body

undated photo provided by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows seized drug bundles containing 132 pounds of methamphetamine on display from Feb. 25, 2021, at the Laredo port of entry. PHOTO: AP An increasing number of American citizens have been apprehended as they have tried to smuggle illegal drugs into the U.S. since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, an uptick that’s come amid travel restrictions at the border with Mexico. For more than a year, the closure of the southern border to nonessential traffic has sharply limited the number of foreign citizens entering the U.S. by land. The rules have been extended until at least June 21, but Mexican authorities have allowed most U.S. citizens to walk or drive south across the border with relative ease. ALSO READ:  NNPC to acquire equity in 6 private refineries — Official Law enforcement officials and drug trafficking experts say the border rules — put in place in April 2020 to curb the spread of the coronavirus — and th

By Patricia Pessu If you visit many offices across Nigeria at lunch time during the months of May, June, July and August, chances are high that you will find a good number of workers munching away at “mouth organs”. Yes, with corn in season, one of the most popular delicacies at this time is the combination of roasted corn (popularly code-named as “mouth organ”) and the African pear. Coconut is an occasional close substitute for pear and this writer has it on good authority that many people find the coconut and “mouth-organ” combination, just as delicious too. Outside of those months when both corn and pear are in season, this delicious combination is unavailable. Interestingly, during those harvest months, enough corn and pear to sustain the country for a substantial period, perhaps even an entire year, may have been harvested. But with inadequate knowledge and utilisation of modern and cost-effective storage and preservation methods, tonnes of maize and pear end up wasted every ye

Atiku Abubakar By Umar Yusuf – Yola Former Vice President ATIKU ABUBAKAR as part of her efforts of bringing succour to the ordinary Nigerians, especially in the areas of job creation and poverty alleviation  Monday in YOLA commissioned a factory woven sack and shrink laminate plants. This is in addition, to the various factories established in the state by the former vice president geared towards boosting the economy of the state and providing employment opportunities to the teeming youths of Adamawa state. Speaking at the ceremony, Alhaji .shehu Atiku Abubakar said that the woven sacks factory is established to serve as a background strategy to provide sacks for Rico Gado Nutrition and to also addressed the needs of Adamawa agrarian community and the numerous factories packaging products with sacks. He further explained that the company has the capacity to produce 9 million sacks annually stressing that, before now Rico Gado another company of Atiku is purchasing all its sacks