Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River has suspended the Chairman of Calabar Carnival Commission, Mr Gabe Onah, from office.
Onah’s suspension is contained in a release signed on Monday in Calabar by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mr Christian Ita.
The governor said that the suspension was with immediate effect.
He however did not state the reason for the suspension of the commission’s chairman.
The suspension is coming two days after the commission held its maiden award night in Calabar.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has released the number of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) tests conducted for Kogi and Cross River States that are yet to report any confirmed cases of the disease.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the NCDC released the data alongside the number of COVID-19 tests conducted per State published on its website on Tuesday.
The Centre stated that the publication was part of commitments to ensure transparent reporting of COVID-19 data in the country.
According to the publication, Kogi has conducted just one test so far and Cross River State has conducted 7 tests.
A breakdown of the number of tests carried out by StateSituation report of COVID-19 in Nigeria as at 18th May 2020
Meanwhile, Director General of the NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, had disclosed that the centre was working very hard to equip its network of laboratories to be able to achieve the target of testing in the country.
He said the NCDC will collaborate with global partners to tackle bottlenecks. The DG said that the centre so far had 26 testing laboratories in its network for COVID-19.
The NCDC Laboratory Strategic Group has set itself a target of testing two million people across the country in the next three months.
The two million Nigerians will come to about 50,000 per state which the health agency noted was a very ambitious target.
The NCDC said that this would cost a lot of money and also required a lot of collaboration.
“We did put an ambitious target of hitting two million tests in three months, this is the beginning of week three if I’m not mistaken. So, we are not in the second month yet.
“Sometimes, to drive improvement, you have to set out that target for yourself, and that is really what we’ve done.
“There are many bottlenecks to this and that’s something throughout this week we are working with our global partners in terms of how to unbottle some of those supply chain challenges.
“And some of those things are now going to yield fruit this week. I actually don’t want to name a date untill I have those reagents in the country.
”So, I’m hesitant to say this is when it will happen or that is when it will happen.
“There is now a lot of momentum around the supply, we hope those reagents will really lead us to that,” Ihekweazu explained.
Speaking on activation of laboratories in the country, he said that when building an institution, there were many things that were never visible to people.
“So, when we come to NCDC four years ago, we realised that there were several pieces of laboratory equipment lying across the country that were not functioning.
“Why were they not functioning, maybe for one small component or problem. And you’ll be wasting equipment worth millions of naira or millions of dollars.
“So, we started looking for how to train our biomedical engineers. We found partner in Japanese International Corporation Agency (JICA), and they started supporting us specifically in this regard.
“We now retained two bio medical engineers over six months in Japan. Japan is well known world-wide for their capacity around things like this.
“These two colleagues are leading a lot of the efforts on the equipment side of activating labs. Then we have our biomedical Laboratory scientists that are leading the training on Laboratory diagnostic science,” he explained.
Ihekweazu said that the agency would send a three-man team comprising a biomedical engineer, a molecular Laboratory scientist and one new colleague “expert” to be trained in the process .
“Two teams left today, one in Katsina and the other to Ilorin to do this. And as we continue to do this, we build the capacity of more Nigerians to do this,” he said.
Ihekweazu said that the maintenance of medical equipment was one of the biggest challenges the health agency had.
“We have persons on the Laboratory side, but anybody working in the health space will tell you the challenges that we have with very expensive pieces of medical equipment that often breaks down for one small problem and that’s the challenge we are trying to solve.
“There is no magic bullet, you keep pushing, you strain,” he added.
He disclosed that they had a workshop at NCDC where they trained local staff to do a lot of the maintenance.
“What we call biosafety cabinet that are necessary, they have to be accredited every single year, they have to be checked whether they provide the safe environment to enable people work safely.
“So, to do that, the pipe certifying them has to themselves be certified that they can certify the cabinet,” he noted.
According to him, it’s a very diligent process in keeping our equipment working, because we know that the equipment is what ultimately leads us to have confidence in the result that we produce.
“Yes, we have people doing this and we try to keep them within the public sector which is not always easy. But I think people are beginning to realise that there is benefit in working in the public sector and they can grow their career that way,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the DG who spoke on self isolation, noted that very early in the outbreak, the agency had a policy on self isolation for people that traveled back to the country from one of the most affected countries.
He said that but, since then, the policy had been institutional isolation, both for people being brought back through the evacuation processes at the moment.
“We are constantly reviewing this policy but that’s the policy at the moment. Yes, other countries are doing different things , but this is what we have agreed to do between the PTF for now and that’s the policy of the federal government of Nigeria through the PTF.
Cross River State Governor, Prof Ben Ayade, Monday, authorised the payment of 2014 gratuity to retired civil servants in the state, even as he donated N50 million to the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) for the completion of the Labour House.
The governor, who was accompanied by his deputy, Prof Ivara Esu, members of the state executive council as well as officers and members of the state NLC and TUC, gave the directive shortly after inspecting the NLC secretariat, which is under construction.
On payment of gratuity, he said: “We have already finalised and I have just signed today an authorisation for them to commence the implementation of 2014 gratuity.”
While applauding the leadership of labour in the state for good management of resources in the erection of the building, the governor said, “at the time we discussed with the NLC/TUC on the need to support them build a labour house, the approval I gave was so insignificant for the accomplishment of what I am seeing here today. I thought I was the only magician who knows how to turn one naira to a million dollars. Today, I have seen some management experts that are equally very good.”
Ayade who assured that the labour house will be completed before his third year anniversary in office announced that, “against that background, God has descended upon me with an inspiration,” adding that, “to ensure that you complete this project and get it ready for commissioning as in the history of Cross River, we have never had a labour house where members can come in unmolested, it is my pleasure to support you complete this edifice with additional N50 million. That figure will cover both furniture, telecom and small clinic in case of any emergency.”
He charged labour leaders and members to remain better organised, well structured and never relent in their roles to the society, pointing out that, the leaders must not stop insisting on what they think is the right thing for the people as it is pertinent to share the concerns of government while appreciating the challenges of workers.
“I must commend you for being very balanced in the whole process. Agreed that normally as government task, critical misunderstanding will set in, but that is part of relationship and I think that the concept of this is a harbinger of a better relationship and better understanding of each other.”
Earlier, NLC Chairman in the state, Comrade John Ushie, explained that “for over 40 years, the labour centre has not had a place to call their own, but in your time, it has come to pass. We believe that before your third year in office, you will come back to commission this place.”
The governor, his deputy, members of the organised labour as well as members of the state executive council, thereafter proceeded to other projects sites embarked by the present administration in the state, including the 21 megawatt power plant, Calabar Garment Factory, Calabar Pharmaceutical Factory, Rice Seeds and Seedlings Center amongst others.
Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River has approved N1.4 billion to the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to enable it access 2016 Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) matching grant.
Dr. Stephen Odey, the Executive Chairman of SUBEB in the state, disclosed this on Friday in Calabar while declaring open a one-day management training workshop on: “Integrity in Leadership for Organisational Productivity’’.
Odey expressed optimism that the funds would enable the board to embark on various projects to better basic education in the state.
“With the approval, there would be more funds for SUBEB to embark on its projects across the state.
“You can see that the governor is not sleeping and on our part, there have been a lot of interventions going on; we are making more provisions for plastic tables and chairs.
“This is to ensure that no child sits on the floor. We have just received the consignment of our table tennis outdoor sporting equipment from Germany, we have also introduced magnetic boards.’’
The workshop was organized by the board in collaboration with TrinitasConsult for SUBEB Directors, Education Secretaries of Local Government Education Authority (LGEA) and Principals of UBEC Junior Secondary Schools.
Odey said that the theme of the workshop was geared towards institutionalizing a sound management system.
He said the board was determined to enthrone qualitative, uninterrupted and competitive basic education in the state and urged stakeholders in the system to cooperate and exhibit managerial efficiency.
“With a view to realizing SUBEB’s vision of striving to be a world-class education, intervention, and regulatory agency for the promotion of uniform, qualitative and functional basic education in Nigeria.
“The success of basic education in Cross River State cannot be compromised and can only be achieved with your support.
“This is why you must take your job seriously and all hands must be on deck,’’ he said.
The executive secretary maintained that every employee of SUBEB was mandated to sustain the mission and vision of the board by being impactful in the basic educational sector.
The Korean Cultural Centre says the performance of the Bongsan Mask Dance Drama team at the just concluded Calabar Festival is to mark 10 years of the Embassy’s relocation from Lagos to Abuja.
The Director of the center, Mr. Han Sungrae, made this known in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday.
“The team performed for the first time on Dec. 26 at U J Esuene Stadium during the Carnival Kings and Queens Night as part of the Korean Cultural Day event.
“The 17-member team also participated in the street carnival of Dec 28; they performed Korean traditional music dance called Salmulnori, Mask dance, and Lion dance.
“Their performances were quite humorous and exciting,’’ Sungrae said.
He noted that the Chairman of Calabar Carnival Commission, Mr. Gabe Onah, expressed gratitude to the Korean team for their participation, saying Nigerians enjoyed their shows, especially the Mask and Lion dances.
Sungrae expressed satisfaction with the participation of the Korean team in the carnival.
“I want to express the willingness of Korea to also be part of other festivals in many parts of Nigeria such as Kaduna, Port-Harcourt among other states.’’
Calabar Carnival, which started in 2004, is organized by the government of Cross River.
It has since become one of the biggest street carnival and tourism attraction in Africa with about one million people taking part in the carnival.
