TheNewsGuru

Tag: Shut down

  • It is wrong to say govs want tax reform Bills shut down-Gov Sule

    It is wrong to say govs want tax reform Bills shut down-Gov Sule

    The Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, has said that it is wong to say that governors of the 36 states are against the Tax Reform Bills, explaining that they only wanted to get clarifications in some areas.

    The governor explained: “The issue of increasing the VAT from 20 per cent to 60 per cent at the point of generation, and I am happy that Taiwo said it has now changed not just at the point of generation but also consumption, that is fine.

    “Those were some of the issues mentioned by the governors. The governors said, you know what, why don’t you withdraw the bills, let us discuss it, let us understand it,” Governor Sule said.

    He said that the Townhall meeting which was organized by Channels Television is part of events that should have happened before the bills were sent to the National Assembly.

    According to him, if some of these steps were taken by the Taiwo Oyedele’s Tax Reform Committee and things were properly explained, there won’t have been any call to withdraw the bills which is the point the governors were making.

    Responding, Oyedele thanked Governor Sule and the Governor’s Forum for their feedback which he said he takes seriously, explaining that calling for series of meetings with the governors would have delayed the bills.

    The tax reform committee chair noted that the Committee tried to engage Nigerians on the bills, but people did not show much interest.

    He, however, said that the Committee is ready to repeat some of the processes and explain things further now that it seems like people have become interested in the bills.

    The proposed Tax Reform Bills have generated a lot of controversies since its introduction at the National Assembly. It has been met with serious resistant especially from the Northern part of the country.

    Following the controversies these bills have generated, the National Economic Council had advised President Bola Tinubu to withdrawal the bills to allow for further consultations but he had refused and said that the bills should go through the necessary legislative processes.

    Last week, the bills were passed at the Senate for second reading through voice votes.

    The proposed legislation seeks to harmonize, coordinate, and resolve disputes arising from revenue administration in Nigeria.

  • Kano at a standstill as banks, offices, power sectors shut down over strike

    Kano at a standstill as banks, offices, power sectors shut down over strike

     

    The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Kano State chapter has joined the nationwide warning strike with the shutting down of government offices and other critical sectors.

    It was gathered that as early as 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning, the labour union were on ground to carry out enforcement.

    The State Vice Chairman of the union, Ado Riruwai who led the enforcement exercise, told Vanguard that it has shut down all government offices in the state.

    Riruwai, who doubles as the Chairman, Private Sector Unions in the state, also said all power sector and banks were under key.

    He further said that they were proceeding to the airport to ensure no flight took off from the airport.

    According to him, “we have shut down all power sector. Banks are not operating. We heard a flight took off this morning from the airport, we are heading down there to ensure no flight take off from the airport.

    “All government offices were under key and lock,” Riruwai stated.

    Among facilities shut down include, the Kano Electric Distribution Company, KEDCO head office.

    Recall that the NLC had given notice to embark on the two-day warning strike to protest the excruciating mass suffering and impoverishment experienced around the country, occassioned by the fuel subsidy removal.

  • Northern Food and Cattle Dealers threaten to shut down food supply nationwide

    Northern Food and Cattle Dealers threaten to shut down food supply nationwide

    The Amalgamated Union of Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria (AFUCDN) has again threatened to stop food supply to the South and other parts of the country.

    The union said it would carry out this threat within three weeks if governments at all levels failed to meet its demands within three weeks.

    National President of the AFUCDN, Muhammed Tahir, who spoke with journalists at the end of an emergency meeting of the union in Abuja on Tuesday evening, lamented that since the Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, intervened in the last three months, which led to the suspension of their six-day industrial action, nothing has been done on the union’s agitation.

    The union had in March 2021 gone on strike and stopped supply of foodstuffs to the South following allegations of killings of its members, illegal roadblocks and extortion from its members.

    The union carried out the industrial action after the crisis that engulfed Shasha, in Ibadan, Oyo State.

    Tahir said after reviewing the issues, the union resolved to throw its weight behind the onion sellers which has already commenced cutting of supply to the southern part of the country.

    He warned that AFUCDN might not guarantee industrial harmony after three weeks from now should government fail to meet the union demands.

    Also, the Legal Adviser of the union, Mr Saleh Magama, stated that the government must do the needful to avert cutting down of food supply across the country.

  • National Sports Festival: FG reacts to shut down threats by Edo Government

    National Sports Festival: FG reacts to shut down threats by Edo Government

    The Federal Government on Thursday said the 20th National Sports Festival currently ongoing in Edo State will continue as planned despite shutdown threats by the Local Organising Committee.

    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that the LOC had on Wednesday said the Federal Government was yet to redeem its pledge to support the host state financially for the cost of postponements, which has left it with no option but to end the games at noon on Thursday.

    But the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development said it was not aware of any officially documented move to shut down the games.

    “The Ministry and the Main Organizing Committee (MOC) for the festival are unaware of any plans or threat by the Edo State Government to shut down the sports festival as there has been no official meeting or communication that relayed such information,” a statement signed by Sports Ministry spokesman Ramon Balogun, said.

    “The Honorable Minister, Permanent Secretary and Directors are on ground in Benin City where the Festival is holding, and it is expected that the Edo State Government would formally invite the Ministry for a meeting should any urgency exist around the National Sports Festival or communicate officially with the Main Organizing Committee (MOC) for the festival. The Ministry has no such communication.

    “For the records, the Edo State government due to the cost implications of postponements occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic requested financial assistance from the Federal government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development. The Ministry has since been at work to secure the financial assistance which it believes is being processed. The MYSD and EDSG are determined to deliver a successful National Sports Festival.”

    The festival was officially flagged off on Tuesday after several postponements due to the coronavirus pandemic.

  • Edo Government threatens to shut down ongoing National Sports Festival today over lack of funds, support from FG

    Edo Government threatens to shut down ongoing National Sports Festival today over lack of funds, support from FG

    The Governor Obaseki led Edo State Government, hosts of the ongoing 20th National Sports Festival (NSF) in Benin, will shut down the 13-day event by 12 noon Thursday, an official said late Wednesday.

    Musa Ebomhiana, Project Manager with the Media and Communications Sub-Committee of the festival’s Local Organising Committee (LOC), said the decision was necessitated by Federal Government’s refusal to fulfill a promise.

    He said the Federal Government failed to support the state with funds as promised, and the state government had no choice other than shutting down the festival.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that this decision was taken aften an emergency meeting of the festival’s Local Organising Committee (LOC) headed by the Edo Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu.

    “You can quote me, that we just finished from an emergency meeting of the LOC, and as I speak with you we have decided to shut down the festival by 12 noon tomorrow (Thursday).

    “The decision was arrived at because the Federal Government has reneged on its promise to assist the state with funds.

    “Because of that, we are closing the festival,” Ebomhiana stated.

    He however did not disclosed how the LOC was going to shut down the festival.

    NAN could not get the reaction of the festival organisers, the Main Organising Committee (MOC), to this development as at the time of this report.

    It could not also get the reaction of the festival’s owners, the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.

    John Joshua-Akanji, an aide of the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, however responded immediately he was contacted.

    The Special Assistant on Media to the minister urged NAN to get across to the MOC’s Secretary, Peter Nelson, who could however not be reached.

    NAN reports that Edo had solicited financial support from the Federal Government for it to play host to the other states of the federation and the FCT.

    It had hinged its demand upon the inconveniences brought about by the several postponements of the festival which was earlier billed for March 2020.

    The postponements were as a result of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The rescheduled festival had commenced on April 2 to last till April 14, and if it was shut down on Thursday it would just be in its seventh day.

  • Nigeria should shut down should another school abduction occur – Soyinka

    Nigeria should shut down should another school abduction occur – Soyinka

    Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Saturday warned Nigerians against accepting kidnapping of school children in parts of the north as a way of life.

    Soyinka who lamented that the government and security agencies have failed Nigerians, said he did not know what else to recommend as panacea to the nation’s “abnormal times.”

    The octogenarian playwright spoke in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, at the ANA Ogun award lecture and public presentation of ‘Chronicles of the happiest people on earth,’ the latest book authored by him.

    The event was put together by the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Ogun State chapter in collaboration with Abeokuta Club.

    The 524 page book was launched by foremost indigenous entrepreneur and industrialist, Chief Olatunde Abudu, at the occasion which also witnessed the conferring “The Greatest Author Icon” award on Wole Soyinka by Ogun ANA.

    He noted that events such as public presentation of a book should propagate the positives in existence and prime people to come together as productive and determined human beings for the betterment of humanity.

    Soyinka said: “It is important that we remind ourselves and stress that these are abnormal times but it seems to me any way as times of shirking of responsibilities in key areas. We can not permit ourselves to accept the child hostage taking as a way of life, we just can not continue in this fashion, some thing drastic and meaningful has to take place and it has to be collective.

    “This is no longer the responsibility of those at the top, in charge of security, in charge of governance they have clearly failed the populace, they have failed us, there is no point trying to reason it up, trying to give an excuse, putting blame or whatever. The important thing is that we are very close to accepting a culture of the unacceptable.

    “A few years ago at FUNAAB I accepted an honorary doctorate, I did warn that I was tired of this awards, let me just put this way, awards becomes burdensome and I said at the time, this is the last doctorate i will be accepting from any institution and I am accepting this one only because it is our own award and I warned them that they should all bear me witness that anytime I would be declining another award I would tell them go and ask them in Abeokuta, I have already made a statement and i must keep to it otherwise I won’t be allowed to return to Abeokuta.

    “Events like this for me propagate the positive in existence, I think we are obliged some how to swallow our pride and come together as productive and determined human beings especially as a community.

    “Has it got to be COVID – 19 that we take stringent actions, is it going to be an abnormality like COVID – 19 that compels us to shut down if necessary and I mean shut down, I think we are reaching the point where in any State where any child is kidnapped that State should shut down completely and other states in sympathy, solidarity should shut down some of their activities, we should not wait for an enemy faceless, airbone unpredictable enemy like COVID – 19 to shut down, to make us shut down, to say in protest and as a statement of the unacceptable we are shutting ourselves down until this situation is resolved

    “I think we have reached the point where when our children are taking away from us we should as least for some time shut down, it sounds extreme but we don’t know what else one can propose at this particular time, yes life must go on but even those activities will generate and enhance our very existence. I think we have to take on a tonality of regrets, of the unacceptable, protestation and mobilisation on whatever level it is possible as a community of human beings.

    “It is not either a day of too much negativity but we are paying a price and consequence with permanence of those scars in our collective psyche that is what worries me.This movement towards accepting as a way of life the absence of the young generation compelled, enforced and forced absence of our own children.”

  • Shut down your private hospitals or be sacked, Nasarawa govt tells doctors on payroll

    Shut down your private hospitals or be sacked, Nasarawa govt tells doctors on payroll

    The Nasarawa State Government has resolved to sack any medical doctor who is on government payroll and still run a private hospital.

    The state Commissioner for Justice, Abdulkarin Kana, who spoke to journalists yesterday after the state executive council meeting, added that they must close down their private hospitals.

    He said the action would allow them concentrate on their responsibilities and avoid diverting patients to their private hospitals

    The state executive council also approved the establishment of the state Bereau for Rural Development to FastTrack development at the grassroots in the state.

    The state Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dogo Shammah said the newly created bureau would have responsibilities of managing all rural roads, electricity and ensure supply of water to rural areas across the state.

    Other responsibilities of the bureau according to the information commissioner include upgrading and maintenance of feeder roads among others.

    Shammah noted that the council also approved the introduction of special scholarship scheme to encourage state indigenes who are studying medical related courses in other to reduce the high rate of inadequate medical personnel in the state.

  • Seven private clinic staff test positive for COVID-19 in Ondo, Govt shuts down operations

    Seven private clinic staff test positive for COVID-19 in Ondo, Govt shuts down operations

    The Ondo State Government has shut down operations of a private clinic in Okitipupa after seven staff at the clinic tested positive for COVID-19.

    This is just as the state recorded 30 new cases within one week.

    Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu who announced this at a press briefing on Monday said the number of COVID-19 cases in the state has risen to 73.

    Akeredolu said nine persons have died from COVID-19 related ailment while 880 samples collected for testing from 753 suspected cases across the 18 LGAs.

    He said 33 persons have been discharged after being successfully treated.

    The Ondo Governor listed the distribution spread in the local government areas to include Akure South (35), Odigbo (8), Owo (3), Ose (3), Akure North (2), Ondo West (6), Okitipupa (11), Akoko South West, Akoko South East (1), Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo (1), Ifedore (2).

    Akeredolu stated that the 30 new cases recorded within last week were cases of community transmission.

    Akeredolu said the spread was now in all the four corners of our state and found habitat in all the three senatorial districts.

    His words, “It is shocking that those who came into contact with the earlier confirmed cases are becoming a harvest of COVID – 19 infection. As at today, one of such customers to the infected seller of used fabrics at Oja Oba market in Akure has been traced, tested and found to be positive to COVID–19.

    “Government has obeyed to the letters and carried out the full implementation of the basic national protocols of prevention and control by mobilising the enormous resources available to it.

    “Though a large percentage of our people have shown reckless disregard and neglect to the regulations clearly set out, I wish to assure you still that as a responsible government, we will not be tired.”

    Akeredolu praised residents of Ilara-mokin after they shut down their town and began immediate line tracing of all known contacts to a man who died of COVID-19.

    “They promptly organised a town meeting, locked down market activities, church, mosque and other religious and social activities until further notice. Their objective was to save their own lives and to kick out COVID-19 from their community.

    “It is the right thing to do and we will continue to support them to achieve the very best in this. Unlike many of our city centres, they are not keen to substitute wealth and ignorance for the survival and preservation of their community.”

  • Coronavirus: Ikpeazu orders shut down of private hospital

    Abia State Governor Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu on Tuesday announced the indefinite closure of the private hospital where the two index cases of the coronavirus in the state were receiving medical attention before their referral to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Umuahia.

    Ikpeazu told reporters in Umuahia, the state capital that all the medical staffers and patients on admission at the yet-to-be-named private in the hospital would remain quarantined until the result of their samples returns back from the NCDC centre.

    The Governor gave the ages of the two index cases as 70 and 72 years old, adding that they had underlying medical ailment ranging from “High blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, and heart failure”.

    He pointed out that the state has started massive contact tracing of all persons who had contact with the index cases in Ikwuano, Ukwa West, and Umuahia North Local Government Areas of the state.

    Ikpeazu insisted that the sit-at-home order and border closure in the state remains bounding, adding that the state would treat anybody flouting the order as sabotage, adding that mobile Courts would be set to bring offenders to book.

    Meanwhile, St. Nicholas Hospital, a highbrow hospital on Lagos Island has also been closed down.

    The hospital was shut on Monday due to its exposure to the deadly COVID-19.

    The Clinical Director, Ebun Bamgboye, in a statement dated April 20, said the hospital’s decision was as a result of “exposure to COVID-19”.

    The statement said the management decided on the shutdown after two of its nurses and a very senior staff member tested positive for COVID-19 from exposure to a patient.

    Already the management has already decontaminated the hospital located on Lagos Island and shut it down for two weeks.

     

  • INEC, APC, PDP shut operations nationwide over Covid-19

    INEC, APC, PDP shut operations nationwide over Covid-19

    As Nigeria grapples with the deadly Coronavirus, several democratic institutions in the country have been forced to shut down operations to curtail the spread of the killer-virus.

    Among these institutions include, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); political parties, All Progressive Congress (APC); People Democratic Party (PDP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP).

    INEC, has said that all regular and non-essential activities will be suspended in its headquarters and offices nationwide for 14 days in the first instance.

    The suspension is to take effect from Tuesday, March 24, 2020.

    In a statement issued by the National Commissioner in charge of Voter Education and Publicity Committee, Festus Okoye, the Commission said the suspension order is in view of the Coronavirus pandemic and the preventive and containment measures put in place by the Federal and State Governments and in line with the advisory on social distancing from the World Health Organisation (WHO), and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), to protect staff, visitors, and the general public.

    The Commission said the regular quarterly meetings with political parties, civil society organisations, the media, security agencies, and all other meetings, have been suspended until such a time when normalcy returns.

    The statement further noted that the Commission will no longer monitor the conventions, congresses, conferences or meetings of political parties until further notice.

    It, however, restated its commitment to openness, consultation, and continued communication with its stakeholders and expects to understand the emergency situation that informed the suspension of contact engagements.

    INEC, however, emphasied that the new measures taken do not affect the activities for Edo and Ondo governorship elections scheduled for September 19 and October 10, 2020, respectively.

    Similarly, National chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, on Monday, announced the closure of the party national secretariat.

    While addressing the workers, Comrade Oshiomhole said the national working committee took the decision to protect its workers from the contagious ailment, coronavirus.

    He said the closure, which would be for two weeks, could be extended.

    Announcing the shutdown of its party secretariats, the PDP via its official handle, @OfficialPDPNig tweeted: Sequel to the earlier decision of our party, the @OfficialPDPNig, to shut down activities at our secretariats and offices across the country, the party has further resolved to suspend all activities bordering on congresses, rallies and other large gatherings of members of our party across the federation, with effect from Tuesday, March 24, 2020.

    “This decision has become imperative in respect to the need for continuous social distancing and other health safety measures against the spread of COVID-19 in our country.

    The @OfficialPDPNig enjoins the Federal Government to continue to review situations as they concern the fight against the spread of COVID-19 and take measures, even if stringent, to safeguard lives.”

    Alo, Social Democratic Party (SDP), on Monday, directed all its offices to close down immediately for preventive measures.

    This was contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja by Amb. Rufus Aiyenigba, the Chief of Staff to the National Chairman of the Party, Prof Tunde Adeniran.

    The statement indicated that the closure order would be in force till April 14, this year in the first instance.