Six Latest News in Nigeria This Morning.

• COVID-19: NCDC confirms 417 new cases, the total rises to 49,485

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 417 new cases of COVID-19 in the country, bringing the nation's confirmed COVID-19 infection cases to 49,485.

The NCDC made this known via it's verified Twitter handle @NCDCgov on Monday.

“On the 17th of August 2020, 417 new confirmed cases and 2 deaths were recorded in Nigeria.

“Till date, 49,485 cases have been confirmed, 36,834 cases have been discharged and 977 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

“The 417 new cases are reported from 17 states- Lagos(207), Kaduna(44), Ondo(38), Abia(28), Anambra(21), Plateau(20), Bauchi(13), Oyo(9), Ebonyi(9), Delta(7), Edo(7), Enugu(6), Niger(3), Gombe(2), Ogun(1), FCT(1) and Kano(1), ” the NCDC said.

• Rivers reopen markets, worship centres

Markets in Rivers State will reopen from 7am to 6pm daily, beginning from Tuesday.

Governor Nyesom Wike, who gave the directive in a broadcast, however, said Rumukwurushe (Oil Mill) and Oginiba Slaughter Markets remain shut.

The governor, in a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Paulinus Nsirim, said the markets must operate in strict compliance with the established protocols on wearing of face masks, washing of hands and maintaining social distancing. He said the ban was lifted to increase the tempo of economic activities.

He said: “Market managers must provide for hand washing and use of sanitisers for everyone at the entrance, ensure the wearing of face masks and maintaining social distancing.

“Any market that opens to the public and fails to comply with these protocols shall be shut again. The managers shall be prosecuted while the contravening shops shall be forfeited to the state without notice.

“Churches can now hold services with 50 per cent of their hall capacity provided the leadership can enforce wearing of face masks and washing of hands…”

• UNILAG security presence heightens as Soyombo resumes

Security in and around the University of Lagos Senate building and council office was beefed up on Monday as the acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Omololu Soyombo, addresses workers of the university.

Soyombo, solicited the support of the workers, adding that he had resumed effectively as the acting vice chancellor.

“I have resumed effectively as the VC and I hereby solicit the support of every member of staff, so we can work together and discharge our duties peacefully for the interest and progress of UNIlLAG.” he said.

According to a worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, policemen from the Apapa Division were deployed in the institution to maintain the peace.

However, some senior staff members, including a former Dean of Social Sciences, Prof. ‘Lai Olurode; and a member of the Senate, Prof. Ayo Olowe, in different statements, called for peace.

Olurode said, “Under the law which governs UNILAG, only the vice chancellor or anyone acting in that position can authorise a meeting of the Senate. To do anything otherwise is to act in defiance of the law.

“An acting vice chancellor had been appointed; he should be allowed to function in that capacity until a contrary pronouncement is issued.”

Olowe also said the choice of Soyombo by the council was a good one.

“Prof. Omololu Soyombo is a man of peace and proven integrity. I have full confidence in his ability to resolve the current impasse in the university,” he said.

• FRSC seizes 249 vehicles in Zamfara

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Zamfara said it had arrested 249 vehicles for violation of vehicle number plates rules during a special patrol.

Sector Commander Wohioka Uchechukwu stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gusau on Monday.

Uchechukwu said the operation was to ensure proper registration and use of vehicles to prevent movement of firearms by criminal elements using vehicles with old number plates.

He added that the enforcement became necessary considering the security challenges facing the state.

• Adamawa’s State Government revives vocational training centres

Adamawa State government is set to revive all the technical and vocational training centres across the state, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri said on Monday.

The centres according to him, are to provide the skilled manpower required by the manufacturing and services industries.

Ten of such centres once provided training for youths in the state before being abandoned by recent administrations.

Fintiri said on Monday that it would be a step forward to developing manpower, spreading wealth and raising the economic profile of the state.

The governor spoke at General Murtala Muhammad College, Yola, where he declared open the training of 500 youths under Phase 1 of the skills training programme organised by the Poverty Alleviation and Wealth Creation Agency (PAWECA).

He said the government had also earmarked 100 hectares of land in each local government area to be shared to youths to make them channel their productivity.

He stated that his administration had curbed the activities of urban criminals like the Shilla Cult Group, kidnapping, and violent crimes, as the product of careful planning and discouraging criminality generally.

• Serial killer’s escape: Police quiz two cops, lawmakers demand probe

The Oyo State Police Command has begun the interrogation of two of its men from whose custody the prime suspect in the serial killings in the Akinyele Local Government Area of the state, Sunday Shodipe, escaped.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Olugbenga Fadeyi, said this on Monday.

This was just as members of the Oyo State House of Assembly called on the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to order a thorough investigation into how the suspect escaped from police custody.

The lawmakers spoke at a press briefing at the House of Assembly complex on Monday.

The PPRO said the command had intensified efforts to re-arrest the suspect, saying other suspects arrested alongside Shodipe were still in custody.

“Efforts have been intensified to arrest him. All other suspects are in custody. Those from whose care he escaped are being interrogated, ” Fadeyi stated.

Although the PPRO did not state how many policemen were being quizzed over the suspect's disappearance, the Commissioner of Police, Joe Enwonwu, later said two cops were undergoing orderly room trial over the escape.

The CP said this when the Chairman of the state council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Ademola Babalola, led the executive members to meet with him.

“We are disturbed with the news of the escape of Sunday Shodipe. That is why we have to come here. Police custody should be the safest place to keep a suspect, ” Babalola said.

The lawmaker representing Ibadan North-West, who is also the Chairman, House Committee on Security and Strategy, Akeem Obadara, as well as the lawmaker representing the Ogbomosho North State Constituency, who is also the Chairman, House Committee on Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Bimbo Oladeji, called on the IG to ensure that the suspect was re-arrested and those responsible for his escape punished.

Oladeji said, “I hereby call on the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to put Oyo State Commissioner Police, Joe Enwonwu, on his toes and ensure a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the suspicious escape.”

“Placing a bounty on the head of Sunday Shodipe by the Oyo State Police Command will go a long way to ensuring that he is quickly re-arrested.”

Obadara said efforts should be redoubled to re-arrest the suspect, saying this would reassure the people that Shodipe was not released to cover some persons up.

Shodipe, 19, had confessed to some killings when he was paraded by the police on July 17.

He was arraigned and the court ordered that he should be remanded in police custody till the next adjourned date. The prime suspect, however, escaped from the police custody on August 11 and two days after, another woman, identified as Funmilayo Oladejo, was killed in the area in the same manner as other victims.