TGIF!!! News on the express

1.) Unpaid Salaries: NUPENG,

PENGASSAN Protest, Threaten Nationwide Strike

The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) have t reatened to embark on a nationwide strike.

The unions threatened to go on strike with effect on Sunday if the Federal Government fails to pay their three months salary arrears.

Expressing their displeasure with the development, the protesting members went to the headquarters of the Petroleum Trust Development Funds (PTF) claiming that the Federal Government is withholding their salaries since May 2020 for failing to migrate to the Integrated Payroll System.

The unions insisted that they are not against the Integrated Payroll System but needed the clarification of grey areas before the implementation of the new scheme.

One of the protesting members speaking on behalf of his colleagues lamented on the non-payment of salary.

He said, “for the past three months we have not been paid our salaries, we have engaged with the government and IPPIS.”

The protesters who were dressed in red attire carried placards written, “No To Forceful Enrollment into IPPIS”,  “Release Our Salaries Now”, “We Are Not Against IPPIS but Create Another Platform That Addresses Our Peculiarities,” “We have families and dependents pay our salaries, pay Nigerian workers, pay our three months’ salaries” among others.

protesting unions carry placards with inscriptions, pay Nigerian workers

After listening to the unions, the Executive Secretary of PTDF, Aliyu Gusau, who spoke on behalf of the Minister of State for Petroleum, assured the members that their message will be delivered to the minister.

Executive Secretary of PTDF, Aliyu Gusau, addresses the protesting unions

“I want to commend you all for the orderly manner you all are conducting yourselves.

“I also want to commend the approach you all are using to engage with the Federal Government, I’m aware of some these issues and also aware of the efforts the minister is trying to use to solve these issues.

“I want to assure you that all your messages will be communicated with emphasis to the minister who is away in Yeanogoa, but I want to appeal to you all at all times to always put the interest of the nation ahead of anything else.

“Your grieves are real and as a matter of fact these issues can be resolved through positive engagement with the government”, he added.

2.) NBC N5m Fine, ‘A Naked Attempt To Gag The Media’ – Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned the fined of N5 million imposed on a Lagos-based radio state – 99.3 FM Nigeria Info by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

In a statement he personally signed on Thursday, he asked the NBC to drop the penalty against the station, describing the reason given for its action as an attempt to gag the media in the country.

The former vice president disagreed with the nation’s broadcasting regulatory agency with its argument that the interview that the station had with a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr Obadiah Mailafia, constituted any infringement and exposed the media outfit to trading in hate speech.

He argued that whether or not, what Mailafia during the programme aired on the radio station was a false claim, it was not the responsibility of the NBC to impose a sanction for a comment made by an individual.

Atiku stressed that the former CBN deputy governor had been quizzed and released by law enforcement agents, adding that they were at liberty to prosecute him in court if they were not satisfied with his explanations.

He insisted that it was wrong to make a scapegoat of the media platform which provides opportunities for citizens to ventilate their views.

The former vice president also called on the NBC to review the hate speech prohibition code, saying the interpretation of same was offensive to the notion of free speech

Read the full statement by the former vice president below:

We are compelled to react to the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission code concerning infringement on hate speech and the operational style that media houses should employ to conform with the new regulation.

While there is no disputation over the fact that hate speech portends an existential threat to the enterprise of journalistic reporting and, in fact, inhibits the workings for a free society, it is absolutely repugnant that powers that be would instrumentalise the prevention of hate speech as a means of constricting free speech.

It is globally acknowledged that one of the core functions of the mass media is to inform the society on all ranges of issues, not even to the exclusion of national security issues.

The mass media has a role to play in ensuring that all possible shades of opinions are given access to the media platform.

In many advanced democracies the world over, criminals on even wanted lists of law enforcement agencies have reached out to the media to express their opinions about the crimes that they had perpetrated and the media space was not denied to them.

As a matter of fact, it seems somewhat contradictory that a country like ours, which is in the throes of national security skirmishes, would choose to shrink media access to critical information.

It is not known if any society had won the war against terrorism by placing a restriction to access to information, in the way the NBC had done.

In a particular reference to the penalty handed down to the operators of 99.3 FM Nigeria Info, we disagree wholeheartedly with the argument of the NBC that the interview that the station had with Dr Obadiah Mailafia constitutes any infringement or if at all it exposes the station to trading in hate speech.

Whether or not what Dr Mailafia said on the radio station was a false claim, it is outside of the objectives of a responsible regulatory framework to sanction a radio station for a comment an individual made, more so that the personality in question, Dr Obadiah, had been quizzed and released by law enforcement agents.

If for any reason the authorities are not satisfied with his explanations, they are at liberty to prosecute him in court, but not to make a scapegoat of the media platform that provides opportunities for citizens to ventilate their views.

The claim by the management of NBC that “this (the penalty) is expected to serve as a deterrent to all other broadcast stations in Nigeria who are quick to provide platform for subversive rhetorics and expositions of spurious and unverifiable claims, to desist from such”, is a naked attempt to gag the media in Nigeria.

We, therefore, call on the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to cause a review of the hate speech prohibition code because the very interpretation of same is offensive to the notion of free speech which is an essential ingredient of participatory democracy that Nigeria operates.

We also demand of the NBC to drop the penalty against the operators of 99.3 Nigeria Info FM on account of the fact that the penalty is at best ill-thought out.

Lastly, we want to refresh the memories of the generality of Nigerians that the Nigerian media has been in the frontline of the vanguard in the fight against military rule and restoration of a democratic order. In other words, it is very disappointing that under the watch of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the media is, yet again, being targeted for extermination.

Atiku Media Office

Abuja

13th August 2020

3.)We Cannot Afford To Let Our Economy Slide, PTF Tells Business Owners

The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has called on Nigerians to take advantage of the Federal Government’s effort to cushion the effect of the pandemic on the nation’s economy and the people.

The PTF Chairman, Boss Mustapha, made the call on Thursday at the briefing of the task force in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

He noted that the United Kingdom hinted that it would be going into a recession after its economy suffered a slump in growth by a record 20 per cent in the second quarter.

Mustapha, who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), said the Nigerian Government had put in place an Economic Sustainability Plan to prevent such occurrence.

He explained that the plan was backed by a stimulus package in the sum of N2.6 trillion to boost local economies and production, for all sizes of businesses, including small family businesses.

The PTF chairman believes it is important for businesses in the country to take advantage of the stimulus package to revive their businesses and give them a boost.

Giving an update on the outbreak of COVID-19 in Nigeria, he noted that the country has reported fewer numbers of confirmed cases in the last two weeks.

Mustapha, however, warned that the reports should not be misconstrued as a victory over the virus.

According to him, there is still a serious battle to be fought ahead as a country and it is that the nation continues to build on the successes recorded so far.

The SGF also gave an update on the ongoing exercise to evacuate Nigerians stranded in various countries as a result of the pandemic.

He revealed that a total of 14,906 people have been evacuated during the COVID-19 pandemic and almost 80 per cent of them were youths.

Mustapha, however, warned that the reports should not be misconstrued as a victory over the virus.

According to him, there is still a serious battle to be fought ahead as a country and it is that the nation continues to build on the successes recorded so far.

The SGF also gave an update on the ongoing exercise to evacuate Nigerians stranded in various countries as a result of the pandemic.

He revealed that a total of 14,906 people have been evacuated during the COVID-19 pandemic and almost 80 per cent of them were youths.

Mustapha added that 13,844 of the returnees had taken the COVID-19 test so far and the results of 684 people came back positive.

Read the full text of the PTF chairman’s remarks at the briefing below:

REMARKS BY THE SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE FEDERATION/CHAIRMAN OF THE PTF-COVID-19 AT THE NATIONAL PRESS BRIEFING OF THURSDAY, 13th AUGUST, 2020

I welcome you all to the National Briefing by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 for Thursday, 13th August 2020.

The country has effectively entered the second week of the extended eased lockdown phase and the PTF continues to monitor global and national trends in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Globally, the world continues to pursue the search for a vaccine with over 1000 trials on-going and different claims of levels of success. We note particularly, the announcement by the President of Russia on the breakthrough in the development of a vaccine even as we study the developments.

Fighting the pandemic successfully will take a global effort and Nigeria will not be left out whenever and wherever progress is made. However, the health and safety of Nigerians will always remain our priority in the pursuit of a solution.

For us in Nigeria, we shall remain focused on propagating the use of proven avoidance methods to break the transmission of the virus and effective case management to care for and treat infected persons.

The ravaging effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy should provide more compelling reasons for us all to leave no stone unturned in fighting this pandemic.

This week, the United Kingdom would be going into a recession after its economy suffered a slump in growth by a record 20% in the second quarter.

I wish to remind all Nigerians that ahead of such occurrence, our Government had put in place an  Economic Sustainability Plan backed by a stimulus package in the sum of N2.6 trillion to boost local economies, production and for all sizes of businesses including small family businesses.

I, therefore, urge our businesses to take advantage of the stimulus package to revive and/or boost their businesses. We cannot afford to let our economy slide.

The PTF wishes to note as we have done before that fewer numbers of confirmed cases have been recorded in the last two weeks. This should never be misconstrued as a victory over the virus.

There is still a serious battle to be fought ahead of us as a people and as a country. It is, important, therefore, that we continue to build on our successes and not do anything to detract from them.

Our Risk Communication and Community Engagement messaging and consultations have been intensified, to drive the level of awareness and compliance to the wider population using media and platforms that are most effective generally and specifically.

We wish to appeal to all Nigerians to exercise caution and restraint at all times. I wish to note however that from the reports for yesterday 12th August 2020 no fatality was recorded.

The PTF is pleased to associate with the celebration of International Youth Day 2020 under the theme “Youth Engagement for Global Action” which seeks to recognize the immense contributions and role of young people in achieving sustainable peace and development across all levels.

Implicit in this is the need to galvanise engagement of youths to significantly enhance peacebuilding to promote social cohesion in this era of social distancing and collective fight in containing the COVID-19 pandemic.

The PTF appreciates all our young people who have stepped out and are contributing to the fight against the pandemic and implore others yet to do so, to join this fight with all the necessary passion their youthful energy can bring to bear. I am sure that our risk communication and community engagement strategy would gain a lot of mileage if the various youth organisations and the youths themselves heed this call.

It might interest you to note that of the 14,906 evacuees received during this COVID-19 pandemic, close to 80% are youths for which we are glad that only 684 tested positive to the coronavirus out of the 13,844 so far tested.

In the coming days, we hope to receive more evacuees from different parts of the world. The National Coordinator will elaborate on this.

In the course of the week, the United States of America made good the promise made by President Donald Trump to donate medical equipment, including 200 ventilators to Nigeria as a support in the fight against the COVID-19.

Nigeria recognises the fact that the pandemic is a global challenge and particularly, it has impacted the United States of America in several ways, yet the bond of friendship has prevailed.

This sacrifice and support to Nigeria is very much appreciated. I want to assure the Government and people of the United States that these ventilators, like other materials received from our various partners, would be judiciously deployed and transparently managed.

I now call on the Honourable Minister of Health, DG, NCDC, and the National Coordinator to provide us with technical updates.

I thank you so much for your attention and have a good evening.

4.)

NBC Board Disagrees With Lai Mohammed, Rejects Amended NBC Code (Full Statement)

The Board of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has kicked against the amendments to the sixth edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.

The Chairman of the Board, Ikra Bilbis, stated the position of the board on Thursday while addressing a news conference in Abuja.

“As a board, we have received and taken our time to compile the responses of numerous stakeholders which include our Nobel Laureate, activists, legal practitioners, broadcasters, investors, Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), content creators, copyright experts, and professional organisations.

“Most of them have adduced reasonable reasons against the proposed amendment,” said Bilbis who is a former Minister of State for Information.

He explained that the management of the commission did not undertake a proper consultation before making the amendments to the code.

The former minister decried that the amendments to the code were capable of destroying investments in the nation’s broadcast sector.

He stressed that the board was not in support of the reviewed code unveiled by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on Tuesday last week.

Bilbis noted that some members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had made observations to the minister at a meeting about the divisive broadcasts engaged in by some broadcast media before, during, and after the elections.

He recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had also called for the need to strengthen the operations of the NBC to avert a reoccurrence.

The NBC board chairman, however, stressed that the noble observation of the President was misunderstood by the minister.

“The board of the NBC wishes to make it quite clear that as long as it is in place, the only NB Code that we recognise and which we shall work within the setting of operating policies and standards for the NBC is the 6th edition of the NB Code which was launched in 2019 in Kano.

”Another purported review has no board endorsement,” he stated.

5.) WHO Urges Countries To Gamble On Shared Vaccine Search

The WHO on Thursday urged countries to invest billions of dollars in searching for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments — calling it a snip compared to the vast economic cost of the coronavirus crisis.

The World Health Organization insisted it was a smarter bet than the trillions of dollars being thrown at handling the consequences of the global pandemic.

The UN agency’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pleaded for investment into the WHO-led ACT-Accelerator programme, which aims to share global research and development, manufacturing and procurement in a bid to beat COVID-19.

Citing the International Monetary Fund’s predictions of the pandemic wiping out $12 trillion over two years, he urged countries to spend on shared solutions.

“It’s the best economic stimulus the world can invest in,” Tedros told a virtual press conference.

Funding the ACT-Accelerator, with $31.3 billion needed immediately, “will cost a tiny fraction in comparison to the alternative, where economies retract further and require continued fiscal stimulus packages”.

He said spreading the risk and sharing the reward is a better bet than the option some countries have taken, of going it alone in backing one of the dozens of vaccines in development.

“Picking individual winners is an expensive, risky gamble,” he said,

“The development of vaccines is long, complex, risky and expensive The vast majority of vaccines in early development fail.”

Tedros said multiple vaccine candidates, of different types, were needed in order to identify the best one.

– Access to the winner –

Russia on Tuesday declared itself the first country to approve a vaccine, even though final stage testing involving more than 2,000 people was only due to start on Wednesday.

Bruce Aylward, who heads up the ACT-Accelerator, said the WHO was still awaiting more details from Moscow.

“We’re currently in conversation with Russia to get additional information, understand the status of that product, the trials that have been undertaken, and then what the next steps might be,” he said.

The WHO says 168 candidate vaccines are being worked on around the world, of which 28 have progressed to being tested on humans.

Nine of those 28 — not including the Russian vaccine — are in the ACT-Accelerator programme.

WHO access to medicines chief Mariangela Simao said that with so many vaccine candidates being worked on, backing just one or two could not be the best bet.

“We don’t know which one will be the front-runner, which one will actually prove to be safe and effective,” she said.

“We are encouraging countries to join a global facility, because you will have access to more candidates, and you have a better chance to have concrete access… to procure one of the successful candidates.”

The European Union said earlier Thursday that it has reserved up to 400 million doses of a potential new coronavirus vaccine being developed by US giant Johnson & Johnson.

On July 31, the European Commission said it had reserved 300 million doses of another potential vaccine being developed by French firm Sanofi.

– Eye of the storm? –

The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 750,000 people and infected more than 20.6 million worldwide since it first emerged in China in December, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources.

WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan warned that only a small proportion of the global population had actually been exposed to the virus.

“This virus has a long way to burn, if we allow it,” he said.

“The vast majority of people remain susceptible to this infection.

“We may be in the eye of the storm and we don’t know it.”

Meanwhile, Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead, said there were examples from some countries suggesting that an individual may have been reinfected the virus, but “its still not confirmed”.

She said experts would need to look for false positive or negative cases, immune response after infection, and sequencing.

6.) Lagos Mourns As Local Govt Council Boss, Babatunde Oke Dies

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has expressed sadness over the sudden death of the Chairman of Onigbongbo Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of the State, Hon. Babatunde Oke.

Governor Sanwo-Olu in a condolence message issued on Wednesday by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Gboyega Akosile, said Oke’s demise is a big loss to his council and Lagos State.

Oke, a second term Chairman of Onigbongbo LCDA, died in the early hours of Wednesday (August 12, 2020) from complications arising from COVID-19 infection.

The Governor implored Lagosians to use the death of the council chairman as a reminder that all hands must be on deck in reducing the spread of the ravaging coronavirus pandemic, as well as obeying basic rules and regulations in respect to COVID-19.

He said: “The death of Hon. Babatunde Oke is a painful and great loss to the State. We must however not allow the death of Hon. Oke to deter us from forging ahead in our quest to finding a lasting solution to the dreaded coronavirus, which is ravaging the world. In fact the best way we would preserve the memories of those we have lost to the virus is for the world to find a solution to the pandemic.

“Needless for me to say that I am saddened by the death of this fine gentleman; a loyal party man and committed democrat, who had a deep understanding of local government administration and the political landscape.

“Hon. Oke was an extremely loyal politician and an invaluable asset to the All Progressives Council (APC). He started his political journey with the progressives and remained in the fold until his unfortunate exit today.

“There is no doubting the fact that he would be missed by the entire political class, particularly Onigbongbo LCDA, Lagos APC family and the State as a whole.”

Governor Sanwo-Olu also condoled with the immediate family of the departed, the National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Lagos APC, Conference 57 and the entire people of Onigbongbo LCDA over the death of the late council boss.

He also prayed that God will grant “the soul of our beloved Hon. Babatunde Oke eternal rest and comfort the immediate and political family of the deceased.”

7.)

Trump Announces Sixth Vaccine Contract For 100 Million Doses

President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a $1.5 billion contract with US biotech company Moderna for 100 million doses of an eventual coronavirus vaccine, the sixth such deal reached since May.

“I’m pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with Moderna to manufacture and deliver 100 million doses of their coronavirus vaccine candidate,” Trump said at a White House news conference. “The federal government will own these vaccine doses, we’re buying them.”

“We’re on track to rapidly-produce 100 million doses as soon as the vaccine is approved, and up to 500 million shortly thereafter, so we’ll have 600 million doses,” he added.

Moderna, in partnership with the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), is conducting Phase 3 clinical trials of a vaccine candidate and manufacturing of vaccine doses will take place while the trials are underway.

The vaccine, called mRNA-1273, is being co-developed by Moderna and the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which is led by Dr Anthony Fauci.

Fauci has said researchers are unlikely to know the efficacy of the vaccine before the end of the year at the earliest. But Trump has said he hopes to have a vaccine before the November 3 presidential election.

The latest contract brings the US government’s total commitments to Moderna to $2.48 billion.

The company, founded less than 10 years ago, has not previously developed a vaccine of any kind but preliminary results of the company’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine have reportedly produced promising results.

The Trump administration has allocated a total of at least $10.9 billion for the development and manufacturing of a coronavirus vaccine.

It has already ordered 100 million vaccine doses from Johnson & Johnson, Novavax, Pfizer and Sanofi and 300 million from AstraZeneca.

8.) UPDATED: Buhari Virtually Commissions ‘Historic’ Content Tower In Bayelsa

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday virtually commissioned the 17-story Nigerian Content Tower in Bayelsa.

The tower is a project of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and will serve as its headquarters.

President Buhari, in a speech broadcast via Zoom from the State House in Abuja, described the commissioning of the tower as a “historic moment”.

“I am pleased that the project has been delivered by local contractors, supported by local engineers and project consultants,” the President said. “We must all be proud that we finished what we started.”

He then mandated the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, to physically commission the building on his behalf.

Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, also delivered a speech at the commissioning.

The NCDMB building comes with its own 10-Megawatt gas-fired power plant and a 1,000 seater conference hall.

President Buhari also commissioned the power plant which, according to the NCDMB, was built in partnership with the Nigerian Agip Oil Company.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed and Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, also attended the commissioning virtually.

The NCDMB was established by the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act which came into effect on April 22, 2010.

A Win For Local Content

President Buhari, in his Thursday speech, said the NCDMB building was a signpost for the importance of local content in the country.

‘‘With the commissioning of this project, I want to highlight that we have put in place a landmark of reference in the Niger Delta to reflect long-lasting legacies that signpost the years of oil and gas exploitation and I assure you that there is more to come,’’ he said.

‘‘This commissioning brings to the fore the importance of local content in all activities of our national life, especially with the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.

The President added that he strongly believes in local production and patronage of Nigerian goods and services as one of the surest ways to empower citizens.

‘‘That is why two of the Executive Orders issued under our government are related to enforcing local content in public procurement and contracts to further replicate the successes being realized in the oil and gas industry,” he said.

‘‘Local Content and Self Reliance are key principles of the recently approved 2.3 trillion Naira National Economic Sustainability Plan. The plan is aimed at the promotion of local production, local services, local innovation, and the use of local materials.”