Buhari cautions world leaders on danger of hoarding COVID-19 vaccines – Newstrends
Connect with us

News

Buhari cautions world leaders on danger of hoarding COVID-19 vaccines

Published

on

President Muhammadu Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has cautioned world leaders and global health institutions that sidelining countries in terms of access to COVID-19 vaccines will undermine the entire effort for safety.

The President gave the warning while delivering a keynote speech at the Paris Peace Forum (PPF), on Thursday.

He said export restrictions that encouraged needless hoarding of vaccines needed to be lifted, while welcoming the pledges by industrialised countries to share vaccines.

In a statement issued by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, the president said the pledges should be fulfilled in a timely manner as he appreciated some countries, like France, that had donated vaccines to developing countries.
He urged them to follow a regime of enabling access to the COVID-19 vaccines,

READ ALSO:

“Resolving supply-chain constraints would require better coordination within the manufacturing process; and between manufacturers and end-users.
“There is a clear need for the expansion of vaccine production capacity in Africa. In this regard, African countries already have a roadmap: the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa (PMPA) developed in 2007 by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) on the basis of an African Union Summit decision taken in 2005.

“Licensing agreements should be reached with pharmaceutical companies for the transfer of intellectual property and technology to support the production of vaccines in Africa. If global vaccination is the only way to end the COVID-19 pandemic, then all stakeholders must act in a coordinated manner to plug the vaccine supply gap in Africa,’’ he said.

Buhari, in a remark focused on “Lessons Learned from the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Importance of Coordination Among All Actors for Vaccine Delivery,” said the coordination for distribution had to be total and the objective had to be the same: to deliver vaccines to the world.

“The state of vaccine delivery across the world leaves much to be desired,’’ he said, “We have a situation where some countries are giving booster third doses for their citizens when millions across the world, especially in the developing world, are yet to receive a single dose.’’

“Let us compare vaccination rates to give an idea of the dimension of the problem. According to recent data, as of 4th November, 2021. 91.3 doses of vaccine had been given for every 100 persons across the world. On the same date, however, only 14.7 doses of vaccine per 100 persons had been administered in Africa – a clear case of lopsidedness. According to Bloomberg, countries with the highest incomes are getting vaccinated ten times faster than those with the lowest income.

“As of 5th November 2021, Africa had fully vaccinated 77 million persons, amounting to just 6 per cent of the continent’s population. By comparison, 60 per cent of the European Union population had been fully vaccinated by September 2021.

“This massive gap between vaccine requirements in Africa and vaccine availability is undermining the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic on the continent. Even if Africa were to receive the 600 million doses of vaccine expected to be delivered to the continent by the end of 2021 under the COVAX arrangement there would still be a considerable shortfall when compared to the population of the continent which currently stands at 1.383 billion,’’ he added.

Quoting the World Health Organisation, the president said even the planned COVAX deliveries to Africa had been cut by 25 per cent due to supply shortages and export bans.

News

Osun kingship Tussle: Court stops coronation of Gov Adeleke-appointed king

Published

on

Osun kingship Tussle: Court stops coronation of Gov Adeleke-appointed king

Just weeks after a court ousted a monarch chosen by Governor Ademola Adeleke, Justice Micheal Awe has halted the planned presentation of the staff of office to the second king of Iree, Oba Muritala Oyelakin.

In a sequence of events, two kings had emerged as the Aree of Iree in the Boripe local government area of Osun state after Adeleke disapproved of the appointment of Oba Ademola Ponnle by his predecessor, Adegboyega Oyetola, and instead selected Muritala Oyelakin as king.

This dual kingship sparked a crisis within the community, with kingmakers neglecting the traditional rites of Oba Oyelakin.

Originally scheduled for Saturday, May 5, the ceremony for presenting the certificate, instrument, and staff of office to Oba Oyelakin as the Aree of Iree was put on hold.

READ ALSO:

Justice Awe, presiding over the State High Court in Ikirun, Osun State, issued a restraining order against Governor Adeleke, his administration, and four traditional chiefs, including King Oba Oyelakin, prohibiting them from proceeding with the staff of office presentation ceremony.

The order was issued in response to a lawsuit filed by Oba Ademola Ponnle, who sought to halt the ceremony. Justice Awe granted the request, emphasizing the need to maintain the status quo until further legal proceedings.

The court order forbids Oba Oyelakin from receiving any instruments or staff of office as the Aree of Iree or undergoing any formal installation until the matter is heard on Wednesday, May 8.

Osun kingship Tussle: Court stops coronation of Gov Adeleke-appointed king

Continue Reading

News

We have added 625MW to national grid – Minister

Published

on

Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu

We have added 625MW to national grid – Minister

The Federal Government has announced the addition of 625MW of power to the national grid, increasing the grid’s wheeling capacity to 4800MW.

Bolaji Tunji, Special Adviser, Strategic Communications to the Minister of Power said this in a statement in Abuja on Friday.

Mr  Bolaji quoted the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu as saying this at the inauguration of the 63 Mega Volt Ampere (MVA), 132/33 Kilo Volt (KV )mobile station at Ajah, Lagos and at the inuaguration of 60MWA, 132/33KV Power Transformer in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi.

According to the minister, the pivotal project is a testament to the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu towards transforming the Power sector in the pursuit of reliable and sustainable energy infrastructure for a better Nigeria.

Mr Adelabu said that the mobile substation being inaugurated was a strategic deployment aimed at improving the transmission capacity constraints by over 1300mv across the nation.

He spoke on the significance of the project and other equipment undergoing installation under the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI).

Mr  Adelabu said that the mobile substations equally stands as a beacon of hope for businesses, household reliant on uninterrupted power supply, stopgap measure during maintenance and emergency.

He commended the collaborative efforts of the FGN Power Company, the German Government and Siemens Energy whose partnership has facilitated the production and installation of the substations.

READ ALSO:

The minister also announced the remote inuaguration of a 60MVA power transformer at Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi.

“Together, these equipment will boost our transmission wheeling capacity by 123mw, thereby paving the way for enhanced electricity supply for all Nigerians”.

”I urgy all Nigerians to safeguard these vital installations against acts of vandalisation and sabotage,”he said.

Mr Adelabu noted that the success of governments initiatives hinges on collective responsibility.

He also called on the management of the Power Company and all stakeholders in the power sector to work with determination to ensure that the timelines set for projects delivery are achieved.

“Together, we will embark on a journey towards a brighter future for Nigeria, one powered by innovation, resilience and collective determination”, he said.

Earlier in his remarks, Kenny Anuwe, Managing Director of FGN Power Company said, ” as Nigeria continues its journey towards energy sufficiency and economic prosperity, initiatives like the PPI.

According to him, this underscores President Tinubu’s unwavering determination to deliver adequate electricity towards unlocking Nigeria’s full economic potentials.

Mr Anuwe assured of FGN Power Company’s commitment in driving progress and delivering tangible improvements in electricity access for all Nigerians in this transformative era in Nigeria’s power Sector.

Mr Tunji said that FGN Power was established by the Presidency as a special purpose vehicle (SPV), tasked with implementing the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) with Siemens serving as the technical partner.

We have added 625MW to national grid – Minister

NAN

Continue Reading

News

Nigerian pastor under fire over porn-addiction remedy

Published

on

Abel Damina

Nigerian pastor under fire over porn-addiction remedy

Popular Nigerian pastor and founder of Abel Damina Ministries International, Dr Abel Damina, has been knocked for his comment on the remedy to porn addiction.

Damina gave his submission while speaking on Comfort FM’s Righteous Invasion of Truth (RIOT) programme in Uyo in late February.

The clip of the sermon made the rounds on Thursday, where the pastor was asked how a person addicted to pornography could stop and get rid of it totally.

He advised such persons not to struggle to stop but should keep watching while listening to the word of God at the same time.

“Don’t struggle to stop watching the porn. Don’t struggle at all. Just keep watching the porn. As you are watching the porn, spend more time hearing the ‘word’. If you watch porn for one hour, spend three to four hours hearing the word of God.

“Take not. Go get all my teachings on Christ. Just keep learning and learning. After a while, you will find out that your appetite for porn is dying, and the appetite for the word of God is growing. Before you know it, when you see porn, you will be irritated.

“Word of God will kill that appetite completely and give you a healthy appetite. That’s what to do. Don’t try to stop. In fact, keep watching, but spend more time studying God’s word, and you will find out that before you know it, your desire for porn would be gone,” the pastor stated.

READ ALSO:

However, this submission has been greeted by dissension, especially from conservative Christians on social media who believed that the pastor was encouraging people, mostly addicts, to sin.

A prominent pastor, Gideon Odoma of the Fortress Ministry, countered Damina’s submission while labelling pornography as a perversion.

“Christains have trivialise sexcapades. The things God call iniquities, we must never call it flexing,” he said.

The pastor, who had previously slammed Damina and Apostle Suleman for supporting the Old Testament over the New Testament, remarked that both of them have wrong teaching and their objective is to derail the Christians.

“The Damina and Suleman terms are wrong. It as if their only objective in life is to derail believers so they have a lot of time on their hands and they find different creative ways to say the same useless things — Your sin does not matter — they find all sorts of ways to discredit as it were,” he said.

Another prominent pastor, Chris Oyakhilome, while quoting Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 15, submitted that pornography is a sin that should be avoided completely.

He emphasised that God recognised nakedness as a feeling of shame because pornography is synonymous with prostitution as it draws from Greek’s linguistic corpus —pony—meaning prostitute.

“The indication is that once nakedness is being made public, it is a shame when you’re not a child. As far as God is concerned, that is a shame.

“It started from Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden apple. Their eyes were open and they found that they were naked and then covered themselves with leaves and hid from God. Christians desist from it. Those who believe in Jesus should not do it,” he stressed.

Aside from Oyakhilome and Odoma, some other Christians are lending their voice to fault Damina’s sermon.

One Rachael, who tweeted with the handle, @ab_seyi wrote, “I am fighting tears. Lord help this man, help his followers, help him not to die like this. This is sad.”

Sandra Okafor with the handle, @okaforsandra20 said, “Even the Bible said ‘flee from every appearance of evil’. You can’t want to stop doing something and still be doing it, expecting a miracle to happen because you’re reading the word of God. As one of the cessation steps for smokers, they’re advised to throw away and move away from their triggers, be it the cigarette boxes, lighters, smoking partners, and smoking environment, because you gradually become what you’re constantly exposed to. So this advice is biblically and also morally wrong.

“You’re supposed to throw away all triggers that make you want to watch porn and as you do your part, you ask the Holy Spirit to empower you and deliver you from its grip. It’s normal to stumble but thank God for the mercies of God that bring us back to Him.”

Nonetheless, while endorsing the contentious claim, Pastor Oge, the lead pastor of Circle Church, said he struggled with poor addiction in the early stage of his life, and despite seeing a therapist to stop the act, it continued.

Nigerian pastor under fire over porn-addiction remedy

Continue Reading

Trending

Skip to content