Plans to introduce vaccine passports for access into nightclubs and large events or crowded places in England will not go ahead, the health secretary has said.
Sajid Javid told the BBC: “We shouldn’t be doing things for the sake of it.”
He said the government had looked at the evidence, adding: “I’m pleased to say we will not be going ahead.”
It was thought the plan, which came under criticism from venues and some MPs, would be introduced at the end of this month.
No 10 stressed it would be kept “in reserve” should it be needed over autumn or winter.
Under the scheme, people would have been required to show proof – whether of double vaccination, a negative Covid test or finishing self-isolating after a positive PCR test – in order to gain entry to clubs and other crowded events.
The Night Time Industries Association warned the plans could have crippled the industry and seen nightclubs facing discrimination cases.
The industry body has since welcomed the move, saying it hoped businesses could now plan with some certainty and start to rebuild the sector and regain customers’ confidence.
The Music Venue Trust, which aims to protect grassroots venues, also welcomed the announcement, describing vaccine passports as “problematic”.
There was opposition too from Tory MPs on the Covid Recovery Group and the Liberal Democrats, whose leader Ed Davey called them “divisive, unworkable and expensive”.
Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show, Mr Javid said: “We just shouldn’t be doing things for the sake of it or because others are doing, and we should look at every possible intervention properly.
“I’ve never liked the idea of saying to people you must show your papers or something to do what is just an everyday activity, but we were right to properly look at it.
“We’ve looked at it properly and, whilst we should keep it in reserve as a potential option, I’m pleased to say that we will not be going ahead with plans for vaccine passports.”
The establishment of the National Commission on Disability Affairs (NCDA) by President Muhammadu Buhari would foster the inclusion of millions of people living with disabilities in the process of national development.
The Director-General of Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Ilorin, Comrade Issa Aremu made this observation during the week while playing host to the officials of Kwara State Joint National Association of Persons Living With Disabilities (KWJONAPWD) at the Institute.
The Director-General commended President Buhari for signing into law in 2018 the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act which prohibits discrimination against people living with disabilities and established a National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, responsible for ensuring that people with disabilities have access to housing, education, and healthcare.
He described the Disabilities law as the “most socially responsible law in the democratic dispensation” adding that Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), would partner with Kwara State Joint National Association of Persons Living With Disabilities to implement the new law through mass education of organised labour and civil society on its provisions.
He also disclosed that MINILS is set to mark the 2021 International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3 which is an International observance Day by the United Nations since 1992 to promote understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities.
In his address, the Chairman Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities, Comrade Bashir Yusuf hailed President Buhari for the establishment of Commission on Disabilities Affairs to be manned by people with disabilities as well as giving 10% of the Federal Government Special Public Work in the State and also the 10% allotted to People Living with Disabilities of N- Power applicants throughout the Federation.
Comrade Bashir while appreciating, the Governor of Kwara State, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for his laudable programmes in repositioning the State and the wellbeing of kwarans with disabilities, called for the full implementation of the state Disability law with respect to the establishment of a Disability Affairs Office to cater for persons with disabilities.
As of 2020, there are reportedly over 27 million Nigerians living with some forms of disability that include, visual, hearing, physical, intellectual and communication impairment.
The Founder and Executive Director of WOFAN, Hajia Salamatu Garba, has emerged as the winner of Value4her Women Agriprenuer of the Year 2021 (WAYA2021) at the 2021 Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) held in Kenya.
Garba said in a statement in Abuja on Saturday that over 2,500 farmers competed from 21 African Countries.
She said that the award recognised WOFAN‘s innovations in the field of mobilising over 4,500 functional and mobilised key smallholder farmer’s groups.
She stated that WOFAN had also created 5,000 fully registered women and youths in agribusiness, adding that 80 percent of which were women who were into various agribusinesses along with various crop value sectors.
The 2021 AGRF was a hybrid summit with the theme “Pathways to Recovery and Resilient Food Systems”hosted in partnership with the Government of Kenya from Sept. 7, to Sept. 10.
The Summit convened close to 7,000 participants virtually, including African presidents, agriculture ministers, agricultural stakeholders, multilateral and experts.
This, according to her, was to discuss ways the continent could transform food systems and accelerate progress to eradicating hunger and poverty.
Garba, however, promised to continue to be an advocate of re-thinking agriculture and the food systems in Africa.
According to her, the leaders need to creatively invest in simple equipment and technologies with an amplified application, use and development of ICT-related farm technology.
She stated that inclusiveness in the financial section and access to finance and trade opportunities across the region needed to be magnified for visibility and action.
She urged financial institutions to roll out friendly policies to address climate change financing to mitigate the shock being faced globally.
Garba noted that women and youths were the neck of agriculture because they carried the head and body of food security in Africa.
The National President of the National Veterinary Council NVC, Aishatu Abubakar-Baju, has inaugurated a 9-member Sokoto State Veterinary Practice Premises Task Force which will be providing professional licence to veterinarians, register veterinary service outlets with routine inspections, sanctioning of defaulters and ensure professional practice in the state.
The National President said the Task Force will serve as platform to checkmate quackery, ensure quality administration of vaccines and allied animal medications along breeding of professional service providers.
The Commissioner Ministry of Animal Health and Fishery Development, Professor Abdulkadir Junaid, lauded the initiative noting the country’s livestock sector has been bedevilled with what hindered its growth and the project was a strategy to address the challenges.
The Commissioner further explained that Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal’s administration implemented programmes are geared towards responding to challenges along with enhancing the economic well-being of citizens who mostly rely on farming and animal husbandry for their livelihood.
He appealed for NVC to establish a followership Center in Sokoto in recognition of Veterinarian populations and training avenue platforms which will surely facilitate having more professionals and advance knowledge development.
The National President of NVC along with other Council members have inspected all the project sites, milk production factory, veterinary clinics and other places and applauded Sokoto state government’s commitment to fish and livestock production programmes.
Sokoto State Government has inaugurated modern Artificial Insemination center and Embryo Transfer Technology Center to enhance state’s livestock production and income generation.
Commissioning the Center, the President, National Veterinary Council NVC and Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG Aishatu Abubakar-Baju, lauded the efforts of Sokoto State government for executing the unique programme.
She urged other states to emulate the distinct initiative of transforming livestock sector to meet with population demands.
Abubakar-Baju said the center along with other auxiliary veterinarian places have placed Sokoto State high in the area of animal production for subsistence and commercial purposes.
She lamented government’s emphasis on crop production neglecting livestock services which are interwoven in terms of agricultural production and job creation.
According to her, Sokoto State government efforts equates the NVC innovative programmes including digital upgrade, research and knowledge sharing, ensuring professionalism in veterinary practice as well as provision of standard platforms for healthy living, economic rejuvenation and ensuring food security.
The Federal Government has commenced capacity training for cassava farmers in the Northwest aimed at bridging gaps in cassava production in the area.
The training organised by Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, is to address yield gap in cassava production and expose farmers to new techniques.
In his address at the event which held in Birnin Kebbi, a director in the ministry, Karina Babangida said though Nigeria cassava yield is below 10 metric tons per hectare; it is still the leading cassava producer in the world.
Babangida, who was represented by Hakeem Raji, a deputy director, said Nigeria has the potential of producing more than 40 metric tons per hectare, if farmers adopt appropriate measures.
These, she said, include efficient technologies and improved agronomic practices and cropping systems
She explained that the workshop was to expose the farmers to the opportunities to improve their production.
The Commander Operation SAFE HAVEN (OPSH), Major General Ibrahim Ali has inaugurated a 36 member Joint Peace Committee to recommend measures to be taken to find a lasting solution to the incessant clashes and killings among various ethnic groups in the State.
The inauguration took place on 11th September 2021 at the Headquarters Operations safe Haven in Jos, Plateau State according to a statement by the Military Information Officer, Major Takwa Ishaku.
Speaking during the inauguration, Major General Ali urged members of the committee to demonstrate impartiality, neutrality, honesty, uprightness and avoid sentiment and compromise.
He further disclosed that the members who were drawn from ethnic communities in Bassa, Jos North and South LGAs have the background knowledge of the conflict and hopes their experience in communal conflict resolution would assist in fast-tracking the restoration of peace on the Plateau.
General Ali stressed that sustainable peace can only be achieved through alternative dispute resolution mechanisms by all parties to the conflict while noting that the Committee was created as part of the non-kinetic approach of Operation SAFE HAVEN to peacebuilding in the state.
He added that the committee would assist in making recommendations that will help OPSH and Plateau State Government in finding a lasting solution to the incessant conflict among various ethnic groups of Irigwe, Fulani, Hausa, Bache, Dong, Gyel and Anaguta.
The Committee according to Major General Ibrahim Ali, would identify the root causes of the crises in Bassa, Jos North and Jos South local government areas and recommend implementable strategies that would lead to sustainable peace on the Plateau.
Thanking the Commander for the confidence reposed on the Committee, the Chairman of the committee, Prince Robert Rigwe Ashi gave the assurance that the committee would discharge its duties diligently devoid of sentiment and solicited for the support of community leaders to achieve their mandate.
Also speaking on behalf of Traditional Rulers, the District Head of Dong, Ada Gwom Kaze Inyam appreciated the Commander for the initiative and urged the leaders of Irigwe, Fulani, Hausa, Bache, Dong, Gyel and Anaguta communities to support the Committee to succeed in its assignment.
The American Society of Haematology, ASH, has conferred the 2021 ASH Research Global Award on a researcher, Dr Ibrahim Musa of the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, AKTH, making him the first Nigerian to receive the prestigious honour.
A statement issued and signed by Professor of Community Medicine, AKTH, Awwalu Gajida said Mr Musa won the award for his research on “A Randomised Controlled Double Blind Trial for Prevention of Recurrent Ischaemic Priapism in Men with Sickle Cell Anaemia; A Pilot Study”.
The statement said that Mr Musa would also receive research support for his project in haematology, adding that he is one of the nine talented early-career investigators selected for the honour.
According to the statement, the recipients of the award must conduct research that will increase haematology capacity in their countries.
It added that the ASH award supports the career growth of future leaders in the field.
The United States had its hottest summer on record this year, narrowly edging out the previous milestone that was set 85 years ago during the Dust Bowl.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that the average temperature this summer for the contiguous U.S. was 74 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2.6 degrees warmer than the long-term average.
The heat record caps off a season full of extremes, with parts of the country experiencing persistent drought, wildfires, record-breaking heat waves, hurricanes and other extreme weather exacerbated by climate change.
This summer beat the previous record set in 1936 by a hair, coming in at less than 0.01 degrees warmer than during the Dust Bowl year, when huge portions of the West and Great Plains were parched by severe drought.
Though this year’s summer was technically hotter than 1936, the very small gap puts the two years “neck and neck,” in what NOAA called a “virtual tie.”
“Sixteen additional states had a top-five warmest summer on record. No state ranked below average for the summer season,” NOAA officials wrote in the climate report.
In June, the Pacific Northwest suffered through a heat wave that shattered all-time temperature records in Seattle and Portland, Oregon.
More than 35 cities in the western U.S. tied or set heat records during the multiday heat wave, where temperatures soared to up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit in some places.
Global warming is making heat waves and other extreme weather events both more likely and more severe, and climate scientists have said conditions this summer offer a glimpse of what could become more common in the future.
NOAA’s report highlighted other extreme events that plagued the country in August, including devastating floods from Tropical Storm Fred, which hit western North Carolina; Tropical Storm Henri, which soaked parts of the Northeast; and flash flooding that killed at least 22 people in Tennessee.
Hurricane Ida, which battered Louisiana and left a trail of destruction from the Gulf Coast into the Northeast, also drenched huge swaths of the country from late August into September.
“With 35 fatalities accounted for during August, it was the deadliest month for flooding across the U.S. since Hurricane Harvey in 2017,” NOAA officials wrote in the report.
Dry conditions in the Western U.S. have also fueled a catastrophic wildfire season.
In California, the Dixie Fire became the second largest in the state’s history, while the Caldor Fire forced thousands to flee from South Lake Tahoe in late August.
Louisiana wildlife officials say they have documented more than 100 oil-soaked birds after crude oil spilled from a refinery flooded during Hurricane Ida.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said a growing number of oiled birds had been observed within heavy pockets of oil throughout the Phillips 66 Alliance Refinery in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, as well as nearby flooded fields and retention ponds along the Mississippi River.
Jon Wiebe, a biologist running the state restoration program, said 10 oiled birds have been captured and transported to a rehabilitation location for cleaning. Five additional dead birds were recovered and bagged as evidence, he said.
White House calls on Congress to pass $24 billion in disaster relief
A summary issued Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency said it had received 43 notifications of significant inland oil spills and chemical releases in its jurisdiction after Ida.
The agency’s compliance arm has issued 10 requests to facility operators seeking information to determine whether federal environmental laws were violated during the storm, potentially triggering penalties and fines.
That is a small fraction of the 1,539 reports of pollution a U.S. Coast Guard hotline has received since the Category 4 storm made landfall made landfall Aug. 29 at Port Fourchon, the primary port for the offshore oil and gas industry.
The Coast Guard said Thursday it was actively supervising the cleanup and mitigation efforts at 564 sites. Another 197 reports were listed as unverified because there was no remaining evidence of pollution.
Asked about reports of levee failures near the refinery the day after Ida hit, Phillips 66 spokesman Bernardo Fallas told AP there was “some water” in the facility and stressed that operations were shut down in advance of the storm.
Asked two days after the storm about potential environmental hazards emanating from the facility, Fallas referred a reporter to a statement on the company’s website saying its response is focused “on ensuring the safety and well-being of our employees and our surrounding communities.”
On Day Three, after the AP sent Phillips 66 aerial photos showing extensive flooding at the refinery and what appeared to be petroleum in the water, Fallas conceded the company could had “discovered a sheen of unknown origin in some flooded areas” of the refinery and that all pollution had been “secured and contained within refinery grounds” at that time.
This image provided by NOAA taken Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021 and reviewed by The Associated Press shows oil slicks at the flooded Phillips 66 Alliance Refinery in Belle Chasse, La.
State and federal regulators responded to the spill site after AP provided the photos of the spill Wednesday and the company acknowledged a “sheen of unknown origin” at its flooded refinery.
A Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality assessment team sent to the refinery last week reported a sizable spill of heavy crude oil at the site was being addressed with booms and absorbent pads.
A levee meant to protect the plant had breached, allowing floodwaters to flow in during the storm and then back out as the surge receded.
Despite the gap in the levee remaining open for days after the storm, Fallas once again asserted Thursday no oil spilled beyond the land owned by Phillips 66.
“The breach has been secured,” Fallas said. “Clean-up crews continue to remove oil and sheen contained within some flooded areas of the refinery.
There has been no offsite impact. We continue to work with all appropriate regulatory agencies.”
No estimate for how much oil might have spilled from the refinery has yet been made public by state or federal regulators.
When fully operational, the Alliance Refinery can process more than 255,000 barrels of crude oil per day into gasoline and other petroleum products.
The company listed the aging refinery for sale last month, before the storm hit, citing poor market conditions.
The facility remained shut down Thursday, with no timetable to reopen.
Following inquires, Fallas also confirmed that a Phillips 66 pipeline in an uninhabited area outside Paradis, Lousiana, leaked during Ida.
Records show the company reported to the Coast Guard on Aug. 31 that 2,700 barrels of isobutane, a liquified flammable gas often used to fuel camping stoves, had spilled.
“The site was isolated and brought under control last week,” Fallas said. “The product vaporized to the atmosphere when it was released; there was no impact to soil or water. The pipeline remains shut down while repairs are underway.”
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