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One million Nigerians register as INEC begins physical voter registration

Henry Williams
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One million Nigerians register as INEC begins physical voter registration

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday said it has received over one million applications within one month of resumption of Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).

This was the commission announced the commencement of the physical registration exercise in its 811 state and local government area offices nationwide.

INEC national commissioner and the chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, who made the disclosure said the number of new registrants has risen to 1,006,661 in the last four weeks.

Okoye, however, revealed that total of 1,135,395 people have used the portal in the past one month,a figure that also included applications submitted by people who are requesting voter transfer, replacement of PVC, or update of voter information record.

He added 740,063 applications representing 73.5 per cent were young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 34.

Staff Salaries: Universities Staff Union Threatens Strike

Precious Obazee
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Staff Salaries: Universities Staff Union Threatens Strike

Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has issued a warning of an impending indefinite strike if the federal government refuses to honour the agreement which led the body to suspend their industrial action last year.

ASUU Chairperson of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Dr. Ibrahim Inuwa, made this known while speaking with some journalists at the Union’s Secretariat at the weekend.

He said that the protracted strike which they embarked on to press home their demands for the continuous survival of public university system in Nigeria was suspended in December after ASUU and the federal government signed a Memorandum of Understanding on various issues, providing timelines for the implementation of each of the eight items on the list.

He however lamented that after seven months since the MoU was signed, the federal government has only addressed two out of the eight issues.

He mentioned some of the issues to include: Earned Academic Allowance, Funding for Revitalisation of Public Universities, Salary Shortfall, Proliferating of state Universities and Visitation Panel, Renegotiation, Replacement of the Integrated payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) with the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), withheld salaries and non-remitance of Checkoff dues.

The ASUU Chief alleged that the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) through the IPPIS office omitted some members in the payment of salaries while others experience serious salary amputation.

Inuwa declared that “Enough is enough. ASUU is fed up with deceptive antics of the federal government of Nigeria.

Buhari signs N983bn 2021 supplementary budget into law

Henry Williams
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Buhari signs N983bn 2021 supplementary budget into law

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the 2021 Supplementary Appropriation Bill into law, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), Umar El-Yakub, has said.

This is coming barely one month after the Federal Executive Council approved a draft supplementary budget of N895,842,462,917 for the year 2021.

Briefing newsmen at the State House, Abuja, Monday, the liaison said the total sum of the supplementary budget assented to is N982,729,695,343.

El-Yakub said the act focuses largely on funding the seemingly intractable security issues besetting the country and health concerns, among others.

Specifically, he said the budget is for the procurement of equipment for the military and medical infrastructure as well as COVID-19 vaccines.

Today In History – July 26 – The capital of New Zealand moves from Auckland to Wellington

Angel Gimalo
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Today In History – July 26 – The capital of New Zealand moves from Auckland to Wellington

657 Battle of Siffin during the first Muslim civil war between Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muawiyah I beside Euphrates River

811 Battle of Pliska: Bulgarians under Krum beat Byzantines

920 Rout of an alliance of Christian troops from Navarre and Léon against the Muslims at Pamplona

1267 Inquisition forms in Rome under Pope Clement IV

1309 Henry VII is recognized King of the Romans by Pope Clement V

1469 Wars of the Roses: Battle of Edgecote Moor – Pitting the forces of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick against those of King Edward IV

1497 “Edward IV’s son” Perkin Warbeck’s army lands in Cork

1499 Spanish conquistador Alonso de Ojeda discovers Curacao Island

1519 Francisco Pizarro receives royal charter for the west coast of South America

1524 James V declared fit to govern by the Scottish Parliament

1529 Francisco Pizarro appointed Governor of Peru

1533 Francisco Pizarro orders the death of the last Sapa Inca Emperor, Atahualpa

1576 Muitende Spanish troops conquer Aalst

1579 Francis Drake leaves San Francisco to cross Pacific Ocean

1588 English Admiral John Hawkins knighted for his actions against the Armada

1609 English mathematician Thomas Harriot is the first person to draw a map of the Moon by looking through a telescope

1656 Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn declares he is insolvent

1663 French troops invade papal territory Comtat Venaissin

1678 England and Netherlands signs treaty: sending ultimatum to France

1755 Giacomo Casanova is arrested in Venice for affront to religion and common decency and imprisoned in the Doge’s Palace

1757 Battle at Hastenbeck: French army beats Duke of Cumberland

1758 British battle fleet under general James Wolfe conquers Louisbourg

1759 11,000 British troops drive a token French garrison of 400 out of Fort Ticonderoga, New York

1760 Austrian troops occupy Fort Glatz Silezie

1775 US Continental Congress creates United States Post Office (U.S.P.O.) in Philadelphia under Benjamin Franklin

1788 New York becomes 11th state to ratify US constitution

1790 US Congress passes the Funding Act of 1790 making the federal government responsible for debts incurred by the states

1803 The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world’s first public railway, opens in south London

1805 Naples/Calabria struck by Earthquake; about 26,000 die

1822 Secret meeting of Simón Bolívar and Jose de San Martin

1826 Riots in Vilnius, Lithuania cause the death of many Jews

1832 HMS Beagle anchors in Montevideo

1835 1st sugar cane plantation started in Hawaii

1847 Moses Gerrish Farmer builds 1st miniature train for children to ride

1847 The Liberian Declaration of Independence is signed making Liberia a sovereign nation, independent from the American Colonization Society

1858 Baron Lionel de Rothschild becomes the 1st Jewish person elected to the British Parliament

1863 Battle of Salineville Ohio, John Hunt Morgan and 364 troops surrender

1864 Battle at Ezra Chapel (Church), Georgia [Hood’s Third Sortie]

1865 Patrick Francis Healy is 1st African American awarded PhD (from University of Leuven, Belgium)

1865 The capital of New Zealand moves from Auckland to Wellington

1866 Canoe Club opens in England

1878 In California, poet and American West outlaw calling himself “Black Bart” makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box found later with a taunting poem inside.

1881 French marines occupy Tunisian harbor city Sfax

1882 Richard Wagner’s opera “Parsifal” premieres in Bayreuth, Germany

1887 1st Esperanto book published

1891 Henry James’ “American” premieres in London

1891 France annexes Tahiti.

1896 Vitascope Hall, 1st permanent for-profit movie theatre, opens in New Orleans

1897 37.5 cm rainfall at Jewell, Maryland (state record)

1903 1st automobile trip across the United States (San Francisco to New York) completed by Horatio Nelson Jackson and Sewall K. Crocker

1908 United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation)

VAT, multiple taxations undermine stock market performance

Henry Williams
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VAT, multiple taxations undermine stock market performance

Barely two years after the resumption of Value Added Tax (VAT) to the stock market, investors have returned about N30 billion into government coffers. The amount includes the 10 per cent withholding taxes remitted to the government, despite market operators groaning under the weight of double taxation.

The Federal Government, had in 2014, granted a tax holiday on all stock market transactions, a deliberate action to reduce the high cost of transactions in the market and make it more attractive to investors.

However, at the expiration of the tax exemption on July 24, 2019, dealing members were mandated to charge VAT on all commissions applicable to capital market transactions with effect from July 25, 2019.

Besides VAT and 10 per cent withholding tax on dividends, there is also a 30 per cent company income tax (CIT) charged in addition to other regulatory charges, which operators described as high and discouraging to investors.

The situation is not helped by the high-interest rate environment in Nigeria with Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 11.5 per cent, which is comparatively high when compared to the single-digit interest rate obtainable in South Africa and other African countries.

Against this backdrop, stakeholders have urged the Federal Government to abolish the withholding tax and VAT from the market to enable it to contribute meaningfully to capital formation.

FG again extends NIN-SIM link deadline by three months

Henry Williams
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FG again extends NIN-SIM link deadline by three months

The Federal Government’s extension of the National Identity Number (NIN)-Subscriber Identification Modules (SIM) card verification exercise by another three months has been greeted with mixed feelings. This fresh extension comes just a day before the old deadline that was set to expire today.

While some industry stakeholders applauded the extension, others queried the rationale behind earlier deadlines that subjected people to mental stress before they could get their NIN-SIM registered, verified and linked.

The new extension announced by government, yesterday, makes it the sixth time since the first deadline of December 30, 2020.

Meghan, Prince Harry’s Daughter Added To Royal Line Of Succession 7 Weeks After Birth

Koko Lawrence
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Meghan, Prince Harry’s Daughter Added To Royal Line Of Succession 7 Weeks After Birth

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s newborn daughter, Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, has officially been added to the royal line of succession more than seven weeks after her birth.

The official royal website was updated Monday after the family caught backlash over the weekend once people noticed that Lilibet had not been added to the succession line in a timely manner following her birth in June of 2021.

Lilibet, whose name is a tribute to both Queen Elizabeth II and Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana, now sits at her rightful place as eighth in line to the throne that is currently held by the queen, according to the official succession list on the Royal Family’s website.

Lilibet’s inclusion on the list bumps the embattled Prince Andrew down to number nine on the royal line of succession and places her just after her older brother, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, who the Duke and Duchess of Sussex welcomed in 2019.

The delay in adding Meghan and Harry’s second child to the official line of succession was first spotted by The Daily Mail. In addition to flagging the omission, the outlet reported for comparison that Archie was added to the list two weeks after his birth.

Manufacturers, importers count losses over N6.5m duty on transit goods

Henry Williams
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Manufacturers, importers count losses over N6.5m duty on transit goods

Still reeling from the effects of Nigeria’s border closure on its economy, the government of the Republic of Benin has imposed new import duty of CFA9 million (N6.5 million) per transit truck on Nigeria-bound cargoes transiting through the country, which are exempted from all forms of duty under the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocols on transit goods.

With the situation yet to be resolved 46 days after, Nigerian manufacturers have suffered losses as their cargoes have remained within the Benin Republic borders, while those with deep pockets have had to pay more to transit the goods via the sea link.

In what appeared to be payback over Nigeria’s closure of some borders in 2019 that lasted more than a year, the Republic of Benin, two weeks ago, stopped 3,700 Nigerian-bound cargo-laden trucks from Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo at Ilakoji – the border between Togo and the Benin Republic.

It was gathered that the Benin authorities claimed it suspected the goods were not produced in West Africa. By law, a transit good is not supposed to be charged for import duties in the transiting country, it is expected to just pass through but the trapped trucks can still not cross the Ilakoji and Seme border up till date, according to importers.

Many of the importers lamented that majority of the goods were billed to be sold during last week’s Sallah festival but they could not move them down to Nigeria, which has resulted in heavy losses as some have even collected part payment from their customers.

Flying Solo, 19-Year-Old Woman Aims To Set Aviation Record

Koko Lawrence
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Flying Solo, 19-Year-Old Woman Aims To Set Aviation Record

A 19-year-old is paving the way for girls in STEM by setting the record for the youngest woman to fly solo around the world next month.

Belgian-British Zara Rutherford sets off on her 51,000 kilometre (32,000 miles) journey in her bespoke Shark ultralight plane, the world’s fastest microlight, on August 11.

Once complete, Rutherford will be the youngest person to fly a microlight around the world and the youngest woman to fly solo around the world. The current world record for the latter is held by Shaesta Waiz who completed the journey aged 30.

Rutherford hopes she will pave the way for girls and women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and inspire others to follow in her footsteps.

“I wanted to fly around the world, have the girls see me and think, I’d love to fly one day too,” she said.

“There is a difference in aviation between men and women. So my goal is to bring the records closer and then hopefully inspire other girls to try and beat my record and then go and start competing with the boys.”

Rutherford’s parents, Beatrice de Smet and Sam Rutherford, are both pilots themselves, although her mother had mixed feelings when her daughter announced her gap year plans.

“When she first told me about it, my heart skipped a beat. It took me a bit of time to digest. And now I’m so proud and fully, fully behind her,” she said.

The teenager will be funding the trip herself, with the help of sponsors, and she hopes to complete the journey in around two to three months.

Physician decries shortage of ophthalmologists in Nigeria

Cleopatra Okohai
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Physician decries shortage of ophthalmologists in Nigeria

A medical expert, Prof. Caleb Mpyet, has condemned the dearth of ophthalmologists in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.

Mpyet, of Department of Ophthalmology, College of Health Sciences, University of Jos, said this while delivering the 97th inaugural lecture series of the university on Thursday in Jos.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the lecture was entitled, “Poverty of Sight, Poverty of Life: An End in Sight or Of Sight?”

According to him, in Nigeria, it is a ratio of eight ophthalmologists to one million people, adding that the trend in Sub-Saharan Africa is two ophthalmologists to one million people.

Mpyet, an ophthalmologist and international eye health consultant, attributed the shortage in manpower in the field of medicine to the lack of regular training and the urge by young professionals to move abroad in search of greener pastures.

“There are just few eye care personnel in most African countries.

“When I started my academic career, there was a ratio of one ophthalmologist to one million Africans and this problem was further compounded by the fact that most ophthalmologists were in major cities.

“We knew there was the need to produce more eye care workers but unfortunately, the process of producing an eye doctor is tenuous and cumbersome.

“After six years of basic medical education, one needs, at least, another six years to become an ophthalmologist.

“As it stands, Nigeria has the ratio of eight ophthalmologists to one million people. In Africa, it is two ophthalmologists to one million people, compared to other continents like Europe that has 71 to one million population,” he said.

The medical expert added that poor equipment and lack of adequate technology also contributed to the paucity of personnel in the field of medicine.

“The problem is not just in the years of training but also the equipment needed and the necessary exposure to different eye diseases to qualify as an ophthalmologist.

Read Also: FG begins payment of benefits to deceased doctors, health workers

“Most eye doctors are found in the cities. In fact, only three state capitals in Nigeria have up to half of all the ophthalmologists in the country.

“The greater danger to meeting the eye care human resources needs in Nigeria and most of the developing world is the problem of brain drain.

“Many of our highly-skilled eye care workers and, in particular, ophthalmologists are leaving the shores of our country to countries where facilities and pay are better,” he said.

Mpyet also identified high cost of treatment, bad services, poor access to medical facilities, poor management of health care systems, poor education among people and rivalry among professionals, among others, as some of the challenges facing the field of medicine.

The expert, however, urged the government to improve eye care services in rural communities, scale-up awareness at both rural and urban areas, improve rehabilitation services and increase funding for the health sector.

He also called for increased research and training for professionals to address the challenge of poor personnel in the field.

Earlier, the acting Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Gray Ejikeme, said that suggestions from the inaugural lecturer would go a long way in addressing the myriad of challenges facing the health sector as a whole.

He said that the lecture was the university’s contribution to the body of knowledge which would, in turn, lead to the growth of the society.

“Inaugural lecture is an important component of the university system. It is our modest way of contributing to the body of knowledge in society.

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