The governing body has written to teams saying it had “become aware” some rear wings passed tests but had “excessive deflections while cars are in motion”.
The FIA has told teams it will introduce new load-deflection tests from 15 June.
In addition to new, more targeted static tests, the FIA plans to use on-board cameras to monitor the behaviour of wings while cars are in motion in an attempt to spot any excessive movement of bodywork.
Teams will be required to put a series of markings on their wings to facilitate this process.
Article 3.8 of the F1 technical regulations states that bodywork must be “rigidly secured to the entirely sprung part of the car” and “remain immobile in relation to the sprung part of the car”.
This is a ban on so-called ‘moveable aerodynamic devices’, which has been in place for many years.
But it is a difficult area of the rules because all surfaces flex under load to some degree, and historically some teams have tried to exploit this in search of an aerodynamic advantage.
If a wing or other bodywork part can be made to deflect or rotate in relation to others above a certain speed, it can reduce drag on the straights and make the car faster. The bodywork would then snap back into optimum downforce-producing position before the corners.
FIA single-seater technical head Nikolas Tombazis wrote in a note to teams that the deformations the FIA was referring to “can have a significant influence on a car’s aerodynamic performance and hence could be deemed to contravene the provisions of article 3.8”.
He did not name teams or give specific examples of wing behaviour.
“We will be looking out for any anomalous behaviour of the deformation of the rear wing,” said Tombazis.
“In particular, we will not tolerate any persistent out-of-plane deformation that may be contrived to circumvent the symmetrical loading applied in the load deflection tests.
“Should we observe any characteristics that indicate exploitation of this area, we will introduce further load deflection tests as necessary.”
Teams are being given a month to comply with the new tests so they have enough time to strengthen their wings if necessary.
There will be a tolerance of 20% built into the test in the first month of its operation.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said at the Spanish Grand Prix that Toto Wolff, his opposite number at Mercedes, had spoken to him on the issue.
Horner insisted his car complied with the regulations, saying: “The car’s scrutineered thoroughly and there are pull-back tests, all kinds of tests it has to pass,” he said. “The FIA are completely happy it has passed all the tests that are pretty stringent.
“I was surprised to see his comments, but it is something Toto has mentioned to me previously. So I doubt it was Lewis’ opinion. It probably came from elsewhere.”
The first race at which the new tests will come into force is the French Grand Prix on 25-27 June.
Before then, F1 is scheduled to race in Monaco on 20-23 May, Azerbaijan on 4-6 June and Turkey on 11-13 June, although the Istanbul race is in doubt following a surge in coronavirus cases in the country.
Nearly two dozen women in DR Congo have come forward with allegations of sexual abuse by aid workers during an Ebola outbreak, adding to a scandal that broke last year, a report said on Wednesday.
Twenty-two women have said they were sexually exploited or abused, in acts that included alleged rape or led to unwanted pregnancies, by male aid workers responding to an Ebola crisis in eastern DR Congo, The New Humanitarian (TNH) and the Thomson Reuters Foundation said.
The men offered them jobs in exchange for sex, identifying themselves as working for major aid organisations.
Three of the seven organisations named are UN agencies, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), which features in 14 of the claims.
The allegations centre on Butembo, a major trading city and an epicentre of the 2018-2020 outbreak of Ebola that claimed 2,200 lives.
“One woman said she was raped by a man who said he was with the WHO, and reporters learned of three others who said they had become pregnant,” the investigators said.
“One of those women died after a botched abortion as she tried to conceal the pregnancy from her husband and children, her sister said.”
The gruelling fight to roll back the Ebola epidemic, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s worst ever, has been tarred by allegations of sexual abuse by well-paid aid workers who flooded into the poor region.
An investigation last year by the TNH, a news agency that covers humanitarian crises, gathered testimony from 51 women who said they had suffered sexual exploitation in the neighbouring city of Beni.
The WHO, reacting to the latest accusations, said Wednesday it had identified two women in Butembo as “potentially having had sexually exploitative relationships with individuals” connected to the agency.
That information will be shared with an independent investigative commission set up last October, it said.
“(The) WHO is committed to taking prompt and robust action, including collaborating with relevant national authorities on criminal proceedings, in all cases where WHO staff may be found guilty of perpetrating (sexual exploitation and abuse),” the agency’s spokeswoman Marcia Poole said.
The new report said sexual predators also claimed to work for the UN’s International Organization for Migration; the UN’s children’s fund, Unicef; the International Rescue Committee (IRC); International Medical Corps (IMC); the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA); and DRC’s health ministry.
Most of the aid workers allegedly involved were Congolese, the report said.
A spokeswoman for the independent commission said the panel aimed to publish the results of its inquiry at the end of August.
The Champions League final will now be staged in Porto in Portugal after the UK government and UEFA could not reach agreement over quarantine exemptions for more than 2,000 VIPs, staff and media for the match to be played at Wembley. It will be officially ratified by UEFA on Thursday.
The all-English final between Manchester City and Chelsea was originally scheduled for the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul on May 29.
UEFA was forced to look at alternative venues after a devastating Covid outbreak in Turkey caused the UK government to place the country on its red list for travel, and banned English fans from going.
And the 50,000-capacity Estadio do Dragao in Porto has now been lined up as the venue for the final after UEFA struck a deal with the Portuguese authorities over the attendance at the match. Chelsea and Manchester City will each receive a ticket allocation of between 4,500 and 6,000.
But health experts and MPs have criticised the decision for putting supporters at unnecessary risk in the middle of a pandemic, insisting UEFA should have foregone VIPs this year and made it a ‘fans’ final’ in London.
The 50,000-capacity Estadio do Dragao in Porto has been lined up as the venue for the final
Chelsea and Man City fans celebrated their fantastic semi-final triumphs last week. They are now destined for Portugal, after the Champions League final on May 29 was moved
UEFA were under pressure to change venue for the final with Turkey on the UK’s ‘red list’
Hopes were initially high that the match would come to Wembley and the UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden and UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin both appeared committed to making the switch, but they could not find enough common ground to make it work, with concerns over the UK’s quarantine rules.
After lengthy talks, officials from both sides had to accept defeat.
As well as experts and MPs, fans had also demanded the match be played at Wembley, which could have hosted 22,500 fans for the final.
The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust urged Ceferin at a meeting on Wednesday afternoon, to explore ‘all possibilities’ in London before making a decision.
But Dom Rosso, the trust’s vice chairman, posted on Twitter that Ceferin had also emphasised the importance of accommodating sponsors, which suggested Wembley’s star was fading.
Such was the intense nature of the negotiations that Ceferin left the fans’ Zoom call to make further phone calls as he sought to finalise the location and attendance for the match.
Lisbon’s Estadio da Luz, which hosted the 2020 final, was also initially viewed as a contender
A late sticking point in Portugal was how many fans would be allowed to attend. Portugal is yet to let any supporters return to matches and UEFA wanted the authorities to scale up quickly to enable them to make significant allocations to clubs and sponsors.
The selection of Porto will at least allow supporters to make firm plans.
Portugal has been placed on the UK’s ‘green list’ for travel, which means supporters will be able to fly there and back with minimal restrictions and will not have to isolate on their return.
Transport minister Grant Shapps sprung a surprise when he placed Turkey on the red list
Daily covid cases in Portugal are similar to the UK, with both much lower than Turkey. Poland, where the Europa League final will be played is also shown in the graphic. Source: Our World in Data/ John Hopkins University
Supporters have wasted no time in organising their trips. Flight prices to Portugal rocketed this week even before the Wembley talks had concluded.
A return direct flight at midday for the weekend of the game from Stansted to Porto was available for £200 on Tuesday morning, but rocketed three-fold to £623 by Wednesday afternoon.
Cheaper fares are still on sale for people willing to travel early in the morning or using indirect routes.
Lisbon flights have also increased, as speculation initially suggested the Portuguese capital could stage the game. Flights bought on Monday evening for £160 had soared to £309 – an increase of 93% – by Tuesday morning as fans began to realise Portugal was a more likely destination.
Flights from Manchester have also risen sharply week on week.
The prospect of Wembley hosting the showpiece were dashed because more than 2,000 VIPs, staff and media due to attend the game would require an exemption from the UKs covid travel restrictions.
The rules require visitors from red and amber list countries to isolate for 10 days and they are due to come into force from May 17. They were announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday.
Manchester City and Chelsea will face off in the fixture, which was set to take place in Istanbul
Manchester City and Chelsea have booked their places in the Champions League final
Turkey is on the red list and most of Europe is on the amber list, including Switzerland, where UEFA is based.
Sources told Sportsmail that while the talks were constructive the European governing body’s requirement for up to 2,000 guests, including sponsors and representatives of more than 50 football associations from across the continent, as well as staff, could not be accommodated.
TRAVEL TRAFFIC LIGHT
It is currently still illegal for Brits to travel abroad for non-essential reasons but this will change on May 17, when people will be allowed to fly to countries with low Covid infection rates.
Travellers to countries on the ‘red list’ will have to quarantine for 10 days in a government-approved hotel on their arrival in the UK.
Those coming from ‘amber list’ countries, which includes Switzerland, where UEFA is based, will be required to self-isolate at home for 10 days, taking covid test on day two and eight.
While those returning from countries on the ‘green list’, which is set to include Portugal, will not have to isolate, but will have to take a test
It is understood, the English FA could scale up the attendance at Wembley to the 22,500 requested by UEFA and quarantine exemptions could have been provided for essential staff, but the number of additional guests would have been too great given the UK is about to emerge from lockdown.
This afternoon, Culture Secretary Dowden said the UK had ‘cleared the way to get Wembley available if UEFA want to take advantage of that’ but indicated the government would not bend on quarantine rules.
‘It is though important that we protect the integrity of our quarantine system,’ he added.
On the flipside, VIPs are tied into lucrative sponsorship contracts and UEFA felt it could not abandon a valuable source of income, after 14 months of matches mostly without fans or sponsors present.
The situation has been compounded because capacities have been cut drastically for the Euro 2020 tournament due to begin in June.
‘UEFA needs the VIP revenues,’ a source close to the negotiations told Sportsmail. ‘They are losing money on the Euros. There is no way they would give up on VIPs. They are connected to sponsorship.’
At his meeting with fan groups, UEFA president Ceferin reaffirmed his view that sponsors needed to be accommodated.
And if the game was going anywhere, Portugal has the advantage that it has relatively low numbers of covid cases. There are currently fewer coronavirus infections than in Britain, with 32 cases per million people daily.
But UEFA’s position has drawn criticism from health experts and MPs who said the governing body should have made an exception on VIPs and dignitaries because of the coronavirus pandemic.
UEFA’s president, Aleksander Ceferin, met with Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden to discuss the Champions League final being held at Wembley, but the pair could find no agreement
It would be safer to host the all-English match in London and avoid large-scale movements of people.
‘It is not in the real world,’ MP Clive Efford, who is a member of the Department for Culture Media and Sport Select Committee, told Sportsmail. ‘We have two clubs from the same country, which is capable of hosting this match during a global pandemic. Why are we taking it to a third country?
‘You can only imagine that [VIPs and sponsorship] is too valuable for them to forego… but once again, this is football finance taking over the interests of fans.’
Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of Norwich, said: ‘From a public health perspective, the safest thing would have been to have the match in London and for UEFA not to bring people to the game who are not essential to the running of the game.
The LED screen inside Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium displayed a message of ‘Good luck in Istanbul!’ after the club beat Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-final, but plans changed quickly
Two people were killed and dozens wounded as Sudanese security forces dispersed a rally demanding justice for protesters killed during anti-government demonstrations two years ago, the army said Wednesday.
Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said he was “shocked” by the killings, calling it a “crime to use live bullets against peaceful protesters”.
Hundreds gathered on Tuesday evening outside the army headquarters in the capital Khartoum, at the site where thousands gathered in 2019 initially demanding the ouster of president Omar al-Bashir and urging a transfer to civilian rule.
The demonstration on Tuesday started shortly before iftar, the evening meal which breaks the fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
It marked two years since the bloody dispersal of the mass encampment outside the army headquarters.
“As they (the protesters) left the site, unfortunate events occurred resulting in the killing of two people and the wounding of others,” the armed forces said in a statement, adding that an investigation had been launched.
The army said they were “fully prepared to bring to justice, whoever is proven to be involved”.
On Wednesday, the US embassy in Khartoum expressed “shock and dismay” over Tuesday’s killings.
“We condemn use of live ammunition on peaceful protesters,” it said on Twitter, calling on Khartoum to “fully investigate and bring to justice the perpetrators”.
‘Calling for justice’ – In the protests on Tuesday, young demonstrators were seen carrying banners and photos of the people killed during the crackdown on the 2019 sit-in, according to an AFP correspondent.
“Retribution for the martyrs,” many chanted, as they waved Sudanese flags.
“We will continue calling for justice,” said protester Samar Hassan.
One protester gave a speech calling for further demonstrations, if the government failed to present the findings of an investigation into the 2019 killings in the coming weeks.
Witnesses said security forces fired tear gas to disperse the protesters.
Ahead of Tuesday’s gathering, Sudanese authorities set up roadblocks on the routes leading to the army headquarters.
Hamdok, in a statement on Twitter, called the 2019 crackdown “extreme brutality”.
He vowed his transitional government, which took power after Bashir’s ouster, would “bring perpetrators to justice”.
The 2019 sit-in was held to call for an end to Bashir’s three-decade rule.
The iron-fisted ruler was ousted in April 2019, but the protesters kept up the encampment for weeks demanding the transfer of power from the military to civilians.
In June 2019 and towards the end of Ramadan, armed men in military fatigues violently dispersed the camp.
The days-long crackdown left at least 128 people dead, according to medics linked to the protest movement.
The ruling generals at the time denied ordering the bloody dispersal and called for a probe into the incident.
An investigation committee was launched in late 2019 to look into the events, but has yet to finish its inquiry.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is on track to suffer a shortfall of nearly four billion dollars from mining and oil contracts that it signed with controversial Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler, an anti-corruption group said on Wednesday.
The United States hit Gertler with sanctions in December 2017 over mining deals he struck with help from his friend, the DRC’s then president Joseph Kabila.
The tycoon had deprived the DRC of tax revenues of $1.36 billion over a decade, according to a 2013 report by the Africa Progress Panel chaired by former UN chief Kofi Annan.
On Wednesday, a coalition of anti-graft campaigners called The Congo Is Not for Sale (CNPAV) said that its own analysis of public finances found “the DRC lost income of $1.95 billion between 2003 and 2021.”
“If nothing is done to stop this haemorrhage, an additional $1.76 billion could escape state coffers between 2021 and 2039,” the CNPAV said.
CNPAV spokesman Jean-Claude Mputu told a news conference that “no intermediary has ever cost the country as dearly” as Gertler.
“Nothing is being done and money is still leaving the country,” he said.
The DRC is one of the world’s main producers of valuable minerals such as copper, gold, cobalt and coltan.
But the country of 84 million is one of the world’s poorest and is wracked by political violence.
The government has proposed a budget of the equivalent of $6.9 billion for 2021.
Gertler’s profits in the DRC came to light in 2016 with the publication of the so-called Panama Papers.
The massive loss in revenue to the DRC, according to the United States, comes from the underpricing of mining assets that were sold to offshore companies linked to him.
Gertler, 47, has denied any suggestion of underhand dealing.
Some of the US sanctions against him were reversed by former president Donald Trump during his last days in office but were reimposed in March.
Mputu threw down the gauntlet to Kabila’s successor, Felix Tshisekedi, who took office in January 2019 on pledges to root out the DRC’s entrenched corruption.
Tshisekedi “so far has not taken any step aimed at investigating Mr. Gertler’s mining transactions,” Mputu said.
The country “desperately needs this money to rebuild its economy and get its population out of poverty.”
Single or married, sometimes pregnant, and among them even men: hundreds of people are coming forward as victims of sexual assault and rape in Kasai, the poor, troubled heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
After a brutal conflict that claimed thousands of lives, Kasai today is officially at peace — it is located far from the DRC’s conflict-torn east where rape by armed groups is notorious.
But sexual violence here is widespread. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says it treated 1,373 victims in the first three months of 2021 alone.
Dr. Kourouma Facely is head of MSF’s medical and mental health services for victims in Kananga, the capital of Kasai-Central province.
“We see patients who’ve suffered violence and who may have suffered penetration or not ” he tells AFP. “But in every case, the victims are traumatised.”
Machetes –
It was on a trip to buy tomatoes and peppers that Marissa, whose name has been changed, was ambushed and raped by three men about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Kananga.
“They came out of the bush wielding machetes,” recalls the 31-year-old, “They asked me for money. Since I didn’t have any, they beat me and raped me one after the other.”
“I have pain in my lower abdomen, in my back, vaginal pain,” she says, “I’m unable to wash properly.”
“I am afraid these men could have given me AIDS,” says Marissa, a mother of five.
Marissa’s husband was killed in the conflict that raged in Kasai from September 2016 to March 2017, upending the region.
After Kamuina Nsapu, a traditional chief, was killed in a military operation, militias loyal to him took on security forces in violence that killed more than 3,000 people, displaced 1.5 million, and led to many incidents of rape.
But while the fighting has ceased, sexual violence persists, dispelling the notion that such attacks are only linked to conflicts between armed groups.
Fear of rejection –
“Sexual violence existed before the conflict,” says a nurse in the main city Kananga, Marthe Tshiela.
According to MSF, 18-45 year olds are the age group most affected, with men making up three percent of victims.
Marinette, 39 and eight months pregnant, is in outpatient care after being raped at home after a break-in.
Only 40 percent of victims treated by MSF arrive within 72 hours of the attack, the key window for preventative treatment for some sexually transmitted diseases.
But a second effect from the trauma haunts the victims just as much as illness — fear of rejection from their communities, families or partner.
Catherine, 35, sobs as she says she fears how her husband will react when he learns she was raped at home by two armed men in January while he was away.
“I beg him to forgive me,” she says.
Nurse Tshiela says that while couples occasionally come in together for post-rape psychological support, such cases remain rare.
“About 60 percent of women who are raped are rejected by their husbands, along with their children,” Tshiela says.
Impunity and deals –
As elsewhere in the DRC, prosecutions for sexual assault in the Kasai are rare. Only two victims out of five report their assault to the police.
Nathalie Kambala, president of Congolese advocacy group Women Together for the Development of Kasai (FMMDK) says that the majority who do go to court do not get any compensation.
Victims’ parents “prefer to settle out of court to obtain clothing or goats — their children are the ones who pay the price, because the judicial system isn’t working,” she says.
In Kasai, one of the DRC’s poorest regions, 46 percent of girls are married before the age of 18.
Outside of the health community, reports of sexual violence can be met with dismissal or even suspicion.
One humanitarian worker suggested the victims could be lying.
“As a trick some girls or women make accusations against men for material gain,” he said.
Kananga’s mayor Mamie Kakubi Tshikele meanwhile says figures from aid organisations are “a bit overestimated”.
“They have their data and we have ours and they don’t match,” she says, without going into further detail.
DRC first lady Denise Nyakeru Tshisekedi has taken to Twitter to promise to campaign against sexual violence in Kasai, the home region and constituency of her husband President Felix Tshisekedi.
The deadly exchange of fire between Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli military has escalated significantly, with the UN fearing a “full-scale war”.
More than 1,000 rockets have been fired by Palestinian militants, Israel says.
Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes on Gaza, destroying three tower blocks and killing senior Hamas officials.
At least 53 Palestinians and six Israelis have been killed since Monday.
That includes 14 Palestinian children caught up in the conflict.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “gravely concerned” by the ongoing violence.
Violent unrest in towns in Israel with mixed Jewish and Arab populations has led to hundreds of arrests. Lod near Tel Aviv is under a state of emergency.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the government would use all its strength to protect Israel from enemies on the outside and rioters on the inside.
Torah scrolls are removed from a damaged synagogue in Lod
What is happening in Gaza?
Militants in Gaza began firing rockets into Israel on Monday night, and Israel has responded by hitting targets in the territory.
On Wednesday Israel said it had killed senior Hamas officials in Gaza, and was also targeting missile launching sites.
“This was only the beginning. We will inflict blows on them that they have never dreamed of,” said the Israeli prime minister.
Hamas – the militant group that runs Gaza – confirmed the death of its commander in Gaza City and other “warriors”.
“Thousands of leaders and soldiers will follow in their footsteps,” Hamas said in a statement reported by Reuters.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says that more than 300 people have been injured there since the conflict began, as well as the 53 who have died.
iThis building in the southern Gaza Strip was hit by an Israeli air strike
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said on Wednesday that their strikes on Gaza were its largest since the conflict in 2014.
On Wednesday a third high-rise building in Gaza was destroyed.
Hamas said it was incensed by “the enemy’s targeting of residential towers”.
Residents had been warned to evacuate the buildings before the fighter jets attacked; however health officials said there were still civilian deaths.
Five members of one family were killed in an air strike on Tuesday, including two young brothers, according to AFP.
An 11-year-old resident of Gaza, Yasmine, told Save the Children that Tuesday night was the worst night of her life.
“I had pain in my stomach from the fear and my parents were trying to comfort me and tell me the bombing was far away but I could feel that it was close,” she told the charity. “Tomorrow is Eid and we won’t be celebrating because of this conflict.”
What is happening in Israel?
On Wednesday morning an Israeli soldier was killed by an anti-tank missile fired from Gaza into Israel, the IDF says.
Sirens continued to sound in southern Israeli towns and cities on Wednesday afternoon after what the IDF described as a barrage of rockets was fired by Hamas.
Two people, a man and his teenage daughter, were killed in Lod when a rocket hit their car. They were both Israeli Arabs.
Israeli police said that there were what it described as violent riots in dozens of areas of the country overnight, in which 270 people were arrested.
Synagogues and businesses in Lod were set on fire.
Mr Netanyahu described the riots as “unbearable” and said they reminded the Jewish people of their past.
Israeli police said that Lod would be placed under curfew from 20:00 local time on Wednesday until 04:00 on Thursday to preserve the safety and property of residents.
image captionIsrael’s Iron Dome anti-missile system, seen here in Ashkelon, attempts to intercept rockets
What has caused the violence?
The fighting between Israel and Hamas was triggered by days of escalating clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police at a holy hilltop compound in East Jerusalem.
The site is revered by both Muslims, who call it the Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary), and Jews, for whom it is known as the Temple Mount. Hamas demanded Israel remove police from there and the nearby predominantly Arab district of Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families face eviction by Jewish settlers. Hamas launched rockets when its ultimatum went unheeded.
Palestinian anger had already been stoked by weeks of rising tension in East Jerusalem, inflamed by a series of confrontations with police since the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in mid-April.
It was further fuelled by the threatened eviction of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem by Jewish settlers and Israel’s annual celebration of its capture of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war, known as Jerusalem Day.
The fate of the city, with its deep religious and national significance to both sides, lies at the heart of the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict. Israel in effect annexed East Jerusalem in 1980 and considers the entire city its capital, though this is not recognised by the vast majority of other countries.
Palestinians claim the eastern half of Jerusalem as the capital of a hoped-for state of their own.
The Governors of Southern States of the country on Tuesday, announced their resolution to ban open grazing and movement of cattle by foot across the region as part of measures to check incursion of armed herders and banditry.
The governors made this known in a communique at the end of their meeting in Asaba.
In the communiqué read by Chairman of Southern Governors Forum, Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, they said that prevailing insecurity in the country had presented severe security challenge such that citizens were unable to live normal lives, including pursuing productive activities.
The Forum stated that the precarious security situation in the country had become a threat to food supply, adding that the development and population growth had put pressure on available land and increased prospects of conflict between migrating herders and local populations in the South.
The governors called on the Federal Government to support willing States to develop alternative and modern livestock management systems.
They agreed that the progress of the nation required that urgent and bold steps be taken to restructure Nigeria’s federation to encourage evolution of state police, revenue allocation formula review in favour of sub-national governments and creation of institutions which would legitimately advance commitment to and practice of true federalism.
The governors also urged the Federal Government to convoke a national dialogue in view of widespread agitations among various peoples “for greater inclusiveness in existing governance arrangements’’.
“The governors recommended a review of appointments into Federal Government agencies, including security agencies, to reflect federal character as Nigeria’s overall population is heterogenous.
“The governors expressed concern on the continued gridlock on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway and the chokehold it has exerted on the nation’s economy being the sole outlet from Apapa Wharf.
“The meeting recommended the activation and establishment of ports in other States of the federation to create new jobs and promote socio-economic activities in the country,’’ they stated.
The Forum also expressed concern on the economic implications of another lockdown on the country over COVID-19 pandemic as announced by the Federal Government on Monday, and called for greater coordination and cooperation between federal and state governments in evolving strategies for dealing with the pandemic.
“The Southern Governors also expressed very grave concern on the security challenge currently plaguing the nation and strongly urged President Muhammadu Buhari to address Nigerians on the challenges and restore the confidence of the people,” the communique added.
Those who attended the meeting were Governors Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo, Nyesom Wike of Rivers, Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Dapo Abiodun of Ogun, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti and Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta, who was the host.
Others were Governors Godwin Obaseki of Edo, Douye Diri of Bayelsa, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, Dave Umahi of Ebonyi, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, Willie Obiano of Anambra and Deputy Governor of Akwa-Ibom, Mr Moses Ekpo and his Imo counterpart, Prof. Placid Njoku.
Governors of Osun and Cross River, Isiaka Gboyega and Prof. Ben Ayade were absent at the meeting.
Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma Wednesday dissolved his cabinet relieving 20 of his 28 commissioners of their duties.
At the end of the usual weekly Executive Council meeting, Wednesday, the Governor said the dissolution became necessary to rejig and reenergise the system for maximum productivity.
The ministries whose Commissioners were retained in the dissolution include Finance, Science and Technology, Health, Works, Information, Youths and Sports, Women Affairs and Tourism.
Governor Uzodimma thanked the affected Commissioners and assured them that they will still be found relevant in other areas if eventually they did not make the new cabinet he said will be reconstituted soon.
Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Chief Mbadiwe Emelumba who briefed newsmen with the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Barr. Nnamdi Anyaehie and Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser to Governor, Oguwike Nwachuku added that the Governor took the decision to fast track governance in line with the mission of the government which is to serve the people well.
The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Chief Declan Emelumba, said that out of 28 commissioners, the governor retained eight.
He said the governor had to rejig his cabinet after one year in office.
“The governor promised to reconstitute his cabinet soon,” Emelumba added
The national power grid on Wednesday suffered another system collapse, resulting in worsening the blackout in parts of the country.
The Nation gathered that power grid collapse occurred around 11.00 am on Wednesday and was confirmed by two of the country’s electricity distribution companies in two messages to their customers.
A message by Kaduna Electric on Twitter said: “We regret to inform you that the power outage currently being experienced across our franchise – Kaduna, Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states – is as a result of the collapse of the national grid.
Similarly, Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc, in a message to its customers, said, “Dear customer, there is a partial system collapse on the national grid. Our TCN partners are working to restore supply immediately. Please bear with us.”
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