200 US-based Nigerians are willing to be evacuated to Nigeria- Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffery Onyeama

Geoffery Onyeama, Nigeria's Minister of Foreign Affairs, says 200 Nigerians residing in the United States of America have signified interest to be evacuated to Nigeria following the global Coronavirus pandemic. The US is the highest risk country at the moment.



Onyeama disclosed this on Wednesday April 8 during the daily Presidential Taskforce against COVID-19 press briefing.



According to Onyeama, the government made the announcement for willing Nigerians to register for evacuation after it had ensured there are isolation centres and other logistical arrangements to attend to any emergency when they arrive.




“The presidential task force under the chairmanship of the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF) has actually been engaging with this when there was a closure of the airport. So, the response was not as a result of letters coming in from Nigerians in the diaspora as has been mentioned in some media houses.

At that time, we did not have all our isolation centres in place and all the other logistical arrangements in place. So for that reason, we’ve kept it in abeyance while we were putting all those things in place and hence now, we have sufficient beds and so forth and protocol is no well established, and we now feel much stronger and in a better position to undertake this herculean task of trying to see how we can bring Nigerians outside the country back into the country.

In that context, we’ve now started to get great numbers of Nigerians especially in the United States where almost 200 have now indicated and are willing to return. We are engaging with our embassies in China and the high commission in London and also in France to work out all the logistics. Things are now falling in place, and we are getting a sense of what needs to be done.” he said



The minister also said 67 Nigerians, traveling through land from neighbouring countries were on their way to the Nigeria.



Onyeama, however, said the travellers would be isolated before allowing them freedom.

“We have 67 Nigerians including children and women. They were in Cote D’ivoire and we needed to engage with the government of Togo, the government of Benin for them to be able to go through. And they are now at the Ngerian border and we got the authorisation for them to come into the country and they would be in isolation for the mandatory 14 days,” he said.

Small Businesses sue China for $8 Trillion over Coronavirus Pandemic

While several companies all over the world have been shut down due to the Coronavirus pandemic, a group of small businesses in the US have come together to sue China for trillions of Dollars.


The small business group including Cardiff Prestige Property, Little Saigon Chamber of Commerce, First Premier X and others in California have filed a lawsuit against the People's Republic of China, the City of Wuhan and that country's Health Commission.


According to the document, obtained by TMZ, the group claims the Chinese government knew as early as mid-November that they were dealing with a "new" and potentially deadly virus, but covered up the severity of the illness.


The lawsuit, which this coalition is aiming to make a class-action by inviting similarly affected businesses across the U.S. also alleges that it's possible a bio-weapons lab near Wuhan could be responsible for the infected bat that ended up in a wet market ultimately starting the pandemic.


The suit claims China was well aware of the pandemic earlier than February, and should have given a heads up to the World Health Organization and neighboring nations, but failed to do so.


As a result, this group of businesses says China has cost entrepreneurs dearly and they are asking for a whopping $8 trillion in damages they say they and other small businesses have suffered due to government-ordered closures.


Since the virus broke out from China, over one million people have been infected with thousands of deaths recorded globally.


Chinese City, Wuhan, which is the center of the pandemic, recently lifted its ban after 72 days even as cases continue to spike up around the world.

Coronavirus: Power distribution companies in Nigeria affirms two months free electricity supply to Nigerians

The Power Distribution Companies in Nigeria have thrown their weight behind the bill being proposed by the National Assembly for Nigerians to enjoy two months of free electricity to cushion the effect of the Coronavirus pandemic.



Recall that last week, Speaker of the House of Reprsentatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, announced that a stimulus bill will be passed by the house once they reconvene that would mandate the Power Holding Company of Nigeria to give Nigerians two months of free electricity.



In a statement released on Wednesday April 8, the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors ANED said the modalities for the free power would be worked on as soon as possible and they would notify Nigerians. The statement which was signed by the Associations Executive Director, Sunday Oduntan, reads in part


“The electricity distribution companies recognise the challenging effects of the coronavirus on the economic and daily lives of our customers. In fulfillment of our commitments to the nation, we hereby align ourselves with the efforts of the National Assembly and the Federal Executive to mitigate the hardship that is currently being borne by our customers and other citizens all over the country.

We are committed to working with them to ensure more efficient power supply within this difficult period, as the nation battles with the ravages of COVID-19. We are also completely aligned with the plans to ensure palliative measures, including free electricity supply to all Nigerians for two months, to make life easier, during the lockdown period. Details of implementation to come soon.”



In a related development, the management of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company IBEDC says it would be donating N100m towards the fight against COVID-19 pandemic within its operational area.



The Chief Operating Officer, IBEDC, John Ayodele, disclosed this on Wednesday while donating food items worth N10m to the Oyo State Government as part of measures to combat COVID-19 in the state. While presenting the items, the IBEDC boss also announced that the company has also donated N5m to the University College Hospital Ibadan in support of the institution’s efforts at combating the deadly virus.




“IBEDC, as a law-abiding corporate citizen and socially responsible organisation, has earmarked about N100m for relief items namely rice, noodles and semovita. This gesture encompasses the states we cover namely Ogun, Oyo, Osun and Kwara, and partly Niger, Kogi and Ekiti states.” he said

American mother drags Halima Abubakar for stealing her baby photo while announcing the birth of her child

An American mother who just welcomed a baby few weeks ago, has called out Nollywood actress Halima Abubakar for stealing her baby photo while announcing the birth of her child.



Recall that Halima Abubakar had shared a photo of a mother holding on to her child, as she disclosed that she welcomed baby on April 3, 2020.







However an American mother @the_arielb, who is the original owner of the photo first shared on Instagram on March 13, 2020, called out the actress for stealing the photos which went viral.











She also shared her private chat with Halima Abubakar. See screenshots below;

US rapper and model, Chynna Rogers dies at 25

American rapper and model, Chynna Rogers, who performed with ASAP Rocky's hip-hop collective ASAP Mob, has passed away suddenly at the age of 25, her manager has confirmed.



“I can regrettably confirm Chynna passed away,” her manager John Miller told Billboard’s Stereogum via email. He added that her family said, “Chynna was deeply loved and will be sorely missed”.



A statement from her management team at True Panther reads: "Rest In Peace Chynna. Heartbroken. All the love to those she left behind. Goodbye angel."



The cause of death has yet to be revealed.



In the past, Rogers battled with opioid addiction, but there is no indication if it had anything to do with her death.



Chynna Rogers who was born in Philadelphia, started her career as a model, after signing with Ford Models when she was just 14.



Soon after, she became friends with A$AP Mob founder A$AP Yams and released her first single Selfie in 2014 and Glen Coco in 2014 through A$AP Ant and DJ Nick's Marino Gang record label, which became viral hits on YouTube.



It was the late Yams who gave Rogers the confidence to pursue a career in music and in 2015, she released EP's entitled I'm Not Here in 2015, followed by Ninety in 2016.



Also in 2017, Rogers released her EP, Music 2 Die 2. Her last release, 'in case I die first', dropped in January.



A$AP Mob led tributes to the young artist on Twitter. He wrote: “REST EASY CHYNNA. WE GON MISS U SIS,” reads a message from the hip-hop collective’s social accounts.




REST EASY CHYNNA. WE GON MISS U SIS. ??? pic.twitter.com/xcFdnhs030— A$AP MOB (@ASAPMOB) April 9, 2020


chynna you were fuckin hilarious bro... today was our last exchange of jokes & those i will miss the most. i can’t believe it idk how to

i love you. so very much.

my heart is officially iced.— Kehlani (@Kehlani) April 9, 2020

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Rest In Peace Chynna. Heartbroken. All the love to those she left behind . Goodbye angel.

Un post condiviso da TRUE PANTHER SOUNDS (@truepanther) in data: 8 Apr 2020 alle ore 6:37 PDT

90 percent of Coronavirus patients recover without intervention - NCDC DG, Ihekweazu Chikwe

Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC),Chikwe Ihekweazu has disclosed that 90 percent of Coronavirus patients recover without intervention.



The NCDC DG disclosed this while commenting on how Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State recovered in less than one week after testing positive for the virus.



Ihekweazu said;




“We should remember that 90 per cent of these patients recover without any intervention. So, if you take something and say you recovered and that something is why you recovered, it doesn’t quite add up. So, hopefully, there will be some treatment emerging over the next few years but remember that people recover from many viruses; that’s the way it happens.

“There are very few viruses with a cure. Even the ones that have a bad outcome like lassa fever – 20 per cent of patients die from it – it still means that 80 per cent of patients will recover without any treatment per se. What happens is that the body is supported to recover on its own. So, you go to a hospital and for COVID-19, you’re given oxygen. Oxygen is not really a treatment; it’s to keep you alive for long enough for you to recover yourself.”



The NCDC DG also appealed to political leaders to refrain from announcing details of COVID-19 cases in their states, and leave such actions to experts.



He added;




“We’re really appealing to our leaders across the country. Please, let the experts do the reporting. Nobody should reveal the identity of a patient, even if it’s the first patient in your state. Please, do not reveal the identity of a patient; the circumstances whether he’s a doctor not. We don’t need all of that. This is a virus. They haven’t committed an offence; they haven’t done anything wrong. We have to show empathy towards all our patients; that’s what we signed up to as healthcare workers,” he said.

"Political leaders announcing details of COVID-19 cases is not ill-intentioned but about them not understanding the ethics and norms of the medical practice and public health”.

While Buhari is inviting Chinese to Nigeria, Chinese govt is throwing Nigerians out of their homes - FFK

Femi Fani-Kayode took to his Twitter handle on Thursday morning April 9, to react to the news of the arrival of 15 Chinese doctors to Nigeria to help in the fight against the ravaging COVID-19.



He wrote


''Whilst Buhari is inviting the Chinese to Nigeria to "help fight Covid 19", the Chinese Govt. is throwing Nigerians out of their homes, persecuting them, subjecting them to the most vile & despicable human rights abuses & mocking, insulting & humiliating them on a daily basis!'.'





Two days ago, a video of Nigerians allegedly being chased out of hotels in China was shared online. Read here.