YellowStone Media International

Clean-Up Nigeria, an environment group, in its 2019 report on Nigerian Environment Performance Index Ratings, revealed that over 168 million of Nigerians are still living in an unclean environment. The study conducted in partnership with the Clean-Up the World, Australia; International Council for Local Environment Initiative, Canada; Keep America Beautiful, United States; DSZ Germany, and Suez Foundation in France, also ranked Akwa Ibom State and Abuja as the cleanest state and city respectively for 2019. The study conducted from January 2018 to December 2019, comprised of 15 members who were split into seven teams comprising two persons per team for each geo-political zone, with five   international partners that carried out verification tours around the country to monitor and re-evaluate earlier scores submitted by each study team. The National Coordinator of the National Technical Study Group (NTSG), Clean- Up Nigeria, Prince Ene Owoh, who unveile

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said its members nationwide are willing to work with medical and paramedical workers as volunteers in carrying out public enlightenment and professional intervention initiatives against the COVID-19 spread in Nigeria. The Union, which recently embarked on an indefinite industrial action over the disagreement with the federal government on the implementation of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll System (IPPIS) and funding of universities, said its members are ready to wave aside the strike to join hands in stemming the tide of the dreaded coronavirus in Nigeria. ASUU President, Biodun Ogunyemi, who stated this during a presentation of COVID-19 intervention materials on Tuesday at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, said if there had been qualitative and accessible university education, the universities in the country would have acted as "a storehouse of knowledge in scientists, doctors, nurses, laboratory t

Following the closure of Ebonyi State borders, armed robbers on Tuesday ambushed passengers, robbing them of their luggage and money. The victims were passengers   who   took   to the bush path to avoid being caught at the checkpoint manned by security agents with   the   Deputy   Governor, Dr. Kelechi   Igwe. The robbers barricaded the bush where the passengers were robbed of their money and other valuables. It was gathered that the suspects commanded their victims who have ATM cards to   transfer money to a specified bank account through POS. One of   the    robbers who was already in the   custody   of soldiers,   Ifeanyi Eze, narrated that   they were   only   collecting   money   from   the   passengers   because    they destroyed their   crops in the farms. He said   he dealing on plantain chips   in   Lagos   before he returned home over   the   COVID-19. The Nkalagu Ebonyi-born man had with him a knife, which he s

The Cross River State capital, Calabar, has been enveloped by COVID-19 scare following reports that 28 persons suspected to be workers of an oil exploration company who entered the town last Saturday are being lodged in a form of isolation at the Tinapa Lakeside Hotel. The scare may have been heightened due to the confirmation of a COVID-19 suspected patient who tested positive in Port-Harcourt last week, and the suspicion that the 35 Americans whose flight was denied from landing in Calabar last Monday, were billed to converge with the oil workers that are in Tinapa. Sources close to Tinapa and the hotel, who pleaded not to be quoted, said the 28 oil workers are being lodged in a manner that can be described as ‘Self-quarantine’ as they asked the management of the hotel not to accommodate any other guest while they are being lodged there. The sources also said the oil workers demanded that none of the workers should leave the hotel while they are lodged there,

Nigeria's seething economic hub of 20 million that residents say never sleeps -- was silenced Tuesday as Africa's largest city went into lockdown to stave off the coronavirus. Gone were the traffic jams that snarl bumper-to-bumper out to the suburbs, gone was the hustle, the noise and the sweat that usually fills the crowded streets with endless life. After President Muhammadu Buhari ordered residents to stay indoors and all movement to cease from Monday evening, the singing of birds and the hum of generators were the only sounds to be heard on the first morning of the shutdown. The waters of the lagoon were still, bridges that are normally impassable at rush hour were empty, and the vendors that sell their wares to passing traffic had vanished. On a key highway leading to the capital, a group of boys playing football had replaced the usual mass of cars, buses and lorries. Police dressed in protective gear stopped vehicles coming into or leaving Lagos state an

In an attempt to ease the flow of essential commodities during the lockdown, state governors in the country on Tuesday threw their weight behind food, beverage, pharmaceutical and healthcare companies towards ensuring their continuous operations and making essential goods and services available to Nigerians throughout the period of the lockdown. This was a fallout of the concerted efforts by governors to bring succour to the Nigerian people during the lockdown as well as ensure that the remedy does not ultimately turn out to be counter-productive. According to the Head of Media and Public Affairs of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, quoting   a letter to the manufacturers, which was signed by the Chairman of the NGF and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the governors noted that “considering the crucial role you play in ensuring the production of essential items such as nutritious food, beverages, medical and pharmace

The Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, and its Niger Delta counterpart, the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), have given a hard knock to last Sunday evening broadcast of President Muhammadu Buhari on the menace of COVID-19 pandemic. The two groups in separate reactions on Monday flayed the delay in the presidential address more than two months after the outbreak of the epidemic in the country, saying the broadcast was belated. Afenifere, in a statement issued by its spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, while noting the ‘overdue presidential broadcast on COVID-19’, stressed that "we honestly cannot fathom why it took so long for such to come as the only thing new in it was locking down Abuja, Lagos and Ogun States. "The rest of the broadcast are about washing hands and sneezing on elbows   and handkerchiefs which can only still be useful to the senator removing his face mask to sneeze for the consumption of his colleagues at this point." The group wo

The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, has said most of the COVID-19 cases that Nigeria is handling do not require ventilators. Ehanire made the submission on Monday at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 inter–ministerial joint press briefing in Abuja. He clarified that only one of the coronavirus cases in Nigeria requires a ventilator as against others who require just the oxygen. According to him, though the federal government is addressing the issue of the shortage of ventilators in the country, probably less than four percent of the cases confronting the country require ventilator. He also said the number of available ventilators does not determine survival rate. The minister also said ventilator shortage is not peculiar to Nigeria, adding that there is no one country in the world, including the United States, that has adequate ventilator. He added that the Nigeria Centre of Disease Control (NCDC) is prudent with the test kit whi

  Rivers State Government has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew   on some parts of Port Harcourt metropolis following the violation of its market closure order. This is as the state granted waivers to medical and pharmaceutical personnel, food and beverages, essential oil and gas staff, petroleum products and media workers and newspaper distributors in its restriction of movements. In a broadcast on Monday,   the state Governor,   Nyesom Wike, said the State Security Council reached the decision after it monitored compliance with the state government's directive. According to him, "With effect from   March 31, 2020, there will be a dusk-to-dawn curfew from Obiri-Ikwerre Junction (Ozuoba, Rumualogu) to   Choba and from Education Bus Stop to Agip Junction, Ikwerre Road. "All beer parlours and public drinking bars are hereby closed because they have suddenly become   an extension of night clubs that were earlier shut down. "An

The   Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, on Monday revealed that the cure to the COVID-19 pandemic lied in the ability to explore the potential of the alternative and natural medicine. The monarch, who doubles as the Co-chairman of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria(NCTRN), made the disclosure while addressing journalists at his Ile Oodua Palace in Ile Ife, emphasising that Nigeria as a country and the world at large must look inward for alternative solution. According to him, "A divine proclamation came out to the world on June 6, 2019, during the World Ifa Festival-Otura Meji-which foretold the impending rage of this invisible pandemic war, but few listened us. "Look at Cuba, a country that has a strong traditional ties with Nigeria, the kingdom of Ife in particular, they have not only defeated the COVID-19, but now rendering huge medical assistance to several countries across the world because they value thei

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the Senate has described as unusual what Nigeria is currently going through with the COVID-19 pandemic. The party, however, commended the federal government efforts towards combatting the ravaging COVID-19 as contained in President Muhammadu Buhari's national broadcast to Nigerians last Sunday evening. In a statement issued in Abuja on Monday by the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, the caucus said though they had expected the presidency to engage the National Assembly more in some of the policy areas that are statutory, however, they have to recognise the fact that these are unusual times that may require quick policy responses. "These are perilous times in the world and indeed an unusual situation for our dear country, so the PDP caucus described as a step in the right direction the president's broadcast and policy measures, which we believe while being short on prioritising the po

Panic on Monday gripped residents of Ondo State as the state government ordered total closure of all markets in the state irrespective of item sold in the market. The state Governor, Oluwaroyimi Akeredolu, gave the order in a statement signed by the state Commissioner for Information and Orientation. The government had last week ordered partial closure of markets, but exempted food, water and medicine sellers, however, the system, according to findings, seemed not to be working. The statement said: "It has been observed however that residents have flagrantly disobeyed this directive which is a potent measure to avoid the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. "Compelled by this unwholesome infraction, the state government hereby places a total ban on all markets across the state with effect from March 31, 2020. This ban is irrespective of any item sold in the market. For emphasis, all markets must remain closed until further notice."

Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, has tested positive for coronavirus and he is currently in self-isolation. Makinde disclosed this in a series of tweets on Monday, saying he had designated a former chief medical director of the University College, Ibadan, as the head of COVID-19 task force while he recovers fully. “I just received my COVID-19 confirmation test result. It is POSITIVE. I am asymptomatic and will continue to self-isolate,” he tweeted. “I have designated Prof Temitope Alonge, former Chief Medical Director of the University College, Ibadan, as the Head of COVID-19 Task Force while I recover fully. Please continue to comply with all the directives from the COVID-19 Task Force. Stay home, stay safe.” Makinde is the third governor to be affected by the disease which broke out in Wuhan, China, in December. Bala Mohammed, governor of Bauchi, and Nasir el-Rufai, his Kaduna counterpart, had earlier tested positive for the virus. Two weeks ago, t