FG to organize another tripartite meeting for Lagos-Ibadan expressway gridlock
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Pensioners’ walk-in-verification exercise postponed indefinitely by PTAD
Uganda Elections: Museveni re-elected for 6th term with 58.6% of the votes
Covid-19: Lagos further extends work-from-home-order for civil servants
COVID-19 Update in Nigeria
UBS warns Bitcoins could disappear like Myspace
Nigeria records highest number of daily covid-19 cases
Investor moves $1 billion for $7 fee on Ethereum Blockchain
Lagos to close Apapa dockyard road for Railway Modernization project
Business News
FG announces when new minimum wage will commence
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige has brightened the hope of Nigerian workers, as he made known that new national minimum wage will soon commence.
The Minister made the disclosure at the 40th anniversary of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Abuja.
Though, Ngige didn’t specify when the new minimum wage would be effected but announced that latest before by the end of September, 2018, workers will experience a surge in their wages.
“In furtherance to the determination by the federal government to attain the decent work agenda which involves opportunities for works that are productive and deliver a fair income, security in workplace, and social protection for families; there have been overtime, three minimum wage reviews and currently the tripartite committee on national minimum wage is set to review the current minimum wage.” Ngige was quoted.
Recall that in November, 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the National Wage Committee led by former minister and Head of Service, Ama Pepple in order to recommend the long-clamoured for minimum wage.
In February, 2018, the Nigeria Labour Congress, led by Ayuba Wabba, promised hailstones and lightning if the government does not approve the new increment in minimum wage to the tune of $200 which is equivalent to ₦72,000 at ₦360 exchange rate.
An Analysis of official data published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), revealed that in 2016, the 30 states reviewed, minus Lagos State, generated ₦515.61 billion internal revenue which is one-third of the ₦1.479 trillion they spend on workers remuneration annually.
Kano State currently spends ₦110billion to pay its 160,000 workers annually, while Ogun state’s 40,000 workers take ₦92.4billion annually as salaries.
Meanwhile, the last time a minimum wage was set before the current one being reviewed was in 2011. Then, the wage was set at a paltry ₦18,000. It took 10 years to have this benchmark reviewed through a collective bargaining mechanism by the Jonathan-led administration and the Labour unions.
Economy & Politics
Uganda Elections: Museveni re-elected for 6th term with 58.6% of the votes
Uganda’s President Museveni has won a 6th term in office as the opposition alleges wide-scale rigging.
Coronavirus
Combined Vaccine Manufacturing capacity to hit 6.8 billion doses in 2021
COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing capacity is expected to hit 6.8 billion doses in 2021.
Meristem Group disclosed that the combined effort in manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines for global use is expected to yield about 6.8 billion doses in 2021.
This was revealed in the Annual Outlook 2021 report presented by Meristem Group, titled “Bracing for a different future.”
According to the report, the existing manufacturing capacity will only be sufficient enough to immunize about 44% of the global population, which would create obvious vaccination gap and make the pandemic last longer than necessary.
The report states,
- “The cold temperature requirements for vaccine storage pose major logistics concern particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and other low-income countries. WHO estimates that about 50% of vaccines are wasted every year, largely due to a lack of temperature control.”
According to the report, the estimated 6.8billion doses are expected to be collaboratively manufactured as follows: CanSino – 0.2billion, AstraZeneca – 3.0 billion, Gamaleya – 0.3billion, Moderna – 0.4billion, Pfizer-BioNtech – 1.3billion, SinoPharm – 1billion, and SinoVac – 0.6billion.
What you should know
- The global population as of 2020 is 7.8billion and 70% is required to achieve herd immunity (otherwise called herd protection)
- Herd Immunity or herd protection is achieved when you have most of the population immunized against an infectious disease.
- 2 doses of the vaccines are required for each person for immunity.
- It is expected that between 11 and 15 billion doses would be required to achieve the desired herd immunity, globally.
- From all indications, herd immunity may not be achieved until mid or late 2022, with the subsisting 100% vaccine production capacity utilization in 2021 – with neither production nor distribution losses.
- To achieve regulatory approval, a vaccine must undergo a three-stage clinical development process after the exploratory and pre-clinical stages and the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sets a phase 3 efficacy benchmark of 50%.
Coronavirus
Covid-19: Global deaths surpass 2 million
Global casualty record for the Covid-19 pandemic surpassed 2 million deaths on Friday.
The Global casualty record for the Covid-19 pandemic surpassed 2 million deaths on Friday, with the United States accounting for 1 in every 5 deaths, as it has recorded over 386,000 casualties so far.
This was disclosed in a report by Reuters in its Covid-19 tally reported on Friday evening.
After the United States, Brazil, Mexico, India and the U.K contribute nearly 50% of the combined casualties.
The report also disclosed that an average of 11,900 casualties are recorded per day in year 2021, despite the fact that it took 9 months for the world to record 1 million casualties.
United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said the 2 million death count was “a heart-wrenching milestone.”
- “Behind this staggering number are names and faces: the smile now only a memory, the seat forever empty at the dinner table, the room that echoes with the silence of a loved one,” he added.
The WHO warned that 2021 could be tougher due to the nature of new variants which transmit the disease faster.
- “We are going into a second year of this. It could even be tougher given the transmission dynamics and some of the issues that we are seeing,” WHO Chief, Mike Ryan, said.
Analysts expect the global death toll to surpass 3 million by April 2021.
What you should know
- Nairametrics reported that the total number of covid-19 cases in Nigeria had surpassed the 100,000 mark on Sunday 10th January 2021, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
- The African Union stated that it secured 270 million Covid-19 vaccine doses for the continent from drug manufacturers to supplement the COVAX programme, a step towards the commencement of the complex task of vaccinating over 1.2 billion people with limited financial resources.
- The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on Friday 15th January 2021, announced that 1,867 new cases of the covid-19 virus were recorded across 24 states in the country. This represents the highest number of cases recorded in a single day.
