The Harbingerngr News

...40 years in service, *Reintroduce bursary awards in schools THE Nigeria Federal Executive Council , FEC, has approved the Harmonized Retirement Age for Teachers Bill, 2021, which seeks to give legal backing to new measures by the current administration to enhance the teaching profession in the country. The retirement age bill to be forwarded to the National Assembly for consideration and approval seeks to move teachers retirement age from 60  to 65 years, while the years of service will also move from 35 to 40. The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, who stated this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the first council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja, said some highlights of the bill include the introduction of Bursary award, Special Rural Posting Allowances and other measures to attract the best brains to the profession. The Minister, who said he presented a memo on behalf of the mi...

By Grace Ishola & Ayodele Adedigba FOLLOWING the spreading of Coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria, especially in Lagos State, the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has raised alarm over the rising of the virus and ordered medical workers to treat any person that has malaria-like symptoms as Coronavirus patient, unless proven otherwise, after serious medical checkup. The governor said this while briefing newsmen on the update of Cornavirus in the state at Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja. According to Governor Sanwo-Olu: "Äny malaria-like symptoms should now be considered and treated as Corononavirus infections unless proven otherwise. “In this second wave of the current pandemic, any malaria-like symptoms should be considered as COVID-19 virus infection unless and until otherwise proven. Any affected individual with COVID-like symptoms should proceed to any of our public health facilities and/or laboratories to get tested for free. “This has allowed us the opportunity to target our in...

  ON Wednesday January 18, 2021; 1617 new confirmed cases and 14 deaths were recorded in Nigeria. According to Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, 1,172,234 Samples tested; 112004 cases have been confirmed, 89939 cases have been successfully treated and discharged and 1449 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory The 1617 new cases are reported from 18 states- Lagos (776), Kaduna (147) Kwara (131), FCT (102), Plateau (78), Edo (59), Ogun (53), Osun (45), Rivers (37), Taraba (36), Nasarawa (34), Adamawa (33), Kano (26), Delta (20), Ebonyi (16), Bayelsa (11), Gombe(11) and Borno (2). COVID-19 NIGERIA Tuesday, January 19, 2021 Samples Tested 1,172,234 Confirmed Cases 112,004 Active Cases 20,616 Discharged Cases 89,939 Death 1,449 Confirmed Cases by State States Affected No. of Cases (Lab Confirmed) No. of Cases (on admission) No. Discharged No. of Deaths Lagos 41,400 8,828 32,296 276 FCT 14,700 3,887 10,695 118 Plateau 6,831 645 6,137 49 Kaduna 6,...

  THE deadline set by the Federal Government for mobile subscribers to link their National Identification Numbers, NIN with their mobile phone’s Subscriber Identity Module, SIM cards, is today.  The deadline stipulated that those who failed to carry out the instruction, after today will have their phones disconnected from the network pending when they would be able to do so. This has created anxiety among subscribers who complained that the process of getting NIN alone was so strenuous, making the deadline difficult to achieve.  However, it was gathered that the deadline may be extended as relevant stakeholders met yesterday to review the deadline with a view to extending it. The extension would relieve subscribers of unnecessary tension. A reliable source at the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, said that although he could not officially confirm the extension, it was likely what would happen. He said: “If you look at the way the NIN/SIM linkage regime has progres...

*Schools not drivers of pandemic – UNICEF *Closure of varsities unconstitutional, disastrous — Afe Babalola STAKEHOLDERS in education sector, have urged Federal Government to reopen schools and put safety measures in place to stem the spread of Coronavirus. Among the stakeholders who raised their voices on school reopening include Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT, National Parents Teachers Association of Nigeria, NAPTAN, National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, and Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU. As United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, UNICEF, warned that closure of schools for too long will have impact negatively on the development, safety and well-being of children globally, adding that schools are not drivers of the viral disease. This is even as renowned lawyer and founder of Afe Babalola University, Chief Afe Babalola, SAN, described the continued closure of schools as unjust.  The Federal Government had set Monday, January 18 as resumpti...

*233,000 students affected by #EndSARS will sit with  external candidates on Feb 1 to March 3 exams NATIONAL Examinations Council , NECO, yesterday released the Senior Secondary School Examination, SSCE, results with a 2.3 per cent increase in the number of candidates who scored five credits and above, including English and Mathematics. As NECO has pledged to accommodate students affected by EndSARS protest in the external examination slated for Monday 1st February 2021 to Wednesday 3rd March 2021.   The Registrar and Chief Executive of NECO, Prof Godswill Obioma, announced the results at the council’s headquarters in Minna. The registrar said no fewer than I,221,447 candidates registered for the examination, made up of 665,830 males and 555,617 females. Obioma said the number of candidates that sat for the examination was 1,209,992,796 males, representing 55.53 per cent and 550,126 females, representing 45.46 percent. According to him, the number of candidates with speci...

UNIVERSITY of Lagos (UNILAG) has announced January 25, 2021 as a resumption date for the first semester of the 2020/2021 academic session. The University is expected to begin first semester academic works from January 25 to April 1, 2021. Students are expected to begin online studies as school reopens. The University’s academic work came to a halt after Nigeria got stuck by Coronavirus Pandemic.