The reports noted that Nigerian doctors have expressed fears for pupils’ safety because of the unbating COVID-19 pandemic.
The doctors said the government was not sufficiently prepared to ensure that pupils do not contract the virus.
The report quoted the President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Prof. Innocent Ujah, as saying that while the children should not be kept at home forever, it was also unwise to expose them to danger.
He said: “At the moment we have not been told what new thing they have done – either the government, the private schools or the proprietors, to ensure the safety of the students. It is only the living that goes to school.
“Nobody knows the course of COVID-19, but then we need to be prepared. We must be very cautious and we must temporise (avoid making a decision or committing oneself in order to gain time).
The Punch reports that a total of N651.77bn was generated from Value Added Tax in the first half of 2020.
According to latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics, the sectoral distribution on Value Added Tax, for the half year period of 2020, reflected that the sum of N651.77bn was generated as VAT in H1 2020 as against N600.98bn generated in H1 2019.
“This represents 8.45 percent growth year-on-year.” Professional services generated the highest amount of VAT with N95.92bn generated and closely followed by other manufacturing generating N67.63bn, commercial and trading generating N31.10bn, it added.
The report said that mining generated the least, closely followed by textile and garment industry and pharmaceutical, soaps and toiletries with N127.58m, N499.19m and N648.78m generated respectively.
ThisDay reports that the Cabinet office of the United Kingdom has hailed a Nigerian information technology consultant, Victor Osagie, for his ingenuity in the mass production of ventilators to boost the fight against the corona virus pandemic.
In a commendation letter from the cabinet office of the UK and jointly endorsed by all partners including Ford and Airbus, Osagie was commended for his role in the just concluded ventilator challenge project which was an initiative of the cabinet office.
“Thank you for your invaluable contribution to our ventilator challenge UK team. As we battled together to save lives threatened by Covid-19 your energy, ingenuity and camaraderie made a tremendous difference.
You are a shining example of the best UK has to offer,” it read. Osagie‘s team delivered the quality control system that rapidly converted disused warehouses into assembly lines.
His team converted Ford Motors vehicle production lines and Airbus Aircraft production lines into ventilator production lines.
The newspaper says that the Nigerian government has launched the Agriculture for Food and Job Plan (AFJP) programme targeted at about 1,100,000 smallholder farmers across the country.
The AFJP is expected to create between five million and 10 million jobs in 12 months and also mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic by creating more access to food production, processing and distribution in Nigeria.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Muhammad Sabo Nanono stated this during the official launch of AFJP in Funtua, Katsina State. Nanono, said AFJP would aid the transformation of the Nigerian agriculture from its largely low yielding and subsistent state to a high yielding technology based farming system.
He also said the strategies as part of the Nigeria Economic and Sustainability Plan (NESP) would generate appropriate gains consistent with the federal government’s policy.
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