NDDC MD says ₦1.5bn was used as welfare palliative and other #COVID-19 updates across Nigeria
The acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Kemebradikumo Pondei, has admitted that the commission spent ₦1.5 billion for staff as ‘COVID-19 relief funds’.
He made this statement at the investigative hearing on the ₦40 billion corruption allegation against the commission.
The Senate had on May 5 set up a seven-man ad-hoc committee to investigate the “financial recklessness” of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the commission.
How ₦534m COVID-19 projects were awarded to unverified contractors
COVID-19 emergency procurement worth ₦534.98 million were awarded to unverifiable contractors, according to investigation by Dataphyte, an online platform which collates and curates data from diverse sources and transform them into machine-readable formats.
These contracts were awarded by five ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). They are ministry of environment, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH), and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).
Nigeria records 499 new coronavirus cases
Nigeria recorded 499 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reported.
This brings the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria to 30,748.
Over one third of those infected (12,546) have recovered and have been discharged while 689 people have died from the disease.
Nigeria develops test kit for COVID-19
The Federal Government has launched RNASwift, a diagnostic kit, for the identification of the causal agent of COVID-19.
At a press conference Tuesday, the Director-General of National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), the agency that developed the kit, Alex Akpa, said the RNASwift test kit is an indigenous diagnostic test kit designed, developed and validated in Nigeria for the identification of the causal agent –SARS-Cov-2– which causes COVID-19.
CISLAC, ANEEJ, WaterAid, ActionAid, CN, others score govt after 6 months
Civil Society Organisations, CSO, including Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, WaterAid Nigeria, ActionAid Nigeria, Concerned Nigerians, Health For Mother Earth Foundation, HOMEF, Coalition in Defence of Nigerian Democracy and Constitution, CDNDC, Thursday, scored Federal and State governments on six months fight to contain the spread of the novel Coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.
“It is important to reorganise and reactivate our health care system. More importantly, the Nigerian government has collected loan from the International Monetary Fund, IMF, $3.4 billion to deal with the issue of COVID-19 and received donations from wealthy Nigerians including developed countries like America, Germany, European Union, United Kingdom, and others who donated both in terms cash and equipment to Nigeria, no accountability from the government on these monies,” the Executive Director, CISLAC, Awual Ibrahim Rafsanjani, said.
