IMF predicts a deeper slow-down in Nigerian growth

Forecast by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in April predicting a 3.4% contraction of the Nigerian economy how now been downgraded.

The economy is now expected to shrink by 5.4%, according to the international lender’s latest forecast.

The IMF says Covid-19 has had more negative impact on global economic activities in the first quarter of 2020 than anticipated. It’s latest forecast is contained in its June World Economic Outlook.

Commercial activities are still not fully open in Nigeria while the aviation industry is still on lockdown as the country’s Covid-19 cases rose to 22,020 on Wednesday.

The oil industry which has been the main sustenance of the Nigerian government lost $125bn (£100bn) of its projected revenue in the first quarter of 2020. The government says it feared at least 70% of its oil revenue would be lost by the end of 2020.

BBC

Nigeria police rescue workers 'locked in rice factory'

Police in Nigeria have rescued more than 100 people they say were locked in a rice-processing factory and forced to work throughout a coronavirus lockdown.

From the end of March the men were allegedly not allowed to leave the mill in the northern city of Kano.

The workers were promised an additional $13 (£10) a month on top of their $72 monthly salary - those who did not accept were threatened with the sack.

Five managers at the Indian-owned mill have been arrested.

The company, called Popular Farms, has not responded to BBC requests for comment.Police spokesman Abdullahi Haruna told the BBC that the plant had now been shut down and the owners were being investigated for "holding the men against their will".

He said that 126 people had been found, although workers told the BBC there were 300.

Some of the men say were forced to work most of the time during their incarceration, with little food.

"We were allowed to rest for only a short time, no prayers were allowed, no family visits," 28-year-old Hamza Ibrahim, one of those rescued, told the BBC's Mansur Abubakar in Kano.

BBCnews

Ghana apologises to Nigeria for embassy demolition

President Nana Akufo-Addo has apologised to Nigeria after a building inside the Nigerian High Commission compound in Accra was demolished.

Mr Akufo-Addo has ordered an investigation, a statement from the Nigerian government said after his call with President Muhammadu Buhari.

Armed men reportedly stormed the compound last week and destroyed buildings under construction.

Two people have been arrested over the incident.

They have been charged with Unlawful Entry And Causing Unlawful Damage.

BBC news

APC dissolves NWC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has appointed Yobe Governor, Mai Mala Buni, as Chairman Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Committee of the party.

This followed the dissolution of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) by the National Executive Committee (NEC).

NEC’s decision followed the recommendation of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Nation

APC must not disintegrate, Buhari tells APC members

President Muhammadu Buhari has advised members of the governing party, All Progressives Congress (APC), to withdraw all pending litigations against one another, and settle for internal conciliation.

The president, who gave the advice at an emergency virtual meeting of the party’s National Working Committee (NEC), in Abuja on Thursday

warned that the mutating disagreements could lead to self-destruction, with dire consequences.

He further warned that the gains of the party could be reversed as conflicts overshadow the primary objective of service to the people, urging members to refocus on the larger picture and place more emphasis on uniting the party.

The Nation

Obama raises $7.6 million at fundraiser for Biden's campaign

 

Former President Barack Obama warned Democrats against being “complacent or smug” about the presidential race at a grassroots fundraiser Tuesday for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, calling on viewers to learn the lessons from 2016 and not take the election for granted.

Referencing what he called a “great awakening” going on among younger Americans pushing for reforms, Obama said that “just because this energy is out there does not mean that it assures our victory and it does not mean that it gets channeled in a way that results in real change.”

“There’s a backlash, that is fierce, against change,” Obama added.

The former president referenced the division among Americans that he said President Donald Trump “exploits,” as well as new challenges to voting rights in recent years.

“We can’t be complacent or smug or suggest that somehow it's so obvious that this president hasn’t done a good job because, look, he won once, and it’s not like we didn't have a good clue as to how he was going to operate the last time,” Obama said.

He implored the audience to get engaged with Biden's presidential campaign, declaring that “whatever you've done so far is not enough.”

The fundraiser marked Obama’s official return to the presidential campaign trail and underscored his unmatched popularity within the Democratic Party. Biden, who appeared virtually alongside Obama at the event, said it raised a record-breaking $7.6 million from more than 175,000 individual donors.

Trump’s Dallas fundraiser earlier this month raised north of $10 million for the campaign, Republican National Committee and the Trump Victory Fund.

Tuesday's event was a kickoff of what Obama’s team says will likely be a busy schedule heading into the fall, as he looks to help elect not just Biden but Democrats running for House and Senate. And his comments suggest Democrats are taking very seriously the possibility that their base could grow too comfortable this fall, with a number of state and nationwide surveys showing Biden with significant, often double-digit leads over Trump.

AP, Associated Press

FG briefs Senate on school’s reopening

The Federal Ministry of Education Tuesday briefed members of the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education on its plans to reopen schools which have been shut as part of measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Minister of State for Education, Mr. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, during the meeting expressed concern over the decision of the Oyo State Government to reopen its primary and secondary schools in spite of the rising cases of coronavirus infection in the country.

Nwajiuba wondered why the government of Oyo State which is currently battling with an increase cases of new infections, should be eager to throw open the gates of its schools when its neighbouring states, were exercising caution.The Minister was reacting to a question from the Senator representing Oyo South, Lekan Balogun, who wanted to know the views of the Federal Government on the plan by the Oyo State Government to reopen its schools.

Nwajiuba said, “Why is Oyo State talking of reopening schools when it has just started recording an increase cases of Coronavirus infection.

“Just beside Oyo is Ogun State which was part of the three states under the FG’s lockdown since April is not talking about schools reopening.

“That’s part of the country’s problem, education is on the concurrent list, so every state takes decisions that pleases it on it. Also everybody is a big man. When you call them on phone, they will not answer you.

“As we speak, Kogi and Cross River states are not on the same page with the National Centre for Disease Control on the issue of testing while all their neighbouring states are conducting tests.”

The Nation