Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Nigerian authorities have linked the deaths of up to 600 people in the country’s second largest city to coronavirus after probing a surge in fatalities there. Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said 979 people died in April in the northern trading hub in April. A near-quadrupling of the mortality rate prompted …
Read More »Nigeria seizes British plane for flouting virus flight ban
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria has seized a British plane for flouting a travel ban imposed as part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the aviation minister said Sunday. Flair Aviation, the airline involved, was authorised to conduct humanitarian flights but was caught operating commercial flights, Hadi Sirika said on …
Read More »Virus caused ‘mystery’ mass deaths in north Nigeria: investigators
Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Mass deaths in a northern Nigerian state were caused by coronavirus, the authorities said after a preliminary investigation into the phenomenon. Gravediggers in the state of Kano have reported burying dozens of corpses per day, in what the authorities had called “mysterious deaths”. But a local COVID-19 team, after carrying …
Read More »Mistrust and black market flourish in Nigeria as virus spreads
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | A black market in coronavirus test kits is flourishing in Nigeria, spurred in part by negligible faith in the country’s health system to defeat an emerging threat. Testing is a crucial weapon in combatting COVID-19. It not only identifies where the stealthy virus has invaded — …
Read More »Questions over Nigeria virus measures as lockdown period ends
Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to Nigerians to stay at home to stop the spread of the coronavirus, but the government has still not said whether it will extend a two-week confinement order on three states that ends Monday. Residents in Lagos, Ogun and the capital Abuja have been confined …
Read More »Nigeria, South Africa step up fight against virus in Africa
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | African countries led by Nigeria and South Africa have ramped up action against the coronavirus after the continent recorded its first fatality. Nigeria said Thursday it would shut schools and limit religious meetings in its economic hub Lagos and capital Abuja, while South Africa, the continent’s …
Read More »Nigeria braces as coronavirus hits megacity Lagos
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Residents of Nigeria’s economic hub Lagos scrambled for hygiene products Friday, after the chaotic megacity of 20 million announced the first confirmed case of new coronavirus in sub-Saharan Africa. Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said in a statement overnight that the infected person was an Italian citizen …
Read More »Nigeria confirms COVID-19 case, first in sub-Saharan Africa
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria on Friday announced the first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus in sub-Saharan Africa. The case is an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria and returned from Milan earlier this week, Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said in a statement on Twitter. “The patient …
Read More »Matches on and off the field
Nigerian wives pick a side | OLUDAYO TADE | There are about 100 million active soccer fans in Nigeria and the majority actively follow Europe’s UEFA Champions League and the UK’s Premier League, according to the Nigeria Football Market Report 2019. It says Nigeria; the most populous country in Africa …
Read More »US, Nigeria hope to resolve visa row soon
Washington, United States | AFP | The United States and Nigeria voiced hope Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s administration would soon lift onerous visa restrictions slapped on Africa’s most populous country, which said it was “blindsided” by its ally. On a previously scheduled visit to Washington, Nigerian Foreign Minister …
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