COVIS-19

The National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Dr Sani Aliyu, has said the country cannot afford to conduct free COVID-19 tests for passengers arriving into Nigeria. Aliyu, who made this statement on Saturday during a webinar organised by the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, explained that the country would run out of test kits if it chooses to test the 5,000 to 7,000 persons who come into the country daily. For this reason, he said, travellers must pay for the full cost of COVID-19 testing. The coordinator explained that the kits were expensive and testing everyone was not sustainable.  He said, “The main reason why we can’t test people is due to the number of passengers we get into Nigeria. It is nothing compare...

Within 48 hours a total of 174,574 persons successfully registered for the N75bn National MSME Survival Fund and the Guaranteed Off-take Stimulus schemes under the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan, the Federal Government announced on Thursday. Registration for the MSME Survival Funds commenced at 11pm on Monday. The schemes were introduced by the Federal Government to support individuals and businesses negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mariam Katagum, told journalists in Abuja that “as at 8.30am this (Thursday) morning, total successful registrations stood at 174,574.” She added, “The following states have the highest applications as follows, Kano, 19,895; Kaduna, 13,575; Lagos, 13,640; Katsina: 8,383; Feder...

The Federal Government on Thursday flagged off two schemes to financially support about 1.7 million micro, small and medium enterprises across the country with N75bn. At a briefing on the flag-off of the National MSME Survival Fund and the Guaranteed Off-take Stimulus Schemes under the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mariam Katagum, said the schemes would impact positively on businesses. The Economic Sustainability Plan was approved by the Federal Executive Council on June 24, 2020 following its initiation by the Economic Sustainability Committee that was established by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on March 30. The committee, which is chaired by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, compr...