COVID-19 cases spike across Nigeria
The virus seems to have launched a second attack as Nigeria has joined the rest of the world experiencing a second wave. Nigeria has gone for recording daily confirmed cases as low as 145 on November 3oth, 2020 to as high as 1,479 new cases on January 15, 2021. Covid-19 deaths recorded so far this year shows a 50 percent increase in only above 14 days compared the same period in December 2020. Nigerians are still flouting COVID-19 rules as many are seen daily with face masks in spite of the spike in cases in recent times.
Trump impeached for the second time by US congress
The United states of America showed once again that they have had enough of President Donald trump by voting to impeach him even though he was days away from leaving office. The House of Representatives on Wednesday made Donald Trump the first U.S. president to be impeached twice, formally charging him with inciting an insurrection just a week after a violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol. The House voted 232 to 197 on Wednesday in favour of impeaching the president after the riot that left five people dead, with 10 Republicans breaking ranks to join all Democrats in voting to charge Mr Trump. That means the trial will likely begin after Trump leaves office on Jan. 20. The House must formally transmit the charge against Trump to the Senate before the trial can begin.
Telegram records 25 million new users in three days
Telegram, a social media platform used both for private communications and sharing information and news received 25 million new users in three days this past week, this information was disclosed by Pavel Durov, the Russia-born founder of Telegram. The surge in downloads comes after WhatsApp, which boasts over two billion users, introduced controversial changes to its privacy conditions that will allow it to share more data with its parent company Facebook. Any WhatsApp user who does not accept the new term will be cut off by February but users are also taking to the use of telegram as a save haven when that happens.
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Nigeria’s inflation rate quickens t0 15.75%
Nigeria’s inflation rate has continued to rise unbated for the past 33 months as food cost surges. The consumer price index, (CPI) which measures inflation accelerated by 15.75 percent in December 2020, from 14.89 percent in November 2020. Food inflation rose by 19.56 percent month-on-month compared to 18.30 percent in November 2020. The major drivers of the rise in Nigeria’s food index are bread, cereal, meat, fruits, vegetables, oil & fat, potatoes, fish, yam and other tubers.
NCC insists that deadline on NIN registration stands
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has turned deaf ears on the repeated calls for the extension or outright suspension of the registration process due to the short timeframe and surge in the number of coronavirus infections across the country.
The NCC has insisted that the earlier announced deadlines for the integration of Subscriber Identification Modules (SIM) with valid National Identification Numbers (NIN), still stand, as it awaits advice from the Federal Government. Those who have NIN have till January 19 to link NIN and February 9th for those who do not have.
Despite the Surge in COVID-19 cases, FG says resumption date still stands
There have been concerns regarding school resumption date which was set for January 18 after the 9-month long strike ended. However, the surge in COVID-19 cases has raised concerns as to how safe resumption will be for student. The Federal Government has said schools will still resume on January 18th as earlier set and all COVID-19 protocols must be observed by students towards resumption.
Elon Musk falls to world’s second richest person in days
The world cheered as Elon Musk, Tesla billionaire over took Jeff Bezos as the richest man in the world but this victory did not last long as Bezos sent Musk back to the second position in a matter of days. Amazon’s stock rose by nearly 1.5 percent on Wednesday, pushing Bezos’s worth up by $2.4 billion to $184.9 billion. This made him the richest person in the world once again, according to Forbes estimate putting him just $200 millon richer than Musk who is worth $184.7 billion.
Social media shut down in Uganda
Uganda blocked access to social media platform in East African country just two days before the presidential election on January 14’s presidential and parliamentary elections. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said his government shut down social media two days before the country heads to the polls, accusing Facebook and unnamed outside groups of “arrogance” after the social media giant this week removed Ugandan accounts linked to his re-election campaign.
Uganda votes in intense presidential elections
Bobi Wine, a 38-year-old musician, is the frontrunner seeking to unseat long-time leader Yoweri Museveni who is eyeing a sixth term after 35 years in power. Despite being that long in power, Uganda has been plagued with high unemployment and ballooning public debt. Bobi Wine whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, said the 76-year-old president could not offer Ugandans the change they want. Many other African countries and Uganda youths cheered in support of Bobi wine with hash tags captioned “we are removing a dictator”. In early result, it was shown that Bobi was in the lead but the elections have not been concluded.
Flutterwave remains the most valuable YC-backed African start-up
Flutterwave was once again the only African startup on the list for the second year running, according to a list compiled by YC. Y Combinator (YC), a US seed-stage accelerator, released its YC Top Companies list. According to a statement, the list was put together to help potential employees, partners, and late-stage investors know a wider set of YC companies. However, despite Flutterwave increase in valuation after raising a $35m Series B round in January 2020, the five-year-old startup dropped 18 places to 115 this year. Many other startups also switched positions to reflect the changes in valuation that occurred in 2020. For one, Airbnb overtook Stripe to become YC’s most valuable company after going public in December
