IGP has banned FSARS from stop and search duties and other road block activities.
On Sunday, October 4 2020, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Muhammed Adamu announced the ban placed on the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) popularly known as SARS and all other tactical unit of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF).
This good news came following the outcry on social media when a video was uploaded showing confusion around the Wetland Hotel in Ughelli area of Delta state after SARS officials shot dead a young man and escaped with his vehicle- a white Lexus Sport Utility vehicle.
The IGP announced that all members of the NPF tactical unit have been banned from carrying out routine patrols and other conventional low-risk duties: stop and search, mounting of road blocks, check points and traffic check with immediate effect.
Nigerians are, however, advocating for a wholesome dissolution of SARS to end police brutality and extra-judicial killings and on Thursday took to the streets of Lagos from Lekki Toll Gate to Zone Two Headquarters and Area A Command at Oniru, Lagos Island, to protest and relay their hearts.
Nigerian celebrities like Folarin Falana, popularly called Falz, Runtown, Jaywon, Elozonam Ogbolu and Prince Enwerem were all part of this protest.
Nigeria’s Okonjo Iweala makes final shortlist in the race for WTO DG
From a shortlist of 5, Okonjo Iweala, former minister of finance in Nigeria has made it to the final two canditates competing for the post of Director General in the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
She was nominated by President Buhari in June 2020 for the post and she has succeeded in climbing the ladder to the final round with Yoo Myung-Hee, minister of trade in South Korea as her only competition.
The WTO has never been led by a woman or an African and the hope is that having an African head the organisation could boost the continent’s trade, which has stagnated at 2 percent to 3 percent of the global average. The successful candidate is expected to be announced next month.
Read also: Disbanding of SARS only first step to police reform Buhari speaks finally
Joshua Cheptegei smashes 10,000m world record as Letesenbet Gidey sets new women’s 5,000m best
Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei, a long-distance runner now holds two world records as on October 7 2020 he broke the 10,000m world record with finish time of 26 minutes 11 seconds, thus adding this to his previous 5000m world record smash on August 14 2020.
The previous holder of the world record for 10,000m race was Kenenisa Bekele’s who had a finish time of 26 minutes 17 seconds, set in Brussels in 2005. Cheptegei’s new record means that he ran an average of 100m every 15 seconds.
On the women’s side, Letesenbet Gidey, an Ethiopian long-distance runner made Africa proud by smashing the women’s 5000m 12-year-old world record with a finish time of 14 minutes 6 seconds.
President Muhammadu Buhari presented Nigeria’s 2021 budget estimate of N13.08 trillion on Thursday
The proposed N13.08 trillion budget is divided into recurrent expenditure of N5.65 trillion, capital expenditure of N3.85 trillion, personnel cost of N3.76 trillion and debt service of N3.12 trillion.
Revenue is estimated at N8.433 trillion and it is benchmarked on oil price of $40/barrel while the total available revenue to fund the budget is N7.886 trillion.
Nigerian stocks posted biggest daily gain on October 6 2020.
Nigerian stocks did really well on Tuesday as it gained the most it had seen in the last five years. The equity market’s All Share Index (ASI) increased 4.9 percent in Lagos, becoming the best it had been since April 2015.
Coronavirus in Africa has been less deadly than Asia, Europe, and America.
Africa has a total population of more than one billion and has had about 1.5 million coronavirus cases, according to data compiled by the John Hopkins University,
Many African countries have received accolades on their effective campaign to curb the spread of the virus despite being known for having fragile health systems in their countries.
In Africa, only about 37,000 coronavirus deaths have been recorded while roughly about 580,000 deaths have been recorded in America, with Europe and Asia recording 205,000 and 230,000 deaths respectively.
