Two Nigerian footballers - international striker Ifeanyi George and Emmanuel Ogbu - have been killed in a car crash in Abudu that also claimed the life of a third person.
The pair, who played for Nigerian league side Enugu Rangers, were involved in a crash on the Benin-Agbor road whilst travelling to Lagos on Sunday morning.
Super Eagles forward George, who won two caps for his country in 2017, was 26.
Ogbu was a member of the club's youth team.
The car had another passenger - Eteka Gabriel, a friend of George's - who also died.
The players were returning to Lagos from Enugu following a break in the Nigeria league due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"The management of Rangers International FC shall, in conjunction with the families of Ifeanyi George and Emmanuel Ogbu, pay a befitting last respect to both players," a club statement read.
"We mourn their sudden demise. It's indeed shocking that we are talking of Ifeanyi and Emmanuel in the past tense."
BBC
Monday, March 23, 2020
Nigeria reports its first coronavirus-related death
Nigeria reported its first coronavirus-related death on Monday, Nigeria's Centre for Disease Control said.
The patient was a 67-year-old man who came back to Nigeria in March after undergoing medical treatment in the UK, the NCDC said in a tweet.
He had multiple underlying health conditions including including cancer, diabetes and had been undergoing chemotherapy treatments, the statement from the agency said.
Two people, including an Italian who was the first case of coronavirus diagnosed in the country, have recovered and been discharged from the hospital, authorities said.
The country is locked in a race against time to control the spread of the novel coronavirus in Africa's most populous nation as cases have increased to 36 across six states as of Monday morning.
Universities are shut nationwide while some states have closed schools in the West African country to prevent local transmission of the virus.
All civil servants in non-essential roles have been ordered to work from home for at least two weeks in Lagos State, a megacity of around 20 million people.
Airports closed
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority announced a ban on all international flights except essential or emergency flights on Saturday.
The majority of new coronavirus cases have been detected in Nigerians who returned from countries in Europe, Canada, and the United States prompting authorities to impose a travel ban on citizens from countries with more than 1,000 cases last week.
CNN
The patient was a 67-year-old man who came back to Nigeria in March after undergoing medical treatment in the UK, the NCDC said in a tweet.
He had multiple underlying health conditions including including cancer, diabetes and had been undergoing chemotherapy treatments, the statement from the agency said.
Two people, including an Italian who was the first case of coronavirus diagnosed in the country, have recovered and been discharged from the hospital, authorities said.
The country is locked in a race against time to control the spread of the novel coronavirus in Africa's most populous nation as cases have increased to 36 across six states as of Monday morning.
Universities are shut nationwide while some states have closed schools in the West African country to prevent local transmission of the virus.
All civil servants in non-essential roles have been ordered to work from home for at least two weeks in Lagos State, a megacity of around 20 million people.
Airports closed
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority announced a ban on all international flights except essential or emergency flights on Saturday.
The majority of new coronavirus cases have been detected in Nigerians who returned from countries in Europe, Canada, and the United States prompting authorities to impose a travel ban on citizens from countries with more than 1,000 cases last week.
CNN
Nigeria records chloroquine poisoning after Trump endorses it for coronavirus treatment
Health officials in Nigeria have issued a warning over chloroquine after they said three people in the country overdosed on the drug, in the wake of President Trump's comments about using it to treat coronavirus.
A Lagos state official told CNN that three people were hospitalized in the city after taking the drug. Officials later issued a statement cautioning against using chloroquine for Covid-19 treatment.
US President Donald Trump claimed at a White House briefing last week that the Food and Drug Administration had approved the "very powerful" drug chloroquine to treat coronavirus.
"It's shown very encouraging -- very, very encouraging early results. And we're going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately. And that's where the FDA has been so great. They -- they've gone through the approval process; it's been approved. And they did it -- they took it down from many, many months to immediate. So we're going to be able to make that drug available by prescription or states," Trump said.
He added: "Normally the FDA would take a long time to approve something like that, and it's -- it was approved very, very quickly and it's now approved, by prescription."
However, the FDA after the briefing issued a statement saying it had not approved the drug for use against Covid-19 and is still studying its effectiveness against the disease.
Price hikes
Trump's endorsement of the drug led to a surge of interest among Nigerians keen to stock up on the medication, which has led to inevitable price hikes in the megacity of around 20 million inhabitants.
One man told CNN that in a pharmacy near his home on the Lagos mainland, he witnessed the price rise by more than 400% in a matter of minutes.
Kayode Fabunmi, a Lagos-based lawyer, said: "The pharmacist knew the market and was saying to every incoming customer, 'You know Donald Trump has said this thing cures coronavirus,' and the price kept changing.
"The original price was 200 naira (around 50 cents), then it became 500 naira ($1.38) then it became 1,000 naira ($2.77) while I was there," he said.
The Lagos State Health Ministry issued a brief statement saying there was no "hard evidence that chloroquine is effective in prevention or management of coronavirus infection."
Chloroquine is used to treat malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Malaria is an endemic disease in Nigeria and other parts of Africa and for many years, it was common to treat it with chloroquine. However, at least 40 African countries, including Nigeria, have phased it out as a frontline antimalarial drug and replaced it with other drugs following widespread resistance to it.
Lack of clinical evidence
While doctors in China, the United States and other countries have used the drug experimentally in Covid-19 patients, there is not yet enough clinical evidence that it's effective in humans or the management of the disease.
Dr. Michel Yao, Africa emergency response program manager for the World Health Organization, told CNN there are 20 drugs and the same number of vaccines under clinical trial, and it is too early to make recommendations about the efficacy of any for the treatment of the virus.
"The WHO's position is clear. Any medication should be based on evidence. We don't have yet any evidence from any of these trials that would allow WHO to do a formal recommendation. All these are in progress, so it is difficult for us to recommend at this stage that any of the medicine can be of use for the treatment of coronavirus," Yao said.
"It is too early to rush to the decision that chloroquine ... at least for WHO to recommend it for the treatment of coronavirus," he added.
Side effects
Fabunmi, 44, told CNN he had used chloroquine before to treat malaria and recalled that severe itching was one of the side effects.
"For two, three days you will be itching," he said. "You dread having a bath, you will scratch and scratch and you would have to take piriton (an antihistamine) alongside it.
"It's also very bitter. If you make the mistake of letting it drop in your mouth, you will feel the taste for a long time."
Nigeria as of Sunday has reported 30 cases of Covid-19 and Fabunmi said he feels better having his batch of chloroquine.
"I didn't mind paying as I just wanted to get some in case it will become necessary. ... I didn't want a situation where I will regret not buying it. Better to be safe than sorry," he said.
By Stephanie Busari and Bukola Adebayo
CNN
A Lagos state official told CNN that three people were hospitalized in the city after taking the drug. Officials later issued a statement cautioning against using chloroquine for Covid-19 treatment.
US President Donald Trump claimed at a White House briefing last week that the Food and Drug Administration had approved the "very powerful" drug chloroquine to treat coronavirus.
"It's shown very encouraging -- very, very encouraging early results. And we're going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately. And that's where the FDA has been so great. They -- they've gone through the approval process; it's been approved. And they did it -- they took it down from many, many months to immediate. So we're going to be able to make that drug available by prescription or states," Trump said.
He added: "Normally the FDA would take a long time to approve something like that, and it's -- it was approved very, very quickly and it's now approved, by prescription."
However, the FDA after the briefing issued a statement saying it had not approved the drug for use against Covid-19 and is still studying its effectiveness against the disease.
Price hikes
Trump's endorsement of the drug led to a surge of interest among Nigerians keen to stock up on the medication, which has led to inevitable price hikes in the megacity of around 20 million inhabitants.
One man told CNN that in a pharmacy near his home on the Lagos mainland, he witnessed the price rise by more than 400% in a matter of minutes.
Kayode Fabunmi, a Lagos-based lawyer, said: "The pharmacist knew the market and was saying to every incoming customer, 'You know Donald Trump has said this thing cures coronavirus,' and the price kept changing.
"The original price was 200 naira (around 50 cents), then it became 500 naira ($1.38) then it became 1,000 naira ($2.77) while I was there," he said.
The Lagos State Health Ministry issued a brief statement saying there was no "hard evidence that chloroquine is effective in prevention or management of coronavirus infection."
Chloroquine is used to treat malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Malaria is an endemic disease in Nigeria and other parts of Africa and for many years, it was common to treat it with chloroquine. However, at least 40 African countries, including Nigeria, have phased it out as a frontline antimalarial drug and replaced it with other drugs following widespread resistance to it.
Lack of clinical evidence
While doctors in China, the United States and other countries have used the drug experimentally in Covid-19 patients, there is not yet enough clinical evidence that it's effective in humans or the management of the disease.
Dr. Michel Yao, Africa emergency response program manager for the World Health Organization, told CNN there are 20 drugs and the same number of vaccines under clinical trial, and it is too early to make recommendations about the efficacy of any for the treatment of the virus.
"The WHO's position is clear. Any medication should be based on evidence. We don't have yet any evidence from any of these trials that would allow WHO to do a formal recommendation. All these are in progress, so it is difficult for us to recommend at this stage that any of the medicine can be of use for the treatment of coronavirus," Yao said.
"It is too early to rush to the decision that chloroquine ... at least for WHO to recommend it for the treatment of coronavirus," he added.
Side effects
Fabunmi, 44, told CNN he had used chloroquine before to treat malaria and recalled that severe itching was one of the side effects.
"For two, three days you will be itching," he said. "You dread having a bath, you will scratch and scratch and you would have to take piriton (an antihistamine) alongside it.
"It's also very bitter. If you make the mistake of letting it drop in your mouth, you will feel the taste for a long time."
Nigeria as of Sunday has reported 30 cases of Covid-19 and Fabunmi said he feels better having his batch of chloroquine.
"I didn't mind paying as I just wanted to get some in case it will become necessary. ... I didn't want a situation where I will regret not buying it. Better to be safe than sorry," he said.
By Stephanie Busari and Bukola Adebayo
CNN
Friday, March 20, 2020
Nigeria Says Virus May Trigger Foreign-Exchange Realignment
We’re tracking the latest on the coronavirus outbreak and the global response. Sign up here for our daily newsletter on what you need to know.
The Nigerian government warned the coronavirus pandemic could set off an exchange rate “realignment,” in a rare acknowledgment by an administration that has made a stable currency a key economic pillar.
After meeting with his new Economic Advisory Council, President Muhammadu Buhari said the country needed to prepare to take “tough economic decisions.”
A global recession “could slow down Nigeria’s fragile growth and trigger exchange rate re-alignment,” the presidency said in a statement summarizing discussions.
Last week the central bank denied it had plans to devalue the naira at this time, amid speculation of a mark down. The currency has remained largely stable over the last two years under the management of the central bank.
Crashing oil prices have increased pressure on the naira as foreign reserves in Africa’s top oil producer falls rapidly. Nigeria relies on crude sales as its main source of hard currency.
“These lines make me hopeful that they are coming around to considering a devaluation in the near term, instead of prevaricating,” said Yvonne Mhango, a sub-Saharan Africa economist at Renaissance Capital.
The advisory group, headed by a former central bank board member, Doyin Salami, recommended the securitization of government debt, a new revenue stabilization program and cutting costs. The council voiced concerns over worsening economic fundamentals reflected by quickening inflation and weak external sector, the statement said.
By Alonso Soto
Bloomberg
The Nigerian government warned the coronavirus pandemic could set off an exchange rate “realignment,” in a rare acknowledgment by an administration that has made a stable currency a key economic pillar.
After meeting with his new Economic Advisory Council, President Muhammadu Buhari said the country needed to prepare to take “tough economic decisions.”
A global recession “could slow down Nigeria’s fragile growth and trigger exchange rate re-alignment,” the presidency said in a statement summarizing discussions.
Last week the central bank denied it had plans to devalue the naira at this time, amid speculation of a mark down. The currency has remained largely stable over the last two years under the management of the central bank.
Crashing oil prices have increased pressure on the naira as foreign reserves in Africa’s top oil producer falls rapidly. Nigeria relies on crude sales as its main source of hard currency.
“These lines make me hopeful that they are coming around to considering a devaluation in the near term, instead of prevaricating,” said Yvonne Mhango, a sub-Saharan Africa economist at Renaissance Capital.
The advisory group, headed by a former central bank board member, Doyin Salami, recommended the securitization of government debt, a new revenue stabilization program and cutting costs. The council voiced concerns over worsening economic fundamentals reflected by quickening inflation and weak external sector, the statement said.
By Alonso Soto
Bloomberg
Nigeria confirms four new positive cases of COVID-19
Nigeria recorded four new cases of the coronavirus in Lagos state bringing the total number of confirmed positive cases in the country to 12, the Ministry of Health said on Thursday.
A statement from the ministry said that the cases were confirmed by the Lagos University Teaching Hospital adding that the patients were in stable condition.
According to the statement, the four are all Nigerians, two of whom recently returned from the United Kingdom and France.
One of the patients is a contact of a case who tested positive Monday while the fourth case has no history of travelling to any of the high-risk countries.
“They are all being treated and clinically stable, including our youngest patient. The government is committed to providing optimal care for all confirmed COVID-19 cases who are currently hospitalized in Lagos and Ekiti state,” the statement read in part.
The ministry added that it is tracing all the people who may have come into contact with the new cases.
Meanwhile, Nigerian Minister of Health Dr Osagie Ehanire called for calm and collective responsibility, rather than panic, to contain the pandemic.
“Nigeria is experiencing an influx of imported COVID-19 cases by returning Nigerians, emphasising the importance of self-isolation for a minimum of 14 days even if you feel well,” Dr Ehanire tweeted.
On Wednesday, Nigeria’s federal government announced a ban on travelers from 13 countries as a measure of controlling the coronavirus pandemic.
The affected countries include China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
The measure will take effect on Saturday, March 21.
CGTN
A statement from the ministry said that the cases were confirmed by the Lagos University Teaching Hospital adding that the patients were in stable condition.
According to the statement, the four are all Nigerians, two of whom recently returned from the United Kingdom and France.
One of the patients is a contact of a case who tested positive Monday while the fourth case has no history of travelling to any of the high-risk countries.
“They are all being treated and clinically stable, including our youngest patient. The government is committed to providing optimal care for all confirmed COVID-19 cases who are currently hospitalized in Lagos and Ekiti state,” the statement read in part.
The ministry added that it is tracing all the people who may have come into contact with the new cases.
Meanwhile, Nigerian Minister of Health Dr Osagie Ehanire called for calm and collective responsibility, rather than panic, to contain the pandemic.
“Nigeria is experiencing an influx of imported COVID-19 cases by returning Nigerians, emphasising the importance of self-isolation for a minimum of 14 days even if you feel well,” Dr Ehanire tweeted.
On Wednesday, Nigeria’s federal government announced a ban on travelers from 13 countries as a measure of controlling the coronavirus pandemic.
The affected countries include China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
The measure will take effect on Saturday, March 21.
CGTN
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