China Pledges One Billion Additional COVID-19 Vaccines for Nigeria, Other African Countries Promises $10bn investment in three years Omicron variant outbreak: WHO bemoans poor alert system, says new pandemic accord needed Aviation agencies vigilant, await FG’s directive NCDC harps on vaccination, adherence to protocols Onyebuchi Ezigbo and Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja, and Chinedu Eze in Lagos
As countries across the world continue to take measures to prevent the spread of the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, Chinese President
Xi Jinping yesterday said his country would offer another one billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Nigeria and other African countries.
Jinping also promised to encourage Chinese companies to invest at least $10 billion in the continent over the next three years.
The pledge of additional vaccine doses on top of the nearly 200 million that China had supplied to the continent came as concerns
mounted over the spread of the new disease variant, which was Continued on page 10
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COVID-19: Omicron Variant Yet to Be Detected in Nigeria, Says FG To issue travel guideline today Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja As countries across the world continued to take measures to prevent the spread of the new
COVID-19 variant, Omicron, Nigeria yesterday said there was currently no reported detection of the strain in the country. National COVID-19 Incident
Manager, Dr. Mukhtar Muhammad, stated this position yesterday in Abuja at a media briefing organised by the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19.
Addressing journalists, Muhammad stressed that as of yesterday, there had not been any detected case, saying, “the PSC has continued to review our risk of this latest in-
formation and take every necessary step to stop it from being imported into the country. We have taken far-reaching proactive measures to minimise and mitigate this
possibility." The discovery last week by South Africa and Botswana of the more Continued on page 10
In Most Bestial, Horrific Manner, IPOB Beheads, Cannibalises Two Police Officers Their action is unacceptable, says FG NEF kicks against Kanu’s release
Olawale Ajimotokan and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja A disturbing, hard to watch two minutes and eight seconds video of how the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the acclaimed security wing of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), celebrated the abduction and beheading of two out of three police officers, has surfaced online, causing shock and disbelief across the social space. The repulsive video, which was also seen by THISDAY, featured some young men, believed to be IPOB/ESN members, communicating in the Igbo language and surrounded two severed heads of the police officers, placed by a fire they set up as if being roasted, in a remote place. The brutish young men, who cannibalised the deceased, clowned and scorned them, even as they repeatedly stated that, one of the two killed looked like a “Fulani” from the look of his nose, the third officer was seen sitting on the floor with his fate unknown at the time Continued on page 10
PROJECTS INAUGURATION... L-R: Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri; Delta State Governor and host, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa; the Asagba of Asaba, HRH, Prof. Chike Edozien and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo SAN, when the Vice President paid a courtesy call on the monarch, during his visit to Delta State to inaugurate projects, including the Independent Power Project and the Prof. Chike Edozien Secretariat Complex in Asaba, Delta State... yesterday
World Bank Hails Kogi's 2020 Audited Financial Statement... Page 8