The fire that gutted a flank of the Treasury House, office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, was caused by an electric spark at about 10 a.m. on Wednesday, the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, says. Mr Agba spoke with journalists after the fire was…

The nation's Treasury House, which houses the Accountant General of the Federation, has caught fire. The building is located beside the Federal Capital Territory FCT Police Command in Garki, Abuja. PREMIUM TIMES could not immediately ascertain the cause of the fire or if there has been causality. A combined team…

Facebook-owned chat app, WhatsApp, said on Tuesday that it was set to impose a strict new limit on message forwarding as it seeks to slow the pace with which fake news spread on its platform during the coronavirus pandemic. The company said in a statement that this action was imperative…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been taken into intensive care in hospital with coronavirus, Downing Street said on Monday night. Mr Johnson was moved to the intensive care unit after his coronavirus symptoms worsened, a Number 10 spokesperson said in a statement. The spokesperson said Mr Johnson has asked…

A 4-year-old female Malayan tiger, Nadia, has tested positive to coronavirus, becoming the first of its kind to be declared so, officials from the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo in New York said in a statement on Sunday. The statement said Nadia, her sister Azul, two Amur tigers, and three…

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has said he has tested negative to coronavirus. Mr Makinde said this via his Twitter handle late Sunday night. https://twitter.com/seyiamakinde/status/1246925979706146819 "I am deeply moved by your prayers and support throughout this period. I am so thankful," he said in the tweet. "This evening, I received…

Shenzhen, a city in southeastern China, has become the first city in the country to ban the consumption of pets, such as cats and dogs, CNN has reported. The law is expected to take from effect May 1. Shenzhen authorities announced this week that from then on, it will be…

Amidst a lockdown of their country due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an Indian couple has named their newborn twins 'Corona,' a boy and 'Covid,' a girl. The couple based in Raipur, capital of Chhattisgarh, a state in central India, said, to them, the names connote the triumph they had over…

The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Abubakar, has described as unfortunate and misleading preaching by some Islamic clerics on government's directives for citizens to stay home. Mr Abubakar spoke on Monday through Khalid Aliyu, the secretary of Jama'atu Nasril Islam (JNI), the umbrella body for Nigerian Muslims, headquartered in Kaduna State.…

Hit by the impact of coronavirus, Nigeria, like other countries, has been mopping up funds from every means possible to fight the plague and support its shaky economy. This has been lately due to the free fall in oil prices that has left the country's 2020 budget in limbo. With…

Nigeria needs to embark on massive testing and isolation of patients to check the spread of COVID-19 infection in the country, a member of the House of Representatives, Mansur Soro (APC, Bauchi), said on Sunday. Citing the proximity of Taiwan to China, he said Taiwan has shown that the fight…

President Muhammadu Buhari has sent a congratulatory message to a former governor of Lagos State and a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, who clocked 68 Saturday. The president, who spoke through his aide, Femi Adesina, praised Mr Tinubu's "courage, forthrightness and diligence in providing exemplary and…

The shortage of ventilators in Nigerian hospitals would get a huge boost if members of the nation's House of Representatives donate their March salaries to procure the equipment as the country battles the COVID-19 pandemic, a lawmaker said on Thursday. COVID-19, a disease caused by the coronavirus, affects the respiratory…

In a bid to check the spread of COVID-19, the Presidential Villa has gone on 'partial lockdown', the president's spokesperson, Femi Adesina, said on Wednesday. “Things are a bit on a low key. It doesn’t mean that the State House is shut down. What is happening at the State House…

The Presidency has reduced the number of reporters allowed to enter the presidential villa for media coverage of any event from over 100 to about 13 This is to take effect from Wednesday, March 25. This was reportedly contained in an internal memo but also confirmed by the presidential spokesperson,…

As Nigeria's number of confirmed COVID-19 cases reached 36 Monday afternoon, there are concerns over the preparedness of Nigeria's public health system for combating the pandemic. Abuja has six confirmed cases as of Monday afternoon, concerns over a wider spread have soared in the capital city. Schools, religious and public…

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has directed all public officers in the state to work from homes. The governor, however, exempted health workers, forest guards, neighbourhood watch personnel, water corporation staff, waste management operatives, staff of Enugu State emergency management agency, firefighters and all those involved in other essential…

Nigeria's vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, is currently observing self-isolation, a statement from his office said on Tuesday. Spokesperson of Mr Osinbajo, Laolu Akande, said in a tweet that his principal has continued "his work from the home office, as he is in self-isolation in accordance with NCDC protocols." https://twitter.com/akandeoj/status/1242524554637049858?s=19 The…

Any company that does not lay off its staff till the end of the year would have the federal government refund 50 per cent of the income tax paid on its employees' salaries, a bill passed by the House of Representatives on Tuesday says. As COVID-19 disease ravages the land,…

The House of Representatives adjourned plenary for two weeks on Tuesday. House Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila announced this after the House held its plenary. Mr Gbajabiamila said the decision was imperative in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak battling the world. He said the adjournment "is not a holiday" but a…

In what it tagged #TakeResponsibility, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has launched an online campaign to help curb the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and fake news. The centre on Monday said itself and other government agencies, through the campaign, hope to promote measures needed to help Nigerians make…

UEFA has formally postponed all its club competitions until further notice As a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis in Europe. Originally scheduled for May 2020, the finals of the UEFA Women’s Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Champions League Final are now rescheduled, according to the UEFA statement…

A consignment of over 1.5 million laboratory diagnostic test kits and over 100 tonnes of infection prevention and control commodities arrived in Africa on Monday. The shipment is a donation from Chinese billionaire, Jack Ma, and his foundation, Alibaba. Nigeria and the other 53 African countries will each get 20,000…

The House of Representatives held plenary and performed other legislative duties throughout last week, even as the coronavirus pandemic continued to harass mankind. Below are some of the discussions in the lower chamber last week. House Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila at a two-day retreat on Monday urged the Nigerian military to…

A bill to establish an agency for forest guards to man federal roads and highways scaled second reading in the House of Representatives on Thursday. The piece of legislation seeks to charge the agency with the responsibility, among other things, "to detect and prevent crime, banditry, kidnapping, terrorism and violence."…