We’re Ready to Operate Abuja/Kaduna Line, Says NRC

Rail workers task FG on passengers’ safety

Following the announcement by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, on the resumption of the Abuja/Kaduna rail line, the Nigerian Railway Cooperation (NRC) says it is 85 per cent ready for commencement of operation on the route.

During the inspection of the stations at the weekend, the Station Manager, Abuja/Kaduna Train Service, Pascal Nnorli, told newsmen in Kaduna that they had been able to put the social distancing marks in the station’s buildings and coaches.

What is remaining, he added, is the decontamination of the rolling stocks, the station’s building and the office.He, however, declared the station’s ‘no mask, no entry’ zone, disclosing that they had employed more security personnel to ensure passengers comply with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) guidelines.

“This is about life and death; it doesn’t know big man, middle man or small man. So, anybody who is not willing to comply with those protocols we have set, please don’t come to our station.”

Meanwhile, Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai, while speaking at the Rigasa station, commended the Federal Government on the increase in the transport fares, saying it would help curb ticket racketeering on the route.

The government had announced that passengers on economy class would pay N3,000; business class N5,000 and first class N6,000. El-Rufai, however, appealed to the Federal Government to computerise the ticket purchase to cut out middlemen and hoarders.

AS the Federal Government considers re-opening of railway operations, the Nigeria Union of Railway Workers (NUR) has called on government to ensure that all required safety and preventive protocols are in order before bringing the trains back on track.

According to NUR, the health and safety of of commuters and workers are very dear to the union, saying it would not be disposed to a situation that will undermine the health of its members and customers.

In a statement signed by the Secretary-General, Segun Esan, the union said adequate healthcare facilities should be provided within railway industrial clinics to serve as care and isolation centres where COVID cases could be promptly addressed.

It stated that all the workers in the corporation’s health department and various clinics should be adequately protected against the virus and should be paid hazard allowance as obtainable in the health sector.

Esan added that the government should ensure that the frontline workers of the corporation like the ticket checkers, station staff, loco driving crew, mechanical staff and other train running staff were provided personal protective equipment.

“Succinctly put, the quest of the Federal Government to return train services is a welcome idea and should be a direct function of robust insulation from the pandemic of all the workers of the corporation wherever they work within the railway system, and the teeming commuters and customers of the corporation wherever they exist in Nigeria,” he added.

https://t.guardian.ng/news/were-ready-to-operate-abuja-kaduna-line-says-nrc/

CAC Adopts Electronic Distribution of Company Certificates

• ‘Why we did not register Ohanaeze Ndingbo group’

As from August 10, 2020, the Corporate Affairs Commission [CAC] will commence full implementation of an electronic system for company registration.With the new development, companies’ registration certificates would henceforth be sent to customers through courier or by electronic service of their choice as against the former practice where the firms come to the commission to physically collect their certificates.

Last week Thursday, some lawyer customers besieged the CAC headquarters in Abuja to protest against the commission’s new method of distributing certificates that they claimed was not favourable.

The Registrar-General and Chief Executive, CAC, Garba Abubakar, who spoke to journalists in Abuja at weekend on some of the reforms being implemented under his leadership, said the new method was adopted to avoid physical contact with clients.

“Based on global standards, company registrations are done electronically without physical presence. The era when lawyers besiege the commission to conduct such transactions is over,” he said.

According to Abubakar, the new electronic system will help to speed up the registration process as well as protect the integrity of documents issued by the CAC.

“The new system is also part of measures to comply with the COVID-19 protocols on physical distancing. These are unusual times as the country has been shut for over two months. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, things have not returned to normal because our system is not fully electronic. We have to interface with customers as we are expected to carry out registration. With the restrictions, it is almost impossible to provide full services the way we did in the past.’He said the CAC had also eliminated the process of searching records manually, following the discovery that it was being compromised.

Abubakar disclosed that two weeks ago, two lawyers were caught at the commission tampering with documents during the process of manual searches. On why CAC delisted Ohanaeze Ndigbo cultural organization, the commission’s boss said it was due to a security report.

‘’We wrote to the security agencies and were told that the organization was yet to get security clearance. Also, we are telling similar organizations such as the South South, Middle Belt, Arewa and North East fora to make sure they get security clearance before we can register them.’’

https://t.guardian.ng/news/nigeria/national/cac-adopts-electronic-distribution-of-company-certificates/

Iran Says Medics Exhausted in Battle Against Coronavirus

Iran reported 216 new deaths from the novel coronavirus on Sunday, calling on its citizens to observe health protocols more closely to ease the burden on exhausted medical staff.

The Islamic republic announced its first COVID-19 cases on February 19, and the outbreak quickly became the Middle East’s deadliest.

Declared coronavirus deaths have surged since the end of June and claimed more than 200 lives nearly every day in the past week, including a record 229 on Tuesday.

“Our biggest concerns are the infection and fatigue of medical staff,” health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said in a televised briefing on Sunday.

“We can help them and prevent the spread of the disease” by observing basic guidelines such as hand-washing, mask-wearing and social distancing, she added.

Iran said earlier this month that 5,000 health workers had been infected with the novel coronavirus and 140 had lost their lives.

According to Lari, the 216 fatalities recorded in the past 24 hours brought to 15,700 the overall death toll in the country’s outbreak.

A further 2,333 new cases of infection were confirmed over the same period, she added, taking the total to 291,172.

The official said that 12 of Iran’s 31 provinces were classified as “red” and 13 were on “alert” or close to red.

Red is the highest category on the country’s coronavirus risk scale.

Authorities have made masks mandatory in enclosed public spaces and allowed the hardest-hit provinces, including Tehran, to reimpose restrictions that had been progressively lifted since April to reopen Iran’s sanctions-hit economy.

https://t.guardian.ng/news/iran-says-medics-exhausted-in-battle-against-coronavirus/

Italian Region Imposes 1,000-Euro Fines For Not Wearing Masks

Three businesses in the southern Italian city of Salerno are the first to fall foul of tough new anti-coronavirus regulations imposed by the region of Campania, local media reported Sunday.

The three businesses, which include a bar and a hairdresser, were hit with 1,000-euro ($1,166) fines after police found they had not respected an edict imposed on Friday that requires people to wear masks in enclosed spaces.

“If our fellow citizens think that the problem is resolved, that means that within a few weeks we will return to a grave emergency,” Vincenzo De Luca, the president of Campania, which includes Naples, posted on Facebook on Friday.

“We knew that there would be an increase in contamination, it was widely expected,” he said, a few hours before the publication of an order toughening the rules to fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

The key measure of the text is a fine of 1,000 euros for anyone who does not wear a mask in an enclosed space, whether in public buildings, supermarkets, bars, restaurants, shops or on public transport.

According to the new regulations, “transport operators are required to deny access to passengers who do not wear the mask”.

If they are on board, they must be sanctioned and “invited to disembark immediately or as soon as possible”. If they refuse, “the bus or train will be blocked” and the “intervention of the police will be requested”.

Businesses are also being held responsible “if the offence is committed in the exercise of a commercial activity”.

Apart from a 1,000-euro fine, the business could face closure from five to 30 days.

Italy was the first country in Europe to be affected by coronavirus. More than 35,000 people have died and there have been over 242,000 cases of contamination.

Saturday saw 275 new cases as well as five deaths.

https://t.guardian.ng/news/italian-region-imposes-1000-euro-fines-for-not-wearing-masks/

Group Urges Buhari to Devolve Powers on Security, Land, Others to Regions

A social and professional group in Ogun State, the Abeokuta Club, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to devolve powers to the regions of the federation to enhance productivity, efficiency and optimal benefits to citizens.

The group also implored the President to devolve authority on security, land, solid minerals, inland waterways, agriculture and education to regional units, insisting that these sectors are closer to the people and should be left in the hands of authorities closer to them.

This position formed part of the communique issued at the end of Sobo Sowemimo yearly lecture of the club in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. The club, in the communique signed by its President, Tokunbo Odebunmimade, and made available to journalists yesterday, opined that the Federal Government should concentrate more on defence, foreign affairs, aviation and air-space control, marine boundaries, international relations and international trade.

The communique recommended that the government should cede to the regional units matters such as higher education, internal trade, research and development, science, technology and innovation and other issues that would be better enhanced through regional structures.

It also urged the federal and state governments to promote togetherness of the people of Nigeria in manners devoid of domineering spirit or tendencies, disregard or disrespect of any component and with observance of, and respect for the fundamental human rights.

https://t.guardian.ng/news/group-urges-buhari-to-devolve-powers-on-security-land-others-to-regions/

Abuja-Kaduna Railway Services to Resume July 29

• As Buhari Approves N3000, N6000 Transport Fare

Four months after the suspension of commercial operations on Abuja-Kaduna railway corridor, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, yesterday, said train services on the route would resume on July 29.

He also said due to social distancing that needed to be maintained in coaches, President Buhari has approved N3000, as passenger fare for Economy coaches, N5000 for Business class, and N6000 for the VIP section

The Minister, who spoke during the inspection and test-running of the 10 new coaches and two locomotives,  said the new coaches would help to run hourly services on the route.

Confirming that there was pressure to resume operations before Ei-el –Kabir celebrations, Amaechi said the corporation was increasing operations from initial eight services to 14 operations daily.

On the commercial activities on Itakpe to Warri, he said the axis would be more lucrative than Abuja-Kaduna, saying: “By the time Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas project starts, pipes would be conveyed from Warri seaport to Itakpe…”

Amaechi said the Lagos-Ibadan rail project was moving at a slow pace, due to COVID-19 while for Ibadan-Kano project, they were “still waiting for money.”

https://t.guardian.ng/news/abuja-kaduna-railway-services-to-resume-july-29/

Three Killed as Microlight Plane Crashes Into House in Germany

A microlight plane crashed into the roof of a house in western Germany on Saturday, leaving three people dead, including the mother of a young child, firefighters said.

The accident, the cause of which has not been determined, took place in Wesel, a city on North Rhine-Westphalia, according to local police.

The small plane crashed into an apartment built under the roof of the house, where a woman and her two-year-old child lived, causing a fire which gutted the place.

The mother was among the victims, along with two people aboard the plane, firefighters said.

The child was only slightly injured.

https://t.guardian.ng/news/three-killed-as-microlight-plane-crashes-into-house-in-germany/