Connect with us

News

Lagos State Launches Mass Vaccination Program, Targets 4 Million Lagosians

Published

on

Lagos State Government declared on Wednesday that there is possibility of the fourth wave of Coronavirus (COVID-19) as the Yuletide approaches.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, however, launched a mass vaccination campaign as part of the strategies to stave off re-emergence of the viral infection. The objective is aimed at vaccinating four million residents in Lagos before the end of the year.

The immunisation programme was flagged off with a symbolic event held at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island. Residents of Lagos, who are 18 years and above are eligible to be fully immunised with the COVID-19 vaccine.

The accelerated vaccine rollout is tagged: “Operation Count Me in 4 Million Lagosians Vaccinated Against COVID-19” and it is being undertaken by Lagos State Government in collaboration with National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).

The Governor believed the mass vaccination campaign would help bolster the State’s response to the emerging threat posed by the pandemic.

Sanwo-Olu said the joint committee set up by the Lagos State Government and NPHCDA to oversee the implementation of the campaign would be opening vaccination sites in high traffic locations as part of the strategies to expand vaccine access in underserved communities. Mobile vans, the Governor added, would be deployed to move round boundary settlements in order to reach individuals in areas with limited access to health facilities.

He said: “There is potential for the fourth wave of COVID-19, as our borders would be opened to all people coming into Lagos in December. To prevent the catastrophic events we witnessed in the previous waves, the State has developed a robust vaccination drive, leveraging on both the strengths we have in the public and private sectors of our healthcare system. In development of our strategy and counter-measures, we prioritise the protection of human lives and keeping our economy open for business.

“To mitigate against this potential damage that will further spread existing variants of COVID-19 in the State, and accelerate efforts towards herd immunity, the need for a different strategy became a front burner issue. This is what has culminated in the campaign, tagged ‘Count Me In! 4 million Lagosians Vaccinated Against COVID-19’ to target the full vaccination of 4 million Lagos residents before the end of December 2021. Once achieved, this will bring the State closer to reaching our promise to vaccinate 30 percent of our population within one year.”

Since March when Lagos started its vaccination programme, Sanwo-Olu said the State had successfully vaccinated 800,000 residents with the first dose of Moderna vaccine and 310,000 persons fully vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

This, he said, sums total number of residents vaccinated with the first dose of either AstraZeneca or Moderna to 1.2 million, while raising the number of fully vaccinated individuals to 550,000, which accounts for about four per cent of the State’s population.

Sanwo-Olu re-emphasised that the vaccines being administered are safe and remain free of charge in public health facilities. The Governor, however, said an administrative charge of N6,000 would be paid by individuals who wish to get the vaccines at approved private facilities.

The Governor charged all stakeholders, including the local council chairmen, to mobilise for participation in the programme and ensure the success of the campaign.

He said: “We have set up COVID-19 vaccination in all our 205 public primary health centres, 14 of the State’s second and tertiary hospitals, and we are hoping that this partnership can be implemented in over 400 private health centres across seven underserved Local Government Areas in the State.

“Let me re-emphasise that we are not compelling anyone to get vaccinated. But, we want everyone to take it as personal responsibility, which is highly important. What we seek to achieve by this campaign is to ensure there is access to the vaccines and availability. Then, give people an opportunity to get vaccinated at centres close to them. This will give nobody a reason not to get the vaccines.”

Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, described the vaccination campaign as “ambitious”, saying the State Government had put in place two-pronged approach to prevent the fourth wave of the pandemic.

“The first step is to control the in-bound flight passengers and maintain adherence to all preventive measures that have been put in place, while the second step is to closely monitor the isolation of those coming from the red zone area,” Abayomi said.

NPHCDA Executive Director, Dr. Shuaib Faisal, disclosed that only 2,950,232 Nigerians had been fully vaccinated, which is a far cry from reaching the target number for herd immunity.

He said: “We have enough vaccines in storage to give many people the opportunity to get vaccinated. We now have the jabs, but we now need the arms.”

The campaign kicked off with symbolic vaccination of Mr. Okeke Onyeama, a private security guard, who was inoculated in presence of the Governor and NPHCDA boss.

Continue Reading

News

NIN-SIM Linkage: NCC Insists Telcos to Bar Non-Compliant Subscribers March 29  

Published

on

SIM card

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has confirmed that it would not be reviewing its deadline to bar owners of more than four SIM cards whose SIM registration data failed to match their National Identity Number (NIN) data.

A source within the Commission explained that the Commission’s position was hinged on its objective to clean the country’s SIM ownership database, and ensure that criminals could not take advantage of having multiple unlinked SIMs to carry out their nefarious activities.

“We are not standing back on our decision. March 29th is sacrosanct. Our resolve is hinged on the need to close in on the chaos of untoward ownership of multiple SIM cards with unverified NIN details. We have instances where a single individual has over 10,000 lines linked to his NIN. In some cases, we have seen a single person with 1,000 lines, some 3,000 plus lines. What are they doing with these lines?

“From our interim findings, the owners of these lines did not purchase them for decent purposes or to undertake legitimate activities.

“We have given them enough time to make the decision of which of their lines they want to keep, and discard the others. They did not. All lines in this category with unverified NINs will be barred. They will be then expected to go to their operators and decide which of the lines they want to keep, as well as submit correct NIN details.

“Some people would say they want to use it for car trackers, or for IoTs, but provision has been made for these services already. They are not under the ‘Max-4 Rule.’

“Across the world, no country allows you to have 1,000 SIM cards to make calls or texts.”

The Max-4 Rule announced by the Federal Government in April 2021 provides that telecom subscribers cannot have more than four lines per mobile network operator.

The NCC has also provided Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) an extension till July 31st 2024 within which they are expected to verify all NINs submitted by subscribers with four (4) or less SIMs, as well as bar those whose NIN fail verification with NIMC.

An authoritative source within the Commission who is familiar with the matter stated that the Commission’s management arrived at the decision at a crucial meeting it held today to review requests from the major Mobile Network Operators requesting for extension for the verification of NINs submitted.

The source also stated that the Commission is mulling the idea to approve an online application solution for MNOs where their subscribers whose NIN verification failed due to biometric mismatch can update their records on the app, while existing subscribers can register additional lines.

Continue Reading

News

Dangote Foundation Donates 80,000 Bags Of 10kg Rice To Communities

Published

on

The Aliko Dangote Foundation has donated 80,000 bags of 10kg rice to support vulnerable communities in Lagos State.

The Special Adviser on New Media to the Lagos State Governor, Jubril Gawat, disclosed this on his X handle on Wednesday.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu; founder and chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote; and Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria Holdings Plc, Femi Otedola, were present at the event of the food distribution.

Dangote has reportedly spent about N15bn on the food intervention programme with beneficiaries across Nigeria.

The food intervention programme by his foundation was first launched in Kano State on Saturday, and will see over one million bags of 10kg rice distributed across the 774 local government areas of the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory.

Here are pictures from the event.

We appreciate Dangote for this kind gesture.

Continue Reading

News

36-Year-Old Lady In Shock After Her 19-Year-Old Daughter Welcomed A Baby Without Her Knowledge

Published

on

She wrote: “My 19year old daughter made me a granny at the age of 36 😭😭 im still shook and traumatized

She hid the pregnancy for 9months up until her water broke. After God fear ama 2000.

Amid so many reactions from netizens, she also wrote;

“Lol some comments amuse me .. I’m not ashαmεd or embarrassed that I had my daughter at the age 18 , yes it was not planned but she has been the biggest blessing to me

I’m a mad that she got pregnant, yes any parent would be . Because I still wanted her to achieve more.

I’m also mad that she hid it from me because I could have planned better . And as for that little baby boy , I will love and raise him as my own son . He’s a huge blessing to me and the family.”

Continue Reading

Trending