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COVID-19: ‘Insist on mass testing of civil servants’, Oyo SPN charge NLC, TUC, ULC
The Socialist Party of Nigeria, (SPN) Oyo State Chapter on Wednesday charged the state leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and United Labour Congress (ULC) to insist on mass testing of all the civil servants in the State as a condition for their resumption.
While noting the decision of the Seyi Makinde-led government to make the wearing of face mask compulsory for all residents engaging in public or outdoor activities across the State, the SPN, however, observed that this decision which was purportedly conceived in order to ensure an effective containment of the spread of COVID-19 in the State will never be enough except equal or possibly greater attention and priority is given to the provision of facilities for mass testing and decent Centers for isolation and treatment across the 33 local government areas in the State.
According to the statement credited to Mr Taiwo Adisa, the Chief press secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, the decision was reached as part of the resolutions of the meeting of the Six (6) Southwest Governors convened few days ago to discuss how to curtail the spread of the COVID-19 in the region.
The statement further revealed that the state government is set to train 100 local tailors and engage them for the production of 1million facemasks as part of the effort towards the enforcement of the order which would take effect immediately. Also announced is that 27th April, 2020 is now the “tentative” new date of resumption for the civil servants in the state against the earlier date of 20th of April, 2020 which was opposed by SPN.
The party in a statement signed by its state secretary, Ayodeji Adigun and made available to Mega Icon Magazine welcomed the order for the use of face mask for all residents engaging in public outing or activities in the state but frowned at the enforcement of any law that will criminalize non-use of face mask in the public whether now or in future.
The statement reads, “Despite the fact that we are aware that the use of face mask is not meant according to the WHO, for all individuals except those who are symptomatic and in health care setting, we strongly believe that this measure is necessary at this point in time in the State when there are now indications that number of cases of the virus is possibly higher than the official figure reported and the spread is now at the phase of community transmission. Besides, the fact is that the accurate number of cases of COVID-19 in the State cannot at this moment be ascertained owing to the poor state of health sector in the State and lack of adequate facilities for mass testing and decent centres for isolation and treatment across the State.
“It is in the consideration of this, we hold that except this measure of encouraging the use of facemask is combined with the provision of free hand sanitizers to ordinary people and hand washing facilities in communities and markets as well as provision of adequate facilities for mass testing and decent centres for isolation and treatment, the use of facemask alone can never be enough for the effective containment of the spread of COVID-19 in the State.
“We also hold that the use of face masks is not yet a substitute for a definite lockdown with the provision of cash grant of N50, 000 for every household for an effective compliance which is necessary for an effective mass testing for early detection and the isolation of cases and their contacts. Just having one walk-in sample collection centre located in Adamasingba Ibadan is not only grossly inadequate for Ibadan let alone the entire State but also undermines and disregards the measure of social distancing as advised by the WHO and NCDC as people including potential carriers of the virus have to travel in public transports to the venue.
“Again, as much as we agree that the use of facemask is necessary, we reject the government plan to enact a law with a view to criminalize residents who default. It is our opinion that government can encourage effective compliance by adequate and sufficient provision of free facemasks for the over 6milion residents in the State, not with the use of coercive measure like law.
“It is in the consideration of this we fault the decision of the Engr Seyi makinde-led government to limit the production of free facemask for the population of over 6million people to just 1million pieces. We advocate for the provision of adequate numbers of free facemask per resident. Given this background, the 100 local tailors the government intend to train and engage for the production of the facemask will never be enough. We hereby demand recruitment and engagement of more local tailors for the purpose of the production of the free facemask while we equally propose that their selection should be done through their Unions and the NLC which is the umbrella of all artisan associations in the State.
“Except the production of the free facemask is combined with other measures as stated above, we of the SPN will believe that the plan for the production of the facemask is either a ploy by the pro-capitalist politicians to award to themselves public fund under the pretense of a fight against COVID-19 or to downplay the growing demand for provision of facilities for mass testing and decent isolation Centers.
“This is more so that the attitude and body language of the Engr Seyi Makinde-led government suggest that it is eager to reopen the State secretariat when it is obvious that the cases of COVID-19 in the State have increased significantly compared to just a case recorded when the civil servants were asked to proceed on compulsory leave. It is in the light of this that we of the SPN reiterate our opposition to any resumption that will endanger the life of civil servants in the State while at the same time calls on the leadership of the NLC, TUC and ULC in the State to insist on a demand for mass testing of all the civil servants in the State as a condition for their resumption”, the statement concluded.
The United States has announced the termination of legal status for over 500,000 immigrants, ordering them to leave the country within weeks, as President Donald Trump pushes forward with what he calls the largest deportation campaign in American history.
The sweeping directive, issued on Friday, affects approximately 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who arrived under a programme launched by Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, in October 2022 and later expanded in January 2023.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the affected immigrants will lose their legal protections 30 days after the order is published in the Federal Register on Tuesday. This means they must leave the United States by 24 April, unless they secure another immigration status permitting them to stay.
Welcome.US, an organisation that supports asylum seekers, has urged those impacted to “immediately” seek legal counsel regarding their options.
A Reversal of Biden’s Immigration Policy
The Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV) programme, introduced in January 2023, allowed up to 30,000 migrants per month from these nations to enter the United States for two years. The initiative was designed to offer a “safe and humane” alternative to the dangerous crossings at the US-Mexico border, which had seen a surge in arrivals.
However, the DHS reiterated on Friday that the programme was never meant to provide permanent residency.
“Parole is inherently temporary, and parole alone is not an underlying basis for obtaining any immigration status, nor does it constitute an admission to the United States,” the agency stated.
Mass Deportations Under Trump
Trump, who has made immigration control a cornerstone of his presidency, has vowed to crack down on migrants—particularly those from Latin America.
Last week, he invoked rare wartime legislation to deport more than 200 alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador, a country that has controversially offered to imprison both migrants and U.S. citizens at a discounted rate.
The latest order signals Trump’s intent to follow through on his hardline immigration policies, raising concerns among human rights advocates about the humanitarian impact of such mass deportations.
Tens of thousands of malnourished Nigerian children face a dire future as lifesaving food supplies are set to run dry, the United Nations Children’s Agency (UNICEF) warned on Friday, attributing the crisis to a funding shortfall exacerbated by U.S. foreign aid cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration.
The agency said that within the next two months, 80,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Nigeria could lose access to vital treatment, while a total of 1.3 million children under five in Nigeria and Ethiopia remain at risk of starvation this year.
“Without new funding, we will run out of our supply chain of Ready-to-Use-Therapeutic-Food by May, and that means that 70,000 children in Ethiopia that depend on this type of treatment cannot be served,” UNICEF’s Deputy Executive Director, Kitty Van der Heijden, said in a video press briefing from Abuja. “Interruption to continuous treatment is life-threatening.”
The situation in Nigeria is even more urgent, with UNICEF warning that food supplies for malnourished children could be exhausted as early as the end of this month. Van der Heijden recounted a harrowing experience at a hospital in Maiduguri, where she saw a child so severely malnourished that her skin was peeling off.
U.S. Aid Suspension Escalates Crisis
UNICEF’s funding crisis follows a significant drop in international donor contributions in recent years, compounded by the U.S. government’s decision to halt all foreign aid for 90 days upon Trump’s return to the White House in January.
According to Reuters, the U.S., a major donor to UNICEF, implemented sweeping suspensions on USAID programmes worldwide, disrupting the delivery of essential food and medical aid. The impact has been catastrophic, with global humanitarian efforts thrown into disarray.
“This funding crisis will become a child survival crisis,” Van der Heijden warned, adding that the abrupt nature of the cuts left UNICEF unable to cushion the impact.
Health Services Crippled in Ethiopia
Beyond food shortages, UNICEF highlighted the devastating effects of the funding crunch on health services in Ethiopia. Programmes providing nutrition and malaria care for pregnant women and children have suffered, with 23 mobile health clinics shut down in Afar, leaving only seven operational.
As the crisis unfolds, humanitarian organisations continue to urge global donors to step in and prevent a full-blown catastrophe. Without urgent intervention, tens of thousands of children in Nigeria and Ethiopia may not survive the coming months.
The Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has distributed a total revenue of N1.678 trillion among the federal, state, and local governments for February 2025.
The revenue distribution was announced in a statement issued on Saturday by the Director of Press and Public Relations, Bawa Mokwa. The allocation was finalised at the March 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, which was chaired by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, and attended by the Accountant General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi.
Breakdown of Distributable Revenue
The total distributable revenue of N1.678 trillion comprised:
Statutory revenue – N827.633 billion
Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue – N609.430 billion
Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue – N35.171 billion
Solid Minerals revenue – N28.218 billion
Augmentation – N178 billion
According to the FAAC communiqué, the total gross revenue available for February 2025 was N2.344 trillion. Deductions for the cost of collection amounted to N89.092 billion, while transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings stood at N577.097 billion.
The communiqué also revealed that gross statutory revenue for February 2025 was N1.653 trillion, which was N194.664 billion lower than the N1.848 trillion recorded in January 2025. Similarly, gross VAT revenue fell from N771.886 billion in January to N654.456 billion in February, reflecting a decrease of N117.430 billion.
Revenue Allocation to Tiers of Government
From the total N1.678 trillion distributable revenue:
Federal Government received – N569.656 billion
State Governments received – N562.195 billion
Local Government Councils received – N410.559 billion
Derivation revenue (13% of mineral revenue) to benefiting states – N136.042 billion
Allocation from Statutory Revenue (N827.633 billion)
Federal Government – N366.262 billion
State Governments – N185.773 billion
Local Government Councils – N143.223 billion
Derivation revenue (13%) – N132.374 billion
Allocation from VAT Revenue (N609.430 billion)
Federal Government – N91.415 billion
State Governments – N304.715 billion
Local Government Councils – N213.301 billion
Allocation from EMTL Revenue (N35.171 billion)
Federal Government – N5.276 billion
State Governments – N17.585 billion
Local Government Councils – N12.310 billion
Allocation from Solid Minerals Revenue (N28.218 billion)
Federal Government – N12.933 billion
State Governments – N6.560 billion
Local Government Councils – N5.057 billion
Derivation revenue (13%) – N3.668 billion
Allocation from Augmentation (N178 billion)
Federal Government – N93.770 billion
State Governments – N47.562 billion
Local Government Councils – N36.668 billion
Revenue Trends and Economic Outlook
The FAAC report highlighted a significant increase in Oil and Gas Royalty and Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenues for February 2025. However, there were declines in Value Added Tax (VAT), Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Companies Income Tax (CIT), Excise Duty, Import Duty, and CET Levies compared to the previous month.
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