Monday Briefing: Christmas Covid, Unending Abductions and Underage Voters
What you need to know.
Good morning.
I hope you had a better weekend than I did. I’m writing about how Covid is shaping Christmas, the never-ending abductions in Nigeria and an attempt to alter voting regulations.
A low-key Christmas beckons
The second wave of the Covid pandemic is well and truly here and Christmas celebrations will no doubt be affected. On Sunday, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reported 501 new cases and three deaths. Worse, more cases were recorded in the past week than any other since February when Nigeria recorded its first infection.
The result is that state governments have moved to ban the gathering of large crowds and re-emphasise the importance of adhering to non-pharmaceutical guidelines such as the wearing of face masks and regular hand-washing. In Lagos, the country’s commercial nerve centre, schools have been closed indefinitely and carnivals, street parties and clubs have been banned till further notice.
In truth, most of the restrictions were never really removed, only that enforcement became lax as cases petered out. Now, state governments are talking tough about enforcing the directives. On Sunday, the Lagos state government said it has shut down popular nightclub, Cubana, for violating its Covid regulations.
Dig Deeper: One reason for the spike in cases can be traced to porous enforcement of regulations at Nigeria’s two major international airports in Abuja and Lagos. Many travellers shuttling into the country do not carry out a repeat Covid test nor isolate for seven days, as required by national regulations.
Atiku: The former Vice President has advised the federal government to temporarily halt flights from the United Kingdom, where a new Covid strain is said to be circulating.
Quote: “The new strain of COVID19 that has erupted in the United Kingdom, and specifically, London, can add to Nigeria’s health emergency if we do not act with an abundance of caution and temporarily halt all flights to and from the UK until this new strain is brought under control,” Atiku said.
New Strain: Scientists are hopeful the vaccines that have been developed should be powerful enough to take care of the new UK strain, but that hasn’t stopped European countries from suspending air travel from Britain. On Sunday, the Netherlands and Belgium were the first nations to do so. They were soon joined by Austria, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Italy, and Israel, and partly by France. On Monday, the European Union will meet to discuss a coordinated effort.
Another day, another abduction
The shock value of abducted students in the north seems to be waning as less fuss was made after about 80 students were kidnapped by armed men in Katsina, less than two days after the Kankara boys were returned to their parents.
However, police in Katsina say the students have now been rescued in an operation that involved local vigilante.
Femi Adesina: The presidential spokesman on Sunday urged Nigerians to remain patient with the government in terms of security. “There are certain things in which you don’t have control of all the variables,” he said.
More problems: Meanwhile, a teenage suicide bomber killed three persons in Borno on Saturday and several travellers were abducted along the Maiduguri-Damaturu expressway. Wanton killings in Kaduna by warring communities haven’t stopped either.
Related: The military has doubled down on its narrative that it engaged in a gun battle to rescue the Kankara boys. According to the military, while the troops were on the field exchanging fire, negotiations were also ongoing at another level of the rescue efforts.
Voting for underage girls?
A National Assembly joint committee on INEC is recommending that married underage girls be recognised as eligible voters.
“The joint committee has proposed that if a lady who is not up to 18 years is married, she should be considered to be mature enough and be eligible to vote,” says Kabiru Gaya, the senator representing Kano-South.
Context: Under the Child Rights Act 2003, the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years. However, out of 36 Nigerian states, 12 (11 of which are located in northern Nigeria) are yet to localise the act. In those states, it can be legal to marry a girl as young as 12 years old.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian constitution says only persons 18 years and above are eligible to vote.
What else is happening?
Police: Four officers have been sacked for engaging in serious acts of misconduct, including sharing loot from a smuggling operation.
Deeper Life: A woman has alleged that her 11-year-old son was sexually molested by fellow students in a college in Akwa Ibom State. Governor, Udom Emmanuel, has ordered an investigation into the allegation.
Femi Falana: The popular lawyer says about 70 persons killed during the #EndSARS protests have not been claimed.
NBS: The government statistics agency has reported that while food prices are increasing, household incomes have not improved. This has a number of consequences, including that people will have less to invest in health and education as they spend more of their income to fend off hunger.
Palliatives: After months of negotiations, US lawmakers have agreed to a pandemic aid package worth about $900bn, including funding for businesses and unemployment programmes.
Premier League: Manchester United showed why they should be considered serious contenders with a thrashing of Leeds United 6 -2 on Sunday.
And that’s it for today. Thank you for starting your day with me. Let’s do this again tomorrow.
P.S. If you have sometime, read this opinion piece on Leah Sharibu. She’s still not been rescued from her abductors.